forum The Experiment (larger group RP)

Started December 19, 2020 by Deleted user

tune

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I'm ready!

It was a dark and stormy night. A cliché to beat all clichés, certainly, but it was such nonetheless. The armored bus drove up a steep hill to meet a building of tall towers and long, long walkways, all guarded by several imposing people with guns who looked like they would shoot at any moment.

Inside the armored bus were several teenagers, among them two named Mary and Embers. Mary sat silently, politely, looking perfectly pleased with herself as the bus drove to her demise. Embers was not so satisfied. He was currently doing his level best to chew off the handcuffs he'd been placed in, like everyone else had been placed in, equally sturdy and impossible to remove. At least he'd gotten them from behind his back, he was incredibly flexible and could maneuver himself with ease, a contortionist of sorts. It had gotten him out of tight spots before, he was sure it would get him out of this one.

Mary sighed, and turned behind her to look at the struggling boy. "I'm sure this is wonderful entertainment for everyone here, but I suggest you save yourself the embarrassment. The cuffs simply won't come off. Believe me, I've tried to pick them." she showed the other the broken toothpick she was currently chewing on thoughtfully.

Maritza growled at the restraints placed on her wrists, more than frustrated that she couldn't get them off. She pulled her wrist apart slightly behind her back, though the small chains quickly straightened out, letting her know that was the farthest they could go. Her anger began to rival the spirit of an irritated chihuahua. "Just what are these things made of?!" she barked, "And I get that I kinda-sorta destroyed a whole town, but do they have to be behind my back?"

Raila shook his head in dismissal of the girl's questioning. He answered everything she asked in his usual monotone voice, though it seemed to gain just the slightest mocking tone. "Well, Miss Strife, from my observations, our handcuffs are made from regular iron. And," he continued, "yes they do have to be behind your back. It limits your range of motion. Now please shut up."

Maritza huffed at the younger boy's response, but duly followed his request, turning her gaze back to the boy biting at his handcuffs. She giggled a little at the sight, but decided against speaking on it as another teen already had. Indeed it was fine entertainment, and certainly distracted her from the certain doom they were driving towards. Though despite how comical the scene, Raila refused to spare even a smirk.

"Fuck you, and fuck this bus. When I get out of here, you'll be sorry, you all will! Because I'll have left you at in the dust!" he screamed at Mary, beginning to smash his hand again and again against the seat, probably in an attempt to break it. Embers knew how to set a bone, and these cuffs were too tight to slip out of under normal circumstances. "I'm so close to getting these damn things off, alright? So if you'll all just let me concentrate…" there was a nasty crack, a yelp of pain, and the sound of pure and utter rage and frustration. He hadn't managed to break his hand in two, but he did dislocate his wrist. Popping it back in place with a whimper, he began the process all over again.

Mary sighed and settled into her seat as best she could with the cuffs restraining her uncomfortably. Reasoning with this idiot was useless, he'd just keep hurting himself until they arrived at the drop-off location. Which was soon, as she could see out of the small tinted window provided to her.

Phoenix and Elowen sat next to each other, the older gazing around at their fellow captives with a haughty smirk on his face and the younger sitting silently, looking thoughtfully off into space. Elowen looked almost like a statue in her serenity, her pale blonde waves of hair falling down, her hazel gaze full of intellect, and her posture straight. Except for the handcuffs, it seemed the girl could be anywhere. While Elowen was lost in thought, her brother deigned to speak up.

“Wow, what delightful company,” he said with a sarcastic edge. “Shouldn’t we all be so refined as to attempt to chew off our handcuffs? I hate them as much as the next guy, but I don’t think screaming and hitting your hands against the wall will help. Why don’t you save your energy and do something fun to waste the time until we arrive?” He gave a suggestive wink, hoping the other boy understood what he meant.

Elowen merely shot Phoenix a look at that, arching a delicate eyebrow. Why did he always have to be so vulgar? There was an efficient and simple way to go about this, and of course her brother was choosing to be an absolute egghead about it. He always had to flirt with anyone in sight, and that had ended in so many different ways Elowen could no longer keep track. Phoenix had gotten a surprising amount of interested parties, but Elowen’s personal favorite flirtation—that she had witnessed, anyhow—was when Phoenix had gotten punched in the face by an offended young woman. It had been hilarious, and Phoenix had ended up with a bruise for days because of it.

Shea's nap was cruelly interrupted when the bus went over a speed bump particularly fast. Her head whacked against the window, the cuffs digging even further into her wrists. Shea growled at the inconvenience, wiping her mouth on her shoulder, trying to get the strands of brown hair out of it. She placed her head on the seat in front of her, hoping to fall right back asleep.

After a few minutes of nothing, Shea decided to busy herself with bothering people. "Hey! Are we there yet?!" She called to the bus driver. "I'm bored and I gotta pee!"

"I have no intention of having fun until I get these off, moron. Now shut up and let me focus." he growled, while Mary gave a discontent sigh. This idiotic boy would likely continue his banging for a while, causing her to get no sort of rest at all. "Also, I know what you mean by having fun and I'm completely disinterested in that sort of thing."

"Alright, we're stopping." one of the guards called, entering from where the group was separated to the front of the bus. The group was quickly loaded out and made to stand in the pouring rain, while several guards with guns followed, weapons trained on each individual before they could run away. This was unusual, the most juvenile delinquents got was a taser and Mary knew it. Why the high security?

Shea raised her eyebrows at the unexpected arsenal. "This is a fun turn of events," She muttered. She growled at a guard who came a little too close, staring them down with her unnatural violet eyes. "Touch me and you'll lose your fingers."

The guard didn't respond, only adjusting his aim from her stomach to her head. "If your gonna kill me, can you do it with explosives and fire?" Shea snarked, only half-joking. "A bullet isn't how I want to go out. I need fire, a mushroom cloud explosion deal and Highway to Hell blaring on some speakers."

The guard stared at her.

"What? I want to go out with a bang!"

(sorry for taking so long to reply! i got busy today ^^)

Elowen still had that perfectly serene look on her face, calm as ever. Meanwhile Phoenix glowered at Shea, not enjoying her mention of dying by fire with armed guards present.

“Are you people trying to get us shot? Just shut your pretty mouths for long enough for us to get inside, away from the guns and then you act like insane people all you like,” he complained. “Personally, this rain is going to ruin my new coat and you’re all acting like complete and utter morons!”

“It’s just a coat, Kai, calm down,” Elowen said, with a glance his way. “You don’t have to be melodramatic and stoop to their level.” She shot the others a look. “You won’t make any friends that way, and I’m sure you want to have a friend or two to talk you.”

Phoenix grumbled something incoherent under his breath. Elowen raised an eyebrow at him. “Yes, fine, alright,” Phoenix snapped at last. “But can we please go inside already?”

Raila remained quite through the whole situation, determining that as little interaction as possible would be best with these people. He spared glances to people who spoke, but otherwise kept his eyes glued to the hems of the maid's dress that he wore. In his mind, he began to describe each of the people he had had the displeasure of encountering on the trip.

Embers, hotheaded. Maritza, rebellious. Shea, reckless. Phoenix, rude. Mary, quiet. Elowen, peacekeeper. Though that's all he understood from first impressions. He looked up to the guards briefly, weapons upon weapons of dangerous power sat with them. One false move or word and it seemed like the best outcome would be losing an eye.

Maritza looked up to the sky, her face blank and her mouth not uttering a word. She seemed calm. Or at least, so one would think until her mouth opened wide to let out a storm of complaints. Raging on harder than the pouring rain. "Oh could we HURRY UP? I'm trying to get out of this rain, I'm getting cold, and I'm hungry."

She swayed side-to-side with each point, certainly she had never taken the saying "act your age" too seriously. She continued. "I get that I'm a criminal, but I'm still HUMAN, dammit." All this earned naught but a disapproving sigh from Raila. It was more than obvious that the group was drifting apart faster than they ever had a chance to come together.

"Awww, you think I'm pretty!" Shea mockingly cooed to Phoenix, a lopsided and impish grin spreading onto her face. "And shutting up isn't in my nature, snobball." The guard monitoring her poked the small of her back with the tip of his gun, a small warning for her actions. Shea, however, took it as an insult. "HEY!" Shea whipped around, her smile replaced with a scowl. She stepped away from the guard, daggers in her glare. "Watch where you point that thing dipstick."

To say that Shea was miserable was an understatement. She was used to making her own rules in her own little kingdom. She marked what was hers with violet and fuschia graffiti and murals. She took what wasn't hers, adding it to her empire, and what wasn't hers that she couldn't steal, she destroyed. The cops had been after her ever since she ran away from her eighth and last foster home, desperate to bring the delinquent in for rehabilitation. It was like a game for Shea. Cat and mouse, back and forth, over and over again. It was consistent, but always different. Chaos. Just how she like it. Shea had expected to live in the abandoned subway tunnel forever, queen of the sewers and the rats and bats that came with it. Until she was caught… And that brought them to present day.

Phoenix smirked at Shea. “I do think you’re pretty,” he responded. “I’m glad you noticed.” He gave her a wink and Elowen pointedly looked at the building rising up in the front of them so she wouldn’t have to witness her brother’s annoying flirtations.

Elowen’s mouth was a stubborn line, but she still looked relatively peaceful, at least compared to everyone else there. Looking at her one might even wonder why she was there, since she appeared to be a model citizen from this first take.

"You're not too bad yourself, sparky," Shea responded with a cackle. Her mood once again swung from ready to kill to flirting with a random dude she met four hours prior. Shea shifted her gaze to the girl accompanying Phoenix. She looked so… clean. Nothing like the other delinquents being guided into the building. Everyone else had that teenage angst aura radiating off of them, Shea included.

Becoming impatient, Shea shouted. "Hey, can we get a move on? I'm cold and I hate being cold, so let's go inside before I decide to break something!" Her words grew louder with each word.

"I'm with her," Phoenix added, looking restless, but not before shooting Shea another grin. "I would love to get inside sometime soon. This weather is awful and at this point I'm convinced you idiots just want to torture us!"

Elowen glanced at Phoenix again with a huff. She looked slightly annoyed, which on her face looked nearly childish. She seemed to have the innocence of a child, though underneath the perfectly clean appearance, her eyes looked ages old. "Yes, we know you want to get inside, Kai," she said quietly. "If we all keep shouting, I have the feeling it won't help our case at all."

The guards let them stand around in the cold for a bit longer before ushering them inside, bright white light and a temperature slightly warmer than outside but still cold, warming them only a bit, then letting them settle into the chill of the place again. An older woman with a clipboard and a wide frown scribbled some notes, looking incredibly displeased with the group, perhaps simply for existing. "This way, please."

Embers, surprisingly, followed silently. Like he was resigned to his fate, or perhaps had just enough self preservation to not get shot. Mary, meanwhile, flicked her toothpick between pearly white teeth, perhaps wondering if they would finally know what they were here for if she and the others followed along.

(okie doke!)

"Finally," sighed Phoenix to Elowen softly. He followed the others, his walk more of a languid strut, holding his head up high. He may be in a correction facility, or whatever one deigned to call this place, but he would still act as if he owned the place. He kept his hands in the pockets of his coat, obviously a bit chilly.

Elowen walked next to him gracefully, looking as out of place as a nun at casino. She bore a striking contrast to her brother, her pale hair flowing down her back, juxtaposed by her dark coat and turtleneck underneath. She wore a skirt with tights under it, paired with boots, adding to her studious, innocent appearance. She said nothing, merely watching the proceedings and studying the place itself.

The woman lead the group to a set of showers with plain grey uniforms laid out neatly on shelves right next to the stalls, which were located in small cubbyholes with curtains for a minimal amount of privacy. "You'll all leave your old clothes outside the booths, then shower and change into your uniforms. Toiletries and towels are located inside the shower." she said, and turned to give the children some space, ushering the guards out and locking the room. Upon further examination of the room, one would find that there were several security cameras, though none in the shower stalls, thank goodness. The cameras were too high to reach without teamwork, however, and it was unlikely any of these idiots would get over themselves enough to reach them to dismantle them, plus the looming threat of the guards storming in at any minute.

"You must be out of your damn mind if you think I'm wearing those clothes!" Shea hissed, turning around to face the woman. She was soaked from head to toe, and the freezing interior of the building did absolutely nothing to warm her. Her red-brown hair stuck to her forehead and neck. Her oversized charcoal hoodie was soaked, the material drooping off of her lean frame. In all honesty, the uniform would have been a nice upgrade from her sopping and torn clothes. Her ratty violet high-tops were ripped and beaten after years of good use and her jeans were practically in tatters. They might have been terrible clothes, but they were her clothes. She was the one who found them on the streets she ruled back in the city. They were hers. And Shea didn't want to give up what she had for something given to her by the people who were holding her prisoner.

The woman stopped, entered again. "Would you prefer to be forced into them? Oh, and I almost forgot," the woman said with some boredom. "Here, the cuffs off." she pressed a button which unlocked each and every single pair of handcuffs, allowing them to clatter to the floor. With that she finally left, and the doors were sealed once more. Mary dutifully showered and changed, plans of escape already hatching in her mind. Meanwhile, Embers made a move to rally his fellow prisoners in order to escape the horrible place that this was. "One of you assholes give me a boost." he nodded to the security cameras.

Without hesitation, Shea locked her hands and created a step for Embers to use. "This'll be the only time I'll listen to one of you so don't get used to it," She huffed, beckoning Embers over to underneath the camera.

"So," she muttered. "What did all of you do to get sent to this godforsaken place?"

Embers had no intentions of thanking the girl, but he was grateful for the help. He stepped up on her hands and used her to get a bit closer to one of the cameras. He yanked it down, while Mary shook her head and sat on a steel bench in the center of the room. "Well, I set a fire that burned down my city." he was proud of it, too. Mary had no intention of answering Shea's question, however.

"Nice," Shea responded hardly fazed by the drastic crime a kid her age committed while lowering Embers to the ground. "I guess that's why they call you Embers, huh?" She padded over to under another camera, already preparing her hands to be a makeshift stool for him. "I painted an entire subway, started some fights - which I won, by the way - with the wrong people, gained a lot of powerful enemies because I just existed. But mostly vandalism, or as I call it, "Illegal Art"!"

"A bit boring, but par for the course for a rebellious teenager of your disposition." he shrugged, taking down the next camera. Six left, and the looming threat of the guards entering was slowly growing less looming as it seemed nobody was actually planning on responding to their antics. "Now, six more. Hopefully this will create enough of a distraction as for our escape."

"Let's get to it," Shea sighed, helping Embers take down the last few cameras. She slightly shivered in her wet clothes. The steam coming from some of the other showers weren't enough to warm her bone-deep chill. "And excuse you, sparky. See this scar-" She pointed to the long straight scar covering a majority of the left side of her face. "I think you've heard of the Blackouts." Everyone had heard of the Blackouts. They were a notorious gang known for demolishing buildings with their hammers and pistols and killing anyone that bothered them. "I and I alone managed to totally piss off their leader and live. Gave me this scar but it was worth it." She grinned impishly. "There may or may not have been a massive explosion. If we weren't stuck here, I'd take you to my little section of New Manhattan, maybe then you'll appreciate art." Shea cheekily stuck her tongue out at the last statement.

The mention of her home on the streets of New Manhattan sent a pang of hurt through her heart. It was only her there, but it was her place. She managed to work her way up from just another street urchin to the girl that ruled the vacant subway tunnels under the city. She had painted every last inch of those old concrete walls with her thoughts and ideas. Some of the areas were beautiful scenes of a starry night and calm fields, others were controversial canvases of chaos and war. Somehow she had managed to put all of her thoughts and feelings into her hands and express that with spray paint and chalk. She missed those tunnels.

Elowen had begun to change and shower dutifully as well, giving the who were dismantling the cameras a dirty look. She raised a pale eyebrow at their antics, stepping into the shower stall to remove her wet clothes, a bit sad to see them go. She had so loved this outfit, and it hadn’t been cheap, but whatever she had to do to get out of this place—legally, of course. She was not spending the rest of her days on the run. She preferred to do her own illegal acts in secret. These idiots were only going to get themselves in trouble, and Elowen was making it clear that she’d have no part in it. She hummed quietly as she showered, the same tune that she had hummed as she had slit a man’s throat. Of course, none of these imbeciles knew that. And if things went Elowen’s way, they never would. She couldn’t care less what happened to them. However, there was one imbecile that she at least tolerated, and that was her brother. Her brother, who was not doing as he was told.

“Do you two really think that will work?” Phoenix asked, staying frozen in place. Despite the dampness of his clothes, he made no move to take them off. He was much more of a material person than his younger half-sister. He raised an eyebrow at the twosome, curious. “It doesn’t seem like anyone is coming for us…”

Elowen emerged from one of the shower stalls, having quickly showered and dressed as the other two dismantled the cameras. “Kai, that’s enough.”

“Shut up, Elowen,” he snapped, looking around. “If there’s a way to escape, I’m in.”

“Your funeral,” she sighed, shaking her head. She clearly didn’t think much would come of this. Based on her lack of concern, Elowen clearly didn’t expect the more rebellious kids to get too hurt.

"There's always a way out," Shea huffed, kicking one of the cameras across the room and watching it break into dozens of pieces. "We just have to find it." She turned to Phoenix, turning her head slyly to the side. "Any ideas?" She stepped back to look at all of the delinquents she was stuck with. "Does anyone have any ideas?"

Shea sighed, the coldness of her sweatshirt finally setting in. She took off the wet layer and tied it around her waist. Her old thrift store band t-shirt was still damp, but a whole hell of a lot dryer than her sweatshirt.

Phoenix thought for a moment, giving Shea a grin. “We could always just make a run for it, though I doubt much would come of that,” he responded. “Or we could have our friend Embers here start a fire. We all put our talents to use. If Embers starts a fire, we can use that as a distraction to escape. I can bribe any guards we pass. You can, I don’t know, be lookout?”

Elowen glanced off to the side, huffing. “If I scream, they’ll come, won’t they? You three are endangering us all, and I for one am not going to get dragged into it.”

Phoenix glared at her, taking a step towards his now-annoyed looking sister. No longer a picture of serenity, Elowen looked angry. “Don’t even think about it, El.”