Someone was screaming. It sounded terrible and full of anguish. Soon he felt someone touching him and hot needles piercing his skin like acid melting his flesh. He could hear people talking now as the screams lessened.

  “Just let him die!”

  “I cannot. It is my obligation as a medical doctor to value all life even above my own personal feelings for the patient. I will stabilize him, beyond that I will let the group decide his fate.”

  “He has devastated our group. He does not deserve life.”

  “We will never get a real explanation out of him if he dies, then he can stand a fair trial and be sentenced to death if voted upon.”

  “I agree with Zex.”

  “He may be the only link to finding out if Maxwell is alive and if we can recover him. He cannot die until we drag this information out of him, but if Maxwell is dead, I will fucking kill him myself, there will be no need to vote on it.”

  “He is regaining consciousness.”

  “I can fix that.” A few moments later there was a hot sting in his shoulder then he fell completely back into unconsciousness. He woke again in the void. He looked around slowly, finding the control terminal and approaching it. Several of the buttons were deactivated, including 'control', 'obey', 'submit', 'yield' and 'satellite' however, ‘telescope' seemed to be available still. He pressed the ‘short term memory' button and a screen dropped down replaying his most recent conscious memory which was the conclusion of the battle. Remington watched, seeing the devastation that was caused, but mostly he wanted to see if Vezaias really was dead. He didn't get to see what happened immediately after because he was knocked unconscious, but from the memory he was watching the wound that was inflicted on Vezaias was fatal. Remington sank to the ground in tears choking on the pain and sobbing uncontrollably until he finally let out a blood curdling scream. It would be a long and saturating moment before he would calm down enough to think coherently again. He tried to remember the instructions Vezaias had given him if he were to die in the confrontation, as if he had known he was going to die before the battle occurred. His mind raced trying to reassemble the moment that hadn't even happened that long ago. It was something about trying to get back in the good graces of the group without lying, telling them he had been controlled. Remington cringed at this. He couldn't bear to be near the group now. He had at one time viewed them as friends, even family, but now the thought of gaining their trust, or even being in the same room with any of them made him feel sick. How could he go back, or pretend that he hadn't just murdered one of their members without hesitation. Rocks, his fake brother, his trainer, someone who cared about Remington until the very last moment up until they battled to the death, Remington being the victor in that confrontation. After further consideration, how could they ever trust Remington again after killing someone they loved? How would he even begin to convince them to trust him? He sat on the ground beside the terminal nearly in a mental coma and completely overwhelmed by everything. He then wondered if Vezaias was dead would the members be able to use their talents on him now? That would mean Skyler may be able to see his past, and Sigil would know how he feels. Also what would this mean for Lux who was trapped in the delusional world that Vezaias created? There were so many unanswered questions. Remington got to his feet and turned to look at the computer terminal and pressed the 'telescope' button. Suddenly he was rushing through the universe to the bedroom. He stepped out seeing Lux sitting at the desk smoking a cigarette and scribbling something on a very wrinkled piece of paper. He didn't acknowledge Remington's arrival at all, but focused completely on what he was doing while sucking on the cigarette and tapping ashes into the overflowing ashtray.

  “Lux..” Remington said finally, wanting Lux to pay attention to him. Lux did not seem to hear him at all. Remington grew frustrated very quickly. “Lux!” He said firmly.

  “I had to disassemble all of my friends.” Lux said. Remington looked a bit puzzled now but realized he was talking about all of the paper cranes he had made. Remington looked around, seeing that the floor was clear and all of the cranes were now unfolded and flattened into a pile of papers on the desk.

  “Spanky started a fight, you know Spanky, always causing problems, so then the twins started fighting and everyone else took sides, and pretty soon they all went to war, there was a huge fall out and I had to put a stop to it. It was ridiculous. Fucking cranes and their bullshit. All I wanted was a friend. They weren't lying this time. I just can't make or keep one fucking friend.” Lux explained, sounding miserable. Remington started to feel sorry for him.

  “What are you doing?” Remington asked mildly.

  “Writing a suicide note.” He said as if it were a grocery list. Remington looked stunned.

  “Why?” Remington asked in great concern now.

  “Practice makes perfect I suppose.” Lux said mildly. Remington looked confused. “Not that it really matters. There is nobody that would even care at all to read it.” Lux then crumbled the paper and dropped it into the garbage can then took another long drag off of his cigarette. “Nobody would care because I'm not good at making or keeping friends. That's why I was writing the suicide letter in the first place. Sort of a conundrum isn't it?” Lux paused for a moment.

  “Don't you have any family or anything?” Remington asked.

  “Sure, everyone has family. The fuck you think, I just fell out of the sky?” Lux scoffed. Remington was irritated now.

  “Why wouldn't you want them to read the letter?” Remington asked, trying to sound more neutral.

  “They wouldn't care. Probably be glad that I'm dead. They hate hearing me talk to the voices. Apparently I make them uncomfortable. They think I'm a freak. They think I can just ignore the voices.” Lux said with a sigh.

  “Why can't you?” Remington didn't understand much about Lux's behavior. He felt very ignorant asking questions like this.

  “You ever try and ignore someone who was screaming at you and saying the most terrible fucked up shit you could ever imagine?” Lux asked unhappily. Remington immediately thought about his father screaming at him.

  “Uh…..yeah.” Remington said softly.

  “Yeah, so…..” Lux took another drag of his cigarette. “…….how'd that work out for you?”

  “It didn't.” Remington said unhappily. He was now starting to feel some sort of connection with this guy.

  “Heh…” Lux scoffed mildly. “……so yeah why would I ever want to be around family who I make uncomfortable? Hell I make everyone uncomfortable…..I probably make you uncomfortable…..” Lux said, tapping ashes into the ashtray. “Vezaias was the only person I ever met who didn't make me feel like I was a freak….” Lux said softly. “…….I mean I am a freak…….but he made me feel like I wasn't.” Lux said. Mentioning Vezaias made the pain in Remington's chest hurt more. He tried to ignore it.

  “What do the voices say to you?” Remington was growing more curious now, but not out of apprehension or negativity, but in an attempt to continue to connect with this guy.

  “Lots of stuff. Sometimes they lie to me. Sometimes they speak the truth. I never know which until I find proof. So I tend to believe whatever makes the most sense until proven otherwise.” Lux mildly. He talked as if these voices were real people.

  “I don't understand.” Remington said as if to coax more information out of him.

  “Well for example, right now they are telling me that you aren't here just to make stupid conversation with me. You are here to tell me something. Probably something that isn't easy to say, and that's why you are procrastinating by talking to me about this bullshit. Which means you probably really don't give a shit about any of this, but it's easier to talk about than whatever it is you really came here for. So this conversation is garbage and a waste of time.” Lux said, putting out the cigarette.

  “They told you all of that since I showed up?” Remington was a bit amazed.

  “Yeah. If I seem like I'm not paying attention, or whatever, it's because I'm listening to the voices. Like I said I have to believe whatever makes the most sense until proven otherwise so I listen to them over everything else. Makes people uncomfortable.” Lux said. Remington was quiet and considering everything Lux said now. Vezaias had told him to take care of Lux. He wasn't exactly sure how to do that until now. “So you wanna stop procrastinating and tell me why you are actually here?” Lux snapped Remington out of his thoughts.

  “Well…” Remington felt the pain return in full force. “……there was a confrontation.” Remington began.

  “I know that. I'm insane, but I'm not stupid.” Lux said with a sigh.

  “Okay…….. Vezaias is dead.” Remington said looking destroyed. Lux paused for a moment, then chuckled to himself. This made Remington very irritated. “Why is that funny?!” Remington snapped.

  “Oh gosh, you're serious? Oh, okay, let me play along really quick!” Lux laughed then he shifted to look serious, but it was very fake. “Oh no, Vezaias is dead!” Lux said, trying to sound serious but stifling his laughter. “….oh ehem, this is where I am supposed to cry.” Lux lifted his fists in the air mockingly. “Noooo!” He shouted very overly dramatically, then he burst out into laughter again.

  “He's DEAD Lux! Why is that fucking funny to you?!” Remington shouted, getting very angry.

  “Oh shit….I can't believe I have to explain this to you! Aren't you his life partner or whatever?” Lux continued to laugh. Remington looked even more angry, but confused.

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  “Yes, but he is dead! I watched him die!” Remington snapped.

  “Oh man, and I fucked his mirage! Shit! Did he not explain his plan to you? Or are you just a bit dense?” Lux laughed more. Remington was now irritated and very overwhelmed.

  “What the fuck are you talking about?!” Remington nearly shouted.

  “Okay, I will try to make it as simple as possible. I'm trapped here in this imaginary place, right? Vezaias tried to convince me that I was free to go, but like I said, I'm not stupid. This place isn't real, and neither was he. Sure I still fucked him, I mean, real or not why wouldn't I?” Lux looked very amused. Remington looked at him seriously. “…ugh, so if he can project himself here and not be real, why the fuck do you think he would show up to a battle that he knew he would lose, in his real fucking form? That nifty talent he has, he can project things many times. When you leave here I bet you only end up in a different fake place that he created. So if you 'watched him die' that was probably fake too.” Lux sounded even more amused. Remington suddenly felt hopeful. Maybe Lux really was intelligent. It was just difficult to understand him because of his strange behavior.

  “Then where is he? Why hasn't he come to tell me he is alive?” Remington said, trying to control his eagerness now.

  “Are his enemies still a threat?” Lux asked flatly as if this would be an obvious assumption. Remington sighed.

  “But he can still communicate with me without them knowing.” Remington said.

  “Hm, then maybe he is watching you. He probably wants to see if you follow directions very well. So exactly how trustworthy are you Mr, Superhero?” Lux mused.

  “I gave him my loyalty, and my trust.” Remington said softly.

  “So did I.” Lux said.

  “Well…..I am going to try and stick to his agenda in his stead. I'm just not exactly sure how.” Remington said.

  “Hmm…that's a tough one…good luck I suppose?” Lux said, leaning back in his chair and pulling out another cigarette. He lit it and sucked in a deep drag. “Let me know how it works out for you.” Lux said, letting the smoke roll out of his lips with every word he spoke.

  “Sure.” Remington said meekly. He watched Lux pull out a wrinkled piece of paper from the pile and begin to write on it.

  “What are you doing?” Remington asked after a long while of watching him write. Lux didn't seem to be paying attention to him anymore. He continued to write and smoke his cigarette.

  “Lux?” Remington said, trying to be acknowledged.

  “The voices told me a long time ago that I cannot kill myself unless I write the perfect suicide letter. Kind of difficult to do when I don't have anyone to give this letter too, because nobody would care. The last letter was trash. I am going to try again….” Lux said mildly. Remington finally understood the 'practice makes perfect' remark from earlier.

  “Can I read it when you are finished?” Remington asked.

  “Heh, that's an odd question. Why?” Lux said with a sarcastic laugh.

  “Well….. because I want to be your friend.” Remington said as if it were an expectation. Lux paused in his writing. He turned to look at Remington. He expected Lux to be happy about making a friend. Lux only looked irritated.

  “I don't accept friendship charities.” Lux said seriously. Remington looked puzzled. “You think you are doing me a favor by deciding you will be my friend because I cannot make friends on my own. No thanks. The voices told me I shouldn't trust you, and you haven't exactly liked me very much since you met me. In fact I am pretty sure you hate me. So until I have proof they are lying this time…..” Lux said seriously. He turned back to his paper and began to write again. Remington felt rather insulted and rejected now but tried to understand his reasoning.

  “……it's probably because you still believe Vezaias is dead, so you are trying to fill the void he left behind. As soon as you find proof that he will return you won't need me as a friend any more. I don't enjoy being a fucking crutch.” Lux continued. He did have solid reasoning. Remington thought about his own motives now. Maybe Lux was right.

  “Fine. If I can prove to you that they are lying then will you let me be your friend and read your letter?” Remington said seriously.

  “Heh, sure, whatever.” Lux scoffed. “I'm going to need more cigarettes.” He added taking a long drag off his cigarette.

  “Right. I'll see what I can do.” Remington said. He then turned and left through a portal back to his Mindscape. He spent at least another hour in the void watching his short term memories before suddenly he unwillingly began to fade out of the void and back into his body.

  Immediately he realized he was in terrible pain. It was like a hot iron was pressed against his face. He tried to move his hands to rip the hot iron off of his face but he couldn’t lift his arms and it felt like he was tied down. He became frantic now as the pain got worse.

  “He is waking.” He heard a voice say.

  “AHH! Ughhhmmmmm…” Remington cringed. He opened one eye carefully realizing his other eye was covered by some sort of bandage. A moment later Zexich came into view.

  “I assume you are in pain. I will give you something to take the edge off.” Zexich said mildly. He left Remington's view for a moment then returned and began injecting the IV with medication.

  “That should help a bit. Now, please do not struggle, or I will sedate you again. I have a very low tolerance for insubordination right now.” Zexich said seriously. Remington was breathing heavily but nodded softly.

  “I will sit you up, then there will be an interrogation that must happen next.” Zexich said. Soon the hospital bed was adjusted and Remington was sitting up. A few members began to show up, first Skyler, who looked emotionally destroyed. Then Lucius, who looked smug but serious. Next, Demetri, who approached the bed very quickly.

  “Dem…” Remington said very emotionally. Demetri leaped up to the bed like an enraged tiger then began to punch Remington as hard as he could repeatedly. Nobody stopped him.

  “GIVE HIM BACK! GIVE HIM BACK RIGHT NOW OR I WILL KILL YOU!!” Demetri shouted as he punched. He didn't stop until Remington fell limp. Remington’s vision faded in and out and the pain medication no longer made any difference.

  “Ughhh….Dem……I didn't…….” Remington's mouth was spewing with blood now. Skyler finally pulled Demetri away from him.

  “I'LL FUCKING KILL HIM!” Demetri screamed.

  “I know Dem, I know! We need him to talk!” Skyler pleaded him.

  “Huuughhhhhphhhh.” Remington cringed and began to cry. “I'm sorry! I didn't mean to do any of this!” Remington blubbered through the flow of blood from his mouth and nose. He cried harder now.

  “You killed Rocks!!!” Demetri shouted. “You killed him without fucking hesitation Remington!” Demetri screamed. He was sobbing and very angry. Remington looked stunned at this reality and looked away crying and spilling blood all over.

  “He was my brother! I never wanted to kill him!” Remington sobbed. Demetri lunged to attack him again but Skyler held him back.

  “YOU'RE A FUCKING LIAR REMINGTON!!! YOU'RE A LIAR!!!” Demetri screamed at him.

  “I'm not lying!! I never wanted Rocks to die!!!” Remington sobbed harder.

  “Why don't you say that to Ziona! You fucking bastard!!” Demetri spat. Remington tried to retract at this. He had forgotten that Ziona was in this world since she was sick and always hidden away. Rocks wouldn't be here to take care of her anymore. Suddenly he realized Ziona was already in the room sitting over by another hospital bed where he could see a lifeless body laying under a thin sheet. She got to her feet and came over to look at Remington. He then realized her belly was sticking out and very round. She wasn't sick, she was pregnant. He shut his eyes wanting to ignore this reality.

  “I’m sorry.” Remington cried.

  “I don't want your apology.” Ziona said very sourly. “You know, he used to come back in such a good mood after training you. He would tell me all about it and how much progress you were making, and how strong you were becoming, and how proud he was of you. When you were in danger he was genuinely worried and wanted to protect you. He never wanted to believe that you would ever betray any of us. He was so very wrong.” Ziona said, sounding venomous. Remington choked on her words. Ziona was crying now.

  “Ziona, you shouldn't be here. Please go, it is too dangerous.” Skyler said, hugging her as she crumbled. That was painful to hear. Remington was strapped to the bed and not at all hostile, especially not towards a pregnant woman that he was responsible for widowing, but they all believed him to be dangerous.

  “I just wanted him to know that I do not support keeping him alive any longer than necessary.” Ziona said sourly. Then she left through a portal. It was quiet now. Demetri wandered away and sat in a chair and cried. It was a long time before anyone else spoke.

  “This is your last chance, Remington. Is Maxwell alive? Can he be recovered?” Skyler asked seriously.

  “Vezaias most likely forced him into a delusional world that he created. If he did, then he is probably alive.” Remington said, looking up cautiously.

  “Probably?! What kind of answer is ‘probably’ Remington?! Don't you know the answer?!” Demetri shouted angrily.

  “I don't! Vezaias hardly explained anything to me! I don't know everything about his talents! Or about what he did to Maxwell!” Remington cringed.

  “Can we get him back?” Demetri asked urgently.

  “I don't know. Vezaias told me I was the only one that would be able to jailbreak into his delusional worlds, but he never explained to me how to do it. I figured out on my own that I have to use my telescope talent, and I've tested this and it does work.” Remington said solemnly. He hated giving away all of this information, but he had no choice.

  “Do you know anything at all about how it works?! Explain it!” Demetri snapped.

  “When Vezaias was recreated, I told him I would give him my loyalty and my trust. This gave him the ability to manipulate, and control me. When Lux arrived he gave Vezaias his loyalty and trust, so Vezaias was able to take control of him the same way he did to me. He put Lux in a delusion. That's when he told me I was the only one who could find Lux. I tried and I found him, but I just don't know how to get him out of there.” Remington said looking ashamed. Demetri looked frustrated and hopeless. He put his face in his hands.

  “How do we know you are even telling us the truth?” Demetri asked.

  “I believe him.” Skyler said seriously.

  “He is telling the truth.” Sigil spoke up. “Once Vezaias was killed my talent to sense Remington's emotions returned. He is no longer under Vezaias's cloaking talent.”

  “Vezaias did terrible things to me. I had no choice but to do what he told me to do. I wanted to tell you what was happening, but I couldn't! If I said anything that he thought was too suspicious, if I did anything that he wasn't happy with, he would take me away to a bedroom and hurt me. There were times when I was in so much pain that I could barely walk. If he said to do anything I had to do it. I couldn't go against what he wanted. It was like brainwashing, or mind control. Just lift up my shirt. I'm sure I still have bruises from him.” Remington said softly. Skyler approached carefully and lifted up Remington's shirt. There were many bite marks, bruises, and scratches deep into his skin.

  “Why did you let him do this?” Skyler asked, looking appalled at the marks.

  “I told you, I couldn't say anything. Not just because I was afraid, but I couldn't say anything, part of his talent let him control me. It's like he was inside my mind stopping me from telling anyone, or forcing me to do what he wanted.” Remington said as he began to cry again. “Look I know it's no excuse. I handed over the control so easily to him. I love him and I thought things would be different. I had no idea he was going to turn into a villain and take me with him, but I followed him and I can't excuse what I've done. I will help you find Maxwell if you want me too, and after that if you vote to kill me, then I am fine with it. I wont resist it, I deserve death for what I've done. I don't want to live anymore after this.” Remington said as tears poured down his face.

  “He has a great deal of remorse and shame.” Sigil said seriously.

  “You have one day to figure out where Maxwell is.” Demetri said firmly.

  “And I'm going with you.” Skyler added.