Sword of Infinity (featured prominently in Warrior Nation: Nonstop)
- 2 million counterfeit US dollars
- bones of the First Warrior
- a serum that delivers 24 hours of unbeatable powers
- brutal training plans rumored to have killed many recruits from exhaustion
- battery pack that hyper-charges any bomb to nuclear levels
HOLDING THE SCRAP OF DEFINITIVELY PURPLE PAPER in my palm, I stare down at Matt’s childlike scrawl, the clue he left behind for only me to find. What was he feeling when he scribbled this down? Frightened? Angry? Was someone hunting him, forcing him to drop a quick bread crumb rather than leaving a traceable trail?
He’s never been one to question authority or stray outside the Warrior Nation buddy system. When he told me at the charity event he’d started digging for information on Siege, I didn’t think much of it at the time, too overwhelmed by the swell of conflicting emotions twisting my heart. But for him to go off on his own, and to hide his findings, is serious. Maybe Claire is right: Maybe Room E33 isn’t just a dump, but a place where things get buried.
“According to my notes,” Claire narrates as I navigate, determined to reach this room as fast as possible, “Room E33 was created in the mid-1950s, about ten years after Warrior Nation was established. After the disastrous attack of the first supervillain—Quandary—during which three-quarters of the Chicago chapter was wiped out, the organization decided to bury the mission, hiding away the malfunctioning weaponry and defective super suits that ultimately caused the Warriors’ demise.” She keeps flipping through her diary, frantically searching for the most pertinent information. “Since then, the room has become a graveyard of Warrior ghosts, locking away objectionable truths that would shake public trust. It’s rumored to hold a long list of forbidden items that have been completely erased from the official record, such as dangerous training regimens, the Sword of Infinity, and more.”
“The Sword of Infinity?” I balk. Man, these WarNats…It’s hard to believe some of these things she’s saying. They sound slightly ridiculous, though I guess the rumors must have sprouted from some kind of truth. “I thought that was a movie prop? From one of the first Warrior films?”
Room E33 is not far from Teddy’s little self-made bunker, tucked away where hardly anyone visits. The only reason I know it’s here is because of my early days exploring HQ with Matt; we were always looking for new places to hide and be alone in between his training sessions. Once we stumbled into E33, a room that was only labeled from the inside, but it was so full of dust, it proved to be a pretty unappealing makeout spot.
“We’re here,” I announce, standing outside a plain metal door with no handle. Claire takes it in, underwhelmed by its appearance.
“This…is it?” She frowns. “I thought there’d be, like, lasers or poisonous darts protecting the entrance.”
“I guess they’re going for the whole ‘hidden in plain sight’ thing. Can you help me pry this open?” I hold up my cast, annoyed at how much this keeps holding me back.
“Of course.” Claire curls her fingertips under the metal edge, pulling it open enough for us to squeeze through. Closing the door behind us, we find ourselves in neither a trash heap nor a sparkly treasure trove of lore, but a dark room filled with rows and rows of storage shelves, each packed with identical brown cardboard boxes labeled with unhelpful combinations of letters and numbers. “Yikes, this is…Where do we even begin?”
“I don’t know,” I admit, running my finger over a dusty ledge. “It doesn’t seem like people come in here much…. Maybe look for a spot that’s been recently disturbed? If Matt was in here, he may have left something out of place.”
“Good call. Split up to cover more ground?”
I nod, and we head off in different directions, wandering through the maze of storage systems. With every box looking the same, it’s hard to even know where to dig in. Any box could hold a damning document, a hidden file…a sword…but from the outside, each container looks innocent, effectively tucking away whatever Warrior Nation doesn’t want the world to find. My only reassurance is that everything is coated in a fine layer of dust, something not even Matt’s invisibility could keep intact.
After a few minutes, I find myself in a back corner, where an ancient TV and outdated technology sit on a table. Yet the