Red sat up in her bed, the metal door to her cell closed down, walking up to the door that sealed her in, a group of men with odd guns were waiting for her. One banged on the door, pressing a screen on the wall next to it, she opened the door. "What is all the commotion about dammit, me and Doc just had our event fights, we're tired, I know for one I need to rest..." she crossed her arms and looked at the cell room located next to her, they had banged on Doc's door in a similar fashion.

Doc was not really asleep but he could not say he was awake either. "Consciousness is a weird thing," he thought to himself. His train of thought was interrupted by a banging on his door. He slowly got up and opened it for the unexpected visitors.

"Why hello, hello! My, what an interesting group," he greeted them with an aloof smile. He walked over towards one of them, reaching for one of the strange-looking guns they were holding. The man quickly stepped back defensively while the others closed in to stop him. "I just wanted a peek, is all," Doc whined, but his smile only seemed to grow larger.

"So, state your business with me."

Red literally bursted out laughing and tugged Doc back and next to her "Hey crazy ass, dont go off and get yourself disabled, I need you around" she patted the much taller subject on the arm, before crossing her arms."So what's with the wake up call and guns guys?"

"Subject 919 and 268 are to report to the security room, there they will be debriefed on the current situation and act accordingly, no choice in the matter, now move along" Red rolled her eyes and tugged on Doc's shirt, motioning for the taller guy to lean over, as they turned and started to walk "Listen, if this is what I think it might be, get ready to fight, I found a way to take off the collars, just be ready" she got off her tippy toes, and looked at him a bit worried.

No way in hell were they going to disable her and Doc, they had made it too far to get disabled like this.

Doc began to chuckle. "My dear, we shall be fine," he reassured her. His cute partner was worried about something like mortality, but he thought of it differently. Were they ever really alive in the first place? It's not like they were humans like their creators. But he would prefer to live anyhow. Life was too interesting to let go of so soon.

He took Red by the hand and they made their way to the security room, as they were instructed to do. He was trembling from excitement and curiosity.

Once at the huge door of the security room, it was apparent it was recently sent through something, huge slashes and wielding marks were all over the door and she recalled a couple months ago what had happened. Two men stood to the side of the door, pressing the hologram lock at the same time and making a series of twist and turns before the door began to slide open.


Inside the room was a series of monitors, lockers, smaller rooms and two other doors like the one they entered through. They were ordered to stand and wait, before one of the facilities head scientist, Dr.Oshimi walked from the area known as the Iron Maiden. Holding a glass pad of some sort, she was reading a number of different things on it. Looking up she smiled, and put the glass pad down "AH! Red, Chester, just the people I wanted to see!" she motioned for them to follow and walked back towards the Iron Maiden. Red squeezed Doc's hand slightly in fear and without realizing it.

Walking through the door, they walked through the heavily guarded corridors leading to the actual section. She looked back at them while walking "You aren't getting disabled, so you can stop worrying, I know it's been a while since you've been called up here and at such a weird time." Red literally felt the worry from her body leave after hearing that and sighed, getting a laugh from the Doctor. Red let go of Doc's hand as they moved towards the door at the end of the corridor. "ALRIGHT! So what I have you here for!" she waved her hand and the door opened. Walking past multiple other doors, they made it to the end with two rooms adjacent from each other "We have made another round of subje-" she paused for a moment "people, and we need you guys to introduce them to the facility. That's the basics, the reason you two were spared, was because you two were the most likeable and caring of your test group. Dont mistake this, you two can still be disabled, keep that in mind. However, you two will be the teachers, counselors and guides through their life here. Because of your test group, we have lost...some great people...dont mess this up, this is your last chance, do you understand?"

Red nodded and stayed quiet. So Doc answered for the both of them. "Of course, Dr. Oshimi," he said, his voice unusually serious-sounding.

He turned to face Red and patted her gently on the head. "See? It's nothing but a babysitting mission. This will be a piece of cake. A slice of pie. A spoonful of icecream. A lick of lollipop," Doc grinned, sounding like his normal self again.

Red punched Doc in the side playfully, before Dr.Oshimi waved her hands "you can do that later, for you" waving both her hands each door opened "Red, you're going to be with the girls, Doc, you with the boys, when you get in there, I would like you to explain what this place is, what the collars are, and so and so forth alright? Now move along, we are wasting time" she turned and started working on a holographic screen.

Red looked up to her taller companion "Alrighty, like she said lets get a move on!" she winked at him and turned on her heels, moving towards the door and stepping inside, the door closed.

---

@Satsuki@karamonnom@Savato@Tendo
Red looked around at all the equipment and pods, before she came upon a group a subjects sitting, hugging their knees. "Holy, their bigger then when we were born...they sped up the process, something must have happened..." standing in front of them she looked at the subjects. A Scientist brought her a clip board and it showed the four girls "Alrighty little ones, im sure you're a tad but confused with what" she pointed her finger at stuff "this is, but I'm here to assist you with any questions you have and help you out. My Subject ID is 919, but I'm called Red around here, so Red will work if you need my attention or need to call out at me, good?" she looked down at her clip board.

"I have Sony, Darlene, Parkinson and Andarta...It is a pleasure to meet you all" she put the clip board on a table and stretched "SO, we are, because I am one of you, test subjects for a program sponsored by a group called ZAUD. If you notice, I and you four, have these collars on" she looked at the scientist, turning and raising her hair "mind?" he shook his head and took out a weird looking key, putting it into the collar and typing a code, it came undone. She turned and took the collar off "These collars, they keep us "normal" so to speak. You see, all of you have unique...lets say "traits", and you're all different from each other. My trait is" she bit her finger and blood appeared from her finger "I can control my own blood and have it do what I want it to, for instance" she held her hand out, and the blood began to snake around her arm, until it turned into a literal snake and dropped to the floor. It slithered around and started to spin in a circle. It then jumped up and formed a spear, to which Red caught it and it returned to her finger as normal blood before the wound closed and she breathed out.

"Anyways, thats my trait, later today, you all will find out what your traits are" she put back on the collar "So that is all I can give you for now, are there any questions?" she crossed her arms looking at the bigger but younger girls.

@MonkeyBusiness @Jinxer @Spade

Once Red was out of his sights, Doc entered the other room, humming a cheerful tune. There were three of them and they all looked like they had a lot of potential. He waltzed over towards them, looking intently at each of their eyes, starting with the green-haired one, then the white-haired one, and lastly the one that was annoyingly taller than him. He stepped back, getting out of their personal space, and began to introduce himself. "Greetings Newbies! I am Subject 268. I am called Chester by the staff but you all will call me Doc." He tilted his non-existent hat towards them. "Now, I know you all are confused. You have no memories except those of your identification number and a name. Do not worry, that is because you have all just been born so there were no memories for you to make. Fascinating, isn't it?"

He took a deep breath as there were a lot of things he needed to say and he would need all the air he could get. "You all look like humans and you may even have human emotions, but you are not. You were created here in a test tube...just like me."

He pointed to the collar he was wearing on his neck. "This is a power disabler as you can see, you all have one on. With them on, we are just about as normal as the average human. But once we take them off..." he motioned one of the scientists examining them to come over to remove the collar. The scientist looked a bit hesitant but eventually pulled out a strange-looking key, inserting it into Doc's collar and entering the right password to unlock it. Once the scientist has removed the collar, Doc gave him a smile. "Thank you."

After the scientist took a step back, Doc used his powers to grow his bone so it protruded out of his fingers, making it look like ugly, white claws. "Cool, huh?" he chuckled before withdrawing his bones back into his body. The scientist took no time at all to put the collar back on him.

"Anyhow, later on you all will discover your powers, blah blah blah, I'll show you around, answer any questions, blah blah blah. Now go ahead and introduce yourselves. I hope we all will be friends here."

I could go for a run right about now. The first thoughts that popped into the head of the freshly awoken subject. She started to rationalize what was going on. When did she get on the floor? Better still how did she know that was a floor? It was almost dream like, being awake for the first time. Her body felt as if it was locked in position, only small movements where happening in her fingers and toes. Even her eye lids fought her when she tried to open them.

"These collars, they keep us "normal" so to speak. You see, all of you have unique...lets say "traits", and you're all different from each other. My trait is" she bit her finger and blood appeared from her finger "I can control my own blood and have it do what I want it to, for instance"

An irritated look was on Subject 768's face. She was trying to figure out why she could figure out! This girl just keeps making noises that she can understand, thus making her think about the noises instead of...wait what? The blood snake ended that derailed train of thought. A toothy grin grew when it turned into a spear. Andarta's eyes no longer struggled they where wide watching the ability be recalled.

"So that is all I can give you for now, are there any questions?"

Andarta wasted no time, her hand was eight feet in the air as she literally jumped from her initial position to her tip toes! Her balance was a little shaky but she adjusted with only a few wobbles. The sounds of her joints popping as they settled made it seem like the Andarta had just gone through some horrible transformation, but the rather pleased look that took her face for a moment suggested it felt rather good. She shook off her physical bliss and began to exclaim "Pick me! Pick me! Commmmonnnnn! I got alota' questions!" One hand became two as she was not instantly answered "Cooooomon! Pllllllease! I gotta know!" She rocked back and forth from big toe to big toe while she waited, her hair echoed her movement, whipping her nearby fellows. (@karamonnom@tendo)

Subject 496 coughed as he took his first breathes of air which burned his new lungs. Some residual electricity jumped between him and his former home before a scientist locked a collar around his make making him feel a strange sense of lose from something greater. What a strange sensation. He thought to himself as he did not know what the empty feeling inside him was from. Apparently it had been recorded in his development cycle that as his power slowly grew with his body that he had been feeding on the the electricity that powered his unit, but now that food source was gone.

Suddenly a strange man appeared in front of him and stared into his eyes. This man was not like the other creatures that were moving around and poking at him which was not something he really likes. The green haired subject tried shifting through his head and slowly figured out that he was called 496 or Virgil for some reason. As he figured this out, he was stretching and testing out the motor functions of the body that he had been given.

He listened quietly to the man with a similar collar around his next and looked down at his own hands when he saw bone come out of the other's fingers. What power do I have. The thought ran through his head as he cracked his knuckles as a smile appeared on his face.

"I think my name is 496 or Virgil, I'm not sure which one is my real name though. When do we get to find out what our powers are?" Virgil struggled with the first words he had ever spoken as he spoke slowly and deliberately picking every word carefully.

"The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled."

Subject 562 / Johnny

This all felt very new, but very natural to him. His confusion was subdued by a calm confidence of which he could not explain. As he walked down the hall, flanked by guards wearing fireproof gear, Subject 562, the maelstrom force known by everyone but himself as Johnny Volatile, took in all the sights. The cold, sanitary walls, the humming lights and heavy boot steps of the guards.

He reached out to touch the wall and everyone stopped, the guards extending their neutralizer staffs in defense as he recoiled his arm, half ashamed he scared them and half amused they were so scared. "Sorry." he spoke, blinking a few times in bafflement at the sound of his on voice. He had no idea what 'sorry' meant, but at the same time he did, which is why he said it, right? They continued, his instincts telling him to keep moving forward. The guards were in tow, keeping a safe distance before they felt they had regained control of the situation.

The minutes following were a blur. There were others, different, maybe just as confused as he was, maybe not. One was presented in front of them, this one knew exactly what he was and Johnny wanted to know why. He spoke, but Johnny's focus was on his own hand. He stretched it, clenched it into a fist and twirled his fingers a bit as the one known as Doc went on about what was to come in the following days. Johnny couldn't stop looking at his own hand though, there was something inside, something warm, growing, just waking up. He felt it throughout his entire body, surging larger and larger, bit by bit. Suddenly, he felt the attention of the room shifted onto him. Looking around the room, he stood in silence for a second before meeting Doc's eyes.

"Subject 562, Johnny. I don't know how I know that, but I know it's true." he said, looking at the others as the idea of interacting with people similar to him brought a sense of optimism, "Friends," he mused "sounds nice. I like that." as Doc answered Virgil's question, waiting for Doc to finish responding before turning and pointing at the scientist, "Why is he scared?"

---

'I'm Cold...'

Parkinson awoke to her very first sensation, the coldness of the floor she was curled up on as her tampered nervous system finally gathered all the the information her sensory functions managed. Her long, messy blonde hair would cover a large portion of her body as she remained in that position until the smaller looking being entered the room and gave Parkinson her first direct sound stimulation. It made her dizzy. Slowly getting up as it seemed to be what the other critters she recognized to be like her by instinct appeared to be doing. Her legs didn't seem to stable on her first try, possibly because of her more fragile body structure and motor skills, but she managed to keep her balance quick enough.

'This is... I don't even...'

Words formed into her head like she had lived years knowing them, even if the notion of time wasn't even a concept she was familiar with, it was like it was integrated into her and rightfully understood the mind twisting effects of thinking about it. She lifted her arm up, only to recognize a hand, her hand. The many lines on her palm, which was shaped exactly like any other, but with varying sizes. Speaking of which, the remarkable disparity in height and general mass of every individual also surprised her greatly, starting by the massive Amazonian-like female who seemed worked up by all this.

When that big girl's mouth opened, a sudden pain formed on the left hemisphere of Subject 332's head, an acute headache she'd soon discover would be her everyday experience until further notice. She'd press her the palm she was fixating on that side of the head as a reflex, hoping the applied pressure would reduce the pain. Although soothing, the intensity wasn't really lowered. It was the first time she felt pain, which didn't go well with the strange coldness she felt beforehand. Parkinson would bend over ever so slightly in reaction to 768's loud voice.

The idea of these 'special traits' she had just witnessed as well as her current status here became less of a concern as the head pain didn't cease despite her strong desire for it to leave. Andarta's couple of attention seeking phrases seemed like overly prolonged monologues for the easily irritated subject. She could only glare at the giant, unsure as to how she could react, or what would come out of her mouth if she let her instincts set loose. It didn't matter at the end however, her self control were of that of a person who just had their infected toe crushed by a slammed door. She'd explode.

"Shut. UP!"

She growled at the tall hyperactive young woman with feminine yet quite dominate tone, coupled with easily identifiable British accent. It probably came with her personality pack. Parkinson's eyes would widen a bit, somewhat surprised that such hostility came out of her being, and in hindsight, she didn't really approve of it. But she couldn't help herself, she was overwhelmed with sensory input and various information she had more trouble processing than the rest.

"Just... We got it. I can hear you, she can hear you... I think? Ugh."

'Sorry...'

Regret filled her when she accepted that she didn't enjoy freely releasing hostility on people like that. Her headache, though still present, would be somewhat appeased when she'd actually release steam. It was possible that the sudden surge of adrenaline reduced her reaction to the pain. Nonetheless, she felt something else that she had a hard time understanding. Pride. She regretted what she did, but she truly thought she wasn't in the wrong here. She was sorry deep down, but the didn't have to know that.

Before she'd add anything else, she was scared to suddenly explode again, so she kept her distances until a few things would be answered. She had a few questions of her own, but she'd have to be accustomed to actually existing before exhibiting any form of curiosity. She was just cautious like that.

This is a new experience. Everything looks different here. Maybe it's because there's nothing in the way? How interesting.

Subject 133 lay on the ground with his fellow subjects, observing the room around them and those rushing to and fro in their lab coats with a mixture of trepidation and interest. His shocking white hair was a little too long for his taste and he spent his first few moments in the open brushing it out of his eyes. Men and women in white coats occasionally came up to them, writing things down on clipboards before running off.

He disliked the way these people observed the trio; it seemed to him like they were refusing to acknowledge the three as living things. Or at least fellows of the same species. As far as he could tell they had the same physiology and body structure but it was all too new and there was so much information all around him to decipher; he would have to do that later. If there was a later, that was. He had no idea what their fate was.

His thoughts were disrupted by the entry of another, although this one appeared to be like them; the collar around this new one's neck was similar to the ones they wore and reinforced this deduction. Then they were inspected, this one gazing into their eyes. Alex stared back calmly, his face so expressionless it was like stone; at that moment he decided to hide away his emotions at least until he knew better what was going on.

"Fascinating? Yes. I dislike that we've been given names. I'll use my ID until I find reason to use that name. That's 133, by the way." Alex interrupted, glancing around the room. His voice sounded odd to him, unfamiliar. Then again, he'd never heard it before. For some reason he found no issue in using a number, as if he were a stock item, but a name had more feeling and more power in it; he wanted to reclaim it before using it himself. A small sign of resistance to what was increasingly feeling like some kind of slavery, whatever that actually was. These ideas were all fuzzy in his head, as if he just knew them but when he tried to investigate them further he came up against a blank wall, the information just implanted into his head with no actual understanding. This, above all, he disliked.

Their situation was explained and Alex took it all in, craving more knowledge about their circumstance. It wasn't necessarily reliable information but it was all they were going to get and everything still felt too new. The demonstration of this 'Doc's power was interesting and he reached up, feeling the collar. Now the fearful glances the other people shot towards them made sense. He wondered what it felt like with the collar off but didn't move to free himself of it, he doubted he would be allowed.

"Friends? Yes, that sounds good..." He was thinking but he became distracted by the one called Johnny asking a question. It seemed obvious to him but then this was new to all of them, it was reasonable to disoriented and not see what he thought to be obvious. "Doc here just showed us what he's capable of without his collar on. We all have collars on but I imagine what would happen if we didn't? Why wouldn't they be afraid of us?"

---

Blurred images and flashing lights. Those confusing visions where her world up until the very moment she felt the warmth of her body clashing with the coldness of the floor beneath her. She could hear a voice near her and she was somewhat able to understand it yet her mind couldn't focus on it as she put her hands around her knees and buried her face in them. In the future she would call it sensory overload but at the moment, it was nothing sort of torture.

Darlene huh? she thought, somewhat understanding this foreign yet familiar way of hiding emotions, ideas and pretty much anything that makes a person, behind a few straight or bend lines which formed letters and those, in turn, formed words. And she believed she understood perfectly well how to use words and what kind of meaning they can take depending on the situation. For example, her name was ''Darlene'' and that specific combination of six different letters was the sum of everything she ever was, is and will ever be.

She relaxed her stance and slowly exposed her eyes to the strange room she was in, taking in everything from the one talking to those beside her.

"Bloody hell." Darlene whispered with a raspy voice as her throat was completely dry while being blinded by the light and annoyed by the constant rambling of the petite girl near her, despite the fact that she was apparently speaking about some kind of trait they all had which could prove to be some kind of a big deal.

"You see, all of you have unique...lets say "traits", and you're all different from each other...later today, you all will find out what your traits are. So that is all I can give you for now, are there any questions?"

By the time the girl asked whether they had any questions, Darlene had already shifted her attention to herself -as expected- and had been slowly rocking back and forth while trying to make sense of her situation, without any luck...

"Pick me! Pick me! Commmmonnnnn! I got alota' questions! Cooooomon! Pllllllease! I gotta know!"

...until she was abruptly brought back to reality by a girl who was the closest thing to a giant Darlene would ever see in her life and although her childish behavior did annoy her, she didn't consider conflict to be the best course of action. And then the amazon's hair almost blinded her.

"You little sh-"

"Shut. UP! Just... We got it. I can hear you, she can hear you... I think? Ugh."

Darlene held her breath for a moment before rubbing her temples, suddenly feeling too tired to speak as she wondered about the effect these people would have on this completely unknown situation she was in.

Subject 268: Chester/Doc

Doc listened attentively as the subjects introduced themselves. It was easy to memorize their names and faces since there were only three of them. He then smiled and addressed them one by one. "Virgil, you can be called whatever you want. And soon. Very soon, my lad."

"Johnny boy! Hm.. it is as 133 says, they are afraid because we are not like them. _{We are stronger than them} " The last part was a bit of a whisper as the scientists were still around. He put his left index finger to his lips and winked as if to tell them that they should keep it a secret. Well despite the fact that it was an obvious truth, it was still something the scientists did not like to hear and they get all defensive and go on and on about how they created them so they were superior at least intellectually, or some other kind of junk.

"Last but not least, 133. You're a sharp one, aren't you? I better watch out for you. Though I respect the fact that you do not like the name they have given you. It was the same with me."

Doc was delighted how easy it was to get along with them. There seemed to be no trouble-maker in this group and they all wanted to get along which will make his job a lot easier. He began to wonder if his partner, Red, was doing alright with her group. He gathered his group and led them along with some of the guards and scientists out to the hallway. "The girls were just next door, so we're going to wait for them to join us before we continue. If you want to talk or ask me anything, now's the time." he said, leaning against the wall.

---

Subject 627: Sony

Sony slowly stirred from a state of comatose or something similar. Her arms were wrapped around her legs and she was sitting in such a childlike position, but it felt comfortable. Comfort? Interesting... She opened her eyes, but quickly closed them again, not ready to take in so many things at once. She slowly tried opening them again, blinking a few times as her eyes adjusted. "What a dull room, it could use more colors" she thought to herself, not fully understanding the words that were swirling in her mind but they seemed like they made sense.

There was a little girl in front of her, moving her mouth. There was a sound that could be heard every time she moved it. The pitch was the same throughout but it sounded different for some reason. She watched in amazement as the girl cut her finger and made her blood move around like a snake. There were so many things she was experiencing, sensing, and it felt great."This is what it means to exist... I love it."

She listened, the words out of the girl's mouth was making sense. Her name was Red. They all had "traits". If Sony moved her mouth like that too, would sounds also come out like that?

Suddenly, a large girl next to her started swaying to and forth, getting her long hair into Sony's face. That did not feel nice. She did not like this feeling very much. She scooted back, so that her face would no longer be in the pathway of the girl's hair. The large girl's voice was not like the other girl's. It was loud sounding and a little bit lower.

There were more voices and more sounds, and Sony wondered if she should speak up too. She wanted to know what her voice sounded like but she did not know what to say. Finally, the words, "Hi everyone. I'm Sony. Nice to meet you all," spilled out of her mouth. She quickly covered her mouth with her hand. That did not seem to follow the direction of the conversation but it did fit how she felt at the moment. She hoped that they would still like her and want to be friends with her.

She watched amused at the first two to speak up, crossing her arms she let out a small chuckle "Seems one has a temper and the other has is a sunshine of emotion, you two are going to be the best of friends I see." It reminded her of the the group that her and doc arrived in. She was exactly the same with another girl that was here before. Exactly like Parkinson, easily angered, always in pain, she was quite the interesting girl...snapping out of it she looked over to one of the doctors and motioned over to Parkinson "She gunna be alright?"

"Yeah, her powers come with consequence, just as yours do, she will get chronic headaches, so i dont blame her reaction" he looked at her before going back to what he was working on. The girl started to sway and hit the other girl, getting a similar response from Darleen.

Red nodded "Alight, first things first, I understand your guys aggravation, but there is no need to be rude. You will be with these people until you die, better you make friends then enemies of these people. And as for you Ms.Charisma, you must come down, you're hitting them with your hair alright?" she patted the girls head "what might these questions entice? I can only answer so many before you have to experience them yourself" she looked at the last one, Sony, who finally spoke up and put a hand over her mouth.

"Ah interesting isn't it?" she giggled at the girls reaction "it's plenty nice to meet you, now all of you, yes including you Ms.Charisma, lets get a move on, you can ask the question on the way alright, that goes for all of you, okiedokes?" she motioned for them to follow her, and turned on her heels. Walking towards the door without looking back, it opened and she saw the boys "We have quite the interesting group Doc, quite the interesting group..." she thought about the previous group they had, some similarities here and there, but it wasn't the same.

"Shut. UP! Just... We got it. I can hear you, she can hear you... I think? Ugh. Sorry..."

Andarta turned to see the source of the strange sounds, the words made sense but the accent made her stumble in thought. In addition it started out hostile and ended with regret, what could it mean. Is there something else hidden in this little person. Her thoughts where derailed by a new notion. This is another person! Andarta is a person! Righhht It makes sense now. The amazonian woman nodded her head as she reached her conclusion.

And as for you Ms.Charisma, you must come down, you're hitting them with your hair alright?"

If not for her eye contact Andarta would have missed that she was being addressed as Ms.Charisma. Then she made a notion of her having hair, and that she was hitting others with it. But much to Andarta's surprise she did! she grasp a long lock of her hair, her eyes went wide at the revelation. It felt so smooth, smooth is nice!

"what might these questions entice? I can only answer so many before you have to experience them yourself"

Andarta nodded and inhaled deeply. "......" wait what was her question. She had a lot of them she knew that much. Damn it! What was it. Her brow would furrow and her teeth bared themselves, why is remembering things so hard! Her eyes searched the room, perhaps something could remind her! She spied a doctor, then she looked to Sony. Sony was small, everyone is small. Wait small doesn't matter.

She would put her fist into her open palm, as if it she had passed judgement. "I forgot!" Despite forgetting her question knowing the word forgot was an achievement in and of itself! How many other words did she know!

No sooner had she had her epiphany had she been exposed to the new element. Another group of people. Males. Their musculature would suggest them capable of sustaining denser muscle mass. But their bodies limit their flexibility thus creating points of weakness, and even blind spots. Whoooooa how did she know that. Trapezius, deltoids, pectoralis, her thoughts continued to list every muscle while another thought string was going over the bones and ligaments that granted them motion. She grabbed both sides of her head with a look of shock. "They tiny! Men are supposed to be bigger! Are they boys! Holy Hell! I can hear my voice in my head!"

It just occurred to her that things can occur! Thoughts are thoughts! Your inner voice is the same sound as your voice without a voice! She began to smile as she looked to her fellows, "Hey can you hear your voice in your head too! I sound Awesome! I can even see pictures in my head." As her eyes looked at Parkinson she covered her mouth. "Oh shit! You don't like loud right! Wait I...Don't be mad! I didn't mean to....Shit I am still doing it. My 'b'!"

---

The pain in Parkinson's head slowly deflated in intensity, like a balloon releasing its hot air and releasing her head from stress. Her mind we take notes of this event, a sure way to relieve herself from this torment she seemed to be the only one to manifest physically. To Parkinson, yelling was a solution to her problem from now on. Or was it? As she thought more and more of it, the logic behind her head aches became a little more clear, or at least how it would be interconnected to many parts of her body. She knew what it was without really knowing what she was thinking, and it bugged her deeply. Though her train of thought would be quickly dispatched when a more outgoing member of the team manifested her presence in a way that captured 332's attention: Sony.

Bending over a little more to capture the view of two other females without actually moving her feet from her position, she noticed that everyone's hair color was different. Strangely, that detail impacted her more than anything else, notably size differences, but it could be that Andarta's dwarfing height had Parkinson's basis of scaling a little too large. When the more socially apt member of the group introduced herself, ideas roamed into Parkinson's mind.

Identification? Is this... A name? Why isn't it a number? 332... Parkinson... I don't get it...

"Hi."

She wave at the shortest member of the group by pure reflex, the act itself only being recognized once she pulled back her hand. At this stage, Parkinson recalled the concept of reflexes and memories, as well as abrupt reactions to certain things. This idea scared her when the giant who stood next to her made any form of movement.

What if she has the reflex to bite my... Hand off?

It was then that she realized she had no idea what she looked like. Her hand that had performed the very basic and ritualistic motion rubbed against her cheeks, neck and forehead in order to discern similarities. She didn't doubt it one second that she was like the others, but it pained her that she couldn't see herself like she could see the others. Parkinson had already become quite self-conscious, and her heart started to race at the possibility that she wouldn't get closure. She'd give a rather menacing glare that could only reflect anxiety and stress when she clearly noticed Red and some of the staff speaking of her. It didn't please her.

Andarta had forgotten her questions and Parkinson had too many she wanted to figure out herself before getting more question-inducing answers. They were asked to leave the premises by following Red, 332 would follow the Amazon female closely by fear of getting lost in this unfamiliar world. She did give one last stare at the doctor who notified red of her head pains. She wasn't sure what to make of this really. The more they walked, the more she could observe the massive human move various parts of her body to gain mobility. How this was possible was something she seemed to know naturally, unlike her appearance. Such a complex system of messages sent from the brain to different parts of the body to do specific tasks would be concepts as simple as breathing to her, but things as basic as what was the color purple remained an enigma.

Wait... Are these males? Ehhhh... Definitely not female.

A glance of cautiousness and uncertainty was thrown at the group of people they had encountered in the hallway. Boys, males, humans of the masculine sex. They were either taller than her or her size, which visibly intimidated Parkinson. She was quite scrawny after all, her body being perhaps the second tallest of the girls, she had the weakest physical build. She didn't feel comfortable with this at all. She'd give a particular fixation at the male with the marked face, simply because he looked particularly different from the others.

This little stalemate would end when her warrior counterpart started to apologize after growling some more, though this time it didn't annoy Parkinson as much. She was consumed by a form of fear toward the new people, but she'd turn to face the more familiar giant with her palm risen upwards, signaling the Amazon to stop and take a breath. Parkinson seemed annoyed again, but it once against soothed her from what was plaguing her at this moment.

"Ugh... Just... Arg! Can you... Please, follow my voice, okay? Any sensory input you'll receive you should be able to replicate an-.. Erm..."

Her tone was weaker than before, but she still held a certain level of authority in her voice. Parkinson was at a loss as to what she just said. She understood perfectly well the information she had just shared, but it felt so abstract to her inexperienced mind. But it came to show that she didn't hold any form of animosity toward the Amazon, and despite her obnoxious screaming about facts Parkinson had a more advanced knowledge on, the latter felt a lot safer having that friendly giant not far from her. To the long haired blonde, the males were seen as threats she couldn't trust and he instincts pushed her to stay close to the giant girl simply because of their similarities and established contact.

"Watch out? I suppose this situation is as grim as I had suspected." Alex responded quickly, confirming his suspicion that their purpose here was not very innocent. It clearly had something to do with their powers, seeing as the scientists would be scared if possessing them was a normal trait; in fact Alex expected that the powers had been imbued into them somehow. He was finding less and less to like about this whole existence, beyond the actual fact of being created so that he could dislike the situation in the first place.

Doc was moving on now, leading them out of the room.

"Girls? Oh, another gender. It's interesting that they'd keep us apart from them, as if there was much that could happen before we were 'born'." Alex considered his statement, deciding that he would have to re-examine anything that came to mind to weigh its validity. At the moment all he had were thoughts and an education implanted into him which could easily smack of brain-washing. He dismissed this as paranoid though; if one could actively question and evaluate whether they had been brainwashed then it either had not happened or was a terrible attempt at it.

Doc started to speak to one of the girls, clearly familiar with her, while the others wore similar expressions Alex and the boys had on their faces; confusion, fear and interest. Both genders were quite visually striking, he noticed, more varied than the scientists from before. Must come with being artificial, I suppose. Assuming that we are entirely artificial. The large woman and an irritated smaller woman were like a double act, the large one bigger than Alex himself and apparently imbued with very strict ideas on gender, judging by her comments on them.

"I think that if we are surprised by every situation that doesn't fit with the information they put in our heads then we'll be here all day." What's a day? Ah, 24 hours; hours made up of 60 minutes and these in turn made up of 60 seconds. Time measurement. Looks like they put some useful things in here as well. Spreading his hands in a peaceful gesture, Alex nodded towards Doc and the girl they had yet to be introduced to since the two were clearly more knowledgeable than they were.

"I suggest we follow our guides here and learn more of our situation and sort out our own minds. I suspect that this mental disarray we all have could develop into something worse if we don't get our bearings properly."

---

"Hi everyone. I'm Sony. Nice to meet you all."

Darlene hadn't noticed the last girl in their group till now and what piqued her interest was her reaction to simply talking. A reaction which proved what Darlene had been thinking for a while now although it was still too early to end the discussion in her head.

This is getting more confusing by the minute. she thought as she ran her fingers through her hair for the third time in a row. They were so soft she could do that for days and she quite liked their color too, black as a raven. She paused for a moment and thought of the reactions those girls had as they discovered themselves since she could easily have them if not for the control she apparently had over her instincts. To be honest, she would do anything for a mirror in order to see herself, to see what Darlene looked like in their eyes but she couldn't relax in a place like this.

And then she saw the rest of their group, the boys. She stared for a few moments, trying to find a reason why they were separated but she couldn't. They had rougher features than those of the girls and looked stronger too, well, except for the hyperactive amazon who apparently wasn't a brute but quite nice after all. Same with the one who seemed to have a problem with loud noises and wasn't just mean.

I really shouldn't jump to conclusions like that. We're in the same boat after all. she thought, mentally scolding herself.

Darlene silently followed her group despite the fact that she hadn't really made her presence known. She wasn't sure that she liked being a wallflower but it would have to do until she was more certain of her surroundings. She stayed close to the girls in her group although wary of the amazon's hair, with a trail of thoughts forming conclusions, in her mind.

There are those with the collars and those without them and she already said that we have certain ''traits''. And she obviously meant us since she did those fancy tricks with her blood after that guy without a collar agreed to remove hers. Plus, this place with all the scientists and guards, screams that we are not like them and they, without a doubt, aren't like us.

She froze in place, eyes wide, with her every cell filling with an emotion she hadn't experienced so far. Shock.

"We are prisoners." she whispered, feeling her stomach turn as she knew how precious the word ''freedom'' was in her head.

We are stuck here and we are not the first ones.

She immediately hid her face in her palms, hoping no one had noticed her sudden shift in behavior. A moment later, she looked straight ahead, at her group, both boys and girls. Her face void of emotions except for a slight smirk.

Could turn out interesting, this place.

Someone said hi back to her! It was a small gesture, but it was enough to make Sony happy and even if she didn't really understand the meaning of a "wave", it seemed friendly. She removed her hands from in front of her face and gave the girl a huge smile. Before she could say anything else, everyone was getting up and leaving. Sony quickly sprung up to join them, and saw that she was almost the shortest one here. The only person she was taller than was Red, which was funny because she seemed to be the oldest one among them. But the loud girl with the long hair was so amazingly huge! Sony bet that if she jumped she still wouldn't be able to touch the tall girl's head. She wondered whether she should try anyways or not...

Sony's attention quickly shifts as they went out to the hallway.

Oh! Oh! Oh! Boys!

Huh, what are 'boys'? They are like them... yet different. So very different... Sony's eyes seemed to be sparkling right now as she eyed the most fascinating creatures she has ever seen, not that she had seen much before anyways. It was probably similar to what a little girl's reaction would be if they saw a unicorn.

One of them began to start talking and his voice sounded so different than all the other voices she had heard earlier. It was significantly deeper yet still smooth and she enjoyed listening to it. The speaker had an interesting tattoo around one of his eyes that intrigued Sony. It was star-shaped. Sony likes stars. She also liked the rest of his face. She impulsively walked up to him, not really for any reasons and just stared up at him. Finally after a few, long seconds, she broke the silence, her lips curling up to make a silly grin. "I really like your star-eye-thingy! It's really cool!"she said. Then she reached out with her hand, as if she was going to touch it, but pulled back as she changed her mind. For some reason, she had a feeling that he would not like that very much and she would not want to do anything that would make him feel uncomfortable. "Can I call you Mr.Star-face?" she asked excitedly. "Mr. Star is fine too if Mr. Star Face is too long." She looked at him with such hopeful, big eyes as she waited for his response.

---

Subject 268: Chester/Doc

"We have quite the interesting group Doc, quite the interesting group..."

Doc nodded in agreement. "Hm yes, they really are," he replied back, feeling very amused as he watched all of the different interactions going on among the subjects. They seemed like a good group of kids, not that they were really "kids" but they weren't technically human anyways. Actually now that he thought about it, he and Red were only months old themselves.

Regardless, it still felt like forever ago since he and Red were in their shoes. They used to be so clueless and naive. They could not have imagined that... Well now was not the time to be feeling nostalgic. They still had a lot of things to show the new subjects and even more things to explain. Well first, he still needed to properly introduce himself to the girls.

"Hello ladies. I am Subject 268, but you may call me Doc." He then proceeded to bow gracefully. Once he was standing up straight again, he winked flirtatiously or maybe it was mischievously (one could never tell with him). Without wasting another second, he grabbed Red by the hand and spun her towards him so his arm wrapped nicely around her. "And this, gentlemen, is my lovely partner, Red. You will treat her with the utmost respect unless you want to lose a finger, got it?" His smile never left his face, but it seemed a lot more menacing for some reason. He spun Red back out, but still did not let go of her hand. Not at least until he placed a gentle kiss upon it.

"Thanks for being a good sport," he chuckled softly, his lips still pressed against her hand.

Once he finished, he straightened himself up and carried on as if nothing had happened. However, he kept his guard up, just in case Red was going to get mad and slap him or something. He wouldn't want to be humiliated like that in front of the newbies.

Rolled her eyes at Doc's bow towards the other females and went to walk towards the hall, until he grabbed her and wrapped her up in his arms. Making her instantly blush, she looked down and coughed as Doc kissed her hand and he stepped back. Winding back she punched him in the stomach "...damn you..." she breathed out getting it out of her system and looking up putting a hand through her white hair "Now as you can see this is my lovely partner Doc, now you guys can get along on the way back to the Lockdown, but we must move, the guards are..." she looked around them as guards were getting tired of waiting for them to get a move on. "Getting tired of waiting" Motion for everyone to follow, she walked next to Doc and she smiled looking away before looking up at Doc "I don't get you sometimes Doc, i've been around you since we were born and I still don't get you, at all, but...nevermind" she thought against saying what she wanted and patted his arm.

The guards around them motioned for the subjects behind them to follow Red and Doc, before moving behind them and having them move towards the security room. Of course the group wouldn't see it, but behind the doors, Subject 000, one of the original subjects had been captured and was being transported to be tested with the new group. He smiled as they held him under cuffs and his collar being put on. "You, I think I'm gunna kill you fir-" he got punched in the face and fell to the ground. Looking up, the guard stood over him and he smiled, spitting out blood "Looks like the bitch has a bit-" he got punched again, moaning and laughing in pain "that was a good one bitch bo-" he was raised and punched again. He laughed and was turned over onto his stomach, pulling him up they got off the train and stood in the loading dock of the facility. Walking towards a big door, he looked at the guard to his left "your buddy here, Mr.Bitch, he's got a clean right hook, but he's going to die first, then Im going to kill yo-" The slammed him into the door and a metal sound rung in the air. He coughed up blood and laughed, the door opened and he fell to the ground, to which the picked up again.

At the same time, Red and the others entered the room to see their new addition being dragged, until he fell and they picked him up again. However he struggled and they punched him in the face, lifting him and punching him again in anger. Red looked at Doc and quickly ran towards the two guards beating the subject to a pulp. "Wait! please st-" she was hit from behind and the two guards stopped punching the boy, moving over to Red. The guards in the room pointed their guns at the subjects, begging them to move even a little. The guards took turns punching Red in the face, then dragging her up, they made her stand and she tried to grab their hands "P-p-plea..se...st-st-st..op..." one of the guards punched her in the stomach.

"You two gunna think about disrespecting us again, you dont speak to us unless spoken to you little shits. You think you're all strong because you got powers?" one of them sat on top of Red and punched her in the face with every word. She spit in Red's face, standing up and then walking over to D, raising a fist to punch him, it seemed Red was standing again, catching the female guards fist. Another guard started towards Red "You little bitch, don't you dare touch he-" she turned towards him and pointed a finger at him. It seemed between the intense beating she had received and her blood going everywhere, the collar had broken. Her face had begun to heal instantly, and blanked faced Red looked at the guard who had stopped in his track.

Dr.Oshimi crossed her arms and leaned against the wall, the guards looking at her "If any of you touch her, Im going to personally kill you, those two started it, they can finish it." They looked at her and stepped back, hands behind their back and watched their two comrades.

She smiled for a second, before all the blood around her started to move. The guard under Red's grip grabbed her knife and went to stab Red with her other hand. The little girl formed a blood knife in her hand, and blocked the stab. Twirling the knife in her hand, she stabbed the girl in the stomach and then expanded the knife to go through her body. Letting go, the girl fell to her knees and started bleeding from her ears, nose and mouth, until she fell over and blood escaped from her body. The other guard turned and ran towards the exit, to which Red quickly formed a blood spear from the blood escaping the dead female guards body. Throwing it, she waved her hand and it split into three more spears. Hitting the guard in the back and arms, she moved her hand out and made a pulling motion. The guard was pulled back towards her, screaming and she released the blood, pulling it back into her body through a cut she made in her arm and it closed up. Stepping over top the man, he shook in fear, and then D stood, his face also being healed from his collar breaking and letting his power work. The other guards quickly raised their guns, But Dr.Oshimi started to walk towards them. D opened his hand a musket formed, pointing it to the mans head, he pulled the trigger, killing the man "told you..." he looked at Red and then to the Doctor "looks like the fun is over..." throwing the gun in the air, it dissipated.

The doctor pulled out two collars from her coat pocket and put them on the two "you're are lucky they pushed you that far, or else you would be dead right now.." they nodded and Red started at D, who had his hands in his cat eared black onesie.

"It's nice to see you haven't changed one bit Oshimi" he looked back at Red and winked before turning on his heels and stepping over the two dead bodies "now if you don't mind me, I'll be in the Lock Down." He looked over at Doc and winked at him as well, oh was this going to be an interesting situation.

Oshimi sighed and looked at Red who had her eyes closed, with her hands in her coat pocket, pulled out her right hand and snapped ehr finger. The bodies disappeared and she touched Red's shoulder "I am sure your little ones will need you, they just witnessed death and violence, move them along" she went back to her table and started tapping at a pad, typing a message before sending it. Red looked at Doc and was slightly shaking, she still hadn't completely recharged from her previous battle. Stepping towards the group, she leaned against Doc one there and her voice was slightly shaky "I am sorry you had to witness that...Doc do you mind?" she said using him as a body crutch.

"Follow your voice?"

She thought about it, could she sound. Is that something people can do? Her eyes grow wide, it is a metaphor?! No wait an idiom! Whatever the word it is not a literal meaning! A nod of her head confirmed it within. Right so she wants her to match it right? Or was she wanting her to lean all the way down there.....

Wow she was so tiny. Everyone was small though. So tiny. Tiny is a tiny word. A toothy grin appeared on her face briefly at the thought of the way tiny looked. Alex's voice however would make her feel a new emotion. Irritation. She may not be the sharpest scalpel in the cadaver but she understood that she didn't like his phrase.

"You pick'n a fight?! If I didn't think you didn't know that I know that you....Wait....Just don't be so...." She lost her point somewhere in her confusion of sentence structure. It was like she was trying to correct it after her mouth said it....She could think faster than she could speak?! The revelation made her contemplate a challenge. How fast can she think! What if she could think about other things at the same time. She decided to do an experiment.

Her hand reached up to pat her head, her other began to rub her stomach, whilst she stood on one foot....No not hard, hum what could it mean. "Stars belong in the sky. You should call him Fallen star! It sounds cooler Sony!" Woooow she remembered the name of someone whom she had not spoken too, and then interjected. Interjection is a fun word to see in your head. Her eyes where noticing things all around her without focus.

Her list of accomplishments and achievements are staggering she had only been awake for mere....time. As the concept started to form Doc did some very educational things. For a reason unbeknownst to her, Andarta leaned down to whisper (Which was more like talking considering her decibel levels at the moment.) "Doc is a prince. Fables suggest that is how they greet their....Red is a princess! They fornicate to make the royalty!"

She didn't wait for her little friends response as Red grabs her attention with the call to move. Red's constant strange behavior suggested that she was in fact a proper princess that did not enjoy public displays of affection. These trivial thoughts where brought to a close when the violence began. Violence. Behavior involving physical force intended to hurt, damage, or kill someone or something. Generally used to protect or sustain one in a natural situation. This. Was not one of those. This was cruelty.

"You two gunna think about disrespecting us again, you dont speak to us unless spoken to you little shits. You think you're all strong because you got powers?"

A feeling of heat filled her head. She could feel her blood moving faster as her heart pumped faster, each beat resonated throughout her. Her muscles spasmed and contracted as they flexed for the first time. A vein ran down her forehead as her teeth bared her breathing started to hasten. Each strike Red received intensified the effects. She was unaware but she had stepped in front of Parkinson despite the smirk of a guard who put one in the chamber at the action, nor was she aware of the sounds of her joints popping into her freshly made fist.

Reds retaliation was watched with a feeling of both justification at the same time regret. Andarta wanted to do it. She wanted it so bad. A longing for combat, was almost sadness. So many words are being said now, but not a one interested her. She really wanted to hurt something. She had begun panting, those doctors need to die. Her hand reached up and pulled at her collar as if it was uncomfortable, and she swallowed so thirsty. Dr.Oshimi is a threat. Her skull is small, her throat bare and exposed, she could crush it. She would crus-The Crack of the gun shot jars her thoughts.-

A cold sweat rolls over her, and her dumb founded demeanor returns with it. She glances about to make sure Parkinson is still there, and then does a literal head count...Counting their heads on her hands. Nodding happily when they are all there. She went as far as to try and pat Parkinson on the head before stating. "I could'a done that with the collar on." Wait new feeling! "Oh that was confidence! Confidence feels great!"

"I am sorry you had to witness that...Doc do you mind?"

---

Parkinson have Andarta a longing gaze while the massive female seemed somewhat confused by the blonde's words. She couldn't blame the tall woman in all honesty, she didn't quite picture what she was saying either. She just knew these things, and understood them to an extent. Her fellow subject's actions wouldn't irritate Parkinson as much as her loud voice, and hopefully her nod would confirm her basic understanding of the nerve expert's words.

Her headache was appearing to subside at this point for her stress was slowly taken away by her massive colleague's imposing presence that only manifested friendship, giving her an illusion that she had at least some form of wall between the alien sex and herself. Though it would only re-emerge with Darlene's small set of words, causing her head to thump in realization of the depth in her words. More precisely, the idea of being prisoners felt mind numbing to Parkinson, for it made not sense to her.

"Prisoners? Wouldn't that mean we actually did something to get here? You make no sense ..."

She gave Darlene a caution glare along with her more solemn voice, the mysterious girl only making her presence known by saying such a cryptic thing. 332 couldn't really understand how they could be prisoners if they hadn't done anything beforehand, let alone know who these people were to even push them to imprison them. The more silent of the girls would reach the red zone in Parkinson's head, much like the males they had encountered. She simply didn't feel this person well enough. On the contrary, this Sony girl reminded her much of the Amazon she had conflicted with a couple of times already. There were a few things Parkinson couldn't understand about this petite female, starting by how careless she acted toward shady strangers like these males. Added to that the mysterious undertone she boy she was addressing had. For some reason, his calmer voice irritated her a lot more than Andarta's obnoxious yet involuntary yelling.

Nicknames. We already have TWO names. This is stupid ... They're all stupid. Maybe I'm a prisoner for thinking too much? Maybe this is hell ...

She thought of the word hell, a term originating from something specific that she couldn't get her finger on. But she related any bad experience or punishment to it for some reason. Was it maybe a very ugly place in this facility? This thought alone would maker her head hurt even more, because she wouldn't make sense herself at this point. At this point, she realized focusing on the boys wasn't going to bring her all that much to her plate, and instead focused on the leaders in hopes that they would move on or at least know why they were still parked here.

It'd be there that she'd notice the chemistry between the two de facto leaders of the groups, how the behaved. In a sense Parkinson envied it, but knew she'd have a hard time considering being in a communicative mood with these male counterparts of her's. The sudden commentary from Andarta, though humorous, caused a rather strange reaction in Parkinson's entire being. She suddenly felt queasy, not by head mild headache but by the what the term 'fornicate' invoked in her mind. The term itself made her feel uncomfortable, she wasn't sure what it entirely entailed but she didn't like the mental images she was having. The deeper meaning behind it however made her clench her stomach as butterflies ran loose in her body. Her instincts told her something great would come from such a thing, but one word propped into her mind when she reflected on all of this.

"Don't you mean procreate? That would be the better term."

She'd return on what Andarta said with a somewhat nervous tone this time. As embarrassing as the concept was, her mind slowly ventured to the idea as to why she had mixed feelings about it. But before she'd have any sensation of consequence, the following events would glue her back to earth. A sudden conflict involving what seemed to be another male and people with the same attire as those in the other room. Their supposed leader intervened which followed with even more violence. Parkinson was notably frightened by this, by this violence and the visible pain these strikes inflicted on others. The fact that she understood just how much they'd hurt made her cringe.

The Amazon standing behind her as some kind of barrier made the thin blonde feel a little more at ease, much like how the warrior's presence reassured her when confronted to the men. Parkinson made sure to stay close to the large girl she was essentially born with and simply peeked to the side so she could at least see how this would end. Her growing head pain would prevent her from processing such fast movements and flashy events, but the end result would be clear, there were people killed and Red had been hurt. Death didn't scare Parkinson, she understood it enough to see in a rather desensitized position. But the pain that it could entail was what made her heart sink.

Looking up at her giant subject counterpart, the giant could see that the even left the shorter blonde shaken. Parkinson would back up in fear when the human colossus would try and pat her head, knowing full well she could crush the smaller girl's head and even body with or without the collar. The problem would be that if she'd back up to the point of being out of the giant's range, she'd get caught up with the rest of the people, which didn't make her feel any better. So, as a reflex, she tried to slap the girl's hand away with her little strength, in hopes that it would at least deter her from continuing.

"Don't. You're scaring me."

She knew she was being unfair to Andarta, and she was probably her only ally. But Parkinson was genuinely afraid of any possibility of being hurt at this point. She felt like literally anyone could kill her at this point.

Alex was taken aback by this girl's actions. Everyone else, well with the exception of the largest of the girls, was eyeing up the other gender and trying to match up what they saw with the information in their heads; trying to sort it all out before their minds gave out under the weight of all this new knowledge. He wondered how many before them had gone that way, clearly they weren't the first. He'd have to ask Doc some time.

He was not offended. No, he checked, in fact he was intrigued by her attention as it showed a markedly different character to anyone else. He had caught a glance of his face in some of the shinier pieces of metal in the previous room, although it had been somewhat distorted, he had still noticed the most remarkable feature which was the red tattoo around his eye. At least he assumed it was a tattoo. Maybe it's some defect in the growing process - it surely can't be a usual tattoo. Assuming what I have in my head is the 'normal' way to get one. In any case, he found himself not minding the girl's attention in the slightest; he would have to examine his feelings later but he put the initial thoughts down to some paternal or fraternal complex.

He smiled, a warm but quiet smile that showed no teeth and was more an expression of comfort than one of joy, certainly it was not a wide-mouthed grin. "You may. They've called me Alexander but I do not acknowledge that, so you may call me whatever you wish. Maybe the shortened version though, you might get bored of saying it otherwise."

As he and the girl spoke he observed in his peripheral vision the interaction between Red and Doc with interest. They were the most developed of them, having spent more time 'alive' than they had so Alex saw them as the best examples of how to navigate this world. Concepts flashed through his mind as he observed Doc's actions in particular as they were more guarded, making them more interesting to him. I suppose this is what you would call a relationship forged in strife?

The others began to follow their leaders out so Alex gestured to them. "Shall we go, Sony?" He suggested, having picked up her name from the loud girl's speech.

---------------

The events in the room beyond them were so quick it took Alex time to process it all, his initial instinct being to stop the beating upon Red but he took his cue from Doc who had not moved to intervene. He must know not to. In hindsight, Alex judged him to be right; although it was a terrible experience to watch and do nothing voluntarily. He kept his face blank but there was a hardness in his eyes as he began to truly understand how it was here, no matter how anyone dressed it up they weren't merely prisoners. They were as slaves. Replaceable slaves.

Red soon got her payback and then they were all free to go. It seemed there was more to their situation than was obvious. Alex logged it all; there was just too much to process right now but he had determined that getting out of wherever they were was a priority, assuming there was an outside of course.

"I wouldn't be over-confident though. I don't think any of us would last long in here like that." Alex said quietly to loud, large woman. He had little attachment to any of those around him but the thought of not saying something and the result being more death left a bad taste in his mouth. Apparently he had a conscience. How inconvenient.

He walked forwards, staying a comfortable distance away from Doc and Red so as not to intrude on their intimacy. In a neutral tone so as not to patronise or imply he expected help to be needed, he asked: "Do you need any help, Doc, Red?"

The green haired subject had been surprisingly quiet throughout the various events that had been taking place. Everything was just so new that it was to much to take in at once and he had come to a screeching halt in his thought process. As if to throw him even more off his loose center a completely separate gender was introduced as if to confuse him even more. It seemed that there was just so much variety in this shifting place that it was to hard to hold onto just one reality.

In the back of Virgil's head there was a strange nudging as if there was an idea just under the surface that couldn't be grasped. It was a sensation that he just couldn't place and for some reason couldn't ignore at the same time. The thought drifted through his head as they walked into the next room where there seemed to be more people carrying those strange looking sticks that were guns if his mind was right.

That was when the beating started and he was pulled out of his mind as he stared at the scene in front of him. Isn't there anything that I can do. All he could do was clench his fists as he watched his fellow subjects beaten before his eyes. Than in a blink of the eye the scene changed to that of a slaughter of the guards that had just been the ones doing the beating. If only he had the power to stop those guards, maybe he wouldn't be so useless than.

Virgil couldn't wait to unlock these powers that lay dormant within his body ready to be summoned with the removal of the collar.