"Yeah," I replied, wheeling my... well, the black suitcase I borrowed from Katie, up to my side. I looked up at the counter of the reception-style desk in front of me, which came nearly up to my eye level, and studied the friendly expression of the man standing across from me. "I sure am Miss Martin..."
I pushed an exhausted smile across my lips.
"Alright," the man, dressed in a silver suit with blue stripes down its sides, went on. "Your room is right this way, miss."
I stepped back as he walked around the left side of the desk and made his way up to my side.
"I'll take that for you," he declared, reaching out a hand toward the top of the suitcase that I was now... sort of leaning against.
"Oh," I shot out, jerking both my body and hand away from the handle of the luggage. I stepped to the side as he took it up in his own hand. "Th... Thanks."
"Of course," he went on as he stepped forward, past a large, round wooden column.
I rubbed the side of my nose for a second as I watched him move away, and then suddenly realized that I was actually supposed to follow him.
"Oh, yeah," I muttered, immediately throwing one foot in front of myself to begin chasing after him.
While I followed him across the spacious area, I glanced around to see that a gas fireplace rested against the left wall, right in front of a large arrangement of tan sofas and glass coffee tables. Above my head, two extravagant chandeliers hung from the ceiling and, below my feet, large panels of pristinely white tile adorned the floorboards. Other than that, nothing else was around, other than the countless number of impressionist paintings lining the walls and the two silver elevator doors close ahead.
Soon enough, the man pulling my bag reached the far wall and stopped to press the up-facing arrow on the keypad in between the two elevators. Almost instantly after that, a little dinging sound rang out, and he proceeded to step through the doorway that revealed itself on his left.
I followed him into the elevator, and then fell quiet while he reached out to touch the number sixteen from the keypad of numerals that stretched all the way to twenty-two, although I noticed the number thirteen was missing from one of the rows, and bit my lip a little as the door closed in front of me.
"Is this your first time visiting?" the man inquired.
I looked up at him to see his polite smile, and then forced one back as I answered him.
"Yes... As far as I know, that is."
I let out a soft laugh and watched him push a hardy one back in reply.
"And..." I continued to attempt a conversation, after a moment of silence started to fall around us. "How about you?"
The man's smile drooped a little bit and he paused for a long moment before replying.
"Well, I... I live here."
He afterward let another smile creep across his lips.
"Oh," I spat out, throwing both of my hands up by my sides. "Oh, yeah, you... you probably would, wouldn't you?"
I forced a slight laugh out as the elevator door by my side slid open once more.
"Yes," the man chuckled back a tad, now pushing my suitcase out in front of himself.
I stood still as I watched him drag both himself and the luggage past the metal doorframe, and then quietly began to follow after him once more, rubbing my fingers into each of my palms in front of my waistline as I proceeded to do so.
I glanced around at the long hall set before me and took in the scene of cream-colored wallpaper, rows of brightly painted white doors, and tiny end tables decorated with multicolored flower vases. Sooner than I had expected, the man guiding me halted beside one of the doors, pulled a small plastic card out of his pocket, swiped it across a device above the door handle, and then promptly... well, opened the door. After that, he stepped inside with my bag, and I traced his footsteps.
I looked around the brightly sunlit area, saw a gray couch resting against the wall on my left, an open doorway leading to a well-sized bathroom area on the right, a king size bed on the other side of the bathroom wall beside me, a large mahogany table in the far left corner of the room with matching chairs against three sides of it, a huge wooden cabinet with a forty-inch flat screen television resting atop it near that, and, above all, a clear window that stretched completely over the entire far wall with a view of a few other tall buildings and a vast mountainous area in the distance, one with a blue outline and snow-covered tips.
"Will this do?" the man piped up, now gently placing my suitcase horizontally over a stand beside the television cabinet.
"Oh, wow, it's..." I mumbled, looking quickly between him and the captivating view straight ahead. "It's... perfect, really. Thank you!"
I gave him a genuine smile, and then he bowed to me slightly with a grin back. After that, he stepped back around my side and I turned to watch him make his way out of the room.
"Please, let us know if you need anything," he said. "And enjoy your stay, miss!"
He swiftly twisted back to me, nodded, and shut the door behind himself.
I turned back around, stepped forward, and looked around the still room.
At least, until a hard knock came from the other side of the front door.
A little confused, I whipped my head back over to the door, and then another set of three knocks came from it. Cautiously, I stepped back over to it and pushed my weight onto my tiptoes as I peered into the tiny peephole at the top of it.
A different man in the same uniform that other had worn, although he was much heavier and... bald than he had been, stood in the hallway on the other side. A large box sat on the base of a tall luggage cart, one with golden metal rods that formed an arch at the top, and the box was actually so big that it barely fit longwise on the cart and its wide edges were spilling over the sides of it. I watched the man as he knocked once again, and then fell back down to my heels and opened the door in front of myself.
"Hi," he greeted, bringing his hands up to his waist as he took in a shallow, wheezing breath. "Are you..." He paused to take another desperate inhalation of air. "Miss... Martin?"
"Um," I began, narrowing my eyebrows at the package on the cart beside him for a moment. "I don't..."
I stopped, processed what he had actually said through my slow brain synapses, or something like that, and then jerked my expression up to his.
"Y-Yes," I stuttered out with a sudden smile. "I am, yes."
"Okay," he panted out, now grabbing a clipboard from atop the box beside himself. "Sign here, please."
He held the board out to me and pointed one index finger at the bottom of the paper being held on it. I took it from him gently, glanced the page quickly over, although I didn't actually read anything written on it, and then grabbed the pen resting against the metal plate at the top of the clipboard . I proceeded to place my personal signature on the line, but halted about halfway through writing it... a.k.a. after I had rounded the second 'n' at the end of Mable-Ann.
Immediately, I scribbled all of it out, until absolutely none of it was legible any longer.
And then I continued to cursively sign 'Aurora Martin'.
After that was completed, I placed the pen back into place and glanced up at the man standing in front of me and staring down at the paper.
"Here," I shot out, a little more aggressively than I really wanted to.
His upper body shuddered a little as I spoke and, after that, he quickly took the clipboard back.
"O..." he started, pausing yet again to take a breath. "Okay..." He turned back to face the box. "This is a heavy one, so..." Another wheeze. "I'll..." Another. "G-Get it in..." Another. "Your room..." Last one. "As best I can."
He then threw the clipboard onto the carpeted floor of the hallway behind himself and leaned over the top of the box. I stepped back as I watched him attempt to grab the sides of it, fail, try again, fail once more, and then step around to the other side to push it off of the cart and force it to crash to the floor.
I pursed my lips as he took a few more wheezing breaths, and then stared at the box, now on its side and too wide to push through the doorway, as he made his way back around the cart and knelt down beside it. He reached out to either side of it, pushed it forcefully back up to its original, upright position, and then stood back up to take a few more hard breaths. After that, he threw one foot forward, kicked the back of the box, and began to push it toward the doorframe with just his leg.
I stepped back a bit, and then turned around to walk back into the center of the room as he continued to struggle with the package.
Once I twisted back to look at him, I saw that he had just barely managed to get the box through the doorway and was already turning to make his way back out of the room.
"You have a..." he started, unable to finish until after taking a routine few breaths. "A good one, now..."
I kept my eyes on the box and remained silent, only looking up right as he reached out to grab the handle of the door behind his back.
He tried to pull it closed, but it caught on the side of the package pretty soon into his attempt. I watched him, then, while he jerked the door toward the hallway's direction, forcing the box to move a mere inch to the side at a time.
I waited a good entire minute or so before he finally shut the door behind himself, and then quietly spoke to myself.
"Okay, then..."
I stepped forward and approached the near side of the package. I brought myself down to my knees and reached up to grab at the tape on the top of the box. However, I quickly learned that my nails were not enough to break it open, so I stood back up, made my way over to an end table by the bed across the room, snatched a pen from it, came back to the package, clicked the pen into its functional position, and then stabbed the very center of the box's topside.
I dragged the pen along the flaps both in the center and on the outer edges that were confined by the tape and, afterward, ripped the box completely open.
I peered inside and saw that a shallow piece of cardboard was resting close to the top, covering everything else that was inside, except for the white typed sheet of paper that rested atop it.
I reached out, snatched the paper up, and began to read it from the very top.
AGENT AMNESIA:
I had to stop and give way to a little giggle before I continued.
Enclosed in this box is a few items that you may find very useful to your next mission, which is very vital in insuring the safety of both our beloved agent, Jeremy Barker, and, quite possibly, the world.
After that, three little asterisks fell across the center of the page, and the document went on in a slightly different manner.
Hey, Mae, this is from your two favorite girls. We just thought you'd like to hear from us before you send yourself off to your most intense mission yet. Mel will come up tomorrow, though, so don't get too stressed out just yet. However, she's not going to be able to communicate with you on Bluetooth this time, since we're not sure if where you're going will be able to detect our signals or not, so we want you to be as prepared as possible before you go. I've left some more papers in this box to walk you through everything again, but, before you go reading them, I want you to check out the rest of the stuff that I've sent you. I think at least some of it will make you smile. Also, be sure to call us as soon as you can!
Underneath all of that, the message 'You go, girl!' and the tag '-K and M' was placed, a small hand drawn heart placed next to it.
I smiled as I set the paper down on the floor by my feet, and then reached out to rip the cardboard cover away from the rest of the package. After that, I grabbed the sides of the box, leaned forward, and looked its contents over.
First, I noticed that my entire red moped was actually resting against the left side of the package, my matching helmet placed over its little black seat.
"Oh, wow," I laughed out.
Beside the mini motorcycle sat a small black handgun, one I had probably used before, although I never really take much notice as to which type of pistol is which. Next to that, then, rested my familiar stuffed farm friend, Moo-riah Carey.
I let out another giggle as I reached down and picked her up, but I paused when I saw a manila folder sitting underneath where she had rested with the term 'Classified' hand-written across it in red ink. I twisted to the side a little, set Moo-riah down on the carpeted ground, and then turned back to swipe the folder up from the bottom of the box. When I stood back up completely, though, I saw a small plastic card fall out of it and tumble to the ground.
I promptly stepped back, knelt down, and picked the card up from the floor.
I stared at it for a long moment, and then felt a sting come to one eye.
___
I threw one foot down to drag against the dirt below as I squeezed both of the silver handlebars on either side of my motorcycle. I gazed upward as I slowed to a stop directly in front of a tall, rocky slope.
After that, I reached down to the front panel, twisted the key out of the ignition, and tossed both of my legs over to the left before stepping off of the bike. Once I had removed my helmet from over my eyes, placed it on the seat in front of me, and tapped the kickstand into place with the toes of my boot, I stepped back and reached into my back-right pocket to pull out a little rectangular card.
I held out the scene of a bright winter snow storm in front of my eyes for a moment.
I took a deep breath, blinked away the feeling of oncoming tears, and then replaced the card into my dark jean's pocket, along with the tiny key to my moped.
"Okay," I whispered, just to myself, as I crouched down and reached into the sides of both of my boots at the same time.
I then whipped out a small black handgun in my right hand and a super tiny black box in my left.
I brought myself back up to a stand, and then proceeded to walk around the backside of my bike. After that, I made my way cautiously around the corner of the rocky mountain side beside me, slid my gun down to my side, and stepped up to a large area of the hillside that was covered with grass. I proceeded to gaze down at the black box that I held and tapped the big round button on the top of it with my thumb, forcing a red light to begin blinking next to it.
"Please, please, please..." I, more or less, mouthed while I stared at the little light.
I held my breath for the next few seconds, and then I felt a wet drop hit the brim of my nose. I looked up to the light, but cloudy, sky for a brief moment, felt another cold ping on my cheekbone, and returned my gaze back to the box in my hand.
I watched the light flash a bright red a few more times while I took a deep breath.
And then it turned to a stable green color.
"Yes," I mumbled, now rushing forward and pressing my hand holding the device against the grassy surface in front of me. I pushed against it gently until a sharp, straight cut in the rocks revealed itself, and then I used both arms to push even more against it, soon uncovering a dark doorway.
After I pushed the grass-covered door completely open, I stepped past it, turned around, and shoved it shut once more.
I twisted quietly back around and glanced upward, squinting my eyes a little at the dim light ahead as I brought my pistol up to my chest. I tightened my grip on it and kept my gaze forward as I knelt down and slid the black box back into the side of my boot.
I studied the short, thin corridor ahead and saw nothing but half of a staircase leading down to another empty, dark hallway laid out a few feet in front of me.
I brought myself back up to a stand and took a gentle step forward, now wrapping both of my hands over the handle of my gun. I continued to step until I approached the edge of the first step in the short set of stairs ahead, and then proceeded to cautiously make my way down them.
As soon as both of my feet hit the floor underneath the steps, though, a loud, siren-like noise started to scream out around me.
"Oh, no..." I muttered, glancing around snappily at the dimly lit, vacant hallway that extended both to my left and right.
I turned to the right, permanently, and rushed to the side of an open doorway, one of which was completely black on the other side. I peered into it for a short moment, and then made the quick decision to jump through it.
I threw my backside against the wall on the left-hand side of the entrance and scanned the dark room I was now in to the best of my current ability. It looked like a moderately small room with a number of tall tanks scattered about it and... that was pretty much it.
Soon after making my observations, though, I heard the pounding alarm suddenly cease.
"God, again..." I heard a soft female voice mumble from the hall outside.
I then listened as a pair of heavy footsteps made their way hurriedly past the doorway beside me. I waited for them to gradually become an inaudible trail, and then I let out a silent breath.
I craned my neck to look to the right and slowly leaned forward, now peeking gradually out from behind the doorframe, my hands shaking at the base of my hand gun.
The corridor was empty and still, although it was now lit more brightly, somehow.
"Okay," I barely breathed out to myself.
I made my way up to the very edge of the doorway and peeked out, again, this time looking in both quiet directions. Once I saw that nothing was around, then, I stepped out of the small room, twisted to the left, and pushed myself forward, toward the end of the hall, where it turned a corner. After I reached that specific corner, I bit my bottom lip a little, refocused my grip on my weapon, and very carefully tilted my head forward and around the edge of it.
The hallway went on even further, curving around another left corner at the other side of it, and absolutely no one else currently occupied it.
I walked quickly around the corner in front of myself and stepped a little more swiftly to the opposite end ahead. I observantly glanced around as I forged my way, noticing that not even one door or doorway adorned the dirtied white walls, however, I had to bring myself to a stop when I saw that an even thinner path broke off to the right about halfway down the hallway.
I spun into its direction and stepped up to its side, now looking down to the long end of it. I noticed that the walkway was lit only by one partially broken light in the ceiling of the far side of it and that the walls were even dirtier than the ones behind me. At the opposite end, though, a large, bright plain area could be seen.
I turned back to the hall behind me, hesitated to walk away for a split second, and then twisted back to the thin pathway and made the decision to softly tread through it.
I stepped as quietly as I could until I began to approach the end of it and, once to that point, I slowed down dramatically and brought my gun closer into my chest.
I pushed my right side against the wall beside me and peered around the corner ahead in both directions.
I picked up that the whole area in front of me was a large room with bright, flickering lights and nothing in it but a large column of extra wall in the center and the appearance of a few thin metal bars that stretched all the way to the ceiling resting somewhere behind it.
I stepped over to the backside of the pillar, and then peered out from behind it to look more closely at the tall, rusty bars.
I immediately noticed that the bars were actually a part of a small, enclosed box-shaped area that looked very much like a prison cell.
And, on the other side of the bars, a tall man with his back facing me sat on the floor, his messy blond hair poking slightly out between the rods of metal.
"A-Ace?" I partially shouted out.
The man jerked his body forward and twisted his shoulders to face me.
But he wasn't Ace.
"What do you want?" the man growled out, his unibrow furrowing at me.
He definitely wasn't Ace.
"Oh, sorry, s-sir," I stumbled out, now backing back behind the column beside me.
Before I started to step away, though, I heard another male's voice yell out an echo from far to the right.
" 'Nesia!"
I threw my body forward, once again, and spun into the direction of the shout. I then noticed that another long, thin pathway branched away from the far wall, and I started to rush toward it, speeding past the man in the cell in the process. Once there, I sprinted right into the skinny hallway and heard the familiar voice call to me again.
" 'Nesia!"
I ran to the opposite end of the thin corridor, halted after sliding into the next room, which was way darker and smaller than the last, and spun my head quickly in all directions until I saw an enclosed cell similar to the last sitting against the wall to my right.
And the sight of Ace standing with his body pressed up against the other side of its bars.
He smiled.
I smiled back.
"God, am I glad to see you," he said.
I rushed over to the other side of the bars in front of him.
"M-Me, too," I replied.
Just then, though, his expression turned and he threw his hands down from the metal rods.
" 'Nesia, look out!" he shouted.
I pulled myself swiftly back and whipped my head around to come nearly face to face with a dark-haired woman that had a stature similar to my own.
She held up a large silver hand gun by her shoulder.
I screamed as she reached out and snatched the fabric of my black jacket that covered my upper arm.
"Don't think so," she spat out through gritted teeth, now pointing her barrel toward my face.
"Ugh!" I yelled, now bringing one foot up to kick her harshly in her side.
She shouted out as well and stumbled backward for a short moment.
I threw my own gun upward as I jumped back and hurriedly pointed it at her.
She glanced up and lunged toward me.
And then I pulled my trigger.
My eyes widened and my heart pounded while I watched her freeze up.
After a quick second or two, she collapsed to the floor, directly in front of Ace's cell.
"Wow," Ace commented, bringing my focus back over to where he stood. "I really did miss you."
He let out a soft laugh as I attempted to relax my muscles.
After another moment or two, I managed a smile and slight giggle out in return.
"Now," Ace began, gazing back down at the woman. "There's a key in her back pocket."
I looked him over as he turned back toward me and only now noticed that he had managed to accumulate the slightest trace of facial stubble since I had seen him last.
"For the door, 'Nesia," he elaborated.
"Oh, yeah, sorry," I shot out, now jumping forward and crouching down beside the unconscious lady. I then reached my free hand carefully into one of her back black pockets, felt nothing in it, tried the other, grasped a hold on a cold metal key, and then swiped it out and brought it up to my face. "Got it."
I brought myself back up to my feet and glanced back at Ace.
"Okay, good," he responded, stepping back a tad from the bars between us.
I looked downward, noticed that a tiny keyhole box was connected to one of the rods in front of me, and then gazed further down to the woman's body that was sprawled out on the ground, which was kind of blocking me from stepping entirely up to the side of the lock.
"Um," I mumbled as I tried to step over her, although I soon realized I wouldn't find a good place to place my feet, so I instead leaned my upper body forward and grabbed at the bars on the other side of her for stability as I prepared to bring the key up to the lock's tiny hole.
At the same time, though, my gun slipped from my one hand and bounced onto the woman's middle back underneath me.
"Whoops..." I whispered, although I proceeded to shove the key into the lock and twist it to the right.
I heard Ace chuckle as I pushed both myself back and a section of the cell's bars forward.
"Yeah, I missed you," he remarked.
I straightened my backside and flickered my eyes up to him.
"You know what's really funny, though?" I questioned as he stepped up to the sliver of opened doorway. "The first time I met you, you were saving me. Now, though—"
"Yeah, I know," Ace cut me short, now stepping over the side of the fallen lady between us. "The tables have turned, haven't they?"
He turned to face me and I glanced over and up at him, a mere inch or two away.
"You know what else is funny?" he asked.
I looked his expression over and responded.
"What?"
"The fact that you remembered that," he said with a bit of a laugh.
I returned a tiny giggle as he turned, squatted down, and retrieved my dropped gun from the woman's back.
"Here," he directed, standing and spinning back to me with the shooter held out in one hand. I looked down at it, took it gently, and then gazed back up at Ace as he grabbed my other wrist and went on speaking. "Now, come on, we gotta get out of here."
I made no reply while he spun me around and sprinted forward, his hand dragging me close behind at the same time. I rushed behind him as we made our way back down the thin hallway ahead, through the next room with the unibrowed guy who yelled 'hey!' at us as we passed by, and to the end of the next thin path.
After that, Ace slowed down, let go of my hand, and stepped carefully into the hallway ahead.
I made my way up to his left side, turned into the direction that I at least thought led out, but stopped when I noticed Ace was frozen, staring in the complete opposite direction.
"You... okay?" I mumbled to him.
He paused for a short moment, and then spun back toward me, snatched my wrist up once more, and took off in the direction that I had been facing.
"Come on," he urged, not stopping to actually answer my question at all.
I ran around the corner of the hallway as he pulled me around it and obediently followed him to the bottom of the short staircase not too far away from that. After reaching that point, he turned to the left and started the trot quickly upward, myself struggling slightly to keep up with him.
Once all of that was accomplished, then, he lunged forward, me still in-hand, threw his side against the outline of the front door, and pushed himself through the crack of the exit, only then releasing his grip on me.
I continued to follow him through the slit of doorway and immediately felt a rush of cold air hit my face.
I looked up with squinting eyes as I walked onto the soaked grass of outside and realized that it was currently pouring down rain.
Of course.
" 'Nesia, come here," Ace commanded.
I glanced over to him and noticed that he stood still a few feet ahead of me, right in the middle of the drenching rainstorm.
"Do I have to?" I whispered, although, at the same time, I proceeded to follow his order and brought myself to a stand of my own close in front of him.
I crossed my arms tightly over my crest, my gun still in one hand, as water practically dumped itself on top of me. I flickered my eyes up to him, expecting him to turn and grab my wrist to take off again, but he didn't.
He took a deep breath and blinked a few raindrops off of his eyelashes.
"Listen," he started, looking down at the earth below. "There's... I..."
I guided my eyes down to the center of his drenched green tee shirt, and then back up to his face.
"Okay," he picked back up, a little more stable this time. "Remember what I told you a while ago, that you never really know something?"
He glanced up at me and studied my rain-streaked face.
"No, but—" I began.
"Well," he snatched my words away. "I know something..."
He paused for a brief second, and then went on.
"There's a countdown to a release a bunch of nuclear bombs all over a bunch of cities going on in there..."
"Wait, what?" I shot out.
"And," Ace continued. "There's also a countdown to blow up the whole place going at the same time."
I fell silent as my wide eyes stared at him.
"And I want you to stay here while I go try to take care of it," he went on.
"W-Well, w-why?" I stuttered out, one raindrop blinding my right eye in the same moment.
"Because," Ace answered. "I know that I'll have enough time to stop the bombs in the cities... but, I don't know if I'll be able to get back out of the building in time... before it blows."
"Ace, w-what are you even... what are you... t-talking about?" I muttered as I shook my head at him.
"They've been talking about it forever in there," Ace stated. "The whole building will either blow exactly thirty seconds after you stop the nuclear weapons, or at the same time that they release; I don't know how much time is on th