The work environment resembled an upheaved mess in the tenebrous depths of the factory basement. Gil assumed that the rowdy behavior of the prisoners would calm down after the first one was tased, but instead, it only seemed to fuel their rebellious spirits.

"I'm not going to war!" an angry voice yelled at in the distance.

The inmates took their frustration out on the work equipment, hurling unknown objects across the factory, some of which appeared to be hazardous. Gil observed the chaos, his awe growing as he witnessed a rowdy prisoner getting tased right in front of him.

"This is bad," said Gil, his eyes baffled by the chaos brewing before him.

"Let's get out of here!" panicked Vince.

"No, if we try to leave we'll be tazed too. Let's find some cover for now," said Gil calmly.

"Uh... sure," said Vince, taken aback by Gil's change in demeanor.

Gil jolted his head towards at the entrance of the elevator and saw the warden, Officer Daryl Bowman enter the facility alongside several other guards. He never saw the warden in the underground factory before, perhaps he got word about the riot unfolding. Daryl's presence did not calm the prisoners down at all.

"Gil... If you still want to escape, I want you to know I'm in now! This riot is the perfect time for us to escape. Let's go!" Vince said.

"I don't think this is the best time to escape at all," said Gil with vultured eyes. "We'll try something else later, just watch."

"Eh, sure."

As the guards continued to taze the misbehaving prisoners, their laughter adding to the chaotic atmosphere, Gil observed a mysterious signal from Bowman. It seemed to be a command for the guards to back off, leaving the prisoners unattended. The warden's blank expression and peculiar stance could not be a good sign.

Officer Bowman!" a rowdy prisoner shouted, menacingly approaching the warden with a few others following suit. "I want you to know that you and AquaLux no longer have control over us! We won't go to war for this company, and we won't be imprisoned here forever!"

Bowman stood unfazed, rooted to the ground like a tall statue, as the angry prisoners closed in on him.

"We're getting out of here!" the prisoner exclaimed, challenging Bowman face-to-face.

Suddenly and without warning, Daryl swiftly drew a small revolver and shot the defiant prisoner in the chest. The single shot echoed through the factory, shattering the commotion into a haunting silence. Daryl appeared to not be phased in the slightest, he didn't even look at the prisoner whom he had slain.

"So, you all think this is a game do you?" the warden said calmly as he put his gun back in it's holster. He then slowly began to pace around in the factory with menacing eyes."Let me ask you this... do you think you can rid yourself free of AquaLux? All of you are slaves to the corporation, your life is meaningless now. Going to war or staying here making weapons is now your destiny. If you don't want to accept that, please come now and I'll kill you too," Bowman said without a hint of compassion.

Gil couldn't believe the cold-heartedness and complete disregard for human life. Bowman appeared as if killing a man was another day in the park, clearly he was already adept at that. Maybe he killed the man so easily because he regarded the man as a mere prisoner and not a man. He felt an urge to confront Bowman, but that'd be foolish and meaningless. He wasn't afraid of Bowman, however he was desperate to escape the tower. The worse part of the whole ordeal was that Daryl likely wouldn't receive any sort of consequence. As far as AquaLux was concerned, Daryl just disposed of a piece of insignificant trash.

He glanced at Vince, his face cold, quivering with unreal fear. The other prisoners had similar countenances, not a single one of them appeared to be calm. Even the guards appeared terrified. He assumed they were all heartless, considering how poorly they usually treated prisoners, but judging by their fear riddled eyes they too had hearts. Visualizing everyone in the room just made Gil remember how abnormal he was for not succumbing to fear.

"I take it we won't have any other issues," the deep voiced warden said as he eyed the horrified prisoners. "Use deadly force if they act up again," he said to the guards before taking his leave.

"What a scary guy," whispered Vince.

"Tell me about it."

The prisoners stared at the corpse of the prisoner that raged out against Daryl. Because of his justified anger, he was killed -- a barbaric act. He watched as many prisoners walked over to the body in disarray.

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One prisoner, the one who Gil assumed to be the murdered man's cellmate, was weeping on the floor by the body until guards came and forcibly dragged him away. Their disregard for his grief was not surprisingly in the slightest.

Not long afterwards, paramedics arrived with several guards and carried the deceased man on a stretcher. Gil overheard the paramedics say that they'd take the man to the roof to be airlifted to a hospital but Gil knew that was pointless. Judging by the long winded CPR performed, resuscitation was impossible for the inmate... he was gone.

"Still want to stay here?" Gil asked Vince as they watched the paramedics leave.

"Didn't I say that I was in now!?" fussed Vince. "The warden's a maniac and I'm not going to fight in a war I don't care about! Maybe we'd die trying but we have to do something."

"Glad to hear you want to leave!" cheered Gil.

"What's the plan?" asked Vince.

"Like I said, I want to finalize the layout the next time I mop. So far, I'm thinking if it's possible to take over one of the floor's security rooms since every floor as at least one," said Gil.

"Man... I hope this works. If not, we're gonna end up just like that inmate we saw."

"Stop talking now! Get back to work!" A furious guard said right in front of Vince's face, which made Vince cringe and continue his task.

The guards were now going around forcing people to work while threatening to bring Daryl back into the room. Gil found it almost humorous how they used a demon like Daryl as a scare tactic.

Gil and Vince eventually finished their long twelve hour shift and entered the colossal elevator with dozens of disjointed prisoners. Darting to the elevator almost felt like they had to force his way through a concert. After a quiet few minutes of despair, the elevator stopped at Gil and Vince walked out of it at their appropriate stop.

Gil mentally jotted down the location of the master elevator he just exited. It was in the middle of the tower, the circular hallways wrapped around it. The doors to the elevator were only seen from one side of the hallway. The information would serve useful in the possible escape attempt.

As Gil and Vince entered their dorm, Gil watched the oblivious guards who did not know what they were planning. No matter what, he had to break free from the tower.

"If you're going to survey the layout again, what should I survey?" Vince quickly asked, his tone low in order not to alert any potential guards.

"Well... Maybe you can sign up for a bonus task that involves surveying the top floor. I heard that's where they took the person who was shot," said Gil.

"Man, poor guy. He just wanted to go home and he probably died because he talked back to the warden... Still can't believe it," sighed Vince. "That'll be us too if we screw this up!"

"True... so you know what that means?"

"It means we don't screw up!"

***

After resting in their cells from the brutal shift, Gil and Vince re-entered the elevator to go to the cafeteria. As they got to the melancholy lunchroom, Gil saw an ominous figure that he almost forgot existed -- Leo. He was laughing loudly with a few other prisoners as if he didn't have a care in the world. How could those prisoners appear so joyous when absolutely nobody is able to leave Energia Tower now? Were there more important matters at hand to them? Was resting on top of the social hierarchy really that important? It all didn't make sense.

There'd be no point in discussing anything with Leo now, his only goal was to escape Energia Tower no matter the cost. Then again, if Leo was at the top of hierarchy, infiltrating it may be to his advantage. Then again, a large chunk of him was still horrified to speak with Leo. After all, he was likely a faker.

When they got to the front of the lunch line, Gil looked through the windows to the kitchen to see if he'd see Darcy. Sure enough, he saw her with a broom in hand. She clearly didn't see him. He wondered if he would ever help with the future escape plan. He did not see Chloe in the kitchen, perhaps she too was overwhelmed by the terrible events that transpired.

"Did you see what happened Jorge?" Vince asked Jorge when he and Gil met up with him at a lunch table with food.

"I didn't see anything because I was in another side of the factory. Everyone's been talking about what the warden did though. This is crazy," explained Jorge, his usual humor now replaced with bleakness.

"The craziest thing is nobody will do anything about what just happened. The warden gets to keep his job while we're not allowed to leave here," said Gil plainly as he eyed Leo's happy table.

"Do you guys think the world's really about to end? Skyra is apparently trying to annihilate the capital," said Jorge.

Gil silently gasped when he realized he forgot to consider the world outside of the tower. Perhaps escaping the tower would be meaningless, as they'd be escaping to a warzone. Then again, maybe they could get to the corporation called Grappa. According to what they were told, Grappa wasn't involved in the war. It was a much smaller company than AquaLux or Skyra but it could make a stellar home.

For many decades, the world was told that dawn would never occur again when AquaLux and Skyra went to war. With their powerful otherworldly utilities and other objects of war, they had the power to decimate the entire world a thousand times over. If things were to escalate to that level, the escape plan would be a waste of time. Still, he wanted to do something. Maybe the world wouldn't end, maybe it'd only be heavily damaged. Maybe he could escape with a few inmates, find his parents, take cover in Grappa and hope for the best. That option was much more appealing than accepting his fate as an inmate.

"Who knows man. If either of them start using super weapons, we're history," said Vince. "All I know is we got to get out of here. I don't want to get drafted. Gil and I are going to plan an escape."

"For real!" Jorge yelled as he rose from his seat.

"Keep your voice down you idiot! Nobody can know what we're talking about!" fussed Vince.

"Eh, sorry," apologized Jorge.

"The plan's really disorganized right now, but we're working on it. Right Gil?" asked Vince.

"You know, I was going to take my career test before I came here. I really wanted to be a game developer, or any developer for that matter. I have no idea how we're going to get out of here but I'll put this logical brain to good use," chuckled Gil, his laughter catching Vince and Jorge off guard.

He was reminded of his loose screw when he realized he was strangely excited about the new challenge. Bursting out of the prison would be no easy feat, but like he told himself before... nothing was impenetrable.