Power

## Chapter One

***Notes from the author are written in this manner.***

Now, I don't remember much of what happened before this so, I'll cut to the chase of this story real quick.

This all started when my best friend, my girlfriend, and I all got arrested. Well, to be honest, that wasn't the start of it, but it really played a part in what happened next, so I'll start here.
So, I was 16 at the time, and I remember that it was in the middle of June. Or was it July? Meh, doesn't matter. I remember enough details without the small addition of the exact date. Anyway, my best friend Steven***I reuse names a lot*** came over for seemingly no reason. You know, I say I remember a lot about it, but I really don't. Maybe I should start with what happened after the car crash. So ANYWAY, me and Julia were standing on the side of the road after Steven, who was driving, passed out for no apparent reason. A big gov't-like truck had pulled over next to us. Out of one of numerous doors, a man stepped out. He looked fairly normal, if sleep-deprived, with finely combed black hair with too much grease in it, tired bags under his eyes, which were sunken, and a permanent scowl on his face. The strange thing about this man was what he wore. It looked like a blue and black dive suit with glowing veins under it. He walked over to us with a slight limp, and began to harass us about something or another. Eventually, he handcuffed me and Julia, no matter our protesting, and lay Steven in an empty seat of the car, us next. The man continued to lecture, and I honestly don't know what he was saying, and I don't even know why. But after maybe an hour, the man started to slow, and he decided to catch up on his sleep. At that moment, Steven stirred awake. He had a high fever, God knows why, and he was obviously delirious, swaying to and fro. To our horror, he pulled a knife out of his pocket. *A knife!* He proceeded to *stab the knife into the man for no goddamn reason!* The man was stabbed right in the chest, and waking instantly, he clawed at the wound. Instead of splurting blood and gore, as it should've, nothing but blue light issued from the wound. Steven swayed and collapsed over the man. Then something even stranger happened. The man started to collapse, more light issuing from him. And the entire time, he made no sound. Finally, the man disappeared into a fuzzy blob of light, floating just above Steven's head. Steven lifted his head into the thing, and suddenly, everything changed.

## Chapter Two

When I say everything, I mean, the light left, and suddenly the truck was falling. Some kind of pressure went over the truck, and I blacked out. When I awoke, Julia lay unconscious near me, with Steven, outside the smashed ruins of the truck somehow. It was almost as if someone had pulled us out. I shook Julia awake, and tried to awake Steven, to no avail. "What the fuck is going on!?" was the first thing out of her mouth. "I have no more idea than you" was my reply. Glancing around, I noticed that we seemed to be in a deserted field near a large city. But the strange thing was, the sky was orange, and an omnidirectional buzzing filled the air. It was somehow pleasant, though that isn't to say that it wasn't strange, for it definitely was. In he next hours, we awoke Steven, finally, who's fever had mysteriously vanished, and we searched the truck, though we found no remains of the driver, or really anything else, for that matter. Then we all decided to head toward the city.

Once we were close, a stickfigure like object appeared in front of us. It held up a hand, and its outlines grew red, a clear STOP. While the three of us puzzled over this thing, a bored looking man with an orange version of the dive suit walked up. "I need your registration ID, age, general number, and IP. Refusal to release this information will result in calling Red," he said, very monotone. "Uh, what?" I asked. He then repeated the same thing in the same tone. "Yeah, but what the hell does it mean?" "God damn kid, you aren't a TS, are you? Were your parents E-Laborers?" "What kind of bullshit is an E-Laborer?" asked Steven. The man paused, confused. "Are you spammers by any chance? Because we don't allow that sort of-"

"Hey, calm down." The man was interrupted by a redheaded woman in a, well, I dunno what to call it, but it looked expensive.

She said to the guard in a low voice, "Let 'em through. Courtesy of WTF." The guard waved us through, and the woman walked beside us.

She opened her mouth to speak, but before she could, I asked, "What the fuck is WTF?"

She stared at me strangely, then laughed. "The Web Task Force," she replied, "Does everything around here."

"So, they're like, the government?" I ask.

"No, more like a *branch* of the government. We work against the other groups around here, the FFF, the KCSG, et cetera. That's why I let you through. I want you three to infiltrate the KCSG and tell us what is going on there, exactly."

"Err, I have no clue what the KCSG is either," I replied.

"It stands for KayCee Strike Group."

"What's a Kaycee?" asks Julia.

"That's a *name*. Ugh, you'll see. Just head to that big-ass building in the distance, *there*." Almost as an afterthought she adds, "And if you refuse, WTF will not permit your stay here. Now get going." So we walked towards the building that the woman indicated, having nothing else to do.

## Chapter Three

The building was a lot taller than I thought it was, we were just really far away. I mean, damn, that thing is huge! It went beyond normal skyscraper things and into the realm of, I dunno, but it wasn't just a skyscraper is my point. So, we stepped inside the front door, and we were met by another guard, who referred us to the 60th floor. On the aforementioned floor, there seemed to be nothing going on, save a few officials.

Suddenly, a blonde girl, about my age, walked up. "Welcome to KCSG headquarters. Get out, I'm on a mission."

"What? Who are you?"

She frowned. "I'm Kaycee, of course."

"And you *run* this place?"

"Uh, yeah? Who're you, the dumbasses they recruited?"

"No, we're your goddamn slaves." put in Steven.

"Shaddup Steven." I told him. Then I turned to Kaycee. "We're volunteers."

"Ah. Makes sense. You look the type." She laughed and walked away. "Ask for Reggie" was all she said before walking away. And so we did. Little did we know that going through with our retarded plan would almost get us killed many times before we got back.

So, a few pieces of paper later, we stood on a road wondering what the fuck we were supposed to be doing.