“When I tell you what is happening here, I want you to understand exactly where I’m coming from. You can try to say that I can’t possibly understand you. I was you. I was that monster in waiting. I was that thing which must be contained. The empowered daughter of the unmentionable. There was considerable debate what was to be done with me, I am quite lucky I had advocates who were more stubborn than I was. You need to realize that this is the good alternative. It isn’t a choice between this and your prior life. Your prior life no longer exists in any meaningful fashion. That may not be your fault. But fault or not, it is. It is the choice between being here or being in the System. You don’t want to be in the system. The system will either kill you or turn you into what they are trying to lock you away to avoid. You might not like it, you might not like this, or that. You might find it all so grossly unfair. But that is life.”
She pauses a bit more.
“If you aren’t Hannibal Lecter in a muzzle waiting to happen, then force them to recognize that.”
He sat and listened to the others, to Mariel and keep his peace. He had said all that he wanted to say and would now have to play the game until such time as he could be released or found a way out of here. There appeared to be nothing else to do for now but to make the best of it.
Cadence had no questions to ask. She felt like a spectator in her own life. No matter what the premise of this place was, be it an alternative school for troubled teens, a halfway house for delinquents, a place to put off making inevitable decisions, or a rehabilitation opportunity, Cadence recognized it as just another prison and she was a prisoner. She had been a prisoner for the last 8 to 9 months. Maybe she was a prisoner all her life, and she was simply nothing more than a time bomb ticking toward last night.
They refused the smartest course of action with regard to her and, from the coldest heart of logic, their decision to do so was probably going to be a mistake. Cadence had no desire to fight anyone. She had no desire to be the Villain, nor the hero. She accepted that she was a danger to the world around her. She was a danger to everyone in this place as well. But the place had a kind of null field going on, and they added the extra special gizmo to her leg to buy them time if things went wrong... and to try an figure out how she did what she did. But her powers were unicorn-like, and science could only offer theories for the things they believed to be true but couldn't see, nor touch, nor explain in any better way than to say... it simply had to exist because otherwise our math doesn't add up properly.
Could they actually hold her? Cadence wondered if that was a question they were asking themselves in hushed voices in rooms where science guy advised everyone else. What if she simply withdrew into herself and converted within? That's what biological parent did... It wasn't the hardest of the things she had mastered in those painful 8 months. Whatever... She wasn't interested in finding out. She accepted her captors terms when she surrendered because she didn't want to fight them for the illusion of freedom. Her old life was gone, as gone in as much smoke and rubble as the building she destroyed last night. Everyone she loved was dead, everything she knew was destroyed. Her Biological parent made sure there was nothing left for her to ever go back to. Cadence had been severed from her old life.
Turning 18 in the spring was meaningless to her. There was no place to go. Once the world figured out who she was and what she had done last night... Once the world could connect the figure on the hill in the cloak and mask with the blonde sitting tucked up into a sofa with borrowed clothes and bedhead then she would publicly wear her crime just like she privately wore it in her heart right now. But for the hear and now, the very same dynamic was about to play out as soon as somebody slowed down enough to watch the TV news and see the carnage from last night.
How many did she kill? She didn't know. Who were they? What were their names? Did they die as instantly as she hoped? Or did they suffer in agonizing pain as ... as Alchemy planned for them.
How could she force anyone to recognize anything different about her when she wasn't sure if she was on the path of a burgeoning sociopath? Yeah, following after her biological parent... or maybe she was this Hannibal guy in a muzzle... whoever he was. Cadence looked from Mariel back to grey who was surely gauging reactions of this group of troubled kids, trying to fathom who actually had a chance to climb out of he Hell that threatened to consume them. Could Grey sense the anger in Cadence? Anger buried and driven deep down inside as the only mechanism she has had for months and months to cope with what happened to her, what was done to her and now, what she had done? Could Grey see beyond the facade of the mask she wore, like porcelain doll, broken and abandoned, but bravely trying to appear sane and whole? Could Grey sense to storm inside her?
“Ok then. A few more points and we’ll adjourn. Well finish off the weekend letting you get settled and starting out some of the placement testing. Each of you will have a tablet in your room. That tablet will have access to a shopping portal and will have an account attached to it which will allow you to purchase various necessities. Clothing and the like. Naturally, it is not unfettered access to the outside. You also will have lunch provided around noon and dinner around six. You will have access to any of us if you wish to talk or ask. Ore individual questions. Although I think it’s possible Dr. Sorenson might try to catch some sleep. There is a library which you will have access to, and any of the facilities here save for the rooms behind the red door. Those are Dr. Sorenson’s. Please respect them.“
She sipped her tea which had started to grow cold. So many questions, but really no questions at all. So much of her life was over, and so much was what she had to make it. Unanswered questions like was her mother alive, couldn't be addressed in any satisfactory way. If she was alive, that was a problem. If she was dead, that was a problem in its own way. Would any of her family's money be available at all? Much was part of many different businesses, trust accounts, and even squirrelled away in monetary havens around the world. There literally was no place in the world that she couldn't access local funds. They didn't need to know that, and she certainly wouldn't tell them. Heck she didn't even know all of them, that she was certain.
If she had a private meeting with one of them, which, and why? What would she attempt to accomplish? Potentially she could see about getting access to her own funds so that the school didn't have to bear the brunt of her expenses. This was going to be her way into a whole new world, and she would do it as best she was able. Yes, starting with Mariel seemed like a good place. She didn't want to be the first one in though, she didn't want to seem desperate. In fact she wasn't. She wondered idly if her powers could be used to adjust the life of something inanimate, like clothing for example? She couldn't ever remember trying anything like that. It might be worth exploring. How far did her powers reach? Nyx could do many things, most of them harmful, but she never tried to be helpful. What if one did try?
A face faded into view behind the piano almost like something out of Alice in Wonderland, for now lacking a body. First a set of teeth, then a nose, then eyes, then the rest.
"Well hello handsome and musically inclined."
One eyebrow waggles. Its somewhat disturbing, however, when the source of a waggling eyebrow is a disembodied head.
He had been lost in the music when the voice came out of nowhere and startled him for a moment, not having heard anyone coming in. Ben looked up and then nodded to the new person.
"Hello, didn't see you there. But then I guess that is common for you." he said, resting his fingers back on the keys but not yet starting to play again.
"Oh, not uncommon. Harder to be seen than unseen. Have to make an effort to be seen. Being unseen? That is easy. Just don't think about it and 'poof'."
Bits of her face fade out of view momentarily then sharpen back into focus.
"Guess it has its benefits. I could be lounging around in my underwear and noone would know the difference."
"Oh, you are always invisible unless you concentrate. That must be inconvienent and dangerous since people don't know you are there and can't avoid running into you."
"Well. Yeah. Its also bad not existing half the time. For all you might wish you could blend into the wallpaper its no fun when you might as well be the wallpaper."
The face flickers and fades out momentarily before reappearing.
“Well, so they say. Leastways they seem to be treating me better then Enkidu did. You eventually grow tired of the needles, his hands, the fire in your veins. Hopefully we can avoid all of that rot. How ‘bout you?”
He winced at the name Enkidu. Ben had heard his parents talk quietly about that person in hushed tones, trying to keep it from their son as the years passed.
"Just got here today. I was already mentored by my parents in my abilities so there isn't much for them to do there. Just holding me here until I turn 18 I guess." he said with a fatalistic shrug.
"My parents are Darkstar and Blink. I inherited both of their powers so they taught me." he said. "I am still learning more about gravity, the underlying sciene behind it."
"Yes, I am. But I didn't know that my parents knew Enkidu much less associated with him. I have heard some stories but....ah...are you okay? I mean, you aren't in pain or anything are you?"
“Not as I’m aware. Or if I am, I’ve gotten so used to it that it’s just background noise at this point. But I think it’s safe to say it was either them or someone else wearing their jammies.”
"I am glad that you found sanctuary here then. I think a few of the other girls came here from a hard place. The new girls. I don't know if you have met them yet."
"Hey, thank you for the trust. The girls seem friendly enough if a bit shell shocked at the moment. Guys seem okay although I don't know the long haired guy."
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