Director Ellias Thorne stood at the edge of the perimeter around the Tower, all surrounded with barricades and beautiful yellow tape and concrete blocks. A small square of chalk was heavily illuminated by the lamps and a guard aiming a mounted rifle was pointing at it a all times.
"SIR" a guy in a bright white lab coat shouted from behind a computer "Thermal spike from the Tower. Something appears to be exiting"
Nod "MEN. Get ready for our guest" Thorne put up an open hand for all to see clearly "DO NOT SHOOT WITHOUT COMMAND"
All nodded back to him
A small white light came from the Tower and shined right onto the chalk square. A silhouette of a man appeared inside it, tumbling down and rolling with both grace and randomness, ultimately landing on one knee.
The man lifted his head and quickly scanned the area around him.
Clap clap clap
Thorne started slowly clapping, and the silhouette looked at him while slowly getting up.
"Well well, you were right Johnson" the white lab coat thanked him politely "Anyways, Welcome back Mr. Vane"
Voro frowned at him and gripped the knife tighter, immediately causing all guns to be re-adjusted to aim at his head. A small red dot appeared on his forehead.
"Lets take it easy shall we?" Thorne opened a little gate and stepped closer "You must have had a pretty rough night and my men have been on edge lately" A few of the guard scoffed in agreement
Voro straighten his back and dropped the knife.
"Good. Now come on, we have to discuss a few things regarding your.....career change" Thorne beckoned him with a single finger while going towards the tent. Four armed guards came to Voro, cuffed him and forcefully took him with them.
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Voro was set in an broken apartment with half of the wall gone and replaced by a tent, with a nice chair and a table inside, while being barricade from the outside. No windows or doors, just one zip lock and guards in front.
His arms where tightly fitted into the handcuffs, and even his newly acquired strength boost didn`t help with them, nor the agility stat up could help him move the chair bolted to the floor.
The man on the barricade from 2 hours ago entered the tent silently and sat in front of him
"Good news Mr. Vane - you`re dead" He smiled at him politely while showing him a news article on his tablet Mass Casualties of the Monolith : Local Neighborhood destroyed.
"How is that good news?" Voro calmly asked back at him
"he he , it`s good for me. For you, maybe , maybe not" The man took off the useless sunglasses revealing slit eyes behind them.
"Unfortunately, that doesn`t matter for now. See there`s a bit of an...civil war inside the government right now" The man started to gesticulate a lot since that sentence "We have some people who want to just....tape the Towers and refuse entry. We have some guys who want to blow them up, probably with a kilometer radius around them in the process. We have scientists who decide to cut anything that they can and that includes you."
"Why should I care?" Voro leaned in
"Because - you either go to jail for double escaping from a secured site or you become a science experiment for as long as your body can handle." slight smile came from the other side of the table "Now, I`m sure a man of your profession can imagine what they can do to you. And you probably don`t want that"
Voro had to agree at this point. If they now who he is and what he looked like before, then jumping over gaps between buildings and dodging a small armed squad is a miracle.
Voro nodded and the man loosened up.
"Good, since we both don`t want that to happen, I have a proposition"
Nod
"As of 2 hours ago we reported a 'leak' from the Tower and as a response, 2 unrelated groups of unwelcoming people are coming this way. BOTH will kill you right now, and today I can`t do much about it. However I may be able to do something with a bit of time.
"Let me guess - you put me away for a few days, judge, law, senate these kind of things happen - I can live." Voro cut him off quickly
"Almost precisely what i want to do. Except one tiny thing"
"And that is" Voro tighten up again in stress
"We can`t keep you in prison without legal issues and reports. See, I`m monitored and any legal action is instantly reported to my higher-ups. And the military and Oversight Committee and the Research Department of Unnatural Resources and like 12 other organizations. I can`t do shit without them knowing. EXCEPT one thing. I can conduct.....experiments"
"What experiments" one eyebrow rose high up
"Tower related. The idea is very simple, we take you, and we put you inside." He pointed outside. "And you stay there for a while"
"Brilliant idea. Except one tiny thing"
"Oh, and what is that?"
"Something starts to happen inside if I stay too long, shaking and crumbling"
"Hmph, so what I hear is - I rather go die now than stay inside for some time waiting for something to happen and maybe die there" The guy put back his sunglasses.
Voro got frustrated "You heard wrong"
"Good" snaps fingers "Get out then" A guard came in with Voro`s backpack and a few new knives for him. Unlocked his handcuffs from the chair and brought him outside.
"Listen up. Get in, do whatever the fuck you want inside, but make it as long as possible. You have food for 3 days in your backpack and some firestarter. If you don`t mind, we also packed some better tools for you"
Helicopter blades went thrum-thrum-thrum as it slowly descended behind them.
"And what about these" Voro put his arms forward
A group of trucks started to come closer on the street with air horns blasting out loud
"Key is in the top pocket. I don`t trust dead people Mr.Vane"
His phone rang
"GO. I`LL STALL FOR TIME HERE" he had to shout over the sound around him
Voro nodded and came closer to the Tower, and a familiar system window popped up
[???? Tower of ?????]
[Challenger Voro Vane]
[Would you like to enter the 3nd floor]
[yes] [no]
Men in black suits and white lab coats appeared over the edge of the perimeter
Voro without looking at them pressed the [yes] button and vanished in the white light.
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Dr. Thorne watched the recent intruder disappear right in front of him again. Although this time was even less believable than the rest.
When the helicopter blades quieted down, the team came towards him.
"Director Thorne" A similar man in similar suit extended his arm "If you don`t mind me asking, what did I just see"
"Ah Mr. Sobovsky. Good to see you again" He grabbed the hand "That was just our expedition man, you know, to research"
"Sure. Let me be clear with you" The team leader took off his sunglasses to match Thorne
"Contaminated leak - hand it over and we won`t have issues"
"OH LIKE HELL THERE WON`T BE" An armed convoy arrived from the streets, military wear and equipment, dominating the already present guards.
Green jacket with multiple medals of different colors and sizes, stroke his white mustache with an angry smile on his face
"THAT THING IS DANGEROUS. WE WILL TAKE CARE OF IT FROM NOW ON." His voice was booming and screaming over them.
A triangle of three men stood still while their respective teams glared at each other in anticipation and stress.
Thorne put on his glasses again.
"Coffee? Anyone?" and they head over to the nearby tent to "talk things over"