Apocalypse : Beyond Imaginations

A Day with the Villain

   Angela, Michael and Diana arrived at the Ark Research Laboratory. The building was quite large. Angela fixed her gaze on the building as she compared it to the 'Dark Tower' from the future. She wondered if there was a possibility that Dark wasn't yet working on the experiment that would cause the apocalypse. She walked towards the building but Michael stopped her. 

  "We can't just walk in. " He said. 

  "Why not? " Angela asked. 

  "We can't just walk in there and ask Dark if he's planning to destroy the world. " Michael replied. 

  "You're right, we need a plan." She agreed. 

  "Do you have something in mind? "Diana asked. 

   Angela smiled  "I have a plan."

  "Hope it's not a plan that will get us killed. " Michael said with much concern. 

  "Relax, Angela is practically a super soldier. " Diana said jokingly. 

  "My plan will probably work. Our mission is just to figure out if Dark is already using humans as lab rats."

  "Alright, let's go in." Michael said. As they were about to walk in, a guard appeared. 

  "Can i see an ID " 

   Angela and Michael gave each other troubled looks. Angela had no means of identification as she was from the future. Diana brought out her ID and showed the guard. 

  "You See, i have business with Darren Ark. These two, are my assistants. " She said. 

  "What kind of business do you have with Mr. Ark." The guard said with a frown. 

  "Are you out of your mind! I'm sure Darren Ark would love to know that you are harassing his business partner. " Diana said, feigning annoyance and making exaggerated gestures with her arms. 

  "I'm sorry ma'am. Just trying to do my job ma'am." The man mumbled, his head tilted downwards. 

  "I'll forgive you this one time. If you try it again I'll make sure you get fired." Diana yelled. 

   Diana walked past the guard. Angela and Michael followed swiftly. 

  "Did you really have to make such a scene. " Michael said. 

  "I'm an actress, it's what i do. " Diana replied. 

   When they got in, Angela spotted a young lady wearing a lab coat. She approached the woman. 

  "Hi " Angela said. 

  "Sorry, I'm really busy. " The woman replied before Angela could say anything else. 

  "We're just looking for Dark. " Diana said. 

  "Who's Dark? " The woman asked, confused. 

  "She meant Ark. Mr. Darren Ark. " Angela quickly explained. 

  "Oh. His office is in the fifth floor. " The woman said. "Although you'll only be allowed to go in if you already have an appointment with him. "

  "Okay, thanks. " Angela said. The woman smiled briefly and walked away. 

   Angela and Michael walked into the elevator. "Diana wait here. " Angela said, leaving Diana behind. 

   When they got to the fifth floor they were greeted by a guard. "Hello, do you have an appointment with Mr. Ark?"

  "Um, yes. " Angela lied. 

  "What are your names. " He asked. 

  "Our names... er... Jade and Jude. " Michael said. The man looked at him with suspicious eyes. 

  "Well I'll have to ask Mr. Ark if he's expecting you." He said. 

  "That won't be necessary. Just let us go in. " Angela said. 

  "I'm afraid i can't let you go in if you don't have an appointment. " The guard said angrily. 

  "We just told you  we have an appointment with him." Michael said. 

  "And I'm telling you I'll have to get confirmation from my boss. " He said as he turned around. 

  "Hey! " Angela said. The guard turned around. Angela's movement was so swift, Michael and the guard could barely notice. In a split second, Angela slammed her fist into the guard's jaw. The force of the blow sent him across the place, he slammed against the wall, he then lost consciousness. Angela and Michael moved towards him. 

  "Why did you do that? We could have convinced him. " Michael said with a look of disapproval. 

  "He'll probably wake up in a few minutes. Or an hour. " Angela said.

  "Wow, I could barely see you move. You have to realize that some of us don't have your strength and speed. You can't just go around punching humans. " Michael replied. 

  "All right. No more punching, I promise. I'll save it all for Dark. " Angela said. "Isn't it weird though?  The amount of guards running around this place. Dark's hiding something. " She added. 

  "I fear you may be right, but we have to do something about this guy. We can't just leave him out here. "

   Angela looked at the elevator. "Put him in there. "

  "Are you insane! " Michael exclaimed. 

  "We don't have much time. Call Diana, tell her to make sure someone finds him and attends to him. By the time he wakes up we should be out of here. "

   Michael picked up his phone, "We can't exactly walk into Dark's office and you can't punch him either. "

  "Don't worry. I have a plan. "

   After calling Diana, they walked into the office of Dark's secretary. 

  "You must be here to see Mr. Ark. I assume you have an appointment. " The secretary said, barely looking up. 

  "Not really. " Angela replied. 

  "Mr. Ark is really busy and he has given me strict instructions not to allow anyone walk into his office. "

  "I assure you this is really important. Why don't you tell him that we were sent by his friend, Jonathan Knight. "

  "Alright. I'll be back in a minute. " The secretary walked out of the office. Few minutes later she walked back in. "He's willing to see you. "

   They walked into Dark's office. Angela was filled with rage when she saw him. The last time she'd seen him, he had tried to eliminate her and her best friend, Frey. The version of Darren Ark that stood before her was a man in his early thirties. It didn't matter to Angela that this was a younger version of her arch nemesis. He was still the same cold-hearted villain that killed her father. The thought of her father's death made her even angrier. Angela had to remind herself that she had to be tactful in order to get information about Dark's experiments and stop him. She tried as much as she could to resist her urge, which was to punch Dark and send him crashing into his fancy office table. 

   Dark looked at Angela and Michael without expression. He waited for a while as if expecting them to speak first. Then he finally he decided to speak.  

  "I was told you're friends with Jonathan Knight. Why are you here. " He said. 

  "We are actually investors. Jonathan Knight referred to you. He said you have been working on some promising experiments that could... um... change the world. We would love to be a part of that. "  Angela said. 

  "We are on the verge of making a breakthrough. Of course you will benefit greatly from investing in Ark research labs. " Dark said with a forced smile. 

  "We would like to have an idea about the experiments you are working on. " Michael said. 

  "Of course. I would have someone show you around. " Dark replied.

  "We were hoping you would be the one to show us what you've been working on. " 

  "That's not going to happen. " Dark said dryly. " I'm a very busy man. Schmidt is one of the best scientists here. I'll have him tell you about our most important works. "

     Schmidt walked into Dark's office. Angela could see that he was incredibly stressed. As a matter of fact he looked like he might drop dead at any minute, not that Dark would care. Dark addressed Schmidt with an incredible amount of familiarity. Angela realized that Schmidt Wasn't just one of the regular workers, if there was any dangerous experiment going on, he would probably know about it. She smiled as Schmidt led her and Michael out of the office. She had just missed an opportunity to make Dark pay, but she would get another chance, she assured herself. If she was right about his experiments she would have a good reason to stop him. She knew she couldn't afford to stoop to his level, she wouldn't kill him.

   Schmidt took them around the building. He took them to different labs, he showed them different experiments they were working on, none of which Angela was interested in. She made an excuse to leave Schmidt and Michael. She walked into the the elevator. There was another floor above Dark's office, and she needed no one to tell her that he was hiding something there. When she got out of the elevator, there were two guards waiting for her. 

  "This is a restricted area. Please go back." One of them said.

  "I'm sorry. I must have pushed the wrong button in the elevator." She said. She looked around. There were two cameras. If she ran fast enough she would be able to disable them both and knock the guards out. Within two seconds, Angela leaped towards the first camera and punched it. She moved swiftly towards the second one as well, then she moved towards the guards and punched them both. The surveillance cameras had been disabled and the two guards lay on the floor unconscious, she had done it all within two seconds. She was getting faster. She knew it and it made her happy. 

   Angela waked past the guards towards a room labelled '314'. It required a password. She tried several things but they didn't work.

  "Damn, I wish I had x ray vision." She said to herself. She could hear someone approaching. She pushed open a door and walked in. The room was completely empty. She heard the elevator door open. Dark walked in with his guards. He barked instructions at  his guards as they searched every where for the impostor. Angela could hear the sound of the elevator closing. Swiftly, she ran out of the empty room past Dark and his guards, towards the elevator. By the time Dark could turn around she was already in the elevator. She headed for the third floor which was where Michael was.

   When she got there, she managed to get Michael away from Schmidt. She explained what happened, and they hurried to the first floor to find Diana and get out of the building. By the time they found Diana, she looked really troubled. 

  "Angela, the guy you punched earlier is now awake. He described your appearance to the guards and..."  Before she could finish talking, the guards appeared behind them. Dark's came out of his private elevator with more guards. Angela and her friends were surrounded by men with weapons. The only way out was for her to use her speed to get Michael and Diana out of there, which would make Dark aware of her abilities. Her only other option would be to do nothing and get along with her friends. She knew she had no choice. 

  "Well, well. What do we have here." Dark said. "Why don't you guys tell me why you are really here and perhaps we'll go easy on you."

  "Sorry, Dark, but we have no time to chat." Angela said. 

  "Did you just call me Dark? Who the hell are you?" Dark asked, suddenly getting serious.

  "Sorry Dark, like I've got no time to chat." Angela said as she grabbed Michael and Diana and ran out of the building before the guards could even move. They ran into their car and drove off. 

   "Wow! That was fun. " Diana said, laughing. 

   "What about this is fun? " Michael said.

   "Angela is so amazing! " Diana replied still laughing. 

   "Anyways, did you find anything, Angela? "

   "Room 314." She replied.

   "What's room 314?" Michael asked. 

   "I'm sure Dark's hiding something in that room. He's already working on the experiment. I'm sure of it."

   "Then we've got to stop him. " Michael said. 

                                            —    —    —   —                   —   —   —   —  

   Michael sat in the living room, lost in thought. He now realized how dangerous stopping dark was going to be. He wasn't worried about himself. He rather enjoyed dangerous situations, especially one has unbelievable as this one. He wasn't worried about Angela either, he'd seen her use her abilities. She was truly amazing, he knew that much now. Diana was a completely different matter. He knew she could defend herself if she was attacked by a thief, but Dark was another level of bad. 

   Michael was suddenly snapped back to reality as he heard the sound of the door opening. His friend, Rick walked in.

  "What are you doing up so late?" Rick asked.

  "I could not sleep. Anyway, looks like you've been out all day. I'm guessing it has something to do with the case you've been working on." Michael replied.

  "Yeah, I'm still trying to figure it out. You know, I used to be so good at this. Now I just feel frustrated."

  "Don't be too hard on yourself. You're one of the best private investigators I know."

  "Thank you, but I still don't feel better." Rick said with a gloomy expression on his face. "Something strange is going on in this country, I just don't know what it is."

  "You're right. Something's definitely going on." Michael said as he remembered his encounter with Dark.

  "So, you're still not gonna tell me why you're really here?" Rick asked.

  "I wish I could, but unfortunately I can't say anything about right now."

  "Okay, well...good luck"

  "Thanks, I think I'll go to bed now."

  "Oh, wait," Rick said, finally getting excited.  "About that Angela girl..."

  "Don't." Michael said plainly.

  "Why not?"

  "She's more complicated than you can imagine."

  "Ha ha! Complicated is my specialty."

  "I see." Michael said as he started walking out of the living room. "I guess I'll see you in the morning unless you run off looking for trouble."

  "Hey!" Rick said with an exaggerated expression. "I'm an investigator. It's my job to look for trouble."