There's a new organization in play, bent on discovering the secrets of magic: the Terran Inquisition. But what do they want with Nick?

Apologies for the slightly shorter than normal part, but I figured it would be better to post now than wait until I finished with this section, otherwise it would have been another week or two haha.

-Tas

Earth, Day ??

Nick blinked uncertainly at the cafeteria he’d been led to by a non-descript scientist after being unshackled, changing out of the hospital gown, and having an official looking nametag attached to his new clothes. Despite being fairly spartan in the way of decorations, the room managed to give off a welcoming and friendly feeling. There was a buffet with a bunch of great looking food, and his mouth watered as he spotted steak and salad, both of which were positively magnetic after eating pizza for an entire week, not to mention how long he’d been asleep. It looked like it was meal time, because the large rectangular tables were full of men and women and, much to his surprise, some of them had black Keys. It didn’t seem like they were being forced to stay, and they were all chatting amiably until he was noticed.

The chatter died down and one of the girls with a black headband stood up and beckoned to him. She looked to be a bit younger than he was, likely late high school age, and had shorter brown hair that didn’t quite reach her shoulders. Like the rest of the people in the room, him included, she was wearing non-descript grey sweatpants and a long-sleeved shirt of the same color, though she’d rolled up the sleeves. “Well don’t just stand there, come on over!”

He numbly followed her instructions, shuffling over to the table and sitting down in an empty spot next to the girl. There was a wave of quiet laughter as he slumped in his seat, and the brown haired teen nudged him with an elbow, grinning. “So what did Dark do to you? He always plays some sort of scary prank whenever someone new gets here. Don’t let it bother you, despite looking like some evil mastermind or something, he’s really pretty nice, even if he is an asshole sometimes. I’m Amanda by the way, what’s your name?”

One of the men across from him, old enough to have grey in his dark hair, chuckled when he didn’t respond. “Ah leave him be, he’s still shell shocked. Let the kid get some food and he’ll be alright.”

He wasn’t sure why he wasn’t panicking, maybe it was the shock. He’d just been kidnapped and couldn’t contact Jess to let her know he was alright; much less his parents, and was trapped with no idea where he was. Is this what David feels like? Calm in the middle of everything? He wondered. The scientists, at least he assumed they were scientists, seemed friendly and willing to answer a few questions, and he decided it was worth a shot. “Where am I? Why am I here?”

“This is the headquarters for the Terran Inquisition. Sorry but the location is a secret, no one knows but Dark and our sponsor, some guy who calls himself the ‘Illusive Man’, as if we wouldn’t get the reference. I’m surprised he didn’t decide to name this organization Cerberus.” The greying man across from him, Nick’s eyes flicked to the ID on his shirt, Jeremi explained, rolling his eyes and causing another ripple of laughter. “As for why you’re here, it’s because we need people who can use magic so we can study it and we’re trying to keep everything really quiet so the public doesn’t find out.”

“That doesn’t mean you had to fucking kidnap me!” Nick snarled, slamming his fists down on the table, whatever shock that’d been keeping him calm evaporating quickly.

The whole table recoiled and Jeremi’s face hardened after a brief expression of shock. “Explain.”

“Je- my friend and I had just gotten back from Ilos and were hanging out in her room before going to bed when I noticed some movement in the window. I knew something was going to happen, so we packed some stuff and tried to run. There were military just outside the door who tried to shoot us, and we made it to the street before I got hit with a dart, though I made sure my friend got away before it knocked me out. Then I woke up practically naked with my arms and legs shackled to a hospital bed by cold iron and now I’m trapped in some secret base and I can’t contact Jess!” Nick made fists on the table and bowed his head, trying to hide the tears that were starting to form in his eyes.

“What have you done Arterian?” Jeremi muttered, then continued louder. “Amanda, get him some food and then show him to his room. I need to go have a chat with our ever so wise leader.”

Nick didn’t remember much after that. There was some food that he ate tastelessly despite how wonderful it looked earlier, then Amanda led him to a room. That room had a bed, which was the only thing he really noticed before laying down on it. He lay there, staring at the ceiling, as the teen tried to talk to him from a chair next to the bed, not really responding to anything. After being unconscious for who knows how long, he was hardly tried enough to go back to sleep, but there was something about Amanda’s voice, something she said, that made him drift off.

------

Ding dong ding dong!

Nick sat up sharply, startled at the sudden noise, and glanced around. He was alone in a rather large and soft bed in a rather large and well-furnished room, though he was still dressed for some reason, even to his shoes. Where…? He closed his eyes and breathed out slowly. Right. Kidnapped and in some mysterious secret base where they study magic. Had a meltdown, brought to this room. Okay. His eyes opened again as he looked around.

The room was nice, just short of being opulent, and the biggest bedroom he’d ever seen. The bed he was in was king sized and was covered in the softest sheets he’d ever touched. The bedside tables to either side were made of a rich dark wood and polished till they shone, with the floor made of the same material. The tables held lamps that were intricately carved and inlaid with gold, and the shades that softened the light from the bulbs looked like they were hand-painted. The massive carpet that took up most of the room was almost an inch thick and decorated with Celtic symbols. Off to the side was a fluffy couch in front of a positively massive tv, as well as what looked suspiciously like a snack bar. There was a fan in the ceiling along with some speakers, which is where the sound that woke him up had come from. From what he could see past where the bathroom door stood open, that room was just as opulent as the one he was in.

All in all, the place was practically dripping money.

Now that he wasn’t panicking, he could take a step back and actually think. The place he was in was obviously well-funded, and because it was secret it had to be either private or government owned. He kept general tabs on government expenditures because they could affect his own investments, and he knew that the United States’ government funded a number of projects that weren’t publicly known, so this could be one of those depending on how much the Terran Inquisition needed. Magic was a new thing on Earth, and he had no idea what kind of funding a program like this would take, but a sudden increase in expenditure is always seen with suspicion, so if this facility was supposed to be secret it could also be funded privately.

He thought back to what Jeremi had said about having a sponsor known as the Illusive Man. If there was a single sponsor then the possibly of the base being privately funded was rather high, and it also meant that this Illusive Man was more likely trying to make money off of magic. Nick’s brief impression of the people in the base told him that they were there by choice and were treated well. The scientists were likely on board because a good portion of the scientific community lived to discover new things, and this was certainly an opportunity to do that. The people with Keys could be there because they felt like they were helping, they were getting a good sum of money, or any number of other reasons, but he was fairly certain that he was the only one there forcibly.

Any way he thought about it it didn’t make sense. Obviously the scientists and the ‘subjects’ got along fairly well, so why would an organization that seemed built on that kind of trust suddenly kidnap someone who might be uncooperative or even cause dissent among the other participants? Unwilling workers ground a project to a halt almost as fast as a lack of funding, so why take that risk?

If there were cons to this there also had to be pros that possibly outbalanced them, which left him with two possibilities. First, this Illusive Man was changing his business strategy from paid labor to forced labor in order to bring in more subjects and accelerate research. However, that also meant that it was necessary to have enforcement of some kind to make sure the research did continue, which would cost more money. Second, Nick had something that Dark or the Illusive Man found valuable enough to take the risk of damaging their operation.

What do I have that they couldn’t get anywhere else? I know every word of power ever posted online, but I’m sure they have that too. I personally know Cariss, the beta player to get the furthest in Ilos, but how could they possibly know that David and Cariss are the same person? I know about and use magic on Earth, but I’m at best a good mage, not a great one. His eyes widened. Were they after Jess? She’s incredible with magic, but then why would they not have just expended a little more to catch her? She was on foot, they shouldn’t have had a difficult time following if she was that important to them.

“Why? This doesn’t make sense!” Nick yelled, punching the fluffy bed, which just silently absorbed the impact in a very unsatisfying way.

He sighed after a few seconds of silence, then got out of the bed. Regardless of the reason, I need to get out of here. Jess just went through losing David, I’m not going to let her go through losing me as well.

Nick thought through his options as he headed to the bathroom, which was just as opulent as his glimpse through the door showed. The first thing he needed was information; he knew very little about the situation he was in. He was in a well-funded secret facility where they did research on magic, and the people there more or less got along, but that was the extent of his knowledge. What exactly were they researching? How big was the place? How many people were living there? What kind of security was there? How did they keep the people inside? How did they communicate with the outside world? Where did their food come from? Did they block Spirit magic?

Spirit magic! “Su!” *Jess can-* you hear me?

“Damn it!” He muttered darkly, sitting down on the couch after finishing with the bathroom. But then how do they research magic if they can’t use it? Unless… “Cir.”

His mana was almost depleted from his go at the telepathic message, but a tiny whirlwind appeared in front of him just as he imagined it, using the mana he was regenerating. After a few seconds he let it dissipate. So they can use magic inside, but anything going out is blocked? What about Ilos itself?

He crossed his arms across his chest, first three fingers extended. “Log in.”

The slight hope faded as nothing happened. So they’ve even found a way to block access to Ilos. This place really is secure. What else can I try? He looked around. I could break some stuff, but that wouldn’t do me any good. I can’t use telepathy to contact Jess. I can’t access Ilos.

A pit in his stomach made itself known and he moved himself off the criminally comfy couch. Well, food comes first I guess, then maybe I can get some answers out of the people here.

He opened the door to his room, peering down the hallway which vanished around the corners at both ends. There were a few other doors along the hall that looked exactly like his, a dark and heavy wooden door with a golden nameplate on the front, but he didn’t see anyone else around. There was no locking mechanism visible, and when he turned the handle on the outside the latch pulled in, so it looked like he could get back in whenever he wanted. Thus reassured, he closed his door, noting that the nameplate on the front already had his name etched into it in fancy letters. Either they worked really fast here or they had been expecting him for quite some time.

After standing indecisively for a few seconds, he turned right and started off down the hallway. He had no clue where he was going, but as long as no one saw him or knew where he was, maybe he could find something they didn’t want him to see. Trying to keep as silent as possible on the carpeted floor, he took the turn at the end of the hall that led him to an almost identical stretch. The only thing different were the names on the doors. He glanced at the ceiling, expecting to see security cameras, but only tasteful lights shone down at him. The next right turn showed him exactly the same hallway once again, the name number of doors in the same dark wood with the same carpet and number of lights. Feeling a little confused, he walked down the hallway where he was forced to turn right again, into another identical hallway. He was starting to get worried when he noticed a doorway on the left side in the middle of the hallway that was made of a lighter wood and didn’t have a nameplate.

Nick stepped through the door quietly, grateful that they seemed to keep everything well-oiled around here, and closed it behind him. Rather than the hotel-esque hallway, this was more of what he expected from a secure top-secret research facility. A white hall stretched forward in front of him, lit by florescent lights set in the ceiling, and had metal doors set with small windows along it. There were security cameras everywhere; there was no way he hadn’t been seen, so rather than try to avoid it, he stepped forward confidently, if still quietly. He’d look a lot more suspicious creeping along than if he just acted like he belonged, he might even be mistaken for another of the other ‘guests’, considering they all wore the same thing.

As he walked down the hall, he glanced through each of the windows in the metal doors, noting the high tech equipment in the rooms, none of which seemed to be in use. Halfway to the first intersection there was a massive blast door, open of course, but the thing was almost a foot thick and looked primed to drop at a moment’s notice. He watched it warily until he was past.

The first intersection had signs giving directions to different parts of the facility, and would have been much more helpful if any of them actually had the names of anything. Apparently 4C4142 15-4C4142 24 and 524F4F4D 01-524F4F4D 36 were behind him, 43414645 was to his left, 4C4142 07-4C4142 14 and 4755415244 were straight ahead, and 4C4142 01-4C4142 06 and 5041524B* were to his right. Nick ran a hand through his hair, wondering what in the world those sequences could possibly mean, before something on one of the signs drew his eye. What he’d thought was an asterisk on one of the codes pointing to the right was actually a nine-pointed star, and more importantly, hand-drawn. With nothing else to go on, he shrugged to himself and turned right.

There were few more metal doors like the ones in the previous hallway, but these were cluttered and looked used. He even saw a picture on the wall of one of them. At the end of the hall there was another metal door, this one without a window. It had a heavy duty latch and looked much thicker than the rest of those in the hall. If there was ever a door to keep something out, or in, this was it, but beside the door was that same nine-pointed star. Telling himself that he’d get nowhere if he wouldn’t take some risks, he pulled up on the latch, releasing the bolt, and slowly pushed the door open as quietly as he could.

Like everything else in this building, the metal slab moved silently on its hinges, sliding open without even the slightest squeak. Nick stopped the door as soon as he could see past it through the small opening he’d created. Unfortunately the thing was thick enough that anyone who looked at it would easily be able to tell it was ajar, but it was his hope that if it was spotted they would think it was just a mistake.

The sun shone down on the green courtyard beyond the door, lush with vegetation. A paved path wound its way slightly downhill to a large flat square of concrete. Scientists lined one side with a lot of fancy looking equipment, including Arterian Dark, while Amanda stood opposite them. Her eyes were closed, her hands outstretched at waist height, palms down. What drew his eyes though, was the massive nine pointed star inscribed in a circle between them. It had to be at least twice as far across as he was tall, but more importantly, it was glowing. Every color he could imagine moved along the lines of the odd symbol, shifting constantly, and he watched, transfixed.

“Come to watch?”

A hand landed on Nick’s shoulder and his breath caught in his throat even as he twisted away, reaching for a weapon he didn’t have on Earth to face whatever threat had appeared.