1 Chapter 1

Distant, somewhere in the far off dark recesses of the facility. Loud mechanical clicking echoed off of the cold, metallic walls. Fighting through the thick haze that was blocking her mind Emily slowly opened her eyes, and took in her surroundings. Everything was dark, bathed in an eerie red glow from the lights that hung from the ceiling.

As she scanned the room her vision started to adapt to the light. All around her, she made out the outlines of various large pieces of machinery, storage bins, and vats of green liquid. Above her there were twelve mechanical arms and various conveyor belts running from one wall to another. In the corner, she made out a small cryo chamber with a small body floating inside, all twisted and mutilated like some kind of horror film experiment.

Stifling a scream, Emily attempted to move her arms. Her arms came into contact with the sides of cold steel restraints. It was at this moment that she looked down at her body, suddenly realizing that she was strapped to a metal operating table. Emily let out a high pitched scream of surprise. As she took a closer look at her arms and legs, she noticed two tubes leading from her chest and left thigh that stretched to a small machine sitting on a nearby table. The larger of the tubes appeared to run a thick purple liquid into her, while the small one in her thigh sucked out something red.

"This can't be real! Where am I?" Emily thought to herself, feeling slightly panicked.

There was a beep from her left, as something moved from the shadows. Turning her head, Emily stared at a stainless steel model of a woman standing at about six feet tall. She could plainly make out her reflection in the glowing blue eyes, fear evident on her face.

After a short moment of just staring at her, the robot moved for a panel on one of the walls. It pressed a button marked, ON, leading two mechanical arms to be lowered. They grabbed her arms and lifted her body from the table.

"Wait! What's going on? Where are you taking me?" Emily attempted to ask, but all that came out was a quiet whisper.

The robot didn't answer, instead it pushed another button, opening a hole in the floor under Emily. The arms immediately released her body, and soon Emily found herself free-falling toward the unknown.

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The young woman sobbed silently to herself in the dim red light of the room, each breath a painful venture within itself. She could still feel the pain from where they had broken each individual bone in her arms, or….arm. Even though she was in great pain and probably wouldn't survive much more of this abuse, Emily still wasn't ready to give in. Even though they had been careful not to say anything around her, she had still figured out why they were doing this to her. And what they wanted. This had to be about her sister who used to work here, before going missing.

She had always been paranoid about what the prison was doing. Always telling Emily these stories about the horrible things they were doing to innocent people. Emily had thought she was kidding, just too embarrassed to tell her little sister what she was really doing at the prison. Hours before her sister had "disappeared" Emily received a message about how her sister had finally had enough and was going to try to help someone escape. That had been the last thing she'd ever said. Maybe she had been right after all.

Emily screamed a blood-chilling scream as her right leg was ripped from her body, and the rest of her continued to be twisted and stretched like taffy. Steel arms turned her around, ignoring her cries as they grabbed the left leg. Emily continued to scream as her leg was slowly twisted until it eventually snapped off, making a repulsive squishing sound. Again, the arms picked her up, carrying her to yet another table. A cybernetic guard swiftly attached cold, metal restraints to her remaining limb and waist, as another began to work a machine. Nothing stopped them as they emotionlessly watched the machine start to drill into her head.

Emily was swimming in an ocean of pain which threatened her remaining sanity. They had just finished harvesting her left eye. The restraints were removed and something grabbed her by the waist, lifting her into the air. The movement caused her to black out.

When she came to, Emily found herself alone in a large bare room. Near her head she could make out the door; near her feet was a large window that framed the faces of two of the Overseers. Suddenly the floor she was on began to move. She began to hear a low rumble coming from the direction she was headed. There, right in front of her was a gigantic concrete slab. Rising and falling. Rising and falling. It would be the final ending to this hell.

"Please…"

Emily screamed as the slab made contact with her body, slowly crushing her. Blood gushed from her mouth as her ribs started to break one by one. She could feel her organs trying to escape through her head. Then, when she was closest to death, everything stopped.

Emily was barely hanging onto any resemblance of life as she watched the slab lift itself off her body. Miraculously, she was still conscious, wondering what happened. Had they had a change of heart? In the distance she could hear the Overseers laughing as they watched her trying to comprehend what caused the sudden reprieve.

Then, the slab fell, smashing her flat as it ended her life. Strangely enough, death was what Emily wanted most.

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Two dark figures stood on a nearby balcony watching as the horrendous events unfolded below them. Being the ones who had brought the girl to the prison, they had been granted the rare opportunity to watch as she was disposed of. Something the two quite enjoyed, and even called their favorite past-time.

"Is she dead yet?" The one called Smuggler asked, as he continued to twirl his knife between his gloved fingers.

"I think so." His partner, a man named Mole answered.

"About time. I was getting bored watching them tear her apart."

"I still can't believe she lasted as long as she did."

"Yeah, that is weird. Maybe the girl was one after all."

"Maybe."

The two turned and walked back to the elevator, each flanked by a couple armed cybernetic guards. Once inside Mole hit the button for them to return to the main floor.

"So what's up with all these robots anyway?" Smuggler asked eyeing the one closest to him.

"I'm not sure. Rumor is they had an incident a few weeks ago. Involved one of their most trusted employees." Mole replied. "Tried to help a subject scape or something like that."

"Was it a woman?"

"Yeah."

"Well, there you go. Stupid females are always messing things up." Smuggler said. "Don't know why we let them out of the house in the first place."

Mole didn't say anything. He was used to his partner's rants about the opposite sex and had stopped arguing long ago. Plus if he did say anything, there was no doubt in his mind that Smuggler would kill him without hesitation.

The lift stopped and the two bounty hunters strolled outside to their waiting sports car. As always Mole got into the driver seat; because as Smuggler put it, he needed his hands free if he ever needed to kill someone.

"So who's our next unlucky guest?" Smuggler asked, lighting a cigarette.

"Some kid by the name of Rex." Mole said, as he pulled onto the dark road. "Intel says he's been making a mess of their operations."

"Rex?" Smuggler asked. "Who names their kid Rex?"

"His mom was probably on something when she named him. That or the kid just got unlucky." Mole answered as he passed through a checkpoint.

"What did the kid do to get on The Society's bad side?" Smuggler questioned, pretending to care.

"Intel didn't say. All I got out of them is that they don't want him to be taken care of like the rest."

"What do you mean?" Smugger asked.

"It means that we can't kill him." Mole flatly answered.

"Fuck." Smuggler dropped his cigarette. "But I like killing."

"Yeah. Apparently they think there's something special about this one. Don't ask me why though. Kid looks like he couldn't handle a paper bag."

"Can I still cut out his tongue?" Smuggler asked, throwing out the cigarette.

"No. And what is it with you and always wanting to do that?" Mole said, giving him a weird look.

"It's personal. Don't tell me how to live my life." Smuggler frowned. "So will they let me do anything to him?"

"No, the kid's not to be touched. This is simply a delivery."

"Well that sucks."

"But they did say we could have fun with anyone who happened to be nearby." Mole said winking. "Apparently kid's got quite the protection around him."

The two laughed. It had been a long time since they had been allowed to have fun. Mostly because of what happened to the town of Minato. Or what used to be Minato.

Still laughing the two made their way to their apartment, both looking forward to what the day would bring.