Lana stood facing the door and held out her hand to Kyle. He took it tenderly and they walked out with Chekof trying to take the lead.
"We had some information on this place. Why does nothing look familiar?" Chekof asked,
"I think the information that got out was for the upper floors. We are essentially in a massive vault right now," Kyle explained. "We passed some stairs back there…" as he led the way.
Meanwhile offices were emptying. When a door opened, Lana saw that girl Ariae in the room for a brief moment before the door closed. She stopped the worker.
"Excuse me, Lady Barica is preparing to make an announcement and told us to become familiar with the facilities. Can you tell me what you do in there?"
The worker was in doctor robes and looked at the badges the couple was wearing. Chekof's was bloody but he was with two fully cleared people.
"This is one of many rooms where ability research is conducted. In this one, we hook our volunteers up to a VR system and evaluate their MC as they engage in activities normally associated with their ability. It cannot be combat exclusive as not all abilities are combat related, so the system is set to be flexible."
"Is it painful or potentially dangerous in any way?" Lana asked.
"Oh, not at all. We have some that are but she didn't volunteer for those."
Lana nodded, "thank you for your important work. You should hurry up. I don't know when the announcement will be made and it would be bad if I made you miss it."
As the worker raced off, Kyle asked, "announcement? Did I miss something?" he chuckled.
Lana laughed, "well there will be one eventually, so it's not a complete lie. There is no denying Barica is dead and that you are taking over the company. What that looks like, who knows."
As they descended the stairs, "I don't want it, though."
"I know. You'll need to appoint someone, same for running the family."
As they were close to the bottom of the stairs, they were stopped by a worker, "Master Blaine! I'm shocked to see you here! Lady Barica said she would bring you once you completed military school. Have you dropped out?" His eyes scanned those Kyle was with.
"How do you know me?"
"You are her heir and your picture is in a few of the offices to ensure we know you when we meet you."
Kyle nodded, "may I ask you what you do here?"
"I'm in charge of the wombs that birth the Abel children. Your picture is displayed very prominently. Where is Lady Barica? I see she issued your badge, but she should be here as well."
"She was detained… Can you take us to your office, please?"
Kyle was shaking, trying to hide his emotions. The children were a sensitive subject for him. He just met a man who worked in that program.
Before long, they were entering a room that was very cold and dimly lit. There were three doors in this room. The worker led to the middle door which was around 80 degrees inside, a stark temperature difference to the room they just left. Inside were 16 pods which were currently empty.
"This is the room I run. Lady Barica requires 16 babies every 8 years. The embryos are created in the room to the right of here and are brought here. It's my job to make sure each one comes to full term. We had done many rounds now and she's thinking we may be able to open the service up soon so those who can't conceive may have their own child."
"Whose DNA is being used?" Kyle asked.
"Oh, Lady Barica generously donated all of her eggs for this research and the male specimen came from donations from the Abel Family. It's so generous of your family to help perfect such important research!"
"May I see all the samples that have been provided?" Lana could tell Kyle was trying to stay calm. She squeezed his hand.
"Of course!" He turned toward the door, "My name is Gene Tica by the way. If you need anything regarding this program, just let me know."
"Thank you Gene. Can you explain why this program has not been offered to the public yet?"
"Of course! Lady Barica takes all the kids to her island to be raised but she often comes back a few years later telling us that all the children died or that most died. She is hoping this next crop will do better using a different man's sample."
In the other room, walking past cryogenic storage containers, "who provided the most recent sample?" Kyle couldn't help but ask.
Gene stopped in front of some storage lockers, "well the samples are stored here, let's see."
He opened it and pulled out a tray of tubes. Lana thought she saw something and grabbed a tube before she could be stopped, "Blaine Abel…" She read the name aloud and showed the tube to Kyle.
His face went white and he wanted to throw up. "I want ALL samples of Abel genetic DNA placed right here on this table. Now." He was visibly shaking now.
Sensing something was very wrong, Gene complied. "Did I do something wrong, Sir? I have always t…"
"No, Gene. This is not you. You have been deceived by the sounds of it. I'm confiscating all these samples. I want a full report on this entire program. All of your results. Whether or not you think the babies birthed here are viable."
Gene looked at him confused, "Master Blaine, wouldn't you know if the babies are viable or not? They were raised in your home. I'm given the reports."
Kyle nodded, "and you have been lied to. I have never heard once about any of those children having a problem."
Gene's jaw dropped, "but I have all these reports…"
Kyle nodded, "my grandmother was a sick woman. I will be taking over the company now instead of after I graduate. I'll be appointing someone to run it for me while I attend school. We came here for a weekend apprenticeship and the things she asked me to do to my girlfriend were unspeakable. We got into a fight and I defended myself. She is dead. You listen to me now. From what I know of the children, there is no reason this program can't go live and give people the children they so desperately want. All I demand is ethics."
Gene nodded and pulled all the samples from the freezers and handed them to Kyle.
"Does this mean I don't need to go upstairs? Is that what the call was about?"
"The call was about other unethical things happening down here to get people out of my way to do what must be done. Do you know what happens in red sector?"
"Red sector? I know it's highly secretive. It's above my clearance level."
Kyle put all the samples in the cooler in Lana's bracelet. It wasn't cool enough but that was part of the point. He wanted evidence to show his family. It didn't need to still be viable for use.
"Do you know where Red Sector is?" Kyle said with intense seriousness in his voice.
Gene nodded then gave directions.
As they left the room, Kyle informed him he was to work on that report regardless of any other instructions and provided his contact information.
As they neared the area, they started hearing sounds of pain and growling. Chekof took off running while Kyle and Lana were not far behind. They came to a locked gate, the area beyond was quite dark. Kyle scanned his badge and they heard a hissing sound as if gas was being released. The gate opened a few moments later.
As they entered what looked like a cell block, all the sounds within had stopped. Chekof ran off looking for his brother. He got more worried as he looked and didn't see him anywhere. Lana looked in cell after cell and was getting more and more upset. She saw some of the same equipment that was in the basement of the orphanage. This time she saw it in use.
Some had fully transformed werewolves, some looked like men. They had wires and tubes hooked up to them. They were masks over their faces, the kinds used to gas a person to sleep. Since they were all asleep, she could guess they were all put to sleep when they entered.
Lana felt the rage building inside her. She was squeezing Kyle's hand but it wasn't helping. Soon she was so angry she was screaming. Her eyes glowed green and green tears leaked from her eyes.
She stretched her arms out to her sides and roots started to grow. They spread quicky aiming for the locks on the doors. The doors that were built strong enough to hold back werewolves broke from their hinges, locks shattered. The shackles binding their wrists and ankles exploded. The roots receded and moved until every single prisoner was broken free.
Kyle and Kent desperately tried to reach her but it was like she was in a trance. Suddenly she collapsed into Kyle's arms. Eighty or so burley men stormed into the room, each more baffled by the first as they took in the state of the area. The first to enter was Mr. Silverwolf. He noticed Kyle holding Lana and approached tentatively.
"Is this the young lady from the orphanage? Did she do this?"
Kyle looked at the newcomer. He didn't know this person and didn't know how he should respond.
Chekof came around the corner carrying a very wounded person. He took note of the situation.
"Kyle, did Lana do this?"
He nodded.
Chekof nodded back, "boys get our pack members out of here."