Wrapped in Bandages

Surprise Visit

 "This doesn't make sense," Chance mumbled to himself, as his left eye stared at the name on the page.

"I know. Why would he be thrown into one of the experiments? It's possible he volunteered himself, but something doesn't seem right about that. I think we're missing an important piece here," Dez responded, as she pushed some papers aside and tried to find something in the large pile.

"It's a possibility, though. He may have wanted to try the bacteria's effect, and to prevent others from potential suffering, he volunteered first."

"Maybe, but I want to know when and how they first discovered the bacteria's properties. I doubt Mr. Colour would just ingest an unknown organism and hope for the best. Something must have happened in order for him to even want to consume the bacteria. That's even if he volunteered himself."

"That's quite correct, Deziree. I must say that I wasn't expecting this surprise, when I came up to my private researching area."

Both Chance and Dez froze upon hearing the familiar voice. Arms crossed over her chest, while brown eyes stared at them through grey glasses, Dez's mother looked anything but pleased. Her grey jacket went over a white button-up, while grey high-heels and pants complimented them. Meeting the woman's cold gaze, they felt like everything was collapsing around them. Out of instinct, Chance secured his left hand around Dez's right wrist and pulled her closer to him. The action only caused a small smirk to form on the woman's lips.

"I should've known that you were up to something when that key was stolen, but you somehow managed to hide it from me. Granted, your friend there must've taught you some tricks, since he should currently be locked in his room. Tell me, how long have you two been snooping around? Was tonight your first attempt and the key merely a distraction or has this been going on long before the missing key? Oh wait; there was another key incident twelve years ago in the sublevel. Have you two known each other since then?"

Taking their silence as a "yes", the woman's grin widened, "So that is the case. Well, surely you two would've come to the answers you seek some time ago if you started your search twelve years ago, unless that curiosity only happened recently. Well, no matter, you two are caught now, so your little fight against fate is over."

Moving herself a little in front of Chance, Dez responded, "If that's the case, then it wouldn't hurt to answer some of our questions, mother."

"No, it wouldn't. Besides, it means that I no longer have to play this charade. I'll first answer the question you two were discussing just a few minutes ago. Gilbert Colour didn't volunteer himself to have the bacteria injected into his system. I forced it into him against his will. He was planning to leave everything behind, and I couldn't just have him run away after all the time we worked together. The fool was too weak to carry on what he had started, though, I think scared would be a better term. In fact, he became terrified of his own daughter. Do you know who that girl was, Deziree?"

Not letting her mother get the best of her, Dez responded, "You were married to him, then."

"Oh? Not quite, my dear, we were engaged at the time, but still you only belonged to one of us. That individual was your father. Thus, you were never my child but pretending that you were was quite helpful. It made it much easier for you to believe that you were living a normal life in this house. Granted, I had to remove a few things and lock almost all of the doors."