For fifteen minutes, the elevator rose into blackness, its screeching motor occasionally hiccuping for a moment before returning with an even greater scream. Eventually it slowed down, and like in an underground monorail station, the sound of wind howling just outside replaced its metallic ring. As it halted, the room jolted downwards as if sinking into a small pit before being locked into place with a distinctive clang. A minute passed, and the doors to the room opened up. Monitors at the head of the room flickered on, displaying another red message.

"REMAIN SEATED"

From the doors proceeded a disheartening appearance; armored faces and intimidating firearms in the hands of a few dozen soldiers broke the boisterous aura within the room. Loud voices were replaced with hushed whispers, and flailing arms with taught postures. It was clear by the faceless, eyeless, featureless faces of the soldiers standing in line at the base of the elevator, displayed before the seated students as if preparing for a grim performance, that the situation required silence and cooperation.

The soldiers stomped their right feet upon the concrete flooring once and brought themselves into a tight formation, firearms held close to their bodies. From the door, another figure entered, less armored -but still clearly bearing defensive clothing- and without an obscuring helmet upon their face. It was a woman of average height, clad in a dark green military uniform that only further cemented her authority beyond the attentiveness those that preceded her showed. Her hair was long, messy, and her face clearly marred by several scars crossing over one another. Gloves covered her hands -or rather, her hand. As far as the students could tell, only one was gloved, for the other was covered by a cape-like article that hung from her left shoulder.

She walked before the lined soldiers until she found herself at the very center, and they, without word or gesture, loosened their stances. The woman scanned her eyes over the seats, never seeming to meet anyone's gaze in particular, and spoke up with an abruptly booming voice.

"Students of Second Academy," she began, prompting a few individuals to jump in surprise, "I do not regret to inform you that this is not the educational facility you were expecting. No more than I fail to regret putting a gun into a locked safe when I go to sleep at night. When I enjoy the comfort of being at home when I do it, and that my son is safe from its dangers." She paused for a few seconds, watching as the chatter among the audience began to pick up. Her next words, just as strikingly loud as before, halted their whispers and mutters once again.

"I'll admit it. You're a bit different than a gun. You're autonomous, which makes you even more dangerous. By whatever freaky means, you've procured yourself a rather strange gun and embedded it within yourselves that no one has been able to remove successful... yet. After all, the supernatural is simply what science has yet to understand." Reaching behind herself, she brought out a small device not unlike a remote control, which she clicked several times apathetically. On the monitors appeared a series of blueprints, detailing the structure of some tremendous building. As she spoke, arrows and circles manifested in tandem, focusing on the points she pointed out.

"This is the Second Academy for Public Dangers, sanctioned by the SHU in 2152, and funded by multiple corporations. It is 600 kilometers long from bow to stern, and houses a student population of 700,000, maintained constantly by both living and non-living staff. Mostly the latter." She gave a long hard look at one girl in particular, clad in a short-billed black cap and a rather warm-looking shoulder cape. She visibly tensed and averted her own eyes.

"It has been tried and tested over, and over, and over..." she continued, "in being capable of dealing with every manner of supernatural abilities you kids can throw at it." She clicked on the remote control and the monitors focused on the outer edge of the Academy. The "walls" appeared stretched further than any internal barriers, filled with an empty black space. "Every outer wall of the Academy is at least two miles thick, filled with lead and whatever other heavy metals we could procure from the asteroid belts." She returned her gaze back to the caped girl and brought her arms to cross behind. "You teleporters better think twice before trying to jump out into the void of space. I can't imagine how many of you are now one with the walls." A smile crossed her scarred face, and she began to pace back and forth. "All exits possess several layers of defense that bar escape for every type of super we've encountered thus far. Work together and you will find that, even then, you will die without a second thought by the machinery that controls it. Our network is managed by a series of external, extremely powerful AI entities that will kill on contact if you attempt to integrate or hack them. Electromagnetics are a powerful thing, but our AI aren't very good at focusing them onto one person... I suggest students keep away from anyone thinking of screwing with the computers," as she paused, she turned to leer into Cormac's eyes briefly, and continued.

"Here at Second Academy, us staff members work extremely hard to maintain a working environment, even when we have dangerous kiddos like you running about. We are paid poorly, and work for a very long time. Our job is simple, and very satisfying at times given the boredom that accompanies the great majority of it. We aim to weed out those of you who would work to undermine the peace your predecessors strived to achieve. Humanity currently enjoys a time of safety despite the presence of villainous supers. We, we are the ones who have maintained that." The woman stopped in her tracks and lifted her voice even higher.

"So let me be the first to say, that no actions of any questionable nature whatsoever will be tolerated. No matter who you are, or what you are capable of, you do not have power here. Disobey us at your own risk. Live here in obedience, and I can assure you will exit it in one piece, and return back home to help alleviate the opinions mankind still holds against you. Once this elevator has reached its destination, you will be brought to your permanent place of residence for the night. In the morning, your initiation into the Academy will truly begin. I implore you to behave until then," she finished. The woman gave one last glance at the new arrivals before turning away and exiting. The soldiers followed her out, and just as the door hissed closed, the elevator began to move once again.

Instead of moving upwards, however, it moved straight backwards, once more proceeding into the dark beyond.

March raised an eyebrow at the boy’s response. Ioun stone? He had no idea what it was and had no intention of asking.

“Right, sex toy it is. I shall refrain discovering how you use it.”

March smiled as he responded, trying to make his voice as genuine as possible. From the way he spoke and the fact he was playing around with some spherical gadget. The boy was definitely a technology person. It hinted slightly at his powers but anyone could be a nerd if they wanted to. Even the generic flame wielding psychic. March grimaced as he recalled an unpleasant memory.

It was then that noticed a slightly creeping looking blonde looking at them but before he could say anything, the elevator jolted as it sunk into place. As the monitors flickered to life, armored men began marching in…

XXX

“That has gotta be the best welcoming ceremony I’ve ever attended,” said March sarcastically to the black haired boy. “Best. Shit. Ever.”

He wasn’t particularly surprised. He had been anticipating something like this afterall. He just… didn’t expect them to be so blunt. Talk about a 180 degrees change in attitude. Well now he had confirmed two things; 1. Second Academy was not going to be a walk in the park and 2. The black haired boy’s power was related to technology. Oh thank ye, smarteth female commander for being so obvious with eye contact.

March whistled at the blonde staring at them earlier, beckoning him over. It was best he made some friends. Yeah, being a loner in Second Academy was definitely a no-no.

“Name’s March. March Blakewood. Now since I’ve introduced myself, it wouldn’t be good manners if you guys didn’t.”

“Right, sex toy it is. I shall refrain discovering how you use it.” the person responded amusedly.

"For shame, I was just about to explain how you made the barbed tentacles come out...", he pondered with a smirk.

In fact, strictly speaking, it wasn't entirely untrue when he said that the device served little purpose beyond being an overcomplicated conversation piece. Apart from floating pointlessly in the air when activated, it really didn't serve any obvious functions beyond decoration. Certainly not the sort of things that would usually warrant the use of his talents. No, the real reason he made it was as a receptacle for some of his more valuable projects. Having anticipated the problems he would have at the station due to his suspicious luggage, he had elected to disassemble most of his important devices into their base components, then integrate them into seemingly innocuous ornamental trinkets. This one in particular contained a light speed computing cube, an experimental kinetic repulsion system he had been working on and a small sample of exotic matter. Even the shell, although less useful than it contents, was still rather valuable, being made out of a highly protective nanofiber alloy. Using his screwdriver, he was proceeding to carefully take it apart and retrieve any useful components it might have. Although it was no larger than the size of a baseball of moderate proportions, it was packed with a remarkably large amount of pieces, each densely interconnected with one another to give the illusion of serving an actual purpose.

After carefully removing the final pieces from the orb, he casually closed the casing then discarded it by throwing carelessly it over his shoulder. Before it could hit the floor, however, it was caught by a small, pseudo-spider like robotic drone, which skittered back into his duffel bag with it in the proper compartment. He manually stored the remainder inside a small metallic box which he then put into his backpack. He grinned and was about to say something to the boy who had approached him, but was interrupted by the sound of the room they were in finally finishing its ascent. It jolted downward lightly as though it was settling into an indent before being locked into place with a distinctive clanking sound. The monitors at the end of the room lit up with a bright red text in capital letters reading "REMAIN SEATED."

"No "please" this time...", he noted absently. The doors opened, only to reveal a large number of soldiers in power armour carrying vicious looking rifles. Immediately, his face fell and his eyes widened as the harsh realisation of what this meant crashed upon him. Millions upon millions of electrical signals coursing through his brain every second. Thousands of calculations a minute, billions of subconscious observations, and yet he found himself completely frozen, a cold feeling of dread and despair welling up in his stomach. It was like the logical part of his brain had suddenly stopped working. His muscles tensed, and he was instinctively tempted to reach for his duffel bag for something, for anything. But he didn't. Most of his potentially useful tools were disassembled and the few defensive ones he did have were mostly harmless, non-lethal ways of temporarily disabling non-protected foes. He didn't have the sort of equipment required to take down someone with a power armour with this level of sophistication, let alone a squadron of them.

"No...", he thought his mind still reeling with sheer terror. Though on the outside he looked mostly composed, albeit slightly stiff and grim looking, on the inside he was a wreck. "No... No... Not again... NO! No... Please not again... No, no, no, no, no, no, no! Non! Putain de fucking de merde! Not again! FUCK!"

Before a single one of them opened their mouth he already knew exactly what they were going to say. They marched with strict, mechanical, automatic, almost robot-like posture, and not in a good way. Each and every one of them moved together, with movements which screamed of harsh training and rigorous discipline. They stomped their right feet harshly on the concrete floor, and joined together into a formation, weapons held close to their bodies. From the door, their leader approached, less armoured but no less intimidating in stature.

"Students of Second Academy," she began abruptly. "I do not regret to inform you that this is not the educational facility you were expecting..."

-+-

Cormac had always known that someday, he would have that fatal lapse in attention which would cost him everything. He just never expected it to happen so quickly. For all his supposed genius, he had fallen right in their trap. Like a salmon gleefully jumping into the open maws of a grizzly bear. They got him. They got him good. And they weren't letting him go anytime near in the future.

"Well played...", he muttered bitterly to himself. "Well played indeed..."

They had obviously read his file through and through. They had shown him the blueprints. Knowing of his abilities, they had willingly shown him the blueprints, hammering in how supremely confident in their security they were. And then, there were the AIs. On a good day, if he was in a particularly good state of mind, he might be able to compete with an AI directly, maybe even outsmart it if he got particularly lucky. But not today. Not several. There was no weaseling his way out of this one. Although he had vast advantages in terms of adaptability, creativity and subversion, he simply didn't register on the same scale when it came to raw processing power. Not even close.

“That has gotta be the best welcoming ceremony I’ve ever attended,” the boy next to him sarcastically declared. “Best. Shit. Ever.”

Quite the understatement if he ever heard one. From his tone of voice and lack of surprise, Cormac assumed that they must have used a slightly less appealing and more direct way of recruiting him. Or maybe it was just him. Maybe he was just that stupid for not noticing it, for not paying attention sooner. Had they used an empath or telepath to coerce him into coming? Probably not, people with enhanced intellect tended to be more resilient towards suggestive powers than usual. Then again, however, they also tended not to fall in such obvious traps. He would have plenty of time to think about it in the next forty years.

His interlocutor beckoned the blond boy sitting on the same row to come join them. No point in not making allies, Cormac supposed.

“Name’s March. March Blakewood." he said. "Now since I’ve introduced myself, it wouldn’t be good manners if you guys didn’t.”

"My condolences..." Cormac responded sternly, extending his hand for a shake, a subtle sarcastic smirk on the corner of his mouth. "For what I can only assume must have been a particularly traumatic childhood... With a name like that..."

His humorous expression hinted that he wasn't being particularly serious, however.

"Cormac. Cormac Leclaire."

Rhys walked through the scanner without any troubles, because he didn't dare to bring anything with him. They can't take my mind from me, he reminded himself as he tried to be brave. Nobody can. Rhys was quiet on the trip, mostly because he was so fascinated. He came from a very poor home in a New York inner city apartment. He always dreamed of going up into space, living on Mars or the Moon, but he never had a realistic chance at it. He would always retreat into his mind, through reading or just imagining other places he could be. Rhys couldn't pinpoint the first time the hypothetical actually turned into his soul leaving his body, but it was just another release. He'd been doing it for over ten years when he was discovered and finally taken away.

Rhys appeared asleep as the ship traveled through space, but he was really flying behind the ship. His Astral Projection was, anyway. He hated to admit it, because he hated everything the academy stood for, but he loved it. It was the best moment of his entire life. When they arrived Rhys reluctantly returned to his body, but he was in a much better mood. He almost forgot about why he was even there.

Rhys found that Astral Projection often made him feel faint, airy and far-away, almost as if part of his soul wasn't completely connected to his body yet. It caused him to sit alone, fading in and out of reality. The command to "REMAIN SEATED" drew him fully back to reality. The soldiers were a slap in the face to him. This was not some adventure. You're not better off here than in your apartment. This was real. The dracula woman's presence made him sit up straighter, be more alert. Over and over the term was repeated. Public dangers. Rhys was not a public danger. He never was. It was just insulting. Rhys rose from his seat rather suddenly and ended up knocking it to the ground, making an bang that dominated the room. His face flushed bright red and he considered just sitting down on the floor, but he resolved to move towards a group of people. He was going through an emotional roller coaster right now. He was never good with handling his emotions like that. Maybe other people could help stabilize him.

The 16 year old approached March and Cormac. "Hi," he began, still trying to get his face to return to its normal shade of red. "I'm Rhys. Treharne. Wish we were meeting under better circumstances..."

Randal sat with his elbows on his knees, legs spread apart to take up as much space around him as possible. His apathetic expression was hidden behind loosely interlocked fingers, eyebrow raised in visible perplexity. While he was busy trying to wrap his head around the idea of being confined to a prison with 2 mile thick walls, his fellow "students" (convicts, really) were quick to jump on the sociable bandwagon. 'We just got shoved into a real life incarnation of a George Orwell novel, and I -still- have to put up with socialites. What a wonderful world we live in.'

While Randal was ordinarily a caustic son of a bitch, he was at least somewhat entitled to act like one today. You see, Randal was being condemned for abilities he refused to acknowledge. It's a little ironic if you think about it. "What the fuck am I doing here," he sighed as he planted his face inside his hands, desperately waiting for the elevator ride to end.

Isabelle had been relatively quiet the whole trip, her earphones plugged in her ears. She was so immersed in her music that she had to be told twice that they had arrived at their destination. Not long after did she find herself in a large, theatre-like area. She seated herself in the back, heeled boots clicking on the floor none too softly as she made her way. Her dark hair was long and wavy, framing her light-skinned face. She wore black jeans, a red tank top, much like the shade of her lipstick, and a black leather jacket over that. She had idly played with her phone, communicating with old friends as the elevator rose. The howling wind made her finally look up. She watched the doors open it with mild interest. The monitors read "REMAIN SEATED." She felt the urge to stand up just to piss people off. The idea was seriously considered until armed soldiers came into the room. They made their point clear: this was serious.

A woman came out next and began to speak. She couldn't help but smirk as the girl next to her jumped and dropped her belongings. Nonetheless, she helped her pick them up as the woman continued.

"I'll admit it. You're a bit different than a gun. You're autonomous, which makes you even more dangerous. By whatever freaky means, you've procured yourself a rather strange gun and embedded it within yourselves that no one has been able to remove successful... yet. After all, the supernatural is simply what science has yet to understand."

Blah, blah, blah. Come on lady. Stop showing us blueprints and let us go to the dang place already. Isabelle thought to herself as the woman took out a device and displayed a hologram of the school building. Her next descriptions made nervousness fill Isabelle. They sure seemed to invest a ton of money into security but was it to keep people from coming in or to keep them from going out? This sounded more like a jail. No power here? Now that simply wouldn't do. This crazy bitch needed to be fully introduced to Isabelle Beaumont. She sighed as their little journey continued.

"What the fuck am I doing here," came a sigh from nearby.

Isabelle kicked her feet up on the chair in front of her, "Right now you're putting your face in your hands and sighing." She said lamely.

Sophelia sat near the middle of the room, filing her nails. Her long blonde hair trailed down her back in a cascade of blonde curls, covering half of her face. She had an amused expression on her voice as she listened to the flow of conversations around her. Some she paid attention to, others she didn't. She wanted to join some conversations but her nerves were driving her crazy. For as charming and sweet as she could be, she was surprisingly shy. Her brother, on the other hand, was not, and he prided himself in that. He made friends easier than she did and it was sometimes irritating. However, once she managed to get passed her shyness, she'd eventually come out and talk more. Still. At this point, she didn't know who to talk to other than her brother who was currently not paying attention.

Sophie leaned back and tossed her blonde curls over her shoulder and looked at her outfit, trying to find something to do. She wore a pink dress with a floral pattern and a pair of black converse. She had a leather jacket on as well and light pink lipstick as well as black hoop earrings. Her nails were painted to match the color of her dress, and she had a matching bow in her hair. It wasn't that it was her favorite color, but she adored the dress. Her old best friend, Noah, had given it to her before he had passed away, so she wore it often.

The howling wind startled Sophie, making her jump almost a foot. Looking up, she looked at the message "REMAIN SEATED", and smirked to herself. "Say please." Sophie mumbled. Didn't they know their mannerisms? The idea was challenged until armed guards came in, and she stared. "Shit just got real," she whispered, audible enough for those around her to hear. Luke nodded in agreement, which she could see from her peripheral vision. Her brother took one look at her and pulled her closer protectively, although there wasn't much that he could actually do. Sophie swallowed, taking his wrist in return, though it didn't match up quite as much.

A woman with a scarred face came in, and began speaking. "Students of Second Academy," she began, prompting a few individuals to jump in surprise, "I do not regret to inform you that this is not the educational facility you were expecting. No more than I fail to regret putting a gun into a locked safe when I go to sleep at night. When I enjoy the comfort of being at home when I do it, and that my son is safe from its dangers." She paused for a few seconds, watching as the chatter among the audience began to pick up. The woman went on to show blueprints of the academy then brag about the security defenses and the mechanisms it displayed, after speaking more. She swallowed, watching the blueprints come out, and then shook her head. She didn't want to see this; she wanted to know what was in store for the rest of the people here and herself.

*-*

When the woman finally stopped speaking, Sophelia stared with horror. What? This sounded more like a jail than an academy. She looked at her hands to discover how sweaty they were. Making a face, she wiped them on her chair beside her and looked over at her brother, pale. He stared back at her, equally pale, before whispering, "Soph, we've made a mistake." She nodded in agreement and glanced around her in hopes of seeing others reactions and relaxed a little when she saw others' horror and then annoyance. Mixed emotions coursed through her as well as others. The elevator began to move and she gasped, being thrust forward. Luke quickly threw his arm out to stop her from falling and grab her with his other hand, and she thanked him.

"What the fuck am I doing here," he sighed as he planted his face inside his hands.

A brunette haired girl kicked her feet up on the chair in front of her, "Right now you're putting your face in your hands and sighing." She said lamely.
Sophelia and Luke glanced over. She smirked, noticing the attitude in the girl and appreciating that she wasn't the only one here with one. "I'm wondering the same," she commented, forcing herself to speak steadily. "I've never been to jail before," Sophie added. "Should be fun. It'll be something to put on applications." She pursed her lips and then sighed, leaning back. Luke snickered, though he remained silent and let her speak for once, something that was rare.
______________________________________________________________________________________________

Lucas

I watched as my sister turned and spoke to the girl and boy nearby, though I myself remained silent. I normally didn't, however, I let her go for it since she's the shyer one. Maybe if she spoke more and the people weren't rude, she'd open up more to strangers. As I eye the people she is conversing with, I can't help but notice how gorgeous the girl who'd responded lamely, is. I tore my eyes away quickly, and remain as pleasant as I can but I'm jacked with worry and panic. What had he and the others gotten themselves into? How would they get themselves of out of this one? They were miles above the earth and they couldn't teleport out either. The security was ridiculous. I can't help but be thankful for my power: force-feeds. At least, with some work, I could protect the people here and my sister.

I glanced at her again, but her back is turned towards the new people, though she has her hand on my wrist comfortingly. I regretted having her come with me now, though she had the letter as well. I didn't know what I would do if I lost my sister; she was my best friend. Sure I had friends outside of her, but she was my main one since I'd helped in taking care of her since she was younger. I sighed and shook my head to clear my thoughts and redirect my attention to everyone else here. I was trying my best not to show how motion sick I was. Throwing up on the floor or on the guards wouldn't earn me any brownie points. Not that it was my goal, but I didn't want to endanger anyone around me for something as silly as that.

I glance at the group again, and then tear my eyes away. My sister's dress compared to the girl's leather outfit made me smirk. The contrast was evident yet humorous. I couldn't help but chuckle and made it as quiet as possible. He glanced around, hearing more flows of conversation. I'm half listening to my sister's, the brunette's and the boys, and then another group of boys'. He wanted to make as many friends as he could and be acquainted with them. They'd have to work together, wouldn't they? Besides, he liked meeting new people.

“That has gotta be the best welcoming ceremony I’ve ever attended,” the boy next to him sarcastically declared. “Best. Shit. Ever.” He beckoned the blond boy sitting on the same row to come join them.

“Name’s March. March Blakewood." he said once he had joined. "Now since I’ve introduced myself, it wouldn’t be good manners if you guys didn’t.”

"My condolences..." The boy said, extending his hand out for a handshake to March. "For what I can only assume must have been a particularly traumatic childhood... With a name like that..." His humorous expression hinted that he wasn't being particularly serious, however. Luke managed a slight smirk at the comment, glancing at the other boy (Rhys) before looking back to the others.

"Cormac. Cormac Leclaire."

Another boy joined, approaching March and Cromac. "Hi," he began, still trying to get his face to return to its normal shade of red. "I'm Rhys. Treharne. Wish we were meeting under better circumstances..."

Luke turned his attention towards them and swallowed. "Mind if I join?" He inquired. "I'm Lucas, but you can call me Luke."

"Right now you're putting your face in your hands and sighing."

Somewhat surprised that someone caught wind of his exasperated statement, Randal instinctively chuckled at the subpar response whilst pulling his hands away from his face. Resisting the urge to roll his eyeballs right out of their sockets, he spat back, "How much thought process could you have possibly put into that response? That shit was limper than a paraplegic's dick."

Everything was tight. Lukas felt packed into a carnal cage, locked behind bodies sitting in chairs. His chest felt shriveled, preventing him from breathing. His jeans were too tight and too high, the cuffs dangling at his ankles like flood pants. His shirt was tucked, or rather stuffed, into his jeans, shoving into his thin stomach. He had buttoned the very top button of his collar.

Lukas sat almost curled, his hands folded, back and neck arched, and legs together as if he were trying to keep warm. He had to breathe through his mouth just to swallow enough oxygen. Everything was bound, wound, welded, belted, bolted, and locked throughout the trip. Looking at the window, into the amorphous blackness of space, he lost his sense of time, and it settled his raging panic.

He felt slammed into a wall. Everything stopped as the ship docked into the academy, and he had to give life to his limbs again. He reentered the physical plane, stretching his limbs with clicks and clacks. As the hordes of kids trickled off the ship, Lukas awkwardly looked for an opening to walk into the aisle and off the disastrous pill. The armed guards shattered what remained of his frail heart. Much of it had long fled, and the rest was back home. He lurched forward like a snail with a particularly heavy shell. His hair looked so combed over and slick that one would expect there to be a trail of slime as well. The legions that teemed through the facility reminded him of what he'd read of the Holocaust, a catastrophe that was twofold relevant to his heritage.

Beholding the enormous walls, he began to lose his spatial sense. The chrome ramparts looked taller with every moment, and the waves of other teenagers seemed to sway and slosh about, giving him sea sickness so far away from water. Sitting in the cushioned seats gave him some sense of stillness, but his light head and heavy chest made him dizzy regardless.

Then came the lady. Stoic and erect, the echo of her voice seemed to bend the walls. It's tone and pitch fluctuated, but she seemed to only get taller and taller. Looking down at his hands, his skin began to rustle and rumble, fleeting little bumps scurrying under the surface. When he looked back up, her frightening visage seemed to look right into him, obscuring his entire line of sight. She seemed to be the only one there while everything else had been forgotten or blocked. Everything he had feared had come true, and as much as it seemed like an unsettling dream, it was clear that it was no dream.

When she finished speaking, his sense of space returned to normal. He felt deflated, ready to collapse and break into a fit. His arm twitched slightly, and he seemed to have no control of his legs. His legs laid there as long, dead branches. While his sight returned to normal and his mind stirred with this surreal reality, he still felt ill. He thought he may feel ill for a long time.

-

-

"Can it, moron. Simple questions get simple answers. If I were you, I'd tape my mouth shut to keep the pile of dumb crap from pouring out. " Isabelle retorted with an eye roll. She stood up with irritation. "Honestly, I'm sure there is no creature on Earth with a dick limper than yours. "
She got up and sat in the row ahead of her next to the girl who spoke to her. If she sat another two seconds with that other guy, her brain would melt from the sheer idiocy. "I've never been to jail before," the girl said. "Should be fun. It'll be something to put on applications."

"I got locked in the mall security office for a good ten minutes once. It was a very traumatizing experience." She told her, "I'm Isabelle, you?"

"Can it, moron. Simple questions get simple answers. If I were you, I'd tape my mouth shut to keep the pile of dumb crap from pouring out. " Isabelle retorted with an eye roll. She stood up, sounding irritated. "Honestly, I'm sure there is no creature on Earth with a dick limper than yours." She got up and sat beside Sophie, who let out an audible, musical giggle. "I got locked in the mall security office for a good ten minutes once. It was a very traumatizing experience." She told her, "I'm Isabelle, you?"

Sophie giggled again. This girl was awesome. Though, at her statement, she shuddered. "I'm sure it was traumatizing. I'm sorry to hear that. I hate being locked up." She looked at Isabelle and smiled sweetly, extending her hand. "I'm Sophelia, but you can call me Sophie." She glanced over at Luke, whose' back was to her. He remained at her side, loyal as always. She smiled faintly. "And that," she said, gesturing to Luke. "Is my brother, Lucas, but you can call him Luke. He's the older one." She rolled her eyes at her last statement. Sophelia glanced around, then back to Isabelle. "Maybe it's not so bad we're in this situation. We may not have met and this seems like a wonderful start to a beautiful friendship. Gotta be positive, you know? Can't be a downer about it, although this situation really does stink."

As the soldiers boarded the elevator and they were put through their "welcoming speech," Kirill sat with his hands tented in front of his face, staring intensely at the mysterious woman that seemed to be in command. He wasn't terribly surprised by what she had to say. He had gotten hints of this happening from very early on from every official and escort that he met. None of them willingly offered this information, but Kirill was good at figuring out things that people didn't want him to. Which was why he was able to see through the woman's facade. For all of her threats and boasts, at the core of all of this, she was afraid. They all were. Kirill and those like himself were better than them, more powerful, the next step in human evolution. They, on the other hand, were not. Obsolete. Last year's model. It's only natural that they would be afraid. Kirill smiled slightly behind his hands. What other interesting things would this Academy have to show him?

The others delved into their own personal realms of despair. Some reacted with shock, others put up shows of callousness. The boy he had shown an interest in before, which their "welcoming party" had paid particular attention to, seemed thoroughly frustrated. Easy to fool, was he? He'd be a fun person to hang around, though Kirill would introduce himself at a later point. A small argument broke out in front of Kirill between a pair of students insistent on trading barbs. Couldn't these children act just a bit more civil. Kirill sighed and ran his hand through his hair again. He sincerely hoped the quality of his company improved vastly in the immediate future.

He heard a whistle, and then realized that he was being motioned to join the small gathering of male students that was forming near the front of the elevator. He slowly sat up and strolled over to join them, his hands in his pockets. Apparently these boys were March, Cormac and Rhys, respectively. Cormac piqued Kirill's interest and March had a certain edge to him that Kirill liked, but he couldn't help but feel completely bored by Rhys. He was like some kind of un-person, a void of anything worth investigating.

"Introductions are in order? Kirill Yudin." He bowed a bit. "A pleasure."

Barbara Mizell remained as far to the back of the elevator as she could possibly be. She watched the proceedings from her position against the far wall, and though a great deal of worry had begun to press against the back of her mind, she kept her opinions, and her speculations, to herself. This place was not what they had believed it would be. She thought that she could make a new life here.. She supposed she still would. It just wouldn’t be as safe, or as comfortable, as she had first thought, and in her isolation she found herself cursing her earlier notions, and doubting almost every feeling that she had experienced towards the move in the past twenty four hours. It had been foolish to hope, and she should have known better. Hope had forsaken her too many times before.

She did not speak, barely moved, and certainly did not converse. Whilst striking up conversation was not foreign to her, she spent the entirety of the journey avoiding it. She sat comfortably, in silence, politely shrugging off or averting conversation or inquiry if ever it arose. She drifted in and out of sleep, and often found herself rifling habitually through her carry-on luggage – checking, and then double-checking that she had packed the appropriate clothing, items, even toiletries, as though some may have miraculously disappeared by the time she checked them again. Her eyes scanned the vicinity as frequently as any other individual’s, but her interest was not in making friends, but rather watching potential ones. These people would be here for as long as she would be, most likely, and while some of them were certainly interesting, there was no reason to start on them early. If there were to be enemies here, or even allies, she would rather pick them out from a distance.

Because of this, the shuttle ride had been rather uneventful, the elevator ride even more so, the only highlight in the final length of their journey being the orientation. The chorus of voices seemed to grow in volume every few minutes, before simmering down again to a more suitable level. When the relative peace came, she would meditate for a few moments at a time out of boredom, or when she felt her energy levels threatening to pop. Most of the time she scarcely needed such intense concentration, instead keeping a consistently calm state of mind, but with so much time on her hands it was well worth the waste.

Twiddling her thumbs, Babs’ gaze wandered the space, picking out the details of the other captives’ style of dress, the way they sat, held themselves, talked. The way they acted in silence, how they responded, even the way they sat, and how much attention they seemed to give any one person. She found herself comparing her style to their own; her white dress shirt and curled orange hair as compared to that younger girl’s floral dress – her jeans and suspenders as compared to the business like stature of the man with white hair. It all depended on what she could see, though the details of their abilities themselves escaped her, as she was too far away to catch any spoken aloud.
Despite whatever worries the girl did have, however, the woman’s speech during their introduction to the facility had also roused a number of other emotions inside her. She did not show fear, or anxiety, not in front of strangers, but underneath the surface bubbled a slight trepidation, and at the same time, a dangerous curiosity. She found herself wondering just how strong this half of the facility was, the elevator included, and if in one powerful zap through their big metal box, how much of the station could she send reeling from a blackout? If she had attempted to do the same to the shuttle, would it have been enough to send it drifting lifelessly through space? And how long would it take to get everything back online? Would they ever find out that it was her who caused it?

The station alone was legendary in its defences, which meant a multitude of fail-safe’s; secondary, possibly tertiary powergrids and back-up generators included, no doubt. Her abilities were limited to short circuiting and overloading systems (when it came to electronics), and though she never would have considered an attempt to hack their security network, the woman’s warning against the idea only seemed to bolster her curiosity. She knew she would fail if she tried, even if her powers were at a more advanced level, but it begged another question; just how much damage could she do, how much information could she be privy to, before they shut her out? Even attempting it would probably land her outside the airlock, maybe in some.. torture chamber, depending on how picky they were about maintaining order. Maybe she would be made an example of in other ways.. God, she thought.. it all left a lot to the imagination.

Eva was listening to Desmond as he was actually fine with being her friend. Though it sounded like he really believed she would expose his secret. Of course she would never tell it to anyone else, there would be no gain for her to do so. She then saw him tense a bit and proceed to take some sort of pill, maybe it has to do something with his symbiote Teeth. He proceeded to ask what she knew about the school. She had some hunches so she could share them she guessed. "Well I think the school is ..." It was at that moment the lift stopped and the REMAIN SEATED sign came on. She saw the lift door opening and the soldiers walking in. To be honest she wasn't really surprised by this. She already had a hunch that this place had been nothing more than a place to protect the outside from them. The way they didn't give her a choice and forced her to come here she had already figured it out. Also the moment they came for her was only a few days after an actual accident happened raised some flags. The woman on the other hand made it seem even more like a real prison.
Eva cringed and gripped her legs a bit harder whenever she called them dangerous. She did not know about the others, but for her this rang true. She couldn't even be near others without her mask and even then there were risks of her injuring them. Even if she got a small wound there was the risk of her blood touching them. When the elevator got moving again she decided to respond to Desmond about his earlier question and clear something up at the same time. "I had a hunch it was more a place to protect the outside from us, but I didn't think it would be a prison. Also sorry for threatening to reveal your secret, I wouldn't reveal it anyway." This place was going to take a lot of effort to get used to and if Desmond was actually going to be her friend she didn't want it to be on such terms as blackmailing.

Nikki & Micheal Biyung.

There were none else in the room expecting the soldiers coming. The insects that Nikki had mounted all over the room had sensed them. She immediately turned her gaze to the door, and gave Micheal an elbow to make him pay attention. Then the door opened and the soldiers came in, along with the woman, who gave such an inspiring speech that it just make Nikki so much more excited for school here! Nikki narrowed her eyes at the woman, and thought about how easy it would be to send a swarm down her airway. But, that would be excessively violent, unnecessary, and on top of that; very stupid. The woman wasn't particularly saying something like 'You're all going to die one by one!' more like 'Try to break out and you're going to have a bad time' which was easy. Though, the entire speech just compounded her fears that this place is somewhere she doesn't want to be. Just for the fact that she, and her older brother, are going to be trapped in a floating metal death trap. Though, Nikki was more worried about the station's capacity to support life. If the place can't support insect life, then she'll be next to worthless. The lady giving the speech and her band of faceless goons were gone by the time Nikki went into deep thought. Pushing out everything that's going on.

She thought of her situation from a tactical level. Just in case everything goes to hell and the soldiers and the students fight against each other. She thought of how they could fight against the soldiers effectively. Nikki can control thousands of insects at a time easily - She's done it before. Regardless of what armor they have on; being covered in a swarm of insects will ruin their day. As bullets won't do much against a spread out swarm - Unless they're pulling out flamethrowers. Plus with her ability to redefine an arthropod's biology; she could be a force to be reckoned with in the cramp spaces of the Academy for Public Dangers. The only problem is that Nikki is pretty much defenseless on her own, just being an Asian chick that can throw bugs in people's faces. On the other hand; there was Micheal. He was no where near as powerful as Nikki is, but he can be quite dangerous if the cards are in his favor. He has a wide range of abilities that Nikki doesn't, strength, speed, durability, seismic-sense, poisons - And so on. He fights with a stealthy hit and run style. He grows spider legs, hides, and waits for someone to turn their head before he strikes. But his transformations take awhile, which make him next to useless in a sneak attack. Nikki didn't understand much about the station, but if she's given time; her insect swarm can easily scout it out if they have a bug problem of any degree. In case they did need to leave; she would find the exit in no time. Getting there... Now that might be a problem. There would surely be some immense kind of security there, and Nikki's insects can't do much against electronic systems except for destroy them. Then there was the matter of piloting a ship...

Which lead her to one conclusion: If she and Micheal are going to make it out alive...

"We're going have to make nice with some people." Nikki says, blankly, turning her head to Micheal.

"Alright. Where do we start?"

It was only logical that they go out and try to make friends/allies. The pair have weaknesses. Weaknesses that can be exploited. With a group Nikki and Micheal can have their weaknesses covered, and combine their strengths with others. A win-win for everyone. It'd be a good idea to get the people who could easily counter them on their side. Nikki looked around the ship, hoping to find someone that'd be worth interacting with. She looked to the insects she had acting as cameras. With them, she could see everything going on around her. There were already a few conversations going - But some people here already looked like the type that Nikki wouldn't like. But she spotted some kid (Lukas) that was certainly younger than her. He looked pretty anxious, probably because of the same reasons as Nikki and Micheal. So perhaps they could just talk to him. "Follow me." Because what's the worse that could go wrong...?

Micheal quietly followed Nikki as they both got up, and approached the younger boy, Micheal. They approached slowly, so they wouldn't startle him - As they needed to make it known that their intentions were pure. When they got close; Nikki was the first to speak: "Hey, there, I'm Nikki and this is my older brother, Micheal." She tried to make her speech sound more friendly than it really was. Deep down there was an immense pit of despair. "You are?" Nikki nor Micheal were the best at the social scene. So hopefully they can't botch talking to a fourteen year old.

"Hello."

The woman's speech made Desmond's blood boil. Being talked down to as though he was somehow less of a person because of Teeth. Even with the sedative in him, dulling the symbiote's senses, he could feel it trying to take control, screaming at him to kill her. To end it all and either kill her or at least take out as many guards as possible. With every word that passed through her lips Desmond found it harder to keep Teeth on his leash. He had to separate himself from the symbiote. It was only after the deplorable woman finished her speech and Desmond took a few deep breaths did he realize that Eva was speaking. "Huh? Yeah, same here. I did not expect to be imprisoned, though it can't be any less than what most of our families wanted." He for one knew his family feared him and hated his power, he could only imagine what the families of some of the more dangers kids were like "And don't worry, about it, I didn't take much offense from it anyway..." He could feel his symbiote's rage dim but still right there on the surface. He scooted up and sat next to Eva. "I'm gonna show you something that might be important later." He took out a high-tech looking glass jar and explained. "This is a device I use to contain Teeth when I can feel him getting out of hand and sedatives aren't working." He touched his finger to the top of the jar and the symbiote's black flesh was pulled from under hiss kin and into the container, he winced a bit as this happened but didn't make a sound. "I'm sorry Teeth but I won't let you get us killed." The symbiote was now more or less just a black jellitan like fluid in the jar, pushing itself against the jar. "This way he can't get out. But be warned, never open this thing. If Teeth bonds to anyone else it could mean big trouble. Especially if they don't give Teeth a leash. Plus it's bad if I'm away from him for too long." He hid the jar deep in his duffle bag and zipped it up.

Rhys, who was miles away from thinking about forming alliances with other kids, seemed to ignore the lack of interest towards him. In truth, he wasn't bothered by it because he wasn't interested in the other kids himself, but they were stuck here just like him, and they could probably offer an anchor that he needed if he was to stay alert. He remembered what his mother used to say to him back when he was failing his classes. You spend all your time outside that body and your brain will start to rot, Mr. He supposed it was true, since his grades would always go up when he stopped Projecting all the time. "I've heard horror stories about this place." Rhys spoke in a hushed tone. "I have a friend, his sister's college roomate's nephew was taken here. They say he went insane. I'm just saying that it's something to think about." Meanwhile his gaze drifted past the boys. When waiting for a response he found himself staring at Babs Mizell. He had to metaphorically slap himself across the face to break the gaze.

Entering the elevator, Shane obeyed the screens and chose a seat near the middle of the room, off to the side. He had worked on a few drawings during the ride over, but sometimes it was a frustrating process. Hue was a diligent worker, and was pretty much infallible, but it wasn’t very intelligent. Communicating without a clear directive, like draw this picture in your mind's eye, rather than, say, make this color in this shape, move this line until it looks like this, was like picking up tightly packed wooden slats through gloves, and Hue’s mind slid off it.

Every command had to be clear. Response time was around a second. The actual implementation time varied, depending on how familiar Hue was with the command.

And it hadn’t always been this easy. This point was the result of months of education and investigation. When his power manifested, Hue was a blank slate. One of the most frustrating points was when he was investigating Hue’s problem solving skills through the immortal problem of maze running. His first mistake was trying to get it to run a maze that was drawn on paper. Instead of following his instructions, it just took command of the entire maze and thought that it had finished. In an attempt to circumvent this he physically cut out mazes from paper.

It didn’t work, but through escalation, he discovered that Hue was able to sense the surface of things he was connected to, with a range of about a foot and a half. It turned out that Hue wasn’t very intelligent, and over the next couple of weeks, Shane began the laborious process of teaching Hue.

Shane decided to paint one of the more eccerntrically dressed people in the room. Chatter flowed through the room, slowly concentrating into groups as people made nice together. He guiltily ignored it, and promised himself that he would try to make friends with whoever his roomate would be.

So wrapped up in drawing his chosen subject, mixing paint to get the right shade of gray for the floor, he didn't notice the entrance of the gaurds. The sudden drop off in noise, however, he did notice. Shane froze, all his thoughts grinding to a halt. The entrance of the woman almost started him out of his daze, but her introduction brought that to a halt.

"Students of Second Academy," she began, prompting a few individuals to jump in surprise, "I do not regret to inform you that this is not the educational facility you were expecting. No more than I fail to regret putting a gun into a locked safe when I go to sleep at night. When I enjoy the comfort of being at home when I do it, and that my son is safe from its dangers." She paused for a few seconds.

Shane's mind disorganizedly ran through what he knew, jumping through conclusions like a skier on a salom course.

"I'll admit it. You're a bit different than a gun. You're autonomous, which makes you even more dangerous. By whatever freaky means, you've procured yourself a rather strange gun and embedded it within yourselves that no one has been able to remove successful... yet. After all, the supernatural is simply what science has yet to understand."

He came to some very ugly conclusions.

As the rest of her talk wound on, his thoughts ran through an obstacle course of conclusions, running up and down in response to how she presented her- their status. Halfway through her presentation, he decided to draw the lenses of one of the soldiers- the closest one, incedentally. He decided to draw it backwards, using the color of the floor for highlights before drawing the rest of the lense. He also put down a flesh coloured blob, vaguely directed at his general position. He lost concentration on his task however, as the woman cold-bloddedly referenced the death of students, and his sketchbook slid off of his legs- paint side down. Jumping at the disruption, he looked around in embarrasment, his eyes lingering on the speaker for a moment too long. Picking up hsi sketchbook, tere was surprisingly no paint marks on the floor, though some of the paint was smeared across the page. As he closed the book, he hoped that no one had noticed the two dots of floor colored paint hurry towards the gaurd he had singled out. He hoped that the paint hadn't occluded any of the cameras that were probably littered around the room. He hoped his guilt wasn't written across his face. He hoped that the fork of Hue's was fast enough to reach the gaurd. He hoped... he hoped he hoped he hoped he hoped.

As the woman finished her welcoming speech and the soldiers filed out, he picked up his sketchbook and opened up to a page with what looked like a compass in a full protractor. It span around for a moment before quivering in the general direction of where the people had left. Soon, however it, faded, and he shut his book to look around.

His buzzing mind took in the scene before him, and modified his assumtptions to fit the scene. The adjustments were fortunately securely on the positive side, and he allowed himself a small grin. Some thoughts, however, pushed themselves to the surface, and in full survival mode he abandoned his earlier plans in favor of three general rules:

Be polite and dumb- the second meaning moreso than the first.

Question everything- supports the dumb above externally, and negates it internally.

Get to safe spaces- socially, mentally, and physically. Aim towards regrouping in his room, coast until then.

One of the nearby groups caught his attention. It seemed to be one of the larger ones, and he moved towards it. He awkwardly hovered on the edge waiting on an opening, then introduced himself.

"Hi. I'm Shane."