DAY 55

B.E.A.R. LABORATORIES

LEVEL 5

Theseus hastily stands up as Veronica bursts into his cell. He takes in her frantic apperance: curls sliding out of their bun, hands fidgety, and face pale.

"Here, put these on," she says, throwing him an outfit made of linen-like material.

"They are scrubs," she continues. "Its your disguise. I hope they fit, I stole them from someone's office."

She quickly turns around, giving him privacy to change. Of course, he wouldn't mind if she chose to watch. They are mates, after all. It is only natural for her to see him naked. He briefly wonders what she would look like without clothes.

"Are you done yet?" Veronica asks impatiently.

"Y-yes," Theseus replies shakily, adjusting his trousers.

She turns around to face him, scrutinizing his attire carefully. The pants come short of his bare feet by about 2 inches, and the shirt barely stretches across his muscled chest.

"Alright, it will have to do," she sighs. "So, the plan is to sneak out of here as best we can. I got you a badge and those clothes as a disguise," she says, wrapping a lanyard around his neck with a badge on the bottom, LEVEL 5 printed on it in bold.

"The missing shoes thing will be a problem, but hopefully no one notices."

Theseus looks down at his bare feet, wiggling his toes. He forgot people wear shoes. He glances up at Veronica and shrugs his shoulders.

"Okay, you ready?" She asks.

He nods his head.

"Good."

She pushes the door open and peeks her head around the opening, checking for guards. She looks back at Theseus one more time. He gives her a reassuring smile. Veronica sighs, steadying her heartbeat, before stepping over the threshold and into the hallway.

▪▪▪

Theseus looks around him at all of the new things. His entire time here was spent in his cell and he never got to see the rest of the building. Granted, he did see the hallways when he escaped those two times, but he wasn't really in his right mind to be taking in architecture and technology.

He hurries his steps after Veronica, following her as she makes her way to what she calls the "elevator." Before he could take another step, she drags him next to her, their backs pressing against the wall. Veronica peeks around a corner before turning back to him, her face pale with anxiety.

"There are two guards by the elevator, what should we do?" She asks him, her hand sweaty in his.

"Es-escaped twice, can do it again," he says with a shrug.

"Okay, what are you--Theseus!" She whisper-shouts at his retreating form.

Theseus calmly approaches the guards, his hands by his sides and his head down. The first guard scrutinizes him carefully before speaking up.

"Hey, who are you? You don't look fami--" before the guard has a chance to finish, Theseus' fist is already slammed into his jaw. The man stumbles back, clenching his face.

The other guard quickly reaches for his gun, pulling it from his holster. Theseus kicks out with his leg, effectively knocking the gun from the guard's hand. Theseus throws another punch straight into his nose, the guard dropping to the floor unconscious.

Before the first guard can stand back up, Theseus slams his head into the wall, his body becoming slack. He drops the man from his grasp, his body flopping on the floor.

"Theseus! You could have killed him." Veronica says. "I mean, good job taking them out, but he could have died!" She says, gesturing to the man who was slammed into the wall.

Theseus shrugs nonchalantly. "Ef-effective?"

"Blunt force trauma to the cerebellum, but yeah, effective."

Without wasting another second, Veronica presses the call button on the elevator, the elevator dinging at its arrival. Just before they board, Veronica slams the open button.

"Wait!" She quickly rushes out, removing the shoes from one of the officers and reentering the elevator. "Here, you need shoes, remember?"

Theseus wastes no time in donning the black boots. It is strange feeling, that is for sure. He can't remember the last time he wore shoes.

The elevator doors open and they are met with the hustle and bustle of Level 1. Veronica steps out first, her hand clasped in Theseus'much larger one.

"Just keep your head down and don't make eye contact," she instructs.

Theseus follows after Veronica, keeping close to her side. A part of him is afraid, and he can tell Veronica is too, but he pushes that fear aside, focusing more on keeping his mate from danger.

He knows what they are doing is dangerous. He knows he will end up dead if they are caught, but he is more worried about what will happen to Veronica. What kind of a mate would he be if she was hurt because of him? A horrible one, that's what. He sidles closer to her, growling lowly under his breath.

"Hush!" She whispers. "Someone will hear you."

"Sorry," he whispers back.

So far, no one has noticed anything out of the ordinary. Veronica is glad the scrubs cover Theseus' markings, but he still looks out of place with his hulking form. Her phone buzzes in her pocket, indicating Morgan has arrived at the gate. She picks up her pace.

They arrive at the entrance doors and Veronica can barely hold herself back from sprinting to the parking lot. Across the many rows of of cars, Morgan's bright yellow 2001 Ford Mustang is parked just on the other side of the gate.

Just as they are half way across the parking lot, alarms sound from the building, people rushing out the doors in single file, guards surrounding the exits.

"Okay, they know we are gone, we have to hurry," Veronica says. They pick up their pace to a jog.

"Hold on, there has been a security breach. All employees must show ident--" Theseus cuts the guard off with a growl. The guard's eyes widen, his hand reaching for the button to close the gates.

Veronica slams her foot into the guard's knee, stopping him from closing the gates. She grabs Theseus' wrist, hauling him with her to Morgan's car. Just as she makes it to the passenger side door, the guards back at the main building spot them.

"Morgan! Why did you bring such a tiny car!" Veronica says angrily as she practically throws herself over the center console and into the back seat. Curse two door cars!

"You said a get-away car, and this is pretty fast!" Morgan responds.

Veronica rolls her eyes, turning to Theseus. "Come on, get in."

Theseus hesitantly gets in the car, looking out of place in the small automobile. "Okay, were good. Now drive."

Morgan wastes no time in pushing her feet to the clutch and gas, her right hand shifting the gears. The old car lurches forwards, Theseus and Veronica being slammed into the back of their seats.

"Uh, you might want to put your seat belt on." Veronica says to a slightly pale Theseus.

With some help from Veronica, Theseus manages to properly situate the seat belt across his chest and over his waist. The two escapees breath in deeply, their adrenaline only just starting to subside.

"We did it," Theseus says with a smile.