Future

"Hold your breath."

Nero was well acquainted with the way that Flel worked, and had come to never question her when she told him to do so. They made a remarkably effective assassin team - Flel had trained herself to be immune to her custom made, airborne poisons, which she used as various forms of perfume. Meanwhile, Nero had long ago come to have complete control over his bodily functions, including the ability to hold his breath for extended periods of time. It had been a long time since he had attempted to measure the length of time - there were few situations where it became a problem.

The lab they had entered underground was disturbing to look at. Hundred of cages, filled with people of every race and age, stuffed together in varying situations. Some had been collected to be sex slaves, and were kept without clothing. Some were being starved and deprived, while others had clearly been stuffed full of food against their will in order to gain weight. It was hard to say what some of them were going to be used for - whatever it was, though, it assuredly wasn't good.

A perfume bottle came out of Flel's purse as Nero watched, his lungs still, and she sprayed it liberally into the air. He could see the initial spray, but it quickly dissipated. The eyes of the people in the cages slowly began to close as they stared silently at the two strangers standing amongst them - none had ever made a single noise as Nero and Flel had entered the room. They did not answer questions. They did not open their mouths. It was difficult to say if they could not, or if they had been trained beyond the point of removing their self will.

When she was done, Flel motioned for Nero to follow her, and they moved through the area, looking for doors and electric control panels. Their mission was clear cut - find what the town was doing, and stop it. The first part had been simple enough - this was it. Nero wasn't unintelligent, but in many ways between them, he was the muscle. He was able to power through defenses, tear open doors, and generally clear the path.

But even as killers, this was a side of Flel he had not seen before. It didn't take him long to realize that it was not a sleeping gas she had given these prisoners. If she was going to stop these plans, she had selected a very definite and final answer - to simply kill all of those involved.

These were innocent people. For all the things that Nero would and had done, kill innocents was not among them.

And this was who he had fallen for?