Monday, June 14, 2021 | Reality Check Summer Camp | Hoboken, New Jersey

Number Five awoke with a groan as Masha's 7:30 alarm blared at full volume. The song it played was apparently an "absolute classic" from some band called Ram Stone, or something like that, and Masha had set it to wake themselves (and everyone else in Cabin 7) up on Mondays. Five thought that the mix of the whistling and the heavy guitars was an interesting concept, but it worked well. Given, she couldn't understand any of the lyrics, with them being in some foreign language, but the overall sound was pleasing to her ears.

Marco, however, was not a fan of the song. As he rolled out of bed, he chucked a small pillow at Masha, who was still asleep somehow. That was what finally got the goth to awaken and silence the alarm. After fighting with their blanket for a few seconds, Masha dropped down to the cabin floor, still donning their typical sleep attire of an oversized tee-shirt with skulls on it and a pair of baggy sweatpants.

"Can you believe it, Luz? I guess it takes to combined power of trashy metal and a pillow to wake the dead," Marco quipped.

"Oh shut it, Marco. You just don't have good taste," Masha retorted sarcastically.

Marco raised his hands defensively. "I'm just saying, would it kill you to play some Jimmy Money from time to time?"

"Yes, it would. His stuff is too depressing," Masha fired back.

Marco was in disbelief. "Too depressing? Everything you listen to is about death and war and –"

"Alright, children, let's calm down," Jake interrupted from atop his bunk, looking out over the side at the offending parties. "We've got breakfast in 30 minutes, so let's get moving. You can debate which music genre is the best and which is the evil virus of Satan later."

"Fine," Marco grumbled, grabbing his bag after throwing on a tank top and a pair of shorts.

"Thank you," Jake replied. The bespectacled boy slowly climbed down from his bunk and slung his backpack over his shoulder, already being dressed for the day on account of him being an early riser. He and Marco then left, heading off to the mess hall.

"Are ya coming with, Luz?" Masha asked.

"I'll be just a minute. You all can go on without me," Five said.

"Alright, suit yourself. Just don't get lost and end up locked in a broom closet," Masha replied.

Five blushed. "That was one time, okay! It wasn't my fault the doors were labelled weird."

Masha laughed. "I know, I'm just messing with ya. Well, I'm gonna head out. There are some waffles that have my name on 'em." With that parting message, Masha left leaving Number Five alone in the cabin.

Finally deciding it was time to get out of bed, Five scooched over to the side of the bed and stood up. However, she hadn't scooched out far enough, as her head collided with the metal bar holding up Masha's mattress.

"Oh sweet mother of Titan!" Five exclaimed, breathing in sharply through gritted teeth. She rubbed at her head as the pain began to slowly subside. Thankfully, pulling her hand away revealed that she wasn't bleeding, so at least she didn't need to stop by the nurse's office. Closing her eyes tightly and massaging her scalp a little more, Five slowly exhaled. That was the fourth time (at least) that she'd banged her head against that stupid metal bar.

Recomposing herself, Five saw that the sudden meeting between her skull and the bottom of Masha's bed had knocked one of the goth's books onto the floor. Five bent down so that she could place the book back on the bed of its owner, but the cover caught her attention.

V for Vengeance the title proclaimed in bright red coloring, featuring a close-up illustration of a masked figure sporting a black fedora. The mask the person on the cover was wearing was highly detailed, with pale, rosy cheeks contrasting against the ominous smile the mask had permanently on display. The mask also sported thick, arching eyebrows and a quite odd choice of facial hair, in Five's opinion. A handlebar mustache and an incredibly thin goatee was certainly a look, but not a good one.

Turning over to see if there was anything on the back cover, Five found a short blurb of text in large white print, standing on a solid black background. He was once called The Man from Room Five, but now he is called… V!

V, huh? Five thought back to the time before. Back when she was in the Demon Realm, she had never been given a name. she was always just "Basilisk Number Five", "Number Five", or "Experiment Five". But now, though? She had a name. Well, she had actually taken someone else's name, but that was a train of thought for another day. When someone would call for Luz Noceda, she would be who they were looking for. Having an actual name was nice. Five liked it. She placed the book back on Masha's bed before an idea struck her. Maybe she didn't have to be Number Five or Luz Noceda!

She quickly scrounged around in her backpack before pulling out a piece of paper and a pencil. Laying the page down on Marco's mini-fridge, she used it as a makeshift desk and began to write.

My name is Number

She couldn't even finish writing that sentence before she scribbled it out with the pencil. No. Number Five was dead for all she cared.

My name is Number
My name is Luz

That was a lie, though. She wasn't Luz Noceda. The real Luz Noceda was somewhere in the Demon Realm, not here at camp. The basilisk struck through that line as well.

My name is Number
My name is Luz
My name is V

That looked… okay, but she didn't want to just blatantly copy the name from that book character. She had to make it her own. But the name sounded so right to her! After staring at the only unscribbled line on the page, she decided to make a small adjustment. She wanted the pronunciation to stay the same, but she wanted to give the name a more unique spelling then just one letter. So, she tacked two "e"s on to the end.

My name is Number
My name is Luz
My name is Vee

Perfect.