A man and a Beast

Chapter 11 - The heart of a company

I wake up to a gentle nudging on my forehead. I flick my eyes open to be met with an eyeful of ginger colored fur. I know who it is. 

"Mornin Felicia," I groan as I lean up from the bench.

"Well actually its late afternoon Anderson," Holt says from the front.

In my peripheral vision I see Felicia give me eye roll. I look outside and lo and behold its almost nighttime. 

"We should be arriving in about 3 minutes."

I nod, "How long was I out?"

"About 5 hours," Holt chuckles, "Your a heavy sleeper."

I mentally chuckle at that. 

"So where are we?" I ask

Holt looks outside, "Well right now we're somewhere in the middle of the Appalachians."

His face grows a smile, "I think you might want to see this," He motions to the side opening.

I poke my head out and I see nothing at first, just a giant mountain reaching above us. But that was before the doors opened. 

Giant doors about the size of two 2 floored family houses. It is so well hidden by the trees and is colored to match the ground. No one would notice it if they weren't looking. We slowly pull in and I notice a helipad on the ground. The room doesn't appear to go too deep, enough so that this copter can fit nicely in it.

When we finally touch ground Holt yells over the engine, "You might want to get inside for this!"

When the engines die down I hear clicking of metal. I close the door behind me as I get back in.

"For what?" I ask.

Holt's eyes hold some excitement, "Better buckle up and hold on. Both to a rail and your cat."

I do as told but am still confused, "Why."

"Colin are you a fan of rollercoasters?"

"Yea why?"

He doesn't say anything as he bangs the pilot door two times. Not long after I hear metal wrring. I also catch onto the sound of Holt counting down. 

When he is at 3 I ask, "Holt what are you do-"

I am interrupted when I suddenly am jerked upwards. The pad we were on is now falling at great speeds. Occasional sparks flash from outside.

"HOLT WHAT IS HAPPENING!" I yell.

He laughs but I can't hear it and I can barley make out what he yells after, "Ain't afraid of a little falling aren't ya?"

I look at him like he's crazy. The soldier in front of me seems just as calm. Lights flash as we pass them at breakneck speeds. But finally, it slows down. When it completely stops I am still breathing heavily, heart racing. Felicia doesn't move in my arms, clearly as stunned as me.

Two giant doors open. The copter is pulled out by wheels on the ground. It comes to a stop after a few seconds. The back door opens and Holt guides us out. 

"Colin," he says as I see this place for the first time, "Welcome to the army headquarters of Armada Industries."

I look around, but I quickly look back to him, "An army headquarters?"

He looks back and responds, "Right, I forgot to mention our four branches. We have our ground military here. There is, or course, the Industry tower serving as the business HQ. We have a small fleet circling the pacific acting as our water based HQ. And we are building a sky headquarters."

I grow intrigued, "Sky headquarters?" 

He nods, "It's being built in a remote area. We already have 5 aerial bases built. But they are currently not in the air."

"Not in the... What?"

Felicia glows behind me, turning back into a dragon. 

"They are all on the water with more being built."

Felicia pipes in, "How does that work, something that flies floating in the water."

He chuckles, "A shouldn't even be telling you this but I'll give you one thing," he leans in, "Hybrid."

I sigh, knowing we're going to get nothing else out of him. 

Felicia is taking in the sight for herself, "How have you guys not been arrested by your government?"

"We've made deals with the US," Holt explains as he leads us down walkways, "Being born out of an experiment they made we've had constant contact with the Pentagon. We were able to strike deals with them."

"What kind?" I ask

He frowns, "Classified unfortunately. Armada might tell you."

We just walk in silence. The massive room is filled with all kinds of military equipment.

"What is this room anyways," I ask the question that's been filling my brain.

Holt looks around, "Well this is the Hub. The center of this base. It directly connects to all other sectors of this base. There's a tunnel that leads beyond this base." 

I just nod, the vastness of this underground facility amazes me. I look down to all the machinery below. Felicia got a lot of curious looks by workers as they passed her. At some point she moved herself right by my side, clearly not used to all the attention. I put a comforting hand on her neck, hoping it will calm her down. It tenses for a moment, then eases. 

"So how long have you two known each other?" I hear Holt ask from ahead

I think for a moment trying to process if when she was a cat counts, "Not long just a few days," I go with.

He turns around, "few days?" He sounds stunned, "You two act like you've known each other for years."

I think. Not knowing how to respond to this.

Luckily Felicia saves me on this one, "Well our situation made us better friends."

"A unbreakable bond," I finish for her, "forged by scenario."

"I like that enthusiasm," Holt comments.

We continued walking in silence. The constant buzz of machinery echoing around us. Holt leads us to an elevator. 

"The labs are up here," Holt tells us, "So is Armada's office."

He was going to push the up button but before he could a voice calls him.

"Holt, Holt, Holt. My friend how have you been!"

As we turn around I hear Holt chuckle out, "Oh this guy."

We're met with a man, no older than 30, standing 10ft away.

Holt speaks up, "Colin, Colin's friend. This is-"

The man interrupts bowing down as he says, "Zach Armada, President of Armada Industries and grand general of the Armada Military"

Armada looks to us, specifically Felicia, "Now this should be interesting."

(There's you but not quite you!)

(Yea I ain't that old)

(And not that cool)

(Really man...)

(YEA!)