I don't have many questions I have to answer today, although, as expected, a few people were left confused or concerned at Julia's appearance; you know, because she's a Wittebane…. I'll leave at that for now. Can't give anything away, now can I?
As for the whole "delayed Boiling Isles" thing, don't you lot worry your little heads. You'll see what happens because of the whole "delayed Boiling Isles" thing when Luz eventually does head to the boiling isles.
But, that's for later. So how about we just get into this chapter, shall we?
[The "Not-So-Dull" Summer Camp – Pt 2]
"What do you mean you're commandeering the camp?!" A pale-skinned man with black hair spoke out in a tiny little remote office just off to the side of the Reality Check Summer Camp camping grounds.
The man was wearing a brown button-down vest and a purple shirt underneath. For legwear, he wore a pair of standard beige shorts with long white socks. For footwear, he wore a pair of black leather hiking boots with steel toes inside. The man had a rather bushy mustache on his upper lip, and a soul patch forming on his chin. He was rather muscular, though not all that much in comparison to the person in front of him.
The person in question was wearing a black two-piece suit with a white dress shirt underneath, over top of which was a black tie. Their hair was dark brown, and their eyes were a deep blue. Mixed with their white skin, they looked to be your stereotypical FBI agent, minus the sunglasses and wiretap connected to their ear.
"With all due respect, counsellor Johnson, this is for the safety of the people of Connecticut. I'm sure you understand, no?" The man asked as Johnson rocketed up from his chair, slamming his hands onto the desk with enough force to shake the table.
"With all due respect, Governor, I quite frankly do not agree to this! In fact, you didn't even approach me to say it was okay for you to do this! I already had everything planned out! You can't just waltz up in here and—"
"You're right," The Governor interrupted, reclining in the wooden chair that he was offered when he first walked into the building to begin their current discussion. "I didn't speak to you about it. I spoke to your boss, counsellor Johnson. Do you want to know what they said? They said that I was free to do whatever I pleased. You're lucky I decided to speak with you about this to at least make sure you were aware of the current situation, to begin with."
As the Governor spoke, his blank expression turned to one of unamusement, as he folded his arms across his chest while narrowing his eyes at the counsellor. Johnson guffawed at the blatant nonchalance that the Governor was giving off, leading to him getting even angrier. But, instead of screaming his face off, he composed himself, not wanting to continue to let the Governor to get a rise out of him.
No. Instead, his eyes left the Governor of Connecticut's face and panned down to see something in front of his desk that the man in front of him had placed there.
There was a folder that had been placed on the desk labelled as TOP SECRET. The Governor had put it there at the beginning of the meeting, which had immediately dictated the tone of the conversation at hand. Then he had mentioned that he was commandeering the camp, which had only added to the further mounting stress the counsellor was feeling.
But to top it off, The Governor had now made it clear that Johnson had no choice but to follow along with what he had in mind. And what he had in mind had to have been in that folder.
"Go on, open it. It contains the new schedule this camp will be undergoing for the foreseeable future, counsellor," the Governor explained as the counsellor took the file and opened it, flipping through the pages within with a steadily alarmed expression. The more he read, the more his eyes widened in shock.
"You… you can't be serious!? These are children, Governor! What the hell is—"
"You will be doing it, regardless," the Governor interrupted yet again, his tone leaving no room for argument as his eyes narrowed even more at the counsellor, who had just looked up from the folder, a look of shock and disgust on his face.
"But if you're so against doing it yourself, then I will take the job off of your hands. After all, I have found myself with progressively more free time as of late, so I don't see why not. That way you can attend to the rest of the people who will actually go through with your mundane camp," The Governor said as he leaned forward, making the counsellor lean backward in slight fear.
"These people, these children—as you were so keen to point out—are dangerous. They are biological weapons. While they did not choose to be that way, the government, I.E. myself for the state of Connecticut, have to keep the people's best interest in mind. To keep their safety in mind. Besides, counsellor, it's not as if we're torturing them, now are we? Think of this as a… I don't know, a boot camp of sorts? No, more like a survivalist camp. We've increased your funding for the project anyway, so why are you complaining?" The Governor asked as the counsellor clamped his jaw shut.
The Governor laughed, relaxing his arms as he stood up. "See! I knew I could talk some sense into you, counsellor Johnson. Besides, who needs to know algebra and complex maths when you can be learning how to serve this great nation?"
"This isn't right…." Johnson murmured, shaking his head. In response, the Governor shrugged.
"What's right and what's wrong doesn't matter in the end. As I said, counsellor Johnson, I and now you, have a duty to uphold. Those kids will be getting here in the next three hours, correct? When they do, separate those with and without superpowers based on the list we sent you over email, which you can print out easily. Those that are without powers can attend the regular camp. Those with? Well, you read the new schedule. It shouldn't be too hard to figure out, now will it?" The Governor asked as Johnson sighed in defeat.
"Yeah… it wouldn't be too difficult to do, Governor." As Johnson said that, the Governor smiled.
"Very good, counsellor Johnson. I look forward to meeting our new super soldiers in the coming hours." With that, the Governor of Connecticut left the small wooden office building that belonged to Camp Counsellor Darek Johnson. Putting down the folder, Darek looked over to his desktop computer as a list of names appeared alongside their status.
"33 out of 40 of these kids have superpowers. 7 of those kids won't have to go through with this, so they can stay with the rest of the regular staff. The rest go with The Governor and his men…. I'm sorry, but I have no choice. Please, God, forgive me, because I'm sending these children to their doom…."
xxXXxxXXxx
Luz had a hard time trying to stay awake during the entirety of the bus ride. In fact, she was fairly certain she had nearly fallen asleep, or flat out did on numerous occasions, but quickly woke herself up in case she missed the bus stop at a gas station; which she nearly did. So, being the nice friend that she was, she woke Julia up and the two went into the gas station as they were told to by the bus attendant.
Luz ended up getting a medium bag of pretzel sticks and a soft drink, specifically Coke-a-Cola, while Julia got herself one of those crappy gas station salads that were way too pricey to actually be good. Of course, the two also went to the bathroom before that, but that was not important.
When they got back on the bus, the pair sat in the same seat as they sat in before, only this time Luz had the window side while Julia sat on the aisle side. After a small conversation about their favourite type of pets—Luz's being puppies for very, very obvious reasons, and finding out that Julia was more of a fish person, once everyone else boarded the bus ride continued yet again.
Once Luz finished her food, she was able to get some sleep this time around, about 4 hours, to be exact. and when the bus stopped again, it was when they were at the camp. By this time, it was fairly dark out, seeing as it was around 8:35 PM, at least according to Julia's phone.
One by one, everyone was filed off the bus. She couldn't see out the windows due to how dark it was, and the lack of any street lights didn't help the matter. It sent a chill down Luz's spine for some reason or another, and because of that, she got a bad feeling about… something. Taking her suitcase from underneath her seat at the back of the bus, she was escorted out of the bus by the attendant, who didn't get off with her, which already raised alarm bells.
She still couldn't see a thing, which unnerved her. She couldn't see Julia either, nor any of the other kids. "Hello?!" Luz called out, only to get nothing in reply. She looked all around her, only to find no one else. The bus began to back out of the little spot in the woods where it had parked, and as soon as it did, Luz felt a sharp and sudden pain in the back of her head. She had no time to react, as she immediately fell to the floor.
And then, she was out like a light. When she came to, she found herself laying atop something. Slowly sitting up, she looked down to see it was a bed. Her eyes were still getting used to the sudden influx of light, a groan leaving her as she looked around the room. Or, well, less of a room and more like a massive green tent. The ground was just that, ground, and the bed she was in was held up by a metal frame.
When her eyes finally adjusted, she saw that she wasn't the only person in a metal-framed bed. There were others. 32 others, to be exact, and one by one they all started to wake up. As they did, a figure moved into the tent through a throw-open door flap that most tents of this scale had.
The person in question was wearing a camouflage uniform, a camouflage hat, a pair of sunglasses, and a pair of brown leather boots. They were dressed like a soldier, and because of that, once again, just like last night—assuming it was daytime, alarm bells rang throughout Luz's head.
"Alright, everyone! Get up! You got 10 minutes to be ready and out to the field. You don't want to know what happens if you don't. Get going!" The man shouted earning several confused mutters and groans throughout the whole tent. He sneered, but turned around and left.
"Luz…?" A soft, tired-sounding voice spoke up to her left, which she recognized to be Julia's.
"Julie…? Are you alright? Did you get a sudden pain in the back of your head too?" Luz asked the barely conscious teen, who nodded as she sat up, cupping her forehead with a look of pain in her eyes.
"Yes. I think we might've been kidnapped…."
"Kidnapped?!" A loud voice to Luz's right spoke up as a boy with presumably dyed green hair spoke, eyes wide. He had caramel brown skin similar to Luz's own and was wearing a white and green striped shirt. He had flipped the covers off of his lower half, revealing a pair of rainbow shorts. "That can't be right!? Who would kidnap a bunch of teenagers?!"
"Sick freaks, that's who…." A voice from in front of Luz said, the voice belonging to what appeared to be a goth girl. She had caramel brown eyes, tan skin, and black hair. She was wearing a long black dress with a white bow at the border between said dress and a light brown turtle neck shirt. "Name's Carla, by the way."
"Right…." Luz said, rubbing the back of her head, a phantom pain still making the back of her head ache. "Well, we should probably do as they ask, right? I don't want to know what happens if we're late," Luz suggested as everyone else who had just been as confused as well as everyone else, started to leave their beds. Oddly enough, a pattern that Luz had noticed was that they all still had their shoes on.
"Maybe that Carla girl was right…! These people are sick freaks! Who lets anyone sleep with shoes on?!" Luz thought, clearing her thoughts as she made her way toward the exit of the tent, adopting a more serious mindset… if that was even possible. "Focus, Luz! You were just kidnapped by some guy in a military uniform. I've seen enough death-game anime to know where this is going… just keep a rational head, and don't do or say anything dumb like you normally do!"
As she walked out of the tent, a line had formed just in front of and behind her. In front of her were the two people she had just met, the nameless orange-haired boy, and Carla, while behind her was Julia, who looked on edge, her eyes dancing from left to right constantly. She had her guard up, which was a pretty good idea considering, well, everything.
When they got out and into the field, they were bombarded by blue skies and the bright light of the sun, cementing that it was, indeed, daytime. On top of that, they were met with two other people in camouflage clothing, and a man in a black, two-piece suit.
The man in question was tall, really tall, maybe six feet tall if Luz had to guess. He was also muscular, kind like those wrestlers her mamáwould watch from time to time on the TV. He wore a tie around his neck, as well as a white dress shirt underneath his suit. His hair was dark brown, and his eyes were light blue. Both of his hands were behind his back, and the look in his eyes was judgemental to say the very least.
"Who the hell are you?! You don't look like the camp counsellor or any counsellor for that matter!" One of the other kids said as Luz glanced over to where the voice belonged to. The person in question looked like your stereotypical upper-middle-class kid. Blond hair, white shirt, black jeans, thin as a stick and paler than lard. The man sighed, shaking his head.
"I am the Governor of this fine State, thank you very much. My name is Rodger Maxwell. That's Mr. Rodger Maxwell to you, Kennedy Jenkins," The Governor, aka Rodger Maxwell said, causing the boy to freeze in place, the colour draining from his face in starch fear.
And he wasn't the only one who felt their hearts drop. Luz was one of those people. The Governor of the very State she lived in Kidnapped them? For what purpose? Was her stupid guess right? Was she really being put into a death-game scenario?! She had played and watched far too much Danganronpa to know how that would end if that were the case.
Luckily for her, she didn't have to voice that question. Someone else did.
"Why did you kidnap us?" A shockingly calm, yet also slightly on edge voice spoke out. The person the voice belonged to was a rather thin yet tall girl. She, unlike most of the people there, was darker skinned. Although, there were parts of her arms and even some parts of her face that were lighter, or sometimes even white. She heard her mamá talk about something called Vitiligo. She didn't fully pay attention to what she had said, but it was something along the lines of pigment in the skin being lost over time.
The girl was wearing a black crop top that exposed her midriff, as well as a pair of jean shorts with pockets dangling from the outside of said shorts. She also looked older than everyone else in there, maybe 17, or hell, maybe even 18. Her hair was long and white, which added further credence to the whole "Vitiligo" thing.
Rodger hummed at the question, raising an eyebrow. "Kidnap? No, I think you misunderstand. This is Reality Check Summer Camp. But, with a twist," Rodger began as he stuffed his hands into his pockets. "With the sudden awakening of Superpowers all across America, the government has decided to use facilities such as this place to, well, facilitate the monitoring of said powers that you lot have."
"Huh?"
"To put it simply; plans have changed. What was originally going to be a regular, boring, mundane camp meant for breaking your spirits and turning you into cubicle working wage-slaves, has now been transformed for the sole purpose of finding out just what kind of powers you have, and what it is they can do, by simulating a high functioning stress simulator meant to train soldiers who are about to go out to war, once again, with a twist. Said activity is a little-known thing I like to call: Civil War."
There was nothing but silence amongst the group of 33 teenagers of varying ages. But, if there was one thing that they were all feeling at that one moment that they could collectively agree on, it was fear. Fear for the unknown, and fear of whatever the hell this "civil war" activity was going to be.
But, almost as if Governor Rodger Maxwell could read minds, he answered the unspoken question. "Now, I get the feeling you all don't know what that means. So, allow me to enlighten you." Rodger began as he took both of his hands out of his pockets, placed the right one behind his back, and the left one by his side as he began to pace back and forth.
"The 33 of you will be divided into 3 different factions of 11 people. One group will be known as Foxtrot, another will be known as The Alpha Squadron, and the third will be known as The Heavens Devils. Each group of three will be given a map as to where their base camp will be, and only where their base camp will be, not anyone else's camp."
The silence was the only thing that The Governor got in response. A feeling of dread washed over everyone, including Luz. Faces distorted in concern, worry, and strangely enough, intrigue littered the crowd as Rodger smirked. Almost as if that was the reaction he was looking for.
Luz looked over to Julia, who seemed to be attentive, paying attention to every word as if it was the last thing she would be hearing till the day she died. Her eyes glimmered in anger, repulsion, and fury; yet that ever-calm expression did not display any of that. In a way, Luz now grew to envy Julia for that characteristic, because compared to her, Luz probably looked like a frightened dog whimpering as they were chained up to be shot in the face point blank with a shotgun.
"Wow… I play way too much Wolfenstein if that was the first thing I thought of…."
"Great! At least I know you all are paying attention!" Luz was snapped out of her thoughts when Governor Rodger spoke up again. "Now, behind me is a forest. In that forest you will be suspected to survive the whole summer; otherwise… well, I don't think I need to tell you what the opposite of survival is. The simulation will end when either the time is up, or if two of the three groups are eliminated. And I don't just mean eliminated via some sort of tacky game of tag. I mean eliminated. Killed. Wiped off the face of the Earth. Only the 11 best, or hell, maybe even less than that, will be allowed to go home following a non-disclosure agreement being signed by the winners, or in the worst case scenario, winner."
Shock. Disgust. And vocal protests were what the Governor was met with. All until the two soldiers behind him drew out some variant of semi-automatic weaponry, which immediately caused everyone in the crowd to shut up, and for the fear of God to be put in anyone who saw it.
"Now, now, I'm sure there's no need to bear arms in front of children. Put your weapons down, men. It's unnecessary," Rodger said as the soldiers did as they were told. Afterward, with a look of amusement on his face, Rodger asked a rather simple question, yet that question held far more weight than anything of its sort should have been able to have.
"Now… any questions?"
-To Be Continued-
Yup! I bet no one saw that one coming, now did you? Take about going from 0 to 100 really fucking quickly, yeah? Well, I mean, to be fair to me, I needed some reason to make Luz gain some powers before she jumped into the boiling isles, while also growing her character in a rather… different direction (as Ao3 tags state, Morally Grey) other than in the show, where she was, at best, Neutral Good, or Lawful Good.
Point is, this is basically giving me a reason to start fleshing out more of my version of Luz, but not enough as to where she becomes a separate character entirely.
Also, for those who are worried that Lumity wouldn't be happening. I mean, I don't know about you, but the tags make it pretty clear that it is.
Anyway, that's enough out of me. I'll see you all in the next chapter. Peace!
