Squad Member 01 - The man I named 'Fracture'

What is in a name? Is it a mold by which an identity is shaped and formed? Or is it simply something that we call something by?

Does it not become something more when we refer to new things in terms of old names? Are people more apt to fight the nature of a title they are branded or are they more likely to mold themselves to fit the title they have been identified as? Are they not both molded in different ways than regardless of how they chose to react?

These thoughts… these, dreams… these are the dreams I dream when I am left on my own.

I have a confession to make, one I’m sure Fracture himself is already well aware of since he has access to my file. There was another Fracture before him. A man I fought for and would have died for if I had only ever been given the opportunity. A man whose mark I still bare on every mask I wear long after he died a lengthy four years ago. He was my squad leader and we called him Fracture much like I call my demented shrink Fracture.

It was not a name I wanted to give him but that first day he showed up with his broken little legs and tried to tell me his real name he managed to get out the letter ‘F’ before I could shut him up with a good punch in the face. Eager to shut him up I branded him the first ‘F’ name that came to mind.

At first I was mad at him because he was this weak sniveling wimp who in no way deserved the title I had branded him. Now I hate him because he is an evil twisted farce of the original Fracture. At least, that is why I hate him as far as the name I gave him is concerned. I hate him for a lot of other reasons too.  The biggest reason is because of this fucking smile. It irks me to no end.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fracture has been in and out of our hotel room a lot lately. He says he’s been trying to setup all the finer details of my squad’s formation to make sure it goes through properly. I don’t know why he keeps stopping by to see me though. I figure he must be checking up on me.

Fracture is apparently going to be a ‘subordinate’ in my squad for the duration of its function. That conversation went a little like this:

“What the fuck are you going to be able to bring to the squad exactly? Are you going to pull up a chair and psychobabble at them mid hunt? I’m sure that’ll do us loads of good.”

“Besides being a therapist for you and the other members, I’m going to be your guy’s watcher. It was my primary function during my time spent with a squad before I was promoted to handler.”

“The fuck is a watcher going to do for us?”

“Find, track, and feed you information on a mark until such a time that you or one of your squad mates can make it to the scene to slice them open.”

“Why the fuck can’t you just slice them while you have them in your sights?”

“Because I’m trained to keep tabs on people, not to bring them down. I’m not a talented violent tard like you. Killing may come naturally to you but not everyone can do the things you do. If an opportunity presents itself I’ll take out the mark myself but on the whole that’s really your responsibility.”

At that point the conversation became a lot less vocal. I slugged him for calling me a tard and was about to leave to end the conversation on that note when suddenly he slugged me back…

I slugged him again harder and he slugged me back harder still. At some point we just started beating on each other. He certainly looks a lot worse for wear than I do. He may find he regrets his decision to punch me back but I’m proud of him. Because it’s not whether or not you win a fight, it’s about the fight itself. Fracture comes off as far too much of a snake to really work with on a hunt, but it’s good to see he has at least a little fight in him. Unfortunately, he’s a wimp and is going to lose all of his fights.

To bad he can’t creepy smile his opponents into submission,
Swan out.