The Commander motioned for Benedict to follow him down a hall to an awaiting door. It was a heavy metal, a sign that once Benedict had passed through it there was no going back. He shivered. Waiting with the Commander as a series of noises signaled that the door was being unlocked. A loud buzz sounded and the Commander pulled open the door for Benedict to pass through.

"This is the dining hall." The Commanded stated, motioning Benedict through the door. It opened up to a platform overlooking a large room. Benedict recognized it as the one from Jonah's memory. He took in the black metal and windowless room with unsureness. "It's put to use every two hours as different groups come to eat."

"Different groups?"

"Yes, based on their Deformations."

Benedict nodded. It was probably easier to control them if they were separate. That way they could concentrate on those particular genes at one time. "It's easier that way."

"Well, that is one way to do it." The Commander's chest puffed, waving his hand out in the direction that he wanted Benedict to go. He imagined that the Commander didn't have the chance to brag about the success of his compound often. He very rarely left and visitors were scarce.

"The dining room is the topmost floor of over five hundred." The Commander explained, leading the way toward an elevator. Benedict allows him on first, following after as he listened to the man's smug talk. "The whole compound is around three miles deep. Impressive, isn't it?"

The elevator was picking up speed. They pass through a patch of what Benedict assumed was rock. Then, with a surprising brightness, the space in front of them opened to a large cavern. It stretched out like a thin panel of inward facing shelves. Only it was floors and floors of metal platforms and empty mouthed rooms staring out at them.

"No bars?" Benedict muttered. Such little measures were being taken. All to keep the prisoners inside their respective cells.

"No need. We've got them all tagged with devices that inject enough Tiletamine in their system to put them to sleep." The Commander pointed toward some of the cells. "They can't leave due to monitors on the inside of the doorframe. It triggers the tags if they try to leave during any time other than regulated breaks."

As much as Benedict feared the establishment he was now in, he couldn't deny that it was impressive. He couldn't help but wonder why they needed such measures against Deformed though. They could have been using this to keep the lowest of the low out of the open, but instead, they had Undesirables. He supposed that to Norms like the Commander, Deformed were the lowest of the low. There was a whole department dedicated to the control and capture of Deformed, after all.

He was, at the moment, a common control agent. He traveled to different Institutions. Ensuring that the security was at it's highest. Of course, being a rat, he also ensured that there were big enough gaps in the system that his employers to slip in and out. He was happy being a low-level agent, but he heard rumors about being stuck to a compound soon. Benedict prayed it wouldn't be Area 92.

"Is there a fault in your system, Commander?" He asked as the elevator finally slowed and stopped in the hall much like the ones above ground. Two awaiting guards checked them both before allowing them off the elevator.

"Not one." The Commander stated, leading Benedict down the hall.

"Then why exactly am I here?" They paused in front of a door, which the Commander opened to reveal an empty room. He was almost concerned that the Commander had somehow caught onto him. Planning to lock Benedict up in the room. The panic disappeared when the Commander motioned him inside. He pointed at the window on the left wall.

"You're here because of her." Benedict's eyes caught onto the new face as Commander Switchson spoke. "Inmate 52673." She was inside the adjoined room, chained to a table like an animal. Her brown hair was back enough to reveal the bruised right cheek and swollen right eye. She looked thin too. This girl had been through a lot the past few days.

"What's her deformation?" Benedict asked, taking the girl's file. Her name was Darcy Perch. A muscle manipulation deformation made her another face among the average Undesirables. "Super strength isn't usually seen as a threat anymore since we've been able to counter it. Why's she here?"

"She's a transfer from Colbert, actually." The Commander took a seat at the desk behind Benedict. "She's involved with a successful breakout."

"Well, it wasn't very successful if she's still here." Benedict tossed the file onto the table, removing his jacket as he prepared to meet with Miss Perch. "It's happened before from the look of the bruises."

"Yes, you'd think so. Except it seems she has picked to to be here." Benedict froze, turning to look at The Commander. "She and her accomplices were home free, but she stayed behind for some reason. The others escaped." Benedict turned wide eyes toward the girl in the other room. She didn't look like much. In fact, her file said she wasn't even twenty yet. To think that she had chose to stay behind.

"That doesn't make sense."

"No, it doesn't."

"So you want me to find out what her deal is?" Benedict tapped his chin in thought, "And where her partners went. That's not an easy feat." Benedict heard a chair squeak behind him and the sound of footsteps as the Commander came to stand next to him.

"That's why you're here, Agent Marquerink." His hand came down on Benedict's shoulder. "Do you think you can do it?"

Benedict didn't answer, thinking about the various people he had dealt with before. He had investigated a large number of cases. Never before had he seen someone with a clear chance of freedom give it up. It made him curious about Darcy Perch's motives. His hand almost itched to grasp her arm, to understand. He wouldn't be able to though, not yet. He knew he'd have to take it slow with her if he wanted to help Darcy in any way.

The question wasn't whether he could break her, but whether he could break the system trapping her. The system here was unbreakable. If he found out what she was looking for he had no doubt that she'd cooperate with him. He'd have to talk to his friends in the resistance, tell them about her. She'd be valuable if she did, in fact, have anything to do with the breakout.

She was like a riddle. One that Benedict wanted to solve.

"Don't worry, Commander Switchson." Benedict gave the Commander a smile. "I know just what to do with her."