Chapter Text
A young man stands in his bedroom. It just so happens that today, the thirteenth of December, is this young man's dad's birthday. Though it was almost seventeen years ago he was given life, it is only today he will be given a name!
What will the name of this young man be?
Enter name…
==> Zoosmell Pooplord
Try again, smartass.
==> Try again: John Egbert
Your name is John Egbert.
As was previously mentioned it is your DAD'S BIRTHDAY. A number of CAKES are scattered about your room. You still haven't a clue why he's baking YOU cakes on HIS birthday, but whatever. You have a variety of INTERESTS. You have a passion for REALLY TERRIBLE MOVIES.
You like to program computers but you are NOT VERY GOOD AT IT. You have a fondness for PARANORMAL LORE, and are an aspiring AMATEUR MAGICIAN. You also like to play GAMES sometimes.
==> This all sounds very familiar… retrieve arms
Yeah, because that gag's not old! People have been using that one for years, and it was already old immediately after it was said. Who even uses that joke now anyway?
In actual fact, John had not 'stood', as such, in his room since around half an hour prior, when he had returned from his quest to grab some breakfast. Since then, he had been sat before the computer, a chat box open with red and blue text plastering the white background.
Suddenly, a noise from outside.
He span somewhat lethargically in his wheelie chair, turning to face the window, then dragged himself towards it, refusing to get up out of the chair.
Outside, his dad was visible, doing one of his legendary infinite car-washes. He had not yet noticed the large van parked on the kerb.
Maybe it was the post, which would be pretty sweet; they could be delivering birthday packages. Such as the one John himself had ordered.
A man climbed out of the passenger side of the car and made his way toward John's dad. Their conversation sounded mumbled at best from John's distance, and the fact that his dad had that pipe of his stuck in the corner of his mouth did little to help the enunciation.
Wait, his dad had raised his voice. Odd. Even when John had his super bratty moments, the man had never so much as gone over a firm 'no'.
They continued to speak, before another came from the van with a formal looking document. She handed it to John's father, which he scanned. Although even after reading it, he still looked mad.
John, naturally intrigued by what was going on, tried to work his way downstairs… only to find that his door was locked. Stupid fathers and their lousy goddamn stupid plans to stop you sneaking downstairs to peek at his latest cake before it was done. He wouldn't even have done that! Jeez.
Heading back over to the window, he was alarmed to see one of the van owners, a strange person clad completely in black, pinning his dad to the car body, his arms tucked behind his back as to not be of any bother. Another two of these people started heading towards his door. But then… where was the other guy?
Knock knock.
Ah. There he was.
Well the joke was on him since the door was locked- oh. Okay, never mind, the man had decided to knock the door down instead.
And while he was no Dave, John had always been a fairly scrawny kid, so the black-clad people had little difficulty in grabbing the boy and throwing him into the back of the van.
And so it began.
A young lady stands in her bedroom. Due to a violent storm, her house had just lost power, along with her wireless internet connection. This has severed her link to the outside world. Darn. This young lady named…
Named…
It's on the tip of your tongue. What was the name of this young lady again?
Enter name…
==> Flighty Broad
No, that wasn't it!
==> One more time: Rose Lalonde
Your name is Rose Lalonde.
As was previously mentioned you are without ELECTRICITY, although your LAPTOP COMPUTER still functions on BATTERY POWER… which has conveniently decided to RUN OUT. You have a variety of INTERESTS. You have a passion for RATHER OBSCURE LITERATURE. You enjoy creative writing and are somewhat secretive about it.
You have a fondness for the BESTIALLY STRANGE AND FICTITIOUS, and sometimes dabble in PSYCHOANALYSIS. You also like to KNIT, and your room is a BIT OF A MESS. And on occasion, if just the right one strikes your fancy, you like to play VIDEO GAMES with your friends.
==> Retrieve arms from the purple box
Not this again…
Rose continued to play a particularly haunting refrain on her violin. Without any power, she had decided that practicing her violin would be a fine pursuit, ignoring all odd urges to writhe like a flagellum and puke on her bed.
Because, ugh! What a terrible idea! The thought alone made her sick to her stomach. Really, whomever it was that was messing with her had a pretty lame sense of humour.
Well, at least the overpowering sound of her mother's vacuum cleaner had stopped.
But darn, she had really wanted to check with John if her package to him had arrived yet. If she had planned it all correctly, it should have arrived bang on his dad's birthday, but she of all people knew how treacherous the postal service could be, when most of her own birthday presents had gotten mixed up and ended up arriving weeks later. Bluh.
It would serve as a lesson to him not to over rely on her for his own dad's birthday presents.
Her mother's voice rang clear up the stairs, "Roooosie darling?"
Oh man.
"Yes?"
"I'm just heading out to get something. I'll be back soon."
"Okay." Rose called back, before turning to the window again.
Crack!
The jolts of lighting shooting through the sky cast a dramatic light upon the car heading down their driveway. Rose watched it go, before slinking out of her room.
==> Contemplate season
How you hate this season.
Food food food. Damn. There had to be some somewhere in this house…
Pausing in front of the refrigerator, once the battle ground of a passive-aggressive stint, Rose smirked. The evidence of this battle with her mother had remained on the fridge for several years now, both too amused by it to take it down.
Well anyway, passive-aggressive battles aside, the fridge served its purpose well and delivered the goods. A simple omelette later, Rose was climbing the stairs back to her room when…
Knock knock!
Huh? She could not imagine it to be anyone other than her mother but… her mum would not knock; she would just barge inside in that characteristically tipsy manner of hers.
"Coming!"
Rose dashed into her room, fishing her house keys from her bag before descending the stairs and unlocking the door.
Before her stood a man with a shock of light-coloured hair, and eerie green eyes against skin even paler than hers. Which was impressive, given the little sunlight she felt was of the weak New-Yorkian variety, so anyone paler than her must hardly get out at all. Behind him stood three people clad head to toe in a lightweight body armour.
"Good evening, my dear. My name is Doc Scratch. Is your mother in?" he asked.
Suddenly, a really cool dude. He's standing around being chill, like cool dudes are known to do sometimes. A cool dude like this probably has a real cool name. But he probably wouldn't just tell you what it was. He'd be way too busy for that. Busy being totally sweet.
But you could always try to guess his name. And if you were right, he may nod ever so slightly. That's a cool dude's way of letting you know there may just be hope for you yet.
Enter name…
==> Insufferable pri-
This guy doesn't have time for this sort of bullshit.
==> Try again: Dave Strider
Your name is Dave Strider.
It is an UNSEASONABLY WARM April day. Your BEDROOM WINDOW is open to let some air in, and your FAN is cranked. Arguably even more cranked would be your FLY BEATS, which brings us to your variety of INTERESTS. A cool dude like you is sure to have plenty.
You have a penchant for spinning out UNBELIEVABLY ILL JAMS with your TURNTABLES AND MIXING GEAR. You like to rave about BANDS NO ONE'S EVER HEARD OF BUT YOU. You collect WEIRD DEAD THINGS PRESERVED IN VARIOUS WAYS. You are an AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHER and operate your own MAKESHIFT DARKROOM. You maintain a number of IRONICALLY HUMOROUS BLOGS, WEBSITES AND SOCIA NETWORKING PROFILES. And if the inspiration striked, you won't hesitate to drop some PHAT RHYMES on a mofo and REPRESENT.
==> Quickly retrieve arms from cinderblocks
Nah.
Odd, the guy he had been talking to had suddenly disappeared. Rude.
Oh well. Not like Dave minded John ignoring him. No, not in the least. In fact, this meant that there were other candidates now open to pester.
Dave reached out to turn the electric fan up a notch, only to realise he had already tried to do that, and with the same results each time. The fan had broken earlier that morning and he had yet to get a new one. It had been on the blink for a number of weeks now, although usually a sharp rap on the top got it back into order, but apparently it was too far gone now.
Eh. Maybe later. If he could be bothered to brave the long walk to the electronics store… in the heat…
And then lug the heavy box up all those stairs, since some dumbass kid had decided it would be a fun idea to break the lift. Who even did that in this part of town?
But it was so hot, some kinds of his preserved animals were beginning to, well, stink.
Oh? Someone was contacting him.
gardenGnostic [GG] began pestering turntechGodhead [TG]
GG: hi dave!
TG: hey sup
GG: not much really!
GG: i just wanted to ask you if youd spoken to john or rose today :)
TG: yeah i was just dropping phat birthday rhymes on john at all angles
TG: bitch didnt know what parts to cover
TG: but hes idle now right in the middle of a choice verse
GG: someone sounds upset!
GG: i hope a certain cool kids cool isnt slipping! ;)
TG: calm it harley that shit aint happening no time soon
GG: if you say so! ;)
TG: you might want to get that left eyelid of yours checked out
TG: looks like its stuck in a permanently suggestive way stuff like that can destroy a man
GG: oops!
GG: yes ill get it checked by a doctor immediately thank you so much cool kid
GG: you might just have saved a life today!
GG: ;p
GG: anyway i was just checking because i cant get through to either of them
GG: time zone shenanigans aside
TG: rose mentioned something about a storm so maybe the electricitys down
TG: doesnt explain john though but who knows what that kids up to
GG: cant your 'best bro' senses tell you anything?!
TG: i sense another wink
TG: hold it in harley youre better than this
GG: lol
TG: going cold turkey thats my girl
GG: youre so silly dave!
GG: so i guess theyve both just lost connection then
GG: anyway how is everything in texas? :)
GG: (and no winks!)
TG: well hot for a start
GG: oh nooo! :(
TG: i dont know what you were expecting really
GG: your fans broken again isnt it?
GG: just get a new one already!
TG: shit woman are you a psychic
GG: lucky guess?
GG: you were complaining to john about it and he told me!
TG: so youve been lying to me about being a psychic this whole time
TG: how could you
GG: dave!
GG: we can talk about my non existent psychic powers later!
GG: go get yourself a new fan!
TG: s'alright
TG: its not that hot
GG: prove it mister!
TG: man what do you want me to do
GG: i want you to go get yourself a new fan or prove to me youre not sitting there overheating
GG: i know what youre like!
TG: okay maam
TG: this is me logging off doing a fucking acrobatic pirouette off pesterchum to go buy a fan
GG: damn right you are!
TG: see ya then
TG: say hi to your grand dad for me too ok
GG: yeah sure!
GG: bye!
GG: <3
turntechGodhead [TG] is now offline
GG: wait dave!
GG: i think someones broken into my house
GG: fuck
Well, at least in this bright sunshine, Dave had an excuse to be wearing his shades. And Jade was probably onto something, making him go get a new fan. It was getting all kinds of hot in there, what with the sun heating up the building, combined with the warmth from his electronics and the fact that the fan was broken.
He'd yelled that he was going out, just in case bro was in, but hell if Dave knew where his elusive brother was.
Ugh. This sun was unbearable, even in the loose white t-shirt he was wearing. Okay, maybe full-length dark coloured jeans were not the best option, but there was no way he was wearing shorts or something. Christ, who did you think he was?
And the heat would certainly explain why few people were out today.
Wait… he'd forgotten the sun-cream. Fuck. He was going to burn like one of John's dad's cakes when the timer's batteries ran out of juice. Except maybe not burn in the going charred and black sense of the word. More, go a very attractive shade of red over his freckles, with the worst affected areas of skin peeling all over the place. What a delight.
Calm it Strider. Almost at the electronics store- huh?
Fine, call him paranoid. But after growing up with Bro Strider all of his life, Dave's senses were pretty damn fine, and he could have sworn he had heard someone behind him, their steps matching his perfectly except… there. Another slip up, a footstep slightly out of time.
Right, just carry on a few more steps, act as if all is fine and-
A cloth was shoved over his mouth, and in his shock, Dave inhaled the vapours like an idiot. He vaguely recalled being dragged into the back of a van before blacking out.
A silly girl naps by her flowers. It is quite likely that she tired herself out with a variety of silly antics, as silly girls are often known to do. She may have a silly name too. Or maybe not. It is hard to say for sure without asking her.
But since she's slumbering so peacefully, it would be a shame to wake her up. You might as well just give her a name right now.
Enter name…
==> Farmstink Buttlass
Alas! She is too deep in her slumber to protest at the name!
==> Wake up!
You try to rouse Farmstink from her slumber, but she is really down for the count!
It looks as if she is holding some sort of NOTE.
==> Retrieve arms from-
They are RIGHT THERE. In PLAIN SIGHT. Look, they may as well be FLASHING RED and we are not going to end this final introduction on such a STUPID AND IMMATURE note, are we?
==> Drop pumpkin on Farmstink
Fucks sake. Even if there WAS a pumpkin, that would be a terrible thing to do to poor, sweet Farmstink.
==> Read note
'farmstink? that is incredibly silly and a little bit rude! my name is ==>'
==> Try again: Jade Harley
Your name is Jade Harley.
You have just woken from a restful nap, and as usual you have no recollection of having fallen asleep. You have quite a number of INTERESTS. So many in fact, you have trouble keeping track of them all, even with an assortment of COLOURFUL REMINDERS on your fingers to help you sort out everything on your mind. Nevertheless, when you spend time in your GARDEN ATRIUM, the only thing on your mind is your deeps passion for HORTICULTURE.
Jade, despite all earlier claims of being very silly, was currently hiding beneath her desk, and having just smacked a magazine of bullets into her rifle, was deciding whether calling her dog to her would be a good idea or not.
Immediately after Dave had left their conversation, she had heard a loud crash from downstairs. And when you lived on a random island in the middle of the Pacific with no one but yourself and your dog… well… it was a little alarming to say the least.
And despite how it would probably have no effect whatsoever, Jade desperately sent out messages to her friends, informing them of her situation, and whether they knew what to do. But to her dismay, none replied. None whatsoever. Sons of bitches the lot of them. And one daughter as well, she guessed.
Actually, no, that was a little unfair on their mums. Whoever they were. Argh, what? Focus, Harley!
Becquerel could suddenly be heard barking from downstairs. Well shit.
The chair and desk combo would probably give her a few seconds of concealment, but nothing more than that. If she was going to drive these people away, whoever they were, then she was going to have to make a big show of power and bluff them off, as she didn't really want to just blast them to smithereens.
Then, above the sound of Dave's music mixes, she could hear the stairs creaking.
Okay okay okay okay. Calm.
Jade took a deep breath, resting the front of the rifle on the chair to steady it, then began to wait.
… and wait…
… and wait…
Jeez, this burglar or whatever it was sure was taking their time getting up the stairs. Although she could sympathise a little on that front: the stairs took ages to climb, which was why she almost always used the transportalizer pads.
Creak… creak… creak… tap tap tap.
They had reached the top floor of her home: the greenhouse.
"Hello?"
A kind looking gentleman walked into the room, clad in a white suit over a vibrant green shirt. It did not immediately seem as if he would want to cause Jade harm. Perhaps he had simply crashed a plane or boat nearby, and was looking for help. But judging by the all of the bite marks and rips on his suit, Bec was not as optimistic about the man's arrival. And that's really what mattered.
A bullet left her gun and found its mark, chipping the wall right next to the man's head.
"Jade, isn't it?" he asked, eyes seeking her out, and finding her almost instantly. At the widening of her gaze, he decided that he was correct, and so continued. "Jade, come now, we have no need for such aggressive mannerisms."
"How do you know my name?" Having not properly spoken in a while, her voice initially came out a little squeaky.
A small smirk rose on the man's face, as he ignored the question. "My name is Doc Scratch, and I am here to take you away from here. Somewhere safe."
This Doc Scratch must be from social services, of whatever the equivalent would be in the middle of the pacific. Wait, since her granddad had owned the island… surely it would not be accountable to US laws… oh gross. Jade could not claim to be an expert in such matters, but ever since she and her grandpa had moved to this island when she was thirteen, it had been as if they were in a land of their own, and safe from the outside world of mutants and impending war. She'd never had to think about things such as 'custody' and 'schooling', so she had not bothered learning about it.
And then grandpa had died, and now she had this guy breaking into her house. Fucking great.
"Who are you?" she demanded, aiming the gun at his chest.
"I was under the impression that I had introduced myself already. I am Do-"
"I got that part," Jade snarled. "I meant, who are you, and what are you doing on my island?"
"Oh. I would have thought that a seventeen year old girl with only a dog for company would be thrilled to see someone else on her island. Especially such a charming man as I."
"Why are you here?" she asked firmly, raising her voice slightly.
"I am certain that I have already told you that, as well. Come out from under the desk, and I shall tell you in greater detail."
"I'm not going anywhere. And don't come closer."
"Please, my dear, be reasonable." he purred, taking a step forwards before a bullet clipped the side of his thigh, staining the surrounding area of fabric a bright lime-green with his blood. So they were of the same blood caste, huh?
Jade aimed the muzzle of her gun back at his chest, and growled, "I said don't come any fucking closer!"
"I tried to give you a chance to come peacefully, yet you disregarded my manners." He then backed out from the room, and she could hear his footsteps plodding down the corridor, accompanied by the odd curse word muttered just under his breath.
Jade let out the breath she had been holding. With the intruder's leg ruined, it was unlikely that he could do any damage to her now-
Okay, hold the phone, she could now hear the pattering of feet rushing up the stairs. She should have known that man would not come alone. But honestly, this was all so weird and confusing to begin with, that Jade excused herself for not having a clue what was going on.
It was then when three people in body armour dashed into the room. The first took the brunt of Jade's bullets, then pulled a sword from their odd, dragon-headed cane and sliced at the chair in front of Jade. The top of it fell to the ground, and Jade was certain that if she could see the rapier-wielder's face, they would be grinning.
This person yanked the chair back from it's place in front of Jade, with another pulling the gun from her grip near effortlessly. The final member of the trio dragged her out from under the desk by the tops of her arms, then as soon as the girl stood up, drew them behind her in a secure hold.
"Let go of me!" she shrieked, attempting to kick at the person behind her with poor results. It was then when she noticed the tall horns on the two – uh, ninjas? – before her. "Wait! You're mutants!"
The ninja-thing with the sword nodded to the one holding her, a signal, it seemed, to smash her in the side of the head with the handle of their sickle. Bastard.
When Jade awoke, she was aware of very little, other than the blood that had dried down one side of her face, and of the soft rumbling coming through the floor.
As the fuzziness of her mind cleared, she established that she was in the back of a van. And judging by the hushed voices, there were other people in here… but Jade was in no mood to attempt the arduous task of sitting up and opening her eyes, so she lay where she was a while longer. Perhaps she could figure out who they were without having to ask…
"Is she waking?"
Ugh, was that all they were going to say? Although maybe they had discussed their identities and all that jazz while she was still asleep. Drat.
"Jade?" A warm hand pressed against her shoulder, then lightly shook her. "Jade?"
Time to get up. With a little help from whom had shaken her, she sat up and was met with the faces of three teens, probably all around her age. Oh!
To her right sat Rose, a pretty violet blood that she spoke to often via pesterchum and video chat, but had never met in person, although both Dave and John had met her in real life. She had been the one to help her up.
"'sup, Harley?" She turned to see Dave sitting at her left, those trademark shades sitting comfortably on the bridge of his nose and, oh wow, that was a sunburn and a half.
"Dave! Your nose is bright red!" she giggled, and the small smirk on his face turned into a pout.
"Shit, you don't need to drill me too. I've already had Egbert on my case for the past few hours."
So then the other person…
"Hi Jade!"
"John!" Jade leapt at the boy opposite her and hugged him tightly. "Hi! Did my package come?"
"Sorry, it hadn't arrived when I checked last. Well, before I got kidnapped anyway."
"So that's why none of you replied to my messages!"
"Yes. We were all too busy being knocked out with chloroform to reply to you. Sorry." Rose smirked.
"I'm so disappointed in you all! I mean really, that's no excuse," Jade sniggered, although her expression sobered up quickly as she said, "So. Do any of you know what's going on?"
"'fraid not. We've all just got bunged in here until further notice. And not, shit, better check the news every minute, 'cause that bitch is updating faster than you can say noodles; more like picking up the paper at the end of the day as a collection of all the crap that's gone on in the day."
"Dave. You are babbling." Rose said, which shut the boy up instantly. It seemed to be a habit of his when he got panicky, which, admittedly, could be pretty funny. "That didn't even make sense anyway."
"Yeah it did, were you not even listening? Jesus Christ, Lalonde. Pay some fucking attention to what's going on in your life now and then, would you?"
"Why? Are you going to start rapping about it?"
"What? No."
As the blonds continued their quiet banter, Jade turned back to John, "So you honesty have no idea what's going on?"
"Well I've been thinking it through in my head, and the best I can come up with is that… well the van that pulled up outside my house kinda looked like one of those vans they picked up mutants in."
"And the people who grabbed me had horns or something… oh my god, John! What if the people who've been taking the mutants are actually training them into ninja-soldiers?"
That sentence caught the attention of the Strider-Lalonde duo, and they both gave her incredulous looks. Jade was also fairly certain that she could hear a snigger coming from the front of the van.
"I know you were on an island for four years, but come on, seriously." Dave then stopped, as if a great idea had struck him. "Hey, you're finally off that island and chilling with the cool kids now. How does it feel? Wicked bananas, right?"
"Absolutely!"
And then the subject of why the four of them had been kidnapped was dropped.
After another hour or two in the van, they arrived at some strange location: conglomeration of dusty glass buildings in the middle of a desert.
A group of mutants stood outside, soaking up the sunlight. Their skin was a pale hue of grey, with their horns filled down to mere stumps. Weird.
Once they were all securely restrained, with cuffs and the three mutant-ninja-soldier-things walking alongside them, Doc Scratch led them inside, straight towards a member of staff. They then followed this person through a near endless series of blank white walls and Giger paintings, descended a reasonable distance in a lift, and then continued to walk again.
Where they stopped, a large door awaited, and it was here the errand boy left them.
"Before you go in, I must warn you. The owner of the facility, this woman that you are about to meet is somewhat… different to whom you may be expecting. Do try not to stare; otherwise she may decide to punish you. And do not speak unless she directly asks you a question."
The four teens stood before Doc Scratch simply stared at him. He decided to take this as them understanding his words, and then knocked on the door.
"You may enter." said a voice from the other side of the thick wood.
Sitting behind the desk was a mutant. A mutant. A fully grown, adult mutant, which was weird because the grey-skinned variety had only begun to appear around a decade or so at most ago, and none of them were over the age of thirty, certainly. This woman was definitely in her forties so…
"Good afternoon," She said with a shark-like grin. "How nice of you to finally grace my office, beta. Please, sit down. I am Her Imperious Condescension."
She told them about the mutants in her care, and how She was desperately trying to heal them, or at the very least provide them with jobs so that they could feel worthwhile. She spoke of the three mutants who had brought them here, and how they had turned their lives around.
"How so? By kidnapping innocent people? I fail to see how that is even remotely 'turning your life around' material." Rose pointed out scathingly.
At this, the Condesce rose to her feet, a strange smile on her face as she stepped around them to sit on the desk. She then slapped Rose about the face, leaving a pink hand-shaped mark on her cheek.
"Thank you for your contribution, Rose."
Normally, the other three would have cried out about Rose's treatment but… it felt almost as if there were a heavy pressure weighing down on them, preventing them from moving or even speaking.
"Now. I understand that obviously, you will all be confused, scared and wondering why I have brought you here." She folded her hands together on her lap, then smiled, "We are on the very brink of war. In fact, what is going to start this fight is about to happen in… forty-five minutes. The four of you will be very useful to me after this war. So I need to protect you over the next period of time. This could take any length of time from a few months to a few years. We'll see. Although I doubt that your people will be able to last until April. And certainly not June."
She enjoyed watching their faces as she spoke. How they were unable to express their horror in any way, other than the pattern of their breathing, as the Condesce was controlling every aspect of them save for that.
"So. This is how this shall work. A key member of this warfare I had organised has gone missing, and I need some replacements. We shall be able to get the first phase done fine without them, but for the next parts, we shall need you, and you." She explained, pointing at Dave and then Jade. "You, John, will be involved in protecting our base here. And as for you, Rose. I'm afraid we shall be keeping you as captive."
A sharp inhalation of breath. Yet it sounded more angry, insulted even, than frightened. Although without the facial expressions, it was hard to distinguish between them for sure.
"Well, perhaps 'captive' is not the right choice of word. You shall still be receiving the same amount of training as the others. However you will not be leaving this facility. It is needed to make certain that your friends cooperate. Unlike our other little soldiers, we have not trained you to have loyalty for us. We did not have the time, as we put off taking you. A mistake on my part."
The Condesce then paused, thinking through what she had just said, before continuing, "Although I suppose I was correct at the time. Had we begun kidnapping mutation free humans, the government would have gotten involved, and we would have had to begin this war before we were ready.
'So now, we have about a week to bring out your abilities before we throw you headlong into battle. With your heritage, I am certain you will be able to-"
At these words, the lighting in the room, already dim, flashed out, dropping them into darkness for a few long seconds before the electricity returned.
Frankly, the four would have preferred to sit in the darkness, as the pure fury scored onto her face was terrifying.
"You may leave."
As She had promised, the next week was filled to the brim with intensive training.
On the first day, their clothes were taken from them and replaced with, allegedly, the standard gear for mutants. Grey-green boiler suits in a strange fleecy material, with a pair of tight, black cut-offs and a vest underneath, topped off with boots. It was surprisingly comfy, actually. And honestly, Dave was just glad he could keep his sunnies.
The rest of this day, the three that were not being kept hostage were tested upon in all manners of ways. Fitness tests, cognitive tests, DNA tests, tests that involved the latest mass spectrometers, tests with strange machinery and tests that could only be described as 'sciency' even by Jade.
At the end of the day, they simply collapsed side by side on one of the beds, and slept through the night in that manner. Somehow, both John and Jade found themselves hugging the Texan boy in their sleep. It had made for an interesting position when they awoke.
Apparently, the room they were staying in had belonged to one of the deserters, only with a bunk bed shoved into the corner. They hadn't had enough time to fix them up with some of their fancy sleeping pods, so the more traditional room was what they got. Not that any of them were complaining.
The second day was the results day, and it was when they branched off into their mini teams. Jade and Dave would have to work together to compliment their skill sets, while John trained with a petite woman from New-Orleans.
"Hello. My name is the Handmaid, and I am your mentor, since I've gone and messed up in the future or something, so now I've got to deal with you humans." Jade and Dave could do little more than gawk at the tall mutant before them. "So I'm the lady who's swell at time-travel… apparently. Something which you've got to master in a couple a' days, shades."
Dave nodded. "Got it, yeah. Master time-travel, sure thing. Anything else you'd like me to do while I'm at it? Slay you some dragons and rescue a damsel from a t-rex then bring you an original copy of Macbeth, because I will be that knight. Saving people through time and space. Hell, I'll even throw in the Declaration of Independence for free. Make Nic Cage proud."
The Handmaid simply gave him a blank look as she tried to figure out the comments. "Excuse me?"
"No, I think I'm the one who missed the point. I mean come on. Time travel? Are you shitting me?"
"I shit you not, as I think it's said." she smirked. "I have to say, I've my doubts about whether I'll be able to get you outta this fix. My time shifts are involuntary."
"Great. Thanks."
"And you, girl, I guess we'll just put you in some tricky situations until you figure it out. Same goes for you, shades. It works like a charm."
It turned out that not only was this Handmaid completely serious about 'tricky situations', but that she was also under exaggerating about said 'tricky situations'.
Her idea of this 'tricky situation' was dunking them into water containing an oddly large squid-like creature, with the only safe haven being a ledge about ten metres above them. When this failed to work (and both Jade and Dave were covered in bands of sucker marks), she got them to go across an assault course that involved heavy usage of mashy-spike-plates and hot water.
Saving them several times with her telekinetic abilities (arguably freaking the both of them out more than the near death experience), the Handmaid then frowned at the lack of results. It would seem that she needed to use a slightly different tactic.
And so following the worst of their wounds being tended to with the latest nanobots, she took them both into a vast room with racks of assorted weapons, a sky-light and scorch marks on the walls.
"You use swords, right?" the maroon-blooded mutant said, and when the boy nodded, she threw a sword at him. Luckily for Dave, he caught it. "Well, you can fight the Brobot then."
"I guess so."
"Attaboy! And Jade?"
"Yes?"
"You're handy with a gun, aren't you? Well, I have some targets left over from my last group. You can use those." She escorted Jade over to the far end of the room, where the burn marks were most evident. "Targets are going to start moving all around you. When they do this, keep calm and don't blow off. Got it?"
They spent the remainder of that day fighting their targets, before shuffling back to their bedroom. While the rapid application of nanobots to their wounds got rid of the physical injury speedily, Jade and Dave were still mentally exhausted. The healing process involved with nanobots also took a lot out of the patient, mainly as in the final stages, it involved the tiny robots drawing matter from the recipients own food stores to heal.
John, exhausted like his team mates, lay sprawled across the only single bed, already asleep. At this sight, Jade and Dave locked eyes before making a mad dash for bottom bunk, neither wanting to bother with the climb for the top. Jade with her slightly longer legs won and dove the best she could onto the bed, claiming it as her own.
Sleep, she decided, was something that would come easily after their long and tiring day. But it seemed Jade was wrong. She lay with her eyes shut for a few seconds at a time, as when she kept them closed for longer, images of that odd squid creature would work their way into her mind and freak her out. After a good five minutes of this, she called out softly, "Dave?"
There was no reply for a bit, and she decided that perhaps he had fallen asleep, yet he then answered, "What is it, Harley?"
"I can't get to sleep."
He paused again.
"Neither can I. The squid, right?"
"Yeah."
They lay in silence for a while longer, before his voice, just about audible from the bed above murmured, "Good job on taking on that squid, by the way. It was like fucking sashimi out there, minus the dipping-sauce."
"Thanks. I figured that being eaten by a squid was a good enough emergency for the emergency knife she gave us," giggled Jade. "I thought she just wanted us to kill it, but she still looked disappointed at the end…"
"It's probably to do with that time travel bullshit." Dave sighed, then judging by the creaking of the bed, he turned over. "Maybe she's trying to 'awaken' our powers by putting us in dangerous situations."
"Just like in your Japanese animes!"
"Hey those were for strictly ironic purposes." he reminded, as if he was trying to win back 'cool-kid' credentials. But Jade was not about to let him off that easily.
"I think all those weird dead things you collect are way less cool than anime, Dave."
"What? Fuck you, my preserved animals are the shit."
Jade tried her best to stifle her laughter, mainly so that she would not wake John but also to prevent her from hurting Dave's feelings too badly. Light-hearted ribbings was part of their interactions, and she doubted they could even have a normal conversation without at least some insults being thrown about, but there was a limit.
"What about that Handmaid?" asked Dave all of a sudden.
"What about her?"
"Well ain't she a swell doll?"
"Ab-so-lute-ly! She's the bee's knees!"
"Jeepers creepers, these kiddos aren't getting supernatural powers quick enough, better fling them into some tricky situations!"
"That's the ticket!"
Turned out it was not the ticket. Unlike with how the village scenario affected the mutants, how matter how many potentially fatal scenarios the Handmaid put Jade and Dave into, their powers would not awaken. And she knew they had those powers and knew that they would develop soon, but for some reason, whatever it was, it seemed that they were not to come into effect before this fight. Which was not good in the slightest for them.
Apparently stress affected the humans in different way to the mutants. Although the Handmaid guessed that these so called mutants had been sort of engineered for this quick release of their powers. These humans with special abilities were unexpected to say the least, and she would bet her life that the Condesce was fucking relieved to say the least when she found them.
And now, she was going to use them in a fight against their own race.
Really, the best the Handmaid felt she could do in the small time frame she had was give them some basic survival skills on how to navigate a war zone… if one could even do such a thing.
The day they would be needed came round faster than they could have imagined.
==> Be Dave at the end of the training week
You are now Dave Strider at the end of the training week
Dave awoke to find the Handmaid looming overhead, and like most normal people, found himself emitting a shrill shriek and covered his chest with the covers instantly. Then, upon realising his face was bare, hid his eyes. Fuck, where were his shades?
"You shouldn't be so ashamed of your caste, kid," she said with a smirk, as if freaking people out at six in the morning was something she really enjoyed doing. Heck, knowing this crazy broad it was entirely possible. Before waking Jade, she decided to pester him further, and leant on the side of the bed, looming dangerously close to him. "Let me guess, your irises have begun to change colour earlier than you thought, huh?"
Ah, there they were. Honestly, if Dave was not so worried that he would break them, he would wear his sunglasses in his sleep.
"Fine, blank me. Just thought I'd share this with you: originally, all humans had red blood," The Handmaid gave him a wink before shaking Jade awake. "Come on. The Condesce needs to brief you on what you're going to do. And I'll warn you now, she's not pleased at all with you."
And she wasn't. The Condesce started their talk with emphasising how disappointed she was with them and their progress, and how she had expected so much more from them, and it was just rude, really, not delivering after She had put so much work into looking after them.
She then told them that since they had failed to show any hint of their powers under the Handmaid's careful training regime, they would simply have to be sent out into the battlefield to see if the powers would be unlocked. Because the Handmaid was simply the best there was when it came to training, so if she could not do anything, it was unlikely anyone could.
"Either they will be released, and we can undergo our plans more efficiently, or you will be killed, and we do not have to worry about the opposing team stealing what is ours. It's a win-win situation."
Had he not been under the mental oppression of the Condesce, Dave would have asked what She planned to do if they were captured. Oh well. Perhaps that could be a ticket out, although such a route was unlikely.
Both of them received a small implant that was placed just in the crook of their ear. It would allow the Condesce to send them her orders.
"If you do manage to control your powers, I shall contact you," Then, she took Dave's arm and after rolling up the sleeve, injected what appeared to be a wafer-thin microchip just under the skin of his wrist. With a leer, she spread a fine layer of nano-bot gel on the wound, sealing it almost instantly. "This… well, you will find out if the need arises."
After this, they were sent to a room where they were given outfits similar to the mutants whom had taken them, minus the holes for the horns. It was also here where they each received a gun and a knife, which they strapped to their sides in a near languid fashion, trying to delay the inevitable journey to the war zone.
Sure Dave had fought his bro hundreds if not thousand of times, and gotten some pretty serious wounds from it too, but this was different. This would not just be some petty strife. If this mutant-lady was telling the truth, then outside would be a week's worth of fighting laid out before them. No one was ever ready to face that.
Jade's voice broke the silence. "Hey, Dave?"
He turned. "Yeah?"
"Just… don't die out there, okay? If what this woman is saying is true, then there will be some really bad things out there. Stay close to me, I don't want to lose you. In either meaning of the phrase."
"I don't think there are many things that can stand the combined force of Strider-Harley."
"Heh, that wasn't cheesy at all! And why does your name get to go in front?"
"Natural order of things." shrugged Dave. "Seriously, though. We'll be fine. These weird-ass powers will probably jump in to save the day. Just like in my Japanese animes."
"I'm glad we've accepted the Japanese animes!"
"First step on the road to recovery is acceptance. Or something like that."
They laughed weakly, most of the sound blocked by the helmets they wore before Jade went for the kill with an awkward hug, made all the more awkward by the headgear clunking together.
"Seriously, though! Don't die, Strider. I've got my eye on you."
"Of course I won't die, I need all the fucking time I can get if I want to get taller than you."
"Dream all you like, you'll never beat me!"
"Come on, it's only like an inch difference."
Surprisingly, it was a beat up, old school bus that carted them to the scene of a fight. The two humans sat at the front, a wall of guards sitting between them and the back of the bus, where the groups of pale mutants were.
They were unnerving to say the least, the way that a few of the team's eyes would linger on the people at the front.
"Out." ordered the guard.
The twelve mutants stood in a loose group beside Jade and Dave. After a brief team talk, one of the mutants walked over to the humans and said, "For your own safety, please could you stay out of our way? Our style of fighting can be fairly reckless, and we would hate to injure someone on our side."
Dave turned to Jade, trying to gauge her expression, then looked back to woman before him.
"Sure." Jade shrugged.
With a nod, the mutants left them, heading towards some sort of tent. With the bus gone, the pair now had no idea what to do. Did they just throw themselves into the distant skirmishes, or were they supposed to report to someone?
"Well, go and talk to that woman with the stripes on her sleeve." The Condesce's voice suddenly leapt into their ears, making the both of them jump.
So without further delay, they set off to the sound of bombs and gunshots.