Arc 0: Abel Wormwood
Chapter 1: Pilot

April 3rd, 2024...

A man with short black hair and grey eyes in his early 30's wakes up. He finds himself stripped naked while having his arms and legs bound by mechanical restraints with his arms stretched out. He has a respiratory device on his face as he notice he is inside some sort of glass tube and in a circular room with four others in a similar circumstance as he panics to break free with the only lights are the circular florescent lights to see what is going on. To his left from his right is a black woman in her mid-20's with short black hair, a young man with brown hair in his teens, an Asian teenage woman with streaks of pink in her bangs, an another man in his early 30's yet with blond hair. All of them are struggling to get out of whatever lab they're trapped in. The man with the black hair looks up and sees a window where there are two strange men. One is wearing what appears to be a hood and robe in a purple color with golden runes on the edges of the hood and around the torso. Another appears to be a scientist holding a clipboard yet his skin is pale as if he had either seen a ghost or has died not too long ago. The man in purple raised his right hand as if to signal something.

Above, a strange machine over the woman's tank started to get lowered with a large needle filled with a strange, red liquid. It reaches into her left shoulder and injected the substance. The woman suddenly froze in place when the needle retracted. After a few seconds, the women lets out muffled screams as her flesh starts to bloat from the inside out. It continued to do so as her flesh gets larger and more bulbous for each three seconds. Everyone look at the transfiguration with the look of fear in their eyes as they see her getting larger and large. Her flesh completely fills the tank as it started to crack until she has exploded. Leaving only a slurry of flesh and blood that fill the tank. Everyone started to panic even more with the black haired man looking at the man next to him. Both of them know each other as they look at each other with familiarity as the blond-haired man is trying to tell him something. But all he can hear are the muffled screams, the struggling to break out of the metal restraints and the sound of the machine ready to inject the next person.

The teenager was next to be injected with the red liquid yet something was different. The fluids are a slight darker color than what was injected into the woman. The teenage boy looks up and sees that he is next on the chopping block. The boy screams and panics as he desperately tries to escape. But it was all in vain as he was injected in the same shoulder. The boy's screams were that of terror now become screams of pain after getting injected. What happened next was that he burst into flames from the inside out as his flesh melts away to leave behind only his charred skeleton. The Asian woman was next with a more darker red fluid being injected into her in the same side shoulder. The machine retracted as the woman screams in pain. Blood started to come out of her. From her eyes. From her nose. From her ears. From her nails, nipples, anus, vagina and eventually all of her pours. She kept on screaming and screaming as all the blood in her body started pouring out with her body becoming thinner from the lack of fluids. Once all of the fluids are gone, she died.

The two men realized they are next as the blond man cries with tears streaming down his face. The man with black hair furiously tries to struggle to break free to save him. The machine above lowers with another needle yet with an even darker red fluid than before. The needle injected the blond haired man before retracting back up into the ceiling. Nothing happens in the first ten seconds before the man's heart bursts out of his chest. Literally. His heart tore through his rib cage and burst out of the tank within a second. The man with blond hair has dies with his heart now lying on the cold, white tiled floor. The man with the black hair sees it before going into a rage. He furiously tries to get out while swearing at the two men at the window who are overlooking the entire operation. As he vainly struggles to break free to get his revenge, the machine above comes down with the needle. This time however, the fluid is nearly black with bits of red and giving a prismatic tint to it. He doesn't pay attention to the machine as he madly glares and struggles to get revenge as it then injects him. That is when he finally notice and starts to feel a great pain in him.

Smoke started to stem from his body, he starts to sweat profusely, and he starts getting spasms all over. His body started to glow a brilliant white light as the brightness becomes tenser and tenser before the tank explodes into white flames. The flames then spread across the lab as it destroys all the glass, burning anything it comes into contact with throughout the whole building. Destroying anything that is flammable, burning all electronics and papers, people burnt to a crisp.

Outside among the Seattle skylines, a building with a neon blue 'PENTEX' sign on it erupted into white flames. The glass of the skyscraper bursts as the white flames started to shoot upwards to the heavens. The flames were so bright that night suddenly becomes day with the blacken and starry sky turned into a brilliant blue. Those that are awake at this our see the column of flames as they become awe struck by it. Some went into a blind panic in fear that it is the end of the world. Others drop to their knees and pray as they believe it is a sign from god. Others just stand their as they look at the brilliance, completely paralyzed by what they are seeing. After three minutes, the giant pillar of fire disappears. The blue sky went back to black and the stars returned.

Back inside, everything has been charred to a crisp with the only exception are those in the tanks that have no crashed down onto the floor. Some of the lights are still working despite the destruction with scorch marks that lead back to the lab. The man with black hair came out of the tank and miraculously without a scratch or burn.

"FUCK!" he screams out. "What the hell was that?!"

He crawls out and make it to the tank next to him. He punches the glass tank and ignoring the glass shards into his fist. He look inside and see that the blond man is dead with his heart missing.

"Shit." he lowers his head in guilt. "Sorry, Richard. I'm sorry. I couldn't save you, buddy." He slowly and struggles to gets back up, "But don't worry." He tries to stand but having some difficulty. "I'll let Beatrice and your father know what happened to you. I'll make sure they know."

He manage to stand until he felt a sharp stabbing pain in his head. His vision starts to fade in and out. He believes he hasn't gotten through the worst of it yet. He believes he's gonna die and what happened was only a fluke.

(Dammit!) he staggers, (Get it together, Abel! You're work isn't finished yet!) He falls and stumbles before getting back up again. (I have to...find my phone.)

He tries to leave the room and head out to the extra crispy hallways of what was once a lab of some sort with black skeletal remains everywhere of the people that worked in this horrible place. He keeps on feeling the stabbing pain getting worse and worse and tries to soldier on through it. The sprinkler systems have melted and prevent any water from coming out with one pipe bursting from the pressure. Abel headed on over to some lockers to find something to put on or where his stuff is at. But the lockers only have ashen remains of their contents.

(Fuck!) he says after checking five lockers. (Forget it! I just need to get back to the hotel and use their phone! Don't care if I have to get there naked!)

He managed to make it out of the building as he ran up many flights of stairs and runs through an alleyway as the Seattle PD started to secure the perimeter with news reporters flocking in. He thought about going to the cops, but the pain keeps on getting worse and worse so he decides to get back to his hotel room. To him, he has an obligation to do. To his friend.

As he runs through the alleyways and avoids being seen, his vision starts to change. He sees storms in the sky that don't exist, spider webs on old buildings with giant spiders, and what look like actual people are actually spirits of people that have died. Some worse than they appear. While he looks up at the sky again, he does see a red star that wasn't there before. But Abel shakes it off and tries to head back to his hotel room. He heads down another alleyway until he comes across three people with very strange black, swirling auras that are hanging out among the trash until one punches him in the head that threw Abel off balance. The other two grabbed him and hold onto him.

"What do we have here." says the man in the black hoodie in a sinister, low tone.

However, the little light shows his face. His face is twisted and deformed with grey-colored skin. The man, if you can call him that, has crooked and sharp teeth with twisted fangs, his nose is missing with it looking more like a bat's snout and steely blue eyes. Where his ears should be, they look like they are pointy, elven-like ears despite being under his hood and his forehead slightly bulging with warts and little hair. Abel look at the other two and noticed that they are deformed and twisted in their own way yet same kind of ears.

The black hoodie leader takes a deep inhale as if to smell him.

"Wow!" he went. "That's one hell of a smell! One moment you smelled good then went to foul!"

"You can say that again!" says the one on the left, "But I bet his blood is delicious."

"Come on, boss!" the one on the right is getting impatient, "Let's get on with it!"

The leader of the trio open his mouth wide as the yellow-stained fangs extend. He quickly bite Abel's neck and started to suck on his blood. Abel does his best not to scream despite a new pain on his neck. However, after one gulp, the man backs away and starts chocking. Abel does his best not to pass out or die while the two look at their leader, trying to figure out what is going on. The leader keeps on chocking before his jaw and throat start to melt as if he just drank acid before falling dead on the concrete next to some garbage bags. The other two freaked out and let Abel go.

"What the fuck?!" says one of the henchmen. "What the hell are you?!"

The other says, "Forget it! Run!"

The two ran away as Abel tries to get a hold of himself. He's confused on what just happened and what he saw but continues to run. He kept on running and running as an actual storm starts to form with lighting flashing followed by the sound of thunder. Loud thunder that caused every car alarm to go off and nearly waking the city. Almost as if they can hear an earthquake. Abel continues to do his best as his whole body is now in pain as his muscles and nerves start spasming. But no matter what pain he is going through, he must succeed before dying as he made a promise. So he continues to run until he made it to the hotel he was staying at: Warwick Seattle. He make it past the multi-level parking lot and made it to the backdoor. He knew it was locked but tries to open it and heard the sound of the locks unlocking. Abel is surprised at first, but enters and make his way towards the elevator and pressed the button for the 14th floor. Once upon the 14th floor, he make it to his room in the yellow walled hallways of the Warwick. Room 1408. The door has an electronic lock which requires a card to gain entry. He press his hand against it as the light of the keycard reader suddenly turned green. Another surprise, but Abel enters before collapsing close to the bed.

Abel crawls to the phone with his hands shaking from all the pain he is going through throughout his body. He press the numbers on the phone in order to call a woman name Beatrice. The phone starts ringing as a downpour can be heard outside.

{Hello!} a voice of a frantic woman can be heard on the other side.

"Beatrice! Its me!" he speaks but speaking is making his body suffer more.

{Oh my god! Abel! Please tell me you found Richard!}

"Beatrice...I'm sorry." he starts to cry. "I'm sorry. I failed."

{What happened?! Abel?! Abel!}

"I found Richard but he and I were placed in straps! We were taken to some lab and injected with some sort of experimental drug or serum, I don't know! I saw... I SAW RICHARD DIED!" he shouted about Richard's death and sobs.

{WHAT?!} Beatrice shouts in disbelief, {Say it ain't so!}

"I'm sorry!" Abel apologizes as he sobs and can no longer handle the pain. "I was unable to save him! Richard is dead and I'm gonna be next! I was lucky to survive yet I can feel the substance they injected into me taking effect! Tell Mr. Eden that-"

Another lighting strike and caused a blackout, even effecting the phones. Abel drops the phone as he can feel the pain getting more and more intensifying to the point where he can no longer bear it. He yanks the drawer next to the bed and pulls out a desert eagle.

"I'm sorry, Richard." despite his hands shacking, he places the gun barrel close to his head, "But at least your family now knows. I'm joining you sooner than later."

Abel pulls the trigger with the sound of thunder covering his gunshot. Blood splattered on the chair and floor with a bullet exiting the window. Abel now lies dead and naked in the hotel room.

Back at the building where he escaped, the police have the area secured and keeping the curious onlookers at bay behind the yellow tape as three black cars enter onto the scene with the downpour getting worse. The first two cars had men in black suits that exited the vehicle. Behind them are two men wearing grey suits. All of them are FBI agents that have been sent to investigate the scene.

The first from the first car is a white male with graying brown hair and seem to be in his late 40's and having brown eyes. Judging by his face, he has seen some various serious shit in his line of work. The second is a black male with a military haircut and younger than the first who also have brown eyes. He seems to be a rookie given his good looks and is slightly taller. Probably in his late 20's and have a more slender body frame. The third is a bald white man with a brown beard and hazel eyes that seems to be in his mid to late 30's with a scar over his left eye that look like he fought against an animal. A very large animal. The fourth is also a white male yet has black hair that is perfectly combed to his right side and green eyes with a visible scar on the right side on his neck that have been done by some sort of blade. He is slightly shorter than the bald man he came in with and missing a tie. He appears to be in his late 20's, similar to the second man. As for the one's in gray, there is a white male and a black male. The white male is in his 40's as well yet have more gray and seem to be a little...off. 'Off' is the best way to describe him. The second is bald as he stands taller than his partner while also having a stern look to him. Both of them are strangely wearing sunglasses even though it is night.

The six men approach one of the officers and show their badges.

"I'm Agent Torres," says the first man, "and this is Agent Hanna. Federal Bureau of Investigation's Special Affairs Division."

The third man introduces himself and his partner, "I'm Agent Pride and this is Agent Bishop. Federal Bureau of Investigation's Vanguard Serial Crimes Unit."

The white man in grey states, "Agent Ford and Agent Smith. Homeland Security."

"Christ." says the female officer with a captain's rank, "How many fucking departments are we suppose to expect?"

"Report." Agent Ford bluntly says to the officer.

"Right, uh..." the female officer tries to explain, "To be honest; I have no fucking clue on what the fuck just happened. There was a giant pillar of white flames, things turned from night to day, and then everything just stopped. All we know is that, whatever the hell it was, came from this building. Judging by the evidence."

Agent Bishop smells something off, "What the hell is that smell?"

"Burnt corpses?" she tries to answer, "Possibly burnt...everything. Hard to smell with the rain pouring down on us. However, we found a set of footprints of someone that has escaped from some underground lab. Everyone else has been burnt to a crisp so it will take time to identify some of the bodies. But we found four others that have died in some...bizarre manner."

"Define, 'bizarre'." says Agent Hanna.

"Follow me."

The seven make their way in after putting on some disposable shoe covers and rubber gloves as they head deep inside to where the explosion originate as they pass by crime scene investigators that are collecting what ever little evidence they could find. All forms of documents, electronics, and anything worth of note have wither burnt to ashes or melted down that make evidence collecting impossible. Some of the bodies are being photographed with some reduced to skeletons and charred flesh with very little clothing that have been destroyed. They appear human but noticed that there are piles of ashes scattered about with the six agents knowing what they actually are.

The female officer explains, "The infrastructure, thankfully, hasn't been compromised despite the amount of fire that came out of this place. I don't know what the fuck Pentex has been doing here, but I highly doubt that they've been working alone."

"Elaborate." said Agent Smith.

"Well, this sort of operation we discovered here has more than just Pentex's fingerprints. This building was sold to a private client back in 2019 yet kept practically everything the same. So, either someone is using this building as a cover-up for their kidnappings and experimentation or Pentex has gotten themselves involved due to some contract. We're looking for who actually owned this building and any paper trails. But as you can see, everything here got destroyed."

Two investigators are carrying a body bag and walk right pass them as they continue to where the fire started. She took them to the lab where the five tanks are at with the four bodies being covered and being recovered from the tanks. They were moved after getting photographed as evidence as two more investigators collecting samples.

The female officer says, "We identified one as, Richard Eden. Heir to Eden Banking, Ltd. He was the most easiest to identify. He was found with his heart missing as if it exploded out of his body. Reported missing over a week ago by his wife back in New York City."

Agent Pride inspects the body, "Pretty far from home."

"From what his father and wife stated, he was suppose to help make a deal on making a new branch out here in Seattle."

Another officer runs up to the captain, "Ma'am! We have identified the footprints. They belong to a former 2nd Grade Detective, Abel Wormwood, of NYPD."

"Wait, Abel Wormwood?" Agent Bishop seem to recognize the name. "He's the one who helped with the Homeless Massacres back in 2018. Worked with Agent Charlie and Agent Parker and the suspect was killed."

Before they can talk even further, they hear what sounds like something vibrating metal not too far from where they are at. Agent Torres check on one of the lockers close by and find the sound of the vibration where he can hear the muffled sound of music. Noir jazz music. He opens it and see that everything inside is intact. An old fedora that is brown in color with a matching overcoat. A white shirt with a black tie and a pair of brown slacks with fancy looking black leather shoes. Agent Torres checks the pants pocket and pulls out a smartphone. On it is the name, 'Beatrice'.

He answers the phone, "Hello?"

{Hello! Abel!}, a woman is on the phone and sounds worried.

"This is Agent Toress of the FBI. Is this, Beatrice Eden?"

{Yes!}, she replies, {But where's Abel?! Is he there?!}

"Calm down, ma'am. Did Abel already called you?"

{He did.} Beatrice sounds calmer, {He called me not too long ago. He did called but it came from the hotel's phone.}

"Which hotel?"

{The Warwick. He told me he was staying at the Warwick. He did called me before we were cut-off.}

"We'll check on him. We'll let you know when we found him. And... I'm sorry about your husband."

{I know... That's what he called me about. Please. Find Abel. I don't want to lose him, too.}

"We'll find him." Agent Torres hangs up the phone and look at the other agents. "Hanna. Smith. You two are gonna head to the Warwick to locate Abel Wormwood. We need to know what happened here. Assuming he's alive."

Hanna points his thumb at Smith, "Do you really want me to work with someone that is part of the-"

"Get going, agent." Torres orders.

"On it."

The two entered in one of the cars and head-off towards the Warwick. Smith is driving as he pays attention to the road as the black cloudy skies start to turn into grey cloudy skies as dawn is approaching. The radio is tuned into the police frequency to see if there are any other kinds of activities.

Hanna starts to speak.

"So." he says with disdain, "How's the Technocratic Union nowadays?"

Smith doesn't give an answer.

"To be honest, I was not expecting one of you grey suit types. Thought they would send in someone with a black suit to do the grunt work. Guess things must be serious to send in one of you men in grey."

"It is a very delicate situation."

"So he speaks." Hanna is satisfied that he got something. "Yeah. The situation is somewhere between fubar to jack and shit. So any ideas on what the fuck is going on?"

"Unknown."

"Right, right."

A few moments of uncomfortable quiet pass by until Hanna breaks the ice.

"So you guys are actual mages, right? Fully awakened and became part of the New World Order."

"That is classified, Agent Johnny David Hanna."

Agent Hanna is taken by surprise that Smith revealed his full name. "How did you- Okay, guess nothing's sacred."

"Sacred is irrational. Our job is to remove the reality deviants-"

"To ensure the protection of humanity as it says in the Order of Reason founded in 1325. Complete and total removal of supernatural creatures such as vampires, werewolves, fairies, ghosts and such. Same with the Remade that you assholes created."

"Not all of us made those divergence."

"Speaking of, are you a Cohort?"

"That's classified."

"Tch." Hanna went as he is completely annoyed, "Fine. Keep your dirty secrets. As you know, real men like us in the FBI have to do actual fucking legwork against those that would harm mankind."

"Put your personal feelings aside and act like a professional."

"I am a professional."

"Well have to see."

The car pulls over at the front of the hotel while the rain keeps on coming down harder and harder.