BXBX NOVEL Chapter 673 Friend Visit
A Few Weeks Later…
The SUV rolled through the pine forest. Manny, behind the wheel, quietly drove while the rest of his friends made conversation. Liz was sitting next to him, turned and chatting away with Ritsuka, Olivia and Evan. They were talking about their next job.
The snow had cleared away rather quickly, leaving soggy dirt behind. The group was in a great mood. Manny had persistently asked to for him and his friends to see Lee Seng. They were obviously denied every time, but when Manny asked for the millionth time yesterday, his dad had told him they had just enough time to visit and chat with their friend.
Apparently, from what Manny gathered, Lee Seng had become oddly silent and cold. "He looks like a murderer, Manny." Dr. Valentin told him over the phone. "I\'m worried about him. He\'s been through so much the last half-year and I don\'t want him to be locked up for the rest of his life… The few Numbers standing up for him are looking into the case. We\'ve dug and dug for information but all the CCTVs were shut off until your friend, Yamada, came… The Creator… He\'s been, uh… More violent as of late… I can squeeze you and your friends in but you\'ll have to talk to him through the chamber."
Manny knew what the chamber was. It was a place where those who couldn\'t control their powers were put protect the person from "harming themselves." He knew very well it was the opposite way. Those people usually ended up disappearing for quite some time in the early days with the failed experiments.
Before the team knew it, they were already pulling up to the front gates. Olivia and Evan observed the famous laboratory closely while Ritsuka somewhat paid attention. Liz had been here multiple times with Manny, so she happily watched her friends react. The window rolled down and Manny lifted his badge up.
"Welcome, Damion Valentin. Access: 2242-OS has been authorized. You may proceed in." The robotic voice spoke. Manny brought the window up and stuffed his badge into his wallet and stuffed it into his pants as the gates opened.
"Whoa, you weren\'t kidding when you said that was the badge." Evan commented. Manny smiled and pulled in. As they slowly rolled through, Manny instantly noticed the amount of security outside.
"Is there usually this many guards out?" Liz asked, noticing it too.
"Not usually. I guess they don\'t want to take any chances." Manny responded, turning left. They pulled into a parking spot and the car came to a stop. Manny put it in park and unlocked the door. The group unbuckled themselves and exited the car. A few guards came over, instantly noticing it was Manny and greeted him with a salute.
"You\'re early." One of the female guards spoke. "You\'re usually late. I didn\'t think you\'d come on time."
"Dad said to come on time so I\'m here." Manny smiled. "How\'re you doing Rika? Work been hard?" He hugged the guard, who happily hugged him back.
"He must have a good relationship with the staff, huh?" Evan whispered to Olivia. Olivia shrugged as they huddled around together. Manny and Rika pulled away and Rika motioned with her head.
"Let\'s go. You\'re on an actual schedule." Rika turned and greeted everyone else. "I\'m Erika Adams. Call me Rika like Manny does here. Let\'s go see your friend. Follow me." Rika led them inside the building. It was one of the few buildings Manny least frequented. They spent much of their time in the back building as it had almost everything. The buildings all looked similar, inside and out. It was white marble floors, white walls and ceilings with a lingering smell of disinfectant.
"What\'s this building for?" Evan asked.
"This is Test and Research. The scientists are always thinking about ways to improve Biohuman life in our current conditions. Working with plants, animals, technologies, Biohumans, etc. To understand the conditions our world is in since Point Break twenty-five years ago." Rika explained. "The doctor\'s son is in this building because it holds one of the strongest holding chambers in our entire campus. I\'ll be taking you to drop your things off and have yourselves all scanned and in the system before you visit him."
Rika led them over to an empty room and ushered them inside. She closed the door as two guards stood guard at the door. Rika moved over to the computer and motioned at the machine.
"It\'s pretty simple. Take all valuables and set them aside. That\'s jewelry, phones, wallets, bags. You can keep your belts and shoes on. Walk through the machine one at a time and I\'ll check to see if you\'re all clear. If you are, you\'ll get a visitor badge right next to me and we can go." Rika instructed.
After they each went through security check, Rika led them out of the room and down the hallway. They reached the end which brought them to a large set of doors on the left and right. The doors were huge, reaching fifteen to twenty feet into the sky. Rika passed the first couple, stopping towards the middle and turning to face the group.
"In here." Rika told them. "A couple rules to go through. Standard for all visitors, friends or not. One, you will stay on your side of the room. Do not touch the glass, do not tinker with anything and don\'t try to break it. You can\'t. The entire room is made in mind to withhold large amounts of energy, nullifying it. Even if you were to break out of it, you would be met with a huge amount of Negative energy, causing you to lose consciousness or worse, death.
"As scheduled with Dr. Valentin, you have twenty minutes with him." Rika motioned.
"Wait, only twenty? I thought we were getting at least thirty minutes!" Manny stepped forward. Rika shook her head.
"Doctors orders. Twenty minutes or nothing. You\'re lucky he even gave it to you." Rika told Manny. Her eyes scanned the guards behind the group and moved over to Manny whispering, "Good luck trying to even talk to him. He\'s been quiet ever after what he did when he woke up."
Rika noticed Manny\'s eyes clearly registering she was obviously telling him to have expectations Lee Seng wouldn\'t talk. She pulled away and nodded at everyone, motioning at the door.
"Me and the other guards will be out here while you\'re in there. You\'re twenty minutes start whenever you all step in." Rika moved out of the way. Manny and the others nodded and stepped into the large room.
Lee Seng sat in farthest corner of the room. A large glass window separated half of the room. Manny, Ritsuka, Olivia, Liv and Evan all looked up. The room was large yet empty. A red line was parallel to the glass. It was twenty feet away from the glass. The doors closed and Lee Seng didn\'t budge. His hair was a mess. He wore lab clothes and didn\'t even try to look up at the group.
Manny and the others lined up before the red line, looking at Lee Seng. The room on the other side didn\'t have anything. No sheets, no bed, no comforter. There was a door on the other side but it was clearly locked with a red light on it.
"Lee Seng." Manny called out. "It\'s us. I managed to bring our friends to see you."
"How are you doing?" Liz asked. There was no response. Lee Seng clearly ignored them. His mind clearly elsewhere.
"Are you okay?" Evan asked. "Where\'s Ke—" Olivia quickly swatted Evan. "Ow! What?" Olivia shook her head and turned around. Evan turned and noticed the security camera. She gave him a \'don\'t mention anything about that\' look to him and he nodded.
"Is it true what they say?" Ritsuka asked. "Did you really kill all those people?"
"Ritsuka!" Liz turned to him. "Why would you ask that?" Ritsuka kept his eyes glued on Lee Seng as the others looked at him like he had clearly broken their one rule.
"What happened that night? Where\'s our friend? He hasn\'t come back." Ritsuka continued.
"Dude, we swore we wouldn\'t bring it up!" Manny hissed. Ritsuka ignored him and waited for Lee Seng to respond.
"Go away." Lee Seng told them. He sounded tired. He turned himself so his back was to his friends. "They said no visitors."
"My dad got an exception for us!" Manny told him. "We just wanna talk."
"There isn\'t anything to talk about. Go away." Lee Seng told them, again. Manny\'s cheek twitched. His foot started to go over the line as a voice came over the monitor system.
"Don\'t step over it, Manny." Rika told him. "Or else that\'s it." Manny pulled his foot back and cursed under his breath in frustration.
"We came to see you and you\'re like this?" Manny shouted. "We might as well not have come if you were just going to be like this!"
"Manny!" Liz looked at him. "Calm down. We don\'t even know how he—"
"I know exactly how he feels!" Manny pointed at Lee Seng. His body turned to face the group, clearly annoyed. "He does this all the god damn time!"