A loud 'Crash' was heard from the other room, the two young women jumped up and ran to investigate.
Two boys were wrestling with another man, Artemis eyes grew wide when she realized that the two boys were Robin and Wally. She hadn't realized it was them at first for they were wearing Union soldier uniforms. She watched the fight then turned toward Lieutenant Peck, his face was red with anger and he was gritting his teeth.
"What on earth is going on here?" she walked to her friends, completely ignoring the stares of all the men. "Why are you fighting?"
Robin jumped off the man's back and looked ashamed "They're forcing us to join their troupe." He motioned for Wally to stop kicking the man and smirked. "He deserved it."
Lieutenant Peck stepped between the boys and Artemis, he placed a hand on Artemis's shoulder, which she just shrugged off. "We are low on soldiers ma'am, we are forced to draft men and boys into the war."
Artemis scowled, "This isn't right, these boys don't even know how to load a gun!"
Robin scoffed, "Yeah I do," He muttered, ignoring a stiff glare from Artemis.
"Which is why we will teach them," the lieutenant stated bluntly, "Now if you don't mind, we have business to attend to." He turned away from Artemis to face the men in his troupe. "We have to be ready to meet General McClellan by September." He looked at Artemis in disgust, "As for you, Bella will give you a dress instead of those," he stared at her pants, "Rags."
"Yes, sir," Artemis said through gritted teeth. Bella led her into an adjacent room.
"I'll help you into the dress Miss Artemis." After thirty minutes of trying to get Artemis into a corset, Bella stepped back and admired her work, "You look stunning!"
The ladies walked back into the room with the men and noticed yet another newcomer. This man was dressed in all blue and was talking to Lieutenant Peck. The messenger looked around the room at the boys and young men "I hope you are ready Lieutenant." and with that, he left.
Well, I know it's kinda short (and really late) but I had a bit of writer's block, but then I decided, I'm bored. So this is what you get for now. I have a lot planned for this story, I just need to figure out how to get there. Wish me luck!
