Child's Play

[ChristianC]

Alexis had, during the trip back, been watching the streets down below in silence. She was still a little shook up over the day's events, and when they landed and met the VIP they had been escorting, she gave her a little smile, but didn't speak much. She was dressed pretty weirdly, but Alex wasn't going to complain, their own outfits seemed normal when it was just they around... but that zombie-girl-sword-creep had reminded her of how... silly they looked.

Then there was screeching, huge eyes, considerations of autographs and...

Who's Ellastic? Comic books? She looked at the others with a nervous glance.

[Idran1701]

Sam nods to Alexis. "Yeah! You never read any of hers? They're like the best comics except for maybe Owlgirl. I bet D52 has a bunch of them since they've got so much stuff. I'll find some for you if you wanna read them."

[Shinigori V2]

Mission 04: Highway Patrol- Complete
Mission Status: Successful
Mission End Time: 10:00 PM, July 20th, 3756
Optional Objective: Find out who the VIP Is!- Complete
Damages: 0.00 Credits.
Gains: 500.00 Credits
MVPs: TBA

(DO NOT FORGET TO VOTE FOR MVPS, OR ELSE I WILL VOTE FOR MYSELF.)

[ChristianC]

Alexis shakes her head, No, I haven't. I would like to though! she smiles a bit and brushes back some strands of hair. You don't have to go out of your way to help me though, if you don't want to.

[Idran1701]

Sam shakes his head. "It's not outta my way. They're really cool, you should read them!"

[ChristianC]

Alexis smiled a bit more and nodded enthusiastically, pushing back her hair again as she looked to the others to see if they were free to leave now.

Sure, I'd love to read it... I'm a bit slow though...

[Animala]

Ohmygosh that was the coolest thing ever! We saved Ellastic from an ice zombie! Man, if we weren't all secret and stuff we could have our own guest issue!

Lauren could see the cover now...Ellastic and Ettazan, locked in combat, surrounded by ice crystals on the ruined highway, and on all sides, the wunderkind, caught in mid-charge, about to enter the fray.

And who are these mysterious children? Lauren attempted to mimic an announcers voice over the link. Valuable allies or deadly enemies?!

[Kelne]

I'd kind of like to know what Ettezan wanted with Elastic. Do they have a history, do you think? Maybe the comics would tell them, but Emily somehow doubted they were an accurate guide to Elastic's life.

[Shinigori V2]

Mission: 05- Juliet.
Deck City: The Database
July 25, 3756.
09:00

It's a pretty standard morning in the Database for the children. They've been in and out of the database for the last few days, mostly running tests and doing little, easy, thrown-bone type jobs around their area of HQ. But now, they're in the database for the weekend. It's Friday morning, and time for class.

Outside the database, it's pouring rain this morning. Occasionally, the children can hear a crack of thunder outside, despite their virtual setting.

As they approach the classroom, they hear something quite a bit different from inside. A girl's voice, one not recognized as any already in the program, bolts forth with a certain flavor of authority not found outside most churches.

"...When a man forgets his duty he is no longer human and becomes something less than a beast. They have no place in the bossom of humanity nor in the heart of the Lord. Let them die and be forgotten. Those who fail to heed the appointed signs shall suffer eternally."

(Thank you to Jak, whom you know, and Bolty, whom you don't, for the scriptures. If you want to continue CI from after Mission 4, the Playground is now open for business!)

[Idran1701]

Over the last few days, Sam's had quite a bit of fun, throwing his all into the jobs given to him by D52 and digging up issues of Ellastic (and a few other superheros) for Alexis. Eager to get to another day of Stuff, he's the first one into the classroom today, and so the first to hear the unrecognized voice. He steps inside, looking for whoever the source of the voice is.

"Um...hello? Are you a new Wunderkind?"

[Shinigori V2]

The reading stops abruptly, as the girl at the podium turns to look at Sam. Though, looking might be the wrong word. It's more of a glare, harder and deeper than even Ettezan gave him. She's Wunderkind, for sure, and his database scrambles to collect information on her. Her uniform is a blue-grey with purple highlights, and she looks displeased at the interruption.

"Yes, I am." She says, with more than a little contempt in her voice. "Though not like the rest of..." She makes a face as if she smells something terrible. "You."

She sighs, putting her hands on her hips. "My name is Juliette Byrd Grey. Of the Grey family. Perhaps you've heard of me."

The last part wasn't actually a question.

[Idran1701]

While her look puts Sam a little on edge, he's sure she's just trying to get used to things like everyone else had to. He smiles, and shakes his head. "I don't think so. But it's nice to meet you! I'm Sam. Do you know what kinda class you are yet here?"

[Besyanteo]

Enzo followed in after Sam. He had been looking chipper, but when he sees Juliet glaring ice daggers at Sam, his face falls almost immediately.

"U-uhm. Hi."

[Kelne]

Okay, the new girl was distinctly creepy in her coice of scriptures. Also obnoxious and arrogant. In fact, Emily was very tempted to just ignore her and let her stew away on her own. But that wouldn't be very professional; they were all going to have to work together, so she really ought to make an effort.

"Emily Hasting," she said, leaving it at that for the time being. Anything more in her current mood would only cause things to deteriorate.

[ChristianC]

Alexis had been digging into everything Sam had found for her with incredible fervor. She loved reading, even though she still wasn't as fast as some of the older kids, or even those of her own age, but she was quickly catching up... it wasn't like math though. Despite her training constantly with making small, useless applications, she still couldn't get her head around most math problems. She just didn't get them.

And now Sam was being chewed out by some new kid! Humph! That's just so like the new kids, it seemed everyone had a chip on their shoulder!

So, surprisingly angry, she stomped over towards where this new girl was and crossed her arms, trying not to look as scared as she was.

Hey! You can't just treat everyone else here like you own the place. That's not being very nice! She tried to sound angry in her mind, but that was kind of hard.

My name is Alexis anyway.

[NebulaQueen]

Silvie walked into the classroom, arms stretched over her head. The past week was kinda fun, even if the last few missions they got weren't that big. She almost wished she didn't have to go back to class after that...

...she took it back as soon as she saw the new kid. Silvie missed her speech, but she didn't miss the kids swarming around her. Curious, she skipped forward, and asked, "Hey, who's the new girl?"

[Shinigori V2]

"I already introduced myself." Juliet says. "The least you could do is listen up. I'm sure your databases will kick in soon, if they're even half the speed of mine." She says, one hand still on her hip, the other one held up near her face, somehow accentuating her smugness...It seems nobody told her they all use the same database.

"Anyway, I'm your new doctor, being probably the only one smart enough to be your doctor. You may also notice that my class- As in the real world- Is higher than yours. Now, someone be a dear and point me to where I can get out of this ridiculous costume and into some real clothes."

Again, that..was more a demand than a request.

[ChristianC]

Alexis had her hands squarely on her hips, and she wrinkled her nose as she felt upset about how this Juliet was behaving! This wasn't cool! Distinctively uncool!

You won't be able to change out of this uniform. Ever. She said while trying to sneer, it looked more like she was going to sneeze. You're going to be stuck with it, hah.

[Shinigori V2]

"Right." Juliet says, shifting her weight. "From someone who's not a freaky spazoid?"

[Besyanteo]

Wait, what? This girl was less intimidating and more pathetic the more she talked. And she was making fun of Alexis to boot.

"Anyway, we all have the same database... because we're IN the same database. And, you know, the more you talk about how smart you are, the more it sounds like you're an idiot. Are you nervous about your first day, or are you just trying really hard to make sure no one likes you?"

He paused for a minute... And then mustered his courage and spoke as plainly as he could, without rancor or satisfaction.

"And who cares who you were in the real world? This is pretty much as real as it gets for us anymore. There's nothing any of us could get or use or do in that life that would apply to this existence. Even when they make you an artificial body to walk around in, there's nothing you could buy that would be designed to handle that body. No cars, no make up, no food, and so on. Everything you might get will come from D-52, when they decide it's time for you to have it, for a long long time. You're basically bragging about the advantages that were attached to a dead sack of meat that you used to inhabit. You're wunderkind now. You should probably think about that before you start making enemies of your new family."

[Shinigori V2]

"Last I was informed-" Juliet says, narrowing a glare on Enzo, "They bumped me through training because you needed me, NOT the other way around."

[Besyanteo]

He shrugged, looking a little nervous as she glared. He knew he was right here, but he couldn't help feeling nervous now that someone looked genuinely angry.

"Not particularly to date. You're missing the point, though. We are going to have to live together. That's a fact. How much fun it is to live together is still totally up to you."

[NebulaQueen]

"We needed a doctor," Silvie sneered back, "not a whiny little princess. And quit makin' fun of Alexis, she didn't do anything to you."

[ChristianC]

Alexis kind of...totally lost her courage when she was referred to as a spazoid. If her mouth had been opened, it would've gone shut with a snap, but now she just...kind of shriveled up, but then along came Enzo to the rescue! She gave him a thankful glance, stepped a little back, glad to be out of the spotlight... She didn't know how the others did this, she was shaking all over. Enzo had walked in all cool-like and had put that Juliet down like it was nothing...

And then there was some more bantering, Alexis watching with increased worry, before reinforcement came from Silvie.

"Th-th-thanks..." she whispered to the two.

[Besyanteo]

Enzo blinked, and his vision refocused, somewhere in the room that wasn't on any of the other children. He stood in that way for a moment, before looking around the room briefly at his fellow Wunderkind.

"Class has been cancelled. Something to do with the class programming. We're free for a while."

Enzo started heading out of the room. As he did, he sent out a comm message... to everyone who wasn't Juliet.

Thirteen set up some Summer Break for us, and she wants to meet us in the Wilderness. No one tell Juliet, though. She can stew in her own pissy arrogance for a while. Last one there is a rotten egg!

Enzo made a point of running once he was in the hall, fully aware he'd just given himself an unfair head start on everyone else. Somehow he didn't think they'd mind.

[NebulaQueen]

"Welp, I guess that's that! Smell ya later, princess - c'mon, Alexis, lets go hang out with the fun people."

With that, she walked out, but slow enough to make sure Alexis kept up with her.

[Idran1701]

While Enzo and Silvie head out, Sam hangs back for a bit, glaring back at Juliet. "You should stop bein' a jerk, Juliet. 'Cause we're all your family now too. An' don't say mean stuff to Alexis anymore either, okay?" With his piece said, he follows Silvie out with Alexis, walking at her other side. "Are you okay? Don't listen to her, she's just mean."

[Kelne]

Emily gave a little wave and fell in with the group. She thought that everything that needed saying had been said, and the stewing could now begin. Because honestly, Juliet was going to have to seriously adjust her attitude if she was going to fit into the group at all, let alone work with them.

[ChristianC]

Alexis was caught unaware when Enzo began to run, and for a second she almost dashed after, but the others didn't seem to want to so she stayed behind. Summer break, however, sounded awesome.

She nodded to Silvie and followed behind, feeling guilty about the whole thing. She'd tried to stand up to Juliet, and now everyone was treating her like she was as fragile as glass... she didn't really like that, but she knew they only did so because they cared about her, and that made her happy.

She nodded shyly at Sam as he and Emily hurried up to join them and sighed mentally.

I'm okay, thank you. I'm sorry for causing trouble...

[NebulaQueen]

"Heeeeey...."

Silvie peered down the hall, before she grinned wickedly at Alexis.

"C'mon, we can't let some smelly boy get there before us - c'mon, let's go!"

And with that, she began to run down the hall - not too fast, though. She wanted to give Alexis a fair chance.

[Animala]

Lauren started to follow the others, wavered for a second, then sighed and took Ambassador Leafshade off her shoulder and held her up so they were face to face. "Go along with the others, but come and get me if there's any trouble, okay?" Ambassador Leafshade dooked an affirmative, then wriggled loose and dropped to the floor to scurry after the others. Lauren watched her go, and sent out a comm message, again to everyone but Juliet. Keep an eye on Ambassador Leafshade for me, okay? I'm going to stay here with Juliet. I'm sorry, Alexis. She's being a jerk and she doesn't deserve any help, but...we're all family, right? And I can't just leave family all alone.

Lauren turned to Juliet. "Okay. So I guess you've heard the important stuff already." She ticked the points off on her fingers as she listed them. "One, you're being a jerk. Two, it's not okay to treat Alexis like that. Three, we're family here. All of us, even you. Whether we like each other or not." Lauren shook her head. "So anyway, I'm Lauren. Alexis was pretty much right about the outfit. You might be able to get some stuff to wear over it in here if you ask the adults nicely, though."

[Spleen]

Who's Juliet? Darren wondered over the link, instinctively responding to Enzo with the same protocols as Enzo's broadcast (i.e. not to Juliet). Where are we going? What's going on? Man, I gotta stop getting to class late.

Darren stopped in the door of the classroom in time for the Ambassador to have to scamper around his feet, and heard the tail end of Lauren's speech. "What's goin' on?" he asked. "Someone makin' Alexis cry again?"

[BrainWalker]

Max was in his room, playing hooky from class today. Well, he was planning to go eventually, but he had gotten lost in his own independent study this morning. Class was interesting sometimes, but it was never anything Earth-shattering. He was much more dedicated to his custom dirt-bike project. The 'net is a great resource for information on any conceivable topic, but he without a workshop or something, progress was slow at best.

Max perks up when he hears the comlink chatter. He responds on an open channel to everyone: Wait, what? The new girl is here already? Man, why don't they ever tell us about this sort of thing ahead of time? He pauses for a moment to check the database. He stops reading the entry when he gets to "medic."

Hell yeah! She's a medic! That's awesome! Man we needed one of those.

Max pauses for a moment as some of the other commentary sinks in. Wait, what was that about pissy arrogance? Aw man, did I miss a spectacle?

[ChristianC]

Alexis nodded at Silvie and started running after Enzo, running as fast as she could while smiling to the girl next to her. Already she was forgetting about Juliet, and the conversation between the other wunderkinds didn't bother her much.

[Shinigori V2]

Lauren:

As everyone else leaves, Juliet finished up her reading from the book, before slamming it shut and hauling it off the podium. And 'hauling' is the correct word.

Now that she can get a good look at it, Lauren notices that the book is about a foot tall, nine inches or so wide, and fairly thick. It's bound with some sort of metal straps on it, and as Juliet drops it, it hangs around her waist noisily on a pretty large metal chain.

Finally, Juliet gets her thoughts in order:

"She's a freak. You're a freak. I'm a freak. We're all freaks. It's just a matter of how."

With that she begins walking out, her massive book clanking noisily against her leg.

-----
Everyone Else:

As the children hit the doorway and make it outside, they can see it's absolutely pouring. Thundering, even. The sky is incredibly dark, despite being mid morning. Thirteen stands down by the lake, watching the rain upon it. With her are Razzie, Benji, and another small child, even smaller than the other two, holding her hand. Down here. She sends to the group as they exit.

[Idran1701]

Surprised to see rain here, Sam shivers a little, staring around before spotting Thirteen. He walks over with the other Wunderkind, and waves to Thirteen. "Hi! What's goin' on here? How come it's all rainy an' stuff?"

[Besyanteo]

Enzo was caught off guard by the thunder, but looked a little perkier than he had on the run to the door as he stepped on into the Wilderness. He enjoyed thunder and lightning, and he was pretty sure that this place wouldn't hurt them, so it was exhilarating rather than frightening here. He walked over to Thirteen, and waited for her to answer Sam's question before posing any of his own. He wondered distantly if his dwarf bots were handling the weather well.

[Shinigori V2]

"Why does it rain out there?" Thirteen asks.

Now that they're closer, they can see that the child holding her hand is a shaggy haired young boy with an orange and red suit. His hair is an odd shade of purple, and he looks very nervous.

[Idran1701]

Sam thinks a bit at Thirteen's response, and shrugs, before turning to the new Juniorkind Thirteen's brought. He smiles, squatting down to eye level. "Hi. I'm Sam. Don't worry, it's safe in here. What's your name?"

[Besyanteo]

While Sam tried to comfort the new Juniorkind, Enzo was looking at Thirteen.

"So, what's up? Has something happened? I mean, besides that thing you did to get us a summer break. Thanks for that by the way."