As days went by, Dom's routine continued… though now, for the first time, he could see a path to freedom. To lower suspicions, he maintained his usual rebellious, stubborn behavior—while secretly gathering intel and making his own preparations.
The only difference was that Noah hadn't visited since that day.
Dom tried to push the worry aside, believing Noah had been preparing too…
Another week passed…
Dom lay on his bed, hands behind his head as he stared at the ceiling, deep in thought. Seven long days had passed since he'd last seen Noah. His mind raced with several thoughts:
Did the plan fail? Was Noah caught? Or… did he chicken out?
With no way to contact him, no way to know, doubt festered.
A sudden, sharp ringing pulled Dom from his thoughts, followed by a familiar voice that announced the current time and date: 8:00 a.m., 16th July 555.
His eyes widened at the date; a sad laugh escaped his mouth once he remembered what the day signified to him. "Best birthday ever." He whispered to himself, just as the exit slid open.
But routine turned to surprise: instead of the usual guards, Noah was standing there, carrying his breakfast tray.
Dom grinned. "I was getting a little worri—"
Noah held up a finger, cutting him off, then tapped quickly on his phone.
Dom frowned in confusion just as the lights in the room flickered for a moment.
"There," Noah said, smirking as he put his phone away. "Now we can talk."
Noah dropped the tray of food and walked to the cage door before pulling out a small device from his pocket--one Dom immediately recognized as the same key the guards used to open his cell each day.
"You really had me worried," Dom said as he approached, watching Noah unlock the door.
"I thought you trusted me." Noah chuckled as he stepped inside. He then slipped the cage key away and produced a cluster of similar devices, each slightly smaller than the last.
Dom gestured to the camera, which now seemed inactive. "What did you do?" He asked.
Noah examined Dom's restraints as he explained, "I exploited a bug I planted in their OS during the week." He smiled once he found the matching key. "Right now, the guards are watching fabricated footage I edited from our previous interactions."
Dom blinked. "I think I understood half of that." He muttered as Noah worked on his cuffs.
"Don't overthink it., Noah said as he turned the key. With a soft click, the bracelets unlocked and dropped with soft thuds. "Just know that right now, they won't know what's happening in this room." He then unlocked Dom's collar, which landed with a heavy clank.
"Finally." Dom sighed as he rubbed his wrist, grinning at the liberated sensation of his skin, then watched as Noah unlocked his own restraints. "Thanks, man. Seriously."
"Thank me after we escape," Noah said, his cuff and collar dropping to the floor before moving to place another device on the wall. It beeped softly, a bright blue light flashing as it latched onto the wall's surface.
"What's that?" Dom asked, curious about the spider-like contraption.
"It's similar to the jammers the Scouts used to isolate you," Noah said, holding up a second device identical to the one mounted on the wall. "I modified these variants to generate a short-range false screen."
"False screen?" Dom asked, taking the device from Noah and turning it over in his hands, his eyes drifting over its intricate design.
"It creates fake footage," Noah said, gesturing toward the security camera.
"Unlike the one I used earlier, these loop the recording from ten seconds before anything entered their range." He added as he took the device back from Dom. "It'll create inconsistencies in the system's overall footage, but with the number of cameras in this place, they won't notice until we're long gone."
Dom blinked, clearly struggling to follow. Noah sighed when he caught the confusion in his eyes.
"In simple terms," Noah said, tugging at Dom's suit and slipping the jammer into the gap, "… as long as we're wearing these, the cameras won't see or hear anything within a short radius around us."
"Oh. Cool," Dom chuckled sheepishly, tugging on his suit to watch the device latch onto his skin beneath.
"But it only works on surveillance," Noah added as he fitted his own jammer and headed for the door. "If we want to stay quiet, we still have to avoid any guards or scientists the old-fashioned way."
"Won't that be hard, with their numbers?" Dom asked as he followed.
"Not today," Noah replied with a smirk, offering no explanation as he sneaked his head out of the opening, searching for any guards before finally moving out.
Minutes later, the two quickly navigated through the hallways.
As they cut from corridor to corridor, Dom raised a brow. "Huh," He whispered as they hid by a vending machine. "Usually, I barely last a minute before they're on to me."
He looked up, watching as a surveillance camera diligently scanned the room, ignoring him despite being directly in its line of sight.
"Now, we're running out in the open, and we haven't tripped a single alarm."
"That's the jammers working," Noah said, tapping his chest where a familiar blinking light was barely visible through his suit fabric. "I also tweaked the alarm system to only trigger after a seven-minute delay."
They moved forward, Noah's sneakers and Dom's bare feet quietly padding across the pristine white floor.
"That should be enough time for my powers to come back," Dom said, glancing at his hand. He tried to summon his mana, but it remained suppressed.
"It won't," Noah replied flatly.
Dom raised a brow.
"As I said before, the cuffs we use have a way stronger suppressive effect than the ones you know," Noah continued as they quickly ran through a large hall. "On average, the minimum recovery time from these versions is forty minutes."
Dom's eyes widened. "Seriously?"
Noah shot him a stern look. "I'm honestly just surprised you can move at all." He said as they took a turn into a narrow hallway.
"Most cuffs and collars are only put at about 40% suppression to negate a mage's mana but still allow them to move around enough. But not only were your cuffs maxed out, but you also had a collar for a more synergistic effect."
They stopped by a corner, searching for any watching eyes.
"You shouldn't even have been able to stand, let alone move around like this. I've seen it happen to subjects whose cuffs were changed to max as a way to restrain them. It's like watching a puppet trying to move without its strings."
Dom grinned. "Guess I'm just built different." He boldly declared.
Noah narrowed his eyes. "Another unique trait of the Silva's physiology then. No wonder Dr Ivan's hellbent on studying you." He said as they moved forward with Dom glaring at the mention of that man.
"Anyways," Noah added as he faced forward. "… you have forty minutes, maybe even more since your cuffs were maxed. Until then, you won't have any mana to fight."
Dom's gaze darkened, his mind already prepared for any obstacle despite his current state.
Moments later, they slipped behind a corner, pressing into the shadows as a lone guard walked past.
"Where is everyone?" Dom whispered, scanning the strangely empty halls. "We've been moving for over five minutes and only ran into one guard."
"Today's Health Maintenance Day," Noah whispered back, watching for movement as well. "Most of the staff are sent out for mandatory checkups and lab operations are suspended for the day."
Dom nodded as the guard disappeared around the corner. "That explains why they didn't drag me to a lab this morning." He said.
Noah nodded as they waited a beat, then moved on. "It only happens once a year," He said as they ran through the empty hall. "Which means that this is the one chance we have for security to be this thin."
Dom smirked as he recalled Ivan's confident warning the day he was imprisoned. "Looks like my luck hasn't run out yet, Doc." He whispered to himself.
They stopped at another junction, quickly scanning for witnesses before advancing.
"The scientists are exempted, but the workers will be back by noon," Noah said, fixing Dom with a hard stare. "That only gives us a few hours to get everyone out. If we mess this up, they'll lock this place down, and we'll lose any chance of escaping."
Dom met his gaze, just as serious. "Then let's not mess this up." He said as he suddenly took the lead, taking a turn that directed them down a long hallway.
"Is there any reason we're freeing them first?" Noah asked, recognizing the sector designation signs on the walls. "There's a bigger cell block behind us."
"True," Dom replied as he continued forward. "… but this one has my leaders."
"Leaders?" Noah echoed.
Dom smirked over his shoulder. "You're not the only friend I made here." He said, then glanced at Noah's flowing lab coat. "How many jammers do you have?"
Noah patted his pockets. "It took a lot of risks--and a lot of sleepless nights. Especially since what you said that day nearly put me on their watch list…" He glared at Dom, who laughed sheepishly. "…but I was able to get Tom to vouch for me and got them off my back."
Dom scoffed at the thought of that fat guard again.
Noah noticed and sighed. "Anyways, I made enough for everyone. Including their cell blocks."
Dom grinned. "Nice work, Genius."
Noah smiled at the compliment just as they turned the corner--and froze.
Two guards stood ahead, their conversation forgotten as they made eye contact. For barely a second, they stood shocked and confused… but once their gaze noticed their subject outfits and lack of restraints, they immediately understood what was happening.
"Shit," Noah muttered as the guards quickly reached for their weapons.
But Dom moved first, surging forward with enough speed that defied his weakened state.
A sharp jab from Dom knocked the clean out of the first guard's hand. The second guard fired instantly, tranquilizer darts streaking toward Dom's back--
--but Dom yanked the first guard forward, using him as a shield. The darts thudded into flesh.
"Damn it." The second guard grumbled as he dashed to the side to get another angle while simultaneously reaching for his walkie-talkie.
But Dom suddenly shoved the now groggy first guard into the second.
The second man staggered, his walkie-talkie skittering across the floor as he shoved his unconscious partner aside, and raised his weapon again- only to gasp as Dom suddenly closed the distance.
He slapped the gun hand upward, sending the weapon spinning through the air. In that same motion, he struck the guard's throat with his palm.
The man reeled, gasping for air just as Dom grabbed him by the collar and drove a knee into his face.
The man groaned, his vision blurring, and his bloodied teeth flew into the air as he dropped to the ground like a sack of bricks.
Dom exhaled, then casually caught the falling tranquilizer gun without even looking.
When he turned, Noah was staring at him, jaw hanging open as he stared at the two powerful-looking men now lying on the ground like discarded rag-dolls.
"You… you just took out two armed guards," Noah whispered. "Without any mana."
"I told you. I've never really tried before." Dom said as he crouched, shooting the second gun with the tranquilizer, ensuring he remained unconscious. "I've been trained by soldiers since I was ten. I don't need mana to take out goons like this."
Noah frowned, recalling Dom saying those words before, then his eyes widened as realization struck. "So all those times the guards caught you…" He muttered.
Dom glanced over his shoulder, flashing a cocky smirk as he stood…
Disclaimer: Unlike Dom's isolated cell, a standard lab subject block was a wide chamber containing five cramped mini-cells—crude, inferior cages that were built as if for storage or animals, not people.
Inside one such block, five subjects of varying ages struggled through boredom-- in one cell, a young dark-skinned woman grunted, her collar rattling against her collarbone as she performed sit-ups, each rep highlighting her toned physique.
In another cell, another woman was seated on her bed while she calmly read a book. She adjusted her glasses as she quietly flipped to the next page, her cuffs glimmering in the light.
Across the room, two other subjects chatted between the wall separating their cells. One was a slim guy playing with a hand-held video-game device while the other, who was taller but just as slim, played the same game on his own console, their cuffs rattling with each rapid movement of their hands.
The last subject was a huge, chubby man who sat on the floor in his cell, eyes closed, and legs crossed as he meditated peacefully with his collar resting against the base of his neck.
The five continued their activities, the sad familiarity of their situation hanging over them in silence… until the main door slid open.
They all turned their attention as a small device skidded across the floor and came to a stop at the center of the opened hall.
"The hell?" The tallest subject muttered, sitting up while the slim one lowered his game.
Then they all froze; their eyes widened as two familiar figures stepped inside.
"Dom?" The dark-skinned female whispered as she stepped forward, gripping her bars.
Dom lifted a ring of keys, grinning widely. "It's showtime, ladies and gentlemen." He declared boldly, jingling them audibly.
The subjects stared at each other in shock before all grinning with excitement.
As Dom and Noah quickly worked to free the subjects, they each laid out their parts of the plan.
"So we split up and escape in groups of tens?" Noah asked.
Dom nodded as he unlocked the dark woman's collar. "It's easier than moving as one big group." He said as he moved to the final cell.
"But what if one group gets caught?" Noah asked, kneeling to calibrate the jammer on the floor. "That could screw all of us."
"That's why Dom chose us, right?" The dark woman said, shooting Dom a smirk as she rubbed her neck.
Dom chuckled as the last pair of cuffs fell open.
"All five of us have combat experience." The chubby subject explained as he stepped forward. "They put us in this block to monitor our movements since we're technically the most dangerous subjects."
"And the only ones who've had the balls to try and escape this place before." The slim subject said as he rubbed his wrists. "If things fall apart, we can handle it. No sweat."
The tall subject narrowed his eyes at Dom. "I'm just shocked you actually pulled this off," He said.
"I told you I would," Dom said, giving them a confident smirk. "Now, you all owe me big time."
The subjects laughed fondly.
"We'll split into five groups, then," Noah said as he finished his adjustments and approached them. "Each group takes a sector. Then use the primary jammers for clearing cell blocks, then distribute the portable ones to each subject for movement."
He demonstrated how to activate them quickly before handing them out.
"The jammers only block surveillance. You have to avoid every worker when you can--but if you can't…"
"Knock them out," The slim leader said with a grin, sliding his jammer into his suit.
"And hide the bodies," Noah added, pulling out a folded, hand-drawn map from his coat. "If you move out of range, you'll expose the guards and trip the alarms. There's a lot of supply closets and bathrooms in each sector to use. But that will just waste more time."
"So we minimize exposure." The chubby subject muttered, and Noah nodded as he spread the map on the floor.
Dom's eyes widened as he took in the intricate base schematics. "Damn. This place is huge." He said.
"Even with most guards gone, some areas are still heavily protected," Noah said, pointing to marked zones. "Usually weapons or high-value storage. So we avoid those."
He traced his finger over each of the five sectors named A-E with highlighted paths that intercepted each cell block and ended at various exits.
"Since we're moving in groups, these routes give us the best exit coverage. I also added a virus that will interfere with the central lockdown sequence. They would need to manually lock the gates with close-proximity keys until they break my code. That should give us more time to escape in case we trip any alarms."
As each leader dedicated time to memorize and copy their assigned path, Dom threw an arm around Noah's shoulder, proud of the flawless plan Noah had created. "See? I knew you could do it." He said.
Noah rolled his eyes but failed to hide his smile. "You owe me for this," He muttered, rubbing his head. "I pulled way too many all-nighters to get everything working this fast. I need a 24-hour nap after this."
"You'll get it, bro. Trust me." Dom chuckled.
Minutes later, they stood at the cell block exit.
Dom then turned to the subjects he'd chosen to lead the four groups while he led the fifth--the four people he trusted the most, just like he did with Noah.
"I know it's too late to say it now," He said, his tone serious, "… but… I'm sorry for putting you all on the spot like this."
The four in question exchanged looks, then laughed, confusing Dom.
"Are you fucking kidding me?" The dark woman said, a hand on her hip. "Don't you ever apologize for this."
Dom frowned.
"I agree." The chubby subject said as he stepped forward, placing a hand on Dom's shoulder. "You're the first person who's ever given us hope."
"We're with you, Boss," The slim subject said with a cocky grin.
"Just say the word." The tall subject added while the other woman nodded with a smile as she adjusted her glasses.
Dom blinked, stunned by their unwavering determination and loyalty--their eyes reminded him of his old team, and a grin crossed his face.
"Let's get out of here." He declared, and they all nodded.
The doors slid open, and Dom peeked through the threshold. Once he confirmed that the coast was clear, they moved out--fast and quietly.
Dom and Noah stayed together as the Sector D group. The dark-skinned woman took the other lady as the Sector A group, while the other three moved solo, each of them bearing a Sector designation.
And so, these five groups spread out, tackling the facility sectors quietly and quickly.
Every step was deliberate, every turn guided by memory, and every minor encounter was contained in seconds with sharp, trained blows despite their complete lack of mana.
Minutes stretched on as each group moved through the facility, quietly evading the patrolling guards, freeing their trapped comrades and gradually swelling their numbers.
Thirty minutes into the operation…
The Sector D's group reached their final stop. What started as two had now become a team of thirteen equally determined subjects.
As these subjects freed the last of their trapped comrades, Noah stepped beside Dom, who had been staring down at his clenched fist in thought.
"Don't worry, Dom. We just need a few more minutes, and you'll be back to normal." Noah commented.
Dom sighed as he tried to summon his mana again, but still failed. "I hope so." He sighed. "I can beat up a couple more guards if I really try, but I'd need my magic in case they bring out the heavy hitters." He closed his fist as he recalled his fight with Aera in the alleyway, her overwhelming aura sending a shiver up his spine.
Noah noticed Dom's reaction and frowned, just as the excited laughter from the freed subjects drew their attention. A young girl wept with joy as she hugged her brother-- both finally free from their years of experimentation.
Dom smiled softly as he saw the happy looks on their faces.
"You know," Noah said, folding his arms over his chest. "This is going smoother than I expected."
Dom shot him a glare. "Great. You just jinxed it."
Noah rolled his eyes. "This isn't a TV show." He shot back.
Dom raised a brow. "What's that?"
Noah stared, shocked… then sighed once he recalled Dom's lack of knowledge of modern technology. "It's official." He said, "Once we're out, I'm giving you a PowerPoint presentation on basic tech—"
Dom suddenly shoved him aside and grabbed the air in front of him.
"Dom?" Noah asked as he stumbled back, confused as Dom appeared to struggle against nothing-- then he froze as a laugh echoed.
Noah leapt back, alerting the others just as a distorted figure shimmered into view before Dom.
"In the reports," A familiar mage said calmly, his smile barely visible through the distorting light, "… they claimed your senses were the weakest among the Rebel Trio."
Dom tightened his grip around empty air--until the illusion finally gave way, revealing a clawed hand within Dom's tight grip, along with a certain mage now grinning at him.
"Andre," Noah muttered in recognition.
Andre's grin widened as he met Dom's eyes. "Looks like those files need an update." He chuckled.