I huffed, huffed and puffed. Scuffing up the floor with one shoe as I waited for the line to stop moving and for all of the kids to quit filing into this tiny room. There looked to be about twenty of us so far, all around my age. All tall though, and big and loud. Not like the other kids I hung out with, the tiny skinny ones who ran away crying if I so much as nudged them. Okay maybe pushed them. Alright fine, shoved them. No these kids looked tough and smart, like me. But I was smarter! I was always the smartest!
Smart enough to know these people had been lying when they said this was a field trip. Right, what field trip starts with a heavily armed escort in blacked out cars that headed an hour out of the city to this little establishment? And included a stomach turning elevator ride downwards into a fancy and shiny basement? They must've thought I was stupid. They weren't kidnappers though, or at least they weren't acting like the usual ones. They were careful around us almost as if unsure how to act near us. Some of the soldiers (They had to be, that's how they walked no matter what plain clothes they were wearing. it was all in the shoulders) even looked anxious or scared. But they hadn't tried to hurt us. not that I'd seen. Just talked to us a bit before saying it was nice to meet us, shake my hand, then ushered us all into this gradually forming line.
And now I was waiting. Still wearing my tattered clothes from earlier (I hadn't wanted to put on the clean new shoes they had offered me. They looked stiff and not broken in) but I had been scrubbed clean so vigorously my skin felt raw. They had said something about not wanting me to reek like a shit hole when we met the Doc. I don't think adults are supposed to swear around kids, but those guys had a lot. Gave me a whole new dictionary practically. Couldn't wait to try it out.
But now it looked like just waiting.

I was the last one in, I'd been taken before anyone else and the oni boys had tried to sneak me in the back but I'm pretty sure a few of the other kids noticed. They where all very intelligent and impressive physically but not all had grown up on the streets and it showed. Not all of the street kids had noticed me but I don't think one of the home kids did, they all looked to scared to try and figure out what was going on, Of course I've been here for... A while and I only just started to figure it out so I should probably cut them some slack. I wasn't scared when they took, pissed as hell but not scared. This was easier than being on the streets, food, a safe place to sleep and clothing may not sound like much but there hard to find without grown-ups, and sure they had something planned for us but had they asked nicely I'd have come along quietly and it would have saved two men a trip to the ICU.

Rocking back and forth on my heels now, I stuck my hands in my pockets and balled them up into little fists. Humming a nonsense tune to myself, I looked around the crowd of kids to see if someone, anyone, looked at least not quiet as terrified as a cornered rabbit. But by now the last person had come in and the door sealed shut with a hiss. The last kid looked less jittery then the rest. Well, that and I hadn't really put in a lot of effort looking over the others. There were just so many and they were all so chatty and high pitched.
So I stopped my rocking and made my way around the outside of the shapeless mob to step up beside the last kid. He looked surprisingly calm and maybe a bit more comfortable around here then the others. Or me for that matter.
"Hey. How long you've been here?" I asked him, nudging him with an elbow to get his attention.

I started trying to size him up as soon as I saw him coming, it wasn't easy though. He seemed to be more in control than most of the others mabey just as scared but it wasn't showing through if he was and he was coming straight for me so he'd probably already gotten a read on me. Intelligent, in control and if the question was any indication very straightforward, sounds like someone I'd like to be friends with. "not sure exactly but it's be a month at least, they pulled me of the street. You?" I wasn't supposed to tell anyone that but I doubt he'd have believed me if I'd lied, besides I had no reason to lie to him.

"A month? Wow that's long. Few hours, most of here from what I can see haven't been here much longer. Except that kid, he keeps talking with all the guards like they're buddies." I said after a dismissive shrug of my shoulders, pointing to a red mop of hair that was bouncing from guard to guard. Simple short answers. I like those, I hated dramatic people who just dragged things out for hours and hours and hours. Nope, this kid seemed okay.
"They got me outta a home. Third one this month." I was proud of that, proud that no household could take me for more then a week or so at a time. "Told me this was a field trip. but what field trip has armed escorts? Just bull shit." No idea if I had used that right, but that was okay! It was a new word, still figuring out what context to use it in. I had the freckled blonde guy with the 'Cut here' tattoo to thank for that one. He said it lots of times on the ride over, saying how he wasn't okay with babysitting and it was bullshit. Hmph.

Good it looked like there might be a few more kids here with the ability to think for themselves. "Yeah it's like they think that just cause we're young we're dumb. My name is Brine by the way." I say somewhat absentmindedly, I was looking for a break in the guards something I could use to slip away and try to find some more information on why they were taking us and what was coming next. Some people loved surprises, I didn't, where I come from a Surprise means your getting jumped in an ally or someone stole your food so I wanted all the information I could get.

"Hey Brine. Cool name, I'm Robbie." Robbie worked better then Rob or Robert. It was disarming for most. The soldiers hadn't really been fooled by it though. I rocked back and forth on my heels, noticing where Brine's attention seemed to be drifting. "Wouldn't try it, these guys are jumpy as hell. See how twitchy they are whenever they see you lookin at em? If you're gonna make a break for it, just get someone else to scare em into action. Distraction, then bang! You're running free!" I said with a grin, the plan having been one I had been thinking of for a few seconds but sounding pretty solid out loud. Besides, it would be more fun with another kid then if done by myself.

He was right, they had noticed me looking and closed any obvious gaps but maybe with a distraction one of us could slip past them. "You've got a point, how good are you with computers?" I had seen a room with a few computers in it on the way in but I just didn't have that much experience with them, living on the streets you don't see many let alone get to play with them.

I shrugged dismissively. "Im okay with em, just give me a sec to figure out what kind of system it is and I can get you whatever you want. Why? You thinking of hacking or something?" I had gotten my 'grubby fingers' on more then a few systems whenever I was in a home. It was often part of why I got moved around, once I got a hold of a computer there wouldnt really be much left of it.

I thought for a moment before saying "OK so I saw a room full of computers on the way in, give me a sec to get the keys and meet me by the door over there." with a nod of my head I motioned to a door at the back of the room. "also I'm going to shove you and call you a jerk so the guards won't suspect anything." I say and wait just long enough for him to process what I said before shoving him in the chest and calling him a jerk loudly, then I started walking towards where the red headed kid was bugging one of the guards.

"Ok!" Sounded simple to me. I stumbled back a place with an exaggerated wave of my arms, huffing and glaring at the other kid before calling him an ass. Then turning sharply on my heel and stormed off into the crowd. Slowly though I just faded into the mass of babbling kids and slunk away towards the door. Finally! Something that sounded fun!

After having blended with the other kids for a moment I had found my way behind the guard talking to or rather trying not to talk to the redhead kid. After a moment I saw my opening, the guard dropped his head into his hands and started rubbing his temples. Slick as wet glass I slid the keys off the ring on his belt and turned to leave as I did I heard redhead start to say something about the keys but he was cut off by the guard going ballistic. I just smiled to myself and met up with Robbie.

"Not bad." I said seeing the keys in Brine's hand. "Sweet lift, guy thinks the red head did it to so we're clean for the sec." Looking over his head I checked to make sure the soldier was still distracted before grabbing Brine's wrist to pull him along to the door. Unnecessary maybe, but the crowd of kids was getting thicker. "You know which key it is?"

"not exactly..." I said as I looked at the keys, I had seen it but it was on another Keychain so I was looking at the teeth themselves. My memory was photographic so all I had to do was see it again and. "ha that's it!" I whispered then unlocked the door. After locking the door behind us I take a moment to gather myself and then say. "this way!" and bolt down the hall towards the room.

"Right behind ya!" I chuckled, slipping through the door after him and racing after him. This hall looked familiar, like all the others in this place. Metal, metal, metal panels with flickering florescent lights over head. Boring and predictable. Lame adults.

I stopped at a set of doors and started trying out keys. "keep watch." I said to Robbie as I quickly moved through the chain of keys looking for a match. After a moment I started hearing footsteps and voices coming this way, five seconds later I found the key, grabbed Robbie and pulled him in the room with me then shut and locked the door. A moment later the voices stopped in front of the door, tried the handle then kept walking.

I followed silently, a crooked grin already on my face when I heard footsteps approach and fade. Really? Did they think we were that stupid?
"Is this the computer room you were talking about?" I ask when its quiet again, stepping away from Brine and looking over the room with a critical eye.

I nodded and said "Yeah this is it, looks like most of them are powered down right now though." staying near the door so I could keep watch and let him do his thing. "we're looking for something to do with the spartan program, whatever that is, Do you know how long it will take?"

"Spartan program huh?" I had heard that once or twice, and the looks I'd gotten whenever I had asked about it told me I wasn't supposed to have heard that.
"Probably a bit, just from what I've seen its kinda hushhush so I don't think it's gonna be on a desktop." I started for the nearest computer, pushing up my to long sleeves before setting to work.

I stayed near the door door listening for the guards for a while, then paced around for a moment before walking over and looking over Robbie's shoulder. I watched as he moved through the files on the computer and wondered how he got so good with them. "you really know what your doing with computers don't you? How'd you learn?" I asked.