City of Kinetics

FIVE ✴ Division Headquarters

       The building for Division was a skyscraper. Just by looking at it, Mila could tell that it was at least thirty to forty floors up, the sheer length of it making her nervous. What if she got lost in there? What if Hunter had forgotten about their meeting? What if she didn't have any good information to offer them?

       Frowning, she tried to push all her negative feelings down as she forced herself to walk into the building. As she expected, it was bustling with people going in multiple different directions, most of them heading for the elevators while others disappearing behind corridors across the room.

       Her eyes darted back and forth at the modernly decorated building, her eyes not missing the large front desk where a few people stood. She immediately walked over to it, making eye contact with one of the women working behind the counter.

       She was a little older with greying hair and regarded Mila with an off-handed expression, no doubt already sensing that she didn't belong.

       "Hi," Mila said, offering her a kind smile. "I'm here for a meeting."

       "With?" she asked, her eyes immediately going to the computer screen as her fingers hovered over the keyboard.

       Mila immediately began going through her bag trying to find her wallet where she had put Hunter's card. She felt flustered since she could see the woman staring her down as she searched her bag. After a painful thirty seconds, she finally got a hold of her wallet and pulled out the card.

       "Sorry," she apologized to her, before reading it. "I'm here to see Dr. Hunter Dawson?"

       The lady nodded as Mila let the card fall into her bag, not bothering to put it away properly. She typed in the name, clicking something on her screen.

       "What's your name?" she asked.

       "Camila Morales," Mila responded, using her full first name.

       The lady nodded again, before reaching into her desk and taking out a small book. She scribbled something down onto it as she read from her computer screen. Mila peaked at the paper and noticed it was her name.

       Underneath, she wrote "non-kinetic" before peeling it out of the book and handing it to her. It was an identification sticker.

       "Put this on," the lady told her. "Officer Dawson is in the clinic right now, but he should just be finishing up. Go ahead up to the twelfth floor. The desk sergeant there will tell you where to go next."

       "O-Okay," Mila said, taking the sticker and putting it on her light jacket.

       She then made her way to the elevators, pressing the button and waiting for the doors to open. When they finally did, a bunch of people poured out. When it was finally clear, Mila stepped into the elevator just as two other people also stepped on.

       "What floor?" a man asked her as he pressed the button for the twenty-first floor.

       "Eight," the other man responded.

       "Twelve," Mila told him.

       He pressed their buttons, and then the elevator doors slid closed. They silent rode up together, minding their own business as both men immediately turned to their phones.

       Mila stepped out when they reached the twelfth floor, looking around. She saw a large desk and behind it was a clear transparent glass revealing desks of different officers. There were a lot of people working, more than she thought there would be. Division Headquarters was clearly a busy building.