Reflections - A short SHRP story.

A character arc affiliated with the SHRP.

My mind... is a flurry of memories. For the most part, they are not my own. For many years of my life, I worked as a saboteur. A trojan horse for the American government. Infiltrating other countries terrorist groups and disposing of key terrorist officials overseas. One might think my job is a simple one, but the methods used have cursed my mind and wounded me. With so many people's information in my mind, I fight to find my own. It's why I abandoned my prior work. It's why I seek the one thing that keeps driving me every single day. I am referred to as "Reflections" and this is my story.

The beginning:

Arsta Isiona: Second in command
I... don't remember my past. I also don't know of my true name or anything about me. I woke... in a lab run by the government with Nexus scientists keeping overwatch. At the time, I new who I was. Someone I wasn't. They had... wiped my memories clean and began drilling me on the person I was going to be, not without some resistance, of course. I tried to fight back, but I was putty in there hands, ready to be molded into whoever they wanted to make me. My past self was not important to them and, at the time, I didn't know the full scope of my situation. I would be given the moniker of the second in command of an overseas terrorist group who had been captured in a recent raid. I would be trained to act as he did, speak as he did, walk as he did and if I messed up ever so slightly, it would be met with swift retaliation. I learned quickly to do as I was told and to quickly learn the person I was becoming.

After a couple of weeks filled with learning, and going over the story I would tell, I would embark on a journey to the location of the initial raid. A place where sandstorms would regularly occur. I would go about and search for the hiding spot of the terrorist group's leader. I would be met with opposition and a very skeptical leader. I relayed the false tale to them in a their tongue and they would believe me. This story consisted of telling them of my capture and subsequent escape. I would lie in wait for the opportunity to dispose of the leader and while waiting, I gathered intel on them. I would slowly begin making a case against my... surrogate comrades... by showing the leader falsified plans on how they planned to overthrow him. The leader would not take this lightly and would begin accusing his underlings for traitorous intent. Stringing most of them up and setting executions every day until the supposed ringleader would show themselves. This would go on for days into weeks and every man would eventually be killed off by my hand, including the leader in the dark. I would contact my home telling them of a successful mission and be evacuated from the evac site.

The mark and the feeding:
The mission would end and my brothers in arms would rejoice. One terrorist leader of many fell. A pillar of hope would rise, as would my confusion and curiosity. In the weeks following, I would continuously ask the scientists and my handlers about the time I awoke with no memory. Evasion would be my answer from them. The only answer I would get is from a birth mark on my finger. A diamond... for many, it would hold no significance, but as my true powers became apparent to me, it would become the only link I would have to my past self. They would place me into a confined area, watching me with a close eye. They starved me, made me go mad with hunger. I can feel it every so often... that insatiable urge to feed. I didn't know what would come over me as they sent in another commander of another terrorist group. I ripped into him as Arsta Isiona and by the end, I would become him. His memories would meld in with the memories I had made. I learned everything about him and could quickly be sent out on another mission.

However, they wanted to wait. They wanted to wait for the group to think their commander had perished in the hands of the enemy. Putting a fear into their hearts that could only be relieved when the one they think is their commander would walk up one day. Tell a heroic tale and be let back in. This would not come for weeks. In this time, I noticed the mark. The same diamond, in the same place. It... was... strange. I felt a sense of reassurance when I looked at it. This feeling gave me hope. Hope that I would someday find my true self. The second mission would also go without a defeat. I would be sent to a snowy area and would assume the role of Lazar Ketra a member of a Russian terrorist group. Their leader would be killed by a knife stuck into his throat. The blame would be shifted on the newest member to join this group. The evacuation point would be found, and I would be extracted. This cycle would go on for many years. A cycle of hunger... a cycle of sabotage... a cycle of anger. New terrorist groups would rise and they would fall. Like the heads of a hydra.

The hunger for truth leads to escape:
I would return after yet another mission and be thrust once more into hunger. Another leader... another feeding, but his flesh and blood would not be what I wanted to sate my undying hunger. I needed answers, I demanded them. I would fight the stomach's need and replace it for the brain's need. The need to know who I was. Where I came from. I would call out to my former comrades. I would begin to see them as my captors, using me for nothing but their gain. Giving me nothing in return, starving me. I felt like an animal in a cage. They gave me false promises to make me go along with another feeding. I would comply like a fool. This man... this man... was the final offering... I would comply and do my mission, until I was left alone. I would go off protocol and effectively go AWOL. I would find someone new to feed off of. I would become them and live as them for a time.

A tropical area, this time. I would find myself constantly moving from place to place. Learning the layout of the land and eventually being able to hop a transport back to my home. The United States greeted me with a harsh light. I would become more people and gain their memories. I would also learn that I could only feed and turn within a twenty four hour period. This would be taught to me the hard way as I tried to escape capture from law enforcement. I would escape, and I would find myself in one of the seediest places in all of the United States, New York.

Anna, Dean and my hunger's end
I had assumed the role of a woman with no ties to anyone but herself. Her past was a tragic one and no amount of time could be sat and told to you about her memories. I had found myself in a bar on the south side of Long Island when I noticed out of the corner of my eye a woman dressed very primly and properly. A business suit with her hair done up in a bun. These types were never found in bars like these. I was very wary of her and almost as soon as my feeling began, she took notice of me and made her way next to me. She would tell of who she was and how she knew who I was. Making promises that she didn't work for the government, nor Nexus or any of their affiliates. She told me how my mark had been the thing to tip her off as to who I was. She dealt in buying and selling information and she wanted to recruit me for a group of people working for the betterment of the world. I would agree to aid her if she would give me information. "All in due time", she would say. Never once letting go of her cards. I was at her mercy. I didn't like it at all.

We would go and recruit people for this group for the following years, most of them denying our requests. Some of them saying yes. We would eventually be stopped by a man named "Dean Faulk" someone who she wanted to join her group. He would reveal his hand somewhat easily. I found him staring at me, like how a lion gazes at a gazelle before the kill. I could only assume he was targeting me. Anna, would tell me of his occupation as a bounty hunter. This would cement my feelings. We would agree that a direct approach would be best and would invite him to join us. He would deny our initial request to join us and would instead offer to ignore his job for a payout. We would agree and we would part ways. Anna and I would find ourselves back at her temporary place of residence, hiding out from the mutant threat that had surfaced. We spoke of more information. I was growing impatient and ever hungry. She would say the wrong things, and her blood would be spilled. I would drink every last drop as I assumed her role and memories. As it turns out... she had been a mental woman. Believing in a group that was made as a proxy to Black Fox. The people we had recruited were sent to Black Fox and would become members there. She knew nothing about me except the information she had on me initially, which was just my powers and my mark to identify me. Crestfallen, I would go to the meeting spot with Dean and beg for him to end my life. I would reason with him. Telling him to go about with his initial job and that death would be the only thing to allow me any relief.

He would comply and I thank him greatly.

My powers:
The way my powers had worked... was strange. I would feed from victims and using the DNA I had absorbed, I would shed the skin I was wearing like a husk and be reborn as the person I had consumed. I would not only assume their body, but their memories. This can take a toll on you if you yourself know nothing about yourself. This is what lead to my escape from the government and the killing of possibly the only friend I had made.