“If it’s any more of your digs at me, it’s getting old,” Kate replied, her voice tired and weary.
Dan continued dragging his finger on the monitor. He came by a brief section in the recording where a squad of Kodak agents stumbled upon this door and didn’t do much other than shoot at it without much luck before leaving. Another short section were a bunch of panicked civilians that tried to hide and seek shelter, both near the door and at the station. A few energy blasts and green vapor trails flew above their heads before Dan reluctantly dragged his finger again, viewing the split second of their gruesome deaths before the timeline shift.
“Not this time,” he said. “But at least it’s understandable why I mouth off to you. You know what actually makes me feel bad for you?”
Kate gave him a sideways glance before reverting her eyes back at the wall.
“Was it worth ditching us to join up with these guys? Did you even feel anything for the Kodak agents we lost so far in this mission?” Dan tried his best not to insert any of his usual bitterness and snarkiness in his words. He genuinely wanted to know what went through the blond’s mind when she chose to ally herself with Kodak and stabbing him and the rest of Jane’s team in the back.
“I didn’t see you give any reaction to the conscripts and other agents that got killed fighting these fanatics. Other than Adam, you don’t seem like you get along with any of these assholes.” Dan recalled when Kate got into an argument with Ada, only for the Bloodknight washout to pistol whip her. He held back on grinning at that memory. He was genuinely trying to fish for what was on Kate’s mind.
When Kate still didn’t respond, Dan brought up the elephant in the room. “I can tell that neither Judith or Colleen are the greatest bosses to work under. Was Jane Sunheiser all that bad?”
While Dan waited for some kind of answer, he still dragged his finger along the timeline of the footage, still not finding anything worthy of note other than panicked civilians running along this corridor then getting blasted or having to leave. He saw something that caught his attention.
An individual wearing a hooded robe just like the rest of the cultists and Church agents they have encountered. But this one was in a league of his own. While the robes of his enemies were either a dark red or grey, his robe was a bright white that seemed to glow in the footage. The strange man looked in the direction of the camera and Dan briefly saw the golden jewelry on him. Chained bracelets wrapped around his wrists and forearms along with glowing and shining gold accessories along his torso and waist.
The man’s eyes also glowed as he stared directly into the camera before refocusing his gaze on the giant metal door. His HUD popped up a message.
Church of Nanotology agent identified. Gathering stats.
If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
He glanced back at Kate who still hadn’t given him an answer.
“I don’t know what pushed you to ditch us and work for Kodak, only to hate every minute of it and having to take this kind of disrespect,” Dan said. “Not exactly clever life choices if you ask me.”
Dan looked back at the footage and watched with curiosity as the man raised his hands at the door. He thought the man was doing some strange stretches before he saw his hands glow with violet energies. The door became engulfed with the same energy and metallic screeching came through the speakers as Dan saw the giant door open.
Whatever mechanisms were in place to keep the door locked and shut had clearly been bypassed by this lone Church agent, without hacking or blowing it up.
The man lowered his arms and walked through the opened door. He lifted his palm, gathering additional energy before the door shut behind him.
His HUD came back with the stats from that particular Church agent.
Agent: Leonardo Atreus
Age: 32 M
Shard: Church of Nanotology
Rank: Tier 3 | Level 55 - Cult Master
Strength: 90
Agility: 89
Endurance: 92
Intelligence: 94
Healing Factor: n/a
*Cult master identified
Dan stared at the numbers his HUD spat out in front of him. The cult master they were hunting down was a tier three. The only tier threes he had encountered so far were Jane and Bobby. Both of them could move faster than his eyes could track during his training. He also had to assume that Judith, along with the Odyssey twins were at least tier three if not higher in rank.
If this was who they were hunting down, they needed more agents and better firepower. He doubted the shitty CMA rifle would be enough to put down this cult master.
After Kate kept him waiting for an answer, she finally spoke. “You’re right. I hate it here. All of it. But I would gladly endure all of this just to…”
Dan was intrigued, even though Kate didn’t spill out the true reason why she turned traitor.
“Well, if you’re not going to tell me the real answer, I guess I’ll keep assuming you’re an idiot,” he said. “I found out who’s been here before us. We got our cult master.”
Kate looked at him and rushed over to the computer. She looked at the screen and presumably got the same details to her HUD as Dan had. Dan dragged his finger over that section again to replay the footage of the cult master forcibly opening the door and bypassing all the measures that kept it shut.
“I don’t like this,” Kate says. “I better let Judith know.”
She stepped away from the computer and paced back and forth within the station. Dan obviously couldn’t hear a single word between Kate and Judith. But from Kate’s jaw dropping which then shifted to her clenching her teeth, he knew it couldn’t be good. Whatever unreasonable orders she gave to Kate would also trickle down to Dan.
She stared at the ground for a moment before finally looking up at Dan. “Judith wants us to advance through that door and see what the cult master and his followers are up to.”
Dan stood up from the chair. “Doesn’t she know that asshole put some kind of curse on that door? I haven’t even found the passcode for that secret keypad.”
Kate gave a long sigh. “She doesn’t care about the means. She just wants it done.”
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