Trust

A flash of a bright light hit her eyes. After waking up, it became her first impression followed by a burning, dazzling whiteness around, which made her close her eyes again. Little by little, her vision adjusted, and she could vaguely see a well-built man in a snow-white lab coat. Recognizing him, she tried to call his name, but instead only what sounded like a weak moan escaped her throat. The man turned around and silently approached the girl. He made a hand sign to her, saying that she was not to get up yet, and then freed her from some instruments and wires. “Where am I?” Lunark asked quietly when her voice returned to her again. “At my place,” Frankenstein answered. The girl continued to lie and scrutinized her surroundings. How did she end up here? The memories in her head were all jumbled. How could she get to Frankenstein’s place? What had he done to her? Lunark tried to get up, and Frankenstein, realizing that it would not be possible to keep the girl lying, came up and, giving her his hand, helped her up. “What is this?” Lunark asked in disbelief, examining the glass of liquid he gave her. “Just water.” The girl, after hesitating for a couple of seconds, took a sip from the glass and, looking up at Frankenstein, asked the question that was tormenting her: “Why am I here?” He sighed, and a barely noticeable shadow of a smile flashed across his face. “And what do you think?” he asked. "What do I think?" the girl repeated the question in her mind. She tried to make her numb hands move and considered her appearance. What a pretty sight. She was wearing only her light tight-fitting trousers and a wide, clearly oversized shirt, hiding the white ribbons of medical bandages squeezing her waist. “Sorry,” Frankenstein said, guessing the reason for her bewilderment. “There were no women’s clothes for you. So, I had to lend you it for now.” Lunark did not listen to him: she hastily jumped to her feet and immediately regretted it, because at that same moment the whole world reeled before her eyes. Frankenstein, who had no time to prevent her sudden impulse, picked her up right in the air and sat her back on the bed. “What have you... done with me?” the girl hissed, feeling a lump forming in her throat, an unpleasant aching pain spreading throughout her body. “Lie down!” Frankenstein ordered, helping the girl to take her original position, and left the room after injecting her with some kind of a drug.

***

The scientist wandered along the corridor, completely immersed in his thoughts. What did he have at the moment? The survey did not yield particularly significant results, but it seemed that a solution would still be found in the near future. The current situation had not yet been very encouraging, but over the past few hours it had improved a little, so it was too soon to despair. “Hey, boss, how is she?” Frankenstein looked up and found Tao right in front of him, who, on purpose or not, was waiting for him at the laboratory door. “She’s come to her senses,” the scientist said briefly. “But her condition is critical.” Tao, without saying anything, continued to look patiently at the boss, who sensed a silent expectation of the further orders in his look, and an idea came to Frankenstein's mind: “Tao, do you still... still have your surveillance cameras in the lab?” The hacker nodded. “Turn them on and please step in for a couple of hours. I need to buy some time to study the necessary documents, and you make sure that everything is being fine. If anything happens, call me.” “Got it,” he obeyed and headed towards his room to carry out the order immediately.

***

It was not for nothing that Frankenstein needed so much time to study the problem. He would normally find a solution in the shortest time and managed to help his wounded home folks as soon as possible, but that time everything was different. And it was not even because the person he was treating was his own enemy that time, but he had never encountered such a problem before. Whoever heard of such a thing? The innate regenerative ability was disrupted, and not just anyone’s regeneration, but a purebred werewolf’s one. And if werewolves were famous for something, it was precisely that a person of their kind healed like a dog. Frankenstein touched his burning forehead with his hand and continued searching through his archives. To be honest, he did not feel much better than she after the last fight. How ridiculous... Just a couple of hours ago, he and Lunark were battling against each other, and now... When did everything change so much? “Boss,” Tao said quietly creeping up from behind. Frankenstein cast a tired glance at his watch: had a half an hour already passed? “She woke up again and... I think you should look at this.” Tao turned the laptop screen towards Frankenstein, and a bright, snow-white laboratory room appeared before his eyes. Tao's cameras covered the room from all sides – Frankenstein was not even aware of how many cameras there were in his laboratory. But there was simply no time for the hacker’s excuses he tried to make. And besides, in the current situation such a wide observation radius was only to their advantage. On a cot in the right compartment of the hall, a girl lay motionless. According to the medical indicators that Tao displayed on the screen right there, it could be said that she was in a state of deep sleep. But after a few seconds, the girl’s pulse soared, and she opened her eyes. “It was fifteen minutes ago,” Tao said, pausing the recording. “Why didn’t you call me right away?” Frankenstein asked sternly. “Watch further,” the hacker advised and resumed the playback. For several moments, Lunark continued to lie motionless, and then she forcefully pulled off the intravenous infusion drip through which medications entered her body, and jumped to her feet. Here she goes again, Frankenstein thought, expecting the girl to fall either back onto the bed or straight onto the floor. You don’t learn from your mistakes at all! But, contrary to his expectation, Lunark was able to stand and walked unsteadily towards the center of the hall. “Is she feeling better now?” Frankenstein asked a rhetorical question, rubbing his eyes with his hand. Well, of course she is, he answered himself immediately. It looks like I’m losing concentration... This is clearly visible in her health indicators. Tao nodded silently, and the girl meanwhile stopped in the middle of the room, confused. Her regeneration has resumed. But why? How? Did she really pull one through on her own? “That’s good,” Frankenstein sighed, but judging by Tao’s appearance, he did not share his opinion: “You just watch further.” Frankenstein watched the girl walk around the room without blinking. Her step became firmer and more confident, and in general she began to look more like herself: not a trace of her recent weakness remained in her appearance. Like a caged wolf, she was moving restlessly from one wall to another until she finally found herself at the computer desk. Tao seemed to tense up all over, apparently already knowing what would happen next. The girl caught the phone lying on the table. (Frankenstein, preoccupied with his worries, had left it downstairs.) She grabbed it and quickly entered the number, pressing it to her ear. What are you doing? Whom have you called? Frankenstein thought, his eyes on the screen and trying to guess the intentions of his unexpected patient. For several seconds, Lunark was staying in a restless anticipation, but the walls of the laboratory did not let the signal to pass through, and she angrily threw the phone at the wall. It hit the white surface loudly and shattered into small pieces. “Hmm,” was all Frankenstein said. “What a shame,” Tao said. “But your phone is beyond repair; it cannot be saved. But I’ve managed to detect and block the signal. Boss, she was calling the Union!” Frankenstein's face darkened: of course, he did not feel sorry for the phone, but the girl's behavior was annoying. And Tao’s demanding gaze also irritated him, as he stopped the recording and turned to the boss. “I know what you’re thinking,” the scientist finally said. “But her behavior is understandable. After her severe physical and emotional shock, she needed to vent –” “Boss, she was calling the Union!” Tao cried. “She almost let us out!” “And that’s also understandable,” Frankenstein shook his head. “Don’t forget that she and I are still enemies. Any of you, if you got to the Union, would have done exactly the same thing.” Tao frowned, but remained silent. He’s second guessing my every word, he thought with annoyance. He believes me less the more that I assure. “Continue watching her,” Frankenstein ordered and added: “I need to think.”

***

It was quiet and the air was fresh on the balcony. Deciding to follow the example of his modified home folks, who for some reason from the very beginning chose this particular place in the house for the most difficult and intimate conversations, Frankenstein went to get some air and to clear his head a little and make sense of his feelings. What was going on in his house? Why was everything so difficult? Frankenstein looked at the distant outlines of skyscrapers, and inexplicably he just wanted to just leave home. To push off with his feet from the railing and fly into the starry night sky, forgetting about everything. But he could not do that, because in his house there was... who was she? A friend or a foe? What was the truth and what was a lie? Even though Tao did not give it to him straight, but Frankenstein still felt it in his gaze and in his anxious, demanding silence; Tao did not believe that Lunark was wounded. She recovered too quickly and behaved too suspiciously. After Frankenstein left, not even fifteen minutes passed before the girl woke up, although he gave her a dose of sleeping draft for two hours, expecting that normal, restful sleep could restore her strength. Had she really tricked him? She didn’t take the offered medicine, did she? Did she just pretend to? Frankenstein made the decision to trust her when he took her unconscious body from the battlefield, but was there any point in that then? It seemed that from the very beginning he simply turned a blind eye to the fact that the girl could easily play the role of an unfortunate victim, counting on Frankenstein’s pity. Indeed, who else but Frankenstein constantly picked up injured agents from the street? The scientist had long had a reputation of a person who first hit, and then healed the people whom he used to consider his enemies. The Union could have noticed it a long time ago and taken advantage of such a tempting opportunity; instead of just another stray dog, they could dump off a bloodthirsty wolf into his house. But Frankenstein did not want to believe it. He realized the danger, but he wanted to see for himself, to check the truth on his own. True, they acted like they were enemies. But was it really that difficult to put some faith in each other? Having still not found an answer, he sighed heavily and went back into the house. Walking along a dark corridor, he pushed the door to his room. Seeing the light on, he realized that the men were already waiting for him. And that time not only Tao, but the entire modified team. “You can’t do that, boss!” the hacker exclaimed without further ado. Frankenstein cast a questioning look at the three young men encircling him. “Why don’t you want to admit it? She's a spy!” The scientist looked away and did not answer. “Frankenstein,” M-21 said then. “Tao is right. All the facts speak against her. It's stupid to deny it.” “I’m telling you,” Tao continued fervently, “the Union sent her here so that she could dig up information on us.” “And they brought her almost to death for this reason?” Frankenstein objected. “But she is fine!” the hacker cried, picking up his precious laptop again. “Would a sick person do such a thing? And moreover... don’t you know what they are like in the Union?” The camera footage from the laboratory appeared on the screen again. This time Lunark showed off at the computer monitor, diligently looking for something there. “Fair enough,” Frankenstein agreed vaguely. “So what?” “So what?” That time M-21 exploded. “Are you going to leave everything as it is?” “Yes, I am,” Frankenstein snapped coldly. “If the Union is up to something, let it happen under my nose.” M-21, who was about to vent all his indignation on the boss, suddenly fell silent; such a thought had not occurred to him. “We’ll keep an eye on her ourselves. And perhaps we will find out even more than she can. Has the Union decided to play with us? That's good. But in our house we will play by our own rules.” “I agree,” Tao responded after thinking. “That's probably reasonable.” “But aren’t we taking too many risks?” Takeo, who had been silent all this time, spoke up. “There is so much secret information in the laboratory! And besides, doesn't this go against our plans? We will have to stay at home all the time watching over her.” “As for the laboratory, let it remain the way it is,” Frankenstein answered. “Keeping her in the rooms is even more dangerous. What if she gets to the Master? No, leave it all as it is. Just put a double protection on the data, Tao.” The hacker nodded. “And it won’t disrupt our schedule either. You will be on duty in turns: two of you guard the school, one stays at home.” The modified trio wanted to object, but Frankenstein suddenly turned around and walked away. If the situation required it, he would lock the girl up and put her under surveillance. Yeah, it all started with good intentions. But Tao’s words planted a seed of doubt in his heart, which now grew in his soul like a whole tree. Yes, he meant well, he indeed wanted to help in good faith. But since she fought dirty, what was the point of pretending to be an angel?

***

The next day, following the direct order of the boss, the trio of modified ones shared their responsibilities: two of them, namely Takeo and M-21, went to work, and the third agent – Tao – stayed at home to guard their Pain in the Neck, which was how they unanimously decided to call her. Tao did not expect any surprises from that day. To some extent, he was even glad, instead of monotonous walks around the school, to stay in his room by his dear computer today, because it was not at all difficult for him to monitor the girl’s behavior with half-closed eyes. At least that was what he thought in the morning, waving his hand to his comrades and sweetly stretching in bed, opening his laptop. Tao was not that fond of spying, he was just used to assessing the situation whenever possible, and for that he needed a lot of data. He placed the whole house under surveillance solely for security reasons, and not at all to film compromising material on his neighbors, although the latter often argued the opposite and showered the hacker with the most colorful interjections they were capable of. But Tao was not offended by them, because to some extent he himself admitted that he was doing wrong, constantly violating someone’s personal space with his tireless control. He consoled himself only with the thought that he was doing this for their own good. “But we are brothers!” he once said to Takeo and M-21, who once again lay in wait for the hacker in a dark corner in order to teach him a lesson for yet another prank. “We must know everything about each other!” His comrades, however, did not share his opinion, and from their menacing appearance, Tao guessed that his espionage activities had come to an end, and he eagerly began to convince them that he was looking through these records with all professionalism and dispassion. Although in life, to be honest, he did not always succeed in this. And that day, no matter how hard he tried to merge with his indifferent computer, he could not completely overcome his innate curiosity. Tao followed the girl’s movements with interest, looking at her in the most impudent way. He happened to almost never communicate with women throughout his entire life, at least for that part of it that he still remembered. The girls he knew well enough were only Seira, Yuna and Suyi, whom he rather classified as sisters, and had no experience outside his social circle. The secrets of female nature were unknown to him, and deep in his heart he feared that Frankenstein would keep Lunark at home for good. He simply did not know how it was best to come over her, what red herring to expect from her, and he was afraid that he simply would not be able to cope with her. But since it happened anyway, he could not help but take advantage of the chance to get to know women’s nature better. For the first couple of hours, Lunark was behaving. She did not do anything suspicious: she just walked rhythmically from one wall to another, occasionally stopping at the desk or at the shelf with books, looking at them closely. It did not take her even ten minutes to find out the location of the cameras in the room. However, she had absolutely no need to know how many there were and where. She could not communicate with Tao, and all she could do was to cast meaningful glances towards the hacker’s equipment. After two long hours, she was already tired of this activity. Helplessly, she sank back onto the bed, threw back her hair and began to braid and unravel it right away. She was bored. Unlike watching her Tao, who had already calculated how many steps the length and width fit in the laboratory, the girl did not know how to entertain herself with mathematical calculations and obviously suffered from her idleness. But that did not last long. After finishing the third round of hair braiding, Lunark stood up abruptly and quickly walked towards the computer. “Ooh, now this is interesting!” Tao rubbed his hands and became fully aware. He was not worried about the safety of the data: he spent the rest of last night strengthening protection against external invasion, and he was not sure whether it would be even needed after at all. But, contrary to his expectations, the girl was quite good at programming and quickly figured out what to do. Her aim, however, was by no means finding their secret information. All she needed was to turn off the automatic doors in the house, one of which was now holding her captive. It did not take her much time to find the system responsible for that process – even M-21 and Takeo could not have done it faster – Tao was sure of that. But Lunark earned his real recognition of a hacker when she managed to find the right place in the code, where a heated battle was already promising to unfold. Tao gasped in admiration. No, after all, that woman knew how to play her role beautifully. Pretending to be an unfortunate victim was, of course, a strong move, but such a trick would not work with him, but that moment... That moment everything suddenly became much more interesting! Lunark expeditiously pulled the keyboard closer to her and began coding to cancel the blocking. Her first attempt, however, failed; Tao repelled the attack in just a couple of seconds, but the girl did not intend to give up so easily. “You’re not as bad as you seem,” the hacker smiled, parrying a new attack, “but you don’t know who you’re messing with.” Tao was right: despite all her efforts, the girl was losing a great deal on the unfamiliar battlefield. Her simple, naive attacks were baby talk compared to what Tao had already gone through. But it was still nice for him to finally see someone who was not afraid to stand up to him in a hacker battle. Unexpectedly for himself, he suddenly realized that his attitude towards Lunark had changed. He even started to like her... Lunark exhausted all her attempts, and Tao, with the final chord, smashed her pirate script into trash. The girl ran her hand over her eyes, sighed and looked at the camera. Fatigue and poorly concealed anger were visible in her eyes. And it was as if two little devils were dancing in them with sparkles. “Um, what are you going to…” Tao whispered, looking at the girl jumping up and pushing the chair away with a sharp gesture. Lunark was standing inactive for a couple of seconds, and then with one blow she violently swept away everything that was on the table: a mouse, a keyboard, and even a brand-new computer monitor. "Hey! Hey! You can’t do it!" Tao almost choked with indignation. For some reason, he did not see it coming that Lunark could still cause him some kind of a real material damage. But after seeing it in reality another thought came to him: he did not like that girl at all!

***

M-21 was next in line to be on duty, but the next morning he skipped away to work too quickly, so that Takeo had to agree to the role of a guard for the overstaying prisoner. “Just don’t let her near the computer,” an angry and sleep-deprived Tao slurred over the shoulder as he left. “I’ve spent all night, all night, improving the system's locking and the access control! Not to mention reviving the monitor she destroyed...” Takeo nodded sympathetically and thought that he would take care of the computer like the apple of his eye: the hacker would not survive another sleepless night, namely the third in a row. Already anticipating a big trouble, the sniper went to Tao’s room, stirred up his sleepy laptop and, sitting down at the table, began to watch the girl. Oddly enough, that day Lunark behaved much calmer; she did not break any equipment, did not cast angry glances towards the camera, and she did not even walk back and forth in her makeshift cell. On the contrary, she was quiet and calm and spent most of the day lying on the bed, either asleep or deep in thoughts. What’s the matter with her? Takeo worried. He did not take his eyes off the screen and for half a day had been looking at Lunark lying in bed and not showing any signs of life. He began to seriously fear for her health, and therefore decided to find out what was happening to her. Having grabbed lunch for the prisoner from the kitchen, he quickly walked to the laboratory. When he entered, Lunark showed no interest in him. But while he was going down in an elevator, she had already managed to change her position; she was not lying, but sitting on the bed, her head in her hands. Her face was hidden by a wave of long ashen hair that had escaped from her hairstyle. Takeo carefully placed the tray of food on the table and froze, confused. What should he do in such a situation? Unlike Tao, who had zero experience with women, Takeo's experience was more likely to be a negative value. For some reason, whenever he opened his mouth in the presence of a girl, some kind of nonsense came out of it. The memories of his first days in Frankenstein's house and of his first conversation with Yuna and Suyi suddenly emerged before his eyesight. Even just the thought of them was enough for him go bright red with shame. But generally speaking, it was not even his fault that time. That time, a comedian, Tao by name, decided to make fun of him and, instead of compliments in Korean, taught him all sorts of nasty things and improper words. But a lot of time passed since then. Since then, he had already learned Korean and could communicate well with people... couldn’t he? Takeo thought for a second and cast a timid glance at the girl. So fragile, so defenseless... She even reminded him of Teira, that sweet, sickly girl whom he used to love so much... and who actually never existed! Should he approach her? No, you can't, you can't get close to her – it's too dangerous. He was not afraid of being attacked by her sharp claws; he was afraid of dredging up bitter memories in his mind; he was afraid of being deceived again. I mustn’t approach her, Takeo decided, sighed and approached the girl. She was sitting motionless and did not react in any way to his steps. “Hey,” Takeo called quietly, touching her shoulder. “What’s up with you?” Lunark took her hands away from her face and looked at the sniper. Her eyes sparkled suspiciously, and a wet streak glistened on her cheek. “Are you crying?” Takeo felt that just one look of the piercing lilac eyes was enough to disarm him. “Takeo... I feel bad here...” “Takeo, I feel bad here!” A memory flashed through his head with a sharp pain. It was Teira, weakened by her illness, and she was calling him, begging him to return home... “Please help me…” "Please help me!" He got dizzy. Everything was repeating itself again. Please stop... Don't... “You are the only person who understands me,” the girl said. “Nobody even wants to listen, but you do...” “What’s up with you?” Takeo repeated the question, trying to take a step back, but her persistent, charming gaze caught him again. “I feel bad here,” Lunark said in a changed tone, grabbing his hand, and whispered: “Help me to escape...” Takeo tried to free himself, but Lunark held him tightly in her arms. And those eyes... He almost drowned in them. “Let me go!” Lunark continued to beg. “I won’t forget this. Tell me, what do you need?” “I don’t need anything from you,” the sniper squeezed out and with a renewed strength pulled his hand away, freeing himself from the tenacious embrace. “No, stay!” Lunark screamed, feeling that she was losing control over him. “I'm dying here!” Takeo took a step back. “I – I can’t let you out,” he muttered awkwardly. “I’m only guarding you, and Frankenstein is the one who makes decisions –” “Then arrange me an engagement with him!” Lunark suddenly jumped up. Takeo paused for a second, trying to find the correct meaning of an "engagement" in his dictionary. “I want to see him!” Takeo closed his eyes and shook his head, trying to shake off his daze. “I’ll tell him that you want to see him,” he said and ran out the door. Phew! It was a narrow escape... He actually was not that far from setting her free.

***

On the third day, M-21 finally went to Lunark; he simply had no other options. In fact, he was not particularly worried about the mission entrusted to him. He already knew about some of her pitfalls, so the chances of being fooled by the girl were slim. At least that was what he hoped. “Just don’t talk to her,” Takeo asked as he left. “Don’t you say anything, don’t even listen! Her words are more dangerous than any weapons.” “Pfft,” M-21 just gave the air, and Takeo remembered who he was talking to. “I just wanted to warn you,” the sniper completed the thought. “Don’t worry,” M-21 hastened to reassure him. “I’m not that gullible after all. Talking won't win me over. It’s only you who is – a blessed innocence.” “Shut up,” Takeo waved his hand and walked out the door. Although M-21 claimed that words had no influence on him, he decided to play it safe and, going downstairs, he took not only a lunchbox but also his headphones with him. Turning on the loudest and most boisterous song on his phone, he smiled with satisfaction and whistled as he headed toward the laboratory. I am definitely not going to hear a word, M-21 thought and would have burst into the most insidious evil laugh he could, but he decided not to reveal his brilliant plan. As if nothing had happened, he pushed the door, found the girl’s location and walked in the opposite direction from her. Lunark, however, was not taken aback and by the time he was putting the food on the table, she had already been next to him. M-21 turned and met the fiery gaze of the lilac eyes. Lunark opened her mouth to say something, but M-21 hastened to interrupt her: “I can’t hear you,” he said and, pleased with himself, headed towards the exit. How simple it is, he thought, but then realized that he had rushed to conclusions. Only a couple of meters from the door, he felt himself being swept away in the other direction by a blast. He jumped to his feet, took off his headphones and looked where the threat was coming from. Lunark stood in the middle of the room, and she looked as a real werewolf was supposed to. Disheveled silver hair, thin waist and eyes flashing lightning, she was beautiful... M-21, forgetting about everything, was looking at her and could not take his eyes from her. Only the girl's voice brought him out of his stupor. “Have you got the nerve to ignore me?” Lunark asked, finally attracting his attention. “Either you let me out right now, or you will stay here, too!”

***

“Boss!” Frankenstein sighed wearily. How much longer did he have to return to his room in the evening to find his modified team there? It seemed that they fell into a habit to come to him at night with their objections. They kept complaining about the broken and damaged equipment, or an intolerance to women’s tears. What was it that time? “You must do something!” Tao declared, waving his arms. “This is totally inappropriate!” “Well, what’s happened again?” Frankenstein asked, rubbing his temples with his hands. “Look!” Tao pointed significantly at M-21, who was sitting next to him on a chair all silent. He was pressing some object to his right cheek. “What about him?” Frankenstein asked, approaching to the modified one and carefully removing ice from his face. M-21's cheek was spotted with scarlet drops. “Who belabored you like this?” the scientist asked, clenching his hand into a fist, although he knew the answer perfectly well. “What do you think?” Tao continued to be indignant. “Chief, this is not just a problem anymore. It's a mini atomic bomb! Just look at what she did with M-21! And as for your lab, it’s scary to even look at it!” Tao suddenly came to his senses and fell silent, but Frankenstein’s dark aura had already appeared. “Wait a sec,” he said, looking at the hacker closely. “What’s happened with my lab?” “Well...” Tao hesitated. “When M-21 brought Lunark breakfast today, she attacked him, and she fought with him, and eventually... your laboratory took damage.” Frankenstein covered his face with his palm and shook his head. “But don’t worry!” Tao babbled. “It can be fixed. We'll get everything working again! Can you just explain what to do with this violent lady?” Frankenstein sighed, took M-21 by the elbow, causing him to gasp, and said: “Let's go.” “Where?” the modified one was scared. “To the crime scene,” said the scientist. “Boss, I –” M-21 hesitated, “But I don’t want to go back there...” From the heavy glance cast from under his frowned eyebrows, M-21 realized that Frankenstein was now least interested in what he wanted or not, and with a heavy heart he trudged after him. “Wait!” Tao arrived in time to defend the half-werewolf. “Boss! Listen, it’s not his fault at all! It's all her!” Frankenstein stopped but did not answer. “Don't punish him, please! He’s already suffered so much –” Tao continued to convince unsuccessfully. “Well, then punish us all! We’ve all messed up in some way. So, it would be fair to –” “Well, since you’ve suggested it yourself,” Frankenstein smiled insidiously. “Well done, Tao,” Takeo and M-21 said by common consent, wandering along the corridor after their boss. “Why?” the hacker threw up his hands. “Should we just have abandoned you?”

***

In fact, Frankenstein was not going to punish anyone. All he needed from the lab, besides assessing the damage, was to treat and bandage M-21's wounds. Honestly speaking, he did not want to reason with Lunark at all. They seemed to have made a peace but it was cold, cold war. He did not know what exactly happened, but he felt some kind of apathy towards her and simply did not want to see her. The previous day, Takeo told him that Lunark wanted to talk to him, but not knowing why, he never got to her. But at the moment – it was necessary. Four young men went downstairs, and a terrifying picture appeared before their eyes: the scuttled furniture, broken equipment, scratched walls... It was as if a hurricane had passed through here or some kind of an action movie had unfolded. And in the midst of the chaos a girl was sitting who, upon their arrival, immediately jumped to her feet. “Frankenstein!” she called out to him, but he did not answer. With absolute indifference, he walked towards what had previously been called medical equipment, ran his hand over the broken x-ray and pointed M-21 to a chair. He obeyed and sat down. An awkward silence hung in the air. “Won't you speak to me?” Lunark asked, looking at Frankenstein silently treating M-21’s wound and wrapping his head in a bandage. Frankenstein was silent. “I thought you would scream and get angry...” “Would that make sense?” he asked coldly, and the conversation faded away again. “Frankenstein...” a few minutes later, Lunark tried again. “I must talk to you.” The scientist tied a bandage on M-21’s head in a knot and said indifferently: “Speak.” “Not here,” Lunark objected. “I want you to let me out of here. And then we talk like normal people. Tell me, why are you avoiding me?” Frankenstein touched M-21 on the shoulder and nodded towards the door. “I need an answer!” Lunark demanded and seemed ready to rush forward to block the scientist’s path to the exit. He pushed the modified ones out the door, froze in the passage, took a quick look at the girl and suddenly said: “Fine. Tonight you will sleep upstairs.”

***

At night, Tao jumped at the shrill sound of a siren coming from his laptop. He, of course, assumed that was exactly what would happen. – It seemed that everyone, except Frankenstein, who had recently lost the ability to think, knew that Lunark would try to escape – but he was still scared when he heard that midnight howl. In a tiny fraction of a second, he unraveled from the blanket and jumped to the glowing screen. Well, finally they were going to make that woman show her true colours! That's all she wrote! “M-21, Takeo!” he called his comrades on the radio. “Get up! There is a signal! I'll tell you where to go.” Tao opened the footage from all the cameras in the house, scrolled through them several times and realized down-hearted: the red flashing lights were in several places at once. That cunning woman had outsmarted him once again!

***

Frankenstein was holding the girl, and she, unable to move, was lying on the cold floor. With one hand he squeezed her throat, and with the other he managed to grab her clawed hand raised above his head in time. So that was what it all came to? “What kind of a plan is it?” Frankenstein asked indignantly, squeezing her seemingly fragile wrist with his fingers more and more tightly. “You’ve decided to sneak up on me and kill me while I’m sleeping?” The girl could not answer – not a sound could escape her throat. Instead, she shook her head helplessly, as much as her position would allow. “No?” Frankenstein exclaimed, increasingly feeling his mind being enveloped by violent rage. “What is this then?” He shook her clawed paw in his hand and pressed it forcefully to the ground. Lunark's face got awry with pain, and only then did the thought occur to Frankenstein that he was hurting the girl by pressing with all his weight on her wounds that had not yet fully healed. Without really understanding why, he unclenched his fingers and loosened his grip, causing the girl to come to her senses again and clear her throat. “It’s a reflex... I didn’t have time to stop it...” Lunark said hoarsely, her eyes flashing desperately in the darkness. She would like to explain everything to him, but the words somehow stopped in her throat. But Frankenstein understood everything himself. The kettle calls the pot black. She crept up to him in the middle of the night, and he grabbed her and nailed her to the ground with all the severity of his dark aura. Don't you wake up the man with the Dark Spear. “Then what are you doing here?” he asked irritably. “I wanted to talk...” “Why even talk again?” Frankenstein exploded. “Haven’t we already discussed everything?” Lunark shook her head and replied: “You don’t want to listen to me, okay. But at least explain to me what's going on. I do not understand anything.” “Well, everything is very clear to me,” Frankenstein snapped. “You’re an ungrateful creature! Is this how you pay off your debts?” “What debts? What are you talking about?” This time it was Lunark’s turn to be indignant. “You take me, experiment on me, keep me locked up and then you’re telling me that I owe you my gratitude for this?” Frankenstein’s eyes, where genuine rage had previously sparkled, suddenly showed amazement. “I. Experiment. On you?” he said very slowly. “Yes!” the girl cried. “How else can you explain this?” She lifted her oversized shirt and showed the man the snow-white bandages he had applied. “You... don’t you remember anything at all?” he asked suspiciously, but already softer. “I – don’t remember what?” Lunark said, waiting, looking forward to an explanation. Frankenstein sat down and suddenly, quite unexpectedly, burst out laughing. His ringing laugh was charming, but at the same time frightening. “What’s up with you? You’re having so much fun, so I’m even getting jealous,” the girl pouted, looking at how the man was almost rolling on the floor laughing – apparently from a nervous shock. “I saved you, you, stupid girl,” he said, laughing. “You and I fought at first, but then... ahem, circumstances turned out that way that I decided to take you with me. You were completely insane, and even your ability to regenerate was gone. Ha-ha, and I was really thinking that you were pretending all this time.” “I? Pretending?” Lunark was amazed. “Yeah,” Frankenstein nodded. “What else could I think? You behave violently, you hurt my guys, you try to contact the Union...” “Well, yes, I know, it looks very suspicious,” the girl agreed. “But wouldn’t you do the same if you were me?” Frankenstein shrugged and nodded thoughtfully. “You know,” Lunark said a little later. “I could have left earlier.” “I know,” he replied. “So why didn’t you leave?” “Probably because you didn’t leave me on the battlefield,” Lunark sighed. “You know, I think we shouldn’t avoid each other. It's hard to love with one foot out the door.” “To love?” Frankenstein asked and turned his gaze to the lilac eyes sparkling in the darkness. Lunark smiled and, instead of answering, she wrapped her arm around his neck and left her hot, tender kiss on his cheek – she wouldn’t have dared to do anything more.

***

In the morning, when all the fuss was over, the modified ones gathered for breakfast and began to discuss the latest news with great animation. After Tao called Takeo and M-21 to his room, they swept the entire house in search of the fugitive, but found no one. They ended up coming face to face in a dark corridor with the boss, who looked somehow mysterious and a little pensive. “She ran away, boss!” Tao cried, literally jumping up and down with excitement and indignation. “No,” Frankenstein answered calmly. “I let her go myself.” “What do you mean by this?!” the three guards jumped up, but Frankenstein was not particularly eager to expand on this topic, and therefore headed to his room, briefly slurring over the shoulder: “Go to bed. I'll explain tomorrow.” And the next day he explained his home folks about what Lunark was actually doing at their house and due to which absurd misunderstanding they began to suspect each other. After the new circumstances were announced, it suddenly turned out that in fact absolutely everyone liked Lunark, they just did not seem to be on the right to openly admire her before. “And how she’s hacked the alarm!” the enchanted Tao spoke with inspiration. “Amazing!” “I wonder where she is now,” Takeo asked. Frankenstein shrugged thoughtfully. She was a free woman – free to do whatever she wanted. “Eh, I’ll miss her,” Tao sighed. “Actually, she was fun. I'll be definitely missing her. Boss, what about you?” Frankenstein raised his head absent-mindedly when he heard the question, and then for some reason he pressed his hand to his cheek and said with a modest smile: “Yes. I will, too.” He really did not want to let her go. He did not want to part. Those bonds did not get old, did not bore him. And they finally could just be themselves and not lie to each other. All they needed was a little trust.