"The past is no longer in our way."
Red.
Red was his vision. He couldn't move, he couldn't breathe, but he could see pulsating red veins through the swirling red mists and hear voices as he hovered in the air, curled up in a cocoon position.
One voice became angry and frustrated after a sharp metallic click.
"What are you doing?! Has family never meant anything to you?!"
The voices faded into loud rattling and an intense struggle with the same man vehemently shouting.
"You killed me once before. I promise it won't be so easy a second time!"
Their struggle continued until three consecutive gunshots rang out. The man who so angrily shouted before groaned in defeat after a loud thump.
"It never had to be like this brother. We could've been like gods..."
What's happening, Michael thought, starting to twist and struggle to break free.
He felt scared. Crazier still, he felt someone else was terrified.
Felt. Not saw or heard. It was the craziest feeling to feel someone else's fear as if it was his own.
His vision faded before waking up once more. Once again, he couldn't move except for his head and eyes, and everything was too bright. A man with dark brown hair and beard was staring down at him with a conflicted, cold stare.
"Wah!"
What? I sound like a baby...?
The man's gaze softened and he looked off to the side sympathetically. The sound of a woman groaning feebly turned into relief before his vision was consumed by bright red mist.
"If we consumed her body, we could've been gods. Foolish brother."
A brilliant flash of light and Michael now found himself sitting alone in a room full of toys.
"Aaah..." he complained, still unable to communicate properly.
"I can't teach him. Nor will I Jin."
"I know. I just... I wonder what he would be capable of if he was able to use a small fraction of the power."
"No. We will not have this discussion again."
Michael lifted his head up.
It was the same grisly-looking man with an expression that read like he was reaching the limit of his patience. The lady, an asian lady with brown hair tied in a ponytail, sighed with defeat and they both looked upon Michael with endearing eyes.
They look familiar. But I don't remember...
These memories don't match the ones I have on future Earth. I remember a plain, loving family in this universe's Earth. Their outfits, these walls... this has to be my Earth.
His gaze wandered the room with the old building blocks, plastic toy armies, and playdough. The two in front of him were wearing normal clothes. The Jin lady was in a formal black skirt and business top, and the man in what looked like an old-fashioned detective outfit with the white undershirt, brown vest, and black pants.
"Come on, Michael," Jin smiled, leaning down to pick him up.
"Mommy's going to take you to the park before work. Are you coming ******?"
------
~Aegis VII: P-Sec HQ~
"What the hell happened in C-block?"
"Your loose experiment is what happened!"
Commander James shouted angrily, slamming his fist on a desk.
"Two civilian casualties and four P-Sec officers dead! C-Site East was flooded and the only lead we have is that madman!"
Carthusia stood quietly with his hands folded behind him, expressionless as he watched the vid-log display on the damages.
Pictures of organs, blood, and scattered body parts littered the devastated apartment, yet Carthusia didn't even blink. He only stared in wonder.
"Calm down," Tom Sciarello beckoned with calming gestures. "I doubt Michael could've done this. No human could have!"
Taking on an explanatory tone, he pointed at the bodies that were melted and severed.
"You can see clearly which ones he shot. There were only two. And as far as I'm aware, plasma cutters don't cause a body to explode into a million pieces like a grenade! I've tried to autopsy the pieces and it looks like each piece was ripped apart like shredded paper. There's no evidence of external damage so far."
James gritted his teeth. "No. It doesn't. But there are too many incidents linked to this man! We need to keep him locked up."
"We will not Commander James," Carthusia firmly responded. "I do not give you permission. Once he is awake, question him as per protocol but then let. him. go."
"You can't be..." James breathed.
"In fact," Carthusia mused, "I want to speak with him myself."
The video feed briefly switched to a solitary cell with nothing but a metal bed, toilet, and sink, and a Michael laid down in a straitjacket, groaning and whispering to himself.
"Was there anything else out of the ordinary?" Carthusia asked inquisitively toward the doctor.
"There is nothing about this situation that is ordinary. Though I suppose if we're talking more out of the ordinary than their deaths, we found a few drops of an unknown neon green substance that does not match anything in our database. We're currently in the process of analysis."
"A few green drops," Commander James scoffed, rolling his eyes. "Four of my men, good men, just died. And you want to talk about some green fluid the man probably stole from storage?"
His voice was rising with anger.
Tom frowned and shook his head. "I would agree with you under normal circumstances. But this isn't a chemical. We are theorizing it may be blood."
"Blood?" Both Carthusia and James blurted as if they misheard, and Tom nodded.
Tom glanced at the lady controlling the console and she immediately understood and began to navigate from P-Sec's files to Medical's. In the middle of this however, a communication request popped into view and interrupted.
~Static~
"Come in Command. This is D-Site Dig Team. We've found the source of the pulsing signal. It's unlike anything we've ever seen and it's definitely not man-made."
Commander James sighed irritably, rubbing his eyes before grumbling.
"Fucking great timing. Patch it through."
On the main screen of P-Sec HQ, the static screen came to life.
Everyone gasped and a few stood up in disbelief.
Carthusia himself even looked to be in shock with his mouth hanging open and his hands falling loosely to his sides.
"Altman be praised!"