Morrigan felt antsy as half
the guard waited for the warden with her while the others repelled down into
mine 16. She giggled as she thought about the looks on their faces when they
discover all the bodies as well as the giant dead worm.

“Hey! Anyone got a smoke?”
she asked loudly, causing a few of the guards to jump. That sent her into a
short fit of giggles until she realized they had gone back to ignoring her. “Awe
come on, don’t leave a girl hanging.”

One of the guards relented
and pulled out a pack of cigarettes and pulled one out, handing it to her.

Morrigan placed the
cigarette in her mouth and waited. Her patience quickly faded when she realized
that no one was going to light it.

Her gaze shifted to the
guard who gave it to her and scoffed, “come on, don’t be shy.”

The guard rolled his eyes
with a sigh and pulled out a lighter, reaching farther than necessary to light
her cigarette.

“Thank you,” she said
nonchalantly before taking a deep drag of her smoke. She closed her eyes as she
felt her nerves relax.

She did not see the guards
move apart. When she opened her eyes, she found an older, slightly taller man in
a casual business suit standing surprisingly close as if unafraid of her. His
graying salt and pepper hair and the onset aging of his complexion put him in the
realm of his mid to late 50s. His presence was non-threatening however, by the
way he held himself, Morrigan could see that this man was both a business man
as well as a strict leader.

She raised her eyes enough
to look him in the face as she let the puff of smoke escape the side of her
mouth. “You must be the warden I keep hearing about,” she said casually.

The man smiled. It
was not sinister nor a false smile but a smile that told her he was familiar
with the concept of escapees nor the danger they represented.

“Indeed I am, and you must
be the fabled Morrigan Clarke.”

Her eye twitched at his
tone. It held the same arrogant “I’m three steps ahead of you” level of
arrogance but it also held a confusing note of curiosity.

“Yeah, she would be me,” she
snorted before refocusing on her surroundings. “I hear there are interesting
things to be said about me,” she noted coolly.

The warden took a step back
and chuckled, “indeed so. We can explore those rumors momentarily, for now I
would like to ask how it is you managed to make your way to the surface of my
prison,” his words spoken in a sly demand.

Before Morrigan could shift
her gaze back at the man, one of the guards tapped him on the arm, “sir, the
team that rappelled down into 16 are saying everyone is dead.”

Morrigan smirked before
taking another drag off her cigarette as the look of surprise came over the
warden briefly before resetting his authoritative demeanor.

“So, Miss Clarke, care to
explain?” he asked.

Morrigan smiled before
lifting her arms to take the cigarette from her mouth. “Well, I suppose on
which part you’re asking about,” she said, flicking the ash.

“Let’s start from the
beginning shall we?” he said crossing his arms expectantly.

Morrigan sighed with a roll
of her eyes, “we were about to load the Viridian when this giant worm thing
attacked us. I got knocked out and when I came to everyone was dead…including
the worm.”

“A Castile worm huh?” the
warden asked incredulously. His glare at her held the suspicion that she was
lying.

The guard behind the warden
demanded the report of any signs of a Castile worm which immediate came back
with a detailed description of how she left the creature.

That caused her to smirk as
she took another drag of her cigarette. The warden cleared his throat at this
detail and Morrigan straightened her face as she looked him back in the eyes,
daring him to think she was still lying.

“How did you get out then?”

Morrigan shrugged, “I
climbed out,” not committing to a description.

He scoffed, “you’re telling me
you climbed 40 stories up the mine shaft and took out three guards and five
drones before being caught?”

Morrigan snorted in response
at how ridiculous her actions sounded when spoken aloud. “Well, working in the
mine does build muscle,” she said sarcastically with a hint of venom as she
continued to smoke.

His eyebrow twitched in
irritation as he took a closer look at her. At a glance she looked like she
didn't weigh more than 120 pounds soaking went, but at a closer look at what
muscle that could be seen, they were firm and defined.

“What about the drones?” he
asked with a passive aggressive tone.

One of the guards piped up,
“sir, we found her with a rifle and she also had a small stock pile of
magazines in the bag she carried. “

Morrigan grinned and shifted
to raise her hand, pointing a finger gun at the guard. “Indeed, point to you,”
she said with amusement, thankful the guard covered her explanation especially
since she knew that some of the drones did not look like they were taken out
with bullets.

“You know, we received an
after report from Lieutenant Colonel Amaranthe, he pointed out the very curious
fact that you are extremely hard to kill. More so, he believes without a doubt
you are some new breed of mage.” The words came from him filled with ire. She
had a guess that he hated mages, which she could definitely relate.

She shrugged again, “dude is
crazy, but I'm no damned mage that's for sure.”

With a quirked eyebrow, the
warden rubbed his hand over his lips to hide his scowl. He let an amused laugh
break through his hand before shoving his hands in his pockets, a charming
smile on his face.

“Well the footage from the security
tower says otherwise, which I reviewed before coming out here,” his tone
triumphantly smug. Every guard raised their weapons at her again as the rest of
the guard that went into the mine rejoined the party.

Morrigan’s eyes looked over
towards the tower and just underneath the lip of the roof sat several cameras,
which she assumed was a camera for every gate to each mine. “Shit…” she swore
under her breath before trying to take another drag off the cigarette.

She lifted her hands and
grabbed the cigarette from her lips to find that it was completely used up and
cold. “Shit! God damn it,” she scowled before flicking the butt at the guard who
had been feeding the warden information, pinging the cotton and plastic off his
helmet.

The reaction she got was a
single shot to the shoulder by the guard. “Fuck!” she yelled as she
straightened herself out, hearing Apollyon groan in annoyance as it fixed the
bleeding hole in her shoulder.

What happened to behaving?

Morrigan ground her teeth through
the pain as she felt it slowly dissipate. Her jaw was still taut by the
aggravation of being toyed with.

“May I kill that one? That
was rather uncalled for,” she asked.

The warden tapped his chin
in exaggerated thought before looking at the guard, “well, while I do believe
that may have been a little unwarranted,” he said before looking back at her.
His gaze holding the sort of darkness one would find in their largest enemy, “and
I may have even been inclined to oblige in your request, however, seeing as you
have such remarkable resilience as well as having lied to me, the answer is
no.”

Morrigan scoffed and rolled
her eyes again, trying to cross her arms remembering the solid shackles that
kept her arms apart. She let out a low growl as her situation slowly began to
deteriorate.

“Now it all makes sense you
see, Atlas had mentioned that one of his prisoners had single handedly wiped
out a nest of bugs not too long ago.”

Morrigan felt her heart
tighten at the mention of Atlas. It caused her to think back to the mine leader
as well as the two friendly old men she grew to befriend.

“Said the girl may have been
a bit loose in the head, but was respectful and a hard worker when she wasn’t
toying with the task masters,” he said in curious amusement.

Morrigan let a small sad
smile grow on her stoic face as she blinked away the tears she felt coming on.
Atlas knew her so well.

The warden watched her in
speculation as she let her thoughts drift for the moment. “After witnessing
your…powers, I’m quite certain you were the girl he spoke of. Even as he seemed
inclined to never reveal which prisoner it was.”

Morrigan couldn’t bring
herself to verbally reply, so she just bobbed her head in confirmation. The
desire to wipe her eyes getting to her.

“Well, I suppose I should
thank you for saving the inmates at that time, though I notice they weren’t
this lucky a second time,” he said in passive aggressive respect.

She paid no attention to him
as she considered the events in the mine. “He’s not really wrong, if it wasn’t
for whatever the hell is going on with my head… some of them may have survived…”
she thought to herself as she thought about the three men again as well as the tunnel
burrowing terror that attacked them.

Come on kid, I mean it may
be crazier than a bag filled with coked up ferrets in here but what happened
isn’t your fault, Apollyon said to her in a sincere tone.

“It is my fault, you said it
yourself earlier… is there nothing you can do to get whatever my mind is going
through fixed?” she pleaded with it.

Hmmm, sorry Mori, but I’m
kinda limited to physical trauma. What you got going on rattling around your
brain is purely psychological. Trust me I’ve been trying figure something out.

The despair of knowing that
she let her friends die because she was no longer in control of her own mind
scared her, infuriated her and made her hate her situation all the more.

She could feel tears rolling
down her cheeks, which only agitated her growing turmoil of emotions. “What
happened to the good man, Atlas?” the warden asked.

She sniffled and growled as
the blocky design of the cuffs kept her from properly rubbing her face. With furious,
emotional groan as she sent a wave of energy into her arms and legs as she
stuck her knee against the pivotal joint of the shackles and shattered the bolt
that held her hands together. Her breath laboring under the threatening
emotions she was feeling.

Every guard jumped and
readied to fire as the warden raised his hand, signaling them to stop as he
watched with focused curiosity. He watched as her crimson claws tore the
locking mechanisms that kept the steel blocks attached to her wrists.

“Sorry…” she sniffled as she
wiped her eyes aggressively as she tried to steady her breathing and calm her
nerves.

She did her best to compose
herself, “I just… my guess is he got eaten… I couldn’t find his body,” her
words were leaden with remorse and sadness.

She brushed her disheveled,
faded hair out of her face as she stood back up straight, her emotions
teetering between breaking down crying, or murdering as many of them as she
could.

The warden scrutinized her
warily before letting out a heavy sigh, “well, he will definitely be missed…”
he mentioned before fixing her with a nearly reluctant look.

“I guess this just leaves
what to do with you…” he said.

Morrigan’s eyes widened as
she stared down every barrel she could see, one by one. “I suppose letting me
go is out of the question?”

The warden pursed his lips
and nodded, not finding the humor in the question. He looked to his guards,
“take her to 4.”

The guards did not hesitate
as two guards grabbed her by the arms and a third guard drove the barrel of his
rifle against the base of her skull.

“Oh, come on!” she
complained as she struggled to keep pace with the guards. She heard the rest of
the guards follow her as well.

“What should we do with her
stuff?” asked the guard who had her bag.

“Let her have it…” the
warden said loud enough for the guard to hear. “Heaven knows she’ll need it,”
he muttered to himself quietly before turning and heading back the way he came.

The guards all but dragged
Morrigan across the space towards the gate for Mine 4. She wanted to struggle
and fight. Her anger at being stuffed down into another deep dark pit of
despair sent her rage soaring but she knew her secret was out and the guards
would be more inclined to shoot her in the head now.

Well, this is probably going
to suck…

“Yeah, no shit. I have a bad
feeling about this. Please tell me you saw something I didn't?” she pleaded to
Apollyon.

Sadly no. This courtyard
definitely hides everything despite how simple it is. I guess we go for round
two in the dirt huh?

“God damn it…” she groaned
as a guard punched the call button for the elevator.

The guards stopped her in
front of the gate as they waited for the elevator. Morrigan wanted to look
around but at that point, she realized all of the guards were jumpy and trigger
happy, meaning that she did not want to risk taking a bullet in the back of the
head.

When the elevator arrived,
the guards shoved her into the elevator with enough force to throw her against
the opposing wall. Her bag landed against her and before she could even stand,
the gate closed as the elevator descended.

Morrigan felt her panic rise
as she sought a way to stop the elevator and get back to the surface, only to
find nothing that would help her. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath as
she sat up trying to settle her nerves.

Her eyes snapped open when
she realized the elevator was taking longer than she expected.

We’re descending into the
abyss… woah, haha, I scared myself hahaha Apollyon cackled in amusement.

Morrigan grunted, “glad
you're enjoying being thrown into an even deeper pit of who knows what waiting
for us.”

Meh, gotta see the lighter
side of things right? Enjoy what you can.

Morrigan glared at the steel
wall of the elevator, “you know, it's a bit hypocritical that you get to enjoy
yourself but when I do it bad shit happens…”

Maybe a little, pardon me
for trying to make you laugh, I ain’t the comedian here, I mainly just help you
kill things, Apollyon snipped.

She let out another heavy
sigh and nodded. She began to ponder the predicament of her mind, how she can
fix what is obviously wrong with her, “any ideas how I can keep myself sane? What
ever is going on with me is really dangerous…”

Psychology isn’t really my
thing,

Morrigan furrowed her brows
in confusion, “I thought emotions were the key to everything? Your entire perception
of existence?”

Sure, like rage, hate,
bloodlust; but what you got going on in your brain isn’t basic emotion. Sort of
like a, your daddy didn’t hug you enough as a kid sort of thing haha.

“Seriously?!” she growled.

What too soon?

“Now you’re just being an
asshole!”

Sorry… Look all I’m saying
is your pieces are there they’re just not in the right order. I just have…not a
fucking clue how you would go about that.

Morrigan growled as she crossed
her arms, she was not fond of her newly calculated odds of surviving long
enough to escape.

Do you feel that? Apollyon
asked in sudden interest.

Morrigan focused on the elevator,
trying to feel any changes in the vibrations. She did feel something though, it
was like a soft pressure building up in her chest right below her sternum. It
wasn't uncomfortable, in fact it was strangely pleasant.

That, that is a lot of pent
up rage… Apollyon pointed out with a sense of dream-like nostalgia.

A moment passed before the
elevator reached the final stretch of its descent. Open to her more was a
massive warren, three times the size of the space she recently called home.

In the space of the massive
warren were hundreds of volatile prisoners; men, women, human, Eskarii and
Saurian all grouped together as they waited impatiently for food to be
distributed, some of the prisoners even breaking into fights.

Morrigan’s eyes widened at
the surprisingly packed mine, trying to take in as much information as
possible. The sight however, unnerved her a bit. She realized that little bit
of pressure in her chest was the ambient rage coming from the mass of
prisoners.

She watched as task masters
mercilessly beat prisoners who instigated fights or joined in them for a bit of
tension relief.

Her attention was pulled by
the ten guard who spun on their heels and raised their weapons at her. Her eyes
narrowed, “really getting sick of having guns pointed at me.”

“This is her,” said one of
the guards. Morrigan felt it was safe to assume that they had been warned ahead
of time while she descended.

Morrigan looked up to see an
endless darkness, even with her enhanced eyes. That did not bode well to how
deep her new home currently was.

“Come with me inmate,” one
of the other guards demanded, not moving to make a grab for her, but instead,
waiting for her to follow.

Morrigan looked at the guard
then to the various barrels pointing at her. “How likely do you think another
worm attacks?” she questioned in her head.

Apollyon sniggered, well the
guards seemed to have recognized it enough for it to be relatively common of a
creature. So, its entirely possible.

Morrigan’s face scrunched in
disappointment before stepping off the elevator to follow the guard.

She was led to the far left
up an incline to a higher level of the warren. She was surprised to see a
second level of the place and the more she looked around, the more she saw how
different the mine was from mine 16.

Built into the walls was a
hive of dugouts where inmates housed themselves as well as tunnels that
branched out in different directions. She also saw handmade cranes and ladders
all over the warren leading to each level of the three-tier colony of
prisoners.

To say she was impressed by
the ingenuity of the prisoners would have been an understatement, but also with
so many prisoners packed into one mine, was also a recipe for disaster if
something were to happen. Which probably explained why there were so many guards
guarding the elevator.

She was led to an overlook
on the second level, where there was a crude canopy that sat over a rickety
large chair.

A man sat in the chair. He
was large even by Taylor or her father’s standards, as if he had been taking
performance enhancing drugs his whole life. His body was heavily scarred and
which included a scar that cut through his square jaw up to his cropped, short
hair. One thing she noticed was that a metal foot stuck out from his prisoner’s
pants as he lounged back in the chair sipping amber liquid from a glass as he
watched the dinner time progress with obvious boredom.

Everything about the guy
screamed danger and was the obvious opposite to her old warren leader Atlas.

“Tyrus! You have a new one…”
the guard called out stopping at the edge of where the slope peaked, eyeing the
three men than surrounded Tyrus.

Tyrus, who turned from his
glass, eyed the guard in disinterest. As soon as his eyes landed on Morrigan,
his whole demeanor changed. As if his whole day had been made.

Alarms and bells went off in
her nerves as she saw the wild eyes of the warren leader. The twisted
conflicting feelings of whether or not mine 4 would be as welcoming as mine 16
was, was immediately wiped away into utter certainty that being there was going
to be a miserable experience.

The guard used the butt of
his rifle to shove Morrigan forward before turning around and heading back to
the elevator.

“What have we here?!” Tyrus
asked excitedly. The level of happiness in his voice spoke of a deep set level
of crazy that caused Morrigan to lock up, gripping the strap of her bag tightly
as her body went rigid.

His voice was also lighter
than she expected giving his size, standing at six foot eight as he stood in a
surprising rush and quickly strode over to her.

Morrigan struggled to not
shrink underneath the amount of danger that exuded from him as he leaned over
her.

“Such a delicate little
flower to be dropped so casually in my lap, what are you in for?” he asked
leaning in closer to her face. She grimaced as the stench of his breath hit her
nose, the smell of whiskey mixed with something absolutely foul. By the smell
of him, he had also not bathed in a much longer time than necessary.

Don’t let this fuck
intimidate you girl, you’re far more dangerous than he is, Apollyon said
sinisterly, almost with a touch of possessiveness.

She knew Apollyon was right
though, she highly doubted anyone in any of the mines was as dangerous as she
was.

Steeling her resolve she
looked up at Tyrus, “Terrorism, murder, and everything in between.” She hadn’t
necessarily lied, she was there because the Federation labeled her a terrorist,
as well as a murderer, though they were the true terrorists.

Tyrus laughed and clapped loudly
gaining the attention of what she assumed were his bodyguards. “You hear that? She's
going to fit in just fine here!”

That was a handy piece of
information to her, that the inmates in Mine 4 were more the violent type. When
she was living in Mine 16, she had come to find out that most of the inmates
there were either lesser prone to violence or had softer offenses than she did,
like extortion, aiding and abetting the enemy.

Oh, this will definitely be
a fun time! Apollyon chirped.

“Now there is a toll coming
through here to my little slice of heaven,” he said as matter of fact, “what
are you going to offer as tribute?” he asked in a sadistic tone, his eyes
hovering over her body.

Her hand gripped the handle
of her bag even tighter as her face twisted in disgust, refusing to answer as
she glared back at him.

“Oh, don’t be shy, if you
have nothing to offer,” he raised his hand and brushed part of her rat’s nest
of hair out of her face, “I’m sure we can work something out.” His voice was
dark, which reflected the hopeful twisted look in his eyes as he leered over
her body once more.

Morrigan snapped her face
away from his hand and shoved the entire bag into his chest with enough force
to surprise him. Her face scrunched in irritation. “Take it, and never touch me
again!” she growled.

He looked down at the bag
then back at her before standing straight up. He sniggered as he walked back to
his chair and took his place in it as if it were a throne.

Morrigan followed at a
distance but stayed far enough away that if any of the four guys in the area
made a move, she could react properly.

“Let’s see what we have
here,” he mused as he eyed her while opening the bag. He hummed repeatedly as
he took stock of what she had scavenged as if impressed. “Oh! What have we
here?” he asked rhetorically as he pulled the bottle of alcohol from the bag
that she had taken from Atlas's chamber. She did notice that the guards had
confiscated the ammunition she had looted but surprisingly left everything
else.

He cracked the seal of the
bottle and inhaled deeply of its content. “Damn… been a long time since I
smelled brandy,” he said nostalgically. He set the bottle aside and place the
bag between his feet with a smug expression, “Not a bad tribute."

She glared at him as she
took a moment to glance at where her bag was. She was unsure whether he expected
her to make a grab for the bag or if he was stating that the entirety of the
bag was being taken. By the triumphant look he was giving her, it did not
matter because she would not be going anywhere near him.

He leaned his head to his
closest bodyguard, he called out, “show her where she'll be staying and make
sure she's put to work tomorrow.”

Morrigan scowled, “I’ll find
my own place to sleep,” she said with a snarl before turning sharply towards
the slope that led off of his dwelling. That only caused him to cackle with
excited amusement.

“See you later little miss
terrorist,” he sang with a wiggle of his fingers. Morrigan’s hands clenched
into fists as she didn't stop. The only thing she was thankful for in that
moment was that she had enough of her personal effects hidden under her ragged
clothes.

Well that one is a few
screws short of a full erector set, Apollyon mused.

“If that asshole
comes anywhere near me, I'm going to rip his throat out… may end up having to
do that anyways,” she said angrily in her head.

Before she even fully made
it into the central warren, a scrawny guy slightly taller than her who was
covered in tattoos blocked her path, arms crossed and proceeded to look down at
her.

This made anyone within the vicinity
stop what they were doing and watch. Morrigan had seen plenty of prison movies
to recognize the situation. The guy before her was sizing her up, seeing if she
was a pushover to be taken advantage of.

It was perfect. Morrigan
needed the outlet for some of her frustration. “When in doubt, give them what
they ask for right?” she thought.

Ooo hehe hehe, rip his spine
out! Apollyon chattered in sadistic glee which caused Morrigan to snort and
smile with a shake of her head.

Before she could finish
shaking her head, she struck out with her left hand and punched the guy right
in the solar plexus.

The guy dropped to his knees
as her enhanced punch took the air out of his lungs, and was knocked to the
side with a right hook.

Morrigan didn’t stop there
as she grabbed his forearm, forcing his arm up as he tried to keep himself in
the fetal position. With a soft smile, Morrigan channeled enough energy through
the muscle in her arm and hand, causing the briefest pulse of crackling energy,
and squeezed. The result was both bones in the man’s forearm snapping with a
quite audible pop and brief spray of blood as she wretched half of his forearm
to the side.

Most of the captive audience
laughed and chuckled at the poor man’s disposition as she simply and proudly
stepped over him. Most then went back to what ever they were doing, forgetting
that the display ever even happened despite the whimpering coming from the
injured party. Others traced Morrigan with oppressive yet fleeting curiosity as
to who the new respectively small and deadly girl was.

The thing Morrigan was
unaware of, was that Tyrus watched the spectacle, from start to finish, with a
sick grin on his face; following her every movement and every interaction until
she disappeared into the bowels of Mine 4.