So I was sitting in my car. Well, a car is a miss information sort of thing. It’s really a big rig that I’ve built into a mobile home to cross country. You see, I joined the army to fight back those terrorists. I felt a calling. I went to war and now I’m bawling because horrors are scary and they take you places. 

So here I am in my vehicle on the side of a canyon wondering pondering what life means to me. I’ve taken it. I can’t give it back. I’ve defended it. I'll always do that. I wonder if a gardener ever feels so disheartened?

Planting seeds to explode into reality gives me PTSD so I’ve to live in misery for my actions. Rascalion. I’ve a heart of hearts and it beats. I know I have to eat but hunger is so boring.

Here I’m driving yet again searching for a friend who can hear me. They make us do these dead’s. I’ll suffer for eternity. That’s no matter on their blatter. Their hands are clean and they’ve furnishings. Silver spoon and wine divine. I bet they’re laughing all the time. I wonder what splendor I’ve missed out on?

They call me the rascalion? I’ve done their deeds and they leave me be in misery away from the stage tucked away. Black hole cage. Send me to hell for their spell. I hardly think it’s fair. I only wanted to protect the loves of my life. I wanted to keep the bad things away at night. That’s why I fight. I want to keep the human race progressing. 

It’s so depressing to think I’ll be punished for this and that. It’s almost like it’s a kink or something. I can’t be doing this for nothing…

Atom thinks to himself as he types away at his keyboard display in the back of his Cadillac contraption. Broken down, the engine makes sounds that make him anxious that he’ll reach the next location. How many of them has he put underneath his feet? How far from them can he retreat? For vanquishing foes means apherations. He does not want to be a haunted soul but he did pay his toll to keep us all safe sleeping peacefully.

His saving grace is he’s part of the human race. He sleeps, he eats and he forgets. 

Suddenly, something peculiar on his screen blinks. Something he thought was a stupid invention. You see, when in black ops they used frequencies in major emergencies he did not recognize. To his surprise he knew how to Jerry rig  such an antenna and felt the need to creep along the winding streets of unpaved Nevada. He wouldn’t wear styrofoam on his head. He’s not that crazy for goodness sake but this was just more of a bemusement. 

“Are things actually working?” He says aloud in the middle of a desert far from anyone. Government owns most everything out here. Used to own him before they discarded him. Now they just ignore him. Let him waste away.

The beeping sound signals to a mound of mountains in the near valley. It’s night right now and there isn’t a cloud in the sky. The stars are sparkling. The moon is nearly full and the wind howels as if it’s been told to inspire a young fire cracker back into action. 

“What if I put this on this, and I bring this along and then I can go down that path. I’ve got a flashlight and a map. I’m certain I can pinpoint its location.” Atom tells himself as he brings things together. All these electronics and let’s be honest, he doesn’t really know how all of it works. However he knows enough, theoretically speaking, he knows his stuff, to backpack through an empty canyon in the Nevada mountains desert. 

“Destiny here I come.” He says to himself. Unsure of himself but he presses on. A jug of water, a change of clothes, a rolled up pack of gear as if he were back in days of old. Tracking through the afghan mountains. Back then he’d led a team. Specialist they’d go unseen. Badges and ranks and glory awaited.

This time around I will find something worth being found. He thinks to himself. He’s got equipment he stole when they gave him the boot for being too good at what he does and needing a little libation. They ask you to sin and yet kick you out for sinning. It’s a hard lot, those folks, and their misgivings but Atom is a man of action.

This device he cradles in his hands is a technology that does expand and he knows it. For he saw when it crashed. Crazy they think he is. Discharged from the army by black ops forces. Told to keep his mouth shut about secrets. He’d be dead if he wasn’t such a hero. They were honor bound to keep him around. That’s why they let him in unsolicited uncle sam’s land Nevada. 

Curious to what he sees. Curious to the mysteries that follow him. If they’d cut them off they’d lost an arm or line or vine. Not this time. They don’t even have to pay him. Dirty deeds done by men for free. Followed by blackout realm protectors.

“He’s picked up a signal.” A lady radios focusing on Atom from a sniper scope atop one of the surrounding mountains.

“Let him show the way. We’ll be the ones to say what happens at the end of this.” The general can be heard in her ear. “Keep your eyes peeled. Magic is real but only for a second. Don’t let them get your attention. You are to follow and document and when we get the moment we grab the package.” 

“Affirmed.” She calls back.