Growing Up Titan [IC | Superhuman | Sci-Fi]

[The Cyberiad Council]

OOC

Cyrus was jolted from his fitful sleep by the siren. He rolled off of his old mattress and staggered to the window. His eyes widened as the ball of fire streaked through the night. Panicked, yet captivated, he ran outside and climbed up a rusted old ladder to the roof of the mechanic shop and watched as the sky came raining down and from just over the horizon, the impact released a flash of light that came racing over the horizon and swallowed him...

With a jolt, Cyrus woke up with a cold sweat. "Same damn dream again." Swinging his legs over, his feet landed on the cold floor. After a half-hearted stretch, he looked over the floor and found a wrinkled shirt. Giving it a quick sniff, he decided it wasn't terrible and slid it over his head. Walking into the bathroom he tried to comb his hair into place with his hands, but it staid a chaotic mess. Cyrus peaked into Henry's room, but he was still asleep.

He wasn't a bad guy at all, but that didn't mean Cyrus was about to open up all of a sudden. He surprised himself with how bitter he felt towards Gencore, I mean, it was borderline pure hatred. That generally left him in a sour mood.

Walking to the door, Cyrus groaned as he placed his hand against the scanner and saw the red light on the lock. It was still a few minutes to six, and that meant the door wouldn't respond to his subdermal implant he and all the other kids had under the skin between their index finger and thumb. He didn't have a lot before the blast, but he did have his own place, even if it was just a room above the shop. Now Gencore could see what he was doing at all times. They had to have the chip to do just about anything from turning on the shower to getting food and opening doors.

Placing his hand on the lock, green electricity arced from his palm, and the lock clicked open. Opening the door quietly, as not to wake Henry, Cyrus slipped out into the hall while pulling on a jacket. He decided he would walk around the housing compartment until the cafeteria opened up. He was about to round a corner, but he heard boots approaching. Cyrus flattened himself against the wall and held his breath as the guards walked past, deep in conversation. Exhaling, Cyrus slammed his hand against the wall in frustration. "I feel like a fucking rat in a cage."

[Helowi]

Andy Jackson
Andy was dreaming in his beadroom, he doesn’t remember the whole dream. But he does remember the end of the dream, where David Matherson, the CEO of Gencore, choking him in his sleep. He was struggling to breath & he couldn’t get out of his dream until his alarm clock erupted & he launched out of bed, drenched in sweat & struggling to breath.

He woke up & reaches for his inhaler. Taking his inhaler & feeling better as soon as he had taken it. He woke up, drenched in sweat. He got out of bed, getting his clothes on & rushing down to breakfast. He went to the restroom & washed his hands before going. When he looked in the mirror, he realized he had sideburns growing a bit. So he started shaving them off, thinking about the dream while doing it.

“What was that?” He thought. Andy had never really known Matherson that well. He had seen him walking down hallways & occasionally during experiments, but never really thought of him as a bad guy. “It was just a bad dream, he wouldn’t actually do that.” Andy thought. A couple of seconds after he was done thinking about it, his sideburns were gone. He then went on & headed down to the cafeteria.

He put his hand on the scanner & it opened. He walked outside carefully making sure not to wake up his roomate, Clifford. From what Andy thought, Clifford was an alright guy. He’s a bit sarcastic & at sometimes can be hostile, but who isn’t around this time. I usually try to leave him alone, as he is still recovering from his parents deaths. So I closed the door as quietly as he could, hoping not to wake him up.

Andy began to walk down to the cafeteria & wait for it to open. He was walking down the hallway & began to see a kid around his age leaning against the wall. He walked up to the guy, who he began to remember that his name was Cyrus. He walked up to him & asked him “hey, are you alright?”

[The Assorted Saharan Outposts]

Yama Sokogawa
Yama was, of course, asleep in his room, humming softly as he turned around in his bed. He was always asleep. It had gotten to the point where he almost always felt like he was awake. It was a strange feeling, honestly. He couldn't speak, and he couldn't do anything too complex. His mind was awake, yet it was not. It was so strange to him, even after dealing with it for a while now.

Eventually, the boy's somewhat unconscious body would crawl out of bed, quickly standing up onto his feet. This was always the hardest part of the day. Yama would reach out for some clothes, which he always put close to his bed before he went to "sleep". The Japanese boy would quickly go to the corner of the room and change his clothes, humming to himself as he struggled only a bit.

Once he had put on an outfit, not sure if it really matched, or if it was that acceptable, he stumbled outside of his room. His footsteps echoed off of the walls and back a him, helping him get an accurate image of what was in front of him. Sort of like sonar. His other senses have gotten so much better to compensate for his lack of sight, which honestly made eating one of his favorite things to do, since his sense of taste was so great. It made everything taste good.

Though, it seemed like Yama wasn't paying much attention to his surroundings, because he almost bumped into another kid. He glanced the boy and looked in their direction. Why are they standing in the hallway? What time is it? He'll figure that out later.

"Sorry about that. I gotta eat." The boy would then attempt to stumble off, his eyes still closed and a seemingly blissful smile on his face. He's either having a real nice dream (can he still have those?) or he's jut really enjoying the thought of eating.

Kenzie Washington
Kenzie sighed to herself as she stared down at her hands. They were shaking. Once again she had woken up from a nightmare, and she wasn't sure what she could do about that. She certainly wasn't going to go back asleep for a while. Images of your family dying don't exactly lull you back to sleep, she noticed.

Kenzie laid back on her pillow and looked up at the ceiling. She ran a hand up and down the sheets of her bed absentmindedly. If only she could teleport to the next day or something. That would be great. Kenzie sighed as she eventually hopped out of bed. Suddenly, she was at the dresser, and changing her clothes.

After getting on a fresh pair of clothes, Kenzie walked into the hallway, wondering about what she would do today. Maybe actually talk to people? Make a friend? Yeah, right. That'll work so well...

[IOTA Corp]

Nate Peterson

"Ughhhh." Nate rolled over and slapped his hand on the alarm clock, giving him a few more minutes of sleep. Which he quickly learned would not be satisfactory by any means. After he managed to crawl out of bed and get some clothes out of his dresser, Nate walked to the door to wait for the curfew to end. But he thought he heard a thud out in the hallway. "What was that?"

He knew it was probably nothing to worry about, "But someone could need help..." Despite his paper-thin reasoning, Nate decided to teleport through the door. In the blink of an eye, he was surrounded by blue energy and suddenly appeared in the hallway in a swirly vortex of sapphire energy. He looked around and saw two other guys near the corner. "Oh, hey. I thought I heard something. You guys alright? And how did you get out?"

[The V O I D]

Room 203 - Henry's Bedroom

Henry woke up with a bit of a start. He had a bit of a headache, or... it was dull, and then it was gone. His healing factor had fixed whatever the issue was. And his tiredness, exhaustion, left him quickly as his power flooded his system and regenerated his body such that he was now fully awake.


Henry often ended up staying up very late at night, sometimes, because his power made it hard to get tired unless he tried to sleep. When he did sleep, nothing could wake him up very easily. Of course, on waking up, he had to deal with the feeling of his regeneration at work.


“Gott in Himmel.” Henry shook his head, fully awake. He understood a bit of German, having learned it from his father. Not much, though - he mainly spoke English.


“Cyrus?” Henry intoned as he walked to the other boy's room. Not finding him, Henry frowned, deciding he would talk to Cyrus about it later.


Henry went to the bathroom, deciding to take a shower and get ready for the day. As he showered, he began humming a German lullaby his father sang to him as a young baby - he had trouble forgetting things, now, and he found that he was starting to remember things better. Perhaps, his brain was regenerating damaged or dying neurons to allow for better memory storage or access. He wasn't entirely sure. The doctors would find out, he supposed.


Henry turned off the shower, stepping out and getting dressed. He looked at himself in the mirror, seeing the formations of a beard growing.


“Scheiße.” Henry grabbed the razor, washing it under the sink before starting his shave. His father had taught him that, before the...


Henry stamped down that train of thought as he felt himself get cut by the razor. After washing away the blood and checking his face, he was satisfied; the cut was already gone.


Ready for the day, the young man prepared to leave for breakfast.

---

---

Dani's Bedroom - Room 312

Danielle awoke, yawning a bit, but it was a quiet yawn.


«EXHAUSTION.» Dani tried to suppress her wince as her telepathic presence began to broadcast her emotions, crammed with a bit more information. She hoped that the broadcast hadn't awoken Penelope. A look into the future said it was a fifty-fifty shot.


«Apologetic.» This broadcast was quieter, as Danielle had seized control. Danielle knew that other children in nearby rooms were probably within range to hear the broadcasts. Unlike normal humans, who had to be in her direct presence.


Danielle made a decision; in a moment, the future version of her in the timeline wherein her broadcasts had awoken Penelope, she spoke using her telepathy: 「Sorry about that.」


The other version did nothing, deciding not to disturb the sleep of her roommate.


Danielle decided to take a shower. As she showered, she felt the warm water against her skin, which felt nice. «Enjoyment.»


Once she was done, she grabbed a towel and dried off; dressing back up. With that done, she entered her bedroom once more and laid down; putting in her earbuds, despite not being able to hear the music in the present. She enjoyed the sound of the music in one future; in another, that was very close to this one, but without her earbuds, she listened to make sure she heard if someone would talk to her.


«HUNGER.» Dani's stomach growled, and she groaned. She knew it was likely that would happen.


It didn't mean she had to enjoy it.

[Auphelia]

Dani's Bedroom - Room 312

«EXHAUSTION.» Dani tried to suppress her wince as her telepathic presence began to broadcast her emotions, crammed with a bit more information. She hoped that the broadcast hadn't awoken Penelope. A look into the future said it was a fifty-fifty shot.

Danielle made a decision; in a moment, the future version of her in the timeline wherein her broadcasts had awoken Penelope, she spoke using her telepathy: 「Sorry about that.」

Danielle decided to take a shower. As she showered, she felt the warm water against her skin, which felt nice. «Enjoyment.»

«HUNGER.» Dani's stomach growled, and she groaned. She knew it was likely that would happen.

It didn't mean she had to enjoy it.

The first thought Penelope had that day was "exhaustion". No. Wait. It wasn't her thought, it was Danielle's. She would have to get used to that. And now she felt like she had done something wrong. No. Danielle again. She was sorry. How nice. Too tired to care, but too awake to go back to sleep, Penelope tried to get her bearings. Hearing the shower turn on, Penelope got out of bed. She rolled over, but onto thin air. Oh, great. She had left her phone on and was listening to, if her current power and annoyance level was anything to go by, "Wake Me Up Before You Go Go". The song itself was idiotic and the power it came with was just useless. Floating. Not flying. Not levitation. Floating. Until the song ended, she was stuck just far enough off of the ground for it to hurt if she fell. Carefully positioning herself without moving too far away from her bed, she tried to drag herself back onto it so she could safely change it. Done. Now, get something better on. Scrolling through a list of songs, she found the perfect one. Peggy Sue. Much better. In the morning, having a boundless well of energy and optimism never hurt. Even as the song began she could feel her tiredness tearing away and knew she had to move.

Getting up, she began to hop in place, emanating happiness and energy. The shower turned off. She could feel her roommate's hunger. Well great, now I'm hungry too. Thanks, Danielle. This was no way to start her day. With an expert hand she flipped through the categories and found her food playlist. So. Tired. She immediately felt the grogginess of morning return. But she was hungry. She just had to find something to touch. Looking around she saw a penny on the ground in front of her. Grasping it and concentrating, she began to focus her power into the small metal disk. Slowly it began to grow and grow until she was left holding a small round bread, the size of her fist. Grabbing a few more random items she eventually made a small assortment of miniature apples, bread, and cheese. Eating a few herself, she gathered more than half and took it over to her roommate's side of the bathroom. She knocked on the door, switching back to "Peggy Sue".

I have food. She had been instructed that it was unnecessary to talk to her roommate, as she was some kind of powerful mind-reading future-seeing powerhouse. However, she did always seem to have headphones on, like Penelope. Maybe she should . . . well . . . think louder. I HAVE FOOD. It felt weird. In her head it didn't seem to change in volume, but the tone was intense. Unable to contain her energy, Penelope bounced on her toes and waited for her roommate to respond.

[The Cyberiad Council]

Jumping a little at the voice, Cyrus looked up to see Andy walking towards him. "Jesus! Don't sneak up on me like that. We're not supposed to be out here yet." Cyrus furrowed his brow and looked Andy over. He was that kid who could shapeshift, but that still didn't explain how he got through the door.

"Yeah, I'm fine, but I almost got busted by the guards. How'd you get out?" Out of curiosity, he walked over to a nearby door and held his hand over the exterior scanner. "Shit! I guess I unlocked them all. Look, kid, you could get both of us caught, so I'm going to get to the stairwell before the guards come round, okay?" Cyrus turned around and started for the stairs that led down to the cafeteria area when the blue vortex appeared in front of him. He let out a string of obscenities as Nate came through.

"Oh, hey. I thought I heard something. You guys alright? And how did you get out?"

Cyrus sighed, as he got back on his feet. "Yeah, we're fine. I accidentally open the doors." To prove his point, Cyrus let some green lightning arc between his fingers. "Look the guards will be back soon, stay out of their way." Pulling his hood up, he brushed passed the two younger boys and rounded the corner.

[The V O I D]

I have food. She had been instructed that it was unnecessary to talk to her roommate, as she was some kind of powerful mind-reading future-seeing powerhouse. However, she did always seem to have headphones on, like Penelope. Maybe she should . . . well . . . think louder. I HAVE FOOD. It felt weird. In her head it didn't seem to change in volume, but the tone was intense. Unable to contain her energy, Penelope bounced on her toes and waited for her roommate to respond.

Room 312

Danielle knew that her roommate was outside the door, even as she stepped out, fully dressed and ready to go.


«Gratitude.» The broadcast came immediately as she took the food - or rather, just before. Dani stared at Penelope, offering her a wide smile. 「Thank you. Sorry again for waking you up.
If you want, I can sing you a lullaby to sleep tonight?」


«Clarification.» Another broadcast, again, a one-word association that held a ton of meaning - as though a long-winded explanation had been crammed to fit into the associative word. Dani meant that she would use her voice and help Penelope get a sound sleep later if she wanted.


«DISGUST.» Dani shuddered suddenly, involuntarily. 「Ugh, sorry. Went too deep into one of the futures. I cannot unsee what I have just seen.」


Dani continued eating the food, enjoying the taste, but she'd already known what it tasted like. She knew a lot of things about everyone, just because she'd seen a variety of futures involving them.


Dani smiled again at Penelope. 「Want to go see what they've given us for breakfast this time?」«Excitement. Amusement. Enjoyment.»


It was obvious, based on the broadcasts, that whatever they'd made was good. Although the broadcast's information wasn't very specific, the general idea was the breakfast was likely something Dani enjoyed. Or, at the very least, there was a strong possibility it was something she enjoyed.


Of course, in reality, Dani was amused and excited to explore a little bit, maybe get breakfast early. After all, she knew all the very likely places to be patrolled and such, and so she could get them to the cafeteria easily enough. She just had to be careful about her broadcasts.


«Satisfaction.» Dani finished eating the food that Penelope had offered her, and then waited for Penelope's answer.

[Auphelia]

Room 312

Dani smiled again at Penelope. 「Want to go see what they've given us for breakfast this time?」«Excitement. Amusement. Enjoyment.»


It was obvious, based on the broadcasts, that whatever they'd made was good. Although the broadcast's information wasn't very specific, the general idea was the breakfast was likely something Dani enjoyed. Or, at the very least, there was a strong possibility it was something she enjoyed.


Of course, in reality, Dani was amused and excited to explore a little bit, maybe get breakfast early. After all, she knew all the very likely places to be patrolled and such, and so she could get them to the cafeteria easily enough. She just had to be careful about her broadcasts.


«Satisfaction.» Dani finished eating the food that Penelope had offered her, and then waited for Penelope's answer.

We can't go yet, the doors are unlocked. Unless you can walk through walls or I find a song that can make the wall immaterial, we are stuck in here until it's time to leave. Well, I love you gal, I want you Peg-- oh, sorry. Opening up her mind to Danielle meant she had to keep embarrassing things and stray thoughts out of the front of her mind. It was harder than it seemed. Do you have any ideas on how to get out of here?

Penelope glanced down at her phone and started scrolling through the lists of songs. If she could find "Pretty Hurts" by Beyonce she would be showered and dressed as soon as she . . . Pretty hurts . . . shine the light on whatever's worse . . . There we go. Dani, hit me.

[Donifrium]

Johnny Walker
Another sleepless night for him he spent staring at the ceiling. It seemed that no matter how many days passed, he would never become accustomed to this place, who would when they were treated just a tad bit better than lab rats. Well, still a night without sleep was better than one with nightmares Johnny thought as he looked at the clock. About fifteen minutes before the curfew was over, enough time to take a quick shower before going out. After finishing showering a putting some clean clothes he looked at the clock again; two minutes still left, yet when he put his hand on the scanner the door opened. Shrugging it off as a strange oversight he took his time walking to the cafeteria. Whistling while wandering aimlessly he almost crashed into Cyrus, stopping in his tracks he addressed him, "Yo!" He said with a smile "It seemed that I wasn't the only early bird this morning, did they open the cafeteria even earlier than usual?" He had not interacted much with his fellow subjects, but there was a first time for everything and it wouldn't hurt any of them to socialize, especially in this place.

Ray Bennet
Today marked the 8th day Ray had decided to practice the use of telekinesis. Starting by moving a sheet of paper, to moving the computer's mouse and today he brushed his teeth without using his hands. A very useful ability, such a shame that it seemed that he could not lift heavier objects with it, but it worked as an extra set of hands. Looking at the clock Ray noticed that there was still a while before the cafeteria opened, which was kinda bad since his stomach had already started rumbling. Concentrating a little he created a hamburger or to be more precise a very exact replica of one in his hands. While it looked, smelled and probably tasted like a real hamburger, the fact that it would disappear in a few minutes put him off from eating it. Today wasn't a good day to test the effects of eating one of his replicas "I'm still not that hungry" he muttered to himself and went back to bed again, hopefully, he wouldn't oversleep and miss breakfast.

[The Cyberiad Council]

Cyrus faked a smile but tried not to be a complete ass to people that didn't deserve it. It wasn't their fault he was there. "No, I broke out." He held out his index and thumb in an "L" shape, and let his power arc between them. "Watch out for the guards, they caught me last week and took 3 minutes away from my shower time, I only have seven now." Cyrus kept on walking, hoping that the rest of the day would go smooth, but Mondays were rarely that lucky.

[Menschenfleisch]

Elise Lloyd | The Morning

Waking up was always ugly for her. A burnt out hotel room, and a disfigured corpse. A crying pair of grown adults, fighting over her like dinner scraps. The mere fact that waking up just all-around fucking sucked. Well, to be fair, there weren't any more Mondays. She hoped. Bringing brevity to a heavy situation was what she did worst, but it wouldn't stop her from trying.

The rooms were shared between two. The assignments were still being figured out, but Elise was hoping for someone nice. Someone who wouldn't get in the way. She threw on some immaculately folded clothes, and stepped out into the hallway. This entire place was built like a daycare. Easily navigable rooms, numbered like grocery store aisles. Nothing fancy, nothing bland on the walls. They were property of the government now, and she'd read enough novels and drunk enough common sense to know that sooner or later, there were going to be needles, sanitised rooms and very sharp scalpels.

At least she had the flower. She pulled the hardy little rose out of her pocket, and gave it a flick. She'd been allowed to keep it for... "Sentimental" reasons.

"Still haven't thought of a name for you yet, girl. Maybe I should call you Poppy. "Rose" is a bit on the nose."

There were people in the hallways already. Actual people, who were in the exact situation she was in too. Elise was the youngest out of them all, possibly. Were they really such early birds, all of them? Then again, breakfast was the most important meal of the day. Who was she to ask questions? New day, new problems. There were things to learn, people to talk to. And she, was... Really not feeling it right now.

Elise took her first step into a brave, iron-clad world.

[IOTA Corp]

Nate

Feeling bad about accidentally scaring Cyrus, Nate didn't say anything else until he left. "I guess someone woke up on the wrong side of the prison cell." He gave a laughing smile and stuck his hand towards Andy. "Hey, I'm Nate, well, Nathaniel, but just call me Nate." He looked around, and people were starting to come out of their rooms.

"I guess the cafeteria is opened. Want to go get some food?"

[Jaladristan]

James Garrett

James leaned on one of the walls of his half of the room and stared towards the opposite side where he had propped up his bed on the wall and placed a book on top of said bed. He had little use for a bed since he didn't need any sleep. And since the book would catch on fire if he held it in his hand the bed was now a reading stand. He used his telepathic power to turn a page and was once again thankful that at least some of the changes since the meteor had any use. Before he had learned to turn pages with his mind like this he had to use a long metal pole to flip the pages which resulted in him knocking over the book in roughly seven out of ten tries. Since he was no longer able to sleep James had spend most of his nights in this facility reading like this. And even if he were able to sleep the constant noise from his metal suits fans would probably keep him awake anyway. “To protect yourself and the others.” They said when they put him in this uncomfortable piece of scrap metal. The only thing the suit had protected him from until now was from having a quiet moment. Sometimes he wondered if those scientists really thought he would run around and just set everyone he met on fire if they allowed him to take it of. He looked at the clock in the room and saw that the curfew was over. “Finally.” He said to himself while using his ironclad hands to push his body away from the wall he was leaning on.

He wondered whether or not he should go into the cafeteria or just walk around the facility for a while. It was not like he actually had to eat so he would only go there for the company of the other subjects. And the problem with their company was that he could not imagine anyone really wanting to spent time with a sentient dumpster fire. He would just have to improvise once he got out of the room. He took a few heavy steps towards the door before realizing that his room mate was probably still asleep so he tried to be as quiet as possible. And with all the graze of a starting jumbo jet he sneaked towards to door, held his armoured hand towards the scanner and stepped outside onto the hallway. The door closed behind him and James saw several of his fellow subjects already standing or walking around the hallway, presumably towards the aforementioned cafeteria, and he decided to just go there as well. “Maybe I try sneaking some food through the vision slot of this bucket they call a helmet. Could be fun and I can pretend like I am not an abomination for a few minutes. Well except for part where I try to eat through my eyes.” He thought to himself as he slowly walked through the hallway, with every one of his steps creating an unpleasant sound as the heavy steel soles of his suits boots scraped over the floor.

[Mundeo]

Room 207

Subject #0009

White walls are always a sight to sore eyes. That's what you see in the morning, in the afternoon, in the evening. White. Maybe you'll get to go to the green room and see some color, a pixel-perfect recreation to make you think the outside wasn't anything other than ash. It was all so sanitized and sterile, the whiteness: a clean space to hide the dirty deeds done within those perfectly washed walls. It's only at night that you see anything else, when terrors of fire and death and destruction fill your tired vision with horrible color. Then you wake up, back to the white walls, and you ask yourself what you thought was worse.

Leon oppened his eyes to greet the white ceiling, the only welcome he would recieve in the morning. The exact same spot on the ceiling, too; he knew that spot so well that he could point out that tiny little spot where the paint droops down just the slightest bit, almost unnoticeable. Given he only has one position to sleep in, he's become used to waking up to that exact same spot every day. Flat on his back, with his right arm hanging over the side of the bed. He couldn't imagine attempting to sleep any other way, or else risk having the weight of his arm break his bed, or him rolling over the wrong way and his arm crushing him. At least he wouldn't have to wake up, then. And all they would lose is one of their lab rats.

Oh oh oh nine. Oh oh oh nine. One of the few numbers that really mattered anymore. What's a day? A week? An eternity? The clock says six, but is it really six? Is it morning, or night? Time is merely one of Gencore's most treasured subjects.

Using his own arm for balance, Leon struggles out of bed and prepared himself for the day, if it even was day beyond these walls. It's a bit difficult, having to do everything with your left hand like brushing your teeth when you've been right-dominant your whole life. Having only one functional arm in general is pretty rough, but what do you expect?

It looked like his sleepyhead roommate already woke up. Poor bastard: damned to never feel another moment of consciousness. He doesn't know how the guy keeps himself from bumping into every object in his way. The mutations work in mysterious ways.

Leon was surprised to find the door to his room already unlocked and opened. When he went outside, he already knew what the cause behind this peculiarity was. His right arm dragged behind him, scrapping against the clean metal floor. Sometimes he would lift up for a few seconds, testing his strength, only for it to fall back down to his side with a thud. Leon spotted a group of his fellow subjects gathering in the hallway, including his roommate and Cyrus Decker. Some were going to breakfast. He tried to silently make his way to the cafeteria, but the sound of his arm was a constant reminder of his presence.

[The Cyberiad Council]

Cyrus Decker

"Finally, some quiet." Cyrus leaned against the wall of the stairwell and pulled some loose parts out of his pocket. Lighting up the surrounding walls in a green glow, Cyrus practiced his powers. The bits of metal bent and twisted, rearranging themselves into new shapes. First a small car, then a model plane, and finally a simple metal box. Cyrus couldn't help but smile, but it was bittersweet. He could get used to the powers, but they were a reminder of everything he lost. His mom was gone for sure, but he didn't know about his dad. The prison was on the border with Titan County, but Cyrus didn't know how far the fallout spread. What was worse, Cyrus didn't even really know if he cared.

He held the cube up and inspected its faces. His dad wasn't ever there for him, he came home drunk half the time, bringing home less money than they needed nine times out of ten. Then he went and got himself busted, and he left them alone, he left Cyrus to fend for himself. He never did anything a father was supposed to do! Cyrus launched the metal cube against the wall, shattering it into a dozen or more pieces. He didn't realize he was so worked up, he was shaking. Taking a ragged breath to calm himself down, Cyrus leaned his head against the wall and let he hands fall to the ground.

People started to walk around, their footfalls could be heard through the concrete floors. Cyrus glanced up at a wall clock: "Six, great. I can finally get some food." What? Am I talking to myself now? Shaking his head, Cyrus got up and headed towards the cafeteria. He hated his life being so regimented, every second was accounted for, every second was controlled by Gencore. Cyrus stopped as he got an idea. He clenched his fist and the wall clock crumpled up like a ball of paper before falling off the wall.

Feeling slightly satisfied, Cyrus walked to meet with his peers, his steps a little lighter, for the moment.

The Line for the serving line wasn't busy yet; he picked up a tray and walked through. Eggs, bacon, grits, biscuits, sausage, and breakfast potatoes. Same as always. Cyrus skipped over most of it, getting some eggs before grabbing a pancake and a pack of sugary syrup before sitting down at the closest empty table.

---

Dr. Thomas Kerry woke with a start, jumping up from his work desk with a sheet of paper stuck to the side of his face. "Aaand... I need coffee."

Thirty minutes later, and Kerry was looking through his work orders. It was pretty run-of-the-mill, some blood work, then he was to talk to... "Director Orso?" With a puzzled look on his face, he read the email again. "A new project, huh? Must be finally recognizing my medical genius."

"In your dreams, Tom." Dr. Gwendolyn Spencer jokingly jabbed from her desk across from Kerry's. "Just you watch Gwen, I'll be in charge of special research in no time."

"That's IF you ever get through all the evaluations."

"What evaluations?" Kerry asked in a confused, and somewhat alarmed tone.

"That stack of Subject evaluations behind you." Dr. Spencer said pointed at a large stack of folders with an amused smile.

"I think you've been working too hard, did you pull another all-nighter? I could help you if you want."

Kerry sighed but gave a bright smile. "No, thank you, but I'll manage... Somehow..." Picking up the stack, he dropped them on the desk, causing a lamp to fall over. "Wonderful." He leafed through the assignments, Subject 0056, 0033, 0079, etc, etc for 16 more names. "This is going to take a while. Let's see, first up we have... Cyrus Decker. Perfect." Pulling up the 19 assignments to his PDA, Dr. Kerry headed down to the cafeteria.

---

Kerry searched the busy room, trying to match a face with the photo in Cyrus' file. Spotting the older teen at a table, Kerry headed over, sliding into a seat across from the meta. "Hello, Mr. Decker, I am Dr. Thomas Kerry: I've been assigned to administer your evaluations for today. We need you to report to Room 402: Gym 3 at eight-fifteen, alright?"

"Yeah, sure."

"Great!" Kerry stood up and looked through the rest of the... numerous assignments, trying to spot them in the crowd.

[Chewion]

Brandon Kiser

Brandon's heart was racing to a point where it felt like it was in danger of exploding from his chest. Around him fire burned everything and everyone he knew. Then he saw her again. Shrieking in pain in front of him was Kareigh, his twin sister. She screamed at him "I trusted you! You killed me! Its all your fault!" Just then everything faded to black and soon he shot up sweating profusely.

Putting his hands on his face he calmed himself. The nightmare had happened every night since he had woken up in this place. Every night he watched his sister die in a fire she claimed was his fault. The first time he had it was when he first woke up. Then he had thought it was a memory and truly believed his sister was dead. To his relief she was alive and well in the same compound as him.

Getting up he pushed his body up using his legs before almost collapsing. The migraine was back. Every time he slept he would get one. Doctors had yet to figure it out but it was horrible. Fighting past it he made his way into the cafeteria hoping Kareigh was there. Disappointingly he just sat down with his head on his arms trying to ease the pain in his head.

[Strala]

Christopher was not in a good mood when he woke up. He was having a pleasant dream about when he was younger when the times were simpler, and when he was still with his parents and weren't stuck with his powers, but he could do nothing about it so all he did was sigh and take a fast shower. While taking his shower all he could think of was his roommate. He seems normal enough and he seems like the type of person that if he was still a normal person be friends with. While taking his shower he was experimenting with his powers. While most people would think controlling wind as an offensive skill it could be used for other things like drying things or cooling off.

When he finished taking his shower he quickly put on his clothes and was debating whether to go to the cafeteria or to enter room four. He finally decided that going to room two would be the most beneficial. If he was going to get tested today than it would be better to have the strength and energy to last the experiments. One thing he never knew was why he was granted these powers and not his parents or someone else. When he first learned out about these powers he thought they were cool and something that he would learn more about. While he wasn't entirely wrong he wasn't entirely correct. He never thought that he would end up as an experiment and cursed to live a life without ever meeting his family again. When he finally reached room two he went to a table without anyone nearby. To him everyone here is strangers and they are all shady. The only time he would talk to them is when he was forced to, but deep inside he knew that he just wanted to talk to them and become friends. He was suppressing his own personality, the one he currently has is fake. It was like a mask that he uses to protect himself. Another reason he uses this mask is to suppress his feelings when summoning the dead. That task is mentally and emotionally taxing. Every time he would resurrect someone he would see how they died and he would feel the same thing. Many times it was either fear or anger, Christopher would also hear voices telling him to kill himself and some would tell him to kill others. That would dangerous if the scientists ever found out

While eating he would also eye the others and watch what they were doing. It was his form of finding which other subjects that he could be friends with. While looking he saw Cyrus. The only subject that was dumb or brave enough to try to escape. It all depends on how you look at it,but Cyrus wasn't the type of guy that he would be rather be friends with his roommate Johnny. While thinking that he was eyeing the other subjects, and to him none of them really stood out

[IOTA Corp]

Nate Peterson

After waiting for what seemed like an eternity, people started coming out of their rooms, signifying the glorious end of curfew. Glad to finally get some food, Nate walked over to the railing and looked down at the cafeteria floor. He hopped over the banister and surrounded his body with rippling energy. His descent slowed and he landed softly on the ground after drawing some stares from passersby. They ranged from intrigue to humor to alarm, but Nate soaked it all up. He beamed a smile and made his way to the serving line, grabbing an absolute mountain of food. He had always been a little underweight, but after the meteor impact, he had been having to eat even more than usual.

Nate scanned the crowd for someone to sit next to, and he spotted Cyrus sitting alone and close by. People seemed to have the natural tendency to avoid him, but Nate figured that was because of his attitude; which was probably some kind of emotional protection on his part. Either way, he felt bad about startling him earlier, so he slid in the seat across from the older boy with green lightning powers. Cyrus raised an eyebrow at his overly-full plate but didn't say anything.

"Hey, I'm sorry about before, I just thought something might be wrong, and I was so bored sitting in my room, I just wanted to take a look; I get that you wanted to be alone, but I didn't know that at the time, so didn't think that you wouldn't be expecting me to suddenly pop up in a blue flash..." Realizing that he had been rambling without a breath he gave a self-dissatisfied grimace and stuck his hand over the table. "Sorry, I tend to ramble sometimes. I'm Nate. And you're Cyrus, right? The one that keeps causing trouble?"

[The Assorted Saharan Outposts]

Yama Sokogawa
Yama had stumbled into the cafeteria perhaps a minute before he should have normally, though it wasn't like he knew. He was unconscious most of the time. Can't expect him to know when he's early or late. Time lost all meaning when you're constantly sleeping through the day. Instead, Yama had walked to the line to get his breakfast. Yeah, for all intents and purposes he should choke whenever he tried to shovel down his food, but he managed.

With sluggish, half-assed movements, like a puppet with a really bad puppeteer, he pointed or grabbed at a few breakfast items as they were put on his plate. Afterwards, his grip still holding onto the plate, he walked off to get a table. What did he get? Beats him. He smells all kinds of foods, so he wasn't sure what it was he grabbed. Though, a quick touch of the hand sooo proved it was egg. Huh. Good thing they gave him a fork.

So, slowly, Yama dug into his food, putting in forkful after forkful of egg into his mouth. Mm. Delicious. He didn't even need to be awake to enjoy the whole thing!

Kenzie Washington
Kizzy sighed to herself as she watched the sleepy boy trudge off to a table. She was surprised the boy could stand up straight, let alone eat. Either way, it was her turn to get food, and she didn't want to take too long. She looked at the selection of food available. She felt the need for something sweet, so she went to get some pancakes.

Halfway through this action, though, a brief image passed through her mind. It was her being nauseous while sitting next to a half eaten pancake with lots of syrup on it. The vision only lasted for a second, long enough for her to register what it was, and to know what to avoid. She blinked herself back to reality and stared at the pancakes. Okay, perhaps biscuits would be a better idea. Yeah, lets go with that.

After getting a few biscuits and a couple strips of bacon, Kizzie took her seat...away from the sleepy boy. He didn't want him making a mess near her. The last thing she needed was literal egg on her face. She was pretty sure the boy wouldn't make a mess, but she wasn't taking chances.

[Segral]

Clifford Brown

Clifford was still in his terrible nightmares. The sky was red, flames licking it. Screams, the gradual roar as the meteor struck, and then...nothing.

Clifford woke in a sweat, ripping out from underneath the covers, panting furiously. Everything was twisted around him like a stiff straitjacket. Tears dripped out of his eyes, which he furiously blinked away. He fell back into the warm, soft, embrace of his pillow, burying his face into it, breathing heavily until his vitals were returned to normal. Sighing, he managed to free himself from the tangled mess of a bed, and stand up. He was still trembling slightly, but forced himself to remain calm. It simply wouldn't do. He stalked into the bathroom, and quickly brushed his teeth. The minty flavor rejuvenated his dry, foul smelling palate, moistening and freshening it. He then decided to have a quick shower, but kept it cold. He was the only person he knew that liked cold showers, for reasons that should be self-explanatory. The icy water woke him up and cooled and cleaned his hot skin, giving a sense of freshness one simply couldn't get from those burning hot...hot showers. Such a mystery, wasn't it?

After finishing and quickly changing, he headed out. His roommate Brandon seemed to have left already. Clifford didn't care much for Brandon, like anyone else. He stayed out of Clifford's way, Clifford stayed out of his. Clifford then made his way upstairs, to the cafeteria, hoping to catch a quick breakfast before doing "whatever" they were "free" to do. As if there was any freedom in this high tech prison. Walking into the cafeteria, he then spotted none other than his beloved sister Claudia.

Claudia Brown

Claudia had woken up from a peaceful sleep. Not many dreams, although she never had many to begin with. Today was no different than the previous seven, and Claudia had already settled into it. Brush, shower, change, head out for breakfast, Four simple steps that took a much longer time than you would think to execute. Her roommate Elise was already off. Humming a tune, a slight smile on her face, she headed upstairs for breakfast.

Claudia soon spotted her dear brother Clifford in the cafeteria. "Heya, Clifford!" she said brightly to him as she made her way over. "Still all gloomy?". Clifford gave her ice cold stare. "Gee, what do you think? Just woke up from another day in this prison cell, still burdened with the memory of m...our parents, and you ask me wazzup? I'm just fucking peachy keen, how about you?" Claudia sighed, slightly less cheery. "C'mon, Clifford, you gotta get over it. I miss them too...but that doesn't mean I should depress myself in a never-ending black hole with the memory of them." Clifford stared at her again. "Its not like I have a choice in the matter. But whatever, lets just...get some breakfast."

Soon enough, they had their plates, and were munching on a meal that had become boring some time ago. But, the average day was soon interrupted by one of the doctors coming over.

"Hello, Mr and Miss Brown, I'm Dr. Kerry. I've been assigned to do your evaluations for today. Mr. Brown, we need you in Room 401 at 3:15, and Miss, at Room 404, same time, alright?"

Claudia responded with a "Sure." very quickly, as she felt there was no reason to not agree. Clifford took some time, but eventually snorted and let out: "Fine." The Doc soon left, and breakfast resumed as normal.

[Mundeo]

Cafeteria

Subject #0009

Leon dragged his way into the cafeteria, taking his place on the line that snaked its way towards sustenance. While he waited, he let his mind wander, his gaze drifting to the other teens that were inhaling their food around him, or waiting for their share. All a bunch of poor, unfortunate souls like himself, all here because they had the misfortune to have lived at the wrong town at the wrong time. he had heard rumors that the meteor was alien in origin. Was that true? What was the meteor's purpose? Leon would ponder those questions, if they had any baring on his current situation. What happened in the past and why it happened doesn't matter when all you have is the constant cycle of today.

At last, it was Leon's turn to have his cake and eat it, too - or rather some eggs, bacon, and a slice of buttered toast. Gencore may have created purgatory on Earth, but they sure as hell knew how to keep their subjects well fed. Meals were on the few things Leon could admit he actually looked forward to. Holding the tray of food in one hand, he sat down at the table closest to where the breakfast was being served. He wasn't all that concerned of who was sitting with him, or that his his right arm took up a whole seat on its own, thanks to how close the individual seats are. More room to himself.

Leon ate in his peaceful silence until he caught sight of someone approaching. The glimpse of a white lab coat made him sigh.

"Mr... Leon Cruzado?" A voice said.

"That'd be me" Leon replied, not looking up from his plate. "I thought you preferred number zero, zero, zero, nine more?"

The doctor didn't seem to notice his remark, or care, or have a way to respond to it. Instead he continued, "I'm Doctor Thomas Kerry. I will be administering your evaluations today. Please report to Room 405, Gym A at eight-thirty, okay?"

"Sure thing, doc" Leon said half-heatedly, returning his attention back to his breakfast.

[The Cyberiad Council]

Cyrus Decker

Cyrus couldn't help but smile at Nate's antics. He swallowed a mouthful of pancake and reciprocated the handshake. "Nice to meet you, Nate. Yeah, I'm Cyrus: do I really have a reputation already?" He shook his head as he took another bite of food. Meanwhile, Nate seemed to transform into a black hole inhaling his food. You wouldn't think a stick like him could eat more than a spoonful, but he was outpacing Cyrus by a mile.

"Slow down, man, you need to come up for air eventually." Chucking again at Nate's funny behavior, Cyrus started to think the guy wasn't so bad. "So other than opening swirling vortexes of fire that startle unsuspecting victims, what else can you do, Nate?"

[Khasinkonia]

Makvaltaimara Kublashvili
Subject #0079 Room 302 D Class Mutant
Special Notes: Unstable. Exercise Caution with Physical Contact

Unlike most of the other inhabitants of whatever this place was exactly supposed to be, her peers, Makvaltaimara woke up neither softly nor with a jolt, but rather with a crash. At this point, it wasn’t even startling. Just painful. Every morning since the incident that she could remember she’d end up falling out of bed, usually just a short time before curfew ended. But not a normal, easily-explained rolling out from the bed. No, it was difficult to explain waking a few feet from the bedside, waking up in the foetal position she tended towards, and with the sound of a crash, particularly in cooler places such as this facility. It felt generally cooler inside the facilities than it ever did either at home or really most other places inside. Maybe it was actually cooler, or maybe it was just her senses going haywire. Both seemed equally possible at this point.

It took a good bit of thought process to remain in a normal human form. Luckily, she’d figured out quickly that, surprisingly enough much like the dysfunctional computer systems to which her powers could be compared, she could remain in a relatively normal form most of the time if she made a few sacrifices. Of the physical anomalies she opted not to try to suppress, perhaps the most beneficial not to suppress was her second pair of eyes, as it seemed to take a great deal of mental energy to suppress them, making a relatively normal form overall much less sustainable. Her hair colour was much easier not to try to control as well, as it was both unnaturally coloured and mostly not even directly to her nervous system. It was better than being a centipede girl, at least.

In any case, breakfast wasn’t going to last forever, only an hour or so, in fact. And a few minutes before curfew were already wasted suppressing the worst of the physical changes and reorienting. While some others wore relatively normal clothes, Makvaltaimara, by specific demands of some higher up, was to wear a “uniform” of sorts. It allowed for some variety, at least enough to be a dress code rather than true uniform, but saying it allowed for personal expression was quite the stretch. As far as options went, there was, of course, the boring undergarments, nothing to be said. Then, there was a leotard of sorts, either long sleeved or without, which allowed for choice on colour, at the very least. For bottoms, to provide an extra layer, the choices consisted of a select few skirts of a few kinds, a few different shorts, and long pants. There were pyjama sweatpants and whatnot as well, but those were better for sleeping in, as far as Makvaltaimara was concerned. Overall, the options were relatively few, but they did allow for a limited amount of variety. Maybe not as much as she would have wanted, but then again, it wasn’t like she was in much of a position to argue.

So a cerulean sleeveless leotard, black skirt, and the pseudo athletic flats, whatever they could be called, made up her outfit for the day. Hair brushing was mostly a gesture in futility, but it was nice to at least look somewhat not like she regularly teetered on the edge of utter instability. Brushing teeth, of course, was necessary. Her teeth didn’t clean themselves whenever she glitched, after all. Nor did the fact that she was a teenager go away, so deodorant was something to be applied. Besides, there was always some physical activity to be done, so better safe than sorry.

Breakfast, luckily, still was just beginning when she made it to the dining hall, although the choices eternally disappointed her. Bacon and eggs always ended up being her choices of food for breakfast, whilst orange juice served to wash it down, and help stave off the vitamin deficiency that was surely creeping up on everyone here, as it seemed windows were relatively scarce in such a vast building. Whatever the reason, Makvaltaimara made a point of sitting with a decent distance from other folks. She didn’t quite know how her powers worked yet, what logic they followed, beyond that she could mostly suppress the appearance aspects of them with some effort. The effects seemed to dull, but they were still there, as she was reminded when she glitched to the side while trying to get a bite of egg with her fork, instead getting table. Fun.

She’d just about finished her meal when a man who was clearly a member of staff, rather than an inhabitant, at the complex.

“Hey, Miss, er, Ku-blash-vili,” he began, checking in one of the folders he had, “Ah, excuse me. My name is Doctor Thomas Kerry. I will be administering your evaluations today. Please report to Room 419: Gym D for 8:15. Okay?”

“Okiedokie then,” Makvaltaimara replied, “I’ll be sure of it.”

“Wonderful!” Dr. Kerry said, then heading off, probably to assign somebody else to wherever it was they were supposed to be at.

As far as Makvaltaimara could grasp, there was at least some pattern to how rooms were assigned, at least for her. She usually was in Gym D in either Room 418, 419, 420, or 421. Presumably, those were among the most generally resilient gyms, good for unstable or dangerous power sets. In the meantime, whatever the case, there was still bacon to be eaten.

[The Assorted Saharan Outposts]

Yama Sokogawa
Yama had spent a good gen minutes stuffing begs into him mouth, stuffing small bits of the meal one at a time. His mouth was slowly filling up, and eventually he'd chew it all up, and then swallow, bit by bit. Honestly, he ate like a turtle. Eating kinda required a higher bit of consciousness that he was not capable of all the time. His mind was the most active when he was eating, honestly.

It was then that the boy sensed a man approach him. The Japanese boy would turn to face the man, eyes still closed. He clicked his tongue to attempt to get a better image of the man. Oh, okay. He's either a scientist or a very casually dressed student. He couldn't exactly tell. Though, as soon as he spoke he quickly figured it out.

"Yama Sokogawa, yes?" The boy nodded, which consisted more of letting his head fall before bringing it back up. "Alright, well, I'm going to need you in room 401 at 3:00. Think you can handle that?" When the boy gave a thumbs up, the scientist nodded. "Alright. Thank you." He then walked away to leave Yama to him good.

Kizzie Washington
Kizzie didn't have many people to talk to, currently, and by now she was almost done with all of her biscuits. Her eyes wandered from one side of the cafeteria to another, trying to figure out what exactly she should do. Talk to someone? Wait for someone to talk to her? Oh god she had no idea...

"Miss Washington, I presume?" Kenzie's ears perked up slightly and she turned to face whenever spoke her name. It was one of the scientists, and she frowned as she looked the man up and down. "We're going to need you at room 420, okay? Do you mind coming in at 8:30? Just to get it over with as soon as possible?"

"Uh..." Kenzie blinked as she stared at the man. After a few seconds of staring in thought, she nodded. "Yeah, sure. I can do that. I'll just...finish breakfast first."

"Alright! Thank you. Have a good breakfast." Then the man walked away. Huh...