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Despite everything, X slept pretty well that night. It was waking up the next morning that took effort. Everything felt so foreign. Yet… this was his home now. A home where anyone could turn on the other without warning. A place where you simply couldn't relax.

'We don't have to hurt each other,' X reminded himself. 'We can work together and find a way out of here. I know it.'

X frowned. He could talk to himself all he wanted, but it wasn't going to take any sort of action. And the first course of action he needed to take for them to all live peacefully was to get out of bed. No immediate distrust either. He would get to know everyone on their own terms. No one was going to like each other right away. Especially not now when Lumine had already planted that seed of fear in them.

X's head was still swimming in thoughts as he got ready for the day. Not sure of where to go after, he decided to head to the cafeteria for something to eat. He found himself surprised that a few others had already beaten him there.

Sitting at a single table were Alia, Massimo, Zero, and Aero. Alia had a plate of pancakes, scrambled eggs, and four strips of bacon in front of her, paired with a glass of milk. Aero had a teacup filled with red tea that she took her time enjoying. There weren't any dishes in front of Zero or Massimo though. Either those two had already gotten something to eat, or hadn't done so yet.

"H-hey…" X awkwardly greeted.

"X!" Alia greeted back, happily waving to him. She patted a spot next to her as she said, "Come sit with us. We were trying to get to know each other better before everyone else got here."

"Okay…"

Feeling no less awkward than before, X took a seat between Alia and Zero. This placed him right across from Aero, with Massimo at her right. Aero quirked an eyebrow at him before taking a sip of her tea. X looked away, hoping it looked more like a respectful gesture than an intimidating one.

"I'm sorry if I interrupted what you were talking about before." he then said.

"Don't be." Alia assured him. "We were just talking about how Massimo got his name."

X looked to Massimo in confusion. "Your name?"

Massimo gave him a proud nod.

"It was given to me," he told X. "Back in my home city, there was a hero named Steel Massimo. He was brave, and kind to children. But he was hated by a lot of crime factions that lingered around. One of those deviants managed to get the upper hand on him, and took him for prisoner. They captured me too some time after -due to some debt that hadn't been paid that I was sure I wasn't a part of- but I was able to break out, and I found the room Steel Massimo was being kept.

"He knew he was dying at that point. Yet he looked at me as if I was there to save him. He told me 'I see a lot of strength in you. Take my mantle, my name and justice, and destroy those who threaten the peace.' and so I did. I've been following in his footsteps ever since. To the best I can, at least."

"Wow," was all X could say at first.

"It is pretty noble." Alia nodded in thought.

"A bit too altruistic for my tastes." Zero huffed.

"Not a fan of romanticism, Zero?" Aero teased. His only answer was a dark glare- one that Aero easily laughed off with another sip of tea.

"Romantic or not," Alia cut in, "It's nice to have a name that means something. Steel Massimo as a hero is a great title to inherit. All I know about my name was that I was almost named Aria, because I have music nerds in the family. I like Alia a bit more though."

"Hey Zero," Aero mused, "Do you think you got your name because you'd amount to nothing, or because zero has the potential to be a negative or positive."

Zero grimaced.

"I was the second, and last, son of a man who hated the advance of artificial technology."

"Ah. So you only have the potential to be negative. Gotcha."

"Hey guys!" Cinnamon's chipper voice filled the cafeteria. The five at the table turned their attention to what appeared to be the rest of the girls. They waved, allowing the girls to take a few of the empty spots.

"Iris had the best idea this morning." Cinnamon then explained to X, Alia, Aero, Zero, and Massimo. "She thought it would be great if we girls all got ready in the morning."

"It was more of a suggestion," Iris quickly interjected. Her tone indicating a more meek position on the idea.

"It's not a bad idea, though." Marino said. "There's power in numbers and all that. A little early morning pampering isn't that bad either when hungry eyes aren't looking."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Massimo immediately asked.

"I think you know exactly what I mean, honey." Marino shot back, even hitting him with a coy wink. The hulk of a fella physically shrunk from her gaze.

"That reminds me," Cinnamon once more spoke up, "Aero and Alia, you should join us!"

Palette clapped her hands in agreement. "Yeah! Every morning we do each other's hair, help decide what we should wear…"

"It's not as terrible as it sounds," Layer supplied through a shy smile.

"It can get kinda busy though." Iris pointed out. "It was this morning, at least. We were all jammed in my room…"

Alia laughed. She found their combined energy rather infectious.

"I can join in tomorrow morning. But I'm an early riser," she playfully warned them, "Is that alright?"

"Of course!" Palette and Cinnamon chimed at the same time. They looked to each other and laughed.

"Whose room are we meeting in tomorrow?"

"Mine." Layer told her. "I'll be up early too. Just in case there's some cleaning I need to do before all of us are there."

"What about you, Aero?" Marino asked, turning attention to the remaining girl.

Aero held her teacup tighter. "Oh… I…" she tried to say, only to lose her words. Her eyes drifted down as everyone's attention was on her now. "I finished my rooibos. I'm going to clean my cup out. Don't want to get ants or anything, right?"

Not waiting for anyone to stop her, Aero got up and took her cup back to the kitchen. From what X could tell, she still had a fair bit left.

"She could've just said no," Marino huffed once she was out of earshot.

"Sorry I'm late, guys." Axl loudly yawned as he entered the cafeteria. "I barely slept last night- then when I finally got up, I realized this wasn't some joke, so I panicked a bit. No big deal."

"Do you want to talk about it?" Cinnamon politely offered. "We are all in the same situation."

Axl scrunched his face as he let out a slow, "Nah," before placing himself where Aero had sat. X seemed to be the only one who noticed, or apparently cared. He opened his mouth to ask Axl to move, but then saw Aero come out of the kitchen and take a place at the far end of the table without so much a second glance.

"Did I miss anything?" she asked once she was comfortable again.

"Nothing but us sleepy-sheepys," Axl yawned. He laid his head down in his hands on the table, then moved his head so he was looking over at her. He hummed a little before musing, "Ya know, you look kinda like an angel. Not in a 'you're kinda hot' sorta way. Nah. You're just so… breezy. Like you're barely here…"

Aero cocked her eyebrow at him, but didn't say anything to refute the case.

"I'm so hungry!" Palette then announced. "Does anyone know how to make something good?"

"I might." X offered. "My sister taught me how to make scrambled eggs once."

"Oh! I know how to make avocado spread too!" Cinnamon chimed in. "We can have scrambled eggs with toast, with avocado."

"A bit bland, but I'd try it," Marino nodded in agreement.

"That does sound rather nice." Iris said.

"And here I was about to settle with cereal." Massimo lightly laughed. "Having something warm would be a lot better."

"Well don't start eating on our account." Spider's voice teased as he and Dynamo entered the cafeteria next.

"Some of us actually savor our beauty sleep." Dynamo also joked, stretching his arms above his head.

"Because you two clearly need it," Marino snorted.

Dynamo snapped his fingers before telling her, "You got it, girlie."

Iris adjusted herself in her seat, taking a look around at everyone around her. It took a moment for her to realize, and then say out loud, "Has anyone seen Vile this morning?"

As if to answer, a loud BOOM resonated throughout the building, shaking the floor and even tilting a few paintings on the wall. Everyone froze for a minute to realize what had happened.

"That came from the auditorium." Palette mused.

Everyone gave each other the same look before running out of the cafeteria. What they found in the auditorium causes an equal spike of horror and frustration.

Somehow, Vile had been able to construct Molotov cocktails from what looked to be bourbon bottles. He had a full fruit basket of artillery on his side. Vile was actively trying to light one of his improvised weapons with a match that just wouldn't take to flame. It was easy to tell where he had been firing at- a very large spot of soot and a small dent had been made into the auditoriums' ceiling. Zero had been the one to storm over to Vile, snatching the cocktail away just as the matchstick was able to keep its fire burning.

"What do you think you're doing?!" Zero demanded right to Vile's face.

"Well, one of two things will happen." the troublemaker huffed. "Lumi-ass will come out and tell me to stop, OR I bust a way out of here and you can thank me later."

Vile bent down to pick up another Molotov cocktail, but was stopped when Alia swiped the basket out of his reach. The two gave each other a dark glare before Vile threw his hands up in the air with defeat. Marino snuck a peek at the basket. Just getting a whiff of nail polish remover made her look up at Vile with disgust.

"Are you insane?" she demanded.

"Only the normal amount." he callously shrugged.

"The normal amount is zero, buddy." she immediately spat back. "And making flammable cocktails with acetone isn't a sane thing to do!"

"You'd be thanking me when I finally got us out of here!"

"Not if you don't blow us up first!" Axl shouted.

"I do in fact like my insides to not be outside." Dynamo mused.

"Ditto." Spider agreed.
"I think that goes without saying," Layer said as well.

Vile let out a loud, agitated groan.

"All you guys want to do is whine and stay complacent." he told them all. " I'm doing something. I'm trying to find a way out. I'm not going to sit with a thumb up my ass waiting for a Maverick to tap dance down the hallway admitting they're going to kill whoever happens to cross their path!"

"That's… not going to happen." Iris said quietly, although the eye roll she gave was pretty apparent.

"Look, kiddo," Spider then said, moving up to Vile to slap his hand on the latter's shoulder, "From the way we see it, there are two options. We either let you continue to cause damage to a ceiling that certainly isn't going to give at any moment, OR we can call you Maverick and go on the witch hunt now. It's your choice, really."

Vile growled as he forced Spider's hand off of him.

"If trying to be free is such a crime," he hissed, "Then I guess I am Maverick now. Good luck trying to blow this place sky high without me. You're going to need it."

With that, Vile made his leave from the auditorium- stomping along the way.

"It wouldn't have worked anyway," Aero murmured under her breath.

X quickly turned to her. No one else did, so he surmised he must have been the only one to hear her. Aero herself didn't know he was looking at her now either. Instead, her eyes were trained up to a certain place on the ceiling. X trailed his own to where her attention fell, and noticed that the spot Vile had been throwing the cocktails at was now soot-free. The single dent he had managed to make didn't even exist anymore.