Withstanding the Pressure

"Bingo," Midas scrolled through the document statistics. They were summaries about his and Venus' ability testings. "This confirms it, Abel was right."

"Right about what?" Venus tuned in.

"I'll tell you about it when we get back to our rooms. We have no time now, Chamuel and Luke should be getting back soon," Midas quickly readjusted the computer screen.

"But didn't you say Ian and Gian-Luca were gonna distract them?"

"Yes, but it's already been fifteen minutes. Whether they do come back soon or not, it's best to not get caught red-handed."

Following Midas' words, the chamber's entry door locks were heard disengaging, but Midas was still scrolling. Quick-wittedly, he readjusted the screen as needed and returned to his spot found-before, taking a deep breath while doing so. The Overseer and reporter returned immediately afterwards.

"What happened?" Midas greeted them.

"Overseer Jophiel requested for extra assistance in his chamber. It came at the request of one of his subjects; Gian-Luca, who wanted to test the efficiency in his ability," Chamuel spoke.

"How so?" Midas questioned.

"He wanted me to use my All-Knowing-Vision on an Angel that he'd performed his ability on, to truly see if any memory remnants were left after his memory-wiping. To my surprise, there were none. That boy's ability affinity is well-developed."

"That's good," Midas nodded to himself.

"Anyways, how were your self-mediated testings?"

"Good," Midas replied.

"And you Venus?" Chamuel asked.

"Yeah, good."

"Alright, then that seems like enough testings for today. You guys are already well-accustomed to your abilities anyways. You can get off early today," Chamuel smiled.

"Thank you sir," Midas said. Turning his head to the other side of the room, he witnessed Luke swiping a card along a keypad in the wall. The keypad had a card slot, and a speaker in which Luke spoke into upon swiping his card:

"Requesting two Seraphim to escort subject Midas Genhova and subject Venus Van Hattum back to the containment hall."

A minute later, knocking was heard against the chamber's entry doors. "That's your escort," Chamuel indicated.

Walking outside, Midas and Venus were greeted by two Seraphim. "Just as he requested…" Midas pondered.

The two walked back to the containment hall along side the Seraphim, and were finally dismissed into their rooms.

"What did you see?" Venus asked before the two could even properly settle down. "What were you looking for on the computer?"

"Proof," Midas said. "Proof and confirmation of Abel's statement."

"And what was his statement?" Venus asked.

"That this facility is underground."

"And? Is it?"

Midas smiled. "Yep, I can confirm it is."

"How?"

"I mean besides stating the obvious—the fact that there are absolutely zero windows to the 'outside' in this facility, the statistics I'd found on our own personal documents agree with the statement as well. You remember Chamuel telling us about how each of our abilities can increase air pressure, right?"

"Yeah…"

"Because of that factor, seems like Chamuel and Luke decided to keep track of how much the air pressure actually increases from our abilities, by creating a comparison in the document. A 'before and after' if you will. One side showed the room's average air pressure before we used our abilities, the other side showed the room's increased air pressure after we used our abilities. If we were to say that this facility was found on the Earth's surface, the average air pressure would have been indicated as approximately 14.7 PSI. But you know what it was?"

"What."

"7432.5 PSI."

Venus was taken back. "What the fuck."

"High number right?" Midas sighed. "Approximately 7400 PSI higher than the air pressure found on Earth's surface."

"So… we're underground?"

"Mhm, about a mile underground." Midas scoffed to himself. "See, the odd thing is… no normal human being would ever survive being under this sort of air pressure." He then looked up at Venus.

"They've meddled so extensively with our bodies to the point that we can withstand extremely high air pressures without even realizing it's too high for us. Add on the fact that we're supposed to be low on oxygen right now," he exhaled. "But we're breathing fine, aren't we?"

Venus took in the realization. "We're strong as hell!" He laughed.

"That's not the point," Midas grunted. "It's fucked. Whatever's going on here, and whatever they've been doing to us, it's FUCKED."

Venus rolled his eyes. "You're so annoying. Don't you realize the amount of power we're garnering? Don't you see how much superiority we can portray? We're literal GODS. ACCEPT IT MIDAS. THIS IS OUR LIFE NOW. WITH POWER LIKE THIS, NO ONE WILL EVER LOOK DOWN AT US AGAIN!"

"Shut up…" Midas strained his teeth. "You and your fucking god complex."

Venus smiled. "Probably shouldn't be saying that to someone you need so badly for your escape, huh?"

Midas sneered at him. "You know you want out of this facility."

"I truly don't," Venus sighed. "You're stringing me along with your pathetic plan to escape, did I ever agree to come?"

Midas felt his blood pressure rise. "Just shut up and come with us. We've already prepared so much, there's no use in staying at this point."

"No use?" Venus laughed. "All you imbeciles think the same. None of you realize that this is where we truly belong. I mean, we're all irregularities, right? We're here BECAUSE we're outcasts of society. We don't belong up there on the surface. We belong down here, where we can dwell in our irregular behavior with our irregular mannerisms and our irregular abilities in our irregular rooms. We're IRREGULAR. So why should we escape, and return to a society that rejects us?"

Silence.

Midas was taken by Venus' words. He understood his roommate's point of view. But to him, it still wasn't the right one.

Midas took a deep breath, re-engaging eye contact with Venus. "I get where you're coming from. I mean, you're right. Down here, we're the same. Up there, we're different. What's the point? That's what you're asking," a smirk grew on his face. "But you want power, right? You want to be superior, right?"

Venus nodded.

"Then tell me, how can we stand out as powerful when there's still people looking down on us? Look at the Overseers, we can't even begin to comprehend their true power. Do you not feel overwhelmed by their superiority?"

Venus didn't reply.

"If you want a true sense of power, you'll come with us to the surface where yes, we're irregular, but we'll also be superior. The abilities we have, the conditions we stand, they're inhuman. Up there on the surface, we ARE superior," Midas pointed to the ceiling. "Up there, is an open sky and its sun. The sun emits ever-glowing rays of light. Come with us, and you'll find yourself under an everlasting spotlight."

Venus looked at Midas with confused consideration. "You're starting to sound like me."

"I'm just trying to appeal to your senses. But I'm not wrong, am I?"

Venus sighed. "Fine, I'm coming."

"You already were," Midas simpered.

"But promise me one thing," Venus stepped forward. "With that escape plan of yours, you WILL provide me a chance to have a go at one of the Overseers."

"I mean, it is inevitable that we'll come across at least one Overseer. But again, we don't fully comprehend their true power. It'd be dangerous to fight one alone—"

"I'M THE STRONGEST SUBJECT HERE," Venus snapped. "I'll take one out on my own and prove to you that we can be superior, even down here."

Midas sighed, but didn't reply.

"So?" Venus spoke up. "Make sure you organize that part of the escape plan accordingly—"

"No," Midas snapped back. "We can't risk having you die like that—"

"YOU DARE UNDERESTIMATE ME?" Venus yelled. "I won't die. I'll kill them, whoever the Overseer is. You should be seeing this as an advantage. So choose. It's either that, or I don't come."

Midas gripped his forehead with tension. He felt stressed.

"Fine…"

"Good," Venus smiled.

"Then I'll be looking forward to joining you on your escape."