On the last hour, everyone gathered in the locker room. They wore more formal attire, nothing fancy but they had to look presentable for their return. They all wore dress pants, button up shirts and Kailey a blouse. All of their personal belongings were placed in their lockers, they confirmed in their tablets that it was all packed, and with a swipe, the lockers shut and disappeared into the floor.
Darren was the last person to send off his locker, he was overseeing their arrival at the ravine. He climbed down the ladder, the room was rather quiet in comparison to their other comparisons, he took the lead.
"Alright everybody, we are all ready to come back home right?" The room nodded silently. "Everyone raise your hand when I call your name." They went through the motions, same deal as when they were landing for the operation. The camera shuttered and Darren put away his tablet.
Bodhi turned his face away from the camera and glared at Tyson who was fidgeting his finger and bouncing his leg. He furrowed his brow and asked, "I thought you were ready for this, kid." Tyson looked up and raised his eyebrows, he took a second and looked back down at his hands.
"I can only be certain of so many things. What happens after I return is not one of them." They all looked at each other, Cooper asked "You're not gonna blow up on us now are you?" Tyson scoffed, "No, it's not that. In here, I'm safe, out there, I'm not sure how things will play out." Marco sat down next to Tyson, crossed his arms and nodded.
Where the lockers were, slid out bleachers for them to rest on, they all sat in silence as Darren submitted his locker last, he swiped through his tablet as Marco rested his head on the wall.
"This is only possible because of all of you guys." Spoke Tyson, he rested his palms on the bleachers as he leaned in his seat. Kailey replied with her eyes closed, "We are keeping this under wraps for us, not for you." Tyson nodded understandingly, he pouted his lips and said "still, you guys kept your cool despite my actions." Bodhi opened his eyes and stared at Tyson who looked back at him. "I guess no one is really ready to accept who is at fault for all of this." Rather than a snarky response, Tyson bowed his head back down and stared at the floor.
No one spoke a word after that. "two minutes until the shift, buckle up everyone." The bleachers had a simple seatbelt that stretched across their lap, they all clasped the pieces together and remained in place. The cruiser rumbled with a low growl. Similar to landing in the atmosphere, except much much smoother and far less noisy. A loud thud bellowed the room, they felt their ears pop from the pressure. Darren and Marco both looked down at their tablets, coupling successful.
They unbuckled their belts and stood side by side on the wall that lead to the landing pods. Everyone else followed behind their handlers, the walls slid open and they walked past the seats and towards the far end. The corners hissed as light shined through the air holes. It opened in front of them, tilting down into a ramp. It was bright outside as their eyes adjusted to it, extremely bright for that matter. The sound of overhead spinning blades almost deafened them as they stepped out, Marco looked up to see the rough outline of a helicopter in the sky.
Darren faced forward as he walked, Two men with rifles stood in front of a single guy with a clipboard. The two were wearing blue jumpsuits with the same black boots, they were both holding onto regular sporting rifles, a black belt around their waist with straps at their sides. They wore helmets with fully reflective face shields. The man with the clipboard was younger than even Tyson. He was wearing a full orange jumpsuit, it looked the same as the other two aside from the obvious color difference. writing something down on the board, He looked up, his eyes a deep dark brown as he extended his right hand out for a handshake.
Darren shook his hand first and then Marco, "Morning Dilan." The man smiled with just his lips, "hope all was well." Bodhi walked past him, patting his shoulder and walking past, "sure was." Dilan looked back towards Bodhi then at Darren, pointing his pen over his shoulder, "Is he all good?"
Darren smiled and nodded, "an upset stomach." The rest walked out, nodding as they walked past. Dilan frowned at his clipboard and turned to the group. "Tyson!" He stopped in his tracks and gulped, his left hand left his pocket in a clutched fist. He began to slowly open his fingers. "Good first operation?" Dilan smiled warmly. "Yeah, very." He gave him a big thumbs up.
The landing zone in port Arturo was like the mouth of a white out dispenser. An open roof closed down slowly over them, the sound of the helicopter slowly fading away as the natural sunlight disappeared and was replaced by large fluorescent lights. Tyson continued behind Kailey who was the last person in line, he heard a small pop above him, he looked up to a walkway in which a single handler was walking back and forth with a large caliber rifle on hand while chewing gum. Similar to the one Marco and Darren had, but this one red and much larger in size. He looked ahead as the group walked through a door.
A large waiting room, prepared to seat over 20 people but it was only the six of them in this instance. They all sat in the front row besides each other. He sat besides Kailey who placed her elbow on his shoulder, she faced him and whispered while she looked around, "You're cool, we are cool. Let the handlers do the talking." She shifted her weight off of him and leaned back on her chair.
The lights overhead buzzed as they sat up straight. The room was a yellowish color, a long window they couldn't see through was in front of them. There was the door they walked through, one in front and to the right, and a double door on their right. They heard the door handle fumble and all stood up at the same time, Marco buttoned up the last button of his shirt as the a fat man walked in.
He was fat, much taller and much wider than Bodhi. The top of his head was bald, long strands from the back of his head extended forward as if to cover it up, barely doing so. He wore a completely black suit with an id that was half buried in his breast pocket. He cleared his throat and talked in a voice that boomed across the room. "Welcome back, crew 13. Please come inside."
They all walked in and shook his hand, his fingers short and rough. Inside was a conference room with about 13 chairs total, a man in a similar suit sat with his fingers interlaced covering his mouth, looking down at a tablet on the desk in front of him. They all sat across each other on the same side as him, he lifted his gaze, one of his eyes was a milky white, his other one darted across each of their faces. He separated his hands and placed them both on the table. With a deep sigh, he spoke.
"Marco this is all very bad." His voice was higher pitched, almost comically so. He spoke with a lisp, his shoddy beard following along. "Protocol violations here and there, for god's sake, where are your badges?" They all looked down at their shirts, "realizing" they didn't have their IDs on them. Marco nodded and looked down at the table with an expression of disappointment. The man stood up from his chair, holding his tablet.
"That's just the start of it Marco, tracking on the tablets disabled, cameras on microphone only mode, unnecessary discharge of your weapon?" He walked around the table while staring at his tablet. "And not to mention the most important thing." He walked behind Tyson and Cooper and gripped onto their shoulders. They both froze in place as they all looked at them. "These two, no these three men almost becoming casualties?" He pointed his long skinny finger at Bodhi. Darren let out a deep sigh. The man signaled at him vaguely and nodded aggressively, "yeah, you should be disappointed."
He walked towards his chair and sat back down. "Before we start with the overview, we need to set some ground rules. I've been very lenient with Marco, you may not be our best, but you are one of our most successful handlers." He took off his suit jacket and hung it on the chair, he leaned back with a finger on his cheek pensively. "For the time being, I'm revoking your permission for low vigilance mode. Microphones and tracking on, understood? I hate to do it but this would be a catastrophe were it not for your elimination of the altered." Marco nodded "yes sir."
"Now-" he leaned forward, fixing his collar, the badge on his shirt read Arthur. "Let's god over all of... this" he opened his hands and hovered them over the table in circles.
As he listened to the entire story, Arthur leaned back on his chair with his hands crossed over his stomach. He lifted his left hand and the side of his face in an annoyed expression. He placed his hands on the table, his gaze on them. "It's only been a year since the incident with Dani." His singular eye moved between Marco and Darren. He rubbed his brow and winced as he slammed his finger down on the table. He stood up, everyone jumped slightly at this, a bead of sweat came down Marco's temple despite the cold air conditioner. He took a deep breath out before composing himself, a single strand of hair fell on his face, he slicked it back and straightened out. He looked around the silent room, everyone was frozen in place as they looked back at him.
He pouted his lips, and shook his head, "since the operation was a success, I don't believe the board needs to hear about this. You're all dismissed." They all stood up, walked towards him and shook his hand, he congratulated each of them individually. Darren was the last to stand, before he could reach the door, "Darren, come back for a minute." Both Marco and Darren turned around, they looked at each other, Arthur waved Marco off and he closed the door behind him.
They all stood in the waiting room, silent. Marco bumped their fists individually. Before their arrival, they had gathered one more time.
Back in the cruiser, they all stood in Marco's room. "Since we are all gonna be coming back home soon, how about we all be cool." Said Marco while sitting on his chair. They all looked at each other and then at Tyson who was leaning in the corner of the room. Marco stood up and walked towards Tyson, extending his hand out. Tyson got off the wall and extended his own, dapping him up, Marco banged his fist against his back in a friendly manner.
Darren gave him a handshake, Bodhi a fist bump and Cooper shook his hand as well. The last standing was Kailey, they all looked at her expectantly. "Tch." she snarked and walked up to Tyson, dapping him up. Marco nodded, "good. Now, no ID's everyone, place them in your lockers." Cooper looked at him confused. "Why so?"
Marco chuckled, "All eyes on me, right? All the questions need to be on my 'competency' instead of the very obvious odd one out here." He made air quotes as he looked at Tyson. "Any further questions?" No one spoke. "Good, now go."
Everyone left and Marco and Darren walked side by side, through their duplex. "Why do this all for him? He's done nothing for us." Marco looked down at his glowing arbiter, a strange tingling sensation coming from it. "I'm not sure, strange feeling." He shook his hand and it went away.
In the waiting room, Darren came out. "You're all good to go to your rooms, Marco and I will let you know when to gather next." They all walked to the double doors and disappeared through them. "What was that about?" Marco asked Darren through. His face expressionless as always, "He can smell that something's up. Not sure what, but he feels something is off about the operation." They both walked side by side towards the doors, opening them up into a long hallway where the others were almost at the other end. "Remember, monitored duplexes." Marco nodded, him becoming more relaxed now that they were finally back home.