This plan was stupid. Of all of the plans that John had ever been a part of, this had to be by far the stupidest. It was dark and cold, probably almost midnight by now. Worse than that, it had even started to rain. A car drove by where John and Leon were crawling through a ditch next to the road, spraying water over them. This was probably the sixth time this has happened.

They could see the gate to the Council compound from here. What could be smarter than going straight to the people who were hunting you? John shook his head. This was a stupid plan. The got to the gate and John looked him in the eye. "We were never here. If you see us again tonight, forget about us then too." They carried on into the compound, crouching between trucks and sprinting through areas where the large spotlights didn't cover.

They got to the door of the Council building and pressed their ear to the door. There wasn't a hearing going on right now, so the room should be mostly empty. Leon nodded to John and then opened the door. Luckily, they were right. The room was empty. The two of them made their way to the door that was covered in locks. "So what does your incredible plan say about all the locks?" John said to Leon, his voice dripping with sarcasm as much as his clothes were dripping with rain. "Oh shut up and keep watch." Leon said, pulling out a lock pick set. He got to work and John went back to the entrance and put his ear up to the door to listen for anyone coming. He heard one of the locks click open.

It took Leon another 20 minutes to get through every other lock but one. "Shit." John came over and saw that the last lock was a normal looking padlock. "What is it?" Leon shook his head. "Look." The area where you would put in the key was covered by a circle of paper that had to be inserted when the lock was open. "If I pick this, hell, even if I used the key, this paper will get torn and they will know that someone broke in." They sat for a minute trying to think of a solution. Maybe if they found another piece of paper to replace it with once it was open? No, the paper has a number stamped onto it. They would have to find the exact stamp and number to replace it with, plus the exact kind of paper, it looked more like card-stock almost.

Oh. "Well what are they gonna do, hunt us?" Leon looked at him and then laughed and raised his eyebrows. "Good point." Leon got to work picking that lock too and a few minutes later it was open. "You're going to have to brace yourself for this, I don't actually know what is behind this door. For all I know, the whole council is behind there with an Elder God." John nodded and they opened the door.

The door opened to a long, dark, dusty tunnel. The walls were made of some kind of stone or concrete. The two of them continued down the hallway. John was ready to see a bunch of cultists in robes praying to the Elder Gods at this point. As they continued, the hallway was lit very sparsely with candles. They had been going for a long time, but they probably got replaced every day. It wasn't a sign that someone was in there with them, but it was a sign that they couldn't stay here forever. Not that that was ever a choice John would make, this place was creepy. They finally got to the end and found an old fashioned elevator. The two got in. "This is a stupid plan."

At the bottom the elevator opened up to what looked like a hospital, but most of the lights were off. Ass they walked through, some lights turned on by motion detectors. John wanted to be relieved that they were out of the creepy tunnel, but this hospital thing was just as creepy. They continued down the hallway, the smell of rubbing alcohol getting stronger as they left the elevator. There was a light flickering overhead and a door to their left.

They looked through the small window on the door and saw something that they shouldn't have. The room looked almost like a normal hospital room except the bed had restraints on it, there weren't any pleasant decorations, and the bed was in the middle of the room. "They could learn a thing or two about bedside manner." Leon joked, failing to lighten the mood. They carried on down the hall. "What the hell is this place?" John asked. "I was going to ask the same thing."

The came up to a row of doors that were close together. They looked in and saw what looked like a prison cell. A mattress was lying on the floor in the corner of the small concrete room. There was a toilet in the other corner, but that was it. A clipboard hung from each door. "You've got to be fucking kidding me." Leon said in a very nervous voice. John looked over his shoulder and read the paper.

Subject 3967 is stable. Naming process is complete, subject is ready for consultation with Subject 591 - Code name: "Selena".

The other clipboards had similar information except that Subjects 3963 - 3965 had the status: Terminated. Leon looked both furious and terrified. "They have at least two named ones that they made without a hearing. They have gone through with almost four thousand other tests that either ended up with murder or a named one. Or both." They continued on. "Who is Selena?" Leon shook his head. "No idea. I'm a little worried about what a consultation is, it sounds like she might be a teacher."

They got to a door that led to a larger room. There was another door right beside it. The clipboard on the first door had more information.

Subject 591 - Code name: "Selena" is stable. Experimentation complete, only consultations done with Selena now.

They looked in, but didn't see anyone. They opened the door and went in. This was the one room that seemed to be decorated. It was decorated like a little girl's room. There was an actual sheet and a fluffy blanket on the bed here, both pink. There was a teddy bear in the corner and a light recessed into the wall behind thick glass. There was also a long mirror on the wall to their right. They went back to the other room. The mirror was one-way glass. Here there was a desk and chair and a journal for observations. There was also a microphone with a button that could be used to talk to the other room, he hadn't notice the speaker and microphone in the other room that she must use to talk to them. He took a peek in the journal.

Subject 591 slept from 2100 to 0800. The subject ate a 500 calorie nutrient block for breakfast. Council leader Stevens came for a visit. They started by talking. The subject complained about being treated like a little girl when she is 20. Perhaps a change of sheet color would be helpful. At 1000, Council leader Stevens left and the subject was given a change of clothes and a shower. At 1200, the subject had a consultation with Subject 3966. Everything went smoothly and 3966 left with a fresh mind.

John looked back at an older entry that was bookmarked.

Subject 591 slept from 2000 to 0600. The subject ate a 500 calorie nutrient block for breakfast. Experiment MK91 was administered at 0700. The subject showed signs of pain and discomfort, but was deemed stable at 0800. Subject 590 was sent to speak with the subject. They talked and then the subject was told to make 590 forget being in the room. At 0930, Subject 590 expressed confusion and Experiment MK91 was deemed a success. Subject 590 was found to have memory loss beyond just this visit, but this is considered a result of Subject 591's inexperience and not a result of Experiment MK91.

Leon and John left the room, still confused. They found another larger room that seemed to be a stockroom. John saw the nutrient blocks that they were feeding to Selena and a lot of files. "I wish we had the time to go through all of this. I'm sure this is a goldmine." Leon said. To their right was a table for recent, unsorted objects that were just taken out of the stockroom and need to be put back in or new objects that need to be added. Lying on top was the book from the hearing. "No way." Leon opened it and found that it was just a prop. It was all fake letters, some of the paint was peeling. "Damn, this must just be a decoy of the real one." They went and took a look at some of the other files while they had the chance. There wasn't anything memorable until John opened a brown binder.

REQUEST TO RETRIEVE SUBJECT 591

Council Leader Stevens

I will be needing Subject 591 at a hearing tonight. She will need to put a thought in everyone's heads, like an illusion as well as like telepathy. Make sure she is prepared and able to meet the task.

The date was for John's hearing. "Holy shit. Leon, come look at this." Leon came over. "I wonder what she can do that he needs her fo- wait illusions and telepathy? Wait, that date is your hearing! They used her to fake all of that? Jesus, we have a hell of a problem on our hands." They thought about it for a minute. "But if is was all fake, then how can you still influence people? And why would they send people to kill you?" Leon asked. "Maybe they knew that I wasn't a named one, but also knew that I could influence people somehow. Those cops didn't necessarily try to kill me, maybe they were supposed to take me here." They both put down what they were holding and made their way out, the sooner they could get out of here the better.

They got back to the elevator and down the tunnel. They locked the door after themselves, hoping that they wouldn't notice the torn paper on one lock. They left the Council building the same way they got in, luckily for them it had stopped raining, although it was still very wet on the ground and they had to crawl through a couple of puddles.

When they got to Leon's house, John kept a watch on the cameras while Leon took a shower, then they switched and headed back down to the safe room. John thought they should have just taken their showers in the safe room, he was now paranoid of those huge windows he had been such a fan of before, but Leon didn't want to stress the water filter system and waste the stored water when they hadn't even seen anyone since those two cops.

"Tell me about your parents" Leon spoke after a nervous silence. "You don't think I was from that lab, do you?" John asked him. Leon just waited for his answer. "Well, my mother was nice, she took good care of me. My father was a bit distant, but he kept food on the table and cared about me." Leon leaned back on the couch. "What were their names?" John took a breath. "Their names are Juliet and Lars. You know, if she can make us all believe in Elder Gods, I don't think it matters if I remember my parents anyway." He looked down at his hands. "I hope they are okay."

They went to sleep soon after that. John dreamed that he was down in that laboratory. He was in one of those small empty cells. A man came in and then hooked wires up to his head. Then he injected John with something. The shot hurt and John started to cry. Then they flicked a switch and every thing hurt much more than the shot. He screamed. The scream echoed down the hallway. The pain finally stopped and the man took off the wires and left the room. Another man walked in after that. John now recognized him as the Council leader. He was holding a little girl's hand.

"I need you to tell her to do whatever she is told." John didn't think that was a good idea. "No." He told the man.

The Council leader hit him in the face and then pulled the girl into the room. "Do you want me to go make them zap you again. We can use that same tool we used for the experiment to just zap you all we want." He yelled at John. The little girl looked very scared. He looked up at the council leader. "Let go of her hand."

The man continued shouting over him, so that it was likely that even the little girl hadn't heard it, but he did let go of her hand. This time he said to the man quietly under the shouting. "Leave me and her alone." The man stopped shouting and then just stormed out of the room. The other man from before took the girl away and closed the door after him. A few days later the scientist man was in his room, giving him a nutrient bar when he heard her scream. It echoed along the hallway, but he was just one room over. He looked at the man. "Go stop what they are doing, now." He followed the man to the room where they had the girl wired up. The man yelled at the others to stop. They looked at him confused. John looked at all of them and yelled. "Run away and never come back! Forget everything about us!" They sprinted out of the room and down the hall. John took this opportunity to pull off all the wires, but the girl had stopped screaming before they had intervened. "Come on, we have to get out of here." He told her. She shook her head. "Daddy would be mad at me." John sighed. "He isn't really your Daddy, he tells everyone that. Come on we need to go." She crossed her arms. "I won't." She looked at him with a bit softer of an expression. "Thank you for helping me though." John was about to just pick her up and start running when she looked into his eyes. He could feel it, like he could dive into the pools that were her eyes, but he stayed. "Go. Forget everything about this place and just go live your life. Go be happy and live with your parents, probably a nice woman and a slightly distant dad. With nice names like Juliet and Romeo or Juliet and Lars, Lars is a cool name. " He ran down the hall and left. Then he found himself in a bus, squeezing in behind someone. Where had he come from? What was he doing?"

John woke with a start. Leon woke up at the slightest noise. "What's wrong." John looked at him. "We need to go find my parents and hope to god that when we get to their house, they are real."