Six months later...
A mid-autumn breeze blew Laurens' hair out of his grasp as he tried to tie it up. Mulligan watched him struggle for a moment out of the corner of his eye, then turned to him in frustration.
"Why didn't you fix your hair before we got here?" Mulligan asked.
Laurens pulled a hair tie from his teeth and glared at Mulligan before responding, "Hey, Mulligan?"
"Yeah?"
"You know, it's weird, but, I don't remember you giving birth to me." Laurens punctuated his sentence by fiercely tightening his ponytail.
"Well, I'm sorry, captain," Mulligan sneered. "But it wastes time. Even Laf keeps their hair up all the time."
Lafayette, who stood behind them, perked up and reminded him, "My hair is not real." Mulligan fumbled for an argument while Lafayette and Laurens just stared at him expectantly.
"Just...stop." Laurens shook his head and laughed softly at Mulligan, who, in response, lightly punched his left shoulder. "Ow," Laurens winced much more than he should have.
"Is something wrong, Laurens?" Lafayette wondered.
"I'm fine. My shoulder just hurts again." Laurens stared ahead blankly and rolled his shoulder out.
"You always say that something hurts just before we go on a mission," Mulligan mentioned. "How are you still a captain if you're so lazy?"
"I'm not lazy. It actually hurts."
"Actually," Lafayette cut in, "that occurrence is something called-"
"I already know I've lost the arguments, Laf," Mulligan groaned.
"Mulligan-"
"I don't need your science to-" Lafayette cut Mulligan off by covering his mouth. They pointed to an alleyway four buildings away, in which stood a few people in black, and one in red. They moved their hand away from Mulligan's face once he saw the Thirds. "Oh."
"Maybe you should start listening to your hyper-intelligent friend more often," Lafayette smirked. Though their tone was lacking the inflection of sass, Mulligan still stuck his tongue out in response.
"A, we found them," Mulligan said into his earpiece.
Though only Mulligan had spoken to her, A's voice was heard by all three of them. "Great. The shipment should arrive at approximately 1:30." Laurens checked his watch, reading 12:17 a.m.
"Guess we're waiting for a while," Laurens sighed and sat down, swinging his legs over the edge of the roof. The city around him was quiet and empty at night, like a constant, happy, calm. He wished he thought the world was actually like that.
"You want some candy?" Mulligan's voice shook Laurens out of his thoughts. Laurens turned to see Mulligan holding out a bag of M&M's.
"Did you steal those from P again?" Laurens asked, taking a few of the candies.
"What? No..." Laurens laughed as Mulligan sat down next to him.
"May I have one?" Lafayette asked, coming closer to them, and reaching out a hand.
"Laf, you don't have taste buds," Laurens reminded them. "And if you try to eat anything, it'll mess up your whole system. Don't you remember the french fry incident?"
"Yes, but I want to throw one." Mulligan stared at Lafayette in confusion and offense.
"Why would you want to throw away perfectly good chocolate?" Mulligan questioned. Lafayette just shrugged.
"Why are you so protective over chocolate?" Laurens wondered, holding an M&M out to Lafayette.
"Thank you, Laurens," Lafayette smiled as they took the candy. They took a step forward and threw the chocolate; it landed all the way across the street, but the three people on the roof didn't watch it go that far. Instead, they leaned forward to better see the person walking along the sidewalk in front of the building they were on.
"Who is that?" Laurens asked no one in particular.
"A male, young adult," Lafayette observed, despite being four stories above the ground.
"A Third?" Mulligan asked.
"No. Not one of ours either. Pedestrian."
"I'm assuming the Thirds he's walking towards don't know that." Mulligan's assumption had to have been correct, and he and his teammates realized this as they watched the boy continue on his path.
"He's going straight into the line of fire." Laurens stood up and moved to the side of the roof opposite of the direction the pedestrian was going. Lafayette and Mulligan followed him. "Why do we have to deal with this in the middle of the night?" Laurens groaned. Suddenly, he took off into a sprint towards the other side of the roof, leaping at the last second, and landing on top of the next building over. Lafayette passed him as they headed to the third building. When Laurens jumped again, he had to reach up to the roof, and pull himself up. All the while, Laurens tried to keep his eye on the boy down below. Said boy was right in front of the Thirds by now, and Laurens realized he wouldn't make it in time.
Laurens barely heard the gunshot, meaning the Thirds had silencers on their weapons, but he heard the boy below scream, meaning he had probably been the one who was shot. Laurens jumped from the building he was on, latched onto the wall in front of him, then pushed off and took hold of the first again. As he lowered himself to the ground this way, with Mulligan doing the same behind him, Lafayette simply jumped off the roof altogether, landing perfectly on their feet on the ground. The three of them ran forward, but froze for a moment at the scene in front of them.
"I told you, I don't know what you're talking about." Despite having multiple weapons now pointed at him, the boy shouted at the Thirds as if he was in charge of them. He pulled the left sleeve of his sweatshirt down, as to tie it around his wrist. When he winced as he knotted it, Laurens noticed blood seeping through the cloth. Laurens stepped into the small amount of light on the sidewalk and cleared his throat loudly, gaining the attention of everyone there. By the time they all turned to look at him, Laurens, Mulligan, and Lafayette all had their guns drawn. "What the actual fu-mmph!" One of the Thirds grabbed the boy and held him tight against her, covering his mouth, and holding a dagger to his chest.
"Oh, come on," Laurens muttered. He aimed his gun at the Third's arm, and pulled the-what the...?
The boy that Laurens was about to save suddenly kicked back, hitting the knee of the Third behind him. In one swift motion, he spun, grabbed her arm, and twisted it back forcefully, making the knife drop from her hand. As he stepped away, he picked up the dagger and twirled it between his fingers, the shadowy look in his eyes meeting everyone else's. His face was cut during the scuffle, a single drop of blood trailing down his cheek.
Damn...Laurens blinked and cleared his head, focusing on the Thirds in front of him. He glanced at his teammates to be sure they were ready, then said, "Alright. Showtime." Laurens shot forward just as fast as the bullet that fired from Mulligan's gun. He tackled a Third to the ground, knocked their gun from their hand, and fought to keep the upper hand. Meanwhile, Lafayette went towards the last two Thirds, dodged their punches (and a gunshot), and tore their weapons from their hands. They threw the guns as far as they could, which was approximately 300 feet. Mulligan was fighting next to them, and Laurens' eyes flicked up from his personal fight for a second, which was just enough time to see Mulligan elbow a Third in the face, knocking him out instantly. Mulligan bent down and grabbed the Third Laurens was fighting: the one in red. "Hold on to him," Laurens ordered. Mulligan simply nodded as his captain turned around.
Laurens scanned the area, but saw no sign of the boy from earlier. Out of the corner of his eye, however, there was a flash of movement down an alleyway. Laurens ran that direction, turned into the alley, and immediately felt a blade pressed against his chest. In the moonlight, he saw the small-framed boy from before, glaring at him.
"Who are you people, and what the hell is going on?" The boy growled.
"I can't tell you right now," Laurens answered, slowly raising his hands to convey peace. "But, if you calmly come with me-"
"Calm? Fucking calm?" The boy tightened his grip on his dagger for emphasis. "I was just attacked, then you showed up and started fighting this other gang, I'm probably going to pass out from blood loss because I was shot, and you think I can be calm? You think I would just go somewhere with you crazy people?"
"We can fix whatever injuries you have," Laurens assured. The boy seemed to be halfway interested for a moment, but took up his angry persona as quickly as he had dropped it.
"I don't care. A hospital can do the same."
"We can do it for free. And, afterwards, we'll tell you what's going on."
"You keep saying 'we'. Do you mean you and your buddies back there?" Laurens nodded.
"There's more of us."
"Oh, wonderful."
"Listen, we aren't going to hurt you." Laurens abruptly grabbed the boy's wrist, twisted him around, pulled the knife from his hand, and held him in place, despite how much he tried to get away. "Stop struggling. We're the good guys." Laurens dragged the boy out of the alley and back towards Mulligan, Lafayette, and the group of Thirds on the ground. "Lafayette," Laurens called over the boy's cries for freedom. "Put him to sleep, please." Lafayette headed over to Laurens, fiddling with the end of one of their fingers.
"Put me to sleep?" The boy shrieked. "I thought you said you wouldn't hurt me!"
"Yeah, well, you're loud and annoying and giving me a headache." Laurens held the boy's arms with one hand, and used the other to push the boy's head to the side, better revealing his neck.
"Laurens, please. You are scaring him." Lafayette raised their hand to the boy's throat, the tip of their index finger seemingly replaced by a needle. "This will only hurt a little." Lafayette pierced the boy's skin with the needle, inserting it into a vein.
"What was that?" The boy questioned when Lafayette pulled the needle out a second later. "Is that going to kill me?"
"No. You will just fall asleep so that we may transport you easier."
"Transport? Where are...you..." The boy's eyelids dropped, and his body slumped over.
"Thank God," Laurens sighed. "Mulligan, you take him." Mulligan walked over, and lifted the boy with one arm. Relieved of his burden, Laurens stretched, and spoke into his earpiece, "A, send a truck. We've got four Thirds and...ugh...and a pedestrian. And tell E and P to get ready to help, too." Laurens didn't bother listening to A's response, but instead laid down on the ground in an attempt to rest.
Alexander still felt exhausted when he woke up. Artificial light flooded his vision as pieces of blurry memories seeped into his brain. He sat up slowly, in a bed that wasn't his, and rubbed his throbbing temples. Actually, now that he thought about it, the room he was in wasn't his either. It's not like he was in someone else's dorm; he didn't have any friends (he really just avoided people altogether), and none of the dorms looked like this anyway.
"Good afternoon, Sleeping Beauty." Alexander jumped at the voice from the other side of the room. He spun around to see a boy with curly hair leaning casually against a wall. "How do you feel?" Instead of answering, Alexander shot out of the bed, then fell back onto it, the room spinning and his head about to explode. "I'll take that as a 'not well'."
"Where am I, and what did you do to me?" Alex asked, trying to make himself sound intimidating. It didn't work.
"Well, I can't tell you where you are, but we kept you asleep for a little over a week while your hand was being fixed." The boy pushed off of the wall, and took a step forward. Alexander stood and scrambled backwards, although still in pain. "Speaking of, how's your hand?"
"My...hand?" It took Alexander a moment to recall the wound to his left wrist and hand. He raised his arm, suspiciously flicking his gaze between his hand and the boy in front of him. Though he didn't trust the person who had taken him here, Alex was more scared of the fact that his wrist was lacking a wound, bandage, scar, or anything that would indicate that an injury had occurred at all. "Wh-what happened? Why isn't...why..." The other boy just stood patiently, letting Alexander form a proper question. As Alex rolled out his wrist and bent his fingers, he felt his joints turn almost unnaturally easily, yet as if his hand could slip off of his arm if not for a small magnet or some string. "Why does it feel so..."
"Weird?" The other boy guessed with a smirk. Alex met his gaze with wide eyes. "Yeah, sorry to tell you, but that's not your hand." Alexander sucked in a breath, suddenly paralyzed.
"What does that mean?" Alexander asked shakily.
"It means you're part robot now. Which, I mean, I guess it's pretty cool, but-" Alexander cut the boy off by screaming. Just screaming for a second or two and falling to his knees from all the confusion, fear, and stressful information he had just been told. As he sat hyperventilating, the other boy hesitantly came closer and knelt down to Alexander.
"My name is Laurens," the boy whispered. "Can't tell you my first name, or where you are, or some other stuff, but most of your questions I will be able to answer if you don't mind answering some of mine, and if you stay calm."
"Too late for that," Alexander mumbled, pulling his knees up to his chest. "But...I do have a lot of questions."
"Shoot."
"Are you part of the government?"
"We were started by the government decades ago, and they know about us and what we do, but, no, we aren't technically part the government."
"Are you spies?"
"Um...I guess...in a way?" Laurens chuckled softly. "We do call ourselves an agency. We're, like, an underground army. We're called the Union."
"Who were the people you were fighting?"
"We call them Thirds. Their leader, their third leader, to be more specific, is known as the king. He's an asshole."
"What do they do?" Alexander wondered, relaxing ever-so-slightly. "What do you do?"
"We essentially stop them from taking over the government. The Union gets information on the Thirds, tracks them down, and stops whatever they're doing."
"Do you kill them?"
"We try not to."
"That's stupid." Alexander's bluntness seemed to have surprised Laurens.
"What's stupid?"
"Why don't you kill them if you have the chance?" Alex suggested. "It'll certainly lower their numbers."
"What's wrong with being merciful?" Alexander couldn't tell if Laurens' tone was meant to be dark, peaceful, or just plain questioning, and the spark in his eyes didn't help to clear it up.
"Nothing's wrong with it," Alexander mumbled. "You kept me alive, didn't you?" Laurens just grinned, making Alex turn away and clear his throat. "Um...I'll answer some of your questions now."
"Okay," Laurens reclined against the bed. "How old are you?"
"19," Alexander responded. "You?"
"22. Are you in school?"
"Yes. King's college."
"Do you have parents?"
"What kind of question is that?" Alexander asked, offended.
"You don't have to-"
"I don't have a family. Next question."
"Are you sure?"
"Just get it over with," Alex demanded.
"Can you shoot a gun?"
"Depends on who the target is."
"Who?"
"Keep going."
"Okay, can you speak any other languages?"
"I'm fluent in both Spanish and French."
"What's your IQ?"
"144. You?"
"Huh..." Laurens smiled. "145. We're both geniuses. What's the capital of North Dakota?"
"Bismarck, why?"
"I forgot. Are you allergic to anything?"
"Nuts." Laurens snorted. "What?"
"Nothing," Laurens said through quiet snickers.
"Are these questions actually important?"
"Yes. There's just a few more."
"Hurry up, then."
"What's your last name?"
"I don't have to tell you that."
"That's fine," Laurens said. There was a short silence before he continued, "Why were you walking around in the middle of the night?"
"No comment."
"What scares you?"
"No comment."
"Are you happy with your life?"
Alexander didn't respond for a moment, the question being one he had asked himself too many times. His voice was quiet when he answered, "No comment." He watched Laurens stand and move towards the door, his back facing Alexander. "Can I leave now?"
Laurens sighed painfully. "Would I have needed to ask you all those questions if you were allowed to leave?" Alexander blinked, processing.
"What?" Alex jumped to his feet. "Why can't I leave?"
"Have you heard the phrase 'If I told you, I'd have to kill you'?" Laurens asked, slowly turning to Alexander's terrified face. "I'm not going to kill you, if that's what you're thinking. However, you were a witness, and I've told you quite a bit about us, so now you have to stay."
"What kind of bullshit is this?"
"It's protocol."
"Kidnapping random people who get stuck in the middle of one of your fights is protocol? This happens often?"
"It happens," Laurens shrugged. A knock sounded at the door, keeping Alexander from speaking anymore.
"The general is ready to see him," a girl said from outside the room. "Dumplings and Potatoes will meet you at his office."
"Thank you, A." Laurens pinched the bridge of his nose and groaned. "Listen, just...come talk to our leader. He can explain much better than I can." Alexander stared at him in irritation.
"Fine."
"You're just going to go along with this?" Laurens asked suspiciously.
"My only other choice is death, apparently." Laurens nodded once, then turned and opened the door. Alexander hesitated, but pushed himself to move forward and followed Laurens out of the room. They passed a tall girl with dark hair and skin, and pale, glassy eyes that stared at Alexander lifelessly, yet as if they were calculating his every move. Alex looked away quickly, shivered, and trailed closely behind Laurens.
As they walked down the hall, the boys passed dozens of other people. Some were in normal clothes, while others wore black, red, blue, or white suits. Every one of them watched Alexander pass by with intrigue. When their gaze turned to Laurens, however, they either looked away or nodded curtly.
Eventually, Laurens stopped walking in front of a door that was painted to look like the American flag. Next to the door were the two other people Alex recognized from the fight he had been thrown into.
"This is Mulligan," Laurens said, gesturing to the larger built man with a black bandana around his head. "He's my right hand man."
"Why do you have a right hand man?" Alexander wondered.
"Because I'm the captain of the best squadron here," Laurens replied smugly.
"Oh."
"And this is Lafayette," Laurens directed Alex's attention to the person next to Mulligan. "Laf for short. They/them pronouns, please and thank you." Alexander looked up Lafayette, and instantly felt that there was something...off about them. Something strange about how not-strange they were. Their hair was in too perfect of coils, their skin was too smooth and unblemished, and they stood too straight. Then, as he examined them closer, Alex saw that they had the same pale eyes as the girl from before, they never blinked, and their chest never rose or fell to indicate breathing. Alexander shivered again. Laurens knocked on the door, and called out, "The new kid is here."
"I'm not a kid," Alexander argued.
"We're all kids," Laurens mumbled as the door slid open.
"Come in, Laurens," a voice ordered from inside the room.
"Watch him," Laurens said to his teammates as he walked inside.
When the door closed, Alexander was suddenly alone with these new, scary people, and oh, God, why are they staring at me?
"Laf, you're scaring him," the one named Mulligan said. Lafayette kept their blank stare locked on Alexander, however, making the boy shrink back and turn away.
Lafayette opened their mouth to speak, but the voice that came out was monotone and seemingly full of static. "Laurens said to watch him." Alexander also decided that they were faking a French accent.
"He just meant to make sure he doesn't leave," Mulligan sighed.
After a moment, Lafayette responded, "I will watch him anyway."
"Please, don't," Alexander pleaded meekly. Lafayette inspected him closely, then finally looked away.
"As you wish."
Alexander released a breath of relief when the door opened again and Laurens motioned for him to come inside. Mulligan and Lafayette followed them in, then the door shut suddenly behind them, making Alexander jump. A man sat at a desk in front of them with a stern look on his face. Laurens gently pushed Alexander forward, then stepped back to give him the spotlight. The spotlight that Alexander did not want.
"My name is Washington," the older man said to Alexander. "Laurens has already explained to you why you have to be here, correct?" Alex nodded sheepishly. "Has he explained why we want you here?"
"Excuse me?" Alexander questioned. Washington grinned.
"Lafayette, please show us the fight he was involved in." Lafayette stepped forward at Washington's command. They faced an empty wall and...just stood there. Alexander was confused for a moment, then gasped as light began streaming out of one of Lafayette's eyes, projecting an image onto the wall.
"Woah..." Alexander watched as a video played straight from Lafayette's eye. It was a recording of Alexander as he fought out of the grasp of one of the Thirds. When the video ended, Lafayette stepped back, and Alex turned back to Washington. "Why is that so important?"
"Where did you learn to fight like that?" Washington asked, leaning forward.
"I..." Alexander stuttered. "I taught myself." He stood straighter and looked more aloof.
"Why?" Alex shrunk back down.
"Self-defense."
"Against who?"
"Why do you need to know?"
"I like your stubbornness, Son."
"Don't call me that." Washington raised an eyebrow.
"I've been told you are extremely intelligent."
"Yes, sir," Alexander smirked. "I-"
"Not as smart as many of us here, however." Alexander faltered. This man had just challenged his intelligence. No one challenged Alexander Hamilton's intelligence and got away with it.
"I'm sorry? Are you implying that I'm stupid?"
"Of course not. I'm just saying you aren't better than anyone here." Washington squinted mischievously at Alexander. "You would certainly lose any fight against my soldiers in a heartbeat, for sure." Alexander gaped at him in rage.
"I know what you're doing," Alex sneered. "You're trying to make me work for you by using my pride against me."
"Unless you can prove me wrong, I am just telling you the truth." Alexander fumed, feeling like steam was about to erupt from his ears. Someone snickered behind him, and when he turned around, Laurens just laughed harder.
"You're adorable when you're angry," Laurens giggled. Alex's face flushed red with hot shame. "Aw, look, he's blushing. I wonder if the baby's gonna-" Alexander lunged forward, punching Laurens in the gut. Laurens stumbled back in more shock than pain, and fell into Lafayette, who didn't move a muscle.
"Shut up!" Alexander screamed, taking a step towards Laurens. He spun back around to face Washington, and growled, "You...I can easily prove you wrong."
"Please do," Washington smirked. "I'm sure these three wouldn't mind testing your skills on the training field."
"Dibs on being his trainer!" Laurens cried out.
"As long as the others can help."
"Yes!" Laurens exclaimed, raising his fists excitedly.
"What? Trainer? I don't need a trainer," Alexander told Washington.
The man looked Alexander over and said, "Yes, you do."
Before Alex could respond, Laurens grabbed his arm and pulled him away, yelling, "Let's go!" with a huge smile on his face.
As Alexander was dragged out of the room and down the hall, all he could think was, What did I just let myself get pulled into?