Negotiations

They continued down a series of hallways until they came to a stop in front of a door. The guard took off his glove and placed his thumb on a sensor. The door unlocked with a click and the guard opened the door to reveal more guards looking through a glass window at three captives gagged and cuffed in chairs.

"There they are!" Ren mumbled to himself.

One of the men in the room turned and began to speak, "So you must be the Core Soldier I've heard so much about. How are you?"

The man was very tall and was wearing loose camouflage pants with a black tee shirt.

Ren didn't say anything. He only glared into the eyes of who he assumed was the commander of the facility.

"Not much of a talker are you," he continued. "How about we remove that mask of yours."

He moved towards Ren and was about to take it off. However, Ren backed away.

"The mask stays," Ren snapped.

"You're not the one making the demands around here. Last time I checked, I have your friends under my custody. I'm glad one was stupid enough to take out her phone. That's how I knew she had other friends and you were one of them."

"Let them go!" Ren shouted.

"Again, I'm the one who's going to be making demands."

The commander turned and pointed at to one of the guards under his command. The guard nodded and he radioed one of the guards inside the room with Ms. Croft, Eric, and Ms. Carter.

The guard inside responded and then aimed his gun at one of them.

BANG!

Ms. Croft screamed, but the gag in her mouth muffled it as a bullet was shot into her foot.

"Stop, what do you want?" Ren asked.

"That's more like it." the commander smiled. "I hear you are quite powerful. In fact, you were able to destroy two of the facilities like this one practically by yourself. Both were very impressive feats."

"What's your point?"

"I want you to work for me."

"What makes you think I won't turn on you?"

"I have a certain drug that will solve that problem. So, what will it be. Your friend's lives..."

BANG! The guard shot another bullet, this time into Eric's right thigh.

"...or their death," the commander smiled.

"You got to be freaking kidding me!" Ren cursed silently. He tried to break loose from the cuffs, but they were too thick for him to do anything. "I'm trapped. I can't do anything except agree to his terms."

"I'll agree, but on one condition." Ren muttered unwillingly.

"Do you think you're in the position to be negotiating?"

"Please, as a favor. I want you to release them safely from this facility, once you have me in custody."

"I can live with that. I agree to your terms." The commander turned to the guards. "Get him out of here and down to our highest security cell and then inject him with the drug."

"Yes sir!"

Six guards turned and led Ren out of the room.

"Take his friends up to the surface. Release them, but as soon as you do, kill them all." The commander ordered.

The guard nodded to signal his understanding.

The guards began to unhook Eric, Ms. Croft, and Ms. Carter from their chairs. They left their cuffs and gags on however, as they pushed them out of the room and into the room.

They all were only to able to catch a glimpse of Ren as he turned the corner. Instantly, they all knew what had happened. Each of them began to feel remorse and sorrow as it was their fault for getting captured.

Ren was led to the elevator and taken deeper into the facility towards his cell.

"I can't believe this. There's absolutely nothing I can do." Ren began to lose his drive as his situation looked more and more hopeless. He was going to be brainwashed and was going to become the commander's dog, doing anything that his master wishes.

He looked at the ground as he continued down the hallway.

"Keep moving!" a guard down the hallway yelled.

Crack!

Ren looked up to see a guard looking down on a little child who was on the floor whimpering.

"Get up!" the guard shouted as he gave the child a good kick in the stomach. The child yelped in pain and looked up into Ren's eyes.

The small boy held out his hand towards Ren with tears in his eyes, "Help... me..."

Ren stopped moving.

"You guys... started taking children..." Ren stammered.

"Huh?" the guards were confused as to why he stopped.

"You... pieces... of... trash!" Ren fumed, bursting in anger.

Ren began to feel all sorts of feelings. Sadness, regret, anger, hate, happiness, hopelessness, confusion, rage, they all came pouring in until he didn't know what to feel. He lost all control as his mind went completely blank.

His aura completely changed, and the guards noticed it. They didn't know why, but they became very frightened as chills went down their spines.

Ren's head shot back up and glared at one of the guards, his eyes burning green.

The guar began to tremble in fear.

"What the hell is wrong with him!?" the guard wondered.

Ren let out a horrible screech before pulling the cuffs on his hands apart then tearing them off of his hands.

"What the fuck?!" There's no way he should have been able to break those apart!"

In a split second, the entire hallway was covered in blood, intestines, and parts of organs while Ren stood alone. No one was spared. Not even the child was left alive.

"Kill... I must kill..." Ren mumbled as he continued down the hallway to look for more prey.