[Location : Xellene, Parking Lot]
The parking lot was already halfway filled with sports cars when I arrived.
'That's odd...' I thought as I got out of my car. 'Everyones' being so passionate at eight in the morning.'
Xellene was the ideal working space because not only did the institute have state of the art technology that is unavailable anywhere else, but the time schedules for the staffs were extremely flexible. Work usually started at nine, but you could come and go whenever you please as long as you've done the work that was assigned to you.
I stood at the front of security before walking into the entrance, searching for my ID in my pockets when a familiar voice caught my attention, it was Max.
"Liam!" Max called out as he ran over, his golden-brown hair fluttering as he ran to catch up to me. He was gasping for air when he reached me, grabbing my shoulders for support as he breathed in the cold morning air. "I-I should really stop vaping." He declared after a few minutes of intense breathes. "My lungs are really going through it these days."
"And this was the man calling me a slowpoke yesterday?" I teased him right as I finally found my identification card. "I'll wait for you inside." I said, passing through the heavily guarded doors and into the stale, eerie atmosphere that was Xellene. As promised, I stood by the door checking my any emails related to work. I had some research that I was doing secretly in Recel so I decided to bring them here with me. Sure, maybe it was illegal to bring confidential information from one private institute to another, but it was still my research that I worked so hard on.
'I'd rather die than let someone else take credit for my work.' He thought to himself
"Those machines are always a nuisance so early in the morning," Max complained as he walked through the door, a cue for me to stop scrolling through my phone.
"Everyone came so early." I stated completely ignoring his whining. "There's still an hour left before work starts."
"Hah, sneaky bastards, aren't they?" He said with a slight annoyance making me as confused as before.
"You mind explaining, Max?", I asked as we walked into the gigantic elevator. Why was everything in Xellene so... big?
"Monthly inspections are coming in a few days." He smirked, seemingly at ease.
"Monthly inspections for what exactly?" I continued to remain clueless.
"It's pretty simple, really. The executives are going to look up the progress of each and every employee to see what you've been up to. If, they found that you've failed to finish the work you were given within the deadline which is a month, it means you've failed the inspection." He smiled devilishly. "Which also means that some wankers are going to get fired, and that's my favorite part to witness every month."
"How about you then?", I asked worried that this potato head of a man finished any of his work.
"Relax." He reassured me with a calm smile. "I've finished everything I needed to do a few days in advance. I'd be the last person to get in trouble with stuff like this, I'm just too good at my job."
The elevator dinged opened to reveal several groggy looking men and women. They walked in like mindless zombies as the door of the elevator closed again, going further up the building.
"I can't believe I forgot to write 0978's regrowth test report!" One of the women said as she rubbed her face aggressively.
"Natalie, you're not the only one with problems, okay?" A man groaned out annoying, closing his eyes with a frown. "I have several reporting papers waiting on my desk, several!".
"Oh, shut up Mark!" The woman from before yelled, her expression sour.
"Just chill out guys..." A high looking guy came in between them, "We still have like five days left".
"... That was two days ago, Brian." Natalie spat at him. "Maybe if you weren't always so high over weed, you would've realised that!"
We reached the third floor when all of them got out, still arguing as Max and I were left alone once again.
"Just... don't mess with others for today, Liam." Max advised and I for once, nodded obediently without protesting.
We reached the fourth floor, for what seemed like an emergency meeting with the staff.
"I heard it was about one of Hel's test results", Max told me, opening the door to the unit's staff meeting room.
All specimens kept and made in Xellene are all categorized into four levels from the safest to the most dangerous: Peach, Caramel, Kylo, Goliath. Creatures labelled under Peach and Caramel are known as 'fairies' because of their gentle and passive nature. They were created or programmed to serve as educational purposes to the country in the near future. They were taught to get along well with others, and it was relatively easier to control them the other two.
Kylo and Goliath, the more aggressive and destructive part of the grouping. Known as 'reapers' by the other scientists, the specimens here were the total opposite of the fairies, they were made to kill and destroy. Unlike the levels Peach and Caramel, the rules and protocols were stricter as they were dangerous to interact with. Max worked under Department Three Kylo as a programmer for the semi biotic specimens there and while the first three levels have multiple creatures labelled together, Goliath had only one, and that was no other than Hel herself.
It was said that Unit Goliath at the fourth floor was made for her because Unit Kylo couldn't hold her in, she also had problems interacting with others, so she was kept there all alone. The room was full of young intellects, all speaking in different languages but were all asking the same questions, why were they called here? I took a seat next to Max who found us two vacant seats, "By the looks of it we made it just in time", he signed in relief.
Suddenly, we heard a familiar raspy voice boom throughout the gigantic room, "Thank you all for coming". Blake was standing at the front of the long table, looking extremely tired with bags under his eyes but his expression was grim. "I first would like to apologise for informing you of this meeting so abruptly", he had a file he was holding but I couldn't make out what it was about.
"I won't waste any more of your time and cut straight to the chase", he breathed out a tired and heavy breath, "And this is news about Hel, bad news unfortunately". Everyone looked deeply concerned, a young man up front even choked on his water after hearing that. "As you all know, her monthly brain scanning were done yesterday". Everyone was at the edge of their seats wondering what the issue regarding the institution's most prized specimen could be.
"The tests results had arrived this morning", he showed everyone the file that he was holding, "An abnormality was found". 'That's all?', I thought looking at Max for answers but he too looked slightly concerned. "The papers in front of you are the exact copies of Hel's results", Blake said as he sat down on his own chair, "You can check and see what that 'abnormality' is".
As soon as he said that, everyone grabbed the paper simultaneously and flipped through the pages. I did the same and realised that there were actually some changes in her brain's activity. I was more familiar with reading the results and I just couldn't understand why they were freaking out. 'There's only a five percent increase in her amygdala and hypothalamus activity', I thought as I looked at everyone.
"So to find out what's happening", Blake said standing up again, "I would like to appoint a criminal psychologist for her to find out the cause and fix it". There was a sudden chillness that filled the room but no one said anything except they didn't look like they liked the idea. "I think it's a bad idea Dr Blake", a man spoke up, "We can't risk a random outsider finding out about Hel". A few of his mates nodded their heads in agreement.
"And who said I was talking about an outsider Mr. Jakylle?", Blake asked raising his eyebrows. "We have a new recruit now do we not?", he was looking at me with a smirk on his face. 'Oh hell no', I thought knowing exactly what the old man was planning. "I thought he was a Psychology major", the man asked curiously. "He was", Blake replied with a faint smile, "Until I forced him to come into Criminals".
"You promised Blake", I said out loud not caring if the others heard. "I unfortunately can't do anything to help you Mr. Wright", he replied. "Because this was a direct order from the President himself ". "You've got to be kidding me", I heard Max said with a string of curse words following right after. "This is not a joke, and I'm announcing this by his orders". He glanced at me one last time before he walked away, "Liam will begin his sessions with Hel from tomorrow onwards and that's final".