Victor didn't understand why he had to go to the abandoned warehouse with Luke, Kota, and Nathan. Luke could get them in, Nathan could get them out of trouble, and Kota would make sure they didn't do anything stupid. He didn't feel like his expertise was needed but what Mr. B says goes so there he was walking up to a huge factory in the dead of night.

They didn't have a lot of time. They had to be back before sunrise or they would be found out. Who knew this academy would be even stricter than their own about schedules? This mission was supposed to be relatively simple, go in find where the missing money is going and get out. No one expected the degree to which this school had become corrupted. The teachers don't care, the principles abuse their power, and the students do whatever they want. The only thing anybody is strict about is curfew which is what they were currently breaking.

In the last couple of weeks weird energy spikes had been recorded from a specific warehouse just across the river, this warehouse. Its records show that it has been abandoned for years. Victor tried to find out who owned it but couldn't find anything no matter how hard he looked adding to his frustration concerning this abandoned building. Honestly, he would rather be sleeping. They were all in pretty good shape from training but the gym coach at this school was a psycho. He could probably be certified.

Luke approached the building first clad in all black, just like the rest of them. He surveyed the building before spotting something. Victor cringed as he watched Luke scale the side of the building heading towards a broken window. Once he slipped inside, all of them let out a relieved breath. Victor was very thankful North was not there to witness that stunt. The whole neighborhood would have been woken up from his yelling.

Soon enough, the front door to the factory was pushed open a grinning Luke standing on the other side. He was pretty much the only one that wanted to be here. Nathan surged forward taking lead. He was prepared for anything, though Victor predicted a homeless person was the most dangerous thing that could be hiding inside. 

They made their way forward into the main area of the factory. Shining his flashlight around the only thing Victor saw was a variety of rats. He held back a shudder and turned toward the others. They were standing at the edge of the platform. Victor joined them glancing down. It was a long way down. Staring at it made Victor's stomach turn.

Kota moved his flashlight around below revealing the place to be truly empty. Nothing so far that would indicate where the energy spikes came from. Finally, Kota's light stopped on a large steel elevator sitting in the middle of the space. Victor moved his flashlight around trying to figure out a way down when all of a sudden Luke leaned forward grabbing one of the various thick wires hanging from the ceiling.

"Luke, what are you doing?" Kota asked him sternly as Luke tugs the wire several times.

"I'm getting a ride down," he stated smirking. Before anyone can stop him, Luke jumped onto the wire sliding down to the floor below. He looked back up at the others still smirking. "Are you coming or what?"

Victor glanced at the others. Nathan and Kota both looked like they wanted to kill their brother for the worry they just experienced. Now, he was even more thankful that North had not accompanied them. Luke may not have made it back.

Reluctantly the trio stepped forward grabbing onto their own wires. After giving a few hard tugs, they each slid down joining Luke in front of the elevator. The doors were shut. Luke was currently trying to pry them apart. Victor surveyed the scene looking from his struggling brother to the surrounding area. His eyes landed on a small key pad off to the right of the elevator.

He walked over to the key pad gently dusting off the keys. He couldn't see any power source. There was no telling if the thing even worked anymore. Kota came to stand beside him. They stared down at the keys marked 1-9.

"What do you think?" Kota asked him. Victor shrugged.

"Based on its design I would guess it's a four digit code, but I don't have a clue as to what it is."  Before Kota could respond, Luke pushed them out of the way.

"I got this," he stated confidently cracking his knuckles. Luke started pressing random combinations trying to get the doors to open.

"Luke that is not going to work. There are thousands of possible combinations and we don't even know if the code is four digits. It could be more or less," Kota told him. Luke ignored him and continued experimenting. Nathan leaned against the wall beside the door of the elevator. Part of him loved Luke's enthusiasm, the other part really just wanted to call it a night and scratch this warehouse off their list. He became lost in thought when suddenly a large whooshing sound came from beside him vibrating the entire wall.

"Fuck!" He cursed startled. He jumped away from the wall only to take in the elevator doors opening. The three brothers turned to look at Luke who once again was wearing his signature smug smirk.

"What was it?" Victor asked curious.

"The four corners," Luke replied as they entered the elevator.

"Should we even be going in this rust bucket?" Nathan asked reluctantly following them in. Victor glanced around at his surroundings. The elevator seemed to be in surprisingly good shape for this warehouse having been abandoned for so long. Maybe it was what was causing the power surges.

"It seems fine," Victor answered him while Kota stared at the panel.

"Looks like there are three floors below this one," Kota stated. He pressed the second button and the doors slid closed. "Might as well go floor by floor."

The elevator ride was short and mostly painless. They all felt relieved to step out though. The room was circular with a metal circle with edges about a foot high in the center of the room. The ceiling was high with wire and pipes running across. Victor just knew Luke would find his way up there at some point.

A computer hooked up to the ceiling with a chair attached to the bottom of it sat of to the side of the metal ring. Victor immediately headed for the familiar device. He looked around but could find nothing to turn on. The monitor and keyboard were here but the computer was not. His eyes followed the wires from the back of the monitor to the ceiling and then down the wall disappearing under the floor.

"I think the computer itself is on a different level," he told them. They finished their survey of the room and headed back to the elevator. They went to the next level which was another circular room with three hollow cylinders, similar to a tanning bed situated around it. They were connected to bundles of cables that run all the way up to the tall ceiling. Luke immediately got in one. Once he was done messing about they headed back to the elevator and down to the last floor.

They entered the room cautiously. It was unlike anything they had seen. The room itself was like the others, circular, but it had a dome ceiling. The object in the center of the room drew their attention immediately. Victor had no idea what it did but he knew tech when he saw it.

"I think it's some sort of super computer," he stated in slight awe of the massive machine. He approached surveying the odd machine. The outer part was shaped into a ring and built into the floor. A smaller ring towards the middle sat about a foot off the ground and surrounded a tall cylindrical column. It was unlike anything they had ever seen before.

He finally found the operating panel he needed. Before doing anything he looked back to Kota. Kota and Nathan stayed near the elevator leaning against the wall. Luke was constantly moving around the room most likely looking for something to get into mischief with.

"I can turn it on," Victor told them. Kota nodded to him.

"Do it. We need to know what's on it." Without further ado, Victor turned the machine on. Light blared from lines running along the machine and a slight thrumming could be heard. They headed back to the elevator and up to the computer room.

The screen of the computer was lit up. It seemed to be booting up. Victor took a seat and waited. Code scrolled across the screen and Victor set to work. It was a super computer but he couldn't understand what he was seeing. The code was almost like...

"What is that?!" Luke exclaimed from across the room. Victor leaned to the side to see around the monitor to see what he was talking about. His eyes widened in shock. In the center of the room a holographic globe now hovered above the metal circle.

"It looks like..." Kota began stepping toward the hologram.

"A world," Victor breathed darting back to the screen. The code detailed a-"It's a virtual world."

"What do you mean, a virtual world?" Nathan asked standing next to the monitor. Victor typed away too fast for Nathan to follow.

"It's a world inside of the computer completely created by code. I've never seen anything like it," Victor gushed as he continue to mill through the data. Kota and Luke stared at the holographic globe. They could now make out four distinct quarters making up the whole sphere.

"Could this be the cause of the energy spikes?" Luke asked.

"I don't see how if it wasn't even on," Kota replied. "Is this a visual representation of the world?" Victor stopped typing and glanced around at the hologram.

"I think so. I'm almost to the-" Victor abruptly cut off staring at the screen.

"What's wrong?" Kota asked immediately making his way over to his teammate.

"The room downstairs, the one with the oversized tanning columns, I think I know what it's used for," Victor stated vaguely. Trying not to lose his temper Kota motioned for him to go on. "I think you use it to enter the virtual world."

"What do you mean, enter the virtual world? It's virtual and in a computer and we are not," Nathan stated motioning to him and the others.

"This code doesn't lie. Those scanners and coded to somehow transfer a person into the virtual world and then bring them back." Nathan shared a look with Kota. Luke looked ready to volunteer as tribute any second now. There was no way one of them was being a guinea pig. It was too dangerous.

"We need to test it first before we go," Kota stated his tone leaving no room for argument. Luke looked dejected but the others nodded their consent. Victor loaded the code onto a flash drive he always carried with him and they headed back to the elevator. It was getting so late that it was getting early. They had to make it back before curfew.

They exited the elevator onto the ground floor and stared up at the ledge they had entered on. They all looked around none of them having the energy to climb back up the wires.

"There are some stairs over here," Kota stated wandering off to the right. Sure enough tucked into a back corner were a set of stairs. They quickly made their way up and out of the factory silently processing what they had discovered and what it could possibly mean.

The girl slowly blinked her eyes open as she became more aware. She realized she was laying on her side. She pushed herself up and took in her surroundings. Dark walls surrounded her with various light blue segments appearing here or there. She laid on a platform in the center of the oddly shaped room.

There was a walkway behind her but she didn't see a door of any sort. She looked below the platform and was only met with more darkness. The platform itself was really the only light in the room. Its various lines making up its design illuminated the space.

She tried to remember where she was or how she got here but she found nothing. She couldn't remember anything. She couldn't even remember her own name.

Pictures for reference:

This is the factory interior. You can see the elevator on the ground floor.

Here is the computer/control room.

Here is the scanner room.

And here is the room with the super computer.

***Make sure to comment, vote, etc. and tell me what you guys think. I'll try to get more up soon! I feel really inspired and motivated by this story right now! I have a lot of ideas. If you have any ideas please share!! Thanks for reading!!