Flip the Coin [BL]-Chapter 183. Laboratory

When I shot the long-haired man, the two men coming with him didn’t react immediately. They apparently thought he had shot me, not understanding what the sound of a body falling near them meant.

"Your friend is dead. Do you want to die too, or...?" I asked them, and after being stunned, they ran away instantly.

I stood up and walked to the corpse.

Not one prisoner in the adjoining cells said anything; everyone was minding their own business, which was a good thing to do.

Initially, I wanted to shoot the guy again with his own gun at the spot the bullet entered his brain to create a ’normal’ wound; yet seeing the body that seemed to have died two weeks or longer ago, there was nothing normal about it.

I fumbled with his gun and waited for the guards, who would surely come soon. Such a small one was not bad to have, so I had to commit it to my memory.

Thinking about what the guy had said about wanting to be left alone with my corpse, I fired two more shots at the body, and there they were—the steps of the guards.

I threw the golden gun on the ground and raised my hands. I wouldn’t have made it out, even if I killed the other two guys as well; I had neither touched keys nor keycards, which wouldn’t have worked anyway, so a prison breakout was not feasible at the time.

The guards bellowed for me to lie on the floor, and when I did, I instantly got injected with something.

**************

I woke up to an extremely strong light shining at me; it gave me a headache before I even opened my eyes.

"Mr. Howard." A voice addressed me, and I blinked a few times.

A middle-aged man with thin hair and a very nerdy appearance stood before me. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

A headlight was pointed at me. My wrists were bound to the armrests of the chair I was sitting on, along with my neck.

I flexed my wrist a bit and realized that I could probably break the metallic fabric if I tried. That helped me relax a bit.

"And you are...?"

"Dr. Carell." He answered.

"Ooooh. What an honor." I scoffed; I already heard of him: the guy who got it all wrong.

"It is indeed, for me as well." He smiled and put the light away so I could look around, seeing a typical sterile white room. Good, probably the laboratory.

"So? Did you understand that you were wrong and brought me here to ask for the truth?"

In front of me was a glass window, behind which it was dark. A pity I had been knocked out, so I had no idea of the layout. Still, I hoped the laboratory didn’t have as many guards and people as the prison had.

"Oh no, I have other questions. The people we spoke with mentioned you took a ladder out of thin air." He took a stool and moved it closer to me. It screeched to a halt, aggravating my headache.

Dr. Carell took a seat across from me and looked at me curiously.

"And what do you want to know exactly?"

"Can you do that?" He asked, tilting his head.

"Fine, I’ll tell you. I had an interspatial bag, but I lost it." Should I act immediately or wait until I have seen more of the layout? I opted for the latter.

"Mhm... You have now become a murderer. Even if you are not Kennith Howard, your life is now in our hands. Tell me about the man you killed and why his corpse was in such a state."

I looked away in boredom, and he took it as a sign to continue.

"We can force you with pain. We can also just open your brain and take a look." He tilted his head to the other side.

"Then just do that. Give me a reason to snuff you out."

He smiled and motioned to someone behind him, bringing a girl with short hair inside. It was Athena. She wore a white shirt and shorts, looking a bit dazed. The man bringing her flung her to the floor and pointed a gun at her.

What an old trick.

"Fine. My power is to conjure up ladders. It is very practical for reaching heights, and I can even hit someone with the said ladder. I’m considering becoming a window cleaner, yet sadly I’m in prison, and there are no windows to clean."

The doctor smiled.

"Good. Thank you for being so open about it." He didn’t believe a word.

A hand motion later, Athena was brought out. She didn’t look at me the entire time.

"Let’s try something else. I want to introduce you to someone." He came closer and removed some electrodes from my temples; I hadn’t even noticed them. The guard, or whoever he was, returned, and after I was freed, he dragged me out with force. I let him and looked around discreetly.

We took an elevator; currently, we were two stories below the ground floor, and we went down another story.

I was brought to a hall with many seats, similar to a coliseum, but in the middle was no arena, only a room with glass walls, a glass ceiling, and even a glass floor with slits in the ground. Inside was a man with longer, dark blond hair, disheveled, shaking, and sweating.

I sighed and was thankful that I couldn’t see him clearly. They brought me down to the room, in between the seats, and opened the door before pushing me in.

The figure inside looked up at me and stared for a long while.

If I really am going to look like that in a few years, then you can off me right now. I still have some pride, and that guy there clearly has none.

There was no furniture, so I sat across from him on the ground, as far away as possible, and watched him bite his dirty nails out of nervousness. Ugh.

Kenny3’s eyes wandered over every inch of my body.

I think it’s like this with twins: if they look exactly the same, it’s okay, but if one of them is uglier, then hell will break loose at some point. And the better-looking one will always feel superior, and indeed, I felt superior to that thing sitting there.

Dr. Carell took a seat near the room and observed us in the empty arena.

Let’s see where this goes.

"Who are you? Are we...related?" Kenny3 asked.

"I’m your father, and I came here to ask you about the fucked-up life choices you made."