by M A Scrawl
"Didn't you have pancakes yesterday?" Kadir asked, leaning in to count how many pancakes there were on his plate.
Quentin nodded again. "They're delish-mous," he said, his mouth filled with the pancakes.
Katy laughed. "Delish-mous, delish-mous," she said in a sing-song voice.
Kadir smiled and went off in the direction where he would get some food. The cafeteria was completely empty since it was two hours since the usual lunch hours, so they had the entire cafeteria to themselves.
Kadir ordered a grilled cheese sandwich, some jasmine rice, applesauce, and a cookie as dessert.
He joined his siblings at the table and chewed on the grilled cheese. "This is a great cafeteria," Katy was saying. "But it really needs a new name. Something, stylish, in-the-now, exotic!"
She thought for a moment, then brightened, her face beaming. "I got it! The Fac Cafe!"
Kadir scrunched up his face. "The Fac Cafe? What's a Fac? A fact?"
Katy shook her head, her face still beaming. "No! Fac! Like F-A-K! Fac! As in, Facility C! The C really stands for Cafe!"
Katy looked like she'd discovered a gold mine within a town made of mud. At least, thats what Katy said.
"We need to put up a sign that says:" she stood up and put out her hands, no doubt imagining what the sign would look like. "The Fac Cafe!"
Quentin actually started clapping, the gesture louder than normal because of his metal hands. It sounded more like to metal poles banging against each other than an applaud.
Katy grinned, sitting back down and getting back to her meal. Kadir took the hint and started to continue to eat his grilled cheese sandwich.
Today had been a good day. The testing had been fun, and Katy hadn't gotten too anxious. Kadir had noticed in their time in Facility C that she did not like small spaces, or even being held down in any way. Kadir assumed that was why she preferred sleeping on the floor rather than being held inside a bunk bed.
Today was a break from the usual agenda. Kadir knew they would probably go back to training with Caheel, but for right now, it was nice to not be yelled at.
Later, they would probably be eating dinner, and then going back to their bunk. At the moment though, he wondered what Caheel was doing.
-Chapter 28-
-Training Continues-
Kadir found out all too well the next day how Caheel was doing. They all woke up to an angry voice over the speaker, requesting them to come to the gym. Actually, it was more like commanding.
They found an angry Caheel, nursing his slung-up arm and broken nose. He scowled as Quentin entered and set them at forty push-ups, pushing them when they did something not to his liking.
Again, Kadir grit his teeth and pushed through, resisting the temptation to release the flow as Caheel placed his foot on Kadirs’ back. Quentin might've been able to beat Caheel, but Kirby had made it clear to all of them that if they did it again, there would have to be consequences.
Forty sit-ups, a three mile run, lifting weights and the like. Kadir found that doing these things, especially the push-ups, was incredibly easier for him. He remembered the defined muscles he had in the White Room, and he groaned. He didn't like thinking that the suffering Caheel was putting them through was actually beneficial for him.
Kadir pushed through, along with his siblings, going through Caheels’ rage without question, enduring his abuse hardily.
Supposedly, they would start actual training soon. Going through this hell-like torture was supposedly exactly what Caheel went through. Something about becoming stronger before learning anything. What kind of things would they be learning?
6 Weeks Later...
Kadir crouched down on the metal floor, feeling a little sweat trickle down his back as he shouldered his tag gun. He was in a simple rescue mission. Piece of cake, right?
Wrong. Kadir had not been given a map of possible locations to where the rescue was, nor where threats were.
Kadir sighed, relaxing slightly. He'd been out for only more than ten minutes, but it already felt like hours. He was wearing a combat long-sleeve shirt, which fit him perfectly, along with black gloves and black cargo pants. He was glad for the black clothing, which made it easier to blend into the darkness. He was also glad he wasn't playing 'white rabbit' where he was given pure white clothing and expected to hide from the 'hunter' within five minutes.
Kadir tensed, hearing a small sound around the corner. He was positioned behind a barrier, which provided good protection and hiding, but little sight.
He signaled to Quentin, who stood across him, wearing his black backpack and clothing. He made a few signs, and Quentin nodded, confirming he understood.
Quentin walked a little further, shouldering his tag gun. Kadir held his breath, waiting to see if Quentin had found anything. He waited.
Kadir heard a sharp whistle, and relaxed, coming out of the barrier, crouching. Quentin sat there, also crouching. He was at an intersection, darkness shrouding each narrow hallway in each direction. Kadir grumbled silently. There was no way of knowing which way was correct, and he couldn't split up to cover more ground.
Kadir looked at Quentin, with his grey-ish hair and steel-white eyes. Quentin had some trouble learning stealth with Caheel, his arms and legs sometimes tapping or bumping into other metals, showing off where he was.
Today however, seemed to be a good day. Of course, Caheel had drilled into him that he should never assume something was going to go well, and if he did, it would lead to failed ops.
Caheel hated training them, so he threw out his anger on the closest and only thing nearby, Kadir and his siblings. Caheel never trained them in any way that might prepare them for the future, he trained them because he had to. The man was bitter at his 'misfortune' and angry at everyone for it, specifically Withers. Kadir knew Caheel hated Withers.
Yet despite the horrible training, they had grown to be incredibly skilled in their training.
Kadir came to a decision, and decided to go straight onward, signaling Quentin to continue on straight. He nodded, and shouldered his bag, which had a big "Jeffrey" stuck on the back in dark blue colors. Katy had taken the liberty of naming said bag Jeffrey, and she was rather fond of the thing.
Kadir checked, and re-checked his tag gun, making sure it was operational. One time during an op, his gun had failed, simply to throw him into a failing operative to see how he would react. He was determined to not make the mistake of not checking his equipment again.
Raising his tag gun, Kadir motioned for Quentin to check the hallway to the left, which took a sharp turn. Quentin did so, and confirmed no one was there. It was a dead end, ending in a room that was lit.
Kadirs’ eyes widened as he saw a shadow move underneath the doorway. He gulped down some nerves, then decided to take the chance and open the door.
He signed to Quentin what he was doing, and he nodded, nervously gripping his tag-gun. Kadir reached for the door, and in one smooth motion opened it, throwing light onto Quentin who had the barrel of his gun pointed through the doorway. A few short puffs sounded as Quentin fired, shooting sticky bright-red pellets that landed on the threats chests.
Two men holding tag-guns fell to the ground, mocking death. Kadir leaned in to see a small room with two grown men on the ground, a pellet on their chests. And in the middle, tied to a chair, sat a beaming Katy.
-----
"You are the rescue?" Kadir exclaimed, standing. Katy nodded. "Caheel said you weren't in the operative today!”
"Well, afterwards Kirby said I was in the op, but I was to be the rescue, or...how did she put it? Oh! The damsel in distress!" Katy dramatically placed her hand on her temple, feigning distress. Kadir rolled his eyes.
"Well come on," Kadir said, as Quentin guarded the door, gun out to the hallway. "Oh," Katy said, "But I can't walk, you see, I'm fatally injured and will have to be carried." Pointing down to her legs, Kadir could see gray rope on the floor.
“Was that supposed to be wrapped around your
legs?”
Katy hesitated, then nodded. “I took it off...cause it, um...rubbed against my legs.”
Kadir sighed. “So we’re supposed to carry you?”
Katy nodded again, smiling wickedly.
Gray rope wasn't supposed to be cut in the op, and was meant to represent unpassable territory, or something like this. Kadir groaned, but put her over his shoulder, Katy grumbling about how bony he was.
In truth, Kadir wasn't bony at all. The weeks of exercise otherwise known as torture had toned his body and muscles for the better, making him and his sister stronger than they had been before.
A few minutes later, they were walking down the hallways of Facility C, the lights having been turned off. The area they were doing the op in was still in Facility C, but the halls they were in were blocked off from the other parts of Facility C, allowing only one way out.
Katy provided several complaints about the way Kadir was carrying her, but he got her to be quiet. It wasn't easy to go about the halls unseen, and it was even harder to do it while carrying a girl. Something wasn't right about this op, there weren't any people in the hallways, and there wasn't nearly enough noise.
Kadir started to get suspicious, making double sure that there was no one else in the hallways. Quentin led them on, remembering the path they had gone through with his perfect cyborg memory. Quentin had a light, and he seemed to be nervous about something. He had been more relaxed in the lit room, but out in the dark halls he seemed afraid of something, sweat constantly beading from his body. Kadir hadn't been tied up, probably because she didn't like being held down....
Then it clicked.
Kadir remembered being in the cryo-pod, just waking up. He shivered visibly, remembering the sharp things jutting out from his skin. The fear that had flooded his body had been so strong, it had made an impression every time he had come near anything sharp.
His siblings had that same fear. Well, not the same fear, but they had gone through the same circumstances. Katy had been claustrophobic ever since he'd met her, and Quentin...well....
Kadir remembered whimpering in the dark, tossing and turning above him as Quentin had moved in his bunk, probably trying to shake the fear he had felt every dark night in Facility C. Kadir felt terribly sorry that he had not been able to help Quentin before, and that he hadn't found out sooner. Quentin seemed to have gotten over his fear...at least a little bit…
But Katy still screamed every time she was held down or put in a tight space, teleporting out of the situation with fear on her face.
Kadir halted as Quentin stopped in front of him, turning his head around a corner. Kadir took the moment to set down a grumpy Katy and take a rest. Quentin, for some reason started squeezing his gun. He turned to Kadir and signed, "RUN."
Quentin turned and grabbed Kadir and Katy, lifting them as he bolted down the hallway. Kadir heard scuffling of feet behind him, and the lights turned on, revealing two men wearing yellow jackets who turned the corner and leveled tag guns at them.
The yellow jackets meant they were wearing bullet-proof vests, and couldn't be stopped by any means of tag-guns, except for a shot to the face.
The men leveled their barrels at them and Kadir heard the distinct puff sound of tag-guns firing.
They passed a blockade hall-block, and Quentin threw them to the side, jumping to avoid the tag-bullets that hit the barrier and next to Quentin. Kadir signaled for Quentin to get the rescue farther up the hall to the next barrier. Kadir could see the hesitation in his eyes, but the rescue was top-priority, and Quentin was supposed to obey Kadir as his squad leader.
Why on earth Quentin wasn’t the squad leader, Kadir didn’t know. His abilities made it seem as though he would be better as leader. But then again, Quentin had difficulty expressing himself. A leader needed to be able to display his thoughts to his team immediately, and that was something Quentin didn’t have.
Kadir signaled Quentin to turn before he went, and Kadir opened Jeffrey the Backpack, picking out another magazine of tag-bullets. He turned, firing a few tags at the two men, who bore it easily, walking forward.
Kadir focused, putting himself into the kind of meditation that Caheel showed him, thinking of only of himself, the gun, and the target. Kadir breathed out, time seeming to slow, and pointed the barrel ot the tag-gun out the side of the barrier. He took aim, watching as the men noticed him and, in slow-motion, started to aim at him.
Kadir waited a beat, then fired.
Kadir witnessed as a red-dot splat against the man's forehead, making him stop in his tracks and drop to the ground. The other man cursed, jumping to the side where he was out of Kadirs’ range. Kadir sighed. He wasn't really that good at marksmanship, Katy was incredible at it, and Quentin had a program aim for him. Kadir was basically the only one without natural talent. He was only as good as he was through a lot of training and hard work...along with the persecution of Caheel. Kadir would absolutely use his powers right now, except that they were exclusively told not to. So for now, he was as capable as a normal human. At least, a normal human with advanced training.
Kadir leaped up, pulling out his combat knife, which was blunt and plastic, and leaped out of the barrier, coming face-to-chest with a man taller than himself.
Surprised by Kadirs’ sudden appearance, the man hesitated, and Kadir took the opportunity to swipe the barrel of the gun away, and strike gently on the man's neck with the false combat knife.
The man grinned as he fell, taking the moment to dramatically clutch at his neck where the knife had brushed him, and slowly fall to the ground. The S.S.S. soldiers that had been enrolled as terrorists were having a lot of fun with this practice op. Of course, they had been told to not act as deadly and trained soldiers, but as new recruited terrorists
Kadir smirked, turning and taking the man's magazine from his gun for extra ammo.
He whistled down the hallway, a four note whistle saying that it was him, and he was relieved to get a four note whistle back, confirming that Quentin heard him.
Catching up with Quentin, he followed him down the hallways, the lights on now, and the stress gone from his face. They walked carefully, checking for any signs of sound from the next hall, then the next, then the next, Quentin leading onward, remembering the path they had taken.
They finally came back to the start, a room with an electric lock that had only been opened once the op had started, releasing Kadir and Quentin.
Quentin tried the door, but it was locked. Kadir could hear footsteps suddenly sounding behind them in a distant hall. They were getting louder!
Quentin looked calmly out, then back at the start door. "I would hack the system and open the door, but that would take too long, so I owe Facility C a new door."
Quentin proceeded to knock down the door with a large bang, his fist pushing through and breaking the doorknob. The door fell down with a crash, and they all pressed the red button in the center of the room, verifying that they had finished the op and found the rescue without getting shot once.
Kadir smiled as the doors around him clicked unlocked, and he was happy this op had gone well. At the same time, he knew that this one had been far easier than any other beforehand, there hadn't been as many people. Was this a balance? If there wasn't a map, did that mean there would be less people?
Kadir watched as a group of soldiers carrying tag guns marched into the room, relaxing as they saw that Kadir and Quentin had already pressed the 'finish button.'
They all nodded at the soldiers. Kadir and his siblings may have been on the satellite for a while, but the people there were still afraid of them, afraid they would end up like their friends who had been shocked, permanently placing lichtenberg figures burned into their skin.
There were a few soldiers who didn't show their fear on their face, but Kadir knew how they felt about him and his siblings. They only feared what they didn't understand.
Kadir exited the room with his siblings behind him, following the path that the soldiers
had taken. He had gotten to know Facility C and its paths, but there were still some areas that he could not go. Mechanics and other people always shied away from them when they approached, trying, and failing to make their efforts unnoticeable.
Kadir noticed. He really couldn't blame them for being apprehensive. He had done his damage when he'd injured the people on Facility C with his abilities. He himself didn't really know the limits of his powers, and the damage he could possibly cause.
They wanted to be free.
That was Kadirs’ only wish. That he and his siblings would somehow escape this satellite and make it to Earth, maybe even finding out the truth about themselves, and how they had even gotten these strange and feared abilities.
Kirby was kind to them, but the training and horrible awakening in the cryo-pods was still there. Kadirs’ curiosity of the planet below only grew, and Facility C never answered any of their questions. There was also the strange occurrence of their powers, along with the fact that they didn’t remember their past.
Kadir had a plan, a plan he was sure would work to get them out of the Facility. But, he was afraid to share it with his siblings. Not because it was too risky, his siblings would take any risk to get off this place, but because he wasn't sure his sister, Katy could do it.
It involved staying in an extremely tight space for an extended period of time. Katy's greatest fear was tight spaces, she even reacted when Kadir had given her a hug once.
He was afraid he would have to leave her behind.
Kadir knew somehow that the idea of leaving his sister behind was a betrayal, but he couldn't help it. He did feel guilty thinking about it, but he wanted-no he needed-to get out of there. He would leave his siblings here and leave, coming back somehow to tell them the truth. Would they even listen to him at that point, him having left them?