The red smoke didn't just put Voro to sleep; it felt like it was dissolving his connection to his own limbs. It was a weird feeling as it both made him unconscious and conscious of his state, unable to move and able to feel that he can`t do anything.
Only thing he could perceive was the rhythmic pulse of his bindings that hummed still and still and a slow drip of blood coming out of his nose. His brain was slowly breaking under the influence of the poisonous gas.
While Voro was slanting in the chair, his body was working hard, especially his [Predator] skill that was automatically turned on. Heightened body functions meant heightened metabolism and processing the foreign subject
[NOTIFICATION]
Foreign Substance Detected: [Neural-Suppressant]
[Effect: Paralysis, Memory Fog, Poisoned State, Stat Debuff]
[Skill: Predator] is reacting...
[Detoxification Initiated: 2% completed]
The window appeared only for him, but as he was not in his own mind, he did not see it.
An hour passed.
[5% completed]
2 hours.
[17% completed]
Time was hard to measure, but the more the gas was filtered as normal gas output, Voro slowly begun to regain his senses.
[30% completed]
[45% completed]
[Error: Process interrupted] [Skill :Predator has been disabled]
[Warning: Full detoxification will require high-grade caloric intake]
Voro was thinking enough now to read the message, the plan started to form in his head.
-------------------
The body appeared in the cave. Typical.
Jonathan got to work. Gloves, mask and a lot of sanitation fluid. Small metal wheelbarrow with him and he goes under the Tower to collect it. 3rd guy today was found dead, same clothes, same tatoo on the neck and same cause of death.
Pulverized bones.
The guy wasn`t easy to pick up, so fragile and floppy. But you gotta do what you gotta do, so John just picked the whole thing up, dropped it and drove it to the nerds lab.
"Thank you janitor, we`ll take it from here" The body was taken over by white lab coats and their heated "lab" tent.
Of course, not a single word of thank you for taking care of the dead guy. Classic. But it`s normal for the job of a simple cleaner. Shame he also needed a military experience, an education and experience with blood and bodies of minimum 5 years to get this position.
'It is what it is I guess' he put back the wheelbarrow to the storage shed and went for a break. On his way to the unsupervised area, he walked past the guard tents, special items storage, normal item storage, the kitchen and of course, the containment boxes.
Weirdly enough, one of the boxes had finally occupied. Johnathan never had an occasion, as they always were cleared out almost instantly, but not today.
He looked around, no guards, no lab coats....no one around him. So tip toes towards him, and he got a chance to look at the guy.
Slim, young, black hair. Tactical clothes.
'ah. He must have broken into the building' Not the first criminal the FBAM had, as the 2 other guys that were disposed by Johnathan were just simple burglars. They chose a wrong house to break into, a few directors don`t like that.
knock knock
The head of the young burglar turned towards him as much as he could move it.
"What" His voice was quiet, and muffled by the glass box.
"Oh shit you`re awake" Johnathan backed away from the window. He mostly heard that the criminals or subjects are dead, or simply incapacitated to the point where they look dead. This was new. Again.
"If you`re here to test me again, go for it. Last guy liked it"
"Ookeeey.....that`s....not weird at all. No, I`m not a researcher, I just came to see who they got in here"
"Me. Satisfied?" It was weird to hear the man`s voice without his face visible, but he did sound annoyed.
"Not...really. What did you do for this?"
"..."
"Did you break into the building?"
"Yea.."
"Damn. Impressive. You know what they do with intruders right?"
"I assume keep them in the box for life"
"Oh, no no. You`re getting killed in a few days"
The guy pulled his neck as far back as possible to see Johnathan
"What"
"Oh yea, they put you in that black thing and you come back dead. Crazy thing"
After a bit of silence , which Johnathan assumed was a realization that the man is going to die soon, the prisoner spoke up.
"Get me someone in charge"
"You can`t get out of this you know. Not even for a lifetime labor down here. You`re going in there." Johnathan heard this before, homeless begging for release or normal life in jail. Sad things, but FBAM had complete control over them down here
"No. I want to go in now" The man smiled instead.
'Crazy' only word Johnathan could think about him
"I don`t think you get this right. If they send you in there, you get back here dead. And I mean dead. You haven`t seen the state of the bodies I have to carry around here"
"I don`t care. Bring me the scientists."
"Your funeral" He shrugged and head over to the lab tent, filled with researcher currently trying to decide how the last candidate died inside.
"hey guys, that one guy in the cube wanted to talk to someone"
"Excuse me, you can`t be here janitor"
"I know, I know, but I think he`s going to do something dumb if you don`t come"
"First of all, get out. Second of all, you can`t talk to our subjects without permission. Third of all, fuck off" One of them kicked him out of the tent and he sat in front of it for a while. On the other side of the cave, the white cage was his only point of focus.
Minutes later , the body was discarded in a black bag, sent do burn with others.
"You`re still here?" The same researcher came out scrubbing his hands
"Yea, well I`m on break so..."
"Fine. Let`s go"
----------------------
Voro was brought outside and among a security team, much more controlled and pressured than before, they took him towards the Tower.
"Subject 9, I hope you understand this clearly. Even if you come back, you go back to the box. Don`t think we`ll give you better treatment just because you can survive inside"
Voro didn`t answer. The plan was going smoothly, so why break it.
"Alright push him in" The metal rods were extended as far as possible, basically slamming him into the Tower`s side.
A blue, but dark and grayish blue, window appeared in front of him.
[???? Tower ??? ?????]
[Would you like to enter]
[yes] [no]
"yes. yes i would" But before he pressed it, he turned back to the researcher and smiled as wide as he could. "See you around, nerd" and he white light took him away.