“Alright, is everything packed up?” Myra addressed the team as we stood around her, ready to continue.

  During our conversation, Ellen had removed some paneling from the back wall, revealing two durable metal panels and a glowing keypad.

  It seemed the lab still had power.

  “Good. Now, we don’t know what we will find inside, but there will likely be some security measures that are still functional. Opening the door should disable any security, but keep your eyes peeled for hidden turrets and other defenses anyway. Understood?”

  Everyone gave their affirmations and Myra turned to me.

  “Nyxia, you’ll walk up to the door and it will scan you. Once the scan is complete, punch in this code.” She held out a small piece of paper with the numbers ‘93745’ written on it.

  I reached out and accepted the note, running my thumb across the rough white edges as I did so.

  Was this my first time seeing paper in this world? I couldn’t actually remember. Either way, I took a moment to commit the numbers to memory. Who knows, maybe they would be useful later.

  “We paid a lot to get this from a reputable source,” Ellen noted as she moved closer. “But get ready to move out of the way if it doesn’t work. Sometimes there are failsafes in place on doors like these.”

  “Alright, thanks.” I nodded to her before closing my eyes and taking a deep breath, though it did little to calm my nerves as I walked up to the door.

  As soon as I stepped up to it, a green fan of light moved from my feet to my head. At first, nothing happened. I was preparing myself to jump aside when the keypad suddenly flashed green.

  It seemed the scan worked. Now for the code.

  “Nine-three-seven-four-five.” I mumbled as I brought my hand up and quickly punched it in.

  The device chimed once, followed by a heavy clunk coming from the door itself. The two sides slowly slid apart, grinding a bit due to lack of maintenance, and revealing a dimly lit staircase leading down about fifty feet before it leveled out.

  “Alright.” Myra smiled, her voice practically dripping with anticipation. “We’ll go in like we did in the sewers. Ellen, you’re on point.”

  Ellen nodded, cautiously stepping into the stairwell. Her footsteps were almost imperceivable, even to my ears, making me believe it was some element of her shadow-magic, something she hadn’t been using during the trek through the sewers.

  We collectively held our breaths until she reached the bottom, signaling the rest of us to follow.

  Without Ellen’s magic, we were not nearly as quiet. Gordon—despite being the smallest—somehow managed to produce the most noise, his rifle clacking against his armor as he climbed down the steps.

  Luckily, nothing seemed to notice or care as we joined Ellen at the bottom.

  A long corridor stretched out in front of us, its flickering lights briefly illuminating the reinforced walls and floor.

  Ellen continued on ahead of us, her flashlight making up for the facility’s failing infrastructure. Myra quickly instructed us to follow suit, and soon, we all had our own beams that pierced the veil of darkness.

  For being a secret lab, nothing seemed too out of the ordinary. So far, none of the destruction of the surface had reached the complex itself, and there were no signs of combat either. Maybe the people here had evacuated in time…

  This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

  But evacuations were usually messy and chaotic, meaning there should be residual signs left over if that was the case.

  However, there were none.

  Ellen stopped in front of another door at the end of the corridor, and after taking a moment to examine it, she waved us forward.

  “Looks like another Gene-Lock.” Ellen nodded to me as we approached. “Luckily, this one doesn’t need a code. Care to do the honors?”

  I nodded and slipped past her and let the door do its work, bathing me in green light once again. The door let out a single beep, hissing open, allowing us entry.

  It looked to be a locker room of sorts, just as well kept as the corridor with nothing out of place. The lockers themselves had a glowing image next to the nameplates, showing the many faces of the people who worked here.

  Most were Drakanian like me, but I noticed a few human faces as well.

  I stopped suddenly as I spotted a name I recognized.

  Erasion Ordon.

  The man responsible for sending me and Valerie into the Undercity.

  “Are you alright, Miss Nyxia?” Cobra glanced over with apparent concern. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

  “I… I’m fine.” I shook my head to clear it. “I just recognize this one.”

  Cobra leaned in and took a look himself, nodding along as he read the name.

  “I see. He’s the new CEO of Ordon, Correct?”

  “I don’t know.” I shrugged, turning away from the locker. “All I know is that he’s the reason I’m stuck down here.”

  “I see.”

  Cobra’s helmeted gaze followed me as I moved on to see if there was anything else of note.

  “Should we open any of these?” Gordon asked, glancing around.

  “No.” Ellen quickly shot him down. “There could be security measures in place. Best to find something more worthwhile before risking it.”

  “Let’s move on then.” Myra cut in, gesturing for Ellen to continue on ahead of us.

  The next door led to another hallway, this one much wider and more high-tech than the first. A long glass view-port ran along each wall, overlooking a large room beneath us, but whatever it was supposed to be showcasing was hidden by deep shadows that repelled our attempts of illumination. The room was so large, we couldn’t even see the walls.

  We continued onward, the walls changing from glass back to normal metal. We nearly reached a four way intersection when Ellen held up a closed fist.

  “Looks like a concealed turret up ahead.” She called back, being sure to keep her voice low. “Not sure if it’s active or not though, so give me a sec.”

  Myra nodded and signaled for us to pause a safe distance away.

  I felt Ellen start to weave a spell as she waved her hands in front of her, but couldn’t tell what kind until the shadows beneath her feet started twisting and writhing. The darkness coiled in on itself until a vaguely humanoid shape was formed from the shadows.

  Smoky wisps drifted from its body as it moved forward without a word. Soon it passed underneath the turret, but there was no reaction. Either the facility’s security believed us to be authentic, or it was malfunctioning.

  “Looks good, checking corners now.” Ellen moved in, peeking her head around the intersection. “Clear left… clear right… we’re good to move up.”

  “What are we even looking for?” I tentatively asked as we passed the intersection and into another long hallway. This one containing doors at even intervals roughly fifty feet apart.

  “A place where they keep their records hopefully.” Myra answered, glancing through the glass panes of a set of double doors as we passed by. “But anything with a computer would work in a pinch.”

  “I can hack into their network and search their files if necessary.” Cobra added. “But it would be quicker if I had access to a server room.”

  “Noted.” Myra nodded. “Keep your eyes out for a map too. It’s unlikely they would use a physical one, but it would speed things up if we knew where to go.”

  The search was tense. I was half expecting a killer robot to jump out and start slashing, but it was all quiet.

  And still no bodies or signs of a struggle. Though, the floor did feel tacky for some reason. Maybe a cleaning agent of some kind? But I couldn’t detect any chemical smell. Odd.

  “Elevator ahead. Looks non-functional though.”

  The double doors of the elevator were slightly bent outward, like something heavy had pressed against them from the inside. They might still open, but I agreed with Ellen that it probably didn’t work. I wondered if there was a cave in or something that caused it…

  Or maybe whatever befell this place was contained to lower floors…

  It would explain why everything seemed ordinary up here.

  “Cobra, can you get this open?” Myra asked, gesturing to the broken elevator doors.

  “Yes, one moment.” Cobra let his rifle hang by its strap and slipped his hands into the small crack between the doors. They creaked and groaned as pulled them apart with impressive strength. Either he was secretly jacked, or he was hiding cyberwear underneath his armor.

  In a few moments, the doors were open and we shined our lights inside, revealing a heavily bloodstained interior, but strangely, there was no body to be seen.