Author's note: Sorry I'm late guys, I forgot this yesterday. You know how things are. Bleh. Enjoy! :)
Although Chill insisted he didn't need a birthday party, the others were insistent upon celebrating somehow, and now, the day before the event, they were busy trying to plan in whispered conversations while Chill attempted to figure out their plans as they made them. Light, when he wasn't helping with the planning, was busy working on his project, while Red was balanced on one foot on the edge of her bed, doing different yoga poses and aiming for the most impossible position she could do, simply to test her own flexibility.
This was how they were found when the door burst open, and the room was once again flooded with HAZMAT dudes.
Remembering what had happened last time the HAZMAT dudes came in like this, Friend stood and gasped, while in the corner of his perfect eyes, he saw Red startle out of her position and stand in surprise on the edge of her bed, while Light jumped, quickly shoving his project under his pillow. Sparky unwittingly saved Light's project from notice as he gasped loudly in shock, accidentally sending sparks of electricity towards Chill, who let out a small yell at the electric shock.
Sparky tensed as the HAZMAT dudes ran over in his direction, but everything changed when they ran past him, grabbing Friend by the arms.
"Hey!" Sparky yelled. "Stop!"
"No," Friend heard Chill say quietly. Looking over, he saw Chill's blue hand on Sparky's arm, not holding him back, but keeping him from rushing over. Sparky's hands were clenched as he watched in anger.
And then- He was out.
The door shut behind him, and Friend looked around, wonder rising within him even through the fear at what was going to happen. He was out of the Caravan! His world wasn't quite so small after all. He was dragged through several bright hallways and past several doors. Remembering what Sparky had said about being drugged after leaving the Caravan, Friend wondered why he wasn't, but decided to use his time as wisely as he could.
As he passed through another hallway, he glanced up, his eyes catching a camera on the other end of the hall. The idea that Light might be watching made him almost laugh, he bit it back just in time but allowed a flash of a smile as he looked directly into the camera.
Finally, he was taken into a room, which he took in at a glance. Security camera in one corner of the room, one wall made of glass, with scientists standing behind it, scrutinizing him impassively as they typed away at computers or wrote notes down on paper. There was a coffin-like box in the room, with several tubes and wires going into it, and Friend felt his blood run cold, but to his relief, the HAZMAT dudes carried him past the box. The other option wasn't much better, though, as they strapped him down to a table with a bright light overhead. Friend felt panicked as one of the HAZMAT dudes placed an oxygen mask over his face. He had a feeling that whatever would be coming through the mask wasn't oxygen, even as in the back of his head, he realized this was what Light had complained about most often in his nightmares. Did this mean they intended to do some sort of operation!? The thought frightened him.
As one of the HAZMAT dudes picked up a scalpel, he resigned to his fate; he was right.
Carefully, the Hazmat dude held the scalpel over Friend's arm, and Friend braced himself, closing his eyes. He felt the cut, it went slow and deep. He felt his arm start to bleed, the warm liquid running down his arm. The pain was bad, and Friend wondered for a moment why they hadn't made use of the oxygen mask yet- And then the pain began to dull. He opened his eyes. It was already fading? The pain shouldn't already be fading. Turning his head with some difficulty, he managed to use his perfect eyes to take a look at his arm, which was red with blood- but the cut was already scabbing over. What!?
"Subject Five also appears to possess healing abilities," a voice said, sounding strange and muffled from whichever HAZMAT dude had said it. "The transfer is successful. Begin observation of Five. Transfer Subject Three to final experimentation."
Friend pondered these words for a second, and then there was a hiss, the oxygen mask had been turned on. He tried to stay awake as long as he could, but there was no fighting it. He fell asleep.
"He's waking up. Get back, Sparky, before you suffocate him."
Hearing Light's voice over him, Friend knew where he was before even opening his eyes. When he did open them, he saw Sparky grin in relief. "FRIEND," he boomed. "YOU ARE ALRIGHT!"
"...Thanks for the report, Sparky," Friend said, unable to help a small smile himself as he sat up. Everyone had been gathered around him, now they all slowly returned to the wall; they were eating. It must've been mealtime.
Friend stood too, feeling suddenly ravenous at the thought of food. "How long was I gone?" he asked.
"Three days," Light said, with a sidelong glance at him. "I was watching. They didn't feed you or anything, so I know you're hungry. But it's best you don't eat too much at once, so you'll have to wait a couple hours before you get seconds."
Friend shrugged. "Oh well," he said with a shrug. Then he noticed, there was one more open box than there had been when he left. Looking around, he saw another boy sitting quietly on the bed in the far corner, with brown hair and pale skin. He was a little bigger than Chil, and a little smaller than Friend himself. Friend nodded over to where he was sitting. "Hey," he said to Light. "Who's the new kid?"
Light frowned absently and looked around the room before spotting the kid. "Oh yeah," he said. "That's Reg. He showed up on Chill's birthday."
"I missed it," Friend noted disappointedly.
"It matters not," Chill spoke up.
"So why's his name Reg?" Friend asked, ignoring Chill.
"Because as far as we can see, the dude's totally normal," Light said. "Reg stands for Regular Guy."
"...Huh." Friend nodded.
"You know, I can hear you," Reg said.
"I know," Light said. "But you weren't volunteering any information. You were just sitting there like a sack of wet potatoes."
"Wet potatoes?" Reg asked in annoyance.
"Whatever," Light said instead of answering. Then he looked at Friend with his face carefully blank. "So, uh, I kinda made a few discoveries, mainly about Reg, but I figure it was probably done to us, too."
"...What'd'you mean?" Friend asked.
"Well, when I was watching the cameras to keep an eye on you," Light said. "They took you to a room and… strapped you to a table, and, uh, dude, you totally have healing powers, by the way."
"Yeah, I kinda figured that out," Friend said.
"Anyway," Light continued. "After they knocked you out, they went over to this box and put it on some kind of hoverplatform, and moved it down the hall. They didn't seem to be doing anything else to you, so I kept my eye on the box. They dumped the box in a room with no cameras, and then got Reg out a few hours later. Then they took him to another room, and I could see that one. They like, flooded the room with some kind of weird light, and I think, judging by the info they were putting into the computers, that they erased his memory."
Friend nodded once, remembering that he and Light had both dreamed of this room. "So you think they tampered with our memories?"
"Yeah, which is kind of good news," Light said. "I mean, think about it. Obviously, they didn't care enough to erase your memories, or Sparky's, after further experimentation. That means that we had to have known something before, something they didn't want us remembering. That means we were someone before, we're not, like, genetically engineered lab rats or something. So, if we're not part of Hydra, and we're not genetically engineered, we had to have come from somewhere. If we came from somewhere, we've gotta be missed. So somehow, someone's gotta be trying to find us."
Friend blinked. "Yeah," he agreed. "I guess that makes sense."
Light huffed and turned away. "Come on," he said. "Don't tell me you didn't think of it either! Are you all thick or something?"
Friend smiled, knowing that this was just Light being Light. "Whatever," he said. "We don't have computers in our heads. We can't think as fast."
"Got that right," Light muttered. "Anyway, go eat. And then go make friends with Reg. I swear, the guy's not receptive to anyone."
"Though especially not to Light," Red noted from across the room. "He's just fine with me."
"And I," Sparky said. "But Chill has not tried."
Chill shrugged. "Neither has he," he noted. "We are perfectly content with our mutual lack of effort."
"I'm just fine with you," Reg said to Light exasperatedly.
"Nope, don't try to apologize," Light said. "You know what you did. We don't need to get into details."
"I don't," Reg protested. "You just got mad for no reason and refused to speak to me!"
"What did he do?" Friend asked.
"Oh, nothing," Light insisted airily.
"Unfortunately, that is the truth," Chill said. "I could see no harm in Reg's statement myself."
"What'd'you say?" Friend asked Reg.
"I only said that we might want to be careful with the hacking," Reg said. "From what I understand, it's actually pretty dangerous and I didn't think we should be taking unnessecery risks. But he got mad and said that he and Winston had this covered, but he wouldn't tell me who Winston was and called me stupid for not figuring it out myself."
"Winston wouldn't want you to know!" Light said, pointing at Reg, who rolled his eyes.
"Winston is what he named the computer in his head," Friend said.
"Aw," Light whined. "Friend, you ruined the game!"
"Yes I did," Friend said. "Obviously, Reg didn't want to play it."
"It… it was a game?" Reg asked hopelessly.
"Totally," Red said. "He plays games with people he likes. Or, well, us. It's his thing."
"And you failed miserably," Light said. "Besides, I know how to be careful. I'm not some two-bit hacker, I know internet safety."
"Okay, I said I believed you," Reg said. "I don't know why you won't let it go."
"Because you insinuated I would get caught," Light said airily. "But whatever. Bygones. It's over. I just don't like you."
"What?" Reg said. "Why!?"
"Dude, seriously?" Light asked, turning to Reg and frowning. "I'm. Teasing. You. It's a game. Stop taking everything so seriously."
Reg threw his arms in the air and sighed dramatically. "I just don't get it," he said.
"Shocker." Light muttered.
Friend chuckled. It was good to be back.
"I've finished," Light announced the next morning, holding up his project in triumph.
Everyone looked at him. "Neat," Reg said impassively.
"I also think it is neat," Sparky agreed with a smile.
"What is it?" Red asked.
Light looked around at everyone, who all looked blankly back. "Seriously?" he asked. "Nobody knows what this is? It's obvious!"
"Well, educate us then," Chill spoke up.
Light frowned. "It's a satellite receiver," he said. "Now I can surf the 'net."
"...Neat," Reg said again.
"Really?" Friend asked. "What are you looking for?"
"Right now, nothing," LIght said. "Without any idea who we are, where we are, or why we're even being held here, I don't know who I'm supposed to contact for help. But I'm still going through some of Hydra's files, I'm hoping to find a threat list somewhere, and contact one of their enemies."
"Why one of their enemies? Sparky asked.
"Because," Chill spoke up. "Obviously, we are prisoners here. A common enemy unites the oldest of foes, if we contact an enemy of Hydra, they will be likely to assist us."
"Oh," Sparky said. "That does seem like a good plan."
"You think?" Chill said with a slight roll of his eyes.
"So, a name, then," Light said.
"What?" Red asked.
"Well, I named Winston," Light explained. "Now I need to name the satellite. I'm thinking Mahavir. Because he picks up signals."
Everyone stared. "...Okay, that time, I didn't get it either," Friend told him.
Light sighed. "Oh, this generation," he said. "Everybody go away and leave me alone. I need to focus." Turning away from them, he walked over to his bed and laid down, closing his eyes.
Everyone looked at each other and turned back to whatever they had been doing before the interruption, feeling a little bit more hopeful. They had a chance. They might be rescued, and soon.
