TWs: Weapons/Guns (used for training), and Arthur and Larry living their best life (/sar). Stay safe :)

"Your timing is off, Clay; they're gonna shoot you before you get the chance to pull the trigger," Tord spoke, pressing a button to send the targets back to their places.

"Right!" Clay got up, going back to the start of the course. He did a few stretches before adjusting his white cap to be angled backward, "Okay."

"Ready..." Tord peered down at the digital timer adorned on his tablet, "and go!"

Clay rushed forward, raising his pistol as he shot the target above, hitting it on the white ring. He ducked behind a crate, watching as a target peeked out from across the way. He took aim and fired, barely noticing the bullet pierced the center. Using the crate to leap over, Clay ran forward, watching as a few targets popped out. These targets were different as they had Nerf darts shooting from the middle. Tord wanted to make it as realistic as possible.

The brunette dodged the oncoming barrage of bullets, using the scattered items across the Testing Field to his advantage. He grabbed a metallic garbage can lid, the bullets ricocheting off of it. Taking his gun, Clay used the metal lid to take out some of the targets and used his gun to take out the rest. He panted as he knelt on the ground after shooting the last target.

There was a low whistle behind him as Tord stepped into the kill zone, "Now that's what I call skill. You almost beat my record time."

"Really?" Clay stood up, putting the metallic lid aside, "Do you think I'm ready now?"

"Pfft, of course not." Tord nearly laughed at his little brother's haste, "You still haven't done the parkour course."

"There's a... parkour course?" Clay frowned.

"Yep." The leader nodded, "You need that agility just in case."

Clay huffed, "Fine."

He had managed to complete target practice after 15 tries; how hard could the parkour course be?

"It tastes like wet socks..." Larry muttered, picking at the slop on his trey.

"And you know what wet socks taste like?" Arthur asked from across the room, digging into the slop like there was no tomorrow.

"How can you eat that stuff? It tastes horrible."

"You know my taste buds are shit."

"You're just old."

"I'm 63."

"And? You're old."

CREEEAAAAKK

"Someone's coming down?" Arthur perked up, "They already gave us our food."

"If you can call it that." Larry quipped.

Footsteps resounded in the dungeon's halls, making the duo quiet. The footsteps seemed fast, almost as if they were in a hurry. They sounded like they knew where they were going.

The culprit walked into Larry's point of view. They were sporting a black army uniform, a ventilator mask to hide their identity, and using their hood to cover their head. Once the person noticed them, they perked up, walking towards them, "Arthur! Larry!"

Larry glanced at Arthur, who seemed to be doing the same thing. The black army never referred to them by their names; usually, it was 'hostages' or 'rebels.' The person seemed to notice their confusion and pulled their hood and mask down, "Guys, it's me!"

"Kim!?" Arthur and Larry stared at the blonde-haired woman.

"Surprised, huh? I stole one of Tord's voice changers." Kim smiled, "Don't tell him, though. I only wrote down in my letter that I went to save Katya."

"Katya...?" Arthur muttered.

"Yeah, have you seen or heard from her?" Kim questioned.

"No, we've been stuck here the whole time."

"She might be at the lab then..." Kim thought to herself.

"Kim, what about Bing? Is he safe?" Larry frowned, his eyes widening a bit.

"Oh yeah- well no- I don't know? Last time I saw, he was in medbay, dehydrated and malnourished."

Larry bit his lip, containing his anxiety by averting his gaze and shifting his weight from one foot to another, "Right, okay..."

"I'm sure everything's alright with him. Everyone should be planning something soon." Kim grasped the bars that separated them, "I came all this way to look for Katya, and I'm not stopping here. You shouldn't give up either; you both look like hell."

"Feel like it too," Arthur uttered.

"I wish I could bust you guys out, but you should see what's happening up there. It's like a zombie apocalypse, but somehow worse." Kim averted her gaze to the dungeon's ceiling, her jaw clenching and her grip tightening around the bars as she thought of it all, "I need to find Katya before it's too late."

"Then go," Arthur spoke, "I'm sure the others know where we are and that they're on their way."

"Are you sure...?" Kim peered into his arctic blue eyes. Arthur merely nodded, saying nothing as a small smile graced his lips. Kim hummed as she lifted the mask and hood over her face, "Thank you, Arthur." The shielded blonde ran down the hallway, her footsteps echoing around the halls until halfway up the stairs.

"So, we should talk about the elephant in the room here..." Tord spoke, peering up from his clipboard and into emerald eyes, "Bing..."

"Yes?"

"Mind explaining that thing?" Tord gestured with his pencil to the drone hovering around the director.

"Ah, this is Primis." Bing smiled. The drone stopped upon hearing its name, coming to a stop beside its savior.

"Isn't that Latin...?" Pat muttered, finding an interest in the language years ago. He knew quite a few words and phrases.

"You know Latin?" Matt asked, glancing at his uncle as he came to a realization, "Wait, doesn't Larry know Latin...?"

"Maybe he does, maybe he doesn't." Bing shrugged, "Primis is here now. It's the only drone that didn't harm me."

"Interesting... must be something in its coding that made it different than the others." Tord guessed, writing something down, "Do you know what it can do?"

"Well, it has a laser beam." Bing tapped near Primis' red 'eye,' "It nearly exploded Hellucard."

"Really?"

"Yeah... did you know Hellucard is a robot?"

Tord's eyes widened as he sat there in silence momentarily, "...That would've been good to know sooner than later."

"Well, sorry, I tried telling you guys, but you kept excessively worrying about me." Bing frowned.

Tord glared at him, "Hm, looks like your drone is safe. For now. We'll have to run some more tests though just to see how it does in battle."

"You're letting a drone join us?" Pat sounded surprised.

"Why not? We need more recruits, and this particular drone hasn't hurt anyone so far." Tord shrugged.

Pat made a noise of acknowledgment, "Okay, fair."

"I should check on Clay and see how he's doing on the parkour course." Tord checked off a box on his list, "Pat, can you check on Tom and Pat's training?"

"I was going to do that anyway. It's near lunchtime, anyway."

"Oh, let me come with you," Matt spoke, following Pat out of the room.

"I assume you're good on your own?" Tord did a double take on Bing.

"Of course I am." Bing crossed his arms.

"Just checking."

Bing sighed, looking over at Primis, who seemed to stare back at him with its glowing red eye.

"What?" The director quirked an eyebrow.

Primis made a noise; a tone filled with robotic sounds.

"What do you expect me to do? Let the others be the distraction while I save Larry and Arthur? I'm not even allowed to go on the mission."

Primis pressed against his shoulder, nearly knocking him down.

"Hey, watch it!" Bing yelped.

The drone made a bunch of noises, nearly too fast for Bing to comprehend.

"What-? That's- That's insane." Bing shook his head, rolling his eyes at the idea. Yet, a part of him was intrigued. He did have all the parts... Bing hummed, "It's insane, but it might just work."

✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧NOTE✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧

Happy (late) New Year's :)

My mom bought the tickets to Set It Off, now I don't have to worry. I'm also posting this at 11pm ;-;

I drink tea to get my motivation pumping (it's the sugar, really)

Any New Year's Resolutions for you guys? Mine is to draw more, hopefully...

Comments are appreciated 3