"Ah Special Officer Shaw, welcome to my company. I am glad that you showed up. Oh and ten minutes before time…that says a lot about someone's character." General Malone greets her before she steps within his main office. The man from earlier waits outside of the door.
"My mother always taught me that in order to succeed in life you have to arrive before everyone else or you'll miss the worm." Serena retorts after she drops her salute out of respect.
"Your mother was a wise woman. You don't see too many dedicated soldiers such as yourself quite often. However we are passed the formalities, you have been reassigned to Fort Jackson. I take it that it would be an easier commute from your apartment to here." General Malone publizes to her.
She peered at him with shock etched on her face, he withdrew himself from his large black comfy chair and rounded his office desk.
"Ah, in my opinion, it was well overdo. I believe in time, you will come to agree with the move as well."
"Anyway the real reason why you were brought here is because of your expertise in the field of Technology and Cybernetics." General Malone reveals as he rests on the edge of his desk. He then stares her in the face.
"As cliché as this sound, follow me and I will answer all of your questions…at least that is if you are ready for what you are about to see?" He challenges her on her commitment to silence from what he was about to tell her.
Serena flashes a weird expression before she wonders why her specialize field deals with this move to Fort Jackson, "Yes, sir."
She decides to hold her questions as well as the knowledge that she was able to gather from her research with the boys. General Malone thrusts the door wide enough for Serena to cross the threshold.
"As you know, Fort Jackson is known for its superior technological capabilities as well as the most sophisticated firewall and security systems throughout this entire country. We were ordered by higher ups to complete our latest project. We were to repeat a famous laboratory experiment that failed due to being bombed because of a mole in the system." He details while they bypass the active soldiers on duty.
"Are you referring to the explosion that ended the Super Human Agent Reform Program?" Serena was inferring about what specific lab experiment that they were recreating.
She then registers that wherever they were going there were fewer people that were around them.
"That's exactly it. Aren't you a sharp one, Special Officer Shaw! You might find it easier when you have some wits to go along with your beauty." General Malone compliments her.
She thought that since he was older man that she would let that one go over her head.
"So what were you trying to recreate from the experiment?" Serena poses while she silently hope that it was not what her brothers were.
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Buttercup simply lies on her back and stares at the ceiling. She tries hard to conceal her excitement for the next week at school.
"Sports Fest, are we going to have to win for our class again this year?" Blossom asks her sisters' once she emerges from the bathroom and clothe in her pajamas.
Bubbles combs her hair, rolls the curlers on the ends of her pigtails and her blue nightgown shifts with every move that she makes.
"It seems as if we might have some help this year." She hints.
"And by help...do you mean Butch and his goon squad of brothers?" Buttercup poses while she leans upward from her position.
"Buttercup, Bubbles does have a point. It would just ease the pressure that's on us, especially with the tournament." Blossom suggests.
She hunkers down in the middle of her two sisters while Buttercup leaps to her feet.
"As long as none of those idiots get in my way when I fight my opponent and score as much points as they can then I am fine. Besides, I got to sleep with one eye open now. I don't know who might try and attack us." She mentions when she reminds them of what time it is.
"I guess it is time when hits start to come out on people." Bubbles mutters in a sullen tone.
Buttercup decides that she should hop in and out of the shower as soon as possible because she senses an eerie vibe.
Blossom and Bubbles sit in temporary silence until they hear and feel someone's phone vibrate, which means that one of them receives a text message.
They search through the piles of pillows to see who phone it was. The pair locates Buttercup's cellphone, whose screen still glows as it receives a text message from an unknown name and number.
"I think it's the message from the DFMT council. I'll check it and have Buttercup kill me later." Blossom says to Bubbles when she scoops Buttercup's phone, clicks on the message and reads it out loud.
"All participants of the DFMT, exclusively the Tops of each school, must have their offical rosters submitted by the beginning of Monday morning or risk disqualification for the tournament. Also, all Tops along with their chain of command must report to a brief meeting Monday morning that concern rules and regulations."
"Buttercup was right…it's almost that time of the year again." Bubbles repeated what Buttercup had told them. She then cast her gaze out on the window.
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"We were instructed to recreate a new super soldier rather than soldiers. Therefore, we settled on the project that is now known as BELL." General Malone explains to her.
They travel through multiple steel doors until they transfer to a floor escalator. She observes a large setup of operations.
Serena watches multiple robotic arms piece together a exoskeleton that favors a feminine body shape.
She scrutinizes that the metallic figure had white or platinum blonde hair color with white eyes. The body was clad in a white dress with a thick black line that encircles the midsection of her stomach. There was knee length white socks with black Mary Janes that adorns her feet.
"So General Malone," Serena calls out to her superior officer, "Yes, what is it Ms. Shaw?"
"The basis for B.E.L.L's exoskeleton structure derives from the feminine specimen at the first attempt, am I right? So...let's hypothetically assume that one of those girls somehow survived the incident, do they stand a chance again BELL?" She theorizes to General Malone.
She knew that she had to beat around the bush to the General. She was feeling that protecting civilians were outweighing her military duty.
General Malone stares at her before he replies to her question,"To give the hypothetically scenario a hypothetical answer then, there's no way possible...unless they are able to remove the barrier that blocks their Manic stage. Then yes, they will be powerful enough to destroy BELL. However, since you have been assigned to the only three survivors then I wouldn't worry too much. After all, carcasses don't raise from the dead, now do they?"
'Manic stage?' She repeats.
The orange head was unaware of that when she was given custody of Butch, Brick, and Boomer from her previous fort and superiors.
"During the experiment on recreating BELL, we learned that one of the assigned professors was able to manipulate their genetic information. They created barriers as well as a fail safe system incase one of their experiments went renegade. Plus, the possibility to trade sensitive information on to someone else was high."
"The manic stage was an incident that was developed due to trying to initiate the required program, which in turn had a reverse effect. Theories from the head professor in charge at the time claims that their skin turns black and acquires an animalistic trait of some sort, which amplifies their powers tremendously."
Serena halts in the middle of her stride when she forgot that another officer tails behind her and he bumps in to her.
"So what you are trying to say is that the boys that reside in my home are…potential weapons of mass destruction?"
"If it is alright with you Special Officer Shaw, do you mind taking up a night residence? It's a standard precaution. Also, you can receive your new uniform." General Malone skirts around the question when he whirls around to face her.
'Something isn't right here, he's obviously avoiding my question but for what reason?' Serena deduced when her sights land on the girl, who was being constructed in front of her eyes.
"Corporal Smith will show you to your temporary quarters." General Malone states when the man that she meets outside of the fort appears in front of her.
"Would you like to call the boys while you are on your way there?" He offers to her before she take leave from the General.
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"Alright, I'll watch the house until tomorrow." Butch confirms before he hangs up the phone, which earns a curious expression from his two brothers'.
Brick and Boomer were on the couch watching a baseball game on the television set.
Butch plops down on the love seat before he directs his gaze at his orange and blonde haired brothers, "That was Serena on the phone."
"And what did she say?" Brick asks. He presses the down volume in order to listen to what his brother was going to say.
"They just reassigned her to another fort, Fort Jackson, under a dude name General Malone's watch. So they ordered her to stay for one night, she claims that its procedure whenever a new solider is transferred over to their fort. They are required to complete a mandatory stay for at least one night. But I don't believe that crap…not one minute." Butch run downs what Serena told him over the phone.
"Hey, isn't that the fort where they house all the advanced technological research there?" Boomer points out to his brothers' when Brick ultimately switches the television off.
"I mean come on...remember Serena's specialty is technology. It seems as if it is a good move for her. After all, that other fort only used her as our babysitter." Brick states his opinion on the matter at hand.
"Brick does have a point. I'm sure whatever Serena wants to tell us, she will have to wait until tomorrow but for now we need sleep. We're going to be busy for the next few couple of weeks." Butch assures them while he trudges towards his room.
"Good night you two," Boomer wishes his brothers' well.
They repeat a similar saying only in their own form.
'I wonder why all of a sudden they wanted to move her closer to home and to that particular fort none the less.' Butch ponders.
He decides to leave it alone since Serena would provide him the answer to his question upon her arrival at home later.
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Morning came rather easy for Blossom and Bubbles, Buttercup was slow to wake up since she was the last one to go to fall asleep.
"At least you don't have to wake up to the barking dog this morning." Bubbles humors with her sister. A smile graces her face as she speaks.
Buttercup erupts in a fake bout laughter when she eyes Blossom emerges from the bathroom fully dress in a v-neck, long sleeve vivid melon cardigan with a button down, blue denim low rise jeans with hints of glitter, and pink ballet flats.
"It is that time of year again."
Blossom glances at Bubbles before she casts her gaze at Buttercup, who nods her head in agreement.
"You know we have a meeting to report to in about a couple of minutes or so."
"You're the only one that's not dress, silly." Bubbles broadcasts when Buttercup observes Bubbles in a 3/4 sleeves mosaic blue blouse and cami set, black leggings, and a pair of knee high dark brown riding boots.
Buttercup inspected her clothed sister before they shooed her inside of the bathroom. The day's events settles in on her.
The arrival of Prince, Bell's pool party and the so called date shehad with Butch was like a blur to her. The biggest blur that bothers her was her time at Bell's party.
'I know she didn't have alcohol there so why can't I remember what I did?' She groans.
The raven hair teen feels a headache every time she would try to dig deep in her memory bank.
A knock on the door surfaces her out of her thoughts, she brushes her teeth, slips on her clothes and combs her hair…at the same time.
"Is everyone ready?" Buttercup asks as she sticks her head in a green and white jersey tee with a sequined one on the front, distressed skinny leg blue jeans with ankle length black combat boots.
"Alright then, we don't want to wake the Professor up." She reminds them.
It was around five o'clock in the morning when they made their way toward Buttercup's green Camaro.
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Author's Note:
07.18.16 Major editing revision