"Sometimes the worst place you can be is in your own head"

Unknown

PT Era ?

Year: 132020

Time: 13:25

Location: Chicago Panopticon, CODE 1 Cell

Five years later after the ambush...

It's been five years ever since it happened. There was nothing I could have done to save my squad. Most people would have moved on and continue living their lives, but not me. I was only a rookie back then and I lost my team after 3 months of getting used to things. God fucking damn it, and here I am, on lockdown for 20 years ordered by the OPS for losing my teammates.

Sigh, I guess I do deserve this. I mean, it felt like it was my fault that I couldn't save them, I was only a rookie. There was nothing I could have done.

I look around my cell, it looked dead and barren. The walls and ceiling were rusted and the MRP (Main Responsibility Portal) in front of me was turned off. I moved a bit to get a bit more comfortable. My bunker bed squeaked as it did so. As I did that, I looked to my left and saw the door, looking very menacing the more I look at it. While looking at the door, I saw my accessory; deactivated.

It looks sad I know, but this feels more like a haven than prison. Besides the fact that I'm stuck here for 20 years until I'm available to go back into combat, this small room is placed to keep me sane.

I kinda feel bad for my accessory though. After they put me on lockdown, they shut down my accessory the day after. It's been 5 years later since she was deactivated. I always wondered if my accessory had feelings like me too.

Either way, the good news is that I've done 5 years in lockdown. The bad news is that I still got 15 more years left. And I'm already 20.

I laid down on my bed and closed my eyes to rest. 20 years old, 15 years more to go...fuck my life.

"Geez, 20 years they put you on lockdown. That's harsh."

I opened my eyes and got up. Who said that? I swear, sometimes when you're locked up for quite some time, you can go insane.

I looked around and noticed something different about my cell. There was some sort of purple-like aurora surrounding my cell. I got up and went to go touch the wall. It still felt the same, cold and rusty.

"You sure are different. Way different than the doppelganger I met 30,000 years ago."

I turned around and saw a fair-skinned young woman with green eyes and blonde hair. She wears a black hat with closed pink eyes, a black hoodie with the hood word right over the hat and a pair of arm warmers. She wears thigh-high length socks with numerous buckles going from top to bottom, along with a matching pair of high-top shoes.

I almost lost my balance when I saw her. How the hell did she get in here? More importantly; what did she mean by my doppelganger?

"Who are you?" I asked her.

She looks at me with her green eyes and was very serene by my question.

"Hehe, that's the same question he asked." She said while giggling a bit. "My name is Aries M."

Aries...why does that name sound familiar? I felt like I heard that name before.

"I've been planning to meet you for quite some time, Echo." She said, walking around me observing my body. "Hmm, you have the strength and skills of your father."

"Wait, you know my name?" I asked her. As I asked that, I saw myself lying down on my bed. "No...I can't be dead..."

As soon as I said that, she laughed. What was so funny, I'm looking right at my body.

"You're not dead, you dummy." She said, "you're asleep. This is the Immaterial Plane; the magical, mystical realm between life and death."

"So...I'm not dead..." I said.

"Nope," she said, "Hmm, you look hella confused...that's understandable. You'll get used to it when I'll visit you more often."

I shake my head. Like literally, this is too much for me to take in. Sigh, just go with it Echo.

"So, what do you-" As soon as I was gonna say that, she grabbed my left arm and started examining it.

"OW, WHAT THE FUCK!"

"Hmm...this marking, exactly like the other one." She said, tracing her finger on my birthmark. What the hell did she mean? I mean, it's just a birthmark.

She let go of my arm and crouched, still looking at me. I shook my left arm and looked at my birthmark; a scar shaped like an X. When I was born, my uncle said that I was born with it. I would of said that my either my mom or dad told me, but I never knew them from birth. My uncle told me that my dad died in a retribution and my mom ran away and left me with him. Boy, I am really unlucky. I always wondered how they looked. If only...

"Yep, you're the one." I heard her say. "But I wasted my time just examining you. Someone's coming."

I saw her fade away. "Wait!"

As she faded away, she said, "We'll talk more another time..."

Right when she said that, I felt my soul flowing back into my body on the bed; and I woke up, heavily breathing. I look around my cell and it looked the same, rusted and barren.

I sat down on the edge of the bed and shook my head. That dream felt so real. But was it real...

I heard my door open and looked up. I saw two accessory guard coming in, behind them a burly man with a suit, brown hair, and a curly mustache.

"Get up, sinner. Quit slouching around." He said, his voice firm as hell.

I got up without hesitation. I wanted to say something but I don't want to get into any trouble.

"Good to see you're doing well," the man said, "My name is John Finsk. But you lowlife worms will call me Mr. F or sir, you got that?"

"Yes, sir..." I said, my voice going silent afterward.

"Good." He said. "Now if you may not have heard of me, I am your new OPS director for this Panopticon."

He pulls up his PRP. "Alright let's see..." He pulls up a file. "Echo Jagger-Zenobia, age...now 20. Your accessory...was forced to be deactivated, yet still in good condition. You were sentenced to lockdown for 20 years..." He said.

I never used my other last name, Zenobia. Mainly because it reminds me of my mom, whoever she is. Why I wonder...

He pushes a red button on his PRP and a small beep was heard. He looks up at me and said, "Now no longer required to serve the rest."

I look at him, confused. Did he seriously delete my lockdown restraint? What the hell is going on?

"Listen here Echo," he said. "What has happened 5 years ago with your team was not your fault. We've been getting rumors from every Panopticon about that abductor. It's no coincidence."

No coincidence? What the hell did he mean?

He pulls out a cigar and lights it.

"This abductor is dangerous, its lethal, and its unknown." He said, puffing out a ball of smoke. "And right now, we need every man on board for this."

He looks at me. "Now I know that you been on lockdown for 5 years for the ambush. But that's all in the past now."

He drops the cigar and steps on it. Then he walks to the MRP and pushes a green button. The MRP turns on with a low hum.

He pushes a few buttons, then turns to look at me. "Once you receive your information, you can go ahead and head out. Just don't do anything stupid, or I won't hesitate to send you back to lockdown."

He turns and leaves out the door. The door slides shut heavily. I sat down and looked at the screen, waiting for the information.

On the screen popped out an orange bear with a blue hat and a microphone. It was Percy Propa; the OPS mascot. Oh boy, sometimes I'm glad to see him, and sometimes I don't. But who am I to judge.

"Hello and Greetings, sinner," he said. "I am aware that your lockdown restriction has been deactivated, and you are reactivated as a sinner; fighting for the Greater Good."

"However," he said, "your sentence is raised back up to 1,000,000 years ordered by the OPS. Does that sound good to you?"

I sighed, "It doesn't matter...as long as I'm not in that damn lockdown anymore."

As soon as I said that, I heard my PRP made a beep and saw my years rise up back to a million. Great, starting over again.

"Glad you can cooperate, now onto business," he said. "Recently, there have been many changes in the past 5 years. For one, no longer are sinners allowed with their accessory, and are now under surveillance on their own. That means that sinners must look out for each other, and they are injected with a life tracker."

"Great..." I said.

"A life tracker, or LT, is a new system that tracks the sinner's heart. If the sinner dies, the LT will go flat and make a long beep." Percy said, "This will alert the other sinners to rescue them and revive them. But if they don't make it in 1 minute, they are dead for good."

"So I'm guessing I'm gonna get one, huh?" I said.

"Actually," he said. "During your lockdown, you have already received one."

"Well, shit..." I said, sighing afterward.

"But surprisingly," he said, with a beep. "You get to keep and use your accessory and wasn't scheduled with an LT. But they gave it to you anyways, and in no chance of removing it."

Afterward, he rambled on about the war for food and resources getting worse and how they built stronger abductors, all that shit. I paid attention on some points, and I was surprised by most of it. Has it really gone to shit after 5 years? Man, if only Bullseye was here to see this...

"And for the final thing," he said, "the OPS has granted you with all the entitlements and has made you Captain."

As soon as I heard that, I got up. "WHAT?!"

"Congratulations, sinner," he said. " I hope you do your best for our Panopticon. For the Greater Good."

"Wait, I don't know how-" I said, but too late; he disappeared.

What in the crap is going on? How the hell was I made captain? This can't be happening. Sigh, whatever. Can't do anything about it. I went to my accessory and was about to turn her on, but I decided to leave her for a while. I went out the door and looked at my Panopticon...my home.