Yesterday, Zero and I explored an unnamed part of this facility that I have silently dubbed as “Area Zero”.
We saw horrible and unspeakable things there.
The head researcher and Zero’s father Zagra have been combining the kids here to create monsters.
We did battle with a monster but ultimately failed to kill that abomination, we could only knock it into a strange rift quarantined in a hidden room.
This rift….called to me. I felt empowered being near it. It was truly a dangerous feeling.
What’s worse, we found that there was a clone of Zero submerged in red liquid. It was the spitting image of her, making it all the more unnerving.
Zero left the room before I did, and I found out the name of this clone.
Subject 02.
This is significant because all of our numbers are four digits. We say “No.1 or No.2” to simplify this. But in truth even the single digits would be, “0001 or 0002”. I would be 0963.
The point is that there were only two digits. Why this is, I still don’t know.
Regardless, we both faced various injuries. I lost my thumb, had a major laceration on my chest, and had multiple smaller wounds throughout my body.
Zero had a major cut on her shoulder, and multiple scratches and bruises.
When we left the area, no.9 was waiting for us. She informed us at the time that we had been there for only an hour and a half.
I genuinely couldn’t hide my surprise then, as it felt like we had been there for far longer.
We had run into no.9 earlier, and she assisted us in entering the area, in exchange I had to tell her what we found there.
I told her everything about what we had found except Subject 02. I included the rift in my explanation.
Needless to say, her horrified reaction was justified.
We told no.9 not to speak of this to anyone and she agreed.
It was still only 4:45 AM, so we made a trip to the healing pods. I healed much quicker than before, most likely because many of my wounds were flesh wounds.
However, for the thumb I needed something else. No.9 gave me what was called a “regeneration solvent”. I needed to rub it over where my thumb used to be and then go into the healing pod. She didn’t really know how it worked but I could take a guess.
The solvent is advanced enough to where it forms a connection to my nerves, and a property of the solvent could regenerate a new limb from the base.
I’m afraid I also don’t know how it works, but that was my best guess.
Unfortunately for us, treatment through healing pods isn’t fast enough before everyone woke up.
When questioned, no.9 said Zero and I were helping her with her gift, and as proof showed off the progress she made.
That wasn’t enough to explain my thumb injury, but I told them that I had asked no.9 to override the body’s inherent safety function as a means to test how powerful her gift was, while nullifying pain of course.
I told them I had full trust in the healing pods and the equipment they had on hand.
I could tell they still weren’t convinced so I explained to them I had awoken to an aspect of my gift during this training.
Their demeanor quickly changed and it’s almost like they had completely forgot about why they were questioning us as they rushed me over to a lab to run some tests.
Zero told me she needed some time to herself, and that she’ll let me know when the data files are downloaded to her computer.
Day 212:
After multiple tests, the head researcher has told me I've received a “partial awakening”. This phenomenon is when subjects haven’t awakened to the full aspects of the gift either due to a physical or mental reason. It’s apparently extremely rare.
Of course it is. Sometimes my own unluck surprises me.
They asked me what I could do with the gift now, and I told them the partial truth.
I could create pulses of non-harmful energy that disables electronic devices. I later learned this was called Electro-Magnetic Pulse or EMP for short.
Essentially it’s useless for battle.
What I didn’t tell them was the other aspect that awakened, my sight.
Floating around everywhere were various multi-colored particles. I had been able to see them ever since my fight with that monster, unfortunately I couldn’t interact with them like how I did back then though.
Back then against the monster, I was able to collide them and alter the particle’s shape to form electricity. It must have been because I was in a life-or-death situation, because when I tried to interact with them again my hand went through them.
When I shot a blast at the monster, it didn’t feel like I was doing it. There was so much ambient energy in the air from the rift that it felt like I was be guiding. Needless to say, I couldn’t replicate it.
Based on my inherent analysis, I believe these particles are various forms of energy, thus I dub the ability “Energy Manipulation”.
The facilitators are dubbing it as “EMP” with their limited knowledge.
I didn’t see Zero at all today.
I hope she’s doing alright.
Day 214:
I rejoined training with the other numbers today. When I walked in, No.9 and No.5 were laughing and talking together.
In such a short time, they went from enemies to friends.
I don’t get it.
They saw me and instantly ran over to me, with No.9 asking me how I'm feeling, and No.5 asking me to spar with him.
I noticed he had taken off some of his piercings, and beside his earrings he had no accessories on him.
I asked him why and he immediately looked away out of embarrassment.
Apparently he was, “Too worried about how other people saw him before.” and this was his sign of change.
How removing a couple of accessories on his face signals a major change is beyond me.
Our conversation was interrupted by No.6(who hadn’t removed her piercings) who dragged no.5 away to help her with sit-ups, and the entrance of No.1 and No.3.
He walked in and smiled coldly at me, with no.3 glaring at me from behind him.
There was absolutely nothing trustworthy about that snake, and it seemed he had a lackey.
Every time we had been in the same room, I could see him glancing at me.
It would be nice to gain allies to help escape, but I don’t know the relationships between other numbers. I feel like I could convince No.5, and No.9. Since No.6 is his sibling she may help as well. No.7 is too volatile and it seems she can’t control her hair gift very well. No.1 and No.3 are out of the question obviously, and the unknowns are No.2 and No.4.
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In the worst case scenario, I would need to learn how many would get in my way when I escape this place.
Now that I've awakened to a power, escaping has become far more feasible as long as Zagra isn’t present.
Day 216:
I was visited by No.1 while I was eating at the cafeteria today. It seemed like he had been waiting for me, and appeared suddenly right after I sat down.
We sat in silence for a moment before he sprung a question on me.
“Why do you want to escape so badly?”
A couple days ago, responding to this question would have been easy. It’s because I wish to be free, I don’t want to be chained down. However, when he asked that question, the memories of Area Zero flashed by my head.
This wasn’t a matter of being free, this was escaping a form of hell. So all I said was…..
“I want to see heaven.”
He laughed at that and merely told me there were multiple levels of hell.
I can’t get a read on him, no matter what I try.
Day 218:
In all of my spare free time, I have been training my gift. Ever since I’ve awakened, I’ve been trying to find new applications for the EMP portion, and to improve my sensitivity to the energy around me.
I unfortunately still haven’t found any use of EMP for combat purposes, but I’ve been able to sense energy around me instead of seeing them. There is about a 30 ft radius where I can sense the energy around me.
When people move, the energy moves as well. When gifts activate, energy changes and does a certain action depending on the gift. Even emotions can influence the vibrations of immediate energy around someone.
Once I learned this, I began to hone this sense, and I'm dubbing this sub-section of my ability “Scan”.
As said previously, there is a 30 ft dome where I can feel the particles around me. Past that 30 feet I have to look at them. Meaning if particles were influenced past 30 feet I wouldn’t be able to feel the change in particles.
I still have yet to be able to influence the energy in any way, but it’s only a matter of time.
…..
I still haven’t seen Zero.
Day 220:
No.5 came by my room today. He started talking about a famous boxer that he knew before he came here, and how it looked like I mimicked his moves.
I told him that was wrong, because my fighting style isn’t refined like boxing. I explained to him that the way I fight isn’t a “style”, I just do whatever is necessary to go for the fatal blow.
He asked for my advice regarding that. He questioned me about different stances and weapons, along with how to counter certain things. All of those were important, but I told him that his mentality was wrong from the start.
I could tell he was thinking of flashy combos and ways to win while looking cool. I told him that to win in the end, you may have to be disgraceful and terrible. And that he should learn his talents to the fullest before he worries about countering certain types of martial arts.
We sat in silence for a while, until he suddenly started talking about his life before the facility. It seemed mention of that boxer made him reminiscent of times before he came here. His words were deep, and I feel like they are worth transcribing.
“Lemme tell ya, my life before comin’ here was way worse. Our parents saw us as nothin’ more than a nuisance they had to pay for. ‘Parently we were an accident, and they didn’t have time to getta removal. My sis and I wanted to prove ourselves to them all the time. We would steal, hurt people, cheat, and lie, all for money. But…..it wasn’t enough in the end. They still sold us without missin a beat. Even though I hate ‘em, even though I wanna beat the lights outta them for what they did to my sis and I…..I can’t help but wanna show them who I become. I wanna become the strongest. I wanna protect my sis, win fights all around the world, make big stacks, and rub it in their slimy faces!”
I commended his goal, and told him that I would love to see him achieve it. He responded with a snarky comment to my sincerity, saying he would have to thrash me first before he could reach his goal.
Looks like he’ll never reach his goal then.
Day 221:
I wanted to test out Scan in real combat, so in training today I accepted no.5’s offer to spar. We were preparing to fight until that snake intervened and claimed he wanted to spar with me instead.
No.5 immediately became hostile and went right up to his face and started yelling at him. But No.6 then grabbed no.5’s shoulder and shook her head, with No.1 having the same calm smile the entire time.
We got ready and sparred for over 15 minutes.
I….lost.
In the beginning I was hitting him left and right, but he just kept getting back up with no signs of injury. As time went on, I began to get slower and he started to learn my moves.
I forfeited before I showed too much.
He was surprisingly very good at hand-to-hand combat. In the beginning, he just took the hits but as time went on he started deflecting my attacks. He wasn’t mimicking my style, it was his own, showing he had proficiency.
However, if I had to rank both of our martial arts skills out of 10…..
Me: 8/10
Him: 6/10
He has the basics and the techniques down for various forms of martial arts, but his speed and strength limit the effectiveness of his techniques and form. He wouldn’t lose in a pure martial arts contest to someone that’s worse than him, but if they had his discipline and was slightly stronger or faster he would lose handily.
……
Not accounting for his ridiculous ability of course.
There was one positive today though.
Scan works on some physical attacks. I don’t know the criteria for it, but sometimes I could see green particles move right before he attacked.
This will be a useful tool.
Day 223:
I finally had a chance to talk to Zero today. She wasn’t nearly as lively as she was before, but we spoke for a while.
She told me she was still processing the information, and trying to get over it before her dad returns from wherever he went.
I told her to take as much time as she needed, but she immediately contradicted herself and told me that WE don’t have much time.
At the time, I was confused when she said we.
She then explained how this is the perfect opportunity to escape from this place, and gave a long explanation on why now is the right time.
I won’t bore you with the details so I'll just outline them here.
- Zagra not being here means he won’t be an obstacle in our immediate escape of this place.
- The other numbers are busy preparing for the tournament, and pushing themselves to the limits. Even if they were to stand in our way, they would be tired as they have been for the past week later at night.
- The head researcher hasn’t been watching some of the training sessions, and sometimes disappears entirely. This is just a theory but he might be trying to resolve the “monster problem” in Area Zero.
- This place gets supplies from a company linked to Zagra’s organization apparently. A while back, Zero overheard her father telling a representative to come on the 16th every two months, and we are 10 days away from that time. It would be a good way to escape and cover our tracks.
She said we needed to come up with a plan to leave on the 10th day, and the clock was ticking. The data on the flash drive was still being process by her computer. She complained it was a piece of junk and said it would probably take another week before the files could be shown.
Her expression was far more serious than before, and it seems any guilt she had about leaving this place had completely disappeared.
I was conflicted.
I was glad that she was determined, and that she would be a useful ally now that she has no hesitation.
However, it’s unfortunate to say that I've become accustomed to her bubbly personality.
Hopefully escaping this place will make her smile again.
Day 225:
There are currently eight days left until the planned escape.
Zero snuck into my room at night and drew a terrible but sufficient map of the entire facility.
From my room, it was by no means a straight line to get to the “exit”. There were two ways we could escape.
We could literally walk out the main entry to this place, but according to Zero unless a code is put in from some hub room an alarm would blast around the whole facility, alerting them to us.
The second way is a hidden emergency exit on the other side of the facility. From where we took a left to get to Area Zero, we would take a right instead. After a couple more turns, we would arrive at a door. This door leads to a large warehouse of sorts where supplies are moved and sent out. According to Zero, there were multiple branches and it had a tunnel-like layout. It’s akin to a maze apparently. The only problem is that there is someone monitoring the tunnels, and can shift the walls around.
The emergency exit is meant as a last resort if the facility is facing dire straits, or as a way to ward off intruders trying to break in or pursue important people here.
It is quite literally a death trap, which is why our first stop would be to incapacitate the person that monitors the maze.
Zero doesn’t know where the room is that monitors it though.
I asked her how she found out all this information, and she said she already knew where the emergency exit was and what it was like because she tried to escape from there before, however she didn’t have the means to knock out a guard without blowing him up or making it obvious it was her. She also didn’t know how to take out the cameras
This worried me, so I asked her why we hadn’t been seen on the cameras on the night we went to Area Zero.
She told me that the reason she brought me out on that night was because the cameras were undergoing maintenance. Apparently multiple of them had stopped working sporadically around the entire facility, so they were spending the whole day and night finding the problem. Essentially, they were down for that one night.
She said we can think about the cameras after we figure out where the room that manages the maze is.
I attempted to make small talk afterwards but she wasn’t in the mood, she quickly left before saying, “We can have fun once we’re outta this prison.”
She’s right.
I don’t know what’s come over me lately, but I have no time to be worrying about her feelings.
She’s determined to see this to the end, it’s only fitting that I match her conviction.
Being trapped here forever is akin to essentially dying.
Slowly losing my free will, constantly being tested, and if I’m significant I get to be a forced soldier of another organization.
Death by any means is not an option.
So I will do what I have always done.
Survive.