Reality Crisis

Warning: Strong violent content in comments.

He supposed he should have expected for some of the chosen to storm his fortress eventually. Lucius was still simmering over how they might have found out about his operation. He had lost the Archive and several guards, as well as the main source of entertainment for his people.

He was angry, and as soon as he'd finished camping out in the bomb shelter that was the secure fallback for situations just such as this, he was going to find the people responsible and kill them. Slowly.

His spy in die Festung had never returned and he was going to have to look into why that was. And he had only now heard that one of the capture attempts hadn't been completed. Which meant that someone had escaped. That someone could have been the reason that all of his prisoners were now free and his city was in chaos.

Indeed, someone was going to suffer for this. Of that much, Lucius was certain.

It seemed to be an ordinary night in New Troy. The prisoners had been dumped back into their cells after they'd been sedated at the end of the battle royale. The ratings had been higher than ever for the airings of the battle. New Troy was fortunate to still have working electricity to some extent and a lot of effort went into making sure appropriate entertainment was lined up to keep its' citizens happy and distracted from the fact that their world was crashing down all around them.

There were guards stationed watching the entrances, and a few scattered inside the wall. There were currently only two guards outside the cells where the chosen were being kept prisoner. All of them had been left in their cells without any medical attention. Dr. Lucius was already thinking about the next bout of entertainment and was content to let them suffer in their maimed states for awhile. They had been getting too organized. They'd been thinking for themselves too much.

Unfortunately for New Troy, none of the guards saw the rescuers coming until it was too late...

The prisoners were getting restless. Worse than that, they had time to recover in between fights. During that time, they'd begun to talk.

Too much talking meant that it would be easier for them to fight off the effects of the drugs. It meant that they might find a loophole around the security and make an escape attempt.

It also meant that the time was nearing when he would have to rid the city of them all.

For now, Dr. Lucius chose to give his people a spectator sport to truly capture their hearts, minds and imaginations.

He instructed his guards to put all of the prisoners in the ring, along with some of the creatures that they'd captured out in the wilds. He had plans in place to make sure that none of the prisoners would die in the ring. No, that might turn public sentiment away from these little bouts of entertainment. However, he had no problem with any of them getting maimed. If they died later in their cells, away from the public eye, that was just fine by him.

The girl had been spotted almost as soon as she'd arrived. It was a stroke of luck that had brought her to New Troy. It had taken a little while to determine who exactly she was, but once they had... well, Lucius knew that fortune was smiling upon the camp. She would prove most useful. He'd made sure that the girl-the Archive-was set up with a well-appointed room. It was well guarded, though it did not appear to be a prison. He'd forbade his guards from writing down any instructions, or anything whatsoever that might tip her off. One tiny mistake and all would be lost.

For now, he was here for her. He would make sure she was protected, well cared for. And in exchange, ( he would gain access to all of the knowledge to be had. )