Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

I woke up to a knock on my apartment door. Dread and annoyance hit me like a wave—I already knew what that knock meant. Probably a third eviction notice. I had already gotten two other ones in the past two months. I’d been trying to talk my landlord out of it, telling him the same line over and over. “Give me another month, I’ll get the money, trust me.” He’d been skeptical, but didn’t say much. That was three months ago.

I was still behind. Still broke. I’d sold most of my furniture and half my stuff just to scrape by, and my shitty retail job barely covered the basics. Every single dollar I made went straight to rent. And that was before even factoring in the fifty-four grand of gambling debt hanging over me like a storm cloud.

With a sigh, I pushed myself off my mattress—just a bare mattress on the floor now—and shuffled to the front door. Sure enough, a piece of paper had been slid under it. In bold red letters at the top:
EVICTION NOTICE.

I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding and picked it up. I scanned the page. At the bottom—the date. The deadline. My stomach dropped. December 27th. I had exactly thirty days left until I was forced out.

My grip tightened around the piece of paper. I crumpled it up and hurled it at the wall in a fit of rage. Then I slid down against the door, sat on the floor, knees pulled to my chest. I felt like a failure. Barely twenty four and already about to get kicked out of my place.

My parents had thrown me out two, three years ago when I refused to get a job. I spent a year and a half crashing in my friend’s basement before finally scraping together enough—between working overtime and a lucky streak at the casino—to afford this cheap ass shoebox apartment.

I’d tried everything I could think of, selling fake ID’s, pyramid schemes, every side hustle and cheap jobs I picked up, still not enough. I used to think I had hit rock bottom, but holy shit, it goes even lower. Matter of fact, there was a whole other level under it.

I knew I wasn’t going to get out of this hellhole alone. I wasn’t waiting for a miracle, I knew that wasn’t happening. Miracles aren’t real. What I needed wasn’t a miracle, though.

What I needed was an opportunity.

I sat cross legged on the floor of my nearly empty living room. Because I sold my couch last Tuesday, to some guy that looked a little annoyed at the condition of it. Apparently I had tried to scam him because the photo I had used on the listing made it look a lot nicer than it actually is. He paid me seventy five bucks for it anyway, so it doesn’t really matter. I had contemplated giving it to my landlord, but seventy five dollars was nothing. I was at least two thousand dollars behind. So obviously I went to the casino, attempting to turn that into at least a few hundred dollars. It lasted me about three hours. I lost it all.

I can hear whatever the neighbours had playing on TV bleeding through the thin walls. I plugged my phone into its charging cable and connected it to my bluetooth speaker, attempting to drown out the noise from my neighbours.
Now playing — “Rhiannon” — Fleetwood Mac

I could see the steady drip from the sink that I haven’t bothered to try and fix by myself. There was really no point, I haven’t even paid my water bills this month. My landlord hasn’t seemed to figured that out. Yet. I stared at the wrinkled piece of paper I’d had pinned to the wall with a steak knife. My only knife, because I didn’t have a pin. An awful reminder for myself. I only had twenty five days left. If I don’t figure something out by then, I’m absolutely screwed.

I was staring at my wall when I hear a knock. I looked towards the door. This was weird, I wasn’t expecting anyone and I didn’t order anything. It might be my neighbours, but I’ve never spoken to them more than three times. I hesitated to open the door, what if it was some guy trying to kill me?

I got up from the floor and make my way to the door. I grab the knife that was holding the eviction notice paper and I used that as a weapon, I sneak up to the door. I peek through the peep hole and I see some guy in a suit and three police looking guys behind him. I had no idea who they were. I could see the guy in the suit look down at his watch, I guess seeing how long they had been here and if they should just leave. I contemplated not opening the door, but I was also curious.

“Okay, lock in, close the door in their faces if they say anything bad.” I muttered to myself under my breath. I unlock the door and whip it open as aggressively as possible, brandishing the steak knife. The guy in the suit looked at me, his smile was practiced and robotic. Oh no, what if they’re debt collectors? The thought of being taken away to some backroom at the casino because I owed them money sounded terrible and I would rather die. I was just about to close the door on them when the man in the suit said something.

“Miss McKenna,” he started, his voice was calm, but curt. Something in the tone of his voice made me pause.

“...Yeah..? That’s me.” I said carefully, eyeing the man and the guards behind him. The guy in the suit was strange. He looked about in his late thirties, maybe forties, he had glasses and looks like he works as an accountant.

“Put the knife down, Miss, you won’t be needing that.” He continued, his voice neutral. And for some reason I did. This man had some weirdly persuasive way of speaking, I placed the knife down on the table where my keys usually goes.

“I’m not going to bother with the small talk,” The man said, cutting straight to his point. “We noticed you’re in a desperate need of money, and we have a deal for you.” He looked past me at my nearly empty living room. “Very desperate, apparently.” He added with a weird look on his face. That was the first human facial expression I saw from this guy.

“How– no, why do you know that?” I asked cautiously. Okay, so these guys aren’t playing around.

“That is not a concern of yours, Miss McKenna.” He gave me a tight smile. “So, what do you say?” He pressed for an answer. I looked at him with confusion and suspicion.

“What do I say? I say you should tell me more about then and then I can consider.” I said warily. The man had a look of annoyance on his face before being replaced with the same automated smile.

“We can do that another time, is that alright with you? I’d rather we discussed business in a—” he looked around my apartment once again, “—different setting.”

I gave him an outraged look. “What’s wrong with my apartment?!” I snapped defiantly.

“Nothing. This is just a subject that is to be discussed at our offices.” The man replied.

“No! I am not going anywhere with you!” I said, throwing my hands up in the air. “You’re telling me nothing and expect me to just agree? What do you think I am, stupid?” The man looked like he was trying hard not to roll his eyes.

“Miss, this is why I said we could talk about this back at our headquarters.” He repeated with a slightly exasperated tone. I could tell his patience was running thin.

“Yeah, and I’m supposed to believe you’re not going to kill me? Yeah, right.” I scoffed, rolling my eyes.

“We have no need to kill you, Miss McKenna.” The man stated. “If that was our objective, we would have done so already.” He added.

“No. I’m not going anywhere with you.” I said, about to close the door.

“Five hundred thousand dollars, plus your debt pre-paid.” He interrupted. I paused. That sounded like my ticket out.

“What?” I said, turning to look at him.

“Reward is five hundred thousand dollars, and your debt paid off.” He repeated, sounding slightly annoyed.

“Really? What’s the catch?” I asked skeptically. There was definitely a catch. Maybe he’s going to ask me to kill my entire family and then cut off my left arm or something.

“That’s what we will discuss if you agree to come back to our headquarters.” He replied mildly. I eyed him with a raised eyebrow. It wasn’t too good to be true. There was definitely a task or something I had to do for them, if I say yes, I guess I can only hope it’s not too bad.

“Then I guess so, do I come with you now?” I said, shifting in place. This was making me nervous.

“I need a yes, or a no. Do you agree to come back to our headquarters to talk?” He said again. I probably should turn it down, they seemed shady. But at the same time, I really need that money. What more can I lose?

“Yes, I agree.” I said, my arm trembling. His smile got slightly bigger.

“Great, here’s my business card, and this is our organization.” The man reached his hand into the inside of his blazer and pulled out a small white piece of cardstock. He handed it to me, and I took it with my shaking hand.

“I will send someone to collect you. Goodbye, Miss McKenna, have a great evening.” He said, turning around. The three guardsmen followed behind him. I watched them disappear down the hall after turning a corner that lead to the elevator.

I closed the door and it clicked shut. I held the card up in front of me, examining it. It had nothing else other than a name, the logo and the name of that company.

URBANSHADE — HADAL DIVISION
Benjamin K. Zillman

Chapter Text

It’s been two days since that weird guy in the suit came to my house. I’d barely slept those two days. I was contemplating, it seemed like a good idea, but at the same time, what if they make me do something horrible? This might be my only way out. I feel stupid, for agreeing to something I know absolutely nothing about. All it took was a promise of five hundred grand, and I stupidly agreed. Now that I think about it, it was stupid and I should probably back out.

I’ve been staring at the ceiling for about, three hours now. My thoughts are a tangled mess, back and forth between whether I should accept the guy’s offer or turn it down. I took the card and looked at it again. It was a piece of off white cardstock paper, about two inches in length and four inches in width. I held the card up to my face. The printing was actually a really dark graphite-ish grey, it had a bit of a shine to it when reflected in the light. The card itself was a weird material, it was paper, but it was bendy, almost plasticy.

I was in the middle of looking at the card when someone banged on my door. It scared me and I almost jumped.

“Rynelle McKenna! Open up!” They yelled, still banging on the door. How did they know my name? I had no idea. I stood up, still holding the card and I tiptoed to my door. I peek through the peep hole while reaching for the steak knife, it was still on the side table. I opened up my door.

“Who are you? What do you want?” I yelled, pointing my knife at whoever was outside. I was faced with four men, covered head to toe in gear. “Oh.” I said, frozen in place, the knife slipping from my hand. One of them grabbed me. I screamed and kicked. The man that grabbed me held an injection needle.

“Wait WAIT WAIT NO! Let me go! I changed my mind I changed my mind!” I screamed in protest, kicking at whoever was holding me down. I felt a rush of terror as the man was about to stab me with the injection. He paused, as if waiting for a sign of approval, looking at each other.

“Do we take her?” One of them said through a radio or walkie talkie. “Yes, take her.” The voice on the other side of the radio replied. Whoever was speaking gave them the green light, the guard with the needle stabbed me in the side of the arm with it. I screamed again, but I could feel the tranquilizer kicking in, my vision was already blurring and fifteen or ten seconds later, I was knocked out cold.

I woke up hours later, I had no idea. I looked around, confused. I was in an interrogation room of some sorts. I had duct tape over my mouth. I had no recollection of how I got here, or why I was here. Until the door slid open, and four people walked in. Two guards and two other men. Then I remember why I was here. I looked down, I was still dressed in my normal clothes, while the rest of these people were in suits. I looked across the table, and I see a familiar face. The suit guy from two days ago. I had guessed he was the name on the card. Benjamin K. Zillman. Next to him was a younger looking guy, around my age, maybe a few years older. The younger guy was looking at me, maybe a little too intently, it’s almost creepy.

“Hello again, Miss McKenna,” Mr. Zillman smiled, his hands clasped, resting on the table. I tried to talk, but I forgot my mouth was taped.

“Oh, would you take that off for her?” Mr. Zillman gestured to one of the guards in my direction. I quickly ripped the tape off my face.

“I can do that, thanks.” I said, folding up the piece of tape and putting it on the table in front of me.

“Great. I apologize for the way you’ve been transported, I’ll have a word with them next time.” Mr. Zillman said, looking at the guards. “I’m sure you would’ve appreciated not being handled with such aggression.”

“Yeah. They basically kidnapped me and drugged me. And also taped my mouth shut.” I said, unamused. Both of them said nothing, they just stared at me intently with their forced looking smile that they all have on their faces. It was making me uncomfortable, I start playing with my rings out of habit.

“What..?” I asked defensively. I could tell they were judging me. Maybe even analyzing me. They probably have some kind of technology that can tell every thought I’m having. Maybe a chip in their brains with an AI that talks to them. They’re probably reading everything I’m thinking right now, trying not to laugh because they’re just sooo much better than the rest of humanity with their techy brain chips and ChatGPT in their brains.

“I believe I haven’t formally introduced myself. My name is Benjamin Zillman. And this is Mister Caleb Jennings.” He looked over at the younger guy beside him, who nodded and looked at me with an expression I can’t quite name.

“This is Rynelle McKenna, but I’m sure we all know that already.” Mr. Zillman said with a smile. Caleb Jennings squinted at me.

“Pretty name for a pretty girl.” He said with a creepy smile. I gave him a look of disgust and said “Ew.” Mr. Zillman gave him a warning glare and he looked away.

“Please excuse Mr. Jennings’... behaviour. He’s my trainee.” Mr. Zillman said, looking at Jennings sideways.

“So are you going to tell me what this is and what I just signed up for?” I asked bluntly. Jennings cleared his throat and opened up a folder that was in front of him.

“Okay, so.” He started talking, I got annoyed just at the sound of his voice. It just sounded like scraping a metal fork on a plate. It was emotionless but also somehow felt condescending at the same time.

“Your objective is to retrieve a crystal for the company located at the heart of the Blacksite. You will be sent down with a team of one or more person. You have been given an excuse for your disappearance, your family has been informed that you have been arrested. If–” Jennings cut himself off, “when you make it out, you will be pardoned and an article will be published, telling everyone that your arrest was false and all charges dropped. Got it?” He grinned. He disgusts me, but I nodded anyway.

“Sign here, it’s just some documents we need your signature for.” Mr. Zillman pushed a stack of paper towards me and handed me a pen. I grabbed the pen and scribbled my signature on the lines. Document after document, I signed them all. I needed this money, bad.

“Great.” Mr. Zillman stood up, smoothing down his blazer. “So, you’ll be staying in our lab facilities, until we put together a team for the expedition. It shouldn’t be too long, maybe 3 days at most.” He explained. “There will be others, though I advise you not to get too close to them, as you’ll likely never see them again, but that’s for you to decide.” He held out a hand in front of him.

“Well! I’m glad we discussed this, Miss McKenna! I wish you well on your expedition! Mr. Jennings will send someone to escort you to the lab facilities, so until then you are welcome to just wait outside.” I scrambled to stand up and grabbed his hand for a handshake.

“Oh, yes, thanks… thanks for the uh– blessing or whatever.” I said awkwardly. I let go and dropped my hand back to my side. Zillman smiled and gathered the remaining folders and documents on the table and organized it into a neat stack before leaving the room. I sit back down on the chair, not knowing where to go. Jennings lingered for a moment for some reason, I could feel him staring me down with that same creepy stare earlier. I do everything to try and not reach across the table and strangle him. After maybe twenty seconds he leaves, probably realizing I wasn’t going to leave any time soon.

I stand up and head towards the door after everyone else left. I was taken by surprise of how huge this place was. I don’t know what I was expecting, but it was not a long hallway with doors and desks everywhere. I guess this is like the part where they interrogate people, because all the doors looked identical, and across the hall I see a small lounge thing with couches and bookshelves. I guess that’s where I’m supposed to wait for someone to come take me to their labs or whatever he called it.

Chapter Text

After waiting in the lounge room for what felt like forever, Jennings and another guy finally came back to take me to the lab place. The second guy next to Jennings was taller and leaner, he looked done with his job. I noticed they all had the same logo somewhere on their clothes, wether it was a pin a badge or a patch sewn on. Though this guy was wearing some kind of a jumpsuit instead of a tailored three piece suit like these recruiters or whatever.

“Rynelle, this is Mr. Lawson, he will take you to the lab guest dorms, where you’ll be staying for the next few days, okay?” Jennings said with a smile. I don’t like the way he said my name. It took everything in me to not kill him. This guy was so weird, his voice dragged on longer than it should, he walks funny, and his gaze lingered on you a little too long. He was simply off putting.

I nodded and stood up, Lawson said nothing and turned around, so I quickly scrambled after him. I followed him through the winding hallways and up the countless flights of stairs in this place. Jennings tried to talk to me so many times but I just didn’t even respond to him. He seemed to finally get the hint after what seemed like twenty attempts on trying to start conversations with me. He was also weirdly up close, his hand touched mine probably at least four times accidentally. When I ignored all his attempts on trying to talk to me, he just went ahead and started talking to Lawson, who look about as done with his job as someone who’s been working in an office for the last 35 years.

After walking for probably ten minutes we finally reached the guest dorms, which was just a hallway with a bunch of rooms, and an elevator down to the main cafeteria. We stopped in front of a room and Lawson handed me a keycard with the room number on it. Room 113.

“This is your guest keycard, it unlocks doors to the bathrooms, elevators and your room. Don’t lose this, unless you want to sleep in the stairway. Someone will collect it when they come get you.” Lawson explained, his voice blunt and cold. I nodded and Lawson took that as an okay. He turned around and left, leaving me and Jennings alone in the hall.

“So, uh, how are you doing–” Jennings tried one last time to talk to me. I immediately turn to face him with the biggest frown on my face.

“No.” I cut him off, he looked taken aback by my bluntness.

“Damn, okay. Who pissed in your coffee this morning..?” Jennings muttered sourly. “Can’t even have a single friendly conversation with you females without being accused of trying to fuck.” He said just loud enough for me to hear. I narrowed my eyes at him.

“Nobody is accusing you of trying to sleep with girls just by simply talking to them. I literally just don’t want to talk to you, that’s it. And if girls are accusing you of trying to fuck them because you talked to them, maybe that’s a you problem.” I said to him, looking at him through narrowed eyes. Jennings tried to retort, but no words came of it. I unlock the dorm room door with the card. I slid into the room and the door slammed shut in his face with a satisfying click.

I looked around the dorm, it looked somewhat like a hotel room. It was simple, with a twin bed, a desk, a bathroom and a single dresser. There wasn’t much else in the room, other than what looks like a guidebook of some sorts lying on the desk. I walked over and picked up the booklet. I opened up to a random page and it was a map to navigate this entire area of the Urbanshade headquarters.

And turns out this was just one of many branches of this Urbanshade company, called the Hadal Division. I remembered that from the card, I didn’t know what it meant at the time but now it made sense. I sat down on the edge of the bed and I sank a few inches. I didn’t know what else to do now, I didn’t have my phone on me, this room had no TV, no books, nothing. I stared at the map, I guess the only thing left to do is to look around.

I grabbed the keycard that Lawson had given me earlier and left the dorm. I was now back in the long empty hallway. It was gray and sad and it was almost uncanny because of how neat and modern looking it was. I don’t see anyone, I didn’t even know if these other rooms had people living in there. I was convinced that I was the only one living on this floor. I walk down towards the elevator which I assumed takes you down to the cafeteria area.

I clicked the button to call the elevator, it arrived with a ding and I got in it. I pressed the button for the first floor, which is where the cafe was. I was expecting maybe five other people, but no. As soon as the elevator door slid open I was met with at least seventy people, maybe even more. There were not only people like me, it was a bunch of other people. There were people that looked like scientists, medics and other kinds of professional looking people that I couldn’t even name.

I stepped out of the elevator and looked around this place. It reminded me of a hospital–lighting so white that it was kind of blue, everything in here was gray and metal, and it looked artificial, no sign of life if there weren’t so many people. I slowly walked towards what looked like a lineup to get dinner or something. I was still looking around, not paying much attention when I basically slam into somebody. They let out a shriek and I hear whatever they were holding fall to the floor and shatter into little pieces.

“Oh my gosh I am so sorry!” I frantically apologized, snapping back into attention. The other person looked at the mess of coffee spilled on the floor with a worried frown before looking up at me.

“It…It’s alright.” She said with a sigh, shoulders dropping. She sounded defeated. I cringed at the whole situation, that was really embarrassing.

“Is there anything I could do..?” I asked sheepishly. The woman shook her head.

“It’s alright, don’t worry about it, I’ll find someone to clean this up.” She gave me a weak smile.

“You sure…?” I asked again, wincing. She nodded and looked at me up an down like she was examining me.

“I’m guessing you don’t work here?” She asked me. I shook my head, really looking at her. She wore a button up dress shirt and dress pants. She looked like some kind of secretary.

“That makes sense.” She nodded slowly like it just clicked. “Well, don’t wander too far, I don’t know what you’re here for but you’d probably get lost.” She shrugged.

“Oh, okay, thanks–” I said awkwardly. I still felt really bad for running into her. She smiled and walked away. I should probably leave, this was way too confusing.

Chapter Text

I went back to my room, dragging my feet on the way there. I have no idea what time it was, but I was getting tired, so I assumed it was pretty late. I unlocked my door, entering the room again. It smells like cleaning supplies and something floral. I flopped onto the bed, staring at the ceiling. I think again, was this really a good idea? They were so weird and vague about everything that I’m supposed to be doing, but is it too late to back out now? Would I risk it to save myself? I don’t know, but it’s definitely too late now. I stared up at the ceiling, my own thoughts eating at me until I fell asleep.

I woke up to the noise of someone unlocking my door. I don’t know how I caught that because it wasn’t loud or anything. I sat up in my bed, my head snapping towards the door. Whoever was outside seemed to be able to unlock it after five seconds or so, and I see Jennings with a guard. My face immediately twisted into a look of annoyance and disgust. Why did they always send him when it’s anything to do with me? Because I refuse to believe for a single second that there are not other people that can do the same thing he does.

“Get up,” He grinned, tilting his head at me in a much too friendly manner. “We got another recruit to go down to the Blacksite for your expedition.” I said nothing and glared at him from where I was sitting on my bed.

“Chop chop, girlie.” He clapped his hands together in a way that felt like he was making fun of me. “This guy right here–” He pointed a thumb at the guard that looked really bored who was standing next to him. “--will bring you down for transportation!” He said cheerily, which just pissed me off even more. Everything this man does makes me angry.

“Got it?” He flashed me a smile before turning around and leaving. I was fuming, sitting in my bed cross legged with my hair tangled. The guard let out a sigh and beckoned me to get up.

“You better listen to him, he’s insufferable but you can’t do anything because best believe he’ll go and tell the HQ to blow you up later if you try anything.” He said in a gruff voice.

I roll my eyes. I’m surprised a guy like him hasn’t been fired. He’s unprofessional, even his mentor said so, but he seems to hold some kind of power around here which was strange to me. Though this whole place was strange, so I’m not too surprised.

“Wait– blow me up??” I looked at the guard with a bewildered look. What did they mean blow me up? Were they planning to kill me this whole time? He shook his head.

“Don’t worry about it, just stay in line and listen to what they say, you’ll be fine. Now come on.” He said again, and I reluctantly get up, still confused and disturbed by what he said about being blown up.

I follow the guard through the winding hallways again, until we reached what looked like a locker room.

“Here, you gotta put this on.” He tossed something at me, I lifted it in the air and it was a jumpsuit. I was confused, it was made of some material that I was sure would survive being ripped apart with a chainsaw. That just made me even more confused, and worried about what I signed myself up to do.

I pushed open the locker room door, it was empty. I placed the jumpsuit down on one of the benches and took off the clothes I had on. I stepped into the jumpsuit, I zipped it up halfway before I realized there was a second layer I was supposed to put on underneath; a tight long sleeve diving suit or something. Stuff that surfers would wear. Usually I’d do anything but wear something like that, mainly because it’s uncomfortable, but this cut off at the middle of my thighs, so I guess its fine. I looked in the mirror after figuring the whole suit out, I looked really, really stupid. I let out a dramatic sigh and walked out of the locker room.

“Now what? What do I do with my clothes?” I asked the guard flatly. He shrugged and I frowned. He was nowhere close to being helpful.

“I don’t know, they’ll probably take it somewhere for when you come back up or something.” He said, walking away from the locker room. I followed him without saying anything else and he lead me to some place that was filled with a bunch of other people. I frowned, are all these people doing the same thing as me? If they were there’s quite literally no chance for me to get that crystal they wanted so bad. Unless this was some super dangerous task. Which, would be bad because I’m not equipped to do any of that.

“Oh, yeah. Someone’s gonna give you some diving stuff when you get to the Blacksite, so don’t worry about having no equipment.” The guard said right on cue, as if he had read my mind. I nodded, still feeling uneasy. I guess I’m going to be going underwater.

After probably an hour of waiting, alone– because the guard dude left after like ten minutes– I finally get snatched with some other people and shoved into a car that looked like some military stuff. There were four of us crammed into the backseat. None of us said a word the whole ride there. There as in I really have no idea. We get shoved into an elevator that took us down to a huge area that I could only describe as a giant underground marina of some sorts. I was looking out to what looked like the roof of a cave, with submarines lining up all along the edge of the docks that were standing on.

I step out of the elevator, and the strangers I rode here with immediately walks off to some other direction, leaving me alone. I walked out of the small hallway everyone was getting out from, and a guard stopped me. He was not friendly like the other guy earlier, though they do look like they do the same thing.

“You, go get your gear and then line up for deployment.” He grabbed my arm and pulled me aside roughly and pointed somewhere to the left where I see a small lineup. I glared at him and yanked my arm back while slowly walking towards the line. I stood write behind at the end of the line. I waited and I waited, this was taking forever. I let my gaze wander around this place again. I now just realize how many people there were. This place was filled, people going down in their submarines, people coming in. I had no idea why they were sending so many people. The amount of people I saw at the Urbanshade HQ was nothing compared to this place. It was getting a crystal, how hard can that even be?

After waiting for who knows how long, they gave me a diving tank, and some stuff that was attached to it which I had no clue how to function, and a single container that I was supposed to put the crystal in. I walked towards the submarines, I have no idea how this place works and how they even figure out who is supposed to be paired with who. This place was a loud mess of people yelling, the announcer guy giving orders, water rushing to who knows where, and people freaking out. I was about to lose my mind when I was pulled aside and pushed into one of the submarines.

“What the hell?!-” I protested, tripping over my own feet. The guards outside looked at me with disdain and pressed some buttons to close the door.

“Preparing for deployment.” A robotic female voice said within the console at the back of the submarine. The door slammed down and slid in place, the compressed air releasing. It made a sssssss sound that gave me terrible anxiety. I backed up and fell into the seats on the sides of the submarine. I started hyperventilating, I was supposed to have a partner, now I have to do it alone.

“..Are you okay?” The voice of a girl broke the silence. I screamed and nearly jumped out of my seat.

“Oh my gosh you scared the shit out of me!” I said with my hand over my heart, that was literally beating so hard that it was probably going to explode.

“Sorry, I didn’t realize you were in here.” I finally breathe. The girl shrugged, not saying anything. The submarine descended down the water steadily, I had no idea how long this was going to take until we get to whatever that place was. Neither me or the girl were saying anything, the air was filled with awkward, painful silence.

I stared down at the floor, still silent. I could hear the girl shuffling in her seat on the other side of the submarine.

“So, uh what’s your name? I’m Carmen.” She said. I looked up and actually got a good look at her for the first time. Light brown hair, bangs, and glasses.

“Rynelle, but everyone just calls me Ryn.” I told her, a perplexed look still on my face. Carmen chuckled, and I gave her a ‘what’ look.

“Why are you down here? You look very… normal.” I asked, raising an eyebrow. She laughed again, and shook her head.

“I could say the same about you. But uh, they told me I’d get released from prison if I agreed to get their crystal, so I took that chance.” She explained before asking me.

“What about you? You don’t look like someone that would be in prison.” Carmen tilted her head slightly, I gave her a blank stare.

“Oh, yeah no. I’m not here because of jail, I’m only doing this because they’re gonna pay me five hundred thousand dollars if I did it, and I kind of really desperately need that money.” I cringed, that was kind of embarrassing, but who could I blame other than myself?

“Wait, why are you in prison? You look so.. um, harmless?? I guess?” I asked awkwardly.

“Armed robbery.” She said, cringing at her words. “I accidentally shot somebody and got sentenced to life.” I must’ve looked beyond horrified because she immediately tried to reassure me.

“I’m not crazy! It was an accident and I felt bad about it, but obviously that wasn’t enough to keep me out of jail.” I looked at her in disturbance, before I shook my head.

“Wow, that is actually crazy. Anyway, I was supposed to have a another person that the Urbanshade people assigned me to go with but um, apparently they have no order here.” I looked away and ran my hands through the ends of my hair.

“Yeah, at least I won’t have to do this alone now, if I die you’ll die with me.” Carmen chuckled. I forced an uncomfortable smile. She was very strange, but I guess she’s better than nobody.