Chapter 20 Chaos

Chapter 20 Chaos
Gabriel sauntered into Zina's office and took a seat across from her. Eyes closed, he leaned his head back for a minute, seemingly in thought.

Zina glanced up at him from her desktop and smiled, they had been working together for some days now. And solely out of curiosity, she insisted on being in the lab with them as they worked.

"Some trouble?" she asked after letting him a moment to himself.

"Hmm?" Gabriel asked squinting at her. Inwardly, he felt baffled that he hadn't heard her clearly and a frown formed on his face.

"I saw the news" Zina continued.
"Finally coming into the light?" she teased testily. Gabriel's origin was still very much a mystery to her and she had long given up on investigating.

"Andrea is taking care of it," Gabriel replied.

Zina frowned at his tone and asked, "Is there something else?"

"Minor inconveniences" Gabriel replied.

"Is it?" Zina replied thoughtfully.
"I got a call from the TRB asking about you"

"Why would they call you about my taxes?" Gabriel asked and sat up.

Zina shrugged but she had actually been wondering the same thing herself.
"This has Miles Oswald written all over it, he makes noise like this when he's about to do something big" she added after a moment of contemplation.

"It really does" Gabriel muttered.

"You've had a run-in with him before?" Zina asked.

"In a former life," Gabriel replied casually, leaving Zina confused and dumbfounded.

"We should finalize the site for the new lab today. I'll have my people breaking ground come morning" Gabriel changed the subject.

"Just a minute, please," Zina replied apologetically and rushed to finish her work.

Just then, Gabriel frowned and glanced through the glass walls at a cubicle in the work area outside.

A person was walking past, with a phone in her hand and a silly smile on her face, catching Gabriel's eyes, she winked at him and began swaying her hips flirtatiously. Gabriel squinted slightly, a frown appearing on his forehead as his eyes shifted to a male employee working on his Desktop.

The man, seemingly in his twenties, sat frozen in shock, his eyes fixed on whatever was on his screen display.

Gabriel showed a struggling expression then suddenly rose.

"I'll be back," he said to Zina, who simply hummed a response, too busy rushing her work to pay attention.

Gabriel hurried out of Zina's office into the restroom, slamming it shut once inside.

His blue eyes began to glow intensely and a projection appeared on the mirror in front of him. Shifting images appeared in the projection, images of a younger Zina blushing as she interacted with the perspective of the camera. The images changed to Zina wearing a wedding gown and then casual clothing, suddenly it paused on one.

Zina stood in a slightly dim room wearing nothing but a bra and panties, a teasing smile on her face as she flirtatiously bit on the corner of her lips. Reaching both hands behind her, she unhooked her bra and took it off.

Gabriel began shaking his head furiously, turning away from the mirror, but the image was not on the mirror; it was being projected from his eyes, and everywhere he would turn was Zina's breasts, standing firmly as she stepped closer and closer to him.

A fire burned in his veins but Gabriel was too preoccupied to entertain this strange feeling. An odd rhythmic beating in his chest unsettled him and he felt his breath hitch. Oxygen was nothing to him, but at this moment, when he couldn't breathe, a powerful, suffocating feeling filled his chest like there was a weight in it he could not let go of.

A palm on his chest, he walked to the wall and collapsed on the ground, as he drew in repeated deep breaths.

"A. . " he tried to speak but words seemed to escape him.

Sounds escaped his lips as he struggled hard for something he had assumed he would never need. A device in his trouser pocket.

As he reached for it, his hands trembled like he was standing on a massage machine, but he finally succeeded in pulling it out. Tapping softly on the large button on one side of the spherical device, he drew in a deep breath and his eyes widened as he forced out a small mutter.

"Andrea..."


Andrea stood in front of a uniformed man, a deep frown on her face.

"I'm sorry, please excuse me," she said to him and practically ran out of the office, her steps oddly uneven. Running out into an open space, she frantically looked around her and felt the world spinning beneath her.

"Andrea!" a figure screamed and rushed up to her as she stumbled. The figure caught her in time, preventing her from hitting the ground.

"Something... something's wrong" Andrea muttered, her voice weak and eyes wide.

"Gabriel... find Gabriel," she urged, and a rush of strength seemed to overwhelm her.

Standing again, she took off running, a confused Lucia following behind her as two women collected phones from the crowd that had suddenly gathered.

Lucia caught up to Andrea just as she was about to open the car door and pinned her against it.

"What the fuk is going on?" she roared in Andrea's face.

The world seemed to turn silent and Andrea's eyes suddenly regained focus.

"I don't know?" she replied, a panicked expression on her face.

Raising her wrist and pulling back her sleeves to reveal a device strapped to her arm, she observed the display screen for a minute before shaking her head and looking back up at Lucia.

"There's nothing wrong with me," she said. Despite her words, her voice trembled as if this fact was scarier.

"Gabriel?" Lucia asked. Andrea closed her eyes and drew in a long breath, holding it in for a full minute; she spat out air, and her expression evened out once more.

"He is with Zina right now," she said.

"I'll have my people check up on him. You can't leave here" Lucia frowned.

Andrea suddenly revealed a smile.
"You still don't get it, do you? This?" she asked, looking behind Lucia at the building she had just run out of.

". . . It's meaningless," she finished and pushed Lucia away. In one fluid move, she opened the car door and got in while Lucia watched in shock.

The window rolled down and Andrea stared at her with a frown.

"What are you waiting for? Get in!"

Lucia, still confused glanced back at the building but gritted her teeth and got into the backseat.

As Andrea started the car, she squeezed into the passenger seat and glanced at the impassive Andrea whose expression was now cold.

"We don't know what happened yet, don't get worked up," she warned, her voice and eyes revealing an almost imperceptible trace of fear.