POV: Thelma

The aircraft wasn't like anything I'd seen before. No visible engines, no sound, just smooth movement that made my stomach lurch as we transitioned from one place to another.

"Where are we going?" I asked Director Tanaka.

"Somewhere between places," she replied cryptically.

The transition finished, and suddenly we were inside a massive facility that shouldn't exist. The walls seemed to exist in multiple dimensions at once, shifting between solid matter and something else. Magic and technology combined in ways that made my head hurt trying to understand.

"Welcome to The Accord headquarters," Tanaka announced. "A pocket dimension accessible from major cities worldwide. We exist outside normal reality,...