no

Her face instantly said it all. She desperately wanted to just live another life or die to get it all over with. She'd try moving elsewhere and starting things all over again but the thugs would just follow like a dark cloud above her head. The 24 year old didn't look her age because of all the stress and scars around her otherwise beautiful face, not from hard hours from being a police officer, but from the torture she receives from her followers. She usually wouldn't dare coming to a seedy bar like this because of the risk of running into unwanted company, but her "friend" told her he'd meet her there, so she reluctantly listened.

"Hello Ms Narvaez... May I take this seat in front of you?" she didn't even think to look up. She knew the voice from over the phone and allowed him to take the seat. "I was beginning to wonder if you'd show up 'friend'." she replied to the seemingly average man. He jokingly replies "I uh... I was fashionably late." She mustered up a fake grin and continued "You sure you can handle my... problem?" the man doesn't immediately reply, instead he asks to hold the empty glass she had for her drink and she allows him to take it.

For the better half of a minute she is confused by the guy as he stairs intently at the empty glass and doesn't say a word. When she notices that the thugs have followed her to the pub and are sitting in a knitted group at the bar does she figures out that her 'friend' was using the reflection of the glass to get a good look at his targets. He then speaks quietly "You told me there where about six of them and I counted six... So you know how I'll handle them right?" the man's right eyebrow is raised as he looks back at the woman.

She replies less quietly and stares right at the men with rage in her bloodshot eyes "Hell yeah I know what you'll do and don't hold back man. I don't ever want to see those cock bites again!"

With that the man stood up and says "Y'know that glass would be better if it were filled with something to drink." she's confused and doesn't reply so he continues "What I'm saying is you'll be able to enjoy yourself tonight... fear free from these losers"

He wasted no more time and walks over to the six big men. He didn't take a second to stop at the bar they were at, he just passes by them and says loudly enough for everyone to clearly hear "Anyone who took part in beating up that woman over there, meet me outside. I'm going to kick your asses." The group of of men hesitated at first but given a few minutes they all met their challenger outside.

They stuck near each other even outside, and all identified him near his exotic BMW i8 pulling out a small mop from the passenger side. They began to pull out small weapons that they could kill the man with, without making too much noise, and form somewhat of a hexagon around the woman's 'friend'. The 'friend' moves away from his car and paces both hands on mop then waits for his opponents to make a move.

One of the several thugs assumes the lead position and first asks of the stranger "You're a friend of that cop b*tch in the bar huh bro?" and the 'friend' does reply "Yeah uh, I actually prefer to be called Carter instead of 'the friend of that b*th cop. But hey here's the deal boys-" before Carter can finish his statement, a goon behind him tries to sneak up and use a knife to get things over with, but Carter could see the large man coming from the reflection of his car's hood and bashes the thugs teeth in with the blunt end of the mop. "-Now as I was saying, tonight I'm going to break all of you and when I'm done I'll let you keep this mop so you can clean up the blood before cops get here. Okay? Cool. Now-" Carter then gets in a Kobudo (staff fighting) combat stance and prepares for their attacks. " It'll be raining soon. So lets get this over with quick boys."

The thugs were strong and worked surprising well together even being able to land a few slashes on the 'friend', but ultimately they lacked surefire technique and soon Carter, with just the small mop, was able to heavily injure and un-arm all of his opponents. One by one the thugs tried to attack Carter and each failed with a worse attempt than the last. After a few minutes of toying around with the guys Carter decided they were finally weak enough for him to start using his telekinesis to wipe their memories of Ms Narvaez and finish the job. So one by one he leaped through their memories quickly altering any encounter with the female ex- cop who busted the rest of their crew members back when they were secretly in charge of the city.

Within a matter of time Carter was done and the thugs were left with no idea why they had been beaten up. They just stair at Carter in fear and one of the men took up the broom Carter offered them right as it began to rain. Carter took a second to look back over at the bar and saw a crowd of people staring at the aftermath of the fight and he saw his client in the middle with a grin of relief plastered on her face. Carter too grinned and made his way to his car, eventually driving off. Though he didn't make off before taking a good picture of the crowd so he could later go back and wipe everyone's minds of the scene. Everyone. Everyone except for his friend Ms Narvaez... Maybe.

I desperately want to tell him to just run away while he can.

Save him from losing precious memories of a better life.

But they don't pay me the 8 digit pay checks to save people like poor mister Itou.

No, people Itou will just have to waste moments of their life coming up with something good just so tools like me can rob them of their memory and report back to "the government".

His eyes weren't peeled for the alley ways at night because he didn't know he was in danger. So when I pulled him in from the shadows I know I must have come off as a nightmare materialized into reality.

There was no screaming because I instantly tricked his brain into putting him into a sleep paralysis. Essentially leaving him with only his sight while the rest of the body was still in the middle of a nights rest.

And now begins the 30 second window I have into his mind to retrieve any amount of info I can about this "Project Ester"

29 seconds in

The full second it takes to get a good link into his memories is nothing compared to how long it took to actually find the correct strand of info.

For about 5 seconds and 750 milliseconds

I wasn't sure where to look, in a stream without a paddle. I watched key moments of his life, like his proposal, from inside the same restaurant as he was in with his (then) girlfriend and saw the look on his face when his father had called reporting about the passing of his mother, from across the street he was on.

I had finally found absolutely everything I needed to about his pet project at about 15 seconds in.

The time I had left was all spent on altering his memories so he wasn't even slightly aware of his connection to Project Ester.

This was the part I usually hated the most, when I had to hop around memories like a hare. Fabricating a whole new reality for the victim by ripping every memory apart and quickly piecing it all back together in hurry. When It was all said and done I stripped away his memories of growing up in Seattle with two living parents in the suburbs and replaced it with the memories of an abused child who grew up in a home of unemployment and heavy drug use. He also now believes his parents died in jail after they were both convicted for manslaughter when he was 17. Just in case his true, still living, father or wife try to contact him, I've altered all of his memories with them so he wouldn't dare even stare in their direction. Of course that's not all I've done but I don't want it to sound like I’m drooling over my work here, admiring my person Mona Lisa.

I'm so sincerely sorry Mr. Itou

Then I'm back in reality and he's still just lying there like he will be for at least 15 more minutes.

I'm so sorry for him until I remember what Project Ester is all about and then I report into my employers informing them while also inquiring of them "This agent Reed reporting a successful procedure and heading back to base now. Oh, and by the way... What do you guys want with a project like Ester that was constructed to destroy mutant genes in humans through the air?"