A/N- Hey you guys ^_^ I want to thank everyone who gave me so much encouragement last time; it made me very happy and motivated me to go on, I'll try my best not to let you down . I hope you'll find this update enjoyable too.
Silver and cold
"God bless us everyone
We're broken people living under loaded gun
And it can't be outfought
It can't be outdone
It can't out matched
It can't be outrun
No"
The Catalyst- Linkin Park
.
Into the black
The usually deserted hangar was brought into life and sizzled with action. Under the white light of mercury lamps, hanging down from the massive steel beams, the prisoners built up an arena made out of an old, unused docking platform, encircled with worn-out ropes.
It has been almost a year since the last shipment of candies and so the place was crowded with inmates, some horny to the bone and willing to fight, others just using this contest as a source of rare entertainment. The crowd sat on boxes, containers and scrap ships parts to watch the fights.
As Gion and Kanou walked in, there were two inmates from the Orange team, tearing each other apart on the arena. A punch thrown with a deadly accuracy sent one of the fighters to the floor.
Something warm and sticky landed on Gion's cheek as they drew closer to the fighting zone.
"Ugh…. Blood!" Gion wiped his face with disgust. "I hope it's not diseased or something…"
The Orange that fell down struggled for few seconds and managed to get back on his wobbly feet. It drew some disappointment cries from the audience, who wished for this battle to end already so they could watch Raus on stage and see once and for all if someone was crazy enough to challenge him.
"Raus verses Kanou next!" one inmate called "Place your bets! Red or black? Hurry up now!" That old man probably had a keen sense of business opening up a gambling deck. Of course, in 950A money was pretty much useless, but people were creative as they gambled on the winners; staking cigarettes, alcohol and even toothpastes for spoils.
Kanou looked the commotion near the gambling stand and frowned, partly because the odds were nowhere near in his favor but mostly because he should have been the one to come up with this idea first.
Gion found a mate from the browns that filled him in on the winners and losers, the tension was high, and only two more candies were up for grabs.
"Raus is not here yet." Gion turned to Kanou after surveying the crowd. There were people from all teams but the purple one, but this was expected, the purples never took part in a candy hunt for some strange reason.
"Are you sure you are going through this?" Gion asked Kanou after a while, trying hard to mask his concern. Many people stared at them, sharing the same doubts. Inmates were peeking at him when they thought he did not notice, wondering why the hell was he willing to risk his life going against the king of 950A. Even if the wildest stroke of luck grants him victory, it only meant war with the reds, and nobody started war with the reds.
Kanou frowned at the bleached haired man. "Are you going to bet against me too?"
"Already did…" Gion admitted with an awkward giggle, and Kanou was getting pissed off by the second. Among the swarm of people, Gion located the Blue team's twins. "Check it out, Twiddle dee and Twiddle dum are here; haven't seen them in ages." He rejoiced at his getaway. "Gonna say hey."
Kanou only gave out an angry growl in return and the bastard green bounced away.
In the meantime, on the arena one of the oranges fell down for the last time. They had to drag him out of the platform like a mop, leaving a bloody trail behind. An older guy from the Cyan team stepped into the ring to replace him, and new bets were placed.
Gion made his way through the crowd and approached the twins. They were an oddity among the inhabitants of 950A, always together, always observing their surrounding with cold eyes, stoic and detached and this time there was no difference.
"Hey, Misao-san, Homare-san, whichever you are."
"The annoying green one is here, brother." One of the twins said to the other.
"Cannot be helped." The other twin replied.
"So are you enjoying yourselves?" Gion continued "Were there any great fights up until now? I've missed most of them because I helped Kanou-san get ready. You know him, yeah? From the Black team. He's got the strangest idea of going against Raus, but he's the beast, yeah, much like you guys! I've never seen you fight, though. I bet you can kick some major ass. Come to think of it… How come you guys never go for candies?" Gion babbled forward, grinning "Is it true what they say. Are you fucking each other?"
After a short pause, where the twins stared at Gion with calm, one of them sighed. "He keeps opening and closing his mouth, but I can't hear a sound."
"Must be the noise from crowd."
The fight between the orange and the cyan was a short one and was over soon, the older man from the cyan team lost. The orange waited for a new challenger but after three minutes of wait none came, so he left the stage ecstatic, he won his candy, and all his orange buds came to congratulate him, even the defeated one came staggering along to congratulate his rival.
"Those Oranges are tight." Gion commented in envy, some of his worst enemies were greens.
"Raus…" One of the twins commented.
The man just entered the scene with much drama, accompanied with his red subordinates that were frightening looking thugs as much as he was. The massive giant was soon surrounded by well wishers and suck ups that paid their respect, giving him hugs and exchanging complicated handshakes.
"Give it to the one and only! Raus is in the house!" One of the reds shouted and the crowd got into an ecstatic round of applauses.
"This new Mohawk hairdo looks good on Elrick, yeah?" Gion asked the twins but they only glared at the red ringleader with indifference.
Up on the arena, two grays were cleaning away the blood. The announcer informed the crowed that the next battle was the last one and it was over the most beautiful candy named Yukiya Ayase, as if Elrick would settle for less.
After the arena has been cleaned, Raus stepped in, to the cheers of the excited audience, pouncing about like a proud cock. He was glaring at the crowd, making funny faces and waiting for the three minutes wait to end, if no challenger steps in the ring in those three minutes, the victory was his without breaking a sweat. For a second there, Gion feared that Kanou will fold and from the looks of it, Raus thought the same. The expression on his face when Kanou stepped into the ring was priceless.
"What is this? Some kind of a joke?" He chuckled at Kanou as the black entered the ring. "Step down now and I'll let it slide."
Kanou gazed at Raus, who was wearing a smug smile on his face, finding himself very generous with this offer. But Kanou was not going to take on it; instead he took his place at one corner of the arena and took off his black jacket.
The smug smile was withering away slowly as Elrick started to lose his patience "Hey, shithead, get the hell outa here, before I paste you! That boy is mine!"
Kanou did not answer; instead he concentrated on bandaging his knuckles.
"Are you deaf or mental or something?" Raus looked at Kanou with amazement, and with some reason to it, Raus was the only one in 950A that could make Kanou look like a slim teenager next to.
"Last chance, bitch, before I shred you into tiny little pieces even your fucking mother wouldn't bother gluing!"
Kanou glanced up at the giant again and this time he smirked. "A little less conversation?" he suggested and Raus turned red with anger and stormed at him like a bloodthirsty bull.
oOOo
"Airlock established, docking procedure has been completed. All inmates, step away from your cell for processing." The announce system commanded with a flat tone.
Ayase's cell door opened with a faint hydraulic hiss, bright neon light from outside flooded his tiny room blinded him for few second.
"Please strip off your clothes and move to the mark." The mechanical voice kept guiding him. Ayase noticed few detectors on the wall, surveying his every move, but he saw no humans anywhere. Was he all alone in this deep space journey? Locked up in his cell, he was fed three times a day, he was supplied with drinking water and had access to clean toilets, but he never saw or spoke to a soul and he felt very much troubled. What if 950A is also a barren place with no people, will he spend his remaining days in complete isolation? That fate was crueler than death.
"Strip and move to the mark." The announce system repeated itself.
'What if I refuse to cooperate?' a flesh of thought ran through his mind. 'What will happen then?'
"Strip and move to the mark." The electronic voice repeated yet again, with endless indifference.
Ayase then realized that with the same indifference, the machine will kill him if he is too much of a bother. So suppressing his worries and nerves, Ayase did as he was told, taking off his clothes and stepping to the marks on the floor. He has to place each foot on a foot mark, and it made him spread his legs slightly.
"Lift your hands to the height of your shoulders." The computer ordered. Ayase obeyed.
"Commencing biometric scan."
Green laser rays suddenly shot at him from all around, dancing on his body and forming an oddly blue-green web on his body, he closed his eyes as they reached his head.
"Yukiya Ayase, Age 18, height 1.6 meter, weight 46 kg, prisoner id 346511. Initial credit- 10 points, process complete."
The green lights died out as suddenly as they appeared. And there he was again, alone in the dark, wondering what was next, but not for long. The doors in front of him opened and he could see, for the first time in weeks, movements in the next room. His heart soared and his breath shortened, there were people in the next room! Actual living, breathing beings! But even before taking the first step towards them, he stumbled; fear clenched his throat; who were those people? Were they dangerous? Were they cold hearted killers, sent to 950A with him? One way to find out.
Ayase took a deep breath and staggered towards the occupied room, trying to forget the fact that he was naked and shivering.
"That does it!"
Ayase searched for the speaker and found a redheaded boy looking at him with discontent.
"Excuse me?"
"Yup, just look at him, no doubt about it; this is a candy delivery for fuck sake. Can this suck a little more? I don't think so."
"What?" Ayase mumbled, confused.
"Here." The redheaded boy threw something at him.
Ayase caught it with an instinct, it felt like fabric in his hands, and it was, it was a white robe, actually. Ayase hurried to put it on with a great relief.
"I'm Jeremy, by the way, and you?" The redhead gazed at Ayase with piercing green eyes.
"I… My name is… Ayase."
"Nice to meet you, Ayase." The boy named Jeremy gave him a freckled hand to shake. Ayase took it with some hesitation.
Ayase looked around, there were few more boys in the room, they looked around his age and one thing they had in common was that they were all very cute and some of them were even pretty.
"This is a candy shipment." Jeremy sighed "And I'm stuck with you candies, such a fucking humiliation…"
Candies…The first time he heard that phrase was in the courthouse and after that few guards used it as well, but still he could not figure it out.
"What is a candy?" he asked the ginger, and the boy ogled him with dismay.
"You don't know what a candy is, you poor fuck?" Jeremy started laughing, a disturbing, and somewhat hysterical laughter. "A candy is something sweet to chew on until it breaks and disappears. Come on, babe, you may be blonde but you cannot be that stupid."
"This is an outer space prison colony…" Ayase whispered "We came here as inmates, I don't understand what sweets has to do with it."
"That is where you are wrong." Jeremy smiled weakly "You are not an inmate, babe, way off actually. Inmates are people that the system can use and see some dough out of, so the system gives a fuck about them. Inmates are some levels above you in the food chain if you are accounted for something around here then maybe you are inmates' toys, single use cheap kinda toys. Some of you will not last here even one night, probably."
"You talk as if… you are not a part of this."
"Am certainly not!" Jeremy's voice got loud with agitation "I have an uncle here and he told me how things get done in this hellhole. You see, they have twelve groups that go by colors. Whenever there's a shipment of candy, they throw a contest and the winners gets their candies. My uncle is a cyan and he'll fight for me, so I got it covered. I got a spot in the cyan group and as for the rest of you; I hope it will be quick and painless."
"I don't understand."
"Come on, get real, babe."
Ayase looked around again, paying more attention so he could see that the boys around him looked terrified and broken, some huddled together, and some just crawled into a corner and did their best to disappear.
"Oh no…" the gravity of the situation began to sink in, and Ayase felt the cold fingers of fear finally clenching around his heart.
"I really feel sorry for you." Jeremy noted "all of you fuckers. If you are lucky, you'll get it over in few days. It will be painful, but it will not take that long."
"Jeremy…?"
"Chances are you'll get gang raped to death." The boy explained. "I'm sorry, babe, really am."
"How can you stay so calm? Is there nothing we can do? Your uncle, maybe?"
"Nope." Jeremy shrugged "He can help me, but there is so much he can do, you know."
The door opened again and two rows of androids rolled in. Low tech androids, which didn't even have faces, only one level above scrap, but some carried weapons with them and they were frightening.
The announcing system came back online with an introductory white noise "We will call your names now and assign you to your groups. You'll get two outfits, one bedtime suit, a pair of shows, one blanket, one pillow with a pillowcase and a towel, additional equipment will cost you credit points. You'll have two minutes to change and then the Androids will lead you to your dormitories. Enjoy your stay at 950A."
Jeremy sneered and Ayase could only feel the pounding of his heart.
"Oliver- Gray, Andy- Red, Amit- Orange, Jeremy- Orange…"
"What?" Jeremy opened his eyes wide "Orange? But I have a spot on the Cyan group. This is a fucking mistake! Check it up again!" He demanded while tears started running down his face.
"Your equipment." The robot shoved the pile of orange colored articles into Jeremy's arms "You have two minutes to get dressed." The android stated.
"No!" Jeremy dropped everything to the floor.
"You hold the line."
"Fuck you!"
The android in charge of Jeremy was not impressed by his protests. It just took him by his arms, kicking and screaming, and dragged him into the dark corridors.
Ayase could not gloat; it was not in his nature and certainly not at someone so terrified. He wondered what went wrong, did Jeremy's uncle lost or got killed, or maybe he just lied to his nephew, it could be anything. But he had no time to think about the other boy's fate, for his name came up next. "Ayase- Black."
An android stepped in front of him and shoved the pile of equipment into his arms; all the outfits in the pile were of black color. This means…
The fingers of fear squeezed his heart again. He began to breathe fast, his vision got dark and his feet felt so heavy. He hugged the pile of articles and buried his face in the pillow as if to hide, a childish gesture; the pillow was soft and had a sweet scent.
"Two minutes." The android assigned to him commanded.
Ayase felt his whole body tremble, he struggled to put on the black uniform, never did he need that much to dress.
"Hey…. Take this." A boy from behind him gently touched his shoulder.
Ayase turned and saw the boy though his blurry eyes, he was a beautiful raven haired boy and he offered him something that looked like a blue pill.
Ayase blinked for few seconds. "What is that?"
The boy appeared to be confused "Don't you know what 'Cold' is? This dose will guaranty you a painless and peaceful death, trust me. I got one for me too."
"Huh?" Ayase had no time for deliberations.
"Sebastian- Yellow."
"That's me." The boy whispered and stuck the blue pill deep inside Ayase's pillowcase.
"Your time is up." The android shoved Ayase into the dark corridors and he nearly stumbled on the floor. He tried to look back and locate Sebastian again, but the doors closed behind him, he had no chance to say thanks to that boy or ask him why he chose to help him of all others.
The android led him into a maze of dim corridors and tunnels, and they were dark, moist and scary. All sorts of tubes and cables ran along the walls, every now and then, blue plasma screens appeared and flickered in the dark, presenting long cryptic rows of numbers that had abstract meaning. Robots strolled the ceiling on upside down tracks. Strange mechanical sounds echoed the halls and as they drew on to the dormitories area, Ayase could hear human voices as well, talks, arguments, even some singing and laughs.
'What is this place?' he started crying softly without a sound. 'Where am I? Why am I here? What is going to happen to me?'
The android stopped at an enormous cage, packed up with humans, starring at Ayase from behind the bars with dark malicious eyes.
"The Black dormitory." The android pronounced "Get in."
oOOo
TBC
OooO
A/N- As always I'll be waiting patiently for your feedback….not! I'm a hopeless case, I know…lol. Take care!