Professor Frink woke with a start. There was a minor beeping coming from one of the computers in his living room. From the sound of the beep, something had tripped the property alarm. Something was trespassing on their property.
As Frink took his glasses off the bedside table and stood up, another beeping started from his living room. Someone was trying to break into the apartment building itself.
Frink rushed into his living room, which was filled with monitors and hard drives and lab tables. Then a klaxon began blaring around the apartment. Something had tripped the alarm system and had gotten into the apartment. Frink heard shuffling from across the hall in Andy’s tenement.
The Professor focused on the warning signal computer and saw something had gotten in though the kitchen door.
Impossible, the scientist thought. The kitchen door has four separate locks, seven new warding runes, and a metal reinforcement. It might be easier to break in though the wall.
Frink also gasped as he raced out of his room. The thing had gotten past all of the warding glyphs the Bureau had installed. It was either very powerful or a good (or neutral) entity.
Frink saw Andy race out of his block at the same time. For a moment, the two observed each other’s dorky pj’s and then raced simultaneously down the stairs to the ground floor.
Frink saw Johnson already waiting outside of his block for the rest of his team. Amazingly, the agent was fully dressed in his customary black suit and tie. Bionic was nowhere to be seen.
“I witnessed it speed down the stairs. It’s in the basement. It’s about ankle-high and of a darker color,” Johnson informed calmly.
Then Bionic tried to burst out fo his room, guns ablaze. The wild agent tried to kick his door open, only to realize a few seconds too late that it opened inwardly. The door flew back at him and hit him in the face as he attempted to bullrush through.
The other three agents ignored him and followed Johnson downstairs. Frink noticed that he was the only one without a Berreta or any gun for that matter.
Johnson, who was in the lead, signaled for the other agents to fan out and look behind the support pillars and boxes.
Frink saw something dart from one box to another near Andy and yelled, “Gardner, starboard!”
Andy glanced right and apparently saw something. The agent leaped toward it.
Then Frink saw a greenish light behind some boxes. Andy was headed straight toward it. When the mid-air agent reached the light, he disappeared.
“A portal!” Johnson yelled as the light disappeared.
At that moment, Bionic stumbled down the stairs, armed to take on a small army.
Johnson was quick and precise with his orders. “Agent Frink, find a box with that spare bathroom mirror. Open it, and bring the mirror over to me. Agent Bionic, go back upstairs and find that rock from Rhûn, then bring it to me,” the black-suited agent barked.
“No problem, Mister Johnson. I always keep it on me,” Bionic replied as he pulled a dark green stone from his pocket. “Now what’s this all about?” he asked.
Frink frantically searched for the mirror until he found a box marked “SPARE BATHROOM MIRROR - DO NOT SHATTER” and tore it open.
As he set it up with the help of Bionic, Johnson explained. “Agent Andy flew through a portal. I noticed it was emanating a green light and a cold wind. From my experience, the only world with that kind of atmosphere is Rhûn.”
Once the agents had the glass propped up, Johnson ordered Bionic (who was the most armed and had the most experience with Rhûn) in to find Andy. Bionic focused as he clenched the stone and pushed through.
A few moments later, a hand extended through the mirror, followed by Bionic’s body, followed by Andy’s dragging body.
“I . . . didn’t get it,” Andy gasped, bleeding from flesh wounds in several areas.
“Agent Andy!” Frink yelled, trying to keep the agent conscious until he could administer medical aid. Frink turned to Bionic and told him, “Ask him something.” When Bionic gave him a dumbfounded look, Frink said, “Anything! We want to keep him conscious.” The scientist then turned and examined the injures.
Bionic began slowly. ‘So . . . Andy. How was it your first time going into my Hell?”
Andy lolled his exhausted head over and replied, “It was the worst feeling ever! I’m sure it’s what sex would feel like.” Andy then passed out in shock and tiredness.
***
“We’ve examined the basement four times. We’ve called in Bureau mages and investigators. No answers,” Johnson said to the others agents who were sitting on the long couch in the hallway two days after the incident. “I wonder what that thing was.”
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