“Bye honey, be careful, okay?”
“Never, babe” he chuckled.
She pushed him away, “Asshole!”
“You know I’m always careful. And Dan is with me, you know how anal he is, making sure everything is checked fifty-seven times…”
“I know. But also be careful, because… well… you know… the cops and all”
“We’ll be careful, I promise.”
“Alright, now go, go, before I’m keeping you indoors.”
Stephen zipped up his jacket and kissed his wife.
“Love you.”
“I know.”
“See you tonight, hun.”
“Bye babe.”
Danny was waiting in the car, windows rolled down, heavy metal blasting through the speakers. It was way too early for that, Daphne thought, shaking her head.
“Dude, let’s hit the road! You should’ve done that mushy shit last night! Bye sis!!”
“Danny, you asshole, you’re waking up the neighborhood.”
“it’s all good in your hood, sis! Don’t worry, if that lazy-ass husband of yours would be picking up the pace, we’d be gone already!”
Stephen walked around the 1980 Corvette Stingray and got into the passenger seat.
“Get that ugly-ass yellow banana of yours rollin’, Danny! I want that piece of shit out of my ‘hood’ a.s.a.p.!”, Daphne yelled.
With a thundering roar and screeching tires, Danny sped out of her sight, with his middle finger up in the air, waving goodbye to his sister.
Daphne went back inside, shaking her head, thinking “why mom and dad wanted to keep that asshole, I’ll never understand.”
On the road
“Got that GoPro all juiced up?”
“Yeah. Dude, really? ‘Juiced up’?”
“Hey, I was thinking since the damn thing needs juice. I mean…”
“Dan, I get it. It’s just… Never mind, you’re not right in the head…”
“Hey, this is gonna be a piece of cake.”
“Yeah, the actual jump is. Getting inside is a different story…”
“I got that shit covered.”
“Oh?”
“Yep, I stole some gear and workers overalls with the logo and all! The works! Hehehe. All we need is the elevator.”
“Dude, really?… man, you really are bat shit crazy.”, Stephen laughed.
“Just a tad. But we ain’t getting nowhere if it ain’t for my crazy.”
“True.”
An hour later, they arrived at Danny’s garage.
“Everything’s in the truck. All you need to do is put them magnetic stickers on the side and get your ass into one of these. The suits can go underneath it.”
Danny handed Stephen the dark blue overalls with the Onyx-logo on the chest.
“And here’s a matching cap, ain’t that pretty.”
The Onyx building was the highest in the state and Stephen and Danny were on their way to go base jumping from it. They both were thrill seekers and would do anything to get that adrenaline rush. Best buddies since elementary school, where they found out about each other’s sensation-seeking behavior with climbing the school buildings and jumping the gaps between them.
It started out ‘small’ with things like this, but soon it evolved into more dangerous and reckless activities. After Danny broke his back in 1991 they started to ‘pay more attention to avoiding the risks’, if one could call it that.
They made sure it was as safe as it could be, but still the kick of the adrenaline came first.
In the past few years they had done a lot of dangerous stuff, but the two never got into an accident anymore. The only thing that Daphne didn’t like about it, was that the things they did were the illegal ones. There’s enough sensation to be found in guided events like the Stratosphere Skyjump in Vegas, but that’s not what floats their boats. That didn’t give them enough rush. It was the thrill of the jump combined with the thrill of trying not to get caught.
And they did some crazy base jumping from high buildings. But this… The Onyx building? That was on the top of the list. More dangerous because of the restrictions to even be there than the jump itself.
The Onyx building housed the private military contractors organization, O-ID.
Onyx Intelligence & Defense. Highly classified and restricted.
So, getting in was already tricky, to say the least.
But as usual: Dan was the Man with the Plan.
And the plan was to get inside, undercover as tech employees.
The Onyx facility was situated just outside of town on a piece of land which had high walls and watch towers, with men armed to the teeth. No one ever tried to get inside. If only for the stories that went around. Stories about aliens being kept in there, about classified experimenting on humans. Stories about dark projects and weapon development that even the government wouldn’t know anything about. Or at least they deny any involvement.
But the main office building towered high above the rest of the facility and it was visible from the other side of town, rising above its skyline.
Stephen looked at the truck and then at his friend.
“You’ve outdone yourself this time, Danny…”
“Yup. Here. Take a look at the manifest. It’s the real deal. My friend Carter is gonna be there about 20 minutes after we arrive, telling the guards you and I needed a man extra for the heavy lifting or whatever. So, we are allowed access to the 21st floor. We’re gonna need to climb the wall for the rest of the tower to the top. Next to office 2109 is a locked supply room, which needs…” He puts his hand in his pocket and took out a key, “…this here little lady. We can leave the overalls and stuff in there, Carter is gonna take care of it…”
Dan continued: “That room has a vent shaft to the ceiling, where we can climb through, all the way to the grate on the external wall. From there, we need to climb up.”
“Sounds like ehm.. a simple task?”
“Yes, I got these suckers.”
He showed Stephen suction cups for climbing walls.
“Wow! Erhm.. Are you sure that’s gonna work?…”
“Yes, but you need to really keep your body close to the wall. Or it’s…” and he whistles a high whistle accompanied by a hand move downwards.
“Yeah. Good thing we have the bat suits.”
“Yup.”
“And what about that truck?”
“Fuck that truck, we’re leaving it there. As long as we make it back over the wall, we’re good. That’s why I need you to follow me first in the truck. We’re taking my car too, park it close by. We should be able to land right on top of it. I mean, we don’t really. Don’t fuck up my car, dude. I know you’re ‘landing skills’.”
“Yeah. Just make sure you don’t break your back again, asshole.”
“Okay, Freddy. You ready?”
“Ready as I’ll ever be, bro”
“Let’s roll!”
On the spot
After their drive to the O-ID facility, Danny parked his Stingray under an abandoned viaduct.
“We should try to land up on there.”
Danny pointed up to the old train viaduct that ended halfway in the water.
“We should be able to slide down the side and presto! Get-away car right here.”
“Good. Now get in the truck.”
“Alrighty. Drive up there, we can get close to the tracks and see the tower from there.”
They drove up to the train tracks and towards the facility’s main gate. It was just a little further down this dusty old road.
All of a sudden Danny said: “Hold on. Stop the car.”
“What’s going on?”
“Jus… just.. stop the car for a sec.”
Stephen stopped and looked at his friend.
Danny pointed to the tower. “Did you see that?”
“What?”
“That bright flash!”
“Nope. Didn’t see anything.”
“Wait. Maybe it’s gonna happen again.”
The two waited for three minutes or so, but nothing happened.
“Dude, let’s just go.”
“No… Wait… Look!”
He pointed at a green light in the sky.
It was just hovering close to the tower. Then all of a sudden it shoots right up into the sky.
“Did you see that?”
“Yeah. What the fuck?…”
“I don’t know. But we’re still doing this, right?”
“Hell yeah. It’s gone now, right?”
Stephen started the car again and they drove to the gate.
A military guard walked up to the car. Stephen rolled down the window. The guard looked at the side of the truck. “What’s your business here?”
Danny handed the guard a clipboard and a fake ID “There you go officer, all should be on there.”
Stephen looked at Danny, like he was gonna say ‘Really? Officer?’
The guard gave Danny the same look when he grabbed the clipboard. “I’m not ‘officer’. Don’t get smart with me if you want to get through. I’ll be right back.”
“Thank you sir. My colleague here hasn’t been taught manners. You know. Redneck and all. But he’s good with computers, that’s why we keep him.”
“I’ll be right back. Stay in the car.”
“Thank you, sir.”
The guard walked towards his fellow guards and gave them the ID and manifest.
“Dude, you’re not making this any easier.”
“Don’t get your knickers twisted, bro, we’re good.”
Stephen shook his head.
After a couple of minutes the guard came back.
“You been here before?”
“No, sir. First time to this amazing place.”
The guard looked over his sun glasses at Danny. He stared at him for a few seconds until Danny looked down to his feet.
“Alright.” He said to Stephen.
“You’re good to go. Park the car in the blue area. Walk towards the tower and go through the glass doors to your right. Then at the front desk you ask for miss Saywell. She’ll tell you were to go from there.”
“Thank you. Have a nice day, sir.”
The guard tapped his helmet with his index finger and then pointed towards the gate.
Stephen slowly drove towards it. When it was opened far enough he drove through.
“Well, we’re trough, buddy. First part is done.”
“Just look around and see if you can spot this blue area.”
“Over there… I guess…” Danny said.
A sign with a blue O-ID logo was standing on their right in the middle of a small parking lot, which had room for 4 cars.
“Dude, they don’t expect visitors much, do they?”
“Did you expect different?”
“Guess not.“
Stephen parked the car and they got out. Danny walked to the back of the truck and grabbed a toolbox. “Here’s our gear. Suckers and GoPro are in the bottom.”
“Okay, let’s go inside. Do we need to see that woman?”
“Yes, she’s expecting us. She’s gonna tell us we need to be at 21st floor. Just act cool.”
“Like you did at the gate? Asshole.”
“Hehee.” Danny smirked.
Two big glass doors opened and 4 men walked outside. They looked like they just stepped out of the Men In Black movies. Wearing black fitted suits, the same pairs of sunglasses on their noses and three of them were holding black cases.
They walked past Stephen and Danny without even a glance or a nod as if the two friends didn’t exist.
“You think they have secret alien guns in there?” Danny whispered to his buddy.
“Sure. Let’s just go.”
“Whoa. Look at this”, Danny whispered when they walked into the lobby of the Onyx building. “This shit’s amazing!”
The shiny marble floor reflected the sunlight that came in from the glass roof of the entrance. Two receptionists were sitting behind a white marble counter, which looked like it was part of the floor too. Banners were hanging everywhere, carrying the huge O-ID logo.
Enormous 3D holograms of maps and what seemed like high-tech aircrafts were projected high on the walls.
The ‘Men In Black’ were walking everywhere around.
“Can I help you?” one of the receptionists asked.
“Yes, we’re supposed to ask for a miss Saywhat”
“Saywell..”
“Miss Saywell..”
“I see. Please hold, let me call for her. You can take a seat over there. She won’t be long.”
Stephen looked behind him and saw a black leather sofa and two seats around a coffee table. “Well, let’s wait there then.”
“Mr. Torn? Mr. Rip Torn?”
“Well that was fast.”
Danny turned around and looked into the blue eyes of a beautiful auburn haired woman.
“Errhm.. Yes.. Yes.. Torn.. That’s us.. me..”
“Hi, my name is Karen Saywell. Would you be so kind to follow me?”
“Lead the way miss Saywell…”
“Call me Karen” she said when she turned around and looked at Danny. She checked him out top to bottom and back.
“Dude, she digs you”, Stephen whispered.
“Shut the f… Okay, Karen.. You can call me Da..”
Stephen elbowed Danny.
“..Rip.. Rip.. Call me Rip..”
Karen smiled at him. “So you guys are gonna fix the server or something?”
“Well, not really the server, miss. I believe the servers are not situated in this building. We’re here to… ”
Danny’s sentence got cut off by something that resembled and earthquake.
“Oh, I wouldn’t know. I’m not technical at all. I’m just glad I can find the power button on my laptop. Here we are.”
“What was that?”
“Oh, that was nothing, don’t be alarmed, this happens every so often. It’s the testing.”
“Testing…”
“You need to go to the 21st floor. You find what you need in office 2109. Here’s your tags, just keep them against the reader in the elevator and it will bring you to the right floor, automatically. When your work is done or if you need anything, ask for me at the front desk. The tags are chipped and we know where you are at all times. So keep this with you. And keep me updated, please.”
“Thank you. We will.”
“Thank you miss.. Karen.. We’ll report back to you when we’re done.”
On the fly
“Dude, what wás that?!”
“The shaking?”
“Yeah man. I thought this damn building was gonna come down on us.”
“I know, right?”
*Ding*
The elevator stopped.
“Dude, this whole automatic stuff is pretty awesome. They probably have shit going on here, no one may ever see. Right? Do you think they make sex-robots too?”
“Danny, really?… ”
“Hey. I’m just curious. We may fly out with one if I can find one lying around here.”
“Alright. You do that.”
“Hahahaa. Can you imagine? One that can actually clean and cook. Well… and satisfy your every need.”
“When we get home, I’ll get you a blow up doll.”
“They can’t cook.”
“Here. 2109. Are going in?”
“Yes. And then leave the tags there and off to this room here.” Danny pointed at the supply room on the right.
They went inside the office and dropped their tags on the desk in the middle of the room.
There were three huge cabinets with lights and what seemed 19-inch rack computers.
One of the racks seemed dead. “That’s probably the issue”
“Oh. Okay, so now you’re the expert. You gonna fix it too while you’re at it?”
“What? I’m just saying.”
“Yeah. Quit your yappin’ and let’s fly for reals.”
“Fine. I was just…”
“Yappin’!..”
“Dude…”
Danny opened the office door and checked if he saw someone in the hallway.
“No one. I’m gonna open the door. When I’m in, I’ll knock three times on the wall. Then you come.”
“Or I’ll just go with you right now? How long are you gonna take picking the lock with a key?”
“Oh for fucks sake. We gots to be careful.”
“Just go. I’m right behind you.”
Stephen and Danny walked out and when Danny opened the supply room door, they both went in and closed the door behind them as quick as one could.
The supply room was a small one with a rack full of cleaning supplies and bottles they didn’t recognize. Everything was covered in thick layers of dust. Hanging from the ceiling was a ventilation shaft with a grate that was halfway coming down. “That’s our way out, up there. Easy peasy to break that grate off. Let’s get out of these overalls and start moving.”
At that moment the floor started shaking again. The ventilation shaft was trembling and the loose grate made lot of noise. The last screw that held the whole thing in its place came out and with a loud bang the grate fell to the floor.
“Fuckers! Well, that took care of our entrance…”
“Man, what the hell are these guys doing here?!?”
“Don’t know, don’t care. Let’s get up in there and move.”
“Let’s hope this fucker is gonna be able to carry us.”
“Here. Put your overall in there”, Danny grabbed a cardboard box. “You gonna turn the GoPro on?”
“Yup.”, Stephen put his helmet on with the camera attached to it. “Smile for the audience, ugly baboon.”
Danny showed his teeth “Like this?”
“Welcome to the Steve and Danny show people. We are inside the Onyx building right now. Guess what we’re up to! That shaft right there is our stairway to heaven. I’m gonna let Stephen go first because I don’t want you guys staring up my butt the whole time. We’re gonna use these little babies to climb the Onyx tower all the way up to the top. And then we’re gonna fly down for y’all!”
Stephen jumped up and climbed through the hole in the shaft. “Right behind you, bro.”
At the end of the tiny crawl space you could see the light shine through the holes of the aluminum grate to the outside.
“Tie the rope to it and then bash the fucker out.”
With a few bangs, the grate came loose and the last punch Stephen gave made it come off. The metal clanged against the wall. With the suction devices in his hands, Stephen tried to wrestle his way out of the shaft, pushing one hand with a device against the wall. He pushed the little blue button and the cup sucked itself to the wall. “Let’s hope this is gonna hold me.”
He looked down. Then with the other hand he attached the two feet cups to his boots.
“So, if you need them to let go, just wiggle your feet left and right. It’s gonna let the air in.”
“Thanks.”
When he got all four cups working, Stephen started to climb up. Danny came right behind him. “Dude, the view up here is amazing.”
“Yeah man. So… Check that out. See the bunkers over there?”
“Yup.”
“You can actually just see them from this angle. Couldn’t see them when we got out of the shaft.”
“Nope.”
“That’s one good camo trick. I’m curious if we’re gonna be able to see them when we get higher”
“Yup.”
“How many floors does this building have, man?”
“…”
“We cool?”
“Yup.”
“Oh my god, Danny. Is your fat belly in the way?”
“Shut it.”
Stephen looked down to see Danny struggling with the climb up.
“Get closer to the wall, Danny! We can’t have you dropping down before we reach the top! Suck in your fat!”
“Fuck you!”
“Well, my dear viewers, as you can see, my partner in crime has difficulties reaching the wall with all fours, with his beer belly in the way.”
“Dude!”
“Giddy-up, Boss Hog!”
“I swear.. ”
“You can do it, Beef!”
“…”
“Chins up, Buttercup! All of them!”
“Fuck face…”
They were almost at the top when the rumbling started again.
“Fuck! Danny! Hold on, press yourself as close to the wall as possible!”
As high up as they were, they could feel the building move. Both the wind and the tremors caused by the testing of whatever it was that they were testing at this site, made it difficult to hold on. Stephen’s feet-cups let some air in and he slipped away, hanging only by his left hand with his back against the wall. “Fuck me! Shit! Danny! I’m slipping!”
He tried to push his right hand against the wall, but somehow his cup seemed to fail.
“Steve! Hold on! I’ll be right there!”
Danny was twelve feet below Stephen, trying his best to climb up faster.
“Hurry! I can’t hold on much longer!”
“Just put the right hand against the wall!”
“It’s not working! I tried”
“Keep fucking trying! And turn around!”
“I can’t”
“Almost there!”
As fast as he could, Danny tried to get high enough to be able to lift Stephen up.
“Alright. I gotcha. Here, trade the cup with me. Turn around as soon as you can. Almost there, man. Who’s the fatty now.”
“Oh that was a close one, bro.”
“Yeah. I see what’s wrong with this thing. The button is jammed. Hold on”
Danny started banging the cup against the wall until the little blue button popped back up again. After a few tries, it worked again and the two dare devils climbed further to the top of the building.
On the flip side
When they were there, they were in awe by the view that being this high up brought them.
They stood there, on the edge, staring in the distance, enjoying the moment.
“We made it, Dan. And no one’s the wiser.”
“See, we can’t see those bunkers from up here. That’s so weird, man”
“Okay, shot for the viewers.”
Dan turned around to look at Stephen.
“Well, people. After a little scare we just had with Steverino almost plunging to a certain death, we’re on top of the fucking Onyx tower! Hell yeah!”
“Look at the amazing view, guys!” Stephen slowly looked around and then down scanning the facility area. “This is THE most secret facility on the state. And we’re right on top of it! See, those patches that are hardly to make out? Those are invisible bunkers we could see them from, let’s say, the 25th floor-ish. Any other height, they’re as good as invisible.”
“Yeah and every now and then there’s some kind of earthquake going on. The reason Stephen almost became a ketchup pancake.”
“Yep, but I’m still here. And it’s about time we do what we came here to do. It’s just a little past 11 in the morning. My estimate was jumping off the building at exactly 11. So. Not bad. And then…”
His speech was interrupted again by the fourth quake. Dan was balancing on the edge. “Dude, watch out, come back!”
“This.. this is what we meant.. they’re testing something down there and, man, it’s serious business. The whole building is shaking!”
The tremor stopped. “Oh this was just a small one…”
“Okay guys. You ready for this? I am. You Danny?”
“I was born ready!”
“Okay let’s do this.”
Danny clipped the suction-cups to his belt. He looked over the edge. It was a long way down.
He pointed to the east. “There’s where the car is. You should be able to see the viaduct in the distance. That’s where we need to hit the ground. Aaight, last one there is a cooked fart!”
Danny made a run for it and jumped off the building. Stephen shook his head.
“Alright folks, guess that’s my cue. See you on the flip side!”, he said as he ran towards the edge. In a split second he saw Danny spread his arms and legs after making speed. At that precise moment his right foot pushed away from the edge, but not before Stephen could feel another tremor coming up. That last split second was just enough to send a small shake through the sole of his boot and he felt a chill going up his spine.
His body quivered for a moment and he started to feel dizzy. “Wow…”, he thought. This was probably the worst one yet. He was going faster and faster, dropping down. In a few seconds he had to deploy his bat suit. Spreading the arms and legs was going to give him the wings he needed to make this a safe trip.
All of a sudden he felt some resistance in the air. When he looked around he noticed a strange distorted ring of air coming from the place where the bunkers should be. It seemed to be spreading out, like when you throw a rock into a lake. That same ripple from the outer ring. Stephen wondered how far that was going to reach. It was still far beneath him. But if that ring kept growing he would be in it. Was this where the quakes originated from too?
The further he went down, the clearer he could see that the ring he saw was not the only one. Inside of it, there were a lot more of them. It really was that ripple effect from throwing a rock in water. Coming straight at him.
He spread his arms and legs. With a little maneuvering he could gain just a little more altitude. More altitude would mean getting further away. But the rings were getting closer. And the wind was almost non-existent.
Another hit of resistance in the air was hitting him. Stephen felt himself floating on a wave.
He looked back and saw that The outer ring was right behind him, closing in. How was he gonna fix this? He was trying to find Danny, but his friend seemed to be out of range already.
Just a second or two until that first ring would hit him. Could he dive? Could that still bring him far enough towards the car? He would walk if necessary. If he just make it past the facility’s wall. Just dive until he was under the rings, hoping they wouldn’t push him further down. Or maybe he would be able to ride them? Float on top of them. Would that bring him even further with ease? But there was no time to think about that, no time to debate the options. He needed to decide right now. His brain yelled: Dive!
Danny was soaring through the air. “Whoohooooo! Stephen are you getting this?!”
He looked to the left, expecting to see Stephen there. No one. Then he shifted to the right, turning his head. No Stephen there either. “Oh for fucks sake, slow poke. Where are you…”
Trying to look back, but he couldn’t see his friend. “Fine. I’ll see you on the ground.”
The area surrounding wall was right beneath him. He looked at the watch tower left from him. “So long fuckers! Whahahahaa! You ain’t shit!”
He could see the viaduct in the distance.
Man, this was freedom! This was the life! Danny was realizing he still had more than enough altitude, he could make a little dive and go even faster. Closing his arms and legs, he was torpedo-ing downwards. And there was even enough time to roll. Oh yeah. In his acceleration he decided to turn it up a notch, turn around and float on his back for just a little.
One quick movement and he was on his back, spreading his arms and legs again. This felt a bit weird, but he was still going. Trying to figure out where Stephen was, he stared into the distance. Nothing. No sight of Stephen. Did he even jump? What the hell, man.
But…
What was that?
Above the tower that green light was coming down again. The one he saw when they were in the truck. It came down fast. “Oh shit. Stephen… You better be gone there”
A blinding flash of green light surrounded the tower. Danny had to close his eyes.
He had to turn around, back to normal flying position. He turned around and shook his head. Man, he could hardly see anything. He needed to focus, if he wanted to land safely in a few.
The landing spot was getting closer.
A strange sound was coming from the facility, a deep loud humming mixed with high-pitched sirens, it seemed. He could feel it in his stomach.
Just a little further to the car. He needed to deploy the chute now.
One tug and it was flying out. The air beneath it filled the chute up and with a strong shock his body was kept from falling faster. He was dangling in the air, gliding towards the car. Almost there.
Stephen’s arms hesitated a little, but he closed the wings. Now for some speed.
But right at that moment, the rings hit him. He was pulled up through the air higher and higher. It was like he was caught in an upside down current, going up. He could hardly see anything around him. Then at its high-point the wave let Stephen go and he started to fall again. The air was getting thicker and darker. It became harder to breathe. The surrounding sounds of the wind and everything else in the background faded to a point where he didn’t hear anything anymore. He tried to spread his arms again to float, but he was paralyzed.
Falling deeper and deeper while the everything around him seemed to grow darker and darker. He looked down to see how far he was from the ground, if anything he needed to deploy his chute. But while he was falling, the ground seemed to disappear further and further away from him. Stephen looked around, but there was nothing but darkness surrounding him. Just before everything went black he suddenly heard a high ear drum piercing tone getting louder and closer by until it ended with a pop, like someone opened up a champagne bottle.
And then…
An absolute overwhelming lack of Everything.
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