One hand in front of the other. Each movement upwards is like a step, one at a time.

Ben made sure to keep his breathing stable and consistent. A mandatory technique for exercises such as this, and one that he had long since mastered.

The rope was thick, and long, sixty feet in fact. This specific exercise was straight out of “American Ninja Warrior”, one had to climb the rope to the top, attached to a belay. The rope may have been fifteen feet short, but the extra length was made up for by a short ladder at the end.

Every one of his muscles was being worked hard, without any help in any way. There were no magical enhancements on Ben’s body increasing his muscle mass or stamina. In fact, all magical enhancements were prohibited in the gym, and enforced through a force field that prevented any of those enhancements from being used. It was put into place by Geisinger, who was a strong believer in training without enhancements. They were, after all, a crutch, and there were always times when they couldn’t be used. One had to be prepared.

With a final push of his energy, Ben got to the top of the ladder and landed his feet onto the platform above. Looking down, he was able to make out his gym partner, Stephen, on the floor below. It really was a wonder how big the basement gym was. It had to be at least eighty feet tall and god knows how wide. It was probably equal to the height of the rest of the S.I.D. Ben wasn’t an architect, but he had doubts that such a building design was even possible. There had to be some magic encoded in its construction.

Ben leapt down from the platform and let the belay slowly carry him down. Thank god he drank that healing potion or else the lingering effects of alcohol would’ve rendered this climb basically impossible.

“What was my time?” Ben asked as his feet touched the ground.

“Forty-six seconds.” Stephen replied.

Ben grunted. “Damn.”

“That’s not bad, dude.”

“It is compared to these people. I mean, shit, captain gets thirty seconds on that and he’s like forty fucking years old.”

“You know he hates it when people call him that.”

“I like messing with him.” Ben grinned.

“Right, well, forty isn’t the death of your whole body, you know.” Stephen countered. “Geisinger’s been training in this his whole life. Of course he’s going to be good.”

“I know.” Ben agreed. “I just wish I wasn’t so slow.”

“You’ll get there.” Stephen reassured him. “Someday.”

Ben gave him a half-hearted smile. “Thanks.”

“Besides…” Stephen pointed out. “There are days when Geisinger is slower, too. He isn’t a god.”

“True, but there’s something off about those days, don’t you think?”

“He just has an off-day every once in a while, there’s no more to it.” Stephen stated firmly. “You guys gotta stop with the crazy conspiracies.”

“You’re probably right.”

Stephen looked down to their list of what they needed to practice for the day.

“Alright, since we have a mission today, we should probably practice shooting right now.” Stephen said. “If there’s anything we miss, it shouldn’t be shooting.”

“Right.” Ben replied. “At least I’m good at that.”

***

The shooting range was in a separate room from the rest of the gym, and only a few people could practice at a time. The group inside was almost done by the time Ben and Stephen got there, so it was only a ten minute wait until they could start.

Once Ben and Stephen were allowed in, they each took their weapon and entered a firing lane, the weapon itself being far different from a conventional gun.

There was a time, many decades ago, when the S.I.D. did use guns, but they had always been a temporary substitute until a more effective weapon was developed. S.I.D. members often faced entities that were huge, and with their skin as thick as it was, conventional firearms were often useless.

The weapon they now used was not perfect. It was bigger, heavier, and its range was worse, but it was still easily the better option. It had been developed about two decades ago, and had become the standard weapon for the S.I.D. The name decided for it was “shock cannon”.

A shock cannon launched a stream of electricity like a lightning bolt out in front of it, and it could lock onto any living being after contact and follow them for a certain amount of time. It sent a deadly amount of electricity all throughout the body of anything it hit. A human would be killed by it almost immediately, and the entities the S.I.D. fought were much more vulnerable to it than bullets.

Like most resources used by the S.I.D., shock cannons were magically encoded. The spells placed on every individual weapon prevented them from overheating and greatly muffled their sound to a quiet hum. Mainly so a person’s eardrums weren’t blown out every time they were used.

The fact that shock cannons were so dangerous was what made them illegal to purchase and own. Even the S.I.D. had a spell placed onto it which made shock cannons unable to operate in the “kill” setting inside the building.

That specific spell could be turned “off” or “on” on a whim by Geisinger and a select few other members of the S.I.D. Originally only Geisinger had the ability to do that, however when presented with the possibility that there could be a case when, in an emergency, he is incapacitated or elsewise unable to switch the spell off, he hesitantly relinquished sole control and gave it to a few other members.

Geisinger definitely had trust issues, it was a major flaw of his. Many times the S.I.D. workers simply couldn’t understand the man’s thought process. Ben least of all. He kind of wished Geisinger would come out of his shell someday. It couldn’t be healthy being such a recluse all the time

***

The final target was launched and it flew quickly through the air. Just at the peak of its height, Ben shot it down.

He had done fairly well with the shooting. Well enough to put him in a better mood than before. He had the skills, he wasn’t completely useless. He just needed to practice more.

Stephen and him laid their shock cannons on a rack and exited the shooting range. Just as they did, an announcement was heard on the intercom.

“For anyone currently working in the gym who was assigned to today’s mission, please report to the first floor.” Geisinger’s voice stated.

“Good timing.” Stephen remarked. “So what are we doing? Finding a dead kid?”

“That’s the plan.” Ben replied.

“Sounds great.” Stephen said. “I think we should just leave him. If he was stupid enough to go in there, he doesn’t deserve to have his body found.”

“You sound just like the captain.”

Stephen chuckled. “I can see why he’s like that.”

Ben and Stephen were the first two to ascend to the above floors. There was a long staircase ahead of them, so they chose to see it as its own minor workout.

“Have you ever been in the Forbidden Cave?” Ben asked.

“No.” Stephen answered. “I’ve been in the Woods of Sin, though.”

“That’s not gonna help you much. This place is its own beast.”

“I can imagine.”

“Yeah, shit’s real creepy, worst cave I’ve ever been in.” Ben said. “Once you’ve been to that place, you’ll never forget it.”