Chapter 1: Mine No. 30
…
It was a rainy day, not so different from the others. Everything was quiet, you could´ve even heard the water down the sewers. Living down here was awful, it was cold, wet and depressing, even for me. I never imagined my life in a bunker, but here we were.
"2784 days we´ve been hiding…" from what you may ask, I don't even know anymore… Cronus… the Government… CIA… Interpol… I already lost count, and seriously I could care less. There´s nothing out there left for us. We can only rely on the hope of new allies or one of our plans working out. And neither of those hasn't happened lately.
I was cut out of my thoughts when the door open, it was Jay, and by the look on his face that only meant bad news.
"So… are they going to help us?"
His hand reached his forehead, he then sighed "They want this to end, they can´t stand more wars Arch…" I move from the desk, to lean on the wall. I crossed my arms in a sign of protest of whatever the outcome could be. He was soaking wet. A bigger storm was coming. "…they say yes, but with their conditions" he muttered.
I was confused. "And the long face is because…?"
"Because, man, I´m tired of this…" he rushed his hand through his hair. "Tired of people conditioning my methods, tired of not knowing when this is going to end, tired of the world… tired of… life." He groaned. "This doesn't make sense anymore…"
I cut him straight away "And you think this does make sense to me…? To everyone in here, Jay?" I move to sit on the chair right in front of him. "You´re not the only one tired of this hellhole, believe me" I looked him straight in the eyes... well… his eye and that piece of fabric that he recalled a patch "We have lost a LOT, and we can lose way more if we don´t do something, even in their terms. They don´t care if we are tired or have loosened all hopes!"
His glance had toughened up with the years, we weren´t teenagers anymore. This just wasn´t about us fighting monsters and myths, this was way far worse than we could ever imagine. We both stay quiet for a few minutes.
"Go and tell Odie that I need him here"
"Fine."
I made my way out of his office, through the security gate. If Daedalus was still alive, he would be proud of this place. A complete maze, packed with all kinds of killer surprises in case someone breaks in, and sometimes with way too many security points.
After everything went down the sewer in our lives, the accident, the media and the whole world questioning their faith in religion, this was our place, the only one on earth that could keep us safe, but not so much sane.
A few years ago, we fought an army of G.I. Ants in here, now it was our bunker, well, we kind of shared it with two thousand more people, but we got used to it. Odie modified it so well that you couldn´t even perceive the crowd…
"Hand" I was suddenly burst out of my thoughts by one of the gorillas of Odie´s lab.
"Dude it´s like the sixth time I came here this day."
"HAND" he grunted.
"FINE!" I placed it in the palm detector full of green scanners. It was tedious, I mean it only took a few seconds but when you had to do it every hour or so.
"Odie, it's me… again" I crossed the doors, he was still in his lab coat, cover in Zeus knows what blue substance, a part of his bear also caught a little blue. Only two of his apprentices were left, and by the expressions of their faces, they were glad to see someone else taking Odie´s attention.
"Hey man, just… give me… one… second" I made a gesture to the two apprentices to get a break while Odie didn´t notice. I needed to talk to him in private after all. I cover my sight a little while I adjusted to the bright lights, it was a bit of a change to the rest of the bunker. At least in here, the walls weren´t just concrete ones.
"Done!" he started cleaning his hands like if that would make any difference, the whole lab was still a mess. "You´ve got good news?" he asked.
"I´m not sure if they are good, but we got news" I sighed. "They´re going to help us, but Jay says that only at their conditions, and anyways he wants to see you, that's why I came here."
"But that is great news! I mean… they say yes to our plan. That must mean something good" I rolled my eyes, he was still full of hope, ironic I know.
"Well tell that to mister grumpy, lately he been in a mood that I can´t stand," I said sharply while I crossed my arms.
Odie took a deep breath "Well, you know it´s almost August, we all know how he handles this time of the year" He approached his desk to take some notes and books. "He is not the only one who's grieving Odie" I muttered.
"You might be right, but… just give him time, as ironic or poetic as it sounds" We got out of the lab and as he looked the doors, I saw a burst of red coming our way.
Atlanta, the only person I was glad to see this day, and the only one who could lift my humor. "Are you also heading to the HQ?" she asked while greeting Odie.
"For the tenth time in this day." I lean to kiss her and grab her hand. While for others displaying´s of affection in public weren´t allowed, being a General had its perks. "How´s been your day?" I asked.
"Same as always, some of the new are doing great, others, well, they seriously need to rethink if my division is the right place for them. I could see them more in the labs or even in the inventory department." She shrugged. "You know I´m always glad to receive more recruits," Odie said.
We began to walk together, Odie a little bit ahead of us, but always checking every single corner where we passed, lately he´s been a little paranoid of attacks. One of his bodyguards or gorillas, as I called them was walking behind us.
It took us a few minutes until we arrived, Odie passed his hand through the eye pad outside the HQ. Again, with the stupid security in every single point. The bodyguard waited for us outside. We entered the Hall, a place that Neil insisted on for visitors, or when high important people would come to seal deals, like if that ever happens. It only served as a final filter to the HQ. We made our way up the stairs, and through the metal door. Neil and Herry were already there. Jay was just passing through the room from one side to another.
"You´re going to leave a mark on the carpet at that pace," I said, as I closed the door, he just grunted. A lot more books were scattered on the table and the floor, than when I was there an hour ago. We took places in the table, moving aside papers and trinkets. This place was a real mess.
Herry cleared his throat "so…" but he was cut by Jay making a gesture with his hand, telling us that we needed to wait for someone else.
A few minutes past, and still we got not a single word from him, we were more than anxious to know, but he just kept looking to the clock. No one knew what to say, or if urging him was the right thing to do.
"Do we need to wait for her, can´t you just catch her later with the info Jay?" Neil asked, looking apart from a compass that he found beneath the pile of things in the table.
"No, I need the whole team to be here Neil," he said sharply and with a glared that could cut through ice. Atlanta was going to star protesting but, at that moment the door flew opened, a swirl of blonde hair entered the room and took place next to Jay. "Sorry I was a little bit busy with some documents, the HR Department can be a pain in the ass sometimes" she adjusted herself in the chair and gave Jay a little peak on the cheek.
"We´re aware of it Medelia, but the reunion started half an hour ago, and WE ALL have things to do," said Atlanta with a snarky tone. Medelia just rolled her eyes, and before things got more hostile, Jay began to talk.
"The Major General of Bourgna agreed to help us enter the laboratories in Biel, he said that some of his high forces are willing to help us, and to destroy some papers that were stolen for them." He made a paused. "He says that on Saturday they´re going to make a demonstration of the weapon they´ve been working on, a mass event were high politicians are invited, and they are expecting Cronus too." He scanned all our faces.
"But…" I dared to asked.
"Waiting to attack on Saturday, even on Friday will be too predictably" The silence and the tension in the room was rising. At this point, attacking by those days was almost a suicide mission.
"So…" Medelia said in an almost inaudible voice.
"We´re attacking tonight."
…