Vortex

I

[gloriosus et liber]

           

If the flash-drive didn't hold such valuable information, Eli would have chucked it at the nearest wall by now. But despite his seething rage at the negating screens of death on his monitor, Eli maintained a death grip on both the flash-drive and his sanity. But really, couldn't the General make the password 'password' or something?

            "How's it going, Eli?" Charlie Bowman's voice chimed in Eli's ear, sending the son of Ahklys spiraling back to reality. "We need you to hack this thing."

            Eli blinked. Right. He was supposed to be supervising a mission right now. He kicked away from his monitor, skidding across the platinum floors to the opposite side of the central platform. Displayed on this computer were the camera footages from the new high-tech war helmets that Charlie Squad—eloquently titled because Charlie Bowman was leading it—was donning. Eli watched as they moved into position in the abandoned office building, where a group of rogue storm spirits was reported to be hiding out.

            "On it," Eli reported to Charlie, his fingers already flying over the keyboard. Windows upon windows filled his monitor, but Eli broke through the encryptions on the building's security system, and before long, he'd unlocked the doors.

            "Have fun, make good choices," Eli admonished, stretching his arms behind his head as he watched Charlie Squad invade the office building. Sounds of battle filled his ear, and Eli turned off his earpiece. If Charlie and the others needed him, they knew how to get through to him.

            The sound of the elevator doors opening snagged Eli's attention, and he turned to see Alex Deven and Lukas Abbott come sauntering in. It still struck Eli as odd to see Alex walking around, seeing as he'd been dead for a time, but being a demigod, Eli had seen a lot of strange things. A former praetor coming back to life didn't even top the list for strangest things.

            "Eli, mate, how've you been?" Lukas Abbott greeted with a grin. Eli got to his feet, getting swept into Lukas' one-armed hug.

            "I've been alright," Eli shrugged. "How are you and Sierra?"

            Lukas made his signature smug face. "How do you think?"

            Alex clapped the Australian son of Neptune on the back, meeting Eli's gaze. "You both can catch up later, but we've got important business. Eli, what's your progress on the flash-drive?"

            Something within Eli deflated at the mention of that damn flash-drive. "I managed to get through one encryption in the past four hours."

            "So, well, I presume?" Lukas chimed, a mischievous glint in his stormy eyes.

            Alex set his jaw, and Eli felt nerves begin to form in the pit of his stomach. The son of Mars had his own superpower: the ability to intimidate everyone and everything. And despite being civil one another, there was something in Alex's authoritative disposition that made Eli feel like he was always doing something wrong.

            "How are the missions going?" Eli asked, his words running into one another. Anything to get Alex's glowering attention off of him for a moment.

            "They're going," Alex blew out a sigh. "Still haven't found much of anything."

            Eli glanced over at the monitor displaying Charlie Squad's footage. Judging from the lack of screaming in his ear and the blank screen, things were either going very well or very wrong.