The puffing sound of gas as the large metallic door opened brought Angelo up on his steel seat. He had been in that empty room for over an hour, glaring at the empty table made of steel right in front of him. What was worse was that he had no idea where he was or how he got there. All he remembered was falling deep in sleep as soon as he got into the car and waking up in an empty tiny soundproof room. He wasn't cuffed or anything but he sure didn't feel like a free man.

He exhaled as he watched Donald walk into the room,

"Don't worry, he's family."

He told the men behind him, his bodyguards, making them halt right outside the room. Donald's instruction was clear, Angelo was a safe risk.

Donald turned to Angelo slowly with a wide smile on his face. It almost looked like he was enjoying everything at that moment but Angelo wasn't having it. He wasn't exactly in the mood to stay and chit chat. He had a meeting to attend, one that could actually save his wife.

He waited till Donald was right in front of the table

"What am I doing here?" He had to ask "what is this place Donald?"

"One question at a time Angelo." He scoffed. "Soon enough you'd come to understand the reason you're here."

"The reason I'm-" Angelo exhaled as a tiny flash of the memory from earlier flashed in his head. He frowned and glared at Donald, he did have a lot of questions to ask

"Who are you exactly? Did you save me from those Atians so you could abduct me? Is this about the company? Did Victoria send you?"

"The company?"

"I know you've eyed the company for a while now."

Angelo didn't take his eyes off of him. A little smile appeared on Donald's wrinkled cheeks.

" if I wanted Trusk, Angelo, I would be sitting in that seat right now instead of your wife." Angelo blinked, his frown worsened. "let's just say I'm more interested in a better cause, a greater cause."

He scoffed.

"You have wronged a lot of people, a lot of Atians and they are coming after you. What you saw today was a glimpse of what can actually happen to you If you don't listen to me, if you don't trust me."

Angelo exhaled. He didn't understand a thing. Wronged Atians? How was that possible? What did he ever do to offend the entire Atian community? He had no idea what was going on, to say he was lost was an understatement but Donald was right. What happened earlier was scary and a lot to take in. He had to at least try to understand it

"I- I don't understand."

"Angelo you're the key to a great cause and they are are beginning to know that. The Atians we killed earlier were quite familiar with your father's work, his legacy."

Angelo scoffed in confusion.

"Trusks enterprise is my father's legacy. I'm pretty sure the whole world knows that."

Donald laughed for a very short while.

"Trusk enterprise is only a spec of all your father built, what he worked so hard for."

Angelo rolled his eyes. He wasn't buying it. How on earth was he going to believe that the old man in front of him knew a lot about his family that he didn't.

"So you're saying my father has other establishments? Other secret establishments?"

Donald raised his brows in agreement.

"Oh, okay," now Angelo was going to let his sarcasm make the best out of him "and uh- where are these other legacies that you speak of?"

"I can't tell you that." Donald stared at him "yet."

Angelo pouted, nodding his head slowly. That was obviously a dead end, it wasn't going anywhere. It was his cue to leave, he definitely didn't have the time to engage in the conversation Donald was trying to rope him into. He had a lot to take care of, and time wasn't exactly a luxury he could afford.

He slowly got up to leave.

"I think I'm just going to leave now." He grabbed his jacket.

"You think I'm crazy?"

"I don't know."

"How about I show you instead?"

Donald asked raising his phone right to his lips. Angelo scoffed, watching him closely. What was he going to do now? Make a phone call?

"Open sesame." He announced

Everywhere was calm for a while. Too calm, too quiet, more quiet than a cemetery after a rain. No one moved, he didn't.

1..2....3...

Angelo exhaled weakly. He couldn't believe he was seriously falling for all that joke. Did Donald really think he had the time for that? Or was he just intentionally trying to stall?

Crack!

A ray of light entered the room, then more rays. Angelo turned quickly. It was almost as if the walls were getting swallowed into the ground and replaced with huge thick transparent glasses. Every single side of the room was transparent.

Angelo was in awe. It was like everything changed. He was seeing a whole new environment all together, it was nothing like he had ever seen. He slowly walked to the glass. Everything outside felt so small, it was like they were in the clouds looking down at everyone. Just how many floors did he have to stop at before they got to that room? It was like he could see everything from up there and that was a lot of everything.

Where was this place?

Everywhere seemed so organized and busy, so white and clean, and bright. This was bigger than the entire Trusk enterprise, it was bigger than anything he had ever seen.

"It's a beauty isn't it?" Angelo wasn't paying Donald any mind

"W-What is this place? Some kind of lab? A hospital?"

Donald walked closer to him,

"No son," He placed his arm over Angelo's shoulders. "This place is humanity's only hope . It was established a hundred and twenty years ago by your great grand father, Abraham Trusk."

Angelo slowly turned to him, he didn't understand.

"What?" He asked in a whisper.

"And then passed down to your grand father, who passed it down to your father and now, to you, his only surviving eldest."

Angelo scoffed. He didn't understand a thing. All of it was confusing

"W-wait a minute."

"This is your place Angelo. The black city is all your ancestors and mine have worked so hard to establish all these years and it has always lived up to its name. It has always stood at the right side of creation, at the humans' side."

"B-black city? How on earth- dad used to tell us stories about some black city that was going to protect all humans and find a place for us to exist without the mutants. I always believed it was a myth."

"This is far from being a myth child, as you can see, the black city is very much real and alive and we would not abandon earth for them. This is our home and we would fight for it."

"Woah." Angelo blinked, he turned back to the glass slowly.

"This place was established to find a way to protect humans, to ensure our existence as the greatest species on earth, and it has been all we've ever done; protect our kind. It's all your father ever hoped for you and your brothers; to lead in his place when the time came. Andre was well aware of that before they took him."

Angelo glared at him

"I warned him. The same way I'm warning you now, the Atian race cannot be trusted."

Angelo paused for a while as his surprise glare  was covered with yet another frown. He knew where he was coming from, and it was a subject he wasn't comfortable talking about. He looked away, turning to the glass slowly

"No you're wrong, it's not all of them. There are good people amongst them, good Atians that would never hurt anyone."

"And let me guess, you think your wife is one of them? The good ones?"

He could feel Donald's long glare burn through his skin. He turned back to him.

"Anna is a good person."

"That's what you think." Donald turned his back, while Angelo furrowed his.

"Manipulation." He said "the true power of every Atian." He turned to Angelo.

"They know their way around every humans head, filling them with lies, perfect sex, and fake promises. Your father knew that and his only hope was for you and your brothers to see that too, "

"Yeah well if he knew so much then why did he let Andre get married to her? if she was a threat then why did he give her keys to his company?"

"Give her his company?" Donald scoffed. It was almost like he was making mockery of the situation. He watched Donald tsk over and over again.

"there's so much for you to learn son. The Atians took everything away from you and somehow you've chosen to believe that they can be saved, they are a means to an end, and they have to be stopped."

"Everything doesn't have to be this way." Angelo had to find a way to convince him, to tell him what he knew, to show him just how wrong he was. "We can learn to coexist."

"Coexist? Son it's too late for that. You think the Atians that came after you earlier were willing to co-exist? They are beginning to have access to their powers. A minority of them with strong genes even our bracelets can't control, some of them like your wife."

Angelo held his breath for a while. Donald was there at every meeting, every celebration and event and he acted like he had no clue about anything that happened. Everyone thought he was just too old to care. How on earth did he know so much? How on earth did he know about Anna?

"I know Angelo, we see everything."

Angelo frowned. Everything was starting to make sense now.

"S-so the mercury bracelet- it was-"

"We made it."

"You?"

"Us."

Angelo scoffed. He didn't understand.

"What about the NSS? Isn't this supposed to be their job? Wasn't it created for things like this?"

"The NSS is paid by the government to do their jobs. They are just a bunch of angry racists who would do anything to get their pound of flesh. They do the dirty jobs as instructed by the government. We on the other hand, prefer to keep our hands clean, we are the back bone of our species. Like it or not Angelo, a war is coming. The Atians plan day by day, they train in secret and prepare themselves. They have a tiny secret cult right here called the G-unit that operates and handles all their businesses outside.They might be trapped behind that wall but they have eyes on everything we do here. Our extinction is all they care about. You just don't get it son, this is a survival of the fittest, and we have to do everything to save our kind. While they get ready to destroy us, we need to make sure we are a step ahead. They have weapons and supernatural abilities, and they are currently trying to find a way to deactivate their bracelets permanently. Do you have any idea what could happen when they do? Do you still think the NSS can be able to ensure the existence of our species? Do you think they can save the world from a force like that? Fight people that can fly and run with the fastest speed. We own them, the NSS are nothing compared to what we have built. They answer to us."

"But how? How on earth do you intend to wipe out an entire species?" He scoffed "its almost ridiculous and impossible."

Donald smirked.

"That's not the real question you're dying to ask is it?"

Angelo glared at him. Donald looked out through the glass

"You want to know if we can get your wife out of the Base." Angelo held his breath.

It was like Donald could read his mind. Of course everything that was going on at that moment was important but so was Anna's safety. It meant everything to him and despite all that was going on, it was all he could think about.

"You're more powerful than you think Angelo. We are more powerful than you think. You'd understand this better when you're home."

He raised his phone to his mouth again.

"Take us to level forty five."

He announced and this time, there was no silence that followed this time.

Click!

Angelo heard the clicking sound again just as the walls covered the glass one more time.

What on earth was a level forty five?
Click!

The walls opened again. This time, there was no more sun, just a ray of red light. Every where felt so cold, Angelo has never felt so cold before. Where was he?

"Initiate tempered glass." Donald commanded. Angelo looked around wondering who he was talking to.

Click!

"Tempered glass initiated." Angelo could hear the female computerized voice say. Amazing!

"White light."

"Initiating white light." The voice said again and immediately the lights came on. Angelo could hear the whirling robotic sound that filled the room

"Welcome to level forty-five. Please confirm your identity." The voice said again.

"Donald Grant." Donald announced as a red light beamed directly into his eyes. It was almost as if it was trying to scan them. It turned to Angelo and did the same thing. Angelo stood still trying not to move.

"You don't have to be nervous, Isabell is nice." Angelo turned to him. He recognized that name immediately and could feel a cold chill pass through his spine. "Your father named her after your mother ."

"Authorization completed. Welcome to level forty-five Mr Donald Grant, and Mr Angelo Trusk."

"How- how did, how did she know my name?" Angelo whispered

Donald smiled just as the walls closed again and opened after five seconds.

"There are only two people who are allowed in here, and you're one of them."

Angelo gulped hard at the large round metallic object in front of him. He could hear the fizzling sound of lightening from on top of it, through something that looked like an antenna. There was a huge transparent glass covering it. Angelo examined it carefully, it almost looked like a big bomb without a switch.

No, it didn't look like one, it was a bomb. He slowly turned to Donald

"Is this-"

"Our only hope against the Atians. This is an anti-Atian nuclear bomb. When activated, this machine sends an uncontrollable amount of mercury into the sky. Enough to weaken them against using their powers, enough to burn through their skins and eat them from the inside, enough to kill them. We are currently building underground bunkers in every city, and gathering supplies enough to feed the human race for a whole year till the air is breathable again. And you're going to help us."

"Me?" Angelo turned back to the machine and took a deep breath. He scoffed in disbelief. "This is crazy, how on earth am I-"

"We need you to activate the bomb Angelo, you are the key."

"What?" Angelo glared at him, finding it hard to understand "you're talking about mass murder, a massacre."he furrowed his brows in a huge frown. "I'm not going to help you wipe out an entire species of people. There are children in that arc. "

"Still it doesn't change the fact that they are going to grow up to be murderers. We are trying to balance nature here Angelo, balance earth."

"We? What kind of an organization makes a bomb to wipe out thousands of people? What happened to the integration programme? What happened to co-existing?"

"Earth has only one space for a race and that has to be the human race." Donald frowned.

"This is what you were born for. Like it or not, this is your father's legacy. Now is not the time for debates, now you have to choose, us or them."

Angelo starred at him not sure of what to say

Choose Angelo, us or them?

Those words kept ringing in his head

Us or them?

Angelo slowly turned back to the bomb. He wasn't sure if he had an answer to that. Nothing made sense to him, nothing at all. It looked so scary, so dangerous, too dangerous to leave him weakened and confused.

Us or them.