I was walking down the streets this evening. It was a dull day, nothing exciting happened. Means no heat from the cops or feds, that's good thing. But, still, I'd rather do something fun. Then I arrived at the bar at the edge of the town.

"Bar fight always fun" I thought to myself.

I entered the bar, it was not very crowded but there was a couple of wiseguys. The thing is, fighting with connected man around always complicated. Not a good thing. So I sat on the stool, and ordered whiskey. Then I saw this flier.

"EARN MONEY FOR SCIENTIFIC TESTING!" It said.

The flier intrigued me. So I finished my drink, put a couple of greens on the table. And head to 11500 West Olympic Blvd, like the flier said.

The place is not like the lab I imagined. But then, I was never a science guy. What do I know? There was a guard post but no one there. Only a buzzer. I pressed it and then I wait.

Krieger was hard at work with his blow torch when he heard the alarm go off letting him know someone was here. He shut it off, pulled his face mask off and straightened himself up before heading up to see who was there. He looked through the peephole in his front door. He saw a man who did not seem to have any relation to law enforcement. Perhaps he saw a flier and wanted to make some extra cash. Krieger grinned as he opened the door.

"Good evening sir, what brings you here on a night like this?"

He said this as he looked around behind the man to make sure there weren't any others waiting in hiding. He saw nothing and continued making eye contact with the man.

The man came out from the lab looks a bit suspicious to me. A bit eccentric I said. Not that it's bother me. A scientist should be eccentric and a bit mad.

I pulled out the flier from the bar, "I'm interested about this scientific testing. Is it the right place?"

Krieger was about to offer Mr. Castle a myriad of different options for testing. He would have been allowed to pick anything he liked and been possibly enhanced in a way he could only imagine. However, before he had the chance Mr. Castle took off in a hurry. Krieger was left with a cocked eyebrow not certain what could have spooked him so.

"Well, that's unusual. The urge doesn't usually happen until much later..."

He said to himself giving a shrug and making his way back down to his lab to continue his research. 

Brancer was in a bit of a predicament in an LA bar thinking about drinking away his last bit of cash he had left. The city of angels had been anything but that once he had landed. He had been thrown in the slammer when trying to offload some cocaine from New York. He should have know better though. His inside agent that set the deal up had been acting extremely suspicious lately. To make things worse after being broken out of prison he was immediately pickpocketed. Next thing you know he's stranded in LA with next to no cash or wallet for that matter. He really didn't want to have to call back home and look like an idiot.

"That will be $7.50." The bartender said snapping Brancer back to his current issues. Brancer reached for his wallet instinctively before shaking his head in a bit of anger. He then reached into his front pocket and snatched out a twenty that he kept there for such occasions. He looked at the bill for a moment. It was the last bit of cash he had at the moment. He should have bought a bus ticket.  "Sorry bud lost my wallet... You wouldn't know where a fella could make a little cash real quick?"

He took the dollar and just nodded towards a flyer wall off to the side of the bar. Brancer got up and looked. Nothing looked like it would pay  much maybe he should just call back home but wait.

"$200?" 

He snatched the flyer off the wall and made his way for the door. The whole way to Krieger labs he kept thinking to himself, "Scientific testing... How bad could it really be?"

Once there he folded the paper up and put it in his pocket. He looked at the buzzer for a moment. "Hello?" He called out while looking around. Brancer then pulled out his flask and took a big swig before reaching out and pressing the button. 

Krieger was just beginning to finish his testing of a new medication that hardened a persons skin until it was closer to the consistency of stone. His subject were unbelievably durable. He took a bow and fired an arrow at the chest of one of his test subjects and the arrow shattered upon impact. His eyes went wide, impressed with the results he noted his findings. Now if he could only work on giving the test subjects their mobility back while in this state... he thought to himself before he heard someone ring the buzzer above.

He walked over and poured water into the test subject mouth and then looked him into the eye.

"I'll to to figure out a way to feed you, the IV route isn't really... working."

He then made his way to the entrance and opened the door to see a man drinking from a flask.

"Good evening, how may I help you sir?"

Brancer nearly choked when the door opened and he was still drinking on his flask. He quickly screwed the lid back onto the flask and put it back into his coat pocket. He looked the man over for a second, but to his dismay he couldn't really get much of a read on him. 

"I saw a flyer?" Brancer said as he tried to nonchalantly look passed the man. "I hear you are paying for some sort of testing?" As he said the words testing the oddest of chills ran up his spine and Brancer noticeably shivered. 

"Thought you guys had warm weather out here?" He said as he looked around. Brancer was now thinking of all the people at The Flying Ivories that he could probably call to have them send him the money. He shook of the thought though since he was already here at the labs. 

"What I mean to say is, I'm here to volunteer... I think. I mean I would like to know a little about what I'm signing up for of course." He said with a big grin.

"Brancer!" He said quickly as he realized he hadn't introduced himself. "Names, Brancer."

"11500 West Olympic Blvd."

Sera mumbled softly, and double checked the address once more then tugged on the door handle entering the building.  Her blue eyes traveled around the area very curious to what actually happened here.  She'd heard about this lab conducting experiments for cash, but she wasn't that brave to be poked and prodded with needles.  Sera shuddered when she heard one person was doused with hot candle wax.  Absentmindedly, she rubbed the arm holding the package as if she was trying to get rid of the image of hot wax dripping off a candle onto skin.....  Ugh.  

Finding the lab with ease, she waited up by the front desk area for someone to notice she was there.  Sera glanced to the package as she twirled it slowly in her hands reading the address.  The name was slightly unusual to her, 'Algernop Krieger', and tried to sound it out loud in a soft tone while she waited.  The package itself wasn't very heavy, but with each package she delivered for work, her curiosity would flare at times just like it was doing now.

Her fingers began to tap to a rhythm on the box that only she could hear while she waited.  Her attention was snagged by a few framed pictures on the wall, two of them containing awards of some sort.  Sera walked over to the picture frames intent on discovering just what this laboratory had excelled at to acquire such awards.  She still didn't think any amount of awards would convince her to be stuck like a pin cushion though.

Krieger smiled as he listened to Brancer explain why he had found himself at the door to Krieger’s laboratory. He was very pleased to see that his plan was working perfectly. Extending his hand towards the interior of the building Krieger motioned for Brancer to enter.

“By all means please come in, it’s rather chilly out tonight.”

Once inside Krieger shut the door and sealed it. He straightened himself and brushed off his lab coat before continuing to speak.

“Well, we really offer a multitude of possibilities as far as testing goes here. I suppose the best place to start would simply be by asking you what it is you would like to improve in your life and working from there.”

Krieger was expecting a package to come in anytime now. He was certain that as long as the seal was not broken by an overly curious courier no one would die. As he finished with a few administrative tasks he heard someone enter above into the lobby. Certain that it had to be the package he ran up the stairs and saw a young lady handling the package as though there were T-shirts inside.

Krieger’s eyes bulged as he rushed up to her and carefully took the package from her and placed it gently on the table. He then turned to her with a grin and introduced himself.

“Good evening miss, I am Doctor Algernop Krieger. Thank you so much for delivering this very important package to me.”

He smiled and offered his hand for a handshake.