Nucleic † Dennor

Aspiring Whistleblower

When Lukas had finally regained his composure after the concerning threat from the chief, he made his way to floor 16. He was dying to see Mathias. 

When he arrived, the chief's assistant was watching on as the three men who had taken Mathias from his apartment made sure he was restrained on the table. From afar, Lukas cringed. They had stripped him again, and he looked frigid. Approaching the table, Lukas watched on as the assistant checked off a few things on his clipboard. A few moments passed before the man looked up and gasped in surprise. 

"Lukas! I- Are you allowed to be down here?" the man asked, his brows furrowed as Lukas stood awkwardly in front of him. 

"Yes- the chief didn't tell you?" Lukas asked, confused. He figured the chief had told everyone that he was the one who helped Mathias escape. Apparently not. 

"No..." the assistant replied. He was a man in his late forties. He looked offended. Most likely because there was a scientist in his 20s standing on a floor intended for veterans of the practice.

"Oh" Lukas uttered uncomfortably. The atmosphere felt slightly hostile. Lukas opened his mouth to explain himself before the man chuckled. 

"The chief is really losing his mind these days- letting a kid down here" the man said. He seemed humored by the situation. He paused for a moment as he looked down at his clipboard. "I guess since you're down here you could help me out."

Lukas nodded as the man walked over to the metallic cabinet. He returned with a vial and a syringe. "1mL and nothing more." the man stated, handing Lukas the vial and syringe. 

"What am I doing with this?" Lukas asked, fiddling with the vial as he furrowed his brows. 

"Jesus christ they're hiring idiots these days. Inject the specimen with 1mL while I check its vitals" the man explained. Lukas anxiously looked down at the bottle. Fentanyl Citrate. He gulped. He had never injected anyone with an opioid before. One wrong move and Mathias would be dead. 

Uncapping the syringe, Lukas's hands shook slightly. As he inserted the syringe into the vial, the assistant moved back over towards the computer to turn on the monitors showing Mathias's heart rate and brain map. Quickly, Lukas made sure to fill the syringe only a little bit, allowing barely any liquid to enter.

Lukas made sure to wait until the assistant was busy to insert the syringe. "I'm sorry" he whispered under his breath as he entered a small amount of fluid. He knew the amount he inserted would barely do anything, but he still felt bad about it. 

When the assistant moved back towards the table, Lukas had already taken the syringe out of Mathias's arm. "All set?" he asked, watching as Lukas walked the syringe over to the hazardous material bin. 

"Yeah- I just- fentanyl? Isn't that a little dangerous to be using with human specimens?" Lukas asked, walking back towards the assistant with a concerned look on his face. The man turned from the monitor with a smirk.

"At this point, its important to drop the 'human' and just refer to it as a specimen. That way, if anything goes wrong, it was just another variable in the experiment" he replied, standing up from the desk as he went to check on Mathias. Lukas cringed. He couldn't imagine being so out of touch with basic humanity that he could just regard Mathias as another variable. It made him slightly angry. What gave them the authority to decide when to draw the line between human and specimen? Lukas furrowed his brow before realizing he was being watched and quickly returned to his typical straight-faced expression. 

Lukas was sick of pretending to be okay with the atrocities ocurring in the lab. The plan wasn't moving fast enough for his liking. Annoyed and worried, he decided a trip to the police station during as soon as possible would be his best option. Waiting until after the workday was over was going to take too long. He didn't know what could happen in that time. He had yet to travel past the 17th floor, and he wasn't planning on it. Whatever was going on down there was obviously worse than what was happening to Mathias.

Checking his watch, Lukas noticed it was already 3 o'clock in the afternoon. He had yet to have lunch, so he figured it would be the best time to leave and report the lab to the police. "Hey- is there any way I could run to Latte Works really quickly to get some lunch? I haven't eaten all day" Lukas asked the assistant, hoping he would find some inkling of kindness in himself and let Lukas go. 

"Go ahead- just be quick. We have to track the REM phase and we're not far off. If you miss the cycle you're going to have to do the exact same experiment tomorrow- and I don't think the specimen's body will respond positively to another injection of fentanyl" the assistant explained. Lukas nodded. Luckily, he had barely injected any fentanyl in the first place. The majority of it was on the floor of the lab. 

Lukas took off quickly, hopping into the elevator as the adrenaline kicked in. He was ready to turn them in and release everyone who was still trapped in the floors below - and possibly bring justice to those whose lives may have been cut short in process of becoming human lab rats. The doors opened to the lobby and Lukas practically ran out before he noticed the chief standing by the receptionist. In order to remain inconspicuous, Lukas slowed his pace and calmly placed his lab coat on a rack near the doors before walking out. 

He knew the chief had seen him, but hoped he didn't raise any suspicion. A quick lunch break was a pretty valid excuse for leaving the lab. Just to be safe, Lukas made sure to stop by the coffee shop and grab a croissant before heading off in the direction of the police station. 

The walk was filled with paranoia, as Lukas continued to walk and occassionally turn his head to make sure he wasn't being followed. If anyone caught him on the way to the police station he would be screwed. He couldn't forget what the chief had said about Emil. It made him furious yet scared at the same time. 

Heading towards the police district, Lukas began to fidget. He couldn't help but feel like he was being watched. As he approached the first station he saw, his suspicion was confirmed. As soon as he crossed the street he ran into the pathologist the chief had bickered with in the meeting earlier that morning. 

"Oh- Lukas Bondevik. How weird to see you here! What are you doing in the police district? If I remember correctly- you live in Aker Brygge" he called out, placing a firm hand on Lukas' shoulder as they stood a block away from the police station. His tone was slightly threatening, but he was smiling. Lukas knew he had been sent by the chief to make sure Lukas didn't snitch.

"Oops- I guess you caught me!" Lukas said, letting out a chuckle, "I went to get lunch but wanted to stop by the theatre and get my brother tickets to a show he has been dying to see." Lukas knew the man could probably see right through his excuse, but tried to act as though his trip to the district was innocent. 

"You're on the clock- you should know not to be doing personal errands" the pathologist scolded with a smile. 

"I'll refrain from it in the future. Sorry about that," Lukas apologized, "I should be heading back now." The pathologist nodded and stood firmly in place as Lukas turned back in the direction of the laboratory. Once he knew he was out of sight, Lukas tightened his jaw and lightly kicked a bag of trash waiting to be collected in front of a restaurant. He knew he was under surveillance, but he didn't expect to be followed so tightly. The pathologist was never friendly with Lukas, but seemed to know where he lived now. They definitely had him under their radar for snitching. 

Frustrated, Lukas headed back towards the lab with a plan brewing in his head. They weren't going to get away with this.