Upon walking into the laboratory, Peter sought out Johnson Flemming, as Davy went back to Ms. Bates office. He pulled his lab coat on over his clothes and approached Johnson who was concentrating on the task in front of him.

“Morning Mr. Johnson,” Peter greeted, with a slight hand wave. Johnson looked up and smiled at Peter’s presence.

“Good morning, Peter. How are you today?”

”Well, I’m feeling a bit better thanks to my friends, but I’ve still got a cold,” Peter replied.

“Right, I’m really sorry about that. I was sure it the medicine would have worked. I never would have gotten you sick if I had been almost sure, but I was pretty sure.”

”Doesn’t pretty sure mean the same thing as almost sure?” Peter asked.

“Uh…well, I’m not sure.”

”You’re pretty not sure? Or almost not sure?”

”Just forget it, Peter. Please. I’ve made some adjustments to the formula so why don’t you try it again?” Johnson handed Peter a small beaker with a dosage measured out inside.

“Does it taste better than last time?”

”I’m not su…,” Johnson stopped to correct himself, “I don’t know. I didn’t know what it tasted like in the first place.”

Peter shrugged and titled the beaker back, letting the distasteful liquid slide down his throat. Johnson noticed the look on Peter’s face and handed him a glass of water. Peter took it graciously.

“I am sorry about all of this, you know. I didn’t really want to work on this assignment, but Ms. Bates obviously doesn’t think I’m qualified to work on the crucial experiments. I’m “in training” as she says,” Johnson said.

“What do you mean by crucial experiments?” Peter asked, out of pure curiosity, not just because of the situation, “I mean, what is considered crucial and what isn’t?”

”I don’t know. Whenever someone asks about the crucial experiments, she gets really nervous and just says that it’s confidential. She’s a strange lady. I don’t think she makes a very good boss,” Johnson paused, “Don’t tell her I said that.”

”I won’t, don’t worry,” Peter assured him, “Do you think she’s dangerous in any way? Should my me and my friends even be messing with her?”

”I don’t know about dangerous, just weird. It’s not just me either. Everyone here thinks so. Well, except for Samson, that security guard. He also defends her when he hears people talking about her. I think he has a thing for her or something.”

”Hmm, interesting,” Peter droned, his eyes moving Ms. Bates office where Davy had just disappeared, “Would you excuse me for a minute?”

”Yeah, sure.”

Peter hopped off his stool and started in the direction of the office. He could hear Johnson’s shouts of protest from behind him, but he didn’t really care. He knew Johnson didn’t actually know why he was going back there and he knew he wasn’t doing anything wrong. He reached the door and knocked on it gently. He heard Davy usher the words, “Come in,” and he did just that.

“Where’s Ms. Bates?” Peter asked, seeing her nowhere in the room.

“I don’t know. She’ll probably be here in a few minutes. I was thinking of getting another look at her files, but I wasn’t sure when she was coming back,” Davy explained.

“I was talking to Johnson and I found out that she’s doing some different experiments that no one knows about. Everyone here thinks she’s crazy because she won’t talk about them.”

”Well, at least now we know that something is going on. Before it was just as assumption,” Davy said.

“Yeah, wait ‘til-“ Peter stopped abruptly as he leaned against a wall and it gave away beneath his weight, “What the?”

“This just keeps getting weirder and weirder,” Davy concluded, walking over to the wall that Peter had just leaned against, “It’s like a secret passageway. I wonder if Mr. Wistcroft knew this was here,”

“Maybe the scientists just built it in,” Peter said.

“Nah, in three days? I doubt that. Should we?” Davy gestured towards the long narrow hallway leading down.

“Are you crazy? Of course not. Who knows what’s down there!”

”Exactly. So we go down there and find out.”

“What if Ms. Bates is down there?” Peter asked.

“Be realistic.”

”I am being realistic. She’s not here; she’s not out there. Most likely, she’s down there.”

“Come on, man,” Davy grabbed Peter’s arm and drug him down the stairs. Peter extended his hand, feeling the wall of the stairwell all the way down in the complete darkness while Davy led the way. Up ahead a green light was shining in from the great room at the bottom of the stairs. They came out, squinting at the bright glowing rays that enlightened the dark room.

“Well,” Peter began.

“I don’t see her here anywhere. We’re fine.” Davy pushed away from the stairwell, and went to explore the newfound addition to the club they thought they knew so well, “What is all this stuff?”

“If only I had my camera,” Peter said. Davy chuckled at the comment, stopping in front of a table with various jars of liquid in them.

“I half expected to see brains and stuff floating in all these containers. What do all these say? I can’t read them,”

”Davy, I didn’t know that. How come you never told us? I can hel-“ Davy shook his head and interrupted him.

“No, no, it’s too dark. I can’t see the labels on them.”

“Oh, let me see it,” Peter took one of the jars and walked over to one of them green lamps, holding it up to read it, “It says,” he paused, reading the label, “A bunch of letters and numbers and then in parentheses it says,” he paused again, squinting. But soon his eyes widened as he ran back over to Davy, “Oh my God.”

“What? What?”

“It says, it says,” Peter stuttered.

“It says what? It says what?”

“Mind control,” Peter said, his eyes still wide.

“Mind…mind control?” Davy started laughing, “That’s ridiculous. Now I know she’s crackers.”

“We should probably get outta here. We might get caught,” Peter warned, “I wonder if there’s a back door or something?”

”I dunno. I think I’ll just go back the way we came in. Since I have to go back to her office anyway to wait for her because she’s late.”

Peter nodded as he came across another door, “You don’t think an alarm will sound or anything do you?”

“Just come up with me. Who knows where that door leads?” Davy suggested. Peter shrugged and followed Davy back up the stairs. When they reached the top, their worst fears came true.

“Well, well, well. Hello, Mr. Jones,” Ms. Bates crossed her arms over her chest. Davy instinctively backed up, causing Peter to be visible as well, “And Mr. Tork. Why what a surprise!”

“I think we omitted one tiny, little detail,” Peter commented, as Davy stood frozen in front of him.

“Lock the door.” Samson obeyed the woman’s strong command and locked the door of her office. “I’d turn right back around boys because you aren’t going anywhere.”

“Petah, turn around. Do what she says, Petah. Turn around and walk,” Davy pushed back against Peter who slowly turned around, “Better yet, run, Petah. Run.”

Ms. Bates and Samson came to the stairwell and began shoving them down. Samson stayed behind, closing the door of their secret passage. Davy and Peter walked back down the familiar stairway, coming out in the room with the glowing green lights. Ms. Bates walked to one side of the room, flipping a switch to brighten the room with normal colored lights, the green lights growing dim.

“Samson, strap Peter up. Prepare him for the C511,” Ms. Bates demanded. Samson grasped a hold of Peter’s arm and began pulling him in a different direction. Davy reached out towards Peter, but Ms. Bates forcefully turned him towards her.

“What does that mean? The C511?” Davy asked, shooting glances at Peter who was being tied to a board.

“It’s a code we use so no one knows what we’re talking about,” Ms. Bates stopped, putting a hand on Peter’s chest, “But I wouldn’t worry, Davy. It’s not like C511 is fatal.” She then began laughing.

“That’s just a trick, right? To throw me off! Laughing like you did,” Davy concluded. “There’s nothing wrong, you’re not gonna do anything to him.”

“Oh, aren’t I?” Ms. Bates raised a syringe and began filling it with a liquid; the C511. Davy’s eyes widened.

“But you can’t!” Davy said.

”I wanted employees I could trust!” Ms. Bates sneered. “But you! You just meddle in my business, trying to find anything you can get your hands on. Well, I won’t have it. No one is going to find out my plans.”

“Oh yeah? What do you think I’m gonna do? Keep this all to myself?” Davy said. “The minute I get out of here, I’m going to the cops. And you will pay!”

”That’s what I thought you’d say,” she replied. “But I have news for you. You won’t remember any of this.” Ms. Bates approached Peter who was now securely strapped up and couldn’t move. His sleeve had been rolled up, ready to receive the injection. Davy took a step forward, but instantly Samson grabbed both his arms, holding him back.

“Let me go! Petah!” Davy shouted. He fought against the strong binds holding him, but to no avail. All he could do was watch helplessly as the needle pierced Peter’s skin.