Tri-Kappa Labs

[Noblejanobii]

Tri-Kappa Labs
Chapter 2

The darkness dispersed are what seemed like years. I felt my consciousness lifting, the pressure on my head growing lighter with each passing second. But my entire body weighed down like a piece of lead. Cold air surrounded me, crawling up my spine to meet the beads of sweat that trickled downward towards the floor. My hands were bound above me, I was forced on my knees. My eyelids started to feel lighter and I opened them slowly.

A jail cell came into view. It was all a dark dim gray. Walls of cement blocks trapped me on three sides, bars barricading me in on the fourth. Everything was varying shades of gray, depression settling inside of me at the sight, until I spotted a flash of brown. It was quickly followed by a heavy sigh. I narrowed my eyes and pushed against my restraints to try and get a closer look. Instantly the restraints tightened, cutting like plastic into my skin. I cried out in pain, getting the guy's attention.

"You're awake." He said. The man stood up from where he had been sitting against the wall with his back to me. I looked him over as he faced me. The guy was tall, maybe about five inches difference between the two of us. He had tanned skin that was probably darkened even more given the poor lightening of the room. But his emerald green eyes shown out brilliantly anyway. They studied me just as my brown eyes studied him. The guy hadn't shaved in a little while, the stubble appearing on his chin. He was dressed in all black, combat wear. No doubt he had on bullet proof padding. He was strongly built, like he had been trained for this life. Perhaps he had. My eyes trailed down to the gun on his left hip. The holster was on his left side, so he was left handed, at least while shooting.

"What? You just going to stare at me?" The man said. I frowned and glared at him, but did not say a word. "I'm taking that as a yes." He said with a sigh. "Well little Miss Runner, when you feel like talking, talk. The faster we get this done the faster I can get you out of those cuffs and into more comfortable conditions. I can also get some food into that belly of yours." At the mention of food my stomach rumbled. Curse the human body and its many ways of bribery. Despite this, I kept my lips sealed. The man gave me a sympathetic look and shook his head. "Fine. Stay here. You'll crack eventually." He sat down against the wall and began to drum his fingers against his leg.

I leaned my head against the wall behind me, wishing and hoping this was all a dream. This wasn't real. It couldn't be. Could it? My stomach growled again and I groaned a little. The guy glanced over his right shoulder at me. He frowned a little at me, biting the inside of his left cheek as he did. "Ready to talk yet?" He asked. I shook my head. "Geez you're stubborn." The guy replied before going back to tapping out a beat. It took me a minute to recognize the song. It was Jailhouse Rock by Elvis Presley. The guy had a sense of humor. I'd give him that. Time passed slowly, the only sounds in the jail was the idiot's Jailhouse Rock song.

Finally, as he finished playing the song, the guy glanced over his shoulder at me again. When I didn't even really acknowledge the look, he sighed loudly and stood up. I thought he was going to leave me here but instead he came into my cell and crossed his arms. "Just talk already. Look, you're bored, I'm bored, and all you have to do to get out of here is just answer like five questions. Ok? So just let me ask you these five questions and then we can leave. Sound fair?" I just stared at the guy quietly. After a minute he huffed in frustration. "If you don't talk I will make you talk." I still didn't say anything. The guy shook his head and reached for his gun. "Didn't want to have to do this but you've forced my-" Just then, as if God perfectly timed it, the guy's stomach growled, really loudly. I couldn't stop myself from busting into laughter. Tears filled my eyes, I was laughing so hard. The man's face turned a shade of pink and he looked away from me.

He seemed more and more nervous as I continued to laugh. I finally stopped, my breath escaping me. The guy's face was red from embarrassment and possibly anger. He clenched his fists and took deep breaths. It was then that it occurred me. How long had he been sitting there waiting for me to wake up? He couldn't leave either. Maybe he had been here the entire time. Guilt rose like bile up in my throat. "I'm sorry." I whispered. The guy's fists loosened a bit at the sound of my voice. He sighed and pinched his nose before sitting down in front of me.

"Look, I don't want to be here any longer than you. Trust me. All we have to do to get out of here is have you answer a few basic questions. That's it." He said, "And if you want, I'll answer any of your questions too. Deal?" I hesitated. It sounded like a reasonable deal. But could I trust this guy? After a minute of deep thought, I nodded. The guy smiled and said, "Ok, first, what's your name?"

"Shayla." I replied.

"Your full name." He said. I sighed and rattled off my name,

"Shayla Adelia Maricela Modesta Eva Abano Cortez." The man chuckled.

"So you're Hispanic then?"

"That's right. But I was born and raised in the United States of America." I replied, "Now, what's your name?"

"Quill Andreus Maxi." He replied, "Caucasian. Born in Greece but raised in the United States." Quill thought over his next question then asked, "Did you have any plans in regards to say a job or college before this happened?"

"Yeah." I said, "Job wise at least. I had hoped to get the job opening at Home Depot in the gardening section. I really like gardening. You?"

"I grew up with the sole purpose of becoming a soldier." Quill said. I winced. No sugar coat there. "Who and where are your parents?"

"My dad is in France right now. His first name is Horacio. You know the rest. My mom was Terrica. She's six feet under. Cancer got her when I was in sixth grade."

"Sorry for your loss." Quill replied, "You'll be pleased to know that your dad is safe where he is for now."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I'll explain later." Quill watched me closely in silence and it took me a minute to realize he was waiting on me to ask a question.

"Where are you parents?"

"Dead or in Greece." He said, "My foster parents are dead as well." I could see this was a painful subject for him through the hurt that surfaced in his eyes and the quickness of his changing the topic.

"Age and birthday?"

"22 and March 31, 1992. You?"

"25 and November 2, 1989."

Several more questions of unimportance were asked of me. By that point Quill could tell I was relaxed and decided to get to the true grit of my interrogation.

"Have you ever heard of the Greek Riders before this encounter?" Quill asked me, curiosity sparking like a flame in his eyes.

"No." I responded quickly, anger filling me voice, "The first time I met them they tried to blow up my house and threatened to kill me! Who the heck do they think they are?"

"The rulers of this country."

"What?"

"They took over the country yesterday. It's why they attacked your house. I was lucky I had received intel that your neighborhood would be one of the ones hit first."

"And who do you work for?"

"The Roman Charioteers." Quill said, "Protectors of the peace. We are trying to prevent the Greek Riders from taking over, but they have succeeded in science where we have not." He stood up and began to mess with my shackles. "After breakfast, I'll tell you the rest. But for now I think I'll unshackle you. I know that is uncomfortable." There was a click and my shackles opened. My arms fell down by my sides. I stretched them a little bit, getting the blood flowing through them again. I was rubbing my wrists when Quill offered a hand to help me up. I took it and stood up.

We exited the cell and I never looked back. I hadn't been there long but I hoped to never return. I felt relief hit me as we left the dungeon-like area. I looked around the long blue corridor ahead of me. People in guard uniforms lined the walls. I shifted uncomfortably as we continued to pass them, the fact that they were all staring at us sending shivers down my spine. Quill noticed my discomfort and gave me a reassuring smile. It wasn't that reassuring to me though. We reached the end of the blue corridor and took a right onto another corridor, this one green. Here there were many viewing windows into a variety of rooms. Quill and I walked passed them quickly but I caught glimpses of a training room, a library, and a mechanic shop through some of the windows. Finally we reached a metal door. Quill pushed it open and we entered a large room. It was silver all around, except for the roof which was glass windows. The sunlight was what illuminated the entire place, glimmering and reflecting off the metals in the room. People were all over the place, some dashing back and forth between machines, others relaxing on furniture, while some just stood and observed the entire scene that lay before them. The place seemed to be divided into a mix of relaxation areas, working areas, and stores. They were each evenly spaced apart in an intricate pattern as if some OCD high school nerd had organized the entire thing.

Quill lead me to one of the nearest relaxation areas. It was purple with a TV and a couch. A girl was laying across the couch dressed in purple as well. Not kidding. Her jeans were purple, her converse were purple, and her hoodie was purple. Her shirt was purple too but it had the words "I'm just an arms dealer" on the front. I recognized those to be lyrics of the Fallout Boy song "This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race" and if I had to guess, the rest of that line ("fitting you with weapons in the form of words") was on the back of her shirt. She also had purple Beats headphone hung around her neck. Her long brown hair was everywhere, most of it hanging down over the arm of the couch that she was leaning against. The girl was typing rapidly on a Windows XP tablet. I squinted to try and read what she was typing but the text moved to quickly for me to make it out. Quill cleared his throat and the girl stopped typing. She clicked off her tablet and looked back at us. Her skin was pale, like she hadn't gone outside much but she had freckles all over her cheeks. Her eyes were a brilliant violet that matched her glasses which were, you guessed it, purple. I'm going to take a wild guess here and say that's her favorite color.

"Quill, you're finally back." She said to him. Her gaze slid to me and she looked me over through her frameless purple glasses. "And you brought a girl." The girl smiled a little and looked back to Quill. She began to wiggle her eyebrows at him.

"No Sloane. Put those eyebrows away Sloane." Quill said with a huge grin on his face. "I will shave them off of you don't." The girl, who's name was Sloane I guess, began to laugh in response.

"So who is she?"

"Her house was attacked yesterday by the Greek Riders when South Carolina's government fell. Her name is Shayla." Quill replied seriously. Sloane looked back at me sadly and sighed.

"Yesterday was a dark day for the Carolinas." She said, "I'm Sloane Jackson. Nice to meet you. I hope both of our homes are safe even while under Greek Rider control."

"You're from South Carolina?" I asked her. Sloane nodded in response.

"Born and raised. Though I left yesterday when all chaos broke loose. I got a heads up. Not many others were so lucky." I opened my mouth to ask what she meant but Quill cut me off.

"Like I said earlier, I'll explain everything to you after breakfast. I just thought I'd introduce you to the team first."

"The team?"

"The people you'll be working with if you say yes to a question later."

"Wait wh-"

"No time! This is the only time of the day that Being comes out from his labs." Quill grabbed my right arm and pulled me away from Sloane's place. We ran down the long room to a laboratory room. At first I didn't see anyone, but then I saw movement. A boy with spiky navy blue with red streaked hair was messing around with some test tubes in the back. He was dressed in a white lab coat but that's all I could see. He was also about five foot eight if I had to guess. Not too tall but not too short either. "Being!" The kid jumped and dropped one of his test tubes. The glass shattered on the floor and a green liquid spilled everyone. Being turned around and glared at Quill.

"Not funny man! You're lucky that's just colored water!" He said. His skin was fairly light as well, but unlike Sloane, Being lacked any freckles. His eyes were a bright blue that seemed like they should sparkle like the ocean, but right now all I could see what an endless sea of anger. Being seemed pretty upset but Quill just kept right on laughing.

"That's what you always say." Quill retorted. Being huffed loudly and crossed his arms. He turned his back to us but then hesitated. Being looked over his shoulder at me.

"Who's the new girl?"

"Her name's Shayla. She is one of the refugees from South Carolina."

"Ahh." Being turned around and walked over to me. "Pleasure to meet you. Being Mascist. I'm from the Asia sector. Recently transferred here." I gave him a confused look. "Ah. Quill hasn't explained everything yet. Ok well that will make sense once he does. Now if you'll please excuse me I have broken lab equipment to attend to." With that Being turned from me and walked back to where the broken test tube was. Before I could even blink, Quill had my arm again and was dragging me down the hallway.

This time we stopped by a bakery and for a second I thought we were finally going to get breakfast but then I realized I was being introduced to some more people. Quill waved to a pair of fraternal twins. They waved back, served someone else then came over to us. They both had blonde hair and brown eyes. The girl was at the guy's armpits height wise. They both had big smiles and wore aprons. Their skins were darker than Being and Sloane's but still pretty pale.

"Shayla, these are the twins Mew and Dew Bryant. They're from the Texas station." Quill said.

"Hello!" The twins said at the same time. "Sorry, we'd love to stay and chat but we have to keep serving our customers." The brother, Dew, continued, "Hopefully we can talk again soon." And just as quickly as they had came they were gone.

"Sorry." Quill said, "They're really busy right now otherwise they wouldn't have brushed us off like that." This time he didn't need to drag me, but now I came willingly. As long as I got my food later. Quill was searching this time around. He kept looking for someone but obviously didn't see anyone until his eyes landed on a black relaxation center where two guys were chilling. We walked over to them and I saw they were playing Gears of Modern Halo Blackops 7 featuring zombie nazis dancing Gangnam style. It had been a huge hit when it came out, unsurprisingly.

One guy was sitting cross legged on the couch, sticking his tongue out as he focused intently on the screen, currently mashing the A button on his control. He had leaf green hair that spiked every which way. His eyes were also the same green, competitiveness flashing in them as he continued his game. His skin was very dark, but he was obviously Caucasian. He was small from the looks of it, dressed in a white t-shirt and blue jeans with red tennis shoes. He obviously had no sense of fashion coordination. However, this kid was currently winning the level against the other boy who was hanging upside down on the other side of the couch.

The other kid had dark black hair and brown glasses. His skin was fairly light, kind of like Being's complexion. He had big brown eyes but the rest of his was pretty small. He had a black t-shirt and jeans on. I noticed a blue Yarmulka was on the floor by his head. It must have fallen off and he hadn't noticed yet.

"I doubt that's Kosher." I muttered Quill snickered and introduced the boys.

"The green haired boy is Oliver Rex and the Jewish boy is Joey Zeus. They may not look it, but these two are really good in the field. Wrecking mayhem is their speciality." Quill said to me. "I'd introduce you but I think they're busy and I know you want breakfast. Come on. There's a chick-fil-a a few rows down."

Without waiting for acknowledgement from the boys, Quill and I walked down the corridor to a chick-fil-a. We ordered and Quill paid for it all. I quickly sat down at an empty table with Quill and began to devour my food. I hadn't realized how hungry I was until that moment and all manners were forgotten. I scarfed down two chicken biscuits and a drink before noticed that Quill was smirking at me.

"What?"

"You don't seem to care that I'm in your presence."

"Hm?"

"Nothing." Quill said. He waited a moment and said, "Ready for me to explain everything." I wiped my mouth with a napkin and nodded. Finally getting to the good stuff here.

"As I mentioned before, we are a group called the Roman Charioteers. We were created to protect the world against the Greek Riders but recently, due to their scientific advances that we have yet to achieve, the Greek Riders have gained the upper hand. They've started to take over governments then capture anyone under twenty-five, ship them off to a lab, and then force them to become part of their army. So far they've overthrown about thirty-six of the fifty states and half of China."

"Is that what Being meant when he said he was an Asian transfer?"

"Yes. He was originally in a China facility but escaped and was shipped here. All of the members of our group nowadays has had some sort of encounter with the Greek Riders. Each story is the same yet unique. When our organization was founded long ago, our leaders decided it was best to find these people and have them form teams that go out to stop the Greek Riders. Who I introduced you to earlier is my team. Well most of them. One member I didn't see anywhere but he'll show up eventually.

"Now, we each are put on these teams because of specific skills each of us has. I have leadership as well as fitness. Sloane is technology and Being is chemistry. Dew and Mew are survival skills as well as black belts in mixed martial arts. Oliver and Joey are strategy and stealth. We also have specific sets of abilities. Now here's where things get complicated.

"See, the Greek Riders have created a form of super human able to use a variety of abilities to attack our agents. In response, the Roman Charioteers created what we call fusions. Upon joining us, a sliver of DNA is added to your body that allows you to change into a fusion."

"A fusion of what exactly?"

"A fusion of Pokemon."