[Introduction]
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
- An excerpt from The Second Coming
[W. B. Yeats]
Location - Unknown, 8:41 pm
A woman stopped in front of a sliding door made of frosted glass, that upon closer inspection can outline the dark silhouette of the people inside when they were approaching or were closer to the door. She tried to peer inside the blurry glass to see if there was even a shadow of a person but it seemed that no one was inside. So, she once again looked at the etched label on the front door to make sure it was the door she was looking for since it required little to no effort to get all the doors of this particular floor confused with each other because of the similar sliding doors. In her mind, she read the sign labeled OFFICE LABORATORY carved in shiny silver lettering on the door that had a small bright-red exclamation mark under it with a warning that only laboratory personnel are allowed inside the room.
Her knuckles aggressively pounded on the door panel loudly for more than three times, impatiently waiting for the door to be opened. She was in a hurry because her boss needed to get the lab results she requested ASAP and given to her before the day ends. After a few more minutes, she opened the door so intensely that the friction between the metal sill and the glass door was ear-piercing.
What the hell is taking him forever?
"I know you're inside Lab Nerd! What's even taking you so long? The boss needs the results immediately!", she shouted as soon as she stepped inside the office lab. She blinked a couple of times before turning scarlet out of pure embarrassment when she saw two...four...six... other people inside, including her. She mentally face-palmed herself for forgetting that the walls were sound-proofed and regretted her actions when she realized that all the personnel were facing a dilemma.
Through the one way-mirror of the lab, she could see a newly woken-up patient wearing a hospital gown unleashing chaos. He was swinging his fists and throwing anything he can get his hands on to the people inside the cell with him. Things were getting out of hand inside the room they called 'Surveillance Cell'. It was a slightly smaller room and was 1/3 of the total space of the lab. Everything inside it, from the wall to the furniture where intentionally designed and painted pure white, the complete opposite of the side of the room that she was standing on, which was darker in comparison.
A 6 foot tall, broad-shouldered, lean man in his early 20's, dressed in a white laboratory gown shifted his eyes to her for a moment. It was with crystal clear understanding that he knew what she came for. "Oh Robin! Thank goodness you're already here!", he started ranting.
"I was about to call the boss regarding the test results because I needed to talk to her about that personally, unfortunately I was caught up-", He shifted his attention to the situation behind him to let her see what was happening inside the cell, only to gasp when he saw the patient kick one of his men on the groin, while successfully locking the arm of the woman who tried to catch him when his guard was down.
"NO! Try to grab his feet- hold him tightly-", he grimaced as the patient managed to slip from their hands. He clenched his fists in exhausted anger.
She walked towards them and stood beside him as he instructed his panicking subordinates how to hold the patient down and pin him on the floor successfully as another person administered the tranquilizer but all his efforts were in vain until he decided to go inside the room as well.
"Wait right there! I'm coming in!", he said through the microphone, opening and closing the door on his right.
Robin shook her head at the condition she found herself in and shrugged, thanking her lucky stars that this wasn't her problem to fix.
Her eyes squinted as she advanced closer to the mirror. She couldn't see the face of the patient clearly as he was thrashing about with his back turned to hers, the five people who were inside the room were having a hard time controlling him. His body was well-built and she could see his biceps under the hospital gown but there was something eerily familiar about the man when he suddenly screamed.
"Mi-Michael?! Is...is that you?", she bellowed in disbelief, not realizing that she had clamped her hands down at the microphone's on-switch.
What in heaven's name had happened to her friend?
Her voice, that was a high-pitched mixture of shock and unease made the patient-Michael- face the mirror he didn't know she was spying through. It was enough time to subdue him and inject the tranquilizing serum on his neck. He moved his hand to the spot where they inserted the needle. His eyes were slowly closing.
"Twee-", he tried to respond but he fell on the floor with his eyes closed in a matter of minutes. They must have administered him the heavy stuff since it takes a decent amount of that serum to work and knock someone like him out. Michael had bragged to her in the few occasions that they were hanging out together that he was almost immune to all kinds of sedative, brushing it off as an occupational hazard. He then went on about its long-lasting effects saying that it was close to impossible for someone in his line of work to be 'roofied'.
He's such a liar.
By the time Robin was clear-headed, Michael had been moved to the white bed and was in deep slumber. Also, when Robin had gotten a look around the facilities of the laboratory, Lab Nerd was the last person inside with her. She collected herself and willed her mind to calm down. There were a lot of questions on her mind that in the present circumstances needed to be answered by the person beside her. Dexter.
Why was he in this state?
Who was responsible for this?
What did they want from him?
How could they do this!?
"Lab Ner- I mean...Dexter...", She looked at his face with deep concern. She walked towards his direction.
"What happened to him?", The light of the white room had cast an inky shade on the left side of his face but you can clearly see the other half of his absurdly thick glasses that hid his deep azure orbs that she had just discovered at this moment as he smoothly removed the glasses off his face.
With a solemn manner, he took a deep breath and exhaled for her to see that what happened to him was everything but good news, he was clearly uncomfortable and was playing with the temple of his eye-wear. The heavy silence around them was enough for Robin to suddenly be amused with the way Dexter's curly ginger hair looked lighter, some strands even seemed to glow.
"About Mike...", He faced the direction of the 'surveillance cell' to look at the sleeping figure of Michael Believe and stared at her. "I'm in no position to tell you because you're not actually authorized to know, only the boss is qualified to know the results from the lab analysis...but you can tag along with me to see her." He offered her a hesitant smile.
"Although it's really up to her to tell you", Dexter finished and Robin had almost deluded her heart to a false sense of hope. Her nod was swift, nearly undetectable. She just needed to know what happened to him. Michael had been with her throughout their training at the academy and they love and trust for each other rivaled only with their competitive spirit, especially during the final phase of their drills when they were both about to graduate.
In all of those times, Mike had shown her his fears and weaknesses and she knew he didn't break like that. He had changed and let all the terror of his past life leave him.
If someone did manage-
A tear had managed to stain her cheek.
to break her dearest friend apart-
Robin had already determined her course of action.
It's always never too late to return a favor.
Stay Tuned.