Saturday, January 19, 2019

Chapter 4: Heeeerrrrreeee'ssss Johnny! "Hey I Told You To Call Me Pops!!!"

Preston stands starring into the darkened empty room at the shards of broken glass from an old lamp that sits a couple of feet in the doorway. His gaze gathers more focus as his eyes catch the glimpse of the figure of a large man whose appearance is impeded by the darkness that fills the room. Preston closes his eyes for a second to adjust his focus only to see no such figure. The annoying bellowing of Emil's arrogant voice is all muffled as he closes his eyes again and takes in multiple deep and controlled breathes.

 The loud echo of Maria's punch cascades through the walls of the empty hotel hallway. Which is closely followed by the sound of Emil's unconscious body striking the brittle wall with a thud mixed with the sound of shattering dry wall falling to the ground.

Standing in the back of one of the darkened rooms the mysterious Shadowy Figure stands watching the whole scenario unfold with great interest. As the rest of the team moves away from his site to clear the man made barricade of furniture from the north stairwell entrance he moves a little closer but staying in the shadows as to not alarm them to his presence. Standing on the left side of the doorway he watches as Preston and Keith move a large oak dresser into an empty hotel room near them. The Shadowy Figure continues to watch with great interest the actions of the five team members. He than adjusts his gaze and position in the doorway a slight bit as to stay out of sight but to take a look at the unconscious body of Emil still lying in the rubble of broken drywall, dirt and dust.  With his attention all focused on an incapacitated Emil and trying to keep aware of the other five team members he steps backwards on a broken piece of glass hidden in the shadows of the darkened room. The sound startles him causing him to freeze in hopes that no one heard him.

As Priya an east Indian woman in her early thirties that bears a resemblance to Mindy Kaling but with the voice more like that of Priyanka Chopra hears the sound of the glass crackling just as she is moving an old wooden mirror stand. Priya stops what she is doing, pauses and drops the mirror stand causing the remaining shards of broken glass on it to fall out on the floor and shatter. Paulina standing near by removing an old dark burgundy torn leather chair the kind you would imagine old 1920's aristocrats sitting in smoking cigars and drinking brandy in. As Priya drops the mirror stand and the glass falls out of it, Paulina quickly drops the chair, jumping back to avoid the glass shards almost falling back into the make shift barricade, catching her balance with the help of Preston who places his large hands on her back keeping Paulina upright. Paulina turns around to Preston shakes his hand and with a slight annoyance in her voice says," Thanks! Who knows what I would have caught if I fell into that pile! There has to be over a hundred years of germs and maybe remnants of the Smallwood Virus! Wouldn't want to have that thing return!" Releasing the tight grip of Paulina's handshake Preston replies," No problem! Wouldn't want to have anyone fall into that pile, even Emil the douche nozzle!"" You really are a decent guy if you wouldn't want an asshole like Emil to not fall into that!", says Paulina as a crooked smile comes across her face. Before Preston can respond Paulina turns to Priya and exclaims," And what the fuck was that? You could have sliced my leg up with those glass shards!" Priya looking down the hallway observing the surroundings turns her head slightly and responds with a quiet whisper," I don't think we are alone!" Paulina walks up to Priya standing right beside her and looks down the hallway saying," The only one down there is Emil and he hasn't moved! You must be hearing things or it could have been you stepping on a broken piece of glass from the mirror." " I don't think so! This sounded like it came from down the hallway.", responds Priya as she points down the corridor with a slight tremble in her voice. Keith and Maria walk out of the empty room to the left of the three team members and walk up to the others looking down the hall and exclaims," What's going on?" Preston replies," Priya thinks someone else is in here with us and she doesn't mean Emil! She heard what sounded like someone stepping on broken glass down the corridor near where Emil is lying." " Here I thought we were pointing and laughing at Emil now! If that's all it is than one of us should go take a look to see!..... Maria go ahead!", replies Keith with a mischievous tone. Maria lifts her hand as to slap Keith across the back of the head but stops short as Keith covers his head with his arms and exclaims," That's nice! Who says chivalry is dead!" " Well we all saw what you did to Emil! Don't think anyone or thing would mess with you!", replies Keith. Preston starts to walk down the hallway and Keith yells out," Where are you going man?" " Well someone should check it out to see if there is someone else here! You coming?", responds Preston. Keith quickly follows Preston saying," Oh hell! I am not looking like the coward here!"one by one down the hallway the other team members follow.

The Shadowy Figure has been watching the 5 team members with great interest still paused as not to make anymore noise and to see what they would do next than he turns and looks at Emil to make sure he has not awaken and seen him. The Shadowy Figure studies Emil for a few seconds noticing that he hasn't moved or awaken. He quickly looks back at the remaining 5 team members and notices them all moving towards him. With great care and stealth the Shadowy Figure moves as quietly as possible as he tries to avoid stepping on another piece of glass as if he was walking in a mine field towards the right right of him in a deep part of the room where a bed once sat. He feels around the wall in the dark searching in a panic as the voice of Preston draws closer. Frantically touching every inch of the wall the Shadowy Figure looks back to see the light of Preston's lamp approaching and the voices of the Keith,Maria and Preston. As the room starts to get a little more illuminated from the approaching light he see's his salvation. Moving a slight bit to the right he pushes against the wall revealing a hidden entrance to a secret wall passage. The Shadowy Figure quickly enters into the hidden passage and quickly closes it but with not too much force to make a sound to alert the approaching people.

The Shadowy Figure now safe and sound in the hidden passage looks through a small hole in the wall as Preston walks in the room illuminating the old hotel fully and looking around carefully examining his surroundings and than slowly walks out of the room filling it with darkness once more. The Shadowy Figure moves his eye away from the peep hole, turns around, adjusts the hood over his head  and sits down against the wall. As his butt sits firm on the floor with his back leaning against the wall the Shadowy Figure in a deep quiet voice says," That was close!" He picks himself up off the floor and walks down the skinny corridor of the hidden passage to ladder and starts to climb up it.

Preston walks out of the empty hotel room and says," There was no one in there! Don't think anyone has been in there in years!" " See! I told you that you probably just stepped on a piece of glass from the old mirror!", exclaims Paulina. Priya lets out a sigh of relief and responds," Oh what a relief!" To the right of the them Keith is standing over a still unconscious Emil examining him. Maria turns walks up to him and asks," What are you doing?" " I'm looking to see if he is still breathing, but he still is so I guess that's good! That was some punch slugger! When we leave here we need to enter you n one of those underground fight clubs!', exclaims Keith with a laugh. Maria lightly punches Keith in the right shoulder and walks away saying," How do you think I know how to do that! Undefeated in over 40 matches!" " Wait you're serious?", exclaims Keith as Maria walks back down towards the remaining pile of furniture barricading the north stairwell. Maria just turns and smiles at him and than turns back towards the north stairwell. Preston walks up to Keith and asks as he looks down at Emil," Is he alright?" " Yeah he will be! He will have a hell of a sore jaw and a headache but he should be fine!..... You don't think she was serious do you?", asks Keith. Just then the voice of the Group Leader comes through the speaker of the walkie talkie on Preston and Keith's belt saying," We are on our way down into the basement now Preston, let me know your progress when you can!"  Priya and Paulina start to follow Maria back to the north stairwell entrance, Preston says to Keith," We better go finish clearing that! We will come back and check up on Emil in a few minutes, I've seen opponents be down for a quite a while after one of Maria's punches!... Yeah she's serious! " Preston pats a stunned Keith on the back saying," They call her La hija de los demonios, which means the daughter of demons. Let's go!" Preston starts to walk towards the others, Keith with a surprised tone in his voice quietly says," This just keeps getting more interesting!" Keith quickly moves his body towards the others and jogs to catch up to Preston.

As the basement team makes their way down the winding dark stairwell, slowly they step down the each step holding their lanterns out in front of them to illuminate their path of any dangers or obstacles. Hannah moves a little closer to the Group Leader and asks," You think we are almost at the bottom yet?" " The Group Leader slowly stepping down each step as he observes them with his lantern responds," We should be close! Just have to take it slow, we don't know if these stairs are all in tact!" Hannah nods her head steps back to give the Group Leader space to check out the surroundings. Greg abruptly makes his way pat the others towards the Group Leader exclaiming," This is bullshit! The rest of the stairwell can't be that bad especially if we are almost at the bottom!" Greg moves past with the Group Leader, his lantern in hand and says in an annoyed and arrogant tone and his head turned unaware of his surroundings," One side old man! We need to move quicker and I have the youth and experience to do it!" "Greg! WAIT!", exclaims the Group Leader as Greg turns to look in front of him as he moves down the next step that is not there. The Group Leader quickly grabs the back of Greg's backpack pulling him back onto the steps behind him before he falls to the remaining ten feet below them.  The other team members pause on the respective steps they are on watching in great relief and shock at the events in front of them. Greg with a shocked look on his face too looks at the Group Leader and says," Thank you!" " The Group Leader responds," No Problem! Now do you see why I said to wait?" " Yes! I apologize! You can take the lead again!", says Greg. " Thanks!",responds the Group Leader. Greg wipes the nervous sweat running down his face and says," Care to finish you're story seeing as how we kind of stuck here?" The Group Leader removes his back pack and places it beside him, he searches around in it quickly and pulls out a large rope in length of 35 feet, he checks the railing to his right and ties the rope to secure pice of it tightly and checks the knots durability. "Not yet! We need to get to the bottom first and than I will! If the storm kicks back in soon who knows if the rest of the stairwell will stay intact! Now lets climb down just like we practiced before we left", exclaims the Group Leader. " Okay, but is there anything you don't have in that backpack?", Grace sarcastically asks. " Pretty much! Be prepared an old moto by a group called the Boy Scouts! Greg you go first and hold the rope for the others than the others that will follow.", says the Group Leader. Greg nods his head and responds as he gets up and grabs the rope with his hands and wraps his leg with the rope as not to slide down too quickly," Now I know your old when you say something about an old club no ones heard of!"

Greg slowly climbs down the rope with the lantern hooked to his backpack to light the way. Inch by inch he moves until the light from his lantern shows the concrete floor scattered with broken pieces of the concrete stairs with rusted metal re-bar sticking out from them pointed towards the sky.  As Greg's feet touch the floor he lets go of the rope, removes the lantern from his backpack looks around and yells out,"Okay i'm at the bottom! And is it ever a mess down here! Send the next person!" Greg puts the lantern down on the ground beside him to light up the bottom of the stairwell as Joan starts to make her way down the rope above him.

Preston and Keith each grab the ends of a long dresser, pick it up and place it against the wall to the left side of the entrance to the north entrance. Keith wipes the dust from the dresser on his pants and says," Well there we go! We can keep moving on up towards the peak room." " Yeah let's just hope there are no more blockades like this!", replies Paulina. " Or that the stairwell is all intact!", responds Preston. The rest of the team look at him with confusion and shock in their eyes, but before anyone of them could say anything Preston says," Yeah I should have told you, the Group Leader said the stairwell on the south side just before the 8th floor is completely gone! There is no way to get up to the 10th floor and the roof peak from there and if anything is gone on this side we are completely screwed!" The sound of the wind howling outside plus the rain pelting the outside grows loud echoing through the walls of the hotel. "We better get moving quick! The storm has picked back up and it seem to have gone from 2-20 in a matter of minutes!', exclaims Maria. "Alright lets get going! Keith, Paulina go and get Emil up, if you need help waking him up there is a shot of adrenaline in the first aid kit in my backpack! Take it out, inject him to get him going!", exclaims Preston. As Keith and Paulina turn to go back down the hallway a large clap of thunder rings out shaking the hotel with great force causing the dust on the walls to fall creating a cloud impairing their vision. " Shit! I can't see anything!", yells Keith. "Start walking the dust will clear! But we need to get Emil up and going!", replies Preston. A large figure appears in the dust, the sound of coughing is heard followed by the voice of Emil saying," No need! I'm up! Let's get going!" " Alright everyone let's move!", exclaims Preston. Another loud thunder burst shakes the hotel even harder. " You heard the man! MOVE!!!!", yells Maria. One by one Keith, Paulina,Priya and Maria move out into the stairwell and start making their way up towards the 10th floor. Before Emil goes into the north stairwell he looks Preston in the eyes and arrogantly says,"You,the boxer and her little boyfriend all have it coming!" " Looks like someone was awake for a while! Well you just try it asshole, because I promise you I will end you if you do!", replies Preston.  The two men keep their gaze locked on one another as Emil walks into the stairwell. Preston presses grabs the walkie talkie from his belt, presses the button on it and says," Group Leader! Group Leader!  Come In! The entrance to the north stairwell is cleared and we are on our way up now! Are you there?" Preston places the walkie talkie back on his belt and runs into the north stairwell.

"Are you there!", the sound of Preston's voice triggers an old memory in the Group Leaders mind. The Group Leader closes his eyes and reopens them to a basement bedroom and a queen sized bed with the blondish brown long hair of Samantha spread out on his lean muscular chest . Her head resting on the Group Leaders heart very still and her tiny pointer finger drawing circles on his stomach. " I said are you there? You seemed to have zoned out a bit.", says Samantha as she lifts her ear off of the Group Leaders chest. She adjusts her body position crossing her arms on the Group Leaders chest placing her chin on them and looking up at him. " Yeah I'm here! I was just thinking.", replies the Group Leader. Samantha moves her right hand from under chin and asks,' Whatcha' thinking about?" The Group Leader with great love in his eyes replies," About you!" " About me! You are so not like any other guy I've known!", responds Samantha. A confused expression comes over the face of the Group Leader and he asks," How is that! I have all the same body parts as most guys! Maybe some are better than others!" Samantha lightly slaps the Group Leader on the shoulder saying with a laugh," Not that! Well maybe there is that! But no! You are kind, sensitive, have a quiet strength like I've never seen!" " Well thanks! I think?", responds the Group Leader with a sarcastic tone. Samantha adjusts her body again placing the right side of her head on the Group Leaders chest listing to his heartbeat again and says with sincerity in her voice," What I mean is you want me for me! You never gave up on me and never quit trying to get my attention even when I was finding myself and my attentions were somewhere else! I've never had that and than one day it just clicked on me when I looked into your eyes and knew you were someone that I needed in my life more. You were something different you weren't like all the phoney white sunglasses wearing guys who posted pictures of themselves or pictures of their cars or pick-up trucks. You never pretended to be a nice guy and my friend only to get into my pants" Samantha starts to draw with her finger on the Group Leaders chest and continues to say," Guess what I am saying is I'm sorry!" "What are you sorry for? You have nothing to be sorry for!", responds the Group Leader. " I'm sorry for taking so long to realize it was you I was supposed to be with!", replies Samantha. The Group Leader runs his hand down the petite bare back of Samantha to calm her and says,"It doesn't matter because we are here now! I knew you were needing time to find yourself after your last relationship ended. But I knew that I was meant to be with you! That you were my soul mate, my hearts other half! And I would have waited forever if that's what it took and will always love you!" Samantha slides her nude body up the Group Leaders and passionately kisses him. The two lovers than lie on their sides facing one another, the Group Leader pulls her in close holding Samantha in his arms with her head against his chest. Samantha closes her eyes to focus on the beat of the Group Leaders heart and asks," How did you know?... How did you know we were meant to be together?' " It was the things you told me when we would talk like how you liked to write like me, we both had some of the same interests. But what was the real sign was that we seemed to be in each others lives but never knew it. Like how we had some of the same friends, that you were at a halloween party I was supposed to be at but couldn't come because I sprained my ankle. How you taught figure skating at the same arena my nieces were learning figure skating at, that you went to the same gym as me but at a different time of the day. That I started running around the same time you had to stop and your job brought you to my place of employment but just not to the building I was in. That's how I knew! Life just had us on a collision course, we just had to meet eventually somehow!", replies the Group Leader. Silence fills the bedroom for a few seconds and Samantha looks up at the Group Leader, quickly breaks it by lovingly saying," Well I'm glad you didn't stop believing and gave me time." She places her head back against the Group Leaders chest again and says," You know your heartbeat is so calming! It is the one thing that helps me sleep and prevents my night terrors." The Group Leader closes his eyes and starts to drift off to sleep as Samantha softly says," Bump,bump! Bump,Bump!... Hey did you fall asleep?"

"Hey did you fall asleep? Bad time to do so the storm is shaking the hotel and you could have fallen the remaining ten feet!", exclaims Hannah as she taps him on the shoulder. The Group Leader regains his bearings on reality and replies," Sorry I zoned out for a second! Is everyone down the rope?" "For a second it was more like 20 min! Who is Samantha?" , replies Hannah. " Is everyone down safe?", repeats the Group Leader. " Yes they are! It's just you and me left and we better hurry because the thunder is getting stronger and shaking this place all to hell!", replies Hannah. The Group Leader says ," Get going down! I will make follow!" Hannah starts to climb down the rope slowly as the Group Leader looks on as she makes her way down the rope. A loud clap of thunder shakes the building so much that the step the Group Leader is on collapses underneath him. He grabs the rope as he starts to fall to the space below grasping onto it and looks up to see the knot of the rope starting to give way. " We have to move quick Hannah! The rope is giving way! Otherwise we both will be goners!", exclaims the Group Leader. Hannah nods her head and quickly starts moving down the rope. The Group Leader waits a few minutes until she gets close to the bottom to start moving while looking at the unfurling knot. Hannah quickly gets down the rope as her feet touch the basement floor she yells up at the Group Leader," Hurry!" The Group Leader starts to quickly climb down the rope. Another strike of thunder shakes the building and the rope jerks a bit as the knot continues to loosen. The Group Leader looks up as he sits about halfway down the rope and quietly exclaims," Shit! This is gonna hurt!"The Group Leader unwraps his right leg from around the rope and loosened his grip on the rope a little and starts to quickly slide down the rope like a firefighter sliding down a pole. As the rope burns his hands he tightens his grip a little under a foot away from the bottom stopping his momentum causing the ropes knot to completely come undone sending him falling to the floor the rest of the way with a thud onto his backpack with the rope falling to the ground beside him. " Are you okay!", exclaims Hannah. The Group Leader looks up with a grimace of pain in his eyes stares at the faces of his team members and responds," I'll be fine!"" He probably has something in that backpack that helped!", says Axel sarcastically.

Outside the wind picks up pelting the weather worn tan brick of the old Bessborough Hotel multiple lightening strikes fill the sky hitting the ground and abandoned buildings. Followed by the thunder crashing out with such ferocity shaking the city like a earthquake.

On the north stairwell Preston and his team try to avoid the crumbling pieces of concrete from the stairs above them from hitting them as they make their way past to the entrance of the 9th floor. The mix of the strong winds, the lightning strikes outside and the violent thunder shakes the building causing the 6 team members to lose their balance. The rain falls through a large hole in the roof on the north stairwell soaking them. A violent thunder strike rips through the atmosphere shaking the building with such force it breaks off a huge chunk of the stairwell separating Preston, Emil and Paulina on the upper section and Keith,Maria and Priya on the landing near the 9th floor entrance. Preston grabs his walkie talkie and says into it," Keith you Maria and Priya go onto the 9th floor and wait there for the storm to slow a bit than make your way down! We will continue up and try to reset the system and try to find a way back down" " No way! We are not abandoning you! We will find a way to get you down!", exclaims Keith. " It's too risky! We'll be fine! Just do what I ask!", responds Preston. Keith pauses for a second holding the walkie talkie in front of his mouth and says," Roger that!" Keith,Maria and Priya run into through the entrance of the 9th floor as the lightning illuminates the stairwell. Emil walks up to Preston and says in a sinister tone," Looks like you are stuck with me!" " Don't you even think of trying anything dickhead! We have to get this building system back up if we want it to stay together in this storm!", exclaims Preston. Just than the voice of the Group Leader comes over the walkie talkie saying," Is everything and everyone alright Preston? What's going on?" " The storm knocked out a section of the stairwell seating us! So Keith, Maria and Priya are taking refuge on the 9th floor while the rest of us carry on to the roof peak.", replies Preston. " Okay we are at the basement level now we might need some assistance getting back up the stairwell had a ten foot gap and we had to climb down by rope but it let go on my way down! Don't worry I'm fine but we will wait for you once the system is back up for you guys to come and get us.", responds the Group Leader. Preston with a somewhat defeated look on his face presses the walkie talkie saying,"Roger that! Good luck!" Preston continues up towards the 10th floor followed closely by Priya and Emil as the rain continues to pour in through the hole in the roof making the trek up the remaining stairs even harder.

The Group Leader holds his lantern up down the long corridor illuminating it as he and the team make their way towards a faded brown metal door at the end of the hallway. The seven people stop in front of the door, the Group Leader wipes the dust off the name plate beside the door revealing the words saying mechanical on it. The Group Leader turns to the rest of his team and says," This is it! This is where we need to go! The other reset for the system is in here!" The Group Leader places his right hand on the metal door knob in front of him and turns it and tries to push open the door with it not budging. He turns the doorknob again and gives the stuck door shoulder check to force it to move causing it to open and the Group Leader stumbling through the entrance. The team follows him in and Axel remarks with a sarcastic tone," I love how every door in this place seems to be unlocked!" " No need for locks in an abandoned building and no one to lock it on!", replies Grace. The Group Leader shines his lantern as the team around the room revealing a large high tech computerized system in the corner to their left at the back of the room and comments," That's it! That is what we are looking for!" As the Group Leader lowers the lantern he grimaces in pain, Hannah walking beside him notices this and asks," Are you sure you're alright?" " I'm fine.", replies the Group Leader. As the Group Leader takes a step forward he stops and falls to one knee in great pain and Hannah remarks," You are not alright! Sit down, we found the machine. We have to wait for the roof team anyways so you might as well continue your story!" The Group Leader sits against the wall with his lantern placed bedside him as Hannah, Grace,Liam, Axel,Greg and Joan sit down around him. The Group Leader takes out his walkie talkie holds down the speaker button as it lies on his lap and says," Okay might as well tell you all more! Now Pops has just agreed to be a agent for the CBC."

In a large office on the 28th floor of The Royal York Hotel in 1950 Mr.Pervus looks out the office window at the Toronto skyline. The office with its beautifully carved red oak mouldings, brown marble columns with floor to match and a dark brown paint on the walls to accent it all perfectly. Artwork by Monet and Picasso hang on the walls. A large red oak liquor cabinet sits directly beside the massive matching desk placed in the middle of the room. Into the room walks Miss Sutherland a leggy woman in her mid 30's with jet black hair pulled up in bun wearing black plastic rimmed glasses on her face to go along with the long grey skirt and long sleeved white blouse with ruffles on the sleeves carrying a notepad. " Mr.Pervus the gentleman you had asked for is here to see you! Would you like for me to send him in?", asks Miss.Sutherland. Mr.Pervus unfazed by Miss.Sutherlands presence continues to stare out at the city and responds,"Yes, please do Miss.Sutherland." Miss.Sutherland walks out of the office closing the door behind her, a few seconds later the door opens again and in walks a well built man of 6ft in height with grey hair wearing a grey suit. Mr.Pervus still looking out at the city to show intimidation to the man entering the room says," Sit down please Mr.Greene!" Mr.Greene sits down in an old Louis The 16th armchair with red cloth on it and says," You can call me Lorne!... You sent for me Mr.Pervus!" Mr. Pervus his body still unmoved from the office window replies," Yes I did! I have a special assignment for you Agent Greene!" " What is it Sir?", responds Agent Greene." You served our country as a flying officer in WW2 and the missions you helped carry out for us were instrumental in our winning the war and now the services of the Voice Of Canada is needed again!", replies Mr.Pervus. " It was a pleasure to serve my country and to just do my job for the glory of Canada! So again what is it you want from me?", says Agent Greene. Mr. Pervus turns away from the window and walks towards the large mahogany desk, he picks up a thick file folder sitting on the middle of the desk and hands it to Agent Greene. Agent Greene begins to quickly scan through the file with great interest. Mr. Pervus walks towards the liquor cabinet to his right, grabs two glasses and a large crystal decanter filled with 30 year old scotch, opens it and pours it into two glasses and places two ice cubes in each. He carries the two glasses and hands one to Agent Greene while he keeps the other and takes a small sip from it. Agent Greene takes a small sip from his as he continues to read the file and than a larger one as he finishes reading, closes the file and asks," This can't be real? Are you serious about me babysitting a three and a half year old?" " I am extremely serious! You are the best person for this job, the only one I want for it! Oh and it's real, you want to meet him?", asks Mr.Pervus as he finishes off his drink and places the glass on the front of the desk. Agent Greene gets up from the chair holding the closed file he places the empty glass on the desk beside the other one already sitting there and replies," Yes I do! I can't wait to meet Johnny Brilliant! ... It will help me decide if I want to take this assignment!" "Great!.. But if you value your life and don't want to spend a fortune on dry-cleaning getting bodily functions out of your clothes than you would be best to call him Pops!" Mr.Pervus walks around to the back of his desk and presses the button to the intercom on his desk and says," Miss.Sutherland we will be going to Station Snowbird, if Uncle Louis calls tell him where we are and he can reach us there!" The voice of Miss.Sutherland quickly responds back over the intercom," Yes sir! Have a good trip!" Mr.Pervus moves the pen in the upright pen holder left than right twice causing the liquor cabinet to move to its right revealing a hidden elevator. Mr.Pervus and Agent Greenewalk towards the elevator. Mr.Pervus places his pointer finger on a button on the wall and waits while it scans it to confirm his identity. "Impressive! When did we invent that?", asks Agent Greene. " We've had it for a few months now! The rest of the world might get it long ways down the road!", replies Mr.Pervus. The elevator doors open and the two men climb into it, the doors shut and the elevator car makes it down the shaft with a quick woosh!

The elevator car slows as it reaches the bottom with a hum and stops opening the doors revealing an underground train station and a futuristic train car sitting on a v-shaped rail  like you would see in a science fiction movie. The two men walk out of the elevator and towards the open doors of the train car. They stop just before the entrance to the train car and Agent Greene remarks," You have some impressive toys sir! May I ask who built this for you?" " Lets just say some friends from way out of town helped us build this! You take this job and you can use this train too.", replies Mr. Pervus. The two men enter train, the doors close and they take their seats as the sound of the train powering up gives off a moderate humming noise. The train rises up off its mounts and takes off from the station in flash.

The scene returns to 2177 with the Group Leader holding his walkie talkie in his hand as the voice of Keith comes over the speaker asking," Oh come on! This is getting really far fetched! Futuristic tech in 1950! What exactly have you been smoking sir? And how come you are not sharing with the rest of us?" The voice of Maria immediately responds," You bought the idea of a talking baby but not this?  Can we let the man finish his story?" " Yeah! I guess you are right! Besides I don't want to end up getting TKO'D like you did to Emil!", exclaims Keith. The Group Leader with a slight chuckle in his voice says," Did you really knock out Emil, Maria?" " You should have seen it! One minute he was making a rude comment to her the next his ass was literally put into the wall and out for a while!", replies Keith. A smile comes over Hannah's face and she remarks," I would have loved to see that! You will have to tell me more about it when we all meet up after this!" "You got it!", responds Maria. The Group Leader says with a slight bit of concern in his voice," You guys Emil can hear us you know?" "I hope so! He has said much worse so he better not care!", exclaims Hannah. " The thing I want to know is why all the build up? When do we get to Pops Brilliant? That dude is fucking hilarious!", says Keith with a chuckle in his voice. " Well if you let the man continue we will! Besides it's called proper story telling... continue sir!', says Maria. Some loud claps of thunder rock the building causing dust to fall from the concrete ceiling. " Now where were we? Oh yeah the train!", exclaims the Group Leader.

The scene changes back to 1950 as the futuristic train smoothly hums along the secret underground line towards its destination. The train starts to slow its pace and comes to a stop at another underground station and comes down slowly on the v-shaped track, powers down and the doors to the train car open. Mr.Pervus and Agent Greene walk out of the car towards an elevator similar to the one in Mr.Pervus' office, they go through the same procedure and climb into the elevator car. The elevator car stops as it reaches it's destination and Mr.Pervus asks," When was the last time you were at this station Agent Greene?" The doors of the elevator open to the inside of an an apartment on the top of the  Chrysler Building revealing the New York skyline. " It's been a while but I look forward to being back! Is Pops here?" Just than the deep raspy baritone voice of Pops Brilliant yells out from the living room," Jesus Christ! How many times have I told you not to sell the empty pop bottles or throw them out! They might be worth something one day!" " Guess that answers the question! Let's go and meet him!", replies Mr.Pervus.

Mr.Pervus and Agent Greene walk into the large opulent living room with antique furniture & fixtures, expensive paintings on the wall and a Zenith G2438R 16" B&W Screen television. The television screen was circular and incased in an wooden casing with a dark oak finish. In the far end of the room in an greenish yellow LA-Z-Boy recliner with wooden armrests sits young John "Pops" Brilliant his blondish brown hair styled in a crew cut, his glasses sitting on the edge of his nose as he reads a copy of the NY Times in white muscle shirt with no sleeves and a pair of tighty whities with some holes in both the shirt and underwear. Mr.Pervus and Agent Greene walk up to young John Brilliant and Mr.Pervus says to John," Hello John how are you today? I see you are reading the paper!" John looks up from his paper and replies," Can't put one by you Mr.Pervert! It's not todays paper its last Fridays I've still got a way to go until I get to this Friday's paper! Have to read every single article you know, plus there is coupons to clip!""Now John there is no need to be rude after all we gave you this nice private apartment for you and your family.", responds Mr.Pervus. John folds up the paper and throws it at Mr.Pervus hitting him square in the forehead saying," For fuck sakes Pervert, you made me lose my place! And how many times have I told you to call me Pops asshole! One other thing! When do I get to go out and use all the cool spy gadgets? I have some ideas and they all involve magnets!"

"Wait a second what's with the magnets?", comments Axel. In a collective voice all the group yell out," Shut up! This is just getting started!" The voice of Keith comes over the walkie talkie saying," I've got an idea the next person to interrupt has to have a sparring match with Maria!" "If you don't watch it you will be the one in that match Keith!", replies Maria. "That is a story for another time Axel but lets just say Pop's has a special interest in magnets!", says the Group Leader.

Mr.Pervus shakes off the impact of the newspaper and says," Always a pleasure to come and see you Pops! And seeing as I showed you the courtesy of calling you Pops, perhaps you can call me Mr.Pervus not Pervert?" Pops reaches into down and scratches his private parts and says," Huh! Sorry I really have to scratch my balls they are itchy! Hope you don't mind?..... So Pervert, what is your first name anyways?" Mr.Pervus hesitates for few seconds and with a sigh of frustration responds," It's Irving Matthew Allen Pervus!" Pops starts to laugh uncontrollably and so loudly that his voice echoes throughout the apartment and he sarcastically remarks," So your name is I.M.A Pervert? HAHAHAHAHA! Agent Greene with a stunned look on his face at how easily that someone especially an agent could verbally manhandle Mr.Pervus says," You have quite the mouth on you for such a young child! Someone should teach you some manners!" Mr.Pervus takes a step back in preparation for the usual urination treatment that agents have gotten from Pops when confronted. Pops stands up in the recliner,looks up at Agent Greene and says," Who the fuck are you to tell me that! What are you pervert number #2?" "NO! I am Agent Greene otherwise known as the Voice Of Canada or if it strikes any kind of chord with you the Voice Of Doom! You fowl mouthed little shit!" Pops stands for a bit, starts moving his hands slowly down his side as if he was about to pull down his underwear and take a piss in Agent Greene's face and stops, moves his hands back up and crosses his arms. " I like this guy! Why can't you be more like him Pervert?", exclaims Pops. Mr. Pervus rolls his eyes and replies," Pops this is Agent Lorne Greene, he will be your mentor and handler. He is one of the CBC's best agents and the best one to teach you how to best do your job!" " Agent Lorne Greene hey! You are so well built! A huge man!..... I think I will call you Hoss instead, you look like a Hoss!",responds Pops. Agent Greene lets out a loud laugh and replies," Whatever you feel comfortable calling me Pops! Although I would prefer Agent Greene!" "Nope! Nope,it's Hoss! So Hoss, Pervert! What's the plan? Or am I just going to sit around here day after day, all day scratching my ass! Where do you think all the holes in my gotch came from!", says Pops. Mr.Pervus walks closer to Pops and replies," Well if you could put on some clothes especially pants we could get going and I will show you! By the way where are your parents and Dr.Gunn?" " Oh they are out sight seeing and doing some shopping, Dr.Gunn is just in the kitchen. HEY! DR.GUNN GET OUT HERE!",exclaims Pops. A swinging door opens and out comes Dr. Evelyn Gunn in a black pair of pants and a long sleeve yellow blouse with her raven coloured hair up in ponytail and asks," Yes Pops! What is it now?" " Could you make some of that special cheese toast for Hoss and Pervert here as well!", responds Pops.  With a look of annoyance on her face and contempt in her voice she says," Okay! If need be!" As Dr.Gunn is about to walk out of the room Agent Greene replies," There is no need to make us anything! We have already eaten and really Pops we should get going on our way, there is a lot of work to do!" Pops climbs down out of the recliner and replies," Your loss guys! But I don't do any work until I've had my toast! So you assholes are just going to have to wait!.... Just get me mine Doc and without the attitude!" Dr. Gunn rolls her eyes and mumbles under breath as she walks back into the kitchen," I have multiple Phd's, graduated top of my class and thought I was getting a great government job but I'm reduced to making toast for a fowl mouthed 3 and a half year old!" The door swings behind Dr.Gunn as she walks back into the kitchen  and she quickly returns with a plate containing three pieces of cheese toast and hands it to Pops and walks back out of the room without saying a word in a huff. Pops grabs one of the slices of cheese toast and exclaims," Now that is some fucking good toast! I could live off this shit!"

The voice of Greg interrupts the story remarking," Oh come on! You don't really know he said that? If it was such secret government agency than all of this would be classified?" " Will you guys quit interrupting and let him finish! I know we have some time on our hands but not that much! I would like to hear the rest of this story!", exclaims Hannah. The voice of Maria comes over the walkie talkie saying," Yeah, I agree with Hannah! Let the man finish his story and quit trying to be so literal and ruining the story! Besides all of the old spy agency secrets came out after the downfall idiota! So what happened after Pops had his toast?" "Well after Pops finally put on some clothes the four of them went on a little trip just down the street.

Pops, Agent Green,Dr.Gunn and Mr.Pervus walk down the street towards Grand Central Station. As the approach the train station a young attractive woman in her mid twenties with long curtly blond hair walks out of the door of the building in a pink sun dress. As she walks by the four of them, Pops loudly exclaims," HEY GUYS! Did you see that girl! She's pretty hot!" The young woman turns around and walks up to them, she reaches back and slaps Mr.Pervus across the face saying," You should be ashamed of yourselves and in front of a child teaching him such things!" The young woman walks away in a hurry, as she does Pops loudly laughs and exclaims," Hahaha! She thought it was you! Guess Pervert does suit you as a name!" " Come on Pops, enough tom foolery we need to get to work!", replies Agent Greene. "Alright Hoss,lets go than!" The four people continue on their way into the entrance of Grand Central Station.

Inside the train station Pops is filled with wonder as the small group makes their way through the building in hurry, stopping many times to look at the architecture. After many stops along the way Pops,Dr.Gunn,Agent Greene and Mr.Pervus stop in front of a door not too far from the entrance door with a sign that says under construction. Mr.Pervus looks around to observe the surroundings to see if anyone is looking around, seeing no one in sight he slides back a piece of the wall beside the door revealing a keypad and enters a 6 digit code unlocking the door with a clicking noise notifying such. He quickly closes the panel and the four people enter quickly closing the door behind them and make their way up the two flights of stairs in front of them.

At the top of the stairs Pops, Dr.Gunn,Agent Green and Mr.Pervus enter into a large room filled with large television cameras, high voltage electrical cables and the set for a talk show. Mike Banning a large balding caucasian man in his late 40's standing 6ft 2inches walks up to them and says," Mr.Pervus we have the set already what do you think we have it all ready for your approval!" Mr.Pervus looks around at the set and replies," This is perfect! I love it!" " What the fuck is this Pervert! I thought I was going to be a star not a news reporter!", exclaims Pops. Mike looks at Pops with a surprised glare and replies," You weren't kidding he can talk! Is he the agent that is going to be doing this show?" As Mr.Pervus is about to respond he is interrupted by Pops saying," Well it ain't you dick licker!" " You can't be serious I thought Agent Green was going to be doing this show he has a respectable reputation and gentlemanly demeanour! This man child is rude, crude and vulgar! He will get us kicked off the air, this is a new form of communication and we have to abide by the rules or it will be the end before we get started!", exclaims Mike Banning. Pops walks away from the group and see's a chair with his name on it. He climbs up into the chair and says," Hey asshole you got it wrong!" Mike Banning walks up to Pops and asks in a condescending tone," What do I have wrong you rude,vulgar little man?" " For one asshole the name on the chair is wrong! And secondly you need to show me some fucking respect or I will have Hoss there throw you out!" Agent Greene walks up to Pops and Mike Banning and says," Now Pops, let the man do his job and maybe he can fix whatever problems you have. We just don't fire people on a whim! Please tell us what you have in mind so far,please Mr.Banning!" " Okay! Maybe you are right Hoss! But if he talks to me like that again I will give him the same treatment I gave that Dr.Waters!", exclaims Pops. Mike Banning with a exasperated tone says," It will be a evening talk show on at about 7pm , running for 2hrs , John here will be interviewing various celebrities,politicians and music artists. We will call it the John Brilliant Show and the best thing that we came up with.... the announcer will say Heeeerrrrrreeeee's Johnny! To cue John to come and start the show. What do you think sir?" Mr.Pervus, Agent Greene and Dr.Gunn all nod their heads in agreement with Mr.Pervus saying," I love it! Let's go with it!" " Wait assholes! This is my show and I didn't sign off on all of this!",exclaims Pops. Mr. Pervus and Mike Banning look at Pops and ask him," Well what is wrong!" Pops hops out of the chair and says," It's all good except the name! You got the name wrong!" "And what pre tell would you call it you annoying little shit!", says Mike Banning in an annoyed tone. Pops walks up to Mike Banning quickly and the others quickly move away in anticipation of something bad about to happen and Pops looks up at Mike Banning an remarks in a deeply calm but yet sinister tone," The name of the show should be ToastTime with Pops Brilliant and that's a stupid catchphrase! No one will ever like that, it won't ever catch on! Lastly my chair should say Pops Brilliant not John or Johnny! I hate being called Johhny! Call me Pops! Got it Prick!" Mike Banning starts to laugh arrogantly and says," That is the stupidest idea ever! I will not take advice or orders from a child! And it will be Heeeerrrreeee'ssss Johnny! Johnny!" Dr.Gunn steps back and grabs the arms of Agent Green and Mr.Pervus pulling them back. Within a matter of seconds Pops clenches his fist and punches Mike Banning square in the dick with such great force it causes the man to fall to his knees holding himself and crying in pain. Pops walks up to him, leans in and says," Now, will we do it my way?" Mike Banning nods his head in agreement and Pops says,"Yeaaaahhhh! That's what I thought!" Pops starts to walk away as Mike Banning tries to stand up and regain his bearings. Pops turns around to say," And remember Heeeeerrrreeee'ssss Johnny! Is never to be used, I told you to call me Pops!! Don't forget it or the next punch won't be so soft." Mike Banning nods his head in agreement. Agent Greene runs to catch up to Pops and asks," Wasn't that a little extreme Pops?" "Nope! Had to be done Hoss! Now lets go!",replies Pops. "Where are we going? There is lots of work to be done!",says Agent Greene. "Mike Bastard has a lot of work to do, not us! Until he fixes it I'm going back to the apartment and finish reading my newspapers!",responds Pops. Mr.Pervus looks at Mike Banning who nods his head in agreement at to what Pops just said. Dr.Gunn and Mr.Pervus follow quickly behind Agent Greene and Pops as they make their way out the door.

The sound of Keith laughing out so loud it causes feedback on the walkie talkies echoes throughput the basement. " Easy Keith you are going to die of laughter!", exclaims the Group Leader. "I'm trying but this guy is so funny! What happened next?" Just than as the Group Leader was about to speak the voice of Preston comes over the walkie talkie saying in a worried tone," Sorry to interrupt sir but we have a problem here!" "What is it Preston?", asks the Group Leader. A brief moment of silence fills the air and than suddenly the voice of Preston responds," The stairwell to the roof peak is gone! We are going to try and climb up through the outside! Copy!" " Negative Preston! It is too dangerous! Wait out the storm a bit it should slow down! Do you read me?",exclaims the Group Leader. The voice of Preston cuts in and out becoming hard to make out," I....grrrr...Copy?  I didn't get that! ..... I grrrrrr...We are making our way to go up on the roof!..grrr!" Suddenly Prestons walkie talkie cuts out completely. The Group Leader yells into the walkie talkie,"PRESTON! COME IN! DON'T DO IT! IT'S TOO DANGEROUS!!!!!" The Group Leader places the walkie talkie down on his lap and hangs his head down. Hannah puts her arms around the Group Leader and hugs him as the storm continues to violently shake the building.








Saturday, January 5, 2019

Chapter 3: I Rest My Fucking Case!!!

The eerie silence of the grand old hotel causes a feeling of unease among the group of 12 as they make their way down the dirt covered marble staircase with large cobwebs strung from the ceiling to the railing. For a brief moment the storm outside has let up giving a smell of rain to the air making its way into the air vents of the hotel. The only light in the hotel now is that of the ultra gel powered lanterns that the group brought with them. Slowly they make their way down the staircase ever drawing closer to the bottom of the grand staircase. Emil a young man in his late twenties with blond hair pulled up in a man bun and a fit muscular body frame stops part way on the staircase, lifts the lantern up looking up at the ceiling and the large cobwebs that surround the staircase. Hannah a petite blond haired woman in her mid 30's who has stops, turns around and says to Emil," What are you doing?" Emil looks at her up and down with a lustful glare as he responds in a cocky and arrogant tone," Chill out Tinkerbell I'm just looking around! It's not like the rest of the group is going anywhere, they will still be in the lobby when we get there!" Hannah clenches her right hand reaches back and slugs Emil square in the gut stunning him and causing him to fall back onto his ass hard on the marble steps. Hannah looks down at Emil who is sitting stunned on the steps and extorts," Don't you ever call me that asshole!" Emil quickly regains his bearings and shoots up off the steps his 6ft body towering over Hannah in all her 5ft 2inch's. With anger in his eyes and frustration in his voice he says," What the fuck you little bitch! If you were a guy I would throw you off these steps!" Hannah exclaims back," Big man threatening a woman! I've known guys like you all my life, you think you're all hot shit! Years ago you were just the type I went for! Go ahead and try it, I will put you right back on your ass!" " Yeah I know exactly who you are!"responds Emil. Hannah pokes Emil in the chest and with calm intent says," And who am I? Hmmmm! You think you know me? Well you don't! So just stay away from me dick head!" Hannah turns and starts to walk down the steps as Emil yells back,"WHORE!" As Hannah turns back around with her her left hand clenched she reaches back and throws out her fist which is caught in Emil's large right hand and he says," You're aggressive! I like that!" "Let me go!" exclaims Hannah. "What's the matter? I thought in your line of work you liked it rough?" responds Emil looking down at Hannah in a cocky tone. Hannah starts to respond"I said let me..." The sound of footsteps stopping in front of him and the sound of the Group Leaders voice startles Emil as he says," Let her go! NOW!" " She started it! She hit me!" responds Emil. The Group Leader moves closer towards Emil grabs his hand causing it release its grip on Hannah's left hand. " Are you okay?" asks the Group Leader to Hannah. "I'm fine! I could have handled it myself but thanks for the assistance." responds Hannah. The Group Leader with concern in his eyes looks at Hannah and says," You're welcome! Go down to the lobby with the others please, I'm going to have a chat with his royal highness prince Douche bag!"Hannah nods her head in agreement and walks down the stairs as the Group Leader and Emil look on. As Hannah gets out of site the Group Leader turns back to Emil and who towers over him, with a quiet but yet annoyed and serious voice the Group Leader exclaims," If I ever see you pull any shit like that again, look funny at any of the women in the group or pee in my direction! I will send you back on your own during the time when the Scavengers are out in the red zone! They are even more viscous during a storm and I won't hesitate to send you while it's going on! Now get your sorry arrogant ass downstairs with the others!" Emil hangs his head and starts to make his way down the stairs, he stops,turns and says to the Group Leader," This isn't over!!" The Group Leader looks down at him with an icy glare and responds," Yeah it is! You just try something and we'll see how far that gets you! Now get going!" Emil turns back around and continues to walk down the steps followed by the Group Leader. As the two men disappear from sight the shadowy figure appears at the top of the staircase looking down and in a deep whisper says," Interesting?"

The rest of the group stands waiting in the lobby as Emil comes down the steps closely followed by the Group Leader. Emil with a look of disgust and contempt in his eyes looks at the Group Leader as he walks by him towards the front of the group as they all stand waiting in the front lobby.

The Group Leader looks around the old hotel as the ever continuing eerie silence fills the room. Biting his lower lip he turns and looks at the rest of the group looking on in quiet anticipation and says, " Okay, we need to get the power going again." Paulina, a woman in her early 30's with short black hair reminiscent of Ellen Degeneres, multiple piercings in her ears, nose and eyebrow raises her  arm showing the large elaborate sleeve tattoo of roses and thorns. The Group Leader noticing the raised hand responds," Yes, this isn't school you don't have to raise your hand!" " And how are we going to do that? This place is older than shit and what power it must have had has to have died!" The Group Leader removes his backpack from his left shoulder, he walks over to a large round cherry oak table in the middle of the lobby and places the back pack on it. He opens the backpack, digging around furiously until he pulls out a folded set of faded blueprints and places them down on the table saying," With these!" Keith looks down at the faded blueprints as the Group Leader unfolds them and sarcastically says," With a faded and brown stained treasure map that smells like ass!" Suddenly Maria's hand gently cuffs Keith across the back of the head cursing at Keith,"Estúpido idiota! That is not a treasure map! Those are blueprints, your ignorance gives me a headache!" Maria takes both her hands and starts to rub either side of her head. Keith turns around and says," God your violent!I knew they were blueprints, it's called sarcasm. I'm beginning to think you like hitting me just so you can touch me!' Maria with a sassy tone rolls her eyes and responds," You wish gringo!" "You want me!" replies Keith with an even more sarcastic tone. The Group Leader clears his throat and exclaims," If the flirt fest is over can we get back to the situation at hand?" Maria and Keith stand silently and both nod theirs heads."Good! Now by the blueprints there are two separate reset stations. One is up in the tower room on the very top floor of the hotel. The other is in the basement, so we will have to split up into two teams." Paulina asks," Why? Couldn't we just hit the reset in the basement? That would be easier." " If only it were that simple! The system runs on self sustaining gamma gel that never need replenishing but has to be reset from the roof unit first to get the gel flowing and than the basement switch can be flipped after ten minutes to completely reset the system." replies the Group Leader. " And how are we going to know when one team has the roof unit reset? I don't think a tin can on a string will stretch that far!" Paulina asks. The Group Leader reaches into his backpack again and pulls out seven walkie talkies. Grace looks at the walkie talkies lying on the table and asks," Where in the hell did you find those ancient things...a museum? You don't expect those things to work do you?" " Yes I do! They are made up of the same power source the hotel uses only smaller so they will work perfectly! Also I tested them!" responds the Group Leader. " Why reset the system? The storm has stopped why don't we just leave?" asks Hannah. " That would be a good idea if the storm actually did stop! This is a lull in the storm, it only lasts about an hour or less before it kicks back in! So we are stuck here for a while cause these storms last for weeks on end."responds the Group Leader as he starts to hand out the walkie talkies to Keith, Maria, Preston, Grace, Axel and Paulina keeping the last one for himself clipping it to his belt. " Now Keith,Maria,Emil, Preston,Paulina and Priya you guys go to the roof tower to hit the reset. Here is a map on how to get there, the rest of the group will come with me into the basement to look for the other unit." says the Group Leader.

The Group Leader walks up to Preston and whispers," Can you come with me for a second?" Preston nods his head and the two men walk away from the rest of the group and towards the back of the lobby behind the old concierge desk. Preston quietly says to the Group Leader as the rest of the group look on," What's going on?" " Preston you need to do me a favour?", the Group Leader silently responds. Preston with a confused look on his face and asks," Okay? What do you need"

The rest of the group looks on at Preston and the Group Leader quietly talking. Emil turns to Greg a man in his early 30's with a crew cut military style haircut and a 5ft 11inch bulky but yet muscular body build and says," I wish I knew what he is saying to Preston?" "Me too but I know from experience in the past it's best not to know and just follow orders!" responds Greg. Emil quietly says back,"I don't trust him! There's something up with him! Who is he exactly and why choose Preston?" " I don't know why? Or who he is exactly? I only knew him as that strange old hermit in town. My cousin knows him better guess that's why he chose Preston! All I know is he knows his way around out here and we need to follow him otherwise it could end bad!", replies Greg. Emil turns to Greg and says, " You used to be in the Global Military Service didn't you?" Greg nods his head and replies," For 10 years and when all government services were disbanded I came back home!" Emil stands silent for a moment and than asks," What about Preston? Was he in the service with you too?" " No he wasn't! He stayed and worked as a local Zone Officer. Why all the questions?", replies Greg. Emil smoothly resounds," No reason! Just feel I should get to know some of my teammates, I was talking to Hannah up stairs earlier. for some reason the Group Leader took offence at it! I think he has some obsession with her! We need to watch out for her and the others, he's been alone for so long it is kind of creepy!' Greg nods his head and says," Agreed! I was wondering why he went up the stairs and only Hannah came down than the two of you after!" Emil and Greg look back at Preston and the Group Leader.

" Okay, so you know now exactly where to go know and how to reset the gamma gel generator. Keep in constant contact! Be careful on those upper floors I don't know what the state of the structure could be up there.You will have to get off the south stairwell on the 7th floor, a big chunk of it is missing so you will have to cut through that floor and go to the north stairwell. Lastly keep a close eye on Emil! I already had to put him in check!", the Group Leader silently says in a serious tone. Preston nods his head as he casually turns his looking back at Emil and replies," Yes! On all of that! Do you really think it was a good idea to recruit him? Isn't there another way to get this done without having him?"  " There might be? But I'm not sure it will work! So for now it's both our jobs to not let it come to that and watch him!", responds the Group Leader with concern in his voice. Preston again nods his head in agreement as to not draw suspicion from the rest of the group. " Now we better get this power back on! We need it in more ways than one!",says the Group Leader. Preston and the Group Leader shake hands and walk back towards the rest of group.

As they return to the rest of the group the Group Leader looks grabs his backpack off the large round cherry oak table, places it on his back. He pulls the walkie talkie from his belt and turns it on. Looking at the whole group looking on in a commanding tone he says," Okay everyone knows which team they are in! Roof team, Preston is in charge and will direct you! I gave him instructions, so listen to him! They will help keep you safe! Basement team we I will fill you in! Now lets get going! We need to get the power back on asap! Those I gave walkie talkies to we are on channel 12! Alright lets move people!" The group start to move into their assigned teams, Emil casually places his hand on the left shoulder of Greg as he is about to go and says with intent in his voice," Remember what I told you, keep an eye on him!" Greg quickly glances at Emil and replies," Of course!" Emil removes his hand quickly from Greg's shoulder as not arouse suspicion and walks towards Preston. Greg tightens the straps on his backpack and makes his way towards the Group Leader and the remaining group members.

The two teams go their separate ways. The roof team make their way up the marble steps and the basement team follow the Group Leader down a short dark hallway at the back of the lobby.

As the Group Leader makes his way down the short darkened hallway followed by the small team of six. He stops in front of a metal door with chipped black paint, places his right hand on it wiping off the many layers of dust and dirt revealing a small metal sign on it simply saying basement on it. The group Leader wipes the dirt from hand on his pant leg and grabs the door knob and turns it revealing it to be unlocked. Axel sarcastically says," Wow! That is quite convenient!" He pushes the door open, stops reaches back and unclips the small lantern attached to the side of his backpack, lights it and turns to the team and says," Okay stay close lets go!" The Group Leader walks down the stairs into the dark basement illuminating the stairwell as the others follow him. The metal door closes quickly loudly echoing throughout the stairwell and startling 6 of the seven people. The Group Leader stops and looks back to see the others frozen in fear. Hannah with fear and panic in her voice screams so loud it could break a pane of glass. " Jesus Christ! I'm standing right here! Think I'm fucking deaf now!", exclaims Greg. Liam a tall lanky man with jet black hair and a neatly trimmed beard and circular metal framed glasses responds," Think you woke the dead with that scream!" "Well we are close enough, they just might have heard her!", says Grace with heavy sarcasm in her voice. Hannah her hands over ears and sits down on the steps rocking her tiny body back and forth crying and singing the lyrics to Unwell by Matchbox 20 over and over. Axel looks down at Hannah as she tries to calm her fear and remarks," What the hell is wrong with you?" Grace pushes Axel aside and quickly sits down beside Hannah wrapping her left arm around Hannah and with frustration in her voice responds," She's scared stupid! Can't you see!" " I just thought she was crazy or something!" replies Axel. " Nice! That's really compassionate of you asshole! Men!", says Grace with an ever angering tone. Hannah stops singing and rests her head on Graces shoulder continuing to cry. Grace wraps her other arm around Hannah and rocks with her like a mother calming her child and softly says," It's okay my dear! Nothing or no one is going to hurt you here!" The Group Leader walks over to Grace and Hannah, he kneels down in front of them and ask," Is she alright?" Greg with an arrogant tone in his voice interrupts and says," It's pretty obvious she isn't!" The Group Leader turns his head and shoots an icy glare at Greg responding," Did I ask You? No! So keep your opinions to yourself! All of you!" Greg  hangs his head down and sheepishly says," Sorry!" The Group Leader turns his attention back to Hannah and Grace, hovering his right hand over Hannah's knee but not touching it he says," We will rest here for a bit until Hannah is ready to go. We have plenty of time until the other team reaches the roof peak." The remaining members of the small team sit on the steps.

The Group Leader grabs the walkie talkie from his belt, presses it and says," Team two be advised we have to take a small break for personal reasons. Keep me informed of your progress!" The voice of Preston comes through the speaker responding," Will do Group Leader! We are currently just making our way onto the third floor but will keep you updated! Hope everything is alright!" " It's fine! Nothing to get too worried about!", relies the Group Leader. The Group Leader looks at Hanna her eyes red from the tears and quietly says," No one needs to know and I will tell the others not to say anything!" A big smile comes across Hannah's faces she whispers back,"Thank you!" Just than the voice of Keith comes over the walkie talkie asking," Seeing as you guys are taking a break and so I don't have to hear Maria yell at me for whatever stupid thing I will eventually say. How about  continuing your story?" The sound of a hand slapping Keith's head can be heard over the walkie talkie with Keith yelling out," Hey!" " I guess I can! Now where was I? Oh yeah!" replies the Group Leader.

The scene starts to change but it gets all cloudy as the voice of the Group Leader says," Let's see! Hmmmmm! Oh Yeah! Now I remember!" The voice of Keith chimes in," Thank goodness thought you might have been having a senior moment!" " Let the man talk otherwise we might be waiting,especially if he is having a senior moment." replies the voice of Preston. " Haha! You all are comedians! I am impressed though, I would have expected Maria to have said something to Keith or slap him across the back of the head!" exclaims the voice of the Group Leader with a sarcastic tone. The voice of Maria replies," Oh I did! I just waited until he was off the walkie talkie!"  " Oh yeah now I remember where we were! Well for a year and a half baby John"Pops" Brilliant has been in a high level government research lab." the Group Leader says as the scene becomes clearer and the group is transported back to 1949 inside a secret government facility in northern Ontario called Fusion Labs.

Dr. Peter Ulysses a man in his early 50's is the head of the research team. Dr.Ulysses stands behind a two way mirror watching as two junior scientists Dr. Lionel Waters a rather young man of 25 and the newest hire to the team thanks to his families political connections. The other is the first female scientist to be placed at the facility Dr. Evelyn Gunn a raven haired 32 year old woman. Dr.Gunn's hair is pulled up tight in a bun and wears such a serious expression on her face that if she smiled her face might crack. The two scientists are getting ready to start more tests on baby John"Pops" Brilliant  setting out the tools they will need to conduct their experiments. Into the observation room walks a man of average height and thin body frame in his late 40's with slicked back salt and pepper hair wearing a dark grey suit with a black tie. Dr. Ulysses turns around to the man and says," Hello! You must be Mr. Pervus the man the Federal Government told me was coming to observe. Are you from the CSIS? You government agents all looks alike!" Mr.Pervus walks up to Dr. Ulysses and stretches out his right hand. The two men shake hands for a few seconds and casually release their respective grips. Mr. Pervus walks up to the two way mirror looking into it. Dr. Ulysses grabs his clipboard sitting on table behind him and stands beside Mr.Pervus looking out into the lab. The uncomfortable silence fills the room as the two men stand silent for the next ten minutes until Dr.Ulysses asks," So what does the CSIS have in mind for a toddler?" " What makes you think I am CSIS?" replies Mr.Pervus. Dr.Ulysses starts to walk away and than turns back around with a curious tone to his voice  asks," Well than who are you?" Mr.Pervus reaches his right hand into the inside of his suit jacket and pulls out a small leather identification wallet, he flips it open and hands it to Dr.Ulysses while keeping his gaze on the two scientists in the examination room. Dr. Ulysses takes the identification and looks at it. A confused look comes over Dr.Ulysses' face and he says," You're from the CBC? I don't understand? Why would the government send someone from the CBC to a top secret lab?" Mr.Pervus  extends his left hand out and Dr.Ulysses hands the identification back to him. Mr. Pervus places the identification back into his inside jacket pocket and replies," It's a bit above your pay grade! But I was told to tell you anyways! The CBC is the real power in this country! We distract people with our radio broadcasts while we our agents secretly take down world threats. What did you think that Canada was all polite and nice? The USA is actually afraid of us and has called on our agents to help them out in the past." " So!..... You want to make Pops an agent?", asks Dr.Ulysses. " In a way! We will be branching out into television in the next few years and this child will be perfect! Until than though we will put him on an American broadcast with the cooperation of our neighbours to the south.", replies Mr.Pervus. Dr.Ulysses starts to flip through the papers on his clipboard for a few seconds studying his papers. He flips the papers down and asks Mr.Pervus," This is crazy! How do you know this will work? He is a unique child and you are going to use him as a sideshow act!" " Oh! We know what we are doing and have been at this for a while! He is no sideshow act! In time he will be one of the biggest names in the world! His unique ability is just what we need to cause distraction. It's either this or operation Beachcomber, which you don't want released it has proven to be to mesmerizing! Complete and total distraction! Now, when is the examination going to start?",says Mr.Pervus. Dr.Ulysses with a stunned look on his face replies," In a few minutes.

" Oh come on! How do you know that actually happened? You're telling me the CBC was really a secret spy network that wielded great power? Now you are just getting ridiculous old man! I really think you have been alone for too long!" says Greg as he gets up from the steps and starts to walk down the basement steps. "Where do you think you are going?" asks the Group Leader. Greg stops and looks back at the rest of the team and replies," Um to find the generator! In case you haven't forgotten we still have to do that! I love story time and all but someone needs to find this thing!", exclaims Greg. The Group Leader  gets up and walks towards Greg, he places his hand on Greg's shoulder and with a calm but yet stern voice says," We all go together or we don't go at all! We don't know what conditions are like down there and need to stay together! In case you didn't notice not all of our team is ready to continue, now sit down!" Greg looks on as Grace continues to hold a severely distraught Hannah in her arms. The voice of Keith comes over the walkie talkie saying," Sit back down Greg, we are only at the 5th floor! You have time, it's going to take a bit till we get to the eighth floor and cross it to get to the other stairwell!" Greg walks back over to the top step and sits down and says," Okay keep talking old man! But I find it hard to believe this!" " Oh it's true! I did some research, it all came out in the downfall of 2021." says Grace as she continues to console Hannah. "Continue please! It helps!" says the quiet and scared voice of Hannah.

An older grey haired nurse walks into the examination room holding the hand of baby John as he walks into the room still bald headed, sporting a little pot belly, wearing a checkered black and grey dress shirt, black dress pants, small octagonal metal framed glasses, white running shoes, a piece of beer sausage hanging out of his mouth like cigar and cup of apple juice. As they get to the examination table baby John takes the piece of sausage from his mouth and takes a big swig of the apple juice finishing off what remains in the cup. He tosses the cup at the grey haired nurse and exclaims in his deep raspy voice," Now that was fucking fantastic apple juice! I would have rather it been schnapps or a glass of scotch! Don't know why the fuck you assholes won't let me have a real drink!" " That's because you are only a year and a half Johnny! Toddlers don't exactly drink hard alcohol not to mention that it is illegal to let a minor drink.", responds Dr. Waters in an arrogant tone. John takes a bite from his piece of beer sausage and immediately spits it into the face of Dr. Waters causing Dr. Evelyn Gunn to let down her serious demeanour and crack a smile along with a quick giggle. " Look asshole! My names not Johnny! It's John and I have repeatedly asked you to call me "Pops"! You must be some kind of fucking moron, who did you blow to get this job?", exclaims baby John as he takes another bite from his beer sausage. Dr. Gunn tries to regain her composure and show her usual professionalism but is having a hard time as she continues to chuckle at baby John insulting Dr. Waters. " Now I will not take no guff from anyone especially a toddler! What are you laughing at?", exclaims Dr.Waters as he wipes the bits of sausage and spit from his face. Dr.Gunn regaining her composure for a small second stops laughing and replies," Nothing! It's just that, to be honest! No one has had the guts to say anything to you because of your families connections until "Pops" here just did!" Dr. Gunn loses her serious demeanour again and continues to laugh. Dr. Waters walks up to Dr. Gunn, standing face to face with her he looks her straight in the eyes with an even cockier tone in his voice says," You keep laughing and we will find out how long you have a job here! In fact you just stand there and I will be doing the tests! Nurse please take the food from the subject!" The grey haired nurse shakes her head in disagreement. "Nurse! I said take the food from the child so I can start the testing!",exclaims Dr.Waters.   The grey haired shakes her head in disagreement again." Dr.Waters face turns a darker shade of red from anger and frustration and he exclaims," Fine I will do it but you both are done here!" Dr.Waters takes the beer sausage from baby Johns mouth and immediately is bitten on the hand dropping the food on the floor and yells out in anger,"WHAT THE HELL!" " That will teach you for touching my sausage! What's a matter you spoiled rich ass mama's boy? No one ever put you in your place before? Well get used to it!", responds baby John. " You little.....", Dr.Waters starts to say as baby John stands and pulls down his pants proceeding to urinate in the face of Dr.Waters. "Haven't had enough? Keep at it asshole! Why don't you leave and let the nurse and hot doctor examine me!", exclaims baby John. " I don't have to take this from a child!", retorts Dr.Waters as he spits out the urine that got in his mouth on the floor and wipes his face with a handkerchief from his shirt pocket. " What's a matter mama's boy intimidated that your penis is probably the same size as mine and I haven't even hit puberty yet!", responds baby John. " Well I never! I should spank you", says Dr.Waters. " Oh you like spanking you sick pervert and yet children! You touch me and I've got another surprise for you coming out of my ass and it don't smell so good, but I will take pleasure smearing it in your arrogant face! If you can't figure it out, it's shit!", exclaims baby John. Dr.Waters walks up to baby John with anger and his hand raised to spank baby John when the voice of Mr.Pervus comes over the speaker," Dr.Waters don't you lay a hand on that child! Come in here, Dr.Gunn you and the nurse continue the tests please!" Dr. Waters storms out of the room slamming the door behind him. Dr.Gunn walks up to baby John and with a motherly compassion in her voice says to him," I'm so sorry 'Pops" I just have a few tests to do and than we are done! I will get the nurse to get you anther piece of sausage?" Baby John zips up his pants and taps Dr.Gunn on the left shoulder saying," Okay, but I would kill of some toast instead!" Dr.Gunn nods her head in agreement with the great haired nurse who leaves the room to get some toast for baby John.

Dr.Waters walks into the observation room greeted by Dr.Ulysses who walks up to the young scientist and immediately puts his right arm around Dr.Waters and says," Dr.Waters you are new here to Fusion Labs and while your family has some great political pull you just can't put your hands on an important test subject like that!" " But Dr.Ulysses you have to understand that man like child is out of control, a little discipline wouldn't hurt!", responds Dr.Waters. Dr.Ulysses moves his arm from around the shoulder of Dr.Waters and points to a chair in the back of the room saying," Have a seat this gentleman here would like to speak with you for a minute." Mr.Pervus still facing the exam room watching Dr.Gunn test baby John's reflexes. Mr.Pervus reaches down and presses a large black button for the intercom in front of him, he bends down and with a deep smooth voice speaks into it," Dr.Gunn that will be all! Can you please bring "Pops" in here!" Mr.Pervus releases the button of the intercom and turns around to face Dr.Waters. In the background of the two way mirror Dr.Gunn grabs the hand of baby John helping him off the exam table and they walk out of the exam room holding hands with baby John chattering to her a mile a minute with no clue as to what he was saying. Mr. Pervus walks up to Dr.Waters places his hands on the table as to look down at the cocky young scientist to invoke fear and in a calm but yet threatening voice says," You will pack up your shit and leave here! You are done and if you thinking of throwing your families political clout! Think again, my authority far outweighs your families! With a snap of my fingers I could ruin your family!" "But,but! Where will I go?", asks Dr.Waters with a scared crackle in his voice like that of pubescent teenage boy. Just than Dr.Gunn walks in with baby John who had just caught the tail end of the conversation and baby John says," Haha! Looks like someones in trouble now! Hey asshole!" " See what I had to deal with! He disrespected me from the start! I'm innocent", replies Dr.Waters. Baby John lets go of Dr.Gunn's hand and walks up to the three men gathered at the table and exclaims," Prove it asshole! You got all aggressive with me and they saw it! Did you think that mirror was there for you to look at yourself?" Mr.Pervus with an icy glare in his eyes says," He's right! We saw the whole thing! Now get out before I have you escorted out!" Dr.Waters gets up from the chair and starts to make his way towards the door when baby John yells out," I rest my fucking case!" Dr.Waters turns and replies," You are going to regret using that little monster." Mr.Pervus points to the door and exclaims,"Leave now!" Dr.Waters walks out of the room in huff almost knocking Dr.Gunn over.

Mr.Pervus pulls out the metal chair from under the table and sits down in front of baby John, he stretches out his hand to shake baby John's hand and says," Pops it is a pleasure to meet you! I am Kevin Pervus, I work for the CBC and the government wants you to be one of our agents."  Baby John shakes Mr.Pervus's hand and replies," Nice to meet you Mr.Pervert!" "No Pervus.", replies Mr.Pervus. "What does the worlds most secretive and feared spy agency want with me?", asks baby John. Dr.Ulysses with a stunned look on his face asks baby John," How do you know that?" Baby John looks up at Dr.Ulysses and replies," Cause I'm a fucking genius that's why doc!" " Yes you are Pops and that's why we want you! You are perfect for the entertainment business, witty and funny the perfect distraction while we do our thing! What do you say? Deal?",responds Mr.Pervus. Baby John looks around the room thinking and just than the grey haired nurse walks in with a small plate with two slices of toast and places it on the table by the other metal chair still pulled out from when Dr.Waters left the room. Baby John climbs up on the chair grabs a slice of the toast, takes a bite and slides the plate with the other over to Mr.Pervus and replies," What do I say? I say yes! And no better way to seal our business deal Mr.Pervert  than with some toast!" Baby John and Mr.Pervus takes their respective pieces of toast and touch them together as if they were wine glasses and than take a bite of them. Baby John swallows his toast and exclaims," Pumpernickel! I love it!"

The voice of Keith exclaims," Why did you stop? Never mind I see why!"

Back in 2177 the roof team makes their way throughout the scattered remains of hotel furnishing strewn about in the hallways of the old abandoned grand hotel on the 8th floor. Gigantic cobwebs cover the doorways of the empty rooms and layers of dust hang from the light fixtures like large grey icicles. Preston suddenly stops in his tracks and holds up the lantern in his right hand showing a large pile of heavy oak dressers,bed frames, old mattresses and chairs blocking their way to stairwell. "Son of a bitch! Sorry Group Leader to interrupt you but we have a problem!", says Preston with a frustrated tone. The voice of the Group Leader comes over the walkie talkie saying," What's wrong?" Preston responds," The access to the north stairwell is blocked! It's going to take us some time to clear it!" " Alright keep me informed! We are going to get moving in bit here!", replies the Group Leader. Emil walks up to Preston and with an arrogant tone in his voice asks," Why the hell did we get off the south stairwell and come this way? Lets just go back and continue up! Or do you always listen to the advice of crazy old men?" Preston turns grabs Emil by the collar of his tan canvas jacket pushing him up against the wall knocking the dust off the walls and light fixtures creating a cloud of dust. " Look you devious, arrogant little prick! I don't know what your deal is? But I do know all about you and your type! But don't you ever disrespect me or the Group Leader again! He's the reason we made it this far!", exclaims Preston. Emil with a cocky look on his face and tone to his voice replies," Bet you want to hit me! Go ahead! Do it! Just proves that you are just as secretive as the Group Leader! But do it! The others will see it and lose all respect for you and him! Than maybe they will have the balls to ask why we are all here in the first place!"  Maria walks up to Preston as he tries to restrain himself from slamming Emil through the wall, places her right hand in the small of Preston's back and calmly says," He's not worth it! Don't let him get to you! Let's just clear the path and get out of here. He's a jerk who peaked way too early in life who thinks his shit don't stink!" Emil continues to looks at Preston with an cocky glare as he stays pinned against the wall. Preston regains his composure and calmly lets go of him the canvas collars of Emil's coat slowly slipping out his hands. Preston turns around and walks away closing his eyes and taking some controlled deep breaths. Emil fixes his jacket and brushes the dust and cobwebs that fell on him, he walks up to Maria  and arrogantly says," Thanks! I could have kicked his ass but that's okay I don't mind a girl helping me out! If you want, we could get together some time and I'll show you some appreciation!" Maria lifts her right hand and motions for Emil to come closer. Emil moves in closer and Maria says," I would never let your slimy, arrogant, douche bag ass ever touch me or any part of you! Now get out of my face before I punch it!" " Your loss bitch!", replies Emil. In a flash Maria swiftly kicks Emil square in the balls causing him to bend over in pain followed by a strong right upper cut that sends Emil back hard into the wall knocking him unconscious. " I warned you! That's as much you will ever get to touch me! Oh and it's Maria not bitch! Fuck face!" As the rest of the team look on with stunned expressions Keith and Preston walk up to Maria and Preston asks," Are you okay?" "Yes I am, I'll be fine!", replies Maria. "Thought you said he wasn't worth it!", asks Preston. Maria flexing the knuckles in her right hand says," I lied!" Keith replies," Come on Rocky lets look at that hand to make sure it's alright before we start clearing that pile." Maria continues to flex her hand and responds as she walks towards the barricaded doorway,"It will be alright,this isn't the first asshole I've cold cocked! Lets go clear this." The rest of the group follow Maria to the pile of furniture blocking their way and start to move it. Preston looks at Keith and quietly says," Guess we better go and help so we don't get punched out too!" " You don't have to tell me twice! I am not angering her, she's already struck once!"replies Keith as the two men make their way towards the other and help them clear the path to the stairwell.

On the top of the stairwell the Group Leader stands up and casually walks over to Grace and Hannah, he kneels down in front of them and quietly says," Are you alright to go? We should really get on our way but if you don't feel ready we can wait!" Hannah her eyes filled with a mix of kindness and a little fear stands up and says," I think so! We can get going." "Are you sure? We can wait a little longer if you need to?", asks the Group Leader. " I'm sure! Grace said she would walk with me and if you keep telling that story it would help take my mind off my fears?", replies Hannah. The Group Leader stands up, presses the button on the walkie talkie in his right hand and says," We are on our way down into the basement now Preston, let us know your progress when you can!" The rest of the team stand up getting ready to move along down the stairs. The Group Leader says to Hannah and Grace,"You two stay close to me." The two women nod their heads in agreement and follow close behind the Group Leader as they make their way towards the stairs and start down them with the other team members making their way down the dark stairwell lightly illuminated by the lanterns in their hands. "Now where was I said the Group Leader? Oh Yeah... ", says the Group Leader as they walk down the stairs.








Book 2: A Time Of Awkwardness-Chapter 7: Secret Truths

Sirens ring out their high-pitched wailing, and red lights flash like a strobe bulb. Heavily armed guards scramble around wearing N15 dispos...