After the induction of the new recruits Maria stated that the pit fights would start in an hour, right after everyone had lunch, then had the guards behind each kid take the one standing in front of them to their rooms. The woman strolled out like she owned the world, which I now realize is all too possible. The instructors went to whatever business they had to sort out before the fights. Many of the Phantoms were talking amongst themselves about anything from which kids they thought would make good Phantoms to how they very vividly imagined some of them would die. I sighed and left the room, I could feel several sets of eyes staring me down from behind as I left but didn’t turn around to see who was so intently watching me.

“Aidan,” a recognizable gruff voice said suddenly from my left as I walked down the hall to my room, “can I talk with you for a sec?”

I turned and saw Colonel Joseph standing in the doorway to his quarters. The ex-marine was one of the only people at this place I trusted, he was a good person and had taken great care in helping me make it through my trials, tests, and everything else I went through when I ‘joined’ the Phantom Program. After a while he became something like a father to me, especially after I lost Callam and Niki.

“Sure, what do you need me for?”

He stepped to the side and gestured for me to come in, which I did, and we walked to his dining area and sat at the small table. We were both quiet for a bit, just sitting there at the table in a comfortable silence. Soon he cleared his throat, breaking the silence.

“I heard about your conversation with Maria. The one you had after getting back from Pluto.”

“Ok… and that’s important… why exactly?”

“I’m worried about you, Aidan,” he states as he looks at me with his hands grasped together on the table, “you keep pushing and pushing… Maria is slowly getting more and more fed up with you. My concern is that she is trying to find someone to replace you, someone more… in line with her and less of a loose cannon.”

“You and I both know that finding someone to replace me is far beyond difficult, and Maria knows it too.”

“Aidan… do you enjoy being here? Do you enjoy doing all the horrible things that Maria and the rest of Chronos make you do?”

“Of course not. I hate everything about Chronos and Maria… I hate that I was stolen from my home after watching my parents get ruthlessly murdered in front of me, and I hate that I became the exact same kind of person that killed them,” Once I started I couldn’t stop myself, all my frustrations and anger and hatred came boiling over, “I wish that I had died right at the start of all of this, I wish I hadn’t tried to run when they came to take me, Callam, and Niki away… I should have died in that house with my parents… but I didn’t and now I’ve become the exact thing I hate.”

I took a breath and got ready to continue my rant when my father figure put his hands on my shoulder and looked into my eyes. He squeezed my shoulders gently and I could feel tears brimming my eyes as I looked at the sadness in his face.

“No, Aidan, you shouldn’t have died that day. Nothing that happened should have happened, and you shouldn’t be here right now hating yourself for it. At the time there was nothing that you could do about it… but everything happens for a reason, and I think I know the reason that you’re sitting here right now. You’re supposed to help end this, that’s why you’ve been trained to the extent you have been, that’s why all the horrible things that have happened to you have happened, so that you can realize that Maria… this facility, the entire Phantom Program… Chronos as a whole… needs to end.”

I stared in shock as his words registered in my mind. I had never heard anyone speak this way about all of this, I had thought some of it at times but never put it into words. Now I was listening to David Joseph, a person I thought was a loyal member of Chronos, telling me that it was time for it all to end.

“Aidan… what if I told you there were people ready to fight. People ready to tear Chronos and everything it stands for down piece by piece. All they needed was someone who knows the ins and outs of things, someone who has had experience working for Chronos and has the abilities to fight against it,” he started to say as he looked me straight in my eyes, “and what if I told you that you, Aidan, you were that person. That one missing piece to bring the whole thing together and defeat Chronos.”

My eyes widened and I pushed myself away from the table. He was talking about me leading… what… a revolution?

“David… what are you talking about, even I’m not good enough to lead a… a revolution against Chronos. Nobody is good enough for that. No amount of support from inside or outside of the organization has the power to tear this all down. I-I can’t do that… as much as I want to… I can’t.”

I got up and headed towards the door to leave.

“Aidan… you can, there are many people out there who are ready to stand up for what’s right. You would not be doing this alone.”

“No! David, I already told you that I can’t… I won’t… as horrible as Chronos is, and as much as I want the universe to be free of it… it’s just too powerful, and I won’t do that because it would mean I’d have to fight people I’ve grown to care about, people who have been through a lot of the same things that I have while being here, I will not do that. Even if there was a chance to win.”

“Do it for Callam… for Niki… your parents, Aidan. You know it's the right thing to do.”

“Stop… please, I can’t.”

And with that I swung the door open and left. I heard David walk out into the hall but I wouldn’t look back at him. I sighed and wiped my face to clear away the tears that had been falling from my eyes while I argued with my father figure. I composed myself and went to the gym to clear my head before the pit fights. The gym was empty and dark when I arrived so I turned on the lights and went to the locker room to change. When I came back out I saw Xander and two guards in the room, Xander was punching at one of the rubber mats on the wall while the guards stood on either side of the door, the only exit, and stared at the teen with cold uncaring eyes.

“Go on, get out of here, I’ll make sure he doesn’t try anything and I’ll take him to the pits.”

Xander and the guards were all surprised by my voice as I approached from the locker room.

“We’re under strict orders to keep our eyes on him.”

“I don’t give a damn about your orders. Believe me, he won’t try anything while I’m with him, he knows I could kill him instantly if he did.”

The guards glanced at each other then shrugged and left the room, leaving me and Xander alone. He stared at me in surprise for a second then looked away and went back to fighting the wall.

“Thanks for that… they weren’t leaving me alone… one of them even followed me into the bathroom earlier.”

“I know what being under house arrest is like here, you never get any peace, not in the cells and not anywhere else in the building.”

“Yeah, definitely not fun.”

He stopped punching the wall and instead put his back against it and slid down until he was sitting on the floor with his knees tucked to his chest.

“Maria says that if I kill one of those kids in the pits… I’d be free to return to my room and I won’t be executed. When she told me that, I… I took the deal… it wasn’t until now that I realized just how awful that is… how awful I am for being willing to kill a completely innocent kid just to save myself.”

I didn’t reply to that, instead I wrapped my hands in gauze and put boxing gloves on then went to a punching bag and started hitting it. I could feel Xander’s eyes on me but chose to ignore it and keep at my workout.

“Aidan… if I left do you think Maria would send people after me?”

His sudden question surprised me, causing me to swing and miss as I looked over at him.

“Probably… and then you’d be in an even worse position than you already are.”

“I’m not so sure about that… it’s pretty hard to be in a worse spot than I am right now. A day away from my execution unless I murder a defensless child for Maria’s enertainment.”

“Believe me, as bad as Maria seems to you now, she can be so much worse.”

An awkward silence took over as he glanced between me and the door, then sighed deeply and put his head against his knees. I went over and sat next to him.

“How… how have you done this for so long? I mean… you’re still so… human even though you’ve been dealing with all of this for a decade,” he said as he glanced over at me desperately, “how have you stayed so good while still surviving and doing all of Maria’s bidding… all the killing… the torturing… it seems like it would break you… turn you into something so much less than human. But you still saved Ryker on Pluto, and from what I heard you tried to keep Maria from deciding to execute him. You’re still a good person… how is that?”

I suddenly found an extreme interest in my shoes as I looked away from him without answering. The truth was, I didn’t feel like a good person, not at all, I haven’t for a long time.

“Xander… I am anything but a good person… believe me.”

He didn’t respond, just sat there looking at me. I cleared my throat and got up then put my boxing glove covered hand out for him.

“Come one, I need more of a challenge than a punching bag.”

He chuckled and grabbed my boxing glove and started to stand up. I pointed over to the rack of gloves and he went and grabbed a pair then wrapped his hands and put the gloves on.

“I can’t promise I’ll be much more challenging for you than that bag, but I’ll do my best.”

We boxed for a while to get our minds off of everything we had been thinking about. The door opened and the guards came back in the gym.

“Maria says it’s time.”