Gharnem put on her new uniform; the clothes felt more like lightweight armour than a uniform. The cloth was more akin to heavy Kevlar, something to be worn by armoured police. The gun handed to her was something she had never seen.
"After the gun ban, most police officers weren't even allowed to carry guns, especially not this sort." Gharnem thinks to herself.
The submachine gun she holds is heavy, even when she holds it in two hands. Her training required her to learn to shoot, but she had never held a weapon capable of doing as much damage as this.
"It looks as if you've never held a gun. I was told you were competent." Kulibren says
"Oh no – sorry, I am competent, it's just, Im confused," Kulibren starts to walk down the hall, Gharnem follows.
"I didn't know such powerful guns were allowed, especially in uses like this, you know, because of the ban?" Gharnem says,
"Laws like this don't apply to people like me, not when I'm the one doing them a favour," Kulibren says with striking confidence, confidence that is only added to by the fact that he stands at a confident 6'5, and looks like a bioengineered super soldier. With his tattoos, buzz cut, and build, the only thing keeping him from looking identical to the rest of the prisoners is the respect he commands as he walks down the halls.
By now, they had reached the end of the hall,
"Here we are, make sure you are prepared, because once we are down there, I need you to stay as silent as possible," Kulibren says
Gharnem looks around, but to her dismay, she doesn't understand where she is to go, no staircase or elevators, not even any cells or offices. All around her, she just sees walls.
"Where is it, the entrance?" Gharnem asks, quietly to ensure she doesn't anger Kulibren.
"Watch."
As soon as Kulibren finished speaking, the wall of the hall behind them vanished, being closed by some sort of metal fence. The floor underneath Kulibren and Gharnem starts to lower.
"Some sort of elevator?" Gharnem thinks
"It may be over-engineered, but at least there's no way out without permission. Anyways, we have to put all this government funding to good use." Kulibren says, with his intimidating tone almost completely disappearing, looking more like a father joking with his daughter.
The elevator stops at a level seemingly below the basement, the walls surrounding it no longer concrete but closer to steel. This leads Gharnem to realize that floor zero isn't just an additional floor for containing criminals, but rather more like an advanced research lab.
Kulibren turns around and walks towards the outline of what could be a door. The wall opens upwards, revealing a second hallway. Gharnem keeps following him.
Once they reach the end of that hallway, Gharbnen notices another door.
"Your uniform contains a chip that was sensed by the first door, so don't worry about learning how to open that one, but this gate is far more important than that, so please remember how to open it," Kulibren says. For the first time, it seems as if Kulibren's voice carries a sort of concern. A small piece of empathy that Gharnem picks up on.
She watches Kulibren open a latch on his helmet, then take out an identification card and place it in front of the scanner.
"Your helmet has one of these as well," Kulibren notes.
The second gate opens up to 'floor zero.'
Gharnem tries to take everything in, although everything is completely different from what she had imagined. Not a scientific research lab, nor a highly advanced prison. But something in between.
"You know, 'floor zero' is actually not one floor, but three. Half of the prison is technically 'floor zero'." Kulibren jokes.
"He's right," Gharnem thinks to herself.
"This could be a second prison by itself. Except it looks nothing like a prison."
With three floors of clean stainless steel walls, the armed guards and scientists circling make it seem like a nuclear laboratory.
"This is floor zero, Hilden's biggest secret, Yewlin's biggest secret. This is the top floor, reserved for the scientific research," Kulibren says, pointing at a passing man in a lab coat and glasses,
"These scientists can advance humanity's knowledge based on the data they acquire."
"Data from what?" Gharnem asks
"Oh." She says as she realizes the source of said 'data'.
"That's what the other two floors are for, follow me," Kulibren says, responding as he walks down the stairs in the middle of the floor that connects the top and second floor.
"Both floor -1 and floor -2, as we like to call them, have two cells each. Both containing, how do I put this, 'criminals of special interest'." Kulibren says
"I can see you're confused. Let me explain. Do you know what a black box is used for in a theatre production? While much smaller than a regular theatre, in a black box, the show runner has complete control over what is where and how everything looks. These four cells are my black boxes. I have complete control over how they are built, and that complete control is something I need."
They stop at the first cell, and the metal door opens, revealing a room. The room is covered in computers and papers cluttering the tables. Four men who seem to be scientists of sorts are watching the computers closely.
Gharnem looks at the computers and notices that they are all showing camera feeds of the same room from different angles. Gharnem notices that only half of the 'cell' is the room she is standing in.
"This isn't the cell, just a viewing point of the actual cell; the real cell is right in front of us," Kulibren says, pointing to the metal wall in front of them.
"I need perfect control over this 'black box' because of who we are researching," Kulibren says.
"Researching? I thought this was a prison." Gharnem interjects, keeping quiet despite her anger, knowing that following Kulibren's orders is still the best course of action.
"Yes, 'researching', but don't worry, this isn't some sick Glendian human experimentation camp, these aren't humans in the practical sense, these are miracle-born." Kulibren responds.
"I see." Gharnem adds
"That's why we need the black box. Miracle-born could use their miracles to escape even the highest-grade prisons. So the government hires me to create specific prisons, ones that are built around their miracles. But the government doesn't fund me purely to keep them imprisoned; it would be far cheaper to just kill them, so I allow these government agents to research how miracles work. I know it's immoral, but it's far better than letting them die, so that is how I sleep at night, knowing I'm saving lives."
Before Gharnem has a chance to respond, Kulibren continues talking,
"Like here, this miracle, Dordio, shipped in from the other side of Yewlin, his past life ended when he tried to stop a mugging in an alley. Because of him, we have more understanding of how this miracle system works. Instead of having an ability related to his past life as a police officer or anything related to the knife that killed him, he has the ability to blind people and alter the shape of any room." Kuliber explains.
"Its amazing, isn't it? Instead of acquiring a miracle based on his death, his miracle was based on the alley where he died." Kulibren says with honest wonder in his voice.
"Sadly, he decided he had to use this miracle to kill the kids of the man who murdered him in his past life." A scientist says, listening in on their conversation.
"Now, watch this," a second scientist says.
Gharnem notices that Dordio has been chained up. A man wearing the same uniform as Gharnem enters the black box and touches a knife to his skin.
"His catalyst is a dagger," the first scientist says.
The room starts to become blurry for Gharnem as she realizes she's lost sight. Before she can panic, her vision comes back as quickly as it vanished.
"What was that?" Korven asks
"A decade's worth of scientific advancements in thaumatology, in just one experiment ." A scientist says.
Even through the mask, it is clear to Korven that the scientist is smiling cheek-to-cheek.
"This is proof, no, more than that, for a second, we all became blind, but that wasn't Dordio's doing. Don't you see? This means we are able to control other people's miracles!"