Barica landed her ship in an underground parking area. They didn't even see the entrance until they were right on top of it. The garage was small. Most employees lived in the building to ensure absolute secrecy so vast parking was not needed.
"Blaine, go copy their abilities into the book then give me the book," Barica stated as she opened the window. There was a door between the cockpit area but it had a window to enable conversation while traveling.
Kyle looked at her, "don't you need me to keep going at school?"
"Oh of course! But I may need it during the weekend. I'll return it once I return you to school."
Kyle nodded and did as asked. If he pushed too much, it would reveal he wasn't Blaine. He copied the three abilities into his book but only air manipulation into the book he handed Barica. He hoped she wouldn't flip through and catch his deception. Blaine would never be brave enough to do such a thing, especially since Barica insisted Lana sit next to her.
Once the abilities were copied, he handed her the book with reverence. "How long until they wake up?"
"Close the door and have a seat. I'll close the window," Kyle followed her instructions, "then fill the cabin with the gas that wakes them," as she hit a different button.
Within moments, the others were waking up. As soon as everyone was up, the gas was turned off and the exit door was opened. They were all met by more guards and two people in white coats. Lana sharply in-took a breath. She recognized one of the men. Kyle squeezed her hand to help her calm down.
As they walked toward a door that was no more than 10 feet away, Barica explained, "the first step is to fill out the paperwork. I need the four of you to follow these people and they will get the boring stuff done. I'll show Blaine and Lana around the company and pick you up when we are done."
Ariae was beginning to wonder if this was legit and even more so once they got to the office and were handed a stack of forms to fill out. She read everything, seemingly more careful than her male counterparts as she was the last to be done. Chekof didn't even seem to read anything. They didn't know each other so there was no conversation while they waited for Barica to return.
As soon as they entered the main lobby, Barica was met with her lawyer and a thin mousy man who may have been an assistant by the looks of him.
"Darith, this is my grandson Blaine and his bodyguard, Lana," Barica said to the mousy guy.
Darith's eyes went wide, "Blaine, as in the heir? It's an honor to finally meet you sir! I trust school is treating you well?"
Kyle was immediately annoyed. He wanted to punch Barica in the mouth for her introduction of Lana. She was his future wife, not bodyguard! Still, he gripped the offered hand in a firm shake then grabbed Lana's hand back. He hated dropping it just to shake this man's hand.
"School is going well. We are on track for the special outing next month but they haven't chosen anyone yet."
"Have you gotten good scores on all your outings, then?" Darith seemed to have a knack of sounding interested in mundane subjects.
"Our second outing was cancelled within hours of getting there. But the others we did very well."
"Cancelled?" Barica demanded in a questioning tone making it obvious what she was looking for.
Kyle sighed, "on the second portal we were with our individual classes. My class was attacked by a beast most of us could not beat. I had it mostly dead and we got ambushed from behind, swallowed up by a beast we didn't even know was a beast. Lana came out of nowhere and saved my whole team and a few others."
Barica looked at Lana, "how did you know?"
Lana paused for a moment. She didn't believe it was safe telling this woman anything about her ability, but it was also clear Pucket worked for her. She had the feeling Barica already knew about this, so she answered.
"My ability is to talk to plants. They told me there was danger so I listened and went where they told me to. It's also why we did so well on the first outing. We would have done even better had Star not been an issue. The third planet, it wasn't as helpful but we still all finished in the top 3."
"And did you save my grandson on the third planet as well?"
"I would say she did," Kyle replied, "whether I like it or not, she took a major hit which opened up the finishing blow I was able to make."
Kyle was hoping if Lana was seen in a good light, it might save her life so he told the truth.
Barica nodded, "come. I want to show you the areas that are used for the research we are conducting this weekend."
The three walked off with Kyle and Lana looking at each other, hurrying to catch up.
They went one floor up and entered a room where blood was being analyzed for MC counts.
"In here, they evaluate blood work. These samples are from volunteers who took a serum with the hopes of increasing their MC. The numbers will then be compared to previous samples."
Kyle and Lana looked at each other a tad surprised. They expected the project to be legit but this looked ethical so far… They followed Barica to many floors, going higher and higher and learned a lot about the project: how long it's been going, funding, participation requirements, etc.
After about two hours, they were back on the ground floor. They entered another room and inside were the four people who came with them. Barica flipped through the pages of their documents. Not everything was required. She noticed Ariae chose the bare minimum. That was fine.
She turned to the others, "are you ready? The next step is to go below for some ability assessments as well as bloodwork to measure your MC and such."
"Do they get a tour as well of all the rooms the testing takes place in," Kyle asked.
"Next step is below then they go to the rooms that are more appropriate based on their test results," Barica smiled. It looked genuine this time which made Kyle's blood run cold. That was the worst expression to have on her face.
"Follow me, please. Nevermind the guards. We are frequently understaffed so they double as escorts when needed."
Barica led them to a stairwell that had a hidden door built into the steps. Barica hit a button on her watch and the stairs lifted up. Lana felt Kent slam his paw down. Then, again. This happened a few times and it stopped with him sniffing something then going back to rest.
Once everyone had descended, Barica closed the stairs then opened the next door which looked more like a bank vault, over a foot thick with the spin thing in the middle. Again, Kent repeated his attacks. She was happy she had armored clothing on. The door closed automatically once everyone was through.
There was a desk inside which had a badge for Kyle and Lana while the others were given volunteer badges. Ariae's badge was red while the others were green.
Barica turned to the "volunteers", "follow these gentlemen to the testing area. I'm going to continue the tour with my grandson. We'll meet again once you're finished with the testing phase."
As burly men took Chekof and the others one direction, Lana and Blaine were taken somewhere else. Barica led the way, while two guards walked behind them. They entered a room that had a steel slab in the middle with restraints that were a metal Lana didn't recognize. The slab had dents in many places. One was as big as a fist.
While Lana and Kyle stared at the slab, he pulled her behind him. "What do you want," he asked Barica.
Barica purred, "It's simple. I want you to take her virginity while I watch."
Kyle's face grew dark, "and if I refuse?"
She chuckled maliciously, "the men behind you will… offer you some… encouragement… Now, Sweetie," she glanced at Lana who was peeking around Kyle, "be a good girl and climb up here. This won't hurt a bit…" There was a cold glint in her eye.
As they talked, Kyle went into Lana's bracelet and handed her sai to her discreetly, so they came out of the bracelet aligned with his spine, fully hidden by her. She wrapped her hands around the hilts and sent a message to Kent. Kyle spun from in front of her and suddenly she heard two thuds behind her.
At the same time, Lana heard Barica scream, "timestop!"
Lana was instantly lightheaded. As she watched Barica saunter toward her, her head started to clear. Kent, can you move? I can move my fingers.
Yes!
"Where did you magically produce weapons from, I wonder? It doesn't really matter. It's not like you will get to use them," Barica proclaimed in her superior manner.
Climb down my back and up hers. Claw her eyes out if you can. She's almost in range.
"Looks like Blaine killed my guards before I could stop him. Good help is so hard to find these days," she wiggled her hips as if to hint at something else. "At least Blaine will always be mine," she growled possessively.