With a start, Emersyn suddenly rose up from the cold wooden floor. She shivered as she stood up and watched how her colleagues grumble on the floor, collapsed from their hard drinking yesterday. She looked at the wall clock and it read 4:37 am. She still had time to prepare, though she only had 23 minutes left till the meeting time. It was a close call.
She hurriedly opened the door and quickly went to her room --- which she remembered the way. After opening the door, Penelope was already awake and was beside the bed; and on it, there were clothes that were neatly arranged.
"The warm water has been prepared, Madame."
"Thanks, Penelope," she said as she hastened her movements.
When she finished bathing, she got out of the tub, dried her body and settled the towel on her head. Once she entered her room, butt naked, she quickly went to her bed and dressed up.
"Here are the things to you, Madame," Penelope said as she handed over a professional camera and a bag, containing a lunch box and a few more necessary materials.
"Thanks."
"It is my pleasure. Please take care."
"I will," then she went off to the rendezvous place; in front of the mansion.
When she arrived, she noticed that there weren't any cars present and just a few youths, men and women, in their casual wear. She grew tense since she didn't know even one of them.
"What are you waiting for, woman?" Fidor said from behind her.
"... I am just awkward, sir."
"Geh. Suit yourself."
"..."
"Alright. Team one, head out first. In five minutes, team two will go next; and you," he turned towards Emersyn, "You have to hurry up and go to Hanson University."
Emersyn saluted and quickly went away. She got to the bus stop. Once the bus arrived, she went inside and paid for her fare. She fetched out the phone provided to her and searched for a map. The moving red dot was where she was as she set her destination towards Hanson University. It was a good 1 and half hour drive. She looked at the clock and saw that it was 5:02 am. The bus didn't have many passengers either. However, when she was relaxed and was watching the moving scenery at the window, there was a ring in the phone.
"Hello?"
"... Emersyn, once you got into the University --- which I forgot to tell you --- someone will be joining you once you get in. He was completely unrelated to us, but he knew that you came to the University to take an experiment. His name is Aiden Lembert, 22 years old. A junior in Gregson University; major in Microbiology. I would be sending you his picture," the line went dead before she could answer; then the phone beeped.
"..." she looked at the youthful face of a man. He had electric blue eyes and blonde hair. His features were sharp and had a beauty spot on his nose. All in all, he had a manly and innocent face. However, there was an ominous hint at his complexion which she found weird. Why would she even see something on this man without meeting him? In any case, she once again focused her gaze outside of the window.
When the bus location indicator rang and the name of Hanson University panned out, she immediately stood up and got out of the bus. At the entrance, she could see the man she saw in the picture. Likewise, Aiden also saw her and waved happily at her.
"Emma!"
She tilted her head as she approached Aiden.
"Emma Louise, right?"
Emersyn smiled and nodded. "Aiden Lembert, right?"
"Yes! Thank god… I was dying here in embarrassment since people kept on looking at me!"
"Maybe because you're too handsome? Besides, you're tall."
"Am I?" Aiden flaunted his face. "You are not so bad either. Probably the most beautiful girl I've ever seen. Where are you from?"
She flinched from the question. "I'm from somewhere near here."
Aiden laughed, "True. You wouldn't tell a complete stranger where you live. Anyway, we have to hurry. The professor is waiting for us."
"Yes."
***
"This is our prided Hansom Laboratory," said the man in a white coat as he toured them around the lab. This place was isolated from the outside world and was deep in the woods. Aiden and Emersyn looked around enthusiastically as they scrambled their feet towards any equipment they saw.
"Emma, this is where we are going to work!"
However, when he didn't hear any response, he turned to his head to look for Emersyn. When he finally discovered her, she was hugging a machine as she rubbed her cheeks on the surface of the cold metal.
"Emma?!"
"Yesh?" She responded as she stood up with her face red.
"... what are you doing?"
"I am simply admiring the machineries..."
"But why hug?"
"... I had been a chemist, so it's been a while since I saw these..." she said as she caressed the machine. Her eyes caught something as she approached a table.
"Emma?"
When she leaned and saw the microscope in a glass case, her bag slipped from her arm and the contents spilled on the floor.
"..."
"Sorry. Haha..." she said, opening her blazer then discreetly placed the bomb under the table as she hurriedly retrieved her things. There are already two bombs installed on the first underground floor. Now, it would get tricky from here on out. She heaved a sigh as she caught up with the two people ahead of her.
"Oooh!!!" Emersyn exclaimed as she saw an apparatus containing test tubes. The man in a lab coat rolled his eyes, ignoring the woman who kept on being excited as her eyes twinkled upon looking at all these common stuff.
Aiden smiled bashfully as he was also on the verge of doing the same thing.
When they reached the last floor, the man guided them towards a room where the experiment would be conducted. However, instead of going in peacefully, Aiden was suddenly knocked unconscious. Emersyn rolled away from her initial position as she eyed the men in black who intended to harm her.
"..."
"My… we have a wonderful specimen today," the man with a lab coat said as he ordered those men to capture her. Cold sweat perspired from her back as she took a step back. When the men grabbed her arm, she suddenly grabbed the man's wrist with her free hand and twisted it with her whole body then threw him on the ground. She was surprised that she could do it. Shaking those unimportant thoughts away, she gained courage with her new found strength and glared at all the people present.
"Emma Louise!"
One of the men fetched out a gun with a silencer then fired at Emersyn. However, she dodged it by the last second and lunged at the man, palming his stomach as she pushed him with the weight of her body. She then struck the arm that was holding the gun and stole the weapon from that man. She fired at these men at point blank range. Her target: their brains. When she killed all those men, the only one left would be that man in a lab coat. She turned to look at him, but he found him unconscious on Aiden's shoulder.
"Sorry, Emma, but we need this man alive. Ah, no, sorry. Your name isn't really Emma, right? My name isn't Aiden either. This time, answer me. Are you in our side?"
"What do you mean?"
"Did you come here to destroy this laboratory?"
"Isn't that obvious?"
"... you might just want to protect yourself from these disgusting humans."
"Ah. You have a point, but no," she said as she aimed the gun at Aiden's head.
"Emma, we are on the same side. Are you going to kill someone who would be of use to you?"
"..."
"I will help you run away from here and if in case, that you get caught by the police, I will bail you out."
Emma didn't hesitate and fired the gun. However, Aiden dodged the bullet's trajectory.
"Haa… You must be from the mafia."
"You must be from the police."
"No, no. We are kind of like the police, but we are not the police."
"Then---" before she could even start, there was an earthquake and an explosion above ground. Aiden looked at Emersyn and sighed, "Your friends must be here now."
"They're my family."
"You are in the mafia after all."
"Duh."
"So, what are you going to do now?"
Emersyn looked incredulously at Aiden. "Why are you asking me?"
"Cause I will escape now."
"Sure, go ahead. I have no ord---wait, leave that man to me."
"Sorry, but I have to take him, interrogate him and punish him by law."
"I apologize too, since the order this time is complete annihilation."
"What can you do?"
"Kill you and that man."
"I see. So this is how we are going to play. I am still hoping to peacefully deal with you, but I guess it won't go my way---"
BANG!