It was dark. Pitch black everywhere I looked, the only thing I could see being myself as I raised my bandaged right hand up to my face to look at it.
"Here? Again?" I muttered to myself while looking around, seeing absolutely nothing else around.
I tilted my head down, giving my body myself a once over to see something odd. It was REALLY odd...
When I went to sleep last night, I remembered exactly what I wore to bed: a white short sleeve shirt and black pajama pants. Looking down at myself, though, I realized that I was wearing something totally different. I had on a black short sleeve, light blue cargo pants, black & blue sneakers, and a stylish black coat with matching colored fluff on the collar. While the inner layers of clothing seemed vaguely familiar to me, the coat did not.
As I placed my left hand onto the sleeve on my right arm, I immediately felt a sense of loss as well as determination rush through me. Then came a series of images flashing in my head, showing people as well as places, none of which were familiar to me. At the same time, a male voice spoke to me, seemingly as if he was standing right behind me, whispering in my right ear. What made things worse was that the voice kind of sounded like my own...
"The metal men will come for you. Rebuilt from a tragic past only to leave death and destruction in their wake." The disembodied voice spoke eerily, seemingly from all over the black void.
I began to feel concerned upon hearing this being said to me, mainly because it may be important for me to remember or something.
"They only exist to take, Seth..." The male voice continued as it its tone gradually deepened and sounded more static-like.
"WE WANT TO TAKE YOUR LIFE."
I felt as though my heart had fallen into my stomach. The sound of that voice sent cold chills throughout my entire body. That deep, static-like voice was from something in my childhood, and it had awoken negative emotions as well as I sense of urgency in me. Then, I heard the voice speak once again...
"YOU HAVE BEEN DETECTED." The now robotic monotone voice said from right behind me, making my body tremble in fear.
"IT IS YOUR TIME FOR YOU TO DIE..."
I didn't have to turn around to know that a person was standing behind me with a handgun pressing onto the back of my curly afro head. My entire body began to violently shake from immense fear as I broke out into a full sprint over to my right.
"NO!" I shouted out defiantly as I darted my body forward.
I ran. As fast as I could. As hard as I could. I felt like I was using every ounce of energy in my body to distance myself from my would-be killer, only to hear the clicking sound of boots fast approaching from behind. As I continued to run away, another series of images flashed in my head. Some unfamiliar people and me interacting. Others of several places that were familiar to me and those that were not. But that wasn't the worst part...
The last image that intruded my mind was of a faceless man of some sort. His tin colored skin had no features like a nose, ears, or mouth except for glowing red eyes. The man sported a black cap with a fancy 'A' on the front of it that he wore on his hairless head. After my mind processed the image, I came to the conclusion that the person was not a person at all and turned my head back around to see absolutely nothing...
The 'man' was gone. I was no longer being chased and threatened with the prospect of death by this familiar threat. I then let out a sigh of relief.
"PHEW!" I exclaimed, believing that I was safe from whoever or whatever was chasing me.
It was then that my ears picked up the sound of a knife being unsheaved from right behind me. The fear that had left my body had immediately returned as I began to run away again. Before I could even whip my head back to see who was behind me, I felt a swift punch connect to the back of it that forced me down face first onto the pitch black ground. Both of my hands immediately grabbed the back of my head, my sight growing fuzzy as I saw a tin colored left hand covered by a black fingerless glove pass by my face and down to my neck, clasping it tightly and lifting me up from the ground to sit me onto my knees.
I struggled to breathe as I felt the cold metallic hand squeeze on my throat harder and harder, as well as feeling the sharp point of a knife pressed up against my temple on the right side of my head. Then, I heard the chilling robotic male voice speak once again right next to my right ear...
"YOU WILL DIE..." It said eerily as I felt the sharpness of the large knife against my skin.
Right as I felt it begin to press harder against my temple, I heard the feint voice of someone my left ear right just as the sharp blade was pushed deeper into my head. A woman's voice.
"I won't let them..." she whispered softly as I felt my heart stop and soul leave my body.
Friday, Rebotco 10th, 0028, 10:40 a.m. First Cycle...
"Bro!" A young blonde woman says as she sits on her brother's bed, trying to shake him awake with both of her hands.
"Seth! Please get up! It's almost time for our meeting with the world leaders!" She continued.
The young, light skinned man's closed eyes immediately shot open upon hearing this.
"OH SHIT!" He shouted aloud as frantically shuffled out the bed, prompting the young blonde woman to get up.
"I'm so sorry, Lisa! Go and port your way to em'. I'll take the long way and be there at Cytorae HQ in 20 minutes!" Seth added.
As the young man frantically made up his twin sized bed, his sister and mentor, Lisa Aranos, stood behind Seth with a concerned look on her face while giving herself a once over. She then reached into the left pocket of her black denim jeans with her left hand, pulling out a small black spherical orb the size of a golf ball. Upon doing so, the young woman presses her thumb down on the top of it while also doing a light underhand toss up to the ceiling. As the orb falls back down, Lisa sees the sphere stop midair in front of her face. Moments later, it begins to change color: From a solid black to a reflective silver. Then, the orb began to expand into the shape and size of a person.
Upon finishing his bed, Seth immediately turned around to see his sister facing away from him with her back turned toward him. Confused, the young man taps Lisa's right shoulder with his bandaged right hand.
"Yo..." Seth says casually to his sister.
"Whatcha doin'?"
He is then surprised when a white left hand reaches and grabs him by his right arm, yanking the young man forward and to the side.
"That's the mirror drone, silly!" Lisa says plainly.
"You fell for it again. As per usual..."
Seth begins to laugh while scratching his curly afro head while his sister begins rolling with a half smile on her face.
"What can I say?" He says as he walks past her into the closet, which was in the center of their shared bedroom room.
"My sister makes some of the best gizmos in the world!" The young man continues as he briefly points his head out, giving Lisa a wink.
Though she didn't say anything back to him, the young blonde was moved by Seth's compliment so much so that she starts to tear up in front of the mirror drone, it mimicking everything she did. After regaining composure, Lisa immediately detects several issues using the drone. She saw that the right side of her long, straight blonde hair wasn't brushed well enough, as well as the collar of her white top being uneven. She also notices that the vision in her left yellow eye was blurry. The young woman quickly places her left index and middle fingers onto her open left eye while closing her right...
"SETH!" Lisa shouts loudly to her brother.
"YEAH!?" the young man responds by yelling from inside the closet.
"Whatcha need, sis? Is it another eye?"
After gently pressing her left eye into slightly inward, it shoots out from blonde woman's eye socket and falls down toward the black steel bedroom floor! Fortunately for her, Lisa manages to catch it into her left palm before it hits the floor. She then let out a sigh of relief before answering her brother...
"YEAH! COULD YOU GET ME ANOTHER ONE FROM IN THERE, PLEASE? IMMA GIVE YOU THIS ONE!" She yells out to Seth.
"AIGHT!" He says back to her, the slang making her giggle a little bit.
Turning around, the young blonde woman waits with her left eye shut for a few moments before seeing the young man come out of the closet. She smiles upon see Seth dressed in a white short sleeve shirt, black denim pants and black coat, something she rarely sees him in. Lisa begins to clap and cheer, causing her brother to smile and shrug in confusion.
"What I do?" He asks calmly with a curious smile on his face.
"Did I earn an achievement or something?"
Lisa approaches Seth and stops in front of him. Upon arrival, she immediately reaches with her left hand to grab and hold up his bandaged right. Looking at it for a few moments, the young woman then uses her right hand to move up the sleeve of her brother's black coat to see that the bandages extend all the way to his elbow. She then moves Seth's coat sleeve back over his right arm, looking him in the eyes.
"How is dad's bandage holding up, Bro?" Lisa says with her right eye watering up with tears.
Seth notices this, looking his visibly saddened sister in the eyes as well.
"It's fine, Sis. Thanks to you and dad, I can feel stuff in my right hand again. This nerve bandage you invented is perfect until it fully heals again." He states reassuringly to Lisa.
The young man is then aggressively hugged by his sister, breaking down and crying into his right shoulder as he wraps his arms around her.
"It's my fault... I'm so sorry..." Lisa says as she sobs lightly.
Seth immediately ends the embrace upon hearing her say that. Worried, Lisa looks up at her brother with a concerned look on her face.
"Don't wear down your eye, Sis." He says worryingly as he holds up an eyeball to his sister's face with his left hand, it being identical to the one she had taken out.
"We may be upper-class Cinthyans, but we share the limited resources that go into the creation of these things with the rest of Cinthyatar, ya know." He adds on.
Lisa nodded her head, smiling up at Seth as they exchanged yellow eyeballs with each other.
"I know." The young blonde says as she opens her empty left eye socket and inserts her new eyeball.
Seth watches as his sister closes and opens her left eye, only to see the pupil looking around in every possible direction. Only after several seconds did the yellow eye synced with her begin to function normally.
"It's just that... it happened again." Lisa says worryingly while looking at a now concerned Seth.
"You were having a nightmare. Someone was chasing you. And you whispered something about metal men. How they were coming to take you..." she elaborates further.
"That's weird." Seth responds with an unsure tone to his sister, visibly puzzled.
"I don't remember dreamin' up anything last night..."
Even though she was confused as to how her brother had no memory of this nightmare, Lisa made the decision to drop the subject entirely. After all, she had no idea what Seth was referring to when he murmured about the 'Metal men' in his sleep. Their race, the Cinthyans, were cybernetic humans born with various metals inside their bodies at birth. The more the young blonde thought about it, the more confused she looked.
After turning around with her back facing her brother, Lisa walks up to the mirror copy of herself and presses the tip of her right index finger onto its forehead. Shortly after doing so, she and Seth watch as the mirror drone copy's entire body transitions from looking exactly like her to a reflective silver version of her. Then, the copy's human size and shape morph into the form it originally was before: a small spherical orb. Suspended in midair in front of her, Lisa soon grabs the golfball sized device with her left hand and slides it into the back pocket of her black denim pants before turning to look over at her brother.
Upon doing so, Seth holds out bandaged right hand and sees a black wristband in it. Walking up to him, Lisa grabs the accessory out of her brother's hand and fashions it onto her left wrist. Seth then gives his sister a smile before waving his right hand at her.
"Buy me some time and stall the leaders while I go meet up with someone, will ya?" He asks while blinking rapidly.
Lisa rolls her eyes in response, giving him a knowing look.
"Sure." She says with a smile.
Shortly after saying that, the young woman's entire body was enveloped in light blue energy and vanished, leaving behind a flurry of particles. Standing there with a smile on his face, Seth immediately begins walking enthusiastically to the automated black bedroom door as it opens up.
As he steps out into the hallway, the young man sees the front door of the house straight ahead of him while he struts over to it. While he does, Seth passes by a bedroom door with the name 'Melina' scratched into the door in all capital letters. It opens as he struts by, with a young blonde woman with short and curly blonde hair stumbling out with a tired look on her face. She looks over at Seth as he makes it into the living room and past an older looking woman who is sitting on a triangular couch on his left side. She turns her head back to look at her right as the young man strutting with contagious enthusiasm up to and out the automatic front door with a smile on her face.
"Have a good time at the meeting with your sister, Seth baby!" The middle-aged woman says in a soft, reassuring tone.
She then looked immediately over to her left and down the hallway where Melina's bedroom door was with a blank expression on her face. The young, tired looking blonde hadn't moved an inch from her bedroom doorway, and upon making eye contact with the older woman, Melina immediately stepped back into her room.
"Fucking Jana..." she mumbles under her breath.
The automatic black steel door then shuts soon after.
Shaking her head in disappointment, the middle-aged woman turns her head forward to face a tiny hole in the living room wall straight ahead in front of her.
"HV ON!" Jana shouts aloud towards the living room wall.
2 seconds after saying this, a beam of blue light shoots out from the tiny hole in the wall and at an upward angle pointing toward the living room ceiling. It then splits into four, each moving into a different direction: top left, top right, bottom left, and bottom right. Shortly afterward, the gaps in between each blue beam are filled with a matching colored one, creating a rectangle. Then, Jana starts to see an image of a young woman with curly brown and light brown skin inside the midair screen.
Outside in the city of Cytorae, 10:46 a.m. First Cycle...
Seth stands outside of his house with a bright smile on his face as he looks around from atop the rail-less balcony. First looking to his left, the young man spots the large black & blue LED sign next with 'Aranos Family Household' written in a fancy font. Then Seth looks over to his right, seeing a tall black light post with a large light blue glowing and blinking bulb at the top of it. He then turns his body in that direction and walks to the post, looking out to the technological city abroad as well as down below.
Straight ahead where Seth was looking were large chrome buildings with various drones of many shapes and sizes flying past them. Looking down, there were sidewalks and dozens of men, women, and children either walking around or standing where they stood. The young man smiles upon the sights as he then looks up at the clear blue sky before his eyes squint when seeing the sun.
"Another great day..." Seth says as he arrives at the tall black light post.
As he does, the young man instantly dissolves in tiny blue light particles moments after grabbing the pole with his bandaged right hand.
Down onto the crowded sidewalks below, a small group of young women are chatting amongst themselves as they stand near a tall black light post. After one of them glances at the light blue bulb glowing brightly, she motions them to move away from it. As each of the young women do, they see a fluffy of blue light particles coming down from a platform above and to the light post next to them. The series of particles then morphs itself into the shape of a man and then materializes before the small group of women. It is Seth Aranos...
"OH MY GOODNESS!!!" All the young women shout upon seeing him.
"IT'S SETH FRICKING ARANOS! AAAAH!!!"
Seth simply smiles and waves at them, somewhat enjoying the recognition he's receiving. Even though he is an upper-class Cinthyan with high status, the young man sought to be as humble as possible.
"Mornin' to you, ladies!" Seth says as he walks past the visibly excited young ladies, with one of them looking his body up and down as he gets further away.
He then starts casually walking along the crowded sidewalk as he reaches into the right pocket of his black denim jean pants with his bandaged right hand and pulls out his smartphone to look at the current time: '10:46am, First Cycle'. Upon doing so, the young man looks straight ahead and sees the back of a Cinthyan woman's head as he continues walking to a now slower pace, prompting him to move his head to the right to look ahead. As he does, Seth immediately smiles at what, or rather, who he sees.
Further ahead was a small line of people waiting in front of a white, circular end table with an assortment of uniqiely shaped dessert foods on it. Standing next to the table was a beautiful looking young woman with white skin, white crop top shirt, khaki skirt, and black stiletto heels on her feet. The most notable features were her long, straight platinum blonde hair with pink hairpin on the top and beaming smile on her face. The young man couldn't help but blush when looking at her...
"Paulena..." He says aloud, causing the woman walking in front of him to turn her head back.
"The weird looking pastry girl?" The lady states coldly as she walks further to the young man's right.
"If you ask me, I think she should never have done vending. Nobody wants to look at her goofy smile or her ugly hair color..." she further adds.
As the older looking woman walks into the crowd and makes it to the sidewalk on the far side, Seth rolls his eyes at her harsh comment towards Paulena. He knew that the current social climate was awful to those of a lower class of living who were vendors in the wealthy parts of Cytorae City, Cinthyatar's capital city. The young man knew that upper-class Cinthyans dating the lower class is a social taboo amongst the race, hence why he didn't comment.
Upon arriving at the small line of people in front of her vendor, Seth sees Paulena handing out free samples of a dessert he hadn't seen before with her right hand to a middle-aged man and his little girl from off a gold circular platter that she held up with the open palm of her left hand. The young man found himself staring at the occupied young woman, finding her rather sexy. However, he lightly shook his head side to side to avoid thinking about how hot she looked.
"Get it together, dude." Seth thought to himself as he was one person away from interacting with Paulena.
"You know that she's not interested in taking things beyond being friends. I don't know why the hell you came here for..."
Being the next person, Seth walks up to the platinum blonde woman and waves at her with his bandaged right hand. She gives him a cute wave in return with her left, smiling brightly as they look one another in the eyes.
"Hey, Paule." The young man says softly and nervously.
"H-Hey..." Paulena replies in a matching tone of voice.
"How is your morning so far?"
"It's alright." Seth answers as he steps out
of line and to the side, standing at the left of her.
"My dad volunteered Lisa and I to meet with his bosses and talk about some boring project involving pollution reversal."
"That sounds delightful!" The platinum blonde woman responds with enthusiasm while handing out more of the unique looking dessert to waiting customers.
"If you have not heard, Cinthyatar is now over 50% over the pollution index graph, and out of the 500 volunteer openings that were on the 'Pollution Reversal Project', only 6 had signed it!"
"I didn't know about that..." Seth responds, visibly confused.
He then reaches into his right black denim pants pocket with his bandaged hand and pulls out his smartphone into the palm of it.
"Cier!" The young man says aloud, causing his phone to make a ping sound.
"Cinthyatar planetary status update, will you please!"
Seth and Paulena then wait a couple of seconds until his smartphone speaks back to him with a female voice.
"Hello, Seth Aranos. After analyzing your thoughts via neural scanning, I have come to the conclusion that you are attempting to access classified information about Planet Cinthyatar's Pollution status. Paulena Pollux is indeed correct about the 'Pollution Index Graph' or 'PIG' being slightly over 50 percent. Other information about the topic is classified." It says to him, making the young man more confused.
"How's any information classified from me?" Seth asks his smartphone with a tinge of anger in his voice.
"I'm the lead Weapons Tech Innovator on this planet! My Defense Tech Innovator sister and I should have access to everything!"
"You unfortunately do not. Arnva Aranos, your father, had set explicit encryption codes into your top quality Celu Phoens. I am prohibited from disclosing anything else on the subject." Cier replies in its plain female voice.
Somewhat annoyed, Paulena watches on as Seth turns off his smartphone and shoves back into his pocket before looking up at her. She sees his visible frustration and in an attempt to cheer him up, takes one of the unique looking desserts from off of her circular gold platter with her right hand and holds it up to the young man's face.
"Here. Have a tasty treat that I made this morn. For free." Paulena says in a soothing tone.
"Besides, you look like you have not ate breakfast either as well..."
Seth raises his bandaged right hand up the platinum blonde and shakes it as well as his head side to side.
"No, no!" He says with a sense of sadness for the young woman.
"I wanna pay for your-"
"Please, Seth. I want you to try them. I made them specifically for you..." Paulena nervously but politely interrupts.
Seeing the sweet smile she had on her face, the young man relents. Motioning him to open his mouth, the platinum blonde woman eagerly steps forward in plops a cube-like cookie with a large red circle on the top of it with her right hand. She then closes Seth's mouth by pushing his chin upwards using the same hand, prompting him to chew the dessert shortly after. The young woman then lightly trembles upon seeing the young man's eyes widen...
"Oh no." Paulena thinks to herself as she watches him chew and swallow her food.
"He hates it. He honest to goodness does. Why do I even bother with this hobby of mine..."
"MMM..." Seth moans out with a smile on his face as he looks her in the eyes.
"This. Is. AMAZING, GIRL!"
The silver blonde couldn't believe it at first. The young man had taken a liking to her newest dessert creation: the Cubical Jelly Tart. Seeing Seth's positive expression on his face caused Paulena to grow red in the face, smiling and giggling as well. For the first time in a long time, she was proud of herself.
"I am so very glad you enjoy my newest creation, Seth. You just do not know how much your compliment means to me, Seth..." The silver blonde says bashfully.
In an unexpected turn of events, Paulena places her gold circular dessert platter onto her white end table, walks up to Seth, and gives him a slow, heartwarming kiss on his lips. The young man, as well as the line that formed behind him, were in complete shock at what she had done.
"Paule... Why did you..." Seth says with a stunned expression on his face. The silver blonde smiles sweetly as she embraces him.
"Because I have made up my mind, sweetie. I want to be with you..." The young woman replies in a whisper.
Seth immediately tries to kiss her again, only for Paulena to raise her right hand up to his face and place her index finger onto his lips.
"No more for now." She says in a slightly seductive way.
"You got a meeting to attend, do you not?"
"I do." The young man answers with a nod. A couple of seconds later, his eyes widened in surprise.
"OH SHIT I DO!"
Paulena watches as Seth turns his body and sprints away from her, all the way down the sideway, until she can no longer see him. Pulling her smartphone out of the back pocket of her khaki skirt, the silver blonde begins to send a message to her now official boyfriend.
"That was a taste of what I want more of later tonight. You know where to find me 😘" she types, pressing 'SEND' with zero hesitation.
After sending her message, Paulena anxiously awaits a response, hoping for a quick reply. She checks her phone incessantly, feeling her anxiety increase with every passing second. Instead, the silver blonde as well as the now decently large line of people waiting in front of her vendor, hear a young man shout 'YAHOO' from the distance. While the line of male and female Cinthyans looked around and scratched their heads, Paulena blushed and smiled wildly as she turned her body to pick up her circular gold dessert platter to begin handing out to customers. In her mind, today was a good day.
Elsewhere, around the same time...
In his house, a young man with light brown skin, curly afro hair, black short sleeve shirt, and blue denim shorts hurries out of his messy bedroom. As he steps out his automatic bedroom door, the young man bumps into his large red sandbox while also forgetting that he left his Holo Vision on.
"THIS IS QUITE THE UPSET, FOLKS! RODREY MITCHELLS, THE BEST OF THE FEMALES, HAS DEFEATED THE MALE HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION OF MMA, STEAM ROLLER! SHE IS NOW OFFICIALLY THE GREATEST MIXED MARTIAL ARTS CHAMPION ON PLANET CINTHYATAR!" The announcer says from on the floating holographic screen.
Happy, the young man frantically runs down the hallway and up to the automatic front door while ignoring his mother, who is sleeping on a triangular loveseat.
"See ya later, mom..." he whispers as he steps out of the house.
Outside, the young man turns to his right and makes his way down a flight of black metal stairs before stopping halfway on them. Staring down blankly, he sees a young man with light brown skin with buzzcut hair and a young woman with white skin, long straight red hair with freckles on her face holding hands while looking up at him with a smile.
"WHAT!?" The young man on the stairs says as he slowly walks down them.
"WHY ARE YOU TWO LOVE BIRDS HERE RIGHT NOW? I GOT SOMEWHERE TO BE!"
"You do have somewhere to be, Jeivon." The young man with buzzcut hair responds.
"You're coming to the Pollution Reversal Project meeting today with Kaliope and me, remember?"
"NOT RIGHT NOW, CALEB!!!" Jeivon shouts out, causing the pair slightly back up.
It is then that the young redheaded woman reaches into the left pocket of her grey denim skinny jeans and pulls out a black index card with her left hand. She then walks up to an irritated Jeivon, putting the card up to his face. As the young man stares at it, he sees letters form on the index card and begins to read the words that are created...
"Jeivon, please come with Caleb and me. You promised that you'd go with us to the meeting when it was time. He and I may be dating, but you are still our dear friend. I'm sorry about last night as well." It says on the card.
"UGH..." Jeivon groans out, causing Kaliope's smile to morph into a frown.
After looking down and shoving the black index card back into her left pocket, the young redhead immediately looks back up as she feels Jeivon's right hand rest upon her left shoulder.
"I was in my way to go congratulate Rodrey Mitchells on her victory against Steam Roller, but I can always talk to her whenever. You guys come first..." he calmly states with a half smile on his face.
Caleb watches on with a smile as Kaliope rushes in and hugs Jeivon tightly, lifting him up off the steel ground. As she starts the spin, the young man begins to grow slightly nauseous.
"OKAY! OKAY! I CAN SEE THAT YOU'RE HAPPY!" Jeivon yells out to the mute redhead.
"PUT ME DOWN BEFORE I CHANGE MY MIND!"
Stopping her spinning immediately, Kaliope carefully puts her friend's feet back onto the steel ground and retracts her arms. Now satisfied, the young man looks over at Caleb.
"You have the text link to the Cytorae Technological Innovation Center? Ya know, so we don't have to walk all the way there?" Jeivon asks with obvious annoyance.
His friend nods in response as he shoves his right hand into the corresponding side of his black sweatpants pocket.
"Indeed I do." Caleb answers enthusiastically as he pulls out his smartphone.
"You and Kaliope gotta come over here and place a hand on my shoulder..."
"Fine..." The young man replies while looking visibly irritated while turning his head around and seeing the young redhead nodding in agreement.
After walking and standing next to Caleb, Jeivon and Kaliope each place their hand onto the young man's shoulders, the former standing at his right and the latter on his left, respectively. Soon after, Caleb then presses the text link he received from 'CTIC', and the trio is enveloped in a blue beam of light that causes them to vanish in a blink of an eye...
At the 'CTIC' building, 10:58am First Cycle...
Shortly after teleporting from her bedroom and away from her brother, Lisa Aranos is immediately greeted with the sight of several people as she materializes in a fancy and lavish meeting room. The walls were black as well as blue, with small triangular windows on each side of the room. There were no chairs, desks, or tables anywhere, either. Just people and the room. Being in the exact center of it as well, Lisa had to turn her head left, right, and back to look at the several people that were in the room as well...
In front of her were two people, a middle-aged man with a ball cap and white lab coat on, as well as a woman with her brown hair in a bun with a matching coat on standing and talking amongst themselves. To the left was another pair, both of the opposite sex. The man had short blonde hair and was dressed in a white short sleeve button-up shirt and black slack pants while the woman had medium length black hair with glass of her face. She also wore a black short sleeve button-up shirt and black knee-high skirt with black leggings on underneath. To Lisa, they looked significantly younger compared to the man and woman in front of her, with the age estimate being in the early to mid 20s. She also saw that they had some belongings in their right hands: a green plant in the young man's and a textbook in the young woman's. They were too entranced in their conversation to notice Lisa's presence.
On the young blonde's righthand side was a young looking woman with light brown skin, black curly afro hair wearing a light blue tank top, black leggings, and blue sneakers. She leaned her back against the wall as she stood, with her face tilted down at the smartphone in her hands. Finding her interesting, Lisa approaches in an attempt to speak to her, only to see the preoccupied woman raise her right hand up and stop her in her tracks...
"Stay the fuck right there." She says blankly, not taking her eyes away from the screen of her phone.
"Not interested in conversation with someone of your background. Upper-class Cinthyans are top quality pricks..."
"S-Sorry." Lisa stammered out nervously.
Suddenly, the young blonde hears her name, causing her to turn her head and look behind herself. She then smiles.
"Long time, no see!" An older looking man says to her as he leans up against the room's wall.
"Come here and give me a big ol' hug!"
Without hesitation, Lisa runs over and hugs the man. The other people in the room look on and smile as the man wraps her arms around her while the woman with the curly afro rolls her eyes at her phone.
"It's been ages since I've seen you last, Del." Lisa says as she rests her left ear onto the chest, hearing his double heartbeat.
"I know, Lisa." He replies softly.
"Your dad and I had a lot of work to do on Planet Rijilar involving the food and tech trade. The Bugatti family is something else..."
Before Lisa could respond, everyone in the room began to see three people materialize within the room. Once they did, the younger man of the trio immediately noticed to woman with curly afro hair, approached her, and leaned his back up against the wall next to her.
"Hey there, beautiful." He says in a seductive tone.
"Whats your name? I bet it sounds as wonderful as you look..."
"M..." the woman replied blankly, internally annoyed by the young man's height as well as his presence.
"What do you want with me?"
"Name's Jeivon. Aspiring MMA fighter and best friends with Rodrey Mitchells, aka the greatest MMA fight in the world after today, haha!" The young man states with an air of confidence, visibly annoying the young woman even more.
Caleb and Kaliope watch on in joy as they see their friend make small talk with M. They were not prepared for what happened next, though...
"And? What are you going with this, Jeivon?" 'M' says with frustration in her voice to him.
The young man then moves himself from off the wall and stands in front of her, his face, which is at the height of her chest, tilted up and looking into her baby blue eyes. The young woman looks down and locks glaze with him, thoroughly surprised with what's going on.
"Would you do me the honor and agree to being my date for tonight?" Jeivon asks, taking 'M's hands into each of his own and causing her smartphone to fall to the floor.
"I would love for you to meet the champ herself and maybe spar with us a little..."
"First of all, I don't do dates. I'm a call girl. As for second, why would I want to do some lame MMA stuff?" The young woman harshly replies, causing Jeivon's eyes to widen from anger.
"Oh shit." Caleb says while looking at a now worried looking Kaliope.
"Here it comes..."
"NOW YOU LISTEN HERE, STREET WALKER!" The young man yells out into her face as he throws 'M's hands away from himself.
"YOU TAKE THAT BACK OR SO HELP ME..."
"Or what shortstuff?" She asks mockingly as the tip of her right index finger rests on Jeivon's forehead.
"I'll be honest, I'm no fighter. But if you fuck me up, you'll be looking over shoulder everyday to avoid getting fucked up. Think hard on that, fuck face..." The young woman continues on eerily.
It was then that 'M' pushed Jeivon backward by the force she puts into her index finger, causing him to fall to the hard steel floor onto his backside. Now angered even further, Caleb and Kaliope rush over just as the young man attempts to kick her in the curly afro head as she goes to pick up her phone. Putting her device in the waistband of her black leggings, 'M' looked up and stared blankly at the pissed young man as Caleb and Kaliope restrained him.
"S-Sorry about Jei, 'M'..." He nervously says while restraining his riled up male friend.
"Our friend is a bit of a hothead at times... Well, most of the time. It's just how he is, unfortunately..."
"Sounds about right." She plainly replies. 'M' then looks up at the young couple across the room and glares at them.
"CAN I HELP YOU TWO!?" She shouts at them, causing them to immediately look away.
"Just making sure things were alright over there is all!" The young woman hears the blonde man say while he faces the woman in front of him.
She then shakes her head and continues to stare at a now calm Jeivon just as Caleb and Kaliope release him.
Across the room, the young man that answered 'M' attempts to continue the conversation he was having with the young woman, only to lose his train of thought.
"Damn it." He says to her with genuine frustration.
"Can't remember what I was going to say before all the commotion over there..."
"It's alright, Kevin..." she replies sweetly the young blonde man.
"I enjoyed listening to you speak about exploits as a Cinthyan botanist. You know your way around plants just as I do around the Anatomy of our race, hehe."
The blonde man smiles at the young woman, looking down at the woman's textbook wrapped in her arms titled: Cinthyan Anatomy.
"And I hope to pick your mind palace about your exploits on the Cinthyan body, at your place, Kayla..." He says back to her with heart-felt smile.
"Sounds like good company. " she replies, shifting herself closer to Kevin until her right shoulder touches his left.
"Given the fact that my mother and father are basically never home anymore, always going out with friends and junk..."
"I wouldn't know." The young man responds, letting out a lengthy sigh, causing Kayla's face to perk up.
"My mom never lets me go anywhere or have someone over. She's too overbearing..."
Suddenly, three people materialize within the room. The older couple, as well as everyone else, look at them right upon one of three people clap their hands together.
"ALRIGHT EVERYONE!" A female voice sings out.
"I need all of you to pay close attention..."
Lisa, Del, Jeivon, Caleb, Kaliope, Kevin, Kayla, 'M', and the older couple all shift their focus to the center of the room, where two middle-aged women and one man stood looking around at everyone in the room. One of them women, who is standing in between them, looks straight at the older man and woman. Upon seeing her staring at them, they begin to pull out their smartphones.
"Is it time to head there, Angela?" He asks curiously before seeing the woman nod her head in response.
"Yes, Moorkes. It's time to set up the work zone on Looginara Island..." She answers calmly. The woman next to him raises her hand to Angela.
"How look are we gonna be there for?" She asks with a hint of concern in her voice.
"And there it is..." The middle-aged woman responds, rolling her eyes.
"If you're going to complain about how dirty the island is for the millionith time, please just stay home and let her husband do all the heavy lifting, Deena. I'm getting tired of all the bitching..."
Upon hearing that, Moorkes immediately activates his transport link via his smartphone while grabbing onto his wife's shoulder. Seeing that she got pissed off, Angela rolled her eyes, placing her hands on her hips and shaking her head side to side upon witnessing Deena lunge her body towards her as she was teleported to Looginara Island.
"Poor Deeni Weeni..." The middle-aged woman says as she turns around and walks over to Del and Lisa.
"Always making a fuss. At least with you and your brother, Lisa, We can really kickstart the recovery of Cinthyatar!" She adds.
Angela then looks around, only to see that Seth Aranos is not present.
"By the way, where is your brother?" She asks. Lisa shrugs in response to the question.
"Probably stopped to grab a bite to eat, haha!" She answered while scratching her head with her right hand nervously.
"HURRY THE FRICK UP, BRO!" The young blonde shouted in her mind.
Outside in the city, 10:58am First Cycle...
Seth enters a video game implant store and looks around, taking in the sights of miniature cassette tapes stacked on shelves as well as the smell of popcorn and sweet candies. As he walks forward and to the checkout counter, he sees a young woman with white skin and short white hair in a ponytail hairstyle wearing a black tank top, a short black skirt, and black boots reaching for a tape on the top shelf on her right. As she does, the woman accidentally knocks over a rack that sat next to her, causing the rare collection of tapes to fall out and spill onto the blue carpet. Seth turns to his left and immediately tries to help, but he is stopped by the story clerk.
"Ya don't gotta do anything, Seth." He says in a plain tone of voice.
"This is standard routine at this point..."
Turning over to face the clerk, the young man continues his way up to the checkout counter and rests his elbows onto it. He then leans in while tilting his head left, looking back at the young lady.
"Yo, Larsen." Seth says casually as well as with a look of genuine interest on his face.
"Is it just me, or does that girl always come in for the exact same thing every single day?"
"She does, pal." The clerk answers as he mirrors the young man's posture, looking at her as well.
"That's Futora Romanaro, a store regular. She's comes here every day to see if there is a copy of the newest first person shooter, 'Yearn To Battle', sittin' there right on that dusty old shelf. Poor gal doesn't even know that the devs of the title don't put out anymore copies of that year old game..." Larsen continues on in his dreery tone of voice.
Seth then looks back to the clerk, who has a depressed look on his face. Before he can say what he wants to, though, Larsen begins to talk again.
"So, how's your love life been?" He asks with a hint of curiosity in his voice.
"Still hoping that Pollux lady changes her mind about taking the romantic route with you?"
"Uh... About that..." Seth with a smile. The clerk responds by patting his right shoulder with his left hand.
"I'm glad for you, pal. You got her. Now keep her..." Larsen says with a small smirk on his face.
"But what about you, Lars?" The young man asks while looking back at Futora, who fixes the fallen rack herself.
"What about you ask her out? For one, It doesn't look like she's got a boyfriend, and more importantly, I'm tired of seeing you look like a sad sack all the time." Seth says before patting Larsen on his shoulder and getting his elbows off of the counter.
"It's was nice catching up with you again after all this time, Lars." He says as he backs up, accidentally bumping into Futora on his way out the automatic door.
"I gotta get to a meeting. THINK ABOUT WHAT I SAID, DUDE!" The young man adds before the door shuts.
After seeing Seth leave, tears begin to fall from Larsen's eyes and onto the checkout counter as he thinks about the woman he lost a year ago. As he continues, Futora walks up to the teary-eyed store clerk as she places her cassette tape in front of him on the checkout counter.
"Cuse' me, sir..." she says softly to him. "Could I get this copy of -"
Without so much as a warning, Larsen does an about-face and immediately retreats to the backroom through the automatic door behind him. The young woman continues to stand at the checkout counter, confused by what was going on...
At the 'CTIC' building... Again...
It is now 11:01am, First Cycle. Angela is now growing impatient with Seth's late arrival, with Lisa becoming increasingly nervous in response. Jeivon, Caleb, and Kaliope had begun to sit down onto the floor and play three-way rock paper scissors. Kevin and Kayla began to read her 'Cinthyan Anatomy' textbook together silently while 'M' placed noise-canceling earbuds into each of her ears to listen to her EDM music Playlist.
"If this keeps up, you might have to go to Looginara Island alone, my dear Lisa...." Angela says to her with irritation in her voice.
"Please, Ms. Torval." The young blonde pleads.
"My brothers just a busy guy. He wouldn't skip out on..."
Before she could finish, Lisa and everyone else saw a person's body materialize into the room. Finally, Seth Aranos was here...
"There you are..." Angela says with her hands on her hips and a look of disapproval on her face.
"You were VERY close to being removed from the project, boy..."
"Chill out, Tori..." Seth replies casually as he mirrors her posture, annoying her greatly.
"I had some personal stuff to tend to. And as the maker out this planet's weapons and stuff, I would appreciate it if you stopped acting like I'm a selfish piece of shit. I'm FAR from being that."
Jeivon and Caleb watched on in surprise as immediately Kaliope ran up and hugged Lisa's brother with vibrant enthusiasm. The young man picked her up as she wrapped arms as well as her legs around him.
"You know this guy, Kali?" Jeivon asks with surprise.
The redhead turns her head back and nods over to him as Seth puts her down onto her feet.
"She do! Best friend for life." He says to the young man as well with a playful tone of voice.
"Goodness gracious..." Kayla says from the left side of the room.
"Seth Aranos!? THE Seth Aranos." The young man smiles at her and bows his head.
"The one and only!" He answers with a wink upon looking over at the astonished pair.
Aside from 'M' and the older adults, Jeivon, as well as Caleb, Kevin, and Kayla, walk over to shake Seth's hand and/or hug them. Though the young man didn't like flaunting his popularity around, he did enjoy flexing it in this particular instance.
"I appreciate your attention, you guys." the young man says while turning his head back to look at his sister, motioning her over to him.
"But y'all gotta give props to my mentor over there! Lisa taught me all that I know about tech."
Somewhat nervous, Lisa cautiously approaches the small group that surrounded her brother. Watching Seth from a distance was 'M', looking back down at her smartphone screen as she listens to her EDM song after having gotten an eyeful of him.
"Get it together, girl..." she mumbles to herself while attempting to push down her thoughts of talking to the young man.
Upon arriving next to her brother, the young blonde stands and looks around awkwardly as Jeivon, Caleb, Kaliope, Kevin, and Kayla look at her. The young redhead is the first one to interact with Lisa, giving her a hug.
"Nice to finally me you, Kaliope. Seth talks about you all the time at the house..." she says as she ends the embrace.
The blonde woman then turns to her right, looking at Jeivon and Caleb.
"And who might you two be?"
"Jeivon..." Jeivon groans out as he crosses his arms. He then turns his left to look at his friend.
"Hey Lisa." Caleb waves with his right hand at her.
"Caleb. I know pretty much everything about you and your brother, since our dads know each other and all..."
"As do I." Lisa replies as she approaches and hugs him.
"My condolences to your mother, and I wish your father well in his possible recovery..."
Suddenly, Kevin and Kayla move in closer, prompting Lisa and Caleb to look at them.
"It's an honor to finally meet an Aranos in the cybernetic flesh!" Kayla says eagerly as she goes to hug the young blonde woman.
"I have loads of questions about the defense technology you create..."
"In due time, Kayla..." Kevin says as he shakes Caleb's hand, hugging Lisa immediately after.
"Apologies for that. I'm Kevin Daxx. And that is Kayla Hoven. Let's not overwhelm her. She may be a genius, but also half human. Lisa will share her developments at her own pace."
"I appreciate your concern, Kevin." The young blonde woman says with a smile. "But I do have something to show all of you before our meeting begins..."
Seth, Jeivon, Caleb, Kaliope, Kevin, Kayla, and the other adults watched as the young blonde woman walked over to 'M' and tapped on her left shoulder with her right hand, getting her attention.
"What now?" She growls out, shoving her smartphone into the waistband of her black leggings.
The young woman then looked down and saw a flashing rhombus shaped device resting on top of Lisa's open hands before looking back up at her.
"Put this on for me. Will you please?" The blonde asks with a cute look on her face.
"Fine..." 'M' answers, snatching the rhombus device out of her hands.
Upon fashioning it onto the waistband of her leggings on her right side, the young woman motions her to the center of the room as well as everyone but her brother behind them. Lisa then turns to look at him on her left...
"Seth..." she says to him sweetly.
"Yeah, sis?" He replies with the same kind of voice.
"Do me a favor and pull out your HAMR. Will you please?" Lisa asks as she turns her head and smiles at 'M'.
The young woman's eyes widen in confusion, not knowing what was happening at all.
"What the fuck's going on!?" She asks frantically as her entire body began to tremble lightly from fear.
"What are you assholes about to do right now!?"
"Will do, sis!" Seth answers to his sister, reaching into the inner left part of his black coat with his bandaged right hand.
Everyone else watches on with nervous anticipation when the young man pulls out a black spherical orb that turns into a light machine gun rifle a matter of seconds. Inspecting his gun, Seth immediately points it at 'M'. The young woman backed herself up onto the black wall of the room, clearly terrified.
"WHAT THE FUCK!" she shouts fearfully over at the seemingly crazy brother and sister.
"Only two bullets, bro." Lisa says as she sees her brother taking aim at the extreme frightened young woman.
"You got it, sis..." Seth replies with his bandaged right index on the trigger on his LMG.
With tears in her eyes, 'M' closes them tight in fear that she may die upon hearing the young blonde woman counting down from three to one. Unfortunately, she didn't get to visually witness the incredible ability of the device she had been asked to put on.
After squeezing the trigger of his HAMR rifle, Seth, Lisa, everyone else is astonished by his sister's rhombus device shielding 'M' from the two bullets fired. Even more impressive, the young man shot in two separate shots: his first round at the frightened young woman's lower abdomen and the second at her left shoulder. The rhombus device managed to stop the first as it was inches from 'M's body, producing a miniature blue shield in the same shape. That same shield immediately moved up to her left shoulder to stop the other bullet a millisecond later, causing both to fall straight to the ground in front of the scared woman.
"Success!!!" Lisa shouts out, causing 'M' to open her eyes and stare menacingly at her.
"ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME!?" She yells over at both her and Seth while approaching them.
"I COULD HAVE DIED, YOU CRAZY MOTHERFUCKERS!"
"I'm sorry!" The young blonde replies to the angry young woman sincerely.
"I... I just couldn't reveal the plan to you..."
Angry, 'M' shoves Lisa backward using both hands. Before she gets the chance to do it a second time, though, Seth immediately puts his weapon back into sphere form, shoves it back into the left pocket inside of his black coat, and steps in front of his sister.
"I wouldn't keep doing that if I were you..." he says with his face tilting slightly down to 'M', since he was a little bit taller.
"If you want to be mad at someone, be mad at me. I shot at you. If you gotta put hands on someone, let it be me..."
After looking him in his brown eyes for a few moments, the young woman eventually backs down.
"Whatever!" 'M' pouts before walking past Seth.
As she does, the young woman stops right next to Lisa and turns her head right to look at her.
"Don't trick me like that ever again..." she says as she takes off the rhombus device and hands it back to her.
After taking her creation back, Seth and his sister watch as she resumes walking to the back of the room. It was then that Angela finally spoke...
"Now that it is over and done with, we can finally get this project underway!" She says while turning towards the brother and sister, prompting them to turn around.
"This was a long time coming, but bare with me as I explain. Delvahni, Dennis, Krissie, and I have done all that we can to make sure that the general public has no knowledge of our planets current state of pollution. Sure, there were whispers and rumors, but we managed to utilize the media to ease the masses... for a time. Now, it's backfiring on us. Environmental protests have broken out in the lower to poverty-stricken area of Cytorae City, forcing us to address the planet's issues. The problem is this: we can't. If my colleagues and I mention the dire situation we are in as a race, I fear our we'll kill ourselves before they do..." she lengthily states to them all.
Seth, Lisa, Jeivon, Caleb, Kaliope, Kevin, Kayla, and 'M' all look at Angela with concern upon her saying this.
"How dire is it?" Lisa asks curiously.
Delvahni walks over and stands next to Angela upon hearing this question being asked.
"Some years back, maybe a year or two after this planet was completely built, your father and I encountered a race. Their mission was to ensure that each planet they surveyed was at minimal pollution levels. Worlds that hit 50 percent or over would be then marked for clean-up..." he explains while looking at the young woman.
"That doesn't sound like a bad thing." Kevin chimes in from the back.
The middle-aged man then turns to look at him, shaking his head.
"It is very bad, young man. For this race, 'Clean-ups' are a culling procedure to eliminate the possibility of pollution ever occurring again. We know this because Arnie and I have seen it. They do this to countless worlds..."
Everyone in the room became visibly uneasy. Seth and Lisa were the most unnerved but still looked a bit worried from what they heard.
"Can't you just talk to these guys!?" Kayla asks desperately.
"Maybe strike a deal with them!?"
"No, my dear." Dennis says while leaning up against the wall.
"They do not negotiate. They are cold, hard logic at its finest. We were lucky to have not seen any of them for nearly three decades..."
"But we can't harp on 'What If Scenarios'!" Krissie chimed in.
She then turns to look at Jeivon, Caleb, Kaliope, Kevin, Kayla, and 'M' as they all look at her with a frightened expression on their faces.
"We have a game plan. Looginara Island is the least polluted on the archipelago charted on the other side of Cinthyatar. If we can find a way to bring back to animals and rejuvenate to plant lift, we can knock the 50 percent ratio down. That way, those guys won't show up!" She explains enthusiastically.
Upon hearing this, Kaliope and Kevin's eyes lit up...
"I can work on a solution to rejuvenate the plants, ma'am!" The young blonde man says happily.
"And Kaliope told me to tell you that she can work on some things to lure animals around!" Caleb follows up with.
"Splendid!" Angela says aloud, looking at Seth and Lisa before looking over at the six young adults.
"You two are going to be in charge of protecting them when its time to go to Looginara Island. Seth, you will use your LMG rifle to ward off potential threats. As for you, Lisa, you will produre more of those... those..."
"The Attack Deflector Rhombus!" The young blonde woman finishes.
"Yes. You will produce more 'ADRs' for everyone to wear when going onto the island. We need to be ready for if they come..." Angela continued on.
"I'm sorry, Angie. I can't help but feel like I'm in the dark here. Why aren't you telling us this race's name? Or describing what they look like at the very least?" Seth asks curiously.
It was then that Lisa and everyone else, aside from the three older adults, began to wait for Ms. Torval's answer. They get one, just not the one they hoped...
"I'm afraid that I, nor any of us, are not allowed to utter their name or provide a description of these robots out of fear that the information will go public, creating mass hysteria." She answers calmly.
"And to add on to that point, none of you are to mention what we have discussed here to anyone else besides amongst yourselves. If you do, you'll be exiled from Cytorae City to fend for yourself! Understood!?"
"Yes!" Everyone shouts loudly.
"Now!" Angela shouts as she claps both of her hands together.
"Time to assign groups!"
Turning around to face the six young adults, the middle-aged woman raises her right index and points it at Jeivon.
"You! State your full name!"
"Jeivon Yeedil." He says.
Angela nods in response.
"Go and stand next to Lisa Aranos for me!"
Caleb and Kaliope watch as their friend does as what he is told, standing next to Seth's sister. The former hoped that he could be with him while the latter was hoping to be at her best friend's side. Then, the waiting pair see that Ms. Torval pointed her finger at Kevin...
"State your name!"
"Kevin Daxx!" He says aloud.
Angela nods in response to him.
"Stand next to Seth Aranos, will you please?"
Kayla watches as the young blonde man walks over to Lisa's brother, slapping and shaking his bandaged right hand with a smile on his face. She hoped to be paired with him. She then sees the middle-aged woman point at Kaliope.
"I know about your selective mutism, Ms. Kaliope Eudoruh." She says to the redhead.
"Over to Lisa..."
While slightly saddened by not being able to be in Seth's group, Kaliope was happy to be with Jeivon. Upon standing next to him and Lisa, she couldn't resist giving each of them a hug, much to Caleb's delight. He hoped to be in her group. He then looked on as Angela pointed at Kayla...
"Name, please..."
"Kayla Hoven." The young woman responds.
Ms. Torval nods.
"With Seth..."
Kayla was thrilled to be with Kevin as she gleefully walked over to him and Lisa's brother. After giving Seth a quick hug, she immediately kisses Kevin on the left cheek, making him blush. 'M' rolled her eyes right as Angela pointed at her.
"Name..."
"'M'..." she replies plainly.
Ms. Torval chuckles, assumed by the statement.
"That's cute. Seriously though, state your full name for me so I can confirm your identity..."
"If you have my full name in your database, then I don't need to fucking say it, right?" 'M' responds rather coldly.
"Yeah, but..."
"Good. I'll pick where I wanna fucking go." She rudely interrupts the older woman.
The young woman then proceeds to look around at the two groups, stopping her eyes on Lisa's. After some thought, as well as seeing Caleb looking over at his friends, she ultimately walks over to Seth's group. Upon her arrival, she completely ignores Kevin and Kayla while she makes her way in front of Lisa's brother. Standing face to face, the young man extends his bandaged right hand out in an attempt to shake her hand.
"Welcome aboard!" He says with enthusiasm.
Although she was annoyed by his personality, 'M' found it difficult to stay upset with Seth. After a few moments, she shook his bandaged right hand with her own.
"Yay...." The young woman cheers condescendingly. Angela nods after seeing her settle in.
"Now that just leaves you, Mr..."
"Caleb Dobo!" He finishes.
Without hesitation, the young man excitedly marches over to Lisa's group. He then gives Jeivon a hug and high five while giving Kaliope a kiss on the lips. Ms. Torval then nods just before clapping both of her hands together...
"We did it, everyone! The meeting has reached its end. Now, you all have 2 weeks to prepare your solution to improve the conditions on Looginara Island. Delvahni, Krissie, Dennis, and I will be assisting Moorkes and Deena in building the work site such as garages and stuff. In the meantime, just spend time with your group members and get to know one another. The future of Cinthyatar depends on all of you!" Angela states lengthily.
Putting out her smartphone, she then motions her colleagues over to her before looking up at the 8 young adults.
"We'll be seeing you soon!" Ms Torval says before she and the others vanish in the blink of an eye.
Shortly thereafter, everyone is teleported out of the room and outside in front of the 'CTIC' building.
Seth, Lisa, Jeivon, Caleb, Kaliope, Kevin, Kayla, and 'M' all look at each other. Just as everyone begins to walk away, Lisa's brother stops everyone after pulling out his smartphone.
"We all need to be in a group chat before we head off..." He says enthusiastically to everyone present.
With everyone in nonverbal agreement, Seth, Lisa, Jeivon, Caleb, Kaliope, Kevin, Kayla, and 'M' all exchange mobile numbers with one another. The only exception being that 'M' only gave her number to Seth and no one else. After getting all the contact information they needed, everyone went their separate ways for the time being...
Kiontre Miles
Leanore King
