Officer Barney Pierce slowly walked towards a large brown, two-story house in the AquaLux region of Novaria, in the pouring rain around afternoon. He was not on duty, and despite his casual attire, his task ahead could have been one of his most important.

"Ready for this Barney?" Off duty officer James Davis asked Barney, with optimistic eyes.

Barney listened to the sound of the hopeless rain beat the soft pavement, as he faced his friend James. "Yeah, let's do this."

Barney tasked himself with discovering the mysterious identity of certain individuals. He couldn't let AquaLux know what he was doing for his vacation days, as the company had a tendency to hide information from it's citizens/employees. So far, his leads told him that there existed certain people who appeared to lack proper emotions and would often lash out in extreme violence in various circumstances. It seemed all of the suspects were relatively young. Barney codenamed these horrifying individuals, fakers. They could behave as normal members of society and then turn around and destroy everything. He was interviewing the parents of people who he suspected to be fakers.

"This will be the third family, if this goes well we'll have all the info we need," James smiled, before Barney rang the door bell.

After receiving no answer for about three minutes, Barney rang the doorbell again... Still no response.

"Do you think anybody's home?" James asked.

"Of course somebody's home, they're just giving us the silent treatment," smirked Barney before banging the door with hard fist, three times.

"What do you want!?" a fierce male voice said through the door.

"We're here to talk to you in regards to your son, Gillian Zain. Do you have a minute?" asked Barney.

"No we don't! We don't want to give an interview! Leave now!" the voice said with solid intensity.

"Don't worry sir, we're not affiliated with AquaLux," Barney said calmly.

"You're not? What do you want then?" the voice said with a more relaxed tone.

"Well, let's just say that we're potentially trying to save lives... possibly thousands," said Barney, as thunde Mr began to gently erupt in the background.

After a brief pause, the door opened and revealed a stocky man with large glasses, messy hair, and a messy beard. It obviously looked like the man had been dealing with stress.

"Felix Zain?" asked Barney sternly.

"Yes, thats me, are you really not working with AquaLux?" asked Felix.

"Well, every resident of any owned region of AquaLux is working with AquaLux when you think about it," said Barney. "The business we're conducting now is something that AquaLux could have us executed over."

"Executed? It's that serious?" asked Felix, his fear written all over his large face. "If I talk with you guys now, won't that put us at risk of execution too?"

"I assure you sir, you have nothing to fear. AauaLux is unaware of our visit. We want to help you," said Barney.

"Okay, come in," Felix said as he flung his door open.

Felix led them to a large brown table set on a large red rug with gold patterns. Barney was especially impressed by the crystal chandelier that rested above their heads. At the table sat Felix's wife, Celeste Zain.

"I have to say, your house is beautiful. Definitely the finest home we've been to, what are your professions?" James asked, trying to rid the air of the tense atmosphere.

"Well... my wife here is a chef at a renowned restaurant, and I'm a Holoscreen Engineer," quivered Felix.

"That's awesome, what restaurant is-."

"James... we did not come here to talk about restaurants. Our business is much more important," said Barney.

"Sorry Barney," said James scratching his head.

"Now," Barney began as he turned on his holo tablet. "All I want to do today is ask you both a few questions of your son, Gillian Zain. When did you adopt him?"

"Eight years ago," Celeste answered nervously. Judging by her unkept crown, it seemed the stress of the situation also greatly affected her.

"Where did you adopt him from?" Barney asked as he began to take notes with his tablet.

"Uh, well...," Felix started.

"We adopted him from a facility near AquaLux's capital. It was called Water-playfield, it's less than a mile away from the capital," Celeste finished.

"Thanks honey," said Felix as he caressed the shoulder of his anxious wife.

"I see... That appears to be a real place," said Barney after a minute pause. James then handed Barney his tablet. "I can see the proof of adoption certificate, as well as a photo. This definitely appears to be Gillian Zain. Why did you decide to adopt a kid in your thirties? Most people usually adopt someone way younger than ten years of age," he continued.

"What do you mean why we decided to adopt him!? What kind of question is that!?" Celeste barked.

"Honey, calm down," said Felix.

"It's just... Felix and I have always wanted children, but I am unable to bare them. We did plan on adopting a baby, however when we went to Water-playfield, he was very energetic and asked us to play with him. I couldn't say no to that; next thing I know we adopted him," explained Celeste.

"I see," said Barney, not even looking up from his tablet. "You didn't think he was too old? Why only adopt one child? Most people adopt more than one."

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"We planned to adopt more after Gil finished his career test. And he wasn't too old at all! He's our son and we love him no matter what," Celeste said while trying to hold in tears.

"Has Gillian ever behaved violently before?" asked Barney while turning to James to see him also taking notes.

"Nope never! He's always been super sweet, so I don't know why he did those awful things!" Celeste said.

"He was the nicest kid ever," said Felix.

"Our records here say that he was diagnosed as a psychopath. It appears he's had numerous counseling sessions as well. How can a psychopath be nice? Aren't they supposed to all be criminals?" asked Barney.

"Look buddy, I thought you said you were trying to help us!" Felix said aggressively. "What's with these stupid questions!?"

James flinched when he noticed Felix's aggression, but Barney didn't flinch a bit.

"I am trying to help you," said Barney calmly. "I just have to make sure I've got my hypothesis correct. Please answer."

"Eh, well yes, he was diagnosed with psychopathy. He had trouble feeling emotions, so he learned to act like how we wanted him to act. Of course, we never forced him to do anything. He just... did it," said Felix.

"He still was always nice despite all of that!" said Celeste.

"Interesting, so Gillian was a psychopath that always behaved nicely for some reason. The records say that on that fateful day three weeks ago, Gillian Zain went to a local coffee shop that was in an outlet mall. The surveillance footage shows him studying before the chaos that claimed several lives came to pass. We believe the same as the judge, that Gillian is in fact the one who caused the carnage, however he appears to not have memory of that occuring. We think that he is one of dozens of dangerous people who we refer to as fakers. Fakers are psychopaths that seem to cause destruction for no apparent reason. However, after talking with you both briefly, I believe he also could be something entirely different!"

"Oh my God, is all of this true?" Celeste asked with eyes of hopeful disbelief.

"What other fakers do you know?" Felix asked.

"Well, we can't tell you now, as we don't want to compromise our secret investigation," began James. "But we do think some of are in Energia Tower with Gillian."

"Did Gil really tell you that he had no memory of the crimes occurring? We haven't even been allowed to chat with him since this happened," said Celeste.

"Yes, it's possible he's a faker or something else entirely," said Barney before rising to his feet. "If we can prove that he wasn't in control of himself, then we should be able to get him out of Energia Tower. Despite that, I must admit that proving Gil's innocence is at the bottom of my list; if he's a faker then he's a ticking time bomb that will cause further chaos. I'm trying to stop all fakers, naturally I'd want them to all stay in prison, however Gil is different from the rest of them because it seems he doesn't remember committing the acts at all. Because of that, he could potentially be the key to ending the incoming dangers over the horizon."

***

"Still can't believe they're making us stay were. This must be illegal," Jorge complained to Gil and Vince.

They were all sitting in front of the recreational room before their nightly curfew. The rec room contained an indoor basketball court, a few defeated prisoners were inside playing. They could see inside the room through a large sturdy window.

Gil was strangely reserved the remainder of that day. Earlier that morning, they learned that they'd all have their points tripled, putting Gil at a whooping point total of three hundred thousand. With points that had, there was no way he'd ever see the sun again... No matter what.

"Sure it's illegal, but AquaLux can do whatever they want. Never trust big corporations. Especially ones that own half the world," Vince said while turning towards Jorge with enraged eyes.

"I really want to get out of here... yeah know I was probably going to end up here again, but still!" complained Jorge.

Vince put his hands on his chin as he eyed the lame blankless white tile. "Not me... I had everything planned out this time. I was going to get out in about six months... become a garbageman, stop selling things I shouldn't, get out of the slums, find a nice girl, get married, have a ton of kids, relax... Now it seems like my plan is unachievable. I don't why they tripled all of our points, but if they did it easily before, they could do it again," Vince said while trying to hold in tears.

"Woah, don't cry Vince! We'll get out of here one day!" Jorge said.

"Shut the hell up! I'm not crying!" Vince fussed before turning towards Gil.

"Whatever you say!"

"How you holding up Gil? You've been pretty silent today, that's kinda odd for a big mouth like you," said Vince.

Gil was eyeing the ceiling, almost not listening to Vince and Jorge at all. His hopeless thoughts were eating him from the inside out.

"This morning... when the warden told us that we'd be here longer, I felt angry. They all laughed at us like it was some kind of game, like we weren't human. I couldn't believe I was so mad, that anger seemed justified. But now... I feel nothing. All of that anger is gone, it's like a shadow of the past. When I think of the warden now, I don't feel mad... I just feel... nothing," Gil explained quietly.

"That's what you're upset about?" Vince questioned with a puzzled expression.

"Aw, c'mon Gil, it's not that bad. Not having emotions is better than crying all day. Bet you don't get depressed," said Jorge.

"You don't get it!" yelled Gil. "I've lived my whole life feeling this... nothingless. It's better to feel something than to feel nothing!"

Vince and Jorge stared at Gil in astonishment.

After a brief pause, Vince spoke again in an attempt to lift the melancholy atmosphere . "Gil... I don't think you feel nothing, because you're upset now. We're all upset about this, your reaction is valid."

"Yeah, whatever you say," grimaced Gil. "Apparently, sometimes I get temporary emotional outbursts. My feelings will be gone a few moments later."

"Gillian Zain?" a mysterious voice called out to the trio from behind.

"Yes?" Gil questioned, as he turned towards a female guard he never saw before.

"I have matters to discuss with you," the guard said.

"Okay, let's hear it," said Gil.

"-In private," the guard said sternly.

"Eh, okay. I'll guess I'll follow you someplace else," said Gil.

"Be careful Gil!" Jorge shouted as Gil walked down the hall with the mysterious guard.

She led him near a storage closet, where nobody else was present.

"Eh, I don't want people to start thinking things!" freaked Gil.

"I'm only here to discuss with you about Barney's case," the guard said.

"Barney's case!? did he find a way to get me out of here!?" asked Gil.

"My name is Jennifer Plain. I'm a correctional officer here, but I also work for Officer Barney Pierce. He hasn't found a way for you to get out yet; I've just been told to tell you something else."

"What is it?" asked Gil.

"He wants to tell you that you could potentially be in danger here. There exists certain people who lack emotions and have a tendency to cause violence. These people have been codenamed fakers. He says that if there is anyone you suspect of being a faker, to stay far away from them," Jennifer stated.

"I already figured out these people exist here. There's two people I believe to be these fakers, but I could be wrong. I don't believe I'm a target though, I mean why would I be?" Gil questioned.

"Officer Pierce believes you could be a target simply because you're different than them," said Jennifer.

"Different? How so?" Gil asked with a pit of relief brewing in his stomach.

"You claim to have no memory of the crimes occurring, unless you're a good liar, that makes you different. Barney believes you committed those crimes," explained Jennifer.

"I didn't commit anything! It had to be someone else. You guys think that just because I'm a psychopath and lash out when someone tries to cause me harm makes me a monster? Where's your evidence?" Gil said with his entire body quivering.

"I'm... sorry. It's been a rough day," frowned Gil.

"It's okay. I was just under the impression you didn't have any emotions," said Jennifer.

"Well, I don't. It's just temporary emotional outbursts," said Gil.

"Okay. Barney just wanted to say to be cautious of fakers and to inform you of their existence. It seems we didn't need to tell you since you're a smart kid. He also wanted to tell you that your parents said they, 'love you.' Though they're unable to contact you here, they wanted you to know that," said Jennifer.

Gil smiled his thought

s away and stared at Jennifer with newfound determination.

"Thanks for telling me that. If you can, tell them I love them too... I've got the feeling I'll be seeing them again soon."