Visionary [Louis Tomlinson AU]

[19] The B-Side

“I would rather walk with a friend in the dark, than alone in the light.”
~ Helen Keller

June 14, 2043
1:45 P.M

         Zayn Malik would’ve been lying if he said he wasn’t kind of freaking out about being chased through a government laboratory by guards, even with Liam at his side. Actually, considering he really hadn’t met him all that long ago, it wasn’t really comforting at all.

           As they were running, Liam suddenly skidded to a halt like someone from a true action movie and began twisting the nearest doorknob, and while Zayn wanted to just keep running, he knew that they couldn’t keep it up forever. If they could hide though… they’d be able to buy more time, at least, for Louis and Harry to find Niall and get him out. 

           “In here!” Liam suddenly hissed, and before Zayn could even completely turn around, a hand was fisting the cloth on his back and tugging roughly. 

          Zayn watched Liam hurriedly shut the door once they got inside, and put a finger to his lips, listening carefully. “I think they missed us,” he said after a moment, turning to take in the room they’d managed to trap themselves in. “Damn.” 

           “What?” Zayn asked as he turned, realizing that they were in a small office, complete with nothing more than a desk and a small, round table with chairs. The desk was nothing short of a disaster, piled high with papers and garbage while the table, on the other hand, looked barely used. 

             “What do you reckon this is?” Liam said, whispering just to be safe. “This seems like too much of a mess for anyone to actually use it.” 

             Zayn frowned as he scanned it all. He moved over and picked up one of the papers, unable to read the scientific jargon, but able to pick out the word, Visionary. “We should look around while we’re here,” he said as he tossed the paper aside. “Look, there’s a MISS. Keep watch and I’ll see if I can get on it.” 

              Liam admittedly seemed uneasy with the whole thing, but Zayn shot him an insistent look and he obliged. Meanwhile, Zayn sat down and took a deep breath, saying, “MISS…” he then paused, because he really didn’t know what the scientist who owned it made its name. Eventually, Zayn settled on just saying, “On?” and hoping for the best. 

                The screen of light instantly appeared, with a robotic voice saying, “Password?” 

                “We’re never going to be able to get in,” Liam huffed from the other side of the room, and Zayn only sent him a look before he began rustling through the papers and files on the desk. Unfortunately, it appeared that most had to do with Visionary and work, things that Zayn thought would take him years to understand. 

                God, it could be anything, Zayn thought, until he came across a file labeled Participants in bold letters. Out of curiosity, he opened it and the first printed sheet that came up was Louis Tomlinson, complete with a picture and several descriptors. 

               Zayn frowned before he began searching through the others, not recognizing any. There were probably about thirty or forty names, though Louis’ seemed to be the only one circled boldly and annotated completely with red ink. 

             “Could it…?” Zayn wondered under his breath before straightening up and staring at the glowing screen in front of him. “Louis Tomlinson?” 

              There was a tense silence, and Zayn fleetingly wondered if security would be alerted if it was wrong. He wouldn’t put it past an agency like this to. “Password accepted,” the voice finally responded after what felt like an hour, but was really only seconds.