MTLNOVEL Chapter 52: The Forgotten Ones
The Forgotten Ones
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1. Into the Depths (Tom's POV – The Prison's Atmosphere and Setting)
The maintenance tunnel was narrow and stifling, the air thick with dust and the scent of stale metal and decay.
Every step echoed too loudly, bouncing off the cold steel walls, reminding Tom that they were still deep in enemy territory.
The flickering emergency lights barely illuminated the path ahead. Faint stains marred the walls—not just rust, but something darker. Something human.
The Council didn't just contain threats in this place.
They forgot them.
Or worse—experimented on them.
Orion's voice cut through the silence. "This place isn't just a prison." His fingers moved across his data pad, scanning the network nodes hidden in the walls. "I'm picking up suppressed life signs… but the way they're being monitored doesn't match standard incarceration methods."
Tom clenched his fists. "Then what does it match?"
Orion's jaw tightened. "Containment. Like they're not prisoners… but something else."
A chill ran through Tom's spine.
They were about to find out.
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2. The Holding Cells (Group POV – Discovering the Prisoners)
The tunnel opened into a vast chamber—a decayed prison block, once pristine but now stained with the remnants of its past.
Rows of containment pods lined the walls, each sealed shut with reinforced glass, frost-covered from decades of suspended animation.
Some were dark and empty, their occupants long gone.
But others—still glowed with eerie blue light.
And inside them?
People.
Emaciated figures—men, women, and even children—floating in cryo-stasis, their bodies thin and frail, their skin marred by intravenous ports and scarring.
Stacy stiffened, her hand tightening on the hilt of her blade. "This isn't a prison. It's a—"
"Testing ground." Nyla finished, her voice laced with disgust.
Tom stepped forward, brushing frost off one of the pods. The woman inside was young, maybe early twenties, but her body bore the signs of years of suffering.
Then he noticed it.
The faint Council insignia tattooed into her forearm.
His stomach turned.
These weren't just prisoners.
They were people the Council had marked. Studied. Changed.
And they had been left here to rot.
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3. The First Awakening (Tom's POV – Reviving One of the Prisoners)
Diane hovered beside him. "We have to wake them up."
Tom didn't hesitate.
Orion pulled up the pod's control system, rerouting power from the emergency reserves.
The containment chamber hissed, depressurizing as the frost melted away.
The woman inside jerked violently, her body reacting to the sudden release from stasis. Her eyes snapped open—glowing faintly, unnaturally.
Tom caught her as she fell forward.
She was shaking, gasping for breath.
And then—her fingers clawed at his jacket, gripping it with surprising strength.
Her voice was hoarse, weak—but filled with terror.
"No… please… don't send me back…"
Tom's blood ran cold.
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4. The Prisoner Speaks (Tom's POV – The First Clue About the Facility's Purpose)
The woman's eyes darted between them, wild and unfocused, her body riddled with past trauma.
Tom held her steady, keeping his voice calm. "You're safe now."
She trembled against him, but her eyes locked onto his—and something in them changed.
Recognition.
"You… I know you."
Tom stiffened. "What?"
"You… fought against them… before." She swallowed, her throat dry. "I saw your face… I think… I think you were with them."
Tom's breath caught.
His memories were still fragmented—but if she had seen him here before…
Did that mean he had been to this place before?
Had he fought here?
Had he—failed these people?
The weight of her words settled on him like lead.
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5. The Others Wake (Group POV – The Prisoners' Stories)
One by one, they opened more pods.
Some of the prisoners didn't survive the process—too long in stasis, their bodies too weak to recover.
The ones that did awaken?
Each bore the same terrified, broken look.
They whispered horrors of experiments—of the Council trying to rewrite them, alter them, break them.
One man clutched his head, muttering. "They… they tried to make us something else. Not human. Not…" His voice trailed off into sobs.
Diane knelt beside him, squeezing his hand. "You're safe now."
But Tom wasn't sure that was true.
Not yet.
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6. Imma's Warning (Tom's POV – The System Reacts to the Prisoners)
A sudden pulse in Tom's head.
He staggered, gripping the side of one of the pods.
Then—
[System Reconnect: 58%]
A rush of static and distorted words—Imma's voice, fragmented but urgent.
[User… danger… this place… was never… a prison.]
Tom's breathing hitched.
He turned to Orion, his voice tight. "Scan the structure."
Orion didn't ask why. His fingers flew across his device as he tapped into the old infrastructure.
A second later, his face went pale.
"…Oh shit."
"What?" Stacy demanded.
Orion's voice was low, strained.
"This facility isn't built like a prison." He turned his screen toward them. "It's built like a lab."
Tom's stomach twisted.
They weren't just prisoners.
They were subjects.
And this facility?
Was still active.
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