Teams of Two

"Well, we got some time for ourselves." Aiden said to Jenna.

"Yes, we do, but we also have to make sure we don't die." Jenna stayed focused.

"Can't we, y'know.... take some time off?" Aiden suggested.

"Not until we make sure the whole mansion is clear." Jenna smiled. "Then we can have fun." She said with a smirk and a quick glance at Aiden.

Aiden was very excited to hear that. Maybe their first time spending a night together in a proper house.

They went through the mansion, room by room, cupboard after cupboard, and found almost nothing that they can use, other than a few pieces of clothing.

Then they got to the kitchen, it was essentially the biggest kitchen they had seen.

There were so many cupboards, big ovens, and a couple of microwaves, it looked good. Across the door were two very large fridges. Aiden and Jenna glanced at each other for a few seconds before nodding and heading to the fridges.

"Think there is anything in there?" Aiden started.

"I'm just imagining pizza, burger, onion rings, fries and a caesar's salad." Jenna fantasised.

"I just want food, I don't care what it is to be honest." Aiden wished for food.

They got close to the fridges and grabbed a hold of each fridge, Jenna on the left, Aiden on the right, they nodded and together opened the doors.

It was jam-packed with food and drinks, everything from dairy products, meat, chicken, rice and bread. Everything was in perfect condition too.

The couple gasped at the sight and the condition of the food, they thought it was too good to be true.

"Am I dreaming or are we really seeing this?" Jenna pinched Aiden.

"Ouch, yeah I see that." Aiden shrugged.

"Pinch me." Jenna brought her arm closer to Aiden.

"You keep pinching, I will get to eating sweetie." Aiden said as they laughed out in happiness.

____________________________

Matthew and Daniel went up the stairs and stopped at the top, there were two main hallways, one straight ahead, and one to the left.

"Split or together?" Daniel asked Matthew.

"Whatever you like, mate." Matthew replied.

"Together, maybe we get a chance to know each other better too." Daniel suggested.

"Of course, would be great." Matthew agreed. "But which way?"

"I always keep this in mind, right is always right." Daniel said as he pointed ahead.

"Lead the way." Matthew made room for Daniel.

"Many thanks, friend of friends." Daniel said as he stepped forward.

"Onwards, partner." Matthew said to him in response.

They started walking shoulder to shoulder, Daniel who wielded the dagger being to the right side of Matthew who was armed with his trusted pistol.

There was little to no light upstairs, only from the occasional windows laying around random places in the hallways.

The pair felt weirdly close, although they met one day ago, they had a good feeling towards each other.

"You were CEO of Anshin, right?" Matthew started.

"For a while, yes, then I resigned." Daniel responded.

"And why did that happen?" Matthew raised an eyebrow as they came up to the end of the hallway.

It was a left turn from there, Matthew leaned on the wall and peeked out of it to see what was in the other hallway as Daniel stuck behind him and watched his back.

"A lot of family issues, you know?" Daniel said as they started walking in the other hallway. "I didn't want to have any of it, I just left it all, and said they can take it."

"I can see where you are coming from, but really? All of that power and glory?" Matthew asked in confusion.

"Well, I wasn't keen on the spotlight as much as my brother, Ben, so I took my share, which was more than enough to last me a few lifetimes, and left." Daniel elaborated.

They walked down the hallway checking every door and seeing if there is anything left to salvage or anywhere that was good for sleeping.

"Still kind of crazy to me." Matthew said as they got to another left turn.

Repeating what they did previously, they went into the other hallway.

"Most people think I was there for the fame and glory, that really doesn't bother me, because I'm mostly a quiet and peace-loving person." Daniel said.

"Hard to believe maybe, but I share that quality." Matthew smiled.

"I don't see it hard to believe, quite vibes are the best mate." Daniel nodded with a slight smile.

The two continued going through the hallway and turned another left, and at the end was the staircase they came up from.

They marched onwards, occasionally opening doors to check what is inside, but unsurprisingly only finding empty rooms.

"Would you wanna be in a big group of people or a small one?" Matthew suddenly asked.

"This one will do just fine, I don't want to meet new people and start to trust them again slowly." Daniel responded unhesitant.

Matthew looked unhinged as they made their ways back down the stairs after clearing the entire floor.

_________________________________

(Andrew's POV)

'I don't trust that Matthew guy, he is too nice and out there, his story doesn't add up either.' I thought.

"Fuck, who knows." I said out loud.

I approached the staircase going down, and stood there for a bit, just staring.

"Matthew will kill you all." I jumped as I heard that whispered in my ear, as if I was not alone.

There was no one, nothing, just me after the others each went to inspect the places they needed to clear.

"Get your shit together Andy for heaven's sake." I said as I slapped myself softly.

I took a deep breath, and started going down.

It was a long staircase, took me a solid minute to reach the end of it. The lighting down there was moody and there were a few switches, which I turned on as soon as seeing them. They lit up a very long hallway with a huge metal gate at the end.

I got Sergei's revolver out and kept it at the ready, every breath I took, every little sound I made was making me more paranoid than I was previously.

It was a very bright hallway which hurt my eyes a bit, but I couldn't care less about myself at this point.

The gate got larger and larger as I approached it, it had a giant wheel for a handle on it and a few screens to its right.

As I reached it, I tried to turn the wheel left or right but it wouldn't even break a sweat.

I scoffed, and got annoyed a bit, but then went to the screens, and specifically to the largest screen.

I went through the screen and what it said, I gasped at something, it said:

"Code required for: Mr. Hughes, Daniel, Location: The Lab."

"******************** "

'This is some weird shit, what is Daniel hiding from us?'

I knew he had some sort of explanation for it, but at the same I don't think I was supposed to see this.

"Is he gonna flip?" I thought out loud.

I holstered the revolver as I slowly took my eyes off the screen and slowly turned back to the hallway.

I bumped into a black entity, as I looked up it was a man, standing at least at 7 feet tall and was wearing all black with his face covered with a mask. He just swung a bat he had in his hand at me as I ducked to dodge it. I made a bee line for the staircase when two people came down the stairs with guns in their hands pointed at me.

I froze in place, and raised my hands in surrender. There was no chance in hell I could fight my way out of it.

"Hold it lads, he is with us." Matthew said as he came rushing down the stairs with a smirk on his face.