The 10 Gateways: Secrets

Investigation in Identification

September 15th, 2010

A linoleum tiled floor once again greeted me as I awoke face down. I pushed myself onto my arms and stared at the weak reflection of myself. I was breaking down, but I couldn't let it stop me any more than it already had. My thoughts were interrupted by a yelp from Nathan, which was bizarre of him. I sat up and looked over to see Victor. He looked slightly shocked but mostly confused. 

I overheard Dr. Roberto, "I should've guessed the portal would've saved you just like it does to all of us."

I caught Victor's eyes, and I quickly glanced away. I was glad he was alive and well, but I still couldn't look at him and smile. His actions disappointed me. 

I got up and started wandering away from the group, looking at the seventh place we have arrived at. I wanted to find the member of Christina's little gang here and get this over with.  I walked around the filing cabinets and through aisles of strewn papers. I quickly realized we were in a skyscraper, multiple floors up. I glanced to my side to see the rest of the group starting to disperse and explore the building.

I sped walked down the aisle, realizing names on each of them. I looked around me to see any signs, but I didn't see what I was looking for. Dr. Roberto was just a few aisles away from me so I yelled at him. 

"Dr. Roberto! Do you know this building at all?"

He glanced around before announcing, "Not 100% sure but I'm pretty sure it's some sort of identification storage of people's information."

I paused and thought. Exactly what I thought. 

"What letter are the names on your aisle?" I questioned.

He glanced down at the cabinets and then announced he was in the D aisle. I thought for a second but then circled around to his aisle, looking for a lead.

"What are you looking for?" Dr. Roberto asked as I walked up to him. 

I held up a hand as I just eyed the names on the cabinets, starting to head down the aisle. I found myself going in a speed walk, rushing down the aisle, glancing at names. Dr. Roberto was following fairly close behind me, trying to figure out my intention. Eventually, I came to a stop and looked at a cabinet next to me. 

"Oh." Dr. Roberto breathed.

'Christina Darkseed' engraved into a little golden plate on the front of the cabinet. I glanced up above her name, to see my name engraved on a plate as well. 'Jeffrey Darkseed' was on a cabinet as well, and as much as I wanted to open it, I knew Christina's was more important. 

I threw open the cabinet, to see the folders inside, but there were only a few folders. There was not a lot of information on her. A childhood folder rested in there, but I already knew that part of her story. I grabbed the other two folders that held miscellaneous information. 

There was just a little journal of her whereabouts and our siblings. I saw a picture of Allie who I hadn't seen in years. There was a blueprint of Dr. Jack's space ship which made no sense being there and it was weird, but she definitely was working with Dr. Jack to kill us. Finally, I came upon a little article on her being spotted and a picture of her and Rex. 

"Christina Darkseed and a man, who was thought to have been missing from years prior, Reginald Gilgood, were spotted fleeing the scene..."

"Reginald Gilgood. That's Rex's real name. We have to get to the G aisle. If the gateways led us here, there should be one of the Dark Souls here, so we need to hurry." 

I kind of shoved him and then we got a move on out of the aisle and down a central walkway until we got to the G aisle. We sped down the aisle, glancing at the names on either side. 

Finally, I came across the label that said Gilgood, and I threw the drawer open. Once again, I was met with a very minuscule file. There were a couple of documents from before the 1990s in there, assumingly his childhood, if he had one, and a few newspaper articles from the past decade. That was it. I glanced at the newspapers, and there were notes stating he was behind the giant spiders we ran into in our previous adventures. I also concluded he spawned the evil taco that had possessed me.

That was pretty much it for recent information. I dove into his childhood files, which looked like a lot but it was all conspiracy. Only thing viable in there was that he's the God of Chaos, and he was banished to the underworld from his hometown in Greece. Exactly what he did in Greece was a mystery.

I was about to close the drawer and walk off until I saw a little note stating more secretive files were kept on a higher floor. I grabbed it, and a few floors up were confidential information. I took off, past Dr. Roberto, and toward the elevator against the far wall. Dr. Roberto and a few others, including Henry and Jenny, ran up behind me to follow. I pressed the button on the elevator, as it dinged and I waited for it to arrive. 

But the elevator was taking too long to get there, so I twirled around, running towards stairs in the corner. But my fears came true and as I ran, I heard the bang behind me. I twisted my head and saw shattered windows, and part of the floor above had collapsed. A red light was coming from up there. I continued running to the stairs. 

Dr. Roberto was right behind me, and he swooped me up and grappled to the corner, over a few rows of cabinets. We landed right in front of the stairs, and as I started up there, a red light shone from the top of the spiral staircase.

Lauryn's eyes shone into my eyes, as I looked in shock. She hesitated a second, then held up her hand. An explosion sounded and all I saw was bright red.