This one was annoying to write because Jesse kept pestering me for a waffle but, no. she didn't want to get it herself because she had a mild case of phobiphobia (fear of being afraid of something when she got up there-particularly someone lurking in the dark) Oh by the way… Ace and Luffy aren't supposed to be brothers in this fic that kinda slipped the explanations up to this point, but we decided this quite a while ago…
False Pretense 7
"So did you have any visitors last night Ace?" asked Luffy innocently.
"I've no idea what you're talking about." He replied, matching the innocent tone.
Zoro chuckled a little "Are you kidding? We all know that you're lying.
Mortified Ace pressed: "What, how?"
"Aha! So I was right!" Luffy laughed loud enough to attract attention, while the statement remained too blunt to be revealing to potential eavesdroppers.
"Hey! That was so cheap!" he yelled, not quite as loudly as Luffy but still audible. The three were positioned at the end of the largest of the tables in the mess hall, completely oblivious to everyone else in the room. The two of them just continued to laugh as Ace grew more and more irritated.
It was about mid-morning, just in time for a late breakfast. Both Zoro and Ace had chosen a simple bowl of cereal and a slice of toast for their breakfast, seeing as lunch was only a few hours away. Luffy, however, had chosen to get the most elaborate breakfast the cooks would allow, consisting of a plate of waffles saturated in grape syrup and smothered in whip cream, a bowl of cereal, scrambled eggs, a glass of milk, orange juice, and a few strips of bacon he had managed to mooch off of some kid who happened to be sitting near by. Despite all this, Luffy was the first of the three to complete his meal and the first to complain that he was still hungry.
He stood and walked into the kitchen with such conviction etched into his features that you would figure he was going off to war. In his mind, I'm sure he was. Almost as quickly as he had entered, he reappeared from behind the same door looking extremely unsatisfied.
"They said that I couldn't have any more or I wouldn't get lunch." He stated with such scorn that you may have considered it a federal crime. He sat pouting for a few minutes until his eyes wandered over to Ace's plate. Before the plan could even hatch, however, Ace snatched up his toast and stuffed it into his mouth. So much for that idea. Zoro of course was his second option. Much to his surprise, he didn't even have to ask or attempt to steal something off Zoro's plate. He just willingly relinquished his toast. The raven-haired teen gleefully snatched it from his hand and stuffed it into his mouth, unconsciously mimicking Ace's actions.
"See Ace? I didn't even have to ask Zoro. He's a true friend." To punctuate this he poked out his tongue in a playful manner.
After Luffy had eaten the slice of toast, the three were officially finished with their meals and headed off to the kitchen to rinse their plates and put them in the dishwasher. Just as they had finished with the plates the two teens from last night approached them, the shorter one addressing Zoro:
"I've got it! You're a plant man right? That's why your hair is green?"
"Uhh...No."
"Damn! I though I had it!" with that he walked away, having no reason to stick around since his hypothesis had failed him. The taller teen started to follow then remembered something:
"Hey, Robin is looking for you two. I think she's still in the laundry room."
"'Kay thanks!" Luffy called as the teen slipped around the corner. After this Ace turned towards Luffy and Zoro.
"I've got some stuff I gotta do so I'll see ya later." Luffy and Zoro headed down the steps to the laundry room, following the same path as they had the day before in the exact opposite direction Ace had gone. When Zoro stepped into the room he found that the woman who had been his waitress at the Spiders Café was the only person present.
"Hey Robin! You wanted to see us?" Luffy piped, as he pulled one of the chairs littering the room away from a table and sat down.
"That's right. I figured that if I didn't fill Zoro-kun in he would remain perpetually in the dark." She stated as she picked up one of the freshly-laundered shirts and began to fold it.
A soft clicking sound on cement drew Zoro's attention away from the mysterious woman, and he glanced around in an attempt to locate the source of the noise. His focus settled on a fuzzy brown creature holding a perfectly-balled sock between its hooves.
"Is this right Robin?" It squeaked. She nodded and smiled.
"Yes, that's perfect Chopper-kun."
"Holy shit! It's a talking raccoon-dog!" Zoro shouted loud enough to make Chopper jump and hide- in the wrong position- behind one of the washing machines.
"I'm a reindeer, asshole!" He replied quite indignantly.
"Ya, maybe a mutant reindeer…"
"Well actually, you're not that far off." Robin interrupted. Zoro blinked and gave her a clueless look; he had no idea what that was supposed to mean. She chuckled mysteriously. "I suppose I should start from the top… I assume you're familiar with Bananawa Inc.?"
"Bananawa as in the major company? That Bananawa?"
"Yes. They began with researching how to cure genetic disorders, but as research progressed they began to think they were capable of more. Research is a lot more complex than the public knows at this point. They began genetic testing on animals." Robin nodded towards Chopper, who was still holding the sock, "Chopper is an example of this: advanced speech and vocabulary, the ability to participate in conversations. A major accomplishment for scientists everywhere, that alone could have made them famous. But no, they kept their discovery a secret, convinced that they could do so much more; they moved on to bigger things."
"Bigger? Bigger like how?" Inquired Zoro, although he could only assume that he already knew the answer.
"Animals weren't all they tested on in Bananawa. They started testing on humans, convinced that they could make the race better, make it perfect." She heaved a sigh and continued, as though quoting: "'A landmark for the human race.' They started by genetically enhancing fetuses in test tubes. This procedure was ultimately believed to have failed, so they tried a more direct approach. They directly altered the DNA of some of the employees, and they succeeded. Some came willingly, others didn't have a choice, and some just didn't know what they were getting into."
"Wait… you said that the first experiment with humans was believed to be a failure. Does that mean it did work?" Zoro questioned, his head spinning with the new information she had thrown at him.
"Believed, yes. The gene was found to be dormant until puberty, some time between 12-16 years of age. Rarely past sixteen, but there are some cases with 'late bloomers'. Sometimes the body will reject the gene, and they will grow up as normal children. Once the company discovered the dormant gene they searched desperately for the people who they had experimented on only to release at a young age before they could sustain any memories; they were afraid that someone would find out about their illegal testing on humans. And the only way to hide the gene was by 'killing' the person and taking them back to their lab. That's where we come in."
"… So you're telling me that you're a mutant… hiding other mutants. The next thing you're going to tell me is that the genes are passed down through the males and that Ace's real name is Professor Xavier."
"It's no joke. I was the first of the directly-experimented humans. The method they used was the same used on the earlier tests, and they thought the experiment had failed, so they changed the procedure. They didn't know if the new procedure would be harmful or not, so they brought in a 'disposable resource', who just happened to be a convicted felon."
"Who was that?" Zoro asked.
"That's not important…" before she could move on, Luffy began to cough a very, very fake cough, which sounded suspiciously like the word 'Smoker'… but maybe that was just him.
"Anyway…" she continued shooting a sharp look Luffy's way that instantly shut him up, "The procedure worked, and he was the first to actually exhibit positive results. My abilities were revealed soon after- they never were quite sure why mine were delayed. Then came Ace, who just happened to be in his twenties, and feeling invincible like most kids his age, recklessly signed up for the program. Eventually Bananawa classified the experiments: any animals tested on were referred to as Zoan, anyone who was tested on as an embryo-and before they switched the procedure in my case- were classified as Paramecia, and those who were tested on directly were considered Logia. Eventually the company ran out of available test subjects and began picking people up off the streets, primarily hitchhikers. Most of the people in Bananawa didn't question it, but as soon as Leader-san heard they were using unwilling patrons he decided to found this… protection agency, I suppose, with Smoker-san…"
"Oh, were they friends?"
"On the contrary, those two fought like cats and dogs, but that's what got things done." She fell silent, giving Zoro a moment to grasp the new information and contemplate.
"So, are there a lot of people who were tested on?"
"Actually, you're the only person in this entire estate who hasn't been tested on." Zoro was taken aback. That was a lot of people…
"So… what do you do?" Robin chuckled mysteriously, as though she had expected this question, and he had no doubt she hadn't. "I suppose you'll see soon enough. Most of the students here haven't fully harnessed their abilities and so they never use them while others, like your friend here, have a natural talent for it and can use them quite well."
Just as he was about to ask another question, Zoro realized that something in the room was off. He turned only to find that Luffy had vanished. Before He could even turn around Robin answered the unasked question: he had left shortly after the 'comment' about Smoker. Zoro gave his thanks and wandered off down the hall.
He sighed and started off in a random direction, seeing as he didn't know the layout of the catacomb-like rooms and even if he did he'd most likely still get lost. For a while he walked forward in a serene silence, all the while admiring the decorations.
On the bottom floor, instead of the multi-colored doors that were present on a good majority of the other floors, the walls were decorated with works of art: photography, paintings, sculptures, and banners littered the otherwise blank hallway. Some were better than others, for some appeared to be designed by a professional whilst others looked as if they had been crafted during a high school art class. Most likely these various pieces of art had been made by the people residing in these walls and it appeared that some of these people had real talent.
Too bad their talent could never truly be recognized seeing as they were 'dead', so to speak. As he walked along the wall on his left dropped away, and he turned almost running head-long into a very tall, dark-skinned, and slightly intimidating man. He had just barely side-stepped to avoid collision when he heard the 'ding' of an elevator announcing its arrival.
He slipped through the doors and into an empty elevator. For a moment he wondered how it was running if there wasn't anyone to keycard the shuttle, but soon found that some good Samaritan had chosen to press all the buttons on the elevator so they could pick up anyone in need of a lift. It rose one floor before he chose to get off. Now on the first floor he began his search for Luffy, first checking the lounge, the mess hall, to no avail. Both of these rooms were completely deserted as if everyone had suddenly decided to pile into a van and drive to Vegas for big bucks and hot dates.
Deciding that he may find Luffy in Ace's office he stepped up to the door and knocked twice. No answer. This time he knocked harder, and called his name. Again no one came to the door. Someone did, however, come to meet the knocking. This wasn't necessarily good news, seeing as he had just barely ducked when the Louisville slugger came crashing into the door above him shattering the shuttered glass window.
Haha cliffie much? Oh and BTW a Louisville slugger is a baseball bat…duh, but just incase you didn't know…