The following day, Axel, B, 619 Reggie and Lance, all gathered outside of Obrian's office. As they stood outside they could here a loud argument of bickering amongst three men.
"WHAT! How is it my responsibility to go with them! I'm a Major! At least two tiers above this mission! Why can't you get Core or Vik to do it!"
"Listen SIMONE! The nature of this mission is very dangerous that's why we need such a high level chaperone looking over their shoulder!"
"HAAAHH?" Seymour yelled. "Isn't he going?" Seymour yelled pointing at Obrian?"
Obrian smiled evilly, flashing the glare of his glasses. "He's right, I see no need for bad company on this mission, leave the cadets to me and my research"
"No way in hell!" Grant yelled. "I can't leave this kids with you alone! You'll turn them into your a bunch of lab rats and run some kind of twisted experiments!"
"Science is a way of learning, and sometime the learnings from science can bend reality, how can we bend reality, without first twisting it?" O'Brian said tightening his lab gloves.
"Do you ever take those things off!" Seymour yelled
"Only when I am replacing them with new ones." O'Brian said smiling. "I have to protect myself from hostile work environments"
"Thats it!" Grant said shaking his head. "Seymour! Your taking those 6 brats and that's the end of it! That's an order! Do I make myself clear!"
"YEs... sir"
"Geez!" Reggie snarled. "Why are they always calling us brats!"
"Heh, probably because you guys are brats!" Lance said.
"Say again!" B yelled.
"Your low rank, low power shifters that cause nothing but trouble! If thats not the definition of a brat what exactly is?" Lance asked.
"Well don't act so tough!" Lars yelled. "Last I checked he said 6 brats not 5! How does it feel to be one of us!" Lars yelled.
"Hmph! At least I'm not a brat and a loser now that would suck! How does it feel to be both? Axel!"
"Your a-!"
As Lars began to hurl an insult, the door to the O'Brian office opened.
"I will meet at H-3 in 15, I trust you'll look after the kids" O'Brian said to Seymour
"Hey were not just kids!" Reggie yelled "We're cadets, give us at least some respect!" Reggie yelled.
"Heh, we'll see" Obrian said. "The badlands is a harsh place where many agents have perished, there are criminals so foul that even the top agents shake in terror with mention of there name. I bet you'll run under your covers and hide when we get there."
"No we won't!" Lars said. "We're not afraid of anything! We may just be kids, but us kids have been through a lot! Those bad guys don't stand a chance!"
Reggie, B, Lance, and 6 stood behind Lars resolutely ready to back him up.
"This kid" O'Brian thought. "He's changed so dramatically, isn't this the Axel that was crying just a few weeks ago?"
(O'Brian remembered)
Axel sitting alone in a forest cried to himself as a thunderstorm drench his clothes. Alone in the dark he cried softly.
"This nightmare…" Axel said trembling as he began to tear up.... it never ends." he said wiping his eyes.
"No Axel…" Obrian voice said "Unfortunately you're not dreaming."
As he looked up he saw a man's glasses glistening in the darkness among the shadows of the wood.
"Darkness… Chaos...These are but small slices of what the world has to offer", he said stepping out of the darkness.
"If you give up now, how will you know what the rest is like?"
(back to present)
"Another memory" Lars thought. "Was O'Brian remembering that?"
"Very well, if your so confident, I will see yo in ten, get ready, you are about to enter into a whole new domain, a domain of tyranny and evil."
"You heard the man!" Grant interjected. "Seymour get these cadets to Helipad 3 ASAP!"
"Yes sir!" Seymour said leading Lars and friends to the Helipad.
As they came to the roof of the building, Lars came across a gigantic aircraft the size of a house!
"Thats... a helicopter!" Lars remarked.
"This is so cool!" 6 remarked.
"Heh you gotta admit" Reggie said to Lance. "Hanging out with us losers can be pretty cool sometimes"
"Tsk! This is pretty cool, but at no point was I hanging out with you guys!" Lance answered
The copter had giant wings and a giant loading deck for at least 10 cars worth of loading space. On either wing there was a section cut out that had propeller blades spinning viciously, blowing wind at Lars and the others. Complete with a white gloss and a futuristic blue window panel, the helicopter looked like something from a cyberpunk videogame.
"A helicopter? What is this 1939?" O'Brian laughed. "No, that there is a Hovercopter"
"1939!?" Seymour said. He gave O'Brian a strange look.
"What is it Seymour?" O'Brian asked.
"How did you know when it was created? We have lost most documents from the pre-shift era... no, even if we had documents, you said that so simply, as if..."
"As if what? I was there when it was made?" O'Brian laughed.
Scratching his head and looking away, Seymour realized how foolish he sounded.
"Wow, I guess you really know your stuff."
"Lets save the chatting for the flight" O'Brian said leading them on. "We will go over the briefing and what I expect on this mission."
As Lars got onto the Hovercopter he watched as the giant blue barrier began to part.
"This is S.P.A Access," A hologram on the deck said. "The barrier has been lifted authorization level 5, Henriette O'Brian, you are clear to take off!"
O'Brian shook his head at the pilot of his hovercopter.
"Gentlemen, we are off! E.T.A to S.P.A Arcs 35 minutes!" The pilot declared
"Yeh!!!" The cadets cheered.
As they flew out of S.P.A headquarters, they began to drift over a giant dessert of parsed land.
"What the heck..." Lars remarked "Why is everything so barren? Do people actually live out here!"
As his eyes panned the landscape, he saw no trace of trees life or civilization.
"Sadly, yes they do" Seymour said. "This hot and barren wasteland is home to over 30 milloin people" Seymour said.
"Impossible!" Reggie remarked. "That many!"
"Is that a lot?" Lars asked.
"It certainly is" Lance said. "Considering all of Atlantica is 3 million in all districts including headquarters, over 90% of the population lives out here."
"90%!" Lars remarked. "So they majority of the people in the year 2230.."
"Live in miserable, dire and distraught conditions as the top 10% of the population thrives." O'Brian said. "You don't need much research to figure out that fact."
"This world..." Lars thought. "In 200 years, the world still hasn't changed!"