Warning: Brief mentions of violence

“Worker one-two-eight-five, report to the Captain!” The caller yelled over the mic, but he was so loud that he honestly didn’t need to use it.

“Isn’t that you?” Lily asked as my hands continued crafting the small mechanical pieces into the part.

“Shit, it is,” I said, setting down my tools.

Nodding to Lily, I made my way between the tables to the guard station, where Tin was standing guard.

“What’s the deal, Tin? Why does the Captain need to see me?” I asked him, staring at his face.

As soon as he met my eyes, he got a goofy grin on his face.

“They’re bothered about how we bring items to you when you ask,” he said, patting my shoulder.

I shrugged off the touch. “Lovely. Where do I need to meet the Captain?”

“His office. Follow me,” Tin said, turning away from me and walking towards the forbidden part of the building. For the workers, of course.

I had been down this way a few times, after asking various guards for a tour. I knew full well where the Captain’s office was.

But I couldn’t let them know that.

Before we could reach the Captain’s office, I heard a muffled ticking sound, and then the wall exploded.

I was thrown against the wall by the force of the explosion, and then a piece of debris buried itself in my head. I could still see and hear, but had no clue what was going on.

My eyes saw three figures come through the smoke, approaching me quickly.

My ears heard them say “Great job, you’ve damaged her for life.”

“Nah, she’ll be okay, Nani can heal her.”

“She’s got a piece of metal through her head, James.”

Without any real thought or command, my hand reached up and grabbed the piece of metal and pulled it out of my head.

As soon as it exited the hole, my comprehension started coming back and I realized what they had said.

“Oi, what happened to the metal in her head?” Asked the tallest of the three.

The other two turned to face me.

“You guys planning on taking me somewhere?” I asked, smiling. “It’s only polite to ask first.”

They all took a step back.

“This is what we came here to get? Super-heal woman?” Asked the one on the left.

“Just grab her, we need to get out of here before people come to see what happened,” said the tall one on the right.

I stood up on my own and casually brushed the dust off my clothes. “Well, since you so kindly asked, I would love to come with you guys and get out of this hellhole.”