Chapter 5 - The Bullet-ridden Corpse
"The Doctor will be okay, won't he?" Louis asked as they watched the Olympics, still on mute
"Don't worry about him, he'll be fine. Will probably just wants to ask him a few questions" Epsilon #4 said "Who is he anyway?"
"To be honest, I don't know very much about him." Louis replied "I think he's some sort of… time travelling alien. All I know is that he saved my life."
"Whoa, so you're like, actually a Victorian?" Epsilon #4 said before taking a sip of coffee
"Yes, I'm a Frenchman from Leeds, 1890." Louis replied "Inventor of the film camera if you must know"
"You're kidding, right?" Epsilon #1 said adjusting his glasses
"We've seen a lot since coming here, but we've never met, like an actual time traveller." Epsilon #4 added
"I'm not really a time traveller." Louis shook his head "I'm here out of pure coincidence, really. I really must get back. I have a wife who's probably wondering why I haven't got back home yet. But Rose, she must be found."
Suddenly Epsilon #1's walkie talkie on the table made a hiss and Will began to speak.
"Hello, Team Epsilon. Listen, Team Beta will be landing any minute. Could you please open up the base, and escort them to one of the freezing chambers on the storage floor with a corpse. Do something useful for a change."
Epsilon #4 reached for the walkie talkie.
"Whoa man, #4 here." Epsilon #4 said "haven't they been missing for like a week?"
"Yes, they just got in contact. Over and out" Will replied
"We better get going." Epsilon #1 said getting up "Epsilon #4, get #3 and #5. Oh, and press the button for the elevator. It could take a few minutes." he motioned to Epsilon #4 who immediately got up and ran out of the room "Louis, will you help us. It's much better trying to lead a team of four than a team of three."
"Sure. Not sure what help I can be though." Louis replied, picking up his cane "I have faced a team of monsters controlled by nanotechnology and survived. Does that help?"
Epsilon #1 looked at him in amazement through his thick rimmed glasses.
"Does that mean we're going to miss the opening ceremony?" Epsilon #5 said as #4 led them through to the common room
"Yes #5, unfortunately we are. But Team Beta are back after being away for a week. We have to welcome them."
"Team Beta are back?" Epsilon #3 questioned "What on earth happened to them?"
"I don't know. Maybe you should ask them that when you see them?" Epsilon #1 replied
Epsilon #1 lead them into a small room not far down the hallway, where they all swiftly put on their uniforms of black suits, black ties and white shirts. Hanging on racks screwed to the wall, were many AK 47s.
"Do I have to put on a uniform?" Louis asked trying to look for a black suit that was his size
"No. Just put on the armour." Epsilon #1 replied
"I'll put on one of the ties" Louis said taking off his white top hat and putting his cane down on the floor. He then put on the armour underneath his shirt and swapped his black cravat for one of the black ties.
"Have you ever used a rifle before?" Epsilon #1 asked handing him a rifle
"I've never been in the army and I live in the city. Of course I haven't." Louis replied
"Don't worry; I don't think we'll use them anyway. They're just a precaution." Epsilon #1 said
Epsilon #1 lead the team to the elevator along the corridor, which was opened. He pressed a button which slammed the door shut. He pressed the button labelled '1', pressed in the pass code and then took out a keycard from his pocket and swiped it into the swipe card machine.
It took a few minutes in the elevator until they were on the top floor. There was complete silence as the elevator went up. All they could hear were themselves breathing. When the elevator opened; it opened to a much different floor than the rest looked like. The room was metallic and had an extremely high ceiling. There were around a dozen helicopters scattered around the place. They stepped out of the elevator and #1 lead them into the room, stopping a few feet away from a large white 'X' neatly painted on the ground.
Not far away was a smaller metallic room with glass, where they could see inside were a few scattered machines.
"#3, open the ceiling." Epsilon #1 said to Epsilon #3
Epsilon #3 ran towards the small room, opened the door and sat on a small black revolving chair. He pressed a few buttons and to Louis' surprise the metallic ceiling began to open slowly to reveal a cloudless blue sky, accompanied with a whirring sound of the mechanism which opens the ceiling. Hundreds of red sand threw itself downwards, making all of them shield their eyes.
"They should be here any minute." #4 said looking out of place in a black suit
They waited a few minutes, when suddenly a black helicopter flew downwards into the room; the noise was unbearable as all the sand that had fell down blew everywhere. As the helicopter came to a complete standstill and the sand began to settle, the door of the helicopter opened. Epsilon #3 walked back over to them
Out jumped a woman with dark skin, wearing a black suit. She had a massive smile of relief as she reached the ground.
"Epsilon #1" she said as she went to hug him
"Beta #3" Epsilon #1 said smiling
"Good to see you, this past week has been a nightmare. Did #2 get replaced?" she asked looking at Louis
"No, #2 got his special agent status stripped" Epsilon #1 explained "He's just visiting."
"Will allowed a visitor?" Beta #3 asked
Out from the helicopter stepped two more agents. One of the agents was bald and the other had short ginger hair and a goatee. They were carrying a stretcher covered with a white sheet.
"What happened to Beta agents #1 and #4?"
Beta #2, #3 and #5 then explained to them what had happened the last week.
"So you just found a corpse lying there, full of bullet holes?" Epsilon #1 asked in amazement
"Yes" Beta #2, the ginger haired agent said nodding his head "Take a look"
They lifted the sheet off to reveal a bullet-ridden corpse, dressed in a black shirt, trousers, cape and small black hat placed firmly on its head.
"Who on earth is it?" Epsilon #4 asked
"We're hoping someone here could tell us." Beta #3 replied
"We're assigned to take this corpse to the storage room. It is to stay there until one of the scientists come back." Epsilon #1 said
Epsilon #1 led them to the elevator as Beta #2 and #5 wheeled the stretcher inside the helicopter.
"I hope this elevator can hold eight agents and a corpse in a stretcher." Epsilon #1 said worryingly as he pressed the floor button and the pass code.
"Don't worry, this elevator once held the fifteen members of teams Alpha, Beta and Delta when they co-operated on a mission once." Beta #3 replied "that was including Clive to open the ceiling, so sixteen."
The elevator took a few minutes to reach the storage room. This gave time for the remaining Team Beta members to have a chat about all their adventures they had been through the past week. The atmosphere was much happier than it had been when the Epsilon team had went to the top floor, despite including the story of how agents #1 and #4 had went missing.
Epsilon #1 stepped out of the elevator with agents Beta #2 and #5 wheeled the corpse out of the elevator.
"Beta #3" Epsilon #1 said as they stepped out of the elevator "go back to the Epsilon common room. Tell Will the mission has been a success."
The doors closed as the elevator went down.
"Hey Beta #3, Check this guy out." Epsilon #4 said as the elevator went back up to the Epsilon base "he's a time traveller from the Victorian era."
"You're too kind." Louis laughed "I've only travelled about twice."
"That's nice." Beta #3 laughed "I've met a few before, so it means nothing to me."
Epsilon #1 led the wheeled stretcher out of a corridor and into a large room, where three agents sat at a table, drinking mugs of coffee. Epsilon recognised that the middle agent had brown shoulder length hair and a beard. It was the agent that was formerly Epsilon #2.
"Dwight" Epsilon #1 said "What are you doing here?"
"I was assigned storage room floor duty." Dwight said rolling his eyes
The other two agents helped Beta agents #2 and #5 wheel the stretcher to a large group of metallic corpse storage boxes. One of the agents turned the key of an empty storage box and opened it. They pulled off the sheet and pushed the corpse into the storage box. They closed the box tightly shut with the key.
"Damn, we missed the entire lighting of the cauldron!" Epsilon #4 said as they sat themselves down on the sofa of the Epsilon common room "I was so looking forward to that!"
"Think how I feel, I feel like a week of my life has gone missing." Beta #3 said putting the kettle on
"I wonder who lit it!" Epsilon #5 said "Probably someone that none of you would know"
"Whoa, better remember to inform Will that the mission was successful; don't wanna get on the wrong side of him." Epsilon #4 said
"Hello Will, it's D… Epsilon #4 here" he said into the walkie talkie
There was no reply.
"Will, pick up, it's Epsilon #4."
It was completely dead.
"Well um, if you're listening man, the mission was completely successful. The three members of Team Beta are all here."
He put the walkie talkie down on the table.
"That's strange. No answer." Epsilon #4 said shrugging his shoulder
For the first time, Epsilon #4 took the television off mute to hear the announcer commentate as hundreds of athletes for all the nations marched into the stadium, one by one, proudly holding high their flags. It looked such a happy occasion compared to the depression of running Area 51. They couldn't help smile at such innocence.
A few minutes later they suddenly began to hear quiet screams… was it on the television?
"Where's that coming from?" Epsilon #4 asked
"Where's what coming from?" Epsilon #1 asked as he lead #2 and #5 into the common room.
Epsilon #4 put the television on mute. The yells were coming from… Epsilon #4's walkie talkie. The screams were coming from all of the walkie talkies. But listening carefully, they could hear the distinct sound of laughter in the background.
Suddenly a deafening alarm began to sound.