ZSEN

Chapter 23 - Standoff

"A Steliac!"

"Oh no!"

"I'll explain what that is-"
"I'm well-informed sir... But, how do we know? There's no way, right?!"

"..."

"Hmm... We are here."

What? Did he ignore me?

"This is it?"

We are stood behind the main building. There's doors going into a basement...

"Yeah, this will be your new barracks. Go on ahead and meet everyone. We already got H0117 and P160 getting your things on over here."

"So... Our Barracks is a basement?"

"No... It's just on my private property and hidden from the other soldiers. Nobody is allowed back here beside you and your new squad. Of course, I'm more than certain others know of this barracks. So unless they hear of it and believe it, they never find out. It's like an underground version of the Warriors barracks."

He opens the door and there's a staircase going down into a hallway...

"I'll see you later, Nathaniel. Relax for today. Tomorrow be prepared to do your first mission!"

"Yes, sir!"

I head down the stairs. Everything is made of stone and concrete. This hallway has doorways to the left and right and all the way down is an open restroom. There are no doors just doorways. Damn! This place feels like a prison...

"So, you made it."

"Ahh! Fuck! You scared me-erm, Pozhar."

Holy shit. I talked to her like she was one of the Warriors. It just clicked to me who it was and a shiver shot down my spine. My legs are shaking a bit... She giggles, I think?

"The fire likes you, Zsen. But you must resist it. Otherwise... Soon, it'll take you."

"Shut up, bitch!"
Riveck yells. He comes out from the room and hits her straight in the face!

"Woah, what the fuck! Why did you do that?!"

"Nathaniel? Is that you?"

Riveck pulls her into the room and suddenly, another force field. But this time it becomes almost like a thick flowing pattern. It looks exactly like my memory of going through the portal. Blue, green, and purple colors flowing and moving together. Except it has no color nor can I see or go through it.

"Hey, Nathaniel! It is you."

"Corn? Hey!"

Why am I not surprised that this guy is here.

"Are you my new partner?"

Ughh!

"Yeah, I guess so."

"Come on. I'll show you around."

He takes me to each room and tells me who's in each one. At the end of the hallway there's a restroom and to the left is the kitchen. To the right is another empty room. I wonder what it's for? He didn't even mention it, but hell, it's probably just an empty room.

So it's me and Corn. There is also Riveck and E7707 or Pozhar. I don't think he knows her by Pozhar. Then, there is Marcus and Joceline. Then there were four more sets of partners, however, they were all code names, so, I forgot them. Corn told me he tries to use real names or nicknames as much as possible because memorizing code names stresses him out and gives him anxiety.

Apparently, the only friendly ones are Marcus and Joceline. Her code name is Y170. She's a dark-skinned, five-foot, three inch tall woman. She has thick dyed blue hair that is tied up into three braids that is then tied into a long ponytail. It's really unique and actually pretty cool. She has green eyes and is honestly very pretty.