Lukas stood frozen from the other side of the room as he watched Mathias open his eyes and begin to writhe around on the table. He let out a few grunts as he tried to slide his wrists and ankles out of the cuffs. Lukas clenched his jaw and watched on as Mathias slowly turned his head and stared directly at him. Lukas stared back, his mouth opened slightly as he tried to think of what he could possibly say.

"You-" Mathias choked out, his voice dry as his brows furrowed. Lukas took a few steps forwards and watched as Mathias tensed up. "You're from the coffee shop. Why are you here? Why am I here? Did you kidnap me?" he shouted, his right eye twitching as he glared at Lukas.

 "I work here- I don't know how to explain this" Lukas uttered, his voice shaking. 

"Well you better hurry up because as soon as I get out of here you're dead. I don't know what sick, twisted scheme this is but I'm putting an end to it" Mathias threatened. 

"No- You're in a biology laboratory. I have nothing to do with this but I heard screaming coming from this floor and I came down to see what was going on. I didn't know the lab was running human experiments" Lukas explained, trying to sound innocent as the angry Dane scowled at him from the table. Mathias's facial expression softened. 

"Human experiments?!" 

"I'd love to share all the twisted details but I need to get you out of here. I can't let an innocent person die on my watch" Lukas muttered, not meaning to say the last part out loud. 

"Die?!" Mathias asked, his eyes wide as Lukas began to fiddle with the cuffs around his wrists. Lukas didn't respond but instead furrowed his brows, wondering how he could possibly set the Dane free. 

"I'm going to try and see if there's something in the cupboard to unlock these cuffs" Lukas spoke, heading back across the room towards the large metal cupboard. Mathias squirmed again as Lukas opened the drawers, searching for a key. As he rummaged through the cupboard, he found tools, bottles of various chemicals, and surgical equipment. Frustrated, Lukas returned to the computer and sat down. He figured if there were no mechanical way to release Mathias there must have been a digital lock. 

Returning to the desktop, Lukas searched around before opening a folder labelled "applications" and soon found the software for a security system. Lukas double clicked and a window popped up asking for identification. Lukas took the chief's i.d out of his pocket and inserted it into a slot at the front of the console. As soon as the computer verified the identification, Lukas was granted access to the security system of the entire 16th floor. 

Lukas searched the window before finally finding a box labelled "Testing Table". Lukas clicked on the box revealing a tab with a myriad of different possibilites including changing the temperature of the table, tightening the restraints, and increasing its length. He scrolled down until he found "Release Test Subject (further verification required)". 

"I think I found it" Lukas spoke, causing Mathias to stop writhing. Mathias was getting extremely impatient. He had been held down for far too long. He was starting to feel claustrophobic.

Lukas clicked on the option and inserted the chief's i.d into the computer one more time. Immediately Lukas heard the cuffs around Mathias creak open, allowing him to break free and finally get off of the freezing cold lab table he had been attached to for far too long. Mathias let out a grunt as he stood up and felt the blood rush to his legs. The Dane nearly fell over and Lukas forced himself to supress his laughter as he watched Mathias reacquaintance himself with walking. 

Lukas was about to speak before he saw a flashing light out of the corner of his eye. Turning back towards the computer, Lukas noticed a flashing red box saying "FURTHER VERIFICATION REQUIRED". Furrowing his brow, Lukas noticed a timer counting down from 1 minute next to a box asking for a password. 

"Fuck" Lukas let out, watching as the timer slowly dwindled from 59 seconds to 58 and then 57. Not knowing what to do, Lukas took the i.d out of the computer and then re-inserted it, hoping it would stop the timer. When nothing happened, he began to panic. He didn't know the password. He wasn't exactly sure what was going to happen when the timer hit 0, but he knew it wasn't going to be good.

"What's wrong?" Mathias asked, suddenly walking over to the computer as he watched Lukas furiously type random numbers into the password box. 

"The computer is requiring additional verification but I don't have the password. I don't have access to this floor and I stole the chief's key card so that I could get down here in the first place" Lukas explained, eliciting a shocked look from Mathias. 

"So what happens when the timer hits zero?" the Dane questioned as Lukas continued typing arbitrary numbers into the computer. 

"I don't know. But I have a feeling neither of us are going to want to find out" Lukas replied as the timer hit 20 seconds. "I think this password is what gives us access to the elevator. Without it I don't know how we'll get out of here."

"How do you not know the password? Don't you work here?" Mathias asked, this time his voice a little higher than usual.

"Like I said, I don't have access to this floor. I didn't even know this lab was running human experiments, so I doubt the chief would have told me the code to release the test subjects" Lukas shot back coldly, shutting Mathias up as the timer hit 5 seconds. Lukas let out a frustrated sigh and resulted to whacking the computer with his hand before the timer finally hit zero. 

As soon as it hit zero the computer flashed "Intruder Alert" in bright red letters. In the following few seconds, all the lights went out and were replaced with alternating flashes of red and white light. Lukas shot up from his seat as an extremely loud alarm bell rang out in the metallic room. 

"We have to get out of here" the Norwegian stated calmly, his eyes quickly scanning the entire room for a possible escape. Mathias watched on and followed silently as Lukas ran over to the elevator and tried to pry it open before giving up. Lukas turned to find another exit but ran right into Mathias, knocking him over onto the metallic floor. Mathias let out a yelp and Lukas quickly shot up in embarrassment and panic.

"Do you have any idea where your clothes are? This is extremely uncomfortable" Lukas asked, yelling slightly over the alarm bell. Mathias shrugged. 

"I have no idea considering I've been drugged and chained to a table for the past however many days" Mathias shot back sarcastically. Lukas rolled his eyes and took off his lab coat. He then proceeded to pull off his pants before handing them and the coat to Mathias, who had a surprised look on his face. 

"Put these on" Lukas demanded, suddenly feeling extremely glad that the red flashes of light were there to cover his extremely red face. As Mathias struggled to fit into the Norwegian's clothes, Lukas searched the perimeter of the room for another escape route. He knew there wasn't much time before someone came to see what was wrong. 

It only took a few more seconds of searching before Lukas found a vent that was just big enough for them to fit through. Lukas quickly ran over to the metallic cabinet and took out a wrench before unscrewing 3 of the four bolts of the vent opening. Sliding it open, Lukas revealed a tunnel that he assumed led outdoors. He knew they were quite far underground, but he figured crawling until they found an exit was more practical than getting caught. 

"Mathias over here!" Lukas shouted, watching on as the man fiddled with the zipper of his slacks. The Dane was at least 2 inches taller than Lukas and much more muscular, so his pants looked like capris on him. Lukas bit his lip as he tried not to laugh at how ridiculous the man looked. He was shirtless underneath the lab coat and the pants made him look like he was preparing for a flood. 

Lukas quickly turned his attention away from the Dane as he looked across the room and noticed that the panel above the elevator was now lit up. The elevator was on floor 6 and was slowly approaching 16. "Someone's coming" Lukas stated, crawling into the vent as he began to panic. 

"This is how we're getting out?" Mathias asked, crawling in after him before sliding the vent door back into place. 

"Do you have a better idea?" Lukas shot back sassily. That immedaitely shut Mathias up. Lukas began to crawl but paused as he heard the alarm bell stop. He held a finger to his lips and looked back at Mathias, who was only a few feet from the opening. 

Suddenly Lukas heard the doors of the elevator open. Turning himself around, Lukas squirmed back towards Mathias as quietly as possible and peered through the vent to find the chief and another head scientist come running into the room. Lukas's heart began to pound. 

"What the fuck?! Where is it?" the chief yelled, looking over at the empty table as the other scientist ran towards the computer. 

"Your i.d is here" the other scientist exclaimed, holding up the key card Lukas had forgotten to take out of the computer. Lukas shivered as he watched on, curious to see what would happen next. The chief promptly reached down to where he usually kept his key card and furrowed his brow as he realized it was missing. 

"Someone must've stolen it from me this morning. This is not good. We need to check the cameras and the tracking device" the chief replied, grabbing his key card out of the man's hand and shoving it in his pocket. The chief scanned the room once again and furrowed his brow before heading back into the elevator with the other scientist. Lukas turned from the vent opening as the two men disappeared behind the elevator doors. 

"Fuck."