Cold chilled him to the bone. He needed to move. Rosario tried opening his eyes to not avail. Next he tried his fingers and toes. Still nothing. Why couldn’t he move? Where was he? He panicked, fright warmed his heart, but it did nothing against the cold. Was he died? Purgatory maybe? Okay, okay, calm down.

“Oh mijo. My poor baby.” His mother’s voice. He heard her, though faint as it was, but still. He can hear that means he’s alive. Okay, so alive, but cold. Can’t move, but his mother is here. That’s better than nothing. Think. What was the last thing he remembered? Party. Graduation party. Gregorio pulled him on stage to give a speech, then gun fire. He got shot in his shoulder. Men in black ambushed the party. Screams, the smell of blood. Then he-he...Oh God. He killed all those people like the day the Tower blew. What has he done? He’d cry if he could. Vomit if he could. But he could do nothing, but stay still. 

“I suspected what he was, but I didn’t realize he was so dangerous. If I’d known sooner, then we could’ve locked him up before he did so much damage.” His father. So both his parents were here. He’s locked up? What happened after all the deaths? Blood and red one moment, then darkness the next. The MPD must have captured him. Okay, so what happens after capture? He studied this obsessively after that day. Dangerous parahumans are locked up in power neutralizing prisons. It’s cold and he can’t move. Cryopod. His father spoke with a few counsel members about para prisons. Some of those are cryopods in large rooms with multiple levels. He’s in prison in a cryopod. He’s too cold to use his power, which means no escape. Fuck. He’s trapped here.

Time passed, Rosario couldn’t tell the difference at first, but he figured out the guard’s schedules from listening to the faint thud of their boots when they walk by his pod. He assumes they rotate every four hours. Each guard does a sweep once. The way they walk is different, so he knows when the shift changes. He counts six different feet, before the rotation starts again. So six guards a day. Took him two weeks to figure it out after he wallowed for however many days. He just has himself to keep occupied when he’s not sleeping and that was enough to almost drive him crazy, so counting guards and minutes of the day was the only thing keeping him sane.

His mother breaks up the monotony when he visits him on occasion. She talks about what’s going on in the city, how the house took a few weeks to get fixed up after the party, how the funerals went, etc. But there’s limited information about the men that attacked them. She said they were terrorists. Poor folks dissatisfied with the rich and a lot of heavy hitters were at the party that night. It was the perfect chance to take them out. Rosario’s just happy his family was safe. She said that during his speech his father got a phone call and she was in the bathroom.

His father hasn’t been back to see him, since the first day, which was fine. He didn’t expect him to come back. It surprised him that he visited in the first place. The shame of having a para for a son probably made his father the talk of all the parties and meetings. He wouldn’t put it passed him to spin it into a sob story for votes and business. He can see his campaign now. [b]As the father of a para child it is imperative to vote for me, because I can guarantee I’ll do everything in my power along with Lorne Corp to get our children back right.[/b] As if Gregorio truly cares. If he can keep his seat on the city senate than that’s all that matters.

Rosario didn’t know what day it was, but he knew it was the evening. The second to last shift change walked by an hour ago.

[i]3600
3601
3602
36[/i]

The cryopod shut down for a second, then came back on just as fast. What just happened? 

“Hey! What happened?” He heard muffled shouts. They weren’t close, but it was loud enough.

“Don’t know. Power sur-”

“Guys check your tablets. You gotta see this!”

The footsteps ran towards him and stopped in front of his pod. He counted four maybe five people. 

“What is that?”

“What you do what is it? It’s an eyeball, dummy.”

[b][i]"You are not alone… The Change comes to all things in time. Break your shackles and embrace true freedom."
[/i][/b]

Whatever that was shut down the power for a second. He’ll need longer than that to get out of here. Maybe it’ll happen again and he’ll get his chance. He can only hope.