Author Comment: I want to thank my Beta-reader FollowerOfAnhamirak for his time on this chapter. I hope you enjoyed it.
Tom was sitting on his chair as he listened to his teacher lecture. The other students did the same more or less, some passing notes or whispering to each other. Suffice say they were a little bored. There was nothing important to learn. It was just another reminder that in a week they would have their exam. Revision was the worst part of a school day.
"-and this is all I have to tell you and-." The teacher gazed at the clock. The school day was about to end in a minute, "If you have any questions for me, do not hesitate. I will help you understand everything you don't. Tomorrow and Friday, I will give some supplementary explanations during lunchtime for those who need it."
The bell rang and the students left the class. Tom was ready for the usual stalker who would follow him and his best friend as they returned home. He checked to see if his Chaotic self had tried to port back, but nothing saw nothing. Grabbing his stuff, he went outside and waited for Kaz to show up.
The teenager gazed up and saw the usual black car waiting for them to come out of the gate and follow them.
"Let's go Tom." Kaz said as he joined him.
Tom nodded as they began walking and left the school, the black car following at a discreet distance.
The walk went as usual until there were only a few people around them. That was when the car went to their side and stopped.
Startled, the two teenagers stepped back as the car stopped next to them. The two exchanged worried glances as a black man with sunglasses came out of the car and approached them, "Tom Majors. Kaz Kalinkas. Come with me. My superiors want to meet you."
Their first thought was to run away, but they had no chance of outrunning the car. The both of them stood there for a few seconds.
The man took off his glasses and said, "We don't have much time. The directors want to meet you and your friends."
"F-fine." Kaz gulped as they put aside any chance of escape. What chance did they even have?
They entered the car.
Chapter 53: The Invitation
Throughout their ride to wherever they were going the two were quiet. The driver and the man who had asked them to come with them said nothing after they accepted their demands.
After about ten minutes it was the driver who broke the silence, "You should call your mother Tom and tell her you're with Kaz. As for you Kaz, your mother is waiting for you two."
"You kidnapped my mom too!" Kaz yelled.
"No. We came and asked her to come just like you." Explained the driver calmly.
The two of them wanted to argue against him, but they were too scared and, frankly, too vulnerable. Fear was the voice of reason in their situation.
The black man added, "You discovered a lot of what is going on in Perim. You were around when the creatures came to Chaotic."
"And they might reach the Earth somehow." Tom sighed as it became obvious where this was going.
Nothing else was said for a while. Eventually, they noticed they left the city. The two looked back.
"Is it that far away?" Tom asked.
"Not that much further." The driver reassured
"Great." Kaz replied as he crossed his arms. He wondered how much worse their situation would get.
"Know this. Everything you are about to see and hear, you cannot tell anyone about it or you are in deep trouble." The black man warned them.
The two teenagers gulped loudly. No one would believe that creatures could come to Earth anyway. The Chaotic players were a minority on Earth after all. Tom called his mother and told her that he was studying with Kaz for the exam and he might be there for a while. Once it was done, Tom closed his cellphone and sighed nervously while Kaz put his hand on his shoulder.
The two looked out the window and noticed they were headed towards a large building that looked like it could double as a hotel. Upon seeing it the two of them immediately wanted to ask about it, but given the situation the both of them were in neither of them wanted to ask any questions. They were both in enough trouble as it was and now wasn't the time to toe the line.
The car headed towards the back entrance where a garage began to open. Once it was open, the car rolled inside.
The two teenagers looked around and saw many adults who were busy with computers or talking together. They didn't know what they were doing, but it was obviously about Perim with what they knew. The two were well aware that they shouldn't bring up anything about Project Harmony. It was best to remain quiet and answer the questions that would be asked of them.
They noticed Sarah and Peyton waiting nervously with two adults who were standing on either side of them.
Kaz searched around for his mother and saw no one, "Where's my mom?"
"She is on her way here. Once she is here, our directors will have a talk with you." The black man replied.
"Now that we're here go wait with your friends until Cassandra is here." The driver told them.
The boys took a deep breath and climbed off the car, quickly joining their two friends.
"You are free to talk together." Said one of the men next to Peyton and Sarah.
"You're already here buds!" Peyton didn't waste a second. It was obvious he was stressed out by this and needed to let it out.
"Yeah. I heard they would bring you here after school today." Sarah commented.
"It's near our town." Kaz replied as he grabbed one of his arms. He gazed at the side and tried to avoid looking at everyone here.
"We passed through a town to reach here. I…" Sarah started before she realized something, "We are literally living in the next town over!"
"Oh my god," Tom commented as he slapped his forehead. They were living that close to each other and they never realized it.
"Boom! Mind blown." Exclaimed Peyton, waving his hands.
"We never tried to check this out?" Kaz chuckled nervously.
"It made our job easier to bring you here." The man on Peyton's right said.
The four were quiet for a while after he said that. It silenced their desire to talk. Eventually, it was Peyton who broke it, "Guess it's Alexandre's dad who caused this, dudes."
"Yeah. Alexandre told us that something might happen." Sarah replied.
"I really wanted to know what's going on, but not getting kidnapped like that." Kaz said as he thought of some movies he watched with Tom. It didn't end up pretty if no one would come to save them.
"That won't happen. There is no way we can hurt any non-criminals. You just ended up in this mess." a woman near said as she typed on her computer. She turned around and gently said, "We are just making sure you don't try to escape. You don't want to end up in the wrong place. Also, we are under the constitution, so no exceptions for us. We cannot do anything illegal or we end up prosecuted and everything we are working for will go to waste."
The four didn't want to know what the wrong place was.
A car came in the garage and once it was parked, Cassandra stepped out of the car. She rushed to her son and hugged him, "You're okay? They didn't do anything to you right? Because they will regret it!"
"N-no mom! They did nothing!" Her son quickly said as the group gazed at them, "I'm fine!"
None of his friends would tease him in the situation they were in.
Kaz looked at her and added, "Everything is okay… for now." He gazed at the group.
"Don't worry. I know our rights." His mother tried to reassure him.
"Feel better with your mom here bro." Peyton admitted.
"Now that you are all here, we will bring you to the director." One of the men told them.
"Don't worry. They're nice people." The woman who spoke earlier waved at them. She didn't succeed in reassuring them.
They followed the man, the rest of the men following behind them.
Tom gazed around and saw many offices. It felt like this was a normal office. However, what they did on the computers was a big question without answers.
The group soon reached a large door guarded by two men who examined them. They looked at the two who escorted them and gave a nod, letting them enter.
The five were on their own. They walked through a long corridor on their own as the other two left them.
"We will escort you back to your homes once you are done." Someone said before the large door was closed.
It was a little reassuring that they would be able to get back home. They climbed down stairs for a while to an underground area, walking until they reached the end and found another door was there.
The door opened to reveal a neatly dressed woman who nodded at them, "Welcome. Tom, Kaz, Sarah, Peyton, and Cassandra." she looked at each of them, associating the name with the person without any mistake.
"Hi." They managed to reply.
The one who greeted them was white woman with long brown hair and brown eyes wearing a black vest with a black skirt. She had a revolver attached to her belt, "My name is Annette. My superior is waiting for you."
"S-sure." The group looked at each other. Only Sarah and Cassandra had replied while managing to hide their nervousness at their predicament.
"Don't worry. We won't hurt you in any way. Michel would have our heads if we were doing anything against the constitution or a civilian." Annette said, letting out a large smile as she accelerated her pace.
They weren't convinced as they followed her in the room. They weren't certain if they could or couldn't.
"Miss. What's waiting for us here?" Tom asked as he managed to gather his courage.
"Hope it's not any 'Pang!' in this." Peyton joked, more then a little bit nervous.
The woman chuckled, "None of that. We are only here because Joseph, the father of Alexandre AKA 'the Messenger of the Cothica', asked us to explain everything to you. I hope we will be able to work together after this."
They all wondered what she meant by that.
"That is not for you to decide Annette." Said a man sitting behind the desk in front of the. He was an African-American man with short gray hair and brown eyes. He wore a black suit with a red tie. Like Annette he also had a gun attached to his belt.
"This is the director of the entire organization in charge of anything going on in Perim, Chaotic and maybe Earth too. Call him Michel." Annette told them.
"Welcome." The director said in a neutral tone. His face scrunched a little as he saw them. It was obvious he wasn't that happy about having them around here. He stood up and hid his expression, "Sorry if I am not happy to see you here, but this is the matter I rather keep among us and not bring civilians into this. But someone-"
"My friend's father." Cassandra interrupted.
Frowning, the director continued. "Yes. Joseph asked us to let you in the know as you are digging in this in Perim and Chaotic." He put his hand over his mouth as he grunted a few times. He gazed up, "But you don't want to go too deep for good reasons. That's why the Codemasters gathered."
"They're watching us too." Sarah crossed her arms.
"Obviously." Her three friends replied. They weren't surprised at all.
"It's for the safety of the Earth and to avoid any massive conflict with Perim," Annette politely said with a kind smile. She crossed her arms and took a more serious tone, "I am glad to know you won't try to dig into Chaotic. Some things would cause you to get immediately banned when found out. You would have got a warning if you tried before we go that way." The woman explained.
That confirmed that something important was in there. Once again, they didn't want to dig any further.
"Anyway." The man pressed on something and a door opened, "Come. Joseph convinced me, somehow, to show a lot more." He rubbed his temples and grumbled about how much influence Joseph had when he wanted to use it.
They overheard that, but let it go. They followed the man into another room. They gazed around and saw seven large cubes like objects that had a few lights inside and around them. They were isolated inside of a transparent cube.
"Do not touch anything!" The director warned them.
Peyton nervously chuckled and nodded, "Right. No touchy thingy."
The director began, "Before we show you anything, you have to agree orally and on paper that you won't talk about anything you will see here. If you accept this condition and they believe you won't say anything, we won't keep you under supervision."
"I guess it gives you a few ways to act if we broke the agreement. Some legal power over us if we break that condition." Cassandra commented.
The man nodded.
"They wouldn't believe anything anyway. This is way too much like a movie." Kaz commented.
"That's good." The director commented.
Annette chuckled, "Not only that, but you might help us in this. Maybe." She turned towards her superior.
"Annette, please bring the papers now." The director said as he gazed at the woman who left them alone.
"This is so big." Tom gulped as he crossed his arms. He wondered if they might talk about Project Harmony. If they knew, they might be in trouble.
A light shined on the left side of Tom.
"MajorTom?" A familiar voice asked through the intercom, "What is he doing here Director? Why are they here?"
The group froze at the voice that came through the intercom. They wondered who was talking.
The man replied, "What are you doing?"
Tom recognised the voice as he gazed up and asked, "Is that you Codemaster Crellan?"
"Yes. And I am right next to you." the Codemaster replied.
The boy turned to his left and saw the large object in the white cube. Now that he looked more closely, it looked a little like a computer. His friends followed his gaze without a word and looked at the giant thing.
"First time we met in person MajorTom."
Now, him and his friends realized what a Codemaster truly was.
AC: This is the end of this chapter. Another Cliffhanger.
Next: The Organisation.
After discovering one big secret, the group is under oath to never speak of anything outside of the room. Michel and Annette explain the purpose of the organization and its goal.
I currently have no idea for the organization name. If you have anything to suggest, I'm open to suggestions.