I surveyed the small cramped room just behind Johns figure. Three other people were seated around a circular wooden table, I registered one as Janice and immediately decided to enter. If this was a trap, she would be far from here. I pulled my chair in, sat down, and stuffed the rest of my nut bar into the abyss of my bag.

Leaning back in the chair, my fingers picked at themselves as I waited for Janice to start. My gaze kept flicking between the other two sitting next to me, one of them sending frustration through me at the thought of recognising, but not knowing his face. I tried to sneak a longer look his way, but it seemed like he was doing the same to me- I don't blame him- and I had to abort mission every time. The other person sitting opposite me looked around Janice's age. Thankfully his attention was hers, so I got a full veiw of his square jaw, brown eyes and gelled back hair. I switched over to John standing infront of the door he had just opened, he sent a slight nod my way as I raised one eyebrow. I instinctively sank deeper in my chair as I began to think through my memories of the guy sitting next to me.
But not for long.

All I could recall was his uncommonly fair hair, and Janice had our attention.

"We all know why we're here, so lets keep the introductions short and snappy. We don't have much time." Janice announced tartly and looked to the man on her left with a nod. The moment he began to ascend from his chair, I realised how tall he was. Like, really tall. I couldn't help but imagine him in a baggy basketball uniform with a backwards cap and a grin as he did a lay up. But my imagination didn't match the reality of his serious expression. His dark hair glistened as it nearly collided with the ceiling light, but he remained unphased, I got a hunch this guy was used to slamming his head into rooves.

"Greetings everyone, my name is Peter Derwent. I'm the head professor, researcher and special missions officer here at The Wall. I look forward to collaborating with you from now on." Peter's face didn't show much emotion and he struck me as the kind of man who got things done with minimal expenses, but made use of every resource available to him. But the way he said 'here at The Wall' ignited my anxiety fuse, I didn't know where I was, no matterr how much I wanted to. Nevertheless, I agreed with his last statement, collaborating with a professional like him was definitely  something to look forward to.

Janice then nodded to me and I stood up, " My name is Alexa Wright," I announced, not realising I had skipped the greeting, " I'm head engineer in the city complex and missions coordinator for all squads in the central district. Working together in future will be a pleasure." I always loved saying that, it sounded so official, and as I sat down I felt two of five eyebrows in the room rise. I saw John roll his eyes out of the coner of my vision, he sent me a hand signal I hadn't seen in years and the recovery drill replayed in my mind. My fingers clenched around an imaginary handle. Then forced themsleves to relax.

Without Janice even nodding, the last introduction was started, and finished, in the blink of an eye. " Carter. Carter Nathans."

The short introduction gave me a split second excuse to look at his face. His... Tanned face? His bronze skin was framed with an impractical amount of beach blonde curls. I barely stopped myself from reaching out to touch his sunkissed locks. The only sunkissed locks in the past 100 years of human history.

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Hi everyone! I just wanted to thank you for reading this, and I'm sending a shoutout to annabanana_010 and MyLonelyCries . Your support is greatly appreciated!!