LEGACY ─ marvel

XXVIII. A Debt Paid

Chapter Twenty-Eight
Analiese

I had to plan this out. I've been working with Dr. Fai for a few days now, so I got his routine down pretty well. He leaves work at seven, and before he does, he always goes into the bathroom. I decided this was the time to strike him. I hit him in the back of the head with a beaker. It knocked him out instantly. I hauled his body into one of the stalls, took his keycard, and locked the bathroom door behind me. Time is not on my side, nothing is. I have a small window, who knows how long he'll be knocked out or how long he'll stay locked up in the bathroom. I have to act quickly. I make a run for it towards the room Soroya and the others are being held in, and once I reach it, I raise a shaking hand to the key slot and slide the small card through, letting out a relieved sigh when the door unlocks.

I fall to my knees in front of Soroya's cage, unexpected tears filling my eyes, blurring my vision. "I am so sorry, I'm sorry, I had to wait until the right moment. I'm sorry you've been trapped in here."

She shakes her head, her voice quiet, small, weak, as she replies: "It's okay, I-I understand."

"Y-you got a p-plan?" Alex asks, his voice just as weak and broken.

I nod, walking over to the lab table, grabbing onto a microscope, then slamming that microscope into the locks of both their cages, and the cages of the five captured rebels. The rebels are only hand cuffed regularly, Soroya and Alex on the other hand, are heavily chained and muzzled. I try to break the lock of the chains with the microscope, but it doesn't work. I won't even try to use this method with the muzzle, which is secured with a lock as well. The chains are big enough for them to run in though, so I guess that's good enough for now. I guide them all towards the door and hold it open for them all to exit, with me following right behind them.

Having Dr. Fai's keycard allows me to get through the restricted area, which I know holds an emergency exit. I read that on a map of the lab in the break room. It was restricted to me because of the projects being worked on there, I heard Dr. Fai say so on the phone with someone yesterday. If it's worse than what he's having me do, I shudder to think what he seems unworthy of my knowledge. I am able to find the emergency exit pretty easily, and once all seven of them are out, I stand by the door, watching them make a run for it. Soroya notices I'm not following them not even five steps into her run. She stops and returns to the door, with Alex just a couple feet in front of her, stopped as well. Her chains clank together as she approaches me, her words once again weak and shaking as she asks: "What are you doing? Aren't you coming?"

I shake my head. "I have to get rid of the formulas, the serums, everything. If any of that serum gets out then hundreds of people will be suffer. I can't let that happen."

"We'll help you—"

"No. You are going to follow the rebels back to their base. Your husband and kids are there, you'll be safe. If you go back in there you could get captured again."

"I'm willing to t-take that risk."

"I'm not."

"No, no I won't leave you behind. Y-You'll be thrown back in jail or worse."

I shrug, a small smile curving onto my lips. "After all I've done, it's nothing I don't deserve."

"Don't say that, please don't say that."

"I've never done anything right in my life, Soroya. I've tortured, I've experimented on, imprisoned, mauled, and killed dozens of innocent people. What Dr. Fai is doing...it's exactly what I did, in fact I did worse. Let me do something good for once, let me save you, let me save all these people."