After several minutes of shock, I finally found my voice.

"Mum…?" I whispered.

"You still recognise me then?"

"What… what are you doing here?"

"I work here, sweetie." She smiled. I stood up.

"First of all, don't call me sweetie. And second why the fuck are you working here? You hate Better Living Industries."

"I used to hate it, but it's really just protecting people from the real world."

"Protecting from… Have they fucking brainwashed you?"

"I might be your mum but you ought to show me some respect. You've been around Killjoys for the past three years - they're making you think like that."

"I'm a Killjoy." I said, clenching my fists. She shook her head slightly.

"Please sit down." she sighed. I glared at her for a moment, then slowly sat back down.

"You've got a choice. You and your Killjoy friends can be treated like the rest of the criminals we've got here, or you can come and work for Better Living." I stared in disbelief at her. "C'mon sweetie, come and live a normal life… with your mum."

"There's no way you're my mum."

"Alexis, of course I'm your mum."

"No you're not. You're just pathetic. You gave up and worked for these sick bastards so you wouldn't get killed."

"I didn't give-"

"I DON'T CARE." I yelled, running to the door and pulling at the handle, which was locked. I turned back round to her. "Let me out of here."

"I'll give you some time to think about my offer." she said, unlocking the door. As soon as I was out of the room, I was escorted by Dracs back to everyone else.

As soon as I got inside, everyone looked round at me. "What happened?" someone enquired, I wasn't aware of much… the room seemed to be spinning. I burst into tears. I felt someone's arms round me and, looking up, was greeted by Gerard's bright red hair. "What is it?"

"It's… my… my mum… she works here." I choked out and slowly sunk to the floor. Gerard stared at me in horror.

"What? …Why?"

"I don't know, but she said that we can either work here or be killed." I whispered. There was silence in the room. I looked up to see everyone staring at me.

"What! Work here or die? What kinda choice is that?" said Mikey indignantly from the corner.

"I'll tell you, Mikey. It's an incredibly convenient kinda choice." Frank said, a grin appearing on his face as he stood up. We all looked at him. "If we work for them, it'll be easy to get out, and to find out stuff about them and any plans they have that could help us bring down Better Living Industries."

"Fun Ghoul, you're officially a genius." said Gerard, putting an arm round him. I was the only one who wasn't smiling.

"But I don't wanna stay here… I don't wanna be around my mum at all. It's bad enough knowing she's in the building."

"Would you rather die, then?" said Billie Joe, looking at me like I was mad.

"No, I…"

"Well those are our choices. What else do you suggest?"

"We get out like we normally do." I shrugged.

"But this is better… and less risky. We won't have to hide from them any more if we can overpower them." Gerard said, putting a hand on my shoulder. "I know you hate your mum for surrendering and working for this shit hole, but you can get your old mum back if you get rid of the people who are making her think like this."

I stared at him for a moment, then smiled slightly. "I guess."

The next half an hour was spent in near silence. Christian was sitting in the corner, not looking at anyone. Billie Joe, Tré and Mike were talking quietly. Gloria was sitting with them but wasn't joining in the conversation and was shooting angry looks at Christian. I was sat between Ray and Mikey, lost in thought, and Frank was lying across Gerard's lap, asleep. It seemed Gerard was drifting off too. The door opened, and everyone looked up. My mother stood in the doorway, flanked by armed Dracs. I glared at her. "So, have you decided yet?" she smiled sweetly.

"Yeah, we'll come and work for you." I said, doing my best to return the smile. She looked slightly surprised.

"Well great, we'll have to ask you some questions first, and then you're all set to start a normal life."

Everything she was saying sounded so fake and rehearsed. I was taken back to her office, the first to be questioned. "You're definitely making the right choice here." she said, sounding as rehearsed as ever. She pulled a few papers out of the top drawer of her desk and picked up a pen. "First question. Name: Alexis Taylor, I don't need to ask you that." I stared at her in shock. That was the first time in years that anyone had said my second name, I'd almost forgotten it myself. I nodded. "And age…?" she frowned slightly, trying to remember.

"I'm sixteen." I muttered, offended that my own mother couldn't work out my birthday.

"Yes, of course. Occupation?"

"Uhh… Killjoy?"

"Not anymore. I guess you're a student then."

"Don't you have to be at school to be a student?"

"What… you're not in school?" she said in horror.

"No… I sort of have other things to worry about."

"Well you'll be going to a school in Battery City."

"I will?"

"Of course, you can't work for Better Living Industries until you're eighteen anyway."

"Alright then." I sighed, putting my head down on the table.

"Don't worry, you'll love it."

I didn't answer. After all; robots aren't programmed to understand sarcasm. She proceeded to ask me another twenty seven questions, which I answered in one word sentences. When we finally finished, I went back to the room to find only Tré in there.

"Where's everyone else?" I said, looking around as I sat down on the floor next to him.

"Answering questions. I only just got back, they shouldn't be long."

"Alright." I sighed, closing my eyes and leaning my head back against the wall. "Apparently I'm gonna have to go to a school here 'cause I'm not old enough to work for Better Living Industries." Tré stared at me.

"What? That sucks… you'd be really useful with helping to get out of here."

"I'll still be around quite a lot… just not the days of the week. God, this sucks."

"We'll work out something." Tré shrugged as Mikey, Ray, Gerard and Billie Joe all entered.