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Anton followed Flaviu through the many hallways in the building. He was sure that he would get lost the next time he wanted to go to his room, or anywhere. He needed to walk around more and make mental notes. He tried to do that now, but Flaviu was walking so fast he couldn't remember anything quick enough. 

Finally, Flaviu stopped outside a gray door. He turned to Anton and smiled. "Here's your room. There is a change of clothes in there that I would prefer that you wear when you come to the lab. You are allowed to wear your own clothes, but please make sure you're not in the lab when you're wearing them." He reached inside his pocket and pulled out a card. "Here's your keycard. You can use this to get into any door that you are allowed to go into. Whenever you get an upgrade here, you go down to the front desk and ask for the receptionist to upgrade your card." He swiped the card over the handle and opened the door. "Have a nice rest of the day. I'll see you first thing tomorrow morning." He handed Anton his card and walked off. 

Anton watched Flaviu disappear around the corner and then walked into his new room. He closed the door behind him and looked around. The room was fairly small. There was a small bed sitting against the wall across from him with a dresser sitting right beside it. A dark wooden desk sat to his right with glass shelves above it. 

He walked over to his bed and dropped his luggage onto it. He unzipped the luggage and started to unpack all of his belongings. He placed his clothes inside the dresser and his books on the shelves. He grabbed his bathroom supplies and walked through a door that he assumed to be his bathroom. It was. 

The bathroom was white with a sink on one side and a stand-up shower on the opposite. A toilet sat beside the shower. He placed the rest of his belongings on the top of the sink. Organizing them by height. 

Walking back out of the bathroom, he decided that he should go for a walk and explore the rest of the lab. He took a notebook from the shelf and a pen and walked out of the door. Before he closed the door, he made sure he had grabbed the card that Flaviu had given him. Once he made sure that he had it, he placed it in his back pocket. 

He walked down the hallways, and, turning a corner he ran into a body. The person started to fall when Anton reached out quickly and grabbed them. He pulled them up and looked down into a pair of soft, blue eyes. A girl. She had long, black hair and delicate features. 

He found himself staring and quickly let go of her. "I'm sorry," he apologized to her. "I wasn't watching where I was going."

"Oh, that's all right," she smiled at him and brushed off her clothes. She was wearing a long-sleeved floral t-shirt and a pair of jeans. On her feet were white sandals. "You're the new guy, aren't you?"

"Yeah, I am." Anton rubbed the back of his neck. "My name's Anton."

The girl smiled wide and stuck out her hand. "It's very nice to meet you, Anton. I'm Victoria Vasile."

He met her hand with his own and shook it. "It's nice to meet you too, Victoria."

"Are you lost?" Her large eyes looked at him with curiosity. Her head tilted to the side. 

Anton shyly smiled. "Yeah, I am. I was just going to walk around and explore and figure my way back to my room."

Victoria laughed. Anton didn't know what was so funny. He just stood there with his hands in his pockets with his shoulders shrugged up to his shoulders. "You'll never be able to find your way through this place without someone's help, Anton. Trust me, it took me almost a whole year to learn this place." She turned around and motioned for Anton to follow her. "Come on, I'll show you around."

Anton started to follow her. "Why did it take you that long?"

"Because this place was built to confuse intruders. Once you learn all the different kinds of shortcuts and all the different passages, you'll be fine." Victoria had a skip to her step and a smile plastered on her face. "Have you been outside yet?"

Anton shook his head. "Nope."

She then took his hand and pulled him down the hallway. "Well then, come on. I'll show you." She led him down to the first floor of the building and out the glass doors. 

The sun was still shining in the sky and the birds were still chirping. They walked down the stone pathway until Victoria decided to run off the path and into the woods. 

"Wait, Victoria!" Anton, caught off guard by her sudden take-off, ran after her. She was far ahead of him and with every turn, he would only get a glimpse of her shoes before losing sight of her.

Wow, she can run fast, he thought to himself as he worked to control his breathing. He almost tripped over several roots. 

Finally, he found her kneeling down with her back to him. He slowed down and stopped next to her. Placing his hands on his knees, while trying to catch his breath, he asked her, "What was that about?" When she didn't answer, he looked over his shoulder to see her holding a baby bird. "Uh."

"Isn't he cute?" Victoria asked. She looked up at him and smiled. "I heard him fall out of his nest." She stood up and pointed up to the tree next to her. 

Anton looked up at the tree and then back at her. "Wait, you heard it fall? What do you mean? We ran a long way."

Victoria didn't answer him. Instead, her legs grew longer as she moved up to a tree branch. Anton backed up suddenly and watched with his mouth open while Victoria placed the baby bird back in its nest. When she was done, her legs shrunk back to normal size as she descended down. She turned around and looked at Anton who was still gaping at her. 

"Close your mouth," she scolded him while crossing her arms. "You can swallow a bug." She then turned abruptly and walked away from him. 

Anton closed his mouth quickly and caught up to her. "Wait! Can you tell me what happened back there?"

Victoria sighed and stopped walking. She turned to him and crossed her arms again. "Do you really want to know? You haven't figured it out?"

"I really want to know."

Victoria shifted on her feet, studying his face before telling him, "It started when I first got a job here about three years ago. I was a receptionist, and they don't get paid as much as the scientists here, so when one of the scientists wanted to do an experiment, he asked me. He said that he would pay me to allow him to perform experiments on me. I accepted. He wanted to make a human with robotic abilities, so he tried it on me. As you can see it was successful, but not exactly what he wanted. What he truly wanted – I don't know – but he held my money away from me until I agreed to keep helping me." She looked down and shrugged. "You know what they say, 'Money talks!' He kept doing experiments on me until he was fired. He made me the way I am now."

Anton looked down at the ground. "So, that explains you being able to hear the bird fall out of its nest?"

Victoria nodded. "I know, I'm a freak."

He looked at her and gave her a small smile. "I don't think you're a freak, Victoria."

She picked her head up fast. Her eyes held surprised. "You don't?"

"No." He took her hand and pulled her back through the woods. "Come on. You told me you would show me the rest of the place."

Victoria laughed and the smile that was once on her face was there once more. She ran up to him and pulled him back to the lab. 

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Later that day, when the sun was just beginning to set, Victoria walked Anton to his room. They stopped right outside the door and Anton turned to look at her. 

"Thanks for showing me around today," Anton said to her. "I wouldn't have found my way back to my room if it weren't for you."

Victoria laughed and nodded. "You're welcome, Anton. I'll meet you back here tomorrow morning, right?"

Anton smiled. "Sure. Goodnight, Victoria."

"Goodnight, Anton." She smiled at him, turned away, and walked down the hallway.

Anton watched her disappear around the corner before swiping his card over the door handle and walked into his room. He placed his notebook and pen on his desk and started to get ready for bed. When he was ready, he lay down in his bed and stared up at the ceiling. 

He couldn't wait for tomorrow. He wondered what they would be having him do. All he knew was that he was going to be personally working with Flaviu Arterberry. He couldn't wait. 

Finally, he closed his eyes and fell into a deep sleep.

Hi! What do you guys think about Victoria?

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