Giselle looked around the room that Nazz and another person forced her into. It looked like her old apartment and a flashback of that night blocked Giselle's eye sight for a moment. She stood, a blank emotionless facial expression, gripping onto the locked door. Once her sight came back she realized this was not her apartment but a replica. She saw all the cameras, the ones hidden behind mirrors and in every corner of the room. She walked into the bathroom and saw more cameras.
"What the fuck?" She questioned out loud.
"Sorry! I know you've always hated being watched constantly, Giselle. But we need to do this for our reasons." Nazz's voice buzzed over a speaker in the room.
Giselle paid no attention to her old friend. She didn't even want to hear Nazz's voice. The pain of what happened, Nazz talking to David and getting him angry like that, plagued her mind as she thought about her friend. She sat at the wooden dining table and stared at her hands. Never mind the fact that she was being held without her permission, against her will, and definitely against the law. She was worried she was underground, she had to trust the ever constant ticking clock to tell her the times.
She had been contained for two weeks. She kept up with the days by writing the times she woke up and went to bed, calculating the time in between to make a full day. Once a day a masked face brought groceries to her. She became quite accustomed to this person, the first time they came she shrunk away from them. Now she attempts to talk to them, giving them a different name every time.
"So, Julio? How're the kids?" She lounged on the sofa as the person stocked the fridge and pantry.
"Oh, you know, same ol' same." Giselle faked an accent, talking to herself for Julio in the kitchen.
"That's nice Julio. Keepin' Junior outta trouble?"
"Yes, yes, of course!" Giselle talked to herself.
Plank and Nat were in tears behind the monitor. They were laughing so hard at Giselle.
"How is Kevin NOT dying of laughter? This shit is hilarious!" Nat commented.
"Hey, Julio? Before you leave, can I get your advice?" She turned her head, addressing the masked man in the house. Kevin turned his body to her before stepping closer to the door.
"If you were stuck in my position, having people watching you eat, shower, even taking a fucking shit, would you think its worth it? Or would you-" That's as far as Giselle got before a knock on the door stopped her. Kevin took his mask off, shocking Giselle that it was the guy she kicked in the hospital who was Julio.
Kevin opened the door to Nazz. She briefly and vaguely explained he was needed somewhere else and she was sent for Giselle. Giselle's eyes narrowed as Nazz allowed Kevin to lock her in the room.
"Why are you here?" Giselle hissed.
"I know you're very angry with me, I'm very angry with myself. We need to talk." Nazz held her hands up as she walked to the other side of the sofa.
Giselle leaped up, Nazz expected her to start hitting her, but Giselle paced away from her.
"I want a distance between us. I'm not comfortable."
Plank was staring intently on the screen, holding his hand over the large black button that would notify the others in their group that Nazz needed their help in fending off Giselle.
"Giselle, I am so sorry. I had no idea that he would do this to you." Nazz pleaded, eyes tearing up.
"Do what? What did he do that you didn't think he would do?!" Giselle yelled and Plank's fingers flinched slightly, still not pressing the button.
"He... He changed you. Did you ever know what it was that he does for work? No? Well, he experiments on people. He messes around with their brain and those who wake up feeling enlightened they do more research on. How they are able to unlock these people's minds is the million dollar question. Have you noticed that you can think clearly? You can feel when people are approaching, you can feel the kind of emotions they're putting off? You are suddenly more intelligent, more athletic, you realize you have more instincts when you are put in a stressful situation than you thought you had?"
Giselle narrowed her eyes, thinking, wondering how Nazz had this kind of information on her.
"You're not the only person we rescued. Not the only person we brought here."
"So you're doing tests of your own? This is one of them." Giselle informed Nazz, noticing she was right by how shocked Nazz looked that Giselle had caught on.
"Yes. This is a test. You're right." Nazz nodded.
"A test of my patience? To see how much information you can give me before I snap and you have to call in help?" Giselle pointed to the cameras and Nazz's face let her know her truth again.
Plank was about to push the button before Giselle spoke again.
"You're right Nazz, I have realized those things about myself. I remember everything before and after what he did to me, even during what he was doing to me. Thanks for helping me come to terms with it." Giselle was sitting menacingly close to Nazz, but Nazz was only smiling.
"Can you trust me?" Nazz asked, watching Giselle tilt her head to the side and think.
"I have no other reason not to." Giselle shrugged.
With this Nazz left and Giselle felt fit to take a shower. She stood, facing the mirrored medicine cabinet and watched herself change her appearance. She was able to change her hair colors and lengths, she was able to change her body around. She turned herself into a guy and then back to herself. Just by thinking of it she was able to put it on her body or change herself to the image she created.
"How many times has she changed her fucking hair?" Nat muttered, sitting next to Plank again.
"She's been experimenting with it. She seems to be enjoying it." Plank responded.
They both averted their eyes as the camera panned out to show her getting in the shower.
"We should bring her up to the lodge, dude. She seems ready." Kevin said, leaning back behind them. "She talks to me every morning and it's the cutest thing. I come home and tell Edd all about it and he seems to think she's ready too. We've kept her this long, she was fine with Nazz. She knows what the fuck is going on. IF anything happens and we need help, we have people to call."
"I'll think about it." Plank grunted.
The next morning Kevin came with groceries without a mask.
"Oh, hey, Rosa." Giselle called from the sofa without looking up from her magazine.
"My name is Kevin." He laughed a bit.
She practically fell off the sofa at the reply. "Holy shit." She muttered as she stood up and brushed herself off.
Plank was smirking behind the monitor leaning in to watch the interaction.
"Kevin, huh... Well okay... Why aren't you wearing your mask this morning?" Giselle leaned against the back of the sofa and crossed her arms across her chest.
"I didn't feel like I needed to anymore." Kevin shrugged.
"Is this a form of trust?"
Kevin grinned. "You bet your ass it is."
"Okay... Well, anyways. I want to apologize for breaking your face. You scared me and I didn't know what I was doing until it was done."
"No problems. It's healing just fine. Although, you might want to apologize to my boyfriend. He was pretty upset." Giselle smirked.
"Boyfriend?" Her face was void of any emotions.
"Yeah. Is that a problem?" Kevin felt uncomfortable.
"Fuck no. Just please tell me you aren't dating that blond asshole. Levy, I think he told me." Her eyebrows furrowed.
"Oh!" Kevin breathed in relief. "Plank? Hell no! He's straight as a... Plank."
Nat punched Plank's arm in the small office. Plank was too shocked that she brought him up to even notice.
"I think she really likes you." Nat teased. "What did you even do to her?"
"I didn't do anything, Kevin is the one that grabbed her foot." Plank shrugged, indifferent.
"Well, how many people are here?"
"Uhm, I think we have like 12 people. If you stay with us when they give you the option then you'll be our 13th person." Kevin nodded.
"Wait, so they actually give me a choice?!" Kevin laughed at how hopeful she sounded.
"Yeah. Don't get me wrong, all these people here are great. They feel just like family. You'll understand when you meet them all."
"When am I meeting everyone?" Giselle pouted.
"I think later today or tomorrow? Nazz is coming to get you sometime. Plank is like the head honcho, we go off his impulses and shit. I think the dude is great but sometimes he can be a bit much." Kevin flipped off the nearest camera and chuckled.
Giselle thought this was great and flipped the camera off too. Plank just narrowed his eyes while Nathan laughed.
Kevin moved to putting the groceries away and Giselle studied his face.
"Hey, wait. I've seen you before." Giselle paused, thinking. "You used to work at the little book shop down the street from my apartment!" She snapped her fingers.
"Ahah, yeah, that was me. I still work there in the evenings." Kevin rubbed the back of his neck.
"That's so awesome. I love that place. It really made me happy how you guys had the table set up out front where you gave away free books for people who couldn't afford paying for them. The owners really made a difference for me." Giselle smiled big at Kevin and he grinned back.
Plank was absolutely puzzled by this interaction and sent Nazz to get Giselle immediately.
"Time to go meet everyone!" Nazz sang, opening the door.
Giselle stepped out into the hall with her and spoke again. "I'm going to take you to the lobby of the lodge. Its where everyone hangs out. But we'll do it one at a time so you get a chance to actually talk to these people, okay? If you ever feel uncomfortable, just look to me. I'll be in the same room."
Giselle nodded and Nazz opened the door to the lobby.
All noise in the room stopped as Giselle walked in behind Nazz. She sat on a chocolate brown felt chair by a small wooden coffee table. She looked around at the people in the room, holding in her breath until she saw a lanky boy walking over. He looked completely harmless and she wondered what he was doing with these people. He had pale skin and jet black hair. He clenched a black material between his two hands, Giselle figured he was nervous seeing his white knuckles.
"Hello, I'm Eddward." He spoke quickly and quietly as he took a seat. He shook gently, scared out of his wits.
"Hello, Eddward. I'm Giselle." She spoke smoothly and saw him calm a little.
"Why don't you tell me about yourself?" Edd smiled gently but Giselle shook her head.
"You probably know more about me than I do. Why don't you tell me some things?"
"How about I tell you a little about myself then..." Giselle nodded, liking how formal he talked. "Most people call me Double D because here there are three Edwards. My name is spelled with two ds, then there is Ed and Eddy. I've been great friends with them since I moved into our childhood neighborhood. In fact, I've been friends with all of these people, with the exception of Nathan and James, since our childhood." This interested Giselle and she heard Kevin's voice saying "They feel just like family" echo in her head.
"Explain your relationship."
"I just said we are all friends." Edd blinked.
"Don't hide anything from me." Giselle's voice lowered and everyone could see how intense she was becoming. Edd started to shake.
"If you're prompting information from me- I've none to give you." Edd whispered.
"You're dating Kevin, aren't you Edd?" Giselle laughed. "You're the only one who looks like they'd date an athletic boy."
"I assume you already know your statement is correct, but I can assure you that your other assumption is false. I am not the only gay member here and not the only on interested in athletically inclined men. Now, I think that's enough for me for today." Edd stood, not feeling angry at Giselle just confused and walked off to his room.
Nazz gave Giselle an odd look.
A girl sat in front of Giselle. She wore olive green pants and a black tank top. She had dark blue hair and was watching Giselle very intently.
"Hello, again." Was all she said.
"Hello, Marie." Giselle thought about the Marie she knew in college compared to the Marie sitting in front of her.
The two watched each other watching each other for several minutes before Marie shrugged and walked off to the other side of the room. Kevin then say down, grinning.
"Ya sure can make an impression." They both laughed.
"I don't understand what's been happening. Your boyfriend doesn't like me." Giselle snickered.
"You were being pretty intense towards him, he got intimidated."
"He's cute though, good job, loser." Giselle smiled and the room seemed to brighten up by her lack of intensity.
"You should show me how you change your hair and shit." Kevin grinned, leaning back in his chair.
Smiling, she changed her hair color to bright red like Kevin's receiving gasps and a few "holy shit" comments. Kevin watched in amazement as she began to change her physical features. She changed her brown eyes to bright blue, gave herself freckles and changed her long blonde hair to lavender in a matter of seconds.
"Okay, fucking stop. This is freaking me out." Nathan waved his hands in the air.
Giselle looked at Nathan, grinning. She looked at him long enough to change her features to look exactly like him. Kevin gasped, muttering something about "this is some X-Men shit.." before turning to see Nathan's wide eyes and gaping mouth.
"Is this still freaking you out?" Giselle mirrored Nathan's voice and Nathan fainted. The room was quiet until someone in the corner erupted into a loud laugh.
Giselle let her guard down and changed back to her normal self. The person in the corner wiped tears from their eyes and walked over to Giselle.
"That was hilarious. Bravo." The extended a hand and Giselle shook it. "My name is James, but call me Rave."
"Giselle." She grinned up to him then looked at everyone's shocked faces. Even Edd, who came from his room after hearing Nathan crash against the floor, looked shocked.
"What?" Giselle asked, looking back to Kevin then over to Nazz.
"They're surprised I'm talking to you. I'm the asshole of the group and I don't talk to hardly anyone, especially new people, but there's something cool about you." Rave grinned and walked off.
Nathan was carted off to his room to be taken care of. Giselle met Ed and, after hear him talk about chickens and zombies, quickly looked to Nazz for help. Nazz told Ed to go find Plank and tell him something for her.
Giselle didn't like Eddy very much.
"So what you're telling me is that you don't believe women should have as much power than men?" Giselle was getting pissed.
"No, I'm saying that women are trying too hard to get this power. If they would just chill it'll come to them." Eddy glared at Giselle.
"You're wrong, you misogynistic piece of shit. Women can't just 'chill' and get power, or power would be stripped from us. We fought hard to get to where we are and it still isn't enough, you shit dick." She could hear Kevin and Nazz laughing in the corner, talking about how glad they were to hear her talk like this.
"Women always use insults to try and get men to feel bad for their opinions, your words mean nothing to me."
"You SHOULD feel bad for your opinions. I SHOULD insult you for your idiocy. It baffles me how your parents failed to educate you that women are what's keeping this nation balanced and that you need us more than you've ever needed us." The room went dead silent as Eddy stormed off and Rolf sat down.
"You are a very strong worded mutant-girl." Rolf said. "Do no take offence to the words from the son of a Shepard. Rolf wishes to befriend you."
After befriending Rolf, Giselle met Sarah and Jimmy. She thought of them more as children and they acted like it. Although she bit her tongue she looked to Nazz for help again.
"Well, Giselle has a very important person to meet now, so we'll be off." Nazz pulled Giselle into the hall, passing Ed who gave a smile and a wave.
Nazz knocked on a black door and opened it after hearing a faint grunt. She pushed Giselle in and closed the door behind her. She came face to face with Plank.
"Ugh, no." She groaned, turning around and trying to move the door to no avail- Nazz had put a chair under the door handled and was sitting in said chair.
"Why don't you want to talk to me?"
"I don't like the way you look at me." Giselle mumbled.
"Oh? And how do I look at you?" Plank titled his head slightly.
"You look at me like you're starved and I'm the only thing on the menu." The way Plank smiled made Giselle shiver but it also kind of turned her on at the same time.
"I'm sorry, I'm vegan. I'm afraid I'll have to leave this restaurant." They laughed together making them both stop and glance anxiously at each other. "Anyways, I'm giving you a choice. You're more than welcome to stay with us, become part of our little family, or you can leave."
Giselle bit her lip. She really liked the majority of the people she met and felt like she could learn a lot from these people. But at the same time she knew nothing of them and that scared her. Plank saw the uncertain look on her face and thought of another proposition.
"How about tomorrow you spend a day with Kevin, since you two hit it off, and see the routine? If you like it you can make your decision and if not, then, tomorrow will hold our goodbye." Plank smile and Giselle's heart raced.
"Yeah, okay, sounds good Levy."
"Call me Plank."
"I like Levy for now."
She knocked on the door and Nazz eagerly opened it. She explained the situation to Nazz on their way back to the lodge's lobby.
"Awesome! We can talk to Kev, he'll enjoy it. Tomorrow is going to kick your ass!" Nazz smiled knowingly.
The next morning, at exactly 4:15 AM, Giselle and Kevin stepped foot on the field. Their breaths made warm clouds in the freezing early morning air. Kevin wore sweat pants and a large sweater with beaten up Nikes while Giselle wore her Florida State Seminoles sweat shirt, black leggings and her black boots.
"Okay, so the point of the next two hours is to see how good you are on your feet." Kevin walked over to a table set up with different plastic tools. "Choose your weapon and then I'll give you more directions."
Giselle debated between a plastic sword and a plastic baseball bat, settling for the fake sword she met up with Kevin who had a plastic ax.
"Most of the time we use guns, its easier, but when you're in a weak spot you need to know how to survive off of what you're given."
"Why? What are we fighting?"
"The people who did.. what they did to you. Not just for you, we all have our reasons. They're making an army of people like you to tear down every free thinking human being. You're programmed for destruction, Giselle."
Giselle decided not to think about it right now, she'll talk to Plank later. "Alright, let's go teacher." They grinned at each other.
Kevin taught her the basic moves, then began a tactful attack on her. Each time he came close Giselle's instincts took over and and Kevin received a new bruise.
After knocking the sword out of her hands, he came closer. A swift turn and kick to the back of Kevin's leg had Giselle panting for breath above Kevin groaning on the ground.
"You're incredible. I was really testing you, too, and you kicked my ass." Kevin stood, seeing the sun coming up. "Let's go catch some breakfast and then we'll practice shooting. If you're as good at shooting as you are at defense maybe Plank will let us play a game of war." Kevin smiled evilly.
"War?"
"It's like laser tag but with Nerf guns. We split up into teams and only one person can win. The team the person wins from gets to make the other team do something for a week. Plank ALWAYS wins, like seriously, every fucking game."
Giselle smirked. "Talk him into it, he's going down."
"That's the shit I love to hear!" Kevin cheered as they walked into the giant kitchen.
"What's up?" Nat asked, clapping Kevin on the shoulder.
"Giselle is challenging Plank to war."
"Oh reeeaally?" Plank grinned like a smug bastard as he tied the apron around his waist.
"Cool! Kevin I'm on your team!" Nat sang.
"Hell no, Plank needs all the people he can get against Giselle. I already set teams up. Giselle and Plank are captains- Giselle's team is me, Nazz, Edd, Rave and Rolf. Everyone else is on Plank's team. We're going to kick your ass!" Nat and Kevin got into an argument that turned into Kevin pushing Nat out of his face as they continued yelling at each other. Edd made his way to Giselle who was sitting on the kitchen counter talking to Plank about the rules of the game.
"Giselle? A word please?" Edd choked out.
"Oh! Of course Double D!" Giselle followed him into the empty lodge lobby.
"I just wanted to apologize before hand- I'm not very good at war, I've never been, the group normally lets me sit out."
"Well, don't worry. You're not going to let me down if you get shot, just as long as you tried. We're going to win, I won't let that blond asshole win this time."
Edd felt better knowing Giselle didn't care that he couldn't keep up. He felt a new bond between them, almost like Giselle treated him as a brother. Then she spoke..
"You know, I used to have a little brother? He was so cute. He was a really bright kid."
"Past tense?"
"Yeah, ahah.." Giselle smiled sadly.
"I don't mean to pry, but what happened?"
"I was sixteen, he just turned seven. I was supposed to meet him at the bus stop after school, and I waited and waited. Until finally it got dark out and I got scared. I called my mom and she told me that something happened and that I needed to get to the hospital. My brother was diagnosed with a brain tumor that no one knew he had. They said he had seven months to a year to live. He lived for a month and a half. But hey, the short amount of time he was in my life, or I was in his, was the best time I've ever had. I've never been more proud and loved a person more than him."
"I'm so sorry to hear this." Edd wiped the tears off his face and she just smiled at him.
"Sorry if I was too intense for you. I felt like I was talking to my little brother, you remind me of him so much." Giselle laughed but it sounded forced and left Edd alone in the empty lobby.
After they ate Plank's ridiculously delicious food, Kevin, Nazz and Giselle set out back on the field.
"This time, these are not plastic." Kevin said, waving the bow and arrow at Giselle. "D'you know how to use this?"
Giselle nodded, taking the weapon from Kevin and shot the arrow at the set up target about 10 feet away. She didn't get a bulls eye but it was close enough.
"Shit, okay. Let's just practice with the Nerf guns then." Nazz snickered.
"Do you know how to use a real gun?"
"I went to a police-set up summer camp after fifth grade and they taught us how to shoot shot guns at cans."
"I did that too, but that was long ago. Do you think you could do it with a hand gun?"
Giselle shrugged, taking the hand gun from Kevin and took a deep breath to steady herself. She aimed, paused to mentally line up, and then shot. She hit the can dead on and Kevin whistled.
"Got our self a natural, huh, Nazz?" He faked a country accent and patted Giselle on the back. "Now the tricky one, the fake one." He handed Giselle the Nerf gun. "I want you to walk about five feet away and then two feet left and shoot at me."
"This won't kill you right?" Giselle joked and Nazz snorted.
Giselle followed directions. The little Nerf gun had a target trigger on it, she set the target on Kevin and pulled. The plastic dart hit Kevin square in the middle of his forehead.
"Okay, she most definitely is fucking ready." Nat commented, making both Kevin and Nazz jump.
Giselle joined them and looked at Nat carefully. "What?" He asked.
"Are you still scared of me?"
"You're just a girl, why would I be scared of you?"
"I made you fucking faint, dude."
"Because you did something really weird. When you're normal we can be friends."
"Alright. Sorry." Giselle shrugged and looked around. "When are we doing this?"
"In about twenty minutes." Nat said.
Giselle nodded and decided she'd stretch and run around the field so that her reflexes were in check. When she joined back up with Kevin everyone else had divided into their teams and she was saddled up with all the gear.
"Put this in your ear so you can talk to us and hear us talk to you. We need to keep base at all times, tell us when you've shot someone or when you've been shot and you're leaving the field, okay?" Kevin said and everyone nodded.
Giselle looked at her team and thought of something. "Yo, I just got a wicked good idea..." They huddled around her.
Giselle looked at Edd and nodded, she felt herself changing to look like Sarah, running across enemy lines with Kevin and Rave. They shot Jimmy and Ed. Giselle shot Sarah and they retreated. With Giselle to their advantage, they were invincible. Until Kevin got shot by Plank. Nazz repeated over the ear piece she shot Marie and Nat and got shot by Eddy. Edd got shot by Eddy and before Rolf got shot by Plank he shot Eddy. It was now Giselle and Rave against Plank. It took four hours to get to this point.
Giselle told Rave to stay close to only hear him say, thirty seconds later, that Plank shot him. Giselle groaned, her last defense was happening. She changed herself to look like Plank and hid behind a giant hay roll. She saw him go stalking past, keeping low to the ground. Giselle shot a hay roll twenty feet away from Plank, leading him into her trap. She came from behind, he heard her foot steps once she got closer but before he could shoot she pounced on him, pushing him to the ground with her sitting on his hips. Changing herself back to normal, she smiled wide and shot him just above his rib cage.
"I win, asshole."
