After fighting hordes after hordes of demons of all kinds even some of the strongest for what felt like six years, though they hadn't stopped appearing like a colony of ants that will not stop coming even after you had killed thousands upon thousands of them, I had become sluggish and needed rest. I could not find such rest since they would always come after I have finished obliterating the horde before them and the horde before them and so on and so forth.
Evidently I had lost a tremendous amount of power due to my active use of it however I had not reached my limit I was far from that and I could feel it. It wasn't like I couldn't stop fighting I could keep going until I eventually could no longer, although I was fed up and exhausted.
Then all of a sudden the world began glitching out and then it disappeared, replace by a dark room with holograms to alight the room well enough for decent vision. I looked around the room, there were some wires on the ground, inlets sticking out the walls, some cables plugged into them, no visible electrical appliances and devices, no furniture, a simple metal sliding door and the holograms. The wires were meticulously placed in a way that seemed surreal in a sense but had no real function to it.
The hologram in front of me displayed words that read 'Great work Captain! You were spectacular in the simulation!' Simulation? What simulation? What's going on here? I asked myself as I became visibly agitated by this. Someone led me here on purpose but who? I wanted to find out. The words changed on the hologram changed again and they read 'Sorry about what my friend did to you. A bit professional on my end however she didn't expect anyone to just opening the doors so forcefully. She didn't realise who you were at that moment but I am sure that you two will be acquainted once more under other circumstances.'
Friend? Acquainted with who? I asked myself and my mind questioned sarcastically, "Our company grows everso intriguing don't you think body?" I chuckled a bit at his question. I suppose that's just how things were turning out to be. A bit amusing it seems. The mission is still under operation and now we are met with minor detours, this is starting to be annoying. But alas this are events that I have no control over.
A door opened behind me, the words on the hologram changed once more and read, 'Welcome back Captain. You completed your intense training during your mission codename: Black Abyss. No record of this mission shall be kept under General Mynde's word for this mission has never occurred and you or your teammates shall ever reveal the details of what you have seen and experienced during the mission. Good luck. Captain Chris!' Then the hologram went off.
I stumbled out through the doorway and sat against the wall opposite the wall, still exhausted.
My team who were by the door stood there worried and Marie approached me to check if I had any injuries. "Captain are you okay!" Marie asked while her hands were lifting my clothes for to check my body.
"Yeah, I am just tired is all," I tole her.
"Well you are a lot more than tired. You are also bruised and wounded and need medical attention Captain. You have to rest here while I patch you up, Before I proceed, you have to tell us what were you doing in there to be in this state." Marie said.
"How long was I in there for, fighting demons?"
"It took me five minutes to get this door open. Woah, wait a minute you were fighting demons?" Donny said.
"Yeah! It seems that time works differently in the simulation."
"Wait what, a-a simulation? What are you talking about Captain?" Donny asked.
"I was stuck in a simulation for, what felt like, six years in the simulation which was just five minutes for you guys and I was in a loop of constant battle. You wouldn't have lasted for a mere day. Ah! Take it easy would you Marie."
"Shut up and let me concentrate Captain." she retorted while not looking up at me.
"So, let me get this straight, you were stuck in there for six years but in fact it was only five minutes. You were fighting demons in that timespan and indefinite number to be exact and you are still not dehydrated from all that fighting. Can demons do that as well?"
"I am not a demon and no, I am just different. For now, we have the mission to complete. Its now called operation: Black Abyss and from now on I am Chris, Captain Chris, your captain."
"What the fuck is going on?"
"Captain, what the fuck is this about? What aren't you telling us?"
"What I am telling you, General Mynde made the change. It's not my call. We still work with him and him alone. Everything that's happening here will not be recorded nor reported to anyone. You have no family, remember that. We are dead, everyone knows that we had died before even getting into cryo sleep. Nobody knows us and what we are doing. I have the responsibility to make sure you stay with me until the end of all this. Understood."
"Yes sir,"
"I understand. And I am done,"
Marie got up from beside me and I got up to my feet feeling a bit rejuvenated from that little rest. Tarius grumbled by the door and had a bastardly smirk on his face. He enjoyed watching me sit there, helpless, while Marie was patching me up. His face showed satisfaction. He had revenge for all the times I had laughed at him injured and helpless. This is how it felt, huh?
"We got some company up ahead. Just a quick heads up," I announced and we continued towards the dimensional gate. We were met by yet another gate in the way, though this one had a retinal scan. I walked up to it, leaned over it and placed my eyes into the eyepiece. My eyepatch vanished so that the scanner can read both my eyes and the door opened up.
In the room there panels on the walls to right and left with mini displays for individual employee and there were at least five congruently sized panel laid adjacent to one another. In the middle of the room was a large table which showed the status of the gate and a large window ahead which showed a large structure which looked a large door outline by rocks and you can see through that so-called door. It was a dimensional gate, which you might have already have seen.
By that table was a woman, short brown hair and lab attire. She looked up from the table and set her gaze on us. She had a serious look on her face and it was as if she had expected us. "Captain Chris, nice to meet you and your team, I am Eliza," she said and approached me and offered her hand for a handshake. I didn't reach out and she took the message and retreated her hand.
"I see you don't do handshakes," Eliza said.
"Why are we here? Why did Bradely have us come here instead?" I asked already knowing the answer to my question.
"Well to help you find the other dimensional gate of course and to destroy this one. I am sure Bradely has already told you?" she as she walked back to the table.
Though she was spot on about what he sent us to do. I however didn't seem to like Eliza at first but she didn't seem to be giving off anything I may deem suspicious. I approached the table and noticed the young lady who shot me sitting at one of the panels with one leg on the chair and her arm resting on it. She had long dark hair, blue eyes and a cute face. She wore a blue puffer jacket, a black t-shirt, white shorts and black sneakers. On her left, beside her chair, lay her shotgun. An effective short-range weapon.
"Who is she?" I asked.
Eliza smiled as she knew who I was inquiring about.
"That's Laura Blackroll, I came across her outside dealing with some demons and asked her to come down with me into the facility to take care of anyone that may come down here unauthorized," she told me.
"She sure knows how to interact with people," I said sarcastically.
"I am sorry for what she did and she told me she shot someone who managed to open the locked doors. At first I thought it was a demon but the self destruct did not activate. So, I thought nothing much of it and I came to the realisation that you were the only capable of doing that. How I know, General Mynde briefed us what you can do."
"I see. So, why was I trapped in a simulation room for minutes?"
"Oh yeah that was all me. We were instructed once you come down here that you must be trained intensively for a very long time in simulation time. So, I preset it to six years and an infinite number of demons from the data we had on those demons. Pretty neat if I do say so myself," she said enthusiastically.
I hadn't uttered another word and the silence broke though and everything felt silent. Eliza crossed her arms awaiting a response. Since she didn't get one she looked back at the table which displayed a lot of details regarding the dimensional gate but the thing that caught my eye was were it showed its status. It read inoperational which showed that it wasn't working and that was a first for me, even after hearing Bradely tell me I still couldn't fathom that information.
I motioned my hand in a way to suggest to Donny that I needed him where I stood. He walked over and asked if he can find out if he can find info on the second dimensional gate. Eliza must have overheard us and said, "That's exactly what I have been trying to do this whole time but I do welcome an extra hand." She didn't seem to mind getting help from Donny and I set my eyes on Laura, who looked at me with a piercing glare.
Though it didn't bother me much I still wanted to speak to the person who shot me in the chest.