As soon as Cody’s face was pushed through the portal, he found himself back in the basement of the Henry Building... surrounded by armed men.

Once you got 10 feet away from the portal, it was standing room only.

Guns were at the ready. The people holding them were masked up, faceless black storm-troopers. They all faced Cody, unmoving and silent.

Close by stood a folding table covered with cases and electronic equipment that Cody didn't recognize. Several tripods were positioned around the portal with multifaceted, mirrored sensors mounted on top. The group who had been hunkered down over screens were now focused on Cody. 

{Just when things seemed like they couldn’t get more surreal.}

Luckily, Mark’s hand never left his shoulder and not even a second after Cody passed through, Mark was there as well. “Mission success, everybody.” Mark clapped Cody’s shoulder and walked directly to the table with the electronics array.

The men all lowered their guns to a resting position, but didn’t break their perimeter. 

Cody shifted uncomfortably, unsure what to do. Could he move? 

Finally, Mark called Cody over with a quick wave.

Still eyeing the gunmen fanned out around him, Cody tried to seem as nonthreatening as possible and took slow, careful steps towards the table. As he moved, he saw that the men’s attention hadn’t been on him at all; they were still focused on the portal.

Besides Mark, there were four other people at the table, all wearing flack vests. A middle-aged man intensely studied several screens displaying data while dictating information to a much younger man frantically tapping away beside him on a laptop.

Mark was engaged in conversation with the other two, a man and a woman. Cody sensed there was some disagreement between them, as the woman looked upset.

Mark put his hand around Cody’s shoulder as he came near, “This is Cody. I found him at the very end of the dungeon in pretty rough shape. He managed a full clear!”

Mark spoke about Cody as if he were a proud uncle telling his friends how his nephew got a home run in little league.

The woman reached out to shake Cody’s hand, “I’m Miranda, and I’m glad you made it back in one piece. We are wrapping up here, the breach should be closed in a few moments."

Cody turned to see that the portal had already shrunk to one quarter of its original size and was closing rapidly. 

Clearing his throat to regain Cody's attention, the man standing with Mark and Miranda was openly agitated at the situation unfolding. "This isn’t the best place for a discrete conversation. I suggest you come with us. We have offices nearby, and then we can talk about everything that has happened.” 

Cody was getting an uneasy feeling about traveling with these people.

Miranda seemed to pick up on his hesitation and quickly jumped into further introductions. "This is Carl, he's in charge of the breach detail," She indicated the man standing beside Mark. She then pointed at the two technicians still hovering over their terminals, "And the other researchers on my team are Quince and David." The middle age man gave a small wave followed by the younger man, who nodded without looking up from his screen. "We've been monitoring the Breach while you were inside. It was an easy one, stable and well contained in here..." She trailed off as she realized how at odds her description was with Cody's rough appearance.

"Breach is closed!" Quince called out loudly as he flipped the switch on a large machine. The basement burst into a flurry of activity as everyone began breaking down equipment for transport. The armed personnel jumped into action, breaking off into groups to perform tactical sweeps of the building and assist in moving equipment. Quince and David closed and locked over a dozen large, metallic cases. They escorted them up to the main level, shouting instructions and warnings to the gun-toting men assisting them.

Mark elbowed Cody in the ribs and smiled, "Never a dull moment, huh? Come on, kid, let's go."

{This is my best shot to get some answers about what's going on.}

With Mark’s arm around his shoulder guiding him along, Cody followed the team up the stairs and out onto the street. 

Once on the street, Cody could see that the job site was empty except for the armed security detail. 

Waiting out on the street were several black Chevrolet Suburbans with white “Government” license plates. 

The research team split up into pairs and loaded into different vehicles. Mark steered Cody to the third one. As they neared the side of the large SUV, one of the security detail approached Cody to take his sword and load it into the back. Mark cut him off, “He’s very touchy about the sword, he’ll load it himself.” Without a word, the guard turned and opened the back hatch for Cody. As he laid the sword down in the back, Cody could see that it squatted the rear end of the SUV with its weight.

Cody limped back around to the side of the SUV and began to gingerly climb in. Mark was already seated in the back row and Cody managed to join him with some difficulty.

After a few moments, the rest of the seats were occupied by the armed guards. They drove off in a long column of black through the streets of downtown Portland.

{We must look like a funeral procession.} 

Nobody talked during the drive, adding to Cody’s growing anxiety. Mark seemed utterly unaffected beside him, ogling out the window at food carts and occasionally making an “Oh” or “Hmm” sound as the convoy rolled through the busy downtown area.

Though it took several minutes, they only traveled a dozen blocks before they exited the street into a subterranean parking garage.

Once inside the garage, they drove past row after row of similar large, black SUVs. Finally the drivers rolled to a stop in front of a set of steel double doors and everyone began disembarking.

David jogged off and returned moments later dragging two large flat carts, the kind you’d see at large warehouse stores, and together he and Quince began loading their assortment of large metal cases.

Carl and Miranda’s previous quarrel seemed to have been renewed on the ride back, but as Mark and Cody tumbled out of their SUV, she cut the conversation short and walked over towards them. 

“Mr. Smith, may I call you Cody? Carl has expressed a desire that you allow his men to lock up your sword in the weapon locker as is the rule. He is still struggling to realize that Enabled Persons themselves are a weapon, large sword or not, but if you could just acquiesce with his request, it would make things easier on all of us.” 

Cody glanced quickly at Mark, and the man gave him a reassuring nod, so Cody agreed, “Yeah, that’s fine. Do I need to go with them or...?”

Miranda laughed, “No, no, they can handle that, and we can head straight up to the conference room, I’m sure you have plenty of questions. If you’ll follow me.” With that, Miranda turned and swiped a badge at a black reader near the double doors and they clicked open. Inside was a bank of elevators and a large hallway with a sign that indicated the “Equipment Locker” was further down the way.

Mark followed along, and Cody wondered what exactly he did here? Was he just a constant observer or did he have specific duties? His warning to Cody back in the tunnel made him think he was some kind government cop that handled other people with special abilities like him. But he sure didn’t behave that way. He was jovial and good natured and seemed to have a real interest in food, considering half the conversations he’d had with people had been about local restaurants.

Miranda took them up several floors and when the elevator dinged to let them know they had arrived, she had to swipe her card at another black reader inside the elevator in order for the doors to open up.

It opened onto large room filled with cubicles. Miranda walked quickly out and across the space to a large conference room on the far side.

“Feel free to take a seat, can I get you anything, water or coffee?” Cody was dying for something to drink, so asked for a water. Miranda got a bottle from a small table at the back of the room and set it on the table in front of him. 

In spite of his thirst, Cody took small sips of the water, he was afraid if he drank too quickly he might be sick.

Miranda and Mark were sitting opposite Cody at the long table, and as Cody continued to nurse his bottle of water, she began to explain the lay of the land.

“Cody, we work for a new co-operative branch of the United States Government that shares resources between both the Army and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. We have been tasked with the research, containment, and, eventually, the eradication of the source of the phenomena that we have come to know as “Breaches”.