Part Two, Chapter Eleven: A Familiar Face

Charlie was the first to approach the door to the warehouse. It was one of the large metal kind, that was slated to look kind of like shutters, and it was heavily rusted. She grabbed it from the bottom, and tugged on it as hard as she could. It made an awful lot of noise, but it didn't lift up at all.

Lin looked around warily.

"It looks like we'll have to bust it down." Charlie announced after one final, noisy tug.

"We... probably shouldn't do that." Lin said.

"You're right." Beatrice said. "I should probably just teleport in there and see if I can open it from there."

Charlie looked excited at the idea, but Lin looked significantly less excited.

"Okay, just be careful."

"Sure." Beatrice said.

She snapped, and was on the other side of the door in an instant.

She stayed as still as possible as she scanned the room, but there didn't seem to be any danger. From what she could tell, there wasn't anyone lurking in the shadows, and, aside from the noise of the city outside, it was silent. The only things around were piles of old, rusted machinery, and boxes covered with a thick layer of dust. However, when she glanced down at the concrete floor, she noticed that it was surprisingly clean.

Turning back to the door, she noticed that there was a lock attached to the chain that was used to roll up the door, keeping it in place. While the chain was rusted, the lock was still a slightly shiny silver color. She picked it up and tugged on it only to figure out that it was, obviously, still locked. She pressed her thumb against the clasp, and concentrated on bending the metal back, until there was enough of a gap to slip it away from the chain.

She put it in her pocket so she could reattach it later if they found nothing, and rolled the metal door up.

Charlie gave her a thumbs up as she stepped inside, and Lin, for the most part, just looked relieved that nothing bad had happened yet.

"It... doesn't really look like much." Charlie said as she glanced around.

"Maybe it was just a prank." Lin said. Beatrice could tell he really wanted them to give up the mission, and go home, but she wasn't going to have that. She couldn't believe that those emails were nothing.

"We should look around though, just to make sure." she suggested.

"Okay," he sighed. "We can look around, but don't do anything too intense, and call me as soon as you find anything suspicious."

"Rodger Dodger!" Charlie said

Beatrice tried to hide her smile, and grabbed Charlie by the arm.

"We're going to look around together." she said as she pulled Charlie with her toward the left side of the building. Lin had started to say something, but she didn't stick around long enough to catch any of it.

"What should I look for?" Charlie asked, once they were a good distance away from Lin.

"I don't know." Beatrice said. "But I know something's not right here. The equipment here obviously hasn't been used in years, but the floor doesn't have a lot of dust, which makes me think this place has regular foot traffic. I know Lin is being skeptical, but I think there's something wrong here. I just have a feeling."

I just have a feeling. She thought to herself. I'm starting to sound like Charlie.

"Maybe we can look around and see if the dust has been disturbed recently somewhere." Charlie suggested.

"That's a surprisingly good idea," Beatrice said. "Maybe we should switch jobs. Wait, never mind. I don't know anything about directing the market, or whatever it is you do all day."

Charlie laughed and put an arm around her. "I'd rather be your sidekick. That sounds more fun than doing it all myself. I'm not nearly as intimidating as you are."

Beatrice shrugged.

"Let's go check out the walls. Maybe we'll find something there."

They each started in separate corners, and made their way along the edges. For a while, Beatrice found nothing except more boxes, and a few small shipping containers. Then, something caught her eye.

There was a stack of four boxes, the tallest one a little bit higher up than she could reach, all stacked neatly against the wall. As she got closer, she turned her flashlight on, and inspected them. Like she thought, they were free of dust.

"Charlie!" she called out in a harsh whisper.

Seconds later she could hear Charlie clumsily dashing over to her.

"What is it?" Charlie asked.

"These boxes were put here recently. Can you help me move them? I would use my powers, but I don't want to make a lot of noise."

She also didn't want to waste her energy in case there was someone with ill intentions hiding in here, but she didn't want to mention that to Charlie.

"Yeah, Let's do it!" Charlie said excitedly.

Charlie stood on her tiptoes, and grabbed the highest one, handing it over to Beatrice, who sat it to the side. One by one, they moved the boxes out of the way, which revealed a rusty metal door. Charlie gave it a tug, but it was locked as well.

"Take my hand." Beatrice said.

Charlie grabbed it, and Beatrice teleported them to the other side.

The room they ended up in was cramped, the walls probably only a few feet wide on each side. It was entirely empty, except for a hatch on the floor in the middle of the room. There was a code lock on the panel, and a red light that blinked every few seconds.

Beatrice started to dig through her utility belt.

"Hold on, I think I may have something that can-"

Before she could finish her sentence, there were four quick beeps, and the light turned green.

"I got it!" Charlie said with glee.

Beatrice stared at her, utterly dumbfounded, though she knew Charlie wouldn't be able to tell since her helmet was on.

"Wh- How?" she asked.

"I tried to guess the code." Charlie said. "It was 1 2 3 4."

"I'm not even going to question that." Beatrice said.

She leaned down, and pulled the hatch open, and it illuminated the room slightly. There was a ladder that went down, leading to what seemed to be a brightly lit hallway. There was a sort of soft hum somewhere in the distance.

"Should we tell Lin about this?" Charlie asked.

Beatrice sighed.

"If we do, he's going to want you to leave." she said. "I don't think he was expecting anything like this."

"Oh, well, let's not tell him then." Charlie said quickly.

"Still... " Beatrice said, glancing nervously at her. "Let me go down first. I'll let you know if the coast is clear."

Charlie nodded.

Beatrice climbed down the ladder as quietly as she could, landing at the bottom of it with a quiet thud. She waited several seconds, but nothing happened.

She was in a long hallway, lined with doors, each labeled with a number that didn't seem to make sense, or be in any order. There was no sound of an alarm, and there didn't seem to be anyone else here.

She looked back up the stairs, and motioned for Charlie to climb down. Charlie climbed down slightly less gracefully, and glanced around the hallway with wide eyes.

"What do you think this place is?" she asked.

"I have no clue." Beatrice said. "It's definitely somewhere we're not supposed to be."

Just then, Beatrice's pager buzzed again on her hip. She cautiously took it out, and glanced at the screen.

"Door 3671." was what it read.

Shit... This is serious.

She exchanged a worried glance with Charlie. The atmosphere in the room suddenly seemed to shift. It felt a lot less like they were going on a fun adventure, and a lot more like they could be stepping into some serious trouble.

"Should we... go in?" Charlie asked.

"I guess so." Beatrice said. "I'll go first again, okay?"

"Okay." Charlie said. Beatrice didn't miss how her grip on the grappling hook grew tighter.

They traveled down the hallway, until they reached the door labeled 3671, the second door on the right. Charlie got as close to the door as possible, and Beatrice quickly teleported inside.

She braced for the worst, immediately shifting into a fighting stance, but again, she encountered nothing. This room was dim, only slightly lit from the brightness of the hallway. The walls were white, and the ceilings unbelievably tall. There was a counter running along the wall, with a large computer system set up in the middle. On the back wall there was another door, just like the first, except this one had a metal sign welded to it.

Warning. Extreme Danger. Authorized Personnel Only. Enter At Your Own Risk.

Slightly to the left of the door, there was a small, rectangular window. It was too high up to see into, even if she stood on the counter. But if someone stood on her shoulders...

She teleported out of the room, and quickly told Charlie what she had seen. Charlie's excitement seemed to return, though her hand was still shaking the slightest bit.

"Well, let's go!" she said. "I want to see what's inside!"

Beatrice took her hand and teleported them into the room.

"I'll lift you up, and you can tell me what you see inside." Beatrice said.

Charlie nodded.

Beatrice climbed up onto the counter with Charlie right behind her. She leaned with her back against the wall, and helped Charlie up to step on her shoulders. Though she was tall, Charlie didn't weigh that much, so she was easy to keep steady.

There was a long pause.

"Holy shit." Charlie cursed softly.

"What do you see?" Beatrice asked.

"There's a guy and he's laying on a bed. He's got all of these wires and tubes hooked up to him and it seems like he's unconscious or maybe dead or something. There's also a bunch of empty...I don't know. They seem like clear glass containers."

Beatrice frowned. That didn't seem like extreme danger.

"Can we switch places so I can see?" she asked.

"Yeah, sure." Charlie said.

She precariously climbed off of Beatrice's shoulders, and took her place against the wall.

Beatrice gave Charlie a worried look.

"I'm heavier than you. Are you sure you're going to be able to support me?"

"I might not be as buff as you, but I think I can manage." Charlie said with a heap of her signature misplaced confidence.

"Okay. Let me know if you can't hold me any longer and I'll get down."

"Okay."

Beatrice climbed onto her shoulders, and she could feel Charlie's muscles tremble a little bit from the strain.

I better hurry. I don't know how long she can hold me like this for.

She peered over the ledge, out of the small window, and looked at the man on the table.

He was covered from the waist down with a crisp, white bed sheet. His face was gaunt, his upper body frail looking, and his skin pale and void of all color. He had pale blond hair, and on his stomach, a thin, pink scar.

Beatrice recognized him instantly.

She suddenly felt very dizzy. Her heart sped up in her chest, and she suddenly wondered if she was dreaming.

"Oh..."

"What is it?" Charlie grunted.

"It's... It's my brother."