Earth's Fall- Day 8039- 11:01PM- The Academy, Academy, Namib, North Wing.
The air was filled with the whirring sound of a centrifuge as four medical personnel, wearing nose masks and surgical hats, moved back and forth in the white room.
Two beds, occupied by patients, were positioned beneath a large overhead disc of light, ready for a surgical infusion.
There was a ringing sound in the room, indicating someone was at the door. The least senior doctor went to answer it and called for the attention of the most senior doctor.
She stepped out of the room, which led to another. She took off her mask and dumped it into a nearby trash bin. Who could be important enough to call for her? She quickly washed her hands and arms before opening the main exterior door. She sighed in disappointment when she saw her visitor.
"C'mon, Beauty. Smile at least," the grown man said, looking down at her with a smile.
"Robert? What are you doing here? I'm in the middle of a-"
"I know, I know," he said, raising her chin with his index finger. "I just came to see you." He leaned forward to kiss her, but she turned her head away.
"Well you have, you can go now," she said, folding her arms.
"Susan, Susan, Susan," the man said slowly in an erotic voice as he stroked her red hair. He walked past her into the room from which she had come out.
"What?! What are you doing?" she asked, spinning around to stop him. "That's a surgical room, you idiot."
"I know, I know. I didn't just come here to see you," he said, looking down at her with his imposing height. "I came 'cause I wanna check how things are goin' with the processes."
"You aren't wearing any medical gear," she said, unfazed by his cold eyes.
"Don't worry, I won't touch nada," he replied with a smirk and advanced to the next room, opening the door with a scarf.
Robert took a long look around the room as the doctor stepped in after him. Everything seemed alright, he thought. He acknowledged the other doctors in the room with a 'good job' look.
"So, the X have been stable all through?" He asked her as she put on a new set of gloves.
"Yes," she replied muffledly with a nose mask on her face as she went back to work. "Everything's going alright, no need for you to be in here."
Robert's eye caught one of the patients starting to recover and gain consciousness. The male patient opened his eyes with tiredness as he looked around his surroundings. He tried to get up, but his limbs were belted to the bed. He started to struggle, looking at the unfamiliar people. "Who are you?! Let me go! Let me go!"
The doctors turned in amusement like they didn't expect him to be awake. "Oi! Everythin's alright now, innit, Susan?" Robert asked with a look.
The Doctors held the struggling boy back as they prepared an injection to neutralize him, but Robert intercepted. He looked at the doctor, and she began to shake her head vigorously, knowing the information he was conveying through his glance. "No... no... no. No!" she started to object. "Robert, no. We could find another way."
Robert chuckled. "Unless you have a memory wiper Susan, this is a lost cause."
She looked at the poor boy struggling. His body must have adapted to the anesthesia administered to him. "Please Robert, please. He's only a boy"
Susan reached for Robert, intending to use her feminine charm to dissuade him from his impending action. Robert swiftly drew out a sleek, specially crafted blue weapon from under his black suit. With a quick motion of his arm, he released a straight blue sonic wave, aimed at the boy.
A large cavity appeared in the chest of the boy, followed by the gasp of the doctors.
Blood splattered around the surrounding walls as the doughnut body dropped back to the bed. Robert looked at everyone before concealing the raeger weapon back underneath.
He stepped forward to the other bedded patient, making sure he was completely unconscious. He then turned to make his leave. "Consistency, Susan, consistency," he said to her as she dropped to the floor on her knees, weeping.
∞
The clapping continued. Levi started to wonder who that was and if he was sane.
The silhouette stopped clapping. "Well done, Nine. Well done," the man said, his voice loud enough for everyone to hear. "And you, Orc, well done. You both did well."
What the-. Levi looked back at his teammate. It just gets worse, he thought. His facial expression read, 'they named you that?"
"I had no intention of coming all the way here...even waiting for you to show up late. I definitely would choose watching birds than watching a grey academic battle. Not to talk of two," the man said coldly.
He went on, saying, "But Mr. Saunders here," pointing towards another figure beside him, "He forced me to watch. And not just me, it seems everyone's here too. Gotta admit, I was pretty impressed." He raised his arms in the air, asking, "Isn't that right, folks?" There was no response. "I mean, we all just saw two greys beat up on a red." He let out a chuckle.
Levi slowly recognized the man's voice. He had definitely heard this voice before in The Academy. Judging by the tall stature of the figure, he concluded it was the blonde man who had tested his potential at The Den.
"Perception," the man said. "Perception is an astonishing ability. But the thing is...none of the greys can actually help us when the Ròkks arrive."
Oh Great. Was he just trying to make fun of us? Levi raised himself from his knees. Raise the goddamn platform, Levi thought. He walked towards the end of his current pillar to check if the platform was there.
"Definitely if you read the movements of the Ròkks, and you can't kill at least one, then it's a waste isn't it? I don't want to talk about yours, Orc, that's a diff-". He stopped talking as Levi made his motion. "Am I boring you, Nine?"
Levi looked up, startled that he had been asked a question. He couldn't utter a single word as all the attention suddenly focused on him.
"It's alright," the figure said with a silly wave of his hand. "You must be excited and probably exhausted, you're excused to your quarters, Nine."
Definitely what he wanted to hear. Levi watched as the platform rose above, stepped on it, and descended back to the bottom. He could hear a distant voice calling on competitors to battle. He would've liked to watch but he felt tired.
Loras patted him on the back, like a proud father, and Levi felt a swell of pride. He bounced out of the auditorium feeling a bit lightheaded. He got back into the dressing room reversing all his actions; undressing from the safety garments and back to his lavender.
The light-headedness intensified into a pounding headache. Levi could feel his heart racing, and he began to sweat profusely. What's happening? He thought. He stood up in pain with his chest heavy and aching, he was about to leave the room when a hand slammed on the door and three youths emerged.
"Well, well, well... it's about time we had a chat, Levi," the biggest among the three, standing at roughly 6 feet 1 inch, said, stretching Levi's name.
Levi looked up at him before slumping back to the bench, unable to withstand his current pain.
"You don't remember me?" The gigantic boy asked as his two friends surrounded Levi.
Of course Levi remembers him. Levi will always remember him. Even if he had a concussion or a full memory loss, Levi would never forget him. Chase Night.
Levi tried to talk or beg for mercy, but a piercing sound in his head made everything else sound blurry. Chase was the worst thing that had ever happened to Levi—except for his syndrome. He was the reason Levi had to quit school; the constant bullying was too much for an 8-year-old to handle. Now, fate, that unfair force, had brought them back together.
"You don't have the syndrome anymore, do ya? What'd ya do?" Chase asked, grinding Levi's hair with his hands. "Get 'im up, I wanna get a good look at 'im," he ordered his goons.
They forcefully lifted Levi, who was gasping for breath. "But you look pathetic as always now." Chase mocked squeezing Levi's cheeks. "Perception huh? Percept this!" He swung hard, hitting Levi smack on the face. Levi flew back, his head bouncing off a metal locker. What was that strength?