<div style="text-align: center"><i>Whuppa-whuppa-whuppa-whuppa...</i><br/>
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January's lids fluttered as she was half awoken in the early morning to an indescribable sound. It sounded like...<i>No, that would be too crazy.</i> That wasn't what finally made her lift her head up off of the hard, leather cushioning of her back seat, though. A horrible, blinding white light seemed to engulf everything around the diner, and if January hadn't known any better, she'd have thought she fell asleep on the freeway. It persisted, the list of strange sounds and lights only growing longer as time went on. The air felt heavy around her, magnetized, if that made any sense. January swallowed thickly, her last bit of water finished up hours before. Something was telling her to take a look, and she was the type of woman to follow her instincts. Except, this time felt different, not something she could necessarily ignore, but not anything she was dying to investigate. Her phone was laying flat across her stomach, where she'd left it after falling asleep. She carefully picked it up, the back light triggering as it sensed movement. Her phone still had around twelve percent left on the battery, more than enough for what January had decided would just be a quick little investigation into whoever had disturbed her rest.<br/>
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The door to the mustang slowly opened up, and January cautiously stepped out of the vehicle. She didn't bother shutting the door, instead, making her way around the opposite side of the diner where most of the noise seemed to be coming from. January considered turning on her flashlight, but her battery wouldn't support it, and she didn't want anyone to somehow see her tiny little light over all of the obnoxious ones. As she turned the corner from around the side of the building, January could make out a few odd shapes. Her brain told her they were people, and she rationalized that maybe she'd just walked in on a meeting with government officials. <i>Perhaps not our government officials. </i>That thought crossed her mind as her fingers naturally started up the camera to her phone. She was half recording, half invested in whatever was happening out in the distance, whatever these things were. January considered that they <i>might </i>still be humans. Humans in costumes, with a never ending budget for creepy things like this. Her stomach churned as her camera struggled to focus in on some shimmery, white substance, so she held her finger over the object in question and zoomed in once. Contained within was a struggling human girl. January's lips parted in disbelief. "Is that..." She whispered, and then simply mouthed the name of the girl.<br/>
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<i>What the... </i>January felt her knees grow weak while her camera captured the girl's terrified face in the bubble, and others began to converge around the helpless young woman. Absolutely terrified, January battled with her instincts. <i>Run and call the cops. Before they see you. </i>Unfortunately, the reporter in her was complacent watching this girl being...assaulted by this monster. More alarming was the fact that January knew that it was not just a man, or a just a girl. This was deeper than she knew, a truly terrible nightmare that she was half-hoping to wake up from. The other part... Well, she was a reporter after all, and being desperate for a massive career boost seemed to override her human instincts even in the most dire situations.<br/>
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January watched as the newly awakened woman had a response completely uncharacteristic of a young girl who'd just experienced probably the most terrifying event in her life. The pile of dust let all sorts of ideas run through January's mind, especially since it seemed the victim no longer resisted the others. She silently observed as the scene moved to an end. Unsure of whether to focus on the spacecraft, or the fact that this...alien was clearly working with humans, she zoomed with her camera and was able to fit most of the important things into the frame. The backlash from the helicopter and spaceship finally hit, and she shielded her eyes with her forearm. January didn't dare look away or shut off her phone. She needed everything, and so she didn't stop recording, until her phone died at the very end. January stood there staring up at the sky for several minutes after.<br/>
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<i>No one will want to believe me. </i>January shook her head slowly, her gaze darkened with something like a frown forming on her pout. <i>But </i>t<i>hey won't have a choice. </i>She backed up into the wall and almost scared herself, but quickly came back to her sense. With her dead phone tucked away into her jeans, she hopped back into her car and shut the door. She couldn't shake the feeling of being watched for some reason, but it didn't stop her from moving forward.<br/>
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"Okay, Carmin. Don't fuck this up." January turned the key and waited for Carmin to boot up, which it usually did successfully. The issues was whether or not it would freak out again on the road. She bit her bottom lip and carefully typed in the address to the nearest FBI headquarters. She had a general idea of where it was, but the exact location was lost on her. The GPS lit up with a new map of the area and highlighted directional arrows for her to follow. January pulled out of the parking lot like nobody's business, and prepared for another road trip.<br/>
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<i>"In a dramatic turn of events, FBI agents launched a daring raid last night to rescue Emily Fastnet. The heir to the Fastnet fortune was kidnapped last week, and the kidnappers were apparently demanding a billion dollars ransom. FBI operatives launched the daring raid in the small hours of this morning on the kidnappers desert hideout, managing to rescue Miss Fastnet alive and unharmed. Apparently none of the kidnappers were taken alive. Miss Fastnet declined to comment on her captivity, declaring only that she wished to forget about it and was glad to be back with her family."</i><br/>
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Thankfully, the FBI headqarters was only ninety miles away. January turned into the parking lot as the orange of the sun seeped into the deep blue sky, bringing forth a new morning. The building surprisingly had a lot of glass for it being top-secret, but she didn't linger on the thought. Her knuckles had turned white when she was parked, and January gripped onto the steering wheel tighter even after the car was turned off. A fear she'd like never known before kicked in, and she shut her eyes, the cruel attack on that girl played again in her mind. It was in that moment that she opened her eyes and released the steering wheel. If not for her career, then justice. January swung her car door open, then gathered up her phone and threw off her baseball cap and cat eye sunglasses. Her feet carried her quickly to the doors leading inside. Immediately she was greeted with a blast of air conditioning and it made her tense up. January exhaled coolly through her lips, once past the second set of glass doors she walked over to a pleasant looking receptionist. Unable to wait any longer, January set her hands flat on the desk calmly and straightened up.<br/>
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"Hello, my name's January Silverbottom and I need to see someone as soon as physically possible. Like, right now. Whoever handles the kind of stuff with hostile alien invasions and actual, real, proof of all that stuff happening at saaaay 3:00amish to a recently discovered Miss Fastnet." January somehow maintained her composure and voiced her requests in a reasonable tone. She was a little winded afterwards, and didn't realize how crazy she probably looked with her horribly poofy hair, old eye make-up, and a whole left earring missing, but there are worse things. "Thank you in advance. And that's Jan-uary Silverbottom."​</div>