At 6am, the wakeup alarm went off. Maya Atoli groaned and leaned forwards. This wasn't going to be fun. She stumbled out of her pod and felt her bare feet go cold on the floor. She jumped back into her pod in shock. The cold was the one thing she hated about Cadmus. The Overseer glared at her from the pod and she sighed and walked out into the frigid cold. Picky.
She bounced from foot to foot as she walked to the bathroom, where she relieved herself and changed from her nightclothes, a long sleeve white shirt and long white pants, into her dayclothes, white pants and a white tank top. Most clones and DNA subjects wore jumpsuits, but it was their choice to wear them.
Maya had gone away from the jumpsuits towards pants and bottoms.
Some of the clones and subjects had picked to wear long sleeves, as to hide the scars, but Maya thought that was dumb. After all, they all had them.
She finished and walked out from the exit door to the main hallway. Armed guards stood every ten feet or so. It was make sure they didn't fight with each other.
She stuck her arm in the machine and it read her barcode on her inner right arm. It was kinda big, but it didn't matter to Maya. It also scanned the numbers under it, tracking her schedule for the day;
Wake up - 6am to 7:30
Breakfast- 7:30 to 8:00
Testing 8:00 to 9:00
Break 9:00 to 9:10
Training 9:10 to 10:30
Memory Training 10:30 to 11:30
Classes 11:30 to 1:30
Lunch 1:30 to 2:30
Testing 2:30 to 3:30
Free Time 3:30 to 4:00
Training 4:00 to 5:00
Sports 5:00 to 6:00
Break 6:00 to 6:10
Dinner 6:10 to 6:40
Testing 6:40 to 7:30
Free Time 7:30 to 8:30
Bed 8:30
Lights Out 9:00
Her eyes fluttered on it for a minute, quickly scanning the printed ink on her arm, next to the barcode. She bit her lip. It was a testing day, something she didn't favor. It was exhausting and painful.
She sighed. That means the next day would be full of brain games and classes, to recover from the previous day.
She made her way down the hall to the mess hall. She scanned faces of clones and subjects, searching for a similar face to eat with. Some clones weren't allowed to join the common populace, because they couldn't be trusted to stay calm and collected. Sometimes fights broke out, but hardly ever.
She had been suffering ever since her best friend Ryan disappeared.
Ryan was a nice kid, a clone of Amethyst. He seemed pretty smart to Maya. In fact, he was the one who told her she should pick a name. Then one day he started talking about something called "freedom". The word was confusing to Maya, in fact, it still was. He asked her, "Do you ever think of freedom?" once. A day later, he was gone. No one mentioned it, but they all knew it. Sometimes they disappeared. The failed ones.
Maya shuddered thinking about it.
She grabbed her metal tray and scanned her barcode. She watched as food was pushed onto her plate according to her diet. Whether she needs more protein or carbs, they took care of it. She pushed her way down the line to get her drink, when someone tapped her on the shoulder.
"Boo!" her friend said, and Maya rolled her eyes.
"Hey Project EM." She laughed to her. Her friend winked. "Appelez-moi Tilly!" she said. Tilly didn't speak any English, but she was working on it. She could at least understand English. Maya translated this into "Call me Tilly!" She crinkled her eyes. "Tilly?" she asked.
(A/N: Whenever someone is speaking another language then English, It will be in Italic)
"I had a dream last night. A lady with blonde hair like me was calling me Tilly."
Maya shrugged. "Okay, whatever you say. But don't let the mods hear you." She warned.
"No duh." Tilly waved her hand at it. They both finished getting their food and drink. Maya looked at her tray. Vegetables and fruit and beans. No meat.
"Crap." She muttered. Tilly looked at Maya's tray.
"They're cutting down your lean meats." She muttered. Maya sighed at Tilly's tray, which had one of the best items ever, chicken.
"Speak for yourself." Maya muttered as they headed over for their table. Maya sat on the metal bench across from Tilly, and they began to eat. Another person joined them.
"Hey Project Ark." Maya waved to him. He put his tray down next to Maya. "I've picked a name." he said. Maya rolled her eyes. "You too?" he shrugged. You have a name." he said. Maya muttered something under her breath.
"What is it? Mine's Tilly." Tilly said. He looked at Tilly. "Cool, I'm Dustin." He said, grinning. "What made you pick that?" asked Maya. Dustin started into his beets. "I dunno. I just like the name." he waved his spoon. "Everyone is picking names now. It's all the rage." Tilly smiled. "You guys are so weird."
Dustin grinned. Maya stared glumly at her spinach. Another person joined the four seater table.
"Hola everybody!" he said as he sat down next to Tilly. "Hey Project Tech Lantern 3." Maya said. He looked a little offended. "I picked a name, Maya."
"No way!" Maya slammed her dead on the table. "Names are so overrated!" she said. "YOU have a name. Mine's Harold Jordan." Tilly laughed. "We should just call you Dill because of all the pickles you eat." He nodded. "I'm cool with that." He said.
Across the room, a new subject stood around, looking for the right table nervously. She had just been released into the populace, and was damn terrified. She checked her barcoded arm. Table seven…
She looked and around and spotted it. There were already two boys and a girl at the table. She walked over shyly towards the table, finally reaching it. She looked at each boy had green skin and messy black hair, the only girl at the table had blonde haired tied in a ponytail and green eyes. The other boy looked about 17, with hazel eyes and brown hair. "Um… hi." She said, shifting from foot to foot, her eyes downcast. The girl smiled. "Hi! You must be Hana!" the girl patted the spot next to her. Sit here!" she said. The smiled made Hana relax a little. "I'm Project Supersonic! But you can call me Poppy, I really like your name, Hana. Where'd you get it? It's strange not to be a project name, but lots of people are taking names ever since-."
"Okay!" the boy with the green skin said. "She's Poppy. If you don't stop her, she'll ramble for hours." Hana gave a shy smiled and slid down next to Poppy. "I'm Project Shift, but you can call me Arthur." The boy next to him waved. "I'm Project MOL. But I picked the name Sam. Short for Samuel." He said.
Hana waved.
"So, is this your first time in populace? Oh wait, of course it is! What's with your name?" asked Poppy, rapid fire.
"Yes, it is." Hana said quietly, but loud enough to hear. "Dr. Fujiohso named me Hana after his sister." She said. "Oooh! That is SO SO SO SO cool! You know what? I wish someone would have named me. I almost picked the last name, 'Titsworth'! Can you believe it? Poppy Titsworth!" she laughed.
"Poppy, now would be a good time to shut up." Sam said. Arthur grinned and pushed around his tofu on his plate. "Ooh snap!" Poppy grinned as well. "Well, at least I don't have Testing today!" she said singing a little. Sam frowned. "Don't remind me." He grumbled. "Testing?" asked Hana. Poppy grabbed Hana's arm. "Hmm… All you have is the beginner classes today. That make sense." She said.
"Testing normally lasts for an hour or two, three at the most." Arthur explained. "They basically mess with your DNA more and try to improve you. Sometimes they go too far and accidents happen. I know this one guy went blind when they tried to enhance his vision!" he said.
"There was no guy!" Sam protested.
Arthur wiggled his eyebrows. "There was too. I saw it on the cameras. Turn out Lex Luther had arranged the whole thing! He was training to be Green Arrow's new side kick." He paused. Poppy raised her eyebrows, not talking for once. Hana's eyes were wide.
"They went to a warehouse where Cadmus ambushed him and Green Arrow. No idea what happened to Arrow, but the kid was kidnapped and taken hear. He had some gene thing. They thought that they could give him the best vision ever, but of course, fist, they tortured him for information." His voice hung in the air.
"No way Cadmus would do that. They're nice!" Poppy protested.
"Let me finish!" Arthur said. "Anyways, they gave him this eye thing right? But he went near blind, they tried again and he went completely dark. But the thing was, he still had perfect aim, even though he was blind. In fact, it was better than before! They ended up letting him go in DC. He was one of the people in Power Purge. (AN/ You can read about that in my story, 'Only Hope')
"No way!" Hana whispered. Arthur nodded. "Yes, way! I have no idea what happened to him next after that."
"Do you know his name? For proof?" asked Sam.
"Yeah. Connor Smith." Arthur said. "Anyways, sometimes it can go wrong, but he wasn't raised by Cadmus like us. It never happens now. But it hurts sometimes and feel really sleepy after, so you get the rest of the hour to recharge in your pod." He said.
"Oh geez…" Hana muttered.
Poppy placed an arm around Hana's shoulder. "Great! Now you made her scared!" she looked Hana dead in the eyes. "Listen, Cadmus are the good guys. They won't let anything happen to you."
Suddenly, across the room, table went flying. Instantly, they were all on their feet. Wind started to swirled around the room. It smelled like metal.
A girl was on her knees, gripping her head. She had short black, nearly purple hair and a deep skin color. She was staring at the floor. Pure power seemed to surge from her. Three other people were standing around her.
It was Maya.
It happened sometimes. The power overwhelmed them, causing breaks of pure power to explode from whoever.
Tilly's blonde hair was waving all over her face. She pushed through the wave of power and grabbed Maya, wrapping her in death grip that could have been a hug. Suddenly, the wind dropped down, and all the metal trays that had been flying around stopped in midair and dropped down.
Some doctors and guards ran up to Maya and Tilly, who was still holding her friend, who had slumped down in her arms. One doctor picked up Maya bridal style, and another crouched down next to Tilly to see if she was okay.
The doctor carried Maya past Hanna, Poppy, Sam, and Arthur's table. Her eyes were closed, but fluttering. Poppy spoke; "Will she be alright?" she asked. The doctor nodded, stopping to talk with Poppy. "Of course, you've had this happen to you a few times. It's just a surge." He told her and smiled warmly.
"I'll give you a report on her later." He walked away.
Poppy faced Hana. "See? Now would a bad guy do that?" Hana nodded and looked at Tilly, who was being helped up. She seemed fine, but it must have shocked her.
'Resume Breakfast' said The Voice. It came through the speaker on the wall. Hana realized that a speaker was everywhere in Cadmus. Huh.
Poppy slid down back into her seat, and the rest of the table mates followed. Hana leaned in. "Does that really happen a lot?" she asked. Sam nodded. "Oh yeah. Maybe twice a day, to different clones and subjects of course. Yesterday it was that Project Argo girl right?" Poppy nodded. "Yeah! We have the same math class together. The teacher got struck in the temple with a flying book." She said and Arthur held back a laugh. "I guess algebra IS good for something after all." The entire table cracked up. After the gales of laughter died down, the mood at the table was different. Not just shy friendship, but trust.
They resumed eating, and soon after, the bell rang, singling that breakfast was over. Hana checked her arm. Where to next?
Sam walked down the main hallway. He didn't like today at all. Testing. It hurt, and he was scared. He hated to admit it, but he was. "It's natural to be scared." They told him when he was tested on for the first time. "But you'll get used to it. They always do." You get new scars.
He approached the door. It slid open, and he walked inside. The chemical smell made his stomach lurch. A doctor in a white lab coat walked up to him. "Project MOL, come with me. He nodded and followed the doctor like a puppy. There were a few others there, but he didn't even look at them. They didn't look at him. They were all scared.
So was he.
He followed her into a separate, white room. She told him to stay and she left, the door disappearing as she walked away. A voice came on through the speaker in the plain white room.
"This will test your powers and mind. Be prepared."
A slot slid open in the room. An animal came out. A panther.
"In five seconds, the panther will attack you. You pick what to do next."
.1.
Now!
The panther lunged. Sam moved to the right, to avoid the teeth and claws. The panther turned and faced him head on, and Sam saw the collar. The panther was just being controlled.
He placed his hands on the panther, and swung using it's neck, landing on top of the panther. He placed his hand on the collar. It started again. The rushing feeling, his eyes getting warm, then his hand…
The collar disintegrated.
The panther stopping fight and stared at Sam, black eyes knowing. Sam hopped off the panther, which rolled over onto its back, like "Pet me."
He bent down and rubbed its belly. He smiled to himself, the panther was kinda cute.
The voice came on again. "Kill it."
He froze. He couldn't do it. What if? He stared at the panther. He placed his hand on its stomach.
"I'm sorry." He thought. The panther disintegrated.
Meanwhile, Dustin was also getting tested. But this time, he was out in the open. The floor in front of him slid open, revealing hot coals. He stared at the coals as the doctor charted down his reaction. He held a stop watch. "Project Ark, we need you to walk across the coals. It will help resist you to heat." He nodded and slowly put one foot on the hot coals.
It burned. Red, not white hot pain surged through his body, and he bit his lip to keep from crying out. His foot was searing with pain. He took a shuddering breath and took another painful step. The doctor nodded. "As I thought." He muttered. "His resistant to damage is incredible. Normally they jump off the coals or yell…" he scribbled down something as he took the next step.
He could feel blisters beginning to rise from his feet. He started to sweat, his will was crumbling. He took one step, then another, and another. It took only five steps after that, but it seemed like he took a thousand. Finally he stumbled onto the floor, suddenly grateful for the cold air in Cadmus. His feet burned, and sat down, trying to get weight off of his feet.
The doctor went over and looked at his feet. It was red and pink, blistered and had peeling flesh, but it was healing, and fast. Five minutes later the torn flesh was healed, but his feet were still pink.
Another scar was forming.
Another day of pain.
***Break***
"Go."
Project Mystic 3, Or Lena Mitchell sat criss cross. A magic circle was draw in chalk around her.
She took a deep breath. "!ti morf sniev s'ti pir ot lamina siht ni doolb eht esu ot ,elcric eeht dnammoc I" she said. The animal in the middle of the circle in started to convulse and sreech. Lena added, "Gag mih!" a cloth was wrapped around its mouth. The circle began to glow and Lena closed her eyes.
She didn't want see it.
There was a horrible ripping sound, and she opened her eyes. The circle died down. The cage the animal was it was coated with crimson red, on the floor of the cage and some in the middle of the circle, were veins. Bloody and messy, all around the floor. She jumped out of the circle. "There is always a Price. Always." She muttered.
She was standing in a room with large white walls. Outside the wall, a small hallway was there, with people jotting things down.
Don't look up, Lena. Just let them think there is no place you'd rather be…
She grinned.
"Good job Project Mystic 3." She relaxed a little. Thank god. They don't know.
They don't know. She's planning to escape Cadmus. Tonight.
But one person knew. Hana. She was in an orientation class when her mind began to wander. She picked up on Lena's thoughts. Are you insane!? She thought. Lena winced touched head. What the fuck? She thought. Hana blushed in her person.
Sorry! I just picked up on your thoughts. It happens when my mind wanders.
Oh, if that's the case, you're forgiven.
But really, escaping!? How on earth are you going to do that? Why would you want to?
I don't know who you are!
I'm Hana Wu.
Wait, are you that girl with the name your creator gave you?
Yes.
Oh. I'm Lena Mitchell.
Lena?
Yeah.
Where'd that come from?
I wasn't born in Cadmus.
YOU WEREN'T!?
No. I remember everything from when I was small. I used my magic to hack into my hidden memories. I had parents! Someone from Cadmus took me away from them!
Whoa! No way!
Way!
So… how are you going to escape? Why?
I don't have a plan really. I know there are sublevels to this Cadmus building. How many, I don't know. I want to see my parents! I want to see if they still love me. I want to see the world!
We can do that once the-
No! They are never going to! Not in my lifetime. I'm leaving, tonight.
Then I can I come with you?
Huh?
I kinda want to go too.
Okay, fine. But don't slow me down!
I won't! I swear!
Good. What pod number are you? I'll unlock my pod then get you, then we can blow this joint.
Pod 774?
Asking me or telling me?
Telling.
Okay. I'm pod 770. You're not too far from me.
Okay, but we have to deal with the mind links.
What?
YOU DON'T KNOW! YOU'RE PLANNING ON ESCAPING AND YOU DON'T KNOW ABOUT THE MIND LINKS?!
Stop yelling!
Sorry.
It's okay. What are mind links?
They track your thoughts when you sleep. They can't track me because I already have a mind wall built up.
Oh, crap.
I could show you how to set up fences and restrictions, separate your mind from the world.
Okay, show me how.
"Project Mystic 3?"
"Huh?" she said dumbly. She looked around. "Sorry, my mind wandered."
"It's okay Mystic 3. We have several objects in front of you. Knock them off the podiums."
She looked at the crème colored stand and the bricks on top of it. "Okay." She raised her hands and spoke. "smuidop emerc eht fo skcirb dipiuts eseht nwod kconk!" she said. Streams of light flew from her hands and knocked the bricks down.
She sighed. Tonight, it was going down.