There is no attempt at sleep this time around. My mind is racing too much. Sitting, thinking, sipping water, sitting and more thinking. Begrudgingly pick at some human pellets. Are they really made at least partially from dead humans? Feeding this many people would take a lot of resources. The fact is I need to keep my strength up any way possible.

Survival is important. To escape I need to not die.. What am I going to do? Fight? The fight with one of our “hosts” back when we were abducted was pretty one sided. My tussle with Chuck was over before I knew what was happening. Yet I took down the big guy with relative ease. What other choices do I have? Negotiating with them is a non starter. If it was an option someone would have done it already. Same can be said for fighting though. What options are available that are non-violent?

The implants and practice must be the difference between me and Chuck. If he wasn’t a collaborator maybe he would be as covered as I am. His speed was incredible. I know my punch was moving many times faster than normal humans. The big guy also punched faster than a standard human. Yet, I was able to avoid him and he couldn’t catch me. Chuck on the other hand, he was able to toss me aside. Like I was nothing. This is a load of crap to make myself feel better. Fighting has never been my specialty. I even suck at fighting games.

Practice makes perfect. Sucking at fighting is no excuse. Start with the fundamentals. As a little test I pull a little heat into me and push it out. In and out. In and move the heat around. As soon as I focus on a single spot pain flares. Keep it moving. It could be some other state of energy when it's moving around or something. The others are sure to know more about this. Bringing the heat to the tip of my finger. Then out to around my finger. There is no pain this time and i can see a rippling of the energy just millimeters away from my flesh.

Steph jerks her head towards me, nods, gets up and walks into the room. Some lively talk is happening but no one out here reacts to it. Steve can clearly be heard in his annoying douchey state. He bursts out of the room in a huff. I don’t know what exactly the conversation is about but it is easy to assume that it was a favorable thing about me. What else would piss him off so much? So I smile and wave at him. He attempts the most vicious stare he can muster. So I wave even harder and motion for him to hug me. He shakes his head and walks off completely ignoring me. How rude.

I slide up the wall to inch towards the door frame trying to catch what is going on. As I got close Mac showed up in my perception right on at the inside of the room. Unfortunately they stop talking at that moment.

“So you want to learn how to use your new abilities?” Mac asks as if I am standing right in front of him. A little cough escapes my mouth as I turn into the doorway to face him.

“Bloody hell, yes I want to learn how to use my abilities. Come on I have freaking super powers now. The only reason I haven't tested what I can do right here is that it may result in someone who is not ME getting hurt”. Putting extra emphasis on “me” with my tone and waving my hands over my body. “I am not that Potter shrub I want to know and practice everything I can do. If possible I would be practicing till I passed out, wake up and practice some more.” Continuing my ramble barely catching my breath.

Everyone in the room was looking at me. A few with annoyance in their face, others seem more entertained. Especially Mac. Steph however seemed rather angry. She took a few deep breaths to calm down.

“Did you just insult Harry?” She said.

“Harry who?” I ask.

Mac’s amusement switches to concern. He squints his eyes and looks over my face.

“You’re a wizard Harry.” Mac says with enthusiasm.

“Ok I am a wizard but my name isn't harry…. I think.” I say unsure and considerably. For it just hit me that I don't know my last name.

“No that is the line from the book and movie” Steph states. Now everyone looks at me with concern. Mac and Steph were searching my face trying to find something. I don't know what they are looking for, but they aren’t finding it. The whole thing is confusing.

“We read the books at the same time and saw all the movies together” Mac says sadly. It was a painful reminder to the both of us that I am not fully myself. Steph and Lucy look at me wearily. Who can forget that when I wasn’t me I killed and nearly raped. So chances are everyone, including me, is a little concerned about what I might do without all my memories.

Steph perks up a bit. She spends a moment looking away in thought. After a moment she says, “It's like how some amnesia patients can still sign their names even if they don't remember it. YOU ranted and part of the rant drudged up some notions about Harry Potter. So it seems like everything that is you is still in there”. She seems pretty confident about it which is extremely reassuring even though it is most likely utter bullshit.

“So my last name isn’t Harry. Thank Buddha. Dimitri Harry sounds terrible. Mac, what is my last name? Is it something cool like McCloud, or Romanoff, or Wolf, or Smith, or Noble, or Golden, or Lothbrok, or Chang…” I continue running off names.

“Nope. Stop, please stop.”

“What do you mean ‘nope’.” I beg.

“If you don’t know I’m not going to tell you. I think it will be important for you to figure that out for yourself.” He says with amusement.

“You are aware you are not the only person who can tell me.”

“So you are going to talk to Cindy?” Mac asks, giving me a side eye look. The others appear to be uncomfortable.

“Ok, who is Harry”

“Which Harry?” Mac answers before Steph has a chance to answer.

“There is only one Harry and he is the main character in a book about a wizard school. He fights a dark lord with the help of his two best friends. One is a brave ginger and the other is a positively brilliant young lady. Oh and he has these other friends.” Steph’s lips stop moving. She mumbles and glares at Mac.

“He is a jock and a total jerk. Never really applies himself the way he should. It totally makes things way more difficult than they need to be. Now Dresden on the other hand. He is a true wizard.” Mac explains.

“We,” He gestures to me and himself, “much prefer Dresden. It is like Potter but better for adults. Not super for adults like erotica. I think adults appreciate it more.”

Lucy was standing there tapping her foot. Drawing my attention to her feet, My feet, all of our feet.

“Wait, we don't have shoes?” I ask.

“How do you just now notice that.” Mac says.

“It hasn’t exactly been on my priority list.”

I walk back and forth, hop about, and slam my foot down. Every action feels as though I have shoes on. A light cushioning effect. Lucy was watching me with great interest. She proceeds to lay on the ground and examines my feet.

“They don’t actually come in contact with the floor.” she says as she turns to Mac and Steph.

“So I can float? Oh, maybe I can fly. I haven’t seen anyone zooming around here. Though I supposed that might be due to the implants. Is there any way I can test if I can fly?”

“We are planning on taking you to one of the practice chambers. I love to be the bearer of bad news for you. You most likely can’t fly. This is most likely similar to how you tint your eyes. A subconscious use of your abilities. It is rather common. But we can explore what this could mean for your abilities. Steph would you stay here and help keep things in line. Stephen isn’t going to calm down anytime soon. We need him to help protect the others.” Mac said.

“Of course.” Steph answers.

Mac and Lucy lead me out of the room and we head to the elevators. They stay on either side of me. The occupants of the floor scurry away from us just like they did with the other trio. It makes me uncomfortable.

“The leaders of the floors are tough and few are as friendly as Goliath was. You killed him, remember. Congrats by the way. These people are scared you will be worse than him. Bottom line is you are the leader of this floor. That is until someone else claims it in the fights.” Mac explains.

“I have no interest in leading anyone. Nor do I bear these people any ill will. As long as they don’t do anything to harm each other. How does someone claim this place?”

“Originally people were called into fights. Like how you were called into the test chamber. It doesn’t really work like that anymore. You can walk up to the doorway at the end of this Hall and state your intentions. People are most likely already doing it. So you don't have much time to practice. After that you will need to fight them. If you win our hosts will talk with you. Possibly even answer a few of your questions. You might even get your implants removed, if they like you.” Lucy explains

“I doubt that. Just winning fights isn’t enough to win their favor and they see through lying. You must earnestly want to work for them. Dimitri wouldn’t do that. Doesn’t matter how much he remembers.” Mac says.

“Are you sure about that.” asked Lucy.

“Yes.” Me and Mac said together.

We reach the elevator. Lucy presses an alien number on the wall. Perching my lips and nodding. It was a floor I didn’t visit while walking around. Should have been more thorough. How many more things did I miss because of short cuts.

On the plus side, my mad skills on elevator rides are keeping me from falling over. I gesture to Mac and hop around. Lucy looks at me confused. So I try to dance. Emphasis on try. Mac waves his hand and I fall over.

“Get up, it's down this way.” He said as they left the elevator. I follow them. This floor has one long corridor along the left side. It’s only wide enough for two people to walk side by side. Doorways are shut and placed far apart. We walk and pass a lot of them in silence. We even pass the corridor that leads to another segment. What is down there? Is it more of this or something different? My momentary distraction is enough for the pair to end up far ahead of me. I had to jog to catch up.

Finally we come across one of the doors that isn’t shut.

“Welcome to the danger zone.” Mac said with a smile.