The Meaning of Blue
Chapter has finally been completed after like..a few months? Nice. Anyways, things begin to pick up soon!
The lab was eerily silent, save for the constant dripping of water coming from a leaky pipe and the thrum of machines that were somehow running even though they had been abandoned for years; machines that should not have been running. Apart from the roaches and mice that had made their home in the abandoned lab, nobody was there.
Nobody crept quietly through the room, eyes flicking warily around the damp and darkened room, the only source of light being a singular dull flickering florescent light and the slight light from machinery buttons. Nobody crouched down beside the files strewn across the floor before peering at the filing cabinet.
The sound of grating rusty metal filled the room. The filing cabinet was ajar, the pages being hastily ruffled through, although anybody watching could tell that it was a fruitless attempt. Then again, there was no point in watching for there was nobody there to watch.
The filing cabinet slammed shut, the loud clang resounding around the room for nobody to hear.
Nobody left the room, unsatisfied.
"Has he woken up?" Alpha asked as he entered Strike Squad's common room, looking nervously over at Chase, who was slumbering on the couch. Tango shook her head.
"Not even twitched," she murmured, flicking her own dark eyes over to the couch. "What did Lieutenant Trey have to say?"
Alpha's face immediately darkened. "The same as usual," he said derisively. "'Don't worry, I'll get it under control, there's nothing to worry about! Everything's fine!'" he quoted the former Commander, and Tango sighed. "Just as useful as always."
"Everything is not fine," she threw herself down onto the nearest armchair, placing her head in her hands. "Everyone likes to pretend everything is fine, but they're just going to end up killing us," Tango looked up at Alpha, despairing. "Alpha, we need to leave, soon."
"He has to know first," the red head said quietly. "Chase is owed that much. I don't know what he has to know, but those Elites this morning…he's going to end up dead because of some stupid monsuno thing."
Tango was about to reply when there came a stirring from the couch. Both fell silent immediately, going still and waiting on baited breath as Chase slowly shifted in his sleep, mumbled something about pillows and teeth before falling back asleep. Alpha released the breath he didn't know he was holding.
"Do you think his team knows something?" Tango said in the quietest of voices, so much that Alpha had to strain to hear her. "You said something you heard that Jinja had tried to convince him not to go to the gathering, yes?"
The gathering had been a social event, and there had been many people there who had wanted to meet Chase, X-Ray had reported. Many seemed disappointed that he had not shown up, and Jon had merely said that Chase had been quite ill to ease their displeasure. As Alpha had seen, that was obviously not the case.
"Something like that," he admitted, leaning his elbows on his knees and resting his head in his hands as his amber eyes roamed Chase's face. His former nemesis looked so peaceful and innocent – the exact opposite of what parts of STORM were beginning to believe. "He seemed really hurt when she said he should have come and he mentioned how she said he wouldn't like it. She seems to know something."
"Dax seems uncertain of Chase's sudden isolation," she commented quietly. "But he owes Dr. Suno too much to say anything."
Alpha nodded absently. "The nerd and that monk…what are their names again?"
"Bren and Beyal?" Tango said dryly. "Yes, those two seem to not agree with whatever's being done here."
"They're the ones who told me Chase left," Alpha nodded slowly. "They seem worried. But…they know something too, something that no one else here does. They've been sticking to each other and whispering a lot lately. They know something big is coming."
"Yes, but what?" came the fearful response, and they both fell silent once more. What was coming? What was it that was subtly breaking apart Core-Tech? What was it that was causing the monk and the nerd to whisper in the darkened corners and regard everything with a suspicion that they shouldn't know? What was it that was holding a fearful sway on the Lowlander and a powerful and secretive control of Jinja? And what deep part was suddenly reaching out in Chase's conscious that was causing him to question and remember?
"I don't know," came the quiet reply, both to Tango and the questions barraging him. The stirring across from them began again, followed by a yawn and a flutter of teal eyes.
Chase had woken up.
"Do you think he's okay?"
Beyal started at Bren's nervous whisper, turning his grey eyes onto the small nerd. For a moment he hesitated.
"I do not know," he admitted. "I would like to say yes, but…" he trailed off, and Bren understood.
"I hope Alpha got to him before anyone else could," Bren moved himself over until he was leaning against the monk's shoulder, both of them resting against the wall in the grey gloom. Both were currently in Bren's room, sitting quietly on the bed as anxiety churned through them. It had begun raining soon after Chase left, despite the blue skies merely minutes earlier, and Bren couldn't help but take the grey and stormy skies as a bad omen.
Maybe he had been hanging around Beyal for too long.
"I am sure he did, Bren," Beyal said softly, shuffling over so they were both pressed firmly against each other, slipping comforting arms around Bren as he rested his chin atop the messy brown hair. "If Alpha could be described in a singular word, it would be urgent."
"Yeah," Bren chucked to himself. "I've never seen anyone get up and leave so quickly…"
They fell into silence again. It was not a silence of awkwardness, but of a nervous tension as they both danced around a subject they were unwilling to discuss. They had been planning it for a while now, ever since they had overheard some of Charlemagne's biggest supporter's hisses, along with the conversation between Jon and Jinja that left even their bones cold, not to mention that one game-changing document they had found…
"It'll be soon, won't it," Bren whispered, and Beyal took a deep breath.
"Very soon," was his hushed reply. A pause. "Perhaps…perhaps we should give Alpha those documents beforehand?"
Bren nodded tiredly. "Yeah…it'll be for the best…Alpha will know what to do with 'em."
After all, who else did they have to rely on?
Dax sat quietly on his bed, ignoring the strong patter of rain in favour of his own thoughts. When he first met Jeredy all those months ago, had thought that it would only be temporary – bury the fail safes, destroy the essence before it destroyed them, be compensated and then on his way again.
Then he'd met Core-Tech.
It had been so rough in the beginning, and he'd almost left in the dead of the night more times than he could count, but then he'd found his place. He found his place with the dramatic Chase who could make you laugh with only a few well-placed words, with the frantic Bren, who had a million and one ways to destroy you virtually but was more like a ruffled puppy in reality, with the peaceful Beyal who could put you at ease with just a glance and a smile, with the vivacious Jinja who out-spiced even the most well stocked of spice racks and had just as much kick too.
So swiftly and suddenly had they become family that he couldn't imagine a life without – but now he'd have to live with a life without. Would he?
Dax pushed the question aside, shaking his head. He owed Jeredy too much to back out now, but just the thought of – of what he'd been asked. How could he do it? How could he allow it?
He knew he was better than this; Chase had made him believe that much. But in the end, who was going to do the most damage if he failed them – Chase, or Jeredy?
He shivered at the thought. It wasn't something he wanted to find out.
When Chase woke up, it was to tense silence, which, he mused, wasn't the best way to wake up. He blearily peered around, uncertain of where he was for a moment, and his eyes caught a hint of red, a particular shade that could have only belong to one person.
"Alpha?" Chase questioned, raising a hand to push the hair from his face. "I – where'd Kilo go? How long have I been asleep?"
"An hour or so, give or take," Tango responded easily. "Kilo went with Bravo to go fetch some items."
"R-Right…" he responded, eyes wandering the room. It was easily duller than his own common room, although he supposed it was only natural. This room had been made up while Charlemagne was still in power, and he guessed she wasn't the type for colour or comfort. Everything was the barest minimum, as he remembered from the last few times being in here, although here and there were splashes of personality beginning to bleed from the rooms. Here a plant, there a misshapen clay something, and a worn dinosaur plush sat on one of the dining chairs. He spied a painting that hadn't been there last time he was here, and was about to question it's appearance when someone cleared their throat.
"Uh, Chase…" Alpha began awkwardly. "We need to talk."
"Hm?" Chase turned to face Alpha, frowning, as the previous tension seemed to increase. He subconsciously reached for one of the couch pillows and hugged it, feeling as if he may need it in a few seconds. "What about?"
Alpha and Tango looked at each other. "Remember when we were speaking the other night?" he asked, and Chase nodded, finding it hard to forget. "Remember when – when I mentioned monsuno experiments on humans?"
"That's a bit hard to forget," Chase said dryly, wondering where this was going. "Why?"
Alpha opened his mouth to respond, and Chase was concerned with how tense Alpha looked. Before there was a response however, they were interrupted yet again by the metal doors sliding open with a hiss.
"We got everything!" Bravo said cheerfully, then faltered as he saw Chase sitting on the couch and a jumpy Tango and Alpha. "O-oh, we're doing it now? Is this a bad time?"
"This is a very bad time, Bravo," Tango said edgily. Bravo raised his hands in apology as Kilo carried two rather large canvas bags and took them to the corner of the room, tucking them in a shady alcove that Chase hadn't noticed before.
"Well, can't do nothing about it now," Kilo said awkwardly, his Southern drawl prominent. "Let's just get this over with."
"Get what over with?" Chase looked between the four of them, hands clutching at the pillow. Bravo wouldn't meet his eye, Kilo fumbled with the bags in order not to look at him, Tango was looking at the floor, and Alpha was sitting there with his head in his hands. "And where's X-Ray?"
"Coming with the last of the stuff," Bravo said in a strained voice. Chase wondered what all this stuff was for; it almost looked like supplies, but what would they need all these supplies for? The teen had a sneaking suspicion, but said nothing yet. Alpha looked up at Chase, looking almost guilty, before turning to Tango.
"I don't think I can do it," he said desperately. "Besides, are we even sure we read it right - ?"
"We read it right," came a firm voice from the doorway. X-Ray stood there, looking grim, an empty manila folder in his hands. "But we can't prove it. It's gone."
The four other members of Strike Squad immediately froze before frustrated cries and disappointed hisses filled the room. X-Ray, however, only had eyes for Chase. Confused teal eyes met grim brown ones as the smallest of the group stalked towards him, kneeling down on the ground in front of him.
"You're not going to like hearing this," he said quietly. "But you have to know. You deserve to know," he cleared his throat, ignoring Alpha's and Tango's hushed discussion. "We were…we were snooping around the other day. Y'know, just walking around, finding things we'd never seen, that stuff…and we found this old lab," he steadied himself. "And…we decided to explore. It's pretty deep, and there's still parts we haven't seen, but…there were files in there, so many terrible, horrific files of past experiments and Chase…there was a file with your name on it," Chase's breath hitched and his eyes went wide as X-Ray went to continue. "I – the files are gone, but I know what I read…Chase –"
"Stop," Chase said suddenly, cringing back, not wanting to hear the inevitable. X-Ray continued, ignoring Chase, wanting to get this over with as fast as possible.
"You were one of the first successful monsuno-human experiments Chase," the smaller teen said quietly. "You're a hybrid."