The Lab was a clinical, white, circular chamber with tunnels running off of it like the numbers on a clock face. A half-circle of control panels occupied the centre of the room and a circle of desks surrounded it. At each desk sat a computer and each computer was occupied by a stern-faced adolescent.
"Whoa," I breathed, my eyes darted around, observing my surroundings.
"This," Jack gestured around dramatically, "Is the brain of our underground operation."
"It waasn't this impressive last time I was here," I said.
When I visited the Lab last it had been a dank room with a single control panel and a computer monitor. I'd met with a guy named Freddie who gave me a short explanation on how to operate my equipment and sent me on my first patrol. That was almost four years ago now.
"Lacey has really put in a lot of work over the last year and a half to get a professional set-up down here. You know, a last resort sort of place if anything drastic happens," Jack explained.
"Jack!" a voice from the middle of the room commanded, "get your butt down here and explain to me what the hell happened out there."
Jack strolled confidently to the middle of the room. His dark, scruffy clothes and laid-back demeanour looked out of place amongst the lab coats and stern expressions.
"Our sensors picked up an explosion from near where you were posted. What did you do this time?" a blonde girl impatiently questioned.
"I received a a distress call from Thomas Street," Jack answered calmly.
"Who was the distress call from?" A boy with dark, cropped hair asked.
"A girl named April, she detected a disturbance in a nearby house. The disturbance ended up being a human who left us a little gift in one of the back rooms," Jack explained casually.
"Where is this girl now?" the blonde asked.
"Over there," Jack gestured to me.
I was still standing where he had left me in the middle of the tunnel. The blonde woman beckoned me over to the middle of the room. Nervously, I stepped a foot onto the smooth polished floor of the Lab. Immediately work around me seemed to falter as the workers all looked at this strange new entity. True, my old, brown leather jacket and denim jeans did look very out of place amongst the lab coats and polished surfaces.
"Guys, this is April," Jack introduced me, "and April, this is Lacey and Freddie."
Lacey's eyes quickly scanned over me before she turned to write something down.
"April, why were you out at Thomas Street this evening?" Lacey questioned.
"I was patrolling the backstreets," I answered shyly.
"So you're April Winters of the scheduled patrols?" Lacey asked.
"Yes," I confirmed.
"Freddie, get a medical personnel in here. I want to check something." Lacey ordered.