Drugs

Iron Gate Institution

Eric looked at the dark and dank conditions he was in. He was in a cell. The irony in it would make him chuckle if his body wasn't already too worn to even express the emotion. Eric sat on the floor. The drainage system was off or barely working and he had to use a very unpleasant bucket. No sheets for the remanets of a put together bed, he was given and no privacy at all. How had they even managed to get this prison mostly back intact? It was a mystery to him. He remembered that this place had once been burnt down, and the prisoners had escaped. It was covered in the media for a short while and then like everything else that plug was pulled, but the outcomes of what happened to the prisoners were never established.

Looking up at the ceiling, his thoughts shifted. He wondered what had become of the young girl and the child that he had brought in. With the whole world order seemingly collapsing, he didn't want to think about the negative possibilities of what actually might have happened. They were others in here along with him. He had first started to use Morse codes on the wall in hopes someone would understand when the guards weren't passing, and he was surprised of the response that he got back.

Three people knew how to use it, and they were all extremely intelligent. What did Cassis want with them? He kept them fed, but not enough to be too strong to do much of anything.

The last words he had said to Eric before he had been placed in here was that he was now a valuable piece of his own collection. What exactly did those words mean? Had he gone crazy?

No one else here seemed to know either. They all had taken up the call to come here with their families but had been separated after being allowed through. Some had been here from near the beginning of this craziness.

He heard the squeaking of the door outside before it opened. They were coming back again? He had gotten used to their patrol times, when they were fed and came to clean the shit from under them. Eric felt a certain level of discomfort from this uncertainty as the steps drew nearer to his own cell.

The steps would come to a pause and a voice he knew all too well that of Cassis would say. "Take him."

The cages rattled open as a scuffle ensued. The men were heard being dragged out as those that were non compliment were hit several times.

Eric's hand shake as he heard the steps near a cage away from by his was he going to be selected too and what exactly did that mean. He tried to stand and go to his bed in some hopes that if he closed his eyes, it would all be nothing more than a dream.

However, as Eric took his time and struggled to get up from the ground. The footsteps had reached him and now standing before him again was Cassis.

"Hello Eric, how are you doing?" Cassis said as five men flanked him on the side, "would you mind coming with me for a bit?"

With that, Eric's cage was opened. Unlike the others, Eric wasted no time with a pointless resistance. He was held under both arms and taken behind Cassis. It was hard for him to walk as his legs felt wobbly. The whole while the man was speaking and gesturing his hand at one cage and another.

"Do you know Eric that at one point this prison was designed for people that had special abilities, you might say. The greatest among humans or so people would say geniuses in their own regard so smart that the U.A.C deemed them too difficult to control for regular jail. So they kept them here as nothing more than playthings, and then this place was burnt down, or at least that's what was said in the news. Is it not funny how it's still standing in such working order?"

"Aren't you a part of the U.A.C also?"

"I was, I guess in the beginning when I was nothing more than a man. They served my hunger for knowledge, for wealth and for everything thing that I had desired at that time. However," he paused as he looked at me. "I want more, far more, I want everything and that's what I am creating here."

"What exactly do you mean?"

They had reached the end of the hall, and the door was closed behind them. Cassis turned to face him as one of the men pressed a button on the elevator. Eric glimpsed it. They were heading down.

"Soon," he responded as the elevator slightly shook before descending. "Soon you will see what I have been planning and what I have planned to do."

It wasn't long before they had reached the final stop. Cassis walked out first before being followed by the others. This area had been painted and didn't look bleak compared to the other with the coating of white on the walls. On both sides of this hall that flanked him the rooms contained: gold, what looked like antique pictures and the latest of different types of tech. Everything was either kept in a glass or stored with delicate care and the further they move the more things he saw being horded here. In another room that they passed were books, many of them that would fill a library. Machines walked around inspecting and cleaning shelves and wiping glasses. Yet they moved on to the last room in the stretch that was closed. Cassis pushed the door opened and Eric was in shock by what he saw. The room before him was filled with another layer of machines, removing the scalp and taking out the brains of those that were there and placing into what looked like liquid containers. Every container was named and labelled with profession and the person's name.

The sight made Eric's body shudder and his legs wobbled. What kept him up were the two men still holding him tightly. How could a man be this evil? Was this gruesome end to be his fate?

Casiss laughed before he spoke, "This is how I intended to transcend knowledge this is how I intend to have it all. Don't worry Eric, I have a completely different plan for you."