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Chapter 36: Interlude – Hero Rises

I knew something was wrong by almost supernatural means. My prison, my work, my fucking lifeblood, almost spoke to me. I could feel it in the metal, in the thrusters that had never been powered, and in the display monitors.

…

It was actually pretty hard to miss. 

“Oi Red! You think this is funny!? I’m talking to you, you colossal cun–!” 

“Fuck that bug bitch! I’ll kill her when I get out of here, and I’ll kill you too, Hero!” 

“Its dead! Hah the fucking cockroach is dead! Oh god it’s finally–!”

All of them were talking. All the ones we’d deemed my prison not quite secure enough to hold. Jon Nickols. Kathryne Baker. Leroy Charron.  Fourteen others, all of whom convicted of murder with powers or worse. The prison itself held almost two hundred. 

Even more concerning was that the bugs Taylor had left me, the ones I could use to talk to her in case of emergency, weren’t responding. They weren’t even lining up normally. They were just… being regular bugs.

I jumped at a loud clang echoing from down the hallway. Rather than glance that way, I immediately turned to the display of the cell the sound had emanated from. Westley O’Darrel, a category 4 security risk on a scale of 10, had just begun blasting the side of his cell with his power. While I didn’t think he could get out, his power did make a loud and obnoxious clanging sound when gouging out sides of his wall. 

He was not alone. 

Almost as if they were planning it, the villains – no people, inmates – began bashing at the walls of the cells they’d been confined to over the last few months. 

There weren’t all that many really. About twenty or so, that we had deemed possible escape risks, and asked Taylor to control until the full functionality of my Tower could be brought online. 

Apparently, Taylor had decided to take a break. 

“What the hell is she doing… Spark, you getting this?” I asked via the communications link to Spark, one of the capes helping me build my tower remotely. 

“Really loud, and way too clear!” the man replied, his Puerto Rican accent making his words difficult to understand as usual. “Radiation levels are climbing on the seventh floor. Much higher and they’ll breach the containment of the cell!” 

“I know I–!” 

I growled as another loud clang interrupted my own thoughts. 

“What’s Taylor doing? Didn’t she say she’d be controlling these people? What’s goin’ on?” 

“I wish I knew! Regardless, we have to assume she’s no longer able to help us. Enable full containment protocols, on all affected levels. That’s 4, and 7 through 10?” 

“Those are the only levels with inmates registered. Enabling now,” Spark replied. Moments later, a whirring sound began to echo through the halls. I stepped into the elevator and pressed the button that would bring me to the command deck. 

My prison was my masterpiece. It could hold anyone regardless of their power. Or… it could. Once it was done.