I so apologize to all of y'all. Y'all know that normally, I would've had so many updates completed by now. But, I recently switched department at work, learning new stuff, working strange hours and keeping up with my younger sister while my folks are out of town. I've wanted to update everything, but real life, y'all know...
Previously at S.T.A.R.S…
It Is All a Test
Sugar:
Not gonna lie – you can't convince me that I'm not the most important person ALIVE! For one thing – I have managed to leave and enter this facility more times than I can remember. For another, I can do what I want, when I want, in this facility. But, all of those things really don't amount to much, because at the end of the day – they're all stuck here. I could probably let open the cells and bust open the gates, but when the others run out, they'd probably be eliminated on sight. They aren't like me. They can't make themselves undetectable by the senses.
It began when I was little. When things looked like they were about to get bad – I would want to disappear, and as far as mostly everyone was concerned, I did. They couldn't see me. But, they could hear me, if I couldn't make myself quiet enough. A few years later, I mastered making them unable to do that, too. That was when they would get the guard dogs to sniff me out. One of those suckers bit me! I still have the scar on the back of my thigh! So, after a few months, that sense had to be taken away from other too. I have pretty much mastered them all… except for probably the most important – touch! But, hey, I'm working on that!
But the thing that makes me the most important person alive – the thing that I have that no one else does – I know everyone's secret. Sugar smiled to herself as she woke up and looked over at Mercedes, who was simply staring out at nothing. The woman had her hands in the position that they had been bound, and was seated upright. She turned to look at Sugar. "I can't hear your thoughts," she said.
"I know you can't," Sugar told her. "Let it be incentive for you to hone your gift, Your Majesty." Sugar answered and giggled. Mercedes frowned and sent her a message, I'm probably the most powerful one out of all of us. I don't know if it's wise to test me.
There is one more powerful than you, but yes – you can best me. It'll take work, but I have faith in you that your power can combat against my power to not be heard. "You're just gonna have to push it to the limits," Sugar said with a smile and vanished to get ready to start her day in privacy.
Quinn. Sugar, Blaine and Mercedes sat together at their new lunch table. As soon as they arrived in the cafeteria, all eyes were on them. Sugar sighed and became invisible. She didn't know if she liked such attention. That sort of back-fired the rest came to the table and Joe sat right on top of her. She reappeared with an, "Ow!" He jumped up and blushed.
"I'm sorry, Sugar!" He said, with a smile and took the seat beside her. Santana and Brittany eventually joined them, too. As Mercedes, Sugar, Quinn, Santana, Brittany, Puck, Blaine, Kurt, Joe, and Artie sat there, Mercedes watched the rest of the room. Everyone was looking at them. Everyone.
Puck broke the silence with, "I've just noticed – our red jumpsuits are darker than any of the other ones." Mercedes saw it, too. There were mostly red jumpsuits in the room. (The humans probably found most of their abilities to be a threat), but there were none the dark crimson color that she, Puck, Artie, Quinn and Santana wore.
Sugar mentioned, "I used to wear one like yours, but the material was infused with these strong scented fibers and they had bells attached to them. They made my uniform special for me," she bragged. "But, I wasn't a fan." She shrugged her shoulders and noticed Joe smiling at her. It made her want to turn invisible again. "So, I don't know if you have had the chance to meet anyone, yet. I sort of know everybody here," she said, then mumbled, "Even the ones that have never seen me before."
Puck said, "I'm Puck."
"Is that the name that you gave yourself? It's sad. We'll have to think of a more creative one than that. But, you know what? We don't have to right now – but you'll have to be called something else." Quinn raised an eyebrow at her, not particularly caring for her brand of expression. "And, you are the babymama, right?"
"I'm Dominance," Quinn said.
"Much better name," Sugar said, nodding with approval.
Artie smiled brightly at her and announced, "I'm Artie!" She stared at him, unimpressed, at all. He didn't even try to think of a real name for himself? "I ain't gonna lie to you. The only people I ever see are the scientists that torture me and Dr. Evans. I've never had a reason to rename myself. Who was ever going to call me something else?" Without responding, she turned to Brittany and smiled brightly.
Brittany asked, "Did you hear? We finally found out what I can do!"
"We've… known what you can do for years, Femme Feral. It's the doctors that didn't know," Sugar reminded her friend. Brittany frowned. This was confusing and she hoped that none of it was on the test.
You've already taken the test, Mercedes reminded Britt. Brittany began looking around confused, then looked at Mercedes and suddenly remembered – yeah, that was why the voice in her head didn't sound like hers nor Lord Tubbington's. Mercedes made a mental note for herself not to communicate that way too much with Brittany.
"Let me ask you a question, Sugar," Quinn said. "Is it true that you have never spent more than a few days in a cell since we were children?"
"It is true!" Sugar cheered. "I've been captured a few times, but I've managed to escape each time, and I sort of have just found different places to sleep. Anywhere but in a cell or anywhere near the Graeae," she said. "Mostly, I've slept in Dr. Evans or Dr. St. James' workplace."
And in the outside world, Mercedes reminded her. She simply smirked at Mercedes, without making note of the message that she had been given.
Dr. Hudson was glaring at Sam. All of the doctors seemed to be weary of him lately. Dr. Evans knew that much work might need to be done to gain their trust again. He hated doing so, but when a few of the members of staff were found out to be SID, he quickly responded by having them obtained. "How could you do this to us?" one of the sweetest nurses and probably one of the safest SIDs asked him. "I can breathe underwater! That's it! I don't have super strength or speed or even a resistance to anything else! I can breathe under water," the nurse, Marley Rose cried as she was being taken away.
Dr. Hudson shook his head and said, "That's such a shame. She could have been the future Mrs. Finn Hudson, if she wasn't one of them."
Dr. Evans tilted his head and asked, "Are you seriously over Dr. Berry that quickly?"
Finn frowned and shuddered, "Please – don't even mention her. Just the thought of her letting that thing touch her makes my skin crawl."
"It wasn't her fault. She was under the influence," Sam defended. "But, with your attitude about her unfortunate situation, it's no wonder that she's missing."
"I'll tell you what is a wonder, though, Sam… The fact that all of us have been injected with a tracking device, yet anytime anyone tries to track her, they can never get a clear signal."
"The tracking devices obviously are substandard," Sam said.
"Your father designed them," Finn accused.
"Obviously he failed," Sam retorted.
"Or someone is helping her to stay under the radar. I wonder who that could be?" Finn said.
"I wouldn't put much energy into it. We have enough to worry about with getting all of these tests completed."
"You wouldn't put much energy into it," Finn repeated. "Dr. Evans – you were the last person to see Rachel alive. You talked to her in the parking lot, walked her to her car and had a conversation with her, even after she got inside."
"Am I a suspect in the investigation under Dr. Finn Hudson?" Sam asked, amused.
"There's definitely something that isn't right about it. What did the two of you talk about?" Finn asked.
"The Starchildren and what happened between her and Jesse," Sam said. "I have nothing to hide. She wanted to know what all was in her system when she pounced on him and I reassured her that her body did not stand a chance against the serum cocktail and that it wasn't her fault that this happened… Unlike you, obviously. What did you talk about the last time that you saw her? I'm sure that your opinions would have a hell of a lot more weight with her than mine." Sam said and resumed assessing the test results.
Marley sat in the cell and cried. This was SO bad! She had gone in here, thinking that she was safe. She was only supposed to be around to be a friendly and a helping hand to the Starchildren in distress on the inside. It was never even dreamed of that any of them would be caught! Her door opened and one of the trustees came in, carrying a stack of white jumpsuits. "Oh my stars!" Marley choked out. "Wade, please…" she attempted.
He shrugged his shoulders and softly said, "I'm sorry, Nurse Rose. They said that you have to change into the jumpsuit." He set them down and offered, "Maybe because you can only breathe under water, things won't be so bad?" He left the cell, and the guard locked it back with the electronic code.
Rory:
He sighed and collapsed onto his cot for the day, sporting his red jumpsuit. He gave Wade a quick nod of the head and asked, "What's she up to, eh?"
Wade sighed and looked forward, as his eyes became a pale shade of purple, then returned to normal. "She's helping with the tests, just as she was before and after dinner. Why don't you ever tell her that you like her?"
"Well, she's a bit hard to catch up with, you know? That entire – becoming invisible and staying that way most of the time – thing." Rory sighed and said, "I remember when I tried to separate, so that I could encircle her and make her talk to me… she slipped right through my fingers."
"How many of you were there?" Wade asked.
"Five," Rory answered.
"And you let her get away?" Wade teased, chuckling.
"She literally slipped right through my fingers," Rory reiterated. "I don't think she's quite got control of it, yet – but when she does, she'll be able to walk through walls and anything else she sets herself to. She's such a fascinating little creature. She simply always strives to grow more and do better."
"You act like you know her or something," Wade said. "Most of the stuff you know about her, you learned from me!"
"Well, she is YOUR bestlie," Rory said.
"Actually, that's bestie, and surely you know that I've told her all about this little fascination of yours. She's waiting on you to do something that warrants the attention of someone as fabulous as her."
"Now, I don't know if you missed this piece of information, but… we all live in a cage. We aren't going anywhere and we will never be able to have real lives," Rory said, depressed.
"Now, see – that's where you're wrong. You're bringing in this "we" stuff. Last time I checked, you weren't French. Maybe YOU have resigned yourself to this miserable existence, but not all of us. When I look through the eyes of someone else, or I look out into the world to see what they have in store, I can't help but to dream and to dream big, of a day when this cage is gonna get rattled and I'll come bursting out. Sugar knows that this is not only a possibility, but a probability and if you have the mindset that you'll be here forever, then you're right not to waste her time." Wade began to put on makeup and Rory sighed.
"Wade, that's stuff for women to wear; I told you," Rory said.
"You were wrong. I researched it with my mind's eye. There are plenty of people out there who have the same parts as me and yet look like this. I enjoy this better. It suits me," he said. Rory smiled and shook his head, then turned on his side to go to sleep.
Sleep didn't come easy. He wanted to see Sugar. He heard that she was more visible these days and he seriously wondered what made her change her mind. Everyone knew that Sugar spent most of her days undetected and her nights hiding out to get herself rest for the energy that she drained from herself in staying invisible for so long. His obsession with her was something that he could hardly contain. Wouldn't he love to be able to disappear for a little while? Wouldn't he love for the reason that nobody ever seemed to see him to be because they could not?
Joe:
The sorrow in the building, as the humans were tense about the fact that several of their staff were found out to be Starchildren in Disguise, was so thick that Joe could almost touch it. The hallways were crowded with residents, being administered the test. For what reason? Joe was unsure. After all – if any of the residents came out to be human, would that not undermine the entire program? Perhaps it was to show that the test worked. If the test consistently showed that the Starchildren who lived in the S.T.A.R.S. facility were all, in fact, Starchildren, then they would be able to mass produce it and force citizens to take it… Then, the inside population would grow. Already, he knew of three humans who had been found out and automatically seized, under suspicion of terroristic threats against humanity.
He frowned when he heard his name and turned to see one of the guards handing him something, "This Star-sh*t has an unauthorized object in her possession, and she refuses to tell me where she got it."
The woman folded her arms and asked, "And I suppose this gutless traitor is going to try to make me tell you?"
"He's going to let it tell it," the guard told her. The woman stared at Joe as he twirled the object around in his hands.
He saw the woman, being brought into Dr. Hudson's office, by a nurse. He saw her struggle as Dr. Berry administered the serum. He saw the nurse escort her to another cell and hand her the book that he was now holding. He saw the face of Nurse Rose and heard her say, "This is for afterwards. You don't really have an outlet for the things that happen to you. Writing down your emotions sometimes helps you to handle them." Joe sadly looked at the woman, and tried to think of a lie to help her to keep the precious gift, but the guard was staring at him,. Expecting some answers.
"Nurse Rose gave it to her," he said. The woman made a loud, angry noise and lifted her hand, about to strike Joe with it, as her fingertips lit up. Joe braced himself for an attack, but Quinn stepped directly in front of him and looked the woman right into the eyes.
"Aphasia, stop," Quinn commanded. The woman's hand froze and she glanced at it. Quinn snatched the book from Joe's grasp and handed it back to its owner. Then, she turned to the guard and said, "You didn't find anything suspicious on her, but if you see that book again, it's hers to keep." He nodded once and went on his way. Aphasia tucked her diary into her red jumpsuit and glared at Joe. But, she smiled at Quinn and thanked her before heading back to her cell. Now, Quinn looked at Joe and asked him, "Do you have any idea what it feels like to be in the red jumpsuit? You can't at least try to make life a bit more bearable for us?"
"I do try, Quinn. It simply is impossible," he said.
"I refuse to accept that and you'll have to learn how to do the same thing. Do you know what her ability is? She was going to turn you into something… most likely stone, because she goes by the name of Medusa. But that isn't something that a white suit like you would know, is it?"
"I didn't put myself into this jumpsuit, Quinn – anymore than you put yourself in that scarlet one," he tried.
"Yeah, but we both seem to wear our jumpsuits well," she said and moved right on along.
Finally, everyone was able to head off for the night. They had gone through a significant amount of the tests and were told that there would be more to process in the morning. Blaine and Quinn walked shoulder to shoulder, as did most of the others who had been recruited for the testing period, to their new cells. But, Sugar giggled, to where only she could hear it and playfully reached for Mercedes' hand. Mercedes glanced over at her and Sugar said, "We don't have to go to no stinkin' cell! You got connections."
Sugar maneuvered herself and Mercedes around the others and as they made a dash, Mercedes heard one of the guards ask, "Where the hell did the other two go?" She looked behind her to see their friends peering around, to see if they could notice a sign of them anywhere, but they couldn't. Nobody could tell that they there a mere few feet away, running wild, like the wind.
"Sugar, where are we going?" Mercedes asked.
"Ah, ah, ah… You didn't say the right name!" Sugar teased, pulling the woman behind her.
"Apparition!" Mercedes called.
"Too late!" Sugar yelled and broke out into a sprint, holding onto Mercedes' fingers. "If you let go, they'll see you and hear you. You'll be caught. You better keep up, Princess!" Sugar said, with her voice full of laughter.
"Apparition!" Mercedes called again. Then, when they were running towards the gate, Mercedes shut her eyes and let out a shrill scream. The two of them passed right through the gate, then Sugar fell to the ground. "Oh hell. Sugar?" Mercedes called, and shook her hand, to try to rouse her. "I need you to get up…" A patrol car began to roll near them and Mercedes ground her teeth, waiting for them to be apprehended and dealt with… but the car kept going. Then, she remembered – she for whatever reason could adopt her friends' abilities when they were near her. But, Sugar was unconscious. She needed her awake. She wondered how close someone had to be for her to use their ability…
Mercedes let go of Sugar's hand, rubbed both of her own hands together, then reached out towards Sugar, hoping that maybe she could use Blaine's trick to wake her, but Sugar's eyes began to blink and she opened them and stared at Mercedes. "You did it. You got us out of the gate," she said.
"No, I didn't. I don't even know how to do that. That's a part of you," Mercedes told her.
"Don't you realize what you can do? You make us able to be who we were meant to be." Sugar sat up and said, "I've been trying to do that without fear for my life for months." Mercedes helped her up.
"What are we doing outside of the gate? We need to go back inside. Unlike you, I can't be invisible for however long I want to. I'll be in trouble when they realize that we aren't there," Mercedes said.
"Are you kidding? Do you know how important you are? You don't need to be inside of this place. You need to be in the outside world, where you can do the best job of getting the others out!" Sugar stressed and pulled Mercedes in the opposite direction of the facility.
"No. I won't leave them. I get out when they get out," Mercedes said. Sugar let go of her and sighed. As Mercedes walked back to the fence, Sugar simply watched as she tentively placed her hands in front of herself and phased through the fence. Sugar followed, and they returned to their cells.
"Do you at least have a plan?" Sugar asked.
"No… But I feel one coming, soon." Mercedes said and turned to face the night. Miles away she heard a singular thought, coming from a stranger, but a sister… It's her. She's in that place. I can see her!
