Chapter 2 - The Locked Room
Arthur immediately ordered his head of security to place the unconscious boy in the secure guest wing rather than turning him over to the local police.
The massive estate was placed on total lockdown, with armed patrols heavily circling the sprawling grounds under a sudden, torrential downpour.
Clara was resting safely in her lavish bedroom, completely exhausted from the sheer, unprecedented physical effort of standing.
Arthur paced furiously back and forth in his private study, staring intensely at the live surveillance feed of the boy's secure room.
The boy, whose real name they still did not know, had finally regained consciousness after two agonizing hours.
He was sitting completely still on the edge of a luxurious king-sized bed, staring blankly at his bare, dirty feet.
Arthur slowly unlocked the heavy oak door and stepped into the room with his hands firmly tucked behind his back.
He sternly demanded to know how the boy had successfully bypassed the state-of-the-art security systems to enter the ballroom undetected.
The boy slowly looked up, his dusty cheeks still bearing the harsh marks of a long, incredibly grueling journey.
"I didn't break in," the boy said quietly, his throat sounding horribly raspy from a severe lack of water.
"The system let me in because my biometric signature is permanently registered to the mainframe of this house."
Arthur scoffed aggressively at the absurd claim, strictly reminding the boy that only immediate family members possessed such high-level access.
The boy did not argue, but simply rolled up his torn sleeve to reveal the glowing blue barcode once again.
He calmly explained that he was created in the subterranean basement labs of Apex Industries before Arthur had ordered them shut down.
Arthur felt a freezing cold sweat break out on the back of his neck as he listened to the terrifying confession.
He had personally ordered all experimental subjects safely relocated and the controversial project entirely scrapped ten long years ago.
"They never stopped the project," the boy whispered, clearly sensing Arthur's rapidly rising panic.
The boy finally revealed that his name was Leo, and he had miraculously escaped the hidden facility only three days ago.
He came to the mansion because he shared a deeply unique neural link with Clara, illegally implanted during a secret surgery when she was just a baby.
Arthur violently denied the horrific accusation, loudly insisting that his precious daughter had never been touched by Apex scientists.
Leo looked deeply into Arthur's wide, panicked eyes with an expression of pure, unadulterated pity.
"Then why did her legs miraculously stop working the exact same week my physical pain compliance training began?" Leo asked softly.
Arthur staggered backward into the wall, feeling the absolute, crushing weight of a horrifying realization crash down upon his shoulders.
Before Arthur could ask another desperate question, the mansion's blaring emergency sirens suddenly began to wail.
The lights in the room flickered wildly for a few seconds before plunging the entire enormous estate into absolute, terrifying darkness.
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A heavily distorted, mechanical voice abruptly echoed through the intercom system, completely bypassing all of Arthur's impenetrable security protocols.
"Return our stolen property immediately, Mr. Pendelton, or we will happily take your daughter instead."
