Chapter 3 - Mike's First Assignment

Author's note: Hey everyone, I'm finally back! Happy Friday! Lately, my mind has been consumed by sheer anticipation, since one of my favorite bands, Dream Theater, will be releasing a new album called "Distance Over Time" in exactly two weeks! I'm so excited to buy it. Anyway, let's get to your reviews.

The Illuminaughty Pine Tree, you'll find out soon, but for now, there will be a lot more questions than answers. ;)

JOHNHAMMOND1993, it's funny how you mentioned this could be a horror game, because I actually got the idea for this story while playing Dead Space. :D And will the Great Glass Elevator be in working condition? Only I know!

MysteriousMaker1185, I'm glad you like the description of Cherry Street! You'll find out what's in store for Mike very soon.

XXCandyLoverXX, you'll learn more about Stella over the course of the story. ;)

Turrislucidus, don't you worry, that will be covered very soon. :D

Gs33022, I'm glad you're enjoying my story! As you may know, I reviewed Chapter 13 of "What Could Have Been" shortly after you published it. I'm glad Mike's attitude made you laugh as well!

Guest, I already fulfilled your request. Go ahead and read my latest oneshot, "From Deserts to Desserts". Now, on with the story!

As soon as Mike entered the long-abandoned factory, the lights dimly flickered on, revealing a long corridor that was filled with a slight haze of dust. The corridor was so quiet that he could listen to his heart pounding like an out-of-control jackhammer, and every single step he took echoed throughout the area as if he was a giant monster. About thirty paces in, he found a large, round door to his right, and he pushed it open with hardly any effort.

"This must be one of the locker rooms that Stella told me about," Mike muttered as he entered an enormous room that contained hundreds of rusty steel lockers. He promptly used the locator, and the glowing blue line that his watch projected onto the ground led him to a locker on the left side of the room. There was a faded label on the door that read: "Locker 84", and a fingerprint scanner was positioned beside it.

Without saying a word, Mike pressed his thumb against the fingerprint scanner, and much to his surprise, it flashed green, and a click was heard as the door unlocked. Inside the locker was a purple full-body suit. The helmet and boots were made from hardened steel, and the rest of the suit consisted of chain mail with thick metal plating on the front and back to protect the wearer's vital organs.

It took more than a few minutes for Mike to put the suit on, and once he was finished, he felt like he weighed a thousand pounds.

"Seriously, Stella?" Mike groaned as he struggled to stand fully upright, the suit nearly crushing his clavicles and spine. "You expect me to carry out this stupid mission like this?! What do you think I am? A champion wrestler or something? No!"

With a swipe of his arm, he loudly slammed the locker door shut, and as he walked back towards the corridor, he was constantly stumbling all over the place like a drunken old man. How humiliating.

Mike tapped his watch again to bring up the locator, and the blue line that appeared stretched far down the narrow, straight hallway before suddenly turning to the right.

As Mike clumsily followed the line towards his next objective, his mind was going at nearly the speed of light as disturbing thoughts arose. Honestly, I have a feeling there's something horribly wrong with all of this. Why couldn't the government have chosen an adult who had the same qualifications as me? Maybe because they're all dead? I dunno. Why didn't Stella have enough time to help me? Is she just busy, or could she possibly be lying to me, and trying to manipulate me?

"Come on, Mike, focus yourself," Mike said while snapping his fingers. "You've got a mission to fulfill here." He realized that his locator had led him to another locker room, but this time, one of the lockers was open. Out of curiosity, he looked inside, and he found a plasma torch.

"The W-130 Extra-Strength Plasma Cutter is suitable for clean, precise cutting and trimming tasks in the field of construction and mining," an automated voice spoke. "The default mode allows you to cut through most metals with precision and ease. The secondary mode produces a larger beam, which allows for greater coverage, at the cost of accuracy. It is not meant to be used on wood, plastic, or on living organisms."

"Well, thanks for the spiel," Mike said as he retrieved the tool from the locker. It was surprisingly light, and it fit comfortably into his hand. "Okay, where to next?"

The locator on his watch led him towards the next door in the hallway, which was labeled: "SERVER ROOM # 1". Once he got there, the big, round door was wide open, despite the fact that the door featured multiple security systems. Obviously, this meant that someone had already gotten past the security systems to this room, but who and when could it have been? Could it have been Charlie and Mr. Wonka, before the apocalypse struck? Could it have been Stella? Clearly, this was a moment where Mike had many more questions than answers.

He cautiously entered the unnervingly quiet Server Room, only to find that the servers, which looked like gigantic purple spheres, were all switched off. They were covered from top to bottom with a thin layer of dust.

After walking past several rows of these servers, which were each about the size of an average sedan, Mike finally came across a single computer that was positioned on top of a desk. There was no chair, so he had to sit uncomfortably on his knees. He looked at the keyboard, scanning each of the plastic keys for a power switch, but to no avail.

"What a piece of primitive garbage," Mike said as he looked at the monitor. The screen was pitch-black, meaning that it was obviously powered off. He grabbed the monitor with both hands and turned it around, and he finally found the power button on the back of it. With a quick push, the LED on the bottom right hand corner of the monitor began to glow yellow, and it became green two seconds later.

A few white dots quickly appeared on the screen, followed by a flurry of code that rapidly scrolled by as the computer booted up. Several seconds later, the code disappeared from the screen, and Mike was greeted with a blank terminal window.

"Command line stuff, I see," Mike said, smiling slightly. "Gotta love Linux."

He quickly typed a script into the computer, and once he pressed the Enter key, he began to hear a loud whirring sound from behind him, and before long, the server closest to him had sprung back to life. He typed in more scripts that were nearly identical to the first to boot up the remaining servers, and when it was done, he walked away from the computer and out of the room.

"I see that the servers have been successfully rebooted," a female voice suddenly spoke, nearly causing Mike to jump in surprise.

"Stella, is that you?" Mike asked, looking at his watch. Sure enough, Stella's face appeared almost instantly to answer his question.

"Of course it's me," she told him. "Nice suit, by the way."

"Thanks," Mike said sarcastically. "It's so comfortable, I could wear it for days on end...NOT!"

Stella chuckled. "That suit is for your protection, Mike. We don't know exactly what could be lurking inside the factory as of yet. But then again, that's why you were sent here, right?"

Mike shrugged his shoulders. "Uh, I guess so. Anyway, I have several questions that I desperately need you to—"

"Listen, I would love to chat some more, but I can't be away from my work too long. I gotta go now. Good luck with your mission."

"So training your recruit for this mission is not your main priority?!" Mike shouted in frustration, but Stella had already disappeared.

Author's note: I hope you enjoyed this chapter! As always, feel free to review and guess what might happen next. Stay tuned for the next one! :D