The Lab

Adam squinted, trying to use the illumination from the fluorescent lights to observe who this person was.

It was a girl. She had raven-black straight hair that extended past her shoulders. Her skin had quite a pale-colour to it, and her deep black eyes appeared unfocused, almost as if she didn't care for anything in the world. She stood so still that Adam felt she was a ghost, or a figment of his imagination. Or an illusion perhaps?

He didn't want to know, however, as he immediately turned to the nearest door on the right wall and tried to open it.

An automated voice softly said, "Unauthorised access."

Huh? Adam was quite surprised. The door to his sister's office hadn't requested any form of access code or password.

"It won't open." A mellow voice flowed into his ears.

Adam half turned and stared at the girl who remained in that same spot, as if glued to the very earth. He asked, "Why not?"

The girl's face remained expressionless as she said, "Only Dr. Layman and his assistant can access what lies beyond that door."

The way she phrased her words made Adam's curiosity grow slightly. He glanced at the steel, mechanical door and retracted his hand from the handle. There was no use if he had no way to open it. Moreover, he had only tried to enter the room to avoid the girl's piercing stare.

"There you are!" At that moment, another voice came from farther down the corridor. "I've been looking all over for you."

Adam shifted slightly, trying to see who it was speaking behind the weird girl. He almost jumped in fright when he saw raven-black straight hair, black pupils and a slender body.

They were the same person!

The new girl that had just arrived nudged the other slightly on the head. "Don't run off like that–" She paused when her eyes caught sight of Adam.

"Oh? You were with someone?" The girl said, rather amused.

"What are you?" Adam was forced to ask.

"Hm? What do you mean?" The new girl wore a puzzled look. She appeared to be quite jolly, very much unlike the other girl. Her skin also had a rosy tint, and her eyes carried a lot of warmth.

"We're clearly twins."

Oh, right… Adam's initial wariness made him overlook such an obvious fact. He wondered if they tagged along with someone who worked here, just like he did.

Then, he spun around and prepared to return to Lyra's office. But at that moment, much to everyone's shock, the automated voice announced,

"Facial recognition; complete. Adam White.

"Security clearance; Tier 1.

"Access granted."

Eh? Adam rotated like a clock's hand and stared at the mechanical door that opened with a low buzz. The twin girls were equally surprised and puzzled, although the one with a gloomy temperance quickly reverted to normal.

Tier 1 security clearance? That was the same level of clearance the Head scientist, Dr. Layman, had. Who was this guy?

Adam felt a little bit of apprehension, but he pressed on anyway. He slowly pushed the door and a dark path came into view.

"Wait," One of the girls behind him suddenly asked in a hushed tone, "Can we come with you?"

It's none of my business… Adam muttered inwardly. "If you wish." He said to the girls.

Then, with Adam leading the way, all three proceeded into the heavy darkness.

Clang. The mechanical door closed shut.

…

As a few Overseers retrieved Claw's unconscious body, the man in a trench coat and half top hat whipped out an electronic cigarette. He took a puff and gazed into the distance.

Just as he had started smoking, his wristband began glowing. He tapped twice on it and a screen popped up.

"What is it?" He asked.

The person on the screen had a blurry disposition and his facial features were concealed beneath the visible scrambling.

The person's voice, however, was crystal clear. "The top brass has requested a meeting. All Marshalls are requested."

"Why?"

"Beats me. Apparently, it's major enough for the Paragon to get involved."

The Paragon… Marshall Mathew Bates felt his head throb from frustration. He sighed and said after a while, "I'll get ready to leave for the Upper Ring."

"Don't be late." The voice was stern.

The holographic screen faded and Mathew Bates pursed his lips.

"Sometimes, I really hate my life. Can't these folks just let me stick to apprehending criminals? Meeting this, meeting that… " He lamented and tucked his hands into the coat's pockets.

After cursing for a little while, he left the alley and returned to Headquarters.

…

After walking for quite a distance, Adam and the two, odd girls arrived at a metal railing affixed to the wall. Their eyes immediately fell on a vast experimental lab that extended further below where the ground was supposed to be.

There were scorch marks here and there, a few laboratory machines, but the most notable thing was a gigantic equipment of sorts that was covered with a large, white sheet.

"What is this place?" The twin with an outgoing attitude muttered.

Adam's focus was on the scorch marks.

"Explosion…" He muttered in a daze-like state.

The twin with an outgoing attitude turned to look at him. Her eyes seemed to hold a hint of realisation as she said, almost yelling, "That's true! The explosion that took the lives of a lot– it must've happened here."

Upon speaking, her expression went solemn, as though reliving a bitter moment of her past.

She shook her head, sighed and said, "Makes me wonder what they were trying to do."

"Maybe it has something to do with that." This time, it was the twin with a gloomy countenance that spoke. She pointed to the gigantic equipment in the middle of the lab.

Adam walked to the edge of the metal railing and looked for anything that could be used as a ladder. If this was truly where his parents had died, then he needed to know what exactly led to the explosion.

He quickly found a ladder embedded to the wall by the right. Using the metal railing as a stepping stone, he grabbed onto the ladder and proceeded down.

"Hey, wait–"

The twin girls stared at themselves for a moment.

"Come on." The gloomy one nudged her head and followed Adam's lead. Reluctantly, the other twin followed suit, and in a minute, their feet touched the ground.

"Looks even bigger from down here," Adam frowned as he stared at the ginormous object before him. He didn't rush to pull the sheet and check whatever it was, instead going around to the various equipment and checking if they were all dead.

His usual apprehension had evolved into a raging curiosity to understand what led to his parent's death. Why was the door locked? And why had he been granted access?

Though Adam didn't know how high Tier 1 clearance was, he still felt something was off about the situation.

After checking around for a while, all three realised that power had long been cut off from this area.

Then, Adam fixed his gaze on the gigantic object once more. Without a second thought, he walked forward and dug his hand into the base of the sheet. With a grunt, he pulled back and kept dragging till the entire thing slid down with a whoosh.

A sudden wave of cold air filled the entire lab.

Adam's eyes moved up and down the huge 'thing', trying to understand what it was. It was In the form of an upright ring-like object with a metallic surface and odd patterns engraved on its base.

The 'ring' sat on a square tab and there were quite a lot of steel tubes protruding from its entire circumference.

Adam drew closer and extended his hand.

"I don't think you should be touching it," One of the girls cautioned from behind.

But Adam did anyway. He ran his hand along the patterns at the base of ring and felt a sense of familiarity for some reason.

He felt like he had seen such patterns before.