Lucid

CARIBBEAN DREAMS

She started to walk inland through a path among the trees, They walked for what seemed like forever, Theo's mind was racing and on the lookout for anything sensible. She kept walking as did he. After walking through a clearing they came out to the cutest little village; dirt road scattered houses, lush trees and people everywhere, bustling and full of life.
Till now, mystery woman had not looked or said anything at all to him; She just led the way.
She walked into a grass roof hut, which turned out to be a beautiful rustic dive bar, sat at a table closest to the window and waved for him to sit. She pulled out a kimono from a bag that was previously at the table and threw it on.
"I'm so glad you followed me without a fight, Mr. Lawson, I know you're a fighter, well here at least, and that is just unnecessary, don't you think?
Theo sat, skeptical, didn't take his eyes off of her  and didn't respond. Why should he, he needed more information. She laughed.
"Theo, relax please, I'm here to help you, I know so far you've met with our more mm how to say, enthusiastic agents, but I'm very chill and way more level headed, I mean look around, could it get anymore relaxed than this?"
At that moment a faceless dream bot placed two beers on the table, Theo was used to them at this point he didn't even flinch, he kept his focus on mystery woman, she appeared to be relaxed, confident but certainly aloof, who was she and how did she know his name?
"What's your real name? And before you answer, don't even bother lying to me" he asked sternly.
She smirked, "wow you really are a fighter aren't you?" She was reading him, and could tell he was  losing patience, "Okay... okay..." she started slowly "my name is Agent Quin," she started slowly "in the real world most people call me Q, thanks for being direct, we don't have alot of time anyway, according to your pattern, you're bound to find Madison in a little while. I'm going to be just as direct with you Mr. Lawson," she leaned in and lowered her voice "You have impressed us, very very much, And the people who sent me, they want you. All your tricks your little gadgets, your tenacity, it all points to great potential, at first, you were a threat, but now... now you are potentially an ally." She leaned back eyes fixed on him.
"This dream, the jump... is this you and your people... or Maddie?" He kept his stern tone
"This? You think we're doing this? The only thing we control is out there..." she pointed upwards indicating the real world "everything in here is your precious Maddie's doing, Mr Lawson you have no idea do you?" She squinted with curiosity. "Madison is not under any coercion or threat, there is no Tetron... Mr. Lawson, sorry to say but your Madison is very cognizant of this entire operation. Quite frankly the only threat... is you, your little schematics are working against our process quite effectively I might add, that's why there's no point in fighting you. You are our problem but potentially... our solution."
Theo stood up, something felt off, this could not be the truth, "I don't have any reason to trust you" he stated
Q calmly answered him "that's absolutely true Mr Lawson, I didn't expect you to, as a matter of fact I'm quite surprised you followed me, why did you? Please sit down, this is just a conversation"
Theo hesitantly sat back down, he needed to think rationally, but trust was up in the air, if, IF, this was true or even partially true... that would mean that Maddie was intentionally hiding something from him, and deceiving him, but why, why would she?
"Following you felt like my only option at the time, where's Maddie?"
"You will find Maddie soon, as you always do, or rather, when she wants you to find her, I tried to hide us here for a moment, anytime we're among dream bots it distorts her ability to isolate us, as it does hers as well, as long as she is among bots she is harder to find, haven't you noticed? It's like hiding in plain sight so to speak," Q looked at Theo carefully, she could sense his perplexity, it was alot to take in, and even harder to believe and accept. She stayed calm and spoke in a very relaxed manner. "I get that this is difficult but— "
" So you're the good guys? Is that what you're trying to say? That- that Maddie is the one doing ALLLLL of this???" He gestured with his hands
"There's no good or bad guys Mr Lawson," she smirked "this isn't cops and robbers, we are what we are, and Madison is," she paused "mmm or was, part of what we are. A very integral part too, but we'd give you this, she is in trouble, you see your Maddie, has gone rouge, she is hiding in plain sight, so to speak, she is trying to find a way out of here, but not with us, Your Maddie or Agent M, as we call her, is now wanted by our organization and she is doing everything in her power to escape, that's where you come in..." she stood up and stood behind him speaking directly in his ear, "you've come to do just that, rescue poor, innocent Maddie from us, the bad guys who's trapped her here and is trying to kill her. You're right about one thing, Mr. Lawson. Maddie is in danger, she's a threat to herself, and to all of us because if she doesn't check her ego, she can ruin more than you think."
Theo rose out his chair to face Agent Q,
"The Maddie you're describing is not the woman I know."
"You're right, Mr. Lawson. She isn't. And we don't understand why she lied to you. We don't know what shes up to right now, You can help us. You can help us get Maddie. Save Maddie, if you want to call it that. But unfortunately, we've run out of time. She's coming for you."