Battlerock X: Journal Entry 20080505

My investigation of what happened during those missing five years of my life progresses ever-so-slowly.

I recently found my old black-ops uniform. The term is sort of redundant, because if you’re in black-ops, then you’re really not supposed to exist, much less have a uniform saying you’re in black-ops. But if I needed a quick military transport to, say, Germany, I couldn’t show up at a military base and pull rank in civilian attire. I needed to wear something that said I was on the same side and not have to deal with too many questions. So I got my old dark camouflage gear again. It felt good put it on.

I found the location of the original Omega Team base. Supposedly you could be allowed to wear a cape afterwards, but I didn’t care about that. I wasn’t there to get a cape. I was there so I could know where the base was so I could go there again. The Lost were ransacking it, defiling the memories of my friends and comrades. I had to chase them out, for their sake and my own. I had to really fight the urge to kill them.

At the far back of the base was our time capsule. It had personal messages and mementos that we wanted preserved. It was sealed by a mystical lock, and even though the Lost were trying to smash the chamber open, the magic still held. Even though I knew how to unlock the capsule, I didn’t want to open it.

Just touching the chamber brought back those memories of my last days before the battle. I know precisely what I put in that capsule. It was a picture of me and my wife and daughter, along with a letter telling them how much I loved them and that they would have to be strong for my sake. I remember what some of the other heroes put in there as well. Letters, pictures, a lock of hair, a few wedding rings and bracelets. A few wills were put in, not to mention one insurance policy. I even remember the hero who put it in there. We joked and said that if they honored it; he would have the richest goldfish on the planet.

I wanted to visit Ajax in the hospital. I just wanted him to know that I was still alive. But before I could make it to the hospital I was intercepted by a member of the Midnight Squad. I don’t remember too much about them, except for the fact that they were the first ones decimated by the Rikti. They certainly knew me, though. They said that they were watching me and that I also had “dark eyes” watching me. They said they couldn’t tell me anything more than that, but warned me that I needed to be careful about where I go and what I see. I wished they told me something that I didn’t already know. Damned Midnighters. It’s a little hard to ignore the fact that there’s a metal plate on my face that I can’t get off that is transmitting some unknown signal.

He did give me an address, though… a place where to find Montague Castanella. I remember him briefly from my pre-Rikti life. He helped provide some intelligence for a black-op mission. Hopefully he can help me piece together the missing five years of my life, or at least what is behind this face plate.