4 days after the hundredth and deadliest Stem attack happened at their school, TaeJean and Keshawna were in two very different states. She only left her room to use the restroom and barely ate. T.J. on the other hand had passed the time battling Ameer's constructs and other training proxies, as well as trying to get acquainted with the other three Soul-Borgs. Siobhán seemed to be the only one who was receptive. She and T.J. sparred a few times. Miguel didn't do any training besides what was mandatory, and Ryu viewed himself as head of the class.
Today was the memorial for the victims of Cory's attack. TaeJean was still asleep, when the lights came on in his room and Ameer sent a message over the loud speaker, calling for him and the others. It was 6 in the morning and TaeJean was annoyed. He wasn’t a student anymore and this was the most comfortable bed he had ever slept in, being made of memory foam. “Ehhh. Eight more minutes,” he thought to himself, as he turned his face down to block out the lights. “And I really don’t like that this man can control my lights from outside.” . After about one minute Ameer spoke up again. “So ALL of you are going to ignore me? Ok.”
Suddenly the brightness in the room surged! The fact that T.J.'s eyes were face down in the pillow did nothing to stop this. Within his eyelids he saw daylight! “Arrrgh!” He yelled. “Okay I’m up!” The lights turned off. T.J. sat up on the bed. He was in a sleeveless undershirt and black basketball shorts. This was his most common sleeping outfit. “You all have ten minutes to be dressed and in Lab 1!” Ameer hung up.
Suddenly T.J. heard from a few rooms down the voice of his Irish neighbor. “THAT WAS DAMN BRIGHT!!” Siobhán said. “And you’re damn loud.” T.J. thought. He wasn’t wrong. There was no good reason for him to hear someone three rooms away. He looked at the mirror on his door. His color had returned, and he had eyebrows again. His head had began growing peach fuzz as well. It looked like his facial hair would be gone for a while though, oddly enough.
He grabbed what he would consider his battle outfit for the time being. The green cargo pants, black tennis shoes, his altered Play Ray jacket, and of course his durag. “Ok, now to wizz, wash my face, and brush my teeth.” As if reading his mind, Ameer's voice came over the hallway intercom. “You can take care of your morning hygiene in the Lab 1 locker rooms. All of you here, now!” After he heard this, TaeJean glanced around his room. “Does this man still watch me?” he thought to himself.
As he entered his hallway, he saw the others. Ryu still looked groggy. He wore a black hoodie, blue-jeans, and all white tennis shoes. A simple uniform. He was about about an inch shorter than T.J., and his jet black hair had two wavy bangs in the front. Siobhán was holding her hand to her mouth, yawning. She had her long ginger hair in a ponytail, and it seems she decided to wear her gray pajama pants to work this day. She also wore a gray hoodie and gray shoes. “She likes gray I guess.” T.J. thought to himself. Then there was Miguel. He was the shortest of the four. He wore a beanie hat over his bowl cut. His visible clothing was a white zip up jogging jacket with a hood and pockets, black jeans, and white tennis shoes with black stripes from a certain popular brand.
Ryu spoke up “Everyone ready? Let’s hurry before he yells again.” TaeJean looked over at Keshawna's door. She had barely been out of the room the last few days. “Yeah, lets go,” T.J. said. He and the other teens began to walk off to Lab 1. Meanwhile Keshawna felt them leave. Over the past few days she had been getting more and more used to feeling Conceptual Energy. For obvious reasons, Ameer didn’t have her training yet. She knew she had powers now, and as such she would need to learn how to use them. But right now, she was still in mourning. Not only did she see her mother die, but she herself was counted among the dead! Oh how her family would grieve! She knew that she couldn’t see them ever again. “No. I can see see them eventually…” She just lay there in the darkness thinking. She had cried so much that she was dehydrated, so after she felt TaeJean the others leave, she went to the kitchen to grab some water. She was about an inch shorter than Miguel. Her large Afro showed the signs of bed-hair. Her face showed signs of crying. She walked with her bare feet in her pajamas to the kitchen.
As TaeJean and the others approached Lab 1, Siobhán spoke up excitedly. “Finally! Some action!” Though she and Miguel had been there a few months longer than TaeJean, the only combat they had done was with the drones and proxies. Miguel seemed like he could care less, but the girl had taken to pestering Ameer. While in the outside area between the mansion and Laboratory, they saw a sight that still amazed T.J. The sapient magical creatures were outside socializing. Night elves, dwarves, fairies, one ghost, other night attuned creatures and several of Ameer's human employees were drinking and eating around the bonfire. “This really is the coolest foster home,” he said out loud. They entered the facility, and headed towards the janitors closest that doubled as a secret elevator to the underground facility. There were actually a few entrances, but this was the closest one and in fact the only one the kids knew besides the entrance from the road that Ameer would drive on, or the secret hangar.
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Upon entering the closet, the back wall opened up, revealing the secret elevator. One at a time they all stepped in. When all four had assembled, it activated, heading down to the lab.
Siobhán was talking loud and excited. “I wonder who we’re fighting? I’m ready for em!” Miguel was still sleepy and was annoyed by her energy and her Conceptual Energy. “Can you shut up?” he said. She responded: “What?!” Miguel: “I said shut up!” Siobhan with her power Flaring: “Make me.” Miguel began to Flare as well. But Ryu-Tora brought his sheathed katana between them. “Guys you really shouldn’t do this in an enclosed space. Besides the instances either of you move, I’ll cut off both your arms.” T.J. just stood there. The elevator finally reached the Lab 1 floor. Cherrae was waiting for them. “Good morning everyone! Ameer is about to brief you.”
She started walking and the four teenage cyborg demigods followed behind. There was a still an air of aggression between Miguel and Siobhán.
As they made it across the facility floor, the various lab assistants and magical creatures moved about. They came to the end of the room. Ameer waited for them in front of a screen. He addressed them sarcastically: “good morning everybody. Did you sleep well?” T.J. spoke first. “I think I could have used another twenty minutes.” Miguel chimed in snidely: “Plus someone insisted on being very loud this morning.” Siobhan: “WHAT WAS THAT?!” An aura of conceptual energy began to surround her as Miguel began to release his. Ameer simply spoke: “Ryu.” Suddenly the Conceptual Energy auras dissipated from both teens as they keeled over clutching there stomachs and gasped for air. T.J. had been gut punched once and had gut punched several times, thus he instantly realized what happened. “Damn he’s fast. Throwing hands probably wouldn’t be fun if I can’t see them. Plus he has a sword.” The two teens looked up, appearing more pissed off than anything. Ameer: “Now if you would please look at the screen.” The images came on the screen showing the early morning news report. “Horrifying scene here. Mangled bodies. Almost like regurgitated meat. ”
Ameer spoke. “Your breakfast is being prepared right now. Shower and brush your teeth if you have to. You are going to the Tennessee Mountains in one hour. We will brief you on what you are likely fighting on the way there. Also, this is why you should study the bestiary.” The teens all began to move. TaeJean looked at Ameer. The man spoke. “You have something to say?” T.J. looked away. “Nah. Nothing.” That wasn’t true. He was going to ask about Keshawna, and the fact that the mass funeral for Cory’s victims would be today.
He headed towards the men's locker room. Ryu and Miguel were already there. One was in the toilet stall, and one of the shower stalls was running. TaeJean grabbed one wash cloth and one drying towel from the clean towels section. About twelve other employees were in the locker room chatting. As TaeJean was about to enter his shower stall, one spoke up. “Ready for your first official team job?” T.J.: “I’m always ready for smoke.” Another employee spoke up “That’s the spirit kid! You’re the newest addition to Soul-Force after all.” TaeJean asked : “So is this place the whole Soul-Force?” “Oh no. This is just one base. In fact, you and the other teenagers are the only Soul-Borgs on base, but there are over 100 of you globally.”
TaeJean recalled a few days ago. “Yeah. The fairies mentioned that the other day.” The stall flushed. Out came Ryu. He went straight to the sink and began washing his hands. He began to speak. “I’m pretty sure Ameer wants to make us a new Squad.” TaeJean asked. “How many squads are there?” “We will be the 17th. Soul-Borg squads number from 3 to 10. And they all have names as well. Apparently somebody decided to make it a ranking competition.” He looked around. “Soul-Forces main weapons are Soul-Borgs, but the total number of employees are about 2,000, full of human and magical auxiliaries. We at times cross-over with others in the Superhuman community, mainly former super heroes. Ameer said he’s doing a global Soul-Force meeting at the end of the month.” TaeJean asked “will Kee be apart of this as well?” Ryu: “Most likely.” He entered a shower stall and turned on the water. T.J. entered another shower stall. He thought of the suffering Keshawna had already gone through. “She will probably suffer more still.” He looked at the console screen on the shower wall, set it to 85 degrees using the steam setting, and activated the timer for 10 minutes. The shower started, and he began to steel his mind for the days task.