It seems to take an eternity for the man to return. When he does, he just leads James out of the room without speaking.

“Where are we going?” James demands. The man does not respond. Frustrated, James looks down at the floor. Eventually the man leads him into a room with three chairs and a small table. One wall has a long mirror on it.

“An interrogation room? What did I do wrong?”

“Just sit tight.” The man leaves again. A few minutes later, the woman from earlier enters the room, followed by Abby.

“James!” Abby says. The woman leads her over to the table and has her sit in one of the chairs before leaving the room. The two are about to talk, when the door opens once again, causing them to jump. A man, different than the one from before, walks in and sits down in the third chair. He wears a light gray business suit and has white hair. He looks about 35.

“Why are we here?” James blurts out again.

“Well, if you want me to answer that question, you’ll have to answer one of mine first. Seem reasonable?”

James nods.

“Good show! Now, first question, how much do you know about a company known as Hillside Laboratories?”

Abby speaks up. “That’s my parents’ company. They have been developing formulas that give people superpowers, and they intend to brainwash and inject an army of people to take over the world.”

The man looks surprised for a moment.

“All of this is true. You said they are your parents?” the man asks.

“Yes, but you have to answer one of our questions before you ask that one.” James says quickly before Abby can elaborate.

“Smart boy. Alright, ask away.”

“Where are we?”

“You are in a government facility that develops formulas similar to the ones from Hillside Laboratories. Now, about this young lady and her parents…” Abby thinks about what to say for a minute.

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

“They tried to turn me into one of their soldiers, and inject me with something called the ‘Masterpiece Formula’ which would supposedly allow me to mentally control all of the soldiers. I resisted conditioning however, so they injected my sister instead.”

“Very interesting.” the man says.

“My turn,” says James. “Why are you developing the formulas too? Are you trying to take over the world also?”

“No no, of course not!” the man chuckles. “We’re developing them so that we can have volunteer soldiers fight against the Hillside Laboratories army. Now, one last question for you. How did you get here, and why?”

James thinks for a minute. ‘Should I tell him? He seems pretty trustworthy…’ He looks over at Abby, who gives him a little nod.

“We were being brainwashed, but escaped before they could do it. We stole a car and drove away, and thought this would be a good place to sleep for the night.”

“It seems then that you have good intentions and are not threats. Handcuffs, release!”

The boxes make a small whirring noise, and the holes open back up. Abby and James pull their hands from the boxes and massage their fingers.

“Sorry about the discomfort. It’s for security reasons. You understand. Now, I believe that’s all we needed to know from you two.” The door opens and the man and woman from earlier step in.

“If you have any other questions,” the man continues, “just ask Dr. Reed,” the man raises his hand, “or Dr. Channington.” The woman smiles and waves to them. They all leave the room, and the man walks down the hallway, leaving the other four outside of the room. Dr. Channington holds the boxes under her arm.

“So,” she asks, “want to see the facility?”