Vice-Warden Jason and his four guards marched into the Warden’s office, brushing past the two sentries the Warden had at the door. The new secretary of Warden Locke stood up in surprise, but she immediately raised her hands and sat back down when one of the guards aimed his sidearm at her head.

“What is the meaning of this?” Warden Locke stood up furiously as he saw what was going on. “Explain yourself, Jason!”

“Explain myself?” His second in command chuckled at his superior's fury. “I am not the one that should be doing the explaining, Warden.”

“What?” Once again, the Warden put up his best face of surprise. “Have you gone mad, Jason? You just barged into my office and pointed a gun at my secretary’s head, and you want me to explain? Look...I know you have quite the background and you want my position, but if you think that gives you the right to come into my office and threaten me...” He took a deep breath. “Back off now and I will forget this ever happened. Keep acting like an idiot, and I will see to it that you are burned alive for your transgressions!”

A few of Jason’s bodyguards exchanged concerned glances. They still knew little about what was going on, but if their Vice-Warden was indeed leading them down a treacherous path against the commanding officer of this facility...

“Ha! Transgressions!” Jason was unfazed by the threats. If anything, he found them funny. It seemed like traitors particularly enjoyed accusing others of treason! “Give up, Locke. I know what you did. You were given explicit commands to execute Alexander Wolf, yet you let him go. Why? Did he bribe you? Blackmail you? Whatever the reason, you have refused a direct order from the Count...and that is punishable by death!”

He chuckled as he stared into Warden Locke’s eyes. I finally got you, you son of a bitch! Unfortunately, instead of seeing the look of fear that he expected, the young man saw an odd expression on the Warden’s face. It was a mixture of surprise, realization, and relief. Yes. Relief. The Warden looked like he just let out a breath he had been holding for a while. But...what? Jason couldn’t help but frown to himself. He exposed the Warden’s treacheries! He should be mad and horrified!

“Ok…” Warden Locke spoke slowly and carefully as if he was trying very hard not to say the wrong things. “Look, Jason...there has been a misunderstanding…”

“Misunderstanding? Do you think I’m stupid?” Jason cut Locke off before he could continue. He was having a really bad feeling about this, and it seemed like there was more to the picture than a simple betrayal. Yet he had no choice but to stick to his argument. “There is no misunderstanding here! I came across all the security footage you archived! What were you doing in the interrogation rooms with all the meetings?”

“I...I was just about to get to that!” Warden Locke groaned in frustration. He gave the surroundings a quick glance. There were at least a dozen people around here. His secretary. His sentries. Jason’s guards. “Listen to me, Jason. This is no place to talk! I...we need to go somewhere private. How about this? Let’s go to one of the interrogation rooms and I will tell you everything you want to know! I promise!”

“Why don’t we just clear the office and talk here?” Jason was no fool. He still didn't trust the Warden, and what was up with the Warden and interrogation rooms?

“Uhhh! I have my reasons!” The old veteran looked like he wanted to pull his hair out in annoyance. When Jason wasn’t convinced, Locke threw his hands up. “What are you afraid of? By all means, take away my weapon and MI, if that makes you feel better! You have four guards with you, and all five of you are armed! If I try to do something, you can take me out with the pull of a trigger!”

For a second, all eyes were trained on Jason. He could just ignore the Warden’s words and have him arrested for disobeying a direct order from Count Lamb, but if the Warden was indeed on some sort of secret mission or was onto something important...then at the end of the day, Jason wouldn’t be the victor. If that was the case and in his arrogance, he messed up some grand plan, he could forget about rewards and focus on getting out of the mess in one piece instead.

Judging by how the Warden reacted to him, Jason was more and more confident he was onto something. Something that didn't involve betraying Count Lamb that the Warden was willing to explain to him. After all, why would he willingly surrender his weapons and Mounted Interface? It wasn’t like he would be able to escape. If he made a run for it on the way to the interrogation room, it would only give Jason the reason to have him shot. Something the Vice-Warden would be happy to do.

Just as he was still thinking, one of his bodyguards took a step forward and whispered something into his ear. He was a captain.

“Sir, if you will, I can send a message to the rest of my men who are not here right now. If we don’t get back to them in, say, ten minutes, then they will inform the entire facility of the Warden’s treacheries.”

This way, Jason didn't have to worry about somehow getting assassinated and silenced by the Warden during their private meeting. That was the last straw he needed, and he finally nodded to the Warden’s proposal.

“Fine, but don’t try anything stupid.” He turned and pointed at two of the guards. “You two, keep an eye on everyone in the office. No one gets to leave without my command. And confiscate all their weapons and interfaces.”

“Yes sir!” The two guards turned to the other people in the room. The secretary turned in her devices quietly. Even the two original sentries lowered their weapons per the Warden’s orders.

Finally, the Warden, the Vice-Warden, and two of the Vice-Warden’s bodyguards started moving. They left the office and made their way toward one of the closest interrogation rooms. To prevent too many complications, Jason didn't point a gun at his boss’s head in public. Nonetheless, his two bodyguards always kept their shotguns distinctly trained on the Warden. At this close, it was impossible to miss.

As the guards and prison personnel along the way saluted the Warden and the Vice-Warden, Jason kept his eyes on Locke’s back. He was watching for any sudden moves from the man, which never happened. Locke didn't try anything on the way. He didn't make a run for it. He didn't try to call for help or resist. He simply led the Vice-Warden to the interrogation room.

Finally, they got to their destination. The Vice-Warden dismissed the two sentries originally standing guard in front of the room. After all four of them entered, the guard captain shut the door, sealing off the room from the outside world.

As the door closed, Jason turned to Locke with an impatient look on his face.

“Can you tell me what is going on now? Regardless of what you are up to, it is my right as the Vice-Warden to join you. This is my prison too, after all.”

At this point, Jason’s tone was a lot nicer. It was obvious the Warden was more loyal than he first thought, and the fact that he was willing to talk to him meant the Warden wasn’t in fact planning to betray the Count. Maybe he learned about Wolf loyalists that infiltrated the prison? Maybe that was the reason behind the investigations? Either way, at the end of the day, the Warden might be heavily rewarded by the Count for his loyalty, and that meant Jason wouldn’t want to get on his bad side anytime soon.

When he heard what Jason said, Warden Locke chuckled at his words. The frustrated look he had back in the office was no more.

“Join me?” He said quietly. “Indeed. I will allow you to...join me.”

His tone was a little off, but Jason didn't have the time to wonder why. Just as he was still trying to understand the Warden’s words, Warden Locke suddenly snapped around with a terrifying level of speed. His hands grabbed onto Jason’s wrists, and the next second, the Vice-Warden heard the sound of his bones cracking, followed by explosions of pain that darted across his body.

A million thoughts flashed across the man’s mind as he screamed. What was the Warden thinking? He must have gone mad! There were two fully armed guards behind him! Any one of them could raise his weapon and blast the Warden to pieces! Was he suicidal?

As Locke let go of him, the Vice-Warden collapsed onto the ground with two crippled wrists. A part of him was waiting for the roar of shotgun shells fired, yet those roars never came.

Jason quickly realized why.

The two guards that followed him here, the two men who have protected him ever since he became the Vice-Warden, were standing behind Warden Locke. One of them, the captain, had his mask up, but he simply stared at the Vice-Warden with cold eyes. His shotgun was locked and loaded, but he never even tried to use it on the same person who just crippled the man he was tasked with protecting.

The implications were clear.

“You...you traitors! Both of you! You will burn for this!” Jason called out in sheer agony, yet no matter how loud he screamed, no one came to his aid. At this point, he finally realized why Warden Locke wanted to come to the interrogation room to ‘talk’ to him. It was to be private, but not for the reason the Vice-Warden expected.

As Jason was disabled, Warden Locke slowly knelt down beside him. He could see the look of sheer agony on the young man’s face. For someone who rarely experienced pain before, Jason was being rather impressive just from the fact that he could still talk clearly.

Even now, Warden Locke could feel strands of Essence of Agony materializing in his body. He just exerted pain upon another being, and now he was benefiting from it. The middle-aged man had to admit it felt really, really good. Almost too good.

Slowly, in quiet words, the Warden explained something to his poor colleague.

“I knew I would never be able to do it without being suspicious, but the security footage of what happened in all the interrogation rooms had to be archived. I knew it would only be a matter of time before you go over my activities and realize something is wrong, so I have been preparing to take care of you for a long time. After all, you are the only one who has oversight over my actions.”

Warden Locke tilted his head.

“Did you ever notice the security logs that were archived from start to finish? The ones where you can’t see anything at all?” He continued before Jason could reply. “Well, those are the footage of me meeting up with people in key positions. The boys that work at the Communication Centre. My personal guards and my secretary. Oh, and your guards and aids. It was difficult to get them to talk to me in private, but I am the Warden, so…”

Jason closed his eyes in despair and defeat. The entire time he thought he had a chance to take out Warden Locke, but the older man was always three steps ahead of him. Now that he thought about it, he had been in the man’s trap for a long time. Even back in that office, everyone aside from him has turned traitor. He thought he was so smart by having his guards watch over Locke’s secretary, but in reality…

As a matter of fact, things likely wouldn’t have gone any better if he tried to contact his superiors directly. If what Locke said was correct, then the Communication Centre was already compromised by traitors. The so-called system glitch must’ve been their work as well.

And now, the only person on the island who could somehow challenge the Warden in terms of authority is gone. As the commanding officer with next to unchecked power, the Warden would be free to coordinate a jailbreak. It would still be difficult, but far from impossible.

There was just one thing he didn't understand.

“How did you get everyone to turn?” Jason pushed the words through his gritted teeth. The pain on his face was clear as day. “I mean...all you did was talk to them! Once! And every single one of them betrayed Count Lamb! What did you do to them? In fact...what did Alexander Wolf do to you that made you do something this stupid? This is suicide! Why did everyone just go along with it?”

“Hmmm…good question.” Still kneeling in front of him, Warden Locke chuckled to himself darkly before giving Jason a reassurance that just didn't sound so reassuring. “Don’t worry, Jason. You will find out very, very soon.”