Chapter 01010101

"What the fuck is going on in this town!" Eli yelled to himself. He cranked the ignition again, but the Mustang stubbornly refused to start."

"Fuck my life," He groaned as he tilted down to retrieve his cigarettes, oblivious to Emily exiting the Pink Miata on the other side of the intersection.

A catchy pop song caught his attention as he sat back in his seat. An eerie, static-charged glow surrounded the car, its deep mulberry hue pulsing like a heartbeat. The mulberry aura buzzed against his molars, a frequency that tasted like burnt hair and regret. His eyebrows furrowed as a rush of déjà vu washed over him. The déjà vu wasn't just familiarity—it was the same feeling he felt flying over the Bermuda Triangle—the same hum. The same intersection. 

His Mustang hummed to life like a Frankenstein monster. The radio blared at full volume, thanks to Bruce.

BRRRRZZZTTT

A distorted static voice resembling a teenage girl echoed from the radio.I̱̎ w̷̷̷̧̨̭̾ͨ͛̓̈́́ͧ͑ͤͩ́̀̆͒̀́̍ͦͦ̕͞͞a̴̢̨̧͚͈̥̞̣̲͕̲̩̪͎̖̒̓͋̈́͐͊͗́̉ͭ̂͋͑ͥͪ̈́̕͠r̴̟̞͕̮͔̳ͨͧ́̽ͬͤͯͣ̿̓͡n̼̲̙̥̪̅̀͘͜͝e_̭͖͇̮͍̲͉̯̱̯͈̤ͯ̒ͣͭ̑̎́ͣ̓͆͊̐͌͆̃̚͜͞ͅͅḑ̶̛̤̰͉͇̼̣ͬͣ̇̒̐͋̉ͭͬͨ͒ͥ̈́̈͂̀ͩ̐̈́͘͡ y̛̰̟͑͌́͆ͩ͠o͋ͯ͜ú̶̡̺̣̜͓̦͉͙̝̆͐͐ͤ̂̉́̎͞͡͝ͅͅ

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Glitch in the mirror, shadow's not mine,

Echoes of a past that's crossed the line.

Bass drops heavy, like a heart out of time,

In this fractured beat, I'm losing my mind.

Fractured frequency, can't tune it out,

Static in the silence, drowning out the shout.

Rewind the tape, but the end's the same,

In this cosmic game,

A glitchy female teenager's voice sang. 

The message shot chills down Eli's spine. With a growl, he bashed the radio until it fell silent, though the words echoed in his mind like a warning.

His eyes widened as he jolted back into his seat when he heard a knock on his car window. A raven-haired girl with teal highlights stared back at him. His heart sank when he noticed the profound mulberry aura resonating off her when she knocked on the window. 

"What the fuck?" Elijah muttered as he slowly reached for his Desert Eagle.

"No, chill out!" The raven-haired girl shouted as she gestured to the note in her hand. 

"Who the hell are you?" Eli asked with one hand on his weapon. 

Emily sighed and blinked as she glanced back at Rachel in the Miata. "My name is Emily. I am a Conduit like you. Take this note. It's important; don't read it until we are out of sight."

"You P.I.A.?" Elijah asked as he felt the note drop on his lap. 

Emily shook her head. "No, but Dezerea is."

Elijah chuckled as he dropped his pack of cigarettes. "Right, gotcha. Seriously though, what branch are you from?"

Emily smiled, then shrugged as she backed away from his Mustang. 

Elijah's eyebrows rose as Emily opened the Miata's passenger door. His heart raced when Rachel's cobalt eyes briefly locked with his. The vivid mulberry aura coming off her was mixed with static electricity. It seeped into every crevice of her car like a gas cloud clawing its way into the autumn air. 

The note in his lap felt heavier as he watched the Miata turn at the intersection. Emily's eyes glanced back at him as the car vanished from sight. He hesitated to pick up the crumbled-up paper after he grabbed his cigarettes. 

"Hey, sourpuss, time has been fucked with, but I still remember what happened."

Elijah's eyes narrowed as he lit a cigarette. He inhaled deeply and fidgeted in the driver's seat while reading.

"You told me to tell you that your mother beat you when you told her you saw stuff related to Ether, how she hired an exorcist, and when you were recruited by the P.I.A. at sixteen. Ashley and Bruce also shared some juicy details. Didn't expect Ashley to be cheating on her fiancee with a grumpy old guy like you."

"What the fuck is this?" Eli muttered aloud as he exited his Mustang and leaned on the car door.

"Also Dezerea Hernendaz is in town. You know, the drug cartel leader who made Gloom? Yeah, she's an undercover P.I.A. agent. Try not to blow out her brother's brains this time."

He glanced up and gazed around the intersection. He rubbed his face and swallowed, and a feeling crept up his spine that he was being watched. The sensation felt distant but close like every object surrounding him had eyes. The air brushing up against his skin felt unnatural and man-made. 

"I know you will have many questions, but first and foremost, you need to think before you act. Meet me tomorrow at Corwood High; I know you will be conducting an Ether test there. Don't keep me waiting, Emily."

Elijah crumpled up the paper as he flicked his cigarette. "She fucking gotta be P.I.A." He said as he breathed deeply.

His fingers trembled as he reached for another cigarette. An exasperated sigh escaped his lips as he lit the cigarette and inhaled. He sat on a bench nearby, gazing at his Mustang parked next to a stop sign. Conspiracy theories flooded his mind as he struggled to grasp what he read. 

"Shit!" He yelled as he dropped his cigarette in a puddle. "I knew something was fucked up about this town."

Elijah stared at the soggy cigarette for several seconds before returning to his Mustang. He opened the door and reached for the glove compartment. "Please be in there," he muttered as he opened it and pulled out a notebook.

He dug out a pen from his pants and then sat back in the seat. 

"Time travel anomaly? Confirm Dezerea's location and affiliation," he scribbled in the notebook as he searched for another cigarette. 

Elijah sighed as he gazed at the red payphone across the road. His eyes narrowed as the color glitched to a vibrant yellow before shifting back. He noticed the flickering neon signs above a convenience store shifting different letters. A car lagged as it pulled up to the store, parking several times before reaching a proper halt. 

"Okay then, time travel. Lovely," Elijah grumbled as he smoked and jotted in his notebook. "Wait, how did she remember?" He asked out loud as he glanced at Emily's note. 

"Confirm if the Time travel anomaly is Emily or the other girl she was with." he scribbled down the note and left his Mustang again. Elijah hesitated as he reached for the payphone. "Shit, I can't trust them."

"Fuck!" he snarled as he tapped his fingers on the phone. "I have been set up. HQ had to know about this if Dez is an undercover agent."

He reread Emily's note, eyes locked onto any little detail he missed. After several reads, he shook his head and threw the paper into the trashcan. "She says she is a Conduit but doesn't say what kind. She's hiding something," Eli said as he returned to his car. 

The Mustang engine hummed to life as he turned the ignition. He flicked his cigarette bud out the window while glancing at the road. To the north, the reactor loomed over the hills. Elijah glanced back at where the Pink Miata turned before focusing his attention back north. 

A rush of déjà vu flowed up his arms as he clutched the steering wheel. He blinked heavily as he imagined himself driving towards the reactor. Eli smelled gunpowder, blood, and the sting of shrapnel ripping his skin. His mouth dropped as he shook his head, and his arm trembled. 

"Oh fuck," he muttered to himself as he rubbed his face. 

Elijah turned off his engine and exited the Mustang. He walked back to the payphone, picked it up, and sighed. While waiting, a groan escaped his lips when he noticed his pack of cigarettes was almost empty.

"Did you enjoy being back in high school, Agent Echo?" Ashley chuckled on the other side of the phone.

"Knock it off, Ash. We have a serious problem."

"Wow, you sound like you've been through the wringer. What happened?"

"I will tell you in person. Is Bruce with you?"

"Yeah, why?"

"I need you to find a way to ditch him for an hour or two."

"Ohhhh, I thought that was a one-time thing?"

Elijah rubbed his face and muttered something inaudible under his breath. "Ash-get your head out the gutter. I gotta tell you something important. Can you meet me at the mall in twenty minutes?"

"The mall?"

"Yes, the mall. I will explain why when you get there."

"Okay, fine, so what will you do about the reactor?"

"You know what? Didn't Bruce say he had his reactor inspection license."

There was a pause on Ashley's side. Elijah could hear her muffled voice talking to Bruce. Several Black SUVs drove past as he waited for a response from Ashley. His eyes narrowed as he watched them turn on the road towards the reactor. 

"She really is here," Elijah muttered to himself. "Hey, change of plans. There will be no reactor inspection today."

"Wait, why?"

"Can you or Bruce look up a license plate number for me?"

"Elijah, what the hell is going on?"

"I will tell you later. Stc-0101, whose license plate number is that?"

"Pink Miata?" Ashley asked.

"Yup, that's the one."

"It belongs to Rachel Harper. Looking deeper, she is this town's high school female basketball captain."

"Thanks. I will be in touch," Elijah replied abruptly, ending the phone call and returning to his Mustang.