Everything went blank for Laz, then there was a light. At first he was a bit reluctant to open his eyes as the nothingness had been somewhat relaxing, but soon he had no choice as he could hear voices speaking around him and he recognize any of them. Years of fighting for his life had taught him to not be lazy in a situation you didn’t understand and he wasn’t about to start now.

The room was small, wooden but warm. There were signs of technology like music playing from a radio, but other than that the lamps looked oil based and there was a fire nearby causing an immense amount of heat to Laz’s one side. As for the bed, it seemed sturdy, but not large. And the blanket was a microfiber and insulated, so wherever this was, it was probably on earth.

"He’s not some ancient cave man... he was wearing sneakers!"

"He was buried in six feet of ice and had lost all vital signs. If it wasn’t for the earthquake that opened a hole and exposed him, we would have never found him. So how did someone in sneakers and some strange garb that doesn’t look human end up buried in the ice? Did he just walk here one day and boom, snowstorm got him? I’m not saying he’s a cave man... I’m thinking alien."

"But the sneakers..."

"Fuck the sneakers..."

"GAH... enough. I’m not an alien... I’m an American...." Laz said as their fight was hurting his head.

"I would have preferred an alien if I’m being honest."

"No one asked you to be honest. So Mr. American.... how the hell did you get here, buried in six feet of ice and survive without a pulse?" Asked a blonde man with an very eastern accent.

"Where is here?" Laz said, hesitant to explain anything until he understood more.

"Welcome to the Antarctic Research Station located at the very bottom of the massive rock floating in space we call Earth."

"The fuck? I’m in the Antarctic? How?" Laz asked, his mind still cloudy as hell.

"That’s what we are asking you alien impersonating an American...." The female said, her red hair and thick Irish accent telling Laz that he was definitely in an international space currently.

Laz tried sitting up, only to find he was strapped to the bed he was currently laying down on. The thick straps were a combination of leather and steel, ensured he wouldn’t be able to move around without alerting them.

"Well.... this is kinky...." Laz said as his vision cleared and he saw the two people looking at him.

"Hello there Ice man, I’m Dr. Anton and this is Shelly," the man said, introducing the spunky red head who was looking at Laz closely. The doctor then looked closely at Laz as though expecting a reaction, but Laz just stared around the room and took in the sights.

"See. Told you that just because someone is an American, they don’t get your Top Gun references..." Shelly said to the somewhat deflated doctor.

"No. I got it, it’s just that my call sign used to be Reaper, not Ice Man."

"Really?" Doctor Anton asked, excited.

"No. Not really. Fuck does my head hurt..." Laz said, wanting to run his temples but finding the restraints preventing that from happening.

"Well. Considering your brain had shut down, it’s not surprising that it’s restarting would cause some issue. But the swelling I expected to see is not there, nor is there a respiratory issue and your vitals seem very strong. So honestly, if a little headache is all you got, I’d say you were very lucky," Doctor Anton said with a warm smile. Although he wasn’t old, he gave off the vibe of a well practiced man.

"Well, now that that’s settled, the captain will want to know about you. And he’s not exactly happy about you being here either so do keep that in mind boy," Shelly said, leaving the room.

"The captain? And I’m not happy to be here either so we both have that in common. I’m no even sure how I ended up here," Laz said to the doctor after the young woman left.

"Well, I can’t help with that. Best I can do for you is say that a little memory loss is normal after extreme hypothermia, but the captain, the leader of our group currently, isn’t the type of man to take a simple answer at face value so you’d better prepare for a rough questioning," the doctor said before coming over to remove the sheets from Laz and check his vitals one more time.

"So you’re all part of the research team?" Laz asked, trying to get some information.

"That’s correct. I’m the medical staff here, but I also am doing research into the effects of extreme temperature fluctuations on various types of viruses and diseases. The one who just left is our resident gemologist, hoping to earn a doctorate thanks to her work here. There are a few others you haven’t met yet and then there’s the captain, responsible for safety and security in this place, hence why now that you’re awake and healthy enough, you’ll be in his care," the doctor explained as he finished the check up.

"This doesn’t look like much like a doctors room if I’m being honest," Laz said, as the entire room lacked any sort of real medical equipment.

"That’s because we didn’t think you were alive and our medical supplies are strictly rationed," the man in his thirties said as he entered the room, his clean cut face, blonde hair and blue eyes a stark contrast to the military uniform he was wearing. Just with his accent alone, Laz had the impression of a strict German background in living form.

Laz was going to make a joke at first, but then thought better about it since he still didn’t understand the situation and until he did, these people were all threats and not friends.

Behind the tall man came four others, Shelly, who was engaged in a conversation with another woman who’s darker skin, black hair and the sindoor mark between her hairline part gave away her background while the other woman with glasses and a frown was obviously from an eastern Asian decent. As for the last man, his brown hair and bulky build was a stark contrast to the somewhat frail doctor who had been checking Laz out.

"So what does the captain of this base want? I’ll answer what I can, but let’s be honest here; neither of us can trust each other so you’ll have to excuse me for hiding a few things from you if they are inconvenient to speak of."

"Where do you come from?" The captain asked right away although the frown on his face showed he didn’t like that it seemed like he was doing this with Laz’s permission.

"From a small town in New York... well... actually I wasn’t really born there, you’d have to ask my parents about that if you could find them. But since I grew up there, it’s the closest thing to home I have."

"And from New York you suddenly ended up here?"

"Well, no. The last place I was on this planet was the Nevada desert before arriving here."

"So how did... wait... the last place on this planet?" The captain caught the flaw in Laz’s words right away.

"Yeah. Let’s see... summer of ’22? I think?"

"It’s April of 2023 right now..."

"Well... that’s... yeah... shit... I only spent like four months there... So I was sleeping for almost half a year in that ice? Well fuck me... guess I could have been worse...." Laz muttered to himself after getting the information of the date from the captain. Despite this, the captain was just as surprised as Laz was but for different reasons.

"Wait... the northern Nevada desert? The place where the great battle took place?" The frowning Asian women asked, her face finally showing some interest.

"Great battle?" Laz was confused. Did his getting jumped and almost killed by that shadow dragon fuck count as a great battle?

"Doesn’t matter. For now you will answer my questions or be prepared to be locked in confinement for the next six months until winter is over with and we can hand you over to the proper authorities for a real investigation!" The stern German said, regaining control of the conversation.

"Alright. Alright. Sheesh. I’m still strapped to the bed so if your going to whip me that hard, you’ll need to let me come up with a safe word first..." Laz said with a slight laugh, which caused both Shelly and the Indian woman to laugh and cover their mouths so as not to annoy the captain.

It didn’t work and he looked very pissed off right now as he glared at the two of them.

"You said you spent four months there... where is there?" The captain asked with a growl.

"Ah. Ok. Well, I was chased, attacked and ended up getting thrown into a gate that landed me in the middle of an ancient Greek world full of gods. You do know what gates are, right?"

The captain immediately pulled his gun on Laz.

"Check him!" The captain ordered the doctor.

"I already did, three times. I told you before the needle broke because of how solid his skin was..."

"I DON’T CARE. DO IT AGAIN!" The captain shouted as he pulled back the hammer of the large pistol.

Doctor Anton sighed and brought out a crystal like rock before bringing it to Laz’s skin. When the rock touched his skin, Laz felt it a bit cold before he felt it trying to draw in his energy. Laz’s energy wasn’t something to be messed with though and was about to destroy the stone by rushing into it, but the awake Laz was able to stop it from doing so, preventing any energy from leaking out.

Seeing as there was no reaction, the doctor looked back at the captain who finally lowered his weapon.

"We needed to be sure."

"About what?"

"That you’re not one of those bastards with that blood infection. The battle that took place there involved powers this world had never seen before and might have destroyed the planet if they hadn’t stopped themselves. As for why they fought? It had to do with the people who came from the gate, dressed in and looking like they were all from ancient Greece. I don’t know the details but what we do know is that one of those gods took all the people and their great stone fortress away with them. Moved the whole damn thing like it was some child’s play toy. From the sounds of it, you must have been pulled into that gate somehow when it had opened before that and spat out sometime after that fight. Although that still doesn’t explain how you ended up here. Still though, all things considered, every government is trying to find out as much as possible about that gate incident as they can so while we may not like it, keeping you alive to hand over should be a top priority," the captain said, still grumbling a little bit.

"I’m not sure I like the sound of that..." Laz admitted, knowing he would never allow himself to just be handed over. He was a god after all now.

"It will be fine. The more information you give, I’m sure the richer that will make you. So just write down everything you can remember about that gate. For the next six months, that will be your duty here as a member of the crew. At least this will cover the costs of us feeding and housing you for six months..." The captain said with a smile that didn’t look quite right.

’And what kind of shit am I in now..." Laz thought to himself when he saw this.