PROGRESS

　　I left the shooting range and navigated my way through the hallways and towards the elevator. Brian had sent me a new message telling me to meet him over by his office. My finger punched the button for the main floor as I stepped inside, and the doors closed. I didn`t know if the main floor was the same one, I had been on previously, or not, but knew I would get the answer to my question soon enough.

　　The doors opened with a ding, and I walked out and immediately felt my foot make an impact with something. My eyes caught sight of the wet floor sign that was now skidding across the lobby floor. The sign crashed across the room, but I now froze and looked back behind me. The few steps I had already taken into the room had left massive black footprints across the highly polished pristine floor. The dirt from the shooting range was clearly caked all over my soles and now left their mark where ever I was about to step next.

　　It was within an instant after I realized what was happening when I heard a voice come roaring into the room, " Are you fucking kidding me? Who the hell?"

　　A smaller but hefty built, middle-aged man appeared. A bright red pair of overalls sagged slightly on him, as he looked about the lobby and then turned and glared his eyes right at me. One slightly more open than the other as it looked that his final brain cell had burst over the event. His facial expressions twitching, and he seemed to jitter around, his mouth chomping down in ferocious aggression with what appeared to be a massive ball of gum.

　　I took notice of the mop in his hand, the mop head just barely being held suspended in the air as the man ensured the damp yarn fringes, didn`t drag across the floor. His eyes locked onto mine for a brief moment, but then shifted past me and down towards the floor, he gave me the impression that he was a sniper of expert precision when it came to spotting dirt.

　　" What the ever-living fairy fucking bullshit is this !" The man`s arms began to shake aggressively, the mop still clutched within his grasp as his knuckles began to whiten. The veins on his bald head began to bulge outwards as if they could burst at any moment. Red anger surged to the surface of his face as he looked like he would soon begin to match the color of his janitorial coveralls.

　　Without any warning it looked as if the gasket had finally burst within his mind. The man twisted and wound up his throw, launching the mop across the room as if he was portraying a spartan warrior launching a spear. " I have told you! I have fucking told all of you to not walk on the fucking floor after I have finished mopping it! How fucking hard is it to fucking read a god damn sign which is clearly marked in a color that fucking stands out in this high polished, once beautifully cleaned floor!" The man`s hands were now formed like bear claws that wanted to tear and rip something to shreds as he finally reached up and dug into his face, pulling at the skin as he then aggressively reached up and ran his hands over his bald head.

　　He continued his verbal diatribe, "You all are a bunch of grey sprinkles on a fucking rainbow cupcake! Your mother`s should have clearly swallowed you all, but praise the good lord for blessing us with you subspecies of beavers! This place would smell like mountain goat and penguin dicks if it wasn`t for me being here!"

　　The man was startled as Brian appeared from around the corner and stood off to the man`s side. "Calm down TJ! Shit man& can you just hold it together for a day. For fuck sake this is starting to become a daily routine with you!"

　　The man turned and glared towards Brian, "It wouldn`t have to be a daily routine if people would just pick up after themselves! I can`t even-"

　　"Enough TJ! We only have enough fucks to give in a day and I am certainly not going to waste one on you or this situation. Now go outside and have a smoke, or go down to the side bathroom and have a wank like we all know you normally do&" Brian lifted up his wrist and looked at his watch, "Wow, which actually happens to be right now, 4:15 PM. Go let it out in there."

　　TJ`s expression froze instantly, the red which was there for anger appeared to somehow now reflect a significant portion of embarrassment. I started to make my way over and closer towards Brian and as I did, I caught the far quieter question TJ inquired about. "So& you know about my 4:15`s?"

　　"Yes, TJ."

　　The man shifted his eyes around rapidly, scanning the room and trying to get the next question out. "And& does& does everyone&"

　　"Yes, TJ. Everyone knows about your 4:15`s. Everyone."

　　TJ pressed his lips together firmly and swallowed. He glanced at me and then back over to Brian& " Fine& I`m& just gonna& You know& Maybe go check the, do a roundabout, and have a look and make sure& everything else is good."

　　"Sure thing TJ& You go do that." Brian said with a sarcastic snap in his voice and a roll of his eyes as he slightly shook his head. TJ, quickly, started walking away from us. "I swear that guy has just as many problems as you do." Brian quipped.

　　"You don`t say?" I replied.

　　"This one time I caught him in a back stairwell going to town on a Pokemon plush doll, I think it was the one called Psyduck? And get this& that sick bastard was filming it all! He tried to make some excuse about his only fans and what is apparently called, Poke`porn."

　　"Is it weird that I am just a little curious about this and maybe want to&"

　　Brian lifted a finger at me and wagged it, "No! We`re not even going there at all. Needless to say the therapist I hired to go through a corrective session with TJ, & HR`s orders not mine, but that therapist quit after the first day. She then claimed that she needed a therapist."

　　I chuckled, "That sounds like something that would happen to me."

　　Brian tilted his head with a pondered look, "Well, to be fair, that did also happen to you& and me now that I think about it, but, all my issues did stem from you two fucking idiots and was nothing that actually had to deal with me, personally."

　　"Hell yes! Another check on the board for this guy, up top!" I raised my hand, waiting for a solid slap of a high five.

　　"No! Now come with me." Brian began to turn away, leaving my hand suspended in mid air.

　　"Awww come on!" I lowered my hand with a disappointed kid temperament. As if dad had promised to take us to an amusement park, but instead took the neighbors 18 year old daughter out for coffee and never returned. He was happy to send mom divorce papers in the mail a week later without delay though.

　　I followed Brian as he led me back over to the elevator, proceeding up to the fifth floor and as we exited, I admired how the area was designed to appear like an upper scale apartment. An open common space which Brian informed me was shared with anyone else in the agency who was staying at the compound overnight. He emphasized that I needed to be mindful that I would not remember who anyone was, and I could easily be saying something stupid in front of someone I would regret later. I did make a mental note of that and to keep my mouth zipped. Brian continued to show me the rest of the area but showed me how I could utilize my hand to open the actual bedroom door.

　　Apparently, the chip, utilized some connections that were like blue-tooth. I could basically utilize my hand as an antenna to push the signal of the chip towards other devices. I wasn`t sure how it all worked, but Brian had me basically hold out and extend my hand towards the panel where a key card would normally be placed. A pulse of some kind would radiate out of my hand and would give the signal required in order for me to gain entry. I couldn`t feel the pulse, it just was something that my chip and body could do, without me even having to think about it. It sounded to me like a pretty sweet feature for sure.

　　Brian also pointed out what he thought would be an obvious clue, but if I saw someone else residing on the fifth floor, coming and going, but utilizing a key to enter the rooms, they were more than likely not a field agent and I should mind my P`s, Q`s, T`s, I`s, and all the other letters of the alphabet. Brian left a short while later and reassured me that he would cover a lot more of the chips progression system and the skill leveling stuff later.

　　Brian had been using big words and grand details that I instantly replaced with the mental images of a college football game within my mind. The blurred audible instructions coming out of Brian`s mouth went on for a brief moment and as soon as he asked me a question, it was like I faded back into the moment and said, "Thanks for everything, but I think I`m good." I instantly regretted zoning him out, but really didn`t have the mental, emotional, or even spiritual energy to ask him to repeat himself.

　　Brian raised his eyebrow and replied. "I`ll see you tomorrow then&" Brian then glared at me with an aggressive and over analytical expression on his face before he left. I was really starting to regret blocking him out now.

　　But& thirty seconds later I was back to my old self again, Fuck it! That is future B2 problems! I went into the small kitchen area and found a giant stainless steel refrigerator that looked like it had been taken off a cooking show TV set. Opening it up, it was filled with practically anything a person could want. More beverage options than I had ever seen in someone`s home, and didn`t even know what to grab hold of.

　　I finally just found some microwavable junk and threw it in to cook. My stomach had been completely empty after the combative session with Bill. My schedule was non-stop though and I had completely ignored what my stomach was trying to tell me the entire time.

　　As the premade sandwiches warmed themselves I found a big screen TV mounted on the wall with a large luxurious sectional sofa placed directly in front of it. The sofa was a half-circle with a giant ottoman in the center that perfectly snuggled up to the couch and it could easily be utilized as a makeshift bed if you needed it to be.

　　Though I didn`t really drink, or& The previous memories I could recall, were not being one who drank a lot of alcohol. Yet, for some reason I found myself reaching out and taking hold of a six pack of beer from the fridge. As if my body did the motion without any further thought to it all. I walked over to the light grey sectional sofa and plopped down on it. The six pack was off to my right.

　　I was a little upset to discover that my Neurochip wasn`t synched to the TV& but there was a remote control placed on the ottoman and it brought the giant screen to life. I hit the menu button and my jaw dropped as it informed me that all 30,000 TV stations from around the world were available for my viewing pleasure. Well how the hell am I suppose to decide what to fucking watch when I have all the options in the fucking world at my fingertips? I thought to myself.

　　I saw an icon which had looked like a random shuffle selection and clicked it out of curiosity. The screen went black for a quick half second before it produced what the system randomly chose for me. What the? I asked internally.

　　The screen popped up with three commentators who looked like they could be my niece and nephews. Dressed like they were supposed to be walking to class inside a high school but were intently discussing something. The biggest problem I had was I couldn`t tell what language they were speaking. But was a dialect from Asia, and the screen transitioned to display some type of statistical data. I had no idea what it was referring to. I shook my head as it just seemed to not make any sense to me, but I felt I would give it a shot for a half second.

　　I reached over and grabbed the first beer out of the pack. I took the first sip of beer and my face completely distorted in disgust, "Yup& still don`t fucking like this shit!" I said out loud, but for some reason, I forced myself to keep drinking it. The TV show had now moved on to what I guessed was a beginning of a match. Wait& oh shit! This is Legendary Warriors of Pentagoth! I told myself. My eyes slightly widened as I recalled that I normally didn`t play the online mass-multiplayer game, but I certainly didn`t mind watching others play the game.

　　I couldn`t help but admire gamers skills and abilities to play at the professional competitive level. For some reason I was drawn to this one player, and decided, Fuck It, you my boy for this match! Get out there and fuck shit up! I didn`t know how to pronounce the kid`s gamer tag, but a notification popped up in my head display.

　　I mentally chose the yes option and instantly saw the gamer tag on the screen change. Sivalmihader247 as it now was being displayed in my HUD as FuckMeHarder247.

　　"I knew I liked this kid!" I chuckled.

　　The auto translation feature was bad ass. My HUD display was basically creating a visual overlay for my eyes. The translation boxes which overlayed themselves on the text were not super stable, but enough that it would allow me to work through it without much trouble.

　　It was over the course of the next hour and a half that the six pack of beers was gone, I had devoured a total of eight frozen sandwiches and decided it was a good idea to lounge on the couch in my boxers. It didn`t really occur to me how loud my yelling was as I had been in a constant barrage of bellowing cries and a collection of cheers all focused around, "Come on Fuck Me Harder!"

　　It wasn`t until I heard a female voice yell over everything from behind me, " What the fuck, B2! " That I had come to realize just how much commotion I may or may not have been making. There was Samantha Thornbeck, otherwise known as the, Business Bitch . I turned around with a confused look to see her standing with her hip popped to one side as she planted her weight. A hand on her hip and the other stretched out with what appeared to be a cell phone in her hand. "Oh my god! You`re in your boxers on the couches!" She practically screamed at me.The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

　　"What the fuck are you talking about?" I said, "Brian told me this was a common area."

　　"Common area means that it is common, for others to be in and around the area." Her head leaned forward with a twist, as if her over dramatization was emphasizing her point. For which I could care less.

　　"Wait& You live here too?" My head leaned back and I could feel the sadness and dread pour over my aura.

　　She rolled her eyes, tilted her head as she pressed her tongue against the inside of her cheek. If she realized how much that facial expression turned me on, especially in my inebriated state, I am pretty sure she wouldn`t have made it.

　　"I don`t live here you fat fuck."

　　As soon as she said it, I looked down and took notice of my body. I didn`t think I looked fat, I mean, I did slightly remember what I looked like before I joined scalpel. I certainly couldn`t recall what I looked like before my long nappy poo of a coma, but I felt as if I didn`t look all that bad. At this point, Business Bitch was still cussing up a storm as I only heard some of her words as I began to block her out. I was now rubbing the little bulge of my belly as it protruded just past my boxer shorts.

　　" Jesus Christ, B2 stop rubbing your belly like that! It`s& so disgusting !" For some reason her voice came crystal clear back into focus as I rattled my head slightly and regained my bearing within the situation.

　　"Ohh, sorry, I didn`t realize you were still here."

　　"Where else would I fucking go?" She threw both arms up and tilted her head with a smug look on her face. She rolled her eyes and huffed as she turned around and put a small purse and other personal items down. The countertop also served as a bar seating area in between the dining room, lounge area and the proper kitchen itself.

　　"I would have wished you had actually gone home and visited your dad, you know Lucifer? At least there you know the people screaming out are doing it out of pain and agony from their sins. Instead of us here who bellow out are suffering of having to see your nasty, ostrich looking face." I made a large smile appear as soon as I said it.

　　And that did the trick& She instantly beamed with the red eternal flames of hell itself. I was positive, she would have shot me dead if there was a gun around. She grabbed the items she had just set down and stormed off. "You`re going to fucking regret that B2!"

　　She was probably right, but that was future Trevor problems, current Trevor problems& I had to fucking piss.

　　I could only hear the muffled ass chewing when it was heightened as all the expletives under the sun were being hurled at Brian. Sitting outside Mr. Larsen`s office I looked up to see the name plate that said Director on it. The opaque frosted glass windows only allowed me to see darkened silhouettes. I was still able to tell who was who, as the one leaning forward with the finger jabbing into the other silhouette was Mr. Larsen. The dark punching bag receiving the finger jabbing was Brian. The door eventually opened and out walked Brian who looked like ten separate doctors had all given him a colonoscopy, all at the same time.

　　He closed the door behind him. "Not a fucking word ." He muttered out under his breath.

　　I followed his lead without question, and for once had the brains to just keep my mouth shut. I had to give that to him, I mean, fuck& that was a pretty decent ass chewing. It wasn`t anything epic, but was a solid scolding for sure. For some reason though, I had this feeling that it wasn`t the first ass chewing Brian had taken on my behalf.

　　He led us over to an elevator and pressed the button. "Your schedule for today is as follows& you have your gym session with Thomas Senseman for the next two hours. Then combatives with Bill and weapons with Jack immediately afterwards. Just like yesterday."

　　"What about breakfast?"

　　"Ohh& that is what you get when you 1. You wake up on time. 2. Get it yourself because I am not your mommy who is always going to wipe your smug, American ass. And 3. When you decide to actually give a fuck about this job!" The snap in his voice let me know he was not in the mood to play, but I still was.

　　"Well, it`s nice to see you too this morning, I was just thinking how much of a full torque you gave-"

　　" Fuck ! B2 seriously! I understand you just came out of a coma and are told how you were some type of bad ass field agent and did all this cool stuff. But here is the thing& you need to take this all super serious. You are a basic bitch all over again& and you really need to prove yourself again to Scalpel, or they will happily get rid of you."

　　"All because I pissed off old Business Bitch?" I hunched my shoulders with my hands out defensively.

　　He scrunched his face and shook my question off, "No& fuck Samantha, that bitch certainly deserved the reality check you gave her last night. But& again, it doesn`t help the fact that on your second day you`re at level 1 and already stirring the pot around the office, all over again."

　　"Alright, alright& I got it& my bad. I`ll be a good boy father." I let the pause sink in as Brian`s face distorted, and just as he began to think harder about it, I finished, "I certainly don`t want to do confession again where you made me-"

　　"Oh for the literal sake of Christ B2!" Brian looked like he was about to have a stroke at any moment.

　　I laughed outloud, but nudged Brian with my elbow, "I`m joking& still& don`t worry, I`ll be on decent behavior, because I certainly can`t promise my best behavior."

　　"I really hope so& For your sake and for my sanity`s sake."

　　The door to the elevator opened and I started to walk in but turned around to see Brian still standing there in the hallway of the floor we were on. "Head down to the basement and link up with Thomas for your gym session."

　　"Wait, what about us going over the skill progression shit?"

　　"Later& I must put out this fire first, come find me when you`re done with Jack."

　　It took me a few minutes of navigating throughout the basement, but I finally discovered the gym area and inside was a Greek god sculpted figure of a man standing over by the cable machine. His muscles were meticulously proportioned and chiseled to perfection. The sweat covering his body was effortlessly reflecting in the lighting and only added to his god like appearance.

　　"B2! Brother! It`s so good to see you man! I have been praying for you since I heard you were in that coma, so glad to see that they were finally answered." His smile and face looked like it should be on the cover of every magazine and advertisement known to man. A soft calming voice and a demeanor that left you thinking you could easily sit down and talk to him for hours on end about anything and everything.

　　The whole praying for me part really threw me off. I mean, it`s a nice gesture and all, but just wasn`t what I was expecting. Thomas, however, came off with such an awesome presence and sincerity to his demeanor, that it left me believing that this guy never had a single enemy in all of his life.

　　"Well thanks for the all the positive vibes there big guy!" I replied.

　　"Me? Big Guy? I`m just trying to be a bad ass like you B2! I always think back to that mission you had in Peru! I don`t know how you made it out of there in one piece." Thomas smiled and slapped my shoulder as I drew closer to him as he stood by the cable machine. He had to have been a few years younger than me, but his genuine eyes and charisma gave me the assumption he had a significant amount of maturity for his age.

　　"Well& I am happy to give you that inspiration, I just wish I could remember that myself."

　　"Yeah, Bill gave me the update on everything. But! At least you`re back at it and will soon be out there kicking ass again! I have no doubt." His smile was infectious, and I couldn`t help but like the guy as his personality perfectly matched his genuineness. I couldn`t bring myself towards giving him a hard time. Thomas looked down at a sport watch he was wearing as he stood there shirtless and as if he had already gotten in a massive workout, but his prime physique was eagerly awaiting round 2. "Well, we`re on a time crunch for your schedule, let`s go ahead and begin with some stretches."

　　Over the course of the next two hours, Thomas put me through what he referred to as a light workout. This started with a ten-minute stretch session, which led directly into a thirty-minute yoga session. Immediately after that was a twenty minute High Intensity Interval Training otherwise known as HIIT. He then pushed me through a forty-minute weightlifting session to then, as he put it, cool down, with a twenty-minute jog. I was practically on the verge of puking as my empty stomach asked me what the actual fuck are you doing to us? The sweat pouring all over me as Thomas then smiled, "Just think, you have two full training sessions immediately following this one!"

　　Though it sounded like a sarcastic joke, the smile on his face and his actual demeanor was one where he truly believed the thought was an awesome one. "Do you ever have an off button, Thomas?"

　　"No& not really. Why try to turn off when the body was made for action?" He said with a smile and a look that declared the answer was obvious.

　　"I guess I can`t argue with that." I replied. I grabbed my stomach which started to churn audibly to the point where even Thomas heard it. He hooked me up with a protein shake and some peanut butter toast that he had available in a small kitchenette area which was built off to the side of the gym. I slammed down the quick meal and was happy to see three new skills were gained from the morning workout. As the proficiency icon appeared, I mentally thought how I wished it would just auto update for me and I wouldn`t have to keep mentally clicking yes, all the time.

　　To my surprise, the chip gave me the option to select that function, and I smashed the yes button as soon as I could. The more these icons appeared the more accustomed I became towards them being around and didn`t have them throw me off balance or make me motion sick from their transitionary movements.

　　\SKILL ACHIEVED: JOGGING - LEVEL 2/

　　\SKILL ACHIEVED: UPPER TORSO STRENGTH - LEVEL 2/

　　\SKILL ACHIEVED: YOGA - LEVEL 2/

　　I made my way down to Bill at the dojo. Heading into the locker room and changing into my gi. I was a little saddened by the end of the session though. We had performed the exact same workout from yesterday, all over again. To which Bill simply told me, "Bruce Lee`s words will forever be one of the commandments by which we will live and train,  I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.` You may not like it now, but one day you will appreciate the reasoning behind it all."

　　I rolled my eyes as if I was being reminded by a dad to save my money over and over again, only to go blow it on a luxurious date with Sally Sue, who didn`t put out and I was out my $350 bucks. "I got it& I got it& thanks old man."

　　"Old man!"

　　I regretted making that snide comment. It was the next ten minutes that I tried to fight off the aggressive bear of a man who was piling on top of me and folding me up as if I was a piece of construction paper. I did my best to fight him off, but only made it worse as I took a few solid blows and then wound up in a headlock. My throat and mouth hawking aggressively as I fought to breathe. Bill choked me aggressively until I soon blacked out.

　　The combat was only about 2 minutes, the other 8 minutes was him letting me stay asleep until he woke me up with a couple of tough slaps to the face. My head surged with pain and the ringing of a bell. Having been choked out before in the military I knew exactly what the sensation was and put two and two together to determine what had happened. The only good thing though was also awakening to another two prompts.

　　\SKILL ACHIEVED: COMBATIVES - LEVEL 3/

　　\SKILL ACHIEVED: MELEE - LEVEL 3/

　　I wasn`t sure, as I had already enabled auto accept for the proficiency upgrades, but I had this feeling that the proficiency boost was always working in the background. I certainly wasn`t going to complain about it, the faster I could fucking progress, the better. Jack walked me through the same techniques as yesterday to which I also advanced to level 3 in all those skillsets as well. Overall, I couldn`t really complain with how things were going.

　　\SKILL ACHIEVED: LOADING - LEVEL 3/

　　\SKILL ACHIEVED: TARGET ACQUISITION - LEVEL 3/

　　\SKILL ACHIEVED: SIGHT ALIGNMENT - LEVEL 3/

　　\SKILL ACHIEVED: SIGHT PICTURE - LEVEL 3/

　　\SKILL ACHIEVED: TRIGGER DISCIPLINE - LEVEL 3/

　　[|]WEAPON SKILL PROGRESSION: HANDGUNS - LEVEL 3 [|]

　　[|]WEAPON SKILL PROGRESSION: HANDGUNS \ SUBSKILL SEMI-AUTO - LEVEL 3 [|]

　　Yesterday, everyone seemed to take it easy and pretty light. A combination of wanting to reconnect as friends and rebuild the relationship, whereas today, it all boiled down to,  Okay, you`re back with us, and this is awesome, but we have business to attend to.` I didn`t mind it, and felt it actually helped me tune into the training we were doing. I was happy, excited, but more importantly, I was motivated! The more I sweat, the more my body ached and was sore from the training, the more I loved it. This is what I wanted. The fucking grind, the journey itself rather than the end goal. There was only one thing I wanted, progression and challenge. I was getting back to the basics, but eventually, and hopefully fucking soon, it would be back to being in the field.