Containment

Roman shrugged.
"Hmm, I could think of quite a few people, honestly. I'm alright with it. These suits don't know what it's like to be out there, mixing it up. Never even pulled a trigger in their lives, but they're so comfortable telling us who needs to be shot and who deserves to be saved."

"Is it that obvious?"
Keeping that thought to himself, he chuckled at Dominic's comment.
"Well, you know how it is. Some of those training exercises can get pretty intense, especially when you've had a few too many the night before."
He came up with an excuse on the spot, not wanting to divulge his more private activities outside of the DCOA.

Roman scooped up the cup and gave Dominic a slight nod and a wry grin.
"See, this right here is why you have the best office in the whole facility. Some people just don't appreciate the simple joy of having easy access to a cold cup of water."

Roman skimmed through the file, rubbing his chin.
"Scaly skin? So he'll probably be wearing extra clothing to hide it in public."
He nodded as he stood up and held the folder under his arm.
"Sure thing, I'll keep an eye out for him. Thanks for the heads-up, and don't worry about me, I know my limits and I can handle myself. Who knows, maybe this softball assignment is just what I needed to catch a little extra shuteye. See you around, Dominic."
That said, he made his way out of the office and made his way to the armory to pick up a few pieces of equipment.

 

As he made his way to the armory, Roman thought about his talk with Dominic.
"That guy...he's always been so helpful for as long as I've known him. Almost a little too helpful. It makes me wonder...is he really on the level? What's his angle in all this? Then again...if he gets what he wants and I get what I want, how much do I really care what's he's up to?"
He shrugged.
"I guess I don't care, really."
After stepping into the armory, Roman grabbed a duffel bag and started packing up the usual fare. A tranquilizer pistol and flash grenades for non-lethal encounters, a tranquilizer sniper rifle for long-distance pacification, miniature cameras that could easily be hidden from view, that sort of thing. However, as was his habit, he also prepared for the worst with a compact submachine gun and fragmentation grenades just in case--after all, even if your assignment isn't dangerous, you might run into something else that is. He also packed a few pieces of equipment which might come in handy for this mission in particular: A pair of thermal goggles and a portable sonar device. As he placed the goggles into his bag, he mused to himself.
"Would it really be that easy? Who knows, but it's worth a try."

After packing up a few more odds and ends, including his custom revolver, he changed into a new outfit. He picked out a business suit which looked like any other suit, but the jacket was interwoven with Kevlar to make for a very practical disguise in the field. Now that he was all geared up, he took out his phone and entered the address for the restaurant where Iris works.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After a very long plane ride followed by a mercifully much shorter ride in his rental car, Roman arrived at the restaurant in question. He looked down at his phone to confirm the correct address, then up to take in his surroundings, the restaurant in particular.
"I have to say, this town seems to be rather charming and quaint. And this restaurant looks...quiet. Cozy, even. Like a little bed and breakfast run by a sweet old couple."
He got out of the car and started to make his way inside.
"That's enough time spent gawking. Time to taste the local cuisine, and hopefully, a certain someone is still here."

As he made his way inside, he quickly scanned the room.
"Jackpot."
He saw a server matching Iris' description waiting on a table towards the back corner of the room. He had a little time to observe her as the restaurant was quite busy and the staff were all preoccupied for a few moments. Before long, a hostess approached him with a smile and offered to seat him. He gave a devilishly charming smile back and replied.
"If it's not too much trouble, might I take a window seat over on that side?"
He motioned towards the area where Iris was serving customers.
"It seems to have the loveliest view of the sunset, wouldn't you agree?"
The hostess, slightly flustered, quickly obliged and Roman sat down at his table, waiting for a certain waitress to arrive.

 

John pondered the question for a moment while taking the coffee from the waitress that had just returned.
He nodded a 'thank you' to the waitress before turning back to Tai.

"This is all I know. Without this, what else would I be doing? And beside that, you promised to help me figure out who I am, so even if I was tired of doing this, it's beneficial to me to continue."

John took a sip of the extremely hot coffee somewhat carelessly, burning his tongue. His brow furrowed at the pain, but he said nothing of it.

"Speaking of that, Tai.. what do you make of this?"

John pulled a folded up piece of paper out of his pocket and placed it on the table. At the top of the piece of paper, the insignia of the DCOA could be seen, though crumpled. Most of the text had been blacked out.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
'John Doe'
'Birthdate REDACTED'
'Subject exhibits abilities in line with our expectations, his ability to REDACTED is weak but improving. Advising research department to release subject under surveillance. Subject poses no significant danger at this moment.
The rest of the paper was completely blacked out line by line.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
"When I went to pick up my check from the agency last week, I found this in my employee locker. Is someone trying to tell me something?"

 

Tai raised an eyebrow when he pulled the paper out. before he grabbed it from John opening it he looked over it, It seemed vague, "Is this a threat?" he thought to himself. "Or is this a crucial piece of evidence?." Scanning over it, He got a little frustrated reading the name John Doe.

"Hmmm, This could be a threat. or something that is important for you to know, It could be a link to your past. But, I am a little off-put by them using the name 'John Doe'. I'm not sure if you know, but that is usually the name we use for a 'nobody.' technically a person who doesn't exist or has no identity. whatever it might be, it's something that you can't ignore. I'm not sure if the DCOA has the resources such as fingerprint ID'ing or DNA tracing. let alone was there even any DNA on the paper to take, now that both of ours is on it."

Though it seemed hopeless it could be a big clue. taking a sip of his coffee he couldn't stop mulling it over in his head. When the waitress came back, Tai gave a quick glance at the menu and just ordered country fried steak and eggs.

"Keep me updated on anything else that you get, or anything else that happens to you."

Tai handed John back the letter. "It couldn't be talking about him right?" he thought to himself.

 

Now that his coffee had cooled a bit, John quickly chugged both. He had been out with Tai too many times and had a sneaking suspicion of what was coming next.
"Absolutely, Tai. I'll keep you in the loop, so do the same for me. How are you feeling? Awake and aware?"
John started impatiently tapping his fingers on the table from the rapid influx of caffeine.

 

Dominic was looking over some of his files, reading into Tai's case as it was one that always boggled him.


"Why would we keep someone like this alive, and allow him in the everyday world? I understand he wasn't always a hazard, but this seems careless... Then again..." He thought to himself.

Quickly he looked into the file a little bit deeper. it was a case that had always intrigued him, however he thought about it, it always led back to the DCOA staying in control of everything. and well, Dominic liked control anyway. turning to the final pages there he saw an old name he forgotten about. "JOHN DOE" Pausing on the page he decided to re-read it.

'John Doe'
'Birthdate: 6 Months ago'
'Subject exhibits abilities in line with our expectations, his ability to implant thoughts into others is weak but improving. Advising research department to release subject under surveillance. Subject poses no significant danger at this moment.
GENESIS PROECT:
Birthing Artificial Humanoids was a great success, allowing for specific defect creation through manipulation of genetic code.
SUBJECT 0000 (Codename: JOHN DOE)
The first of GENESIS PROJECT. Shows Promise. Keep under surveillance regularly to make sure no further defects present themselves.
​

Any and all documents and other media of GENESIS and SUBJECT 0000 (Codename John Doe)
Must be REDACTED for anyone below Security Clearance Biohazard.
​

Dominic, being one of the people over watching Project Genesis had seemingly forgotten about John Doe, however. without hesitation he pulled out his phone and sent roman a text

"Sorry for the abrupt message. But it is rather important, I know you're likely already with Iris. But I need you to do me a favor. It's kind of an order since everyone in this office is lazy. but I hate ordering people around, so, please just do it. I need you to give John aka Agent 0000 a visit, If you look at your tracking app, (which I conveniently linked anyway.) You will be able to find him. Also, I left an attachment of the case file for you. don't spread it around."

 

Roman sighed as he read the text and the case file.
"Looks like I've got an extra errand to run. 'No rest for the weary,' I guess. Ah well, shouldn't take too long."
He wrote a quick reply back to Dominic.
"You got it, I'll look for him the first chance I get. But you owe me a drink once I get back."
Putting the phone away, he mused on Dominic's unusual request.
"Artificial human...? John Doe? Genesis Project? Damn...it sounds like I'm diving into deep waters with this one."
He shook his head.
"But for now, all I can do is focus on the mission. Everything else will have to wait."
Soon after, a server came over to take his order.

Roman smiled back, turning on the charm as he waved dismissively.
"Not to worry, I can see for myself that it's quite packed. The food here must be exquisite!"

When the server gave her name, it removed any doubt that Roman had found his target.
"Iris, was it? That's a lovely name."
He took a quick peek at the menu.
"I'll have a cup of coffee to start with, cream and sugar. As for the special, say no more, I'll take it. I'm here on a business trip, you see, and I insist on sampling the best of the local cuisine wherever I go."
He folded up the menu and handed it back, a sympathetic look on his face.
"You look a little tired, I hope they're not working you too hard. How much longer do you have on your shift?"
With this casual, seemingly innocent question, he was subtly trying to fish for information on when she would be heading home so he could attempt to track her movements. With this initial encounter, the mission has officially begun.

 

Tai also chugged his coffee, thinking of where to go after they had finished breakfast, the waitress returned quickly and like an animal he quickly devoured his food.

"Yeah the coffee is working wonders, I think we should go gambling." He paused, "eating out of the way. I'm gonna head to the bathroom now. "

Tai having no idea where the bathroom was certainly knew where the front door was and he saw himself out. Quickly making distance between him and the diner. Knowing pretty quickly that John would be behind him in no time.

 

John knew Tai was going to ditch on the bill, but somehow he still felt annoyed every time it happened.
He scrawled a quick note on a napkin on the table that read 'My friend is a dick, sorry ' and left his last few dollars on the table as some sort of attempt to compensate the waitress for her wasted time.
After that, with his usually ability to go unnoticed, John slunk out of the front door and was quickly behind Tai outside.
"Why do that? You have the money to pay for it. Is that why I'm broke and you're not?"

John know he wasn't going to get an actual answer from that, and didn't really need one anyway.
"You know, I don't really care what we do next... just be aware of the time. We should probably swing by the gas station so I can pick up a few energy drinks for tonight whenever you crash."

John noticed another restaurant as they were walking in the direction of the gas station. This one seemed much busier, and much less run down than the hole in the wall diner they were coming from, with great smells wafting out of the door.

"Hey Tai, are we banned from there too? I can't remember."
After 3 months or so of this 'game' he and Tai had played around the town, he was starting to lose track of where they could go back to.

 

While Iris headed back to the kitchen to put in the order, Roman typed out a short note on the mission into his phone.
"Made contact with Iris. First impressions? Seems normal enough. Wouldn't know she's a Defect if it weren't for the file. Not expecting any violent confrontations. Starting to wonder if Dom pulled some strings to get me on this assignment just so I could run his side gig with J.D., maybe? Should be fun, at least. She's even cuter in person."
He saved his notes and put the phone away just as Iris approached again.

Roman smiled and gave an affirmative nod.
"Great, thanks."
He made sure to catch Iris' attention before she walked away.
"Oh, if you don't mind, I'd like to ask a little tourist-y question if you don't mind."
Once again, the intel-gathering game begins.
"What do you do for fun around this town? It seems so quiet, but my experience tells me that there are always a few hidden gems in small towns like these where all the fun is happening. It sounds like you've been here at least a little while, so have you found any places like that? I'm open to just about any decent way to cut loose and kill time."
He took a sip of his coffee, waiting for her response.

 

Tai listened intently to what John had to say. he ignored the criticism of ditching the bill.

"We could go in an try them out. I don't think we've ever hit this place before, I couldn't imagine that we are banned. I never even noticed it on any route we were going, must be new. or well, it has been here and I just never cared because it looks too high end." he paused looking into the window, and pointed at the man in the suit. "See look, there is even a businessman in there." Talking about roman, who he had never seen before. "You're right though, we should get some energy drinks for the long night at the casino ahead of us."

Tai let John decide if they would be going inside or not.

 

Roman smiled and gave a nod.
"Thank you kindly. I'll have to remember that; I could always go for a good concert."
As he turned his attention to the meal in front of him, he made one last comment.
"Mm, it looks delicious. Please give my compliments to the chef."
With that, he grabbed his fork and knife and began to enjoy his meal. But behind his carefree, affable demeanor, he was putting the pieces together in his mind.
"In my experience, people don't often recommend places to visit unless they personally like going there. A museum and a local park...again, it all just sounds so peaceful and ordinary. Are the higher-ups completely sure she's a Defect? I guess I'll find out for myself. More importantly, she's heading straight home after her shift is over and I'm her last customer, so she'll probably leave right after I do. I'll have to move quickly and carefully if I want to track her movements without being noticed."

As he was eating his meal, his eyes occasionally scanned the perimeter, as was his habit as a Specialist Operative. He happened to notice two figures standing just outside one of the windows of the restaurant. Curiously, one of them happened to be pointing in his direction, at which Roman slightly raised an eyebrow.
"Do I know him from somewhere? Hmm...no, I don't think so. Guess he's just a curious onlooker."
Roman then looked towards the unassuming man standing next to the first figure.
"You, on the other hand...that's strange, why does he look so ordinary yet so familiar?"
Following a hunch, he looked down at his phone and pulled up the file which Dominic sent him. After glancing at the file briefly, he stopped himself from giving away any obvious reaction and simply made another note on his phone.
"Contact has been made with John Doe."
He put the phone away.
"Don't make eye contact right away. He'll know I'm on to him."
After nonchalantly taking another bite of his dinner and sipping his drink, he looked back at the man out of the corner of his vision.

 

John looked questioningly at Tai for a few moments before lightly slapping him on the back.
"You already left me with the bill once tonight.. and you've already eaten. Let's just go to the gas station down the street."
John pointed in the direction of the store he was referring to and started ahead of Tai.
"Besides, I don't think I'd fit in in a place like that."

After a few quiet moments walking, deep in thought, John asked Tai a question that had been on his mind for quite a few days.
"Hey....do you think there's an end to this? Is this just the way we live now?"

 

"You And me both. John. We'd stick out and probably be asked to leave. Not classy enough for a joint like this." He paused and pondered for a moment. "I suppose it ends when we're dead. I don't think things can change so long as I'm alive. If I can't control what I can do. I need someone to at least be able to handle the situation. Maybe I am just better off dead."

Tai wasn't speaking in a defeated way more so matter of factly, he didn't see a light at the end of the tunnel, all he saw was a future where the world was better off without him, including his mother and his sister, What he knew about himself would only cause issues.

"I'm sure you would like a normal life. John, but I don't think you can be provided with that until I'm gone." He tried to let out a chuckle as if it didn't bother him. "Sorry for burdening you. I know it's not the best of circumstances." Continuing he spoke a little more cheery. "As for the dine and ditching. I dunno, it's just a way of getting a cheap thrill, keeps me going."

As they walked to the gas station, he gave one last passing glance at the restaurant he knew he was gonna hit this place sooner or later, just hoping they don't have a reputation yet.

 

Roman kept an eye on two strangers outside as he finished the last few bites on his plate.
"Damn. Looks like they're moving past the restaurant. If I don't leave soon, I'll have a hard time keeping track of them."
He looked back to Iris between bites, keeping up a friendly appearance even as his mood soured.
"As much as I would like to sample more fine cuisine like this, unfortunately, something just came up and I really should be going as quickly as I can."
He took another bite as Iris responded.

Roman gave a smile--a genuine one this time, as he couldn't help but admire Iris' business acumen.
"She's good. If she ever gets tired of the waitress life, I'd bet good money that she could make a killing in sales."
He stroked his chin in thought and chuckled slightly before giving his reply.
"I have to say, that sounds like a great way to start the morning. I'll think about it."
He pulled out his wallet, choosing to pay in cash right then and there so he wouldn't have to wait for his credit card to process. Taking out enough to cover the meal and leave a very generous tip, he handed the cash over as he stood up.
"No need for change or a receipt; like I said, I really need to be going. Have a wonderful evening, Iris."
He waited for Iris' reply, but it clear he wouldn't wait very long.