Operation: Arcana Check

The recent activity of The New Path's research and development division required an extensive and thorough cleanup process. Once again, The Lost found himself striding through the rundown and seemingly abandoned factory. This time, he wore a pinstripe suit and instead of an full strike team, he only had two men in black suits with him. The three of them walked onto the cargo elevator on the bottom floor of the old factory. The elevator shaft above it was broken beyond repair and obstructed by debris. Instead, the elevator carried them downwards towards the secret facility that was recently built under the old factory.

The New Path had invested considerable resources into funding the research of a certain cult. The result of the research was a portal to another dimensions, through which the cult managed to summon an actual demon. However, that was not all that came through. It took everything the security personal had to just hold them back, and they could not shut the door themselves. The Lost had to show up personally, and handle the situation. While the door was eventually sealed, Lost had decided to sever all ties with the cult involved. They had come too close to ending the world for his comfort, and he didn't like the idea of having pawns that kept that many secrets from him.

Now it was only a matter of locking down this facility, and making sure the gate was indeed closed. Many lives were lost in this debacle, but some interesting research material came from it. However, with a gate to another dimension open for as long as it was, The Lost was sure that they were just beginning to deal with the repercussions of their actions. He had decided to personally oversee the clean up operation. The elevator doors revealed a plastic tarp that had just recently been put up. It bore the universal sign for hazard, and had written warnings on it. There were two men in hazmat suits, holding sub machine guns guarding the checkpoint. The Lost and his men stopped to put on hazmat suits, before Lost reached out and unzipped a doorway in the tarp. Just as a precaution, everyone beyond this point was wearing the same hazmat suits. They scanned the facility for radiation and various other kinds of readings. They cleaned up the bodies of the dead, human and other, and poured over the cult's research material.

The Lost strode confidently through the facility as his worker drones went about their duties. He came to a stop at the main control room, where he remember seeing the gate to the other world. He almost regrets letting it close so easily, without ever having stepped through himself. It may have been a once in a lifetime opportunity to learn of a world beyond his own. Sadly, he was not willing to take the risk.

The security cameras hidden among the ruins of the factory above gave first warning of the irregular intruder above. He seemed to move the gates open with a wave of his hand, though the specifics of how he did it were beyond those who were watching the monitors. The report of the intruder went to Jonathan Javian personally. Regularly, a single patrolmen would be dispatched to politely ask an intruder to leave. However, an irregular individual called for irregular reaction.

Javian ordered the security team to gear up and prepare for an irregular attack. He also had the down team wake up and suit up, in the event that they'd be needed. As everyone moved to take their positions, the factory above them was deathly silent. The only noise would be from the intruder, if any. In facility bellow, alarms were blaring and the hallways echoed with the march of boots slamming against concrete.

"All units to emergency defensive positions Beta," the intercom in the facility called them all into action. Emergency defensive positions Alpha were setup encase the door to hell somehow opened again, and they had to prevent something from leaving the facility. Beta was a standard formation for preventing intruders from entering. Gamma formation was a mixture of both, encase the gate to hell had opened again, and they had to defend the base from intruders. Thankfully, that contingency plan wasn't needed just yet. That being the case, they were still prepared if it was needed.

Javian discretely sequestered himself in the secret room behind the bookcase of the head administrative office. There he traded his pinstripe suit and hazmat suit for urban tactical gear. Instead of dealing with this as Javian, he'd again handle the situation as The Lost.

He rendezvoused with four security contractors at the cargo elevator, all five of them wearing the same tactical gear in urban blacks and grays. They also wore matching silver pins of The New Path compass. Their helmets had large visor shields, like the kind swat helmets sometimes had. However, their were tinted blank. They each carried riot shields on their backs. For sidearms they had collapsible stun batons and machine pistols. They had silenced sub machine guns as their primary weapon.

As one last precautionary, Lost ordered two of his men to take the emergency escape hatches up. Lost and the two others would take the cargo elevator up. First the elevator would come down to pick them up, and then they'd ride it back up. The movement of the elevator would be a huge clue to the intruder that things were not as they seemed. Meanwhile, the other two men would have to climb up emergency escape ladders. It would take some time, but it'd be much more discrete.

The cargo elevator's doors revealed a small strike team of three security contractors. Their black gear helped them blend into the darkened factory, but their forms were unmistakable. Of course, their eyes, and their guns, were immediately drawn to the soft glow of the irregular intruder.

"Halt. You are trespassing on private property," The Lost called out as he and his men trained their guns on the glowing man.

"State your name and your intent," he added flatly. The Lost wasn't sure what this glowing man was capable. With him standing so close to the elevator, there was little he or his men could do to secure a better position. Thankfully, he had the foresight to send the others up an alternate route. However, even with the head start they were given, it would take some time before they could move into position.

It'd be best to handle this situation in a peaceful manner. There were too many factors that Lost didn't know. Too many things that could go wrong. That being the case, Lost was ready to go to war if need be. This were not his usual elite team, but he knew they were also ready to fight. Too much had been happening recently at this facility, and Lost had a feeling that things were about to get a lot worse before they got better.

"..." The Lost was a prideful man, but his pride was not so easily wounded that calling him stupid was enough to get a rise out of him. He remained calm and collected, and could clearly see the potential this other person had. He considered what the intruder had said, taking as much time as he wanted, before deciding on his next course of action.

"...You're well informed. I take it you're some kind of specialist in such matters?" The Lost replied. His black visor obscured his face, and only reflected glowing image of the intruder. After another tense moment, he lowered his gun and gave the hand signal for the others to do the same.

"It just so happens that we could use the consultation of a specialist," The sheer fact that he knew about what had happened recently was a clear sign that he might have valuable information. However, there was always the possibility that he worked for Pratt.

"You'd have to come with me, and answer a few more questions, but I think we can both get what we want here," The Lost went on to say.

"Please, follow me into the facility," he'd then step aside and gesture for the intruder, Sean, to step onto the cargo elevator.

If he agreed, The Lost's men would slowly close the rusted metal grating behind him and the elevator would once again groan to life. It'd carry them down many stories bellow ground. There Sean would be led through a very quickly built facility. It was not the most modern or impressive facility, but it certainly wasn't run down either. He'd first be led to the hazard checkpoint, and he'd be asked if he thought a hazmat suit was wise. Whether they donned the suits or not, he'd be led to the head admin office and would be asked to sit down. The Lost would then take a seat behind the desk and the guards would leave to wait just outside the room. That was the plan, if Sean did decide to cooperate.

The contingency plan was to shoot him dead the moment he revealed himself to be hostile.

The hazmat suit did not make squeezing into the small office any easier.

"..." He bumped his head on the low doorway, but did his best to act like it hadn't happened. He sat down with his elbows on the desk and his hands together in front of the dark visor of his hazmat suit. He listened to the man, wanting to hear what he'd say after coming here. After hearing him out, it seemed like Sean wanted to get right down to the heart of the matter. The Lost nodded at him in approval.

"Fair enough. That can be arranged, however before we get to business, I need you to sign this," he pulled out a form and placed it on the desk.

"It's your standard non-disclosure agreement. Obviously, if you witness anything against the law, you are obligated to report it to the appropriate authorities," he explained as he offered Sean a small box containing a fancy pen.

"Please just write your name out here, and then sign there at the bottom, initial here, and here," he requested, flipping to several different pages on the lengthy document.

"A necessary evil, I'm afraid," The Lost responded with a shrug. His tone was pretty irritable himself.

"Not all of us can operate with wanton abandon for the law. Some of us actually work to enforce it," He practically spat out these words with much ire and indignation, but with a sigh he would go on to continue.

"It's true, though. Whatever forces led you here were right on the money. Supposedly, some big wigs in a corporate board room decided it would be a good idea to invest in some... less than conventional research projects," The Lost's tongue seemed to loosen up quite a bit after the contracts had all been signed.

"Supposedly, they had some kind of major breakthrough. Problem was, they couldn't close the extra-dimensional portal they had opened. That's where I came in," The Lost paused for dramatic effect.

"They sent me and my men to handle the situation. I handled it," It wasn't a lie. The gateway to hell was closed now. The whole ordeal was behind him already. Though, he never really stated how he managed the feat. The whole place must have still had some kind of residual energy that Lost knew nothing about. Maybe they should get a priest to sprinkle around some holy water.

"We got the door closed. Suffered no casualties. That's what The New Path: Next Step is all about. We deal with irregular situations like this all the time," he went on to explain, though Arcana probably didn't care to hear about that.

"Probably, not a lot different from what you do... except, we don't trespass," The Lost was sure to add.

"Now, I'm sure a specialist like yourself will want to look around. You've got free reign of the place, but we'll be watching, and remember what you signed," The Lost pointed up at the security camera tucked away in the upper right corner of the room. He finally seemed like he was ready to shut up. He leaned back in the chair that seemed a bit too small for someone of his height. Maybe, he was a demon in disguise? No, surely a demon could afford a more convincing look than giant human.

"If you really believe you're above the law, then your not much different than the very threat you fight against," The Lost shook his head and scoffed as Sean made his exit, whether he deigned a reply or not.

The facility's control room was where the hell gate had been opened. There were various scientist and security contractors milling about. It was hard to tell them apart with their big bulky hazmat suits. None of them would stop Sean, but he might be able to feel their glares from behind their black visors.

Lost had neglected to inform Sean that it was the demons themselves who had actually closed the door, not Lost himself. Whether that meant they could open it up again or not, Lost had no idea. Furthermore, he had personally collected remains of a demon that had been killed at the gate.

If that wasn't enough, the whole opening of the gate was just a means to summon something through. That creature was still in this world, and now a personal friend of The Lost. Or she claimed to be. Whether or not she was one of these universe draining entities that Sean had mentioned, Lost couldn't have known for sure. All of this was information withheld from Sean. The Lost had chosen to ramble, hoping to drive Sean off before he'd ask too many questions. Instead, he wanted to see what this specialist could do and whether or not he could be useful.

Interdimensional incursions were more common than one might care to believe. And they were only growing more frequent. Anymore Rozmer seemed to be feeling them daily. A tear in space here, a being not of this reality there, it was becoming something of an issue. This was not the behavior of a healthy dimension. This was utter chaos, the kind of thinning of the existential barrier that almost certainly preceded a major incursion, the kind of thing that could destroy not only this reality but any that had the misfortune of drifting too close within The Void. It was utter madness. And where was Rozmer in all of this? Well he was frantically trying to stitch up a world tearing itself apart at the seams. Today that seaming fruitless endeavor lead him to an abandoned wear house on the outskirts of a city. Where it was didn't really matter. What did was the tear he felt at its center.

There was a portal inside, it had to be. Nothing else could make him feel so instantaneously close to another of himself without his doing. But why they chosen the old wear house? Probably for its secluded location, lack of general interest or credible witnesses. After all, the only people likely to hang around in a delapidated old industrial complex were likely either drugged our of their minds or doing something illegal themselves making either I like to report any disturbances. More likely than not that meant that the portal was opened from this side of reality and it's opening had been intentional, exactly the kind of thing that meant bad news for Rozmer and the overall stability of this reality.

He reached into his vest pocket, producing a pack of cigarettes and lighter. Slapping the pack against his palm a few times, he popped the top open and slid out a single cigarette before slipping it between his lips. Cupping one hand to block the wind he lifted the other holding the lighter. An ember glow burned on the tip as he inhaled deeply, letting the smoke fill his non-existent lungs.

Can't you people ever just leave this kind of shit alone? he muttered to himself, slipping the pack and lighter back into his pocket. Then all at once he was gone, the thin trail of smoke fading into the wind being the only indication of where he had just been standing.

Out of thin air Rozmer appeared inside the complex. Remaining phased, he would be visible yet physically not there as he hovered an inch or two above the ground. There would be no sound of breathing, no sense of something in the room only his appearance and the very real and tangible smoke leaving his cigarette would betray him. In front of him with their back turned was a person in a hazmat suit and before them an array of monitors which they seemed intently focused on. This is gonna be fun Rozmer thought to himself as he silently floated forward. Turning in midair he floated with his back parallel to the ground his head passing effortlessly and harmlessly through the man's back and out his chest as though it were moving through nothing at all. Which his neck, head and shoulders through he finally spoke.

Looks like you've been busy he said abruptly, smoke puffing from his mouth with every word. What exactly are we watching? he asked, rotating his body so thy now his stomach faced the floor for inside The Lost. His eyes scanned the screens coming to rest a monitor displaying a familiar form in a large room. He couldn't see the face but the form looked familiar. Not that that said much, so many faces from so many realities were familiar to him that this person could have been anyone. Resigning to wait and watch Rozmer continued to float there, his body sticking out halfway from the front and back of the other man in the room. It didn't take long for his curiosity to pay off.

The man on the screen fell to his knees and two kinds of energy came flowing off of his body. That certainly doesn't look good he mumbled through his cigarette, eyes bulging as they stayed glued to the screen. Suddenly a portal burst open in the room and a red-headed woman in futuristic Victorian garb came stumbling out. Her face was in the direction of the camera and Rozmer's jaw dropped as he looked at her. Immediately he planted his feet on the floor, standing straight up and facing the other man in the room with him. What the hell is going on here?!

Simultaneously, another Rozmer appeared inside the chamber where the Interdimensional interloper and the mystery man stood. This Rozmer had no cigarette in his mouth and stiff with his arms crossed, eyes shifting scolding my between the two of them. So he started, with the tone of an upset parent Either of you care to explain to me what exactly you're doing here?