--Eria POV--

For some reason, being at this security monitor finally gives me a feeling I’ve been missing for a long time now—a feeling of control. Spinning around in the computer chair, I stare at a man tied to an identical chair. He stares at the ground with a scowl.

With a laugh, I kick his legs, sending him spinning. “No need to be so serious, mister.”

Every time his legs come back around, I kick them again. The spinning becomes so intense that his figure is entirely blurry. Eden just stares with a blank expression as I turn my attention back to the screens.

Sam and Aponi have been gathering information while I tied this guy up, and waited for him to awaken. Unfortunately, he was less than helpful, which is why I decided to have some fun at his expense. Although I admit, this is probably the ninth or tenth time I’ve repeated this process. I suspect he’ll break soon.

Watching the screen, I can see Sam and Aponi acting all friendly with some of the researchers. The researchers look incredibly uncomfortable talking to a well-armed guard wearing big bright green goggles.

‘Wish I had more than just this camera in that area.’

The chair slows down, slowly revealing the man’s pale green face.

I pop my leg out, stopping the chair. He struggles to keep his head up, and I look at him with a bright smile. “So, mister, can you tell me if there are any other things this security system can do?” I dig my claws into the man’s face, lifting it up to look me directly in the eye. “Or, for that matter, anything about the security of this place in general?”

He hesitates, with a half-open mouth. “I-I’m not sure about the security system, and I don’t know about the specifics of the facilities security! I-In fact, I don’t understand it at all!”

“Boring! You aren’t lying, are you?” I say, digging my claws deeper, “because I can always ask someone else, and you don’t want me to find out you were lying.”

“Fred... He runs this office, and he’d at least know the basics! He’s been here a really long time too!”

“He was probably the guy who ran into that room full of people… Oh, what is that room anyway?”

“It’s the emergency shelter. For the civilians, at least the rooms who could make it.”

“Well, I already knew that… Hmm, how did this place get built anyway? How long has it been here?” I ask.

“This place was built a bit at a time by some ultra-rich moneybags. I’ve only seen them here once, but apparently, they run a shell company that builds foundations or something. They’d completely undercut the Anchorage market for that kinda thing and use it as an opportunity to expand their facility if things worked out.” I tighten my grip further. “O-obviously, it would be a bit more complicated than that, but that’s all I know.”

Pausing, the man starts to sweat. Seeing him, I laugh, saying, “Alright, well, that’s good enough for me, I guess.”

“So, this is like some kind of giant conspiracy?” Eden asks.

“Giant conspiracy?” Pausing for a moment, I think through Eden’s words. “Hmm, not really, that usually implies that people weren’t aware of what was happening. More than likely, there were reports, news articles, investigations, and other such things going on for years or decades. However, humans are incredibly apathetic to long term oddities or things that have little effect on their lives. The hardest part would be keeping the people stuck here. That way they couldn’t talk about what was going on in the outside world.”

I glance at the tied up security guard. He responds to my analysis, “Yeah, for the most part, that’s true. We can’t leave unless we undergo some kind of treatment before leaving…”

“Probably some kind of memory or Mind Magic thing.” Bouncing to my feet, I roll the man and his chair toward the blocked ‘emergency shelter.’ “Anyway, let’s get someone who knows more than this guy.”

“E-Eira, are you about to open that door? Is that a good idea?” Eden asks tensely.

Ignoring her, I snap my fingers at the two Brutes. “Dolt. Goliath. Come here, morons. I need both your ugly faces to make me seem more intimidating.”

““Guh?”” The ground shakes as the two crawls through the door.

“Aw, they know their names!” I say to the panicked man in the chair, “Their intelligence has almost doubled!”

With the two Brutes behind me, I remove the chair and toss open the door. A man stands there with a welding torch and wide eyes.

“Oh, my, am I interrupting? I just need to drop this guy off.”

I roll the man in the chair at the guy with the welding torch. The chair and man slam into him, and they go tumbling down a short set of stairs together. Glancing up, a few people stand with weapons at the ready. Lots of others stand in the back, watching on with horrified looks.

“Hello, people!” I shout, “I’m looking for a man named Fred! Bring him to me, or I’ll seal this door forever.” Raising my hand, I fire a blood spike at the welding machine. “And that little welding machine would have taken weeks to cut through a door this thick.”

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“What do you want with us? Are you one of those monsters, taking the shape of an innocent girl!?” someone screams from the back of the room.

“Idiot. Use your eyes, to see that I have eyes,” pointing to my two blood-red eyes, I continue, “Now bring this Fred guy forward, or this door will never open again.”

“Dammit, I’ll go,” a gruff voice says, “No need risking it even if I don’t really believe it myself.”

“Don’t be stupid, Fred. You really think this girl and her two giant idiots can stop us from getting out?” someone shouts.

“Did you not hear me, dumbass? I don’t fully believe it, but it’s still not worth risking it.”

An older man walks out and toward the stairs. He steps over the man in the chair without much of an expression. When the man gets close, Goliath gets a bit curious and reaches in to grab the man. He yelps when he squeezes him. The room erupts into screams as Goliath pulls the man through the door. The people raise their weapons as I slam the door shut and seal it.

“Hey, idiot!” I shout, at Goliath, “You better not kill that guy after I went through all that trouble!”

“Guh?” He drops the man causing him to land flat on his face.

Walking over, I lift the man’s head from the floor. “Now you’re going to tell me about this facility’s Mind Magic. What is powering it? Where is the Mana coming from?”

“That’s what you want to know about?” He blinks a few times with tired old eyes. “You want to know about… it?”

“Oh, can you clarify what you mean by ‘it’?”

“...Why?

Humoring him, I ask, “Why what?”

“Why do you want to know about it?”

“So I can turn it off? It’s quite a nuisance. Mind Magic is one of the most petty, irritable, annoying, and frustrating magics in existence! I despise it in every sense of the word, so I want to turn it off.”

“Turn it off?” he replies with a scoff, “It isn’t something you can turn off. I’ve tried to have the stupid stuff stopped for years.”

‘It seems he’s not that surprised by me calling it magic. That’s nice; it makes things simpler.’

Hearing the man being so cooperative, I allow him to stand. I kick a computer chair over to him, which he catches with his hand.

Motioning with my hand for him to sit, I ask, “Tell me what you mean? Isn’t it purposeful? I assumed it was some kind of defensive spell or charm.”

Taking a seat, Fred gives me a shrewd stare. “Of course not. The stuff is annoying as all hell—walking through doors and forgetting things, having to make those charms for everyone, making sure it doesn’t get into the outside world, among other things. These were all things I had to deal with for fuckin’ years,” he replies.

“Then why didn’t you turn it off?”

“Because they said they couldn’t. That it was a byproduct of ‘it,’ and they couldn’t make ‘it’ stop. I would have knocked that Dr. Falenoz out if he hadn’t told me through the phone.”

Performing a quick spin in my chair, I cross my arms. Stopping myself with my feet, I purse my lips, “Hmm, you’re awful cooperative; it’s a bit suspicious. You aren’t just saying what you think will make me happy, are you?”

“I don’t particularly care if you’re happy. I just want to see that shit stopped,” his wrinkly face makes a small smirk, “Either you turn it off, or you fail.”

“Oh? You think if I fail, ‘it’ will kill me? It seems you think ‘it’ is a thing and not an object. Are you hoping it will kill me?”

“I don’t know you, but I assume it would at least be less of a headache if it did. Especially since you threatened a bunch of civilians unprovoked.”

“Hmm, I suppose, I can see your logic. Aren’t you worried about the researchers there, though?”

“Those researchers? The researches in that part of the facility are fucked up. I have watched these cameras for years. I’ve seen countless people walk down into that equally fucked up Warehouse and never come out. If anyone in this facility deserves what happens to them, it’s them, but the people in the shelter they’re all decent enough.”

“You aren’t that attached to anyone here, are you?” Eden responds, “Basically stating they deserve to die, and then saying the one’s in the shelter are ‘decent enough.’”

“I try not to get too attached to anyone here. It makes my shitty job easier,” he answers.

Eden tilts her head curiously. “If you hate it so much, why didn’t you just quit?”

“Because if I left that leaves the position open for someone way worse,” he sighs heavily, before saying in his gruff voice, “I’m detached, but at least I have some kind of empathy and moral code.”

‘This is all pretty interesting. Perhaps, this guy would actually cooperate? I still need to take care of the remaining turquoise bulbs in the Warehouse. Although I could just use the charm, I really hate having those bulbs around, and I can’t risk the Brutes until they’re gone. More importantly, he doesn’t actually know my history, so maybe he’s willing to cooperate.’

“Did you kill those men?” Fred asks.

“Huh?” I respond.

Looking toward a corner, a group of sloppily tied up guards lay next to each other.

Pointing at Goliath and Dolt. “No, the two nimrods did it because they got carried away. They’re still alive…”

‘I think. Although, that one in the corner doesn’t look too great.’

I continue my sentence, “And I’ll let you take them for treatment if you help me.”

He replies immediately, “Help you? Listen, I’m being cooperative, but I don’t know about helping.”

“I only need you to allow me access to whatever ‘it’ is,” I give the man a big thumbs up, “I’ll take care of ‘it’ from there. I’m good at destroying things! Trust me!”

“Is that so?” He glances between Dolt and Goliath. “...Are you going to bring those things?”

“The Brutes?” I ask, smiling, “Yeah, they’ll be there, obviously! They’re my pets, bodyguards, whatever you want to call them.”

“Then…” Fred crosses his arms and stares into my eyes. “I want to come with you; four of my men and me,” he says.

I kick my legs staring at the man curiously. “Your men? Don’t you just watch the cameras?”

“Nah, I’m pretty high up in the ladder. It happens when you’ve been around as long as I have. Still, I just take more of a hands-off approach while making sure the others aren’t doing what they shouldn’t.”

“And why is it you want to go with me?”

“Because there are civilians down there as well. It wasn’t safe enough for them to come here.” He points at the two Brutes with his wrinkly finger. “I want to rescue the civilians, but it sounds like I need to make sure those things don’t kill them.”

‘He and four men shouldn’t be much of a threat. Not with myself and two Brutes. Besides, having him with me could be a great help.’

“Alright, Fred,” I hold my hand out to shake his, “We have a deal, so pick your four men, and together we’ll turn off this pesky Mind Magic. Oh, and you can rescue those people you mentioned.”