Gil slowly opened the door to his cell while the guards behind him watched him with beating eyes. He tried to sneak to his bed without waking Vince, though he desperately wanted to tell him about his brand new plan.

He wasn't entirely sure if he was serious about escaping Energia Tower, until he had a chat with Darcy. Everything clicked in his head when he realized he had empathy for her, and everyone else he met. He wanted Vince to get out and change his life around, Jorge to never go back to his crimes, Chloe to succeed in her dreams of the culinary arts, and Darcy to... be happy. Though Darcy refused to invest herself in an escape attempt, he still was completely willing to go through with one. He'd hate himself forever if his selfish actions caused harm to his friends, but he'd thought that'd be best for everyone.

Funny enough, Gil even wanted real criminals like Bug and Dust to get out of Energia Tower... well it was too late for Dust, considering he was a chronic murderer, but Bug could have a second chance. Though Bug almost pounded his face in, he bore no ill will towards him. Besides, Dust gave him an even greater beating.

"Dude, where have you been? It's three in the morning," Vince's curious voice said to Gil as he tiptoed to his own bed.

"Didn't mean to wake you," said Gil.

"It's fine, I was already awake." His tired eyes made Gil know he was lying.

"Well... I was mopping all of the floors here with Darcy," said Gil.

"Darcy? You mean that hot girl that was in the kitchen that day?" asked Vince.

"Eh, yeah her. We talked about a lot of things. She's always doing bonus shifts, and for whatever reason, she doesn't want to leave this place," Gil explained.

"Really? She loves hell that much?" Vince chuckled. "But I think I know the reason."

"What's the reason?" asked Gil.

Vince sat on his bed and stretched his tired arms. "The reason she doesn't want to leave this place is because she probably did something really bad and feels guilty about it. Why else would she always be doing bonus tasks without wanting to leave? Sounds like a straight up psycho if you ask me."

Gil smirked as he tried to dress himself in disbelief. "I thought about that myself, so I've been suspicious of her. The more I talk with her, the more I feel like that's not the case."

He suddenly re-envionsed her emotionless face. "Well... I could be wrong, but I really want to be right," Gil ended.

"Stay away from this Darcy woman Gil. She's bad news! Don't work bonus shifts with her again," lectured Vince.

"Well, Darcy's not even what I wanted to discuss with you... I'm thinking about escaping here. Leaving once and for all," explained Gil.

"Are you nuts? Nobody leaves Energia Tower! If you get caught you'll die!" Vince fussed. "Where would you even start with that? Seems like they're always watching us."

"There's a way out. I'm sure of it. After mopping this place, I think I've got the entire layout down. I want you to help me, but I want you to be aware of the risks if we get caught," said Gil.

"What's the first step in your 'master plan,'" said Vince sarcastically.

"Well, the first step is to solidify my image of the layout I saw while mopping. Every floor looks exactly the same, except the cafeteria. They all have a security room for each floor. If we can just take over one of those, we'd have a shot," said Gil.

"How are you planning on taking over one of those rooms? The cameras or another guard will see you," said Vince.

"I don't know. I'm mopping again tonight, so I'm hoping to find more weaknesses then," said Gil.

"Mopping with Darcy right!? She shouldn't be trusted. I know she's pretty and all, but the pretty ones in places like this are the most dangerous! It's not a good idea," lectured Vince.

"I told her about this already, but she refused to join. She's not in on this, I'm scoping everything out for myself so far. Maybe she'll change her mind, and I'm hoping you will too. If not I understand."

"Sorry Gil... I'm not helping. I know you want to get out since you're basically sentenced for life here, but I just can't. If I'm caught, I'll be executed or receive even more points. Maybe you should accept the fact that you'll be here forever," explained Vince.

Gil grinned as he eyed Vince with determination. "Sorry Vince, but I can't accept that miserable reality. I'm alright with dying if they catch me; that's a far better death than giving up and refusing to do mandatory tasks."

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"Man you're really something," said Vince as he climbed back into his white sheets. "I'm sorry I can't help, I just... don't want to die."

"I understand Vince," said Gil as he eyed his bruised white sneakers.

***

"Arthur Lux... it's a pleasure to chat once again," General Titus Caldwell said as he eyed Arthur Lux's large video chat holoscreen.

Arthur Lux looked at the general's video chat holoscreen with a humongous pit of fear. The large screen did not contrast well with his messy condo.

"You seem surprised sir, you should have already been notified about what happened," said Titus.

Arthur was too stunned to speak, he was like a ghost without a tongue. Just what could he say after receiving such horrendous news a couple of hours ago.

"Oh, well it's just a lot to take in," Arthur said nervously.

"Our COO, Watson Prince says you haven't left your condo in weeks, if this is too much for you feel free to give your position to Watson," Titus said.

"No!" Arthur fussed. "My father left this corporation for me and I'm the only one who can lead it!"

"Well then focus, we don't have time for nonsense. Now that Skyra has fully taken over Maritopia, it appears they are advancing towards the Seavale region as we speak. Their militia is enormous, it's only a matter of time before they reach our capital here in Novaria. All attempts of negotiations have failed, it seems Skyra is dead set on eliminating AquaLux once and for all," explained Titus.

I don't understand, why is Skyra so determined to erase our company? What about the other smaller companies?" Arthur thought. Why is Skyra ruining my life!

"Well... Can we try to negotiate again?" said Arthur. The last thing he wanted was to engage in a full scale war with Skyra. There was no way they could create a larger militia than Skyra.

"Are you listening Arthur!" another angry general said in the background.

The voice was from General Ceres Kemp, and while General Caldwell was the general of the entire military, Ceres was the boldest.

"We just need your authorization! Quit being a crybaby and help your company! You are pathetic and should have never been leading this corporation!" Ceres said fiercely.

Arthur was so stunned by the rude speech that he almost forgot how to make coherent words. He couldn't see Ceres, but he knew that Ceres could see him.

Firing esteemed generals in the military at that time would be a colossal mistake, so he had no choice but to fully acknowledge Skyra.

"Calm down Kemp, he's not going to authorize anything if you talk like that," said Titus.

"You want authorization!? Then take it! I declare war on Skyra, deploy as many troops as possible! Get the troops from anywhere! Keep them away from me! Don't let them get to Novaria!" Arthur fussed, saliva shooting around the room like a sprinkler. He then arruptly shut down the video conference in tears.

He felt so pathetic, but what else could he do? His entire livelihood was at bay. Skyra was determined to end the cold war and finally start a war that would claim possibly millions of lives. What was the purpose? The worse thing about the situation to him was that now, the public would know that life is not safe anymore.

"Would you like some tea to calm down sir?" his housekeeper Kaitlyn said to him.

Though Arthur never married anyone, Kaitlyn was the closest thing he had to a wife. If it wasn't for her, he felt he would have offed himself long before Skyra invaded AquaLux. He was not in any sort of relationship with the housekeeper, however he was very pleased to have her around.

Momentarily, Kaitlyn handed Arthur a steaming mug of chamomile tea. While the tea usually calmed him down, Arthur knew that it would not be successful that time.

"It'll be okay sir," said Kaitlyn, in an attempt to calm the quivering CEO down.

"How can you say that!? Our generals are about to enter a bloody battlefield!" cried Arthur as he took a sip of his tea. He then quickly wiped his eyes with a nearby handkerchief, he hated when people saw him cry.

"They'll win sir! Generals Caldwell and Kemp have had successful campaigns against previous corporations. Skyra hasn't fought a war in years, we have the advantage," said Kaitlyn.

Arthur took a sigh of relief before letting himself be re-drowned in despair once again. "The war's not the main thing I'm worried about Kaitlyn, it's those awful superweapons. If AquaLux or Skyra uses their superweapons, all of us will not live."

***

Gil and Vince were finally stationed together for their long and brutal twelve hours shift. Their job was to assemble weapons once again. As Gil glanced at the weapons, he wondered if they could be his ticket out of the prison... Then again, that was unlikely since ammunition did not exist in Energia Tower.

He glanced at Vince repeatedly put the guns together with a hopeless expression. He hated seeing his friend with such a face, if only their original plan of working to get out of the prison succeeded. Maybe it would have worked if AquaLux didn't change the rules and increase everyone's points and increased the hours of operation.

"Attention prisoners, it's your Warden here," Officer Daryl Bowman said with a thunderous voice into an intercom of the large factory.

"I must inform you that the day of fate has finally arrived. Skyra has taken control of the Maritopia region... as a result, AquaLux has now officially declared war on Skyra. This war will decide our future, if we lose we all perish! As a result, points are temporary halted and are unable to be earned during these perilous times. I know it's not fair, but everyone must work during times of war. We will also have a prisoner draft, where about half of you all will be sent to the battle in the front lines in Seavale. Civilians who are not prisoners like you will also be working in other factories, and will also be getting drafted. They won't be on the Frontline though... it pays to be a delinquent. Let's all hope our corporation comes out ontop," Daryl said before shutting down the intercom.

Gil and Vince looked at each other with radiating bones. Was it the end times? Never in Gil's wildest dreams did he think he'd live to see the day where ArthurLux and Skyra would finally go to war with one another.

It was a tale as old of time, both corporations threatened each other with war and superweapons any chance they could get. This cold war lasted for more than fifty years, why was it ending now?

He then looked at other prisoners', many were weeping and begging to call their parents. The chaos became so disruptive, that some of the guards started tazing the saddened prisoners, their faces laughing with glee as they did it.

Gil knew that by judging by Vince's new countenance that he was absolutely on board with his future escape plan. It was like intuition.