Lab rats

For the sake of testing, Eve and Victor went deep into the forest. It was important that the amount of living creatures around was minimal. Victor had ordered every animal to run away as far as they could. Without singing of birds and with the wind being completely calm today, the forest became unnervingly quiet. The rustle of dry leaves and grass under Eve's feet was as loud as the crinkling of a crisps packet in a cinema.

The testing program didn't only record the data, but also put it into Victor's log, which allowed Eve access it without additional body contact—the amount of information gained from testing was small enough to allow that. The purpose of the testing was to find out which parts of the Victor's core worked when he used different aspects of his superpower. More importantly, Eve needed to find which of them worked when he didn't use it at all. Since his telepathy worked all the time and had a wide range, the only way to do it was full isolation.

Which meant that after gathering the data about Victor's core when only she was around, Eve needed to leave too. She knew that her presence was going to be a big part of testing, and it was necessary to learn how to eliminate it from the results.

These two tests were only the beginning. Reading thoughts of different animals from different distances and in different amounts, reading their memories, giving them orders and many other things—Eve made Victor run tests until dark with breaks only for food. To her slight surprise, he was very cooperative and didn't show any signs of his OCD acting up. Still, there was much more work to do.

To do it well, some rest was necessary, or at least Xia and Celina thought so, because next morning, before Eve could move on to the next series of tests, she was dragged by them to sit and talk and, as Celina called it with a grin, "chat between us, girls".

"Was everything alright today? Does Mister Kraust bother you in any way, Eve? Just say that he does and I will… Readily drive you away from there!" Celina put her fist to her chest.

"It's good that you know the limits of your capabilities." Eve smiled wryly. "Everything was great until you two interrupted my schedule."

"That's because we care, Sister Eve! We just wanted to make sure that you not only work, but rest too. You are even working in your sleep, at least relax a little when you're awake!" Xia looked at Eve with her big, shiny, almost tearful eyes.

"Enough. It's not tiring if I enjoy it." Eve didn't want to hear another thing about potential harm of her workaholism, so she hurried to switch a topic. "What about you two?"

Celina's eyes lit up. "Xia showed me the awesome upgrade you had made for her. She could just tell with a glance where someone's vulnerable points are. She now only needs a single hit to make me curl on the ground and cry!"

"Lin-Lin, you liar! I didn't make you curl and cry! I was gentler than that!" Xia pouted and slightly slapped his shoulder.

Celina dramatically clutched the place she hit and howled in pain. She bent in two, almost falling from the couch, and looked at Xia with mock sadness. "Xia, I'm dying, all because of you… You hit my vulnerable point… Why must you be so cruel?.. Oh woe, woe on me!"

Xia immediately rushed to her side and grabbed her palm. She attempted to look worried, but her wide smile made them all void. "Lin-Lin, I'm sorry! It was an accident," She brought Celina's palm to her chest and her expression suddenly turned heartfelt. "but it was you who hit my vulnerable point first. My most vulnerable point—my heart!"

"Xia…" Celina breathed out. "But I…"

With the two lovebirds being in their own world again, nothing stopped Eve from sneaking away. She wondered how Victor could bear all that PDA when he wasn't able to stop hearing Xia's and Celina's mushy words, even if he filled his ears with wax. 'He is probably as eager to get to the testing grounds as I am.'

⠀

For today's testing, Eve didn't ask Victor to prepare more animals. Animals' minds were much simpler than humans, which is why they were so easy to control. This time, the one to assist him would be Eve herself. The idea of letting someone right into her most valuable asset—mind—was nerve-wracking, but it was for the sake of science, Victor and science again, so she clenched her teeth and moved past the fear.

Victor himself, though, did not. "Forget it, Doctor Ziffer. Skip this part."

Eve shook her head. In this remote place there were no other possible test subjects besides herself, Celina and Xia, and she didn't wish for any of them to suffer in her stead. There were no risks for her physical or mental health either. Just some discomfort. Skipping the tests wasn't an option either—it would highly increase the risk that something would go wrong with Victor later, in the process of blocking his superpower. And that could actually be dangerous.

Victor read all these reasons in her mind, but they couldn't convince him. In this moment, the only sound in his ears was the beating of Eve's fear, resonating with his own. What if he hurts her? What if he accidentally unearths some deep secrets in her memory that she didn't wish for anyone to know? Would she hate him for that? Victor really didn't want for her to. He didn't wish to feel her hate directed at him.

After not getting any further response from him, Eve looked at Victor's stone-like face and pursed her lips. 'Test subject is uncooperative,' she thought wryly. Eve's anxiety dissipated when she realised that the first person who she needed to calm down was Victor himself. 'I miss the time when I had other people to deal with situations like these.'

When Eve's emotions changed, so did Victor's. He let out a breath and his shoulders relaxed. His face livened up a little, only for his brows to furrow. "I won't use my powers on you, Doctor Ziffer."

Eve rubbed the bridge of her nose. "I thought you were a rational man, Victor. At least, earlier you didn't express any protests about this part of the testing. It's you who wanted my help, and now you refuse to help yourself, and why exactly? I didn't catch it."

Victor's face darkened further. Indeed, originally, while he was uncomfortable about using his powers to probe deeper into Eve's mind or influence it (harmlessly, of course), he wasn't against it this much. It was only when he felt Eve's palpable fear that he found himself unable to proceed. He knew that this reason wasn't enough to convince Eve to back off.

He was torn. An idea of returning to the society, or whatever was left of it, was like a piece of fresh meat dangling in front of him, but his hands could not lift and reach it, and all because of that irrational fear. What was worse, he could feel a burning desire awakening in his chest more and more with each second of Eve opposing him like she did. It was a desire to make her submit to his will, just for the sake of it.

Eve watched the slightest twitches of Victor's face and his clenching fists with rapt attention, trying to find the reason for his sudden stubbornness. She tried to remember what she heard about psychology—not her favourite subject, but it was impossible to not catch a thing there and there when you had an active mind that starved for knowledge.

'If Victor had a valid reason, he'd say so. In other words, this must be stemming from something emotional… Could he be afraid of his OCD acting up when he is interacting with my mind?' Eve mused. 'It was calm before, though. I think that clear routines and schedules make a good job of calming it.'

"Yes, they do," Victor's rigid voice suddenly interrupted Eve's thoughts. His eyes were piercing her with an unreadable glare, and his oppressing presence, which Eve had thought she got used to, became more terrifying than ever. In this moment, as he stood in that quiet forest clearing, he looked akin to the Lucifer himself—a demon who wouldn't stop until he ruled the entire world.

It made all the warning bells in Eve's head ring in unison. She frowned. When Victor made a step towards her, she needed to force herself to not make a step back.

"But sometimes it's not enough."