Velika: The story of a lover

They located the laboratory in the basement by studying the map Romeo Leontes gave to them. The map was the only source they had to learn about this maze-like place and Daniel Heinrich felt Romeo Leontes had their lives on threads. He hated the fate that, for the first time of his life, he felt completely out of control about his fate. He knew something was off about the story told by Romeo Leontes. And he believed Velika O'Sullivan was only pretending to trust her boss when she didn't.

They successfully avoided guards and got to the door to the lab. They almost considered them luck but soon discovered that they required a key card to enter. This meant they had to acquire it from someone who was allowed to work in the lab.

"I hate this part." Said Velika O'Sullivan, she turned back and began walking up the stairs.

"Why?" Velika O'Sullivan said gravely, "I don't like human interaction."

"I'll do it." Daniel Heinrich shrugged and Velika O'Sullivan rose her eyebrow, "You heard me. I said I'll do it."

Velika O'Sullivan threw her hands and so did Daniel Heinrich. Now they seemed to reach an agreement.

They found a lady who had her authorization card pinned on her belt and Daniel Heinrich took her as a target. He made his move without telling Velika O'Sullivan. When she realized what was happening, he had already started his game. She stood behind the pillar and thought if he failed, she would go find another person, to which she had already got insight, and ready to take the card from him.

To her surprise, he came back within five minutes with the card in his hand and showed it to her with a triumphant smile. The last time she saw him smile like that was when he thought he won their fight.

"Now I know her phone number, her address and how many cats she has," He said indifferently and handed the card to her, who seemed to be in disbelief, "What? You are underestimating me again."

"I didn't know you are a good honey trap." Said her when she took the card from him and turned away from him, "I thought you were the cold type. Even though you have a handsome face."

"Thank you?" Daniel Heinrich squinted, didn't know what she meant. But Velika O'Sullivan had already left for the lab again. Was she giving him a hint again? Perhaps. He shook his head before quickly caught up to her.

When they swiped the card and entered the lab, the conference had begun, which meant they didn't have much time. Daniel Heinrich started to feel the tension. He glanced at Velika O'Sullivan from the corner of his eyes and saw her bit her lips. She looked like she was ready for a fight.

'When was she not ready for a fight?' Daniel Heinrich thought sarcastically.

People in the lab were occupied and no one bothered to look at them. They went through the benches and overheard their mundane conversations. However, they saw two people heading to the changing room and Daniel Heinrich suggested how they might be the ones, so they followed. He was right, those people were talking about something down in the second basement, about an experiment that would take place very soon.

"Must be excited to see how it works on humans." One of them said excitedly.

Daniel Heinrich and Velika O'Sullivan exchanged bitter looks. Today Griff was going to test the new generation of XYZ-2421 on another poor soul who was suspected to be kidnapped by the company. The very first test had marked a failure when Edmund Leontes died. What would happen to this one?

Suddenly Daniel Heinrich remembered what Clarabelle Lewis said on the phone. Was this what she meant by a fiasco?

"It's getting worse every day," Whispered Daniel Heinrich, "The more we know, the darker the secrets we discover."

"You don't say," Velika O'Sullivan said broodingly, "I've been waiting for so long to get to the truth."

This was the first time she talked about her thoughts. Now Daniel Heinrich was assured that she was giving him hints about how she wanted him to be on her side.

'Excellent,' he thought delightfully since the desire was mutual. But to build a successful partnership, they had to learn to trust each other.

They followed those two into the changing room and Velika O'Sullivan locked the door behind her. Those two were surprised to see Velika O'Sullivan and Daniel Heinrich standing behind them.

"You are not supposed to…" Said one of them, but he was quickly knocked out by Velika O'Sullivan, and his partner was taken care of by Daniel Heinrich.

"…to be here." Velika O'Sullivan finished his sentence, "Yeah, I know. Honestly, I'd rather be lying on my lounge chair by my pool."

"I didn't know you have a pool." Daniel Heinrich laughed while he took the ID card from one of the assistants and Velika O'Sullivan was doing the same to the other one.

"You can go into the pool if we can return in one piece." She said. She put on the protective suit and pinned the identity card on her, "So slightly change of the plan. We need to go down there and rescue the poor subject."

"It sounds like Unit 731." Daniel Heinrich concernedly, "But it won't be easy to take two people out of this building without alarming the security team."

"In that case, we have to make Griff tell us where the secret path is," Velika O'Sullivan put on her goggles, "You know there is one, but it's not marked on the map."

"Sure." Daniel Heinrich said ponderingly, "And, O'Sullivan, do you have any knowledge about the true effects of XYZ-2421? It's labeled as a biological weapon."

Velika O'Sullivan seemed a little stunned when he asked. She shook her head and looked into his eyes, "That's something we need to find out."

She emphasized on 'we'. Once again Daniel Heinrich confirmed his thought about her wish to truly team up with him.

They left the changing room and waited for Griff at a door which had a note 'Second Basement, with Permission only." Daniel Heinrich defined this note as lame, and Velika O'Sullivan would say those people had no standard of word choice at all.

After about five minutes, Griff showed up with his two bodyguards and he was in a protective suit as well. When he saw them, he nodded and so did they. Then Griff sent his two bodyguards away, opened the door, and went downstairs together with them.

'This old fool had no sense of threat,' Daniel Heinrich thought as they went down.

"This one is new in," Said Griff, "He hasn't gotten any injections yet so it's a fresh start."

Neither of them answered. Griff sneered in response to their silence. The lab in the second basement was divided into chambers with curtains surrounded each one. But they could still see there were moving things in each chamber, most likely humans. There was no definite number of how many people were taken into this place and used as prototypes. Velika O'Sullivan felt her heart sunk, and Daniel Heinrich could not believe what he was seeing. And this man who was walking ahead of them was no different than a killing machine.

They walked to the back corner of the room where a newly built small chamber was. Griff stepped up and drew the curtains. There was a young man in a white uniform curled up in the corner.

When the curtains were drawn and the light shone on him, he looked up with fear in his eyes.

'Poor bastard,' thought Daniel Heinrich, 'What a waste of a pretty face.'

He heard Velika O'Sullivan's breathing accelerated. With the goggles, he couldn't see her face clearly, but he could feel the stress she was experiencing at this moment. It was as if she knew the man in the chamber and he had traumatized her before, the kind of trauma that made a woman as Velika O'Sullivan trembled.

"Dean O'Sullivan." He heard she whispered with a mixture of anger, nervous and devastation in her tone. When Daniel Heinrich heard that last name, a weary smile appeared on his face.

The unforeseen appearance of Dean O'Sullivan just made this drastic scene welcomed another dramatic twist.