The Lions Northern Californian safehouse entrance, Bridge gate 1848, was hidden inside a Barnes and Noble.

I know right? I was surprised too. It’s literally the last place I expected it would be but I guess that was the point.

I pulled into the parking lot and turned off the engine.

“Is this the right place?” I asked, turning to Lisa. “A bookstore chain?”

“You ask too many questions,” Lisa said as she got out. We entered the store and Lisa made a beeline toward the back.

“Can I help you with anything?” an attendant asked.

Lisa stopped. She waved a hand over her face. “Major Lisa Mizuno of the Dragons.”

Matias copied her actions. His mask appeared on his face. “Captain Matias Luca of the Bulls.”

“We were asked to escort him here under the instructions of Director Jones,” Lisa said, pointing at me.

The attendant turned to me.

“Hi, I’m Deshawn Dale of the...uh,” I turned to Matias. “What group am I of again?”

“Don’t know,” Matias shrugged.

“Not important,” Lisa said.

The attendant pulled out a mini Ipad thingy from her pocket. “Ah yes. Sorry. We’ve been expecting you. Please make your way down to the third door on the right. I trust you know what to do next.”

“Yes, thank you,” Lisa said as she unsummoned her mask and continued on her way. Matias and I followed. When she reached the door she closed her eyes and muttered something. Maybe a passcode? An eerie light began glowing from behind the door. Lisa opened the door and entered the room. It had a weird, unnaturally muted look to it, like one of those old timey black and white photos, as if someone had placed a filter on it.

“Whoa,” I gasped, entering and exiting the room twice to make sure that what I was seeing was actually real. “What is this place?”

“The Bridge,” Matias said.

“And what’s that?” I followed up. I was beginning to learn that with Matias, follow up questions were necessary.

“The space between our world and the Hidden World.”

“So, it's another hidden world?”

“Yeah, I guess it is.”

“Then why d-”

“Does it matter, Little Idiot?” Lisa asked.

“No I guess it doesn't,” I said.

“Ok, then. Hurry up and close the door.”

We waited and after a moment Lisa opened the door again. Pseudo Davos stood waiting for us. The world was now coated in the same black and white overlay. But Pseudo Davos was outlined in a thin golden glow. I was getting heavy Davos vibes from him.

“Welcome to the Bridge, the space between the worlds,” Pseudo Davos said smiling as he swept his arm around in a grand gesture.

“Uh, it’s nice to be here,” I said.

Pseudo Davos’ face fell. “That was not the reaction I was hoping for.”

“Well the Little Idiot asks too many questions and the Big One humors him,” Lisa said. She had a blue outline while Matias had a green one. I checked to see if I had a glow too and sure enough, I did. Mine was a white glow.

Unfortunately, it made my skin look ashy, like I had never seen a bottle of lotion in my life. Just my luck, right?

“Really? You ruined the surprise,” Pseudo Davos said, pouting. “No worries,” he said, recovering quickly. “Follow me, I’ll give you the tour.”

We followed.

“So this is the space between our regular World and the Hidden World. It’s not exactly our world but it isn’t exactly like the ‘Upside Down’ either. It’s an in between space, think of it as a half world.”

Pseudo Davos did his best to make the Bridge sound exciting but there wasn’t really much to see. It was just a heavily desaturated version of the regular world. The only other difference was that, aside from us and Pseudo Davos, there was no one else around.

The Barnes and Nobles customers were still there, we could see them and everything but there was a weird contrast between us and them. They kept their regular look while we took on the muted look of the Bridge, save for our weird glows.

“We use this place as a passageway to get to and from our bases, can’t risk being followed and potentially endangering bystanders. This is also where we engage in our battles with the Shades. Normally Shades do not break through to our world. Only a greater shade can bypass the Bridge. So, the situation with your friend is really quite...troubling.”

“Is there any news on her?” I asked.

Davos shook his head. “Sadly, no. Like your brother, she has managed to evade our detection.”

“Oh…”

“Don’t worry man. We’ll find her,” Pseudo Davos assured.

“So these people can’t see us?” I asked, trying to change the subject.

“Nope. They can’t see us or touch us. But we can’t touch anything in the physical world either. In essence we’re like ghosts. See?”

He demonstrated by walking through a bookshelf in the self-help section. He passed right through both the bookshelf and the guy struggling to decide between Jen Sincero’s You Are a Badass: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life and Norman Vincent Peale’s The Power of Positive Thinking.

“Ok, that part is cool,” I said. I walked up to the attendant who had helped us earlier. I tried to brush my hand against her to see if I would pass through, but she dodged. Huh, I thought. I tried again but she dodged again. She glared at me.

“Uh, those who have a mask are able to see inside the Bridge,” Pseudo Davos explained. “It helps us keep watch.”

“It also helps keep loser creeps from touching us without permission,” Lisa added.

My face grew hot. “That wasn’t what…I’m sorry.”

The attendant shook her head and walked away, lovely. My first day on the job and I was already getting a complaint filed with HR.

“Anyway,” Pseudo Davos said, cutting through the tense air. “Just avoid touching people if you can.”

He led us outside.

“What, we're leaving again?” I asked.

“Yeah, we can’t exactly do your training here. This was just where the closest Bridge gate is.”

“Why couldn’t we just go directly to the base? It all just seems like a lot.”

“We take all these precautions to make sure to not involve those that don’t need to be. We try to minimize the number of bystanders exposed to the Shades and the Hidden World,” Pseudo Davos said. “It’s the same reason why you aren’t allowed to tell anyone about our existence.”

“Right. Possession, waking nightmares, Death etc. That makes sense. So your base is in the Bridge?”

“Some of them, yeah. Don’t worry, it isn’t far. Also,” he turned to Matias and Lisa. “Do you two mind helping me with the clean up while we walk over?”

“Yeah,” Lisa said.

Matias nodded.

“Thank you,” Davos said.

“No need to thank us. Clean up is part of our probation,” Lisa said.

“Still, I appreciate it,” Davos said.

We crossed the street and walked for a couple blocks. Along the way I quickly found out what clean up meant. Some Shades would pop up from nowhere while others had attached themselves to some of the people we passed by. Each Shade we encountered was quickly eliminated by Lisa & Matias. Lisa sniped the Shades that had clung to people, her precise strikes making short work of them. Matias took on the free-standing Shades, using Bessie to cleave through them like a warm knife through butter.

The entire time Pseudo and I engaged in some highly intellectual geek banter. I tried to explain to him that despite their failings to produce a worthwhile cinematic universe, the DC Comics universe was far superior to Marvel. He wasn’t buying it though. According to him, the MCU alone was proof that the stories told in the Marvel comics are far more relatable and easily digestible.

“No Messianic figures from another world, just scientists, soldiers and spies fighting to make their world a better place.”

“But Thor though,” I countered. “According to the MCU, he’s an alien from another world.”

Pseudo thought for a moment. “Ok, you got me,” he conceded. Just then, a Shade popped up in front of us. I jumped back with a not at all girly squeal, but Pseudo Davos calmly reached out and grabbed it, his hand coated in a golden light. When he touched it, the Shade burned until it disappeared.

“Speaking of Messianic comic book figures,” he said. “I’m surprised you haven’t asked me if I’m Davos yet.”

“Well, are you?” I asked.

He laughed. “Is it because I happen to look like him and have light powers?”

“Uh yeah. That’s enough reason.”

Pseudo laughed again. “I wish. Your brother thought the same thing. The very first day we met he asked me that question. I was so confused at first until he showed me the character he was talking about. And I admit, we do look eerily similar.”

“Yeah, I’d say. But I guess that some things are too far-fetched to be true.”

Pseudo smiled. “He says while walking around in a half world as he watches his friends fight shadow creatures from a dark world.”

I laughed. “Fair enough.”

“Your brother’s the reason why I started reading comics. It all started with that Atlas Dawn comic. I remember we would talk about it for hours when we went out on missions. Fun times,” he said wistfully. “Anyway, we’re here now,” he said, smiling again. He turned into an empty parking lot and walked over to a large circular pad on the ground. It hummed quietly as we approached it. “Everyone on board,” Pseudo Davos said. As soon as we were all on the pad it lit up and a flash of white light surrounded us. When the light died down, we were no longer in the parking lot but now stood in the Lion’s stronghold, rendered in full high def color.

“Are we back in the real world?” I asked as I took in the fully saturated globe above us as it spun in place with the five animals of Persona.

“Yup. We’re back,” Pseudo Davos said as he walked off the platform.

“I thought you said your base was in the Bridge?”

“Yeah, I said some of them were, this one just happens to be in the physical world.”

“So, couldn’t we have come directly here?” I asked.

“Yeah, but the long way was much more eventful don’t you think? It was good exercise and we got to clean up some Shades along the way, so win-win,” Pseudo Davos said with a smile. “Anyway, I think you know your way to your room right? Go get changed. Your training begins now.”