"We are here to bring the latest batch of shipment," I said at an overly muscled guy standing before Musa's back gates.  He had a deep frown that never seemed to leave his face. He scrutinized my face grumpily and eyed Gab, Nas, and the rest of our little party with disinterest.  

"Put the crates there,  and get out of here." With a wave of his hand,  he dismissed us. He turned to leave and I couldn't help but click my tongue. The disrespectful bastard. 

"I didn't know Musa keep dimwits in his employ," I said to no one in particular.  

Gab's breathing hitched.  The muscled guy himself stiffened, and turned abruptly. 

"What did you say?" 

"And deaf too, apparently. What an awful waste of money," I continued with my tirade, addressing Gab who was trying to keep a straight face and failing. The muscled guy's face turned crimson red with rage. 

Man,  I seem to piss off a lot of people these days. 

"You!" The guy's face crumpled in indignant rage. His hands were shaking badly with uncontrolled fury.  

"I'll crush you to dust!" He swung his arm, aiming for my face.  I evaded it easily and kicked him in the shins hard. He clutched his foot which caused him to lose his balance and fall on his butt.  Gab and the gang snickered. The muscled guy abruptly stood up, and aimed another fist at my direction. I moved sideways to evade and kicked his back, the force sending him headfirst into the gates.  The gang laughed so hard when his head collided with the metal railings with a loud bang. Gab, however, kept mum. I caught him staring at me with a modest smile. I rolled my eyes at him.  

"What's going on here?" We all turned to the source of the sound.  A man, wearing all black fatigue complete with combat boots came out of the huge back doors of the facility. 

"Your friend here"--I pointed to the now passed-out muscled guy--"is disrespectful. So we thought he needed to sleep so he could grow some balls." 

The man searched our faces one by one.  He seems to be more intelligent than the sleeping guy, whose brain was probably fried to a crisp by too much underground market drugs and chemicals.  

"Don't mind Cruz, he got some anger issues. Name's Ramirez,  by the way. Why are you here?" 

"We have a message for Musa. We're here to deliver the shipment too," I told him straightforwardly.  Unlike the sleeping muscled guy, Ramirez seemed to be more friendly and diplomatic. He gestured for us to follow him,  and escorted us through a series of hallways. Gab and I headed towards Musa's main office, while the rest of the gang stayed behind to take care of unloading the shipment. 

The phone inside my pocket buzzed again. I stole a glance and true enough, it was Gio calling.  Gab eyed me suspiciously. 

"Who was that? He's been calling non-stop," Gab said, whispering to my ears.  

"No one," I told him flatly. I cursed Gio in my head. As expected,  Hugo had not given me his full trust, and Gab was supposed to keep an eye on me during this transaction.  

"Must be a boyfriend."

I glared at Gab in the most inconspicuous manner I could manage. He might not suspect anything yet, but I was not sure I liked how things were progressing in his head either.  

"He is not a boyfriend,  and I am not gay," I whispered back to him.

"Sure," he replied while shrugging his broad shoulders. 

"Let's...let's just focus on the shipment."  I resisted the urge to kick his shin and make him join Cruz on the pavement. 

"Sure," he answered again, a bit more biting this time. I decided to just ignore him the rest of the way. 

The inside of the facility was pristine, with white immaculate walls and professional-looking glass doors and windows. Since it was a weekday, there were people milling about. Our ragged appearance contrasted sharply with the crisp white uniform of the people inside the facility, and several heads looked in our direction as we passed. To get to Musa's office, we had to take the elevator to the twentieth floor, which was the topmost floor. 

"Musa's office is on the other side." Ramirez gestured for us to enter. He opened a huge tinted glass door, and we entered a dome-shaped office encased in tinted one-way glass. For a moment, we were mesmerized by the cityscape that greeted our ascent. It was not the tallest building in the area, but the height we were in was enough to steal awestruck gasped from our throats.

Ran Musa had his back to us and was staring at the horizon which was made visible by the glass walls. He had his hands on his pant pockets. Gab and I looked at one another, not sure as to who should address this man in front of us. 

"It is so nice to be so high up, isn't it?" 

We were a bit startled when Musa finally spoke. He turned to face us with a sweet smile plastered on his face. "You can see everything from up here,"  he continued. 

"Y-yeah, i-it's nice." Gab stuttered nervously. I touched Gab's arm in a silent indication that he should let me speak. I couldn't blame him for being intimidated though. Ran Musa definitely exudes authority and silent viciousness behind his smiling facade. You could see it in the glint in his eyes even as their sides crinkled with his smile. 

"We have a message from Hugo." I approached his desk as he sat down. He gestured for us to sit, which I declined with a wave of a hand. 

"Ah, I haven't heard from him for quite a while. How was he? Has his health improved?" 

"He is well." Unfortunately. 

"I am surprised to hear that the Reaper is working for Hugo. I would have just come to you directly, but I heard you retired."

"You should have. I make exceptions if it interests me enough." I shrugged as I put my hands inside my jacket pockets. 

Ran nodded his head and his face beamed. When he smiled, his features softened with a boyish charm and I had to admit that his features rivaled Gio's, whose black hair and bored obsidian eyes gave him a brooding, snobby image, whereas Ran's silver hair and gray eyes, together with that enigmatic smile, can easily fool anyone into believing that no monster resided inside.   

"I'll keep that in mind for the future," Ran quipped. He took out a cigarette. "Do you mind?" he asked. I waved my hand at him, gesturing for him to go on. He lit his cigarette and puffed smoke. The smell of burnt tobacco promptly filled the room. 

"Do you have news for me?" Ran continued after a couple of seconds. 

"Yes. We will deliver her to you this weekend. Where should we take her?" 

"Hmm, take her here. That would save me the trouble of transporting her." 

I nodded. "Another thing. Our deal ends when we deliver her here. Hugo wanted to be clear on that."  

Ran was a little taken aback but recovered quickly. "Hugo wanted to end the partnership, huh?" 

"The police are hot on his trail with the arms deal. He's lying low for a while." And double-crossing your sorry ass. 

"I guessed it cannot be helped." He shrugged and took another puff of his cigarette. 

From the corner of my eyes, I saw the long hand of the clock struck twelve, and as if on cue, a deafening blast resounded somewhere in the building. The impact made the room shake and the glass walls rattled threateningly. Ran was at his feet in an instant. 

"WHAT WAS THAT?" Ran shouted, venom coating his words. With glaring eyes and pupils constricted to pinpricks, he looked unearthly and demonic. The boyish charm was gone, replaced by an enraged demonic entity from the deepest parts of hell. Ran swept past us and Gab shuddered as Ran stormed off his office. 

From below, gunshots blared. I motioned to Gab to start planting the bugs.  Things were going as planned.

I opened the door that would lead us into the fire escape staircase. In the blueprint, the first ten floors were offices for administrative matters and overall company operations, the eleventh and twelfth floors were for classes and training, thirteenth to seventeenth floors were for research and laboratory, and the eighteenth and nineteenth floors were for quarters. Musa's office took up the entire twentieth floor. None of these floors, however, looked shady enough to have produced glowing blue balls from hell.    

"Keep up." I motioned for Gab to proceed with our descent. As cliche as it sounded, I would bet Gio's dollar that Ran's death ball laboratory, the one that inked all those scars on Chris' body, was located deep within the bowels of this behemoth of a building.  The city government inspected buildings every year, and I couldn't see Ran dismantling his devices yearly just to put them back together again. No, the laboratory must be in an undisclosed location, and that was where I wanted to be. 

"We will go running all the way down? Don't you want to use the elevator?" 

"You want to be cannon fodder? Can't you hear the gunshots? The building is on lockdown and the elevators will be disabled. The people will be evacuated using this fire exit. This is the perfect place to blend in. Now, if you don't want me to toss your ass down the stairs, you better get going." 

I secured the cap that's keeping my long hair concealed and proceeded to jump from one railing down to the next. I could hear Gab's hurried footsteps as he rushed down the stairs in an effort to keep up with me. Several people were being ushered down the same staircase, and I swiftly evaded them all, landing from one flight of stairs to another. They were too panicked and busy to care for this intruder breezing past through them. 

"W-wait..." Gab panted several flights on top of me.  I rolled my eyes, but I waited until he kept up with me. 

"D--don't go..s-so...fast." He continued panting and wheezing. 

I grabbed the back of his shirt. "Land on your feet, and crouch your legs as you land." I threw him down a flight of stairs, his screaming drowned by the panicked voices and chatter of the people fleeing from the lower grounds. Gab, fortunately or unfortunately, landed safely. He muttered a string of curses as he got up.  I went to where he was. 

"Need another help?" I asked him. 

"N-no. I'm good," he answered. He was bent and was still heaving from exhaustion or fright. I didn't really know. I didn't really care.  I left his ass and begun my descent again. In a matter of minutes, we--well, I--reached the ground floor where people were already starting to conjugate. Guns were blazing from somewhere inside the building, although it was not as frequent as before. Every now and then, an explosion would go off. 

The phone inside my pocket vibrated again. After a minute of being ignored, there was a ping indicating that a message was received. I took the phone and read it.  It was the irate husband, as expected. 

If you don't answer your phone the next time I call, I WILL send my men to just ransack Ran's facility and damn the consequences. I can be impulsive as you. Don't try me. 

I groaned and slapped my forehead. I seemed to have pushed the billionaire too far. He could potentially mess up my entire plan. I was about to put the phone inside my pockets when it vibrated again. I answered it this time. 

"Now,  you answered.  Are you sure I don't need to make an appointment for this call?" I grunted in response.  

I continued to go down in the basement,  making sure to stay on the blind spots of the cameras.  The people inside the building had been evacuated now, and I couldn't use them as cover anymore.  A person going down the basement instead of going out of the building would look suspicious. 

"Now isn't a good time for a call. I am in the middle of something." 

"Oh, really now.  Try dropping the call.  Let's see what happens." 

My breath got hitched at my throat. "Don't you dare!" 

"Try me,  wife." Gio perfectly matched my irritated tone. 

"Don't call me that!" I seethed in indignation. 

"Well,  you are. So,  act like it, damn it!  Don't shut me out like that!" Gio's biting tone cut me more than I cared to admit. 

"I am your wife on paper only! So don't tell me what I should or should not do!" I huffed, and my eye twitched. My head began to throb. I couldn't believe I was having this discussion right now.  From above, Gab's hurried footsteps echoed. He would be down here in a minute or two.  

The line went silent for a couple of seconds that I had to check if I was still connected.  I dared not drop it though. I had no plans on seeing a billionaire with a private army on a rampage.

"Hello? Are you there?" I asked,  after a couple more seconds. 

"I am." 

"So, can we talk later? I am in the middle of something." Gab's footsteps were registering louder. He would catch up with me soon.  

"Do you want to get coffee tomorrow?" 

I almost dropped my phone.  He didn't just...did he?  

"Are... are you asking me to go on a date?" All my blood went up to my face. I felt it heat up.  I was sure my face was beet red.

I went down the stairs faster in an effort to put as much space between me and Gab. 

"Is that a yes?" 

"Are you seriously asking me out right now?" 

"I think I just did." 

Heavens have mercy.  I think I forgot where the basements are for a moment. 

"What a peculiar time to be asking this, Gio." I huffed. 

"I could have asked at a more appropriate time,  but you were not answering." 

"Well--" From out of nowhere,  a hand grabbed my shoulders. I turned around in an instant, ready to strike the owner, but stopped when I saw that it was just Gab.  Shit. 

"Who are you talking to?" Gab asked. 

"No one," I answered, still not dropping the call just in case Gio was serious about the threat. The universe hated me. This was supposed to be an easy mission.  Fuck my life. "Hey,  listen. I really got to go--" 

Gab suddenly took my phone and brought it to his ears. 

"Who are you?" Gab said,  in a threatening manner. 

"Hey,  give that back!" I glared at Gab,  but he ignored me. I knew he was supposed to keep an eye on me,  but he didn't have to be rude and petty about it. 

"I'm the husband. You?" I heard Gio's faint reply from the other end. Gab turned his accusing chocolate brown eyes at me. I resisted the urge to bang my head repeatedly on the wall. 

"I see," Gab said after being silent for a couple of seconds. He returned the phone to me and swept past me down the basement. 

"Gio." My eye was twitching again.  

"Your answer, now." 

I sighed. "Do I get to drop the call if I say 'yes'?"

"That would be preferred, yes." 

I sighed again. 

"Okay,  then," I answered Gio back. 

What do I have to lose?  I am already married to the guy.

"Good." Gio promptly hanged up, and I trudged all the way down to the lowest basement where the accusing chocolate brown eyes awaited me. 

"You should have just told me you are taken. I would have backed off." Gab huffed beside me.  We have reached the basement, mercifully devoid of people. The lighting was dimmer than the other floors, and there were several corridors connected with the main hallway. Unlike the upper floors,  the rooms in this basement were all made of concrete walls. The feeling in my gut told me that Ran kept his secrets in one of those. 

"Now isn't the time to talk about this, Gab." 

"You didn't have to deny that you were gay either. If you don't want anything to do with me,  you just have to say it," Gab rambled on.  

"Gab,  we should take one side each so we could plant the bugs." 

"Seriously,  I was hurt. Here I was, thinking you at least thought of me as a friend enough to be honest with me." 

"Gabby... "

"What am I thinking anyway.  How could the Reaper like someone like me? Bleh!"

"Gabby!" I said between clenched teeth.  

"What?" he bit back.  

"Now isn't the time for this." I pointed to the left side of the main corridor. "You take the left side, I'll take care of the right side." 

"Of course." Gab turned and left,  still fuming. For the hundredth time that day,  I rolled my eyes. My life used to be so simple back when I was just trying to survive. Now, I had to deal with these idiots and try to survive. 

I proceeded to the rooms on the right side of the main hallway. The first few rooms were empty, while some just had tables and chairs inside them.  I took out the device I used to scan for traces of bodily fluids and was flabbergasted when the walls and the floor glowed a bright bluish-white light,  an indication that body fluids--blood, most likely, coated them. Almost every room was like that. Only the corridors and hallways were devoid of them, except for spatters here and there. I backed away from the rooms, disgusted, with bile quickly rising to my throat. 

I suppressed a shudder and forced myself to concentrate on the task at hand. Taking my alcogel, I drowned my hands and arms in it.

I quickly placed the bugs inside the rooms and continued with my search. Mercifully, there weren't any CCTVs in this basement. Whatever happened here, Ran didn't want them recorded on camera. 

Further down the right hallway, I was met with the largest room of all. With trembling hands, I pushed the door open, but it was locked. I jimmied it,  careful not to trigger any alarms.  

What greeted me upon opening the door shocked me to my very core. 

Inside the room were rows and rows of humans inside glass cylinders, unconscious and strapped down to metal beds, all of them bearing fresh and healed surgical marks like those I saw etched on Chris' body. However,  their conditions looked far worse. Many of them had ulcerations on their skins, splotches of angry swollen wounds all over their pallid bodies. They were all dying at different rates, if those biostatistics above their heads were any indication. 

These were Ran's human experiments.  He was probably trying to turn them into someone like me,  but their body could not handle the energy balls. Perhaps out of all of them,  only Chris managed to survive. 

I averted my eyes when I saw a woman in a particularly gruesome state. She was conscious and gasping for breath, on the cusp of death, literally seconds away from drawing her last breath.  Tears and blood flowed freely from her eyes, coating her whole face red, and seeping into her clothes. Her ulcerated skin looked horridly gray,  with her wounds covered in puss, rotting away. During moments like these, I wanted to curse my photographic memory. Try as I might, I would never be able to get this sickening image out of my head. It would haunt me forever in the form of nightmares. 

I knew I had to go further into the room to search and to place the bugs. I forced myself to move, pouring all my concentration on putting one foot before the other.

I placed the bugs and went on to search for files. I was rummaging through a file cabinet when I heard the click of a gun. I froze instinctively. 

"What are you doing?" a gruff voice echoed inside the room. "Put your hands up,  and turn around. 

I raised my hand,  but not before dipping it in my pockets where my needles were. Slowly,  I turned around and came face-to-face with Father. 

His brown hair had faded into white,  and there were more wrinkles on his face as compared to Quin's photograph of him, but I could not be mistaken. 

"Father." 

This caught him off guard,  his eyes muddled in confusion. Then I remembered that I had my male disguise.  I took off my cap, and let my hair fall down.  

"Father,  I'm--"

"R-Ranya!?" His eyes went as wide as saucers, his hand trembled as he lowered his gun, both of us transfixed on our spots. I took a hesitant step forward but was startled by the loud banging inside a metal cylinder, followed by a low inhuman growl. It sounded so sinister that it made my heart beat faster in anxiety. 

Father took hold of my shoulder and steered me away from the metal cylinder and into a corner of the room.  He glanced left and right, before addressing me. 

"What are you doing here?  Did you escape?" 

My brow crinkled in confusion. "Escaped?"

He looked confused as well. "They captured you, didn't they? They imprisoned you. I...don't understand--" 

"What? What do you mean?"

"They told me they have you! And they will hurt you and kill you if I don't do as they say!" he whispered. 

My eyes darted across the human experiments and shuddered. I rubbed my arms to calm the goosebumps that had formed as my mind conjured up the vile mirage of the dying woman. I was right.  They forced Father to work for them. Forced him to conduct all these experiments against his will. I shut my eyes to control a wave of nausea clawing from the pit of my stomach. 

"I can get you out of here," I said to him,  still with my eyes closed. I took several deep breaths to suppress the bile from making its way out of my throat. 

"How?  The place is closely guarded. I have not left this basement for years!" 

"This weekend I will be here. Meet me in the very first room." 

Father nodded,  and I said my goodbyes.  Whatever entity behind the metal cylinder continued banging the metal doors that the noise woke the other humans.  Their dazed, pain-filled eyes stared at me in a silent plea, all hoping death would come for them soon. 

What do you think of Ran,  guys?  Cute?

Also,  keeping my fingers crossed that everything will turn out fine.  

Muahahahugs,

RF

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