So I'm gonna formally apologize for the delay on this chapter. I'm also gonna say that my upload schedule was garbage and I'm just going to post chapters when their finished. A couple notes before the chapter:
Firstly, I haven't decided on what name I'm going to use for Romania, though in do like Andrei, so until then he's going to be Vlad.
Secondly, I personally don't think this chapter is the best. It's something at least, and it gets me closer to where I want this story to go (finally).
Resistance, meet the Resistance
They were in the vans for quite some time. Arthur would've counted the minutes if it wouldn't make him go crazy. Unfortunately, Francis had been put in the same van as him. Erzsébet, Matthew, and Kiku were all with him too.
Arthur didn't want to be the leader most of the time, but someone had to be. That came with its own set of problems, since the rest of the Resistance looked to him for plans and guidance.
For the first time in his life, Arthur didn't have a plan.
He couldn't find a way out of their little predicament without someone getting killed; there was just no possible way. Alfred was sure to be subdued, lest his parents get any more hurt. Even if one of them managed to run... the guards had guns. The Vargas Brothers could attempt to teleport away, but Feliciano was likely too frantic to focus and Lovino would never leave his brother behind.
Francis was being awfully quiet. Arthur expected the frog to start blaming things on him as soon as possible but instead Francis had his head against the wall separating the drivers from the prisoners.
Then, the vans came to an abrupt stop, lurching nearly everyone forward. Kiku seemed to be the only one not thrown off balance.
The driver swore and slammed the door. "They can't have gone too far, search the area."
"They?" Matthew muttered, looking at Arthur. The best Arthur could do was shrug. After all, he didn't know who 'they' were or what they were doing.
"We need to stay on schedule, we're supposed to be back soon. Get back in the car but keep your eyes peeled." said Popescu.
With a "yes, sir" the driver got back in their seat and the van started moving again, leaving the confused Abnormals with a long list of questions.
They couldn't see out of the van-the only window being blocked by bars and covered from the outside- so there was no way of seeing what had happened. Arthur only had sound to go off.
The van didn't crash, but it did stop. This left Arthur to believe that something or someone stopped the van; most likely something was in the way.
"They must have gone pretty far," said Kiku.
Arthur was caught off guard, "What do you mean?"
"The driver said they couldn't of gone far, but they weren't found."
"Oh," Arthur said. He didn't take Kiku for the joking type.
Francis still hadn't said anything, though he did give Arthur a nasty look when said Brit laughed after Francis was thrown into the wall his head was pressed against. Erzsébet hadn't said anything either, at least not since she revealed that Popescu was the man who caught her. Matthew must have been panicking silently, because his form kept flickering in and out of sight. Sometimes his invisibility became unstable. Matthew's panicking was justified; he had seen first hand how cruel G. E. A. R could be. It was G. E. A. R's fault his... power tended to malfunction.
Out of all the Resistance, Matthew had every reason to be cold or cruel, just as his captors were. Instead the boy chose to be kind, helping people from the shadows. He was also the second Resistance member that had opened up about their past. Alfred was the first, but his childhood really hadn't been all that interesting.
"Enough of that," said Matthew.
Arthur shook his head, "What?"
"You had that look on your face. Like you were... reminiscing or something. We have more pressing matters."
"I... yes, I suppose we do. I hate to say it, but I don't know what to do." He really did hate to say it; people counted on him and he felt as though he was letting them down.
Kiku was staring at the empty space between Francis and Arthur in deep thought.
The driver swore again, and the van swerved violently. Again everyone, except Kiku of course, was thrown into each other, Francis being squashed between Arthur and the wall (Arthur hated touching the frog but it was quite funny).
Having nothing in the way of sight to go off, Arthur assumed the person or people who had stopped the van had returned. The van swerved twice more.
"Vladimir really wants to be on time..." Erzsébet mumbled.
"On time for what?" Francis asked.
Kiku, Matthew, and Erzsébet gave each other sour looks, then said in unison, "Initiation."
Francis told them to stop being creepy.
"Everyone G. E. A. R takes has to go through what they call 'initiation'," Matthew elaborated, "it's basically just the first test and it's different for everyone. You get a power dampening ankle cuff that looks like a house arrest anklet and they give you some ragged clothes to wear. Then they take you to a hospital looking room and begin the testing."
"And when that's done you get your very own room." Erzsébet said bitterly, doing jazz hands. Kiku nodded.
The van slowed to a stop and Arthur picked up voices from behind it.
"That takes care of that. Are you sure this is worth it?" asked one of them.
"They will prove useful with time," answered another, "we will need them if we are going to get your brothers back." Arthur noted the accents both voices had.
The van doors were opened. Arthur had to squint at the sudden influx of light, but he saw a blond man with black glasses. Behind the man was five other men all ranging in ages from 17 to 25. The youngest had platinum blog hair that was almost grey. Next the him was another platinum blond, who was followed by another... were they all blond? They were, with the expecting of a large green... thing next to one of them that seemed somewhat ethereal. The man next to the green Troll looking thing spoke.
"It would be best if you stopped gawking. We need you to come with us."
Erzsébet hopped out first, then Kiku, then Matthew and Francis. Arthur was sceptical; he didn't know these people or their intentions, how could he trust them? At least, that was what he thought until he saw the look on everyone's faces.
They were defeated. No one wanted to run anymore, the threat of returning to the compounds that held so many of the group captive loomed over them all. Going with these strangers was their best option.
They had never found the mansion Lovino and Feliciano's grandfather left them; they had no where to go.
"Who are you? Where do you want us to go?" Arthur asked. It was something they all wanted to know, but no one risked asking in case it would jeopardize their chance.
The man who answered-the one who had told them to go with him-had a permanent glaze over his violet eyes, as though he was looking elsewhere. The troll-like monster stood next to him like a bodyguard. "It's best if we get going. If we stand around for too long we would most certainly be captured or killed. Please call me L."
L decided that was the last he wanted to talk and started walking past the vans and off the road. Having nothing better to do, Arthur and the gang followed.
The Resistance members pestered the strangers with various questions, like "who are you?" or "why did you help us?" to no avail. As soon as he could, L turned and started a trek though the woods just as his monstrous bodyguard disappeared. None of the strangers found this the least bit concerning or weird.
Eventually they made it to a collapsed entryway to an abandoned subway station. L and his friends moved the rubble aside and opened the entrance up before doing down the staircase. 'No offense' Arthur thought, 'but an abandoned subway isn't my idea of a good place to stay'.
His thoughts were quickly dashed when they got to the bottem of the stairs. The station wasn't creepy at all, but rather warm and inviting. In one corner was a makeshift kitchen, in another was a bunch of beds, and in a small room off to the the side were the bathrooms. L sat on one of the beds and gestured for everyone else to do so too.
"You want answers, yes?" asked L, "Go ahead."
"Who are you?" at least five people asked at once.
"My name is Lukas. This is Magnus," he pointed to a tall blond with spiky hair, "Emil," the grey blond, "Berwald," who really just looked like Ludwig with glasses, "Tino," a short, young looking man with an oddly excited look in his eyes, "and Eduard," another blond with glasses, although this time with less muscles, "next question."
"Why did you call yourself L?" asked Michelle.
"... Let me tell you why you were captured. You use your names freely. Every motel, every mission, every phone contact. G. E. A. R knows your full names; they can trace you. They know who your family is and they can use that against you. That's why we don't use our names. "
"You use letters," Michelle filled in.
Lukas nodded, "It's easier."
"What is this place?" Feliks asked next.
"We call it the Abnormal Underground. It's the first place we settled after... it doesn't matter. It's safe, off of G. E. A. R's radar."
"Why did you help us?" asked Ludwig.
"You are a necessary component. We have people inside the compounds that we would like to get out, and that is what you deal in. It would be best if we worked together. They would only go wrong if we let you go."
"You sound so certain about that." Lovino said sceptically.
"I am certain."
Lovino was clearly unsatisfied with that answer, but didn't press any more. Alfred took out his phone and stood up, mumbling about needing to call someone. No one stopped him from going into an isolated corner.
"What can you all do?" asked Kiku, pulling out a pen and a piece of crumpled paper. After meeting the Resistance he had started writing down an extensive list of Abnormalities and what they could do on that paper; he was rather fascinated by it.
Magnus took over this time, "Well, do you want the long explanation or the short one?"
"Long, please."
"Alright, I can heat up my body to set things on fire. Berwald here can absorb shocks, Tino's got some kind of persuasion thing going on, Emil can do some crazy things with geothermal Heat, Eduard can... I don't know, project things technologically, and Lukas here can see possible futures. And conjure monsters... That wasn't all that long actually."
"Wait... you have two powers?" Kiku asked Lukas.
"Yes." Lukas sighed.
"How is that...?"
"A mutation upon a mutation. Rare- very rare- but not impossible. Something happened with my genes, I guess they didn't form correctly."
"That's..." Kiku breathed, writing furiously.
"Anyway," said Tino, "why don't we get you all settled-"
"You're looking for your brothers." Arthur remembered, pointing to Eduard.
"Oh! Yes, I am." Eduard said, caught off guard.
"And you think we're able to help?"
"Lukas already said that things would be disastrous if you don't." Eduard pushed his glasses higher up his nose.
"Where are they? What are their names?"
"Ravis and Tolys. But first, Tino's right, why don't we get you settled."