Velika: The story of a lover

Perimeter breach, perimeter breach. Lockdown, lockdown.

Natural was in chaos, the nonstop sharp sound of alarms drilled into Daniel Heinrich's brain, and all he wanted at this moment was to grab the microphone and to announce, or scream at people: "Everyone needs to shut up and calm down. Only an agent went rogue and there is no reason to panic."

But he didn't and even if he did no one would listen. They presumed Natural was under some lethal threats like the government had sent armed forces to wipe out the whole division.

It took nearly three hours for people to get back to their positions, and Daniel Heinrich could finally go to Astoria Leontes' office to get the details of this disastrous drama during a simple, tedious workday.

Astoria Leontes was sitting at her table, Dean O'Sullivan was standing beside her, he almost became her valet, well, at least it was what Daniel Heinrich thought. He didn't understand why Dean O'Sullivan was so loyal to Astoria Leontes, the woman who captured him, exiled his wife and trained him into a ruthless, relentless and cold-blooded assassin.

"Would you mind telling me what the hell just happened?" As soon as he stepped into her office, he asked with anger, "How the hell did Clarabelle Lewis break out?"

"Daniel, you have to learn how to control your temper and sentiment," Said her indiscriminately, "It's been almost half a year and you still didn't have any progress."

"Just answer the question." He said impatiently, "There's no way for her to get out by herself, I know her, she's not that good, even when she on some hyperactive drugs."

"I let her go." Said Astoria Leontes carelessly, she seemed like she was talking about the weather, she saw the facial expression on his face, "Yes, Daniel, I let her go."

"Excuse me?" He rose his voice unintendedly, as he was agitated, "You know she is infected, and none of us know whether XYZ-2421-ERA is contagious or not, why do you let her go?"

"Surely." He smiled disdainfully.

Then he walked away, he knew she was planning something again. The feeling that he was about to confront another peak of his life grew stronger. It had been five months since she completely took control of Natural, there was no reason to deny that she was an excellent leader, under her rule, Natural became one of the largest secret service agency in the world. However, she always kept all the information and details of each operation to herself. Even if he supposed to know and so that he could complete his missions more efficiently, but he knew she didn't trust him, after all, he joined her side because he was given no choice.

"You know what to do, Dean." She said after Daniel Heinrich stepped out.

"As always." Dean O'Sullivan smiled.

Only about a month after the car accident, the tracker on Velika O'Sullivan was off the grid, either she removed it herself or it was another plan, which made Daniel Heinrich lost contact with her. Although he would deny, he was worried, since compared to all the others, Velika O'Sullivan was the only person he would give a percentage of trust, the abstract connection made him feel safer inside Natural, but now the connection was gone, he had to be watchful and took every move carefully more than ever.

Romeo Leontes resigned about two weeks after his demotion, according to the rumor, he moved overseas and started a new life, left all the secrets behind. Daniel Heinrich didn't buy a word of this assumption, he would rather believe Romeo Leontes was put in a concentration camp by Astoria Leontes, which was, of course, impossible.

Astoria Leontes never stopped developing XYZ-2421, it finally became a biological weapon, theoretically, it would mutate human cells and prevent aging, as what it was propagated before and extended life span. However, as human tests were forbidden, and with no volunteer, the poor Clarabelle Lewis came into the picture.

Daniel Heinrich and Clarabelle Lewis' collaboration was found out when Clarabelle Lewis was trying to hack into the database, reported by Nicholas Watson, who was a field agent but talented in computer sciences. Though Clarabelle Lewis made the phone call to Daniel Heinrich, it was still too late, she was captured and locked up in the laboratory in the basement.

About a week earlier, she was suddenly asked to gather some samples from the laboratory which developed XYZ-2421, as soon as she entered the chamber, she was forced to inject XYZ-2421-ERA, the upgraded version of XYZ-2421. Then she was put back to the basement again, carefully observed by the technicians. She was behaving normally until yesterday she became aggressive when a technician was delivering her lunch, she attacked the technician because she found her dress was stained by a drop of juice.

Daniel Heinrich went down to the second level basement, where the file room located. Astoria Leontes stopped trusting technology after Clarabelle Lewis hacked the database, she believed that everything on a computer or other high-tech devices could be breached, so she recorded every file in paper and locked them in the file room. Only two people had the access permission, Astoria Leontes and her favorite, Dean O'Sullivan. Daniel Heinrich believed Dean O'Sullivan was brainwashed, but he didn't know how Astoria Leontes had managed it.

The lock on the file room door needed either Astoria Leontes or Dean O'Sullivan's fingerprints, he got it this morning before Clarabelle Lewis broke out by offering Dean O'Sullivan a coffee, his original purpose was to find out where Velika O'Sullivan was and figure out the further plan from her. Now since Clarabelle was outside, there was a chance that Astoria Leontes had another plot other than just dealing with Romeo Leontes, he had to find out everything about that poor blonde because whatever Astoria Leontes was planning, the person involved was always the victim.

He placed the fingerprint on the lock screen, it said progressing, almost there, Daniel Heinrich felt his heart started pounding, and when it showed 95 percent, he heard someone called his name, which made his heart drop.

"Heinrich, look at yourself, no difference with the amateurs." It was Dean O'Sullivan, with his lips curled and filled with arrogance.

"O'Sullivan, I have to say I didn't expect you to be here." Daniel Heinrich shrugged, he looked into Dean O'Sullivan's eyes, they could both smell the smoke of fire in the air.

"I won't turn you in." Dean O'Sullivan rose his eyebrow, "Be grateful."

"What's the bargain?" Asked Daniel Heinrich with a frown.

"You're welcome," Dean O'Sullivan still had his sneer on, "You thought we are enemies, I'm the bad guy who works and loyal to Leontes."

"Are you not?"

"The first day I met you here," Said Dean O'Sullivan with a flat tone, "I told you I'm here for Velika, to finish what she wanted to be done, and I still have the same goal now."

"Look at you lying without feeling ashamed," Daniel Heinrich sneered, didn't believe a single word Dean O'Sullivan said, "What are you trying to say? You are telling me that you are pretending to be faithful to Leontes and what you want is put her down."

"Not quite," Dean O'Sullivan smiled complicatedly, "I only want Romeo Leontes to be gone completely. There is something you need to know about me, but you wouldn't believe me if I told you myself, that's why I'll let you in the file room, and get whatever you want to know and I'm unaware of this. I want you to find Velika."

"I have no responsibility to obey your demands," Answered Daniel Heinrich with a sneer, "I don't believe in any of your words."

"You have the option to keep your own opinion," Dean O'Sullivan smiled.

Daniel Heinrich stared at Dean O'Sullivan thoughtfully, Dean O'Sullivan nodded and then walked away, and the door of the file room opened. Daniel Heinrich didn't trust him, and probably never would, but Dean O'Sullivan did let him in the room, he believed it was another conspiracy.

However, there were things he had to know, he was tired of fighting blind, being manipulated like a marionette on the threads.

He went into the file room, closed the door carefully. There were plenty of shelves in the room, cataloged by alphabetical order, he went to the shelf O, and successfully found out the file of Velika O'Sullivan. For the first time, he saw her life written on a piece of paper, with her picture of her normal 'I don't care about anything' expression on.

A bitter smile climber on his lips without him knowing it.