When the following day came, so did the harsh blinding lights of Xander and Diane's cell arrive to awaken the two. Routine by this point, both woke up groggy and in pain, mostly caused by the weird position they were forced to sleep in and the hard, comfortless surface they had to sleep on.
Once again, like clockwork, keypad ringtones came from behind their door. And soon after, Kaiser was in the doorway staring down at the two. He seemed to have returned to his emotionless disposition from before, leaning against the doorway as he waited for them to rise.
"Come on, you two. You know the routine by now," Kaiser said.
We're well aware. Xander snarled in his mind, as both he and Diane quickly got up and moved towards the door.
********
For all the children kept in the facility, a certain routine was kept for their care and well-being—mostly just the first part. They were to be woken up every day at the same time, almost religiously, to be taken to the first part of their routine—the showers.
For some odd reason in the facility, the cell system had it so one girl and boy shared the same jail room. Most times this was done in the fashion of a brother and sister. But as the ranking of Vectors increased, and the noticeable number of brothers and sisters dropped lower and lower (mostly because of failures cropping up), they simply put male and female children together without so much of care to the logistics or possible harm in doing so.
The boys were separated from the girls and escorted to different showering sections that were near their cellblock. Xander and Diane were a part of cellblock F-06, housing the lowest-ranked vectors. Female guards took the girls, whilst the boys were left with the male guards, leaving Kaiser to give the reins of Diane's care over to another. But, for things to go smoothly, large meeting areas were in place near the respective blocks of each Vector rank, where all the children were to be funneled before the exchange of boys and girls.
Handcuffed and bound, Xander was placed in a single-file line with the other boys. The line was positioned to face the grand exit door so that when movement towards the showers was ready, it could be done swiftly. A few additional guards would enter to oversee them, whilst their overseeing cell guard—like Kaiser—would take the female prisoners over their respective female guards.
Kaiser brought a shackled Diane over to a quite robust-looking young woman, who was muscular and nearly just as built as Kaiser—although with a feminine mystique. Many of the female guards had a similar build to the woman Diane was being overturned to, though shorter, taller or more slender in some aspects. They all stood in a row awaiting their own prisoners to be overturned to them as well. Unlike Kaiser, a set of batons was glued to the woman's hips, sitting nicely against her dark navy blue jeans that hugged her dark navy blue cargo pants. Strapped to her back was a futuristic M-16 styled AR, red-dot scoped with a hybrid laser on the side.
The sight of the gun and the woman's piercing, judgmental, brown-eyed gaze made Diane's skin crawl.
Kaiser let out a snort of laughter whilst holding Diane's arm, having noticed the poor girl beginning to shiver as if put in a freezing tundra.
"This happens with you every time you've gotta be turned over to her," Kaiser said. "I swear, what are you doing to her to make this scared of you, Vanessa?"
"Nothing you aren't already doing," she replied with a low - volume gruffness in her voice, like she hated the concept of having to converse with Kaiser.
"Try to play nicer with her, will ya?"
"I didn't know you had a soft spot for the kid."
"I don't…," he said, before hesitating and looking away for a moment, "but…this girl…something's not quite right with her."
Vanessa took one look at Diane, hunching over to get a better look at her. Diane tried to pull herself away in response, causing Vanessa to stare at her even harder, with more annoyance and vitriol than usual.
"She seems just fine to me," Vanessa cooly remarked, snagging hold of Diane, almost ripping her completely free from Kaiser's grips.
After turning over the girls to their respective guards, they and the boys were taken to showers to finish the procedure. The showers were freezing, severe in the level of coldness that was a greater undertaking to survive than to actually clean oneself. Water pelting from the showerhead felt like sheer hailstones falling against their skin.
Following this, they were each given towels of the most rugged quality possible, able to bruise and possibly even scrape skin if not for their bodies' metallic properties. To say that these showers weren't designed more to scrub a car than any human being would not be a mistake. It was a chore endured by the staff, not designed to keep the children from mental or physical degradation. It only served to keep them in line, and, so the doctors wouldn't have to deal with the possibility of being exposed to any illnesses the children were now immune to.
******
Following the end of this part of the routine, the next step in the procedure was breakfast. Still in their gender-segregated groups, the lines of children were escorted to the largest place in the facility by far, the cafeteria. Unlike the showers, for each category of Block—Blocks F through B—one large cafeteria sufficed for each of those sections. Children from cell blocks F-06 through F-01 gathered in this cafeteria, and though it was large, it was nothing compared to the size of those in higher block categories.
As well, from Xander's time of eating the food in his block's cafeteria, and hearing some children talk about the food they heard other children were getting in higher blocks, a pattern of hierarchy was very much clear. Block F's cafeteria routinely served the worst food possible, even less nutritious than things Xander and Diane had to eat when living with their poor, struggling family. Each serving was more than textureless, liquidated like soup even though it clearly had some attempts at additions of some form of a meat supplement. No vegetables or anything were a part of these plates. Water and maybe milk on some days were given as drinks to be had alongside these unappetizing plates. The trays they were served on compounded all of this, being relatively flimsy and easily breakable if not held properly from below with two hands.
After receiving their plates, the children were instructed to find their respective cellmates and then, from there, left to their own respective devices. The guards would then stand watch from a distance around the walls of the expansive emporium, spectating the children as they walked around to find seating at the benches of the cafeteria.
Xander became so adept at this point of the routine that finding Diane was relatively easy for him in the mess of hundreds of others looking for their own cellmate. Diane, upon seeing her brother, rushed over as quickly and carefully as she could, her compact frame serving somewhat as an advantage in dodging all other children rushing around.
The two greeted each other, Xander forcing out a smile whilst Diane gave him one in return.
Seems like she is doing fine. Made it through one hell, on to the next.
The next hell in question was actively trying to find seating. Forty minutes was all that was afforded to the children. Every passing second counted. When the time was up, all were to rise, dispose of trays and line up with their cellmate for transport back to their cell. Knowing this, it was imperative the two find some place to call their own.
"This place is always so packed," Diane said, turning to Xander, "Why don't they use a system or something…like our school?"
Asking the wrong person, Diane. Pretty sure they don't care whether we actually get to eat anything, considering all our bodies need now is whatever fluid they gave us in their experiments, Xander thought.
"Not too sure. Just keep your eye out for empty tables, alright?"
Diane nodded at her brother's remark, and they carried on their search for seating.
As the two walked, Xander couldn't help but eavesdrop on people's conversations. He had grown into this habit over time whilst being at the facility. But the habit had started much earlier, thanks to his time spent at the orphanage. Some of the conversations many of the children were having centered on such things, most of them seeming to have some understanding of coming from differing orphanages around SunHigh Manor.
The children's words about their past lives stirred a bit of hatred in Xander's heart, specifically at the way they seemed to talk about some of these places. Most were saying how much they missed these orphanages, and how they would like to go back there. Xander and Diane couldn't say the same.
For them, their lives at those places were just as bad as there are here. It would be like walking out of a devil's maw right into the jaws of another one just as bad—a strange irony that Xander realized more and more.
If you all weren't idiots, or happened to be sent where we were, you wouldn't have anything good to be looking back on.
[Analysis of user response to thoughts of peers' conversations complete—Integrating User Understanding into Main Frame]
Xander instantly paused in his movement, looking around as if a specter had stopped and snared him. Diane continued to walk for a few paces before hearing her brother's sudden stop. She turned to look behind her, seeing his confused expression.
"Xander?" Diane asked.
Lost in thought, Xander didn't respond.
That stupid voice again. Where is it coming from?
[To the left, auditory adherence is advised]
Although Xander didn't know, nor understand, who was speaking to him or what their true goal was, he felt strangely compelled to follow its directive. He turned his head, looking past the rows and columns of children specifically to two guards. In slow increments, Xander twisted his body and methodically moved to get closer, at least enough so he could begin hearing their conversation.
Diane watched her brother weirdly continue to walk in that direction, moving to chasing him down, whilst Xander continued to listen in.
But as he got within hearing range, he paused once again in his movements. Out of thin air, a boy slightly taller than Xander appeared next to the men. The boy had a black, hooded attire to himself, face stunningly handsome with clothing and a bit of stylized armor that fit his frightening disposition. Assassin-like in his steps, upon landing on the ground from a puff of black smoke, he made absolutely no sound. With his lightweight armor and a stylized, black and silver-striped MP5 on his hip, the boy was like a guard himself. But with how young and vibrant his face and ebony hair were, Xander could tell that was far from the case.
"Duskwalker?" one guard said. "What are you doing here? I haven't seen you down here in years, and the last thing I would expect is for you to even want to be back here."
"Me too," the boy said, his brown, light-skinned complexion meshing well with his smooth, silky voice, "but I guess my specialist has eyes on someone down here. He told me to come get him from your dumbass. He said something about you not being smart enough to know the way around the place fast enough to bring him who he wanted."
Xander couldn't believe the brazenness behind the boy's words.
Who is that? And is trying to get himself killed?
"Bullshit, you little runt. You don't have a specialist anymore, at least none that would want you down this side," the other guard said, "Though if he's not lying, he really did get you good, Donovan. You really are a dumbass sometimes."
"Shut it," Donovan replied, "and watch your mouth, kid."
"They're not my words, dipshit; take it up with Falco."
"Alright, let's just say Falco said all that? What would Falco want with Icarus? The kid's already a pain for me and his assigned specialist. He's the last thing Falco would want to deal with."
Duskwalker then chuckled, "Falco proclaims himself as the godfather of all the vectors here, working from the lowest ones all the way to the best like me. You really are gonna question his reasoning?"
Donovan's face contorted with annoyance. Against the soundness of Duskwalker's logic, Donovan's fellow guard couldn't help laughing even more in lue of the man's defeat.
Watching all of this go down and eavesdropping on much of the conversation, Xander was growing more and more curious by the second. What did Duskwalker mean by best like himself? How on earth was a kid like himself allowed to even hold weaponry like the guards and talk to them so freely without truly incurring any wrath in return? And most importantly, how could he act so freely and use what Xander could only assume was his vector ability within the power-suppressing walls of the facility?
Attempting to hear and learn more about the situation, Xander continued to move closer to the three, not so much as caring if he was bumping into things. He was so fixated on knowing more about this boy, how he found such a place in this system, even if he seemed more like a caged crow than an actual child anymore.
I need to know more, anything…any sort of information.
But in Xander's wanderlust, he bumped into a child who was almost twice the size of him in musculature. The boy he crashed into was left unmoved from the bump, the contents of Xander's tray being thrown completely onto his back. The food held high heat, causing the boy to release a howl of pain, whilst Xander was thrown onto the floor.
The two guards noticed the situation unfolding, prompting Duskwalker to turn and view the incident. Donovan looked at Xander on the ground, then to the boy who was covered with slop for food, and instantly his face turned grim.
"Goddamnit," Donovan said, whilst Duskwalker immediately recognized Icarus and the situation that was soon to unfold.
With a chuckle, Duskwalker spoke, "And speak of the Devil, seems like you need to get your kid, Donovan."
"Can't you just pop between them and stop it?!" he asked.
"And where would the fun be in that? I'll collect him after you do your job. I am just their go-getter and soldier; you're the guard."
And speaking of the escalating situation, when Icarus had calmed down enough to regain stability of himself and his emotions, he immediately turned around to look for who had done this to him. After coming from his fall, Xander looked on at the raging boy, noticing just how strong and fit he looked despite being in similar attire to himself.
Lord, he looks like a whole athlete! And I just pissed him off!
Diane came to Xander's side, dropping beside and throwing her own tray to the side to help her brother up. Inadvertently, however, she brought the attention of Icarus to him. Upon seeing the frail Xander on the ground, Icarus was incensed and livid, a constant character trait that made him feared by many other children in the cafeteria. And Xander had just invited that wrath upon himself.
In seconds, Icarus shoved Diane away. She fell back from her brother, striking her head against the post of one of the nearby benches. Many children were soon alerted to the brawl about to kick off.
"You little shit!" Icarus barked, descending on Xander with the fury of a rabid dog.
Icarus sent haymaker after haymaker Xander's way. Xander desperately tried to cover up in any way he could, but Icarus was unrelenting, throwing every into Xander like a child grown in the streets most of his life. Donovan and the others moved quickly to break up the scuffle, Xander not yet having received a knockout blow. But just as they were inches away from pulling Icarus off his slaughter victim, he connected one of his massive strikes. He landed it square on Xander's chin.
With a crack to Xander's chin against the ground, his body immediately went limp. Diane, the whole time, was screaming and crying for Icarus to stop, just as the guards got a hold of the raging child. Donovan's gloves, like Kaiser's, electrocuted Icarus into submission, draining his fighting spirit. But by then, the damage had been done, and Xander was in and out of consciousness, staring into the lights above.
His vision flickered and swayed as Diane crowded over her brother, begging for him to stay awake. But as his eyes closed, and the world seeped away, static soon clouded his vision. The voices of the world around soon began to distort, and the perennial warps of static filled his ears.
His next memory reconstruction was about to begin.
********
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[AUTHORIZATION - PROJECT SENTIENCE - SECTOR: NEVADA PROVINCE 4]
[VECTOR CODEXIUS - CLASSIFIED ENTRY #100]
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SUBJECT: EREBUS WYLDER
AGE: 16
CODENAME: DUSKWALKER
ASSIGNED SPECIALIST: Dr. Ledger (Changes Based on Needs of Subject) (Original Specialist)
MENTALITY/TEMPERAMENT:
Jovial, foul-mouthed and irreverent - before entry to the program was a known trouble maker at his orphanage and an all-round nuisance to staff.
Prefers Extraversion - regardless of who he is speaking with, he tends not to care about their emotions and refers to them how he sees fit. Flashy and highly theatrical with movements.
Emotional Stability is remarkable, quick-witted and battle-hardened - unlikely to be rattled easily and rarely finds himself in a situation where he can't get himself out.
Relations - None (Strong-attachment to Subject #444 - Codenamed - Energizer)
VECTOR RANK: A+ - ranked (Recently upgraded from A-ranked because of a new system upgrade triggering Vector Evolution)
VECTOR TYPE: Melee/Special Grade
VECTOR ABILITY:
1. Able to manifest a fully jet black katana blade that manipulates shadows and 2. (recently evolved) Katana allows him to slow time and release jet black slashes of pure energy (as the subject perceives it).
Able to teleport to certain locations using shadows based on memorization. Absurdly high mental retention rate and rarely forgets an objective or place he has been (considered one vector ability).
SPECIALIST NOTES (Last Report from Dr. Ledger):
The child is an absolute specimen. From the moment he was a part of the program and discovered his vector, all of us knew he had massive potential. Though being a hassle at first because of the unpredictability of his teleportation because of his memory, after wiping part of said memory, that has no longer been a problem. Trial tests of combat ability after training reveal more and more of his talent for executing objectives. Amongst A-ranked vectors, he is easily the most competent and cognitively aware of his strength, power and abilities (a good and bad thing at points, because of his temperament). Extremely loyal and has the potential to become one of the few S-ranked vectors in this sector, though he would be ranked 10th if so. The child is a phenom, and I recommend that when we are called before our higher-ups, he is to be the one we show them, because of the relative ease in controlling him and his powers unlike the others (unless his attitude becomes a hindrance).
Vector Evolution: Highly Likely
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END OF ENTRY - ACCESS CODE FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: VNP4-100
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