The address Elias Starr messages me sends Spencer and me down a road with five too many potholes. Overgrown chain link fences and six-foot concrete walls block the industrial warehouses from view. Why is it that things always happen in old warehouses? For once, it'd be nice to have a mission at an amusement park or maybe a nice beach. Guess that's not how the cards are dealt.
We drive in through a gate that has been removed from its hinges and park in front of the warehouse with "51512" written on the door in faded paint. This is the place.
"I'll message Mr Starr," I say.
It takes only two minutes after I push send for Elias to meet us around back.
Before I can say anything, he has his eyes scrutinising Spencer. "Who is this?"
"Garret Taylor," Spencer introduces under his alias.
"He stays out here," Elias demands, turning to me.
I step forward. "I need him."
Elias crosses his arms. "I can only pay for one of you."
"That isn't a concern."
He ushers us quickly through a squeaky door with a chain around the handle that rattles when the door closes behind us.
As we walk down a silent, concrete hall, Elias begins to fill me in. "The work I'm doing is sensitive. You'll do the job I tell you to do on the information I give you, and if you do it right, I'll give you your check at the end of the day." I nod in agreement.
We push through a door towards the end of the hall. There's only three others in the room: two people in white lab coats, most likely recruits like me, and a woman in a blue dress. It's a large, dimly lit space buzzing with live electricity. Wires snake across the floor in every which direction. The only light comes from fluorescent lights, screens, and small windows covered in brown paper. Most shockingly is the large machine in the centre of the space. It looks like one of those portals in old sci-fi movies, but it fills me with much more dread. No wonder SHIELD wanted this investigated.
Elias leads Spencer and me to a desk close to the odd portal-like thing. Computers? Programming? Information extraction? Now, this is a mission I can get behind.
"So, what exactly are you building here, Mr Starr?" I ask.
"Something... magnificent," Elias chuckles, gesturing around. "We're in the precipice of scientific revelation here." Doesn't quite answer my question, but I don't push it. He explains my role in the project. I'm to write a program that can monitor energy output for the quantum realm stabilisers and detect abnormalities in the programming. I have no idea what "quantum" means, but it seems pretty straightforward. I nod along, making mental notes of exactly what I need to do to accomplish the task.
Elias leaves to go attend to the machine, and Spencer and I immediately get to business. He stands behind my chair as I peck away on the keys. Everything is smooth sailing until I open the raw data logs. It's a complete dead-end.
"Problem," I whisper to Spencer.
"Problem? We've barely been here for ten minutes. How is there already a problem?"
"This terminal doesn't have any access to the data for the quantum portal... realm... thingy..." I sigh, looking around the room to make sure we can't be overheard. "Bottom line: if we can't transmit any information back to the Triskelion, we won't be able to proceed with the mission objective."
Spencer leans down to see the screen. "First rule of being an agent: observe, understand, and adapt." I smile at that comment. He's such a nerd, honestly. "So what can we do?"
YOU ARE READING
Mirage // Marvel Universe
FanfictionAll Harper wanted to do was graduate college and live a normal life, but a few bad decisions set her on a path intertwined with a secret government organization and a would-be team of heroes. Harper Hagino, a young hacker trading information to pay...
