So, hello! Yeah, this is a new chapter blah of the story. Tah-dah.
Anyways... yeah. You were probably intrigued by the chapter title :D
DISCLAIMER: I OWN NOTHING.
After a quick tour which involved the knocking out of a HIVE guard, a corridor brawl, and Hershey's Kisses, the group of about twenty-five arrived at the Quartermaster. However, much to the four girls' dismay, there was no synthesized voice that greeted them. Otto just stuck his eye in front of a reader, and put his palm against another. The great doors of the Quartermaster opened, and they entered the bright white room.
Otto instructed all of them to stay still, while a bright light flashed, and measured all of them. They entered the many cubicles, and began changing their clothes.
"I can't believe HIVEmind's not here." said Taia, and Julie nodded. They separated and went to change their clothes.
Taia sighed. As a full set of clothing swooshed in front of her, there were instructions on a mini screen to take all her clothes off. She didn't mind that; she was too bored with her school uniform anyway. However, she critically examined the jumpsuit, finding it to her liking. She put it on, and looked at herself in the mirror. Besides the unusual feeling of it on her skin, it looked rather nice on her.
"So this is what a jumpsuit feels like." She muttered, pressing down the creases on her shoulders. She debated on whether she would take her headband off or not. It was the only one she had at the moment, but it clashed horrible with the uniform. She so wanted to take it off and yet not. Her hair was long, so it would be hot for her if she took the thing off. But if she kept it on, she would look horrible.
She took it off.
Taia exited the cubicle, looking for her friends in the crowd. She found them, all examining their uniforms.
"Does this make me look fat?" Mel asked, and before they answered, they broke into silent giggles.
"No Mel, it doesn't." Tammy finally said. They turned to Otto, who seemed to be busy speaking with Wing Fanchu. Though the four of them didn't notice the slight worried look on their faces.
"Oi. Check it." Said Julie, pointing to the two.
"Wing is still sexier." Taia mumbled.
"Otto."
"Wing."
"Otto."
"Wing."
"Ott—"
Julie broke off when Otto announced that they would be going to lunch. There was a murmur of assent in the crowd, when they all headed to the dining hall.
"I just hope you're taking down how this place looks like." Taia whispered to her friend.
"Why?"
"Because I'm not paying attention at all."
The four of them slowly made their way to the serving counter. While doing so, their heads rolled on their necks, catching every detail of the place. Taia was only doing so because the other three hit her on the head for not doing it before.
Mel noticed the large oval table on the platform at the end of the hall. She nudged her friends, and pointed it out.
"Contessa's not there…" Tammy said. "But the Fabulous Four are." Mel added.
It was true. Otto, Wing, Laura and Shelby were seated there. In fact, Otto seemed to be having a conversation with Nero. He seemed different somehow.
"Is Nero in a wheelchair?!" Taia exclaimed, though a bit softly. The three of them whacked her on the head. Again.
Isn't friendly violence just wonderful?
"YES HE'S IN A WHEELCHAIR AND YOU DIDN'T NOTICE." They said in unison. Taia rubbed the ever-growing bump on her forehead.
"I could get brain damage from what you guys keep on doing to me." She said. Before anyone else could retort, the group of four neared the serving counters.
After getting their food (there was a funny moment where Tammy was about to get some seafood boubillaise, when a fish head suddenly rose out of the black stew), the four of them took a seat near the teachers. They observed what was happening around them, before digging in.
Mel noticed that many of the henchmen were in one area of the dining hall, probably because many of the other students were avoiding them. Except for a few newbies and a few less muscley henchmen, there were no students in blue overalls hanging with the others.
Tammy noticed that many of the Tech stream students had laptops. She wondered if the Alpha stream students would have laptops.
Julie noticed an unfamiliar teacher at the large oval table. She had light platinum blonde hair, which had two spikes on each end of her head, like ears. Her eyes were brown, though she was sure that they shone gold when the woman turned at a certain angle.
Julie's eyes widened.
"Hey, guys!" she said, poking her friends. "I think Miss Leon's gotten back to normal."
The other three looked to the teacher's table, and they grinned.
"I can't believe I'm saying this, but she's hot." Said Taia. No one hit her on the head. They all agreed after all.
Taia's eyes went to Nero's shadow. Even though it was a bodiless, normal looking shadow, Taia couldn't help but notice the unusual flicker she saw from time to time. She grinned. That was probably his guardian angel.
After another tour around the school, they arrived once again to Plotting Room Two. There, on the table, were twenty-four Blackboxes.
"These," Otto said, holding up his own, sort of battered, Blackbox. "Is your own digital personal assistant, the Blackbox. This device will help you adjust to life in HIVE, and will assist you in your school schedule, assignments and so on. It is considered a major offense if you do not carry this around, so please do NOT lose it. This is your single most important piece of school equipment. It is practically fireproof, waterproof, shockproof, and radiation-proof and it will work in a vacuum as well. Though it is unlikely that you'll be operating it in vacuum... Anytime soon, at least." He said rather sadistically.
He showed the batch of students how to open it, though with many of them already expert in using a DS, they opened it before he'd even said so. Once again, the four girls were disappointed when HIVE mind did not greet them. Instead, the logo of the school flashed, and then a holograph of the Blackbox screen floated in front of them.
"Updated… nice." said Tammy, already using her fingers to manage her Blackbox screen. The other three followed, though using the stylus that was inserted on the side of the thing.
Otto led them to Accommodation Area 7 ("The one the Fabulous Four lived in!" Julie had exclaimed), and a senior student introduced them.
The senior student looked strangely familiar, not by looks, but by some strange, unidentifiable aura of…
"CLAIRE!" Taia exclaimed, and everyone stared at her. Even Otto.
Oops.
The senior girl stared. Taia laughed embarrassedly. Something on the lines of "Hehehehe… err…." but in real life it sounded like gibberish.
For the first time in her life, Taia stayed silent for more than ten minutes. If you say that she stays silent when she's asleep, Taia would rebut by saying that she talked in her sleep. A lot. About elves stealing pink perfume.
After Otto had left, and they had been inducted to their rooms, Taia rushed out and met up with the senior girl. They looked at each other for a moment, and suddenly they started jumping like little girls, holding each other's hands.
Though it was unclear to other people, they were actually saying 'ninja pirate gummy bears' while jumping.
"Oh my gosh Taia! I haven't seen you in three years!" she said.
"I know right?! It's been so long Claire!"
Claire was an old friend of Taia. They had met in Mini-Theater club, back when the school was still for girls only, and when Taia was fourth grade and Claire was in seventh. When August came around, Claire had suddenly disappeared. Her parents said it was because she transferred schools. In a sense, it was true.
"This is so cool!" she said, as they walked back to their rooms. They said goodbye to each other.
Taia jumped on her bed, the one she claimed before rushing out to meet her old friend. It was room 4.7, so Taia made claim to Wing's bed. In truth, Julie and Taia didn't know who owned which bed, so they left it to their fantasies.
"That was Claire, wasn't it? The senior that transferred schools?" asked Julie, her new roommate.
"Yep." Taia replied.
After a long dinner and an exciting game of Air Hockey in the entertainment areas of the accommodation area, everyone went to bed.
Tammy sighed. She and Mel stayed in a room beside Julie and Taia's, so they weren't separated. Much. But for some reason, she felt an empty hole in her gut. She ate enough during dinner. And yet…
She realized that she would miss her family. Her school. And her other friends in her old school. Sure, she was very much excited to go to HIVE, but she hadn't even said goodbye to anyone. Maybe her family knew about her disappearance, but not her friends. She sighed.
Was that why she felt empty? Maybe she underestimated the power of homesickness.
Tammy rolled in her bed. She wasn't going to cry, but she didn't feel like sleeping either. And from the lack of snores in the background, her roommate wasn't going to either.
"He was able to escape?"
Otto and Wing were up late. Most of the teachers had gone to bed already, but they were still discussing something.
"That is why he was not there during the introductory tour. He will arrive tomorrow, but the fact remains that he was able to escape the HIVE guards." Wing said, looking a little distressed.
"He was able to escape three sleeper shots. Are you sure that his willingness to be in HIVE and his photographic memory is all he has? There could be something we didn't cover." Said Otto.
"Yes, but that makes it all the more fun." Wing replied, giving a rare smirk.
"I just hope he'll be able to adjust. It seems as if the other students have already." Otto said, laying his head on his desk.
"Speaking of adjusting… I heard that a mutiny could have happened in your introductory tour if those four girls did not step in. is it true that you are losing your touch?" Wing asked innocently.
He received a whack on the head.
"Shut up." Otto said. His Asian friend merely chuckled.
"Whatever you say, Otto…" he said, and they finally went back to sleep.
Dah. Try guessing who 'he' was. Coz it's obvious.
And HIVEmind's not there!!!! D:
What, you thought I would resurrect him? Answer: Sadly, no.
READ AND REVIEW PLEASE!
