The day of the trip to Mythos Labs arrived and the students who were going collected on the university campus to take a bus. As Mythos Labs created many different types of products, students from all majors were encouraged to go. There was a slight chill in the air and most of the students huddled in their jackets and sweaters as they filed onto the bus. Lance adjusted the NAU C'thulhus ball cap on his head as he stepped up near the end of the line. He could see Adam and Scott in the windows near the middle of the bus as he climbed the short steps up. He was instantly much warmer than he cared to be from the low heat on the bus and pushed up the sleeves of his hoodie. Noel quickly spotted him as he entered and pointed with furious excitement at the empty seat next to Melody in front of where she and Scott sat. Adam quickly switched to a spot on the opposite side as Lance sat down, each giving his friends a quick greeting.
Noel reached over the seat and picked up the edge of Lance's hood.
"Lance? Is this a jacket you're wearing?" she asked in a concerned manner.
"Is there something wrong with it?" Lance questioned, glancing over his shoulder.
"Something VERY wrong! You never wear jackets unless it's like twenty below zero!" she exclaimed. "And what's with the hat? I thought you didn't like sports?
"So I decided to wear a hat today?"
Noel narrowed her eyes.
"It's all very suspicious of you…"
She paused, then pointed an index finger in a moment of realization.
"I know what you're up to!"
Lance remained unmoved but was slightly holding his breath as he quickly looked at Melody who just looked confused.
"And what might that be?" he finally asked.
Noel held her interrogative stance momentarily, then loosened up with a mischievous smile.
"You don't want them to see that the newest intern at Midas Corp is spying on the competition!"
Lance quietly exhaled, exchanging glances with Adam across the aisle of the bus.
"You caught me," he said, throwing his hands up in mock surrender.
"You and your conspiracy theories," Melody laughed at Noel.
"No, that's Scott's department!" Noel smiled as she elbowed her boyfriend.
Once everyone was situated, the bus rolled forward and they were off. The trip to Mythos Labs was uneventful as the students were all taking the opportunity to enjoy the reprieve from their regular classes. With midterms on the horizon and the trip counting as extra credit, a good majority of the students accepted the chance to go. Plus, it gave Lance and Adam time to catch up with their friends as to distract partly themselves from their primary objective.
“Have I told you guys about my new movie idea?” exclaimed Scott with wide eyes as he excitedly turned to his friends, “It’s about a secret agent who is able to travel through alternate dimensions and he only goes by the designation of ‘Agent R’!”
“Agent R? What does the ‘R’ stand for? Is he a pirate?” questioned Noel with a mischievous grin.
Adam piped up intrigued.
“Alternate dimensions? How is he able to travel to them? Does he use wormholes, time machine, or a program that chooses it for him?”
Scott smirked knowing that he got their attention and ready to answer all their inquiries.
“‘R’ is just what he goes by to keep that air of mystery. He is not a pirate, though now that you mention it that would be a cool alternate universe for him to visit..and he travels using a special modulator that he wears!”
“What kind of modulator is it?” asked Melody who was also getting pulled into Scott’s fantasy.
“Is it like a watch or a belt?”
“I am so glad you asked! It’s a specially modified watch that allows him to see an infinite number of universes. However, he gets his missions from his ‘guy in the chair’ at a special agency called Parallel Labs.”
“Speaking of labs, we just arrived at Mythos and I don’t think they are working on any alternate dimension travel yet!” remarked Lance who couldn’t help grinning at his friend’s wild yet intriguing screenplay idea.
The bus stopped and everyone filed off the bus. Everyone took a moment to take in where they were at. Mythos Labs was a large campus that had a very modern aesthetic. Everything looked cutting edge and almost surgical with plain whites and grays. The only color came from the large blue and gold ‘Mythos Labs’ sign at the top right corner of the main building. The group was greeted by two sharply dressed employees, one man and one woman who both looked to be in their early thirties, were each holding several lanyards with badges. The young man welcomed the group.
“Welcome Everyone to Midas Labs! We are so glad that you are able to visit our wonderful facility where we are on the cutting edge of genetic research. Before we have you all enter the building, we ask that everyone put on one of these lanyards. These visitor passes are coded with a chip that will allow you to enter the different facilities safely and unrestricted to the areas we will be touring today. Please keep them on as they will not only identify you as part of the group, but there is a sensor that will go off if you happen to enter a section your group isn’t cleared for. This is only for everyone’s safety as some labs contain dangerous chemicals and other ptential hazards for which we take extreme care in keeping everyone protected. Does everyone understand?”
There was a collective yes as all the students understood what they were getting into. As the two employees passed out the badges, Adam noticed a scientist in a lab coat come out of the entrance and walk up to the group. He stopped about halfway behind the man and woman observing the distribution of the visitor passes. Although curious, he didn’t have to wait long for an answer. After making sure everyone had a lanyard, the young woman spoke.
“Now that you all have a visitor pass, I would like to introduce you to Dr. Samuel Reed. He is our lead researcher in Theoretical Genetics and he will be your tour guide today! Let’s give him a round of applause!”
Everyone gave a resounding applause as the scientist smiled and blushed a bit. He put up his hand to stop the applause and introduced himself.
“Good Morning, New Atlantis University! And welcome to Midas Labs! I will be your tour guide today and will show you all the wonderful advancements we have made in genetic research and development. Now, let’s head on in because we have a lot to cover plus it’s getting a bit chilly out here!”
He smiled as he began to lead the group through the main entrance.
A slim figure entered from a side wing, wearing a dark blue button down under an unbuttoned lab coat, recognizable as the lead mind in the business, Dr. Julius Mythos himself. He marched with an air of prominence and authority about him as he spoke to an assistant tailing him. He reached to adjust his glasses and froze in the archway leading into the lobby as he saw the crowd of students. He took his glasses off his face, clearly confused. Many of the students took note of his presence and began chatting about him.
"Dr. Reed…" called out Dr. Mythos to the person who was assisting with the tour.
"What is going on here?"
The man hurried over to his employer, his face red with embarrassment.
"Dr. Mythos… I thought you were out today…"
"I didn't ask where you thought I was. I asked what was going on."
"Well… this is a group from New Atlantis University…" began the lab assistant. "They're here for a tour… you authorized the visit a month ago."
"Well… I will need you back in Zeta Lab immediately after you're done with the tour. We have some new… developments in our tests that require your attention. Collect Dr. Basil as well when you do so."
"Zeta… yes, sir," answered Dr. Reed with wide eyes.
"Is this a good development or bad?"
Dr. Mythos replaced the glasses on his face in a manner that suggested: "This is not a place to speak of this."
"You can determine as much when you review the reports," said Dr. Mythos.
"I will be in the Epsilon Lab until later. Call me when you do so."
With that, Dr. Mythos turned back to the assistant, waving them on as he turned and left. Dr. Reed took a deep breath and then turned back to the group.
"My apologies. Right this way, folks," he said as he led them out of the lobby.
Adam and Lance exchanged curious glances with each other as the group moved down the hall. Adam pulled up a list on his phone they had acquired of the staff and personnel of Mythos Labs to reference the names.
"Dr. Richard Reed is a lead assistant under Dr. Mythos. He recently wrote an article questioning the possibility of extra-dimensional beings," whispered Adam.
"Dr. Alex Basil is a herpetologist who recently came on staff. She completed her masters at N.A.U. the second year of its operation."
"Nothing overly suspicious about that, but that also depends on what kind of tests are happening in this Zeta Lab," said Lance.
"Did you get the directory as well?"
Adam swiped his screen and pulled up a diagram of the facility.
"Funny thing about that… Zeta doesn't appear in their directory at all," began Adam as he handed his phone to Lance.
"Top secret lab off the grid?" suggested Lance as he looked over the floor plan. "That seems suspicious."
"Yes and yes," stated Adam. "That just leaves the question of how we find the entrance and whether to try sneaking in now or later."
"Just keep an eye and an ear out for anything related to Zeta," stated Lance. "We may have to improvise."
"What are you two plotting over here?" whispered Noel. "You're missing out on all the boring science stuff over here."
“Boring? You signed up for the trip,” Adam pointed out.
“Only because everyone else was going and I didn’t want to spend that time alone,” she said, crossing her arms.
“You do mean because Scott was going, right?” grinned Adam.
Noel didn’t reply verbally, but her sheepish smirk confirmed the assumption.
The group was taking it all in. There was just so much to see that it was hard to focus on one thing in particular. There were screens showing readouts and recent updates for all the staff to see. It seemed to be an all inclusive environment where everyone was in the know on all projects. Or at least gave the illusion that they did. Soon, the group made it to the central hub which looked like a large atrium that was styled after Ancient Greek architecture, much like the architecture throughout many other important buildings in the city.
"This main hub connects to each of the labs, which, as we have noted, are coded by priority using letters of the Greek alphabet," stated Dr. Reed. "Obviously the most restricted laboratories are near the end of the list, requiring special clearance even to enter, let alone access the data related to them."
Adam elbowed Lance and nodded over to an information terminal on the wall.
"Don't you have a plug to access that?"
Lance smiled and pulled a small tab from his watch. As the group walked past the screen, he filed over to the side and subtly inserted the device into a free port. The group carried on and Adam slipped back behind everyone and rejoined Lance at the end of the line as Lance pulled out what looked like his phone. After a few moments, a circle filled around its circumference on the screen, indicating the progress of the bug program. Once complete, a directory of all programs and laboratories came up on his screen. He searched the list for the aforementioned 'Zeta', which came up with one set of results, beginning with something that almost made Lance drop the device.
"Advanced cryptid genetics…?" they read in a hushed tone.
"I think we found the origin of our mysterious substance…" commented Adam.
Lance quickly turned off his screen and pocketed his phone, picking up pace to catch up with the group from which they had fallen behind.
"We will still need to find an access point and a key for it," Lance stated.
"Otherwise this doesn't help us… though it does give a list of all personnel with said access."
He scrolled through the list, searching for any names that might seem viable targets.
"We already know Dr. Reed and Dr. Basil have access, but the chances of bumping into her are low and there are too many people to try to snag Dr. Reed's key."
After a few moments of skimming the list, he noted three names that worked in the hub they were currently walking through. He pointed out the names to Adam and they scanned the room to search for the peoples' stations.
"Are we able to copy the key or are we commandeering it?" asked Adam as he carefully gestured to one of their targets.
"Borrowing without permission," Lance replied as he honed in on the scientist, a middle-aged woman with brunette hair and glasses.
"Want me to distract her or something?" asked Adam as he started towards her.
Lance put his arm out to stop him and nodded subtly to the corners of the room. Adam looked around and noted the security cameras which were cleverly hidden, but still noticeable when searched for.
Lance handed his hat to Adam.
"Put this on…" he said as he pulled the hood of his jacket over his head.
"We’re going incognito…"
Adam chuckled.
"So that's what the jacket and hat were for. You came prepared!"
"Always."
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