It was the same drive it had always been, the same road, same mountains, same trees, same sign that deterred anyone stupid enough to believe that a simple science institution was placed way out in the middle of nowhere. Everything was the same, except for him.

It was no longer the place where he worked at happily without any second thoughts to what was going on around him. Part of him felt guilty that he sat around fixing and creating things for others, even though he had no knowledge of what they were using it for. He did it for his love of technology, for his love of the mysteries of what could be made. He did it for the love of his parents. They had done exactly what he did now, but now he couldn’t sit back without questioning what his gadgets were used for. How many lives were lost to his machines? How many innocents, the Institute’s own agents, and those non-human creatures, have been taken out of existence by the work of his own hands?

He thought of those men and women who had worked on the atom bomb. How one machine had been responsible for so many deaths, innocents caught up in the wars of their leaders’ choosing. They just wanted to live simple lives with their families and friends, loving every day as it came.

He was in too deep now. He couldn’t turn back even if he wanted to. He wouldn’t let anymore innocents fall because he was too careless with his work. Not anymore.

His borrowed car pulled up to the small guard booth in front of the gated wall. It was the same overweight guard that had always been here. Was he in

Breaburn’s pocket as well? How could he trust anyone here? The reality was he couldn’t trust anyone in the confines of the Institute’s wall. He just needed to resume his work as normal. His conversation with Mr. Scott had been a defining moment for his actions. After that, Scott let him borrow one of the many cars Mr. Bartlett had acquired over the years.

“Oh, hey Eddie!” The guard strode up to the window, his belt under stress from the pressure of his protruding belly. “It’s good to see you again. How’s the vacation?” The guard smiled at Eddie. “Ouch. You look pretty banged up. Everything alright?”

Eddie then knew that lying to everyone was going to be harder than he thought. His face was pretty bruised from the mutants who kidnapped him. The rest of his body felt exactly like his face looked. “Yeah, as bad as it looks, my vacation was pretty good. I don’t recommend hitting on any female MMA fighters though. One wrong word and you’re screwed.” Eddie chuckled along with the guard.

“I don’t doubt you there.” The guard held up the tablet for Eddie to place his hand on. “Better you than me. You’re young, and you’ll heal up in no time.” The tablet beeped and the gate opened up. “See you later” The guard waved to Eddie as he pulled away.

Eddie parked the car and looked around the parking lot. The various cars and trucks that normally filled the lot had vanished to all but a few. They had all been replaced by black SUVs and transports. This was a bad sign for the Institute. There were more Agents now than ever.

He quickly entered the lobby. There was the same receptionist. Did she work for Breaburn? How many of them now? He quickly walked past the reception desk, heading for his room.

“Eddie!” Her voice rang out like a shot in the dark.

Eddie slowly turned around, “Yes?”

“The Boss is looking for you. Says he needs to see you.” She tilted her glasses looking over the rims at him.

“The Boss wants me?” He was baffled at why the mysterious, ever so elusive, Boss of the Institute would want to speak to him.

“Well, Breaburn wants to speak to you. He likes to be called Boss now.” She tilted her glass back over her eyes and began typing on her keyboard.

Eddie turned around and headed for the Tech room. Breaburn was calling himself the Boss now? This was getting worse with every passing day. Without the Institute running like it used to, who would protect the world from everything trying to destroy it?

Eddie slammed the door behind him as soon as he got into his room. He quickly scanned all his things. Someone could have easily snooped through his things while he was away. They could have set a trap or even a bomb.

His mech-suit was still standing, the final touches needing to be put into place before he could test it. His tools all remained where he left them. It was a relief he desperately needed. It seemed that no one suspected him or his schemes. His heart rate returned to normal as he sat down in his chair.

He looked over at the picture of his parents on his desk. How did they do it? How did they blindly make machines to kill people without questioning the end result? He looked back at his mech-suit and shook his head. At the time it seemed like a good idea. A suit of armor, mounted with advanced weaponry and scanning systems. Able to dive underwater and go on deep space missions, but now, it was just another machine to take out those who opposed the power hungry.

The door to his shop opened up. There stood the emotionless man Eddie had seen conspiring with Ra, the vampire lord. The same emotionless man he was hoping to avoid for some time at least.

Eddie’s pulse started up again. He kept his eyes from shooting wide open. This would take some skill he did not think he possessed. If he let Breaburn onto the knowledge that Eddie knew his secret plans, it could go very, very badly for him.

Breaburn walked past the several tables and approached Eddie. He looked at the Tech man’s face with advanced scrutiny, “I take it your vacation didn’t go as planned?” Breaburn’s face stayed cold as stone.

Eddie rubbed his arm and fought the urge to look away, “Yeah, I mean no. Just had a nasty fall is all.” Eddie couldn’t lie completely to this man, especially when Breaburn’s gaze was so intense it burned a hole through the back of his head.

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“Least of all, I’m glad you’re back. We have orders for repairs backed up now, and it has started to impede our progress of carrying out missions. I want you done with the repairs by the end of the day. You’re well rested so I expect top notch work,” Breaburn nodded his plain head to the picture of Eddie’s parents, “Just like your parents used to do. They were prefect for this Institute. Top rate performers.” Breaburn nodded to Eddie’s mech-suit. “Side projects will have to be put on hold, understand? I can’t have you distracted at a time such as this. We have many enemies knocking at our door.”

Eddie nodded, the lump in his throat too big for him to say anything without his voice croaking.

Breaburn strode over to the mech-suit, his briefcase in hand like always, “Unless you can get this suit operational by the end of the week. A suit like this could really ‘suppress’ our enemies.” He flicked a bullet threaded in a belt of similar bullets dangling from one of the mech’s arms. “I have work to attend to, so I will leave you to it.”

Breaburn walked past Eddie. Eddie shied away as he did so. Relief was settling in as Breaburn started to approach the door. Eddie hunched his shoulders forward a bit as he took a deep breath.

“And Eddie.” Breaburn’s voice assaulted the young man’s ears with the fury of a dozen harpies clawing away at their prey. “Have you seen Kregg? I have been looking for him for some time, but I can’t seem to get ahold of him.”

Eddie’s eyes shot open wide as he tried to suppress the dread rising in his chest.

“I need some information about a vampire lord, and he would be the best candidate to gather that information.” Breaburn stared on Eddie with his hawk-like eyes.

“Um, no, I haven’t seen him since before I left on my vay-cay. I don’t normally work with him either. Our work doesn’t really intersect.” Eddie brought his hands together awkwardly.

“Ah, yes, I doubt they would. I just wondered if you might know something that the other Agents do not. Sorry to interrupt your work, but I need those repairs done by the end of the day.” Breaburn nodded his emotionless face again and left the room.

Eddie took a deep breath and slumped down onto the floor, leaning against a table. He couldn’t work here any longer. He had to run off to the GriGri and wait for Sam to return. With her help he could do something about Breaburn, and Ra, and the mysterious Prophet figure. He could save the Institute his parents had believed in; the same Institute that helped people without any payment or demands, the Institute that saved lives from monsters and aliens, gods, and ancient beasts, nightmares, and hell-spawn. That was the Institute they lived for.

Eddie looked up to the last remaining picture of his parents. They were holding each other tight, smiles on their faces. They weren’t afraid of Breaburn. They stood up to him multiple times, so why was he so afraid? He needed to be strong like them, but they sat frozen in time, smiling at him like they were mocking his fear.

Eddie shouted out into the shop. He grabbed a wrench from the floor nearby and threw it at the picture. The glass shattered and the picture fell to the floor. Eddie took a few more deep breaths. He was powerless about his fate here. It made him angry that he did not know what step to take next. He was young when his parents died, and they had been teaching him all about engineering, mechanics, programming, everything he needed to continue their work, and he was good at it, he liked it, so when they had passed so long ago without any trace, he had just stayed here and kept working and learning as much as he could, just to carry on their life’s work, so it wouldn’t disappear like they had.

But now he had choices. He could do something more with himself. He had the right mind and ambition to save the Institute, but he didn’t know where to start. This is where his anger stemmed, his utter lack of direction.

Eddie stood once his anger had settled. He walked over to the picture and looked down upon the mess he made of the last picture of his parents. He bent down and water started to form in the corner of his eyes, but something caught his attention through the water soaked eyes. He pushed aside the glass and picked up the photo. A small flash drive was tapped to the back of the photo. A handwritten note was scribble on the back of the photo he had never noticed before.

He recognized his mother’s handwriting.

“Dear Eddie, your Father and I both love you, too much, if you ask me. Of course I am writing this, your father’s handwriting sucks too much assmar, if you ask me, but he wanted you to be sure you know he is proud of you. We both are. Love, Your Mom and Dad.”

Eddie wiped the tears from his cheek and pulled the flash drive from the back of the photo. He raced over to his laptop and plugged in the drive. He didn’t trust the Institute’s computers. They were most likely bugged with all sorts of monitoring equipment or malware. He had no need to hide anything from the Institute before, but this had to be something big for his parent’s to hide it all these years.

He clicked on the first of two files on the drive. It was a video file titled “For Eddie’s eyes only.” Eddie cocked his head to one side. It wasn’t very secretive, but that was his parents after all.

After a few seconds, the video started up with his mom sitting in front of a webcam. The background was that of the shop Eddie currently sat in. She was smiling and saying, “I love you,” to someone off screen. She turned back to the camera, “Eddie, if you are watching this then I expect that we have died, or disappeared, or whatever they have told you, which is most likely true. If you ask me, this is going to sound pretty cliché, but it’s the truth. Your Father and I have found some information on Breaburn that will be devastating for the Institute and destroy everything it stands for. They will find out soon enough that we know, but to protect you, we haven’t told a soul, neither have we recorded this information anywhere else but here on this flash drive. Mr. Bartlett, who we weren’t sure we could trust, will be looking after you from now on. We think he is a good man, but anyway, this message is for something more important than that, if you ask me. Your father will take it from here.” Eddie’s mom turned the webcam to the side.

A man stood there writing notes on a chalkboard. A mathematical equation was scrawled out in his horrible penmanship. He looked over at the webcam and sat down his notebook. He jogged over to the camera and smiled, “Sorry we can’t live like the perfect family and grow old till we shit ourselves and you have to change our diapers.” Eddie’s father chuckled as a fist came from the edge of the screen and punched his arm, “Anyway, In the other file on this drive is the specs for a machine that can save your world, a machine that can alter the fabric of reality. We need to leave here as soon as we can. There will be nowhere for us to hide long enough to finish it before they find us, so you must continue this work. You must build the machine Eddie.”

Eddie’s mother joined his father and they held each other tight. His mother spoke again, “Sorry this is so rushed, but we made this last minute and now we have to run. We love you son.” She turned and kissed his father. Eddie smiled at their love. Eddie’s father walked up to the camera again, “And one last thing. I had drawn up schematics for a power source that can run a suit like that superhero you love so much. Enjoy, my little Ed.”

The camera shut off and the screen went black. Eddie sat back and grabbed the picture of his parents. He placed it in the keyboard of his computer. He opened the second file and quickly perused the contents. He couldn’t leave the Institute now. He had the resources to build these machines here at the Institute. He was also close to the man that had killed his parents. Breaburn was here and so was his revenge. He would build this device his parents wanted him to, he owed them that, and then he would build his mech-suit. With the power source his father had devised, he could take out every crooked Agent at the Institute.

Eddie smiled and looked at his parent’s picture. They had loved him very much. He loved them too.