Tom made his way from the upstairs hallway back down to the main floor and toward the front of the building where the Security Center was located next to the parking garage. Knocking on the door to be allowed access, the door was unlocked a moment later and TJ stood in the door inviting Tom to come inside. The room had changed drastically with the power being back on. A set of televisions was hung on the wall with feed from the cameras around the outside and inside of the building showing people going about their normal business.
Against the far wall was a safe that sat open with enough guns to arm a small militia and badges hung on the wall next to that which each security officer wore so everyone would know they were part of the team. Walkie-talkies sat on a desk off to the right side of the room with a few sitting on charges and others just lying on the desk waiting to be used.
"Tom, thanks for coming. Sorry to call you down here after I know you spent so much time with Brian earlier, but I thought you needed to hear this." TJ said as Tom walked into the Security Center.
Normally everyone had a job to do and was focused on that in the security room, so the room was buzzing with activity. This time most of the people were located near the camera feeds with a frail-looking woman sitting in the chair that normally held the person responsible for watching the cameras. Brian was already there kneeling before her and handing her a glass of water.
"What's going on? Is everyone okay?" Tom asked still feeling confused about why he was here.
"Yes, everyone is fine and everything is quiet outside. But this woman just showed up about a half mile from the building. Rogers found her while he was making a sweep for monsters." TJ informed him as he gestured toward the frail woman. "I think you'll want to hear what she has to say and maybe you can help her."
Tom nodded curtly and moved toward the woman. He stopped at the circle that was forming around the woman and she looked up at him with fear evident in her gaze. She looked at several of the other men around her and began to pull her legs up to curl into a ball in the chair.
"How about we give her some breathing room? Everyone but Brian and TJ, back to your stations. Don't you all have jobs to do?" Tom asked as if he knew they were not where they should be.
Several of them looked shocked and quickly sipped cups of coffee as they scrambled back to their positions in the room. One man remained though, eyeing the chair she was sitting in. But one glance from Tom was enough to make him turn awkwardly toward the screens on the wall where he pretended to see something on one of them.
"Hey there. My name is Tom," Tom began as he knelt down to be on her level and tried to seem as unintimidating as possible. Which Tom realized he didn't know how to do. "What happened? What brought you here to us and are you okay?"
The woman recoiled from him and appeared to be scared. Tom noticed she was wearing nothing but filthy rags and had a black metal collar around her neck that was almost as tight as a choker.
"What's this thing?" Tom said reaching up to touch the dark metal.
Just as Tom was about to touch the collar, the woman realized what he was doing and her eyes went wide as she scrambled so hard back that the chair fell over.
"Okay, okay! Sorry. No touching. Can you at least tell me your name?" Tom put his hands up in surrender and moved back slightly.
With eyes still wide, the woman looked from him to TJ then to Brian, and back to him, breathing heavily from her fear. Seeing that no one was making any moves to touch her or get closer to her, she began to relax slightly. She set the chair upright and sat in it again. Her cup of water had spilled on the floor and TJ picked it up to get her more. Staring up at Tom, she seemed to be deciding if telling him her name would be a good idea.
"Lily. My name is Lily." The woman finally said.
"Lily. That's a pretty name. Can you tell me what happened to you?" Tom asked softly.
She stared at him for a long moment before saying, "I managed to escape."
"Escape where?" Tom prodded her.
"The Master," Lilly said in a whisper as though she was afraid saying his name too loud would incur some punishment.
"Who is The Master, Lily? Did he do this to you?" Tom said gesturing at all of her.
She nodded without blinking.
"He's a terrible man who is promising to help people. But he takes you in and puts one of these mind control collars on you and then makes you do whatever he wants with his mind." Lilly explained.
"He does what?! How is that even possible?" Tom asked, contemplating the possibilities of mind-controlling people and feeling disgusted at the thought.
"I don't know, but if we don't obey he punishes us," Lily said holding her arms out and showing that she had bruises and scars along her arms.
"That's terrible! How could someone do that to another person?" Tom looked up at Brian who had a hand on his chin.
Brian simply nodded saying he had no idea what to think of it. He didn't say a word as he continued to think.
"How many are there?" Tom asked.
"Hundreds of us. He brings in people all the time. Many people come because he promises to keep us safe and feed us. I was desperate because I was alone and monsters were chasing me. He took me in and I felt safe. Then the collar came." Lily explained as she looked at the floor at the mention of the collar.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
"So, all we need to do is take the collar off. That shouldn't be too hard." Tom said reaching for the collar.
"NO DON'T IT WILL...AAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!" Lily screamed as purple electricity shot out of the collar and into every part of her body.
Tom jumped back as it crackled over Lily's body and she writhed on the floor in pain. After a few more seconds the electricity stopped and she lay panting on the floor. No one moved, afraid it would be set off again. Tom moved forward after a long moment to help her sit up.
"I'm so sorry, Lily. I had no idea it would do that." Tom apologized as he helped her get back into the chair.
"We can't take them off. Only his key can do that. He's going to know I'm gone when he wakes up. I'll be forced to go back or he'll kill me." Lily said solemnly as she looked at the floor.
"We won't let that happen," Tom said with finality.
"What exactly do you plan to do to stop it?" Brian asked. "She's wearing a fucking collar that hurts her if we try to take it off and might hurt us too."
"I don't know yet, but I'll think of something," Tom replied without looking at him. "Get Jay here. Let's see what he thinks of this."
"Sure, I'll get him," TJ replied moving to make the announcement over the system.
"And get the best magic user we have while you're at it. Maybe they will know something. And Herbert. An engineer could be helpful." Tom called after him.
TJ nodded and made the announcement.
"Don't worry, we will figure this out," Tom said softly to Lily.
She nodded, pulled her knees up to her chest in the chair, and wrapped her arms around her legs, still trembling slightly from the shock.
About a half hour later Jay, Herbert, and a man named Bohdan were standing in the Security Center and looking at the collar.
"Well, there's no keyhole, so I doubt we can pick the lock. It must be controlled electronically or by magic." Jay said staring intently at the collar while Lily held her head back for him to see it.
"I don't know how we can get to do anything to it if it shocks her every time we touch it. We would just hurt her more." Herbert said standing back and thinking hard about what might help.
"Bohdan, is there anything you can think of?" Tom asked.
"Maybe," Bohdan spoke with a thick Ukranian accent. "I could try using anti-magic field to see if that has any effect on it. There is possibility it would disrupt its connection and we could make attempt then."
"And what exactly does an anti-magic field do?" Tom asked.
"It makes so magic no work. It is cube where nothing will function if it is magic. But it means no spells too." Bohdan explained.
"I can't see a downside to at least trying that," Tom said looking at Brian and TJ. They both shook their heads as well. "Alright, Bohdan. Let's start there."
Bohdan nodded once then looked at Lily and began moving his hands. He chanted a spell and then threw his hands out to the sides and a yellow barrier grew from his body to encompass the whole room. It seemed to stop when it hit the walls and sat there glistening slightly as it shimmered. As soon as the field hit the electronics in the room, though, they stopped working. The televisions went black, and the walkie-talkies went dead.
"What the hell?" One of the security guards said looking around the room.
"It is done," Bohdan said looking at Tom.
"Lily, I need you to trust me. I am going to try to touch the collar to see if the anti-magic field has made it stop working. Can you trust me to let me try?" Tom asked as he explained the whole plan to her.
She looked very reluctant at first, shrinking away from him as he moved closer. She stared long and hard at him before finally nodding that she was okay with him trying. She physically steeled herself for the pain as Tom reached out. He barely touched the collar with the tip of one finger.
Lil shut her eyes tight as he touched it, bracing for the agony that would surely follow. Nothing happened. She opened her eyes in amazement and looked at Tom who was smiling back at her.
"Looks like it worked," He beamed at her. "Now we can focus on getting that off of you."
"Just as a side note, you did see what that field did to the electronics in the room too right?" Herbert asked looking around. "After finding a way to make a machine that runs on mana, I thought there might be a way to use it more places, but this is baffling. Technology may be able to be controlled by magic and vice versa. Like they are somehow connected."
"What do you mean, Herbert?" Tom asked turning to face him.
"I'm not sure exactly yet, but I need to head back to the engineering lab. Bohdan, can you come to see me at some point so we can look into this further? The sooner the better." Herbert asked.
"Sure. I will come to lab and help with experiments." Bohdan said, happy to be asked for help with an important task.
"Well, we can focus on that after we help Lily. We need to get this thing off her neck." Tom interrupted the runaway train of their thoughts.
"Oh, of course. Sorry, I just got lost in thought there for a moment. It's fascinating." Herbert commented.
"How long will this anti-magic field last?" Tom asked.
"About thirty minutes," Bohdan replied.
"Okay, then let's work on getting this off," Tom said turning back to Lily.
"I will go get some tools. Though I guess they have to be hand tools." Herbert said looking around at the walls.
Herbert returned about ten minutes later with a large pair of bolt cutters and a hack saw.
"Since I can't use electricity near this thing, I can't use a grinder or other tool to make this easy. So you are going to have to help me be really careful that we get this off safely." Herbert said, looking at Lily, then the others in turn.
Everyone nodded. Getting into position, Lily leaned her head as far to the left as possible while Herbert put the bolt cutters onto the edge of the collar and began trying to cut it off.
"I'd rather not use the hacksaw as that is the most dangerous option, so keep leaning away and I will see if this will work," Herbert instructed pulling the handles together to begin the cut into the metal.
There was a groan and Herbert growled slightly as he put all his strength into the bolt cutters.
"Why don't I give it a try? I bet my Strength stat is a lot higher than yours Herbert." Tom offered.
"Yeah, that seems like that would be better," Herbert admitted, blowing out a breath of air he had been holding while squeezing on the bolt cutters.
Tom moved over and took the handles from Herbert while Lily tried to stay as still as possible. She closed her eyes as Tom began.
"Okay, on three. One...two...three!" Tom counted down and then pressed hard on the handles.
There was a bit of resistance at first, but then the cutters cut into the metal. There was a cracking sound and then the collar shattered around Lily's neck into two equal pieces and fell to the floor. Lily took a sharp breath at the motion but then realized what had happened and put a hand up to her neck.
"I'm...I'm free!" She whispered softly, tears beginning to fill her eyes.
"I told you we would help. Now we need to get some more information from you. Anything you can remember about this place so we can help the others. And Herbert, why don't you take that collar and do some tests on it to see if we can figure out a better solution? I don't think taking bolt cutters out there and casting repeated anti-magic fields is the best way to handle this." Tom instructed as he picked up and handed the pieces to the engineer.
"Sure thing. I'll let you know what I find." Herbert said accepting the pieces from Tom. "Bohdan, would you be willing to come to the lab now?"
"Sure. Let's go." Bohdan replied and the two left together.
"Alright, now tell me everything you can about The Master," Tom said returning his attention to Lily.