"Ready for this," Vince asked Gil as they walked towards the enormous elevator to start their task.

"I'm ready!" exclaimed Gil.

With a hundred thousand points, there probably was no point in Gil working, as it would take a hundred thousand days to be released from Energia Tower. All he could do was put his faith into Barney's words... He hadn't heard from him yet though.

There was also the threat of being executed. He had to work at least once in thirty days to keep himself from being executed. He wouldn't have to work to save his life until the twenty-ninth day. As much as he wished he could feel more, he definitely didn't feel like dying.

Gil and Vince finally entered the elevator to start their shift with a plethora of other prisoners - whose eyes were of course all locked on Gil.

"The first task you do is always the most complicated, but once you get used to it it's not so bad," said Vince as the elevator began to descend to a place without sunlight.

"I'm probably going to do the 'bare minimum' but let's see what happens," joked Gil.

"That's the spirit!" chuckled Vince.

"Uh... Vince. Did that guy really commit mass murder?" a concerned prisoner asked.

Vince quickly turned his head towards the prisoner. "Well he's in Energia Tower so what do you think!" he snared.

"Actually, I'm -." Vince quickly pulled Gil away before he could finish his sentence.

"What do you think you're doing!?" asked Vince.

"What do you mean?" Gil said as confusion became printed on his face.

"Don't you know how this stuff works! This is a prison! The only reason why nobody here is giving you a hard time is because they think you committed mass murder. If you correct them, you could easily become a target. Not everyone would be as nice as me, some people here are pure evil to the core," explained Vince with deep concern.

"I appreciate the concern Vince, but it's fine. I want to be authentic, lying about something I haven't done is something I just can't do. If the prisoners beat me up, it's fine... I don't mind," said Gil. "Also I'll probably launch them to a table like I did you," he laughed.

"Whatever, do what you want!" groaned Vince.

Gil walked back towards the prisoner who asked Vince the question.

"Hey, I'm Gil. No I didn't commit mass murder, I was framed," said Gil.

"Wow, that's interesting," the prisoner said.

The elevator stopped and finally opened. Gil was greeted by a gigantic factory that almost had a red tint to it. The humid air made it a little difficult to breathe, just how many people could have fainted there?

"We'll probably be assigned different stations," said Vince. "If somebody gives you a hard time let me know."

"Will do."

Gil was unaware of the lion he would encounter on his first shift... that lion would change everything.

***

It turned out Vince was correct, they were assigned different tasks that day by the prison guards in charge of the facility. The task Gil was assigned was so ridiculously easy that he was almost shell shocked.

All he had to do was move the crane-like component of a giant machine to rip off heads of enormous war robots. The robots were on a slow moving conveyor belt, very simple task. He controlled the crane with a controller above the conveyor belt. He was told that the heads were to be removed because they were replacing them with an updated version.

Gil gleamed with joy; breaking the heads off of war robots was surprisingly therapeutic. He wondered what Aqua Lux needed the war robots for anyway. If other prisoners were doing similar tasks, there had to be millions of war robots, yet here he was, removing heads from robots. There hadn't been any wars in decades, keeping robots up to date just seemed like a waste of time.

He quickly wiped the sweat from his face as he glanced around the dark factory. He could see other prisoners also breaking robot heads but he couldn't see Vince anywhere. He wondered if his task was as simple as his. He then jolted his eyes back to the conveyor belt - he almost missed a robot! Who knows what the prison guards would do if he were to miss one... probably another point.

After nearly three hours of the competitive task, it was time for a fifteen minute break. He backed away from the machine panting with boredom, what started out easy eventually became boring misery! At least he could take a break now.

"Gillian Zain right?" a strong voice called out from behind him.

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

"That's me, what's up?" asked Gil.

He turned to three prisoners who all looked to be around at least their mid twenties. The man in the front appeared to be the most bulky, probably three or four times larger than Gil.

The man in the front sharply looked into Gil's naive eyes. After a brief silence, he finally spoke again. "I've heard that you didn't actually commit mass murder... that true?"

"Yeah, it's not true!" Gil said as he slowly walked towards the other prisoners. "I'm still trying to prove my innocence, hopefully it works ou-."

Before Gil could finish his sentence, he was brutally punched in the abdomen. He lied on the floor gasping for air, the impact was like getting hit by an angry bull.

The man in the front slowly bent down and put his face near Gil's agonized face. "Let me make one thing clear," the man began before forcing Gil to rise back to his feet. "If you didn't commit mass murder, what would stop us from killing you right now?"

"Don't know actually," laughed Gil. "I doubt the guards would stop you if you tried."

"My name is Bug," the man said before violently striking Gil in the face. "Nice to meet you."

Perhaps he was supposed to be terrified at a time like that but fear would not show itself. He was in pain, but his psyche prohibited him from being afraid.

"So Bug... why are you punching me? What have I done to you?" asked Gil.

"We think you lied about those murders so that you could come run things here... Not gonna happen."

Gil immediately busted out laughing upon hearing those words. Running a prison just sounded like a very lame thing to do. Something like running a corporation was definitely more commendable. As shrewd as Arthur Lux was, he was still in charge of something meaningful.

"Why would any one want to run a prison? Vince said the same thing, you guys really need better priorities!" laughed Gil.

Gil's laughter made Bug and his companions freeze with confusion.

"Don't you know what kind of position you're in right now!" One of Bug's companions named Russ shouted.

"There's nothing funny here... hold him up," Bug said softly.

Gil tried to make it happen, but he couldn't. Anytime he tried force it, it never succeeded. He flipped Vince over the table without thinking about it, perhaps something similar would happen.

Russ and the other companion named Tim held Gil up by his tired arms.

"You think this is funny!" yelled Bug before socking Gil in the face repeatedly.

Each punch felt like getting pounded by rusty cinder blocks. He tried desperately to break free, yet failed everytime. His body was not reacting to the damage - it wasn't happening that time.

Why won't it work? Gil thought before taking another brutal punch from Bug.

For as long as he could remember, he always subconsciously fought back against people who were trying to harm him. It was like his weird special power that he never really pondered about too much until that moment. Growing up as an orphan was tough in Arthur Lux, there were no angels and there were no sympathies, only devils and hostilities. He constantly met people who wanted to annihilate him, yet his special power saved his life every time. Even when he didn't intend to fight back, he always attacked. It was like he couldn't help it, it was no different than breathing for him. Ironically, now he wanted to attack but nothing special happened. All he could do was wince in agony as each bowling ball punched his face. He heard nothing but ringing in his ears, he was amazed he was still conscious.

"Not tough now are you! You think you're strong because you knocked over Vince!? It was fluke," Bug said before continuing his mercilessly assault.

What had he been doing all this time? Why didn't he consider his power at all? In his day to day life, the thought of having his ability never occurred to him. He also didn't consider his lack of emotions, could the two be related?

The strange forgotten words of his adopted father played in his head as he took more agonizing hits. "They say Aqua Lux was conducting experiments on people, your mother and I think-"

"Jerry that's enough! Not another word!" His adoptive mother screeched.

His father had to be correct, it was such an odd thing to say, but how else could he explain his power? Maybe that was the reason why he was so weird, but he needed more info. Why did he forget that memory until that moment? Who knew beatings could help you remember crucial information.

Gil broke free from one of the boys holding him. Now he remembered why he didn't consider his power... It was because he was afraid of it. At one point, he seriously hurt someone - since that was the case he knew that somewhere deep down inside, he possibly did in fact commit the mass murders...

Gil punched Bug's bloodied face with everything he had (the blood came from Gil's face)... Bug didn't even flinch, he just smirked like some monster.

"I'm amazed you still had some fight left," said Bug before slamming him into the cold lifeless ground.

He didn't want to be the one who was guilty of mass murder. All those innocent people, killed by him. After the anger left, sadness washed over him. He hadn't been sad in years, if ever maybe. What a horrible feeling, if it was what normal people felt, he never wanted to feel it again. He was begging for the wrong thing. He knew that he didn't want to harm anyone though, the thought that he could have potentially harmed people moved his emotionless heart.

"That's enough," a cold voice demanded.

Gil looked up to see the voice came from another prisoner that he never saw before. The prisoner's long hair almost completely blocked his eyes.

"... Let's get out of here," Bug said with immense fear. The foolish trio walked away.

"Get up," The long haired man said while helping Gil get to his feet.

"Uh... Thanks," said Gil. He was glad the assault was over, but his sadness remained. I didn't do it, he continued to say to himself.

"Why do you continue to lie to yourself Gillian?" the man asked.

It was like he read his mind, who was this person supposed to be?

"What are you talking about?" asked Gil. Hearing a stranger say his name was puzzling.

"Aren't you supposed to be emotionless?" the man asked before slowly walking towards the crane controller. "Here you are with tears in your eyes. There's no way you're one of them, if you're crying," The man smirked.

I'm crying? Gil thought before wiping his tears. He hadn't seen his own tears in years, almost felt like he was on an upside down elevator.

"What do you mean by them!? Who are you anyway!?" Gil demanded - still incoherent from the violent beating.

The long haired man turned towards Gil with a insidious smirk. "Well maybe you are one of them, perhaps something triggered a temporary emotional outburst. I wonder what did."

Gil gritted his teeth. "I've had enough of your games, if you know something, tell me!"

"Well... I think we've talked long enough for today," the man said before walking away from the platform. "Get out of the facility and go back to your cell. You will receive a point for today, your shift is now over."

Why was a prisoner talking like he was in charge? Nothing in Energia Tower made any sense. His savior gave him more creeps than Bug did.

"Who are you?" Gil asked before the young man was out of his sight.

He looked back at Gil with horrifying eyes. "It's Leo... you can either forgive yourself or you can let your hatred of yourself take over... I could care less about whichever choice you choose. I have bigger goals in mind."