Little did Riley know, as he was torturing the traitor, Yvonne and Debbie stood shoulder to shoulder in his facility. They peered down the long staircase.
Debbie glanced over at Yvonne. "How do we know where the doctor went? Do we even know he's a doctor?"
Yvonne fixed a determined expression on her face. "It doesn't matter what he is. He knows Riley, and I doubt we're going to find any answers if we're just standing up here."
"Right," Debbie said. "Then, you go first."
Yvonne kicked off her infuriatingly high heels and raced down the staircase. Debbie followed.
After descending a few flights of stairs, the two Dolly Parton-look-a-likes found an open door that led to a corridor. At the end of the hallway stood the doctor they saw earlier. He was typing a code into a keypad to unlock the door in front of him.
Without letting a moment slip by, Debbie called after him. "Hey, you! Don't move!"
The doctor turned around. A perplexed frown crossed his face as he took in their outrageous costumes.
The women raced toward him. The door opened, and the doctor tried to slip in and close it, but it was no use. Yvonne barged her way in. After Debbie made it through the door, Yvonne slammed it shut.
"What the hell is going on? Who are you?" The doctor asked, stepping back to put some distance between himself and the two intruders. He backed himself into a wall.
Debbie moved toward him. Without a word, she grabbed him by the hair and pounded his head into the wall.
Yvonne's mouth dropped. "Holy crap, Debbie!" She was shocked. She had no idea Debbie was so strong, but then a thought crossed her mind. Of course she's super strong. Alex probably taught her how to defend herself.
Debbie ripped her shoe off of her foot and used it to pin the man she thought might have all the answers to the wall. She stuck the sharp, pointy heel through his shirt and then into the drywall, effectively taking him captive. She stepped away, dusting off her hands. "You're not going anywhere."
Yvonne was awestruck. Debbie was a badass. No doubt about it. "Hey, uh, Debbie?"
After wiping a single bead of sweat off her forehead, Debbie then turned to Yvonne with a beaming smile that didn't even hint at what had just transpired. "Yes, Yvonne?"
Her newfound BFF blinked in rapid succession. "First of all, and I mean this in the nicest way possible, I'm afraid you may be a sociopath. Second of all, do you think we should tie him up?" Yvonne pointed across the room, where, conveniently, sat a chair with a rope sitting on top of it.
Giddiness bubbled up from Debbie at the sight of it. "Oh, that's perfect!"
The scientist, or doctor, or whatever he was, interrupted the girls' scheming. "What's going on?!"
Debbie turned around and slapped the doctor across the face. "You talk when we say you talk."
The doctor touched his face, which was turning red from the sting of Debbie's hands. "Oh, my god. Your skin is super soft."
Yvonne dragged the chair toward Debbie and the scientist. She helped unhook the man from the wall and then forced him into the chair. She held the rope in her hands. "Debbie, any chance you also know how to tie knots?"
Debbie held the scientist by the shoulders. "No, Alex is the one who knows his way around a rope."
"TMI," the doctor added, earning him another slap from Debbie.
Yvonne looked at the rope. "Maybe if we double knot it really tight around his wrists, that will do the trick."
Debbie pressed her lips together and shrugged. "Works for me."
Yvonne tightly wrapped the man's wrists in a roped, and double, no, triple knotted it. She stood back and dusted off her hands, acknowledging a job well done.
Then, Debbie ripped off her wig, revealing her dark, sleek locks of hair. "It was getting hot under there."
Yvonne grimaced. "Debbie, I'm not so sure that was a good idea. Weren't we supposed to be in disguise?"
The doctor scoffed. "Disguised as what? The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas?"
Yvonne ignored him. "What if someone comes in here?"
Debbie haphazardly put the wig back on her head. Most of her natural hair was still sticking out. Despite the fact the fake mane of hair would be ridiculous on anyone else, she managed to make it look chic. "There. I mean Alex also told us we were supposed to be in and out, and now we tied up this scientist."
Yvonne bit her bottom lip. "Maybe we shouldn't have done this. Alex was probably right. Maybe we should go."
Debbie waved her hand dismissively at Yvonne. "And leave him tied to a chair only to tell everyone what we did when he gets rescued? No way. I know we defied Alex, but it's for a perfectly good reason. Plus, we've already gotten this far. Might as well finish the job."
Yvonne clamped her eyes shut. "Fine." She opened her eyes and stared at the scientist. "What's your name? What do you do here, and why were you looking for Riley?"
The doctor glowered at the girls. He pressed his lips shut and remained silent.
With a roll of her eyes, Yvonne tapped her foot. "I'm waiting."
He shook his head, and as he did, WHAM! Debbie smacked him across the face.
"Oh, my god!" The scientist screamed out in pain. "Fine, my name is Ozzy. Dr. Ozzy McManace, and I'm a scientist here, alright. Is that good enough for you?"
Debbie shook her head. "Not quite. Why were you looking for Riley?"
Ozzy scoffed. "None of your business."
Debbie raised her hand again, and the scientist piped up. "Fine. I'm looking for Riley because I work for him. He's my boss. It's normal to look for your boss"
Yvonne scratched the side of her head. "She's going to slap you again if you lie."
The doctor stared at the girls with complete disdain. "What was the name you said before? Alex? Alex sent you?"
The girls exchanged a quick glance. Ozzy chuckled. "Of course Ambrose is behind this little freakshow. You want to know why I'm here? Fine. I could care less about Riley Naysmith. He means nothing to me. I don't care if he wins. I just want Alex Ambrose to lose."
Yvonne leaned down, intrigued and angered at the same time. "What do you have against Alex?"
Ozzy squinted, looking back and forth between Debbie and Yvonne. "It all started five years ago."
***
Five years prior, a fresh faced Ozzy McManace stood outside of the tallest skyscraper in the city of Baltimore. His huge grin distracted from the multiple zits on his face. Before he walked into the building, he checked his hair in the reflective sign that read "Ambrose Pharmaceutical Corporation." He slicked back one flyaway and adjusted his thick rimmed glasses. He smiled to himself. "Alright McManace, it's your day. You got this."
Ozzy passed through the huge revolving doors and walked to the elegant reception desk. The kind yet professional receptionist looked back at him. "Can I help you, sir?"
Ozzy nodded and pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket. He slid it to the woman. "I have an interview with Alex Ambrose."
The woman smiled. "Dr. McManace? Excellent. Let me page Mr. Ambrose and tell him you're here."
Ozzy waited as the woman spoke quietly on the phone. He looked around the lobby of the building. It was minimalistic and professional. Wow, this guy sure has good taste.
The woman put the phone down to her chest. "Alright, Mr. McManace. Mr. Ambrose will see you now. Take that elevator to the ninety-fourth floor."
Ozzy raised his eyebrows in shock. "Ninety-fourth floor?! Thankfully I'm not afraid of heights."
The receptionist appeased Ozzy. "Yes, so that elevator is right over there." She pointed to a sleek black elevator on the opposite side of the lobby.
Ozzy rushed across the room and eagerly pressed the button to go up. When he got into the elevator, he rehearsed his speech to himself. "I believe this will be a symbiotic relationship for your company. We both have something to gain."
As the elevator reached the ninety-fourth floor, Ozzy shook out his nerves. He stood up straight as he exited. At the end of the long hallway, Alex was standing outside his office. He stood in a suit, looking calm, cool and collected. He waved. "Dr. Ozzy McManace?"
Ozzy felt his face burn up. He was nervous. "In the flesh."
Alex held the door open. "Come in and take a seat."
Ozzy did just that. He sat in Alex's office, which was covered in floor to ceiling bookshelves. Alex took a seat in a big, dark brown leather chair. He picked up what Ozzy assumed was his resume. Alex scanned it over. "Hm, congratulations on getting your doctorate from Preston. I went there myself."
Ozzy smiled. He was thrilled to have something in common with such a cool guy. "Thank you, sir."
Alex put down the piece of paper and folded his hands. "So, I'm not going to ask you about your credentials, because I wouldn't have brought you in if I didn't think you were qualified. I think your thesis had some incredible findings, and I think our research and development team needs a fresh, young leader. What I want to know is what are the first three changes you would make?"
Alex put Ozzy at ease. He was thrilled to know that Alex thought he was a good fit for the position. He was able to let his guard down a little bit. "Well, first, I would suggest that the company experiments more with exactly what your drugs could do."
Alex raised an eyebrow. "Explain."
Ozzy leaned forward. "Well, you know the medicinal effects, the side effects, sure. You guys play it really safe, and that works for you, but you have so much more potential. The formulas you guys are cracking, if expanded and multiplied, could potentially create a better, stronger human race. I could potentially see Ambrose pharmaceuticals rapidly increasing the rate of homosapien evolution."
Alex chuckled. "Well, I'm not sure our company aims to fast track evolution, but it's an interesting proposal. What else?"
Ozzy rubbed his hands together. He felt extremely prepared. "I would definitely want to experiment on how to increase the speed of getting life changing medicine to patients who would need it. How do we streamline chemotherapy treatments so they happen in half the time, how do we decrease in order to increase quality of life?"
Alex intently listened to Ozzy. His face was blank, maintaining a perfect amount of indifference. "Decrease to increase. That would be good for marketing."
Ozzy grinned. "Thank you, sir, I'm great with slogans."
"Well, that's always a plus. Alright, what would be the third change?" Alex asked.
Ozzy knew he saved the best for last. "Well, something I'm very passionate about, and I looked into a lot while I was at Preston, is that I believe that for drugs that are going to be administered to humans and given to humans, we should use human test subjects."
Alex's expression dropped ever so slightly. "Excuse me?"
Ozzy leaned back, feeling like he was in control of the interview. He was nailing it. "So much time and energy is wasted testing on rats and other animals. That's ridiculous. Human test subjects would speed up the research and development stage tenfold."
Alex's tone changed. It was more serious. "People could die, Ozzy."
Ozzy shrugged with a little chuckle. "Okay, sure it'd be risking lives, but what if we tested on the suicidal? We'd be doing them a favor, if you ask me."
"Get out," Alex said.
Ozzy sat up, entirely shocked. "Excuse me?"
Alex pointed at the door. "I said get out of my office right now."
Ozzy shook his head. He felt his whole body tremble. "What? No, this was going so well. It's always been my dream to work here. I spent my whole college career doing research in that same vein as this company."
Alex looked disgusted. "You just told me to run human trial runs on the suicidal. That's one of the most heinous things I've ever heard in my life. Get. Out."
Ozzy stuttered over his words. "B-b-but… it's for good reason. Please, I, uh, I worked so, so hard."
Alex stood up. "I don't care how hard you worked. You have no regard for human life. If you don't get out right now, I'll get you out myself."
***
Ozzy stared at the girls as he recounted his story. His hair, now, was overgrown and wild, with streaks of gray going through it. He actually looked like a typical mad scientist.
Debbie glared at Ozzy. Her patience was completely gone. "I agree with Alex. That's entirely despicable."
Ozzy returned the glare. "He ruined my life! He made my name a laughingstock! He blackballed me from the pharmaceutical industry. He even sullied my name at Preston. After all of that, there was only one person who would accept me, only one person who took me in."
"Riley," Yvonne interrupted.
Ozzy flashed a sinister grin. "Exactly. Riley has his faults. He's egotistical, and lazy, but he's the only man who believes in my vision."
"And what vision is that?" Debbie asked, almost not even wanting to know.
His dark eyes settled on the women. He was eager to explain his master plan. "A more perfect human race, bigger and stronger. And it starts with Riley. Well, actually, it starts with me. We turn these men into super soldiers and use them at our whim. Soon, we take over the world, and eventually figure out how to evolve the human race to its peak performance while still maintaining our sanity, and, in the process, we destroy Alex Ambrose and his cute little cookie cutter view of the world."
Debbie grabbed the man by the shoulders, enraged. "You'll never be able to do it. We'll stop you."
Ozzy shook his head. "That's where you're wrong. I'm always trying to be faster, get better, and we're doing that just now. We developed a way to rapidly speed up the aging process, turning a fetus into a man in mere days."
Yvonne's face twisted into a disgusted expression. "Not only is that gross, it's literally impossible."
Ozzy beamed from ear to ear. "Far from it. In fact, all we need are the eggs, and I think I know two women who would be the perfect candidates. Alex's beautiful little girlfriend, and his needy, incorrigible ex."
The girls took a step back. Debbie's lips trembled. "How do you know who we are?"
Ozzy laughed wholeheartedly. "Do you think I'm stupid? I spent the last five years waiting to exact my revenge on Alex Ambrose. I don't just know who you are. I know everything about the two of you."
Yvonne wanted to run. Deep down, she ultimately knew following this guy would lead to trouble. "Alex was right. We should have just gone in and left."
Behind his back, Ozzy started fiddling with the rope that tied his wrists together. "If you go back to that house, you're as good as dead."
Debbie's heart skipped a beat as she thought about Louis and Christopher. "What do you mean?"
The doctor's smirk grew wilder by the second. "We unleashed countless super soldiers in that forest. You wouldn't last a second in those woods without Alex there to save you."
Ozzy dramatically broke free of his restraints and stood up. As he did, a loud alarm went off. Yvonne and Debbie turned around as they felt the rumbling of what seemed like a thousand footsteps headed in their direction.
Every muscle in Yvonne's body tightened. "If that's cyborg Joan Crawford, we don't stand a chance."