Sid was lying on the stone floor as his eyes slowly flickered open. Immediately, his eyes darted around to take in his surroundings as he tried to keep his body still.

The floor was hard, smooth stone, and so was the ceiling. He was surrounded by similar stone walls on three sides, and a line of solid prison bars made his fourth wall. Inside the cell was nothing. No food, no bed, no bathroom, not even a light. It seemed to be completely empty except for him.

Sid finally got up and cautiously peeked outside of his cell to get as much information about where he was as possible.

Outside of his cell was some sort of laboratory. It had strange round machines that vibrated slightly, and tall, narrow towers covered in small blinking lights that stretched all the way to the ceiling. Along one wall was a series of large tubes with strange balls inside suspended by a green fluid.

All many of other strange machines were scattered throughout the large room outside of his cell, but, like his cell, the ceiling didn't have any lights on it at all. The only illumination came from the lights on the various machines and towers.

Sid stepped back from the cell and inspected himself. He was mostly untouched, but he noticed that his head was wrapped in dirty bandages. When he looked down, his skeletal arm was wrapped in similar bandages, although they were much cleaner.

Sid sat down and carefully unwound the bandages on his head. He put the dirty wrapping to the side, and gingerly felt around his head with his fingers. On the back of his head was a fairly large gash, but he couldn't see it.

Although, as his finger's touched it, he winced. Carefully he probed around the gash, and quickly withdrew his fingers whenever they came into contact with the wound. He looked down at his arm and carefully took off the bandage. He checked his exposed skeleton, and it looked just like it had when he first arrived in the world.

He seemed satisfied with the state of his arm and slowly inspected the cleaner bandage. After he had looked over the entire thing, he carefully wrapped it around his head. He took care to ensure the entire wound he had felt was covered by it, and then tied it tightly around his forehead.

Sid was alone with the quiet humming of machinery outside of his cell. He picked up the dirty wrap and brought it with him as he walked back to the metal bars. He traced a single finger up and down each of the bars. There was not even a door that seemed like it could open, and the bars seemed to go fairly deep into the top and bottom of the cell.

TING

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TING

Sid flicked his finger against a couple of the bars, and they let out a high-pitched ring. The former AI rubbed his chin as he quietly murmured, "Curious..."

Sid stepped back to the far end of his cell and then dashed towards the bars. He leaped up into the air and sent his foot forward into a single bar. His skin and the metal clashed together as he let loose as much force as he could muster. Yet, the bar only reverberated with the force of his kick.

Sid regained his footing and looked up at where the bar met the ceiling. He stuck his finger up against it and rubbed back and forth as the bar shook back and forth. He brought his finger back down in front of his face and inspected it. Finally, he rubbed his thumb against the tip of the finger and shook his head.

"Curious," he muttered again.

Whoosh

A sound similar to metal lightly dragging on stone rang out. Sid turned towards the noise as he quickly grabbed the vibrating bar to try and hold it still.

"Now now," called out a gravelly voice. "We can't have you acting out so irrationally. Not before we can 'fix' you." The voice emphasized the word fix as light footsteps started to draw closer and closer to Sid.

Finally, and elderly man with bushy white hair and a severe balding problem was standing in front of Sid's cage. He had a black lab coat with thick rubber gloves and boots on. The man smiled at Sid and revealed only about eight yellowed teeth left in his mouth.

The two of them stared at each other in silence as Sid slowly let go of the bar.

"You've redressed your wound I see," the man commented. "But why leave your more severe wound so exposed, hmm?"

Sid's eyes looked the man over. "Where are we right now?" he asked.

"Why, in my lab of course!" The old man chuckled.

"What is the purpose of this lab? Sid asked.

The old man smiled. "What else? Research."

"What is the purpose of your research?"

The man frowned. "What? My answers not good enough for you?"

"Every answer you have given me has lacked crucial information." Sid explained calmly. "They are all incomplete answers."

SNORT

The man chuckled dryly as he snorted. "I told you all you need to know. Or are you not good enough to draw a conclusion from partial information?"

Sid remained silent as he studied the man. He slowly rubbed the dirty bandages in his hand together.

"Oh? Are you actually so slow it takes you this long to process information?" He scoffed. "I thought you were top of the line."

"Vague experimentation is not my expertise," Sid finally said as he took a step closer towards the bars. "Perhaps if you could explain it to me, then I could assist you in what it is you are after?"

"Hah! As if I'd need help from something like you," The man paused a moment and started to pull on his ear as his eyes looked up towards the ceiling. "Although...hmm..."

Sid slowly lowered the dirty bandage down bit by bit. Eventually, the man nodded.

"I guess I could use your help. Just not your pitiful little mind. Your body though? Now that is what's truly impressive." he sneered. "Maybe if I wipe you clean, I won't have to junk you entirely..."

In a flash, Sid threw the middle of the bandage towards the man. His free hand reached down and grabbed the other loose end as it flew forward. The old man's eyes started to go wide, but it was already too late.

The bandage had wrapped around his neck, and Sid quickly twisted it around and tightened it so that it was taut around the man's neck.

"Release me," Sid declared. "Or I will be forced to shut your mind off permanently."

The look of surprise in the man's eyes was quickly replaced with humor as he started to laugh. But Sid tightened the wrapping around his neck, and his laugh quickly turned into him gasping for air.

"Release me now. That is a command." Sid repeated.

The man grabbed onto the bandage as he wheezed, "You don't know what you're getting into little toy. You don't want to regre..."

The man's qords were gurgled as Sid tightened the bandage and then loosened it again.

"Do not speak again, unless it is to release me." Sid declared. "I am a prisoner whether I let you go or you die. It makes no difference to me."