Ego/Death

We all went down a descending staircase in a single file line. I peeked over the railing and saw it wind for at least 5 floors. I don't know how it went so far down when we only came up two sets of stairs to get to the factory station we came from. The sound of shoes scuffing the steel bottom of the ground filled the stair casing while everything else remained silent.

"How long do we have to go-"

"Shhhhh!" the worker who guided us interrupted Daiya before she could finish her sentence. 

We kept walking and walking down the stair casing until finally I saw the bottom. The only thing was is that there was a black arch that had a glowing green film that acted as a doorway on the last stairstep. The workers walked through it and disappeared out of sight.

"What is that?" I whispered to the worker in front of me and pointed to the strange doorway.

"Security check. You can't take anything in from the factory to your cell. Please don't talk anymore," they pleaded back to me.

"Hey! No talking!" the guard who stood at the bottom of the stairs yelled up toward our direction. 

I realized that I had the notebook Dr. Vex gave me and the keys from Franz. Shit! 

We got closer and closer to the end of the stairs, and I began to panic. What could I do? I looked down and saw Experience III three people in ahead of me and tried to communicate to him in his head. I hoped it worked both ways. 

"Experience III, I need your help-"

"Your notebook, right? Hehe, your thoughts are easy to guess now," he chimed, "What can I do?"

It was a little weird that he could always read my thoughts, but it happened to work in my favor right now.

"When you cross through, remo-

"That won't work," he telepathed back, "I have to make contact with my hands in order to use that one, hehehe,"

"What's funny?"

"Let's play a game! Don't worry!"

What could he possibly mean?

I saw Experience III disappear in the tunnel, then a worker, another worker, then Daiya, and then it finally got to me. My heart kept beating and I felt my breath get shorter and shorter. 

"Good," the guard scanned one person through, "Good,"

"Stop," he halted me. He began to twitch and buckle, and fidget around before he stood up straight again. He seemed more disoriented than before. Was this Experience III's doing? The guard looked deeply into my mask and stared at me for a few seconds. "Reia Ozuma,"

I held my breath. How did he know my name? Had it registered? Was I going to get caugh- 

"Good," he scanned me through.

I sighed a huge breath of relief as I passed through the green film and entered a short and dark tunnel. Light came into view after a few steps and displayed a large hallway full of open cages on both sides of the walkway. We were right where we came from. I heard a small laugh in my mind. That boy...he's too crafty sometimes.

Hundreds of people crowded the narrow walkway as people filed into to any cage on each side. To think there was so much order above and chaos down below. 

I barely heard myself think over all of the screaming and yelling that came from the cages and all around me. I looked inside of the cages and saw small chutes that opened up for where you could put your uniform in. Next to them, was a changing station with three yellow suits folded neatly on a stand. 3 prisoners per cell. There were hundreds. 

I wonder how they manage to control all these people and not even force them in a cell. People were walking in them and sat there with no fight. It was strange for people who begged to be released. I had to find Daiya and Experience III.

"ROUND UP! ROUND UP!" a voice beaconed and cut through the noise. 

Immediately, everything hit silent. I kept sifting through the crowd looking for the two of them as the remaining workers scrambled to find an open cell. I couldn't see who said that until finally, the last remaining stragglers of workers had filed into a cage. A tall, burly woman put a key in the side of the wall and closed all of the cells except one that remained empty. She stood alone in the middle of the walkway that blocked the stairs.

I had yet to walk into a cell when I noticed two other people standing in the middle of the aisle with their work uniforms on similar to me and could already guess who they were. 

The three of us stood in the middle of the empty aisle with a woman guard facing us. All the prisoners watched with close eyes and held their faces to the yellow bars of the cages. 

"What are you doing out of your cell?" she pointed to the only open one. "Get in. It's time for round up. Your next shift is in 16 hours." she stood a good distance between us. 

The master lock! She just used it.

Daiya took off her mask and gloves, revealing her long dark hair that bounced on her shoulders. "No."

The woman was taken aback. "No? What do you mean, no? Get in."

"I'm not getting in that cell," Daiya paused, "...so my answer is no."

After being locked in that room for months on end or days or however long it was, I don't blame her. I was tired of my share of confinement as well. 

She studied us for a moment, and it seemed like she was genuinely surprised. I wonder if any one of these prisoners had ever openly challenged her. By the looks of them, I assumed not. 

Experience III took off his uniform next, as did I. The woman continued to look at us, with her face scrunched up in all different directions. 

"Your faces...you aren't prisoners. Who are you?"

"Not prisoners..." Daiya mocked, "You can let us get by and we'll be on our way. Or you can try and stop us."

"I'll have to report this. In all my 300 years...hmph." 

In a flash, she teleported in front of us and attempted to kick Daiya, but she blocked it, grabbed her foot and slammed her into the cell. 

The guard was slow to get up, so Daiya rushed her and kicked her in the face, leaving her down for a moment. She must've called for backup because a guard came from the tunnel behind and appeared to the back of Experience III and grabbed him, restraining him to the ground.

"Reia! Daiya!"

"You go unlock the cells, I'll help him," Daiya ran past me. 

I started to make a break towards the master lock on the wall, but she transported in front of me once again.

"I don't know who you are or why you're here...don't think what you're doing will work-"

"Jump to your left, Reia!" the boy screamed from the floor. 

I jumped to my left and sure enough, she teleported exactly to my right.

I wrapped my hand around my two other fingers, felt the blood course my body and ached in agony as my body ripped in half.

"Split: Body Image"

My body double stood side by side next to me with our backs to the cage and the woman in front of us.

"What is going on?" she screamed.

I saw Daiya fighting off the guard to my right and the boy straggling to wring free. 

"I can only stay out for 3 minutes. Right now, that's your limit." my body double spoke to me.

3 minutes. I had 3 minutes to reach the master lock. By now, all the inmates were screaming and yelling once again. They banged their heads against the bright yellow bars and stomped their feet on the ground.

I sprinted towards the stair set and as I turned around, my body double blocked a direct hit from the woman and held her off. The guard opened her palm and shot a light beam, but it got deflected up and it bounced off the roof of the hallway. Was she really that strong? Was that actually me?

I turned around and kept moving forward, leaving that battle to my body double. I saw Daiya had temporarily knocked out the other guard and grabbed Experience III in her arms while she ran in my direction. Finally, I reached the side wall to the master lock. I put the key inside and turned the slot and simultaneously, all the cages opened. And pandemonium let out."

The inmates screamed and flew, jumped throughout the hallway and filled the space up to its maximum capacity,

"Thank you!"

"You saved our lives," one of the inmates grabbed me by the shoulders as his face continued to glitch.

"Wooooooo!"

I guess that's how they looked at it. There was nothing to think about, I couldn't let them sit there if there was something I could do about it. They all filed into the tunnel disappeared out of sight one by one, back upwards to the factory. I wonder what they would do next.

In the mix, I saw Experience III and Daiya rush up to me with large smiles on their faces. 

I froze. 

I felt a body go cold in my hands as I looked around to see what this icy sensation was that dripped between my fingers. Through the madness, I saw my body double rip open the insides of the guard as she began to dissipate against the bars of the cells. 

Did I just kill someone?

"Return," 

In an instant, I felt whole again and saw my body double evaporate. 

Was there another way? My fingers ran cold as the skin on my fingers began to prickle. 

A wave of hundreds of guards rushed in from the other side and met the inmates with resistance. In the chaos, We slipped through the crowd, ran down the flight of stairs and through the dark corridor that shone a blue tint over our heads, and arrived at the large brown doors we entered in. 

Before I could push the door, it swung wide open. 

Outside waiting was a woman with blonde hair wearing a black cap with a red Nolan-50 emblem etched in the middle. Didn't think I would see her again. 

"I was told to take you above ground," Addison said, with her arms crossed.

***