Michael expected that he'd be forced to choose between his family, and working on something horrible like weapons of mass destruction. But Mr Abattoir had him doing no such thing. He had been lead to a Lab and told that his task was designing buildings that were secure, eco-friendly, but cheap to maintain.
"Buildings like these will mean less people living on the street. I'll be putting them up in the poorest neighbourhoods." Robert said, practically gloating as he showed Michael around. Michael followed after him, warily, taking every detail of the Lab in, his hands cuffed together.
"Is that all I'll be working on? No weapons of mass destruction or whatever it is the company uses to burn the world to the ground for their own benefit." Michael growled, Robert laughed.
"I told you, I'm not the company. The reason they failed is because they made too many enemies. Too many do-gooders came after them. Yourself included!" Abattoir explained, his wide smile ever pleasant. "But me- I'll be helping humanity! I'll make money, not enemies! Nobody will try to stop me."
He giggled, gleefully. "You should be thanking me, really. I saved you from a life of monotony with that girlfriend of yours, and your blockheaded brother. Why you gave up all your potential to save someone as simple as him, I'll never understand."
"Your loss." Michael said, through gritted teeth. Robert just laughed and patted the other man on the cheek in a patronising way.
"You'll thank me." He repeated.
It still hurt to move around, his arms were wrapped in bandages but he could tell that there were burns underneath.
"Just how long has it been?" Michael asked suddenly, realizing he had no idea how long he'd been out.
"Two weeks almost! You survived that electrocution, but hardly." Robert explained. "They had you on life support, but you wouldn't of lasted long if I hadn't pulled a few strings- got you treatment that's so advanced most people don't even know it exists. But officially, you died on the operating table."
Michael felt his head spin- his death had been faked, and he was being kept captive by a former company member- he was being turned into the next Terrence Steadmend!
"Why did you even bother? Going so far just to use me. I know this might
be shocking but I'm not the only structural engineer in existence!"
"Yes, but your the only one who's pulled of three prison escapes. No. I want you." Robert said. "It has to be you."