Reggie, Hyacinth, Tegan, and Nel stopped at the corner of a generic office building on the east side of the park. Hyacinth made sure to change into her office outfit she always used. Reggie caught himself staring and had to look away. He always found her office attire alluring. Nel was already wearing a work appropriate outfit, though Reggie didn't know when he got it. Nel sometimes went out on his own and likely bought it for himself at some point.

"Ok, Hyacinth do you have your badge? I am not sure it will work but it's at least worth a try." Reggie pulled his own badge out of his pants pocket and clipped it to his shirt pocket. Hyacinth made hers appear in her hand from her magic space and clipped it to her skirt. "Tegan, are you going to change?"

"I am going to stay out here. Keep a lookout." Nel pulled out some small flat stones that reminded Reggie of river rocks. They were roughly oval shaped and fit nicely in his palm. "Dad and I made these. They are communication stones. Just keep it in your pocket and we will be able to stay in communication. No one else will be able to hear what is being said since they are attuned to the individual holding them." It just looked like a gray stone to Reggie. He put it in his pocket as Tegan said.

"Alright, let's get going. Nel, go invisible until we get inside." Nel immediately disappeared from sight. Reggie's eyes went wide as it happened even though he knew it was coming. Magic was still pretty novel to him and would take some getting used to. Reggie and Hyacinth walked to the door Nel had pointed out to them when they arrived. There wasn't a card reader that Reggie could see. He turned the handle and the door opened. "That's unexpected. I guess the security is further inside?"

They walked through the door into a generic stairwell. "I guess we will go downstairs." Reggie cautiously took a step down. He paused a second, then continued on. Hyacinth stayed by his side as they descended. They got to the next floor which was labeled as "parking garage A" with a small window in the door. There was clearly parking on the other side, so Reggie and Hyacinth continued down the stairs.

The next floor was blank. Where there should have been a door stood only a blank wall. The next floor, which seemed to be the bottom of the stairwell, had a plain door with no window. There was an electronic card reader next to it similar to the one at the entrance to the old lab. Reggie held his keycard up to it for a second hoping it would work. The little light on the reader blinked but remained red. "Try yours, Hyacinth." Hyacinth had already been stepping forward when Reggie asked her to give it a try. The results were equally disappointing.

"Now what? Any chance either of you can magic it open?" Reggie looked between Hyacinth and a blank space next to her where he thought Nel could be standing.

"I suppose we could try but it's very possible we will set off some sort of alarm by–" Hyacinth was cut off when the door suddenly swung open and a lab coat-wearing employee rushed out pulling a cigarette out of a pack. He seemed unconcerned with people just standing in the stairwell and continued up the stairs and out of sight. It wasn't until Reggie heard the door slam shut again that he came back to his senses.

"Dammit, I should have grabbed the door." Reggie was internally kicking himself for his inability to react to the situation. A look at Hyacinth told him she was doing the same thing. A look of deep disappointment took over her face. "I guess we could wait for that guy to return and follow him in, but that would probably look super suspicious. Maybe someone else will come out soon?"

The moment Reggie finished speaking, the door opened again as though luck was on their side. Nel appeared in the doorway, holding it open. "What the–How did you do that?"

"I went through the door before it closed. I was surprised to turn around and find myself alone." Reggie stood staring at Nel, mouth gaping. He quickly recovered and followed Hyacinth through the door. The door shut behind them and they found themselves standing in a familiar hallway. It looked strikingly similar to the hall at the entrance to the old lab. Reggie soon noticed something was different. He stared ahead trying to figure out what changed when Hyacinth spoke up.

"There are fewer doors this time." Reggie immediately realized she was correct. The hallway was roughly the same length as the old lab but at least a couple doors fewer. "Hopefully the place will have a similar layout as the last one." Reggie nodded in agreement. He motioned them forward as he took a step down the hall.

An alarm started blaring and the lighting turned yellow. Reggie thought they had triggered an alarm somehow and was about to run when an announcement could be heard. "Alert! Machine testing is about to commence! Alert! Machine testing is about to commence!" The announcement sounded like it was coming from everywhere. It took a few seconds for Reggie to spot a speaker in the ceiling directly above them and another one closer to the other end of the hallway.

"Everyone take one of these." Nel handed a small stone to each of them that Reggie recognized. It was the device that Nel said was for closing the incursion. "Let's split up and look for the device. I doubt the layout is exactly the same based on that map on the wall." Nel was pointing to an evacuation route map mounted on the wall. It showed their current location and the route to take in case of emergency. Reggie had seen plenty of them before in offices and even schools.

The map appeared to show the entire layout of the lab, though none of the rooms were labeled. Nel seemed correct, though. This lab seemed bigger and had many large rooms like the one the machine was in before, though none were in the same place Reggie imagined the original room was on the diagram. "Yeah, splitting up is probably going to be the fastest. First one to the machine wins?" Reggie chuckled a little to himself as he looked at the stone Nel gave him. "How do I use this?"

"Just place it on the machine. It will activate on its own. I am not sure what will happen when the pathway closes but once you place it I suggest getting away as quickly as possible." Reggie and Hyacinth nodded to Nel to let him know they understood, then they started down the hall. They each went to a different door that according to the map should allow them to get to one of the big rooms. Reggie looked back for a second and watched Nel and Hyacinth go through their respective doors before pushing his own door open and walking through.

The room Reggie entered was more like another hallway than a room. It was long with a door at the other end and was lined on both sides with upper and lower cabinets, with a countertop running the length of the room on both sides. There were a few scientific devices on the counter that Reggie didn't recognize, but otherwise the room was empty. Not wanting to dawdle, Reggie quickly crossed to the opposite door and walked through.

The next room was an office space similar to the bigger office in the old lab. This one seemed about the same size but had not only office space with desks but also work benches and tables around the outside of the room. There were a couple people looking at screens and didn't seem to notice Reggie when he came in. Just then Tegan's voice could be heard as though she was standing next to him. "I don't know what is happening down there but it looks like a large security team is heading down the stairs." Reggie looked around expecting to see Tegan standing somewhere next to him. When he didn't see her anywhere Reggie remembered the communication stone in his pocket. The voice was so clear. Reggie could have sworn she was standing only a few feet away.

"We were probably spotted. I have not located the room on my route. Guess it is up to Reggie and Hyacinth." This time it was Nel's voice. Reggie remained silent. He didn't want to alert the people in the room in any way and talking to himself would definitely be strange. He walked across the room to the nearest door. According to the map, he would pass through one more room and then be able to enter the bigger room he was looking for.

"I have been cornered. Some security guys are closing in on me." It was Nel again. "I will try to get out without being seen but may have to take a few out."

"Just knock them out or stun them if you can." Reggie made sure Nel knew not to harm them. They were only doing their job. "I am almost to my room but if it's not the right one, I will head out." Reggie had already entered the room after the office and could see through the window in the next set of doors. There was a strange pulsating light coming from the room. Reggie ran to the doors thinking he had likely found the right room. Through the window, he could just barely make out the machine. There was a bright pulsating and swirling light emanating from the machine making it hard to see unless Reggie squinted.

Yanking one of the two doors open, Reggie stepped inside. The view could only be described as surreal. There was a loud noise of power being drawn by the machine. The light coming from the machine looked similar to a whirlpool though it didn't appear to be sucking anything inside. The room stood just as tall as the previous machine room, and Reggie could see a set of windows along the wall on the far side. There were several people inside with panicked looks on their faces. They rapidly moved around the room checking instruments and speaking to each other. Reggie realized they were actually yelling. They were also oblivious to the fact that Reggie was in the room.

The loud sound was ramping up as though building to something. This was very concerning to Reggie and he stood there somewhat scared. He didn't want to approach the machine but there was no one else. He pulled the device from his pocket and clenched it in his hand. "I am in the machine room. Going to place the device and leave. The machine is ramping up and seems like it could go off." Reggie didn't hear any reply. He wasn't even sure the message got out. He steeled his resolve and began to move towards the machine.

As he approached, Reggie felt some unknown pressure in the air. It wasn't unpleasant but also didn't seem normal. It only took a few seconds to cross the room. He took a wide route around the swirling light which Reggie noticed had grown some since he entered the room. The pressure was heavier now as he stood a few feet from the machine and was starting to hurt a little. It was like a headache was building except over his whole body. Despite the weirdness, Reggie felt surprisingly calm. He didn't feel like he was in danger from this strange pressure, but the swirling light of doom was another story.

***

Hyacinth had found her own room, which was just a large storage space. Nel had just let them know he was cornered and she was worried about Reggie. Unlike herself and Nel, Reggie was just a normal guy with no way to defend himself. She quickly backtracked to the hallway at the entrance and went through the door Reggie had taken earlier.

She had made it to the big office space when she heard some static and what sounded like Reggie's voice, though it was garbled. Hyacinth knew the communication stones would work over incredible distances without so much as a moment of static. Unless there was a concentrated source of magic nearby. That would interfere with the stones and cause this sort of garbled message. Hyacinth rushed through the room to the next door, entering the room before the machine room. As she entered, the lights went out. Even the office she had just left was now dark.

A strange pulsating light was illuminating the room, and Hyacinth's heart began to race. She burst through the door into the machine room and had to shield her eyes. The light from the machine was so bright she couldn't really look at it directly. She held a hand up to cover her eyes and looked around the room. It appeared to be empty. Her eyes continued to adjust and then she spotted Reggie across the room. He was looking down at his hand. Something small was sitting in his palm. Hyacinth called out to him, but the noise from the machine drowned her out. Reggie reached forward and placed the device on the machine causing the deafening noise to lessen slightly, and the sound of the machine ramping up leveled off.

Hyacinth let out a sigh of relief as Reggie started to turn and spotted her. He waved wildly with a smile on his face. Just as he took another step, there was a bright flash and Hyacinth lost sight of Reggie. The swirling whirlpool of light expanded violently outward and doubled in size for a second before collapsing back in on itself and became so bright that even when she closed her eyes, Hyacinth felt the need to cover them with her hands.

The noise suddenly stopped and the room was silent. The light was gone and Hyacinth was able to open her eyes, though the new darkness made it impossible to see. "Reggie? You ok?" Hyacinth called out into the darkness, her eyes unable to adjust to the lack of light. There was no reply and a few seconds later the overhead lights came on. The room she came from also lit up again as it seemed the power to the facility had been restored.

"Reggie!?" There was still no reply as Hyacinth blinked involuntarily as her eyes were shocked again by sudden light. Slowly her vision returned and Hyacinth couldn't find the machine. She dropped to her knees as she stared at the empty space where Reggie once stood. The machine and a large portion of the pipes and conduit were gone. Tears began to run down her cheeks as the realization dawned on her. The room was silent but for the quiet sobs of a woman kneeling on the floor in the middle of the room.