In the City of Offtopic, the nighttime lights shone brightly. The city laid quiet, as the pedestrians of the streets have gone to sleep. It was 11:46 at night when Eagle and Nighthawk came to a halt in their truck at the “Bird Shipping Co”, the business that Eagle legally owned. It had been several hours of driving through the desert, and several more hours driving through the city during rush hour. Eagle closed his door and stretched. “AH! My back always hurts when I ride in that damn truck. Why do we always have to take it?” Nighthawk was flipping through the document he had stolen, without looking he replied, “It’s low profile, nobody ever really thinks of a pickup truck as an escape vehicle.” Eagle frowned. “Have you never see ‘A Heist with Markipiler? They used a pickup truck to escape prison!” Nighthawk lifted his head, “Hey! Spoilers!” Eagle sighed. “Whatever. Come on, let's get to the Nest.” “Again, I really think we should’ve named it the Birdcage,” Nighthawk muttered. They entered the business building and came to a halt near a staircase. As they ascended the staircase, they came to the 3rd floor midway point, where a sign read, “In Case of Fire, use stairs!” Eagle turned the sign to the side and lifted up on it. A small elevator door opened behind the sign, with blue LED lights turning on. As they entered the elevator, Eagle spoke into the elevator's small touch screen, “The Nest, please.” The elevator doors closed, and for a few minutes, it was pure silence, until the doors opened again, revealing a small room littered with precious artifacts, old documents framed to a wall, and a desk littered with old candy wrappers and beer cans. Nighthawk threw the document down on the desk, as Eagle sat down behind it. “So, what's the verdict with the Relic we got?” Nighthawk opened up a small fridge and grabbed a beer. “Looks like Toasters tip was good, considering it was from a downgraded, watermarked, obsolete robot.” “Cous-“ “-but, the intel was good, none the less. This dude is obsessed with the relics of the Void.” Nighthawk slid a beer over to Eagle. “He’s got multiple excavation and extraction teams all over the land looking for these relics.” Nighthawk pushed the document on the table. Eagle popped open the can of beer. “Okay, so who are we dealing with, and what does he want?” Nighthawk tapped the symbol on the document. “You see this symbol? That’s an old society of daggers symbol. Way back when it was supposedly not a trap card waiting to ensnare someone's mother.” He opened up the document, showing pictures of an old bank. “If I had to guess, he’s probably looking for one of Speaker's old items that was stored in the bank.” “That doesn’t explain who it is, Cous.” Eagle sipped his beer. “I’m working up to that, you premature egg hatcher.” Nighthawk sneered. “If I had to guess, their leader is probably an old member of Offtopic, maybe even a old member of the Society of Daggers. These goons certainly have enough weapons to signify its someone with power. It would explain why he’s after things like these.” Nighthawk pulled a small blue orb from Eagle’s bag. It was wrapped up in a towel, covered in strange markings, and emitted a small glow. Eagle skimmed through the pictures until one with a pair of excavators nearby an old lab entrance caught his eye. “Hey, wait a minute.” Nighthawk looked back at him. “What? What is it?” Eagle pulled out his laptop from his bag, knocking the orb toward Nighthawk who grabbed it and began fiddling with it. “I recognize that place,” Eagle said. “It was an old biogenetic facility way back when. Supposedly it’s how Chubby got a new body and where Tiger was supposedly created.” Nighthawk leaned back in his chair, “Tiger, eh? Heh, I can still remember that fatass. Gotta say I do regret putting him on that treadmill.” “Supposedly every excavation team within goes missing due to some ‘beast of the underbelly’ or something like that.” Eagle continued. “Maybe our next clue to whatever treasure these guys are looking for is going to be there?” Nighthawk leaned in and opened up the document, and nodded. “Huh. Actually, that would be a yes, that’s where we need to go.” “How do you know?” Nighthawk held out a small map, showing the lay of the land, including a giant red X in a section of the woods where it was labeled with red ink, “LAB ACCESS.” On the side, it read “Lab holds artifact T, recovery of an artifact must be immediate.” Eagle frowned. “It can’t be that easy.” *16 hours later…* Outside in a dense woodland area, Eagle and Nighthawk came to a halt in front of a giant pit. Inside the pit, appeared to be an entrance to a vast underground facility. Nighthawk turned and looked at Eagle, grinning ear to ear, “It’s that easy.” “Quiet you.” Eagle muttered. “Well, let’s get down there and see what we’re dealing with.” With that, the two birds descended into the dark, not knowing what new horror would be unleashed upon the world. ___________________________________ Dango leaned back in his office chair and awaited the phone call. His leg nervously bounced up and down on the stone-cold floor. His phone began to ring. He answered it, placing the caller on speakerphone. With a nervous voice, he asked, “Boss?” “What did we lose?” A voice, filled with more curiosity than the supposed rage Dango expected, answered him. Dango swallowed. “We lost a document, 2 men, and my dignity.” The voice scoffed. “There wasn’t much dignity, to begin with, Dango.” “Hey!” Dango protested. “I don’t see you doing anything other than paying us to do this for you!” “Because secrecy is important. If our enemies knew who I truly was, our operation would be moot.” The boss replied in a calm manner. “Hm, it matters not for now. They do not know our full plans, not to mention the document they have stolen is not vastly important to our major plans regarding the relics. They still have it, yes?” “We believe so sir.” A chair could be heard creaking in the background as if the boss was leaning back. “Hmm. Troublesome. But, patience rules all. We will simply wait for them to make a mistake. Where do you believe they are now?” Dango shifted in his chair. “We believe they are at excavation 4.” “Oh, well then. Our job will become easier then, as the Beast will get them. Hehehehe…HAHAHAHAHAHAH! MWAHA-oh hold on. Yes? Yes sorry! I’ll have to call you later, the neighbor just cussed me out for being too loud. Continue the good work Dango.” The phone clicked, and the call ended. Dango shifted back in his chair and sighed. “I need a new job.”