Congrats to Princess Absahail for getting the quote right! And so sorry for not updating in awhile! And a reminder that 122 is Courtney, and I just finished reading Pride and Prejudice and saw Beastly so I'm VERY sorry if there are very cheesy moments.

After our long trip of shopping I bid 122 an adieu and had one of my guards take her back to her cell. I headed up to my room and immediately asked for a coffee. I hung my jacket up on the coat hanger and plopped onto the couch. As my coffee arrived Cody walked in, "Yes Cody?"

He looked at his feet and started to play with his thumbs, "Ummmmmm..."

"What?"

Cody looked around nervously and it made me twice as nervous because nervous Cody is the worst type of Cody. "Well...Duncan...I..."

"Yes?"

"Hmmm, you know how...er...I, uh hmmm..."

"For Christs sake, spit it out!"

"Your mom isn't doing well." He finally said.

My heart dropped down into the very pit of my stomach. "How bad is she?" I asked almost inaudibly.

"Not so good, she's in critical condition. They're pumping in all the medication possible."

"Can I see her?"

"I already asked, they said they can't have any interruptions, they need to stay completely focused on her."

I didn't say anything, I just looked down and stayed silent.

"Umm boss?"

"Get me a test subject." I said.

"What?"

"You heard me. Get me a test subject same age as my mother."

"But boss, you were-" Cody started, I knew he was going to mention how I've been nicer lately.

"I was nothing. At the end of the day I'm still a scientist and people are still my test rats, get me a new subject or you will be the subject." I said surely.

"Okay, okay. The subject will be ready in a few minutes." Cody said as he headed down the elevator, but before the doors closed he looked me in the eye and said, "You know, for a moment I thought you actually had a heart."

I wanted to mock him, but it was true, but my mother was too important to me, she was my everything, without her I have nothing. I headed down to my lab and slipped on my lab coat. I got the testing substance from the cabinet and as I headed to the table I didn't bother speaking or looking at the test subject, damn 122 made me feel things such as 'guilt' or 'sadness'. Really the only reason I felt bad was because I was so afraid of losing my mother yet I was taking away someone elses, dramatic irony for you.

When I got to the table I looked away and blindly injected the substance. I reached over for my clipboard so I could take notes on her reaction. When I finally gained the guts to look at her I saw she looked at lot like my mother and she was staring at me softly. No trace of angry or hatred in her eyes which is weird because everyone I test on hates me.

"Why don't you look angry?" I couldn't help but ask.

"Because, it's all for a cause isn't it? There's no point fighting you anyway, the deed is done." She said gently. She really reminded me of my mother now, fair, non-judgmental. I glanced at her softly and walked over to her to gently grab her hand.

"Well, I'm glad you feel that way, plus it looks like it had no effect on you so you'll be fin-" And interrupting the seemingly happy note, she started shaking violently. I called in the guards to take her away and whispered sorry before I let go of her hand. I intently watched her get carried away and I genuinely felt bad. I ran my hands through my hair and let out an aggravated sigh, how can I keep testing on people if I feel like trash every time? I chucked my clipboard at the wall annoyed of my failure.

I paced around the room a bit before writing down the results of this test on the result board. I then headed to the elevator hopefully just to relax and sleep the day off.

I threw my lab coat off not really aiming for the coat rack and just collapsed on the bed. I clapped twice to turn off the lights and I was knocked out in seconds.

:::::::::::::::::::

It was truly the worst night ever, I was haunted by nightmares of the poor woman and my mother, of course. Even though I know I overslept I couldn't get myself to open my eyes. I just wanted to lay there, the giant heartless dick who everyone hates. The only thing that woke me was the sound of someone elses steady breaths hitting my ear.

When I opened my eyes I saw a marvel really. My room was already completely refurnished and it reminded me of my room as a kid. The room had splashes of red and blue every once in awhile, but not in a patriotic sense. 122 was standing over me with a huge smile and she yelled, "Surprise!"

"Wow, its...how did you do this so fast?"

"The furniture place is like 10 blocks away...and I may have paid a large sum of money for super-speedy delivery." She said playfully.

"Really, 122, its amazi-wait how did you even get out of your cell?"

"I have my ways." She said as if it was nothing.

"Note to self; get better security." We both laughed slightly. I walked around the room and stopped when I saw a family picture laying on the night stand. "How did you get this?" I said in pure shock.

"Cody got it for me, I thought it would personalize the space a bit."

My heart tinged slightly, these few days have been emotional for Duncan, I don't like it. I walked over to her and I really just wanted to embrace her as tightly as possible but given we've only known each other for maybe four days I settled for squeezing her hands gently and looking at her with more affection than I've given anyone. "Thank you. I can't even describe this space."

"Yeah, well it was nothing...plus you paid for everything." She said with a small chuckle.

I laughed slightly too, but then it hit me like a train. The reality of what I did yesterday. I just turned some poor defenseless woman into a Beast yesterday. If 122 found out, she would...I don't know, but she definitely wouldn't approve considering our whole shopping day was meant to reform me.

She noticed the slight change in my mood and said, "I was just kidding about the 'you paid for everything' comment, I mean you did pay for everything but-"

"No no, it's not that, it's just that I think I...left Cody locked in the storage room all night, poor guy." Not the best lie I've come up with.

She laughed, half-relieved, half-genuinely laughing. "Want me to come with you to go get him?"

"NO!" She was startled by my yell for a response. "I mean...if you want to, it'll probably be boring though."

"Boring? Are you kidding? You leave us locked up in white cells all day, I think I can handle a walk to get Cody." She said already heading to the elevator.

"Okay...then..." I said calmly, even though I was panicking on the inside, searching desperately for a reason as to why Cody won't really be locked in the storage room.

Once I got in the elevator she ran her finger lightly over the buttons, "Which floor?"

"4"

"So level 1 is your room, 2 is the lab, 3 is the lobby, 4 is storage, 5 is subject living quarters, what is 6?"

"4 actually has two wings; the library and storage." I said trying to get around the subject of the sixth floor.

But I should've have known 122 would be relentless. "Oh okay, but then what's 6?"

I paused when luckily the elevator bell rang, "Oh look we're here!" I ran the hell out of that elevator.

"Why won't you tell me what level 6 is?"

"A scientists got to have his secrets." I said as I speed walked to the storage room.

"Yeah but scientist secrets aren't normal, scientists are mad so their secrets must be too."

"Yeah whatever." I said hoping it would die down. Although she was right, the sixth floor was where I kept all of the subjects that turned into Beasts. Why I kept them? I use them to see if their results can be reversed. Sure the quality of living down there sucks, overcrowding, decaying Beasts, starvation but hey, what she doesn't know won't kill her.

When we finally arrived at the storage room door I already prepared my excuse 'Ohhh, I must have dreamt it.' Surely she'll believe that. I unlocked the door and started saying "Ohhhh" but I was cut off when I actually saw Cody sitting in the storage room. He was tied up with tape over his mouth. "What the hell man?" I grabbed a knife from one of the drawers and cut off the ropes around his ankles and hands.

"Why did you lock him in the closest and tie him up?" 122 asked.

"I didn't tie him up OR leave him in the closet I just made that up!"

"Then why is he here?"

"I, I really don't know." I ripped the tape off of Cody's mouth quickly and the very first thing he said was: "Mother ffff-, ever heard of ripping it off slowly!" He complained as he gently felt the pink flesh around his mouth.

"Cody, man-up, and tell me what the hell you were doing in here!" I said past confusion and settling into 'he's probably here because he's Cody and Cody can be very idiotic sometimes'.

"He said-"

"Who's he?" I asked.

"I was getting to that." Cody said as he rubbed the sore areas around where the ropes were tied, "He-a subject- said you better watch out."

"For what?"

"Just to watch your back. Someone is out to get you."

To be completely honest I had NO idea what to do. I know what I plan on putting afterward but I didn't know how to build up to it plus I'm in the middle of Catching Fire in the Hunger Games (amazing book/series that everyone should read btw) and they keep mentioning revenge/revolt etc so I kind of stole from that but regardless please review and thanks for reading! Also sorry this chappy is kind of long, it's more of a filler.