“For the most part, the antithesis are savage, primal, all that we think we are above. Then see what we do in places like this, where we use pain and horror to achieve our ends, and I wonder, are we so different underneath? And I am horrified to think that the answer is no.”

--Xenovir, overheard on a livestream 2057

My head hurts, and I feel tired. Those are the first thoughts that go to my head as I wake up in a cold room. I open my eyes, adjusting them to the dimly lit metal box of a room. I am stuck, tied down with some rope. I tried to looking around ,but I can’t see anything of use. What is happening?

“Someone else awake?” I hear John ask.

“Yeah, I am. What is going on?” I ask with some concern.

“I don’t really know. We got your text about Sofia going missing, so we went back to the hotel and got very sleepy. The next thing I know, is I wake up here tied up. What about you?” John asks.

“I got in the car with Karter and James. That is all I remember.” I say.

“So we all got drugged. Did Sofia not say something about a sleeping drug?” John asks.

“Yeah, it was gas-based, but how did they get it in the car?” I ask

“There are a few options. Drilling a hole in the bottom and funnelling it in from the sewer is an option.” John says.

“Can you two shut up? I have a massive headache.” Eva suddenly says in a groggy voice.

“Well, good to see that you are still with us, Katharina.” John says.

“Wish I wasn’t for this kind of headache. The least they could have done is put me in a bed with a hottie.” Eva continues.

“I will be sure to pass that along to them; they probably appreciate the review,” John says.

“So what do we do now?” I ask, still kind of freaking out.

“Well, if we are lucky, they put similar chips into us as you found with Sophia”, Eva says.

“And worse case?” I ask.

“They torture and kill us,” John answers.

I start to freak out at that. Why could this not have been a desk job? I am perfectly happy using a shunt to gather data. Why do I have to be here in person as well? This feels like the doll house all over again, but then at least it felt like Evelin had a plan, even though she turned more creepy halfway through.

“I am also still here,” Davis says, breaking me out of my thoughts.

“That is good. That means that only Karter and Sophia are missing.”

Suddenly, a door opens up, and some people come in. Most of them are wearing guards' uniforms, but one is wearing a suit.

“Make them all face me.” the suit guy says, before the security guards get to work dragging all our chairs in a line.

Once all four of us are in a line, he continues. “So let's start easy. Why are you here?”

“Because someone drugged us, next question.” Eva says.

“Clever, but let me make this simple: you answer my questions, or I am going to hurt you. There are four of you, after all.” the suit guy continues. “Let's start simpler. How many of you are there?”

“Fifty-four,” John says.

“You know I prefer the easy way, but I can always make it more difficult.” the man in the suit says.

Then he gets out some kind of baton with iron spikes on it. He presses a button, and electricity sparks out between the different pieces of metal. Then he slowly walks up to me.

“But lies must be punished.” he puts the baton against me, and I scream out in pain. Everything feels like it has been lit on fire. Then he pulls the baton away as I quietly whimper.

“Hey, leave the kid alone!” I hear Eva shout.

“Sorry, but I can’t. It is always easier to press down on the weakest link,” he says with a smile that does not reach his eyes. “So tell me, girl, how many of you are there?”

I am the weakest link. I guess I was riding Evelin’s coat tail before, and when she was not here, I managed to get everyone captured. What should I do? I don’t want to fail.

“Girl, I am speaking to you,” the man in the suit says.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

“Fifty-four, there are fifty-four of us in total unless you count the janitors. That would make it fifty-six,” I say, trying my best Evelin impression.

The man blinks at me in surprise. Then he jams the baton against me again and releases another torrent of pain. Okay, I don’t think I want to be like Evelin anymore.

“Any more clever comments? I said how many of you people are there?” the man asked me again.

“We are six,” Eva finally says “Now leave the kid alone.”

“Oh well, there it is, the truth. So, are you feeling honest now?” he says

“Yes, just leave the kid alone. She did nothing wrong.” Eva spits at the man.

“Fine, then tell me why are you here.” he says, while moving away from me.

“We were just here to search for some missing people.” Eva says.

Before Eva can say anything more, an alarm starts to go off.

“What is that?” the man in the suit asks one of the guards.

“One of the prisoners has escaped, sir!” the guard says.

“Escaped how?”

“We don’t know. The cameras in her cell just came back online. The security guards have been disembowelled.”

The man in the suit now looks concerned. “Which prisoner escaped?”

“Evelin Vance, sir.” The guard says.

Eva burst out laughing. “I knew there was something wrong with that little piece of corporate ass.”

The suit guy turns around. “Care to enlighten us?”

“Sure, I mean, on the outside, she looks all sweet, and kind of the perfect corporate bootlicker, but it’s her eyes that give her away. Those are not kind eyes. Those are the eyes of the gangbangers that have so much chrome, that it burned out important parts of their nervous system, leaving them psychopathic.”

“I see. Well, I am sure that my security team can handle a little girl.” He says with a smug smile.

“Sure you do.” Eva says, “But in the meantime, you have a little girl walking around that already killed two of your guards.”

“You are right; she is the more useful one on your team. I only bothered with you a lot because the boss wanted a private word with her, but since she is out, I can just ask her directly. Guards, feed the rest of them to prisoner forty-three!” the man in the suit says before leaving.

“Did he just say feed us to one of the prisoners?” I ask, a bit confused.

“Yeah, I heard that too.” Eva says.

“So what does that mean?” I ask.

“Let's hope Evelin gets here before we find out,” John says.

“You think she will come for us?” Davis asks.

“Not sure, but it would be nice,” John says.

There is a sound in the room as another door opens up, and a creature walks in with dark green skin stretched over bulking muscles; the somewhat dog-like creature has six legs and a mess of tentacles coming out of its back that are spreading themself around the space. Its face holds a multitude of eyes and a mouth with an unhinged jaw that is wide open.

“Guys, I think I figured out what prisoner forty-three is.” I say.

The antithesis starts running at us now, having noticed our presence. As it gets closer, it jumps, probably planning to maul us. I hope it does not hurt too much.

Then, it stops, bouncing off a light barrier projected in front of us. It lands on the floor and looks at the wall. Suddenly, its head explodes, and the charred remains of a… pen? Land at my feet.

“The fuck was that?” I manage to get out.

Suddenly, a crazed giggle fills the room as a person wearing a big oversized purple hoody walks in. They are wearing a faceless white mask. So this is how I am going to die. At the hands of a psychotic Samurai. She walks up to the antithesis and kicks at it a few times before picking it up by the tentacle and examining it.

“Well, this can’t be good.” Maniac says, then she looks back to us. “Ooh, right, sorry, you all still stuck. Let me help with that.”

“Thank you, ma’am. Some help would be appreciated.” John says.

“Ma’am? First, miss, and now, ma’am, am I really getting that old?” Maniac complains.

I look at her. “It's not that you are old. It is because you are scarrr…… Evelin?” I ask as I make a weird connection.

Maniac stumbles, almost falling down. Then she rubs her head, removing her mask, making the hoody disappear and the clothes Evelin was wearing before appear. “Fuck, I have a headache, and where am I?” Evelin asks, looking at us with confusion.

“That is the billion credit question?” Eva says.

“Right, why are all of you tied down, and why is there a smoking antithesis here?” Evelin asks.

“I don’t know. What is going on? What was the last thing you remembered?” I ask her.

“Uhm, Karter asks me to look at something, and then… he put a taser in my back, the fucking bastard,”

“So that means Micheal betrayed us then?” Eva asks. “Great, always wanted to beat up a nerd.”

“Hey!” Evelin and I say in unison.

“Not you two, of course, an evil one.” Eva says.

“Anyway, can you please untie us?” John finally asks.

“Oh right, of course, one moment, please.” she says, before untying all of us.

Once we are all free, I look around, trying to find any exit, but despite the one Maniac, or Evelin, made, there are not many options. Also, holy crap, Evelin and Maniac are the same person. What do I do? Was I ever rude to her? I don’t think so, but I have also not been very helpful to her so far.

“Evelin, is there anything I can do for you?” I ask, hoping to be somewhat useful.

“I guess you can use my uplink. I somehow am already in their system, and let me tell you, it does not look good,” She says

“What is the problem? Is there no way out of here?” John asks.

“No, there are multiple ways out. We are still in the city. It is just, I think I found what we were sent here to find,” Evelin says with a grave look.

“Care to lose the crazy talk for a bit and spit out what the problem is?” Eva asks.

“Right, so apparently, they have been genetically manipulating the antithesis to create a version that actually tastes good,” Evelin says. “Which, if you would like to know, is an astronomically bad idea.”

“Okay, so we found the secret. Should we get out of here then?” I ask, ready to run if that is what is necessary.

“No, if Evelin is right, and the data is here, and if we can get tangible evidence, that would be enough to convict the entire company and shut it down.” John says.

“And we rake in the cash?” Eva asks.

“That would be the case, so who is it?” John asked while raising his hand.

Only Eva raises her hand as well. “Evelin, you don’t want to do this?” she asks, a bit confused.

Evelin just looks surprised. “Wait, I get to vote?”

“Yeah, in what world don’t you get a say in things?” Eva asks.

“Usually this one, but I want to take a look around myself as well.”

“Great, so three against two, put your mask back on, and we can go,” Eva says

“My mask?” Evelin asks, confused.

“That one”, Eva says, while pointing to her head. “Man, that taser must have done some great damage to your neurons, Do you have any healing?”

Evelin, or Maniac, just nods as she puts on the mask and almost falls down. “Fuck this sucks. Okay, all of you are banned from saying my name for a while.” She says in a strange distorted voice again.

“So what do you want us to call you, boss?” Eva asks with a smile.

“Maniac”