Chapter 17

One thing Henry learned, as he made his way to one of the entrances to the D.E.D. Exorcists headquarters, was traveling around Colorado Springs during lunchtime sucked. Granted…he already knew that, but most of the time, he wasn’t actually traveling anywhere during this time. Depending on the day, his college classes were either in the morning, or in the afternoon. The time from 11am to 1pm, he usually spent napping, or playing games at his house. Not driving, on a time limit, to a very important meeting.

Of course, that factor made the drive, and the traffic issues, seem all the more annoying. He was certain if he didn’t have anywhere to go, this wouldn’t be that bothersome. But given the situation, it had him in a rather foul mood. The increased traffic, and the fact he hadn’t finished his training yet, at least gave him a good reason to ignore the occasional rifts opening around town as he made his commute. There were full-fledged D.E.D. Exorcists out there to take care of those, and he had a place to be. So even though he knew the dangers if a small D.E.D. made it through one of the rifts without being stopped, he also knew now was not the time for him to worry about that. He wasn’t a hero. He was barely an initiate, and he had things to learn before he could really help out.

Traffic aside, Henry managed to get to the entry to the headquarters with about 20 minutes to spare, which was good, because he didn’t know how long it would take him to actually get through whatever underground tunnel it was that he would traverse in order to get to headquarters.

This hidden entrance…the closest one that had been near him, that wasn’t on the air force base near his home, was in the Security/Widefield area. An area he was rather familiar with because he’d gone to high school down there. Apparently, the hidden entrance was in a massive, overgrown drainage area. An area that had been nicknamed ‘the Snake Pit’ in high school. It was actually a hangout for stoners back then, though his freshman year of high school a stoner had accidently burned most of their hangout down in the area. Now, it was once again covered in tall grass, cat tails, and other such growth, all fed from the water that trickled through thanks to a massive aboveground drainage pipe.

That pipe…was where the entrance was. He parked his car along one of the side streets, and wondered if any of those other cars parked innocently in the area belonged to Exorcists as well. Given his time crunch, he couldn’t think about that, and instead rushed into the massive drainage pipe, doing his best to leap from side to side of the pipe, to avoid getting his feet wet in the water. He’d actually explored this pipe a lot when he was younger, so knew the basic layout of it.

Of course, young him would have been fascinated to find it housed a hidden entrance to a secret society’s base. Current him, just wondered how many of the Exorcists actually used this entrance. It was definitely more unpleasant than the one up at Gold Camp. But, he was in a time crunch, and this was his only option.

Henry grimaced as he slipped slightly, and his foot hit the water. It was mostly rainwater and runoff, but still, it stagnated to some degree, and was unpleasant. Plus, now his socks were wet…and wet socks really were uncomfortable, to say the least.

Soaked socks aside, he reached the dark end of the tunnel, where it split into two paths. One led to an intertwining labyrinth that ran through much of the neighborhood, the other way was blocked off. That blocked off section, was where his phone was telling him to go, and sure enough, as he neared it, he saw the faintest symbol, that telltale pentagram, light up. A moment later, a portion of the tunnel actually moved aside, revealing a dark path.

“All this technology…and they make the entrance in a freaking-“ his complaining came to a stop as he made his third step into the secret passage. Just as the door behind him closed, the ground below him began moving, and he found himself rapidly accelerating forward. It was akin to the conveyor type floors they had in airports, and he had to admit, it almost made up for the dreadful location.

He briskly picked up his pace, finding himself moving extremely quickly thanks to the aid of the floor below him. He wasn’t certain how much distance he covered, but after perhaps 10 minutes of jogging along the moving track…the only sound his breathing and the wet slog sound of his shoes and socks, he had to halt quick as the conveyor suddenly ran out beneath his feet, and he stepped once again onto a solid floor.

There, just as before, a door opened up, though instead of the Branch Director waiting for him, it was a random Exorcist, whom he’d never seen before.

“Cutting it a little close eh?” The individual said. They looked to be in their thirties, maybe early forties. Around their shoulders, a cat like D.E.D. rested, eying Henry and his Evil Eye with the faintest hit of interest.

“Traffic, ya know?” Henry said with a shrug. The dark-haired man didn’t say another word, but motioned for Henry to follow. “The other initiates had no trouble arriving early.”

Henry glanced at his phone, showing he still had five minutes till noon. He shot a scowl at the back of the man, but held his tongue. As much as he wanted to make a smart-ass remark, he figured the supernatural members of an organization were probably not the ones he wanted to make his enemies. Especially considering there was still a lot he needed to learn, and his D.E.D. were…well, underwhelming at the moment to say the least.

“Training’s in there.” The man looked at Henry’s Evil Eye. “Try not to hold the others back, yeah?” And with that the door opened, signaling for the brief interaction with this less than pleasant man to end. Henry took a deep breath, and stepped into the room. While the man, and his wet socks, had soured the morning, he couldn’t help but feel excitement flowing through him. This was it. This was the next step in understanding the new world he was suddenly a part of. And after this step, he would be able to finally begin upon the path of being a D.E.D. Exorcist. Which meant, he would be able to start living up to his ‘Awakened One’ status. He was going to take no small amount of pleasure in eventually showing up people like the asshole he’d just encountered.