Hidden in the Dark

Chapter Five

"We're here." Wade announces waking the few that had fallen asleep. Stephanie groaned stretching a bit before stepping out of the car. Rachel grumbled a bit to herself rubbing her eyes before following her friend. "Why do you look so excited? We were just here." Stephanie nodded smiling. "I know but I only saw the office building. We're probably gonna see the rest of it." Rachel arches an eyebrow. "If we're reporting to Ian wouldn't we just go back to the office?" The silver haired girls smile fell, "oh I guess you're right." Rachel patted her friend on the back as Felix exited the car. "No one said we can't give you guys a tour afterwards." Stephanie's face lit up again and Rachel rolled her eyes.

"It's pretty big building though, will you be alright in the shoes your wearing?" Amy asked. Stephanie nodded not even looking down while Rachel just shrugged. "What are we doing?" Jack asked rubbing at his face as him and Mark got out of the car. "After we report to Ian we're gonna show the girls around the place. "Oh, neat." Mark hummed. Rachel eyed the vampire before turning around. "Alright let's head in shall we?" Felix asked leading the group. Flashing what looked to be an ID at the door the large wooden doors swung open. "We didn't have an ID when you went?" Rachel mumbled. "It was probably because we scheduled it so they were prepared for us." Stephanie whispered getting a hum in return. 

They made their way down to the familiar office and found the doors already open. "Ah, there they are." Ian announced featuring toward the group. "Do have a seat." Anthony added gesturing to the chairs. "When did the other chairs get here? There was only one when we walked in." Stephanie commented looking at Ian. The dark haired male winked before going behind the desk with Ian. "Of course." Rachel grumbled slouching in a seat. "Sir we really couldn't find anything at the site worth use." Amy started sitting down. "I figured as much. It was one of the less dramatic attack's but I wanted to send you anyway." Ian hummed.

'See now this is professional.' Stephanie squealed internally. "Either way I would like to hear some of your thoughts you may have gathered." Mark and Felix glanced at Jack but the Irishman stayed silent, Stephanie instead was the one to speak up. "Sir there was a victim of the attack still there. He was bleeding heavily and died seconds after speaking with us." Anthony arched an eyebrow nodding for her to continue. "He spoke of a "he" saying things such as "he's crazy" and "he's unstable". We aren't exactly sure who he was referring to." 

Ian nodded as Anthony wrote down what Stephanie had said. "Sean." Said elf squeaked slightly jumping. "You usually have a good grip on situations like these. Tell me your thoughts." Rachel looked at the elf expecting him to break down and cry. 'Jack didn't really do anything on the mission except give Mark blood, stupidly, and light up the hallway. Not once did he voice his thoughts. And he's too shy to actually do that.' Jack bit his lip and balled his fist in his lap.

"I believe the person he spoke of was Ethan." Ian hummed surprised while Rachel couldn't hold in a loud "what". Jack took a shaky breath before continuing. "When the victim said he was unstable and that he was crazy, it points to how Ethan is lost in this city. Being so far from his own could make him a little crazy and that's why he "wrecking the place" as the victim stated." Ian nodded as Anthony spoke up. "And why couldn't he be speaking about Lars?" Jack looked down shaking his head. "The clues also point towards Lars as causing havoc everywhere Ethan goes. The victim also had claw marks all on his body implying that Lars as a wolf attacked him so..." Jack trailed off before Mark picked up for him.

"Everywhere Ethan goes Lars somehow gets there as well. In an attempt to escape Lars Ethan ends up destroying the place he was in. He doesn't know his way around here so things getting destroyed isn't surprising. The victim could have been talking about Ethan implying that he was scared however, in anger Lars could have attacked the man since it seems he attack's so suddenly." Stephanie was shocked, these men who were acting like goof balls in the restaurant just hours ago were making quite valid points.

"I see. Anthony did you get all of that?" The dark haired man nodded. "Right, we will look into the situation a bit more, thank you you are dismissed." Stephanie took a deep breath as they stood and left the room. 

"Well that was nerve racking." Felix huffed. "You didn't even say anything." Rachel pointed out. "Still nerve racking." Rachel rolled her eyes blowing hair from her face. "Right so, shall we take that tour now?" Amy suggested. "Yes!" Stephanie cheered before catching her self and calming down. Mark looked at her and chuckled causing her face to heat up. "Sorry." She mumbled. Rachel shook her head with a laugh. "Alright where should we go first?" Amy asked. "Well we could just go to the common area and go from there." Mark shrugged. "True, alright! Follow me." Amy said. 

The common area was a large dome shaped area with lots of chairs and couches along with a small fountain in the middle sort of like the middle of a shopping centre. "This is where people go just to hang out and chat. It's usually pretty packed and loud in here." Felix chuckles. "Yet you can still hear Felix's voice over everything." Jack smirked as Felix glared at him. "Over here is the living quarters. Some mission will require us to stay here for easy work and communication so we have assigned rooms. You two will get yours eventually." Amy said. "There's also bathrooms and a small kitchen area with snacks and another smaller common room." Jack added. 

"Down here is the dining hall!" Felix announced swinging the doors open. The few staff members in there turned and waved. "Hi Marzia!" Felix waved. One of the ladies wearing an apron with brown to blonde haired lifted her head and smiled. "That's my wifey." Felix said. "Most of the cooks are ladies with the exception of Dan and Phil when they visit but we uh, don't let them touch the food." Mark chuckled scratching his neck. "Nope! Our kitchen staff is Marzia, Krism, Minx, and Rosanna." Amy added. Rachel hummed before squealing when two pugs ran into the room. The red head crouched down and cooed at the dogs that were happily running around. "Oh, those are me and Marzia's pugs. Maya and Edgar." Felix said pointing to each pug.

"They're so cute." Rachel squealed. "Well, now we know what makes her happy." Felix joked getting a glare from Rachel. "Okay let's move on." Amy giggled. "Oh here's the gym!" Mark announced. "There's...the gym and then there's a pool." He stuttered. Jack giggled shaking his head. "Shut up." Mark whined, face bright red. "I think the doors are locked but there's a courtyard outside with a small trail you can walk on and another fountain. It's really pretty." Amy smiled. "Alright now to the fun stuff!" Felix smirked cackling. "That's worrying." Stephanie laughed stiffly. They entered a room full of computers and various other tech. "This is our obvious tech room. It's where Jack works most of the time. These people are like the smartest people you've met and they help a lot when it comes to mission. Like any gear we use it's most likely made by them." Mark explained laughing at Jacks embarrassed face. 

"Through this door." Felix began pushing open two large metal doors. "Is the training room." Stephanie and Rachel looked in awe at the large room, people already in there were sparring or full on fighting. "Mark and Felix stay in here most of the day either training the newbies or with each other." Amy explained. "Wait a minute, are you guys like some of the top people here?" Stephanie asked. "Yep, Mark and Felix are head of the combat training, Jack is head of the tech systems, and I'm basically head in foreign communications." Stephanie gawked getting a laugh from the others. "What did you think we were just a bunch of idiots?" Mark laughed. "I wouldn't be surprised." Rachel shrugged. "Well then, welcome to Atlas headquarters."