Agent Jane Doe 1: The Catalyst

To Hell and Back

All of us enter the trailer in a frenzy. As Mason starts the engine, I pause for a moment to catch my breath. Man, that was close. Someone could've died back there. I'm grateful to be alive, but this isn't where Trevan and his crusade ends. Moreover, where is he?

"Hey!" a voice calls out from outside. I look outside the window, expecting it to be Trevan, except it wasn't him but...

"Joseph!" I open the door and pull him inside the trailer.

"Thanks. Where are you guys going?"

"Anywhere but here. It's getting kinda unsafe," Raine alerts him. Joseph sits down and pants heavily. He puts his hands on his temples and closes his eyes.

"Joseph...are you okay?" I kneel down beside him.

"Seeing Sidney again...triggered me,"

"How so?"

"I don't wanna talk about it in detail right now," Joseph shakes his head. Next to him is his very own Memory Goggles. His memories might provide an answer. Joseph sighs and lies down on the couch. Soon, he falls asleep. Silently, I grab his Memory Goggles and put them on. I'm in the blank white room for the nth time today. An image of blood puddles floats above my head. Just then, I find myself in a dark alley, where Joseph is kneeling beside a bloody corpse. Sidney stands over him, laughing.

This Joseph looks nothing like the one now nor the one that came out to his parents. He has long hair, kinda like Anakin Skywalker. I watch in despair as he weeps over the bloody corpse.

"Your tears mean nothing to me, Joseph," Sidney announces.

"W-Why? W-Why did you k-kill my mom?" Joseph stammers.

"Your mother spoke up against President Wills, thus marking her an enemy of him. I want to rid America of dissenters and your mother, arranging the 2036 Women's March? And her, speaking against President Wills at it? Bullshit, bullshit, bullshit,"

"She was on the side of good! You're nothing but evil! Pure evil!"

"Shut up, faggot! Just shut up! One wrong move and you're toast," Sidney spits in Joseph's eye before leaving. The scene then changes to Joseph knocking on someone's door.

"Oh, hey, Joseph. Did you need something?" a black man with glasses opens the door.

"Can I ask you a favor?" Joseph requests. The man nods. Soon, I watch him shave off half of Joseph's hair. Now that's the Joseph I know. The scene changes again and I find myself in Grey's house. Grey opens the door to their bedroom, which also has wooden furniture. A shirtless Joseph is standing in front of the nightstand, probably zoned out or something like that.

"Joseph?" Grey calls out. Joseph turns around. "Uh...what happened to your hair?"

"Oh, this?" Joseph runs his hands through the remainder of his hair. "I guess it does look kinda funny..."

"Is this about your mother?" Grey inches closer to Joseph.

"Not just that. When it happened, I couldn't do anything. I felt helpless. Grey, I have to stop President Wills and Sidney from killing more innocent people," Joseph starts tearing up.

"You'd need all of Team Viridis to do that,"

"I'm tired to being the helpless, quiet person I've always been. When I was young, I became shy and meek to hide my sexuality. Even though I'm openly gay, I still can be like that. I have to make a change, Grey. I can't let any more innocent lives be lost at the hands of President Wills and Sidney. Things won't get better if I keep letting people defend me. It's about time I do something in the present,"

"I understand," Grey nods and hugs Joseph, who is unable to hold back tears any longer.

I take off the Memory Goggles as the trailer screeches to a halt. I gasp as Sidney gives all of us a death stare.

"This is it!" Joseph screams as he sprints out of the trailer.

"Joseph, don't be so rash!" Raine follows him outside. I perk my head outside to get a glimpse of what's going on.

"Let's finish this fight we had earlier," Sidney grumbles.

"I'd be glad to," Joseph smirks as he chucks throwing knives Sidney's way. To his surprise, Sidney dodges and throws them back at his enemy. Joseph ducks in the nick of time.

"Damn," Sidney mumbles under his breath.

"Is that all you got?"

"You ain't seen anything yet!" Sidney says before dashing off all of a sudden.

"Huh? Where'd he go?" Joseph looks around. Sidney's nowhere to be found.

"Looking for someone? I'm right here!" Sidney suddenly appears behind Joseph and puts a gun to his head. "Any last words?"

"Joseph!" Raine cries. Grey and Joseph, dying on the same day? Man, the LGBT community is gonna be outraged at this.

"Got nothing to say? Well, then," Sidney sneers as he pulls the trigger. I flinch. When I open my eyes, Sidney's checking his gun with a confused look on his face. Seeing his chance, Joseph sticks his pocket knife into Sidney's leg. Seeing the blood trickle out of the wound, he screams.

"Thank God I had this little thing," Joseph takes the pocket knife out of Sidney's leg. The blade is covered in a blanket of blood.

"Damn you..."

"Pocket knives have been out of favor for quite a while. Now, people are going for guns to hurt people. They think it's useless to have them, but I think not. They don't hurt instantly, but if left untreated, you could die from blood loss,"

"Don't be an idiot. I can still fight," Sidney gets up.

"With all that blood on your leg?" Joseph sneers as he and Sidney throw throwing knives at each other. I hold my breath as I watch the knives soar towards their targets. Joseph dodges in the nick of time but Sidney...that's a different case.

He stumbles as he clutches his arm in pain. There is blood oozing on his suit.

"Wow," is all I could say.

"Nailed it," Joseph smiles. "Remember when you would taunt me in school, Sidney? Well, look who's on top now?"

"Nice one, Joseph!" Raine cheers.

"Wow! The underdog comes out on top in the end," Mason muses.

"I love underdog stories," I whisper to myself. I remember Christian becoming the MVP of his soccer team way back in seventh grade. Everybody thought he would lose, but that wasn't what happened. Even better, Christian came out on top of the haters.

"Come on, let's go," Joseph gestures for us to follow him.

---

Author's Note: So Joseph has triumphed over Sidney, who was his school bully. But what's next for Jojo and company?