Because of Red's strange behavior a few minutes ago, Blond couldn't help but use his deductive reasoning on Red.
Why is he averting from everyone's gazes awhile ago? He kept on asking himself.
Finally, he arrived at the most reasonable conclusion.
.....
"WHAT ARE YOU HIDING?!" Blond screamed in front of Red, violently shaking him. However, Red just smiled back at him with a conceited look on his face. He didn't move an inch, nor did he try to push Blond away from him. He silently let Blond grab him by the collar and shout at him, taunting him to threaten him even more.
Blond couldn't suppress his doubts anymore.
Now, he's absolutely certain that Red was keeping them in the dark about something. "YOU!!!" He furiously screamed as he let go of his grip and brought his fist up, in an act to punch Red in the face.
"Blond, stop it!" Scar stepped in and grabbed Blond from the rear, locking his arms on Blond's armpits. Everyone was surprised at the strength Scar demonstrated after he easily dragged Blond away from Red. That or Blond was just too light for Scar's comfort.
"Calm down! There's no use turning away from each other." Freckles berated Blond.
"Why what's wrong?" Gadge exclaimed. He was too focused on his work he didn't notice the unfolding events. Standing up, he immediately went to Red's side and shielded him from Blond's future onslaught.
"You're as shrewd as ever, Blond." Red chuckled as he fixed the collar of his tattered clothes. "Stop with the act, I know you're just trying to put me on the spot."
"What?!" Curl exclaimed. Everyone's jaw dropped open at the sudden revelation from Red.
It was all just an act?! They thought.
"Man! I still can't hold a candle to you." Blond sighed as he relaxed and let out a chuckle just like Red. His stark change in emotions made the group even more befuddled.
"You already know what it is, what's the use of needlessly riling me up like that?" Red stood up and offered a hand to both Scar and Blond.
"I was hoping you'd say that. Why don't you just tell everyone about it." Blond shrugged his shoulders,
"They're not yet ready." Red seriously replied.
The group silently watched Red and Blond's confusing exchange of words. No one knew what they were talking about. It's as if they live in a different dimension incomprehensible to normal humans.
"Red? What's this about not being ready?" Scar broke the silence. Since he was the most meatheaded out of everyone in the group, he didn't even bother thinking about their conversation.
"Just like I said, you're not ready," Red replied a matter of factly. "I'll tell you when the time comes."
"And when's that, huh? When everyone's dead inside that testing room?" Freckles gently pointed out, maintaining her calm nature. "What can we do to prepare ourselves?"
"I told you, Red. You should've told them right from the start." Blond grinned. Although putting him on the spot didn't work, the result was way better than he had expected.
"You're really putting me in a bind here," Red lay down on his bed and sighed, looking at the bottom part of the top bunk while thinking of what his next actions might be.
He had a lot of explaining to do.
"Ehrmm ehrmm!!!"
"Sorry to interrupt your incoherent verbal dispute but we got work to do!" A voice announced behind them.
It was Jarxen. They didn't notice the panels to the testing room opening, and now, a humanoid stood in the middle of it. The humanoid looked lifeless as ever, but they know that it's got more life compared to the person testing it.
"WHAT?! You think we only get one humanoid every day? Wake up! This is why you're here!" He pointed out, poking Scar multiple times on the head to emphasize his statement.
"Since I'm feeling rather generous today, I'll let all of ya acquaintances off. How about we start off with little miss over here." He smirked, pointing at the girl behind Red.
"Curl?!" Red exclaimed but to her surprise, it wasn't Curl.
The girl had long silky hair that almost covered both her eyes. She was as tall as Curl but entirely unnoticeable. The group skeptically glanced at her. She was always in the background and she never spoke a word ever since they've snapped into consciousness. Top it off with her pitch-black eyes, which were like pools of oil too deep for anyone to stare into. If Red was mysterious, then this girl was even more questionable than him.
"Zero-two-one-three, right? Hop along. You're next." Jarxen coaxed her as he opened the door of the lodging room.
The girl fidgeted. After heaving a few deep breaths, she finally pushed herself to take a step forward and head to the testing room.
"Can you please hurry along? We don't have all day!!!" Jarxen impatiently bellowed.
The girl nodded and continued walking towards the testing room. She was shaking, but she quickened her pace as if accepting her fated future.
"Wait."
At that moment, Blond stepped in front as he locked eyes with her. He had been observing this girl for quite some time now, just like what he did to everyone. And yet, she didn't seem to engage in anything. She would just stand in the background and go unnoticed. If you weren't paying attention, you won't even realize she was already standing right behind you. Blond was aware of it since he saw her stand behind Red most of the time. Even when they were arguing, he noticed her standing up from her bunk bed and going behind Red.
Blond let out a sigh to relax his nerves. "Jarxen, can I just test the humanoid instead of this girl? We still need to get to know her a little bit more before we all hit the sack in the incinerator."
"Very well, you do it, smart-ass number two. However. Don't blame me if you... what was that? Hit the sack?... yeah, don't blame me if you hit the sack instead of her." Jarxen proudly sneered as he crossed his hands on his abdomen. "JUST GET YOUR BUTT IN THERE BEFORE I SEND YOU TO YOUR DEATH MYSELF!!!"
"Blond!" Red called out. He never saw Blond as someone fitted for combat. Red found it weird that Blond would cause unnecessary attention towards himself. "Let me fight the humanoid inste... "
However, Blond just gave him a reassuring look. "Get some rest, Red. I can handle this."
The door to the testing room slowly slid open as Blond willingly entered it. The already freezing place became even more chilly after he arrived in front of the humanoid. "Brrrr... this is colder than expected." He pretentiously rubbed his shoulders even though he wasn't fazed by the coldness of the room.
The humanoid looked entirely different compared to the previous ones. This time, the humanoid had wheels on its feet and a few scythe-like blades that ran on its arms. Adding to that, the humanoid seemed thinner than usual, but its neck was more stocky in comparison. Surprisingly, it didn't look like a humanoid, it resembled an uglier version of a prehistoric Quetzalcoatl.
"They should've slapped a beak on this one, it would probably look way better," Blond spoke to himself.
"Shut up... I... didn't want to... look like this either... but if it would... help me kill you... then it's worthwhile... "
"Wha... ?!"
Beep!!!
The fight started with the humanoid swinging its arms at Blond like a swordsman carefully handling his sword.
"From the right, swinging on a forty-degree angle, the left swinging with an arc of a three-fourth meter on its highest point... next one is a sweep kick six and a half inches from the floor and then he will try grabbing my wrist at a speed of fifteen miles per ho..."
Blond continued mumbling to himself as he dexterously evaded all the attacks of the humanoid. Although faster and more efficient than the previous ones, the humanoid couldn't land a single, metallic, skin contact on Blond. As if by some powerful assistance, Blond predicted each and every move of the humanoid until the testing time ran out.
Beeep!!!
Red and the rest of the group didn't speak a word after watching Blond's powerful performance. He walked out of the testing room unscathed and not even exhausted. The humanoid went back to its default stance as the panel on the far side of the room opened up and it walked towards it. As the humanoid stepped into the built-in conveyor belt, its gaze followed Blond as he exited the place.
"You... may have won... this time... but next time... I will... "
Before it could finish its statement, the walls on the testing room closed, drowning its words with the silence and wintry atmosphere of the room.
It was too much for everyone to take in. Firstly, the humanoid looked way different than usual, and secondly, it spoke like a regular human. One could safely assume that it's not your run-off-the-mill humanoid anymore, but something programmed with artificial consciousness and real-time learning. Red noticed it during the fight...
... the humanoid was observing every movement that Blond displayed. Although it couldn't land a single hit on him, Red concluded that this wasn't the last fight with that humanoid.
"Hey... that humanoid... it spoke just now, right?" Scar shakily voiced out as he pointed at the testing room. "Those humanoids just got a hundred times creepier than normal."
"It didn't look like a humanoid, it looked like a killing machine if you ask me," Red added.
"To think that we need to fight more of them... " Curl trailed off. She was on the verge of crying but she managed to hold it in.
All of a sudden, Jarxen approached Blond with his fists clenched. "What did you just do?"
"I said... WHAT DID YOU JUST DO?!" He cried.