The Shrink Program

Chapter 106

Riding in an elevator could make anyone's ears pop.

Riding in an elevator while you're five inches tall felt more like taking a nosedive in an aeroplane.

Clutching my ears, I pulled a pained expression at Nigel, who also seemed mildly uncomfortable with the pressure on his eardrums.

Must be soooo convenient not to feel pain like us the rest of us mere mortals.

In contrast to our desperate situation, the elevator gave a cheerful ding as it stopped and the doors slid open, allowing Garmen to stumble out into a dim room I recognised as the lobby from my first time visiting the building.

For someone who was supposed to be healing at a supernatural rate, Garmen was looking worse with every second that passed by.

Pale, his breathing barely even as he walked, Garmen made his way to the large administrative desk. Circular in shape, the desk stood like an island between the elevators and the glass exit doors.

"Reece." He called quietly, and not a second later the small man popped up from his hiding place under the desk, making me jump so hard I nearly fell of Garmen's shoulder.

"You're back."

Full of relief, Reece's dark blue eyes examined us on Garmen's shoulder, quickly checking for injury.

I shifted nervously under the gaze, not liking the concerned attention.

I'm way too manly to be fussed over like this...Heck, even if I were missing a couple of limbs, I would just walk it off...

..being the cause of this mess in the first place... I probably didn't deserve it...

Once he had confirmed that we weren't hurt the white-haired supervisor turned his attention to Garmen.

"Where's Havoc?" Reece asked worriedly. "What happened?"

".. One of the infiltrators was attempting to escape with these three." Garmen explained hesitantly, seeming troubled by the smaller man's worry.

"We encountered him before we could secure the isolation room... and took immediate action to stop him. Havoc... stayed behind to restrain him."

Garmen gaze lowered to the floor. "How is the evacuation going?"

"Not good," Reece admitted with a shake of his head. "These intruders are crawling all over the place. Nearly all of the staff is immobile, and the other patients are trapped in their rooms."

Well, that's a relief. The last thing I'd want is for someone to get squished... Except maybe...

No. Bad Maddison. Literally crushing all who failed to worship your greatness is just too excessive, even for you... Seriously, You can stop fantasising about it any day now...

"Worst of all."Reece sighed. "The system is still completely unresponsive, so we have little hope of retaliating."

Figures. Nothing's ever that easy.

"So we're being held at a standstill," Garmen noted with an exhausted frown.

"And the only thing that they have actively tried to achieve was to abduct these three..." He turned slightly to look at us. "Why?"

Under Garmen grim scrutiny, I found myself scrambling for some sort of explanation.

One that wouldn't come back to bite me in the...

"It's simple," Artemis said quietly, his small voice the only sound in the large room. "We are investments."

I stiffened, feeling Nigel do the same next to me.