Wednesday, April 19th

Location: CARGO Foundation, Maine

Time: 19:24, 7.24 pm

Mission: Don’t embarrass yourself

After the course of two hours—which was longer because of the silence—we arrived in the area, according to the folder. Now we were set on the road below the CARGO facility, which had a cylindrical build with white lights blaring out of it.

“Kay’, here’s what we’re looking for. Marcus Lowman. Brown hair, a defined jawline, white glasses, and striking blue eyes. I want to find him,” Nikki said, skimming through the folder.

“Understood…” Tisiah responded. Nikki smiled. “Thanks, Tisiah.”

Mari parked under this rock, or at least this extension of a rock that hovered over the road. Rather convenient. “Okay, let’s go,” Mari said. We exited the vehicle, and everyone gathered at the trunk of the car.

“Now comes the question: how do we find him?” Mari muttered, though it was loud enough for all of us to hear. “Infiltrating,” Nikki responded, though a lot louder.

“With what clothes? We can’t just barge in there and not expect to get shot,” Mari hissed.

Nikki smiled, turning to Tisiah, who nodded as they spoke telepathically, with Tisiah giving her binoculars I had never witnessed even being equipped.

Tisiah must’ve known that since he chuckled once he looked at me. Nikki rested the binoculars on her eyes, and based on the squeals of the zooms, she must’ve been looking for a guard.

“Oh…oh…oh…” she commented. She didn’t make me, or anyone else, feel better at all.

“Okay, so you’re looking at some very heavily armed men, possibly with bulletproof armor,” Nikki explained. Mari sighed, rolled her eyes, and walked in front of Nikki.

“How do you expect us to get that as clothing?” Mari asked, which was the one thing I agreed with.

Nikki smiled. “Simple,” she responded, as she whipped out her wand and, with a single swing, spawned four clothes but not the guns.

Then suddenly, there was a blink on her wand, as everyone gathered around to witness. She had gained 34 MP, which filled up a sixth of her bar.

I had never felt so excited in my entire life.

Mari widened her eyes. “Sure,” she responded, her voice unchanged. “You forgot the guns.”

“Illusions can’t go that far to shooting bullets,” she mentioned. Mari sighed as she looked at the group. “Put these on, and let’s go.”

We had done so, and I couldn’t help but feel assaulted by these abominations of clothing that felt heavier than a horse, which we had to tread all the way up the mountain.

“Come on, let’s go,” Mari ordered. And we had done so. Now, if I don’t lose more than 15 pounds from this, then I’m going to flip. The amount of suffering I went through to get up that mountain is probably the hardest thing about this mission.

We had approached the gate, and two of the guards, which Nikki had correctly described, walked up to us.

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“Where’s your vehicle?” one of them asked, their voice leveled.

“Gone, blown up,” Tisiah said. “Someone attacked us, though we’re not sure. They had these black clothes and, uh, vests. We only managed to escape.”

“What happened to your radios?”

“Crushed.”

The guards glanced at each other. “Get inside and report to the supervisor; we’ll get some men. What’s the location?”

“There isn’t an exact one, but they were on that road. They could possibly be coming here,” Tisiah explained. Thank God for these helmets, because the amount of surprise on my face would’ve given us away.

"Alright, open, quick!” the guard ordered. The gates opened wide, to which we had entered, relief washing through my body.

We approached the door, which was this metal door that was criminally wide. I don’t know the build of these people, but their width is concerning. It was as big as two flat-screen TV’s.

Get some help, please.

“Okay, remember the brown hair, jawline, and striking blue eyes. Understand?” Mari asked.

We all nodded. Mari said, “Tisiah, you come with me. Nikki, you go with Cory.” I took a deep breath. A deep breath.

We entered the building, where we first met in the lobby. There was a row of brown desks, slightly turned to where there were just chairs by chairs, across from them. Farther from there was this sculpture of a big bird with a ribbon around it.

The floor was this white marble with black dots. Really, in all honesty, the entire place was just white.

“Okay, what are we looking at,” Nikki muttered, though that mutter was considerably better. There were these ladies in white suits with black shirts and name tags.

We had this odd attention from scientists that had populated the area, which I couldn’t help but be insecure about. It was most likely the fact that two big guards were just walking inside, but that didn’t make me feel any better.

Then Nikki tapped my shoulder.

I looked at her as she pointed at one of the check-in ladies, I assume, as we approached her. She was blonde, with ponytailed hair and more pale but clear skin.

She looked easy to draw.

“Something wrong?” she asked. Nikki chuckled. “No, no, we just need to find Marcus Lowman. He’s possibly in danger.” The woman’s smile had immediately lowered to a concerned stare. “Oh, uh, do you want me to call him down or—”

“Yeah, sure, most definitely,” Nikki explained. The woman nodded. “Let me call him down for you.”

Nikki nodded, but even she suspected something was off about that. She could easily call him himself using that phone thingamabob that those retailers use in their clothing stores. How do I know that? It was hidden under multiple papers.

It was just a few papers that were unfortunately placed in such a manner that it revealed the device. “Yeah, let’s accompany you just in case anything happens.”

The woman widened her eyes considerably. “Yeah, for sure,” she responded. “I've just never been in a situation like this.”

“Understandable,” Nikki nodded as we followed her to an elevator across from the desk. She clicked the button with this odd gracefulness. It was a tad bit attractive. With that, the doors opened and we walked through.

The woman pressed a gray button, and with that, the doors closed aggressively. Then, it began its course as it lifted itself up, allowing us to reach the third floor.

“Has something bad happened?” she asked. “Guards usually symbolize that, so I—”

“Something of concern. Not bad,” Nikki corrected. I could only imagine a smile right after that sentence. It was rather unfortunate that the helmet refused that addition.

“I certainly hope so,” she remarked. After that, I leaned forward, deciding now to actually check her name. It was rather an old name, Tilli.

Then, the doors opened, as a room with blue walls and black doors revealed itself, while there was a darker blue carpet on the ground. I couldn’t help but appreciate the color coding.

There were a few scientists that walked along these halls, most of them in groups of two. Tilli led us to the right, which me and Nikki followed intently.

She approached this brown door, glancing at us before she opened it, revealing a lab. It was rather small, with a large window across from the door to where there was a younger person, eighteen, who had just folded his white coat.

“He’s an intern here. Marcus,” she said. Marcus nodded and gave a very friendly smile. But my eyes were only stuck on those bright eyes.

It almost felt like those eyes had these inner spirits that were conversing with my soul.

“Thank you... for coming—with us, but you’re—good now,” Nikki said, her head just focused on Marcus, before looking back at Tilli with a smile, to which she nodded.

Here was the catch:.

Tilli locked the door, and the atmosphere had completely changed. Concern and suspense took the room, and it took it by surprise.

“Well, I assume this is the concern,” Nikki said, glancing at me. Then, with that, Tilli took out her gun, with her hands firm on it.

“Hands up.”