To some, the mere thought of knowingly going into an underground facility filled with mutated people who've succumbed to the drug that've been given to them without their knowledge would've incited responses involving swearing, backhanding, running away, sensible responses.
Not intentionally going through the hallways that've become deafeningly quiet with signs on the ground that something happened, something terrifying, there's large gashes embedded into the floor, not from equipment going through the hallways.
That's exactly what Theodore and Lila did, going through the quiet hallways, seeing the gashes extend from the floor to the wall, giving the impression something went on a rampage.
Broken lights in spots, jolts of electricity firing out of the broken bulbs with Theodore and Lila's shoes crunching under the glass as they walked quickly from under the broken lights above them as electricity sporadically jolted from the hanging wires.
Hurrying away, the duo continued their way through the deteriorating underground complex.
Walls started having pieces ripped out of them, exposing the leaking pipes that spilled water into the floors.
Sloshing through the flooding hallway, Theodore found an area for them to search through, it'd appear to be the administration's office, always a good chance something's there for them to look through.
Assuming there's anything substantial left.
The office looked like a hurricane swept through, everything's in pieces, piles of papers on the ground stuck to the ground by what looked like blood.
With the lights flashing sporadically above from the broken fixtures, it set the tone enough as the two waded through the mess, looking for anything, and found nothing for their troubles.
If there's any physical proof of the wrongdoing, maybe if they win the lottery, they'll find some piece of evidence connecting Alex Industries to what happened.
This is before they even found the employees of Durham Industries and what became of them, which judging from the state of the hallways and the areas they've been going in and searching, they're bound to run into them sooner than later.
With her trusty knife, Lila pried open a dented-up filing cabinet in another office they found while wading through the flooded hallway with debris floating pass them.
There's still folders inside and she's able to pull them out once she pulled the cabinet door hard enough that it haphazardly pulled out finally, perpetually stuck open.
Going through the folders, Lila found nothing but business invoices, schedules, meetings, nothing that sprung out to her as concrete evidence.
Thumbing through the documents and reading them under the sporadic office light above her, Lila felt the twinge of eyes on her, and without moving, looked around.
Theodore's not facing her, he's crouched near a turned over filing cabinet, going through the continents inside it, and when Lila's eyes moved back, she saw in the corner of her eyes something beside her.
Beside her's the wall, but with the mess, it's hard not to notice the holes and gashes made to the wall, since everywhere they've been showed similar.
One of the holes, about two feet above her, she felt the phantom eyes coming from there, and she went along as normal, trying to keep calm, and with the arrangement she made with Theodore, he's always present in her mind.
Just in case for situations like this.
"Um, Theo," Lila reached out to him as he's busied looking through the folders he pulled out of the cabinet.
Without looking back, Theodore asked her what was wrong, and Lila told him the feeling she had.
She was raised on horror movies, she knows better to look up at the gaping hole above her, and while he didn't care for them, Theodore knew better to turn around.
Instead, he said outwardly for her to come over to him, look at what he'd found, and without making it obvious, she joined his side, her back facing away from the wall.
"Oh terrific, they're in the walls," Lila flinched as she looked over to Theodore as he quietly pretended showing her a folder he found.
Theodore responded with, "At least we know. We must be getting close."
Looking at the pages as he opened the folder before them, Lila replied with, "Considering the gaping hole's two feet taller than me and one higher than you, I'm sure we're not going to have a good time."
At least seven-footer, great.
"We should've been swarmed by now, we're in their home, we're practically sitting ducks, why haven't they attacked?" Theodore's curious why the mutated employees haven't attacked them.
They're deep within the underground complex, no means of escape, perfect time for the mutated employees.
Should've attacked them the moment they entered the deeper parts, but they haven't, most peculiar.
Most of the enemies his father fought always strategically waited for the opportune time before striking.
Here, one's simply watching them.
Any sudden movement or showing they're aware of it wouldn't end well.
Pretending to have a conversation with her as he's talking to her mentally, Theodore suggested they calmly leave, give the impression they're not aware, and go elsewhere.
"We've looked through all the offices and labs, where else can we go?" Lila pointed out that they haven't found a shred of evidence of the wrongdoing.
She'd be surprised if anything survived what happened here, if it's enough to sway the courts into ruling against the complex.
Already, they got a taste of how well that went, with the Drekker. Too many hands in the pot for that beast going down, both creature and the conspiracy fostering them without an inclination that it'll bite them on their asses.
Now, with the presence of mutated employees that aren't keen on talking to them around water coolers, they'll be lucky getting out of this alive.
"Chin up, Lee, we can't give up," Theodore points out that while they had setbacks before, they couldn't give up, now.
Despite how Lila feels, they're doing a lot more than people give them credit for, and while they haven't had the best of luck cracking conspiracies like the Drekker, the least they can do's try, anyway.
Maybe they can't break this one, but get enough people going, someone's bound to break it sooner than later, and when they do, it's a cascade event that the complex can't escape from.
There's always obstacles in their adventures, but with work, they'll overcome one after another, maybe it won't satisfy them, at least no one can tell them they didn't try.
"That's a way of looking at it," Lila noted that Theodore wasn't wrong what he said and he showed her his pearly whites as he telepathically said that it's his job.
That said, Theodore led Lila away from the office, giving them distance, from whatever looked through the hole, and they're coming up to the ward section.
The sign they're going the right way's when they found everything turned over and tattered, looked like a bomb gone off in the whole area, and it's a good sign they're close, there's fresh footprints on the ground, leading towards where the employees from Durham Industries would've been taken and held for observation.
Really good sign's when Theodore found a piece of bloodied medical scrubs among the rubble.
While looking at the scrubs, the two felt the jolt of adrenaline when they heard a loud crash behind them, sending them to sharply turn around, and saw they've been blocked into that section by heavy equipment from different offices.
"How the hell…?" Lila's baffled at the sight of the equipment suddenly appearing behind them, stacked up to the ceiling, preventing them from getting back through where they came.
None of them heard anything, not even the sound of the broken microwave's door creaking.
Seeing this, Theodore reminded her of the eye she saw looking at them and it made Lila tense up.
Must've came out of hiding when it saw them leave, there were others there, watching them without them realizing, and they worked in silence stacking broken equipment, barring the two from easily escaping down the hallway.
"Okay, we're food then, great, hope they like American," Lila muttered under her breath as she instinctively held Theodore's arm, while they assessed their choices.
Reaching out to Al, Theodore told him of what transpired, and Al said that he isn't surprised, he's seeing dots moving around the two, and they backed off minutes ago.
"Where are they, now?" Theodore inquired where the dots went and Al responded he saw them moving around, he thinks there's tunnels behind the walls.
Something that wasn't in the blueprints, so he suspected the employees having time on their hands after they massacred the people working in the underground complex.
"They're heavily cloistered in the ward," Al notes he's seeing majority of the dots hanging around where there used to be a medical bay.
It didn't comfort Theodore when he heard that Al noticed there's not a lot of dots like he thought there were, at least down to the thousands from his original estimates.
"You need a bomb? I got one your dad really liked, he said it gave Fawkes his inspiration. Er, it's a bit nosy and banned in all countries except Antarctica," Al asked if Theodore needed him to prep something against the mutant employees and while it's tempting, Theodore reminded him they needed proof of Alex Industries' wrongdoing.
Al exhaled as he pointed out, "I don't think you're getting your answers from them, kid. They already tore through every employee working there, you think you're gonna ask them for help, you're crazy!"
As it stands, they're not going to find their evidence, and taking a charred corpse of a mutated employee isn't going to work as well as they think, especially.
"Unless," Theodore's stricken with an idea.
Al's left waiting for the answer as Theodore's given an idea.
"Suppose we deal with the mutants, bring a body back, see where it takes us?" Theodore broached an idea with Al, making sure everyone and their mother knows what's going on.
No bomb, the concerns for hurting innocent people too high, he wanted everything in the complex remaining intact, everything out in the open.
Once they dealt with the mutants, bring authorities and journalists down here, show them the bodies, and take them on a stroll through the winding hallways, up until they find where it ends, at Alex Industries.
Make sure the footages of the investigation happen live and in colour, on all screens, translated, and all, at all hours, something Alex Industries couldn't scramble to get a team together in time.
When they do, have Al work his brilliant hardware, and make sure Alex Industries can't wave it away, infect their computers by phishing for the ones who can't help but click an email, drag out their dirty laundry for all to bear, and make them take centre stage when the evidence stacked against them.
Maybe they won't have evidence in the complex, but there's always the person who forgets to clear out their emails after a while and always has simple passwords because they're terrible at remembering them. Always the one who can't help but open an unknown email because they don't register anything wrong.
If Alex Industries wants to keep their dirty secrets hidden away, then Theodore's happy to blow them wide open, and make sure everyone smells the dirty secrets that've been cooped up too long under the complex.
Once the DNAs come in and people see the truth, three thousand and ninety-eight families will come for blood, and there won't be any place for Alex Industries to hide.
"Easy kid, that's a good thought, but watch yourself," Al reminded him not to get too excited at the prospect of screwing the complex, just yet