I wake up a little off. I don't know if it's because I have finally realized how doomed we all are in this prison, or maybe it is because Roman led me on and left me hanging. Either way, I'm a little off.

I shower and slide on my jumpsuit. My jumpsuit that is bright white, cleaned and pressed to perfection. I open my drawers and take out my 'Leader' gloves. These gloves are such a problem. People reject authority, especially since the authority that we have over them just happened out of nowhere and no one knows how or why.

I slide my gloves on my fingers and stretch out my hand. They are coming in handy with all of this combat training that I have to go through lately. I tie my shoelaces and pull out my table to order some breakfast. I order pancakes and sausage. My guard brings it in and sets it on top of the table.

"Thanks." I say.

"You got more training after breakfast." He reminds me.

He shuts the door behind him and I begin eating. I wonder when we will be able to talk to Ivy. We seriously need to develop more of a game plan. This whole 'wait and watch and obey' plan isnt solid. I mean, yeah we're not gonna act out again. Not while they think that we're finally on their side, but I need to know that all of this is leading to something.

My door opens slowly and I ignore it. I continue eating, looking down at my food, when the bed sinks in front of me. I dont take my eyes off of my food as a plate is slid next to mine.

"Good morning." Roman says to me, probably waiting for me to look at him.

I continue eating, as if I hadn't heard anything, as if I'm still in here by myself. He sighs and takes a bite out of his french toast.

"You should know why I didn't want to do that with you." He says, maybe explaining.

I bite one of my sausages. "Right. You do things to me all of the time for no reason, but somehow I should know, should understand why you go from being a decent person to an asshole in 3.5 seconds. Look, if you're bipolar that's fine. I just need a heads up." I say.

"Dont let the luxury fool you Angel. We're prisoners just like everyone else. We're being watched just like everyone else. I cant help the way I feel about you, but I dont want them trying to pin us against each other all of the time. We need to keep it professional." He explains.

I laugh sarcastically. "Professional? See that's the problem Roman. You make all of the rules. One day you decide that you like me, the next you dont, the next you do and the next you say we cant be together. If you don't want to make up your mind then I will. We don't have to 'keep it professional' because I just don't like you like that anymore. Okay? Done." I say, finishing my breakfast.

"I know you're just saying that because you're upset.. but okay." He says.

"Please leave my room." i say, throwing my plate away.

He leaves my room and goes in his so that he can change. When I hear his door shut I take a deep breath. I pick up my bedside lamp and toss it at the wall, it shatters the bulb and contorts the vase. I take a few deep breaths and put my hair in a bun. My guard opens the door and looks at the mess I've made.

"Was the food that bad?" He asks.

I shake my head and walk past him, through the door. Roman and his bodyguards follow behind us and we enter the Training Room where we have yet another day of combat training.

We train for a few hours and they let us go to do our testing. We walk into the room with Ivy and she smiles at both of us.

"Mornin guys. How'd you sleep?" She asks.

"Not well." I say, sitting in the Simulation chair.

"I couldn't sleep." Roman says.

She gives both of us a look. "Did you guys have unfulfilling sex last night or something?" She asks, wondering why we're both in a bad mood.

I chuckle. "No. No sex. We are in a prison Ivy. Cant get much good sleep in here."

"Mhm." She says, looking from me to Roman.

"Let's get to the plan." Roman says, pulling out a blueprint.

"Where did you get that?" I ask.

"My guards." He says, smoothing it out.

"And where did they get it?" I ask, getting suspicious.

"They stole it for us. It was brave of him." He answers. "So this is pretty much the layout of this building. I noticed some-"

"No. Before we get to this new development, how exactly did one of your guards steal that and who exactly did he steal it from?" I say, folding my arms.

"Angel that doesnt matter." Ivy says.

"No it does. Im not gonna have the Evil Twins punishing me for something coming up missing because of this fool and his batch of guards with sticky fingers. Where did it come from?" I ask again, getting angry.

"Angel. If anyone gets in trouble then it will be worth-"

"Where did it come from!" I yell.

"I stole it!" Roman says, raising his voice.

I sit back in my chair. I knew it. His guards are too cowardice to steal something from them. Ivy looks from Roman back to me.

"I've been scoping out their hideouts in my free time. I found a den. This blueprint was in there. I know they wont notice, because it was covered in dust underneath a trash can. I also saw an industrial sized paper shredder. They're trying to get rid of documents, test results, important papers. Maybe if we sneak-" I cut him off.

"No thank you. So, let me take a look at this blueprint." I say, moving it closer to me.

"So you're scared huh?" he asks.

"Im not sneaking around this building. Dont you remember we were running around the building for hours when they put us in those tanks and put us through that obstacle course? Have you forgotten? This is their territory. Im not sniffin around nowhere." I say, looking over the blueprint.

"Everything is labeled on here. If we follow this perfectly, we can find places in here and do some searching. We can have the upper hand, for once." Ivy says.

"Ivy I am not letting you be apart of this foolish plan." I say.

"If we go somewhere dangerous we have the blueprint right here. We can just go back." Roman says. "Simple."

I roll my eyes. "Well good luck." I get out of my chair.

"Angel." Ivy says, grabbing my arm.

"I've gotten in enough trouble. We've been doing enough sneaking around. Just us being in here is dangerous. Now you want to make it worse. No thanks." I say.

I knock on the door and my guard looks at me. "Where are you going? We got you guys at least an hour."

"Yeah I need to take a walk." I say.

One of Roman's guards walks with me and Ivy turns me around.

"We need to talk." She says.

She drags me around the corner and looks around.

"No cameras. So you want to tell me what the hell is going on with you two? He's got a good plan. You've been complaining that we dont have any plans brewing and he gets one and you dont want to do it? What's the problem?" She asks.

"It's reckless." I say.

She looks at me. "He broke your heart."

I look down, rubbing my arm. "No."

"Angel. I know that face. Ive worn that face. What did he do to you?" She asks, putting her hand on my shoulder.

"Nothing. I just dont like this plan." I say, still looking down.

She sighs. "Fine. Dont tell me. But regardless, we have to try. If it can lead to some answers, it would have been worth it."

"And if it gets us in trouble?" I ask, finally looking up.

"It would have been worth it." She repeats.

I walk with her back into the Simulation Room and shut the heavy door behind me.

"Okay when do you want to do this?" I say, getting into the chair.

"Tonight." He says, smiling.

I glare at him. "Must feel good to always get your way."

His smile drops and I hook myself up to the machine.

"I'll go first. Simulation reality sounds much better than this reality right now." I say.

"We dont have time today. You need to go to the Meditation Room." She explains.

I unhook myself, sighing deeply.

"But we can do it tomorrow." She says as we walk out.

"If we make it to tomorrow." I say.

The guards walk us to the Meditation Room. I start having flashbacks of what happened yesterday. I felt like my head was going to blow up. I walk slowly into the room and look at all of the people with headphones on. I dont know how any one of us are going to pass Level 2 in here. Roman walks around to each person to see how they are doing. I start shaking thinking about having to go back under. I feel dizzy and light-headed. I hold onto the wall as I am going pass out. Roman grabs me as I am holding onto the wall and I push him off.

"Dont touch me." I say.

"What's wrong?" He asks.

"You. Now go do your job." I say angrily.

He lets go of me and looks at me like he cant believe me. 

"Staring at me isnt going to help them." I say, holding my head.

"Neither of us can help them if you're not feeling well." He explains.

"Just go away." I say.

He finally listens to me and goes over to help some people. I finally feel much better and I go over to someone who is sitting next to the machine without headphones on. I kneel down next to her.

"What level are you on?" I ask.

"Two, but I cant pass it." She says.

"Dont worry. You will." I say.

"How did you pass it? Tell me please." She says.

"I... I cant tell you. You have to figure it out for yourself." I say, getting up.

I brush off my pants and suddenly I am against the floor with my arm behind me, bent in painful ways. I scream and I see Roman being attacked by three of the other prisoners. What the hell is going on? I push myself up on my free elbow and slide underneath her body, straightening out my arm in her grasp and I flip her, choking her with my foot. 

"What is wrong with you??" I yell.

She writhes underneath my foot and then suddenly stops. She looks at me and screams.

"Stop! Please! Why are you doing this to me?" She screams.

I frown. I take my foot off of her throat and step back. She grabs her throat, running out of the room. Roman knocked out one of the prisoners and walks over to me.

"I wanna know what the hell just happened." He says.

I stretch my arm out, nodding. "Same. Grab one of them." I say.

Roman drags one of the prisoners that attacked him and we take him into the same room that the Evil Twins locked us in for a night when we were fighting. Roman sits him in the chair and he slumps over. I slap him and he wakes up. Roman stands over him, folding his arms. I stand next to him, my hands on my hips.

"Why did you attack him?" I demand.

He looks at both of us like he is afraid. He better be. If he doesnt give us a good explanation, Roman is going to hurt him.

"I dont know. I dont know! All of a sudden I blacked out and all I remember was punching Roman and then... nothing." He explains.

"Why did you punch him?" I ask.

"I dont know! It was like someone else was controlling my body. I got nothing against you man, I really dont. Im glad you're our leaders. I want you to help us. Im sorry!" He says.

Roman looks down on him like he is about to blow a fuse.

"I'm not sorry. I can put some of my training to the test." Roman says, cracking his knuckles.

I think about something for a moment.  "What level are you on?" I ask.

"I'm on Level 3." he says, shaking in the seat.

I slap my forehead.

"Roman I know why they attacked us." I say, realizing what is going on here.

In the distance, we hear clapping. The lights come on and the Evil Twins come over to us clapping.

"I see the combat training has been successful. We knew you could handle three at once Roman, but you really surprised us Angel. Perhaps we underestimated you. Just because you're a level lower than Roman doesnt mean that you arent just as capable." The woman says.

"Why am I a level lower than Roman?" I ask, not having figured that out since yesterday.

"Someone tell me what the hell is going on." Roman says, walking up on her brother.

"Calm down big man. You think because you're our hand-picked leaders that we wont still test you? We gotta know where your head is at. We now see that you're doing your jobs correctly." Her brother says.

"Angel is clearly the brains of this operation. Kindly explain to your boyfriend why they attacked you." The woman says.

"He's a Level 3. They were injected last night with a drug that was supposed to make them stronger. However, for whatever reason, the drug has some kind of mechanism in it that makes them capable of... savage behavior." I explain.

She claps. "You're good. Now let me explain why it makes them capable of this kind of behavior. Upon injection, there are capsules that rest within the blood stream. When released, the person becomes 20% stronger, faster, smarter, and, unfortunately angrier. They're senses are heightened so everything is an overload. We decide when to release these drugs in their blood stream. In reality, they could have attacked anyone in that room, but we wanted to test our faithful leaders and you passed with flying colors. Congratulations." She says, smiling.

"So why am I a level lower than Roman?" I ask again.

Roman looks at me and she smiles. "Well clearly you're a level higher in intelligence."

I glare at her.

"You're the smart one, right? Why dont you figure it out." She says, turning to walk away with her brother.

I look over at Roman and he is clenching his fists. "So did you pass Level 2 in the Meditation Room?" I ask.

He looks at me like I'm crazy. "What? Of course I didnt pass Level 2! That shit is too hard. I dont know if anyone could pass that level."

"Then why are you a level higher than me?" I ask again.

"Angel, how am I supposed to know? Ive been doing the same things that you've been doing." He says.

"Yeah, except I havent been sneaking around the building at night and stealing things." I explain, suddenly becoming suspicious of him.

He frowns and picks up the guy from the seat and pushes him out of the door. He shuts the door behind him and looks at me. I fold my arms.

"Are you saying that you dont trust me anymore?" He asks.

"I dont know if I should trust you Roman. We've obviously been doing two different things here. I wanna know what unthinkable things you have done to get to your level." I say.

He scoffs and rolls his eyes. "I've never lied to you."

"Or maybe you just dont remember what you did to get there. How's your memories? Do you remember getting kidnapped when you were a child?" I ask.

He glares at me. I walk over to him.

"I'm gonna find out what kind of bull you've been pulling Roman. Go get Ivy. We're following your blueprint." I say, walking out of the room.

I go into the gym and I see Aaron kicking a punching bag.

"Aaron!" I yell.

He stops kicking and looks at me. "Oh hey Angel. Ready to do your training?" He asks.

"I need you to do something for me." I say.

"Okay. What is that?" He asks.

"What level are you on?" I ask.

"Im on Level 9." He says.

"Okay. I need you to tell me how to get past Level 2 in the Meditation Room... and I need you to watch Roman."

~~~.~~~