San Diego, California

     Ben's plane landed in the early hours of the morning. The city of San Diego was undeniably beautiful, as it was situated on the coast, and it boasted buildings that glistened in the rising sunrise. Its scale of size was nowhere near that of New York City, but Ben appreciated the openness. It felt refreshing to not feel as claustrophobic and suffocated by the hundreds of buildings packed tightly together.

     When he stepped off of the plane while carrying his one piece of luggage, feeling his stomach clench from all the peanuts he'd eaten, a group of people clustered on the outside of the terminal. Within the crowd were several holding signs; drivers assigned to pick up passengers. There, a grizzly-looking young man dressed in a suit was holding a sign with Ben's name on it. As soon as the two made eye contact, the man lowered the sign and patiently waited for Ben to make his way over.

     "Mr. Cain, I presume?" the man asked in a monotone voice.

     Ben slowly nodded his head, locking eyes with the man, "...Yes."

     "Any other luggage?" the man continued.

     Ben shook his head, "All I have is this carry-on..."

     "Good," the man cut in, briskly snatching Ben's carry-on luggage. "I'll need it for security reasons."

     Without protesting, but not without a dirty look, Ben allowed himself to be escorted to a waiting car. It was parked outside, and its tinted windows reflected the two men as they climbed in. There was already a driver waiting inside; he was bald and wearing delicate-looking leather gloves.

     "To the checkpoint," the man, who had met Ben in the airport, simply commanded.

     The engine roared to life, and the car quickly pulled away from the airport parking area.

     They drove downtown through the city in silence, with no word from the driver on where they were going. However, Ben already had the intuition that they were making their way to the drop-off point where he was scheduled to be debriefed. While they drove, Ben reached into his pocket and pulled out his tattered iPod with earbuds wrapped around them. As they neared their destination, and in an effort to calm himself, he switched on a relaxing classical music soundtrack. The music invisibly wavered through the air, and Ben closed his eyes, the drive lengthening.

     It wasn't until the car abruptly halted that Ben opened his eyes. They were parked outside of a towering office building, located on the outskirts of the city. The construct looked completely ordinary, hence why it was chosen as a meeting place for Ben and the Black Dragon associates.

     "When do I get my luggage back?" asked Ben when the door to the car was opened by his driver.

     "You'll have it returned in due time," responded the driver, averting Ben's gaze. "We have orders to directly escort you into the building."

     Ben obediently got out and was led up the stone walkway to the front door. The driver gestured for him to go inside, while he waited outside. Ben pushed through the door and was greeted by a burst of cool, air-conditioned, air. There was a line of elevators waiting against the far wall, and he remembered back to the thick packet he had received days prior.

     Sweat began to bead on his forehead as he got into an elevator and licked his dry lips. The packet had indicated to go to floor number seventeen. With a clammy hand, Ben reached out and cautiously clicked the button on the wall console. It illuminated, and the doors to the elevator creaked shut.

     The elevator went up the levels painfully slow, and Ben made sure that he had a plan of attack just in case things went awry. He would take out the men closest to him and make his way to the nearest window. Possible weapons included letter openers, staple guns, and even paper weights. When the doors opened Ben took in a deep breath, remembering the code word he was going to need.

     Directly in front of him, there was a grey hallway stretching forward. At the far end, there was a secretary busily typing away at a computer console situated on her desk. She looked absolutely normal, with her hair tied up in a bun and her eyes quickly darting at different things on the computer screen. Ben approached and noticed a peculiar tattoo, characteristic of all those in affiliation with the organization, of a black dragon lacing its way around her forearm.

     "How's the weather today?" she asked.

     "Good," Ben replied with the code sentence, licking his dry lips again (he badly needed lip-balm), "but you might need an umbrella."

     The secretary nodded her head and, without smiling, gestured to a waiting chair.

     "Mr. Chase will be with you shortly," she calmly stated before going back to work on her computer.

     Ben sat uneasily in one of the uncomfortable padded chairs. For about several minutes he waited in an agonizing silence, the clock ticking away in the corner. On a brown, wooden table were a couple of outdated magazines displaying health and fitness. The room was barren, except for a potted plant in a corner and a flickering fluorescent light above. Overall, the room didn't seem like the place where one of the world's most feared terrorist organizations would be hiding.

     After fifteen minutes, a door on the far end of the room opened and an older gentlemen stepped out. He had graying hair, heavy wrinkles, and a thin set of spectacles on his face. The way his cheeks sagged reminded Ben of a basset hound.

     "Mr. Cain?" he called. "We are ready."

     Wiping his palms on his pants, Ben sat up and went to the other side of the room. He followed Mr. Chase through a cramped hallway, and into a room marked "C-124". Inside, there was a table with two men on one side, and a chair on the other for Ben. The room was windowless, had bleak-white walls, and felt oddly cramped. Displayed on the table was an assortment of all different kinds of items.

     "You may sit," Mr. Chase said, half-gesturing to a seat on the opposite side of the table. "Let's begin the debriefing."

     Ben sat in the chair in front of the three men and swallowed. All three of them were old and similar to the physical appearance of Mr. Chase. Even their expensive-looking suits looked similar; reminiscent of the men from the bar.

     "Mr. Cain," Mr. Chase inquired, "tell us what you know about...the Stone of Ascension."

     "It's a...legendary artifact," Ben impatiently sighed. "It's been a part of legend for thousands of years. It belong to...uh...."

     "An advanced civilization," one of the old men cut in. "A civilization lost to time."

     Ben rolled his eyes "Er, yeah...what he said. Other than that, all I know is that I'm supposed to retrieve it from a laboratory."

     "Excellent," Mr. Chase answered. "We are most grateful for your...compliance on this mission."

     Ben gritted his teeth, a wave of agitation suddenly flowing through him, "Of course..."

     Mr. Chase cleared his throat, gesturing to the mountainous array of items that were in front of them, "These will be your tools Mr. Cain."

     Across the table there was a gun, a metal suitcase, special-looking gloves, a secondary gun, ammunition, and a pair of sophisticated goggles.

     "All of these are specially crafted not to set off any security alarms," said Mr. Chase. "Don't ask how, because the details are far more boring than you'd originally think."

     There was silence, and Ben observed the table of trinkets.

     "Shall we move forward with the plan?" one of the men asked.

     Ben looked up and sarcastically stated, "I thought you'd never ask."

     Mr. Chase cleared his throat again, "Your mission, Mr. Cain, is to retrieve the Stone of Ascension from Starlight Laboratories. Whatever doubts you have towards the actual existence of the artifact must be wiped clean because it is, in fact, a real artifact."

     Ben nodded his head, "Sure."

     Mr. Chase got up and headed over to the left-most wall. He pulled out a small remote and clicked, allowing for a plasma television set to slide down from out of the ceiling. The screen flickered to life, and a map of what appeared to be the interior of a high-security complex appeared on the screen.

     "The stone, as you can see, is under high security," Mr. Chase explained, "and it is isolated in one of the vaults located close to the center-interior of the complex. We already have one of our men inside who will disable the security protocol, allowing for a five-minute retrieval of the stone before the back-up security generators kick in. The tricky part of this will be getting past the vault, since it is electrically connected to its own mainframe. You will need to get past the vault and retrieve the stone, while our man on the inside keeps the security offline."

     Ben nodded his head, "What does the vault look like?"

     "It's a titanium room with a door about eighteen inches thick," Mr. Chase answered. "We have designed a laser in the form of a pen that you will use to penetrate the vault's door."

     "A pen?" Ben asked, with a note of dry humor in his voice. "Why not something cooler?"

     "In order to not draw attention to yourself," Mr. Chase responded, "you will be disguised as one of the scientists within the facility. Therefore, when people start wondering what happened they won't notice the burglar in heavy combat gear. You will also be given a fake identification card, that we've built, in order to grant you access into the interior compound."

     Ben nodded his head, "How will I know who the man on the inside looks like? Or am I supposed to have my spidey-sense go off?"

     "He is already notified of your arrival time and instructed what to do," Mr. Chase answered, unaffected by Ben's weak jab at humor. "You will know who he is by his red identification badge, but otherwise he appears essentially like any ordinary security guard."

     Ben thought for a moment, "All right...details are always important."

     "Now," Mr. Chase raised his voice, while also his hand, "this project is not as easy as it seems. There are guards guarding the perimeter of the vault holding the stone. This is where your skill comes in, Mr. Cain. You will have to disarm the guards, cut into the vault, and make it out within five minutes."

     Ben whistled, "So it's not just a walk in the park."

     "There is no margin for error, and we only have one shot at retrieving the stone," Mr. Chase concluded. "You cannot fail."

     He made his way back to the table and started going over the items that were strewn about.

     "These guns are for defense, the suitcase is to put the stone in, and the gloves," he paused, "the gloves are of great importance. You must not touch the stone with your bare flesh at all costs. Use the gloves, put the stone in the suitcase, and get out."

     "What about the goggles?" Ben inquired, shifting uneasily in his seat.

     "There are many vaults," explained Mr. Chase. "We are not exactly sure which vault the stone is in, but these goggles will help pick up on its unique electromagnetic signature; it will help you find the stone."

     Ben could feel a slight irritation growing within him at the sight of the old man giving him orders. He stared at their Black Dragon tattoos as if it were live snakes, and he couldn't help but feel an increasing wave of anger towards the man.

     "Your mission begins tomorrow evening at 7 o'clock, that is when the laboratories are least full of scientists analyzing the artifact," Mr. Chase concluded.

     There was an awkward moment of silence between the two.

     "Any questions?" Mr. Chase asked.

     "Yes," Ben replied, shifting in his seat, "and it's why."

     Mr. Chase raised his eyebrows, "Hm?"

     "Why do you want this stone?" Ben asked, angrily gripping the arms on his chair. "Does the Shadow have a rock collection?"

     Mr. Chase coughed, suddenly looking uncomfortable at the mention of their leader's name, "We do not...use the master's choice of title without his permission."

     The Shadow was the leader of the Black Dragon. The world knew his name after he'd proclaimed it to an international audience over the airwaves. Mentioning his name seemed to have struck a chord in Mr. Chase.

     "Choice of title?" Ben asked, sarcastically. "Seems like he sure put a lot of thought into it. Tell me, while he's idly fretting in his fortresses about which billionaire to kidnap next, does he think about the people he's destroyed?"

     "Mr. Cain..." Mr. Chase warned.

     Anger and irritation began to rise in Ben at the sight of the old man, "Now I'm not talking about idiots like Pierce, but real people with real families."

     "Mr. Cain!" Mr. Chase shouted.

     The anger began to grow, manifesting itself like a demon, "Where are they?!" Ben shouted, upturning his chair.

     The two old man lurched upward and rushed forward. Each one of them grabbed Ben's arms and pinned him back in his chair.

     "Let go of me you fucking bastards!" Ben screamed, punching one of the men in the face.

     "ENOUGH!" Mr. Chase bellowed, pulling out a gun and pointing it at Ben's head.

     Ben immediately froze, breathing heavily, with an old man on either side of him.

     "Do it," Ben roughly whispered through gritted teeth. "Kill me you piece of shit!"

     "Remember your family Benedict Cain," Mr. Chase mocked. "Without you, we have no use for them anymore."

     Ben's breathing calmed as he remembered Diana and Hope, "I'm going to...to kill you all."

     He'd tried to play their game, but the hate was too strong. As Ben was escorted out of the room, he knew that after it was all over he would go after the Black Dragon. He knew where they were, and he would not hold back.

     "Don't think about coming back, Mr. Cain," he could hear Mr. Chase say from behind him. "The Black Dragon frequently moves, and we never stay in the same place for too long."

     "Shut up!" Ben called back, clutching all his gear and being shoved into the elevator.

     He hated them. He wanted to slaughter them all. They had taken so much from him, and there he was reluctantly doing their bidding. Ben felt again a grudging, disgusted feeling inside of him for doing what they wanted him to do. He hated himself for it, because it felt like he was betraying Diana.

     Diana.

     "I'm coming," Ben whispered to himself, the elevator descending levels. "I'm coming Diana."

**

     Mr. Chase straightened himself out as Benedict Cain descended levels in the elevator.

     "Why did we chose him for this?" he asked the man next to him, a coworker of three years.

     He sighed, "The master just seemed convinced that it had to be him."

     "We have other agents," Mr. Chase answered.

     "But none, I'll admit, are quite like him," his coworker responded, turning away. "The master may be right, and he might just be the only one who can pull this off. It's a one-time shot, no error."

     Mr. Chase went back to his office, cleaning his glasses with his shirt, "Yeah right, there's always going to be an error. If the master hasn't learned that yet...I don't know when he will."