Truth Seekers: Prometheus

Operation 01: The Conspiracy Awakens

On one fateful night, Richard and his friends were abducted by aliens. These four humans were brought into a spacecraft of intelligent design and subjected to horrible experiments beyond their control. That night changed these peoples’ lives forever. It would be the first time that Richard and Scott would be taken by these extraterrestrials. And it wouldn’t be their last.

Richard and Scott’s encounters with these aliens sent them on a crusade to reveal their existence to the world. But an evil sector if the U.S. government made sure to stop their every attempt. Along this journey, Richard became a famous author in the field of UFOlogy for his non-fictional series of books about their encounters.

Richard and Scott eventually discovered what made them so special and perfect for alien abduction. Over time, the alien race called the Greys lost a very special gene called the Metagene. Any being that possessed the Metagene was able to exhibit extraordinary superhuman abilities. Richard and Scott were among the few on Earth who possessed the Metagene. They unlocked their abilities and soon used them in their fight for truth.

Their journey, that had begun to show signs of finally being completed, led them to the ancient city of Atlantis, which had been at one point inhabited by the Greys until it was attacked by another alien race called the Reptilians. However, once embarking to this now-underwater city, the four “Truth-Seekers” were never seen again…

That was until Scott washed up on a beach in California over a year after his disappearance. Miraculously, perhaps due to the Metagene, Scott awoke that day. But he found that his Metagene powers were now gone, or at least locked from him once again. He got access to his brother’s small fortune, then used some of that money to create a new life for himself -- he changed his last name and moved to a suburb of Sacramento, California. Scott made sure to put the rest of Richard’s fortune in a very safe place and then live a normal life. But on another fateful day, his life is changed forever once again…

The clock struck 6AM and the alarm sounded. Scott’s eyes open groggily and his arm unsteadily hit the snooze button. A few moments later, Scott sat up. Another boring day, another boring dollar, he thought. His days of adventure were certainly behind him, but at least he was no longer in danger of dying every week.

Scott got dressed, brushed his teeth, and sat down for a quick breakfast before he headed off to work. The small portion of money he had barrowed from his missing brother’s smallish fortune in order to go into hiding had run out quicker than expected. And so he had to eventually find a job. With all his credentials attached to his old name, he had to settle for a job more.. pedestrian.

But Scott never made it to work that day.

He first noticed the ominous black car early into his usual drive to work. And he kept noticing it every time he glanced into the rearview mirror. At first, he just thought he was being paranoid. But at the same time, he hoped it was the government agents tracking him down again. It definitely would be more exciting than the mundane life he currently lived. He then remembered his old life once again. The many races of aliens, the government conspiracies to keep their existence under wraps, and the amazing Metagene powers that him and his brother Richard had shared. Ever since Scott had reappeared, those abilities wouldn’t materialize no matter how hard he tried. That almost frustrated him as much as not knowing if his brother and friends were alive or dead.

Upon stopping at a traffic light, Scott looked for the car again, but it was no longer there. It was gone. Scott sighed, with both relief and a little disappointment.

But less than ten minutes later, Scott stopped at another traffic light. He had almost reached work now, but he never really looked forward to it. Scott’s boss was a real--

Just then, the black car that he thought had been following him pulled up in the lane right next to his. This broke Scott’s train of thought right away. He glanced toward the car beside him, but he could see nothing because the car’s tinted windows were closed. Scott’s heart began beating a little faster and he welcomed the rush of anxiety and excitement that came over him.

Scott glanced at the light. Still red. But if he had to, he could always run it. It surely wouldn’t be the first time he bent the rules for a good reason.

But then Scott’s eyes returned to the mysterious black car because the passenger side window was slowly rolling down. Once it was completely down, Scott’s eyes met with those of the driver. He looked back at Scott emotionlessly. And then he smiled.

Some of Scott’s anxiety evaporated.. only to return a few seconds later. The driver’s arm seemed to reach down to the passenger seat and it rose with a gun in its grasp.

Scott immediately hit the gas pedal, then quickly turned onto the intersecting street. He was able to evade the oncoming flow of traffic and speed away. He hoped the gunman wouldn’t be as lucky.

As soon as he was situated to the road, Scott checked his rearview mirror for the black car. He noticed that the car had tried to follow, but hadn’t made it past the oncoming traffic yet. Scott used that to his advantage and turned off on the next street, and then the next.

Once he was sure he had evaded the man in black, Scott parked his car in a parking lot to collect his thoughts and catch his breath. How did they find him? Or had they been watching him since he’s returned? That didn’t matter right now. What did matter was that his home and job were no longer safe. Nowhere was safe.

Scott tried to slow his breathing and calm himself. Well, just minutes before, he had wanted some of this excitement back in his life. But now recalling the danger that came with it, he was hoping for a return to his quiet life.

Now that nowhere he knew was safe, where could he go? Scott could only think of one place…

---

Scott stubbornly stayed in his car, but looked toward the apartment he had come to visit. He had traveled this far, but felt unsure about taking the final steps to the front door. Britt was now the closest thing Scott had for a friend. They had met shortly after Scott’s reappearance and became friends… and then that changed to more. Scott even opened up to her and told her of his extraordinary life, and was surprised when she didn’t totally write him off as a crazy person.

But a couple months later, Scott began to feel that the government had found him and was watching him again. He didn’t tell Britt about it. And when he finally saw one of the agents for himself, he quickly wrote a note for Britt and then left town. And now, she has a friend that may be able to help Scott with his problem. So he was back. Maybe.

Nah. Screw it. Scott reached for the ignition key, but was then startled by a knock on his window. Crap. It was Britt. Too late to escape now. Scott rolled down his window.

“What the heck are you doing here?” Britt asked.

“I.. I need your help.” Scott told her. “They tried to kill me this morning.”

Brit paused, then finally sighed. “Fine. Come in.”

“I lost the man in traffic, but I think they’ve found out where I lived.” Scott finished the recap for Britt. “I can’t go back there, at least for a while.”

“So where are you going to sleep?” Britt asked, as if not already knowing his answer.

Scott paused for a second before responding. “In my car, I guess..”

But Britt had noticed right away that he was using the sympathy card. “No.” she replied. “You’re not staying here again. Not after how you ended it the first time.”

“I told you that I had to leave.” Scott explained. “I thought the government had--”

“Yeah, you told me.. in a letter!” Britt exclaimed.

“I.. I had to leave immediately. There was no time to wait for you to come home from work.” Scott said. “I’m sorry.”

Britt calmed down a little before speaking again. “You sleep in your car. For now.” she told him.

“Alright.” Scott surrendered. It was a start. “Oh, and I’d like to get in contact with Jeff. Maybe he can help me.”

“Thought that was coming.” Britt muttered. “He’s changed since you left, Scott. He’s started spouting all these conspiracy theories that even I don’t believe.”

“Hmm. Nonetheless, I need to see him.” Scott said. “Right away.”

“Okay. Just don’t say I didn’t warn you.” Britt then walked to the phone, picked up a notepad and pen, then wrote down an address. She then handed Scott the piece of paper. “There’s his new address.”

“You’re not coming?” Scott asked.

“I nearly got pulled into all of his New World Order bull the last time I saw him.” Britt sighed. “Never again. But feel free to risk it.”

Scott got lost in thought for a moment, so Britt took this opportunity to return her attention to the TV. It was on a news channel.

“This asteroid, codenamed Prometheus, has scientists worried. They claim the asteroid will come into our solar system within the coming months and may come dangerously close to Earth. But others speculate that--”

"These threats always end up being nothing, don’t they?” Scott muttered, then smirked.

---

When Scott arrived at the address Britt had given him, he was surprised to see what stood before him. So surprised, in fact, that he made sure to check the address three more times upon his arrival. It was a supermarket. But it looked like it hadn’t been open in a long time. The building showed some wear and graffiti had been painted on its front. The parking lot was virtually empty. Jeff surely couldn’t be living in this dump, could he?

There was an abrupt tap on Scott’s shoulder and he quickly turned around. It was Jeff.. He thought. The man certainly resembled Jeff, but he didn’t remember him ever having a short unshaven beard and dirty clothes. He also didn’t recall the odor that was now attacking his nose.

“Hey Scott. What are you doing here?” Jeff asked.

“Uh, hey Jeff.” Scott said, while trying to ignore his appearance. I, er.. need your help.”

“Sure. man.” Jeff smiled. “What’s up?”

“Someone tried to kill me this morning. Before then--” Scott started.

“Shhh.” Jeff interrupted, then looked around to see if anyone was watching. “I think we’d better go inside. In private.”

“Oh. In there?” Scott gestured toward the supermarket.

“Nooo, silly.” Jeff replied. “My place is in the other direction. C’mon.” We then made our way across the parking lot, toward a large RV with a number of antenna and small satellite dishes jutting from its roof.

Upon entering the RV, Scott immediately noticed the messy computer terminal, the small television and unmade bed. And once he noticed the waiting glare from Jeff, Scott decided to begin where he left off.

“Before now, when they found me, the government would just seem to watch me. This is the first time they’ve tried to kill me in a long time.” Scott explained. “Have you heard anything?”

“Have I heard anything?! I’ve heard quite a lot on the internet during the months that you were gone.” Jeff said. “It’s becoming a very dangerous time, Scott. A lot of truth-seekers like you and me are going missing or ending up dead. The forums I frequent are becoming more and more barren, both from the deaths and those going into hiding in fear of being killed themselves. It’s why I’ve got this RV -- in case I need to escape them as well.” Jeff paused. “And there’s also an unexplained drop in alien and UFO sightings too.”

“I guess that explains that. Do you know what’s happening?” Scott asked.

“Not sure yet. But I’m pretty sure whatever they’re up to, they don’t want us around when they do it.” Jeff replied.

Scott got lost in thought for a moment. What could they be planning? “Hmm… Where is your wife, Michelle?”

“She… um, I… convinced her to get away from me and head for some place safer. I.. don’t want her dead just because of me.” Jeff replied.

Scott sensed he was probably lying, but he went along with it anyway. “Good thinking.” Scott told him. “I guess I shouldn’t have gotten Britt involved then.” He sighed, then thought for a moment. “I think I have an idea.”

“Yeah? What is it?” Jeff asked.

“It’s about time we quit running and fought back.” Scott told him. “We’ll go to the most popular forum you visit and post that we know what they’re doing. And when they come for us, we’ll be waiting to capture them. Then we’ll finally get our answers.”

“That sounds risky.. but alright.” Jeff said. “Where do we start?”

“You start working on the posting. And I’ll go get a couple weapons.” Scott explained.

---

Scott took one last look around his area of the storage facility, felt that he was as safe as possible, then quickly unlocked the storage space, hurried inside, and then closed the door behind him. He then clicked on a flashlight and began looking around the place.

This was where Scott had stashed most of his missing brother’s possessions after he had returned. Richard’s furniture, books and computer from their Colorado home were now here. Scott had opted to store the more important supernatural objects like the Spheres elsewhere.

During his search for the box containing weapons, Scott’s eyes fell onto a framed photograph. He picked it up and wiped some dust off of it. The photo was of Richard and Scott with an arm around each other. It had been taken that day when Richard was a guest speaker at a UFO convention for the very first time.

Richard and Scott had literally gone through everything together during all those years of investigating the UFO phenomena. They even shared the Metagene, a rare alien gene that gave humans extraordinary abilities. They unlocked their abilities and strived to master them. But during Scott’s missing time, his abilities had somehow been deactivated. If he still had them, he sure wouldn’t be needing these guns now.

Scott took one last look at the photo as a wave of sadness overcame him. Scott promised himself to find his missing brother, then sat the photo back down where it was.

---

Scott returned to Jeff’s RV and together put the finishing touches on the message to be posted, then started a new forum thread. Jeff didn’t want the forum moderators to know it was from him, so he created another account and posted it that way. He also made sure to make the IPs of these two accounts not match, yet didn’t cover his tracks too heavily so that the government goons could still track it back to him.

Scott loaded the guns that he had retrieved, then handed one to Jeff. And then they waited and watched as the forum thread filled up with comments. Every once in a while, they’d hear a sound and look out the window. But each time, there wasn’t anything out of the ordinary out there. Eventually, the sun went down and the dull parking lot lights turned on at the first sign of darkness. Scott made sure to turn off most of the lights in the RV at this point.

“I’m starting to think they’re not coming.” Jeff finally said, then sighed in sort-of relief.

A few moments later, there was a sound outside and Scott looked out the window. A part of him was actually surprised by what he saw. “I think they’re here.”

“…Oh.” Jeff replied, then cursed under his breath.

Scott watched as the ominous black car slowly approached the RV. It then stopped about two car-lengths away from their front door. Then the driver’s side door opened and a shadowy figure stepped out. The man looked around the empty parking lot for a moment, then began making his way toward the RV.

It was time, Scott thought. He took a deep breath, then quickly stepped out the front door to face the man with the help of his weapon.

The Man in Black stopped where he stood and held his arms up a little. “I guess you got me. What do you want to know?” the man asked, then he laughed. “Did you seriously think this was going to work?”

Scott did his best to hide the surprise on his face. “What do you mean?” he asked.

“Your silly little plan to get information.” the man replied. “In this day and age of technology that can see everything you do and hear everything you say, you don’t stand a chance.”

Before Scott could even reply in any way, the man quickly reached into his jacket and pulled out a gun of his own. The motion of the man’s arm was so fast, Scott could only see a blur before the gun appeared in his hand. “Then why did you come here?” Scott said.

“To kill you, of course.” the man replied. “And since you’ve involved your friend Britt, someone has been sent to kill her as well.”

“Britt..? No..” Scott muttered. He had to save her. Now. But this man stood in his way. Scott quickly sprang into action. Using speed he didn’t even know he had, Scott tackled the man, then hit the gun out of his hand. He then repeatedly punched the man in the face until he stopped struggling underneath him.

Scott stood and looked down at the man. He couldn’t believe he just did that. How..? But there were bigger problems right now, Scott thought. He noticed Jeff was now standing outside. “Britt’s in trouble. Watch him.” was all he said to him as he made his way to his car. He jumped inside, then took off as fast as he could.

---

Scott arrived at Britt’s apartment in record time. He was glad he didn’t pass any cops on his way here. It would have been more difficult to save Britt if that had happened. Scott quickly exited the car and ran up to Britt’s door. He quickly opened the door. Beyond, he found Britt held a gunpoint by another Man in Black. Scott pointed his gun at this man now. “Leave. Or you’ll regret it.”

This man acted just as uncaring as the first. “Just give it up, Mister.. Stevens.” he said, referring to Scott’s current alias. “Just die like all the others. You can’t change what’s coming.”

“What do you mean by that?” Scott asked.

“You mean, you don’t know?” the man said, then let out a small laugh. “Well, never mind that then.” The man then re-aimed his gun at Britt.

But before he could fire, Scott went into action again. He ran up to the man and began struggling for the gun. A shot rang out, but fortunately it missed Britt by a few feet. After that, she made sure to stay out of the gun’s way as it turned one way then another.

When Scott didn’t seem to be gaining any ground, Britt decided to take matters into her own hands. When she saw her chance, Britt swung and punched the mystery man right in the groin. The man groaned in pain and fell to the floor, dropping his gun. Scott picked up the man’s gun immediately and aimed it at the man.

“Hey. Hasn’t he suffered enough?” Britt joked.

Scott let out a quick laugh and looked at Britt. “Guess we’re finally going to get our answers…” Scott said.

“Scott!” Britt called. He turned back toward their captive just in time to see him place something small in his mouth. He quickly tried whatever he could think of to get the man to spit out whatever he took. But he soon realized he was already too late. The man was already dead.

“Damnit!” Scott exclaimed, then sighed. “Now how will we know what he meant?”

“You’ll find out, Scott.” Britt told him, as a method of comforting him more than anything else.

“Your home isn’t safe for you now either.” Scott said. “I’m so sorry.” He then paused for a moment. “You’ll have to pack up some things and come with me.. to Jeff’s RV.”

“No.” Britt said clearly. “No way.”

“Please, Britt. None of us are safe anymore. We need to stick together.” Scott pleaded. “I.. I need to protect you.”

Britt had just proved that she could take care of herself. But she heard the emotion in his voice. Scott felt at fault for putting her in danger.. and he was at fault. Finally, she sighed and gave in, then went into her bedroom to pack some clothes.

---

Scott and Britt returned to Jeff’s RV to find that the man and his car were now gone. Scott quickly went inside. “Jeff, where’d the man go?”

“Well, I.. got an e-mail and looked away for mere seconds. Then when I turned back, he was gone.” Jeff explained, then smiled. “But Scott, that’s not as important anymore.”

“Why not?” Scott asked.

“The e-mail. Someone in the know must’ve seen our forum post. Just check it out.” Jeff then gestured toward the computer monitor.

Scott approached the monitor and took a closer look at the e-mail message on the screen. And then he smiled as well.

I read your message on the forum and believe we could help each other. I’d like to meet with you and pool our information on Operation Prometheus. I agree that the plan is too diabolical to be kept under wraps. Reply and we’ll work out a meeting place and time. I look forward to your response.

AlienHunter

---

James Turcotte sat on his front porch, admiring the starry night sky. Now that the General was retired, he missed the importance of his job. Life for him was so boring now.

But most of his life’s work is about to be completed by others. Nearly all the machinations are now in place for the great show that was to come. And James was proud to be alive in order to see all that he had worked so hard for during his long career finally come to fruition.

James looked to the sky and smiled.

TO BE CONTINUED…

---

Coming Up on Truth-Seekers : The truth has only just begun to be uncovered… An informant will not be what they seem. The Men in Black will continue to try and complete their objective to kill the new Truth-Seekers before the event takes place. Will the Truth-Seekers stay alive long enough to discover what Operation Prometheus truly is? And will they find out in time to stop the diabolical plan? The truth shall be revealed and the world will be changed forever…