Another sunny day at the FBAM office, business goes on as usual, papers signed, people come in...and a lot don`t come out.
It all depends on how useful you are considered to be.
And in the underground of the building, it all comes down to the humor of one man.
"Mr. Maren"
Large elevator doors opened up without an announcement but with a rustic sound of metal. Inside, bagged men in handcuffs came out followed by a camo-dressed lady.
"Ah..Solt" Conrad stopped his boring conversation with the guards and went to greet the lady. Firm handshake and steady eye contact. Pure formal greeting. "We`ve been expecting you 12 minutes ago"
"Apologies sir. The subjects do not walk as quickly as one would expect" She crossed her arms behind her and stood straight. The people behind her were pulled out by the guards and put against a wall for a very quick and minute body search.
"Excuses Ms.Solt" Conrad did not care. He just wanted subjects. Well, more subjects "Let`s see..." with a very slight gesture, he got a paper from the lady and read who did he got under his wings now "No one, no one, boring, nothing...well, at least one of them tried."
[Subject 35 - Arnold Schwerz. Age - 31
Profession - gym trainer
Tower relations - site 2, floor 2]
The man had just had his bag removed, and well, his face did match the photo, except the black eye, cuts and missing teeth.
The side-eye from Conrad was loud
"Resisting sir." Ms. Solt didn`t look up and quickly answered for the never said question.
"Hmph" He still did not care "How do you estimate him?"
"Level 3, maybe 4. Cleared floor 2 record quickly. Impressive for a man like him."
*Ekhem*
"Stupid, above average strength, basic weapon knowledge - he`ll do 3 floors here, maybe 4"
Conrad looked at the man from the comfort distance of the whole corridor width. Very slight admiration smirk, and then frowned when looked at the others "And the rest"
"Filler. No combat experience, weak physique. I wouldn`t expect much"
"And neither do I" He crossed his arms leisurely and gestured the prisoners to come with him. Of course , it was more towards the guards and Ms.Solt, but the result was the same.
They walked. After being poked or stabbed with rifles. But they walked.
Through the cave, between boxes and tents. Now mostly empty, as researchers had a break without their subjects and the subjects....were mostly dead.
Mostly.
Solt stopped at the one glass box with the remaining subject.
"Subject nine " Conrad stopped right by her.
"I read the report sir. "Her voice, just like Conrad`s, gave off nothing "I do not see why are you so optimistic about him"
"Well, you did read it yesterday" Maren glanced over his shoulder since some noise was coming from the pris..subjects "He did clear 2 floors today. And is resisting the neural suppressants as we speak"
"That....is a bit more"
*a very slight Bang behind them*
"But aren`t you considering the danger of keeping him alive?" She glanced over too
"No. I do not." Conrad went ahead to check the subject state as they started to run in panic a bit.
Ms. Solt looked back at the glass box. And there he was. Staring at her, hidden in a slight red mist. Watching.
Without words, he looked away and so did she. And went to pacify the subjects, as Arnold was running towards the elevator he arrived in.
Now that was stupid for a number of reasons.
One, he was handcuffed.
Two, there were guards in almost every direction.
Three, the military dressed woman was already in front of him.
And four, maybe the most important one, both of his legs had knives in them.
And the next second he fell to the floor, letting out quiet slurs and groaning in pain.
Ms. Solt looked at him, made sure he will live, and walked calmly towards other escapees.
One saw what happened and froze in place.
Another one, well, froze on the ground.
The rest was taken care by guards, with more or less the same result.
And without hesitation, all were thrown into their separate cages.
Smaller, less impressive than subject nine`s, as they were considered 'temporary housing'.
Schwerz .... Schwerz tried to beat up two guards as they removed the knives and picked him up.
Ms. Solt came back to him slowly and quietly told him "Don`t do anything stupid."
"Heh..Fuck you too" He raised his guard, planted his feet and took a deep breath. Ready to fight. Ready to beat the girl up.
The girl just rolled her eyes. And dragged him over a moment later.
Conrad was already on his next agenda of being quite irritated on the phone, talking to someone clearly not professional, or at least someone he knew and did not enjoy conversing with.
"Yes....yes...LISTEN. I understand.." A long pause and a bit of stepping angrily "Fine. Fine. You`ll have him according to your precious timeline. Goodbye" And he almost tossed the phone into his pocket.
Snap of fingers, point to the glass box and walk towards it annoyed.
*Knock knock*
The mist stopped coming in and the black haired head turned towards him. Conrad clapped twice and entered as soon as the air was clear. The subject was smiling and giggling.
"Quiet" Held out hand in front with an open palm "As we talked , you cleared floor 5, in the time you were given and without major issues"
"I did, so now your end" Still smirking he looked and Conrad.
"Yea yea. I know what I said. However, No. "
Smirk turned to stone cold face.
"Honestly, I was going to bring you to your junior Hunters. And then throw you back here until you clear, I don`t know, floor 20. 30. Or the whole thing. But you know what? Someone has other plans for you. And I really, really don`t want to see that guy again. And especially talk to him." He snapped his fingers "So instead, you`re free to go"
"What??!"
"Don`t give me that. It`s a better deal than you wanted. Besides, you`ve known those kids what, a week? 2?. You care too much about them."
He was pulled from the chair and brought outside of the cage.
"Now, I need to tell you something. As an advice"
Ms. Solt held 2 long blades at the subject`s throat
"Stay quiet, will you?"
He calmly looked at the girl, then at Conrad.
"Or?"
"Nothing!. What can we do to you we have not done yet? Hmm?" Conrad patted him on the shoulder with a fake smile. "You already have nothing to break"
And Conrad walked away waving at him, without looking back at all.
The camo lady hid her blades, dismissed the guards and brought Voro to the exit elevator. They entered it. And the doors closed.