The container now stood in another room, a room that looked like a hospital chamber even though this place was definitely no hospital at all. Doctor Medrano often had to remind herself that she no longer worked in such facilities since joining this organization, sometimes she did regret making the decision to abandon her old place, but here she could do what she liked the most. “Layla, she said seemingly to no one, prepare for scanning.”

Suddenly a floating blue hologram shaped like a human woman manifested next to her, “the med bay scanner is ready for action doctor.” Doctor Medrano gave the AI a nod of approval, “very well Layla, let’s begin.”

The hologram of the AI closed her eyes for a second, as soon as she did, two mechanical arms came out from the ceiling bearing long scanning sensors, the scanners moved up and down until they had scanned the whole container, and then retracted again.

Once doctor Medrano would have been mind blown by all of this, now she had come to the point where her “hypermodern” coffee machine she had at home seemed like antiquity to her. She and Layla were the leaders of the med bay and the research facility here, she and the AI had become a good team over the years but this would be the first time that the two of them saw something like this, something their boss had told them about but something that the two of them still could not completely grasp.

“Layla, the doctor asked, do you think what he told us about is really in there?” The AI nodded, “I took a little peek in the scanning results just now and it is exactly that.” The AI waved with her translucent hand and a holographic panel with the results appeared before doctor Medrano. “Maldita sea, she cursed as she held her hand before her mouth, I believed the boss but I never thought it would be this…. “Bad, horrible, Layla tried to finish the sentence, inhumane perhaps?”

“Si, inhumane is the exact word for what they did to the contents of this cargo!” Layla nodded, “humans do things to each other that my circuits cannot comprehend Medrano.” She nodded, “I am ashamed to admit it, my robotic friend, we are strange creatures.” Then she heard the door open, though it was at least 50 meters away from where she stood she could hear her alarm going off, “let’s open it when the boss gets here Layla.”

;;;;;;;;

Sam walked through the door, he knew that he did not have to announce his arrival, Doctor Medrano had installed a little alarm and even if she hadn’t Layla would warn her, that AI was one of his best creations who had a personality that matched the doctors. He still remembered how the poor scientist had freaked out and almost got a heart attack after he introduced Layla to her, the AI still made jokes about it.

“What is this place, the man behind him asked, Maxwell was still perplexed by the place he found himself in and Sam knew that very well. Even before he decided upon it he had already enough money to build something like this, that combined with his inventions had made the place look like some kind of advanced hideout for a superhero organization from a movie. Funny, because in fact, he was more of a supervillain, with all the illegal hacking and stuff.

“How did you pay for this and how are so many people in your service, the commander asked perplexed, it seemed like the design of this place had truly bamboozled him. “I was the hackmeister long before getting powers, I hacked myself quite a fortune and my contacts arranged most of the people working here, Sam answered while leading the way through the med bay.

“oh and by the way a lot of these people have criminal records and a family to take care of, Sam continued, they are paid handsomely and even get some nice extras.” The ex-organization agent frowned, “extras?” Sam nodded, “yep, I am also a bit of a gadgeteer and inventor, I designed this place, my suit, all my tech, and some high-tech furniture was easy to make.” Maxwell did not reply for a few minutes until the container was in sight.

“I know what might be in there Hackmeister, the commander said, are you sure you wish to open it?” Sam looked at the woman standing beside the container, it was standing on a platform surrounded by medical and scientific machinery that looked like it came straight from a mad scientist's lab, which knowing Medrano’s personality was fitting.

“boss, the scientist waved as they approached, I have scanned the container.” Sam noticed that the doctor looked not as bright as usual, meaning that the content of the container could very well be what he had expected. “Hoy boss, suddenly a bright pink 3D hologram of Layla popped up in front of him and Maxwell. Sam wasn’t even fazed by it but Maxwell's reaction was golden!

“holy shit…, the man roared as he jumped back, fell on his back, and almost got acid splattered on himself, a ghost!” Medrano and Layla’s laughter filled the whole room as the poor man got back on his feet with Sam’s help. He couldn’t help that he smirked behind the mask that he still wore, he was not taking off his suit before the contents of that container were exposed and everything was safe!

“Sorry maxwell, Sam said, may I introduce you to my head scientist Medrano and the med bay AI Layla, my own creation who likes to play pranks.” The AI floated closer to Maxwell, “yeah sorry, it was just a perfect moment for a jump scare, I could not let that go to waste.” Sam rolled with his eyes, “Layla I appreciate your character and humor but we must focus now, this is serious.”

Medrano nodded, “true boss, you will not believe what we found with our scanners.” Layla nodded and her face shifted to a serious look, whatever was in the container was not something pleasant. “It is as I had though isn’t it?” The doctor nodded, “I always believed you on your word but this is “increíble”, or rather worse than incredible, it is terrible.”

Sam nodded, “I feared it would be like that already, prepare the med bays systems for medical care, we will have patients on our hands soon enough.” He made a move with his hands, a gigantic cleaver made from hard light manifested out of thin air, “move, I’m cutting open this can.”

As soon as everyone took their distance the cleaver came down, the thing cut through the door like butter and cut off the front of the container before disappearing again. When Sam looked inside he thought to himself how stupid he had been to install night vision in his mask, what he saw was worse than he had expected.

Inside were four bodies, all chained up in restraints, their faces were covered in masks and they stood upright inside glass tubes that stood against the walls of the container. Layla appeared next to him, “They are alive, heavily sedated to the point where they can only be artificially awakened, but alive.” Sam looked at her, “give them medical care but let them awake slowly, I do not want to cause them more harm than the organization has already done.

He turned around, there stood Maxwell, the man now saw the true face of his former organization and he looked sick. Even though he had known some things about what they did he had never been told everything, Sam could only imagine what went through his head right now.

;;;;;;;;

Maxwell was sitting down on one of the med bays chairs while the doctor and the AI brought the bodies of four youngsters out of the container, they were still covered in those restraints, apparently, they were going to remove them once they laid in their “hospital beds”. He himself also had needed a bit of calming medicines after the realization of what he had been doing all these years hit him in the face.

When the “hackmeister” offered him a deal he had accepted and after being blindfolded he had found himself here, something straight out of a movie that shouldn’t exist in the real world, he had accepted it but then the container had been opened!

He had known about the powered for a year or two now but he never knew that he and all his soldiers had been transporting humans in such conditions, if he had to guess they had powers why else would the organization want them? He hadn’t known but that was no excuse, these were people, he had been trafficking humans!

“Everything all right mister?” Layla, the AI that had scared him shitless a few moments ago floated next to his chair, he could still not believe she was a true AI, previously he had thought such things only existed in movies. “It-it’s nothing, just a bit shocked and terrified…” Layla seemed to disagree with his answer because she turned green and floated in front of him with her legs crossed like a Buddhist monk while saying, “my scans indicate heightened stress, guilt, fear, genuine shock, and exhaustion, does that sound correct?”

Maxwell laughed, he couldn’t think of anything else to do, “that sounds about right yes, I am in some high tech supervillain lair, with a talking AI and I just found out that apparently, I have been a human trafficker for years without knowing.” Layla began floating with her head down, “yes I can see why something like that would bother you as a human, but you’re one of us now, you don’t have to worry.”

“One of you, Maxwell shook his head, what does that even mean, what are you doing and who are you, Hackmeister still hasn’t told me, he just brought me here.” Layla smile, “you will find out soon enough.”