Activation, Part 8

From his viewpoint, halfway up the mountain, the city stretched out before him. Though he did not particularly enjoy hiking or other outdoor activities, he made an exception for climbing up to this one spot. Hardly anyone else came up here, and it was one of the few places he could think without interruption. Today was a particularly quiet day - there weren’t any mountain climbers or nearby hikers to break the silence. Good, he wanted to be alone. He had gotten the message. This would be the last time he came up here for who knows how long. The wheels in his head were spinning furiously with the possibilities of both what had happened to necessitate being recalled after all these years and what the future might hold. It had to be bad. They wouldn’t have sent the message unless they had exhausted other options, so they must be desperate if they were reconstituting the old team. Whatever the threat was, it clearly couldn’t be solved via traditional means. A cacophony of thoughts bounced around his head as he sat there and gazed out into the distance. Total chaos might have erupted inside of him had not an old voice spoken up - a familiar voice that had now awoken after many years slumber. The cruel, unrelenting inner demon that had driven him forward since childhood was once again speaking to him, bringing clarity to his mind. Answers would come soon enough, so for now he needed to focus on ensuring the success of the coming assignment. The first order of business: finding his old partner and talking him into coming back.