I tap my foot against the bottom of the floor. Although the bars surrounding me were neigh indestructible the floor beneath me wasn't. I could feel the hollowness underneath my foot, it was simply wood and nothing more. I lower my heel down to the floor and lightly tap my shoe. Maybe I could try to slide underneath the bars if I stomped the ground hard enough. Although I have no idea if he reinforced the bottom as well.

The gaps between the bars were very wide. Wide enough for me to slip right through if I were as skinny as I was in Astrodam. The bars were also very skinny, frustratingly so, giving them the illusion of being fragile. Yet when I touched them... Not even a little rattling, they felt completely immovable. I wrap my fists around the bars, perhaps this metal was so unbreakable that the house would start tearing down before it gave any way. Though... That would definitely be pushing my limits of strength.

As I scheme in my cage, Shaz looks at me from the corner of his eye suspiciously. He was tinkering with a small metal box looking thing.

"Do you relocate often?" I speak to him, bored of sitting.

"Nah, if I do, it would because I was speaking carelessly to random strangers about our secrets."

"Why not drape a dark blanket over my cage then? Stop me from seeing the stuff you're doing, I have a good memory you know."

"I can't keep an eye on you that way."

"Keep an eye on me in this indestructible black-metal cage?"

"It's probably not indestructible, I don't like dealing in absolutes. But, if I can't figure out a way out of there, I doubt you could either." Shaz says confidently.

I take off my mask and lie my head against my arms. "Have you ever tested this cage against anything?" I ask, my voice trailing into the ceiling.

I kick my feet up. "A fool that has already made a 1000 mistakes can outsmart a genius that has yet to make a single mistake, although you already know that don't you?"

"Heh, I guess I can't argue against that." Shaz takes a breather as he stops tinkering with the metal box. "So I guess I'll tell you something you can't argue against. If you somehow break out of that cage, I have instructed Avery to kill you immediately, freeze your corpse down to the bone. The only reason you're alive right now is because of our goodwill."

I then close my mouth and stop trying to sarcastically outwit him. "Man you're an annoying guy." Both of us murmur at the same time. Although neither of us heard each other.

"Alright, try it now." I open my eyes to the sound of Shaz and Avery talking by the counter. My mask was on at this time so I was able to hear and see what they were doing.

Avery groans and sticks her wrist out.

"This model needs a lot less blood so don't worry too much about the aftereffects."

"It's not that... I just hate these things."

"I'm getting close, just be patient, soon you won't have to worry about all these syringes."

I instantly glance up, surprised by the very modern sounding word Shaz just said. "How—" I look up to see Shaz holding a genuine syringe, a little old-fashioned looking but it was very much like the ones in modern-day hospitals. The two of them look at me wide-eyed at my small outburst, but I slink back to my old position.

I guess medicine has advanced further than I thought in this world. Wait... Why would syringes ever need to be invented if these people knew Sananku? And... Why is it still called a syringe here? You're telling me someone invented it and just happened to call it the same thing as the guy from my world who invented it?

...Oh right, it's probably not, my mysterious auto-translate ability probably did it for me...

A sudden realization hits me.

I try to settle back down, but my morbid curiosity soon gets the best of me. "Who invented the syringe?" I ask Shaz as he carefully places the needle, full of blood, into the machine.

"... I did?" Shaz says confused and cautiously. "I know you're looking for ways to make money, but this really isn't something that'll make you millions. It's just a way to neatly extract blood for experimental purposes, I'm the only person with any use for it."

"Electricity. Engine. Computer. Bicycle. Plastic. Piston. Gun—" I begin spewing out random modern words. If every modern-day word had an other-worldly counterpart, even things that haven't been invented yet. I was taking a bold guess that syringes weren't the only thing Shaz knows about.

I carefully watch his face as I test my theory, wondering if I was just speaking nonsense to him.

"...Who the hell are you?" Shaz then looks at me, taken aback.

"So do you know what any of those words mean?"

"Kinda... Some of them I'm unfamiliar with, but some of the other things... They're names of inventions I came up with... blueprints... concept ideas... Even stuff I haven't written down yet. How do you know these things???"

"Cause, I guess they already exist where I came from."

"Am I... Really in a different world?" I mutter to myself. With Shaz it felt like I got a tiny glimpse into this world's future.To think of it, it would be insanely unlikely for a different world to share the same intelligent dominant species, planet, sun, moon, stars, nearly everything being identical, except for the fact that humans had one extra little power at their disposal. In fact, this was probably how Earth was like a thousand years in the past.

Shaz lowers his arms, completely forgetting about Avery and his task at hand. "So you're somehow from the future right?" He says questioningly, much more accepting of the revelation than I expected.

"Yea, that's kinda accurate. I guess this would be more of a parallel universe for me though." This marking the second time I've ever told anybody about my origins.

Avery looks between the two of us, shifting around on her feet restlessly. We haven't really talked too much, which isn't a surprise given our first encounter, so I guess she would be shy around me.

Shaz then looks at me for a couple more seconds before shrugging and turning around back to his box, not bothering to ask further questions.

"Wait, don't you want to know more? I'm basically a time traveler you know?" I say surprised at his attitude.

"Hehe, you idiot. Why would I want to spoil myself? But... I can believe it when you say that you weren't sent by the Iquen or monarchy."

"That's nice... I guess." I say crestfallen. It was my original goal after all. Though I did feel an unexplainable sense of frustration of not being acknowledged after dropping such a insane revelation.

I then turn my gaze to Avery, who was silently listening to the exchange all this time. She immediately turns away, pretending that she wasn't paying any attention this whole time.

I chuckle a bit. "Funny girl."

Also... A tiny click pops through the cage as I finish manipulating the cage lock with my blood. It had taken a couple days, like solving a puzzle, but I had finally figured out the mechanism to these strange ball and wire locks with my blood alone. An immense wave of satisfaction hits me as I realize that I could just push open the door to the cage and I would be free. Although... I look at Avery.

I guess I'll just take the victory for my ego.

Then turn my body away as they continue to do their experiments, pressing the map, which was tucked away inside my shirt, against my chest. I feel a small twinge of guilt as I do this.

It wasn't like I was withholding information to be evil... I was just pretending that I never found that map in the first place. After all, if I had never found that map, these two would be facing the exact same situation right now, but if I warned them, I would be plunging myself into another growing situation that I wanted nothing of. After finally leaving that damn place... I would lose my freedom once again. One Tetsudo was already enough for me, now I have to deal with another one?

If I had just decided to rob some other random house... Or just walked away when I was in that forest... My mind sets itself on a set of memories it wanted to forget, a man it didn't want to think about. I think back to the speech I gave that old woman back in the forest. I'm like a walking contradiction, I want to do anything I want, but I also want to avoid doing anything meaningful, every time the opportunity arises, I decide to run away. In the effort to be bound by no rules or people, I unintentionally bound myself from doing whatever I wanted.

I then begin scratching my hair furiously. Why do I have to think about these shitty things! I silently yell at myself. I never thought about these things back when I was in New York; I just did what I wanted and had fun. When did I become so damn philosophical?

Well... They'll be fine if they have water girl here. We were definitely in a pretty isolated corner of the city, and there were all those puddles outside which I assume come from the girl for security.

Surely?

I hear a loud grunt of exertion from outside the house as the wall next to my cage explodes and caves in. I see the flash of a giant metal fist before my cage is covered in wood and rubble, obscuring me from vision.

"Boys, it looks like we found ourselves an inventor."

Shaz

I stumble away as a plank of wood smashes into the spot I was just standing. As I looked at the invaders, I instantly knew that Avery was going to be useless against them. There were five of them in total, two of them female. They were wearing some ridiculous looking suits, full body of rubber, absolutely slathered from head to toe in an oil of some sort, which is probably how they got so damn close undetected cause of how they repelled water. They were also wearing a sort of gas mask, likely filtering all potential water vapor from getting in. So they somehow got the info about Avery's capabilities as well.

Damn it! Can she not sense it when something oily brushes against her mist? How did they get so close without us noticing? I give a side glance at Avery. With every exhale she was breathing out a cloud of vapor. It was a habit that she couldn’t control when she was nervous.

“I’m sorry, I couldn’t sense anything before they got close.” Avery whimpers quietly.

“It’s okay…” I try to comfort her. “It was my fault for choosing to stay in the city anyways.” I then bring my hand back and grab a long thin metal stick.

"The criminal underworld and the government working together. Color me surprised." I say dryly.

"Oh don't start with that shit. You really think the monarchy cares about what we do in our free time?" The woman that looked like the leader spoke up.

"Of course, I know all about your boss who works in the king’s inner circle.” I desperately try to come up with dialogue to waste time while thinking of a way out of here.

“Ha!” Avery then grunts as she tries to blast the woman with a jet of water, to no avail as she quickly strafes to the side.

Damn it, why would you do that?! I grit my teeth in frustration. Neither of us were fighters, there’s absolutely no way either of us win this.

“I thought I was going to humor your conversation for a bit while longer, but I guess your girl over there isn’t a big fan of wasting time.” The leader smiles as the rest of the grunts get into position.

“Come near us, I dare you.” Avery shouts, putting up a brave front as she pulls up a dense protective mist around us.

“Wait, everyone calm down, look at the oil on their suits they’re water—“

“Ok, sure.” The woman then begins casually walking up to us. A grin behind the mask of hers.

Avery extends her hand forward, causing all the vapor to shoot forward at once, crystallizing into ice.I panic as the situation unfolds and point the stick forward, smacking the rear end of it with all my strength. It was a tube full of random sharp materials, from glass to iron to anything I was working with on that day, there was also a flint and steel mechanism at the rear end, full of a rather explosive material I called gunpowder, this was also my first time testing it.

The air before us explodes in a mixture of ice, smoke, and sharp metal. Pain tears through my hands and wrists as the stick kicks back with much more force than expected.

I immediately turn to the side and tug on Avery’s arm. “RUN!” I shout as I begin dragging her with me.

Avery lies stunned but quickly comes to her senses. “Get on my back, I can go faster!” She then shouts.

I don’t bother to question her and quickly but carefully hoist myself onto her shoulders. She stumbles underneath my weight, but just as quickly a sheathe of water begins forming under her feet, propelling us faster forward.

“You little bitch…” The woman growls as a hand shoots out from within the mist. I watch in horror as she lunges forward and wraps a half bloodied, half icy hand around my leg.

Seconds later I’m flung away, spinning around airborne through the mist, disoriented and unbalanced. Shit, shit, shit, I flood my body with Anku, trying my best to focus on my eyes. However, it was to little, too late as I make a tumble into the rubble.

Where am I? I get back on my feet and swing my head around rapidly trying to get a bearing on my surroundings before a massive fist slams into my nose, I stumble back, my hands, face, everything in a confusing fog of pain. Another hand wraps around the back of my shoulders, pushing me back down to the ground, and as I regain my bearings I realize that I was now pinned to the ground.

“Ah!” I scream out in fear and try to turn away, as I’m struck in the face once again, blood running profusely down my nose.

“How about running things through that big brain of yours before trying something like that again huh?” The henchman pinning me down says.

Seconds later I hear a cry of pain as Avery meets the same fate, they grab her roughly and shove her down to the floor, bringing us face to face.

“Now I know a Tetsudo like you probably has a nasty trick up your sleeve to escape. Think what would happen to your inventor friend over there if you tried to use it though.” The woman pinning her down threatens.

Avery, red faced, with tears in her eyes, nods slowly.

“You really thought you could get away… Shit that hurts.” The woman we blasted steps through the mist. Her suit was covered in frost and blood, a trail of blood dripping down her fingers.

“Pull him up.” She commands the man grabbing me.

I’m shoved up to my feet, my arms trapped behind my back.

“Now… I’m not supposed to hurt ya.” The woman says.

“But unlucky for you, that was just a suggestion.” I gag in pain as she then drives her foot into my stomach.

I grit my teeth and look back down at Avery. The shrapnel cut through her suit which meant that Avery could get her water into that woman’s body.

“Don’t you dare do it— Oomph!” This time she slaps my face as I try to communicate to Avery.

I keel over in pain, I don’t want Avery to have to kill anyone, ever. I stare at Avery dead in the eyes even as I’m getting repeatedly struck. Avery looks at me conflicted then turns away, closing her eyes shut.

I let out a small sigh of relief.

“RAHHHH!!!” I scream out in frustration as the woman strikes me for the fourth time. “HEY THE SHITHEAD IN THAT CAGE OVER THERE! I’LL PAY FOR WHATEVER YOU WANT IF YOU HELP US!” I turn my head towards the place where the wall collapsed on the cage. My mouth gapes open in surprise as I see that the door was already wide open.

“Awfully generous of you.” A masked figure steps out from behind a crate and lunges forward.