Missing

Unraveling

With newfound energy, I exited the meeting room behind Shao and quickly made my way to my dorm. I still wanted to return to the evidence room and mull over our findings today, but fatigue dragged at my limbs and fogged my thoughts.

After my nightly routine, I crawled into my bed, pulled the soft comforter up to my chin, and waited for sleep to come.

But it never did.

Nothing made sense. Star, McGwire, the abandoned site, the facility. I'd never heard McGwire talk like that. I doubt any of us had. Now that I had time to sit and think about what happened that night, I realized how little of it made sense.

Why is there a medical facility underneath a construction site? Which was there first? The site or the facility? Maybe someone bought the land that the site was on for the facility? That would explain why it's left so empty. Or the facility was discovered by someone and the construction was put on hold? I sighed. How did a single disappearance lead to something so ... deep?

I replayed my fight with Frigid and Whirlpool in my head. There was a small detail that didn't make sense: Frigid's weapon. There was something about it that was nagging at me. Laughing in my face. Taunting me.

After tossing and turning for a couple hours, I gave up entirely on trying to sleep. Fine, I'll go for a walk around the base. Surely that'll tire me out. Walking down the dark hallway, I ran my hand over the plates on each of the doors. As I went, I recited whose room it was using both their superhero name and their music alias. Pyrex, AfroLegacy. Chairman, Stupendium. Sage, HalaCG. Thunder Claw, Breeton Boi. Atticus, Shwabadi. My heart cracked.

None of them were at the base, sure, but aside from Shwabadi we knew where the others were. Sage and Pyrex were helping our teammates in Italy stopping an invasion by The Masterminds and the Dracrodrome Organization. Chairman and Thunder Claw were with others nearby in Ireland fighting The Vipers.

Slowly, I made my way through the base and found myself on a large veranda. Cool air washed over me as I stepped outside. Lush hills rolled off into the distance on this side of the base, a few boughs on the trees swaying gently. Chirps of the hidden crickets floated up to me from the grass below.

To my surprise, I wasn't the only one out here. I spotted Mir on the far end of the veranda, leaning against the parapet gazing out at the scene. He was still in his Blitzwing costume, his face mask hanging off his wrist. He hadn't noticed me and continued to stare at the horizon lost in thought.

I opened my mouth to greet him, but thought better of it. He'll talk to me if he's up to it. He's had a big day. We all have. I didn't feel much like talking anyway. Shrugging off my attempt at conversation, I padded over to the parapet and rested my hands on the smooth white wood.

Who are they? The Plague Doctor, StormDrop, Plummet. Hans has gone after my friends before. He's at the top of my hit list. I haven't heard of the others before. Maybe Dan or Jack will know? They've been here the longest. I can almost guarantee that Gameboy or Charlie would. If they were here. My heart tore. Yet again, I was conflicted between hoping to get called to the war to help the others or praying that I got to stay here to help find our missing teammates.

My gaze lowered to the wood and slowly blurred from the growing tears. Memories of the first attack replayed in my mind. I had been sparring with Callon, known as Dread Bee. We were on the mats with Ben, GameboyJones, Shara, and Star, each in their own sparring matches. The 'rapid response' alarm went off and within a couple heartbeats, we heard Rockit's voice over the intercoms.

"Everyone get out of the base! We have a missile incoming! Rift or Domain, get to the infirmary ASAP! Help Jack and Peachi get our injured to safety!"