The Secret World Ch. 01

Beau replied a bit annoyed, "Yes, I'm a vampire and we don't do too well with fire and all I have is a knife."

Penny's face towards him was a look of disappointment. "Really?" she said in a sarcastic tone.

"Don't ya be givin' me that sassy lip, young lady. Now ya better run yer cute lil' ass up them stairs before ya learn a different meaning of smokin' hot," he responded.

She didn't argue with him and ran up the stairs as fast as she could which didn't stop her from asking questions. "How are you real?" she asked in a rushed tone.

"I'm not sure I know how to answer that, cher," Beau responded.

"Vampires are not suppose to be real!" Penny insisted.

"Well, we are!" Beau replied, "but, no. We don't turn into bats. At least I don't."

"What?!" Penny yelled confused, "And the guy chasing us? Is he some sort of wizard?!"

"No, he's what we call and elementalist," He responded as the bottom floor engulfed into flames. The both of them paused for a moment as the flame distracted them. "Now I don't have time nor the ability to explain all this science mumbo jumbo," Beau then slapped Penny on her behind causing her to squeal a bit in surprise. "So again, boo, get that cute lil' ass movin' before we both end up like deep fried turkey."

"What?!" she yelled in confusion.

Meanwhile Mister O had been able to infiltrate the studio through the ventilation ducts. All the members of Penny's research team had been gathered in the studio. Many of them were being put on their knees and restrained and blindfolded. As Mister O observed them, the power to the building had came back on.

Both he and Beau had been dropped off on the roof moments before the invading forces arrived. Mister O had shutdown the power source from the roof hoping the sudden darkness would slow the opposition's advance in the building. Now, the stealth of darkness was no longer an option.

Many of the gunmen began carefully placing all the relics in secure containers as well as all research papers and notes. He began taking photos and uploading them to his headquarters as he continued to observe them. Then a man who appeared to be leading them appeared and began barking orders at the rest.

Unlike the others, he didn't carry any submachine guns, but only a pistol holstered on his hip. He also didn't wear any of the tactical gear the others had on like an ammo vest, nor a helmet and balaclava mask. He was in a dark uniform with no unit identification, but on his head he wore a beret. He also had an eye patch on his left eye with a scar going down the left side of his face and a dark brown goatee as facial hair with thick eyebrows. He appeared to be in his forties and was a rather larger built man.

"Eye in the sky, this is O. I have eyes on a possible OpFor Commander. Sending image now," Mister O reported in.

He continued to watch as they gathered up Penny's team and began moving them along with relics. Mister O still had one advantage over them, the fact that they weren't aware of his presence and that they seemed to relax their guard let him know that he had a good chance of taking them by surprise.

Mister O waited until they had left the room before crawling out of the ventilation duct and followed behind them. He was already processing which of them to take out first, the fact that they were taking the hostages without using them as ransom led him to believe they were needed alive. Also the fact that they seemed intent on making haste out the room meant they had no intention of being in the building longer than absolute necessary.

As the men approached the elevators, Mister O open fired at them catching them by surprise. Two of them were neutralized, but the rest of them responded in turn. The commander and the men carrying the relics in containers continued to make their way towards the elevator. It was too much for Mister O to handle, his element of surprise although successful didn't quite work effectively as he hoped.

They returned fire as they moved backwards towards the elevator. They kept a suppressive fire making it difficult for Mister O as he was pinned down behind cover unable to return fire back at them. Then the shooting stopped, Mister O looked up with his weapon drawn only to find one of the hostages running towards him with a device attached to his chest.

The man was in panic and screamed frantically as he headed towards Mister O. "Get this bloody thing off me!!!" he yelled as he began grabbing Mister O in panic.

Unable to analyze the device because of the man's panic, Mister O grabbed him and swept his feet forcing his back on the ground.

"Stay put and shut up so I can figure this out!" Mister O commanded.

He pulled out a flashlight and knife while looking through the device, he checked the wires to see where they would lead and then heard the elevator doors beep. "Dammit!" He yelled knowing the enemy forces were escaping.

The man began sobbing as death loomed over them. The timer was counting down fast as Mister O began checking which wires could possibly cause the detonation. It was down to the last ten seconds on the timer.

"The only easy day was yesterday," Mister O said to himself as he cut through one of the wires with his knife. Both of them holding their breath when Mister O looked. The timer was frozen at 3 and then the device power died.

He let out a slow exhale before cutting the straps freeing the man from what he thought to be his doom. He suddenly got up on his feet and bolted down the hallway in fear.

"Hey, don't run off, there's still other forces in the building!" Mister O warned, but the man continued to run off.

Mister O then looked outside of the windows and saw more SUV's approached the building. It was a hit squad now entering the building to take care of any opposition.

He ran towards the stairwell as it flew open from the other side. Beau and Penny ran out and into the hallway as Mister O ran in between them into the stairwell.

"We're going up!" Mister O instructed.

"Hate to break the news, mah friend, but we got a very heated elementalist causing a blaze down there. No pun intended, of course," Beau warned.

Penny was out of breath sucking in air as hard as she could. When Mister O saw a fire extinguisher in its case. He pulled it out and faced towards down the stairs.

"Beau, get the cargo and head upstairs! Now!!" he instructed.

Beau grabbed Penny and followed Mister O's instruction. Meanwhile Mister O headed downstairs and found the elementalist as he ascended the stairs slowly. Mister O was quick to toss the fire extinguisher at him and shot at it causing it to explode all over the fire blazed man. It caused the flames he was manipulating to extinguish and he seemed incompacitated for the moment. Mister O then ran back up the stairs and caught up with Beau and Penny.

"Eye in sky, this is O. LZ Charlie is a no go, requesting hot pick up at LZ Alpha!" Mister O reported. "Beau, be ready for a fight when we arrive on the roof. Protect the precious cargo."

"Will you stop calling me cargo!" Penny snapped.

As they made it to the top floor of the stairwell, a bright light illuminated from the bottom floor. Beau leaned over the railings to see where the light was coming from. It was the elementalist, he was back on his feet and his hands were once again in flames and making his way up.

"I reckon we got a problem," Beau informed Mister O.

Mister O nodded to acknowledge him, but then opened the door to the roof gun blazing at the men guarding the power circuit box. There were more men on the roof than expected as they returned fire. Mister O, Beau, and Penny ran for cover as they saw the elementalist approaching the roof.

Heavy machine gun fire rained down on the roof where the enemy had been positioned keeping them distracted as a helicopter approached, it was the very same helicopter that Penny had seen earlier.

"Go! Go! Go!" Mister O instructed as he provided them cover fire. He fired his gun until his submachine gun ran out of bullets, then rather than reloading he transitioned to his pistol to continue suppressive fire. Beau and Penny boarded the helicopter when they saw the elementalist approach.

"Look out!" Penny yelled.

Mister O turned towards the helicopter. He climbed in as the helicopter crew fastened him in while they ascended to the sky.

Penny was shaking really hard. Her breaths were shallow and quick, she struggled to process these past few moments and then she passed out into a deep slumber.

Her fragmented dreams returned. This time she saw the horned man still standing in the shadows. She stood before him and undressed herself from her gown and knelt down. She felt the soft padded floor on her knees and had this feel of yearning for this strange man, a burning desire for him to want her. He approached, his first foot stepped into the light, except it wasn't a foot. The strange man had hooves!

She awoke in a bed, peaceful, quiet, but strange. She didn't know where she was. She looked around and saw she was in some strange apartment. The TV was on and the news had been broadcasting the events about the university.

"Cultural studies building in Cloverton University in Essex, United Kingdom was a result of a major fire due to a gas leak. Survivors are unknown at this time," the news reported.

Penny was confused, she knew that was far from the truth. She got up immediately and ran out of the bedroom into the living room to find Mister O looking through a computer tablet.

"Morning. There's food in the fridge," he greeted her.

"I just saw the news on the tele and they're saying the university had a gas leak!" she informed.

"I know," he replied.

She was silent for a moment. A hundred questions ran through her head, she didn't know where to start. She asked the first that came to mind, "What did you want to ask me when you first approached me?"

"Things are a bit more complicated now. Anonymity is no longer an option. You're most likely a target by whoever shot up the university," he explained. His tablet began beeping, looking down he saw an incoming call.

As he answered the call, a video chat of a woman with a German accent spoke through the screen, "Greetings, Operative O."

"Gretchen, what do you have for me?" he asked.

Gretchen responded, "The pictures you sent us has been analyzed. The man you believe to be the leader of the group is Corwin Blackthorn. According to the Council of Venice archives, it reports Corwin Blackthorn being deceased as of five years ago."

Mister O looked a bit surprised and responded, "Deceased? When and how?"

"It says here that he was affiliated with the Phoenicians and was deployed to Kingsmouth, Solomon Island," she replied.

"Solomon Island?" again he was surprised. "He looked too alive to be undead, on top of that his assault team did not wear any unit identification markings. Phoenecians aren't ones to hide their presence. Any word on his location, plans, or even the relics?"

Gretchen again responded, "Blackthorn's whereabouts are unknown at this time. The photos of the relics you sent are too vague to know anything definitive. Hang tight, we will contact you as soon as we have a lead."

"Copy, O out," he responded as he closed the video call on his tablet.

Seeing that his video call had ended, Penny needed a few questions answered. "Where are we?" she asked.

"We are in a safehouse on the outskirts of Essex," he replied.

She continued to ask, "How did you know where to find me?"

"The business card I gave you, it has a small tracker chip attached to it," he replied.

"Where's Beau?" She asked.

He pointed out to the window showing her it was sunlight while responding, "Sleeping in the other room, probably in the closet."

"How do you know all this stuff and why do you have a vampire as your partner? Tell me right now, who are you people?" she demanded.

Mister O looked at her for a second and took a deep breath before answering, "Everything is true. Every story you heard as a child, lore, fable, you name it. It's true. Vampires, werewolves, it's all real. The truth is, there is a city on the moon, eleven days are missing from the calendar, the earth is hollow, immortals walk among us, the hosts were here before us and they are returning. There is a secret world that exists."

"No.That is insane!" she insisted. Penny became frightened as she backed up into a wall.

"No, it's all real. There have been many secret societies that have kept the rest of the world in the dark because the world is not ready yet," he explained. "I work for one of these secret societies."

Penny fell to her knees with a look of utter confusion on her face. Her voice became shakey as she asked, "Who? Who do you work for?"

Mister O waited a moment for her to catch her breath. "I work for the Illuminati," he replied.

"So, vampires are real. You actually work for the Illuminati. A person who's suppose to be dead kidnapped my friends and stole my research. What the bloody is happening?" she asked.

Mister O paused for a second. He knew the girl had been frightened and the night before had taken a toll on her. He then looked up at her and replied, "Dark days are coming."