Day 4 had arrived, and the recruits found themselves in a large laboratory. There were several human-size specimen tubes towards the back. Inside of some of them were odd creatures that they had never seen. Some they had only heard of in legends and fairy tales.

  “Is that a vampire?” One of the recruits blurted out.

  “No way what the hell is that? Are these real?” Another exclaimed.

  Standing in front of the recruits were two people, Zac and the beautiful Indian woman Kenji had met several days ago.

  “Good morning! And they are indeed real my Tiny Tots! I hope you all enjoyed your time with your mentors.” Zac smiled.

  Everyone but Genkei seemed to have a satisfied look on their faces. Genkei looked like he was doing everything in his power not to pass out at the mention of their “mentors.”

  “Today, you’ll be spending your time with my lovely assistant. One Dr. Shaila Varma.” Zac motioned to his right. Dr. Varma fluttered her fingers at the recruits while winking at Kenji, who scoffed at the title of Doctor.

  “What do we need a Doctor for?” One of the recruits asked.

  “I’m the one who administers the Nano-machines that give you access to Programs, thereby awakening you as Chasers.” Dr.Varma said with a smile.

  The excitement in the room went up several levels at the mention of Programs. Several of the recruits looked over at Zac menacingly. Zac, in turn, just began to chuckle.

  “Before we begin, are there any questions?” Dr. Varma asked.

  “I got one. What exactly are Chasers?” Akiko asked.

  “Hell of a first question.” Zac said with a smile as he leaned against one of the tubes.

  “These strange creatures you see in these tubes. Do you know what they are?” Dr. Varma said sternly.

  They all had ideas about what they were, but none of them wanted to say it out loud, for fear of sounding crazy.

  “They are exactly what you think. Cyptids, monsters, paranormal, supernatural… it's all real, well most of it. Humans have never been at the top of the food chain, and sometime after the first human civilizations came into being, so too did a group of people. Those people made it their business to protect humans from the things that seek to do us harm. Including ourselves. They were given a title from someone or something, in a language that no longer exists on Earth. The closest translation we could muster was, ‘Chaser’.” Dr. Varma saw the shocked look on their faces.

  “Why doesn’t anyone know about this?” One of the recruits asked as they touched one of the tubes holding a demonic looking creature.

  “The fewer people who know the better. One of the best ways to protect humans from themselves, is to keep them in the dark about things they don’t understand. We’ve all seen how the human race likes to deal with things it doesn’t understand.” Zac sighed.

  “The U.N. agreed with our train of thought. They also understood they could not stop us from continuing, at least not without inducing mass panic. So they proposed the Secrete Security Operatives Against the Paranormal Initiative. The S.S.O.A.P Initiative, for short. It basically says we are free to proceed as we always have, as long as it stays out of the public's eyes, and we keep them informed of our operations, especially those that can affect global politics.” Dr. Varma carried on.

  “Wait, so Soap?” One of the American recruits giggled.

  “Yeah, we think it’s stupid too. But the U.N. refers to us as ‘Cleaners’, I guess they think they're clever.” Zac chuckled.

  “And by proceeding as you alway have… meaning?” Ume inquired.

  “Eliminating all entities that pose a threat to society, or life as a whole. That can range from these monsters you see here, to particularly nasty humans.” Zac answered.

  “Seems you missed a few dictators.” A bronze skinned young lady responded.

  “It’s not that simple. Sometimes killing a single or multiple bad people can do more harm than good. In most cases solving the issues that lead to the dictator coming into power is the way to go.” Zac shrugged.

  “I know it happened before we were born, but the US Iraq War is a prime example. A lot of people were killed, some that needed to be, and a lot who didn’t. However, as soon as the US occupation ended, some would say things got even worse.” Dr. Varma sighed.

  “Human problems are complicated, monster problems are relatively simple. So we try not to involve ourselves in global human conflict, unless things get out of hand. Like when the bombs were dropped during WWII. That’s when we made our presence known to the Allied Forces.” The room became eerily quiet after Dr. Varma spoke.

  “Why do you think Hitler committed suicide? Because he’s a coward? Yes, but what drove him to reveal his cowardice, was the vision of a squad of perfect Jewish superhumans, ripping his army to shreds and hunting him down. His idiotic dream became his worst nightmare.” Dr. Varma gave a dark chuckle.

  “After the war ended and The United Nations was formed, their first order of business was the S.S.O.A.P. Initiative. To summarize, we chase away the darkness, so people can live in the light. '' Zac smirked.

  Everyone nodded as they began to understand their role here. They couldn’t solve all the world's problems even with super powers, but they could at least do their part to keep it safe long enough for someone to find answers. As Kenji heard all of this, he started to feel a bit ashamed of himself.

  He saw these Chasers as nothing but self serving megalomaniacs, and maybe that was true for some. However, what they stood for at their core was respectable. He sighed to himself as he looked at Zac. The feelings he had regarding that man were becoming more conflicted as the days passed. He hated him, and maybe he still did, but he could not deny the respect that was rising to the surface.

  “Why are you giving us powers? We haven’t finished the evaluations?” Another Recruit asked.

  “Technically, you have finished the evaluations as normal humans. After your Awakening, you will do what you did the previous days. The only difference is you will be enhanced and have access to Programs. We will then compare your results before and after.”

  Everyone looked over at Zac, who smiled back at the lot of them. They were all itching to have another go at him after getting their Programs. Dr. Varma saw the looks in their eyes and just shook her head.

  “Yeah, good luck with that, Tiny Tots.” Dr. Varma thought to herself. These children had no clue. However, this would be good for them. Humbling cocky children was never a bad thing.

  “Will… will it hurt?” Genkei asked sheepishly.

  He had been through more than he was willing to for the rest of his life. He wasn’t in the mode for more.

  “Immensely. But you’re Helana’s pupil, right? The pain will pale in comparison to whatever that lunatic had you go through.” Dr. Varma consoled Genkei, who let out a sigh of relief. He was perfectly fine if that was indeed the case.

  “Why will it hurt? What are you doing to us?” Kenji asked.

  “We’ll inject you with nano-machines that will reconstruct and improve your body and DNA. It will remove flaws, increase strengths, and unlock any hidden treasures your ancestry may hold. Or even open up latent evolutionary paths. It will also integrate itself into your bone marrow to help maintain these changes. As you can probably imagine, it will be quite painful.” Dr.Varma spoke.

  “Can’t you just sedate us?” A recruit asked.

  “Yes, but sedation will work until the nano-machines start their job. One of their functions is to remove anything hurtful from your system. They identify sedatives as harmful. So… You’ll just have to grit your teeth and bare it, I’m afraid.” A lot of the recruits had odd expressions on their faces. If it was that painful, then,

  “How many people have died undergoing this process?” Ume asked.

  “Since the creation of these nano-machines in the early 2000s. 60%” Dr. Varma smiled.

  The recruits all looked at each other and then over at Zac. That was the 40% survival rate they talked about at the beginning? They didn’t kill recruits. Recruits died at this point in the evaluations. Some of them looked rather upset.

  “You lied to us?!” Someone shouted.

  The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

  “No one lied. Except me, but I lie constantly. You just need to do a better job of asking questions. Like this. Now that you know your chances of survival, has anything changed?” Zac spoke to the recruits, and all of them became quiet.

  Nothing had changed; there was always a 40% chance of survival. The only difference was they thought they had more control over the outcome. However, no one was willing to quit. They had made it this far. They refused to believe they couldn’t get through this.

  “That was the survival rate since its creation in the early 2000s. That was over 40 years ago. You have undoubtedly made improvements in the nano-machines and the administration process. So what is the success rate in recent years?” Ume asked.

  “You’re Zac’s pupil, right? I like you. We’ve worked out most of the bugs in the past 5 years. The current success rate is 98%. That 2% chance is unforeseen circumstances, we can do nothing about.” Dr.Varma shrugged.

  All the recruits let out a sigh of relief. They were all going to go through it anyway. Still, the added stress of having a 40% chance of survival may have led to those unforeseen circumstances.

  “Were you going to tell us that?” Kenji asked,

  “Maybe…It depended on how many of you looked like you would faint from anxiety. You’re entering a profession where your life's on the line every time you step out those doors. If you die from the stress of gaining a Program, you have no business being a Chaser in the first place.” Dr. Varma’s words were harsh but true.

  “But it seems like that was an unnecessary worry. You all seemed adequately motivated. However, there are a couple of things to keep in mind.” Dr. Varma started to walk toward the recruits.

  “Wait, I have a question.” Ume spoke, before Dr. Varma could continue.

  “Ask.” Dr. Varma Responded.

  “Nano-Machines are relatively recent. Chasers existed as far back as the first human civilizations. How did they enhance themselves, before the Nano-machines?”

  “Excellent question. They had access to some form of serum that they created by hand. Our records claim they received the know-how from a being they referred to as Heka, we believe it to be the same being that named them. They perfected said serum over thousands of years. However, there were always rather nasty side effects. Milder side effects caused their nervous system to slowly degrade, and they’d become vegetables after about 2 decades of having superhuman abilities. The most intense side effects were that they would go mad and become worse than the monsters they fought.” Everyone went silent for a moment, and Dr. Varma continued.

  “The serum also increased cognitive function, so they were able to advance their technology quickly. Soon their technology caught up to their abilities. So they made diluted forms of the serum to severely lessen the side effects and compensated the loss of some strength with technology. However, around the 1990’s the monsters started to become stronger than before. This brought upon the Advent of Nano-machines. Using technology and the premise of the old serum as the base, we created something that made us stronger than ever before, without the side effects. While having far more advanced technology to boot. Are there any more questions before I continue?” Dr. Varma asked as she looked out into the stunned recruits.

  “Then I’ll continue. Chasers are prohibited from using their abilities in public. This does not apply when on missions or in self-defense from other Chasers or supernatural entities. You will be prohibited from killing civilians. Obviously, you are prohibited from revealing your abilities to civilians unless the situation calls for it. Most importantly, you are forbidden from having children. Adoption is fine, but Chaser spawning children of their own is strictly forbidden. Which is why we aren’t too keen on workplace romances.”

  “Aren’t you and Zac dating!” Kenji blurted out.

  “Yes! And neither of us have Programs.” Dr. Varma smiled at Kenji.

  “Why can’t we have children?” A recruit asked for confusion.

  “Because we don’t know what your little devils will become. These Nano-machines push human evolution forward by thousands, if not millions of years. But it’s controlled. However, you are changed down to your DNA. You will pass that change on to your children, and we do not yet know what effects that could have on the general public. That’s why such children are taboo.” Zac said as he looked over at Kenji.

  Kenji’s eyes widened as everything started to click. Kenji rubbed his forehead as he thought about his life to this point. His mother was always against him involving himself in physical sports. She always told him to focus on his studies, not on useless things. She especially instilled the idea of living an everyday life. When he was conceived, his father was a Chaser, and his mother must have known, or could have also been one herself. He was one of these Taboo Children.

  “Has such a child ever been born?” Ume asked curiously.

  “We are aware of two such individuals. One we aren’t certain of. The other, we are quite certain of because we know his parents.” Dr.Varma looked over at Kenji, and everyone’s eyes locked on him.

  It made sense to everyone. Kenji was abnormal on many levels; many things he did were beyond what humans were capable of. At that thought, everyone turned their attention over toward Zac. If Kenji was abnormal, then Zac was downright freaky.

  “That’s right. They believe I’m one of these Taboo Children as well. But we aren’t sure, father died before I was born, and no one has information on him, and my mother was never a Chaser.” Zac shrugged.

  Dr. Varma nodded in satisfaction at the quick deduction of these recruits. Zac and Kenji were abnormal. They had the physical nature of Chasers, in some cases more impressive, but surprisingly they had no powers.

  “So why haven’t you gotten a Program?” Ume asked Zac curiously. If he was such an oddity, injecting him with those nano-machines would make him into something unstoppable.

  “The Nano-Machines don’t work on me.” Zac shrugged.

  “They get in, start their work and then… vanish. We have no idea why.” Dr. Varma said with an annoyed expression on her face.

  “Is it really ok to share all this with us?” Watabe was the one who asked.

  “It’s not like it’s a secret. Everyone in our line of work is aware of what I am. I even have a moniker. ‘The Anomaly.’” Zac chuckled.

  “That’s a Fuck’in cool alias.” Akiko blurted out.

  “I think so too. It’s fun.” Zac joked.

  “Will I be the same?” Kenji asked, a little concerned.

  “We don’t know, but we hope not. Because if we can figure out why the Nano-machines work on you….” Dr. Varma spoke but was cut off by Kenji,

  “You can maybe make them work for Zac.”

  “Exactly.” Dr. Varma nodded in response.

  Everyone else nodded as well. The recruits all recognized that Kenji was extraordinary. Even more so than Zac in some ways, but he’d need time to grow. Zac was already a dangerous animal. If they could figure out how to get the nano-machines to stick, it would be like turning a Black Mamba into a Black Dragon. Even Kenji understood this, regardless of how much he hated to admit it. They also understood why Zac was so invested in their recruitment class, even overseeing it himself.

  “Are there any more questions?” Dr. Varma asked.

  “Yeah, how much do you actually know about me?” Kenji asked.

  “Do you really wanna know?” Dr. Varma asked in return, as Kenji nodded his head affirmatively.

  “Very well. We don’t know as much as we would like. But what we do know is that your father was one of the first Chasers to receive a Program, on top of that he’s one of the best, alive or dead. Anyone who knows him, either has immense respect, fear, or a bit of both.”

  “Yeah, he’s alright.” Zac scoffed with a roll of his eyes. Dr. Varma chuckled and continued

  “The real mystery is your mother.”

  “How?” Kenji asked, confused. His mother as far as he could tell was as average as it came.

  “Our information is limited, because we weren’t an organization back then. However, as far as we can tell, your mother didn’t exist, until about 17 years ago. That’s when she appeared out of nowhere, with a child. You Kenji.”

  Kenji could feel his breathing picking up. He wanted to say that none of it made sense, but when he thought back on his life. His mother had always been standoffish with people they didn’t know, she made no mention of family or friends, it was like there was nothing in her world outside of him. However, that wasn’t the end of his shock.

  “Fourteen years after her appearance, we discovered her, well Devin and Zac discovered her. And in the process, they were confronted by your father. They came to an agreement, and in exchange for keeping you a secret, he works for us indefinitely. However, our counterparts caught wind of you somehow.” Dr. Varma didn’t need to explain the rest to Kenji.

  “Is that all you know about my mother?” He asked again.

  “The only person who knows more would be your mother or father, and your father isn’t exactly forthcoming with information, and your mother won’t talk to us.” Zac responded.

  “Ah… Ok…” Kenji was breathless as he tried to process everything he heard.

  Not only was his mother not what he thought she was, but his father was close enough to keep an eye on him all this time. Why did he never visit, why did he never let him know that he actually cared, why didn’t his mother tell him? What was happening?! Kenji felt his world begin to spin and walked away from the group, without looking back.

  “Kenji!” Akiko called out to him, but he ignored her call.

  “I’ll go talk to him.” Zac calmly said, as he walked after Kenji.

  “Zac!” Dr. Varma called out to him worried, but he simply waved her off without looking back saying,

  “Yeah, I know.”

  Zac followed Kenji into a corner of the room, where he found the boy beating his hand against a wall. Kenji looked over his shoulder and saw Zac standing there, he frowned at him and then faced the sterile white wall again.

  “What? Are you here to tell me to get over it? That I have a gift, and a duty to use it?” Kenji scoffed. It became obvious to him that he could no longer run away from this. It was as if the world had conspired to shove him into this position. His father was one of the greatest Chasers that ever lived, and his mother even if she wasn’t a Chaser, she was someone, with enough ability to confidently reject them. That little bit didn’t escape his notice. He wasn’t supposed to be alive, but now that he was, he must have a duty to fill a role, right?

  “No.” Zac responded bluntly. He leaned his back against the wall Kenji had buried his fist into, and sighed,

  “Look kid. I'm a jackass, a dick even, but not a complete asshole. This isn’t something you just get over.”

  Kenji chuckled a bit as Zac gave a very accurate description of himself.

  “Also, no one can tell you what to do with your gifts, but you.”

  Kenji looked up at Zac, the shock clear on his face.

  “People like you and me, owe the world nothing! So it makes it that much more impactful when we decide whether or not it’s worth saving. Even from itself.”

  At Zac’s words Kenji rubbed his forehead, and chuckled silently to himself.

  “You can decide whether this world is worth saving later. Right now, you need to get your head on straight, the nanos could respond negatively to your mental state. So take time to gather yourself. You’re not in the first group to receive Nanos anyway.” Zac thrust his back from the wall and began to move forward.

  Kenji stared at his back and a feeling of calm took over him. He never experienced having a father figure, maybe this was what it was like? Or maybe just a jackass uncle? Regardless,

  “Zac, wait! I'm coming.”

  “Atta boy. It would’ve really sucked if I didn’t get to see whether those nano-machines would take or not.” Zac sauntered back to the group.

  “You’re such a dick.” Kenji muttered.