"Illinois, on the outskirts of Chicago, Fox River State Penitentiary.."
Lying on the uncomfortable upper bunk, eyes closed and mind foggy, Nolan repeated that phrase to himself over and over.
"Time to go to the yard!" A hoarse voice rang out accompanied by the horrible metallic screech as the doors opened.
"Shit!" murmured Nolan angrily, he stopped repeating the phrase and sat up resigned.
Suddenly, the companion from the lower bunk, Michael Scofield, looked up and introduced himself: "Hello, I'm your new cellmate, my name is Michael Scofield."
Michael had arrived barely half an hour earlier, Nolan had seen him and recognized him with disbelief, but in the middle of his confusion he had not paid attention.
Now he was almost certain, he had traveled to another world, the prison was real, Michael was real too, and apparently he did not have any special power to help him.
To survive and get out of that place, Nolan had no choice but to nod and respond: "Nolan."
He did not know how, but he spoke English fluently from the moment he appeared there, Michael's attractive face showed an air of melancholy.
In that half hour he had already confirmed that he was in a new world and that he had not occupied Sucre's body, he was still himself, twenty-five years old, somewhat thin, one meter seventy-eight tall, with an attractive physique.
Where was Sucre? He still did not know, the cell had been closed all that time and they had only just opened it.
"Seems like we're going to live together for a long time, shall we go for a walk?" Michael invited.
The truth is, Nolan would have preferred to stay in the cell, but going out was mandatory, besides, he is just a common person, so it is better to get along with Michael to avoid problems.
"All right." Nolan climbed down from the bed and followed him to the yard.
As soon as he stepped on the ground, a mechanical voice echoed in his mind:
|[ System linked successfully, novice package [Larva of the Five Poisons Insect] delivered ]|
[Warning: each time you successfully kill a person, you will obtain a new skill ]
Nolan immediately felt the presence of a tiny insect, the size of a fly, with five colors.
"Great, the Golden Finger finally arrived, I no longer have to worry about being an ordinary person." Nolan thought euphorically, erasing all previous frustration.
Michael noticed his expression and raised an eyebrow: "What's up, did you remember something funny?"
"Yes." Nolan replied, restraining himself.
As he walked, he thought: "Killing people will give me rewards..?"
The problem was that he had never even killed a chicken, and now they asked him to kill people, the psychological block was strong, he took several deep breaths and calmed down, while he watched the yard full of inmates.
There were familiar faces from the series Prison Break: T-Bag (Theodore Bagwell), John Abruzzi, Charles Westmoreland (DB Cooper), Sucre, Benjamin Franklin… and in a separate yard, Lincoln Burrows.
"This is starting hard." He murmured with a sigh.
"I'll walk alone." Michael said suddenly, walking away.
Nolan hesitated for a moment, then headed toward Charles.
He already had a plan: he did not need to escape with Michael if he gathered enough skills from the system, for now he just had to keep a low profile and not provoke anyone.
Abruzzi is the key, because outside the prison he would need transport, papers and fake identities.
"Today… I'll test the system, see what skill I get." he thought.
He approached Charles and smiled: "Can I sit here?"
Charles, who had already noticed him, answered calmly: "I'm an old man, I can't help you with anything." He said, nodding his head toward a corner.
Nolan looked in that direction and saw T-Bag advancing with his entourage alongside his "boyfriend", all with sinister smiles.
"What a shitty problem." he thought, sitting down anyway next to Charles, the old man got up and left, leaving him alone.
Nolan sighed, he did not want to face T-Bag yet, he decided to use his insect against one of his henchmen as a warning.
"Attack!" he ordered mentally.
The insect came out of his ankle and flew at full speed toward the chosen target behind T-Bag.