THE ENHANCED

Chapter 3.2

The next morning when Quinn awoke, the first thing he saw was Tauriel curled up even closer to him than last night her head curled up against his red fur and her sides slowly rising up and down from her sleeping. Quinn smiled and closed his eyes once again while Tauriel was just beginning to wake up. When she noticed how close she was to Quinn, she quickly stood up as Quinn said.

"I didn't mind if that's what you're worried about". The two of them then phased back into their Elf forms and Quinn continued, "It was honestly quite sweet to see you curled up against me".

"Well Jackie did always say your fur was warmer than it looks, and if I am being honest it was pleasant for me too" Tauriel stated. The two of them smiled softly at one another as they gazed into each other's eyes.

"Right, okay. If we're going to find Jackie we need to head out as soon as possible" Quinn stated as he stood up and looked outside to see the sun was partly shining out but still being blocked by dark clouds.

"Agreed" Tauriel muttered solemnly. Even though her instincts were saying they should really stick with her original plan to head back to Mirkwood like she had told to Jackie, she knew that Quinn wasn't going to leave this place without his sister. She had saved him countless of times in the years he's known her, and he won't give up till he repays her kindness by saving her in return. "But who knows where that speedster took Jackie, he could've taken her anywhere by now".

"I spoke with some of the native animals here that have been in hiding from Strucker and his mad experiments just before I had found you, and they've told me his laboratory is just a few miles west from here". Tauriel turned to Quinn in both horror and shock, she couldn't really believe that Quinn wanted to sneak into a mad scientist's lab and risk them being exposed as not just wolves but elves. "Look I know it sounds insane and hell totally fucked up but we've got to, for Jackie. I won't let her suffer like I had to from some crazed human and be forced to be one of these things we've been seeing".

Tauriel's eyes slowly changed from shock and fear to strong willed and determined. She nodded softly and said.

"Let's go save our sister!" Quinn grinned then the two of them took off west towards Strucker's laboratory to save their sister from a gruesome fate once again.

When they arrived at a Cliffside, just down below they beheld Strucker's secret laboratory built into the mountains. Its steel walls surrounded the lab like a castle with labyrinth stairway inside the walls in order to reach the main base. It resembled more like a prison cell than a lab as animal experiment guarded the entire area of the wall.

"The lab is too well guarded all around, how do we get inside?" Tauriel asked. Quinn looked around and saw a secret pass that wasn't guarded and he said.

"Over there to the right, there's an unblocked secret entrance, come on we stalk downwind from their noses". Quinn and Tauriel then skillfully climbed down the cliff's side and ran silently towards the secret entrance and the two of them worked together to lift the Iron Gate together.

When they got it opened, Quinn gestured Tauriel to go first and she did then Quinn slid under it just as it closed and the two of them walked together through the dark labyrinth of corridors and stairways. As they walked together through the darkness, Tauriel said.

"This doesn't feel right, this is almost too easy".

"Yeah, I've got a bad feeling about this. Just keep a sharp eye and ear up for anything". As they continued down the corridor, they suddenly stopped as their ears picked up the sound of footsteps coming this way. Suddenly coming out of the darkness were soldiers but they were exactly human, they were part man part bears.