Kill the Sun

A couple minutes later, Marvila entered the Containment Unit.

Nick told her everything he knew about the Fog and also told her how to behave.

As soon as she stepped through the employee entrance, she stopped moving.

Right now, the Fog was being pushed away by the forcefield, and as soon as it deactivated, Marvila would be enveloped by the Fog again.

However, when it was time for her to leave, as long as she didn't move from her spot, the forcefield should be able to pull her out again.

Then, it would mean that Nick didn't even need to get involved.

A moment later, the door closed, and Marvila was enveloped.

Outside, Nick grabbed one of the clerks and told them to stay in the locker room.

If they heard any kind of screams or commotion coming from the console, they had to send someone to get Nick.

After that, Nick left Dark Dream, grabbed something to eat, trained, and slept.

Early the next morning, Nick entered Dark Dream again.

In one hour, he had to get Marvila.

For the next hour, Nick dealt with his daily chores.

Finally, it was time to get Marvila.

Nick walked to the locker room and opened the employee door.

The Fog was pushed away and…

Marvila was gone.

Nick furrowed his brows. 'Did she move?'

Nick cracked his neck and readied himself.

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

Nick kept attacking his front and moving forward, making sure that he wasn't hitting Marvila on accident.

For over a minute, Nick kept punching through the Fog, but he just couldn't find Marvila.

By now, Nick became worried.

Dunk!

Suddenly, Nick nearly tripped over something.

The thing on the ground quickly retreated in fright, and Nick realized that it was Marvila.

She had probably just slept, and Nick had woken her up.

"Marvila? Are you there?" Nick shouted.

No reaction.

'Is she not hearing me?' Nick thought. 'Or is she hearing me, but the Fog keeps isolating her from me?'

Nevertheless, Nick continued punching and kicking, and a couple of minutes later, he felt her again.

This time, she didn't retreat.

Nick grabbed her and asked her if everything was okay.

No answer.

'She probably can't hear me. Even our voices are probably isolated.'

Nick moved Marvila's hands to his belt, and she grabbed it.

Then, Nick turned around and moved forward while unleashing kicks and punches.

The hands were losing their grip whenever Nick turned into fog, making them desperately move forward in a panic.

But after a while, they seemed to get used to Nick appearing and disappearing from their grasp.

Several minutes later, Nick hit one of the walls and did the same thing as when he had exited the Containment Unit the first time.

Eventually, the forcefield activated, and Nick pulled Marvila out of the Containment Unit.

When Nick saw her, he could tell that she was quite spooked, but that was the only thing of concern.

She didn't seem unhealthy or injured otherwise.

"Everything alright?" Nick asked.

Marvila breathed heavily but nodded. "Yeah, that was terrifying! I thought you were a second Specter or something earlier!"

"Sorry," Nick said. "Anyway, what did you experience in there?"

"Well, nothing, really," Marvila said. "As soon as the Fog surrounded me, I just sat on the ground and leaned against the wall behind me."

"I was thinking about random things and getting tired. At some point, I fell asleep, and I woke back up when you touched me."

"I got startled and moved away, but I quickly realized that this was probably you, and well, you know the rest," she said.

Nick furrowed his brows. "So, you didn't move?"

"No," Marvila said, shaking her head. "I didn't move a single step until you touched me."

Nick scratched his chin. "Strange because I didn't find you near the entrance. I had to look for you for several minutes."

Marvila's eyes widened in shock and horror. "What?" she asked.

Nick just nodded. "It seems like the Fog can move people without them noticing. Additionally, I don't move slowly at all through the Fog. I can get from one end of the Containment Unit to the other in barely ten seconds."

"Yet, it took me minutes to find you."

Marvila didn't seem happy at all right now.

Eventually, the two of them left the locker room, and Nick checked the Zephyx.

"48 grams of Zephyx," Nick said.

Marvila's eyes widened in shock.

48 grams?!

When she worked with the Puppy, she barely produced seven grams after eight hours!

This was like an entire week of her salary in just one day of work!

"That means the power of the Extractor is relevant to how much Zephyx the Fog produces," Nick muttered to himself.

"Thanks, you can go home now," Nick told Marvila.

"Oh, okay," she said. "Do I get to work with the Fog again?"

"Not sure," Nick said. "I have to talk with Wyntor and Jenny about this."

The two of them said goodbye to each other, and Nick went to Wyntor's office after calling Jenny over.

Then, the three of them talked about everything Nick knew about the Fog.

In the end, they created a new timetable for the employees.

Since the Fog produced the most Zephyx, the Johns were assigned to it, which meant that Jenny and Trevor would stay inside it for 24 hours each, followed by two rest days.

Of course, Jenny wouldn't get two days off fully. She wouldn't need to work with the Dreamer for the next two days, but she still needed to be available in case one of her Extractors needed her for something.

After some talking, they also decided on something else.

They scrapped the plan of making Trevor a spy.

They needed a second team leader, and Trevor was the best candidate by far.

So, Trevor was promoted to team leader position.

When Jenny was with the Fog, Trevor would be the team leader, and when Trevor was inside, Jenny would be.

Of course, they also needed a third employee who was working with the Fog, and in the end, they decided on Jonathan.

Jonathan was the closest to becoming the next John.

Naturally, the duty of getting the employees out of the Fog was added to Nick's daily list.

So, Jenny, Trevor, and Jonathan worked with the Fog.

The Dreamer would be worked with by Marvila, Larry, and Constanze, the three people they had gotten from Ghosty's Lab.

The Lover would be worked with by Kiara.

The Screaming Coffin, the Dung Heap, and the Bleeding Lady were for Nick.

And the Puppy?

That one would be left for the three new people Nick would be hiring very soon.

The Puppy was, by far, the least dangerous and easiest to work with out of the group of relatively normal Specters, which made it perfect for new Extractors.