'...not again'
I powered through the slight headache and opened my eyes, the room was well-light, it had white tiled? walls that looked like a part of a scientist's lab, but it just had a table and two chairs in front of me, I looked down to notice I was still in my Arsenal Jersey, sitting on a comfortable chair.
'O-okay? why does that glass look eerily similar to interrogation rooms one-sided window--'
My breathing quickened and I looked around the room for an escape but there wasn't any door leading out, I was confused and bewildered at the same time, 'how did I get here where am I?'
My adverse reactions to the surroundings maybe triggered my captives into action, a door slid open out of nowhere and a man and a woman enter the room, my attention was fixed on the door that looked paper-thin and upon closing easily melded with the frame once again. It was then that I realized that the white colour of the room helped the camouflage of the door. Scraping sounds of the chair brought my attention back to the couple as they took a seat and both placed an office file in front of them.
'N-no, 'couple' is the wrong word, the seems to be in his early 40's whereas the girl seems to be around my age, possibly a manipulation attempt...'
They both surveyed me as I looked at them, both of them had sharp facial features, and although the man had some wrinkles on his forehead he still looked handsome, the girl, on the other hand, was one of the prettiest he had ever seen, they both wore standard office suits and the girl had blond hair tied back in a tight ponytail, she had clear blue eyes that were assessing me as I looked at her in a daze for a moment.
'D-dammit man, get a hold of yourself, think about Mel...'
While I was thinking about how pretty the girl was the man spoke, "Ryan Richards, son of William Richards and Samantha Richards--"
That was enough to get my attention on the black-haired man, I looked into his blue eyes and for a moment I could see a family resemblance between the two, familiar bone structure and their eyes was enough to determine that maybe I should not ogle his daughter in front of him. Coming out of my hormone-induced haze I looked at my current situation and tried to gather all the facts.
'Crisp business suits, high-tech lab, enough reach to possibly recruit an 18-year-old, possible one-way glass? Folders possibly containing information? God-cop bad-cop?'
"Why am I here? and where is here?" I leaned forward and placed my chin on my palms, carefully maintaining my expression as neutral as possible I looked away from his eyes and lazily let my eyes wander around the room while concentrating on the blue dot at the bottom right corner of my vision.
[Planted ZX-458 has reached optimal Energy Levels!]
[Integration Initiated!]
[You have been selected along with a group of 10,000,000 people to the Initial Initiation!]
[Get Ready to teleport to the Training ground in 6h 15 m 31 s]
'a 6-hour gap?'
"You have more pressing concerns to deal with." He slid the folder in front of him to me and said, "Why don't you take a look?"
The folder slid across the surface of the table and tapped against my elbows, giving him a raised eyebrow I opened the folder and started reading.
'...Name: Alex Richards...'
'...Frequent Drug abuse...dealing...source of drugs in the neighbourhood...'
My expression hardened as I continued to read the report along with several pieces of evidence and photos tieing Alex to the crime. Photos of a black-haired green-eyed boy talking to thugs and handing out suspicious packets were included so I closed the file and place my slap my hand on my forehead while groaning a little.
'Dammit, is this how you are paying to move out, I should have known he didn't study enough to get a job even before finishing senior year...'
"...As you can see, the police department has built a solid case against your brother and he is currently being moni--"
I cut him off mid-speech, "What do you want?" I looked up and slid the folder back as I look at him.
"There is a delicate matter, with which if you cooperate then your brother will not be held accountable for his actions if he gives up his higher source of course... "
'They don't seem like a part of any criminal family, plus the reports were from the police records...ugh what the hell were you thinking Alex--'
I groan as I could see the look in his eyes, "Who are you?" I look between him and his daughter?
"It doesn't matter who we are, we just have some questions that you need to answer..."
'Dammit'
"Well, then I am not talking, if you can get information from the police then I only have two guesses..." I stop for a moment looking at him in the eye before suddenly shifting my attention to the girl, "Crime Family or Secret Service?"
Her eyes betrayed her stoic stance as she reacted to the latter option, I shook my head and leaned back against my chair, and turned my attention back to the man, "Secret service it is then? considering what I know and what you can't find out, or you are more likely trying to confirm from multiple sources?"
'but 10,000,000 people, statistically there should be 1 person in every 1000 at least? how come they can't find what they want within their own department?'
The man grimaced before saying, "This is an issue of National security young man, it would be well for you to cooperate or you could be charged with treason and all your rights would be void..."
I looked at him lazily before looking at the girl, She really was pretty but upon looking closer at her face I realize I may have overestimated her age because of the lipstick and formal attire.
'why am I not concerned about myself, is it because I know that the future is filled with unknowns now? but I still need to make sure Alex and others are okay--'
"I understand what you are saying, but threatening my family was the wrong way to do about it, what if I threaten your daughter here, I don't think you would react to that?"
' what the fuck am I saying, damn he looks pissed--'
"We will come back tomorrow, I hope you will cool down till then and have some answers ready."
He stood up, turned around, and walked out of the door as I turned my attention to his daughter who was sighing and shaking her head. She looked at me and then slid her folder across the table, this time I trapped it with my palm and carefully opened it, It contained the detailed analysis of what I did after waking up today, most probably tracked through my phone.
"So will you tell me what this is about?" I looked at her and asked, she indicated to the report and said, "Just read it" I stared at her for a second before continuing with the report.
"Why am I being followed?" the frown on my face was genuine as I looked at her.
'There is no possible reason for them to follow me arou... it was the google searches wasn't it--'
I turned the file to the second page and realize that each one of my google search today was listed in the report.
"How many people did you flag?" I looked at her and she seemed startled, before she could speak the doors opened and the man walked back in the room and took the seat.
'So it is a one-way mirror-- that's high-tech'
"We flagged about 1 million youth around the world suddenly started searching with words that included, 'blue screen', 'alien invasion', and 'Hallucinations', seeing the severity of a possible threat everyone who searched about this was flagged, and we searched for people in our departments who either could shed some light on the searches or for people in your conditions that could be interrogated because of some leverage."
I looked at him and said, "Seeing the vast number of people and your authority I assume you already know the answers, why kidnap me then?"
"Because according to the information gathered this is either a prank and diversion from an even bigger attack or maybe something a little more serious, there are many people who are collaborating with the government into searching with clues and given your clean background check, it was proposed to include you in the program as well..."
'so?'
Seeing my raised eyebrows he continued, "You are sharp, far sharper than what we expected a football player to be, and as the situation is a complete unknown we want people who can think on their feet and react to a situation rather than give up..."
'the-fuck? are they recruiting?'
"You have a silly way to do a recruitment speech." His daughter giggled a little and I was once again stunned by her beautiful looks before the man said, "Well it is necessary, we can't expect people who can't even figure out a way to not just give up as soon as the situation is against them, we did not, unfortunately, had enough time to gather many people and according to the interface there are 9,000,000 people that we know nothing about, it is frustrating but only youth between the ages of 15 -24 seemed to have received the invitation and even among them 1 in a 100 statistically, although the number seems quite large we got a shorthand of the stick as most people that we were able to get our hands on are not competent enough or smart enough to think on their feet and if it is a physical challenge then the chances of them surviving are pretty slim."
'right the curse of the unknown?'
"What is it that you want then, I can't be sure?" I knew what he was saying but I wanted a strong statement for once.
"We want you to survive and if there is a way back after reaching the place, to come back and relay any and all information you could find--"
"Huh!"
'Well that's a twist'