The cell they were locked in was only two meters long and wide. There were no windows. The only light came from the entrance, which was a white energy field.

Solar and Daron, after they were brought in, sat as far apart from each other as possible. The girl was next to the energy field. The intense brightness had bleached her face completely. She found the gentle humming of the field comforting. She took great care not to get too close, as she had heard strange things about it. She believed that if someone touched such a field, at best their internal organs would disintegrate, and at worst, they would turn into a handful of ash. It might have been just a rumor, but it served as a good enough reason for her not to try it. She tried not to think about what might have happened to her companions.

She looked at Daron with anger. He was sitting in the corner with his knees pulled up. At first, she felt a little sorry for him. She saw the sadness in his eyes and how much the electronic shackles around his neck and arms frightened him. But when she remembered it was because of him that they got caught, her sympathy faded. The younger boy sat next to her, motionless throughout the time.

“If I may ask, what was this all for?” Solar asked Daron.

The older boy looked up. “He promised… Quilen promised that if I helped him catch you, he would set me free. I used to be one of his soldiers, but I made a mistake… He hates mistakes. I’ve been locked up here in the prison for months. You can’t imagine how I felt when the opportunity to leave came up.”

“I know how it feels,” Solar replied. “Why did he need us?”

“He told me you were Imperial and that you surely knew things that would be useful.”

“I’m not Imperial. I never have been and never will be. But I doubt the others would tell him anything.”

“He has the means to find out whatever he wants. I think your friends have already told him everything.”

“The admiral was with him. She didn’t seem broken.”

Solar then noticed movement. Three figures were approaching at the far end of the corridor. As they got closer, she saw that two soldiers were escorting Angron, who was walking with a sour expression. When they arrived, one of the armed men approached the panel on the side of the cell and began to fiddle with it.

The girl saw that Daron looked like a cat preparing to attack at that moment, but when the soldier who stayed with Angron warned him by raising his gun, the boy froze and lost his fighting spirit, returning to his original position.

Solar contemplated rushing them, her claws extended, her sharp teeth bared. They could have easily torn anyone’s throat apart, but when the energy barrier disappeared, and the soldier standing by the panel aimed his ray gun at her, she also remained still.

She watched as the soldier dragged in the pilot, who silently endured having his arm chained to the wall.

“Do you think I should turn on the electricity for him?” the soldier inside the cell asked his comrade.

“Yes!” Angron responded vehemently.

“I guess so,” the soldier outside replied, shrugging. “Though the Captain said they didn’t need much attention. You heard what he said. They don’t stand a chance of escaping.”

Blue light traveled along the chain, when the soldier flipped on a switch. Solar saw her companion grit his teeth as the energy reached his wrist.

Angron still managed to groan.

“Please! They don’t know what they’re doing! I need much stronger protection! I will get out of here!”

The soldier standing beside him looked uncertainly at his comrade, who only shook his head.

“The captain’s orders were this much. Lord Quilen will deal with him if he doesn’t like it.”

The soldier hurriedly left the cell before the energy barrier could be reactivated, and they both walked away. When they were at a respectable distance, Solar turned to the pilot with concern.

“Are you okay?”

“Thanks for asking, but not really.”

Angron tugged on his chains. He could feel that they held firmly, so he was almost certain that he couldn’t tear them out of the wall immediately. The soldiers were right; an average-strength being would never be able to break free from them.

“What’s the deal with needing stronger protection?” Solar inquired. “Why didn’t they just give you handcuffs?”

“Because you’d all be dead in an instant.”

“What?”

“Listen to me! You know something is wrong with me, right?” Angron let out a painful groan and looked up. “It’s just my cigarette, more specifically what’s in it. Let’s call it medicine. Only it can help me stay conscious, but they took it away from me. Sooner or later, I will change, and you need to get out of this cell before that happens. I don’t care how you do it; just hurry because I won’t take responsibility for what I might do! These chains will hold for a little while. Find Sephra and tell her what happened. She’ll know what to do with me. If these break before you escape, then you can panic.”

The girl stared at him in a way that made Angron fear she didn’t comprehend what he had explained. Before he could say anything further, Daron spoke up.

“What will happen to me?”

“No one cares about you!” Solar snapped.

“Take him with you because I don’t want to hurt him!”

“But…”

“Solar!”

Angron closed his eyes to control his anger in time.

“It already happened once, and I don’t want to repeat it, okay? I wouldn’t want it even if it were a real criminal, not because they wouldn’t deserve it, but for my sake. The first time I killed someone, it was horrible. I still see it in my mind. You’ll take these two with you, whether you like it or not! Don’t start arguing with me about this, because it’ll only make me angrier.”

“Alright… I’ll take them with me, but if they make one wrong move, I’ll kill them myself. I hope that’s not a problem for you.”

“I won’t do anything, I swear! After Quilen broke his promise… If I can go with you, I’ll help in any way I can, okay? I promise.”

“I’ll believe anything you say.” Solar said with a smug expression.

“Then go! Get out of here!”

Solar rushed back to the energy barrier and peered outside.

“I’ll handle it; just don’t be late!”

“Handle what?”

“You’ll see.”

None of them knew how much time had passed in this silence. Angron appeared normal, his head slightly bowed. He was probably struggling to stay conscious.

Solar kept anxiously looking down the corridor over and over again.

Daron had distanced himself from the corner to avoid being near the pilot. The younger boy continued to gaze in a way that made the girl wonder if he was even alive.

“What’s with him?” she asked the older boy, just to divert attention.

“He’s not real. He only does something when I want it. I control him,” Daron replied.

“He’ll be a good decoy while we escape,” Solar tried to make fun of the situation.

“I don’t know what will happen to me if he gets hurt. He’s like a tiny part of my mind. I’ll explain when there’s time, okay?”

“Maybe there won’t be time,” Solar replied.

Daron gulped and flattened his ears, looking at Angron.

“Why isn’t he moving?”

“I can’t look up,” the pilot muttered quietly.

This small sign reassured both Solar and Daron, indicating that he was still conscious.

“If I did, I might see something that would terrify me, leading to despair, and that leads to the same place as anger. Not to mention…” Angron didn’t finish the sentence.

Solar watched in horror as Angron fell silent and twitched. She observed how the pilot clenched his eyes, his teeth, and moved his arms as if he wanted to cover his ears. But what terrified her the most was when he suddenly started talking. Not to her, not to the boys, but to someone unseen.

“They’re dead. They’re dead, can’t you see? Can’t you see how sweet their blood is? You don’t need it? It tasted good last time, so why not now? Take them? I want them, of course, I want them. Why don’t you look at them? Are you afraid of them? They should be afraid! They’re all at fault in what happened! Quilen. Father. Sephra. No, not Sephra! Everyone. They all are. I’ll deal with all of them. She never harmed me! She never looked down on me! Her, no! But she did. Don’t you want to? I do, but I can’t. Do you want the boy more, or the girl? Please, please, let me not hurt them! I don’t want to hurt them! Look up! They’re not here anymore; I sent them away. It’s okay, I’ll find them. You can still hear the girl, right? She had a lovely voice. I don’t want to hear them! These two are enough. The boy will be first. He got us here. If he hadn’t, we wouldn’t be here. Come on, just look at them, and you’ll see what you really want! Look up, Angron! Now!”

At this point, the man fell silent again, accompanied by another twitch. Solar and Daron sat frozen, hardly daring to breathe for fear of causing any harm.

Solar peeked out into the corridor once more. She only turned back when she heard the pilot moving, the sound of his chains ringing out. At first, he fidgeted with his head down, as if he wanted to go somewhere. When he couldn’t move, he tugged at his arm, first gently, then more angrily. Finally, he lifted his head to look around.

A moment later, the screams of Solar and Daron echoed down the corridor.

In the way Angron looked at them, there was nothing reminiscent of a sentient and thinking being. His gaze held that of a starving, desiring creature willing to do anything to acquire what it wanted. His skin had darkened, his eyes almost turned black. His mouth froze into a twisted grin, and blood dripped from his teeth. Solar couldn’t tell where that had come from, but at this moment, she didn’t care to find out.

That’s when she noticed Angron wasn’t looking at them. She signaled Daron to stay as quiet as he could. The boy, ears flattened back, nodded in fear.

Angron’s head swayed back and forth, his eyes constantly following something. From time to time, he bit into the air with his teeth as if trying to grab it.

In the next moment, he seemed to lose interest in what he was seeing and looked around again. That was when his eyes first fixed on Solar.

“Kid…”

Solar widened her eyes and tried to move further away in disbelief at how different this one word sounded coming from the mouth of the regular Angron.

The man then moved to grab her, but the chain held him back. Disbelief flickered across his eyes. He looked down at his arm and had already opened his bloodied mouth, as if he intended to bite it off, but then thought better of it.

Angron turned to look at Solar again and stood completely still for long seconds. Then he made a massive jerk of his arm, so powerful that for a moment, she thought his shoulder would be ripped out of its socket.

She heard a crack. Solar initially thought that the chain had given way, and she felt a momentary relief, but then she saw it hadn’t. But as she realized what had happened, her relief quickly turned into shock. Angron’s forearm had snapped, yet he continued to struggle with the same intensity, causing cracks to appear on the wall, from where it was connected to his arm.

“Help!” Solar screamed frantically down the corridor.

The boy cried out in terror, causing the girl to whirl around. With one arm, Angron had ripped the chain from the wall, coincidentally disabling the electric current. Blood was flowing from his wrist, but it seemed as if the pain didn’t bother him at all. His broken arm wasn’t his concern either. He was attempting to reach them with his remaining arm, flailing and yelling in anger.

Then Angron froze, and he stared at the girl and the boy with the same horror-stricken look that was mirrored on their faces. He glanced at the torn chain that still dangled from his arm. His broken arm seemed to go unnoticed by him, probably because the shock and panic had dulled the pain.

Angron looked back at Solar, his voice trembling with fear, making it almost unintelligible. “Wh-what are you doing here? It’s n-not too late! His full power hasn’t emerged yet! Leave! Go!”

The man retreated against the wall, hiding his face. He was struggling once again to maintain his composure, making a sound like he was crying.

Daron huddled right next to Solar. “It’s better to die together, right?” he whispered when Solar looked at him. The girl couldn’t argue, especially since Angron had lost control once again and was staring at them. She then realized he wasn’t crying. Blood was now flowing from behind his eyes. How this was even possible was something the girl didn’t want to know.

A faint humming sound reached them from outside the cell. Solar turned towards it with tearful eyes and saw what she had been waiting for.

“Is that you? Hurry! Get us out of here!”

“Who are you talking to?” Daron asked, unable to see anything.

The girl paid him no attention.

The energy barrier vanished. At first, Solar just stared, as if she hadn’t comprehended their good fortune. However, when she heard Angron’s furious roar, she immediately jumped out of the cell, pulling Daron with her.

“Turn it back on! Turn it back on immediately!”

Angron, his face contorted with rage, kept tugging at the chain. The wall gave in sooner expected. The other chain snapped as well, just as the energy barrier came back on.

Solar jumped back in terror. In the next moment, Angron stood just half a meter away from her, screaming, raging, and pounding the cell wall. The girl watched in deep astonishment as the metal dented under his blows. Whatever was happening to him at these moments, it granted him incredible strength, but even he didn’t dare touch the radiant energy barrier, at least for now.

“Are you okay?” she asked Daron, her voice trembling. He just stared at her, speechless. “What’s wrong?”

The boy pointed into the cell with trembling hands. Solar turned around and saw what had frightened him so much. The younger boy was left inside the cell. Silently, they watched as Angron turned in that direction, seemingly confused, torn between attempting to escape or starting with an easier target. Eventually, he made up his mind and began moving.

Solar let out a gasp. “No. I don’t want to see this! Let’s go! We can’t get him out! Let’s go!”

With that, Solar grabbed the small device next to the control panel that operated the cell wall and began to run. Daron immediately followed her.