[center][h2][color=Turquoise] Atlas[/color][/h2][/center]
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Atlas fingernails drummed out a familiar beat on the hard concrete of his cell. The other throwing a book at the door. He’d tried everything he could think of, but there seemed to be no way of escaping this hell hole. For nearly a year he sat one dark cell or another, his blood lust festering. On the second day he had been in the cell, he’d awoken up with a weird collar on his neck, not surprising seeing as the first day he nearly escaped, when one of the attendants had brought him food while they watched him to monitor his behavior. 

Atlas smiled, [i]guess they weren’t watching close enough…[/i] he thought. He remembered darting out of the room nearly instantly as the man went to close the door, he made it past him and into the hallway. It was lit by a dim light and Atlas couldn’t tell if they were underground or flying through space, there were no windows to be found. That baffled him. If he didn’t know if they were in space or on earth, he didn’t know how fast they were moving, or how fast anything was moving.

Atlas slapped his hand into the wall blowing a hole through it. He was guessing so it wasn’t really his best work, were normally there would have been a neat hole, there was what looked like an entry point for the Kool-Aid man. Then suddenly he felt a fist about to connect with his own skull, he went to reflect it but something odd happened and it all backfired, he was hit at least twice as hard as a normal punch would have landed.

When he woke up he was in a concrete prison cell with little in it and a fancy new collar. Every person who came in he screamed at, with a bloody passion. The way he figured, no one would ever leave this place, they would all die here. So he screamed and screamed, sometimes bashing his forehead against the wall, anything to clear the thoughts. The whole time he sat handcuffed, he waited for torture but none came. Sad really, they didn’t have balls here either.

[color=Turquoise]“So am I just a mouse to you!?” [/color]He screamed at the door, wishing it would dissolve and let him out of there. Wishing he could make his own voice melt the door. He drummed his fingers faster on the concrete. [color=Turquoise]“Are we just cattle? Are we not people!” [/color]He screamed more.

Atlas smacked his head against the wall, once then twice, then over and over in a slow rhythm. He wanted death to come, to sweep him off his feet and take him to hell. Death was always so sweet, so simple. He laughed deeply his voice cracking a bit, he had strained it much over the last year and the screams felt like whispers.

He started laughing hard drumming faster with his fingers, the head smacking ceased.[color=Turquoise] “When she comes, she will embrace us all…” [/color]His head snapped to the camera in the corner, staring intently into the lens.[color=Turquoise] “Everything will fall,”[/color] He licked his lips.[color=Turquoise] “Everyone you love will die.”[/color] He laughed manically, his voice growing a bit stronger. [color=Turquoise]“And I won’t even be there to watch?!” [/color]He screamed at the lens as if someone, anyone was listening.

He thought they would have been here by now… He thought maybe they would have needed him. He never thought wrong, never. He glanced at his notes, then up at the camera again paranoia setting in. He ripped out the pages he thought the camera had found useful and ate them, staring directly into the lens still, chewing slowly. They were watching, whether he believed it or not, someone was, and if they figured he knew anything they would use it against him, they would try to cripple him. 

[color=Turquoise]“I will not be crippled!”[/color] He yelled at the lens. He yanked at the cuffs around his feet, kicked until he thought his ankles would break.

[color=Turquoise]“You think you can beat me!? You think you’re so clever. Come on out then…”[/color] He was on his knees now reaching for the door, the chains clattering against the floor stopping him just before he could reach it. [color=Turquoise]“Take this collar off and let's see who’s the better man.”[/color]

The door opened. A man stepped in closing it behind him. [color=gold]“Okay, then.” [/color]He said throwing Atlas an odd key.[color=gold] “On one condition…”[/color] Atlas didn’t care what it was, he didn’t care if this man wanted to blow up the world, at the moment he nearly had tears, he didn’t want to show it. Didn’t want to seem weak, he mumbled a ‘thank you’ and unlocked his collar. He felt his body rise off the concrete as he floated there suspended in gravity, all he had to do was angle and push up his feet and increase the speed he went both up and down in equal increments, simple really. 

He rubbed his neck where the collar had been, he owed this man for now. He owed him his life. But once that was payed back he was done, he didn’t want any part in this team they were building. Life was a game one played alone.

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