Sebastian and I have steel chains wrapped around our wrists, mostly for the sake of appearances rather than for absolute necessity. Both of us can easily free ourselves from these bonds if we want, but I don’t want to kill anyone, especially considering many of these people are my friends and my being here has actually caused them to face danger.

Hercules and Walter are sitting together on a curb. Walter is completely fine, his clothes are a bit damaged, but apparently being made of diamonds makes you nearly indestructible. Hercules is in a poor state. He’s not badly injured, but his clothes are an absolute wreck and he has a good amount of cuts and burns littering his dark skin. He’s holding a cloth to his head, wrapped within is some ice.

Gabbie is just off to the side, she has her eyes closed and Mattie is next to her, with Kai to his left. I can trust that they’ll make sure she’s fine. Gates is standing with Salvo, a grimace stuck to her face.

This leaves Mirror Knight, Bolts, Necro, and Chains. All I’ve gotten from the short discussions they’ve shared. That and someone named Oracle they’re talking to through an earpiece. Mirror Knight taps the back of his helmet which folds back to reveal the sweat soaked hair of Director Tagert.

I can’t say I’m surprised. His attitude and the fact Salvo is here actually made me a little suspicious, but also his complete ballsiness shows more. The fact he taunted my brother was almost enough for me to confirm exactly who he was. Tagert approaches, placing his hand on his neck. “Alright, we'll have some more come through in a while. Just to make sure they’re all well enough. Necro,Salvo, Bolts, and Chains will come with me in the truck as we escort Elmira and…” He trails off, looking at Sebastian. “The other demon to the VCF.”

“VCF?” I ask.

“Vigor Confinement Facility. You’re going to be staying in a cell until we figure out exactly what to do with you. That is, unless, you want to make things easier for us and return with that demon to the Demon Plane.” Gates is at least close enough to hear him, and her eyebrows draw together, an expression of annoyance, she approaches and I shake my head. She stops, drawing back to where she was. “Ah. I see, then you will accept whatever punishment we dole out to you?”

I close my eyes, exhaling. “I understand I’m a threat to the people here, but I came here for my safety in the first place. If this place proves to be a greater threat, I’ll likely have to go elsewhere.”

He clicks his tongue. “I guess that’s better than I expected. Preserving one’s own life is first and foremost the most important thing for everyone. Though the preservation of everyone else should always be right after that.”

I give him a questioning glance. It seems that in spite of his curt and aggressive nature, there is at least one similarity to Gabbie. Though why he thinks I am interested in protecting Humans is beyond me. I care as much for them as I do for other demons, as they did when they helped kill those demons.

I lower myself onto a curb and yelp, both in pain and shock. Salvo jumps forward, raising his hands, Bolts has strange, golden bolts of electricity running across her back, while Chains has a large array of chains hovering over her shoulder. They’re all aimed at me as if I’m planning to attack.

I slowly lift myself up and move my tail away before it gets crushed again, my face burns red from shame. All of them seem to relax and they lower their hands, all their powers seem to retreat. They return to what they were doing, which is mostly looking around at the damage and talking to themselves in hushed voices, but after that, it all seems incredibly tense. As if it’s all about to come to blows at a moment’s notice.

For a moment, perhaps I was hopeful this would all last longer. I knew that the Humans wouldn’t take well to a Demon Lord being in the midst, and I guess I should be glad they didn’t attack me immediately, but I still wanted it to all last longer. Maybe they’d find it easier to accept that I’m not a threat. But as it is, I might not be a threat, but I do bring threats. Essentially, they have every right to send me back to the Demon Plane, it’s certainly something I might’ve done if the situation were reversed.

Sebastian is looking at me. He has an incredibly serious look on his face, though he doesn’t say a word. Perhaps he’s questioning my intent, even I’m unsure of my intent. I don’t have an intent, I don’t have a set of ideas or plans. Just like when I first came here, I’m leaving my life in the hands of Humans. It’s worked out so far, hopefully, it will work out again. For now, I guess he’s trusting me more than he’s trusting anyone else, but I’m sure if I was under any threat, he’d fight back immediately.

I use the long silence to rescind the power of my septagram, returning my body to it’s more Human appearance. My gauntlet reshapes to a more comfortable state and while I am weaker, I’m still stronger than I was in my active septagram form without the gauntlet. I clench my fist for a moment, my wrist aches and I can feel some pain in both my back and muscles. It must be some left over pain from being hit with the explosion. It will pass, given time.

Tagert clears his throat, almost demanding everyone’s attention, but it’s not that, he taps his chest, coughing a few times, then fades into silence. For a moment, the pressure seems overbearing, but he chooses to approach, just as everyone starts to look away. He stops in front of me, then he motions to Chains. Chains approaches and then Tagert looks down at me. “It’s time for you to remove the weapon.”

“Do you have a dish wish?” I ask, a little shocked at his directness toward Valor.

“Is that a threat?”

I groan and exhale. “No. It’s not a threat. It’s a legitimate question. I’m not sure about what will happen to humans, but Valor…” I clear my throat. “The gauntlet can’t be touched by anyone but me. It will kill you.”

“Oh, do tell me how. I really want to hear some kind of excuse.”

“You’re being sarcastic. You think I’m lying. I’m not. Valor connects to my- well, my core, where my power originates from. Humans call it the ‘soul’. Anyway, it connects to the soul but for me, it’s completing my soul. For anyone else, it would overload the soul. It would destroy it nearly immediately and then you’d be nothing more than a man with no actual driving force. A husk.”

“That sounds absolutely-” He stops, for a moment. His armor then cracks open and I can hear a ringing noise from his pocket. He withdraws a phone and pulls it up to his ear. “Oracle-” He says. “Ye- It sounds- Okay- Fine- Silk? Where the- Fine!” He ends the call, holding it out in his hand while his shoulders slump. “Oracle says you’re telling the truth and you need silk to wrap up the weapon.”

I stare at Tagert. I scowl at him, displaying exactly how serious I am at this moment. How in the two planes does anyone know that? No-one should know about the silk besides some Demons and maybe Gates, Hercules, and Mattie. Someone could have betrayed me.

“Oracle knows a Hell of a lot-.” I see a sparkle of amusement in Tagert’s eyes. “Pardon the use of ‘Hell’. It’s part of her many abilities. The guys will bring a silk shirt or something when they come in the truck.” He pauses, then continues. “You know what, just take it off and put it in front of you. That shouldn’t be a problem, correct?”

I raise my hands, showing off the chains. I could break, them, but then again, it wouldn’t exactly help show my intent at remaining passive. Chains steps forward, she raises her right hand and the chains seem to move, like a snake uncoiling around my wrists. It frees up the gauntlet and I wrap my left hand around my wrist and extricate my hand from the depths. I place it on the asphalt in front of me. The chains once again grow tighter, wrapping my wrists close enough for me to clasp my hands.

It isn’t long before the recurring theme of silence is broken by a large vehicle approaching, a massive van clad in black paint with a large symbol embellishing its side, designating it the property of the CPO. The sun is only just coming up, but not a single person or car travels the street, likely many of been told to remain in their homes for a duration. Tagert walks toward the slowing vehicle, waving his hands toward them, calling them over. The vehicle veers toward him and then squeals to a halt in front of him.

The front door snaps open and a man drops out of the front seat before four men and woman climb out of the back door. All are wearing thick vests, each with a golden CPO symbol, all holding massive guns in their arms, each with a strap wrapped around the back of their neck to keep the weapon close.

The man from the front seat, a dark-skinned balding man with gray hairs surrounding the shiny dome and bloodshot green eyes. Piled in his arms are long bandages of white silk. He yawns as he comes to a stop in front of Tagert. “Touche.” Tagert grunts. “Same here, I’m looking forward to collapsing into bed and forgetting about today. ‘Cept first-” He points a thumb toward where me and Sebastian are sitting. “Let’s set them up for a few nights in a cell. We’ll figure out what to do with them when my head doesn’t feel like a wet sponge.”

“So exactly what’s going on?” The older man asks. “I got very few details from Oracle, she told me what to do and I did it and now I want to know why I did that shit. I mean why the fuck do I have silk?”

Tagert takes the silk from the man’s hands and he approaches me, slipping part of the silk beneath the gauntlet, then carefully wrapping it up and, once everything is wrapped up, he ties it off and holds it up. “For this, and I’m afraid that’s about as much as we can give you.”

“Can I respectfully ask why?”

“You can, and I can answer that. It’s just a precaution. It’s a problem about race.”

The older man snorts. “Ouch that hurts-”

“I didn’t mean it that way!”

“I know, I was teasing. Here’s another one; oh, boy, I really don’t know about race problems at all,” the last part is filled with sarcasm and I can see Tagert is cringing which by itself is a bit amusing. “‘Sides, I have eyes. So more demons, you’re worried about people in the VCF will give them a good old fashioned beating.”

“Actually, I’m more worried about the opposite happening. But I don’t want to talk about it. Let’s just get going. The longer we stand here, the more difficult things may get.” Tagert raises his hand to the others and Chains looks at me. It seems this is the announcement that we’re going. I stand up and Sebastian mimics my movement, standing up by my side. We join Chains and we walk over to the vehicle.

The men and women standing by the vehicle look us up and down, eyes filled with suspicion. They have a hand placed on their gun, as if ready to use it at a moment’s notice. It seems that teams are made up, typically of two men and two women. I haven’t had much of a chance to clarify, but with Team Hindsight, Team Expedition, Tagert’s team and this man’s team, there is a correlation. Though I could be mistaken, because the last two are exceptions to that rule. Likely Tagert and this older man aren’t actually part of the two teams. “Allow them to step inside,” the old man announces. “And don’t so much as harm a hair on their head or you’ll have Hell to pay.”

I groan. I swear people use the word Hell on purpose when I’m around. It’s not even funny, just annoying. I climb into the back of the van, the interior is made of metal and there are uncomfortable plastic seats. I lower myself down into a seat and Sebastian sits by my side, preventing anyone from sitting directly next to me, making it only possible for them to sit opposite to me. The seat is taken up by Bolts, who takes off her own helmet once in the safety of her seat.

She has fiery red hair, with startling blue eyes. She doesn’t say a word, only choosing to look away when she notices me staring. Salvo sits next to her, followed by Chains by his side and then Necro. They too remove their masks, Chains is heavily tanned, with short black hair and brown eyes. She’s perhaps plain looking in comparison to Bolts, though she’s also a bit more withdrawn, breaking eye contact nearly immediately.

Necro on the other hand has the creepy aura. He’s pale, with long black hair and frosty blue eyes. His lips seem cold, as if he’s no longer living, but he’s clearly breathing heavily which disproves this observation. His eyes dart from side to side, as if he really dislikes these conditions. The others file in, pushing me uncomfortably against the wall and I place my cheek on the cold metal, sighing to myself.

The doors are thrown shut and the truck starts vibrating, informing us that the vehicle has started. Someone clears their throat and I can’t help but feel unwelcome, which is just the case, I am unwelcome, but I don’t like this feeling while in in close confines with those who don’t like me. What’s worse, the entire van reminds me of the carriages I used to ride in.

I can feel every bump in the road, each one ends up resulting in my getting squeezed against the wall, and if I’m lucky, tasting the inner walls, which by themselves aren’t all that pleasant. I swear, there’s blood on the walls, though that could be mine after an unfortunate instance where I might have bit my cheek.

“Are you okay?” Sebastian asks. He’s the one who’s been sliding against me with every bump and jolt. I shrug, giving him a noncommittal response. The vehicle comes to a halt for a long period of time. I’m expecting them to move, for the doors to open, but the van starts moving again, this time, slower.

The van finally does come to a stop and then the doors are flung open, there are two men, both in black uniforms with the same vests as the ones in the group that came with that old man. They wear caps with an emblem in the center. A silver cage with the words ‘VCF: Gomorrah’, beneath the bottom of the cage. “Step out of the vehicle!” The man on the right announces. “For those who have not come here before, you are required to be escorted by a guard at all times! Do not attempt to travel the VCF grounds alone. That would be grounds for prosecution for trespassing.”

The front four guards step out first, each standing on either side of the door. They must be guards of this place then. At least, that’s what I believe. I guess the VCF is indirectly associated with the CPO, that’s why they have access to a van of theirs. Salvo, Chains, and Bolts step out after, taking their place by the guards.

Sebastian stands up and walks out the back of the van, clutching the edge of the van as he climbs out. I follow, nearly getting his wings in my face as he steps out. I join him on the tarmac and look around. It’s a large parking area, with only a few cars parked in the marked areas. Surrounding the area is a large fence, and beyond that, there’s another fence, each with razor wire circling the parking area and then, the facility.

The facility itself is nothing like the simplicity in the car park. It’s a large concrete monolith, with metal lining the walls, seemingly as if it’s just that little bit extra protection, as if it needs that. There are platforms and towers in a few locations on the facility, some with a giant gun that overlooks the parking area and the area below, above which is a massive light that illuminates areas on the ground. The light seems like it’s so strong that it will burn anything alive in its path. There’s more, it’s not clear at first, but I can see a glint in the distance, which sweeps away, likely someone overlooking the area.

Tagert and the older man come round the side of the van, and join them around the back. “So Dan is with me, my team will stick to the four over here, and Sebastian and Elmira, our suspiciously receptive prisoners will be with the two that met us here. The ten of us should be more than enough if they decide to flip the switch,” Tagert announces. “Are you okay with this Dan?”

“Sure thing, so what level cell should we put them in?” The older man asks, I imagine his name is Dan considering Tagert calling him by name. “I presume we’re talking a level four cell considering the number of people you seem to need.”

“Mm, level four cell with 24 hour surveillance. This one-” Tagert gestures toward Sebastian. “Is a lower level magic user. He can use a few types of magic, though it’s limited in zone. Elmira, the girl, is an exceptional magic user. She’s has access to all the magic a Warlock can use and perhaps more.”

Dan claps once and the guards, who are already on edge lunge for their weapons and then drop them when they see it’s a simple clap. “Woo, boy, you’re all super jumpy today. Let’s get into the building before they lose their heads.”

Dan gestures with his hands, and the four guards, with their companions; Jolts, Salvo, Chains, and Necro, start making their way toward the building. “Go, follow them,” one of the guards tells us. Sebastian looks at me and I start walking which he follows soon after. Both guard take a place at our side, while Tagert and Dan follow us. I wonder if this Dan guy is a Vigor, a magic user or a Human. I imagine he’s not a Human considering he’s guarding this place, but then what kind of power does he have?

We reach a large door up a set of stairs. The door slides open as we near and we step into the building. We enter a short corridor, with a checkerboard floor made of what seems like plastic and an area with glass to our right with people inside, watching us as we enter, making sure that nothing happens as we walk through. At the end of the corridor, there’s another set of doors. We step through them, both of which slide open as we enter. We’re then brought out into a large hall, which is segmented into different sections of bars with sparks running off them, fences and glass windows.

Dan clears his throat. “To our new prisoners, welcome to VCF: Gomorrah. Our facility is specifically designed to hold Vigor and magic users. You’ll find, beyond this maze of windows, fences and bullet-proof windows there are cells specifically designed to make sure none of you get out. It doesn’t matter whether you have a bomb on your person or some sort of ability that will allow you to phase through walls. We have our own method to prevent you from getting out.” We step through a door and take a right turn, walking across a grate that has a strong wind current that seems to be directed downward. “Even if you somehow get out, you’ll find a huge maze of corridors, corridors that can be changed and are changed every week to prevent you all from escaping. Each corridor has its own defense and its own team that will be hunting you and preventing your escape. And even if you somehow get out, then there’s a large team that will be waiting to follow you and they're the best of the best. To sum it up, unless either we want you out, or you can disappear forever, you won’t have any way to escape.”

Tagert clears his throat. “Well, that’s just it, Dan. These two can disappear if they want, though they won’t be back after the case.”

“Then that’s exactly what we want from them. Incarceration or exile. It’s better than anything else that can happen.”

“What about reformation?”

“While that would be preferred, but releasing them into the world- Even if they are reformed, there will be some that aren’t and they might kill many others.”

“There are some who are reformed, though,” Tagert points out.

“And good for them. Thing is, we do have reoffenders, and most of them tend to kill far more than reoffenders in the normal prisons.” What a way to start my stay here. Being told that it’s better that I stay here than go out while my only crime is concealing who I was. I guess that did result in me unintentionally causing an invasion by demons, but I wasn’t the one to command them, just the one they chased after.

We walk through the long winding corridors and while I’d like to say I’m keeping track, if I were told to find the way out from here, I’d get rather lost. There are doors, but there’s no clear way that will lead to any exit and having the way to the outside so clear, it makes it all the more confusing. As if the entrance is right in front of me, being only obstructed by clear walls. I can sense that any prospecting escapee would find this incredibly infuriating, to have the exit so close, yet so far at the same time. Infuriating enough for them to make constant mistakes.

We make it to the center of the maze of long corridors, where there are a bunch of cells lining the way, all in a circular pattern, each cell a cylinder that stretches all the way up to the roof, with multiple levels of platforms. In the center of the large circle of cells, there’s a set of stairs that head down. “Floor 1, low-level Vigors, level 1 cells,” Dan announces. “We’re heading down to floor 4.”

They lead the way down a long set of steel stairs, our footsteps echoing along the metal grating. We reach the second floor after a little bit of walking, this time, Tagert talks. “Level 2, mid-level Vigors, level 2 cells. Require two staff to open.”

“Then I imagine level 3 is below, with three staff and level 4 is below even that with four staff. No need for a constant stream of narration,” Sebastian interrupts. “We might not be from here, but we can follow a simple frame of thinking like that.” I’m not sure if Sebastian is getting mad, or simply annoyed at the way they seem to be handling the situation.

“This is how we’d be doing it for anyone else,” Dan responds.

“And with all due respect, we are not everyone else. You know that just as well as everyone else. Our crime is being here, and I don’t know of a single place where being somewhere is a crime.”

“Then let me say,” Tagert mutters. “Welcome to Earth, where we persecute people for crossing borders illegally. And while the laws are pretty fucking stark when it comes to Demons, I’m pretty sure we can apply illegal immigration to your record.”

“That’s just a technicality.”

“The world is fucking run by them. If you plan on staying, get used to it dumb shit. You’re just tired of being talked to in a condescending way, but you only have a right to complain about it if you don’t know everything. And right now, you’re looking pretty God damned stupid.”

Sebastian shrugs and then shakes his head. It seems it’s nothing more than a butting of heads. Stubbornness being met with stubbornness. Though even a small bout of stubbornness might change a thing or two. At least they no longer narrate our descent into the depths of the VCF.

It isn’t long before we get to the bottom, but the bottom floor is far more disconcerting than the other floors. It’s a large circle, much like the previous floors, with massive doors surrounding us. A guard stands between each door buffer, with guns held in their hands. There are large lights surrounding the area, casting light upon the center area and bulbs located around the walkway. Something tells me those bulbs aren’t going dispense confetti.

Dan points toward two sets of doors, each on the opposite side of the hall. “We’ll split into two groups, the two guards on the side of the cell doors will help you open it.” Chain steps between Sebastian and I and removes the chains from our wrists. I flex my wrists, trying to get the feeling in my hands and wincing at the small movements, then we’re split up.

Sebastian is led to the cell door on the other side of the room. Tagert leads Sebastian, while Dan leads me with half his own team. Bolts and Chains are by my side, with three of the guards. They stop at the entrance and two guards take their place next to the door. Then the other two guards move. They’re stiff, as if they’ve been standing for hours, which is likely the case. The door is a massive slab of steel with four pads. Two on each side of the door. The guards lean over the pads, pressing a few digits, then the slab beeps loudly. “Door opening!” One of the guards yells. “Step back!”

The call is repeated on the other side of the ring and we all take a step back. There’s a long beep and the entire outside of the door lights up red. There're a few louder beeping noises and all of a sudden the door slides into the ground with a loud bang. There’s a second long beep and a ding noise as the floor goes green.

“Inside,” Dan says. I step toward the door, peering inside. It’s stark white inside, spotless and also surprisingly large. The floor is made up of a large steel plate, with a small grate and indentation in the floor at the right side of the circle. Above the grate is a showerhead and tap. A toilet, with a sink, is built into it is just to the right of the shower. The left side of the room has a bed, with a thin mattress, a blanket and a pillow. Lastly there’s a large locker. I step inside the room, there’s nothing else really besides a bar hanging over the center of the room. There’s also a digital clock on the furthest wall. Reading 06:13. “Breakfast is at 0730, lunch at 1230, and dinner is at 1900. If you want something speak clearly and it might come with the next meal. As long as it’s books or perhaps a puzzle. Anything electronic is forbidden. Any visitors will speak directly to you through a phone we’ll bring in to you.”

I nod. “And what do you feed us?”

“Depends on the day. It might be heavily secure, but even the worst of criminals aren’t treated with bad food and lack of entertainment. People just dislike the nature of the area, though we allow people to decorate their cell as they please. Make sure to ask for anything you desire and we will do what we can to secure it.”

“I see. Then I place myself within your care. Please treat me well.” I step away from the cell door, into the cell and the door beeps low and loud before shooting out of the floor and slamming shut with a loud boom. I’m alone in the room now, with not so much as a noise coming from outside. There’s only a small noise, a soft tinkling almost like chimes, likely to not make it all sound horrifyingly quiet.

I exhale and approach the bed before dropping into it. I’m tired, incredibly tired. Just tired of today, even though I don’t like the idea of staying in the cell. I like the idea of being protected and not having to harm my friends this time to achieve protection. I wouldn’t mind spending time to rest and recuperate. I lift my legs up onto the bed and lie my head down. It’s quite bright in the room, though the lights seem to dull when I lie down in my bed. I raise my hands over my head and place them on my eyes in an attempt to help me sleep better, and sleep eventually does come.

Author's Notes

And thus starts a new arc. It took me a while to set it up, mostly because I'm starting to think about returning to my other projects that I put on haitus for this one. That doesn't mean that you will cease to see the updates here, just that I might not have as much time to write it. Ultimately, though, it depends on my muse, whether I have writer's block or just don't feel inspired to write. This might not happen often, but it happened while I was writing Mirror Knight's story. I'm hoping that won't happen again.