Simmons was silent as he made his way down the narrow hallway, occasionally passing troops and fellow agents as he went. He was wearing a simple cap to cover his eyes, as well as a jacket he’d “borrowed” from another agent in an effort to remain inconspicuous. He’d somehow managed to avoid detection thus far, but he wasn’t sure how long his luck would hold out.

His phone rang and he immediately answered it. “Myles?” he whispered.

“Are you almost there? I called you like half an hour ago, and you were just setting off.”

“I had to make a few detours. If someone recognizes me, they’re going to know I was here, and then we’ll be screwed if Remus finds out what happened.”

“Well detour faster, will you? We kind of have a time limit here.” Myles said impatiently.

“I know, just…keep quiet for a second, alright? I see the door.” he said as he turned a corner and saw the door to Remus’ office.

Myles had attempted to hack into Remus’ laptop, but since it wasn’t accessing any network there was no way for him to reach it without help. Remus himself was at a video conference with members of the Cabinet, which Simmons had immediately decided to take advantage of by manually connecting Myles to the laptop. This might be their only opportunity to find out what he was actually up to.

Simmons looked over his shoulder to make sure no one was watching him, then approached the door. He frowned at the keypad above the handle, then smirked when he heard said keypad beep as the door unlocked. “Thank you for that.” he said as he quickly stepped into the room and closed the door behind him.

“No problem. Now hurry up and jack in so I can get started.”

The office was rather small for an agency head in Simmons’ opinion, and was completely bare of any defining features except for an oak desk in the middle and American and Nevada flags which stood like sentries by the door. A large window took up one wall, bathing the whole room in bright orange evening light.

Simmons made his way over to the desk, extracting a USB cord from his pocket and plugging one end into his phone as he went. He turned on the laptop and slid the USB end into the port as it booted up, then began tapping his fingers impatiently on the desk.

“Alright, here we go.” Myles said as the computer finished, breezing past its password protection and going straight for the files. “Let’s see what kind of skeletons our fair Remus has been keeping in here.”

Simmons said nothing as he continued to tap a rhythm on the desk, eyes locked on the office door and ears strained for the sound of approaching footsteps.

“Wait…what the hell…?”

“What?” Simmons asked, interested. “What did you find?”

“Nothing.”

Simmons sighed angrily. “This isn’t the time for jokes, Myles! Quit fucking around and-”

“I’m not joking.” Myles interjected, silencing Simmons. “There’s really nothing in his files. No folders, no documents…it’s completely empty. I’m gonna go deeper.”

Simmons suddenly stiffened as he heard whistling in the hall. He quickly went to take a peek through the crack at the bottom, expecting to see the polished black shoes of his boss nearing the door. Instead, he saw a pair of worn brown work boots and a mop head.

He got up and breathed a sigh of relief as he realized it was just a janitor and walked over to the window, opening it just enough to be able to look down. There didn’t appear to be anyone around and, as a bonus, there was a closed dumpster just below him that would make for an easy way down should he be unable to leave the way he’d come in.

“Un-frickin-believable.” Myles said in a mixture of disbelief and annoyance.

“Still nothing?” Simmons asked, returning to the desk.

“Nada. His computer’s completely blank, wiped clean.”

“Emails?” he asked hopefully.

“This thing hasn’t been online since it was purchased.”

He sighed dejectedly and leaned against the desk. “So let me get this straight…we’ve aided the escape of a person of interest…”

“Yup.”

“…flat-out lied to our commanding officer…”

“Check.”

“…infiltrated said commander’s office and hacked his laptop…”

“Mm-hmm.”

“…all for nothing?”

“Kinda seems that way.” Myles said. “What do you want to do now?”

“I…don’t know.” he admitted. There weren’t many places the agency head could be hiding such sensitive information. He hadn’t told Myles, but he had been banking on the laptop holding the evidence needed to convict Remus of…whatever Remus was guilty of. The fact that it was empty did more than complicate the situation.

Maybe I can trigger an investigation without the evidence. he thought to himself, then immediately dismissed the idea. Shining government record or not, he didn’t possess the weight that his boss did. If he tried to start anything without the evidence, the most they could do was call Remus in for questioning, and even then it would be his word against theirs.

Simmons ran a hand down his face, then crossed his arms and stared at the laptop as he wondered at the thing that had been bothering him since Remus’ arrival. Were they wrong? Was it possible that Remus was innocent? That this had all just been a misunderstanding?

He shook his head angrily and jammed his hands into his pockets, beginning to pace the room. Ghost had already pointed out how flawed his commander’s alibi was, and the anomaly’s behavior only bolstered his suspicions.

“Uh…Simmons? You alright in there?” Myles asked, uncomfortable with how silent his partner had become.

“We’re missing something Myles. You and I both know Remus is hiding something.”

“But if that’s the case, then where’s it at? It would be right here on his computer, right?”

Simmons glanced over at his phone. “You think he’s innocent now?”

“Of course not. I smell the same rotten fish you do, I just can’t seem to find it.”

“Maybe he’s hiding it on his phone.”

“He’s not stupid. Even the best phone security is pretty weak. He wouldn’t risk discovery by storing information that sensitive behind such weak security. Even if he stored it in a separate location, all you’d need are the passwords from his devices and you’d get it anyway.”

“You think he knows that?”

“If I’ve learned one thing over the years, it’s that he’s surprisingly tech-savvy.” Myles replied. “Something made even more obvious by the fact that the aforementioned information is nowhere to be found on his computer.”

Nowhere on the computer, nowhere on his phone, not in a separate location…

Simmons stopped pacing.

“You said there was nothing on the computer?”

“Yes. Do I hear an epiphany coming on?” Myles asked hopefully.

“Not even his government clearances?”

The computer junkie was silent for a moment before the realization struck. “Wait…are you saying…?”

“If he had the clearances, then they would be here.” Simmons answered.

Myles whistled in astonishment before replying. “So right now we’re all operating outside the chain of command?”

“Black ops. Yup.”

“Holy shit…and just when I thought this trip couldn’t get any more exciting. What a plot twist.”

Simmons opened his mouth to agree with him, but stopped as he heard the distant sound of dress shoes clicking against the floor. “Myles, shut down! Now!” he whispered.

There was a moment’s silence before the other man replied. “Done. Get out of there.”

Simmons quickly shut the laptop, yanked the cord out of the computer, jammed it and his phone into his pocket, and vaulted through the hinged window and hung onto the sill. He fumbled with said window for a second until he heard the door open, then dropped to the dumpster below and sprinted away from the building as fast as his legs could carry him.

((((((*******))))))

“The swap’s finished, boss. All our guys are in position, everyone’s been assigned squads, and all around we’re set to go.”

“Good to hear, August.” Remus replied as he entered the room, shutting the door behind him. “And you’re ready to move if he tries to make a run for it?”

“He ain’t gonna get very far, that’s for sure.” August said with a sinister chuckle.

Remus’ eyes narrowed at those words. “Just remember that I need her alive. If you go crazy and kill her, then all of this was for nothing. She’s our only chance to make this work.”

“Relax boss. We’ve got this.”

“Alright, good.” he replied. “The encryption should be down in a few hours. Stand by until then.”

“Roger that.”

“Remus out.”

With that he hung up, took a seat in the desk chair, and propped his feet up on the desk with a tired sigh. He checked the time on his phone and realized he’d been gone far longer than he’d intended. That didn’t surprise him, considering the difficulty of the task he’d just accomplished. Whoever had written that encryption had been something of a genius. He’d almost had to reset the servers twice.

And yet I still beat it. he thought smugly as he crossed his arms and closed his eyes, already feeling himself drifting off into dreamland. Normally, he’d travel back to the city and retire to his hotel room, but tonight he felt content to sleep where he was. That hotel bed sucks anyway.

As he sat there waiting for sleep to take him, he began to worry about Flynt. Ever since he’d found out he was alive, he’d worried about what would happen when he finally succeeded in making it to Ethis. He had to do this, regardless of how Flynt felt about it. But he hoped that the younger man at least had the good sense not to get in his way.

Heavens knew he’d already suffered enough.

Deeper and deeper he drifted, his musings gradually giving way to blissful ignorance. The world around him became little more than a barely intelligible mix of pleasant sensations. The warmth of the waning sun, the rhythmic ambience of the army base combined with the relative quiet of his office, the gentle breeze from the window that played across his face…

Remus’ eyes snapped open, and he immediately glanced over at the slightly open window. The same window that he had closed when he’d left a few hours ago.

His mind instantly went from half-conscious to full panic as his gaze fell upon the laptop on his desk. He sat up and placed a hand under it, feeling the barest trace of warmth left over from its previous use, which couldn’t have been more than a few minutes ago.

“Shit!” he hissed as he reactivated the laptop, walking over to peer out of the open window before shutting and locking it.

How could he have been so careless? Using the terrorist angle had been a risky gamble to begin with. Someone was bound to suspect sooner or later that something in his story didn’t add up, and now that someone had tampered with his personal laptop, which he had stupidly left sitting out on his desk in plain sight. He just hoped that they hadn’t been on long enough to actually get into his files.

The computer finished booting up and he quickly restored the previous session, hoping against hope that his secrets were safe. Said hopes were dashed as his file browser was immediately brought up, showing his lack of clearance quite plainly.

His fists clenched as he watched his plan begin to fall apart, then relaxed. The situation was still salvageable. All he had to do was find out who had just gone through his files, and since they would’ve had to have been in front of the computer to do so, that would be easy.

He brought up the archived footage captured by the built-in video camera above the screen. Normally, said camera would be used for video calls, but Remus had repurposed it as a means of keeping track of whoever accessed his laptop. Since he was the only one allowed to do so, any face that wasn’t his was fair game.

The feed began playing, and Remus folded his hands together to watch. He frowned as Simmons’ face appeared on the screen, a frown which only deepened when he noticed the man wasn’t doing anything.

Myles…

Of course it was them. It couldn’t have been anyone else but them. Simmons’ creative thinking combined with Myles’ ability to get him in and out of places where he wasn’t allowed had been what made them such a valuable asset. They were also well-known for occasionally violating protocol or deviating from given orders to follow one of Simmons’ hunches. No one else had the ability or the nerve to do what they had just done.

That didn’t stop him from wishing that the face before him would vanish, to be replaced with another. Preferably one that he didn’t recognize.

He sighed as he powered down the laptop and dialed Simmons’ number. He’d attempt diplomacy first since it was his best agent, but Simmons could no longer be trusted on this mission. One way or the other, he needed to permanently resolve this matter before it went out of his control.

((((((*******))))))

A distant red haze was all that remained of the suns light by the time Simmons exited the base, making his way toward the place where he would meet his commander. Under better circumstances, he might have taken a moment to gaze at the beautiful masterpiece crafted from the heavens. As it was, his partner’s incessant panicking prevented him from properly appreciating the sight.

“Don’t do it.” Myles said fearfully. “Just grab a car and get out of there. Get as far away from that damned city as possible.”

“What kind of plan is that?” he replied, making his way along the outside of the wall as he searched for Remus.

“IT’S A BETTER PLAN THAN YOURS!” the hacker yelled, then took a shaky breath. “Your plan is fucking suicide!”

“Myles, you seem to be forgetting who’s in control here.” Simmons said with a smirk. “We have information that could put Remus in a federal locker for a long time.”

“Really? The guy locks your phone down and not ten minutes later tells you to meet him outside the base…and you think we’re still in control?”

“He might’ve locked my phone down, but he can’t do anything to you. He knows if anything happens to me, you’ll take this info to whoever you need to in order to lock him up.”

“Oh great. As long as you die with a purpose, right?”

“You know, I do have skills other than giving orders and performing detective work.”

“Oh! Right, sorry…you also get taken hostage by mercs.”

Simmons’ smile fell. “Oh come on, that was one time out of the past four years! Have a little faith, will you?”

There was a short pause before Myles sighed in acceptance. “Alright, you’re right. So what are you going to do about this then? Pretend like we don’t know anything so he’ll unlock your phone?”

“I'm assuming that he already knows that we know. What I want to do is worm a confession out of him.”

“Ohhhh…”

“His lack of clearance is one thing, but if we can record him admitting his reason for doing all of this, we’ll really blow him out of the water.”

“So you’re just going to bluff your way through this and…oh, this is a terrible plan and I love it.” Myles said with a chuckle before growing serious again. “But what if something does go wrong and he doesn’t confess?”

“Whatever you hear will probably be confession enough.” Simmons said simply as he turned a corner, noticing Remus leaning against the wall a short way’s away. “Alright, showtime.”

“Roger.”

He set the phone to speaker and tucked it inside his jacket pocket, then continued walking along the wall toward where Remus waited patiently. Remus gave no sign that he even noticed him as he leaned against the wall next to him. They were beyond pleasantries at this point and they both knew it. Going through formalities would simply be a waste of time.

Remus waited a few seconds before addressing him. “Simmons, I won’t beat around the bush. We both know why I called you here.”

“I’m afraid I don’t, sir.” Simmons replied. He decided to start by pretending he didn’t know anything, hoping that Remus might accidentally let a few things slip.

“Really? Well then allow me to refresh you…” countered the commander, turning to face him. “About an hour ago, you hacked into my personal laptop and discovered that I lack any form of government clearance, which means you also know quite a few other things.”

“Not much, really. Just that you’ve been lying to us since before we got here.”

“Alright, you’ve got me. She’s not a terrorist, we’re not at war, and I’ve been using you to get to Ethis.”

“That’s…all we needed to hear.” Simmons said, surprised at how cooperative the other man was being. “Myles?”

“On it.” the younger man replied, keys clicking in the backround. “Wait, what?”

Simmons raised an eyebrow in confusion. “What is it?”

“My comms are jammed! I can’t contact anyone!”

“Good.” Remus replied, causing Simmons to glare at him. “Then we have a little while to talk about this.”

“There’s nothing to talk about.” Simmons retorted. “You ordered federal agents to illegally occupy Las Vegas, ordered the capture of an innocent girl, and could have possibly started a war with beings from another dimension. You’re going to be put away for this Remus.”

“Do you really think a Supreme Court justice is going to believe anything you say about magical gateways to other dimensions?”

“If I can’t get her to testify, then I’ll convince someone from her universe to represent her. I’m sure they’ll be more than happy to help us put you in a federal prison.”

Remus nodded in understanding before he replied. “That’s assuming I allow you to live for that long.”

Simmons was taken slightly aback by the forwardness of the statement, but he quickly recovered. “I don’t think you realize how very screwed you are sir.”

“You see, we have you trapped.” Myles chipped in. “We have the dirt to put you in federal custody. Prison once we get the anomaly to testify. If anything happens to Simmons, I’ll know it’s you trying to cover this up and I’ll just give everything I know over to the higher ups. One way or another Remus, you’re going behind bars.”

“You really don’t know half of what’s going on here.” Remus said sadly. “You lost control of the situation as soon as I discovered that you’d been on my laptop. Let me ask you something: how safe do you feel right now Myles?”

Neither Simmons nor Myles knew what to say to that. As far as they were concerned, Myles was unfindable by anyone. However, Remus’ continued confidence was making them slightly nervous.

“Relatively.” Myles finally answered.

“I can promise you that I know exactly where you are, and should the need arise I can have you dealt with in a matter of minutes. As for Simmons,…” he gave the man in question an unsettlingly confident smile. “I’m pretty sure I can take him.”

Simmons found his voice once more and glared at his commander. “So then why haven’t you killed us yet? It would certainly save time.”

The smile disappeared as quickly as it had come, and it’s former owner sighed. “Do you know how hard it is to find good, honest men in this world? To find men who selflessly strive for the betterment of society rather than their own selfish ends? To find men like you?”

Simmons raised an eyebrow, wondering why Remus was resorting to idle flattery all of a sudden.

“Not easy, I assure you, and even harder to find such men who work so well together. To kill you would be an absolute waste. That’s why I want to give you an opportunity.”

“An opportunity?” Myles repeated flatly.

“Yes. You might be wondering why I’d go through all the trouble of organizing this little occupation. The truth is far from simple, but let’s just say that there are greater powers at work than even the anomaly can comprehend. Powers that seek to eradicate us ‘lesser beings’.”

“And you want us to help you fight against them?” Simmons guessed.

“Or, at the very least, keep your trap shut long enough for me to do my job.” Remus said with a nod. “In a matter of hours, I will know exactly where she and Flynt have been hiding. Once I do, I’m bringing the axe down and finishing this. Are you going to be there when it falls? Or are you going to help me?

Simmons put his hands in his pockets, appearing to consider the offer. In reality, he was sizing up his opponent-to-be. He noticed a gun handle sticking out from under the man’s suit jacket, and decided that would be his first move. Myles, unfortunately, would have to fend for himself.

“I don’t think so, Remus.” he said finally, taking his hands out of his pockets. “Myles, are you going to be alright over there?”

“I’ll be fine.” Myles replied confidently. “I’m looking all around the area, but I don’t see anyone. I think he’s bluffing.”

The commander sighed sadly, then pulled his phone out of his pocket. “I’m sorry to hear that.”

Simmons stared at the phone in confusion for half a second.

He’d barely registered the distant crack of a rifle before a round tore through his head, sending him crumpling sideways against the now blood-covered wall.

“Simmons!?” Myles called fearfully.

Remus finished sending the attack order and slid his phone back into his pocket, glancing down at the bloodied mess that used to be his best agent.

“SIMMONS!!”

“Simmons is dead, Myles, and I’m afraid you’re next. A strike team is on its way to kill you right now. They should arrive in a matter of seconds.”

Silence answered him, and he felt sympathy for the computer junkie on the other end. He’d dragged the two of them into this without a second thought and now they were both paying the price for his own lack of forethought. “I’m sorry Myles.”

“No you’re not.” the hacker replied quietly. “But you will be.”

Suddenly, Remus felt a lot less sympathy for the other man.

((((((*******))))))

The four men burst into the large apartment, pointing SMGs in various directions. It didn’t look much different than any other apartment, except for the closed blinds and high-end electronic equipment set up in the living area.

Their sergeant straightened up. “Split up and find him. He didn’t leave, so he must be hiding somewhere.”

“Yes sir!” The other three chorused. Two of them took the hallway left to the bedroom and bathroom, one headed into the living area, and the leader stood guard by the door.

A few minutes later, the two men who’d investigated the hallway returned, both shaking their heads. “Negative.”

“Living room’s clear.” The third said as he rejoined his comrades.

“That’s impossible.” The leader said, shaking his head in confusion. “Go double-check.”

“We did sir. We’ve torn the rooms apart. He’s definitely not in there.”

He sighed dramatically. It’s just a web head. He can’t be this hard to find. “Alright, hold on.”

He drew his phone and dialed the commander. The dial tone ended almost immediately, and he wasted no time explaining the situation. “Sir, Agent Avalon is not in the building. Something isn’t-”

“Good evening sergeant.”

The man stopped talking as quickly as he’d started. “Avalon?”

“I understand you have orders to kill me, correct?”

“What? No.” the sergeant replied, deciding to get crafty. “There’s been a leak in our security. Your safety might be at risk, so we’ve been assigned to escort you to a safe location.”

“Damn, that was convincing.” was Myles’ very unconvinced reply. “I might have believed you if I didn’t already handle all my own security.”

Suddenly, the lock to the front door clicked, attracting the attention of all four men. Oh boy… the sergeant thought nervously. They were trapped like rats.

“Sir, could you do me a favor? I want you to give Remus a message for me.” the hacker continued.

The man’s eyes squinted in suspicion. “What is it?”

Suddenly, they all heard beeping coming from the floor just below them. The sergeant looked down, eyes wide and mouth going dry.

“Fuck you.”

And that was all he heard before the whole apartment exploded.

Author's Note

Be sure to give me a thumbs-up if you enjoyed, and also leave a comment telling me what you thought about the chapter. Or if you want to just...I don't know...talk.
Peace.