Brood of Felony
Chapter VII: Midnight Snack
THAR DESERT
JANUARY 2, 0214 IST
When Sam arrived at the first base, dubbed Genesis by his father, he was beat. Technically he hadn't done any laborious work but that was precisely the problem. Flying the je he'd been assigned with no one to talk to or fight with like he usually had left him with nothing to do but think, and that was probably the last thing he should have been doing for the past ten hours.
Being the son of Vandal Savage had its upsides but unfortunately it came with downsides as well. Failure was inexcusable, being last was unthinkable and disobeying was not allowed. Every action came with a consequence and he'd learned them all, had plenty of time to.
Now, now when he finally thought he could escape, had the briefest sign of hope, it had been crushed. He was weighed down by a thirteen year old assassin with no signs of any physical advantages whatsoever. The prospect of forming a team of teenage villains was laughable. Sure, every option he and the other two senior members of his so-called team would inevitably grow into their roles, had strong promise, but a team? It was bad enough that they were all teenagers and on the path of "the Light" but throw in superpowers? The upcoming year would be disasterous. And Savage would be watching every step of the way.
He couldn't run, no, Savage would find him. Couldn't exactly die, he was his father's offspring after all. No, all he could do was sit and wait in a cold, dark base and play with the other kids. Every aspect of his life would be dictated until the day he died. Pun so very intended.
In an effort to soothe himself Samuel headed toward the training room. There was no way he could fall asleep with those thoughts plaguing him and a complete lack of physical ache.
The doors slid open just as he sighed and whispered to himself, "I'm pathetic."
"I can't imagine why you would think such a thing."
Sam's head snapped up at the sound of a familiar voice echoing off the metallic and empty room. Ash stood alone, dressed only in a black tanktop and yoga pants. Her hair was pulled back into a high ponytail dampened by sweat. Beside her a punching bag, worn from use was being pulled back into the floor. Her knuckles, bare, flared angry and red.
Rolling his eyes Sam approached the girl and took both her hands in his. There was blood he hadn't noticed before. She'd been at it for a while, he realized, using nothing but her physical prowess and something that could be considered anxiety if it were anyone else. This wasn't the first time either.
"I've told you before to wear something on your hands," Sam said with a sigh. He released her and walked over to her duffle bag on the side. There was always a first aid kit in there, just in case Samuel and Kale got too rowdy.
"Samuel," Ash almost whispered his name. She was being oddly hesitant.
"Go wash up and I'll wrap those for you."
"Sam," she pleaded, clutching his coat from behind. "I need to ask you something."
The immortal regarded his ally for a moment. He knew she hadn't actually been pleading, wasn't feeling anxious. She couldn't feel any emotion after all. But at moments like this, when she seemed so small and timid, he could almost see her former self shining through. That spark always vanished as quickly as it came though. He knew what she was thinking; he could read her like a book, like no one else could, because they were each other's firsts and they'd shared so many secrets that no one else knew.
"It was that homo magi, wasn't it?" Sam asked. He felt oddly surprised that she nodded. There was a part of him that hoped that wasn't the case. "He reminds you of-"
"Yes," she breathed.
"What did you want to ask me?"
Ash, who was shorter than both of her friends, had to look up almost half a foot to meet Samuel's gaze. As usual her brown eyes were large and darker than they used to be, darker than they should be.
"Am I just overcompensating for what I lost?" she inquired. "Have I made a huge mistake?"
"Yes," Sam answered quickly. "And no."
Rubbing his temples he sat them both down on the matted floor. They sat across one another, Sam idly messing with his hair.
"You'd be fooling yourself if you thought the two subjects were unrelated, but I don't necessarily think it's a bad thing."
"Elaborate," she ordered despite not being the team leader.
"Yeah, you may have made your decision based on how much he reminds you of your dead brother," he noticed how she flinched, "but I don't think it will impede your judgment in the long run. Kure isn't Toby, and you get that. I know you do. He has a lot of potential and you're a triple threat."
The brunette arched a confused brow, something he hadn't seen her do in over three years.
"Trained body, trained mind, trained spirit," he listed off verbally and on his fingers. "Don't worry so much. You two will do fine."
"Why do you say that we two will be fine? Do you expect yourself and Kale to fail?" Sometimes Ash didn't know how to read the mood.
Sam stood from his spot, taking Ash with him and directed her to the door so she would go clean up and he didn't need to answer that question. She was silent to the door, the only sound her bare feet on the mat and Sam wrapping his fists.
"Samuel."
He spared the girl a glance.
"For what it's worth I do not, nor have I ever viewed you as anything less than an equal. You will do equally well with the assassin."
With that said Ash was gone, leaving Sam to stare after her. He couldn't think about the little obsidian at that moment though, he just needed to focus on punching the crap out of something and at that moment a fresh new punching bag was being released a few feet away from him.
Forty minutes later Ash had been walking back to the training room. She often showered longer than most to take proper care of her hair. Black Manta had always complimented her on it, ever since they met three years prior. Even now she liked to please him, or perhaps it was out of habit that she went to such great lengths.
When she entered she knew it would be empty. Sam had seemed drained so he was doubtless taking a shower. How she hated being alone.
She'd never admit it out loud but she'd missed the two boys she'd gotten to know since joining forces with Black Manta. It was for their benefit that she'd gotten the surgery after all, the one that made her void of any emotion. It was a necessity. If she'd allowed her fragile heart to rule her any longer she could have killed them, killed herself. The best way to contain it, according to T.O. Morrow, was to remove the source of her powers disorder: her human sentiment.
She agreed to the experiment because she cared about them, she needed to know she wouldn't hurt Kale again. He healed from the endeavor quicker than anticipated, but he could have- she could have-
Ash shook her head to clear the thoughts away. Kale was safe from her now and that was all that mattered. Black Manta was alive and well, Samuel was healthy as ever, forever. The people she cared about-use to care about-were well off.
During her night rounds Ash made sure nothing was out of place. When she came upon the kitchen though she found it lit from the overhead light. Kale, and a freshly showered Sam, stood at the counter.
"Surprise!" they both shouted.
There was a pause while the two males stared at her and Ash traded glances between the two of them.
"Mason," Samuel groaned.
"What, assface?"
"Where's the damn cake?"
"In the fridge, duh," Kale answered.
"You were supposed to be holding it so she could see it when she walked in, moron," Sam kicked his foot lightly.
"I thought you were doing that," was Kale's off handed response.
"Does it look like I have the cake?"
"Does it look like I have the damn thing?"
While those two argued for no real reason Ash made her way to the refrigerator, opened it and pulled out a square box. When she opened the lid she wasn't the least astounded to find a round dobash cake with electric blue frosting that spelled out "Happy Birthday Tempy". The nickname was awful, something she'd despised since childhood, and they knew that. They did it on purpose every year.
"It's no longer the first," Ash cut in before they got too physical in her kitchen.
"So?" they said in unison.
"It may be a few hours later than planned," Kale began, pushing Sam out of his way.
Sam grabbed his rival by the back of his pants and pulled him behind him to say, "But we missed your birthday last year while you were training under Sensei. We weren't going to miss it this year."
"I was getting to that you jackass!" Kale flared up a bit. Literaly, his green flames erupted from his hairline.
"Thank you both," Ash said before they could continue. She hugged Kale, promptly putting out the inferno that was his hair, then moved to hug Sam, who returned it.
They sat at a small round table and ate the cake slowly, chatting while doing so.
"So, the assassin," Kale slurred in his slightly tipsy state. He'd been drinking from a brown bottle and was the only one who did so. "Hoping to learn a thing or two in stealth?"
"That's funny, coming from the clown's mentor," Sam smirked. "Hoping to finally get a girlfriend half as crazy and as equally desperate as you?"
"Samuel, don't be vulgar," Ash scolded.
"Sorry mom."
"She's too young to be your mom you pedo," Kale argued. "You're like, a zillion fucking years older than her."
"Hardly," Sam scoffed. "Perhaps a few hundred years, I've lost count."
"Yet you still look as though you aren't a day over sixteen," Ash observed.
Sam looked into the reflective surface of his spoon. His hair had dried and lay on his shoulders. Nope, not a day older than sixteen. And he never would look older.
"Savage is under the impression I won't age physiology just halted when I was still a teenager and has been keeping me in that state."
"You're like Peter Pan, dude," Kale said after a while. When his companions looked at him oddly his jaw dropped. "You have got to be shitting me. I know you two live in the 1800's but come on! You don't know Peter Pan? What the fuck am I going to do with you two?"
Sam just shrugged and drawled, "oh do educate us, young master. Our minds are so very uncouth. You must teach us the way of your people."
"Shut up."
The two males laughed at themselves and sighed. It had been a long time since they had joked around, they usually just fought, which was also fun.
"It's late. We have an early day tomorrow," Ash pointed out while looking at her watch.
Kale grabbed her wrist and read the time out loud.
"Man," Sam face planted onto the table "now I'm gonna be tired."
"Do you always hafta do that?" Kale asked.
"Do what?"
"Nevermind."
Sam's odd quirk always made him grin. He wondered how he never realized how he emphasized the wrong words at times. It was frikkin hilarious really.
When the trio finished cleaning up they headed to their rooms silently, their yawn the only sounds they made in the darkly lit halls.
"Goodnight," Ash said as a farewell.
"Yeah, night," Kale said before another yawn took him.
"Later," Sam nodded.
When they were far enough away from their female companion Kale struck up a topic that had been plaguing him for a while. He hadn't discussed it with anyone and had only recently become aware of the situation.
"So, that thing on her neck," Kale trailed off, his intention obvious.
"What about it," Sam's tone was weary. He knew something.
"What would happen if I burned that fucker off? Would she be better?"
Stopping in his tracks Sam turned to the brunette with a dark stare.
"If you burn that fucker up she could die. Only T.O. Morrow could have possibly been able to remove it but now his android has been destroyed and he's in a coma. Don't meddle in things you know nothing about, Mason, because if you do something that leads to hurting her I will not hesitate to kill you."
Sam stormed away having said his bit and abruptly cutting off the conversation.
Kale watched him walk away, didn't try to stop him. Something else was going on with that and the first thing that really clued him in was the fact that Sam had stressed the correct words for once.
Ok so updates may be slower between now and Christmas because I have things to do and I'll be working on another story that will be very long, slow to do and updated slower than this story, but is a present for a friend of mine. So expect a dark Kuroshitsuji story on that day. As for this chapter, I was going to write their first training session together but decided not to, that will be next. This chapter is basically introducing everyone to the dynamics of the mentors, which is important… well at least it is to me. They've known each other for a while so their relationship is going to be very different from the ones the recruits will have together. That will make itself painstakingly obvious in chapter 8.
Also that line about Sam and Ash being each other's firsts, it's not what you think I swear. All will be revealed in time. So if anyone has any questions just ask me in a review I'll answer anything to the best of my ability in the next a/n without spoiling anything.
And I included timestamps. Been meaning to do that from the first story but forgot and didn't have a definitive timeline worked out. I'll be going back to edit all the mistakes I didn't catch before probably next week. I update my profile every so often so you can look there for info if you'd like. I've also started asking people about romantic interests so if I haven't asked anyone their preference yet then PM me.
Tomorrow the first BoF is going down. Goodnight all.
