Chapter 7: Unforgiving Shackles
Flames.
Wreckage.
The taste of metal.
The cloying scent of burnt flesh.
Their shadows are.....all that is left of them.
It hurts so much. I want it all to end...but not yet...not until...
...
Rumble. There's a strange rattling noise. Along with the hum of an engine...similar to the ones at the Plasma Nexus base but...different. Something feels different. Iver slowly reaches for his face and feels the dry skin that is normally hidden by his mask. He slowly regains consciousness and realizes something is wrong.
He immediately gets up and scans the room.
"What the?"
Iver rubs his head and gets up. His eyes slowly widen as he realizes the severity of his situation.
Cold iron walls.
He's trapped within an iron box with a small glass viewing window in front of him. On his hands there are specialized handcuffs which neutralizes his force. He observes the room, there's a strange sensation. Before he can figure out what, footsteps echo throughout the corridor and their voice reverberates with their steps.
"Gunmetal."
Nothing
…
"Gamma Devil."
A shuffle from the cell next to Ivers and a voice comes out.
"Could you let me out man? You're interrupting my story."
…
"Little Mercury."
She speaks out.
"Hey mister, do you wanna join my stew?"
He moves on.
"Taz Osborne."
He speaks out.
"Did you guys get any food here? If I'm here I might as well get some chow."
The footsteps stop in front of Ivers cage.
"Oh? And we've got the Masked Drifter of the plasma nexus."
It's male.
He leans in and peaks into the room begins pressing his face directly against the panel, as if he wants to pass through the glass and look at Iver directly. A small grin cracks on his face.
"Well well this might not be as boring as I thought. You're pretty horrifying without that mask of yours kid."
He begins clapping slowly.
"You've been marked."
Then faster.
"You seriously made my job easier kid."
And faster. And faster.
"You have no idea how difficult you were to find."
There's a rhythm, like one of those salsa dances.
"It's kind of disappointing but it all worked out."
He stops abruptly with a crooked grin.
"You all have been marked."
"You five have been chosen by the J.O (Judgement Order). Wondering how you got here? Look no further."
Iver raises an eyebrow.
"You sound like a broken record, ever heard of tautology?"
The man steps towards Ivers glass window and peeks through the glass. Creepy. He smiles at Iver.
"You'll have to forgive me, I'm a little new to this promotion so it's kind of nerve wracking."
He chuckled.
"Let's start with you drifter. We put out a bounty for you after your little stunt at the Altamonte state building along with being a member of the Plasma Nexus."
"And well I'm sure you're aware of the crimes of being a member of a terrorist organization right?"
"You don't make smart decisions do you kid."
Iver raises his voice.
"HEY GET BACK HERE,WE'RE NOT DONE."
Iver stares at the panel as he tries assessing the situation. It's painfully obvious.
The plasma nexus betrayed him as far as he's concerned. He chuckles and leans against the wall, was he being used? Definitely, what for? It doesn't concern him anymore.
The man walks over to Taz Osborne's cell.
"Tazzy Taz Taz. You've been convicted for burning up a…"
The man whistles.
"A children's home."
Taz speakes out from the room.
"Yeah well I stopped getting turned on from burning up the usual stuff so I thought to myself…why not burn something you love? Like little kids."
He chuckled.
"I could not even begin to describe the feelings of euphoria and pain swirling together."
He moaned to himself.
"Absolutely fucking amazing."
The man looks at Taz through the glass with an unreadable expression.
"You're pretty messed up you know?"
"I get that a lot."
He walks over to Little mercury's cell.
"Aren't you an adorable little thing."
He smirks to himself
"It's hard to believe that you decomposed judgement order operatives and served them as a 'stew' in her restaurant along with others."
She gets up smiles.
"Hey listen. Human beings are still animals in this world. Like all animals, we need to eat right? So what did I do wrong you hypocrites? Our society really surprises me"
She squeals inside her room.
The man moves backwards with a raised eyebrow and walks to the next room. The Gamma Devil.
"The Gamma Devil, real name Kil. You've been convicted for multiple assassinations, mass genocide and…loitering around libraries?"
Kil speaks up.
"Well I mean it's not like it's senseless, after all I just want to find my main protagonist, my hero."
The man slaps his hands together once more and breathes out calmly. He makes his way to the last cell.
"And finally we have Gunmetal. Honestly speaking I didn't think we'd find you so easily, you've been in hiding for years and finally decided to show yourself."
He smirks.
"Smells fishy, but I happen to like fish. Also...you're younger than I thought."
Gunmetal stands up, his eyes are the only thing visible. A very dark purple.
"Well we're not known for abandoning members of our cause now are we? And what can I say, I got blessed with good genetics, can't say the same thing about you though."
A beat.
Iver twitches slightly, that voice sounds familiar…too familiar. He slams his fists into the ground as his irritation bubbles out.
"What the hell is this place, and why the hell am I surrounded by these…monsters…"
The man speaks to Gunmetal.
"You willingly handed yourself in, I'm curious kid, what's your game, you've been quiet all this time."
"As if terrorism wasn't enough, you mercilessly slaughtered all those operatives during the Daybreak incident."
Gunmetal stays quiet.
The man the steps into the middle of the room and snaps his fingers.
"Now last but not least. It's my turn. Honestly you all made my day."
The iron cells start rattling. And everyone starts making noise.
"I am your Shepherd Jericho and I welcome you my little Demons to Veritas."
The rooms start moving apart from each other as one goes in the centre.
"You will all be out through trials and experiments in order to "reform" one of you and the rest….will be executed by yours truly."
Some captors like Gunmetal and The masked drifter keep quiet while the others like Little and Taz make a ruckus.
The rooms get in their positions.
"Have fun you degenerates, I can't wait to see how everything turns out for our God shall forgive one of your sins and punish your counterparts."
Jericho makes one last clap and the cells fall through the ground. Their combined screams can be heard as they plummet.
"One of you shall be purified, as for the others…fodder."
As the cells plummet Iver stands up and clicks his tongue.
"First you, then the Plasma Nexus and now this bullshit?"
He sighs. His eyes flicker with compressed rage as he walks around the small confines of the cell. He immediately slams his cuffs into the wall repeatedly.
Venting his anger.
The betrayal.
Again and again.
He finally stops and sighs.
"If anything it's my fault for trusting again."
The cell descends faster and faster towards wherever he's falling down to and walks towards the glass panel.
"Fine then."
The cell doesn't seem to stop moving.
"I'll play your game."
A voice emenates from the corncera of all the cells. It's him, the shepherd.
"Let's play a little game everyone."
Iver looks down at his cuffs.
"So that's why."
A pillar comes out from the ground with a bright red button on it. The shepherds voice comes back.
"Let's play a trivia match. The cells you're in, they won't stop falling. Not until you answer the questions, if not well I'll have to call the cleaning crew to mop up the mess. And or if you get it wrong, you'll fall faster."
He claps his hands loudly.
"After smashing into the ground."
Iver clicks his tongue.
Taz raises an eyebrow.
Little is in her own world.
Kil laughs to himself.
Gunmetal keeps quiet as always.
Jericho continues talking.
"Let's begin shall we kids. What is the difference between, plasma and plasma, the clock is ticking."
What? That is the one word that rang throughout everyone's mind after hearing the question. With the sole exception of one person.
BEEP.
"Gamma Devil, you called? What do you have to say?"
Kil lifts his cuffed hands off the button.
"I'm gonna go off the assumption that everyone can hear me. The sooner we wrap this up the sooner I can get back to my life, although I doubt it's that simple now is it."
Kil smirks and sticks out his tongue at the small camera watching him. If they looked properly some would realise they're being watched.
"Plasma is the 4th state of matter. Basically when gas is heated to the point where atoms lose electrons and becomes ionised gas."
Iver raises an eyebrow.
"The hell is this, a physics lesson?"
Kil continues.
"Then you've got the other one."
Kil smirks. His voice begins overlapping with another as the scene shifts from a death cage, to a university lecture hall setting.
A student puts their hand down as the professor dismisses him.
"Settle down everyone and let me explain."
The university lecture hall quiets down as the professor clicks through some slides on the holographic board.
"Plasma otherwise known as Syntax is the power that flows throughout everything including us humans as well. Think of it as a universal code."
The man points at a student.
"You there, could you tell me how syntax interacts with human beings?"
The student stands up and makes her voice loud and clear for the entire hall to hear.
"It would be my pleasure. Just because we all have syntax does not mean we can utilise it."
"However there are a select few of people known as translators who are able to decode syntax and bring out something new, this phenomenon is called force production, or just a force."
"These are supernatural abilities that can range from being physics adjacent to something completely out of the ordinary, however these people are quite rare in our society."
The professor begins clapping and soon after, the entire hall erupts in applause. He soon signals everyone to stop and let's the student sit down.
"Excellent textbook answer as always Ms Garden. However there's something that you're missing entirely."
"Something they don't tell you in the books."
"A force is the boundary between intent and reality."
The professor expands the the hologram throughout the entire hall with a brain labelled intent and a square bright light labelled reality and it morphs into a square.
"This is the key connection between and which is also why not everyone can translate. This is because a force is the result of one's intent burning itself onto reality meaning you need to have quite the will to develop one. In addition your force is also influenced by who you are, for example."
He spreads out his hands and the hologram explodes into dozens of different objects, the students eyes widening in wonder and curiosity.
"If you love bringing people together then."
He brings his hands together and the objects combine into one singular sphere.
"Theoretically you could have the force of attraction. They can be more complex and deeper but we will go into that in our next lesson. And before we leave what do we say?"
The students all arise and speak in unison.
"WE THANK THE JUDGEMENT ORDER FOR THE PEACE AND PROSPERITY THEY HAVE BROUGHT US. FOR OUR TRUTH IS THAT OF ORDER."
The professors eyes widen slightly in shock. The judgement order pledge, it's less of a pledge and more of a prayer. It was meant to honour the J.O but now it just feels like worshipping a living God…it's creepy.
"No people, I meant the one I taught you, you don't have to use the pledge in my lessons."
The students look around in confusion. Some are visibly uncomfortable while others feel relieved.
"WE MUST PUT AN END TO THE USE OF NUCLEAR FISSION!"
The professor claps his hands.
"Splendid everyone, thanks again for helping in my petition, now let's not forget to spread the word right everyone!?"
Some students laugh and some students whoop and applaud him.
The lessons finally ends and students chatter about the lesson and the spectacle. The seats gets emptier and emptier until there is one man sitting in one of the seats. He is definitely not a student. He starts applauding the professor.
"Never really been to one of these lectures back in my youth but I'll give it to ya Dr Felix Moore, planting a seed in the young minds of our future leaders, you know your stuff."
The professor stares at the strange man as he begins walking towards his desk.
"I see that you're back Officer Brec. It's just a matter of moulding their minds. It is a serious matter after all."
He stops infront of the professor and daps him up. The sound echoes throughout the room.
"Yeah yeah. Anyways, I got a lead on the nuclear explosion that occurred around 5 years ago, you know your leading case?"
Felix clears his throat and continues. "I'm assuming you got this from him yes?"
Brec replies. "Who else?"
Officer Brec and Dr Moore walk to some empty chairs of the hall and continue discussing.
"The red districts nuclear incident yeah?"
Felix looks down at his hands, they are trembling with anticipation.
Officer Brec takes out a small chip and hands it to Felix.
"He sent this to me. Apparently there's a secret project going on sponsored by the J.O and some private investors."
Felix continues. "Hmm how strange."
The down low is that they're taking 5 messed up kids considered monsters into some sort of reality challenge to battle royal and let one emerge and become a member of their ranks and eliminate the rest in the process."
The professor raises his eyebrows in the influx of information.
"And just what does this have to do with our case?"
Officer Brec smirks.
"I'm getting there. Turns out there was a survivor during that freak accident, it should've been impossible but he's one of the members of the so-called 'DEMONS OF VERITAS' project."
"Although from what I've heard the inmates in the upper facilities call it 'GEHENNA'."
Felix covers his mouth in shock.
"Someone actually survived the horrors of that accident?"
Officer Brec nods.
"Yeah. You ever heard of…The Masked Drifter of the Red district? Turns out…he's out mystery man…the key to flipping the system."
"Apparently that chip I gave you is a sort of bypass key, you'll have to check it out yourself though. Basically early access."
Felix stares at the chip inside his hands.
"So the key to everything…is someone even the J.O considers a monster huh…"
He stands up.
"But I won't complain with the hand we've been dealt."
He looks down at officer Brec.
"Because it's time we put an end to this worlds suffering."