Base 1

               His hand shook as he slowly turned the door handle; the cool metal warming at his touch. In the office, a man stood at the desk with Dagger to the right of him. The man waved his hand to the chair placed in front of the desk for Henry to take. He watched the man skeptically as he took the seat and nervously shifted in it. Next to the man, Dagger refused to make eye contact with him; instead, she stared straight ahead as if she were a soldier receiving orders from a Lieutenant. Henry turned his attention back to the man. He appeared to be around his late forties or early fifties with grey streaks in his pitch black hair and scars lining his gaunt cheeks. He stood in front of Henry, smiling down at him like a father proud of his son.

            “Ah, my new recruit finally arrives. Ducky did well for once,” the man held his hand out for Henry to shake but took it back when he didn’t offer his hand as well.

Dagger stepped forward to make her presence known as she put her word in, “Base 1, you don’t really think that Ducky found him, do you, sir?”

            “Well, I told him to find Henry, here, so yes, I do. He wouldn’t be here otherwise, now would he? Henry, could you explain to Dagger here how Ducky found you?”

            “If you’re talking about the guy that brought me here, we kind of ran into each other… I think. That or he hit me with something,” Henry eyed the man as he scratched the back of his head.

            “Now that sounds like Ducky,” Dagger laughed and leaned against the wall casually with her arms crossed over her chest. The man scowled in her direction, making her stand up straight again.

            “Sorry about Dagger’s rude welcome. Our workers have been impersonating you lately with the thought that it’d get them out of work or intimidate her. We have new workers being fired and hired every day so it’s hard to keep track of who might be lying or telling the truth. We actually had to make you dead because of the whole mess. Luckily, though, we were able to dig up a picture of you. Anyway, that’s beside the point. I can’t stress how sorry I am.” His thin lips were shrewd into a big smile that appeared to be fake.

            “I’m not.” Dagger muttered bluntly.

            “Dagger, leave us for a while. I’ll speak to you about this later,” the man glared at her as she sneered before trudging out of the office.

            “Listen, I’m very sorry about that. Dagger is my right hand man… Sorry, woman. She made the biggest hack in the world, as you know. It was brilliant but I’ll let her tell you about it… If she will. She’s been here ever since as a matter of fact. But, anyway, my name is Base 1. It’s not my real name obviously but everyone here has a new name to hide their identities. So, we’re going to call you Hack like you wished during your hack into the President’s files.” Base 1 laughed as Henry or now called Hack’s eyes widened, “Yes, we know you’re the one behind the hack. We even heard about it before the world since we found out from the CIA. From there we were able to pick you out from the crowd.”

            “The CIA told you?” Hack watched Base 1 pick up a cigar and balance it on his finger.

            “Well, not exactly. I had Dagger wire the system so that anything sent to the FBI or CIA is also sent down here to us. Wasn’t easy, of course, but certainly well worth it.”

            “Okay so anything serious that happens?”

            “We know about it before anyone else and we can see any actions or plans taking place. That’s all I can tell you at the moment, I’m afraid. I’ve seen your file and you don’t exactly have the best of reputations. You will learn, though, as time goes by. Anyway, it’s time that you get to work. I’ll assign Dagger as your partner; she might not like it but she knows better than to argue with me,” Base 1 lit the cigar as he called out to Dagger for her to come back in.

            “Dagger,” he announced while leaning back and breathing deeply as the smoke filled his nose, “Hack is going to be your partner.”

            “Excuse me? N---,” she stopped when Base 1’s eyebrows rose, the smoke outlining his stern face. “Yes, Base.” She said with her fists clenched tightly by her side.

            “Good. Oh, and Dagger, I’d like to see you later,” he waited for her to nod slowly and dismissed them with a sweeping wave. Dagger immediately turned on her heel and stormed out of the room with Hack following close behind. A part of him was unsure if she was actually leading him or if he was nosily following her around all over the place and it wasn’t helping with her head darting back periodically to look back at him. Then, as she began to slow, a question began to probe his mind. He knew he probably shouldn’t ask but, without thinking, he did.

Author's Note

Revised. Will be revised further

Reviews

[Dann Stack]

a good chapter. Base one seems like typical secret organization boss guy, but it works in this case. creates a good base to build off of, and gives a good view of the social standing in the complex. just a note, i think it would be better if the lines "He wasn’t sure if she was leading him or he was just following her to wherever she was going. She studied him periodically throughout several glances back at him. A question probed his mind and although he knew he shouldn’t ask, he did." were used to start the next chapter instead, though I understand your intentions.

[BrynnaW.]

Thank you :) I will definitely keep that in mind, I appreciate the tip. Thanks for reading!

[Dann Stack]

no problem, sorry it took me so long to get around to it.

[BrynnaW.]

It's fine, no problem at all

[Angelic_Dreamer]

I'm already hooked to the book!!:)

[Daytonight]

I liked how you developed the characters and background a bit more in this chapter.

[TheElfPrincess]

Another wonderful characters. I like Dagger, she is a good character. Also, like Base 1. Well done, another great chapter. Couldn't see any bad things. :D

[Jacques]

can't wait to the cool stuff - i like this stuff Hahaha . each chapter is satisfying in their own way and i'm looking forward to where you will take and develop Hack and Dagger as will they become friends , lovers , frenemies or enemies . who knows but one thing i do know - if this was a book out in the stories - i would totally be buying it .

[amdc101]

Wow...this is interesting stuff. Really a story to have fun with. Good luck.