When Xander's coolant intake threshold was met, so was his time with Dr. Falco at an end. The tubes connected to his body were disengaged, and in their place, a shirt was given to him with a tag number: #665. Re-clothed and bound in cybernetic handcuffs, Kaiser escorted Xander out of Dr. Falco's presence, down the large, monochromatic dark hallways of the facility. As he was taken away, he took one more hard glance at Dr. Falco, studying the edges of his face and the cocky arrogance plastered to it.
Whether Xander knew how he would do it, he was going to do everything in his power to one day make that man fall to his knees and experience all that he had. The pain that life had caused Xander was going to be his fuel to make the people like Falco wish they never created him.
*******
The true magnitude of the facility was something to behold. It was much more expansive than just the medical and experimental area Xander had been confined to, more like a residential estate sculpted with a hospital-theming that permeated the backside. The facility was split in two, one side that faced towards a desert—the hospital-styled side—and the side that faced towards the community of SunHigh Manor, stunningly beautiful like a veritable mansion, meant to house orphaned children.
The lawns of the front half of the facility were bountiful, full of life, locked by brass gates that seemed to mock the rest of the decrepit surrounding areas. Fountains were visible in the driveways of the mansion front, but few luxurious cars were seen, and even fewer children through the windows. This part of the facility was reserved for the few that made it through rigorous tests to become designated as trusted by their captivators. In a sense, it was a reward for those who truly were the best and most loyal of the Vectors, known as Elites.
To be an Elite, one had to reach the status of an A-ranked vector, a tall task as many field tests needed to be conducted beforehand. But, to get to live in luxury, at least in the better conditions afforded to the very few in the mansion front, being an A-rank simply wouldn't cut it. Some A-ranked vectors were lucky to scrape in, but most of them were still kept in the back-half with the other lower ranked vectors, albeit in different, more upscale cells reminiscent of apartment structures. Rankings and loyalty were the only ticket to some semblance of being free—freedom in captivity like a bird trapped by an unloving owner.
The halls of the back half of the facility were sterile and soulless, slick-silver with a reflective material that stared back into the souls of children forced to walk down them with their guards. The walls were just as reflective, segmented just like the floor with a tile structure that was smooth. Being a part of this facility was probably where Xander began to experience the civility of walking on even ground. A low whirring sound travelled the length of the hall along with Xander and Kaiser, the two walking in an awkward silence as if their breaths didn't even cause a sway in the air. For those that walked behind or opposite them, the same lifelessness could be seen and heard in them as well.
The two arrived in front of Xander's cell, streams of black wires collaged against the sturdy silver, slide-open door. A keypad sat to the right of the door, only usable by the guards of the facility. Kaiser placed his hand on the biometric scanner, stealing a quick glance at the boy he was about to throw back into his proverbial cage. With one eye, Xander returned his glance, a twinge of hatefulness within it.
Kaiser refocused his gaze on the keypad before addressing Xander.
"Listen, kid…you have every right to hate me. I don't really care, nor haven't I seen a glare like that before. Reminds me of my army days." Kaiser said, "But I advise you to use that anger in ways that can benefit you in the long run. Falco like other doctors already sees you two as below average, and for him, that means failure." Kaiser continued, turning a tempered stare with a deeper tone to the boy that seemed to startle Xander out of his rage. "I don't think we need to talk about what happens to failures."
Kaiser placed his hand on the keypad, beeps and ringtones signalling the acceptance of his biometric credentials. The door pulled back slightly from the two before slingshotting to the side with a quickness, revealing a similarly shaded room of lustrous silver that lacked any substance or furniture other than two slabs of metal. They were hung like jail cell beds, chains used to hold them up with white pillows and no blankets. It was pretty much just a jail cell, just with a futuristic colour scheme that made it feel lonesome and void instead of just dreary.
Kaiser shoved Xander into the cell whilst taking the handcuffs off him at the same time. He was so experienced and hardened at this point from thousands of times of having done the same with others that it felt almost routine and simply to combine the acts simultaneously. Xander fell to the floor of the cell, feeling the cold of the floor bite back at his touch. Kaiser didn't so much hazard an apology to Xander, commanding the door to lock, before leaving the scene. The whirring sound from the hallway continued into the cell.
Xander pushed himself up off the ground, looking around his cell. The first thing his eyes landed on was the only other thing of note: a small girl in the room's corner slowly crawling towards him. Diane's face has specks of tears in the corner of her eyes once she made it to her brother. She was clutching a stuffed animal that had one of its eyes missing, somehow allowed to keep it due to how worthless it was perceived to be. She first touched his arms and chest, trying to confirm if he was really in front of her. She fell into his arms, hugging her brother tightly.
Xander tried to put a smile on his face before addressing Diane. He was the only thing she had left, and he would be damned if he didn't try to at least let her feel like some ounce of hope could be found in their situation.
"Diane, do you really have to get like this every time they take me away?" Xander asked her.
"Yes!…because I don't know if you'll come back to me—at least if you'll come back the same." She responded.
Xander took her by both shoulders and looked her in the eyes. "I'm not going anywhere, Diane. Not without taking you with me."
Upon saying this and looking at Diane's meek and almost feeble disposition, he immediately thought back to what Kaiser had said.
Maybe…maybe that oaf has a point. I've gotta channel this anger of mine into something useful. For the both of us.
Diane stared at her brother with a bit of curiosity about how hard he seemed in thought, gently hugging her stuffed animal tightly.
"Xander?" she asked him, pulling him from his thoughts. "What did they do to you this time?"
Xander didn't respond immediately, looking at his arm that slightly shifted between regular human skin and metallic scales, still fully unable to shift his arm. Diane's skin did the same, reacting to Xander's attempt to activate his vector.
"I think they just switched the processing system and the system interface to make it more efficient. I feel my vector more readily now," he said, looking around the room, "but I guess it doesn't make a difference since we are in here though."
"All they care about is using us in the best way to suit themselves…we are nothing to them." Diane said, her eyes drooping.
Xander couldn't very much argue with her assessment—the two were at the bottom of the totem pole for viability—at least in their vector ranks. But even the weakest people could be the scaffolding of the greatest empire, and Xander knew this well.
"For now, we are." He told her, standing to his feet, "But we either chose to stay this way or find out how to be more than nothing to them. I don't know how yet, but I'll think of something."
Xander helped Diane to stand up, the two of them moving to sit on one of the chrome coloured beds in the room. Whilst Xander couldn't make any promises, he knew one thing he could guarantee. He was going to go down doing everything in his power to keep Diane and himself from dying in the cesspool of rejects and orphans. It was what his mother wanted, and what would he be but a terrible son if he didn't die trying to fulfill that wish.
********
Xander and Diane spent the rest of the time trying to make the best of the situation they were in. Most of their days before now were spent recollecting on the past, thinking back to the sound of their mother's voice, even if she was angry or happy. The sound of a scolding mother felt better than the monotonous warpings of an empty room. If they weren't thinking about their mother or father, memories of their school life, the chatterings and drama of other children replaced that void. Even the callous nature of their teachers was something to reflect on.
Time felt like it had no meaning, only given shape by reflections on the past the two made. Compared to the dead grass—-even the smell of putrid garbage—-the cell was not much better. At least back then, some human aspect of life was to be found. To think they would miss the terribleness of the world they once desperately wanted to leave behind was more than understatement.
After a couple minutes of talks between the two, the pings of a keypad came from the door, sliding up like it had done before with their overseeing guard standing in the doorway. A grim expression sat on Kaiser's face, eyes focused away from the two whilst never daring to make a shred of eye contact with them. He slowly stepped into the cell, uttering but a few words to the two.
"Subject #666, Dr. Falco will look at you now. It is time to go," Kaiser said, pulling his combat gloves so they would sit tighter on his hands.
Both Xander and Diane looked at the man, neither of them so much as making a move, till Xander questioned him.
"And what if she doesn't go?"
Kaiser paused in fixing his gloves. He shifted one eye to the boy with a confidence-shaking glare that scared Diane to the point of shaky and exasperated breaths.
"That isn't an option," Kaiser replied, dropping his hands to the side, gloves crackling with the sparks of high-voltage lightning.
Unlike the two children, Kaiser was no vector, but just like all the other guards, he wielded many forms of weaponry that were slightly less powerful. And considering power dampeners were always in check and on, his power compared to the two was more than frightening.
Xander placed an arm before Diane, the two children standing up and backing away from tall, muscular Kaiser. The clanking of boots across the ground as he got closer sent shivers through Diane's spine. The electricity danced from hand to hand, ready to unleash its searing might in hopes of subduing them.
"Xander, I don't wanna go…" Diane croaked softly.
"Don't make this harder than it needs to be, you brats," Kaiser replied.
"Stay away from her…" Xander snarled, animosity in his voice.
With a quick sigh, Kaiser closed his eyes. "Fine—you chose the hard way."
In the blink of an eye, Kaiser's palm was an inch from Xander's face. The sparks of electricity seemed to meet with his skin, Xander's flesh metallizing slightly in sense of the radiation. In one second, he would be struck by Kaiser, and very little could be done.
But by some miracle, Xander evaded the attack. He ducked his head below Kaiser's arm, leaving the guard and Diane shocked. It seemed Xander wasn't so helpless, hardened from his time of going through hell and his time at the orphanage prior with Diane. With a steely focus, Xander swung a fist at Kaiser's jaw, landing with perfect precision and power.
Kaiser's head jolted to the side, yet the man didn't stagger, fall or move. It had been a while since he had been hit like that, de-powering his left glove to feel his jaw. Xander was amazed at how tough his jawline was, feeling like he had hit his hand against solid iron. Xander held his hand in pain, whilst Kaiser chuckled, his extended arm resting ajar in the air.
"Alright kid, I'll admit, you've got a solid left hook," Kaiser complimented. "I can respect wanting to protect your sister."
Kaiser's gloves then sparked back to life. Immediately, he backfisted Xander in the face, horrifying Diane. Then, he grabbed him by the collar, and in one clean motion, tossed Xander across the room with a clang against the cell wall side with no beds.
"But the rules are the rules."
Kaiser then snatched the back of Diane's collar, the girl physically trying to resist against her tormentor's snare. In response, Kaiser let the electricity from his glove flow onto the girl, electrocuting her violently, yet nowhere near enough to kill her. Screams reverberated back into the hallway. Xander regained his bearings, lunging to go for Kaiser again. But Kaiser blocked Xander's punch with his knee before spike kicking Xander's head into the wall.
"Xander!!" Diane cried as Kaiser forcefully turned her around and threw handcuffs on the poor girl.
Xander was left nearly unconscious as Kaiser handcuffed Diane, and soon dragged her away. As Diane squirmed, kicked and screamed for her brother, Xander tried to crawl after them, though his vision was hazy and his head left bruised.
"Please!! Xander!! Don't let him take me!! Xander!!!" Terror laced in her voice.
Xander's vision began to fade as the two crossed the threshold back into the hallway. Just as the door was sliding to a close, brother and sister desperately tried to reach out for one another. They were stripped from the other once again, like the world had done to them and their family.
Dia…ne… Xander thought.
As the door slammed shut, separating the two's vision, Xander's eyesight faded, and darkness took over his world.