Meddling

Only two and a half weeks passed since the last time Church and Cain were in Greenland and in that time, seemingly everything changed. While the two men walked out of the airport, a cigarette caught in Church's lip and a straw leading to an iced coffee in Cain's, they stood on the corner of the street and searched for a local taxi. 

Eventually catching one, Church gave their driver the address of the military compound they were locked in prior, but unfortunately that address didn't appear in the taxi's GPS. 

Doing his best to navigate through the city of Nuuk, Church led their taxi outside city limits towards the small colony of homes they were transported to. As they neared the area, however, they came across a military outpost that blocked off further street access for Greenland's public. 

Deciding to hop off there, Church paid their taxi driver while Cain approached the on-site military personnel. Explaining their identity, getting laughed at, and then using |Blackout| to take the soldier's eyes to prove their identity, Cain and Church were finally granted access and escorted to the supposed Gate. 

As they drove further up the hill, Church and Cain finally witnessed the changes that had taken place over the past two weeks. No longer were the hills covered in square homes of primary colors, instead, a massive building covered the hill's space. 

Appearing as one ginormous warehouse, two cranes continued to operate on the building's edges — carrying beams and poles alike to the roof of the facility. At the front of the facility, another checkpoint equipped with armed guards awaited their arrival. 

Stepping out of their escort vehicle, Cain and Church admired the sheer scope of the newly constructed building. Looking up, the building must have multiple floors — four at a minimum. It possessed no windows and lacked any architectural flare as, from the outside, it appeared as nothing more than a massive concrete box. 

Instructed to follow a different guard inside, Church and Cain merely nodded along and followed the facility's personnel. After passing the security check-point, they boarded an elevator that brought them a single floor up. 

Immediately, the building's interior changed. Elegant and angelic marble floors stretched beyond the elevator. White walls lined the interior alongside hundreds of various plants each placed in their own pot of soil — some even hung from the ceiling attached to hooks. 

As they walked through the facility, the wall to their left at some point disappeared and was replaced with glass. Looking into the center of the facility, they finally saw the royal golden arches depicted in Sutton's photo. 

Overwhelmingly pure, the gold used to construct the arch carried a mirror-effect as Cain could clearly see himself in the gold even though he currently stood a great distance away. What caught his attention the most, however, was the scene between the golden arches. 

A line of stretchers hustled in and out of the Gate. Body after body was carefully removed, some human but most Goblin. In addition to the team dressed in white, presumably some sort of medical division, there were also men and women dressed in dark blue constantly entering and exiting the Gate in droves. 

The people in blue always entered the Gate with something in hand, either a piece of technology like a generator or something as simple as cooked food and as they returned, they all sorted into a single-file line behind a counter — waiting for their next delivery. 

Beside the white and blue uniforms, one more color graced the sea of bodies moving in and out of the Gate: green. The green men and women lined the perimeter of the Gate both inside and out and strapped to all of their chest's was some sort of fully automatic weapon, Cain guessed it was an SMG. 

In addition to their primary weapon, the people in green also carried a grenade, they had a knife strapped to their stomach, a handgun on their right hip and a scimitar on their left. The sword was by far the most unusual piece of equipment, but Cain assumed it was in case of another horde — a number of opponents that outnumbered the amount of bullets the people in green likely carried. 

Eventually though, Cain and Church arrived at a set of luxurious double-doors that came with its own pair of armed guards. Exchanging pleasantries, the guard escorting them and the guards in front of the doors spoke for a few moments before knocking on the reinforced doors and alerting the people inside of their new guests. 

Cain heard shuffling beyond the doors and moments later, the pristine doors parted and Fey greeted them with an irradiant smile. 

"Oh Church! Welcome! Welcome! And you must be Cain, a pleasure!" Fey invited the two in the room. 

As they entered, Cain realized how dark the inside of this room was. With all the lights off apart from the TV's that lined the rooms walls, the meeting room felt like a theater more than anything. Only once Cain recognized what was depicted on the TV's did he understand what was happening. 

Sat around a large oval table, various men and women discussed with fervor the world beyond the Gate. Not only did Cain see familiar faces such as Adams, Fey, and a few others, but many new faces sat around the table as well. 

"Sir Cain!" Director Adams stood from his seat at the head of the table, "Everyone if you will, please welcome Sir Cain and Mr. O'Brien to the meeting." 

Following his instruction, the various aged faces smiled softly in Cain's direction. Some stood and offered handshakes, but most simply welcomed him from afar. 

"What's the current topic?" Church spoke up as he didn't hesitate to sit at one of the unoccupied chairs around the table. 

"As you can see —" A nerdy man with glasses spoke, "we're in the process of establishing a perimeter around the pyramid before we explore the jungle ourselves." 

"And you're doing that with drones?" Church asked. 

"That is correct —" The nerdy man pushed his glasses further up the bridge of his nose, "luckily, our already existing electromagnetic waves have spread into the Gate without any resistance. We estimate that our technology will remain functional within a radius of half a mile from the Gate's entrance." 

Church looked towards Sutton. A smugness draping over his attitude. 

"This couldn't have been your idea Director?" Church emphasized mockingly. 

"Where's your little militia?" Church prodded. 

Sutton sighed. 

"I see your attitude hasn't changed, Church." 

"Oh it has —" Church fired back, "I simply wanted to establish the fact that your new position means nothing to me." 

"Wonderful. Now can we continue?" Director Adams bore into Church's eyes. 

"Actually —" But then a third voice suddenly entered the fray, "I'd like to propose something." 

The various faces found within the meeting room turned towards Cain. Shock, skepticism, annoyance, multiple emotions could be seen in the crowd of onlookers. Cain didn't acknowledge them though, he merely looked at Sutton. 

Surprised, Director Adams nodded towards Cain to continue. 

"Not to be overly egotistical here, but I think you and I could agree that I'm more than qualified to explore the jungle alone." Cain smirked. 

"Don't be preposterous!" A larger man shouted across the table. 

"Enough!" Director Adams put an end to the argument before it could begin. "And?" 

"I'd like to offer my services!" Cain stretched his lips and barred his canines, "For a price, of course!" 

Sutton Adams, dressed in the most exorbitant military attire Cain had ever seen, rubbed his chin in contemplation. 

"I've been curious of the states of the other two Gates. . ." Adams lingered, "will you explore them? With a team, naturally." 

Cain pondered the suggestion. 

On the one hand, it would most likely be a lot less boring traveling with others. On the other hand, he'd probably have to go at a much slower pace because of them. 

But they could carry his stuff. They could also cook for him, not that he needs it, but why not? 

'It's probably an opportunity to spy on me.' Cain mused to himself. 

'The question is, do I care?' 

'Leon should have already told them the extent of my strength, not to mention Sutton was there at the end of fighting all those Orcs.' 

'So really, they won't be able to see any more of my capabilities.' 

'I guess there's the two items, but I just won't use them.' 

'And if they're wary of me because I'm a demon, then maybe I can use this as an opportunity to, I don't know, appear non-threatening?' 

'Well, I guess non-hostile.' 

To Sutton's surprise, Cain nodded his head before parting his lips. 

"Sure." Cain agreed, "How many people are you thinking?" 

***

"How did I get roped into this?" Church's demeanor was depressed. 

His lower lip quivered and his back tilted forward. Poor posture and a poor attitude pervaded the middle-aged veteran. 

"Oh come on!" Fey nudged his shoulder, "Did you hear what they're paying??!" 

"Yes! Yes! Money! Woo-hoo!" Church's limp arm danced in the air.

Standing in line next to all the men and women in blue, Cain, Church, Fey, and two others patiently waited for their shipment of gear and supplies. After Cain expressed his interest in exploring the Gate, Director Adams pressed pause on their meeting and instead focused on this new expedition. 

Since half of his militia was still traveling across the world, Adams decided it was best to continue to wait for their arrival. In the meantime, Cain could fulfill their role of scout. 

"Next." The woman behind the counter instructed. 

Church approached the counter and grabbed two crates worth of supplies off its surface. Moving to a less crowded corner of the open space, Church carefully divided the weapons and supplies allocated to this makeshift team. 

"Five handguns, five knives, five grenades, three stun grenades, three smoke grenades, two weeks worth of MRE's (meals-ready-to-eat), wha-what's this?" Church paused his count as he pulled a sealed black box from the supply crate. 

Unlatching the black box, Church visibly recoiled at the collection of needles and syringes found within the container. Beside the fifteen syringes, three bottles of mystery fluid were tightly strapped to the container's interior. 

"The blue tag is rabies, the black tag is ebola, and the red tag is the bubonic plague." Fey commented while equipping her bullet-proof vest. 

"I'm sorry. I don't think I heard you correctly." Church smiled candidly, "Did you say the plague?" 

"Yup." Fey slid her handgun into its holster. 

Church jumped at the response, his hands shaky, and the container of syringes momentarily jumped into the air before Church nervously caught the container and re-sealed it shut with its two latches. 

"Relax, will you?" Fey grabbed the container from Church's hands and slipped it into her military backpack. 

"It's the cures, not the actual viruses." 

"Well I would hope so!" Church continued to rummage through the crates. 

Meanwhile, while his team bickered, Cain meticulously studied the drone that is meant to travel with them. After all, Cain's world stopped making technology after electric cars. They hit that milestone and then ninety percent of all electricity was shut down. 

So inventions like autonomous drones, AI, and most things that involved lasers were entirely foreign to the demon. At present, he fiddled with what he would describe as a miniature aircraft carrier. 

The drone had four circular engines stationed in each of its corners alongside circular blades that mirrored a helicopter. The four spiraling blades could flip on a dime, allowing the drone near instantaneous movement as it could reverse the wind flow without actually reversing the direction of its propellers.

In addition to its rapid reflexes, the drone also came equipped with a camera, a flashlight, and of course, a laser pointer. According to Fey, the drone mainly operated via AI — it's given a proctor to follow within a radius of ten feet and from there it perceives the world in infrared. It's programmed to pinpoint and record unexpected heat signatures alongside any movement detected beyond the ten feet radius. 

He pressed the power button and the drone sprung to life and levitated out of Cain's palm. Assuming its camera is its eyes, the drone recorded the heat signatures and statures of the five team members before flying in circles around the cohort. 

"Won't the drone shut off after half a mile?" Church asked while finally gearing up. 

"Not with me around!" One of the two strangers straightened his back and pounded his chest. 

Church raised his eyebrow. 

"Lee, right?" Church guessed. 

"Lee's my last name, you can call me Jun." Jun stretched his hand forward. 

"And this is Mei Wang." Jun nodded towards the Chinese girl next to him, "She's not proficient in English — I apologize." Jun bowed his head. 

"You should be able to speak Chinese. I'm pretty sure Awakened have free global translation." Church smiled. 

Jun cast his gaze towards Mei. Communicating with their eyes, Mei, with her long and straight black hair and hazel eyes, released a pent up sigh before speaking in her native tongue. 

"Hello. My name is Mei Wang. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance." Mei gently tipped her head forward. 

"Hey." Church smirked, "I'm Church, this here is Fey, and broody over there is Cain." 

Church covered his mouth, leaned further in towards the Chinese duo, and whispered like he was revealing a secret. 

"He's a demon, if you know what I mean." Church winked. 

Jun scrunched his eyebrows in confusion. 

Mei remained stoic and unmoving. 

Fey rolled her eyes. 

Cain approached from behind Church, meanwhile, the drone hovered next to Cain's shoulder like a domesticated pet. 

"I don't remember you being this talkative." Cain commented from behind, causing Church to nearly jump out of his pants. 

"I was under a lot of stress then —" Church glared at Cain, "my personality takes time to flourish." 

"Yeah, okay." Cain shrugged. "Everyone ready?" 

"Yes, sir!" Fey mirrored the classic American salute even though she was from Romania. 

"Yes, sir!" Jun copied her. 

Mei merely nodded. 

Church raised his hand. 

"I'd like to petition you go without me!" Church interrupted. 

"Nope!" Cain ignored Church and grabbed him by the wrist. 

Dragging the thirty-three year old man towards the golden arches, Cain and his exploration party, all dressed in black and equipped with enough firepower to level a building, strode into the Gate returning to the black pyramid. 

Although a result of Cain's meddling, this would go down as Earth's first official employment of adventurers hired to explore a Gate. 

An occupation that'll soon take the world by storm. 

///LostNoteFound///

Hey! This chapter is a bit longer than normal, but it was tough write I'll admit. We'll be back on track soon though ;)