Suspicion

The people in the facility who didn't know about Ren, knew about him now. The news about him taking out a rank 48 within only a couple of months of being at Burtgundy facility spread like wildfire, making Ren infamous. Ren ignored as much of it as possible and stayed focused on his goal.

Ren was walking out of East building with Ms. Croft when he bumped into Marissa and Alex.

"Oh, hey guys. What's happening?" greeted Ren.

"Hello Ren!" replied Marissa. "Where are you headed?"

"I'm actually headed back to my room to take a nap. I need to recover. I just finished my training with Mr. Sandler."

"But your not bloody," observed Alex.

"Yeah, a strange sight." joked Marissa.

Ren smiled, "Well, today was just some speed training. Anyway, I have an idea to spring on you guys."

"What is it," questioned both Alex and Marissa. Ren looked around to make sure no one was listening. Ms. Croft was leaning against the wall a little ways down and seemed to be deep in thought.

"Well, I still have a little ways to go before I think I would be ready to try this, but what do you say to trying to escape sometime in the near future? Of course, it is going to take loads of planning and gathering intel."

"Hey, we could just teleport out of here with Marissa's ability!" suggested Alex.

"No we can't. There is something that prevents me from going outside the wall that surrounds the perimeter of this facility," pointed out Marissa.

"That's right, I ran into that wall when I decided to see how far I could run away from this place on one of my runs. It's about 15 miles from any of the three buildings, and it's at least fifty feet tall. I'm sure there are other security measures to prevent anyone form going over that wall as well," explained Ren.

"I'll find out what I can because I can pretty much teleport freely within this place, excpet for the obvious places they don't want me in. I can also switch places with people as long as I know exactly where they are, if that helps."

"I'll do my best too. I'm tired of getting beat to a pulp everyday." complained Alex.

"Well, I'll keep in touch. I better get going." Ren turned and started walking towards North building and Ms. Croft rejoined him. Both Marissa and Alex continued on their way as well.

Meanwhile in the Commander's office...

"Hello Doctor, I hope you have good news for me," hoped the Commander.

"Yes, sir. We corrected the drug a while ago and have about one month until we are finished," responded Dr. Donavin.

"Good, as soon as it's done select a group of trainees to test it out."

"Yes Sir. I have one more thing to ask. Would it be ok if I have the serveillance team look through the record history of the cameras. It may take a while to find, but I have a suspicion I need to confirm."

"Of course Doctor, I'll make sure you have full cooperation from them."

Dr. Donavin stood up and left the room. "Ren Lennon, it's awful interesting that as soon as you entered my lab for the first time that something would go wrong, but making it even more suspicious is the fact that you haven't contacted me again in order to have your questions answered," pondered the doctor. "That only means that you found what you were truly looking for."

Ren continued to work harder than ever while Marissa and Alex did all they could to find out more about the layout of the facility, which proved to be very difficult. Then, about a month later, 5 months after Ren first arrived...

Ren was helped yet again by Ms. Croft into his room after a brutal session with Mr. Sandler. Ren noticed she hasn't really been acting like herself for a little while.

"Ms. Croft are you alright, you seem off," asked Ren.

"Well, I've been called to go to the front lines for a little bit. The United States has been pushed back, and they are running low on soldiers that are able to fight," replied Ms. Croft. "I don't know all the details, but our Commander cut some sort of deal with the U.S. government in exhange for our help. So I will be going with a couple other of our top ranks for a while to help reestablish a line of defense."

"This is perfect!" thought Ren.

"Do you know if the Commander is going too," questioned Ren.

"He is actually staying. He has business he has to attend to here, so I've heard."

"Random people were selected from the top 30 to participate."

"That's all they need?!"

"Well, those in the top 30 are pretty powerful. There are also more being sent from others."

"Who is getting sent from who?"

"Oh... nevermind. Well, I'm off to sleep. I'm leaving early tomorrow."

Ms. Croft turned to leave but Ren stopped her with another question, "How do you leave when there is a wall around the perimeter."

"I'm sorry, but that's classified. Only those with a rank higher than 30 get that info."

Ms. Croft then exited the room, closing the door behind her.

"I have news for my friends tomorrow!" chuckled Ren. "An opportunity like this doesn't come often. We have to act soon."

Late that night, in the commander's office...

"Good news, the drug is finished and ready for testing," stated Dr. Donavin. "Bad news is Ren is the one who messed with the drug."

"WHAT!" roared the Commander.

"Ren is the one who messed up the brainwashing drug, and he had time to look through my files in my office."

"DAMNIT DOCTOR, YOUR FILES CONTAIN CLASSIFIED INFORMATION!" The commander was absolutely furious, but he quickly thought of a plan. "Doctor, you are going to test the brainwashing drug on some of the new recruits, as well as some of the higher ranked. Tell them it is something that will stimulate the core. Most of the people here wouldn't say no to more power. If all goes well, you are to instruct them to bring Lennon to the 28th floor. Oh, and make sure that one of those who are brainwashed is one of Ren's friends. What was his name... Alex I believe. We need to extract what information he found out and who he told."

"It will be done Sir," responded Dr. Donavin.

The doctor stood and left with his orders.