Scar

Arch wanted nothing to do with the Investigative Committee. He was done with this incident and didn't want it to shape the rest of his life. He glanced at the other Trappists talking to each other in slow and cautious motions and heavy hearts from behind his bar. At that moment, a person in a black suit and suave hairstyle walked into the café, blatantly ignoring the closed sign on the door.

Arch grimaced when he saw the familiar face. This guy was none other than the chief investigator of the Resolve ZERO anomaly - Agent Scar. The man handsomely parted his blonde hair with his hand and adjusted his stylistic glasses before heading straight to the bar where Arch was leaning glasses.

"Agent Scar."

"Arch. It's been a while." Scar smiled a toothy grin as he motioned at the other Trappists to continue with their therapy session and ignore his presence.

"Pretty weird name, Scar." Arch sneered. "Fashion a drink?"

"Blame my Dad for the name." Scar continued grinning as he continued his ramble. "Drink? Sure, sure. Give me one of your cocktails. I hear they are quite famous around these parts."

The therapy session in the cafe's lounge area had now grinded down to a complete halt. The folks stared at Agent Scar with disgust before quietly filing out of the café. They stopped by the bar to thank Arch with solemnity while giving the Agent a side-eye. Then they left.

Arch acted like nothing was out of order. He prepared the cocktail Scar had randomly chosen from the menu and gently placed it in front of the investigator with a tired face. Scar picked up the cocktail and slammed it into his mouth like a shot, before letting out a satisfied gasp.

"Spicy! I like it!" He roared. Arch facepalmed instead. "This is a cocktail, not a Tequila shot. You sip it slowly, not down it like Vikings."

"Tequila, huh. You have that here?" Scar asked while ignoring Arch's exasperation.

"Nope. Your Twenty Fourth century historians seem quite lazy. They didn't document the recipe for the drink. It's unfortunately lost in time." Arch replied sadly.

"We had a planetary apocalypse to worry about buddy. Your Twenty First Century folks didn't exactly leave us with a habitable Earth." Scar scowled. "Anyway, enough of the wordplay. Did you remember anything about your time during the Anomaly?"

Arch scowled as well. "You've asked me this a thousand times already. I don't remember a thing from that period." He paused, sighed and then spoke again. "Is there a reason you keep bothering me in particular? I've told you more times than I can count that I want to move on."

Scar suddenly turned serious. "This is not a simple matter, Arch. No matter, how the government downplays this anomaly and seeds the conspiracies, you should be clear on the threat assessment by anyone in power. You were involved in an anomaly using a technology that could only be described as Clarketech - so far beyond our capabilities that it might as well be magic!"

"I'm surprised you even know who Clarke is." Arch snapped back. "Your rant doesn't at all explain to me why you keep bothering me in particular. The Investigating Committee are your best bet. What's the point of ruining my day every other week?"

Scar sighed. "I'm just following orders, buddy. Just give me a call if you remember something. Don't hide stuff from us. My history tutor used to tell me that folks in the Twenty First century were particularly adept at closing their eyes to incoming eyes. I hope you don't fit the pattern. The Resolve ZERO anomaly isn't a laughing matter."

Arch took in deep breaths to stop himself from flaring into anger. He picked up a glass and began wiping it clean. "Just tell me why you are particularly targeting me, though, will you? Am I a person of interest? Am I a primary suspect in the Resolve ZERO case?" His voice trembled as he asked in an almost whisper.

Scar paused his act of taking a sip from his second cocktail. He raised his eyes to meet Arch's. "I don't know if you are behind this. But you are definitely a person of interest."

"Why?" Arch whispered back. His teeth were grit so hard that the vein on his right temple was visible to Scar's eye.

"It's a long story." Scar grumbled, feeling slightly guilty.

"I've got nothing but time." Arch breathed a sigh. "Plus drinks are on me."

"Are you bribing an officer on duty?" Scar raised an eye.

"Did you just violate property laws and perform a break and enter?" Arch retorted back, pointing to the closed sign the investigator had blatantly ignored earlier.

The two looked at each other and chucked before a silence enveloped the café. Arch waited for Scar to speak, his eyes mixed with a bit of hesitation, eagerness and fear.

Scar coughed, as if he was going to proffer a speech. "Whatever the anomaly did, we are certain that it was extremely circumspect about one thing. It wiped out all of your memories during the time period spanning the anomaly."

"This, I already know." Arch scowled, as he poured a mug of beer for himself.

"Yes, but the anomaly was only able to overwrite the directly involved memories." Scar replied. "There's a lot we can deduce about a person that does not involve pouring into their memory."

"Like what?"

"The brain is quite a bizarre cognitive tool. Our research into the computational brain proves that the human brain is really an inefficient relic of evolution. Alas, we are left with little choice but to work with its faults." Scar spoke slowly, as he tapped his watch to project the picture of the human brain into the air.

"The brain's memory work's through association, very unlike computational engines, whose memory works on assignment and can be easily overwritten." He continued. "Even if the anomaly tried to blank the directly related memories of your brain, it failed to evaporate your subconscious, your id. Our evolutionary relics of brain processing, have left us clues about you. There's something wrong about you, buddy!"