3Below: The World to Come

The Arcadian Job

The night of Acradia was calm and quiet, even within the junkyard where the Zaron brothers resided remained rather peaceful. The two surviving brothers stared down at the corpse of their brother, hands crossed over his chest in a proper way as they combed his body with a golden case.

"Are we witnessing an alien funeral?"

"We shouldn't care enough, they are killers. The only thing we benefit from this, is knowing one is really did if we were unsure."

"Whoa, you are harsh."

It was only a moment before his body lifted from the concrete ground, rising into the air just as a lantern would, Alpha watching his brother ascend as he spoke, voice deep and emotionless.

"You fought with valor, brother," he raised his arm, firing the weapon at his fallen brother, watching the body explode in a golden light as Omega spoke, mask free from her face.

"And your death will not be in vain."

"In due time, we will have our revenge," Alpha stated as he and his remaining member stepped away from the blast of gold that lingered in the sky before the screen went black.

Went the images reappeared on the screen, the night sky still hung around Arcadia as a Goblin climbed up a fallen tree, staring at the strange glowing green orb that seemed to cut closer.

A voice spoke through an intercom as the saucer continued its descent, exploding once it hit the ground. "Area 49-B, Base Command to ground team, we're clocking an unidentified flying object descending 20 degrees..."

The crowd perked up, realizing a military base who going after another saucer, "so this is what happens and how we've become so blind to knowing they walk among us."

"This is insane, I don't know if I should start living in fear, look at all the assassins hanging in the shadows going after people we know!"

"Please don't say that, I'm never walking home at night."

Combing through the woods, men in strange orange outfits shined their flashlights as they leaped over nature's barricades.

"Roger that, Base Command."

"Proceed with caution. We may have a Russian spy plane on our hands," the man over the intercom stated as the men came up to the fallen saucer, buried in the dirt. The group chattered as they came up to the object, their devices filling with static as a hand appeared from the opening of the alien ship.

"Uh... Base Command?" The suited man said before pulling off their mask, revealing Eli who was smiling happily. "I don't think this guy is Russian." It was a smooth transition as Eli was found in front of the class, who looked rather bored as he presented, after all, Toby was snoring in the back.

"WHAT!?"

"No way, Eli is not a part of some government thing!"

"That would make sense, after all, he is a nerd."

"How did he even get to this point?" Darci asked, glancing at Eli who chuckled.

"According to legend, that flying saucer resides 300 miles away at Area 49-B Military Base, the government's top-secret facility for extraterrestrial research." He said, trying to put his duct-taped saucer back in his box while Aja and Krel looked perplexed.

"Fascinating, Mr. Pepperjack," Senor Uhl stated, voice dry as he tried to muster a smile. "Really A-plus work there."

"Yay! Thank you, Señor Uhl."