Submerged somewhere in the deepest part of the Hadal Zone, in the Challenger Deep is a maximum security facility owned and constructed by Eden — Atlantis.
The underwater facility in the shape of two flat discs stacked on top of each other with the bottom part being smaller in size, supported by beams and foundations etched on the seafloor, was originally built as an underwater base of operations for underwater expeditions. Although it still functions the same, Atlantis is now mainly used as Eden and the Circle's most secure vault, housing countless discoveries, artifacts, and given the amount of security locking down the entire place, a prisoner.
An Eden-owned submarine takes Joe down to the depths of the Mariana Trench where Atlantis is sitting, down to its deepest depths at the dark bottom.
Roaming a hundred to a thousand meters above Atlantis are several, drones carrying military-grade weaponry, serving as the facility's first and highly effective line of defense against any potential invader.
The seafloor around Atlantis also contains several submerged, fragment-powered laser cannons which will disintegrate anything that is lucky enough to have gone past hundreds of meters of drones.
As if that isn't enough, Atlantis itself is covered by the same technology behind the Cage that was used during the Wendy assassination with the exception being this was an application of the technology solely for protection purposes and does not employ the use of the compression and implosion feature that the usual Cage devices used in missions are capable of.
This barrier makes use of 300, better engineered, top-of-the-line devices comprising it. An obvious improvement from the devices mandated for use in missions. But even so, the barrier still retains the same delay in activation and de-activation, the only difference is that the delay for the Atlantis barrier is infinitely faster.
Despite making use of 300 devices, the Atlantis barrier only has a 30 second delay and is also capable of withstanding a nuclear explosion once set up, making Atlantis an impregnable underwater fortress.
Joe's submarine hovered in front of the facility's docking bay, waiting for the 30-second delay until the barrier is lifted. He didn't mind the wait. He wasn't in any rush anyway and he knew as well as if not more than anyone how important the matter of security is.
The bay door lets the visitor in after half a minute, filling the small room with metal walls with water from the ocean depths which was slowly drained after the bay door closed.
Joe steps out of the black submarine and looks around for a while.
"Hmm. This place seems smaller than I remember."
He approaches the submarine and peeks back inside.
"You good here? I might take a while," he asks the submarine pilot.
It's 10:00 in the morning, three hours in on Marko's one-day vacation leave. Both of his kids are in school, he had no co-workers around cursing each other out, there was no eldritch abomination on his face, Shelly wasn't in his hands, and his loving wife is right beside him in their living room. It's a quiet, peaceful day. One he wasn't used to anymore. Despite the serene atmosphere, he felt some unease. He couldn't pinpoint whether it's because of the nightmare he had or his body was just telling him that what he's doing now isn't right and that he should be out there flattening monsters. Neither are good.
While switching channels on the television, he stumbles upon news regarding the gruesome incident that took place on Sentinel Island the prior night.
Apparently, the Indian government used the tribe feud as the cover story for the island massacre. Although partly true, this was obviously exaggerated.
The government didn't give any more details other than this and the fact that every single inhabitant of the isolated island was murdered, explaining that the reason why no one was left alive, not even the victors of the supposed "feud", is related to some sort of tribe ritual, ultimately implying a mass suicide but not explicitly stating it.
Of course, this explanation smelled fishy and the only and sure-fire way to refute is if the media is able to get into the island and show the world the gruesome murders. It is for this reason why the Indian government prohibited any type of access in the island even during the aftermath. And even if any member of the media was somehow able to sneak in, chances are they wouldn't find anything anyway as the murder ground was already cleared hours before the incident made headlines around the world.
"That's horrible," Marko's wife shares her sentiment.
"What kind of sick person would be on board with any of this?"
Marko wasn't saying anything. He was getting unwanted flashbacks.
"Everyone died, so even the children??"
Marko is still witnessing a guilt-ridden daydream.
"Those poor kids..."
His wife notices him freezing all of a sudden.
"Honey? What's wrong?"
Marko snaps back into reality.
"You've been acting weird since this morning," she comments.
"Is everything okay at the office?"
His wife doesn't have the slightest clue about his job. What he told him and what she believes is that her husband is just a regular, white-collar employee at one of Eden's offices. Albeit higher than the average on the corporate ladder to explain how his paycheck is as large as it is.
"Yeah it's... everything's fine, honey," he answers with a forced smile.
He switches the channel and gets up to get a glass of water.
"There anything that needs some doing around here?" he asks while walking to the kitchen.
"It's your day off, and you RARELY ever get one. Just relax and enjoy the day," she tells him.
For Marko, "relaxing" never felt this difficult before. Whether he liked it or not, his body was subconsciously craving for action. He couldn't help but feel like he should be out there, contributing in making the world a better place. But the memory and guilt from the previous mission was keeping him from going out.
In Atlantis, Joe is only a few steps away from his destination. He is faced with a wide, rectangular, metal door which is opened by an accompanying suit who has access to every locked vault in the facility, Atlantis' Chief Administrator and a close friend of Joe — Kirk Thornton.
Standing at 6'4" with an athletic physique, a buzz cut, and a long, thick, black beard, Atlantis' Chief Administrator was a U.S. Army Colonel and previously served with Sean and Marko under Joe who was their General at the time.
Like his two army buddies, Kirk was also recruited by Eden as members of the Circle. He spent a few years with the monster-hunting unit until he was considered and offered an administrative position which he promptly accepted.
After a set of biometrics security comprising of fingerprint and hand scanner as well as a retinal scan and a six-digit passcode, the vault door opens.
"Don't you get bored in this place?" Joe asks.
"Sometimes, but not really," Kirk answers, leading the way into the next vault door.
"You should be out in the field, man. Look out Sean and Marko," Joe comments.
"Don't you think you're wasting your prime years rotting in some corporate facility thousands of miles away from the action? AND underwater?"
Kirks smiles. "You're one to talk."
"Hey, I'm already past my prime. Soon enough I'll be like Pops. And you'll get there faster than I did at this rate."
"I appreciate the compliment, but I'm good here," says Joe as he places his hand on the biometric scanner.
"Plus, I'm not demoting myself by going back as an agent," he adds.
"Hey, I'm just saying. We're always in need of capable agents."
"Don't you have those two kids from the orphanage?" asks Kirk as the second vault door opens.
"You have two monsters for the next 10 years, at the least," he leads the way inside a long corridor leading to a dead end and what looked like another vault door, this time much smaller and only about the size of a regular door.
"Yeah, well, you can't just rely on two people. Plus if shit does goes down, even Sebastian would struggle with THOSE fuckers"
"Is that the void kid?"
"Yeah."
"Train him then."
"You don't think I've tried? Pops doesn't want me to."
"Director still paranoid about everything?"
"Now more than ever."
"Speaking of paranoia," they stop upon reaching the vault door at the end of the corridor.
"What do you want with Adam?" Kirk asks.
"I'll tell you about it once I'm done."
"Alright," Kirk opens the final vault.
"I'll be in my office, just call me when you're done."
"You're going all the way back? That's a long ass way, I have to wait for you that long?"
"You said you wanted to talk with him alone. I'm not standing here outside to wait for you two to finish."
"Argh, fine."
"Be careful with this guy," says Kirk as the door closes.
The vault closes and Joe is face-to-face with a square cage with clean-white interior, a sink, and a single bed occupied by the prisoner he had come to visit. Separating him and the prisoner is a thick, clear glass enhanced by ancient essence. So much so that even it would take Joe 20 minutes in the least to break.
"Adam," he calls on to the prisoner, still lying straight in bed.
No answer, no movement.
"How are you doing?" he asks, trying to start the conversation.
"Is that seriously the best you got?" the prisoner answers, still lying in bed.
"You went ALLL the way here, and the best you could think of is 'How are you doing'?"
"Glad to know you're still all brawn, no brain," says the prisoner, antagonizing his visitor.
"What do you want," the prisoner asks.
"Alright then. Let's cut to the chase."