Underground

It was the mid-afternoon, and testings had finished. The subjects were resting in their rooms, and this included Abel, alone in his own.

Knocking was suddenly heard behind his containment room's door. "Hm?" He stood up and approached the noise. Upon opening, he was met with a familiar sight; Midas stood outside his door.

"Hey Abel."

"Good afternoon Mr. Genova," Abel smiled. "It's been a while since I've seen you."

"It has. How're you doing?" Midas asked.

"I've been doing well, though my hands have been aching."

Midas nodded. "Yeah, the experiments are pretty draining. But how's your ability coming along?"

"It's been going well. According to Overseer Jophiel, I've come to develop it at an efficient rate." Abel poked his palm. "How about you?"

"Oh it's been pretty good too. The usual day-by-day stuff, you know."

Abel nodded. "That's nice to hear. Well, is there something you wanted to ask me? It's unusual for you to come to me."

Midas smiled. "Can I come inside?"

"Sure," Abel led him in. Silent footsteps echoed behind the door that closed. Abel went and sat on his bed, while Midas stood across him.

"I have a question for you Abel," Midas looked down at him. "Do you remember your past?"

"My past?" Abel found the question unexpected. "Depends how long ago."

"From your time before arriving to this facility," Midas said.

"I do," Abel looked up.

Midas was gladly shocked to hear this. But maintaining his calm, he pushed his intent further.

"So you must know your irregularity then."

"I do."

"What was it?" Midas asked.

"I killed my master," Abel replied.

"Master? You had a master?"

"I was a servant," Abel paused. "I served for him for nearly a decade. Laundry, cleaning, cooking, and gardening."

Midas caught on. "So you must remember the sun and the skies."

"Yes."

"And your district?"

"No."

"You don't remember your district?"

Abel slouched. "I don't remember anything from my time before becoming a servant. My home district, my family, I don't remember any of it."

"So you can only recall your time with your master, and you murdered him. Why?" Midas was curious.

"I was tired of working endlessly. He had no consideration for my health. All those days spent outside in the heat of the sun were excruciating. One day, I felt the burdens take a toll on me, and I snapped," Abel gripped his hand. "The opportunity called for it, so I killed him. I'd never felt so relieved in my life. A heavy weight was truly lifted off my shoulders," he looked up at Midas. "How about you? What's your irregularity?"

"That I actually don't know," Midas scratched his head.

"Why not?"

Midas furrowed his eyebrows. "My memories were wiped. But this is rather interesting. Your memories weren't wiped?"

Abel scratched his head. "I guess not."

"Tell me, do you recall any injections done to your head on the way here?"

Abel nodded. "Yes, an Angel had done it."

"That's odd. One of those should have stripped your memories. Or rather…" Midas came to a realization. "It didn't wipe all your memories. You said you can't remember your younger past; your home district or your family, right?"

"Yes."

"Then those must've been the memories that were wiped. But everything else remained intact somehow. Interesting..."

"But why are you asking me this?" Abel questioned.

"Because a few of the other subjects, including me, have recollected memories of our past, some way somehow. This might not seem to be an important matter to you, seeing as you recall quite a bit. But as someone who's been here for nearly two years, unaware of the life I used to live outside of this facility, and now having been revealed the truth, it truly is shocking." Midas moved closer to Abel. "With these revelations, I and the others have decided on escaping this facility."

"Escaping?" This interested Abel. "Therefore, you're trying to recruit me to join, aren't you?"

"Would you care to?" Midas stuck out his hand.

Abel waved it off without recognition. "You see, I'm new here. I haven't even been established in this facility for more than a month. And now I'm suddenly being offered to leave, so soon?"

"Why shouldn't you take the offer? Don't you want to return to your old life?"

"No," Abel immediately replied. "My old life was one of suffering and exhaustion. One where I was dominated and had no power."

Midas was startled. "But leaving this facility doesn't mean returning to 'that' life. You have a chance to start anew, and leave that old life behind."

"I did leave that old life behind. I did so by killing the very person that'd made me suffer all those years, and now I'm here with A.X.A. Here, I'm being provided with power; something I haven't had in my entire life. Why would I want to leave that?"

Midas stood stunned, as he didn't know what to say. Abel's answer had been unexpected, so Midas now tried dealing a new hand; "That's fine then. If you choose to stay, then stay. But as someone who's a hundred times more knowledgeable on the outside world than the rest of us currently are, would you care to provide us some information?"

Abel tightened his gaze. "What merit do I get in doing so?"

"I knew you'd ask," Midas smirked. "We subjects obviously have no direct benefits to provide you. But in aiding us with our escape, it leaves you to be the only 'loyal' subject left behind for A.X.A. Hence, the Overseers will focus on you, and amplify your power tremendously due to being the sole experimentee available."

Abel thought on it. "Okay, seems fair. What do you want to know?"

"Where is this facility located?" Midas struck his gaze. "Is it in a district? Is it in a forest? Is it in the middle of nowhere?"

Abel's blue eyes looked up towards the ceiling. "It's underground."

The fact struck Midas with surprise. "Underground?"

"Yes."

Midas took time to ponder.

"Anything else?" Abel asked.

"What are the security measures like?" Midas was curious.

"Depends where. If you're escaping through the tunnels, there'll be a lot. But once you're back at the surface, the security is zero to none."

"Tunnels?"

"There's tunnels leading from the surface towards the underground entrance to the facility. It was nearly pitch black when I was being transported through there, so I'd assume the security in that area is scarce."

Midas nodded. "That's good to know. Thanks Abel."

"No problem, anything else?"

Midas shook his head. "No, I can figure out the rest on my own," he turned towards the door. "If you ever change your mind about escaping, let me know."

"I won't. But good luck Mr. Genova," Abel replied.

Midas then left the room, marching down the hall.

His mind had been gathering information at an exponential rate since the commence of their escape operation. But what he'd gathered today, although little, were extremely important facts.

The plausible escape had now become significantly more difficult.