The Quiet of a Melancholic Moon

Gone

"Okay, boys, today is the day. This will be your first official mission. If you do well, you pass this program with flying colors. If you fail, there will be lasting consequences," Eret explained as he walked down the van aisle. He handed everyone a manilla folder with papers inside that detailed their mission, carried blueprints of the building, and gave them a rundown on the people they might encounter.

"You will be tasked with sneaking into one of the most classified buildings in the world: Inertia. If you can find a way inside, you will be hunted by high functioning drones, trained soldiers, and traps designed into Inertia. You're task is to retrieve a hero disguised as a prisoner, and escort him out of Inertia safely. Because this is an important test, there will be many aspects that you will fail or pass. The best you can do is make every decision you believe is right and pray to Prime that it is. Try not to get lost or mess with something you aren't supposed to. They didn't clear out Inertia for you. There are real prisoners, specimen, and items that were locked away for a reason," Eret explained what was on the papers. Tommy did more than scan the information, he absorbed it. Tommy memorized the map while calculating the best routes. He went over the enemy types they would be facing to make sure he was prepared for them all.

"Try to work together. If one of you fails, I will have no choice but to fail all of you. You're the Business Bay, so I have no doubts that you will all impress me today," Eret finished as the van came to a stop. Eret walked to the end of the van, he started to open the doors. Before he pushed them open, though, he looked back at the boys. "Once we drop you off, the test begins. I wish you luck, boys. May Prime favor you."

Tommy rolled his eyes. Why was Eret so religious? Tommy used Prime's name, but he didn't believe in Prime as a god. Tommy didn't believe in any higher power. Eret sounded like a zealot. Tommy didn't know if he disliked people that were overly anxious to share their religion, but that was a moral dilemma for another time. Deo had stepped out of the van, meaning the test had begun.

"What are the chances we can walk through the front gate?" Bitzel whispered as they stared at the large complex before them. The perimeter was a tall, dark gray wall with yellow, black, and white painted in different patterns periodically across the side. Tommy could see the makings of a statue rising high above the wall. One would assume it was Prime, but Tommy recognized who the statue was of from his time with Captain Jordan. This was Mianite (the god, not the country, which Tommy found stupid that the god and the country shared a name). Inertia must have been a temple or maybe a factory based on design that was reused as a prison. A guard was sitting at a drawbridge doing paperwork. Another guard was walking around with a bored expression.

"We might be able to. Wisp, transform into a gas to cover the area. Aliquid, create an illusion around us so we can sneak in," Tommy proposed. Aliquid seemed hesitant to follow the plan, but he didn't have a choice because Wisp had already transformed. The mist rolled into the guards. Wisp had spread himself thin enough that the blue looked more like refined silver, and the guards started complaining about the weather report not mentioning fog. Aliquid pushed the group together as he replicated the images of the fog around them. They had to lean down because Aliquid couldn't recreate the top parts of the hallway that connected the inside and outside. They crawled beneath the sensors before coming out the other side. The fog followed them to help Aliquid keep up the same illusion. When they turned the corner to a wall made of wood planks stapled to a fence, they stopped moving to get a bearing.

"I can't believe that worked," Time Deo whispered. Tommy lightly smacked Time Deo in the arm. Tommy pictured the map in his head. Firstly, they were on the opposite side of the building the hero was held in. They would have to sneak to another section of Inertia to find the hero. Tommy didn't know if there was an easy way to get there that would involve the least amount of people seeing them. They couldn't take the main path there, obviously, but Tommy didn't know the specifics of the side paths. What guards had routes down those paths? Could the Business Boys take them on?