"Where the fuck am I?"
The pulsating glow of the red lights above assaulted every sense in his body, coating the sleek metal room and the aliens within it a dark, almost forbidding shade of red. Logan's next breath caught at the back of his throat, the weariness still weighing heavy as he scrambled back as far as the small room would allow, bracing his back against the wall as his eyes darted across each and every one of the four monsters staring him down.
The Viper that had first addressed him lowered herself down to meet his view as she slithered forward, whatever words he could have mustered next all falling out as nothing more than a series of barbaric grunts, his left hand thrashing the air while his right padded the ground in search of a weapon.
"Calm down, no one's going to hurt you," the Viper hissed.
"Fuck off, snake," he finally spat out, sitting himself up straight as he wiped the sweat from his brow. "I mean it, back the fuck off or else."
The Muton by the back of the crowd broke the still in the air with a deep and guttural chuckle, crossing his tattooed arms to his chest. "Or else what, human?"
"He's confused, just give him a minute," the Viper scolded, turning back to the hulking beast. "Please, don't make things worse than they already are."
"Where am I?" he spoke up, the two of them turning to him in unison as he ran a hand through his graying hair. "You bring me here for revenge or something, huh? Is that why I'm here? What the fuck is all this?"
"We were hoping you could answer that question, dude." Logan turned his attention to the skinny Hybrid in the opposite corner of the room, one scabby arm scratching the other as she stared him down with sunken eyes. "We've only been here, like, a few minutes."
The crowd of aliens all turned to him, as though expecting some kind of explanation he didn't have. An anxious breath fell from his mouth, the tension in his body fading away with the silence as he slid his legs in closer, one hand pressed to the scars on his wrist as he finally took a second to eye each one of the aliens standing in wait.
The Hybrid woman watched him with a sort of glazed expression, something he had come to associate with many of the Hybrid junkies he's spotted around the Outerwall slums. The Sectoid was cold, musing on every word he said, and there was almost something he could call sympathy behind that Viper's weary eyes. But that Muton, though… there was something about the way he looked at him he didn't quite like...
The silence had long since settled in, the gentle creaks of the building weighing in on the ambiance before the thought of giving the things an answer even crossed his mind.
"Why the fuck would I know anything?"
The Sectoid by the back of the crowd let out an almost disappointed sigh, his hands falling to his side as he stepped away from the group to pace the outskirts of the room. "I told you he wouldn't know anything. I'm going to find a way to turn these dreaded emergency lights off. There's usually a switch hidden behind a wall panel somewhere in these types of rooms," he started, his words gradually growing quieter until it was obvious he was rambling to no one but himself.
"Wait, how would you know that? Do you know where we are?" the Muton spoke up, finally breaking the glare that had bored into Logan from the moment he opened his mouth. "I swear, if you've been holding out on me then you better start spilling it."
"Type of room, I said. This is an ADVENT template room. There are millions of facilities all around the world that look just like this." He paced the walls, his bony hands running over every square inch of metal he could reach.
"Familiar with these types of places?" the Viper asked.
"They were all I ever knew during the war," he replied, slowing to a stop before paying the Viper a sidelong glance. "I was an interrogator."
There was no attempt to hide his distaste for the word, eliciting a gentle hiss from the Viper as she dropped her arms to her side. "Sorry, didn't mean to open any old wounds."
"It's fine. Curiosity is only natural." He turned back to the wall, continuing his search for God knows what. "For example, right now I'm curious as to where exactly we are, and who exactly brought us here and why. Although I'm sure you all no doubt share the same sentiments."
"I wouldn't have a clue," she replied. "But the fact we're being held in some sort of ADVENT facility is kind of interesting. I doubt ADVENT has made some sudden comeback after seven years, though."
"You are right, definitely not ADVENT," the Sectoid replied, stopping briefly to double check a rusted panel before continuing on along the wall. "Sacred Coil, though… maybe... although I'm pretty sure that group disbanded some time ago. A new group, perhaps? I'm not sure."
"Can someone explain what the fuck is going on here?" Logan spoke up, the adrenaline that had been coursing through his body long since dissipated.
"We don't know, human!" the Muton huffed, sending a loud metallic creak reverberating throughout the room as he brought his foot down on the metal floor. "Have we not already established that?"
"We only just woke up here a few moments ago, same as you. Believe me when I say you already know about as much as we do," the Viper added. "God, we haven't even gotten each other's names yet."
"Names?" the Muton chuckled. "What, like those group sessions back at the ADC? Sitting in circles, taking turns to tell your name and something interesting about yourself?"
The Sectoid stopped his pacing, his black eyes peering over his shoulder.
"Clay," he finally said, before returning to his insistent search.
"Thank you, Clay," the Viper replied, eliciting an eye roll from the Muton. "And I'm Kara."
"Cassandra," the Hybrid spoke up from the corner, hugging herself tighter. "But you can just call me Cassie. Or Cass. Or… fuck, just C if you want to, I guess. I don't really care."
The Muton let out a defeated huff, turning away from the crowd as he crossed his arms to his muscular chest. "Vince."
And finally, all eyes were on him, the Muton's glare returning as though he had been waiting to hear Logan's answer to this question from the moment he first woke up. He hesitated as he opened his mouth, only deepening the so-called Vince's scowl.
"How hard is it to say your name, human?" he huffed.
"Christ, it's Connor, alright?" Really? Connor? That's the best you could think of? "Stop looking at me like you're gonna fucking kill me."
He sank further down into his spot on the floor, breaking the beast's glare as he padded his pockets in search of anything that could help, be it by getting him out of this damned room or giving him something to defend himself should the need arise.
"Found it," Clay piped up from the opposite end of the room, his bony fingers pressing down on a metal panel that was promptly slid aside to reveal a board of buttons and switches beneath. The Sectoid knelt, eyes on the lights overhead as he flicked a small lever, the dull red fluorescents falling dark for no longer than a second before something mechanical whirred to life from beyond the steel walls, what sounded like the ventilation rattling for a moment as a tidal wave of white light assaulted his eyes.
He blinked a few times, slowly lowering his hand from his face as he glared around the room with squinted eyes, every detail of the place he had been captured in all finally coming together from beyond the fluorescent blur.
Wherever they were, it was definitely ADVENT in design, albeit a little worse for wear. Rust and grime lined the sleek, black walls that boxed them in, a few panels either bent or missing outright, exposing the mechanical workings beneath. There wasn't a single window nor human-sized vent in sight, the only entrance and exit taking the form of a large set of steel doors sitting on the far wall, an old, suspiciously shiny screen for the room it was sitting in occupying the free space above it.
"Huh. What else can you do with those panels?" Vince spoke up, stepping up behind the Sectoid as he took to his feet.
"Not much," he said. "Not from any of the panels out here, anyway."
"What about the door?" he replied, pacing over towards the blast doors before giving them an affirmative knock that echoed throughout the room. "Can you magic these open and get us the fuck out of here?"
"Being able to open a locked door from a public-facing maintenance panel would be a major security oversight."
"Fine. I know another way we can get this thing open," he huffed, cracking his knuckles.
"I… wouldn't recommend that. Seeing the area in the light, I can say with certainty that we're in some sort of old ADVENT prison. Those blast doors, despite their wear, are designed to withstand a direct hit from an anti-tank weapon. As strong as you are, Vince, I doubt your fists are capable of even scratching it."
"I've been a boxer all my life, Clay, just you watch."
The Muton took a step back as the snake shook her head, watching on in silence as the Muton stretched his arms.
"Why don't we look for another way out while—" Kara started, flinching from the loud bang that rattled the walls as Vince brought his fist down square into the middle of the doors, not even leaving so much as a mark on the reinforced steel. "—while our friend here works on the doors."
"I hate to break it to you, but we're in an ADVENT prison. Those doors are the only way out, and the only way we're getting them open is if the person in the control room opens them for us."
Another bang echoed throughout the room, shaking the rusted mechanical workings nestled deep within the walls.
"And how would we even know if there's someone in the control room?" she replied.
"Because that camera has been active for the past five minutes."
Everyone stopped and followed the Sectoid's hand as he pointed towards the corner of the room, bringing everyone's attention to the white security camera watching them from above, a single flashing red light indicating that they were, in fact, being watched by some unknown person.
One last bang echoed through the room before Vince let out a frustrated groan, bracing himself on the doors as he caught his breath. A moment passed him by before he let out a disgruntled huff, snapping back around to direct his anger at the security camera sitting idly by on the wall.
"What the fuck is going on here, huh?" he yelled, pushing past the Sectoid and the snake as he came face-to-face with the camera. "You better let me out of this room before I break this damn thing off the wall."
The camera simply blinked on, indifferent to his outburst.
"Maybe threatening to destroy our captor's stuff isn't the best idea," Kara said, motioning him back with an outstretched hand.
"This room's got me feeling claustrophobic. I don't like being watched," he huffed, taking a step back before pacing in a line, fist tapping against his temple. "I don't even remember how I fucking got here... I was at my apartment, I was drinking… it's just a blur, it's all just a fucking blur."
"Just keep a cool head," Clay replied, stepping forward to back his snake friend. "Take it out on the door if you need to."
"Don't you fucking tell me to keep a cool head," he said, throwing a finger at the Sectoid before snapping around to direct the brunt of his rage on Logan. "And you, Connor, I know for a fact that I recognise you from somewhere. Who the fuck are you? Why do you sound so familiar?"
"Ooh, I sense a fight coming on," Cassie chuckled with a rasp drawl, her insistent scratching now retired to the back of her neck.
"No, no one's fighting anyone," Kara spoke up, slithering after the Muton as he took a step towards him. "We're all victims of whatever the hell is going on here. Turning on each other now isn't going to help anyone."
"Show us your wrist, human."
"What?"
"Your wrist—don't think I didn't notice that you're the only one here that hasn't had their wristchip cut out."
The Muton raised his hand to the air, the white lights above shining down over the fresh, ragged scar running the length of his right wrist. Logan's attention turned to each of the other aliens, all three donning similar fleshy cuts where their little metal implants once sat.
"Of course I don't have that shit in me. I'm never gonna put some damn alien government tracking device in my arm," he hissed, flashing his own wrist. "Look, clean and unchipped."
The Viper motioned the beast back before slithering forward for a closer look, grabbing his outstretched hand and running a claw over the underside of his wrist.
"He's telling the truth. He has no implants."
"Told you," he replied, snatching his arm away as he shot the snake a side-long glare. "Now get out of my face."
Kara responded with a less than gratuitous look, yet followed through on his order with nothing but an eye roll nonetheless. But the Muton's rage was less than sated, his fists still clenched tight as he took another step towards him.
"What about that shit you were saying when you woke up? Accusing us of bringing you here to get revenge? What was that all about?"
The snake raised herself up a head higher as the Muton stomped ever closer, staring right through the Viper and into the human sitting behind her. The thought of even being within breathing range of these monsters disgusted him, but if it meant that Muton had to go through her before getting to him, then maybe he could allow it. For now, at least.
"What do you think?" he scoffed. "I've done some fucked up shit in my life, thought my time was finally due."
"Fucked up shit like what, human?"
He narrowed his eyes, ever so slowly running his hand up his chest to fiddle with the fang still strung around his neck—a memento to the scars on his wrist that have yet to start fading.
"Is that real?" Kara spoke up, tongue flicking from her mouth as she glared back down at him.
"Plastic," came his canned response, his hand dropping back by his side as he returned the Muton's glare. It wasn't, of course, but spilling his past to the only thing standing between him and that brute didn't seem like the best idea at the moment. "I don't need to tell you jack shit, Vince."
"You're hiding something, Connor—if that even is your real name," he said. "You're lucky my head's so damned clouded at the moment."
"Whatever you say..." he scoffed, shaking his head as he turned his attention elsewhere. "Fucking xenos."
"Say that again."
His eyes snapped back to the Muton as Kara preemptively extended a hand down in front of him.
"Say what again?" Logan shot back.
"You heard me."
"Fucking xenos," he hissed, eyes unmoving from Vince as he braced his back against the metal wall, a wry smile spreading across his face as he slowly took to his feet. "You don't scare me for a second, you fucking freak."
The beast tapped his fist to his head yet again; the gears turning in his mind before a moment of realisation flickered in his eyes. But Logan remained steadfast in some suicidal show of courage, unphased as the Muton's fists slowly clenched tighter, the muscles beneath his shirt tensing.
"You're that fucking radio host."
The words echoed away into the air, tugging at the corners of his mouth for a few seconds before he let loose the laugh that had been building at the back of his throat, breaking the silence with the last reaction the Muton expected.
"That's where you know me from? My fucking radio show?"
"I fucking knew it. You're the bastard from those slums outside the walls, spilling xenophobic bullshit all day long on that pirate radio station of yours… Logan."
Another curt laugh escaped his mouth, only amplifying the Muton's growing rage. "All the things I've done, and it's my damn radio show that ends up killing me?"
The snake's hand pressed into the Muton's chest as he marched forward, eyes alight with fury. "You're damn fucking right."
"Oh, bring it on."
"Vince, take a second to breathe." Kara hissed. "He's not worth it."
The beast's foot came down hard, echoing throughout the room as he brushed the snake aside. But Kara was yet to relent, jumping back in front of the nonchalant soldier without a moment of hesitation.
The Muton huffed at the new foe in his way, briefly diverting his attention to take a wild swing at the snake that was promptly ducked and parried with a twist of the arm, the snake's tail sliding up under his legs and sending the beast crashing down to the floor before he could even register what happened.
"I said step off, Vince."
The Muton, albeit surprised, wasn't quick to falter; unphased with having to tear through a new foe before he could get his hands on his real target enjoying the show with a sly smile. He thrashed against her grip, sending an elbow into her side that was quickly dissuaded with a tug of the arm.
"Are you done?"
Logan couldn't help but seize the moment; his steps slow and deliberate as he paced towards the two. He leant down to meet the beast eye-to-eye, the cocky smile on his face only spreading wider as the Muton met his stare with a fury like no other.
"Looks like you're not so tough after — "
The rest of his words were whisked away in a choked gasp for air as the tip of the snake's tail struck him square in the chest, sending him buckling back over to the cold metal ground below.
"Fucking bitch," he wheezed, hand wrapped around his stomach as he struggled for the breaths that had been ripped from his lungs in an instant.
"Sit the fuck down, Connor," Kara hissed, anger lacing her voice as her slitted red eyes snapped to his. "And you, Vince—you need to promise me you're not going to kill anyone if I let you go."
Vince responded with another desperate escape attempt, his efforts quickly thwarted as the snake simply tightened her tail's grip around his body. "Why the fuck do you care what happens to this scumbag?"
"Because this isn't the damn time to be killing people," she replied. "I don't give a shit what you do after we all get out of here, but right now spilling blood isn't going to help anyone, as much as a scumbag he is."
The Muton simply huffed, deflating with a long, drawn-out sigh before allowing the snake's coils to properly morph around his figure. "Fine. I won't kill him."
"Promise me."
"I'm not gonna fuckin—"
"Promise me, Vince."
"Fine," he huffed. "I promise I won't kill him."
And with that, the snake unraveled from around him in a matter of mere seconds, leaving the Muton laying defeated on the ground as she sat back up in her coils.
"And you... Connor, Logan, whatever the hell your name is… just stay the fuck away from him. Seriously."
Another rasp cough escaped the human's mouth, a curt 'fuck you' ringing out from between his breaths, although the Viper seemed satisfied all the same.
"Thought you were meant to be a fighter, dude," the Hybrid spoke up. "That Viper took you down like nothing."
"Shut up," Vince replied, rolling over onto his back as he caught his breath.
"That was a truly impressive display of skills," Clay spoke up, stepping over to join them. "You used to serve under ADVENT, I'm assuming?"
"What?" The Viper met his stare, shaking herself from her thoughts. "Oh, uh, yeah—former ADVENT. Not proud of it, though."
"Is anyone? No, actually, scratch that—I knew a few aliens that were proud of their time served with ADVENT. That's not to mention the terrorist groups that popped up around the city a few years back…"
"Where are you going with this?"
"I'm… not too sure." He briefly looked to the ground, silently collecting his next words. "Which position did you serve, if you don't mind me asking?"
"I was a field engineer on the front-lines. Commanded teams of engineers both in and out of combat." Kara broke from his stare, glaring off into space. "We were tasked with emergency repairs, mostly. My team and I would be deployed in high-risk combat zones, made to repair mechs and keep communications equipment up and running in the midst of battle."
"Heh, guess that makes two of us," the Muton chuckled from the ground, still struggling for air. "The, uh, front-line part I mean, not the whole engineer thing. Inside or outside the city walls?"
"Outside."
"Yeah, that's where all the fun usually happened."
"I wouldn't exactly call it fun, Vince," she hissed, staring down at the Muton. "Nothing about the war was fun."
"Hey, forget I said anything, then," he replied, rolling his head to the side to meet Logan's glare. "What about you, meatbag? Were you a soldier?"
"I'm not telling you shit."
"Yeah, well, you seem like the soldier type," he replied. "What about you… uh… Cassie, was it?"
"Yeah, dude," she replied. "I was one of those Peacekeepers, obviously. Don't think I saw much combat, but, like, if I'm being honest, those days are pretty much all a blur. I try not to remember."
"Don't we all?"
His words were left up in the air as everyone sunk into a mutual silence, unsure of what to do next.
"Does the air taste weird to anyone else?" Kara piped up, head tilted to the vents above as her tongue flicked the still air.
A mechanical clunk echoed through the room before anyone could respond, white noise drifting out over the silence as the screen above the door flickered to life, pulling everyone's attention at once.
Clay crossed his arms as he stepped over for a closer look, the Muton climbing back to his feet with the snake's helping hand as Logan dragged himself back to his spot against the wall.
The static lingered for a moment, everyone's undivided attention on the screen as it flicked over to grainy, green-tinted footage of a black and white marionette.
"Greetings, and welcome."
The modulated voice lingered in the air, the puppet's mouth moving along to the words, and Logan couldn't help but pinch himself in the hopes that he'll finally wake up from this little nightmare.
"I trust that you are all wondering where you are right now, trying to recall what happened the night prior that led you to this very room."
Logan crossed his arms, turning his attention inwards for a brief second. He hadn't even considered where he was last night.
Was I at that shitty speakeasy down the road from the apartment blocks? No, that was last week… I was at home last night, watching shitty old-world movies while I drank myself to sleep.
But that didn't explain where he was. Was he kidnapped by some pissed off xeno that doesn't like his radio show? Has his ghosts from the past finally come back to haunt him? But then who the hell are these other four aliens locked up with him?
Things didn't make sense, and the more he thought about it, the more the pieces only fell from his grasp; the fact that this weird recording managed to elicit some strange sense of familiarity he couldn't quite place taking the pedestal front and centre.
"While the answer to those questions are not important, I can assure you that what comes next is: a slow-acting chemical agent is currently being pumped into the room through the ventilation system; the same chemical agent deployed from pods inside various population centres around the globe during the January 2015 Invasion Day Attacks—don't bother trying to hold your breath, you have been breathing it in since the lights came on. Rest assured, however, for this is not a death sentence, but a chance for salvation, should you choose to accept it."
The mood in the room took a noticeable shift, a look of fear and uncertainty crossing everyone's face—Logan's included. Slow-acting chemical agents? A chance for salvation? It all sounded like something from a movie; a work of fiction, yet Logan couldn't help but notice as he gradually began to space out every breath he took, nevertheless.
A moment of white noise overtook the tape, a mechanical clunk echoing through the room that made everyone flinch in unison. Clay brought his hands to a rest behind his back, scanning the walls in search of the sound's source before his eyes finally found their way to the big metal blast doors ahead, a gentle hiss echoing out over the room as the locks disengaged and the doors ever so slowly slid open.
Logan climbed to his feet, slowly making his way up behind the rest of the group as they gathered around the opening door, the puppet's message reverberating off the metal walls and throughout the dark hall beyond.
"In the next room lies five trials, all personally curated to the each of you. It is only upon the completion of these trials that you will be granted an antidote and the key to your escape. You have two hours to complete these trials before the doors to this facility are sealed shut forever, and the effects of the chemicals in your lungs become irreversible; slowly rotting your body from the inside out. "
The door came to a stop with one last hiss, the mechanical works in the walls falling silent as everyone gathered around to peer into the newly revealed darkness, ready to jump at the drop of a pin.
The closest light flickered to life, bathing a patch of the hall in white. Another quickly followed, and another after that; the strips of fluorescents that ran the length of the ceiling all coming to life one by one, ending at another set of blast doors at the opposite end.
Even more doors lined the walls of the hall, large windows adorned in flickering holo-text sitting adjacent to each one.
"Prison cells," Clay muttered, confirming Logan's hunch. "How odd."
An old analogue timer overlooked the room from the opposite end of the hall, the red numbers letting off an ominous glow at they counted up towards the two-hour mark, a silent moment passing them by before it slowly began to trickle right back down by the seconds.
"Live or die—the choice is yours. Let the games begin."
A tense silence befell the room as the tape met its end with a screen of white noise, leaving the five of them to dwell on the information they were just hit with. Vince was the first to break from the crowd, his breaths growing shallow as he turned away from the hallway, leaving Kara to slither after him.
"Let's all just sit down and think about this for a—"
"You're all fucking with me right now," he huffed, his attention shifting between the four of them. "This isn't real. I'm being fucked with."
"I'm confused," Cass spoke up, paying the group a side-long glance as she stepped off to the side. "A-are we going to die here? I… I don't…"
"Mofriesten-12..." the Sectoid muttered, hands behind his back as he took a step into the newly revealed hall, eyes on the vents overhead. "They're pumping Mofriesten-12 in through the vents…"
"They're pumping what in through the vents?" Logan said, snapping the alien from his train of thought.
"Mofriesten-12." Clay stopped in his tracks, turning back around to face them. "It's the chemical agent they deployed from pods during the Invasion Day attacks to wipe out entire city centers. Causes rapid deterioration within living bodies and eventually turns people into… the lost, I think you humans called them, following prolonged exposure."
"So you're telling me we're gonna turn into one of those fucking zombie things?" he replied, stepping into the hall after him.
"Not for a few days," he replied. "We have time to administer an antidote before the effects become irreversible, however, so not all hope is lost."
"And how long are we talking exactly?"
The Sectoid turned down the hall, staring up at the timer on the opposite end. "About an hour and fifty-nine minutes, apparently."
"This isn't fucking real..." Vince obviously didn't take the answer well, his agitated fidgeting only growing worse. "I'm getting out of here. I'm not about to die in some run-down ADVENT prison."
"No one wants to die here," Kara replied, slithering aside as the Muton pushed past the group, turning down the hall and marching his way towards the big metal doors at the end. The Viper let out an exasperated hiss, shaking her head as she began to slither after him before Clay halted her with an outstretched hand.
"Just give him a moment," he said.
"This whole thing sounds so unreal," she hissed, shaking her head. "Who even does something like this? And why us? I mean, I don't think I've ever wronged anyone before… well, except for…" she let her words hang in the air, turning her attention inwards as she sunk down into her coils. "Do… Do you think this could be Gray Phoenix's doing?"
"You wronged Grey Phoenix?" Clay asked, making her only sink down further.
"No… I mean, well… it's complicated, alright?" She stumbled over her words, her eyes everywhere but on him. "I did some… bad things. Things I regret. A lot. And I might have worked briefly with Grey Phoenix after coming to the city because I… well… I didn't know what else to do."
"I get it. Almost fell in with them myself following my transfer here," Clay replied.
"And... well, something happened, and I left. Deserted, I guess you could say. I wouldn't put it past them to come looking for me after all this time."
"This just feels too elaborate to be the work of a mere terrorist group, Grey Phoenix or not. I mean, why put us through all this, when they could just… you know…" He motioned Kara's way with a finger gun, letting off a gentle pop to go along with it.
"Really, Clay?" she hissed.
"Am I wrong though? That tape, the chemicals we're breathing in… Why go through all this effort?"
"I don't know." She threw up her arms; defeated, more than annoyed. "But there has to be a reason we're all here. This can't just be random."
The Sectoid mused as he stepped towards one of the cells, eyes on the Muton down the hall as he paced back and forth like a madman.
"I admit—I've done some bad things throughout my life... Associated with the wrong groups, hurt a lot of people. And if I had to warrant a guess, I think each one of us has something to hide."
Logan ran a finger over his necklace, catching a glimpse of the Hybrid standing off in the corner as she stroked her arm.
"Why the fuck does it matter why we're here?" Logan spoke up. "What matters right now is finding a way out of here before those chemicals begin to set in."
"I say we just knock the damn doors down," Vince called out, stomping back over towards the group.
"Didn't work the first time, Vince. Not going to work now," Clay replied.
"Then how do you suppose we get out of here then, huh?" he huffed. "Come on, you're smart—how do we get out of here, smart guy?"
"I'm not even sure there is a way out," the Sectoid replied, his words even-toned.
"Are there any other panels around here you can use to open… well, anything? Maybe shut off that stuff coming in through the vents?" Kara asked.
The Sectoid thought for a moment, silently scanning the walls that boxed them in. "No, not that I know of."
"The tape said something about doing a trial, whatever that means," Cass spoke up, her steps slow and uncertain as she paced down the hall for a better look into the closest cell, the room beyond the window completely bathed in darkness. "Do you think these rooms have something to do with that?"
Clay stepped up behind her, ushering the woman aside as he pressed a finger to the window, bringing to life a holographic display flashing various words in the ADVENT tongue that Logan had absolutely no chance of understanding.
"Cell lights are out," he muttered. "Seems someone reprogrammed the controls, too… although there is one other thing I can check..."
Kara slithered into the hall to join them, and after a second of hesitation, Logan quickly followed, the five of them gathering around the cell window to watch the Sectoid get to work, navigating menus and clicking buttons with a certain know-how to his actions.
"Wanna explain what you're trying to do there?" Logan spoke up, crossing his arms.
Clay remained silent, allowing the display to answer for him as he took a step aside.
"Is that… is that my name?" Cassie said, stepping forward for a better look at the flickering screen.
"Seems so."
"But… but I've never been to prison… I don't understand..."
"Then it appears whoever's holding us here registered your name in the old ADVENT systems," he replied, turning to the cell behind him and getting to work once more. "This one's registered to you, Kara."
The snake slithered up behind him, peering through the darkened windows and into the abyss beyond. "Guess we were targeted after all, then."
Slowly but surely, the Sectoid paid each of the cell windows a visit, bringing up the prisoner registrations one by one. The next cell was registered to Vince, then the one after that was Clay's himself, leaving Logan to take a wild guess as to just who the last one might have belonged to.
"And this one's yours, Logan," the Sectoid said, stepping aside as Logan walked up behind him. His name, just like the others, was featured prominently at the top of the window, boxes of information written in the ADVENT tongue scattered beneath.
He cupped his hands to the window, his breath fogging the glass as nothing but his own reflection met him on the other side. He took a second to run his hand through his beard and hair, peering back over his shoulder just in time to catch the Hybrid's cell door abruptly slide open with a bang that made both the Hybrid and the Sectoid standing next to her flinch in unison.
"Clay, I-I touched something," the Hybrid's voice echoed through the hall.
"I'm aware."
The cell door had opened to something he could only describe as an airlock, a tiny square room no bigger than arm's length meeting them on the other side.
"Setups like this were common in ADVENT cells that held multiple prisoners," Clay mused, hands behind his back as he peeked his head inside. "Prisoner goes in, the door behind them closes, the door in front of them opens. It was to prevent anyone inside from trying to overrun the guards."
"Is it… safe to go in?" she replied.
"I should be able to unlock the cells from the controls here, but… like I said, it's been modified. I can't say for certain."
Logan couldn't help but give in to his curious itch, pacing back over to the group as Cassie stepped into the so-called airlock, giving the next set of doors mirrored within a quick glance over.
"No way to open them from within there… unless…" the Sectoid mused, hands hovering over the screen for a few moments before he set back to work, swiping his way through various menus . It wasn't long before something mechanical whirred to life from within the cell, and judging by Clay's reaction, it definitely wasn't the result he was expecting.
He took a step back from the controls, trying to pinpoint the sound's source before the cell door slammed shut with a bang that made everyone jump in unison, the metallic clunk hanging on the air for a few seconds before getting promptly drowned out by a muffled scream.
"What did you do?" Kara hissed, slithering up behind the Sectoid.
"Nothing! I didn't even activate any controls!" he replied, staring at the door in disbelief before snapping himself back to attention, returning to the cell controls. But the doors didn't budge, the tension only growing as Cassie began to pound at the door.
"What's happening?" she yelled, her voice only barely managing to crack through the steel walls.
"I'm not sure!" Clay yelled back, scrolling through a menu of ADVENT script. "The controls aren't responding!"
"Alright, alright, just stop touching it before you make things worse," Kara hissed, ushering the Sectoid back as she slithered towards the door. "Cassie, can you hear me?"
A momentary silence followed before the Hybrid replied. "Kara, is that you?"
"Yes, it's Kara. Cassie, what's going on in there?" The snake carried herself like a leader, her words strong and calm despite the circumstances, and Logan couldn't help but scoff at her little show of authority.
"I don't know, I'm still trapped between the doors." A brief silence followed, a mellow hum echoing through the air as the inner workings of the facility took over the ambiance. "Wait, the cell door's opening."
The holographic display on the window flickered, the controls disappearing as the tint on the windows faded, allowing but a miniscule glimpse into the cell beyond.
Kara's eyes snapped to Clay, who only raised his hands in response. "That wasn't me."
"Alright, Cass, listen—nothing's happening right now, alright? We'll find a way to get you out of there."
"Please, just make it quick," she replied, her words fading from fear into uncertainty. "It's dark in here."
Kara turned her attention to the ground, taking a moment to internalise her next move before jumping back into action. "Alright, Clay—I'm going to need you to try to get those controls back up. Find a way to open those doors again if you can. And Vince—if worse comes to worse, I'm going to have to get you to smash the window open, alright?"
"Easy," the Muton huffed, cracking his knuckles.
"Not easy," Clay replied, looking up from the holoscreen as he gave it a few futile taps. "It would be like trying to break through steel."
"Right, then if we can't get through the window, then we have to go through the door. This place is old, right? Maybe the magnetic locks have lost some of their charge." She paused, considering her options. "Logan, find something we can use to pry the doors open. Something long and thin, preferably strong—like metal."
"Who the hell made you the leader here?"
"Do you think I want to be the fucking leader right now, Logan?" That sure poked the hornet's nest. "Every living, breathing moment of my life back during that war was spent as a leader, organising projects for the top brass and commanding my people on the field. I put that life behind me, Logan, and for good reason—but right now I'm not seeing anyone else stepping up to take charge."
"I had to keep a whole fucking resistance group from falling apart for twenty years. And I had to do it all without that fancy psionic network shit to keep people in check."
"And yet what have you done apart from cower and hide since you woke up? You've done nothing useful."
"Hey," Clay hissed, snapping them both back to the situation at hand, and in turn, the lone bulb now flickering in the middle of Cassie's cell. The snake briefly closed her eyes, taking in a deep breath before letting it out with a flick of the tongue, eliciting a brief chuckle from the human watching.
"Are you suicidal or something?" she hissed, the rising anger all but gone; defeat settling into its place.
"Probably," he shrugged, a smug smirk creeping into the corners of his mouth as the Viper simply turned away, slithering up next to the Sectoid for a glimpse into the cell window.
"See where I'm coming from now?" the Muton huffed, stepping up next to her.
"Not the time, Vince."
A lone light was now flickering in the midst of the void, casting a spotlight down upon a metal collar suspended mid-air by a simple chain, aided only by various wires and tubes extending off into the ceiling above. Cassie emerged from the darkness, rubbing her arm as she gave what little was visible in the room a brief glance over.
"Cassie, can you hear me?" Kara spoke up, slithering in closer to the window. But the Hybrid didn't react, circling the collar and staring off at the ceiling above before making her way over to the window, her eyes glancing over everything but them.
"Hello?" she called out, her voice echoed by the speakers above.
"Cassie, we're here. Can you hear me?"
The Hybrid continued to stare for a few seconds, slowly turning back to the collar as Kara dropped her hands back by her side.
"Must be one-way glass," Clay muttered. "And one-way audio too, apparently."
Logan took a step closer to the window, watching as Cassie brushed her hands over the tubes that extended from the collar, uncertainty dotting her movements. She ran a hand over the chain, slowly making her way down to the collar itself before a red light pulsed above the door inside the cell, mirrored by another tiny flash on the collar itself.
For a moment she stood there, glancing between the collar in her hands and the cell door before she slowly began to move; one foot in front of the other, halted only by the occasional stop to yank the chain along behind her. It didn't take long before she was face-to-face with the door, moving just a single step out of view of the windows.
"Cass, can you hear me?" Kara tried again, now slithering over to the door.
"Kara? Is that you?" her voice echoed over the speakers, much clearer than before.
"Yeah, it's me. What's going on in there?"
"I… I'm not sure," she replied. "There's a collar here. I think I have to put it on to unlock the door."
Kara sunk into yet another train of thought, claw tapping her maw as she internalised her next words. "Alright, just… just give us a moment. Don't touch that thing yet."
"If I open the door, then maybe Vince could come in and break the chain off."
"No, don't do that yet, we're not sure what it does." She held her head to the door for a second, waiting for a reply that never came. "Cass? Are you there?"
Her voice was lost somewhere between the thick layers of steel that encased the Hybrid from all sides, Logan's attention falling back to the window as the woman emerged from the shadows within, weighing the collar in her hands.
Everyone watched on in silence, the tip of Kara's tail ever so gently tapping against the metal floor like how a human might tap their foot—what few plans she had all exhausted, leaving her with nothing to do but bask in the uncertainty and hope that she has just been overreacting this whole time.
The red light above the door turned green, and for a second the Hybrid winced as the collar locked into place, the speakers above echoing a barely audible grunt as she snapped her hand to her neck.
But whatever happened seemed to have passed as quickly as it came, her hand falling back by her side as she quickly paced towards the door. It beeped, and to both everyone's surprise and relief, the cell-facing door leading into the little airlock slid open with a less than gracious metal screech that soured the air around them.
"Kara, can you hear me?" she called out. "The door opened. It worked."
"Will it open the second door too?" she called back.
"I'll give it a—"
A desperate gasp for air cut her words short as the chain trailing behind her pulled back hard, yanking her from her feet and dragging her back across the cell floor by her neck. The chain began to retract back into the darkness above, the Hybrid's hands wrapped around the collar and her legs kicking desperately in every direction they could.
"Vince, window," the snake hissed almost instantly, snapping the Muton from his daze.
She pulled the Sectoid from the line of fire as Vince cracked his knuckles, huffing like a raging bull as he backed himself up for a running start.
He charged the window with every ounce of muscle he could muster before bringing his fists down hard on the glass, rattling the rusted walls around them and failing to leave behind so much as a scratch.
"I told you, it's no use!" Clay said.
"Well we have to do something! She's getting hanged in there!"
Logan kept his eyes glued to the cell as the aliens around him darted back and forth, desperately searching for a way in that wasn't there. It didn't take long for the chain to begin dragging Cass to her feet, finally clanking to a stop that left her dangling with the tips of her toes ever so barely brushing the cold metal ground below.
"Hello, Cassandra," the speakers above buzzed over the Hybrid's stifled breaths, echoing a message from somewhere inside the cell. "I want to play a game."