DECK Prologue

Chapter 2 - Nightfall

 "This game consists of two parts, survival and solution. You will be divided into two teams, one team of two and one of four. The team of two will be teleported to a separate room where they must hold off several monsters. The rest will be sent to an escape room where they must solve the room within a limited time while avoiding traps and collaborating with the people in the other room. Now, decide your starting teams, you have five minutes." said Daedalus before cutting out.

"Well, let's be fair here, we have two AA rankers who are on just another level, so we should split them evenly across the two teams." started Ajax, looking around at the group.

"And since there is a team with only two people, we should put Lind on the two-person team and since Atlas is ranked pretty high and they go to the same school so they've worked together, we should put those two together on the first team and the rest of us can go together into the escape room." finished Artem.

"Sounds good to me Lind, and I got this in the bag," said Atlas with a mix of optimism and excitement in his voice. Finally, this is my chance to get into DECK. I'll prove to them that I am worthy of being accepted. Atlas smiled at the thought of finally getting recognition for achievements he once only dreamed of, forming a dreamy expression on his face. Lind nudged him with his elbow.

"Don't overdo it," whispered Lind discreetly, not to call out Atlas.

"Tick-tock, time is running out," said Daedalus smugly. Daedalus twirled his butterfly knife around in his right hand with fluid movements as he stared at the group in his camera. Test 5 is going to be so much fun. Thought Daedalus with a chuckle. He looked down at his desk, moving aside a piece of paper revealing a clipboard. This year's rankers are the real deal. We might have a full deck this time." Daedalus read the results to himself as his smile widened.

"Group 1: All Pass. Group 2: All Pass. Group 3: Pending."

"And time is up! Stand in the designated circle and you will be teleported," announced Daedalus into his microphone. He snapped his fingers as two circles appeared, one small and one large.

"See you on the other side," said Ajax with a smile, waving at Lind as he walked back into the circle and disappeared.

"Good luck!" said Cassia with a smile as she walked towards the circle.

"You too!" Atlas waved before jumping into the circle confidently. Joy walked silently into the circle without a word and disappeared.

"Hey, between the two of us, watch that Joy girl," said Lind as he edged toward his circle.

"Thanks for the tip, here's one in return, that angel that you guys took down earlier, expect more of those." Artem walked into his circle.

"Wha-" Bzzt

"Welcome to the security room!"

Atlas opened his eyes to see that he had woken up in a claustrophobic-sized room: a barely ten by ten cube filled to the brim with crates and monitors, with a giant remote-operated steel gate set up in the left side of the room. Two office chairs lay in the center of the room. Atlas walked up slowly, processing his surroundings as he went, discovering that every crate included a variety of deadly-looking equipment, including flares, grenades, and rocket launchers. A giant battery was mounted behind the monitors.

Bzzt. A buzzing sound announced Lind's entrance to the room.

"Have you figured out how the equipment in here works?" asked Lind as he lifted the covers off of one of the crates.

"Not yet, I can't figure out how to turn this computer on, and it seems like equipment descriptions will be in this PC," analyzed Atlas as his hand prodded around in the darkness searching for a button.