This is probably my favorite chapter, because, well... that will be explained later :)

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When Louise woke up that morning, she immediately thrusted out the letter from its encasement within the back of the pillow case. To her great fortune and unfortunate, the letter was still there. Subsequent to reading it, she had a restless night, full of tossing and turning, and staring blatantly at the ceiling. Now that she was awake, she was finally able to make a decision - was she going or not? After all, the first person to write something to her that included a man and a coat did not exactly give her a box of chocolates with a wide smile, saying, "Will you be my Valentine?" No, that man was one to steer clear of at any and all costs. And then comes along this "Man in the White Lab Coat." Was he any different? Was he a full on psychopath? And now, he's inquiring for her to come with him - how ludicrous! Sure, she was inquisitive of the entire situation, but was she willing to risk her life to find out what was at the bottom of that rabbit hole? Louise reread the letter, just for the sake of it, and folded, shoving it into the drawer of her nightstand. Then again, he doesn't have to be a psychopath; he could just be an associate - an accomplice. For wealth perhaps? Anyone would do anything for wealth, Louise knew that, but it didn't seem like a reasonable plan. That dreadful trench-coated man was undoubtedly profoundly more intelligent than coming up with plans such as this one. This probably would've been ranked first place on the list of "Worst Plans - Ever." And besides, capturing her was one thing. Capturing her PIC, was a whole new story altogether. Still, what if he wasn't on his side? What if he was trying to help her? Louise was sure lunatics didn't provide warning notes for his or her victims - unless he was on of those really ill-minded people who thought that everyone should like them or whatever. But. If she did go, and he tried to attack her, could she... No, Louise! Everyone around you might have gone a bit loony, but as long as you're in the right mind, you'll be fine. Louise began pacing. She hadn't the faintest idea how walking back and forth would inspire any new ideas, but she was desperate. After walking back and forth for roughly five minutes, she made a decision for the better or the worse. She was going. But she was going go to prepared.

***

"I'm going onto the front porch, Mom!" Louise yelled from the hallway.

"Alright, honey! I'll be upstairs if you need me!" called her mother from above. The hammer in Louise's jacket was a lot more heavier than she realized, and it painfully banged against her hip as she thrusted open the door to reveal her large wooden porch. She winced, but held her ground. The slight breeze of spring brushed against her cheek as it swept into the trees, making them shiver in its grasp, and the grass shook restlessly as it was nearing towards it. The clouds dotted the sky in big tufts, one taking slight resemblance to a bird, and another appearing as a distorted beast, spewing out fire from it's open mouth. Rays of light smiled down from the heavens, igniting everything in its wake with blinding light. If it wasn't for all of the weaponized items hidden within the makeshift pockets of her jacket, it could have been Louise merely taking a stroll on a lovely Sunday. Unconsciously, Louise fingered the pronounced outline of the hammer sticking out from her jacket. Somehow, it provided her with some solace, knowing that if any harm were to get in her way, she had come prepared. But what if he has a tranquilizer like the police back in England? Then what? I'm fairly sure I won't be able to get to my hammer quick enough! The sudden realization made her eyes widen. No, she had to go. One way or another the favor will lie with her. Anxiously, Louise glanced down at her digital watch. It was only three-fifty five. Queer, it was. It felt as if she had stood on that porch for at least half an hour. She slumped into her swinging chair, and took comfort that the cushions were lined with fur-like texture, which Louise immediately snuggled in closer against. The thought of going into an unknown destination once again was dreadful. She had just gotten back! Louise glanced back at the white door, some of paint beginning to peel off, indicating of its age. She didn't care how old it was; it was home. And that was all that mattered. But who was this French guy? If she stayed within the safety of her home, shielded from all of the wickedness and evil from outside, where would that get her? And the trench-coated man had already proved himself to be more than capable of sneaking into her house. Suddenly Louise felt that there was nowhere that she would be able to call safe again. As the thought trailed through her mind, a black van pulled up in the front of the yard. Wonderful. Sticking to the clichéd the-guy-in-the-black-van-captures-the-defenseless-person idea. Louise fingered the hammer one more time to make sure that it was still secure. And without another thought or reluctance, she made her way over the car. Silently, the window rolled down to reveal a clean-shaven with man with unusual blue-gray eyes in casual wear of jeans and a t-shirt. Small patches of his brown hair were also beginning to turn silver.

"Oh-oh, I'm sorry. I thought you were-"

"I am. Sit where ever you like. I'll explain everything once we reach the laboratory, and you might as well get comfortable," he said, gripping the wheel tightly. Flabberghasted that he didn't try to her murder in the first five seconds of meeting her, she opened the car door next to him, having the hammer bang into the door as she did so. "I'm not even going to begin asking you what's in your jacket." Louise couldn't help but crack a smile, and clicked in the seat belt.

***

The man remained silent for most of the ride and only spoke to Louise when they got to the laboratory. The van pulled up to a parking lot, where it happened to be that no one else was there. The man cut the engine, and in a graceful fashion, stepped out from the car. Louise, on the other hand, banged her head against the ceiling of the car as she tried to step out from it. Though the man looked impassive, and merely averted his eyes. Louise rubbed forehead, disgust rising in her throat. He could have at least asked if she was okay. The laboratory was an unimpressive, brick building, consisting of a rectangular base and rectangular windows lining the outer walls.

"Um, are you working for anyone?" Louise asked out of sheer curiosity. He hesitated a moment.

"No," he replied. "And we better hurry up. He might already be here." He began to quicken his pace towards the entrance of the building, and Louise ended up jogging beside him.

"Whoa, whoa. What do you mean by 'he'? Is he The Man in the Cream-colored Trench Coat?" she asked. The man snorted.

"Trying to be vague, are we?" he whispered underneath his breath to no one in particular. As they neared the entrance of a set of black double doors, he produced a small ring of keys. He jiggled one of the keys into the lock of the door, and it swung open with a little shove. He stood aside, holding his hand out. Louise, pleased by the gesture walking inside the building. The lobby consisted of a lone oak table, four mini maroon sofas, and one white desk that matched the white walls. Now the man was in front of her, walking into the hall beside the desk, and Louise was back to jogging again to catch up. The man walked up to a silver elevator that was at the other end of the hall, and pressed a button, which immediately lit up at his touch. It was only a few moments before the doors of the elevator slid open to reveal entirely metallic interior. Without waiting to check if Louise was following -who was now at his heels-, he stepped inside, pressing another button. Louise quickly rushed into the elevator, leaning her back against a wall.

"So, who are you? A name would suffice," she said as the man stood in front of the doors, his hands, palms up behind him.

"I'm Arthur Wentworth, and if you want to know the current state of events, I would suggest you stop asking questions until we get to my lab," he said, his voice as hard as steel. The door slid open, and this time Arthur did not wait for Louise to go first, walking off to somewhere. Louise rushed out of the elevator, jogging beside him as he produced the same ring of keys again. The hall they were walking through now was of white walls and dimly lit interior. She could barely make out the tan-colored floor. A myriad of rooms lined the walls beside Louise. They halted outside of an arbitrary room on the right, and Arthur produced the same ring of keys she had seen earlier. With great haste, he unlocked the door and held it open for her, as she grudgingly trudged inside. Fortunately, there were no torture tools or any weapons, and instead, a white table with cabinets above it were -from what Louise could see- an array of various bottles containing unknown substances. On opposites sides of the table were two black counters with drawers underneath them. A lone window was situated next to her. On the whole, it felt sort of cramped. Arthur shrugged on a white lab coat, shut the blinds on the window, and sat down on a stool that stood beside the table. Louise took it as her cue to also sit down, and so, she did. He knit his hands together on the table with a face devoid of any and all emotion.

"I... suppose I should start with that man you mentioned earlier?" he inquired.

"That would be preferable." Arthur took a steady breath, stealing a glimpse at the window. "His name is Scott Frenchmen, and though he has a French accent-"

"Wait. A French accent? You know... when, er, I went to England by plane... Can I tell you some weird hallucination I had?" He nodded intently. "Well, er, see, I didn't go by plane... or alone. I sort of teleported from a fortune cookie, I think. And when we were in England we were at this school, looking for these two other people, and my friend is a mind reader, so he said everyone was brainwashed. Apparently some kind of French-accented guy was hypnotizing them or something." Arthur looked at Louise strangely, as if he wasn't surprised by the news, yet...

"Yes, that is Frenchmen, alright. But I might as well say right away that that hallucination was no hallucination but a legitimate memory," he replied. Louise opened in her mouth, but closed it when Arthur held up a finger.

"I'll get to that later. Anyway, he's not actually French. Apparently there some kind of trip he went on to France for one month and when he got back, he couldn't rid himself of the French accent," Arthur exclaimed chuckling. But suddenly, his face turned grave like a dark cloud covering the beaming sun. "Anyway, he was a scientist, working in this laboratory, and so was this other woman named Jane Marshall, who was probably the most smartest person I have ever known. And funniest. But mostly smart. This laboratory works on to enhance genetics - makes people a more enhanced version of themselves. And Jane thought up of this brilliant idea. Well, first, I should probably provide a brief explanation, I suppose. See, our brains have these electric impulses, but they're almost non-existent, and Jane had come up with this idea that if we can derive enough electromagnetic energy, we can enhance those impulses. And what we can do with that has an infinite number of possibilities. If you're wondering how we managed to attain this energy, do you know where the main source of electromagnetic energy comes from?"

"The sun?" Louise replied without a moment of hesitation. Having a nerd as a friend had its perks.

"Smart girl. Yes, so we installed solar panels on the roofs. When we gathered enough energy, we reached out to companies if we could form some sort of companionship, so that we could share resources amongst each other, because we desperately needed test subjects, but they all declined. Desperate, Jane tested her theory on herself. Frenchmen disapproved it profoundly when he found out, telling her that she could've died due to the great exposure of radiation. And yet, she didn't. However, initially she claimed that she felt most odd, like she could run an infinite number of laps with feeling the slightest bit tired. Later, we began the tests, and that was when we realized our experiment had worked - not in the way we planned, but it worked. She had the ability to move objects with her mind, spew fire from her fingertips, shapeshift into any animal she desired, and a lot more. Throughout the testing, Frenchmen had developed some kind of a romantic relationship with Jane, and he married her. At the time, Frenchmen was a great guy who was open-minded, generous, and compassionate. And many people approved of the betrothal. As the testings progressed, so did Jane's ability. She was now able to read minds and levitate an inch or two off the ground. She called it as, 'situated levitation.' One day, Frenchmen asked if he could perhaps try the test on himself as well, but Jane had claimed that the abilities should not be used for self-gain, and she herself wished to rid of them; everything was just too tempting all of a sudden. As Frenchmen examined each test, he grew more enveloped in the prospect of acquiring abilities. Frenchmen ultimately became aggressive and most not like himself, and Jane grew frightened, so she went to talk to a friend of hers. As Frenchmen's anger progressed, so did Jane's visits to her friend, and finally a romantic relationship began to formulate. Some time later, Jane became pregnant, and she claimed that the child was Frenchmen's when in reality, it was her friend's. Though, of course, Frenchmen was not so easily fooled and found out about the affair. Now his anger boiled over in jealousy and hatred. To make sure Jane got what she deserved, he disguised himself as a doctor at the hospital where the baby was to be born, and switched out Jane's baby for a dead one. Jane was completely distraught. And so, for sixteen long years, she had thought that her beloved child was dead when her daughter was really in the hands of another kind family."

"Which family?" Louise asked. Arthur paused, as if unsure to continue. Finally, he mustered enough courage, and resumed.

"A family with blonde hair, blue eyes, and pronounced cheekbones. However, their daughter, looks much like her biological mother with beautiful chestnut hair and curious, gray eyes - the Melóns."