As one of the spheres vanished, Eli held another one, bringing forward as it hovered across a certain distance. It was the same as what he did recently, letting it teem with energy until glowering into a gleaming flare of light. Once done, he lifted his scowl against anyone his sights could set into while clamping his teeth together from his spiraling tantrum.
"Alright, since no one is making any sense, I'm afraid I'll just have to blow things up. At least with that,
something will make sense." Eli spoke as he swept a few tangled strands of his red hair with his hands.
At that moment, Eli felt a fervent half of his consciousness, stirring an immense hold of power needing to be unleashed. It was a dense yet forceful feeling emanating a ravenous comportment, later influencing the course of his actions. It was as if something conveyed a single, incomprehensible message within his thoughts, apprising what he should do. While merely a blur, one certain idea he could decipher was that it urged him to proceed on a destructive force. It shadowed him for a moment, allowing little time for him look over himself. Eli then felt the comfort of it, the voracity building up as he nearly felt it lounging inside his veins. Years spent confined at the ORB had him forget this feeling and now, never did he discern how alive he was, how his gluttonous leverage over his powers gave him a rationale to stand firm against the surface of this world.
However, even after mounting his grasp for power, Eli felt something strange latching behind his sagacity. At first it was a frail sight of a blood-curdling projection, stemming a disarray of shadows ― as what it seemed ― towards a singular route which Eli later noticed to be at his proximity. One thing he wouldn't dare to stumble across was the darkness. Eli hated it and somehow left him shivering in fear due to past experiences he couldn't express on recalling. As the shadows extended their reach, Eli then felt his stomach lurching, his mind raced a nagging fright that forced him to abide an action that was far beyond his control. He couldn't move ― or at least he couldn't let himself be. The sight of the darkness folded his recent claim of power to a spiraling obscurity. Eli grievously wanted to evade the shadow's advance but his sullen fright refused to give him even a single option to do so.
"Get the fuck away from me!" And so he brazenly shrieked, forcing a terrified emphasis of his youthful voice.
The sphere he was supposed to control vanished at an instant once his attention altered towards the shadows. He continued to let his vociferation battle an unseen enemy, often cowering from a pretentious display of a contrived bravery.
"
FUCK OFF!" He persisted until one giant, formless being began charging towards him, later forcing a prolonged scream out from his lungs. Then, even from a clogged view, he noticed something familiar as he let his scrutiny flow over a few proportions. It was the giant man, attempting an odd practice of something he wasn't quite wary of.
"The fuck are you trying to do?" For once fear subsided but only a fraction of it drifted away. The shadows were still lounging but Eli wasn't too mindful of it now.
"You're trying to do this, aren't you?" He scowled at the giant as he pointed the emanating shadows. "Too bad it's a shitty attempt to hold me back."
While he regained a partial hold of his power, he still couldn't settle himself completely with the existence of these shadows reaching him. One of the spheres that orbited Eli slowly slipped from its place, finding its way on top of his hand as it glided tenderly. After what he assumed to be the cause of the giant man, Eli ended up being the most unhappiest person inside the room. At this point, neither any words nor action would pin him down into silence.
"But I must say, it's a nice try but it will take more than that to bring me down, ya piece of shit." Eli raised his hand as the sphere hid behind its caress, bringing his body sideways. With his leg set on one side, it'd be easily noticed he was imitating a pitcher's stance and although hurling the sphere felt only an instant aim away, Eli felt obligated to give the giant man some short time before bringing in a trail of destruction.
"Say, are you good at dodgeball? because if not, you'll be
so unlucky today."
___________________________________________________________________
Lloyd chuckled in response as he lifted Victoria from her plight, smiling as his eyes met hers in a less tricky way. Afterwards, Elijah inched closer, checking for any circumstances that might have deemed beyond his reach. Every once in a while, a harmless encounter made these guards watchful as the uncertainty of those confrontations might result to an inevitable mess. Nobody knew how much secrecy could each individual bear, whether or not they'd be spies among the opposition. Every trust was established with utmost caution for the fear of committing mistakes that would potentially damage any further stand the organization could inaugurate. Nevertheless, even when someone was to be endowed with Lloyd's credence, it would most likely fall towards the doubts of others.
"I'm fine, Elijah," Lloyd assured before his escort could even speak. He then sifted back to Victoria, returning his attention to her. "I'd say these new people are certainly going to be your future companions or perhaps, your team."
Lloyd then resumed his way towards the simulation room, hinting the woman to follow behind.
"As you can see, every S.C.A.R. member is assigned to a team. Whether or not you're destined to take recon exercises or just be a part of the staff here among the many facilities, you're ― nonetheless ― obligated to be a part of something. I implemented this as I am not fond of people shying away from a unified crowd. We are one by the way and being a faction with one purpose doesn't excuse some to scatter on their own."
Within perfect timing, they arrived at the simulation room. Elijah stepped forward as he pressed some buttons on the biometrics machine, later initiating a laser scan which opened the door afterwards. Lloyd was half-stunned as he stepped in, noticing a few misconceptions from his standpoint. Regardless, it was far from being a mess out of his control as he saw the men in their calm state. However, there was this redhead who seemed far from being a favourable individual.
"My apologies for my late arrival," He spoke in a calm yet loud tone, making sure his voice is enough for everyone to comprehend. "As you can see, I'm a very busy man or so to speak, but I never bias my time over you people as I treat everyone equally."
Lloyd paused as he tried to close his distance towards the new faces.
"Anyway, I all welcome you to S.C.A.R., abbreviated for the Superhuman Crusade and Alliance Revolution. I assume some of you are quite familiar with our name as this faction was once the great resistance that crumbled the government's tyranny and hatred over the existence of a unique race ― a race they solely despise as they fear they will ascend as an embodiment of evolution, forever bringing a significant change to the world. There was also one noble man who fought for the cause of equality, sadly he isn't here anymore."
For a moment, the subtlety of that thought raced Lloyd's mind. He haven't tackled any subject concerning the loss of his father but even so, he tried to let his stance be firm of the tragedy as he was already leading a legacy that was left for him to reconstruct.
"But so much for all of that, I will provide any information you wanted to know if you can find some time to approach me. For now, I want to enlighten you all that you are now a part of this faction whether you like it or not because out there, nothing will be at your favor. The government will take whatever they can dispose from their powers just to hunt you down and place you back in that grimy prison facility. But here, you're all safe. No one can track you down as they firmly believed this place has been obliterated years ago and I'm ever so thankful that they're wrong."
One of the guards approached Lloyd, handing out a small device which seemed to be more of a remote control.
"Now I know you're still adjusting and absorbing the information I've just stated out but all of your questions will be answered after we have this practice."
As Lloyd pressed the center button of the device, the room screened a bizarre projection, slowly shifting to different dimensional displays. Flickers of light coruscated at the circular platform, all of them glowed uniformly which then impelled the metal bars at the center to wind up in a spinning motion. Afterwards, a pillar of light beamed vertically from the center, casting toward the room's ceiling and unfurled its radiance through connecting proportions. At a slow pace, the entire facility was changing, as if it was an old latent photo undergoing its visible development. The ceiling transformed into an azure blanket while clouds slowly assembled into its view. The surface transfigured, later warping into a scene of an outside, open city with high-rises conjoined to form an urban landscape. Within a few minutes, everyone from the facility were somewhat transferred to a city by an unimaginable process. Including Lloyd, they were all standing on a wide space, congested by angry protesters and a police force defending a line of restriction.
"This exercise will just test how you're capable of handling your powers. You don't need to worry about passing or failing because this is merely an exhibition. Think of it as a way of introducing yourself. Your shared goal is to just help the protesters pass from the police force who are blocking the way." Lloyd raised the remote, letting the new recruits become aware of the simulation concept. "I would just like to inform you that these are real, meaning that they are able to respond to your actions whenever I press a button from this remote. They will see you, smell you, tell the color of your hair but fear not, they're artificially constructed despite being relatively close to reality. Also, please be warned that the guns these police possess can hurt you as they are mimicked by A.I. but they are far from killing you."
With a smile, he looked at the new recruits with grace, placing his thumb near a specific button of the remote.
"So, who wants to go first?" He asked as he highly noticed the redhead and the giant man to be the first possible candidates.
Just to set up the mood.
