Andrea tossed and turned restlessly until her eyes abruptly flew open. She bolted upright in bed, and the duvet slid from her body to pool around her knees.
"You're awake," a familiar voice observed. Whipping her head in the direction of the sound, Andrea saw it was Lucas Anderson sitting there with an air of nonchalance, one leg crossed over the other, idly flipping through a magazine.
Taking a deep breath, Andrea worked to suppress the surge of anger welling within her. With a voice laced in fury, she demanded, "Where's Pete?"
Lucas's fingers, which had been casually turning pages, paused. He lifted his gaze to meet hers, his lips curving into a knowing smile. "He's fine," he said simply.
His assurance did little to comfort Andrea, and he seemed to anticipate her skepticism. Reaching for a remote, he pressed a button, and the LED screen in the room sprang to life, showing the Singer mansion's living room.
On the screen, Pete was surrounded by balloons, engaging in playful antics, while Agatha conversed with Tate. The image was mute, rendering their discussion inaudible, but the scene depicted a tranquil domesticity.
Andrea's hands clenched into fists, her nerves tightening as she realized just how much control Lucas Anderson wielded. It had been six long years since she'd last felt this powerless, this exposed.
Gathering her composure, her eyes glistening with unshed tears, she implored him, "Please, don't hurt anyone. What is it that you want?"
Lucas shook his head, the magazine forgotten in his lap. "I have no intention of harming anyone; they're all safe. It's you who should be concerned for your own safety. I'm not sure if I'll be able to protect you."
The color drained from Andrea's face, but before she could muster a response the door opened.
As the man with the shining, reflective skull wheeled into the room, Andrea's gaze took in her surroundings. The room was expansive and well-appointed, embodying a modern European aesthetic - all classic elegance and style.
"Good work, my son. You've made your father proud," the man spoke from his wheelchair, rolling towards Lucas and giving him an affirming pat on the shoulder.
Beside him stood two towering figures, their faces obscured by masks, resembling giants among men.
After addressing Lucas Anderson, the wheelchair-bound figure approached Andrea. "Please, allow me to introduce myself," he said, "I am Gard Celestine."
Andrea's brow knit together in thought. The name rang a bell, but the details were just out of reach, as if shrouded in a light mist of forgetfulness.
"There's no need to strain your memory. Your late father likely mentioned me. I'd like to show you the vision for the future that he and I shared," Gard Celestine remarked, pressing a button on his electronic wheelchair's armrest, which then began to move him towards the doorway.
Lucas stood and walked over to Andrea, who sat perched on the edge of the bed. Offering a smile and an extended hand, he said, "Let me help you up!"
Andrea met his gesture with a cold stare and sharply retorted, "Don't touch me."
She then descended from the bed on her own, her legs momentarily quivering before gaining strength. With a steady pace, she moved towards the door.
Undeterred by her rebuff, Lucas casually slipped a hand into his pocket and trailed behind her.
Gard Celestine was already waiting for Lucas Anderson and Andrea at the elevator door.
Glancing at their faces he looked towards Lucas Anderson and asked with a frown "where is the child?"
Lucas Anderson shrugged his shoulders and retorted nonchalantly "It has nothing to do with the child."
Gard Celestine's face darkened but he didn't say a word, he simply rolled his electronic wheelchair into the elevator.
Andrea glanced at Lucas Anderson but he didn't look towards her, she realized Lucas Anderson truly loved Pete, it seems the plan was to capture Pete and her but he didn't?
Andrea wanted to know the reason he didn't but with Gard Celestine present she couldn't ask such.
The elevator descended for over an hour before it suddenly opened.
Rolling the wheelchair out of the elevator into a tunnel-like passage whose walls were extremely glowing like they were all light boards.
"A few years ago, I met your father, and we had a plan to create a perfect human, we experimented on many babies which all failed, then we chose to experiment on kids about three to ten years, and we recorded a few successes, which isn't up to 80% all of them have obsession, at the end, we couldn't achieve the creation of a perfect human until your father discovered a genetic code that we could make a perfect human, I don't know what your father found out and refused to tell me about it, he escaped with it," Gard Celestine said loud enough for Andrea and Lucas Anderson to hear what he said.
He didn't look back to see if they were following him from behind because their footfalls were loud enough for him to know they were.
He silently led the wall towards an electronic door which mechanical sound quickly reported "welcome sir, the lab three wing one."
The door slid open and Gard Celestine's wheelchair rolled in, Andrea looked around and saw many children were in tanks "80% couldn't survive our experiment and they died, we didn't throw these bodies away, we keep them to investigate what went wrong."
He suddenly glanced towards Andrea and said "Ever since your father left, we can't even achieve 20% of success."
Andrea's face was white, she never knew her father was a doctor, he had never shown his medical skills, even when she was sick her father didn't even know the drugs to give to her, she doubted his words.
"His grandfather was one of us, and your father grew up with us here, he hid away his medical skills so that we couldn't identify him and get to him, sadly he still failed to hide away from us, we forced him out of Vegas City," Gard Celestine cleared Andrea's thoughts, as he continued to show Andrea around the lab.
He suddenly stopped at three kids whose bodies were attached with many tubes "With the codes in your father's possession, I am going to create millions of perfect humans around the world, and rule the world," Gard Celestine declared maniacally and then burst into laughter.
He suddenly stopped laughing and looked at Andrea sinisterly, his fiery gaze sent a chill down Andrea's spine as she instinctively stepped back in fright "where is the code?"
Andrea clenched her fists and replied "I don't know."
Gard Celestine's eyes narrowed and then he looked at Lucas Anderson "Slap her."