Seized in the Dark (gxg)

Ch. 31: Evidence

My trusted contact outside of the base is still poring over the surveillance tapes. Even though I managed to convince Mistress to let me investigate the footage, I had to make a copy and sneak it outside. There was no way that I would be given permission to take classified material to the outside world. There is a reason why people working in this base have an assumed job and identity.

To cover my ass, I have three people inside the base working on analyzing the clips. Out of those three, only one I can fully trust. The other two, however, I can't say with 100% certainty but I need them. None of the three, as far as I know, know that they are not the only ones investigating. Hopefully, by having independent reports, I'll have more chances of getting to the truth.

Here I am in my room, all alone, trying to piece together a game plan for tonight. I'm just sitting in bed, with a glass of water that's already empty. The clinking ice cubes that I keep swirling in the glass resemble how circular my thoughts have been lately.

I must get into Mistress's office!

If I can find anything on Keira, then I can figure out what that nanochip is for and hopefully explain Keira's abrupt change in behavior.

The glass in my grip better not give. There's an uneasiness that churns my stomach anytime I think back to Keira in the Arena. Her screams, I can't get rid of them. They were worse than when she got branded!

I can't think about that now!

I must push these thoughts out of my mind for now and focus on the task at hand.

I've finished my duties for the day and I already fed and gave physical therapy to Keira. There hasn't been any improvement since yesterday when she spoke. Still, that's enough to make me smile. Oh, Keira...

I've mostly kept to myself during this time, avoiding any possible confrontation with Kristia, Cleary, or Mia. I can't risk putting myself in a situation that I know will make me blow up because Keira needs me right now and I know I'm probably hanging by a thin thread with Mistress. She's just not listening to reason!

Great, now I have to clean up this mess.

At least I vented a bit.

I'll sweep the glass pieces later.

--

It's Thursday night, and many tend to gather at the makeshift bar that spawned in the gym that has the boxing ring. The Bar, as it was so "creatively" named, came about out of necessity for employees that had to deal with the stresses of work. Mistress had found out that many people were sneaking alcohol into the base and fights among the personnel were breaking out. In an effort to quell the behavior, she set up a dedicated space that also served as an entertainment venue when the prisoners were not the ones being forced to fight. The boxing ring, on the other hand, also lets us burn steam against any personnel that we might be having a beef with regardless of position or status.

Everyone is equal on the canvas.

No one is obligated to fight, but anyone on this base would be hard-pressed to decline one if they were called out in front of everyone. A couple of people choose to avoid The Bar altogether opting to not put themselves in the position of having to fight.

I've been in the ring twice already and won both fights. Both times were with trainees who thought they were too big for their britches. If they would've just apologized after I humiliated them in front of the base personnel and forced them to work the worst jobs for not following the chain-of-command and trying to undermine me, I would've let them back in my squad when they lost.

They didn't, so I got rid of them and barred them from ever being in my presence.

If they didn't agree with the way that I was training the squad, then sucks to be them. I wasn't going to waste my time on a couple of nobodies who wouldn't take orders from their superiors.