After a few minutes of walking down the hallway, I began to wonder how long the entire facility was or if the way was that long. I turned backward just to see if I didn't miss anything noteworthy, but instead, I saw that Jackson had somehow slipped a few yards past me, and Williams, as he began to talk to a few of the Tactical Guards who positioned themselves at various rooms. I tried to listen to what Jackson was even saying to them, but the mechanic hum of the hallway made it clear that I wouldn't even dream of getting any information about that conversation.

"Nero, is there something wrong with your right hand?" asked Williams, and I saw that his eyes glanced right at my hand. At that moment I didn't have any idea what he was talking about.

"Oh, it's nothing. Just a scar... glowing scar..." I replied back to him in a dismissed tone, as I didn't want him to see the glowing symbol on my hand. I looked up at him and saw that he didn't buy my answer at all. I glanced back at where Jackson stood and talked with the Tactical Guards later, as I wanted to be sure he didn't go anywhere else for that matter.

"Jackson, are you coming or-"

"He needs a break from all of this walking," replied Williams, as he heard my shout. "now it's just you and me and your experiment. Now move."

I nodded and began to walk down the hallway again. Something gnawed at my mind about what Williams said that the United States is a relic from the past that I was curious about. After a few minutes, me and Williams walked in silence until I spoke up.

"What happened to the United States?"

I glanced at Williams just to expect a response from him, but I saw that he began to make a grimace as if he didn't want to give me the full picture.

"The United States collapsed a very long time ago, and in its place rose the Neosis Corporation, as a safe haven for us all," Williams replied as if he was extremely careful about what to reveal.

"So I'm in Neosis? What even is it?" I replied, now curious as I wanted to get much information out of Williams.

"The Neosis Corporation is - and always has been - a mega-corporation. They are the government if you can call that. This facility, you and I are in is one of the thousands of other facilities that are created by the Corporation for the better of humankind." he answered in a more soulful and impactful tone towards me.

"But Jackson is an employee of the Corporation?" I replied back.

"Not in an 'employee' sense within the Corporation, but as an employee at this facility," answered Williams to me. "I believe you got the bigger picture?"

I nodded to him, as we continued down the hallway. After a few more minutes of tiresome walking, Williams stopped at another reinforced door and took his left hand up as he placed it on a blue biometric scanner. I stepped aside from him to see what was going on as a blue light ran up and down while it began to scan him. After a second, a male voice from the scanner began to speak.

"Access identified. Welcome Williams Reid. Location: Experiment Room B3."

"Get in," said Williams towards me as I slowly nodded and began to enter the reinforced door. I stepped inside and I could feel that my weak legs were now like jelly. I didn't know why but I felt that my instincts burned up again, as if I were in a fight-or-flight situation. I looked inside the room that was pitch-black, until someone clicked a switch. Across me stood a medium-tall man with sharp white glasses who was in my opinion a bit small to him. He was maybe in his early 40s and his clothes were a white clinical scientist coat with a futuristic symbol and text down below which read Neosis Corporation Site C-8.

"Welcome to Room B3 Nero. I'm Dr. Elias Hall." said the man to me as he took out his left hand to greet me in a friendly manner. I replied with a warm smile in return.

"This is your 216th experiment if it also becomes a success - at least not what happened yesterday," said Elias to me as I saw him getting something from a metal table that I couldn't see clearly because Williams obscured my vision. After he was done, I looked around the room and I saw that the room was stark white and clinical just like in my room. In the middle of the room sat there a metal chair with straps that had seen better days in the use of whatever this 'experiment' was.

"Go on," said Williams to me as I moved towards the metal chair, as the furniture was not welcome for me at all. I sat down in the chair as the straps closed in on my arms with a soft click. It was like I was about to go on the world's most dangerous rollercoaster, as I had no idea what would happen next.

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

"Enjoy the ride!" smirked Williams as I looked at Elias where I could see that he had activated something from a nearby console. I was not ready. Not at all. Suddenly, a blue holographic screen was on the wall that was across from me, as an unnerving male voice spoke up.

"Nero. Subject ID: 928745. Initiating Phase I of Experiment 27. Look at the shapes."

The male voice disappeared as the screen shifted to a video of various shapes in color dancing across the screen. I began to look at the shapes that transformed to be more and more psychedelic, as my eyes began to slowly hurt. The shapes began to twist into something, as I was now slowly losing touch with my own body, while I tried to snap back to reality. It was like the shapes were trying to manipulate my thoughts and feelings, as I surrendered to whatever this experiment was. But suddenly, something crept into my mind.

It was another flashback.

I saw myself lying on a flat clinical table, as various medical instruments were across my side. I could only look up, as I saw various people with doctor masks surround me, their eyes were lifeless and unemotional as if I were treated as a lab animal. I turned weakly toward the medical table and saw that various tubes were in my hand. Horrified, I looked down at my stomach and saw more tubes that were etched into my skin.

I was terrified.

Suddenly, one of the medical doctors spoke up, as another person observed something from a console nearby.

"Subject appears to be conscious after the dosis. Activating the operation in thirty seconds."

Another person began to answer in a flat tone, as they looked beside me. I saw that they took their hand down to my arm and slowly brushed against my skin. I could feel that the hair on my back began to stand upright in response.

"Thirty seconds. Got it."

I began to thrash on the table, but the people held me down as the door to the room opened up, and in came a person, whose face was obscured by the shadows. He walked towards the table and looked at me, before quickly grabbing my chin. He saw how terrified I was, and he just gave an unsettling smile as he then turned to the other people.

"How's my little Prototype doing?" he asked to the same man who was at the console.

"He refuses to break, as everything was going fine until I talked to Dr. Corwin about the activation of the operation, Sir. I'm afraid we can't hold him back any longer." replied the man in a nervous tone.

It was the same person from my first flashback.

"I want the operation to be absolutely perfect, and that his mind will be erased clean. You all know that I won't tolerate failures if he even finds the truth of what happened to him or the breach in Site C-9. I won't see more failed Subjects."

I began to feel pure fear as I listened to what the man said. I continued to thrash around more violently, as my left hand began to fully glow blue. One of the people noticed my hand and began to grab around it like a vice but with no success.

"Their power has been activated! Go away from the table!" one of them shouts, as everyone including the man takes a step back.

"Increase the dose!" barks the man, as I see all of the people scramble for something, and my eyes dart back and forth. After a few seconds, another person finds a medical needle and begins to insert and inject fluid liquid into my arm. I begin to scream in terror, as the man just glances at me.

"Wake up Nero,"

A voice snaps me back to reality, as I look over my shoulder where the arm of Elias is softly placed. I look up at him and see in the reflection of his glasses that my face is pale white of fear. Williams goes over to the chair and releases the straps, as I step down to the ground. I begin to shake uncontrollably, as Elias takes my hand.

"Woah there! Was the experiment terrifying for you?" he asked as I continued to shake. I couldn't reply to him at all, as I felt that the flashback hit me mentally.

"It was never intended for the experiment to scare you, Nero," Elias replied to me again. After a few minutes, I slowly replied to him.

"Someone tried to... to break me..."

I glanced at Williams as I saw that he didn't even care about my fear, but he began to chime in.

"You need some rest. And now return to Site C-8."