“About thirty-five years ago, we discovered a structural anomaly in the fabric of the universe,” Agent March said.

KC would have pressed his hands against his forehead if they weren’t still bound behind his back. He felt like he had fallen into a science fiction novel. But he didn’t want to interrupt her. If these people trusted him enough to tell him what they knew and enlist his help, then he was that much closer to getting Rose home.

“Certain agencies wanted to weaponize it. Some wanted to research it. Most just wanted control of it. When we couldn’t figure out how to breach it, investigation was shut down. We were supposed to blast the research site so nobody could find it.” She steepled her fingers together on the table, her stoic expression never wavering. “A small team blasted the exterior to keep everyone else out so they could continue working. By the time anyone realized what they’d done and dug through to them, all we found were bodies. Except one was missing.”

KC waited a beat, and when he realized she was finished, he shook his head. “And what makes you think this is the same thing? Seems like a long shot that your missing scientist or whatever is in this video game.”

She reached inside her perfectly-tailored jacket and pulled out a clear jewel case. She set it down on the table and pushed it towards him.

A dark-eyed demon stared up at him through the clear plastic, horns shining in the moonlight.

Ice crawled up the back of KC’s neck. “I assume this isn’t the one that’s in Rose’s computer right now?” he asked hoarsely.

Agent March shook her head. “We found this in a dead man’s hand. Official cause of death was electrocution. The computers in the lab were all dead too, like an EMP had gone off. And bodies that weren’t even near any electronics had also died to electrocution.” She tapped a finger on the case. “The official records state that the anomaly created some kind of electromagnetic pulse as it closed, destroying the machines and killing everyone.

“But that whole theory falls apart with this disk…because this disk shouldn’t exist. It was unaccounted for, and the game title and corporation listed in the fine print on the disk edge also don’t exist.”

KC tore his gaze away from the game and back to her piercing eyes. “You’ve got the resources to actually know that.” It wasn’t a question. If this was the kind of agency that multiple governments called to deal with shit like spatial anomalies, then they clearly would be able to find the Guul Corporation if it was a thing.

“The current theory is that Doctor Cole discovered how to enter the anomaly. Somehow that manifested this disk, or it came from the other side. And when one of the other doctors tried to get her back by removing it from the computer, it severed the connection.”

“And fried everyone,” he added, letting out a long, slow breath between his teeth. “You think that this doctor is still alive in there?”

“If anyone could survive in that hellscape it’s her.”

Though there was still no emotion in her level tone, KC was still surprised by the words. And he saw a golden opportunity in the potential feelings behind them.

“Did you know her?” he asked, gentling his voice.

The ploy didn’t faze her in the slightest. “With all of the machines in that facility dead, we have no idea whether they were able to communicate with her like you are with Ms. Smith. We need you to instruct her to find Doctor Cole.”

He took a deep breath, too many questions swirling in his brain. “And then what? Do you have a way to get them out? Or are you hoping that the Doc does?” She didn’t respond right away, so he kept going. “And why do you specifically need me to communicate with her? Is it because you know she won’t listen to you? Why wouldn’t you just impersonate me? Why are you even telling me any of this at all?”

They stared at her for a long moment, and he realized that it bothered him immensely that he couldn’t read this woman. He was used to figuring people out quickly, getting a vibe, and playing off of that vibe. It was what he was good at, and how he’d managed to make it quickly in a business that revolved around personality and reputation.

Agent March was like a stone statue of a person.

When he couldn’t take the silence any longer, he blurted, “Can you at least untie me? My arms and wrists are killing me, here.”

She got up slowly, deliberately, pulling a knife from a pocket somewhere and flicking it open with an easy snnnnick.

KC leaned forward, hoping to give her easier access to his wrists, but instead she grabbed a fistful of his hair, jerking his head back. He was suddenly very aware of how hard the pulse point in his throat gyrated from his flesh as a cold blade pressed against it.

“I feel the need to make myself perfectly clear,” Agent March said, and for the first time, her tone changed, low and menacing. “We do not need you. I could spray every ounce of your blood across this table and not a single soul on earth would hold me accountable for it. What I see in you is a man desperate to help his friend, which makes you a very useful guinea pig. If I am going to send someone through to die then I would rather it be you then one of my men.”

Send someone through?! The thought blazed in KC’s brain like a thousand fireworks, and his breath caught. The disk. They had another disk. If they couldn’t get back in contact with Rose, then that would be the way to do it, to send someone else in.

“However, if you’re going to give me sass and not cooperate, then you can go the way of your degenerate associate and my team will draw straws.” She twisted her hand in his hair, tilting his face right up towards the ceiling. “And my men’s priority will have little to do with your girl’s safety.”

In every young gamer’s life, they imagine themselves in the shoes of their favourite protagonist. The hero. The badass. Slapping magazines into guns and taking out bad guys with ease, spitting in the face of anyone who dares to threaten everything they’ve sworn to protect. Being all outta gum.

For most, at least KC hoped it was most, they’d never be in a position to test all of those fantasies. To be in real fucking danger and see if it compared to any of the scenarios they have in their heads.

If this was a figment of his imagination, he would have sassed Agent March until she cried, then flipped the table and kicked her ass, all with his hands tied behind his back. Then taken her weapons and stealthed his way not only to taking down her team, but getting Rose back.

In reality, he was too terrified to breathe with a knife blade pressed against his jugular. He knew if he so much as twitched, this woman would kill him so fast it probably wouldn’t even register right away. He could almost feel it already, how warm his blood would be spilling its way from his throat all the way down his chest into his lap. The gargling noises he’d make as his head fell to the tabletop.

“What’s it going to be?” Agent March demanded, and it was a demand despite her voice being so calm. She’d mastered the art of intimidation, and his panicked brain wondered how many people had pissed their pants beneath her stare, despite the cold dead knowledge that he had to pay attention and stay on task.

“Illcooperate,” he rasped, everything coming out as one word, because he was afraid to move. Afraid that the simple act of speaking would spill his blood.

“Good.” She let go of him as abruptly as she’d come, removing the blade without so much as a pinprick.

KC startled as the zip tie around his wrists snapped and popped, his shoulders screaming as he pulled his arms in front of him and slumped back against the chair, clutching his wrists to his chest.

He kept his eye solidly on Agent March as she flicked the knife closed and it disappeared, into some kind of invisible pocket somewhere. He didn’t like not knowing where it was, and assumed that was exactly the point.

She had him exactly where she needed him to be, and it was a hard pill to swallow, but these assholes were his only way to Rose. He had to play nice or he’d be dead and they wouldn’t even bother trying to help her.

Go the way of your degenerate associate, she’d said.

He hadn’t trusted or liked Bri. But he didn’t feel like he deserved whatever they’d done to him.

He didn’t want to ask what that was.

“What happens now?” he asked hoarsely, resisting the urge to reach up and rub his throat.

She stepped out of the dining room into the hallway, clasping her arms in front of her. “Now we go to the office.”

KC gingerly got out of his seat, and straightened his shoulders, not wanting to dally but wanting some semblance of his ego, his personhood. These people weren’t people, they were shadows. On record, they didn’t exist, and could do whatever illegal shit they wanted and it wouldn’t even count as illegal.

He had to be glad that they at least were adjacent to one another’s goals.

Agent March opened the door to Rose’s office, and it was a whole new world in there. They’d set up tables along every wall, and there were three guys in chairs manning multiple screens, chatting quietly into headsets.

“Ay, you the guy?” one of them asked, spinning in his chair and waving KC over. “Have a seat, bud.”

KC blinked at him, a bit shell-shocked at the jovial tone. This dude didn’t look like Agent March with her crisp quit and tight bun. He wore thick-rimmed glasses, hair a shaggy mess, wearing a faded Jays tee.

KC glanced back at the agent in question, but she stood emotionless next to the door, a posted security guard. He’d thought she was in charge here, but maybe she was just the muscle. In any case, the computer nerd was a way more appealing companion than her.

He took the remaining empty seat, in front of a double screen that had been set up on a folding table next to Rose’s desk. The game screen was dark.

“I’m Neil,” the guy said, catching his attention as he held out a cardboard box. “Donut?”