OPERATOR25

Dungeons and Robot?

"Why did you risk knocking them out? You should've just shot them and then you wouldn't have risked them waking up before they got here," a voice whisper yelled. Royce started to come to from the blow.

"We are already low on ammo and didn't want to test how fast their healing factor is. I've never seen it in person!" A familiar voice spoke back. Royce couldn't see a thing because there was a bag over his head but he could hear the soft dripping of water in the distance and the air was cold and stale. They must be underground. Was this the platinum market hideout? He heard a muffled string of sounds that could only be Doc doing her best to cuss whoever these people were.

"Shit they're waking up. Get the bags off their head and be careful of the woman. She will probably take your fingers if you get too close." The bag came off and he blinked to see Nguyen and another person standing in a poorly lit room. Lit by a lightbulb? What?

"YOUUUUUU PIECE OF SHIT! MOTHERFUCKIN TRAITOR, I SWEAR YOU COME NEAR ME AND YOU'LL WISH YOU COULD KILL ME!" Doc flew off the handle. Not enough answers too many questions. Royce looked around quickly to see what he could find. He saw pictures of the group but mostly ones of him, Doc, and Aris. There was also a very very old photo of Vinny and a politician looking very official. Then there was another with a different person. No, it was the same official...just old.

"Nguyen, tell us what's going on. At the theatre, we were told that we would get answers. Why are we in a place with lightbulbs? Are you part of the platinum market?"

"No shit he's part of the platinum market! Why else would he be here," Freya said spitefully.

Nguyen breathed out frustratedly.

"Doc would you chill the hell out for a minute, I will explain. No, we aren't those platinum market bastards but we definitely aren't friends of the government. We call ourselves the Medical Reinstatement Corps."

The what? The two captives stole a glance at each other and waited for Nguyen to continue. He motioned at the other guy to untie them. Royce rubbed his wrists. The ropes had been a little tight.

"The world we know it right now is a lie. The towers, the vote, everything! After the great fallout, the government was unable to sustain the towers off of the archaic energy they were trying to pass off as being a natural electricity blocker. However, no one noticed so they kept up the farce. It was really easy to do because by the time everyone came out of quarantine, they had cleaned up all the electronics and stashed them somewhere and everyone was already used to the lifestyle. We believe the world government leaders got used to people being so controlled that they didn't want to go back to the way things were."  It was a deadly silence.

Doc shook, "So if you guys aren't the Platinum Market, what are you?"

"We are a group that just want the lights to come back on so that people can get the healthcare they need. Because there's no rapid fire news anymore, they've been keeping deaths related to insulin dependency or cancer or even routine medical procedures under wraps. When I was 26 working for the WIA, I stumbled onto some information regarding politician medical documents on a computer disguised to look decommissioned," he continued, "I found out high ranking politicians have been able to get medical treatment that would have only been available before the fallout. After finding this information I came to the conclusion that either they were working with the platinum market or there was something else funky going on."

"So why did you act now?" Royce inquired.

A small knock came at the door and Aris slipped into the room.

"We had busted her out of a platinum market den but had gotten separated on our way out," their eyes snapped to her. She let out a sharp breath.

"I'm sorry I lied about not knowing Nguyen. I just couldn't take it if I got sent back. I had been catatonic for the last 132 years because I couldn't take the abuse anymore."

Freya pulled her into a hug as she sobbed.