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Description
I
THE RISING SUN
Sunday, 14 April, 2013

       As soon as Melissa Riley stepped into the dark room she knew she was going to have a long day ahead of her.

       She wiped the sweat from her forehead, looking around the small one room office. The computers were humming their usual tune, and the sounds of the busy harbor outside were muffled by the sound proof windows she had installed last year. The small white standing fan swiveled left and right, blowing around the hot air. Melissa cracked the window open and turned the fan so that it would blow in the colder harbor air. The smell of freshly cooked eggs and toast filled the air in her office.

       The whole room was off now, as Melissa moved into the conference room.

       Out of order...

       The rest of her fellow Dead Company members were usually asleep at this time. That was because it was "very early" in the morning, but they weren't today. No, today they were sitting at the large round table in the middle of the conference room, staring back at her. She was lazily eating her breakfast looking at The Rapture Times news paper that was sitting in front of everyone. The coffee pot had fresh coffee in it, and for once, none of them had a hangover from a full night of drinking. They had, of course, been informed there would be a meeting today, and they were expected to be completely sober this morning.

       Melissa pushed her glasses up higher onto her face utilizing her middle finger to do as such. It was a bad habit that she had, but she didn't really care. Melissa got up and was near the door after getting a cup of water from the jug that stood next to the coffee pot. She hated the taste of coffee, and she really didn't drink anything more than water. She was walking past the door once more when a voice was heard behind her.

       "Good Morning Riley. Take a seat; we have a long day ahead of us."

       Melissa had jumped a little upon hearing the young voice of her fellow Dead Company member, Gregory Chambers. She turned so that she could actually see Gregory. His brown eyes were looking deep into her icy blue eyes, as if he were trying to pierce her very being with his firm stare. She stared back at him, locking eyes with him. Their stare was broken upon hearing their commander speak,

       "Would you two kiss already and get the hell in here!"

        Melissa sees Gregory hesitate before she rolled her eyes and shot a glare at the member who had spoken those words. They sunk down in their chair slightly. They thought she was very trigger happy despite the fact that she had never once hurt anyone, or even held a gun. The two standing paused for a moment in silent thought, before they both walked to their seats. Melissa sat back down in front of her breakfast and picked up the file that had been sitting there. Gregory was dressed in gray sweat suit that he wore every morning during the spring to jog into work. Melissa jogged with him, however she wore lose fitting jeans, a spaghetti strap shirt which clung to her curves, which just so happened to reveal her bra straps, and a large midnight blue sweatshirt that she almost never took off, it covered up the straps of both garments. Gregory had already taken his sweatshirt off and revealed the black tank top and dog tags he wore underneath, a few other members of their company cheered and whistled in enjoyment. Melissa rolled her eyes and mumbled "attention whore" but smiled anyway.

       A slight smile on his bearded face, he knew Melissa didn't mean it, in fact, her comment was funny to him. The large, sinewy man sat back in his chair and relaxed, picking up the tan file folder that had been waiting for him, and began to read its contents. Melissa, who had glanced through the file already, began to actually read. Her glasses glistened in the sunlight so that it was impossible to see her eyes as she read over the full contents of the folder. She shook head in confusion. The file wasn't in any sort of order, and much of the information seemed to be pieced together, the pictures in the folder were label "USMIA", which meant that Commander Jason Carter used his contacts in the Military instead of Melissa's hacking skills.

       Dead Company Leader and Founder, Jason Gordon Carter, was glaring at his fellow men and women as they each read the reports. USMIA took numerous high-resolution pictures of the skyscraper, its parking structures, and even obtained a detailed layout of the skyscraper's sub-basements, and lower floors. There was even a detailed layout of the heliport. Melissa examined these things thoroughly, and she knew with this information, whose pieces were beginning to fall into place now that the pictures seemed to draw it together, that a "well-executed" operation would ensue.

       Fellow member, Peyton Battle, twirled a pen in his hands, as he sat beside Gregory, who had managed to sit next to Melissa. Peyton's eyes quietly studied the many pictures and layouts. Melissa and Gregory peered over at each other, Melissa's icy blue eyes studying Gregory once more, for just a second before they both peered quietly at Carter, wondering who "Professor Marina Sanchez" was, and the type of mission that would supervene.

       "Professor Sanchez was an archaeologist for TriBeck, The world's largest weapons firm in the United Kingdom, and she was a close friend of mine," Carter said, "The picture at the front of the file is a picture of her."

       Everyone flipped back to the front of the folders now knowing the relevance of the picture. The photo was a profile picture of a young woman, perhaps around Carter's age, Latino, with black hair and glasses.

       "What does a weapons firm need an archaeologist for?" Gregory asked, the sweat trickled down his face, as he removed the picture from the folder and laid it on the table. He was still quite warm from the run that he had taken earlier this morning.

       "She was gathering information about something called the "Doorway To Hell". It is presumably a portal that leads into realm of the dead," replied Carter, watching many of his members gasp. Melissa remained silent, not giving an emotion, her heart had skipped a beat, but she didn't let that show. There were many, many, stories about the Doorway to hell, and none of them were pleasant. Many remembered the stories, and some had lived them. There was quiet murmurs around the table, but nobody spoke up, except Gregory,

       "Does it have something to do with the recent uprising in the Derweze area?" he asked, rubbing his hands together.

       "Possibly. The locals don't want a repeat of 1971, when the ground beneath a drilling rig collapsed, leaving a large hole with a diameter of about 250 feet."

       Gregory nodded along with Carter's words. Many members looked even more uncomfortable then before, they were hoping that it was a joke, or just a myth, but hearing this information, they knew it was more real than ever before. Melissa peered at Gregory out of the corner of her eye. There was something about him, why was he so calm. She knew that he took his job seriously, and from the sounds of it, he was taking this job seriously as well, but there was something different about this… something… She blamed it on paranoia and looked back down at the file, flipping through it once more.

       "What happen to Sanchez?" Melissa asked, with a hint of urgency in her voice, when nobody else seemed to realize that they weren't told where the woman was. That was abnormal when it came to their reports, usually there was "unknown location" in the report somewhere but the pieced together file seemed to be missing this little detail.

       "She went missing after a meeting with the corporate heads. We are being asked to locate and bring her back at once. Failure is not an option people. Chambers, I want you and Wells to go to Japan, meet up with Vincent and get our shipment of weapons."

       "Got it Sir!" Both men said at the same time.

       "Riley, I want you and Simmons to hack Tribeck's main frame and get me more information about the project. They're the ones who hired us and they still refuse to give us all of the information that we need."

       "Yes Sir!" Melissa said, his face reflected off her glasses as he looked at her, his piercing green eyes didn't bother her at all as she peered back at the man. She let her glasses slide down and she looked over the top of them to prove that she wasn't intimidated by the man like the rest of the women there were. Carter respected her for this, just as he respected Gregory for being so willing to do was he was instructed to do.

       "That is all. Dismissed!" Carter announced, and with those words the room emptied of personnel.

Description
I
THE RISING SUN
Sunday, 14 April, 2013

       As soon as Melissa Riley stepped into the dark room she knew she was going to have a long day ahead of her.

       She wiped the sweat from her forehead, looking around the small one room office. The computers were humming their usual tune, and the sounds of the busy harbor outside were muffled by the sound proof windows she had installed last year. The small white standing fan swiveled left and right, blowing around the hot air. Melissa cracked the window open and turned the fan so that it would blow in the colder harbor air. The smell of freshly cooked eggs and toast filled the air in her office.

       The whole room was off now, as Melissa moved into the conference room.

       Out of order...

       The rest of her fellow Dead Company members were usually asleep at this time. That was because it was "very early" in the morning, but they weren't today. No, today they were sitting at the large round table in the middle of the conference room, staring back at her. She was lazily eating her breakfast looking at The Rapture Times news paper that was sitting in front of everyone. The coffee pot had fresh coffee in it, and for once, none of them had a hangover from a full night of drinking. They had, of course, been informed there would be a meeting today, and they were expected to be completely sober this morning.

       Melissa pushed her glasses up higher onto her face utilizing her middle finger to do as such. It was a bad habit that she had, but she didn't really care. Melissa got up and was near the door after getting a cup of water from the jug that stood next to the coffee pot. She hated the taste of coffee, and she really didn't drink anything more than water. She was walking past the door once more when a voice was heard behind her.

       "Good Morning Riley. Take a seat; we have a long day ahead of us."

       Melissa had jumped a little upon hearing the young voice of her fellow Dead Company member, Gregory Chambers. She turned so that she could actually see Gregory. His brown eyes were looking deep into her icy blue eyes, as if he were trying to pierce her very being with his firm stare. She stared back at him, locking eyes with him. Their stare was broken upon hearing their commander speak,

       "Would you two kiss already and get the hell in here!"

        Melissa sees Gregory hesitate before she rolled her eyes and shot a glare at the member who had spoken those words. They sunk down in their chair slightly. They thought she was very trigger happy despite the fact that she had never once hurt anyone, or even held a gun. The two standing paused for a moment in silent thought, before they both walked to their seats. Melissa sat back down in front of her breakfast and picked up the file that had been sitting there. Gregory was dressed in gray sweat suit that he wore every morning during the spring to jog into work. Melissa jogged with him, however she wore lose fitting jeans, a spaghetti strap shirt which clung to her curves, which just so happened to reveal her bra straps, and a large midnight blue sweatshirt that she almost never took off, it covered up the straps of both garments. Gregory had already taken his sweatshirt off and revealed the black tank top and dog tags he wore underneath, a few other members of their company cheered and whistled in enjoyment. Melissa rolled her eyes and mumbled "attention whore" but smiled anyway.

       A slight smile on his bearded face, he knew Melissa didn't mean it, in fact, her comment was funny to him. The large, sinewy man sat back in his chair and relaxed, picking up the tan file folder that had been waiting for him, and began to read its contents. Melissa, who had glanced through the file already, began to actually read. Her glasses glistened in the sunlight so that it was impossible to see her eyes as she read over the full contents of the folder. She shook head in confusion. The file wasn't in any sort of order, and much of the information seemed to be pieced together, the pictures in the folder were label "USMIA", which meant that Commander Jason Carter used his contacts in the Military instead of Melissa's hacking skills.

       Dead Company Leader and Founder, Jason Gordon Carter, was glaring at his fellow men and women as they each read the reports. USMIA took numerous high-resolution pictures of the skyscraper, its parking structures, and even obtained a detailed layout of the skyscraper's sub-basements, and lower floors. There was even a detailed layout of the heliport. Melissa examined these things thoroughly, and she knew with this information, whose pieces were beginning to fall into place now that the pictures seemed to draw it together, that a "well-executed" operation would ensue.

       Fellow member, Peyton Battle, twirled a pen in his hands, as he sat beside Gregory, who had managed to sit next to Melissa. Peyton's eyes quietly studied the many pictures and layouts. Melissa and Gregory peered over at each other, Melissa's icy blue eyes studying Gregory once more, for just a second before they both peered quietly at Carter, wondering who "Professor Marina Sanchez" was, and the type of mission that would supervene.

       "Professor Sanchez was an archaeologist for TriBeck, The world's largest weapons firm in the United Kingdom, and she was a close friend of mine," Carter said, "The picture at the front of the file is a picture of her."

       Everyone flipped back to the front of the folders now knowing the relevance of the picture. The photo was a profile picture of a young woman, perhaps around Carter's age, Latino, with black hair and glasses.

       "What does a weapons firm need an archaeologist for?" Gregory asked, the sweat trickled down his face, as he removed the picture from the folder and laid it on the table. He was still quite warm from the run that he had taken earlier this morning.

       "She was gathering information about something called the "Doorway To Hell". It is presumably a portal that leads into realm of the dead," replied Carter, watching many of his members gasp. Melissa remained silent, not giving an emotion, her heart had skipped a beat, but she didn't let that show. There were many, many, stories about the Doorway to hell, and none of them were pleasant. Many remembered the stories, and some had lived them. There was quiet murmurs around the table, but nobody spoke up, except Gregory,

       "Does it have something to do with the recent uprising in the Derweze area?" he asked, rubbing his hands together.

       "Possibly. The locals don't want a repeat of 1971, when the ground beneath a drilling rig collapsed, leaving a large hole with a diameter of about 250 feet."

       Gregory nodded along with Carter's words. Many members looked even more uncomfortable then before, they were hoping that it was a joke, or just a myth, but hearing this information, they knew it was more real than ever before. Melissa peered at Gregory out of the corner of her eye. There was something about him, why was he so calm. She knew that he took his job seriously, and from the sounds of it, he was taking this job seriously as well, but there was something different about this… something… She blamed it on paranoia and looked back down at the file, flipping through it once more.

       "What happen to Sanchez?" Melissa asked, with a hint of urgency in her voice, when nobody else seemed to realize that they weren't told where the woman was. That was abnormal when it came to their reports, usually there was "unknown location" in the report somewhere but the pieced together file seemed to be missing this little detail.

       "She went missing after a meeting with the corporate heads. We are being asked to locate and bring her back at once. Failure is not an option people. Chambers, I want you and Wells to go to Japan, meet up with Vincent and get our shipment of weapons."

       "Got it Sir!" Both men said at the same time.

       "Riley, I want you and Simmons to hack Tribeck's main frame and get me more information about the project. They're the ones who hired us and they still refuse to give us all of the information that we need."

       "Yes Sir!" Melissa said, his face reflected off her glasses as he looked at her, his piercing green eyes didn't bother her at all as she peered back at the man. She let her glasses slide down and she looked over the top of them to prove that she wasn't intimidated by the man like the rest of the women there were. Carter respected her for this, just as he respected Gregory for being so willing to do was he was instructed to do.

       "That is all. Dismissed!" Carter announced, and with those words the room emptied of personnel.