Cloak & Laser: Episode VIII

An ongoing scifi/fantasy series based in a post-apocalyptic setting in the author's WIP TTRPG. A world where you might be a master swordsman, but that orc bandit is pointing a laser rifle at you.

Oct 30, 2024

Episode VIII: Pinpoint Flashback Part 1

Jaiko stared, mouth agape. His eyes darted between Gresh, Zella, and Gallagher a few times. He could see that Gresh was doing the same thing. Jaiko has never experienced a flashback, but seeing the two of them in a catatonic state, he has to assume that that's what is happening to them.

The longer he stared at them, the more he realized that he somehow recognized the image he was seeing, right down to the look that they were giving each other, and how they were holding hands. He soon realized that he had seen an outfit like Gallagher's. He was remembering a picture he had found many years ago while prospecting in the Kelleren District. It was one of his first digs.

Gallagher had to blink his eyes a few times as the sun glared off of each window of the monorail train while it passed by. He felt soft hands holding his as they were tugged. His wife was trying to keep his attention on her. He lowered his gaze, but had to blink a few more times before he could see his wife's smiling face clearly. Her soft, green eyes had an expectant look as though she was awaiting an answer to a question.

Gallagher suddenly remembered this scene. He was showing Ellendra, his wife, the new place to where they were moving. A large apartment complex overlooking Twin Pines Park where they currently stood. A serious upgrade afforded from his new job.

"Well, which one is it?" she asked impatiently.

Gallagher giggled slightly. He loved to see her get frustrated. It was the only time that she would actually wrinkle her brow between her eyes. Her frustration would always win over her efforts to keep her face wrinkle free. He smiled at her before looking to his right at the large building that looked as though it was about to fall over onto the park. It was purposefully built to lean over the park.

He then pointed at it and looked at her face. He was elated to see it brighten and her gasp turn into a large smile. The Looming Manor is one of the more posh places in the Kelleren District.

Ellendra whipped her head back to Gallagher with a questioning look. "You're kidding me. What floor?"

Gallagher smiled a smug smirk. He was proud of himself for landing such a choice residence. "Well, it's not the penthouse, but we're on the twelfth floor; the one with the terrace."

"You mean, I can still have my garden?" she asked with a big smile.

"Of course, my dear. I wouldn't have it any other way," he said, smiling back to her. Just then, a movement caught the corner of his eye and he quickly turned his head in that direction. It seemed as though someone had ducked behind a large tree. He kept his focus on it for a moment longer.

"What is it? What do you see?" Ellendra asked.

"It's probably nothing," he began as he looked back at her, "I thought I saw something but I'm sure it was nothing." He shook his head, but gave her a reassuring smile. In the back of his mind, though, he wondered if it was a taloneer. An elite group of ninja-like soldiers that, to this day, no one knows to whom they show fealty.

"You're never going to stop being a guardsman, are you?" Ellendra asked with a playful tone.

Gallagher smiled and sighed at her before looking back at the tree once more.

Ellendra grabbed his chin and forced him to look at her. "Look at me. I need you right now. This is our time."

His face became more serious. "You know as well as I do that I'm programmed, and I can't just turn it off."

"I sometimes wonder if they programmed you not to love."

"Oh, come on, honey. Don't be like that," he said while embracing her in a hug, pulling her head to his chest. "You know that I love you with all of my heart."

Just then, he felt a slight tingling sensation in his extremities. A feeling that he has learned to associate with the nanites in his body preparing him for a supernatural feat of some kind. The hair on the back of his neck raised as he turned his head around faster than anyone can to see a taloneer behind a tree pointing a laser pistol at him. While turning his head, he managed to see three other taloneers hidden elsewhere in the park. All of them had laser pistols trained on him.

As much as he wanted to lunge the fifty or so feet to the one behind the tree, Gallagher knew that he had no chance. There were too many variables, most importantly, his wife. "Do you see them?" he quietly asked his wife.

"Yes." Her response was barely audible, but Gallagher could see the terror on her face. "What do we do?"

Gallagher gave her an embarrassed grimace. "I'm sorry. There's nothing we can do. We are surrounded."

"He's right, you know," a gruff, male voice said from beside them. They both turned their heads to him in shock. Prior to this moment, no one had been near enough to them to show up without notice. They both jumped a little from being startled by his sudden presence.

The older gentleman had a strange chemical smell to him that made Ellendra wrinkle her nose. His mostly white hair looked like it had been combed, but also ruffled by the wind. He had a smug smile on his pock-marked, grizzly face. A dark goggle covered his left eye, and under his cloak with an oversized collar was a mechsuit. The alternative to having nanites injected into you to give you greater strength, speed, and senses.

Ellendra looked up to Gallagher, "What's going on? Who is this man?"

Gallagher went to respond, but the older gentleman spoke first. "It's okay, Ellendra. I doubt he remembers me. Isn't that right, son?"

Gallagher furled his brow heavily in confusion and anger, but before he could speak, Ellendra asked, "I thought you said your father died?"

Gallagher lowered his gaze. He was struggling to remember his father's death, like the memory had been erased. "He did. I watched him die. This man is mistaken." He said this with as much passion as he could, but even he heard the lack of confidence in his voice.

The older gentleman laughed a bit. "Oh, there's a lot you don't know about your husband, my dear. For instance, he's no orphan from District 4. In fact, he was born right here in the Kelleren District, but those memories have been erased. He won't be able to tell you anything about his sordid past. You wouldn't have married him if you knew what I know. It's time for you to remember."

Ellendra and Gallagher both watched him raise what looked like a gun without a barrel hole and point it at Gallagher. To his knowledge, Gallagher had seen and fired every handgun known to exist. When it looked like he pulled the trigger, there was no projectile, no explosion.

In that same moment, Gallagher felt as though he was being electrocuted. His body torqued in a strange manner, and once it found an awkward pose, he became paralyzed, all the while feeling millions of tiny, but painful, bites all throughout his body. At the same time, he could feel a large fingertip tapping him on the shoulder.

Gallagher was suddenly aware of being back to the present, but his reflexes and reaction were still on a subconscious level and he quickly grabbed Gresh's wrist, who is the one tapping him on the shoulder. He applied heavy pressure to the pressure point between his thumb and forefinger while, at the same time, twisting his wrist.

Gresh had no choice but to submit and allow himself to go prone with a booming thud. The landing knocked the wind out of him, and for the first time in a while, Jaiko heard him breathe out in a long groan.

As soon as Gallagher saw that it was Gresh, he let go of him. "I'm sorry. I... my flashback was a bit intense. Are you okay?"

Gresh shook his head, but then smiled and nodded, and Gallagher helped him to his feet. They exchanged polite smiles before Jaiko spoke up. "Maybe you should tap Zella on the shoulder."

Gallagher and Gresh both looked at her. She was still in a catatonic state like Gallagher had been. She was still experiencing her flashback.

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