I Am Phienyx- Part 1

By David Jennings

I am Phienyx. I was once known as Zannder Kane, but that was a long time ago and in another life. Things have been a little...weird for me lately and its gonna take me a little time to wrap my head around this whole red pill experience, but I am a quick study.

I am...or was a cop; a vice detective to be more specific and though I tended to bend the rules quite a bit, I was damned good at what I did. I never hurt anyone that didn't deserve it and those that did, rarely ever saw them again.. In my world, I wanted to make a difference. This is why I became a cop. As I see it, there are 3 types of people in the world: those that don't care about making a difference, those that waste their time trying to change what cannot ever be changed and those that are willing to make personal sacrifices to fight for the changes that can be made. I fell in that last category.... or so I thought.

I hated my world, but what I hated most about my world...or rather...the Matrix, was observing the frivolously, wasteful and meaningless existence that we were conditioned to accept as normal. People did little more than to float through their lives, reveling in an inflated sense of self-worth (or lack thereof), a false sense of accomplishment and measured the worth of others based on poppycock like money, possessions, and how much fun one could cram into one lifetime. But I guess that is exactly what THEY wanted. Put the "kids" in a room with a bunch of "toys" and distractions and hope they stay preoccupied long enough to stay out of "trouble"....and serve their purpose. Well, staying out of trouble wasn't quite my thing.

I never really fit into that world. I despised the fact that most people had a very shallow sense of our existence and didn't want more out of life or to give more of themselves to improve their world. Don't get it twisted. I was no tree hugger. I just couldn't really put my finger on the source or the reason for why I felt that there was more to our existence than we realized. I couldn't resign myself to the belief that we existed simply to engage in a life long pursuit of self-indulgence. I believed that everyone had some purpose. I thought that as a cop, I had found my purpose, but there were still pieces missing from the puzzle. There was something more there that seemed to be just beyond my ability to perceive.

When I was about 9 years old, I began to notice things. I began to notice subtle things that most people either didn't notice or their mind just subconsciously ignored. I've seen people do things that are not humanly possible, I've seen fleeting glimpses of the surrounding environment changing subtly, right before my eyes. Several times, I've seen a person morph into another, but at that age, everyone just laughed ii off as me having a wild imagination. At one point, I had almost convinced myself that I might be crazy and was just seeing things.  As I got older, I simply stopped trying to tell people about what I saw and began to keep a journal of the things I saw or occurrences, situations and events that were out of the ordinary or had no logical answers. I kept this part of myself hidden from everyone else.

When I joined the police department at the age of 20, it became even more clear to me that there was a whole other world that existed above, beneath and within the one in which most of us lived.... whether we wanted to see it or not. I never had a clue as to how many unsolved missing persons/suspicious death files there actually were. The files containing unresolved cases of mysterious occurrences and strange events were just as numerous. There were thousands, but no one wants anyone to know that. Especially those guys in the black suits, wearing those dark shades and shoes that cost more than my entire wardrobe. There were many times that they would come in talking all this federal jurisdiction poppycock and take over a situation, then demand that no one say a word to anyone about what happened. Government agents, I thought at first, but now I know better.

My awakening experience began the night of a joint agency raid on a suspected illegal rave location. It had been reported that T-bone, one of the top people on the FBI's Most Wanted list, was going to be present with a few of his associates. They were wanted on multiple accounts of engaging in terrorist acts, drug trafficking, murder and were wanted in connection with several missing persons cases. We were warned that this crew was known to be heavily armed and very dangerous. The army of police and FBI SWAT overseen by the black suit guys emphasized this point. My undercover team was to go in ahead and get a positive ID on the primary targets and recon the situation prior to breach.

We circulated the gyrating mass of ravers who were all in various states of cognizance. The pulsating beat of Oakenfold's Dread Rock, throbbed within the warehouse as I scanned the crowd. I spotted him sitting at a secluded table, dressed in an all white suit, tie, hat and trench coat. There were 5 others near him similarly dressed. Given the setting, they fit right into their surroundings. None of them looked particularly threatening. However, in my profession, I'd learned quickly that looks could be very deceiving but I wasn't getting any alerts from my "6th sense".... at least not from this crew. I radioed in the info. And....

I was walking past T-bone and his crew, being sure not to look at them directly as I spoke into my cell phone, when I heard the first shot followed closely by the faint sound of breaking glass from the entry team hitting the windows and skylights. I heard a slug zip by me so close; I thought the shot was meant for me. I ducked and looked in the direction I'd heard the shot come from. Three Suits were pushing their way through the crowd firing on T-bone and his crew without regard for any of the "innocent" bystanders. Something was not right. We were supposed to arrest the suspects, not kill them, but the Suits had clearly fired the first shots. Everything that happened after that seemed to happen so fast, yet happen in slow motion. I threw off my jacket and shirt, under which I was wearing a ballistic vest announcing I was with the police. I drew both of my side arms and scanned the immediate area for any possible threats.

T-bone and his crew were nowhere to be seen. Continuing my scan, I noticed a larger commotion near the center of the dance floor. What I saw there was one of the craziest, yet most amazing things I'd ever seen in my life. Our prime target, T-bone and another of his crew were surrounded by a multitude of black clad SWAT officers, their movements a fluid blur of white as they engaged their would be assailants in a lethal ballet of hand to hand combat and close quarters gunplay. The sheer speed with which they moved was inhuman. Though they were greatly outnumbered, they could not be touched. Cops were being dropped and flung though the air with quick and brutal efficiency. A couple of officers were able to get a round or two off, but somehow the two suspects were able to dodge them without much more effort than they would expend to swat a fly.

I was finally jolted into action as I realized that fellow officers were dying. I was unable to get a clear shot at the targets, amidst the chaotic close quarters battle. Securing my weapons, I pushed my way through the remainder of the fleeing ravers, vaulted a table and jumped into the fight. A couple of officers were able to catch T-bone off guard together and knock him to one knee. Before he was able to recover and react, I barreled into the trio, knocking them all into a pile on the floor. I drew my weapon and jammed it under T-bone's chin, preparing for a painfully rapid deathblow of some sort, but it never came.

I yelled for T-bone's white clad partner in crime to surrender or I'd put a round into T-bone's skull and was fully prepared to make good on that promise had he not complied.. The two other officers picked themselves up and backed up a couple of steps. There was something about this situation that was making me very uneasy. I'd just seen T-bone and his partner kill or seriously maim nearly 20, armed SWAT officers, yet he allowed me to hold him at gunpoint. I pulled Mr. Bone to his feet by the collar of his trench, keeping my weapon lodged firmly beneath his chin. I looked into his dark shades and saw nothing but my reflection amidst the reflections of the flashing lights of the dance floor. It was in the reflection of those shades that I saw 3 of the Black Suits appear out of the darkness. A bemused smirk formed on T-bone's face. I could tell he was staring right back at me through those dark shades. Thinking what, I didn't know.

Most of the commotion had died down. The warehouse was nearly empty and the music, while still thumping at full volume, had faded to a dull throb in my consciousness. The remaining SWAT officers had their weapons trained on T-bone's partner who stood in a half-assed surrender stance with his hands raised only to chest level. Every one of my senses was on edge and alert. The Suits, standing only a few yards away, drew their hand cannons in unison and took aim at T-bone. What they said, even further disturbed my mental state. They ordered me to back away because "this "one" is targeted for elimination". That's what they said.

*CENSORED*?! That was not how we did things in law enforcement, so I held my ground. Our orders were to arrest as many of the crew as possible, not kill them and I told them so. Bad idea, I guess. The Black Suits shot the two SWAT officers nearest me then told me that I was not slotted for termination and that I should step aside and surrender "this one" to them or I would be next. At this point, I knew something was really, really funked up, big time. Why would Federal Agents murder law enforcement officers over a jurisdiction dispute? .... Or was it not a jurisdiction dispute. Did someone use us to fulfill a hit contract on T-bone and his crew? I'd been in some *CENSORED* situations before, but nothing like this. My hope of coming out of this alive was decreasing by the moment.

Ok, it was time to act or dying was a distinct possibility today. As quickly as my muscles would allow, I reached back, drew my second weapon with my off hand, drew down on the left most Suit in line and fired two rounds as quickly as I could, moving down the line until I had fired two rounds at each one. Even as it was happening, I couldn't believe what I was seeing with my eyes. They didn't even move their feet when they dodged my bullets!  Yes, I said dodged my bullets.  I was frozen in both fear and awe not knowing what to do next. But even at this point, soiling myself was beneath my dignity, though it was a bit of an effort not to do so.

Faster than my eye could follow, T-bone made a move that was nearly perceptible, but the result was me staring down the barrel of both of my own weapons. In the second and a half that it took for the Black Suits to glance at each other and respond, T-bone said one phrase to me. "The Angels will come for you". It sounded like thunder when the Suits opened fire on T-bone who crouched low and launched himself into a leap that took him 30 feet up and through the skylight in the roof of the warehouse. He disappeared onto the roof in an explosion of glass and gunfire and was gone. All three Suits followed with effortless leaps that carried them through the same skylight. Glancing around, I noticed that Mr. Bone's partner had also disappeared.

I vacated the area before anyone could make sense of what happened...or that I'd left. I jumped in my car and simply got as far away from there as I could. I guess deep in my gut, I knew that was the last I'd seen of my life, as I'd known it. I couldn't go home because I knew I would eventually be tracked down and killed or arrested by whoever those guys in Black Suits really were. On top of that, T-bone had told me that "The Angels will come for me", which didn't sound too good for my health either given the circumstances. With the extraordinary abilities I'd seen from both the Suits and T-bone's crew, I just didn't feel safe anymore.

 For the first time in my life, I was terrified; for myself and for my girl, Nyah, the love of my life. She was one of the few people who understood me....or humors me....or both. I was terrified that we'd never have the future together as we'd hoped and planned for. Going to her right then meant possibly endangering her also, so I forced myself not to even call her until I could get a handle on my thoughts and see how things were going to play out.

They caught up with me, the next day, 50 miles away in an old sleezy motel call the Sleep EZ Motel. It was T-bone, himself who came with some chick he called Kitty and another he called Keta, who I recognized as the second guy from the warehouse. T-bone told me that unless I listened to what he had to say, that my life was over both literally and figuratively, but it wasn't them that I had to fear. He then proceeded to tell me The "Truth" about the world in which I lived. As much as it blew my mind, everything I'd experienced in my life to this up to now, pointed to this being the truth. I just didn't expect that the hole went as deep as it did. I took their Red Pill and now, here I am.... a missing person, a terrorist, a guardian or a criminal.  It all depends on whom you ask, but my mind is free and I have found my real purpose.

My only regret has been leaving my girl behind, hopefully only for now. I've been warned against contacting her and this hurts more than anything else ever could. Her name showed up in the database of an organization run by Machinists who promise that they can find missing loved ones. I guess as the news report went, I was reported missing after a "Bloody and Deadly Raid On a Cell of Known Terrorists". The last time I saw her was about a week ago. I know I cannot make contact, but I went to her apartment and watched her through the window for a while. She is not happy. She needs me and I need her, but I cannot go back to that life. My only hope is that one day, she'll be free and join me in this world where we can fight for Zion together.