Absolute Zero

Chapter 1: Gemini and the Janky Escape

Gemini took a guess that flashing red lights were not a good sign. Her solo mission was supposed to be simple; get in, grab the files, get out. Heavy footsteps came pounding down the stairs and shouts came in all directions, even over an intercom. She decided that now was definitely the time to run.

She bolted for a door at the far end of the hallway and, luckily, found it unlocked. Sneaking inside, she found a windowless room cluttered with empty boxes stacked all the way to the ceiling. Gemini weaved her way carefully around the boxes to a dark corner, hidden from the door's sight.

She quickly sat to collect her thoughts and to sort out the events of the last thirty minutes. Sweat stuck to the tips of her faded pink hair, which knowing her, was probably going to be a new color by the end of the week.
'Of course something had to go wrong,' the frazzled girl thought, 'Scorpio probably forgot to-'

"Gem. Gemini are you there," her thoughts were interrupted by a low voice coming through the small earpiece in her ear.

She gently tapped on the earpiece to connect to base, "Yeah Virgo, I'm here. What in bloody hell is happening," she whispered and peaked around the boxes to make sure she was alone.

"We're still trying to figure that out. Right now we need to get you out of there. I'm tracking your current location so we can get you an escape route ASAP. You have the files right?"

Gemini patted her left pocket where she hid the files earlier and released a breath she didn't know she was holding. The files were still there. "Yep I've got them. And I'm on the third level down in-"

"The packaging room. Got it. Let me find the quickest escape route," Virgo cut her off.

Gemini rolled her eyes. For someone reason, it always bothered her when he would interrupt her. Was it really that necessary? Did he really have to prove his intellectual capabilities?

Gemini's internal thoughts were, once again, cut off by Virgo's voice, "Alright so there's an elevator about fifty yards to the right of the packing room. They use that elevator for sending boxes up and down. It's actually really cool because it's an older type of elevator that runs on-"

"Skip the boring details and tell me where to go to after that," Gemini sneered as she was beginning to get ticked off. She had nothing against Virgo, he was just a little irksome to Gem, all the signs had their quirks and annoyances really. Also, she was in a life or death situation and she would very much prefer to live.

"Right," Gemini could hear the sharp edge to Virgo's tone, "Take the elevator all the way to the top floor. Once the door opens, be prepared because someone might easily see you. Go left down the hall, turn right, then turn right again and the stairs to the roof will be on your left. We already have a helicopter coming for you, just be prepared for anything and everything. Got all of that?"

Gemini nodded, "Copy and out."

    She pulled her gun out and safely kept it at her side, hand on trigger. She slowly crept around the boxes back to the door, and placed her ear against the door. Silence. No more flashing lights, no more footsteps, no more shouting. This could either be a really good sign, or a really bad sign.

She quietly opened the door and glanced down the hallway. Empty. 'This is starting to creep me out,' Gemini thought as she looked to her right to see the elevator shaft. With one more quick check of the hallways, she ran to the door and pressed the up button.

The elevator doors immediately opened, seeming to have been on the floor in the first place. Grainy dust clouded the floors and walls of the shaft. She hesitantly lifted herself into the small compartment, and was met with the impending sound of doom; creaking.