The two men following him certainly stood out. At least to him they did. Trying to be inconspicuous as they watched him wander up the sidewalk full of people on their way to work. He noted two on foot following at a distance, one in a car down the street, a woman with a coffee sitting at the bus stop, and from the flash of sunlight he caught a minute ago, they probably had an observer or two on the rooftops. Let them try he thought. Checking his watch, he couldn't help but grin as he continued down the street strolling casually.

"I have encrypted comm signals relaying from your vicinity", a soft monotone voice chimed in his cell phone earpiece.

You're about a minute too slow Faith, he thought to himself. Oh, she was amazing though, no doubt. Even after working with her for six years and having exchanged ideas with her for another two years prior to that, he still had no idea who she was or how she accomplished such amazing things. It didn't matter he told himself. How they met seemed a bit of pure chance, yet he often wondered what led Faith into seeking him out after he had joined the ATS forums simply on a whim. Did she know more than he thought she did? It was plausible from what he had learned about her over the years, she just didn't fail.

No matter he chided himself, get back to the task at hand. Continuing on, he crossed the busy street and continued to weave through the morning crowd on the other side. He hated working in the morning, operating in daylight, but it needed to be done. His black hair was cropped short and with his gray slacks and sweater, he fit right in with the bustling crowds.

"Decoding encryption now, 30 seconds."
"Copy", he replied in a whisper, not really surprised she could break the encryption that fast.

No running. No getaway. The legendary MIBs seem to be all smoke and mirrors, but he knew better. Now he was at war, and they were not going to like what he was about to do.

"Decoding complete. They are discussing intercepting you when they have a window of opportunity."
"Well then, time for me to give them one", he stated. Even as he said the words, he was in motion turning sharply into an alleyway and increasing his pace slightly.

"They are registering your position and moving to intercept", Faith stated with no emotion.
"Copy."

Tires squealed as a black van entered the alley at the other end, and raced straight toward him. Likewise, he could hear footsteps of two people now running up behind him. The van halted, doors opening sharply as two men exited and approached leaving the driver behind the wheel.

"Mr. Burke, we need you to place your hands behind you and then come with us", the blond with sunglasses stated as he approached.
"Why? What did I do?"
"Just cooperate Mr. Burke and you won't be harmed."

He grinned. The "Burke" cover was still solid. Faith kept her word that it would be rock solid, but these were the top echelon regarding national secrets. How the hell did she do that?

"Well boys, I'm a little late right now...so how about another time?"
"Last warning Mr. Burke", the blonde stated with not a trace of humor on his face. The other three had now circled him. All serious folks he noted. Big, solid, and stern with the exception of the blonde who was of a bit slimmer build.

"Actually guys, I'm not Mr. Burke so this must be a mistake."

A nod from the blonde sent the two men behind him into motion, reaching for his arms. Party time he thought. With a sudden rush he exploded into a blur motion spinning quickly, one hand lashing out catching the first attacker on the chin. The punch landed solid and stunned the bigger man back a couple steps, but left him standing. A quick reverse spin and leg sweep took the other off his feet and to the ground.

"Mr. Burke", that blonde stated sharply "no more games or you will be hurt."
"No more games then gentlemen", he replied with a devious grin. "And the name...it's not Burke, it's Exodus".

Seeing the surprise on the blonde's face was enjoyable as it sank in immediately who he was. Before he could utter a word of warning to the others though, Exodus extended his hand in a blinding motion and the cheap ball point pen shattered the blonde's sunglasses, entering a good four inches through his right eye. The howling scream he let out as he went down, created a momentary shock with the other three men, but Exodus was still moving. A blur of vengeance. The one he had punched before, received a kick which shattered a kneecap followed by an open palm strike to the nose. Moving left he blocked a lunge from the next, grasped the wrist and promptly broke the arm at the elbow with a forearm smash from his other arm. He continued to twist the arm until the attacker went down hard face first. The third took a couple steps back during the exchange and was drawing his sidearm.

Before he could straighten to take aim and fire, Exodus was on him. One hand grabbing the gun, the other striking the man in his throat hard enough to create surprise. With one fluid motion he jacked the slide from the gun, spun around grabbing the man by the back of the head, and drove the newly release slide straight under the man's chin. The body dropped with a flow of blood as the van motor revved high, and it powered itself backwards, lurching into the street and out of sight.

He walked over and stood next to the blonde who was still moaning and writhing in pain on the ground.
"Now, the shoe is on the other foot my friend."
"You're a MYTH," shouted the man through his pain. "You don't exist!"

With a chuckle, Exodus replied..."Yeah, you don't exist either. Faith, have Bible move in for pick-up and tell Mother Superior we'll be home for lunch, package in hand."

[Edited on 30-3-2004 by ZeddicusZulZorander]

Fredrick awoke with incredible pain in his head. The vision in his left eye was blurry and his right one was covered by some type of cloth. The pain was incredible. He tried to move but found that his hands were bound behind his back. As he flexed them, more waves of pain shot up his left arm to the shoulder. Wincing, he noticed he was laying on his side.
We're moving, he thought. Must be in some kind of truck or van.

"Seems your awake now, just try and enjoy the ride"
He looked up and tried to clear his vision by squinting. "Do you know what you have done?"
"I sure do my friend", said the voice. "In fact, I know more than you think. I know your friends will be looking for you even now, so we need to get ourselves settled and have a little conversation. My friends and I are very interested in some of the matters you folks seem to want kept quiet."
"You will be killed for this. It's only a matter of time until they find us", Frederick stated trying to get the sound of fear out of his voice.
"Only if you still had your transmitter", the voice stated evenly. "I'm sorry I had to remove your left pinky finger. We don't have surgery tools in the field and certainly no time to use them if we did."
"Who are you?"
"You already know that my friend."

Frederick remembered the name. Exodus. Some type of phantom that had shown up a dozen or so times over the last few years and taken classified materials before they could be secured. Frederick's team would show up in their black cars or helicopters and demand total control, taking material, forcing witnesses to be quiet, and in some cases...making witnesses disappear altogether. Then one day five years ago, something went wrong. Eight men were sent out with Team Leader Sanchez, and none returned. A second team was dispatched to find a grizzly scene. Seven men were dead in a corn field. Killed by extreme blunt trauma, enough to break bones and shatter skulls. The sole survivor was laying nearby with two broken arms. It was Sanchez.

All Sanchez knew when he was debriefed, was that his team hit the ground and started gathering any materials left behind from the encounter. Frederick thought it was standard abduction scene, so there was probably only the abductee, confused and missing time. If it was female then perhaps she pregnant or newly relieved of the fetus. One never knew until the MedChecks, but Sanchez never said if there was an abductee. He only had said that suddenly a dark-haired man simply stepped out of the tall corn right in front of them. He was wearing gray slacks, a gray turtleneck shirt, and a black leather jacket.
"It's time for you to go friends. I am Exodus", the man stated.
Sanchez had said it wasn't what he said, but how he said it that was unnerving.

Then the man grinned slightly and Sanchez had seen a strange look in his blue-gray eyes. Seven men killed and one wounded in seconds, according to the story. No mercy. No quarter. An eight man team of former SEALs, Rangers, and other various operators of war, who had disappeared for their country to keep the secrets that needed to be kept. They had skills and weapons yet didn't stand a chance. Since then, there had been other Exodus sightings, but nothing as destructive as that day. Prints were negative. Security camera pictures could not get a good photo, it seemed that he knew exactly where the cameras were at all times. Just a phantom.

Then one week ago, Frederick's team was assigned to watch a Mr. Edward Burke, computer programmer in New York city. From the briefing he had, this Burke was sloppy in hacking the DoD computers. He left his trail like a neon sign. What drew attention, was that this unskilled hacker actually gained access to Level One of PRIME, the secure system his department used for cover operations. How he had done it, nobody knew.

Now, this Burke turned out to be Exodus himself. He'll pay for this Frederick thought. The van came to a stop and the side door opened interrupting the darkness with bright, blinding light.

"Lean up and I'll help you."

Frederick squinted trying to see his surroundings. All white. White light, white walls, white furniture. Even the van he just stepped from was white. Two others were in the room, a woman with pure white hair and dark skin sitting calmly in a chair. The other one a blond male standing arms folded just to her side. They both wore clothes that were all white, the first a flowing dress and the second, a jumpsuit of some type.

"Welcome Mr. Kurtz or shall I call you Frederick?"
"Who the hell are you people? Nobody knows me! Nobody!"
"Calm down Frederick", the woman stated in a calm tone. "You may call me Mother. We have very little time and there are a few things I must know. Therefore, I will ask you some questions and you will provide answers. Understand?"
"You can all go to hell for all I care", he said still looking at the intense man standing next to this "Mother". "I'm not saying anything. You have all committed serious acts against the Government of the United States. You will be caught."
"Indeed Frederick, perhaps we wish to be caught" she said, smiling at him like a child. "Now, I have some questions and it won't hurt a bit. In fact don't even answer them. Just let me ask you and see what you think."

The man next to her chuckled at the remark.

"Thank you Exodus. We will handle this for now."
"As you wish Mother." Turning to Frederick he whispered, "sorry about the finger mate, nothing personal."

Frederick could hear him striding from the room as Mother rose from her chair.
"Now then. Let us begin, shall we?"

[Edited on 30-3-2004 by ZeddicusZulZorander]