The Nemesis Syndrome

22. Leo

Leo kept his head high as he turned another corner, walking in line with the guard. He knew this set the guard on edge, and he was knew acting weak wouldn't help him. They had seen him fight. They saw the damage he was capable of. Sometimes, fear worked better than being the underdog. Fear meant they saw him as unpredictable and dangerous, and that meant he always had the upper hand.

The door he was stopped in front of was white, and not like the others. He barely had time to glance at the name before it was opened, and Leo was lead in.

The man who had captured them.

Leo fought the urge to attack him as his muscles tensed. Even after everything they had gone through, he kept getting surprised by this place.

The man gestured to the chair before he sat down on his seat, "Sit, Mr Jenson."

Leo gritted his teeth but did as he was told, eyeing the paper on the wooden desk before he looked at the man. He had no creases in his face, nothing like his father did, and his hair silver with few streaks of dark hair. He looked fake, as if moulded from clay. It was his eyes that made Leo shift in his seat, however, they were so dark and empty.

The door clicked shut behind him and there was a shuffle as the guard stood beside the door.

"You've been trouble, boy, a lot more that what we're willing to take."

Leo raised his eyebrows, "I'm sorry you think I would cower."

"With someone with such a big weakness, you should have been more careful, we can destroy everything you have ever wanted with one command."

Rommy, was his first thought, then, Eliza. But she hummed in the back of his head, calm and alive.

"We could kill the pair of you, boy."

"If you wanted to kill us, you would have done it already, sir." Leo spat out the last word.

The man raised his eyebrows as if prompting Leo to continue to speak, so he did.

"You've tortured us,  given us injections with god-knows-what in them, drugged us and dragged us to how many rooms." Leo felt his anger build before he forced it down, now was not the time. "I've fought and attacked your guards on multiple occasions, you've had the chances to kill me, but you haven't."

"You're right."

"...What?"

"You're right." He smiled slightly, but it looked odd as no other muscle on his face moved to accommodate it. "You've been trouble, but you've been valuable to us. But you're too much of a risk to my staff and to the other patients. You're explosive and dangerous so we're going to offer you a deal."

"A deal." Leo frowned.

"Your silence about what we do here, and we let you free."

Leo shuffled, the papers suddenly made sense. They were contracts.

"Why would you let me free?"

"We seem to be wasting money with you, you and your soulmate seem to show no response other than the pain the drugs give you, and we are wasting money."

"So you let us go, just to capture and experiment on other people?"

The man shrugged, passing him a pen. "Either sign and leave, or stay."

"You're lying." Leo pushed the pen back.

"There is no catch, boy, I will ask once more or we take the offer away."

Leo hesitated and he felt around for Eliza, a surge of determination filling his body. She had taken it.

"I agree to the deal." Leo nodded.

The pen was passed to him, the papers pushed to him. The determination still buzzing in his blood, Leo signed the papers quickly, as if they were going to rip them from his hand. He supposed some small part of him was afraid of that - as if the offer of freedom was going to be taken from him.

The man smiled and Leo felt his stomach drop. Though, he wasn't sure if that was the man's smile, or Eliza.

Leo simply smiled back at him, his sarcastic as looked the man in the eyes when he pushed the papers back to him.

There was a knock on the door, and then the woman strode in, wearing the white coat she always had on.

"Mr Jenson." She greeted before standing behind the man, who nodded once at her.

"Doctor." Leo smiled sardonically. "Though, I suppose I shouldn't call you that. Doctors take a pledge to care for their patients, after all, and you seem to have forgotten that."

Leo saw her jaw clench and he had to admit he felt some pleasure from that.

Leo felt alone and victimised. He felt no comfort with them two in the room, but he sure as hell wasn't going to let them see that.

"We'll have to cover your head as we escort you out." The man gestured to the guard behind him.

"Why?" Leo tensed.

"We can't have you knowing where the facility is," He trailed off.

So I can't find you.

Leo nodded, and the bag fell over his eyes, restricting his vision and tossing him into a black abyss.

"Remember, Mr Leo," the man said as Leo was helped up, "You tell anyone about us and we kill everyone you love."

There was something in his voice which let Leo know he wasn't joking.