In The End

Section 1: Chapter 13

It took almost no time at all for Charles and the soldiers to get to the university labs. People gave their green military Jeep a few odd looks, then immediately looked away. They stopped outside the front gate, and the army ran out the back of the Jeep. Someone grabbed the bag with Silvana's body and roughly slung it over their shoulder, and they ran up the stairs and through the corridors the girl had shown them.
The door to the lab wasn't locked. When they opened it, the four scientists were just cleaning up their equipment and preparing to go home. It took no effort for the soldiers to arrest them. Only one, the youngest, tried to struggle, but one soldier put him in a headlock while another one proceeded to tie him. The soldiers pushed the scientists to the centre of the room and roughly tied their arms behind their backs. Charles could see the pain on their faces as they were handled roughly. One of the soldiers took the black bag off his shoulder, and Charles unzipped it. Silvana's weakened body spilled out.

"Listen, I need you to tell me everything you know about her, especially her abilities. All of your research."

He said sternly. One of the other soldiers produced a laptop, and started to type.

"We can't." said the young scientist, "We swore on our life that..."

"I don't care if you swore, if you won't tell me, I'll be forced to kill you!"

He said, turning his head to see the laptop himself. There were multiple windows open, showing people looking at him on the other side. They were mostly leaders of the richer Allegiance countries, including Putin and Trump, as well as some of the neutral territories. There were a couple Neonazi leaders, but Charles had been told they'd been invited to see a demonstration of Silvana, not to bid. He turned the screen so that the scientists could see it, and they swallowed.

"Any country with her is guaranteed a victory. So, the war is in my hands. Best offer wins. I don't think any of them would like the idea that you withheld information from them."

He handed the laptop back to the soldier

"Now. Files?"

The doctor nodded and replied quietly, defeated.
"It's the far cupboard with a lock. The full file is there. The combination..."

One of the soldiers shot the lock with deadly precision. The safe opened by itself and about ten pages fell onto the floor. One of the soldiers picked them up, and handed them to Charles, who read them, shaking his head.

"That's it? That's all you've got?"
He asked not believing what he saw.

The doctor only shrugged,
"This sort of investigation could take months, we've only had a few days, and..."

"Shut up."

Charles pointed to one of the soldiers, who straightened and saluted,
"When we get back to the army base, take her to the presentation room we made. We will get a lot of money for her."

The soldier picked Silvana up and chucked her back in the bag.
"What about them four sir?"

"Tape their mouths, tie them up properly and lock them somewhere in the base. They might be useful later in helping us research her."

..............

Silvana felt groggy. Her wrists ached, and she was slumped over something large and hard. Something warm was holding her waist. Every now and then, she jolted up and down. Lots of people were talking around her, but their words were indecipherable. She opened her eyes, and was unable to see anything but a faint blue glow. Then, she was grabbed roughly, and thrown onto hard ground. Someone quickly pulled the bag from over her, and she screwed up her eyes. The light was harsher and brighter than any sunlight. She closed her eyes, and used the wall to push herself into a sitting position. There she half sat, half lay, supporting her head on her wrist. As she ran her fingers through her hair, she found something hard.