The memory slowly fades bringing me back to reality. Keith is still clapping so I haven’t been out of it long. Though I did end up on my hands and knees, with my stomach trying to get rid of whatever is left in it. Luckily, I can keep it down and keep from falling over.

“It is certainly one of the more creative fighters to come through here. It lacks power. It needs extensive training to become effective in a battlefield environment,” one of the Seraphim says. It is not Keith but looks more like him than one of the guards. He stands in the middle with skin browner than blue, rippling muscles, and the tiniest horns. The others varied. It went from slenderly beautiful blue with vibrant white wings, to nearly black leather skin, the wings no different, and horns jetting out into all directions. There are some that may be female, but it is hard to tell. They all give him a wide berth. Some sort of authoritative figure I suppose.

“This one presented as a pure energy manipulator. Initially, it was cooperative in training attempts. However, when presented with the first reward it rebelled and killed an asset. Further testing prompted it to use immensely destructive abilities and loss of our own warriors. We erased its memories and released them into the general population. It would either flourish in that environment or die,” Keith says. They don’t know my memories have come back. Play it cool.

“Reports of its activities are concerning. How much of its memories have been erased?”

“The aim was to erase from the moment of its capture to its rebellion. There is a chance more has been done. It resisted recapture. The damage done to it was extensive when it underwent the procedure. We also reset its translator to exclude all non-human languages,” Keith says. Play it real cool, like iceman cool Dimitri. Don’t react to what they are saying.

“What guarantees do you have. It has resisted the effects of the implants. We have little to no sensor data about its physiology. Why its skin and eyes changed, and its opposition to conditioning. We should consider killing it.” The authoritative figure says. His leadership is obvious.

“Reports indicate it has comrades now. They are deeply connected. This should prove to be more than enough to influence it. I will enable the translator so we can have a talk with it.” Keith says. He takes out a tablet and presses some buttons.

“Dimitri, Congratulations on your success in this competition. You have proven yourself skillful and creative. You have also demonstrated impeccable forethought and planning. Along with the leadership rights of your floor, you will be granted a boon. The food rations allotted to you will be upgraded. Continue to please us and we will consider removing your implants. Displease us and your punishment will be severe,” the leader says.

The window turns back into a wall and a doorway opens. I take a moment to look at the man I killed. Oliver was his name. As far as I know, he is the third human I have killed. All three have happened on this ship. My life used to be so serenely uneventful. Watch T.V., play video games, attempt to get laid, and work. Now it's all bloody and painful. Yip…pie.

I still don’t have a shirt. Would it be ok if I take Oliver’s? That might not be the best thing. Who would know? The markings on the shirt change. It isn’t exactly kosher to be taking dead people’s stuff. Especially if I am the one who did the killing. It’s a moot point. The body is gone. Time to get out of here, I guess.

The doorway unsurprisingly leads to another small room. No different than any of the others I was in during this competition. Have they all been in the same room? As soon as I am completely inside the door shuts. There is a subtle sense of motion and in a short period of time, the doorway opens again. I am back with the general population.

Shirtlessly I walk through this level. Beds line the floor. All the people here seem injured or incapacitated in some way. This must be Chucks level. Great. Last time I was here he literally through me out. With his mind.

“Hey asshole, you’re so lucky that my arm is growing back. Don’t think this is over though. Next time we fight you’ll lose all your limbs,” Shouts one of my competitors. A tiny almost childlike arm is protruding from his shoulder. I finger gun him and continue walking.

“How did you lose your shirt?” Mac says behind me.

“No ‘I’m so happy you made it out alive bestie. Let me give you a big loving hug and stroke your head gently,’” I reply.

“I have known you for nearly twenty years. We have hugged like four times and never stroked your hair.”

“That might be true but what about the concern for my wellbeing?”

“You are standing here seemingly unscathed. You have always been a pain in the butt to people who want to hurt you. I knew you would win if you made it to the last fight.”

“I love you too Mac. To answer your question. I covered it in vomit and wrapped it around someone’s head. I thought it best to leave it there.”

“How do you expect to convince people you aren’t evil?”

“With my charm.”

“So, you plan on convincing no one? Come on let’s go get you a shirt and you can tell me everything that has happened.”

“The story will have to wait till I know Cindy is ok.”

We start walking toward the elevators at a quick pace. I don’t think either of us wants to see Chuck. After a few extremely confused looks realization dawns on Mac’s face. I would have thought he was smarter than that.

Our first destination is the floor with food and bathrooms. Disappointedly I still don’t have to go. I know I’ve been like this for a while, and I remember it all now. Still, it doesn’t feel right. Food and water in should mean food and water out. At least in some shape or form. However, in this entire time, I think it may have only happened on eight occasions.

I press my hand to one of the cubbies. It opens revealing a new shirt. Crisp and clean. Then I try another cubby. This one is filled with a huge bowl of green pellets instead of brown. This was the crap Keith gave to me when I was good. Tasted like chalk. Which is a step up from tasting like poison. Mac tries one and nods approvingly.

“As the new leader of this floor do I get my own room?” I ask him.

Mac laughs, “No, first you get better food. Then you can assign some allies. You’ll have to fight some more then. It is at this point where our captures really start to condition people. Making threats and whatnot. If you please them at this point you get your own room. Like me. The next step is getting along with the other leaders. Once they agree to accept you as an equal you can get your implants removed. I couldn’t get along with everyone else.”

“So how come you didn’t get these pellets when we were here before?”

“My rewards went back to the default pellets after I decided not to work with the other leaders.”

We start our journey back to his room.

“Do you regret your decision? It may mean a butt load of pain and suffering in the future. Possibly the near future,” I say to him. It is ridiculously difficult to not get into more details, but I must take more precautions. His eyes tell me he knows I am holding back. Which feels good considering he didn’t tell me about the fights.

When we get back to Mac’s room, I immediately scan the area looking for Cindy. She is inside with Steve cuddled up in one of the beds. I give Mac a pained look. Steph pops up beside me and pats me on the shoulder. Lucy nearly tackles me in a big bear hug.

“I thought you were going to die. You are such a bad fighter. Tell us everything,” Lucy cries as she squeezes me a bit too tight.

“Didn’t Mac explain how I am hard to kill?” I say as I pat her back. “Please move aside I need to talk to Cindy before I tell you all what happened.”

All but Mac stare at me with confusion. Lucy’s arms drop to her side in a mock non-threatening defensive stance. Steph on the other hand is quiet. Her eyes look as though they are trying to drill into my skull. She searches and searches trying to find something.

“Your mind is almost blank to me. How are you doing that?” She asks.

“Sorry about that. It isn’t completely intentional,” I explain as I attempt to lower my defenses. “More of a subconscious act by now. You’ll definitely need to be able to confirm everything I am about to say. Nod your head but don’t say anything when you start getting a read off me.”

She continues to scan my head. Finally, she nods her confirmation, and a bit of fear shows on her face. Not risking anyone trying to stop me, I step and teleport inside the room. Right in front of the cuddling couple. Shock quickly turns to anger on Steve’s face.

“Can you hide a conversation from them?” I ask Cindy.

“I told you to stay away from her,” Steve says as he gets into a threatening stance.

“Listen Stevie boy. You may not want to hear this but I and Cindy have a long long history together. We’ve already had a heart to heart about what happened. She has forgiven me. It will most likely not happen again. I am pretty sure. Well, we were broken up before we were abducted. Given the right situation, something might spark between us. That isn’t important. She has a skill I desperately need her to use.”

“So, no different than before?” He snarled. The intent for violence is clear in his very soul.

“That’s fair. Doesn’t change anything though. Oh, Cindy darling. Would you be a doll and set up some sort of anti-spying field,” I say ignoring Steve.

“Uhhhhh,” Cindy groans. “If you promise to try and be civil? How strong do you need it to be?”

“I can’t believe you are going along with this rapist’s requests. Where is your dignity? Where is your self-respect? I haven’t protected you all this time just to watch you bend to this fuckwad,” Steve ranted. This brought a death glare from all the women in the room. It took Steve about five seconds to realize he made a huge mistake. To appease everyone, he slunk into a corner.

“As strong as possible,” I say. A short time later the lights of the room got dimmer and blurry. While the sound muffled. Mac and Lucy entertained each other by trying to do impressions. It sounded like they were in a room dozens of feet away. Then just like that inside the room was normal again. Outside the room seemed like it didn’t exist at all. The whole thing felt familiar. Like a variation of my own skills.

“Ok so not that long ago in this galaxy, relatively far away…” I began my tale.