Chapter 19! TS lab Sixteen!

At the MHRA Headquarters 

Tim Foreman stared at his Television screen for a long while and suddenly picked his phone to contact an old friend. Without wasting any time on the exchange of pleasantries, he got straight to the point immediately the line got connected "I have a very difficult request to make but I hope you won't ask any questions."There was total silence from the other end but Tim knew he had the other party's attention even though there was no comment and therefore continued with his ridiculous request anyway "I need you to publish a story but make it anonymous. Xandy Harris planted the explosives in Price Pharmaceuticals in an attempt to erase her tracks. She didn't want me catching on to her dirty deal with them and decided to bury Price Pharmaceuticals for that purpose. Tim paused for a while in order to allow the information to sink in. He then asked in a patronising tone "Can you do this for me ASAP? I need it published like yesterday" After receiving no response for a while, he took it for the other person's consent and  hanged up. Unsurprisingly, the news was trending after thirty munites of making that phone call. Tim was really impressed and couldn't help but praise "always so efficient"

At the Price mansion 

Trudy and Jonathan Price sat huddled together and hadn't recovered from the fright the whole explosion incident caused them. Nobody really saw this coming. Trudy Price who nearly lost her daughter could not get the sight of the collapsed building out of her mind. Just a few days ago, she was in that building. Her daughter was in there even a few munites before the explosion. She could have collapsed with the giant building for crying out loud.

Jonathan kept encouraging his overly emotional wife who couldn't wait to confirm her child's safety. Seeing her on television was just not enough for Trudy. Even after speaking to her daughter on the phone earlier in the day, Trudy still felt so empty without her in close sight, but she had to remain at home without taking a single step away from the heavily guarded residence. She could not understand why Jonathan couldn't be on her side at a time such as this. Her emotions were all over the place but nobody could blame her.

A mother nearly lost her only daughter to the cold hands of death, but hours after the incident, she still had to stay cooped up in the comfort of her home while the same child goes around trying to settle things on her own. Trudy only wanted to have her daughter in her arms. Was that too hard to ask for? 

Jonathan held her shoulders and shook them gently for her attention and got her to look straight into his eyes before saying with caution "Jeremy Pope is still with her and we both know what that means right! Please calm down dear. It hurts me to see youthus way." He engulfed her in a tight embrace and told her "everything will be alright."

Somewhere at the Secret base of Vanish

"Do you have the formula?" came the voice of the man everyone calls Boss Q, the supposed brain behind Vanish. One may wonder how his brain is actually wired as he commits numerous evil acts without even flinching.

Avon took a hard gulp and nearly choked on his own saliva while stuttering "I... I couldn't... get to the boss' materials sss...ir b..bu....ut I have a piece of information that might interest you greatly."

Looking out the corner of his eyes at the disappointment before him as though he were already a corpse, Mr Q turned his chair to face him and asked again, but this time, in an almost inaudible whisper "do you have the formula?" 

"No sir" Avon was really feeling resentful because he thought everything will definitely go as planned since no one was guarded against him.

Today was supposed to be a work day like any other. Everyone goes to work and perform their individual tasks as usual, he goes and steals the formula from the research team to which he already belongs.

The only difference being that, he had to push Kimberley for further details and subsequently use the excuse of curiosity to stroll her work space which will enable him plant all the weird devices he was given. He was so delusional to possibly be of the view that Kimberley could be willing to take him to her private space just because he asked nicely.

Anyway, he wouldn't have been in this dilemma if that damned Xandy Harris had not stormed the building with her team and ended up leaving empty handed. If only Xandy had found something, anything at all, he could have taken that opportunity to make his move unhindered. At least so he thought. Avon never knew he was merely collateral damage and his unquenchable thirst for money and power had landed him in his worst possible nightmare. 

Just as the silence was becoming a little uncomfortable for him, the tense voice of a person who came rushing in from the door while handing a tablet to the boss was heard "Mr Q, you need to see this Sir."

Mr Q boiled in anger at the sight before him as he raised his head to look at the tense human before him and spoke in an exceptionally calm voice "you blew up the place and failed to claim any casualties, yet still, you came here empty handed and claim to have information of equal value huh."

With his eyes fixed on the tablet screen he heard what Kimberley said about the perpetrators being delusional enough to think Price Pharmaceuticals would be brought to its knees and how they will bounce back stronger. He couldn't help wondering where her confidence came from. Mr. Q became increasingly agitated as he watched the broadcast and couldn't help asking Avon "what's that your name again?" In an overly excited voice came his response "Avon sir! Like I said earlier, I have another piece of information that may interest you. I actually saw Jeremy Pope at Price Pharmaceuticals and I believe there should be bigger news soon..." 

"Take him to TS lab sixteen and assign him a befitting role" was all Mr Q said that sealed Avon's fate unknowingly. Avon didn't know where he had impressed the boss, but he was really glad he made the trip and got to meet the  boss himself.  He could already see a brighter future ahead of him and started counting his gains according to the verbal agreement he had with his contact. 

It's quite ironical to have a dumb scientist standing before you who signed his own death sentence without the least knowledge of it.

Reaching TS lqb sixteen, he was told to go in alone as that was his destination and the escort could not go beyond the door. Avon rushed in without a care for anything in the world, and was so shocked he nearly peed his pants at the sight that greeted him. His escort, Pearce gave a low chuckle "what a willing test subject! Whoever told you it was possible to walk out of here after pissing off the boss?" With a shake of his head Pearce took one last look at the tightly shut door and walked away but couldn't help muttering "to think you even saw his face. RIP brother."

How is this even a lab? Avon could see a long stretch of tubes containing unconscious human beings of different races and sizes in suspending tubes. What really placed him on the verge of peeing his pants was that, there were so many of them he couldn't even spot the end of the long lines. There were sixteen different rows with no end.

Also, there was no light from outside and the light blue bulb in the room was the only source of illumination. The chill from the air condition made him develop goose bumps all over his body. The whole place felt really creepy, just like the feeling one gets upon enteringa morgue.

Unaware of his current situation, Avon immediately thought that he had chanced upon a well guarded secret and started calculating his gains in his mind once again when he was suddenly propelled upwards in a hanging tube he didn't notice until it descended to pull him up. Scared out of his wits, Avon couldn't think of anything else when it suddenly dawned on him that he had become a test subject. There must be a mistake somewhere. All he could say was "Hey! I'm the scientist. I'm the scientist. I'm not a test subject..". He suddenly widened his eyes in sheer terror T....S! Test...Subject...lab...Sixteen" then he passed out without any time to even consider regretting his previous actions.