I was wrong

Sitting on the surgical table, Sylvester crossed his leg. "Let's see how far you can go with this shit!"

Making a mental note of how he had sedated Lila's mind, he had enough time to engage in little talks with the scientist.

Damian pulls on the table's edge to have his leg resting on it.

"Sit!" Sylvester commands.

Thud!

Damian hisses in pain, disturbed that his body acted on the command of Sylvester.

Leaning forward, Sylvester had both elbows on his thighs while steepling his fingers.

"Your parents were the ones who had sold you and your sister out," Damian reveals with a smirk.

'You've got some nerve speaking in that tone.' Sylvester's brows twitched as he stares back with a stoic face.

Projecting a bit of memory into Damian's mind, he observes his eyes widen in horror.

To observers, Damian looks as though he is staring into nothingness, but in his thoughts, he watched through the eyes of a younger Sylvester in the memory.

Whack!

Flinching at the strike of a steel pipe at his back, he falls to the floor and gasps for breath.

~Monster! You're not our son!~

A black-haired woman spat while clutching behind her husband who held tightly onto the steel pipe stained with blood.

Hiding under the table was a toddler who Damian saw as Lila wailing at the injustice her brother faced at the hands of their parents.

~Shut the hell up, Lila! Are you a monster too?!~

Lifting the pipe against Lila, Damian got hit on his head while protecting her as did Sylvester in the shared memory he was living in.

Clank!

Clank!

Sylvester watched with dead eyes as books and trays fall from the collision as Damian crashes into the table.

Looking at Lila, he let out a sigh at her peaceful sleeping figure amidst the noise.

Bam!

Damian let out a gasp the moment he is hit on the head in his thoughts while trying to instinctively protect Lila.

"Tell me, did you see that?!!!" Sylvester roars as his body quakes with rage, stomping his foot on the floor as his eyes glows at the thought of recalling that painful memory.

His twisted smirk grows as he deactivates the projection.

'You picked the wrong topic to save your ass!'

Damian was in a state of disbelief as he gasps from the experience. It was different from what they had been told by their parents.

'An unstable anomaly with a dangerous ability that had been a problem in their family. Harness and rehabilitate him so he could return safe and sound.' Damian could recall vividly.

"Two years ago..." Sylvester put up two fingers to emphasize his point.

"I had thought my action to turn myself in would be noble when I had learned of my parents' dilemma on sending either one of us to your lovely facility–it was either Lila or me."

The more Damian listened to Sylvester's words, the more he felt they were put to a test by him.

"I had faith you would be able to rid me of my strange abilities. But what did you all do instead?" He questions, cupping his ear to get a response from Damian.

Groaning to the throbbing pain that is felt on his thigh, Damian grits his teeth.

Knowing he's on the short end of the stick, he responds. "We tried to enhance your ability."

"That's right."

Clap!

Clap!

Sylvester smiles, "your dubious superiors trick innocent citizens to turn in awakeners under the pretense of rehabilitation, or you just exploit the equally cruel and greedy citizens who bargain us like some commodity!"

Damian grimaces with every word spat at him, his eyes roving the floor once more at his dead partners.

Opening his arm wide, Sylvester looks at the fluorescent light before bringing his attention back to Damian. "Your mistake was messing with the person dear to me!"

Getting to his feet, he stretches his aching muscles from the position he had maintained for far too long.

'Parents? Ha! Even animals are better at parenting than those piece of shit!'

Clutching his chest and tugging at the hospital gown, he pretends to be hurt by the memory. "You dug up a memory that I wished your CND dose could block out."

"We were wrong–no... I was wrong." Damian bows in an apology.

"You were interested in my magic trick, right? I promise to put up a grand show." Sylvester mocks in a low whisper.

Seeing there was no escaping from this situation, he tries yet another approach. "If you kill me, the government and my superiors would be alerte–"

Damian internally screams in pain at how quick it was for his mind to be controlled and commanded to bite hard on his tongue.

Blood drips down from the corner of his mouth, coughing out more on the floor.

"You talk too much." Sylvester sneers, kicking hard on Damian's jaw.

Tumbling and rolling three times before crashing onto one of the patient monitors, Damian feels his vision cloud with dark edges closing in.

Huff!

Spitting out more blood from his mouth, he tries to crawl away from Sylvester's sight.

Looking over at the tubes that had been used to stab him earlier, Sylvester grabs and rips out one of its vertical rods.

Damian looks behind in a panic, the moment he spots an approaching Sylvester.

'No! This isn't how it was meant to play out.'

Crouching in front of a cornered Damian, he throws the rod in the air, watching as it was mere seconds away from impaling Damian.

Hugging his legs, Damian has his hands over his head, feeling the thump of his heart at the thought of the rod dropping anytime soon.

Silence!

'What?' He thinks with confusion, unfolding his hands and taking a peek above.

A fatal mistake he had made as the pointed tip that Sylvester had held a few inches before it impaled Damian tore through his skin from his nose down his chin.

Pulling away the rod, Sylvester chuckled, "how did that feel?"

Damian crouches in pain, covering his face as he let out a silent scream in pain, whilst choking on the blood from his mouth and torn skin.

Sigh!

Sylvester shakes his head in disappointment and gets to his feet.

Bang!

"Sylvester!"

Turning around to meet with the teenagers he had met in the hallway, he wipes down his face.

'Do you all have a death wish?' He wonders as he tilts his head at the seven familiar faces.

Pointing with the rod at the strange faces of the three teenagers that are assisted by the group.

"Yes, that's right. They were also held here just like you and your sister."

"How did you–"

"That would be me, they need better security for their files." Rai grins and makes a bow.

His composure is broken by a glare from Sylvester, forcing him to step back.

"Don't!" He snaps at an approaching pink-haired female to the location of his sister.

Suspended in motion, her head slowly reddening as they had seen on that scientist.

"No, please!" Dahlia interjects. "We mean no harm, this is just a misunderstanding."

Looking to her side and at how stupid Mae was to approach the little girl even after what they had witnessed from the control room.

She couldn't let her friend die in such a cruel way.

"You went against my warning," Sylvester recalls, narrowing his eyes.

"No!" Dahlia calls out desperately. "We didn't come over to interrupt."

Contemplating her answer, he slowly releases his hold on Mae.

Thud!

Rai rushes just in time to break her fall.

"What..."

"Shh!" Rai consoles, caressing her hair.

Taking a glance at Damian who is struggling with his pain, Dahlia locks eyes with Sylvester.

"The world would never see them as the monsters who had made us this way. Yet we bear the hate of the world."

'We are monsters to anyone who knows about our ability.' Sylvester sighs in disappointment.

"We had seen how inhumane the others were treated and most especially you and your sister. We didn't come to stop you, but rather want to watch the end of his vile existence!" Dahlia affirms.

Looking behind him and at a weak Damian from the loss of blood, Sylvester's lips slowly breaks into a devious smile.

Pulling on Damian's leg, he thrusts the rod into the side of Damian, twisting it slowly so he can watch him writhe in pain while bleeding out.

"Aghhh!" Damian yells in pain, feeling lightheaded and cold.

Pulling out the rod, Sylvester thrusts it back in, drawing out more blood.

Damian groans in protest as he feels his forearm reach under his chin, and the other twisting his chin up and then sideways.

Crrrk!

Thud!

They all held their breath, coming to terms with what a mental awakener could achieve using mind control.

Grabbing the rod in a reverse grip, Sylvester wasn't all too pleased with forcing him to commit suicide.

Stepping onto his chest, 'this is for all of those who had been a victim of your rehabilitation!'

Plunging it into Damian's head, he pulls away and let out a sigh of relief.

Under a dizzy spell, he shakes his head, taking a few steps forward but losing his footing as his vision blurs.

Everything seems to play out at a slower pace as he can make out the figures of the teenagers rushing over to catch him.

Taking one last glance before he succumbs to his weakened state, a smile grows. 'Take care of her.'

Falling into a net of intertwined vines that broke through the tiles, Dahlia exhales in relief.

"What do we do now?" One of them asks with uncertainty.

Staring at an unconscious Sylvester, Dahlia cast a grim look. "It's about time we leave this shit hole before reinforcements arrive."