The Numbers

[Fehrant]

My body aches. I've been resting here far too long. How long? I cannot estimate. The person that woke me... male. Age, probably 45. He's nervous. Hmm, a doctor's robe. No, probably a scientist. This, doesn't look like a regular hospital, no. A facility? Yes. Other capsules containing other people, being woken up right now. They are wearing the same attire. There are a total of 14. Hmm, all young. This must be no coincidence. The scientist must know. Would he know who I am?

"Where are we?" Asked a boy in his early 20s. He had fiery red hair, and freckles. "I... my head. It hurts." He rubbed his temples.

"Where am I?" Came another female voice. A blond girl who had just being woken up from her capsule. "I can't... I can't remember anything! Who am I?" She broke into a soft sob.

"Odd, I can't remember who I am, either;" confessed a dark toned youth in a gruff voice. He was one of the tallest males in the room, and probably one of the most menacing looking. His body was deeply engraved with muscles that made him look as solid as a wall. He had a stern set of eyes overshadowed by bushy dark brows, and an equally bushy beard.

"Yeah, yeah... what's going on?" A high-pitched voice asked. This time it was a girl barely in her 15s, that looked awfully younger. She was the smallest in the room.

The scientist regarded her wearily for a second, then said, "I know you probably have several questions, but right now there just isn't any time. This facility is one its way to be attacked by a very dangerous threat, or more precisely, it has already been attacked." He walked to the door and it slid open. A blue humanoid creature lied on the floor, dead. Its blood was the color of grapes. It had claws and looked hunched. Right next to the body of this creature, there were several humans, cut to ribbons mercilessly.

"There isn't time," reaffirmed the scientist. "You all have powers, but you probably forgot how to use them. We'll get out of this facility, but chances are we'll encounter these creatures..." He made a long drawn pause. "Or worse."

"Now, for convenience's sake I will give you a marker, and write the numbers from 1 to 14. Here, pass around this marker, and write the number somewhere on your clothes. Unfortunately right now I don't have better clothes to give you."

The 15 year old girl was the first one to get the marker. "Yay!" She squeaked. "I'll be number one, he he he." She turned the marker to the toned youth, who was scratching his beard, deep in thought.

"So we have powers, eh...?" He mused. "I wonder..." He flexed and toughened all of his upper-body muscles. His upper clothing, already tight for his body, tore at several places. He finished the job by ripping the rest apart with his hands.

"Oooh..." The squeaky girl clapped amused.

"Please don't do that with your pants. Anything but that, man..." Jested the red-haired boy. The toned youth glared at him, but the red-haired boy simply laughed. Writing the number two on his pants, Number II passed it up. The boy had by now stopped laughing, and wrote the number four on his shirt.

"You are supposed to write three, stupid!" Accused the little girl in a childish fashion.

He grinned. "Four is a lucky number. Besides," he turned, faced the sobbing girl, and quickly wrote the number three on the leg of her pants.

"Hey! Stop that!" She exclaimed.

Number IV laughed. "See? Fixed." He walked to the next person. He was going to pass the marker, when she came upon a girl with closed eyes. He regarded her closely, looking one side and the other. "You blind? Want me to write the number for you?" He was about to do so when she snatched the marker from his hand. "I can do it just fine," she explained and proceeded to write the number five.

"Huh..." Number IV scratched his head. He carefully approached a finger as if to poke her.

"Don't," warned Number V.

"Wow, so you can see!" Declared IV amused.

Number V passed the marker to the other people behind.

[Ecnasaeflam]

Self-declared number VII looked down at himself, back up, and then around the room.

What... what is this? I feel ...sick. The flu. Why am I in the hospital? What the hell is he raving about?

It's the zombie apocalypse. I knew it. Zombies. Just grea---... they don't look like zombies. Something else then. Either way, it's not good. It's not good at all.

#VII flexes, looking around the room again before raising a hand, rubbing at his ginger hair, "Oi, this is just great. 'Well I can't tell you anything, but THEY might find us, and we don't want that, so you have some powers...' And we're just supposed to believe you? Yeah right."

A loud snort follows this comment, followed shortly by a series of hacking coughs. Long, thin fingers search his form for a pack, a carton, a box, a tray of cigarettes. They come up empty. Damn it.

Looking around, #VII searches for others to bum cigarettes from, but they all seem to be in the same shoddy predicament. Just great. The zombie apocalypse HAS hit, only we're some kinda ****in' super-mutant supermen and we're just supposed to take this without a cigarette? Great.

Fan-****in'-tastic.

Another glance around before he hops up, staring at the 'ringleader' of this little affair, "So what's the plan, skippy? Just waltz on through the corridors like we own the place? Do you even work here?"

[Acheron]

As his eyes opened and he blinked a few times, the man with the short black hair and light green eyes was trying to figure things out. For starters, why he was laying flat on his back, in something of a hospital. He lay there, eyes open, staring at the lights beaming down on him from the ceiling but nothing was coming to him. It was not that long ago that he was...

...But he did not know what he was doing before this.

Sitting up was a start though. While he did not sleep through the speech given by the scientist, he did not find it all that important to actually let people know he was awake. He received a smile from a small girl in the bed across from him, he fired back with a wink. His attention then went to the creature lying on the floor not too far from him, at least, not far enough for his liking.

Great....This should be...interesting at the very least.

He grabbed the market from the man who just named himself "VII", taking the marker to his own clothes and naming himself "IX". With a slight yawn, he leaned his head to the right and a small popping sound came from his neck, followed by a smile on his face. He then placed the marker on his bed and turned his attention to the scientist.

"Powers, creatures, okay. If time is of the essence, shouldn't we be moving?", his tone was stoic. He was not trying to boss anyone around but he was looking for answers.

[Xeim]

The disorientation came and went very quickly. There was no time to waste in such a short life to spend it on being confused. Clarity gave you the ability to do productive and enjoyable things with your time, and time was everything. But, despite this, she had still lost so much time. Yes, so much time...

She had already sat up to view her surroundings....they seemed so fragile, as if they would break at any moment to reveal something else. The monster on the floor, the knowledge that the white clad man had imparted upon them...all of it seemed like it could and should be whisked away. But she didn't know how to make it happen.

People were passing a marker around the room. Some looked disoriented and uneasy, while others seemed to be trying to make the best of...whatever situation they were in. ' What situation we appear to be in, that is...it all just seems to fragile... Someone passed her the marker at that point, and she was quick to draw a large "8" on her shirtsleeve.

"Why did you write it like that, hun?" came a soft, low voice. She looked up from her sleeve and grinned, making her deep azure eyes shine. Those same azure eyes met the grey eyes of a woman with long, black hair.

"The roman numeral for eight looks just like seven. Can't have anyone mixing us up!" She said with another bright grin as she passed the marker onto the woman. A short strand of her wild, violet hair fell in her face as she did so. She moved it back into place by blowing on it.

' Fight for our lives against creepy monsters by using superpowers. Sound pretty fun,' she thought as she left the safety of the bed she had been sitting upon to welcome the coldness of the floor on her unclad feet.

It's not like she'd get hurt...no, this wasn't really real, now was it? And even if it was...wasn't reality really just anything you perceived it to be? "Then there's no reason to perceive it as this! I should just have some fun," she muttered.

And there was not a thought in her mind about who she was or where she came from. Nor was there a thought about just how real her situation was. She had her own world that was all her own. Besides, what heartless manner of being would correct her fantasy when the accepted version of reality sucked?

[Violet]

Laying on the hard surface of the capsule, the blue haired man sat up straight, rubbing his temples. His vision was blurred and he couldn't exactly make out where he was. The loud voices in the room did no justice to his headache. Sliding his legs to the side of the capsule, a marker rolled across the floor, hitting against the man's foot. Picking it up, he set it beside him and looked around the room.

Some of the people looked panicked and eager to leave. There was a creature laying dead near the exit, covered in its own guts and being well avoided. Curious on the situation, the man grabbed at the next person who ran by. "Hey! Easy on the arm, pal!" The red haired boy wrenched free from his grip.

"Your hands are flippin' freezing." On the boys shirt was a numerical IV written in black. The man furrowed his brow. "What's the number for? And what the hell is this place?" When he stood, his whole body felt wobbly like he hadn't walked in months. He grabbed on to the boy's shoulder to balance himself.

Number 4 shied from the man's grip, and reached for the marker on the bed. "I have no clue where we are. Nobody knows their names so we were told to write these numbers on our clothes. Here." He handed the marker to the man, eager to leave his presence. Taking the cap off, the man hesitated and looked up.

"Um.. is 6 taken?" "No, I don't think it is. Hurry up, someone else is needing the marker." Quickly scribbling a sloppy "VI" on his chest, he slipped the tool into the boy's hand. After he left, 6 went to the center of the room to get a closer look at the creature.

Kneeling down before it, he made an attempt to touch the goo that oozed from its body. “Don't touch it!!” The man in the scientist robes sounded impatient. “For all we know, it could be toxic. Please step back and wait for the rest.” 6 narrowed his eyes and grunted in disagreement, but did as he was told. Pushing someone out of his way, he went to lean against the nearest wall.

This was a predicament he didn't want to be in. How long was this wait going to be and why were they all in this room? More importantly, who was he? These were the three questions that ran through 6's mind. He wanted to know, and he wanted to know now.

[Sinister]

Blobby shapes wiggled back and forth in dim gray color, colliding, mixing, reforming… They danced to and fro, the blotches slowly resolving like the painful focusing of a Cassegrain telescope. Color swam in as soon as the brightness was reduced. But the place was virtually gray, white and silver…looking very aniseptic. The vision was still fuzzy, as she realized she was in some sort of pod, peering through glass.

She could feel the closeness of her environ choke and press on her, cutting off her air. She quickly unlatched the pod and threw it open, gasping a quick ingress of air to keep herself conscious.

Smiling cooly at the liberation, she made a mental note that she was apparently claustrophobic. She pulled herself out into the room. Her smile flickering somewhat as her long-nailed hand came to her head. 'Something of a strain? Just head-rush.' She thought. It was near that time that she became aware of the people around her and their motions.

"Where are we?" Came an alarmed voice.

She quickly ignored the other voices to conclude her own answer to that very question. Was this where she was supposed to be? Did she live or work here? Her plain meager patient/subject uniform of white garb quickly eliminated those possibilities. The small question of who she even was flitted about in her skull, but she shooed it away as if it were a fly.

The scientist began talking, but she both heard and didn't hear what he said. She was still investigating with a non-plussed look. Her eyes eventually came to rest on the room beyond the scientist. The beast with long conical talons lay prostrate in death, still vicious, still assaulting with it's wicked and hateful form…like something torn from a nightmare. The bodies and the massive piles of gore and tossed aside parts were scattered away up and down the room.

"Now, for convenience's sake I will give you a marker, and write the numbers from 1 to 14. Here, pass around this marker, and write the number somewhere on your clothes. Unfortunately right now I don't have better clothes to give you."

She watched the mark pass from person to person, each marking obviously their number's Roman equivalent upon their clothes. Until it ended to the girl next to her. The girl seemed pretty cheerful and optimistic about the situation, which made one wonder if she fully realized the ordeal at hand. She had pert lavender hair and deep blue eyes. She seemed sprightly and undaunted by harrowing lay of her surroundings.

The girl, ignoring the efforts of the others in keeping with the Roman numerals scheme, clearly marked a cheerful "8" upon her shirtsleeve. The circuit of events left her with the designation of eleven. But the action was so out of scheme that it caused her to ask:

"Why did you write it like that, hun?" Eleven asked, her voice a deep feminine voice, hiding a small melodic accent.

"The roman numeral for eight looks just like seven. Can't have anyone mixing us up!"

Eleven smiled in a small way and took the proffered marker. Resolved to be a rebel too, she marked "Eleven" clearly across the chest of her shirt with the marker. She stepped across the cold floor and handed the marker back to the scientist and then marched back to her place among the newly awakened.

'Nothing seems more absurd than super powers, but if everything is as it seems…we'll need them.'

[Rocky]

(OoC: lol, I am not sure what number I am supposed to be, as with the new influx of people joining and all, but since I read and reread through everything so far, I am going to start with the number 10, if that is okay with you. If not lemme know and I will change it.)

He dreamed.

The young boy was unable to dream since he was old enough to remember. This must have been linked with his latent powers. One of the side effects that was noticable was the lack of dreams the boy had when he woke up. Sure, his powers seemed to be a decent enough tradeoff, but there were times where he could just lay it all down and be a normal being. This time, was different. He had no idea what he did before, or how long the sleep was, but this time...

This time he dreamed. He dreamed he was sitting on the beach, covered with the golden warmth of the sand, while an older gentleman with a long beard. The gentlemen was very grey and old judging from his facial features, but he was still quite built for his body. The two of them went sailing off of the placid water together, and went far from the beach for quite some time. Gradually, the waters grew darker as the sun became dimmer. The boy failed to noticed all of this, and was engaged in conversation with the old man. Of what was spoken, the boy can not remember. Suddenly, the dark skies and ocean ambushed the boy and the old man, and a giant hurricane enveloped the small sailboat. The boy was just shocked and could not get anything out to say, while the gentlemen smiled. As the small sailboat got ripped to shreds...

Wake up...

The boy immediately jumped from his newfound nightmare and found himself sitting up on a hospital bed. As he looked around and gatherd his surroundings, he wanted to know why exactly he was here. Many diverse individuals here, the boy thought to himself, yet they all seem to have something similar to me. What is it though? I can't quite put my finger on it yet.

...!

The boy saw the humanoid freak that lay on the floor of the hospital, lifeless. The boy did everything in his power to not react to the dead monster. He did not want everyone to think he was just a week child. He was much stronger then them, all of them! The boy stood up to grab the marker sitting on the table and wrote a "Ten" on his shirt. I wonder how long until this experiment is over and the scientists feed us to the wolves.. For the first time since he could remember, Ten made a small grin as he ruffled his short flat silver hair. He kept his mouth shut as he eyed around the room, listening to the conversations and small talk of the others. I am going to do whatever it takes to get myself out of this wretched place in one piece.. Of course, he kept up his poker face the entire time as he bottled up within him the internal desperation of making it through what lies ahead.

[Lady Rika]

The girl watched everyone with wide, frightened eyes as they spoke and passed around the marker. She didn’t get up from the capsule bed though she wasn’t trapped inside. This confusion of not knowing who she was or what she even looked terrified her as well as these people and the monster sprawled out on the floor.
‘I know I have no choice but to trust this man.’ She thought to herself as her timid eyes glanced at the scientist, ‘But superpowers?’ The girl hardly believed it at all such things like that couldn’t exit but looking down at the dead creature told her otherwise.

She felt sick to her stomach as the words between the people were passed around like bitter candy, she felt oddly cold and she couldn’t help but shake. She wished the capsule bed came with covers but all of that were trivial matters and she knew that all too well. But trying to make sense of all of it was so hard and it made her feel stupid. Cupping her hands brought a little warmth to them from light amount of heat generating along her fingertips. ‘Is anybody else here freezing? They don’t look it…’

Then ideas popped into her head, what sort of power if such a thing existed, would hers be or any of them for that matter? Being able to make fire would be useful right about now but it could catch her on fire and be dead in a matter of moments. ‘The man did say that we wouldn’t be able to control it well.’

Finally she saw the marker roll towards her little bed and for the first time she leaned up and got up from the bed to retrieve the marker. She stared at it for a few moments then pressed it against the top part of her chest, ‘At least they’ll know my ‘name’ even if I don’t.’

She wrote the number XII then wrapped her arms around her body and continued to shiver, she knew she had been dreaming earlier though couldn’t remember all of it and it had been chilling. Unnerving.
There was a huge creature staring at her, waving its long hooked claws around. Then she noticed that this weird thing was her. And there was a girl there too, waving sweetly. Then without warning the girl began to scream as the thing attacked her and began to rip her apart. Soon the girl’s guts began to spill out wildly as she attacked her, her huge mouth digging deep into her belly and the ripping sounds erupted into the darkness.
Her long mouth grew sticky with crimson stains, and then she reared back her head and roared a strange sound unknown to human ears. Then the dream had just ended and she woke up to the people’s voices and her capsule opening.

XII shook her head trying to push out the disgusting vision from her mind. That nightmare stuck their in her brain for a while before fading off into oblivion where it truly belonged.
But who was that girl in her dream, she wondered. Someone she must have known because of her friendly face and kind smile. 'But I killed her didn't I? I don't know...'

And the monster across the room…it reminded her something of the girl she had supposedly killed. Though it was much a cleaner kill.
‘So I could do something like that to someone? No, I feel weak and what could do something like that to another person? Or a creature like that?'

[T.G. Oskar]

"Be careful with that one. That bastard was one of the few difficult ones to get. I can't believe he made such a number..."

The lethargy of his mind began to recede, as if a dream. He could not recall the reason for that memory, why he awoke right at that moment. His body was still stunned, almost incapable of movement. Sleep paralysis? Muscular numbing?

He sought to move any of his extremities. His body wasn't in pain, but it was a chore to simply move a finger. Perhaps he was still upon that dream, or perhaps upon a new dream. He sought to open his eyes, again with such difficulty it took him several seconds to open them wide. His eyes closed shut again, because of the light. His arm trembled with the effort, the effort of simply lifting, up to no avail. He could hear, although the sounds were muddled by something. Slight, low tones of voice, waves of sound which his mind found difficult to interpret because of what was outside.

He tried to open his eyes again this time. Softly, to allow his eyes to adapt to the light. He could see, at last, the reason of the muddled voices. He was in a capsule, and what seemed to be a scientist looked at him. His eyes reflected the fear in his heart: he was scared, and apparently scared of him. Perhaps...perhaps it was because of what he dreamt? Was he truly so savage, so as to take away the lives of others?

The scientist made some moves, although with a slight tremble in his fingers. The capsule opened, and he was touched so as to be further awakened. The slight jolt of the finger begat a jolt of his own. His body shook from the stiffness of REM sleep, his muscles tightened to return the semblance of life to his aptly living body. His nerves sent the signals to each of his muscles that the body had to be awake.

It just happened that, for him, the nerves had some live wires. The jolt of his muscles, the jolt of his nerves, produced a very literal jolt on his entire body. The scientist fell into the ground after the brief counter-jolt. He realized...or perhaps remembered. His body was almost a living battery, capable of manifesting far from the usual amount of electricity that a nerve usually could. More dangerous, and sustained. He could hear the slight voices and the sounds freezing still for a second.

Despite his body now fully awake, it still was a chore to wake up. He lifted the hulk of a body he possessed, or at least to his understanding. He knew, he felt his body was much lighter than that. But his muscles were still unresponsive, he could barely lift his body from the capsule. The effort of his muscles made his arms tremble, and his weakened strength made him fall to the capsule again. He breathed with little effort, but he sought to gasp for more air.

Just...great. I can't even lift myself off. I know I can do this. I need to move. Dammit, move body, move!!

He made another try. His muscles were now more responsive, but his movement was slow and stiff. He struggled merely to sit upon the capsule, merely to stand up. With grunts and hisses, he tried with all of his might to lift up again, to at least sit up. Again, it was a failure.

Just then, he felt a voice. "Hey, pal, keep quiet. I don't wanna get a shock like the guy over here. I'll help you lift, but I hope you ain't brittle, alright?" With the help of the muscled man, he could lift enough to sit down upon the capsule bed. He was placed in such a way the effort to sit was minimal, so he could lay back and still remain erect enough. He saw the other capsules, most of them open as his. He scratched his arms in an effort to drive blood into his muscles, in order to retain a bit of his movement and strength. Somehow, despite the time awake, he still felt stiff, unresponsive. Just how dangerous he could be? Indeed, to be a living battery implied danger to those surrounding him.

"So, scientist...there..." the strongman spoke, pointing at the sore white-dressed man still laying on the ground, sitting and sore, "...says we each get a number. Last I recall, the numbers went to..."

"Thirteen." His voice was between the middle of high and low tones. Higher enough to sound clearer than the muscled man. Low enough not to sound like a girl.

"Actually, the numbers went to thirteen. You seem unable to move just yet. Do I mark you?" The man held a marker on his right hand. Upon his pants, somewhere, two lines marked the Roman numeral two. Those lines marked the man as Two, a numeral of insignificance as it couldn't have the priority of One or the creative aspect of Three. Two...the number of ways, for it was between two points where every aspect of live traveled. Life to death, one way to another way, hungry to satisfied.

Scratch that. Two is indeed an important number. So many things depend on a Two to exist. Five or Eight are insignificant, then.

"Hey, dude. Don't get lost in thought. Where do I mark you?"

He pointed at his left arm. His clothes had sleeves, so he found fitting to mark himself upon the closest thing to his arms. The man was about to place the first numeral when he looked at him. It was the look of a killer, of someone who got what he wanted, by just delivering one simple glare. He lifted his index finger, the very one with which he pointed at his arm. He sought to find a center point to his shoulder. He began forming an X with his movements, to indicate that he wanted the Roman numeral of Ten in the very center of his arm. Puzzled, Two began marking the X on his shoulder, to which he felt no pain. It was a felt-tipped marker, soft enough for his body. The fumes of the marker entered his nostrils, his first sensation of smell.

The index finger then marked another line. A diagonal line at one of the sides of the numeral, to the left of the symbol to be precise. Then another one, parallel and inverted to the first one. Finally, a third line, almost of equal size and under the numeral. Two ended marking the symbol, and revealed its purpose: he was forming a triangle without connecting angles, only tied by the imagination of men who sought to complete that which isn't meant to be completed. The three lines were the last three numerals, each a single One surrounding the Ten. A very original Thirteen, different to all.

Two left his side, while everyone apparently resumed their conversations. He laid his head back, trying to gather enough strength and recover enough to move on. He briefly closed his eyes, despite the sense of urgency looming in the horizon. Despite awake, he still felt as if in a sleep, one his body was still refusing to awaken.

[Fehrant]

Now that they all had at least a name for which they could be called upon, the party moved on. The scientist took the lead, dodging the corpse-plastered ground that spread across the seemingly narrow hallway outside the sleeping chamber. There were two types of corpses, and each type none-too-surprisingly had a distinctive type of wound. The blue corpses -the creatures who oddly resembled a more animalistic, primitive version of a human being- had all been shot and killed by some for of laser. They had almost perfectly round holes across key parts of the body. The other type of corpses -regular staff of this complex judging by the robes- had been clawed and cut to ribbons by the easily identifiable mutated hands of the blue creatures. And by the looks of it, it had been like a pack of wolves against a flock of sheep.

The group advanced quiet in the eerie silence; while the situation was outside the norm, they still had to figure out many simple things that concerned their memory and identity. Number IV, though, kept "ooh"ing and "aah"ing at the battlefield's gruesome display.

"So..." He said breaking the silence. "What are these creatures?"

The scientist continued to lead the party, huffing all the way and showing to be out of shape, which came as none of a surprise for a man in this field, and at that age. No reply to the question came, however.

"I would like to know too," added Number II in his usually deep tone of voice.

Still, no reply.

Number IV sped up his pace approching the scientist closer. "Uh... hello? Earth to scientist. Earth to scientist. Do you copy? Over."

Number II's bushy eyebrows frowned, annoyed. Right as the hallway was about to end, he extended his massive arm, grabbed the scientist by the clothes, and he heaved him up like he weighted nothing.

"What... are you doing?!" Demanded the scientist. "We don't have time for..."

"Yeah, yeah," Number II cut him off. "We don't have time. You already told us. How about answering some questions, eh? I'm getting pissed off already."

The scientist sighed. "Ok, look, let me make it simple: you lot are not the only people with power. There are other people with power, and not all powers are the same. There's one particularly nasty character who has the power to turn dead human beings into the blue creatures you see here."

"That's plenty of dead people," commented Number I.

"Well, yes," conceded the scientist. "With the war, an everything going on outside it's natural to exp..."

"War?" Interjected once more Number II.

"Please, look, we don't have time for this. Let's get out of here and afterwards I'll..." The scientist tried to continue his sentence, but Number II roughed him in the air.

"No!" He cried. "The time's now. I'm tired of these games. And..."

Number V grabbed Number II's arm as if to calm him down, or stop him from roughing up the staff member further. "Put him down. Right now your question is irrelevant," she observed. "What you should be asking is: what are we facing?"

Number II seemed extremely aggravated to be told what to do at first, but then he put down the scientist and nodded. "Yeah, what can we expect? You better answer."

The scientist cleared his throat. "Well, you already seen the blue zombies. We might actually run into the, um... "necromancer" as well, but I highly doubt it. Then there's other people like you with powers who aren't exactly here to save us all, people who compose the staff of this place that hopefully won't mistake us for the enemy. Other than that... we might run into other nasty type of hellish fiends, but I believe we'll only find those on the surface."

"Surface?" Repeated Number II. "So right now we're underground?"

"That would be correct," asserted the scientist. "We're on Underground Level 2. We need to get to 0."

"Ok, let's go," said V.

The hallway ended and it opened into two different routes. The structure of the place looked all similar: metal floor, metal walls, metal ceiling, metal doors. All would normally look clean, except now it was tinted with red and violet blood. Some of the doors had been busted open, and some constantly keep trying to close but were hindered by corpses.

The scientist walked forward without stopping. V, however, after passing through one of the many doors, stopped abruptly.

"Wait," she exclaimed. "There's someone still alive here."

The door had been damaged and it looked about to fall off. V tried to open it, but it was solidly stuck.

"Let me," called Number II. He slapped the door with an open palm and it fell straight to the ground with a loud metallic sound. The scientist shook his head; apparently he disapproved of the noise.

"Nicely done, King Kong II," jested IV. Number II ignored the comment and went in.

Inside, the room was completely trashed. There were two beds, and a couple of furniture, but it was all completely ruined as if hit by something big. A figure moaned in pain in the dark. The light tube had been damaged and it blinked constantly, partially shedding light into half the room.

"Who's... who's... there?" Asked a weak voice and coughed.

A simple question, but at the moment a difficult one for mostly everyone, except the scientist, who waded his way to the front, and replied, "Hans, is that you?"

"Professor... Horowitz. Yes," he coughed, "...it's me."

The professor took out a lantern and turned it on. A boy laid against a wall, sitting on a huge pool of his own blood. He had a heavy wound in the chest, and didn't look like he was going to make it.

Number III gasped and turned her face away.

"Professor," the dying boy said. "You're not safe... here. Right before... right before I ate the radio, I heard a large horde is... coming up.From the stairs. Take... the... elevator."

Number IV sneered. "Ate the radio?"

"Here," continued the boy. "Let me give you the radio back... again. But you'll have to... get batteries, sorry..." The boy extended a trembling arm and opened his palm as if awaiting an object to be placed upon it. From the very center of it, scraps of metal started to form like crawling ants, and from inside out a communications device resembling a walkie-talkie took shape. When the device had finally take shape, the arm gave out, and it fell to the ground. The boy gradually slid towards the pool of his own blood, his life finally giving out. On his damaged arm, a bar code was tattooed. Beneath the bar code there was a number: A196.

The scientist took the radio, and stood up, unfazed by the death of this person he apparently knew. "Let's go, we haven't got time to... "

Several footsteps run across the metal floor of the complex. Shrieks, almost animalistic filled the hallway.

V heard it too. In the eye of her mind she didn't see whatever was causing the noise but something inside of her told her she could, if she wanted. She took a deep breath, slowly releasing it. She calmed her mind and body, and placed two fingers of each hand on the sides of her head. She felt it, the power bubbling somewhere in her mind. It just needed a little push. It slowly emerged, slowly... slowly...

And suddenly the lid opened. The world expanded. It still had no colors, all blue and black shades and outlines, but the radius of her "vision" -if such a thing could indeed be labelled that- expanded as fast as a bomb. It not only expanded sideways, but also up and down. Creatures came into sight, but just as quickly other people on lower and upper floors appeared. Some were heading to specific locations. Others were fighting. Powers. Different powers. More zombies. More. And survivors. A few. The layout of the building kept expanding, and she couldn't stop it. All this information flowed into her head all nonstop. Ducts. Doors. Beds. Furniture. Computers. Tiles. The small crevices in those tiles. Their wear. It came in vivid detail. She could see all. All. She didn't have eyes on the front, or on the back---she was an eye.

She gasped for air, started trembling. The map kept expanding, and expanding. It went underneath the building, tracing mere grains of earth and sand. It went above, revealing a city deep in ruins. More zombies. More. People. She fell to the ground, convulsing. Number II and Number IV held her body. Her head felt like it was going to explode. And suddenly, the map stopped drawing itself. It slowly drew back. V breathed more easily.

The world returned to her once more, to the present situation. "They are coming," warned Number I in her shrieky voice. "They are coming!"

"To the elevator!" shouted the scientist.

Number V could clearly see them. They approached from several locations. They wouldn't be able to reach the elevator without crossing paths with these beasts. The map continued to slowly give away. A face slowly started to vanish. She knew this face. It was a young man's. It had a scar between his eyes. She knew this man. She... she knew him. The map receded, and so did the face. But in her mind, the face stayed.

First floor. I must get to the first floor.

V got up. "Quick, we have to get to the elavator," repeated Number II.

"They are already here," announced V matter-of-factly. "They are coming both this way," she pointed to the front, "and that way," she pointed backwards. "A fight is unavoidable. The thinner ranks are not towards the elevator; it's the other way, towards the stairs."

Number V left II dumbfounded and walked out of the room. She walked intent towards one of the ends of the hallway, blue zombies already looming. Far behind her, at the other end of the hallway, more creatures appeared. There was no escape. They were boxed in, and the only shelter was the closed rooms that laid at either side of the hallway.

A blue zombie took the lead, and lunged towards V, but she struck him down with a timely chop to his face. The creature got up, and jumped on her back, but she kicked it without even turning. The kick again extremely precise smashed the zombie's face. She could see everything. She had no blind spots.

Yanking a steel pipe laying amidst wall debris without even turning her head to face it, she rushed headlong into the fray. The stairs to the other floors were just past this mob.

[Ecnasaeflam]

Already...?

I remember being disgusted. With everything. Wasteful.

His head hurt, it ****ing hurt. He was standing, walking. Bright lights. Dimness. What was going on? Then there was the violence, the lift of the scientist, the questions. #VII didn't care anymore. He just didn't. This guy wasn't any better than the rest, and #VII was disgusted. He simply walked past the scene, waiting for the rest as he scanned the corridors. Something was going on with his hands, and he didn't quite understand it.

The skin around his knuckles was bubbling up fluidly, like something were crawling underneath there. It etched its way down his fingers, and then back up, along his forearms. Shuddering, #VII looked away from his arms, folding them one over another and waiting impatiently.

Why the **** can't they just listen to the guy so we can get out of here?

Uneven temper, it was a Ginger thing.

The next thing he knew, #VII was against the wall, head slammed forcefully there as he dropped ot his knees, one hand against the wall, the other at his feet. He was swearing loudly.

Bright lights hit his eyes, and he was somewhere else. Everything was hazy. It was a birthday party, he was staring at a cake. It had nine candles. The frosting was imperfect, and surrounding him wasn't some happy home, but monsters? It had to be ogres. Crooked teeth and scrunched up faces, eyes too-close together. They were all laughing and yelling.... and then it was gone.

[Acheron]

IX did not care much that the group was moving slower than he would have liked. He took in everything that the scientist had to say when they were in the first room, powers, creatures, everything that seemed important to the situation. What struck him as most important though, was figuring out who was who and what they could do. The scientist spoke about powers, but nobody's had come out yet or had been clearly obvious. Once everyone had finally woken up, given themselves numbers and become oriented for the most part, the group starting moving along.

He made sure to stay close to the front of the group. Greeting them as soon as they left the room were the corpses of those who had come before them, apparently just workers in this building. It wasn't like he stopped to analyze every inch of the bodies, but as he walked past, IX made a note of this injuries. What arteries had been severed, damaged nerves, organ failure. While clearly the victims had all died from massive blood loss from their wounds, IX was almost certain that he could tell anyone exactly how with enough time.

Such knowledge....Where do I know this from?

There wasn't any time to brood about that though, as the group continued on. He listened in as the scientist was interrogated, rather harshly at first, by the one who seemed to have an abundance of strength. While he took in everything that the man said and things that were being spoken around him, something started to feel different within himself. Everywhere he looked, on the floor, the ceiling, was metal. That wasn't unusual, but what was, was the control he felt over it.

All of this metal...Mine to control. Why? Was I able to do this before I was sleeping? I can't remember....But...

But he had lost track of time. Once he snapped out of the trance he had imposed on himself, he realized what was going on. He had followed the group into one room, while out in the hallway, they were surrounded on both sides by the zombies that they were supposed to be avoiding. While it seemed like the rest of the group was still in the room, possibly talking, possibly trying to figure out what was going on, he took a few steps out into the hallway.

While the girl was already down at the opposite end, IX faced the end of the hallway where the elevators were. The crowd of zombies was still far enough from them, if they took down the ones on the other side of the hallway, they might be able to avoid the other group. Yet IX didn't want to take chances on something that might or could happen. He didn't know for certain what was going to happen, but for a lack of something better to do, he stood his ground in the hallway.

Facing the crowd of zombies gathered down the hall, he extended his right hand and opened his palm from the fist it had been previously. The metal doors in front of the zombies slammed shut, they slammed with a force that had never been used on them before. The metal panels from the ceiling and the floor flew up, hovering in the air, then attached themselves to the doors blocking the zombies. Steel pipes punched through the walls in front of the doors, forming another line of defense. Needless for any of them to say, IX had made the threat a singular one now.

"Well...That's one way to get it done...", he smirked at little bit once he could see what he had done in it's finality.

[Fehrant]

With a single steel pipe, and an arm as fragile looking as a girl's arm could be, four blue zombies were been kept at bay. Each time one of them approached, trying to lunge at the target, a steel pipe hit their faces. It all happened fast, and continuously. It happened from all angles, but it made no difference. It was like a hurricane amidst an angry river; so many blue zombies ran past her that it looked like continuous water streaming. Some of the creatures try to stand their ground against V. They jumped and lunged, but it was all futile. Her strikes were so systematic and precise, that she looked like a robot.

Sweat trickled down her forehead. Her teeth were clenched and her grip was firm on the metal piece. The pipe switched hands all the time so deftly it looked like a circus performer. Sometimes she would even hit creatures with her elbow, fist, legs, head--anything available. Her hands were red and violet, and it was unclear if the blood smeared on her was her own, or the constant waves of attackers'.

She started breathing heavily. If she could have, she would have stopped and rested, but that would mean death right now. Finally, after breaking several bones repeatedly, the pipe gave out. Half of the pipe remained lodged in one of the creature's bashed skull, but she didn't relent. Using the remaining short half she still fought, but now she stopped advancing forward. She started using her hands more, and while she could cause some damage, it was mostly non-lethal, merely delaying the creatures.

It had been an impressive sight to see, but the show was drawing to an end. Back against the wall, she kept them from tearing her apart. A strong blow made sent her remaining weapon flying in the air, just before the creature responsible got his neck snapped.

The view inside her head, the blue and black outlines that made her precise world, started to blink and blur, like a malfunctioning monitor about to shut down. With her last remaining ounce of strength, she jumped gracefully into the air, and used the head of one of her foes to jump forward, in the direction the flow of zombies was going. She repeated this process, and for a while, she seemed to be making incredible progress -- a flamingo using its long legs to wade through obstacles in the water so naturally, it looked like anyone could do it. But she was at her limit. She slipped, and her world started to fade. Then it all came to view once more, when an intense hit in the back sent her flying further with the current. She slammed against the wall hard, and fell to the ground.

Heavy steps filled the hallway, heavier than those of the blue zombies. A four-legged creature. Number III opened a path mounting on a Rhino that had a ghastly blue aura. She got to V before the creatures managed to tear her apart. She concentrated for a moment, and the same ghastly blue aura enveloped her body. The aura however left her, and a gorilla took shape. The gorilla easily set V atop the rhino with Number III, and they all fell back toward the rest of the party who was already dealing with their share as well, but at least managed to hold out.

[T.G. Oskar]

His time for rest was short. XIII's muscles still felt stiff, despite the rest and his attempts to reclaim some of his dexterity. He noticed as the rest of the group moved, and he made an effort to move along with them. It seemed as if few people noticed him, aside from Two and his assistance in helping him stand at least sitting on the capsule bed. He gathered enough strength to leave his capsule, to follow the group.

It seemed, for a moment, that he would succeed in leaving the bed. And, it seemed as it would: his leg had already moved into the cold metal floor, and only a slight push would release him. But, after the effort, his body again reacted the wrong way: he lost his balance and fell into the ground, his shoulder being the first to meet the ground. Even the reaction of pain was different: despite his muscles receiving the direct impact, they barely hurt; instead, his head and all the way from it to its shoulder received a slight shock, which produced a limited yet intense sensation of pain. He flinched from that pain, and sought to rub his shoulder with what limited dexterity he could have. Why was his muscle apparently devoid of harm, yet his head felt like if a needle had pierced it?

He noticed as how the group was almost gone. He struggled to lift up, using the capsules as support while his body slowly rose into a standing position. He moved slowly, with stiff movements and almost dragging his feet through the metallic floor. While the group itself moved slowly, he moved even slower than the rest, unaware of why his body was so unresponsive. Walking without support was a chore, and he embraced the cold metal walls, seeking to remain erect. It was at this moment when he realized part of what happened: the corpses shred to ribbons while a much larger corpse lay defeated, bloated. A sign of a losing battle, an eerie calm after the storm of battle was what he could grasp from the scene. His struggle to wake left him devoid of the important information given by the lone scientist, the very same one that he made fall out of reaction. The piercing pain that he felt in his head receded, but the difficulty of movement remained even after being awake for so long. This couldn't be sleep paralysis; this had to be something else.

With his slow pace, he did manage to catch up with the party, as they made a brief stop because of tensions between it. He saw the same Two that helped him grab the scientist and question him, with a face of disgust. The party stopped around him, giving XIII enough time to move. He managed to gather wind of the conversation, of the delicate themes Two managed to acquire from the scientist.

War. Renegade superhumans, one of them being the creator of that very monster he saw lying dead beneath the doors of the room in which he awakened. Apparently they were held on an underground installation, to which they had to reach the surface. The creator of these..."zombies", for lack of a better word, was still out and at large. There were more people as well, some of them on their own and unwilling to cooperate.

The tension receded, and the group began moving towards a hallway divided by two routes. XIII knew he was hindering the movement of the group, because of his slow movement, but somehow he was never far away from the group. Yet again, the group stopped, giving him time enough to regroup with them. This time, it was the girl marked with the number V. She claimed someone was alive, and the scientist stopped so that they could confirm what was happening. He got inside the room at last, just at the moment a dying person gave the very same scientist what seemed to be a communication device of sorts, a walkie-talkie to be precise. He heard the device lacked batteries, so they were effectively in-communicated until someone found a source of energy to power it up.

He was moving slowly to where the group circled, when he heard the sounds. Apparently, they weren't alone: something, something which he hadn't heard in his lifetime, screeched on the distance. Everybody was alert, yet not aware of their peers. He noticed as Five began to lose her consciousness, slowly, while Two and the one numbered Four tried to wake her. Two spoke to Five, while she regained her composture:

"Quick, we have to get to the elevator."

"They are already here. They are coming both this way, and that way. A fight is unavoidable. The thinner ranks are not towards the elevator; it's the other way, towards the stairs." Pointing to the areas where the mysterious creatures were their weakest, the party prepared to face them. Five wandered away, and managed to face a group of the beings; at the same time, the man numbered IX battled on the other side and the man known as VII was knocked aside, in the confusion of the battle. XIII knew he had to do something, but he was not ready to fight. From what he saw, these beings were faster and stronger than him, and his stiff muscles were a liability to the party.

Then he remembered.

I can't help them. If only I could move like before. But...I remember that jolt. It felt like a current, like if something moved inside of me. I did tremble a bit, I recall. Yeah. Maybe...I see all of them using powers, and I'm here...perhaps I hold powers of my own? And if the scientist fell from my side, then...

He moved his body towards where the scientist remained, outside from the heat of combat. While his traveling companions acted outside of his perception, XIII focused on gaining control of the device, of the walkie-talkie in his hand. The last gift of the dying boy, the one he felt he could use better.

Strangely enough, for the slow movement he manifested, he couldn't notice the sudden outburst of dexterity flowing from his arm. With a strong and almost mumbling "Gimme that!!!", XIII snatched the device from the unsuspecting scientist. The movement of the arm was almost automatic, and impressively fast: the hand of the scientist briefly flinched as if he couldn't still realize he held nothing in the palm, but the strength of the muscle's grasp compensated for the lack of mass. The movement was very fast, but XIII couldn't notice: he still grasped the device with a tremor in his hand, as if he held no strength to even lift it. He relaxed his arm, and began revising the device to see where the batteries were located. With difficulty, he removed the tab where the batteries were supposed to be, and indeed, there were no batteries. He noticed the amount of spaces required for each battery, and looked at his fingers.

The scientist had apparently noticed now. He shouted at XIII, surprised that he held the device he supposedly held in his hands. When he tried to catch the device back again, XIII had already placed some of the fingers in the battery spaces; instantly, he felt a jolt in his fingers and what seemed to be that very same current flowing through his body, and almost instantly the device came to life. The scientist was surprised, despite his stern look: it seemed there was no more need for batteries. XIII closed his eyes, and focused on that current he felt; it was evident the current was, strangely enough, weak. He meditated upon the speed of the current, trying to speed it so as to meet the pull of the metal springs, which he felt as hungry coils draining energy from his body. He didn't felt more tired than he already was, but he felt something was wrong. He worked with the current until the sensation of hunger was over, and when he opened his eyes, he saw the scientist trying to work with the device. It was active, and releasing the typical sound when there is no sound.

The sound of white noise.

[Fehrant]

The walkie-talkie came to life. The scientist once again seemed unfazed by how it came to life. It was clear enough at this point he had seen several people with power. He nodded acknowledging XIII, and proceeded to play with the frequencies. The zombies kept attacking at either side, but at least for now Professor Horowitz and XIII were safe.

"Can anyone hear me? Can anyone hear me? This is Professor Horowitz! Jamenson! Barret! 207! Anyone?"

More white noise. Horowitz changed the frequencies until two voices came on.

"That was working?" Asked one far away voice.

"Professor Horowitz," said the second voice closer; this person was obviously the one holding the device. "Ah, Professor Horowitz," repeated the voice with a certain tint of amusement and malice. "If you were trying to reach Barret he... well, is having some physical complications at the moment."

Horowitz gasped. "What have you done to him!?"

"Sorry, professor. I'll be the one asking the questions here. Which I'm hoping you will reply, lest you end up like Barret."

The professor made no reply. He looked tense.

"Good, then. Tell me A021's location."

"Who?" Asked the professor.

"Don't play dumb!" The voice hissed in anger. "Lilith. Where is she?"

Horowitz looked more distressed than before. He looked away from the walkie-talkie. While the person on the other end couldn't appreciate his reaction, it was evident he knew something.

"They are coming," warned the second voice from far away.

"Don't worry, professor. We'll find her ourselves. Over, and out." The walkie-talkie's sound died abruptly.

[Doc Rocco]

"Darkness. Am I asleep? I can’t be, I’m thinking. But I feel so tired…"

Noise cut through the fogginess that had enveloped his head. The voice of a male reached his ears.

"Ah, Professor Horowitz, if you were trying to reach Barret he... well, is having some physical complications at the moment." it spoke with a voice full of playful malice.

“What have you done to him?” gasped a second voice.

Confusion set in, and the fogginess was closing in. Sleep seemed like a good idea, even amidst all the commotion outside.

---

He woke up again, his mind more alert this time. The racket outside was still present, as were voices.

"Sorry, Professor. I'll be the one asking the questions here. Which I'm hoping you will reply, lest you end up like Barret."

A pause.

“Good, then. Tell me A021's location.”

The conversation between the two seemed to be exactly where it was when he had dozed off. But how? He had fallen unconscious, he recognised the feeling.

“Maybe I should get up. It sounds like there’s something fun going on out there.” he said to himself whimsically, and giggled.

An attempt to get up proved futile. His muscles were stiff and refused to co-operate, and his head felt as if someone had whacked him over the head with a large print encyclopaedia.

“Oooh. That’s no good,” he laughed deliriously, “Hurry up and work you muscles! We’re missing out on the fun by the sounds of it.”

He giggled again, and for the first time noticed he was lying in a very awkward position, hands flung high and legs twisted.

“This is very uncomfortable. Roll over time!”

As he began to roll over, he remembered his stiff muscles and groaned. Surprisingly, they responded and he rolled over with ease.

“Oh, yay. I can move, but this headache is killer,” mused the boy as he jumped up from the bed, “Lookathat, it’s a capsule.”

Shouts from outside caught his attention, and he turned to see blue monsters rampaging and humans running. Chaos reigned supreme and the air was heavy with tension. He ran into the hall and noticed numbers on everyone. Those with these numbered were being ushered along, and it seemed to him that they were mostly likely to escape this place. As much fun as it was, he could taste the danger.

“It’s all fun and games until someone gets hurt.” he grinned, and made off with the group.

A green haired girl marked XIV had a marker in her pocket. He could use that to number himself. A quick check told him that all numbers from one to fourteen were taken, and with that information, he drew XV on the left hand side of his chest.

“Go go number XV” he said to himself quietly.

[Sinister]

Eleven scanned…observed. There seemed to be very little left for her to do. The second the creatures attacked, she could do nothing. She wasn't terrified…but something held her from action. Like a deadbolt on a door, it wouldn't be forced.

In her mind, she saw the sprawling countryside of her motherland. The proud red banners, the marching soldiers, the grandeur and majesty of the marching band and their patriotic roar. It all seemed as ephemeral hallucination, some passing notion of a past life that flickered with no real merit to its claim. But in her heart, Eleven missed it all and desperately wished it was real… But it faded away…

She watched the systematic obliteration of the creatures by her comrades. It gave her hope… Something in her yearned to discover how she could help. What could she do. Eleven looked at her fine spindly hands, wondering fancifully at the powers they held. Eleven bit her lip and looked around.

Bedlam, Helter-Skelter, Pandemonium, all those words had been invented to precisely describe the current situation. The group had been flooded by creatures and Eleven had done nothing… Preferring by default to watch the small teenager fend off an entire horde… What had she been thinking? How dare she let the others fight for her?!

The old patriotic and motherly zeal replaced hesitation. She was now alone, she had wandered away and now could see the dismal army of creatures pricking their way through the rooms until she had caught one's eyes. It quickly alerted the others.

Eleven's face bravely hardened. She could die here. "My budem vsegda bezzavetno verny!" She smiled as she watch them lope and scatter around her

It was time to find out if she should live. She looked at her hands proudly. She had no weapons. She lowered her center of gravity and spread her arms out in an offensive stance. She would fight hand-to-hand and however she fared, she was proud.

One swiped at her and slapped her shoulder, causing it to tear and gush blood. Eleven whimpered and fell back dodging two more swipes. Two more interceded and pounced her, working their talons into her, causing her to scream in pain. She sneered at them proudly and lashed out with her bare hand. The attack ineffectively bounced off the beast's head. It gave the creature a pause until it retreated and it seriously slashed across her stomach. They were ripping her apart and she was dying. She was sad that she couldn't help…that she was useless…that she couldn't help the others. Phantom traces of tears may have appeared in one of her eyes.

She couldn't handle these things. She had been a fool to try and now her life was over. But these seconds were still hers and it was time for one last stand. Brimming with emotions of pride, contempt and hope, Eleven flung her fist at one of the ghouls. A sonic pop and the impact tore the thing's head off and sprayed it's brains and chips of its skull across the room. Reacting from an attack on her left, she kicked the other beast in the solar-plexis scattering it into flying pieces with another loud pop. The third was dispatched by a reactionary hay-maker that seemed to detonate the beast into a ballistic mist that rained throughout the room. Following the attack was a discharging blast that threatened the room's structure. She tore through them all with her bare hands, scattering and spreading them throughout the room with her ridiculously furious attacks.

Another beast was surveying her from afar with uncertainty. She swung, tight-fisted through the air and a ripple formed in the air… A collision of waves, pulses and dynes of superpositioned reactions that propagated the transfer of multiplied force rocketing through the air. The ripple atomized the thing into base materials and trace amounts of genetic residue that now lined the room, and Eleven herself. The remaining inertia in the assault marked the wall that was behind the creature with a concave crater of bent metal and seriously tested wall.

It was after the adrenaline slowly fizzled and dispersed from her blood that she took in the havoc she had wrecked. All numbers told she had wiped away ten things… There was blood all over her… And she stood proud and wounded, her hair, matted. She looked like a bloody queen, pristine and magnificent, colored red, dark purple while kindly grinning. Regal and motherly. She was smiling as much as limited face muscles would allow. She had found the power. She could protect, she could help the others. She would not die. "For friends and the motherland." She thought. She had to find the others again. She could help now...if she didn't bleed to death or perish from exhaustion first...

[Lady Rika]

Twelve took a step back, away from the rest of the group. Everything was happening way too fast—just too fast for her liking. These creatures were something of lore to her a thing that she could only see being real in a book or old movie.
‘But if I have something special that I can do then what does that make me?’ She questioned herself; too many things bouncing in her head at once began to give her a headache.

In her longing to get away from all the monsters twelve she lost her footing and fell. Small, scared sounds filtered from her mouth repeatedly reminding herself of a small frightened animal. Well that was what she was to these things…just something to slaughter and eat. ‘No…!’

Her eyes fuzzed out when her head hit the side of the wall, not hard enough to cause pain but it kept her from moving. Though the others continued onward, some fighting, others were standing still in fright. Twelve brought her shaking fingers to her eyes, rubbing them hard. “I can’t see…” She gasped, clawing at her face, “What’s happening?”

Flashes ran throughout her body, flashes of heat then cold chills erupting all over her. She didn’t understand it just wasn’t fair. She took in a breath if deep air before gasping again.
She could smell everything…not just the blood that coated the flooring and walls but everything else. ‘The girl with the eleven on her clothes…she had a funny smell to her hair.’ Then the smell of something sweeter, some sort of forbidden taste that made her curious.

Then she saw that girl again, the one who kept smiling at her. And waving, her high raised hand whipping in the air had entranced her eyes and now was trapped in her head.
“Evadez-vous sœur!” She felt herself scream aloud as a vicious bellow foamed out of her mouth; a disgusting taste tainted along her teeth and tongue. It burned and the stank of it all was something worse than death. With a few blinks her vision was back but now her hands were slicked with a thick, oily substance.
‘Did that come from my mouth?’
Twelve smelled her hand and quickly made a face of pure repulsion. The smell she could hardly bare it, like diseased flesh rotted to the marrow.

“What am I?” She questioned with a sob as the crowd grew farther away from her. Twelve didn’t see them leaving her behind but the large lurch of a thing that was the monster. Her eyes fuzzed up again so she couldn’t detail out the thing attacking her but she knew it would be the death of her if she wasn’t rescued. She tried to call out for help but her mouth didn’t move, not a sound dared come out. Fright she guessed.

Twelve pushed out her hands in some sort of defense but knew that it would do nothing for her if she wished to survive. ‘I will be nothing more than a pulpy heap on the ground after this thing is done with me.’ She grimaced as the monster came closer.
She took in what she figured would be one of her lasts breaths but it was that sound that came out again, a deep screaming hiss that took the monster back by surprise. Twelve felt her eyes slit, it hurt but she was able to see clearer now. Everything was so bright and clear through the thin slash. Twelve felt her fear dwindling away; pushing her arms out further gave her the courage to stand up against the wall, facing the monster. The weird sound came out again though lower this time but being controlled by her was a good thing for defense she quickly learned. But the roars wouldn’t keep the zombie monster away from her for long. She had to do something…but what? Time came and went and finally the creature lunged at her. She let out a high pitched scream and swung her hand out at it knowing it would most likely break it off and use it as a ladle for when it turned her into a soup. But instead of feeling the painful breakage of flesh and bone it was the thick spray of hot blood across her face that she felt. She opened her tightly clenched eyes fast enough to see her hand change. She wasn’t sure what exactly it changed from but it was something different from her normal mortal hand. It was long and hooked.

The zombie let out a pained groan and hobbled away, clenching the nub of its severed arm. Blood pouring heavily from the dangerous wound; more would come from the smell of its bleeding brethren. Twelve wiped her face and took a few steps forward meeting a fork in the hallway. She didn’t know where the group had went but she knew she would meet up with them sooner or later so she decided just to go left hoping it would lead her in a safer direction.

[Fehrant]

Horowitz's distress was palpable. His eyes were fixated on the ground, lost in thought. It didn't last long, however, as the commotion outside was more than enough to grab anyone's attention.

The narrow battlefield was still in disarray. Number II kept flinging his massive arms and shoving zombies out of the way like they were made out of cardboard. He had some wounds across his bare chests and arms, but he seemed to be handling it pretty well. Next to him was Number I, who had apparently become acquaintanced with her power. The small girl had what appeared to be spider arms jutting from her back. While they didn't do anything exceptional at the moment, 6 long arms provided an advantage in keeping the creatures at bay.

After letting Number V rest in the room, Number III -the girl who had been previously crying- wasted no time and continued her salvage attacks. She had dismounted from the rhino, but it regardless kept trampling the fragile looking zombies. It took about 5 of the blue creatures to finally take the animal down, its death a cloud of ghastly dust that dissipated into the air.

Number III was doing as best as he could, but he had not been able to release his power yet. Following V's example, he had armed himself with whatever weapon he could scavenge out of the debris, and took a defensive stance guarding the door of the room. With everyone helping, despite the overwhelming odds, he managed to survive. There were indeed some close calls, but he was glad he wasn't alone.

"P... Professor... Horowitz... " The radio spoke once again. Whoever's voice it was this time, it sounded hurt.

The professor's face changed drastically. "Barret, is that you?"

"Y... yeah. I somehow... made it;" Barret confessed.

"What has happened to you?! Where are 207 and Jamenson?! And where are you right now?"

Through the radio it was evident Barret was trying to move, and struggling. "207, she... she's gone." He sobbed. "It wasn't the bastards from Dawn. It was the mother****ing necromancer. I have no idea why, but the sadist ****er is here. And I... I won't die until I give him a piece of my ****ing mind."

"A018 is here...? Why would he...? Hmm..." The professor played with the thought for a moment, then snapped out. "Nevermind that. What about Jamenson?"

"We got... separated. Damn it... I... I've lost too much blood."

"Where are you, Barret?!"

"Deep. Fifth level. At this rate they will really get to Lilith. They don't know just waking her might put us all in danger. Damn Dawn and their stupid ideals of new world order..."

"He knows Lilith too," declared the professor. "He knows very well what she's capable of."

"Heh... well, that isn't stopping him apparently, Professor!" Barret made a pause. His breathing was all the listeners could hear. "Anyway," he finally said. "Dawn's not the only party interested, apparently. I saw those drug freaks from the Human Party. Now that I... I think of it, it seems only natural they would be here. Three birds with one stone stone: Lilith, him, and the necromancer."

"Professor, if I don't make it, please..." He started, but went silent for a moment. "****ing hell... "

"What's going on?!" Horowitz shouted.

"She's... she's woken, Professor. She's with him, and another Dawn member. I should... shoot her before they notice. It's... for the good of us all."

"W-wait!" The Professor demanded. "If you... if you shoot her we... we won't be able to use her, to revert the situation the world has gotten into. And the Founder said..."

"I don't give a rat's ass... what the Founder said," interjected Barret. "Yes, she... she might help, but now's too late. I will shoot her and..."

"No, you won't..." Came a voice in Barret's proximity. "I should've made sure you died, Barret." The voice was the same that had talked to Horowitz on the radio a few moments ago.

"WHo iS HE?" A disturbing voice asked. It pitched higher than a little girl, and lower than a grown-up man all in one sentence. The professor face turned pale.

"Goodbye, Professor..." Barret let go of the button of the walkie-talkie.

The entire facility shook roughly with a loud explosion. It was like an earthquake. It threw many to the ground, including the zombies. After the explosion the building made several collapsing sounds, but somehow it still held.

"We have to..." Started the professor, but he couldn't finish his sentence. A massive beam of energy cut through several floors and soared high past the surface in an instant. It split the hallway in half and part of the facility as well. In the process, Number II vanished in the blinding yellow light. The loud sound left many temporary deaf, and the sudden light left others temporary blind. This time the tremors were so bad, and close, everyone went to the ground.

And as quick as the beam had appeared, it vanished leaving an evident trail of destruction in its wake. The hallway laid in darkness. Its only light source now came from the sun shinning down the huge crevice left by the beam. The only noise present came from the building, heralding it's damaged structural integrity in several places.

[New Objective Added! You have a maximum of one week's time to escape the facility.]

[Sinister]

Eleven felt the blood roll off her shoulders, down her arms, in long drooling strands. With her first steps, she felt it stickily cling to the bottom of her feet and it made a sickening "plop" sound with her first footfall. The smell of aerosol blood was sharp and strangely mnemonic…familiar. A grinding racket, the sound of metallic tearing and structural trauma… Was it a real sound? The room was shaking but…it couldn't be a real sound…the smell of blood, the grinding of metal and that musical chortle…

A superfluous nasal laugh that expressed…no real hilarity, but mere amusement. A soft foreign accent, vastly different from her own, called out. So quick and light with it's consonants, so careful not to contract words, so inconsiderate of it's prepositions…

"Do you see that, Herr Abramov? There is no decomposition! It is artwork. The biological assemblage."

"It's artwork. How long until we know if it works?" An impatient voice asked. This accent…it was like Eleven's own. Eleven felt her next footstep, another wet "plop", the grinding roar continued. But she could hear the voices above it all. Her eyes were the size of silver dollars…Her face was pure android slack. She may not have heard the screams outside.

"Another hour or more." The laughing voice replied, brushing the question aside.

"You know what I mean." The voice returned, more sternly.

"You are joking me!? This is the prototype. I will be impressed if it moves."

Finally the room and all it's happenings disappeared under a flood of unholy light and two shiny lenses throwing cold fluorescence at her. She remembered a shocking crop of blonde hair, slicked back with pomade over the square-shaped head. There was a cringing grin of perfect white teeth, filled with excitement. "Meine gott… It's eyes. It's eyes are opening." The man cooed. "Instruments!" He cawed.

Something was pressed to her chest, cold and probing…a moment passed and it was lifted. The soft chortling voice called out laughing in song, with ¾th time. "Die Gedanken sind frei, wer kann sie erraten, sie fliehen vorbei wie nächtliche Schatten. Kein Mensch kann sie wissen, kein Jäger erschießen mit Pulver und Blei, Die Gedanken sind frei!" He seemed to get quite spirited, so much so that it made Eleven smile hearing it…But the song faded and only the smell of blood and the sound of metal remained.

Eleven looked about her with momentary confusion and disappointment. The happy little blonde man was gone and she had been some place different all-together. The blood on her was no longer warm and she began to feel quite cold.

She ventured through the door she had wandered to see a hallway outside cleft into halves, a carrion gulf extending below the floor. There was all manner of activity and life busily concerning themselves with their own safety and escape. She had to help somehow. She saw 8 on her side of the tear, looking around bemused and cheerful.

"8! Over here, dear!" Eleven cried. 8 turned and wrinkled her nose seeing Eleven and gave a laugh.

"Eleven, you're covered in blood!"

"I'd noticed. Now, come!" Eleven said, motioning to her. Eleven started for 8's hand but refrained, remembering she was covered in blood. But the two began to walk at a grueling pace.

"Isn't that sticky?" 8 asked, innocently.

"Uh-huh." Eleven said, shortly. "Where did the others go, 8?" 8 bit her lip, thinking but eventually just shrugged.

"We'll go this way!" Eleven said, selecting a large hallway leading away from the split. The two started at a healthy jog but as the ghouls started squealing and scrambling out of the doors, the jog became a full-tilt run. "I don't think this place is going to last." Eleven said, mostly to herself. "We need stairs."

"Stairs!" 8 pointed out. Eleven turned and there, on the left were stairs. But Eleven had checked that direction…how could she have missed the stairs! Not bothering to philosophize, the two bolted to the stairs, ignoring a claxon that only recently become impossibly loud. A ghoul was waiting atop of one of the landings, but with a dismissive flick of her wrist, Eleven crushed him against the far wall.

At the top of the stairs they made left again, away from the direction of the split again. Flinging, bashing and sending ghouls flying, Eleven wrenched the far corridor door open, only to find a wall that impeded them from continuing.

"Stay here, I'll be right back, hun." Eleven called, rushing back down the hall and eventually turning right. There was a second or two, when Eleven didn't know what she was searching for until she found it. None of the other rooms went passed the wall they found. She would have to take a guess as to whether it was still underground, but she would blow it. She slid to a halt, squeaking on the tile floor. She turned the corner from the hallway again, this time with words on her lips, but that's as far as they made it.

Behind her were hundreds of ghouls crowding the hallway, far more than Eleven could fight in her state. They were content to close in slowly and carefully.

"I can take out walls, but I don't think it's a good idea anymore. We could cause a collapse and kill the others. What do we do?" Eleven called out, her eyes fixed on the ghouls steady approach.

"How many can you keep back?" 8 squeaked. Eleven started shaking her head doubtfully.

"At a time? I don't think more than six." She said, dropping her head. They were in trouble now…

[Fehrant]

All the sounds were muffled. Number IV got up as best as he could; his body had been roughed up by the two earthquakes and he was feeling all sore. IV's bright, ginger hair was coated in dust and had turned a dull red color. He had a few scrapes and scratches, but other than that he looked fine.

He coughed. "Anyone there?" His voice sounded muffled in his head. Apparently his eardrums hadn't recovered yet. He moved aimlessly in the dim light. It took only a few steps before he was back on the ground again. This time, however, he had tripped.

A leg stuck out from under the rock almost on purpose as if waiting for someone to trip. He would've laughed at the irony, but somehow thinking about whoever had been smashed by the ceiling piece made the joke of it all go away.

Getting up on his feet again, he tried to shove the massive boulder aside, but it proved fruitless. He swallowed, already preparing for what was about to come. The idea that he had to know who had been crushed was already in his head, and the only way to do it was to peer under the rock and watch a wreaked body. He would rather leave it at that but, people were going to be missing and someone was bound to ask.

He slowly started to kneel, the small gap between the floor and the boulder creeping closer. Despite the dim light, he could see the silhouette of an arm. He kept kneeling. Now he started to lower his head, slowly. He took a deep breath.

"It's number I" Declared a voice from behind, taking IV by surprise and making him jump like a scared cat.

"What the...?" IV took a few moments before being able to compose himself, his heart racing fast at the unintended scare. Standing atop another boulder almost casually, V was resting.

"You scared me!" Cried IV. "And how do you know? Did you look? Is she alive?"

"She's dead," curtly explained V.

"Oh..." IV contemplated the dual meaning of "looking" and how it applied to her. "Did you see anyone else?"

"I heard someone fall down the crevice. I'm not sure who," replied V calmly.

IV was agitated. "What do you mean you "don't know who"? I thought you could see everything!"

"Yes, and no," replied V. "I see a lot you don't see, but due to my power outburst before, and probably the recent events I'm not getting a clear picture of my surroundings."

IV once again noticed the gap between the two of them, and how their senses differed. "Can you, well... see anything at all now?"

"Only in close proximity. And it's not stable. It's blurring in and out. Hence my staying here," she explained. "Hasn't your power awakened yet?"

IV shook his head. "No. Maybe I'm just a regular person?"

"So you mean to say a regular person would be resting in a sleeping capsule next to other beings with power for no apparent reason?" She made a pause. IV made no reply. "No. There's something going on. Something that none of us is able to grasp just yet. This facility, the collective loss of memory, the zombies... no, I don't believe this to be a mere coincidence."

IV nodded. "Yeah, I'm sure there's an explanation but... I just want to get out right now. This place, the zombies, the massive attack just now... it gives me the creeps. Let's all... get to safety then think about it, ok?"

"When I had the outburst of my power I got a clear layout of most of the facility. Right now we are on the second floor." V got up. "Good. My field of vision is slowly returning to normal." V turned around and slowly moved towards the dark hallway.

"Where are you going?" Asked IV.

"There's someone I need to get to in the first floor," declared V not stopping her pace.

"What about the rest?" Questioned IV concerned.

V stopped, but didn't face him. She didn't need to. "What about them?"

The red-haired youth frowned. "Aren't we going to help them?! Should we, like, be looking for them?"

"I don't know them. They are not my concern." V resumed her pace.

"You don't really know that," countered an angered IV. "We lost our memory!"

"Right," acknowledged V. "I don't know. But neither do you." With those words, she vanished into the dark hallway.

----

Number III climbed the stairs towards the second floor. She had fallen down the crevice, but she had summoned a gigantic anaconda and stopped the fall before it would've been too late. She breathed heavily and was in intense pain; the massive energy beam had cut off one of her arms. She had already lost plenty of blood, and she was feeling light-headed. Struggling not to lose her consciousness, she reached the second floor, only to find the stairs on this side further up were blocked by several boulders.

She walked with two purposes in mind: either find help, or find another set of stairs to get out of this place. While the facility was very big and had several connecting hallways, the recent energy outburst had reduced the possible paths.

III was already starting to faint. She leaned against the wall, and moved even slower. Just when she thought she would pass out the hallway came to an end, and a room different from the rest appeared. It oddly resembled the room they woke up in, but this one was slightly different.

The door laid partially opened, and the narrow viewing windows were cracked due to the recent tremors. She tried to push the door open, but it was solidly stuck. With her small frame, however, she managed to squeeze through.

Inside, the room was exactly like the one she had woken in. There were a bunch of capsules, and people sleeping inside. There were a several buttons on the control pad of the capsules, but one bigger than the others. She pressed it, and cold vapor came from the chamber, revealing a figure. Just before the features were about to be revealed, the room morphed into a lush jungle.

"What the...?" Before she could even think about what was going on, she finally passed out, hitting her head on the side of the capsule, then falling to the ground.

[Hyzenthlay, Lowlf, this is where you come in. Hyzenthlay, as you requested the character that found you experienced your power.]

[Victoria]

A humid, warm atmosphere engulfed me as I tossed around in an attempt to get comfortable. The more I tossed around, the more I felt the heat become more familiar to me. The heat surrounded my being and embraced me as if it were a long lost lover. The sensation caused my eyes to open immediately and recall a few memories. One of which was partially fuzzy, the other wrapped itself along my muscles and the depth of my mind.

So, I know martial arts, and this particular form felt deadly to the touch, and I can't recall why. Perhaps my affinity toward heat was one reason. With my fuzzed out flashback gone, my senses returned to me and I heard muffled sounds from the outside. I looked around and saw that I was inside of a pod. I pushed down on the handle and pushed out the door, but one problem arose. It was stuck. The handle seemed to work correctly as if the door was unlocked, but the door was jammed somehow.

I looked out the window but could see nothing. What a great discovery I landed upon. I knocked on the door, but no one came. Perhaps my pod was hidden by something. In that case, I would have to get out by myself without any help.

My lips grinned with sadistic glee. Reactions are fun to see when something happens out of nowhere. I sincerely hope no one is injured when I pry myself free from my prison.

...Speaking of prison, another fuzzy memory flooded in and I somewhat recalled that I used to be in a prison. Maybe that was how I got this affinity towards heat in the first place. I'd know more once I unlocked the doors to my memories.

Though since I discovered that I have affinity toward heat, and I knew martial arts. Perhaps I could pound the door, along with what's blocking my exit away in one fell swoop.

I looked around inside my pod and there wasn't much space to properly work with. If heat was my affinity and I wanted to make something explode, how would I go about it? I spent a few minutes pondering potential answers and came up with the most common one I could think of. If I thought of it happening, maybe it would happen if I concentrated enough.

I glanced at my milk chocolate hands and snapped my fingers. A flame ignited above my index finger, and caused me to smile with glee. The warmth of the small flame on my finger, and the scent of smoke sent shivers down my spine. I raised a brow at my own reaction, wondering why I became excited with fire. I thought about it and came to the conclusion that I was a pyromaniac. It fit with my power, I guess.

I took a deep breath and used the small flame on my finger on the edges of the door, namely where the hinges were located. I manipulated my little flame into a wild torch that I used to solder down the metal. Surely the noise of a flamethrower would attract some attention.

I continued to hear muffled noises from the outside. From what I understood through the conversation; numbers were being assigned to everyone because they lost their memories, and also there was some havoc going on. Perhaps my abilities could come to some assistance.

I managed to solder off the last hinge and I blew the flame out from my finger and pushed on the door. It budged ever so slightly, but the big hunk of whatever it was that blocked the door was still in the way. I needed an explosion of some sort to create propulsion to move it out of the way.

I reached my arm back and opened my palm. I thought of a way to create and manipulate my fire in the way that created force. I closed my eyes and engulfed my palm in heat and white flames. I wanted the impact from my palm to create enough force to send the door and whatever blocked its path out of the way. Most preferably across the room.

I took a deep breath and concentrated the flames and the heat and pounded the door with my palm and a huge puff of smoke enclosed my pod while a large boom erupted from the impact. The smoke covered up the area, so I couldn't make out whether I succeeded or not. I blew out the smoke, hoping it would go somewhere, and it did. The smoke aired out of the way and I saw an opening, then heard a delayed thud on the ground.

The door didn't fly across the room, but merely fell down in place with a large melted hole. The blockade however, did move across the room. Turns out the blockade was... yet another pod.

...Oops. I hope I didn't just kill someone. My bad. I thought to myself as I smirked and cracked my neck. I let out a yawn and stretched. After I finished stretching was when I felt woozy.

After I got out of the pod and everything was in order, reality crashed down upon me and gave me a tranquilized headache. I shook the cobwebs from my head and squinted around the room. It seems the last person had just used a marker to make himself the number Thirteen. I guess I would be number Fourteen since I appeared last.

I seemed to be the center of attention right now as I grabbed the marker and and placed it on my sleeve and pondered yet another alternative action. I smirked as my mind sparked creativity. I slipped the marker in my pocket and took off my robe. I heard gasps as my body was exposed. I heard someone in the background say “Daaaaamn...” as if they were impressed with some parts of my body.

Before I was going to make my number on my gown, I turned around to the person who made that remark, and then looked around for a mirror. There was a window in one of the rooms that would have to be a substitute. I looked at my light brown form and noticed a lot of scars on my body. There was a scar going across my right breast and many slash marks across my back. I didn't notice before but I also had a slash mark across my left eye.

I raised a brow and admired my figure until someone cleared their throat to regain my attention. I blushed and cleared my throat and pinned my gown against a wall, face up and began to brand my number on with burn marks in these weird symbols that I don't recall what they are, but I somehow know them subconsciously.

After I made my custom mark, I slipped my gown back on, albeit reluctantly. I looked at the window again at the hospital gown and pondered about its design. It was white and bland. I burned off the sleeves of my gown and refocused upon the mirror. The gown without the sleeves had been slightly more aesthetically pleasing. I also burned a slight “v” into the gown to give my chest some air. I nodded at my new appearance.

I leaned against the window, as I still seemed to be the center of attention with my odd mannerisms and lack of conservation with my body. The ironic thing I took note of was the slash marks against my back, breast, and eye were similarly shaped to the repulsive creature on the floor of the entrance.

The crowd got over the arrival of the new person and went out of the room to get out of the facility. From what I heard by following along with them, that everyone here had powers of some sort and a war went on at the surface of the world. We were underground, two floors in. We had to get to an elevator or some stairs, but from what Five said, there were zombies on both directions, but the lighter squad was near the stairs. How quaint I thought to myself.

Sooner or later, we ran across various dead corpses of staff members. Along the way, since I hung in the back a little, I mugged a few of the corpses of their various clothings and took off my hospital gown. Before I could gather the white robe off of this corpse, a zombie made a swipe at me from behind. He barely missed my torso as I turned my body around and smiled sweetly at the being in front of me.

I leaned down closer to him while I cupped my breasts in my left arm. I kissed my fingers and summoned little flames at the tips of them. Before the beast tilted its head and reached back to slash at me, I blew the fire in its general direction and gave a sadistic smirk as it ran around in various circles as if its head was cut off. They were weak to fire. I slipped on the robe which was a few sizes too small for me, so it showed my rear, but snugly kept my chest inside of its buttons. It looked more like a shirt than a robe, but I didn't complain. I ran across another corpse and ripped off their robe to their undergarments. I managed to find lingerie that seemed to fit me. I unbuttoned my shirt and slipped on the mint green bra and the matching pair of panties. My breasts thanked me for the bra as my chest didn't feel so weighed down anymore.

The corpse's feet were still too small for my own, so I passed up her good looking shoes. I saw another corpse not too far off and swiped a pair of slacks from a man corpse that strangely fit me perfect. I raised a brow at him, but shrugged the thought away.

At this point a conversation through the walkie-talkie commenced. I vaguely paid attention to the details as I spotted another corpse. This time, the shoes looked like they would fit me. But they were stiletto heels, rather than flat-surfaced shoes. I shrugged as I couldn't be picky with the current situation. I slipped the shoes off of the corpse and onto my own feet. I stumbled onto a broken mirror and checked myself out.

I whistled to myself and ran my hands down the sides of my body. I donned a white button lab coat-shirt, a pair of black slacks, mint green intimates, and a pair of silver stiletto heels. I took another look at the size of the heel, and they looked to be either five or six inches high.

I smirked to myself and giggled. All I needed now was some fake glasses and I would be set. Fate seemed to hear me, and provided me another corpse a few feet away that had a pair of nice looking glasses. I poked out the lenses and slipped them on. They were a fit a bit snug, but sliding off of my nose constantly would have been a pain. I sighed in relief as I had some decent clothing instead of some generic gown.

I heard another screech off in the distance, and a few more zombies came my way. Their raunchy smell of blood and stench filled my nose as I let out a soft sneeze. I smirked and took a step closer to them as the three lunged right at me. Typical of thoughtless fools. The first I caught with my bare hand and gripped its neck tight. The second found its face underneath my sharp left stiletto heel. The third stopped in its tracks and watched as I gripped its comrade in the air. My eyes shifted to the silent third zombie as white flames engulfed my hand. I thrust out the pressure and caused the head to burst. My hand was full of blood and a few splatters got onto my shirt. The eyes of the third widened with rage as he screeched and charged forward. As the headless body had its minute length of air time, I kicked it toward the coming beast. It slashed the body aside and kept charging at me. I shrugged and lunged my stiletto into its eye. It shrieked in pain and one of its claws managed to undo a button of my shirt, which caused my chest to pop out. I rolled my eyes as I pulled my heel out of it and kicked its ribs and sent it into the nearest wall.

I let out a frustrated sigh as I looked down onto my ripped top. I slipped it off and continued down the party's path until I found another corpse to rob.

The walkie-talkie conversation ended in a large blast of light and shaking of the foundation. I was far off from the initial party, but they were still visible to me. The light wasn't as blinding and the sound was rather loud, but my hair blocked out a bit of it. The loud sound waves caused my ears to pressurize and I pinched my nose and exhaled to stabilize my ear pressure. My eyes, however, were not so easy to fix. My headache was still around, so I squinted to begin with, but the light was still rather bright and left a large afterimage in my retinas which conflicted with my vision.

The floor was split and I heard something fall from above. It was another corpse. This time the corpse's lab coat looked to be rather large, as the person was a large build. I swiped it from them as they didn't need it any longer and slipped it on over me. I buttoned it up and the coat fell to just above my knees. I left the first few buttons unbuttoned, as no one ever buttons those anyway. It left a nice “v” impression to me and I let out another relieved breath.

After the split, Eleven seemed to wander off somewhere. I decided to follow her as she was the only one nearby. I didn't interfere in any of her battles and just watched her bleed profusely and discover her hidden powers. I smirked at her powers and continued to follow her. I made a rather rude bet with myself in that she would probably die soon.

Eleven managed to meet one of the other party members, Eight. This girl had an optimistic personality that was in denial of the reality of the world. Soon enough they found some stairs. Surely the two would have noticed my presence by now by the clacking of my stilettos. The two of them climbed the stairs while I followed them silently. More ghouls appeared and were dispatched just as quickly by Eleven and her unique power. Eleven turned around and ran past me in a flurry to search for something. I followed Eleven in my brisk pace, because I believed there was no reason to hurry.

I turned the corner that Eleven took along with Eight, and discovered that ahead of them were hundreds of the ghouls. I licked my upper lip as I bit my lip while shivers flowed through my body. I pushed up my glasses and made a brisk pace to the two women to reveal my presence to them and to lay waste to some zombies.

After all, there were so many beings I could engulf with my flames of passion.

“--What do we do?” Eleven called out. Her eyes were fixated on the enormous amount of adversaries. I smirked and ran my hand down my cheek as my heels click-clacked upon the floor. I placed my warm hand upon her shoulder. In alarm, she flailed her arm at me and I gripped her wrist while I had a sadistic grin upon my face.

“Relax, Eleven. I'm one of you guys...” a twinkle in my eye gave impression that I hid something from them. If I was, I didn't know what I had hidden.

“We seem to be in a bit of a spot, hmm?” I nodded my head in the general direction of my foes. My eyes took a headcount and my mind flared with various tactics, but one stood out for me as the most amusing and had the most potential to cause various amounts of fire damage.

Eleven seemed to raise a brow at me. Apparently I had a disturbing mad grin on my face. I cleared my throat and took a step forward. A ghoul lunged at me and Eleven attempted to push me out of the way. I restrained her and blew a kiss of fire toward the ghoul and caused it to burst into flames and run around in confusion and away into the large mass of other ghouls that steered clear of the running body of flame.

“Super effective, I think.” I wink at the two and take a few more steps toward the horde.

“Wait, that's too much for you! Even you can't take out all of them all alone!” This statement from Eleven caused me to smirk and look back at her and shake my head while clicking my tongue.

“Tsk tsk... watch and learn, my comrade.” I mocked.

I got into a stance and rubbed my palms together to create friction. Then a lightbulb hit me.

“Oh.. and you should stand back a little, 'kay?” I smiled and continued the work of my tactic.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I pulled back my arm and put my palm into a fist. I felt the heated energy engulf my arm and my whole being as an aura of fire engulfed me. All I needed was one of the ghouls to be baited to attack me.

An alternate action happened that had a similar outcome. The flaming ghoul managed to flee back in my direction and I released my tension onto its chest. The impact of my attack with the pressure of my heat sent it into the center of the mass. What looked like seventy percent of the horde caught fire and the initial catalyst combusted, and caused a chain reaction. A lot of blood and guts spilled everywhere, and some just collapsed when they finished their confused haze. This left a more manageable lot.

I turned around and patted out a bit of flame at the bottom of my coat and smiled sweetly toward Eleven.

“So like, now that there's about 30% of the original size, do you think you can handle a bit of it?

One of the remaining ghouls lunged at me once again and I placed my palm on its neck and gave it third degree burns and melted its head clean off. I tossed the head in the direction of the other ghouls as a message. I knew it wouldn't accomplish anything, but I still hoped they had some form of intelligence.

“So will you give me a hand with the rest of these, or would you like me to awe you with my prowess and kill them all myself?”

Without even a glance, I stretched out my arm and fixated my index finger as if it were a flamethrower and took out a line of three.

“Hey, where'd you get those clothes? You're Fourteen, right?” Eight asked me. I turned my head toward her and pushed up my fake glasses.

“I robbed corpses.” I stuck my tongue out and smiled. I turned my head back toward the foes.

[T.G. Oskar]

If the idea of being stunned, nearly paralyzed was anything but terrifying, the idea of losing what little movement to lack of sound was something he certainly didn't expected. His movements weren't the same, he thought. Or, better yet, he recalled.

The void of sound and the stunted ability to sense, the weary eyes refusing to open and the confusing scents that crippled both smell and taste imprisoned him upon a cage of memories. He couldn't recall very well who he was right before awakening, but the seal upon his memories began to fade. Bits and pieces, small pieces of the giant jigsaw that his memory became began to group each other, forming concise images. He was deprived of sound and sense, his eyesight negated to work, but his brain swiftly acted to turn this disadvantage into fruitful moments. How enjoyable were those moments, it was unknown to him.

He recalled a time, not exactly this one. An alley. Between light and shadow he stood, several people surrounding him. They were laughing maniacally, enjoying the fruits of their labor. One of the men spoke to him...

"Hey Chief, that was exciting!! Let's do it again!!"

"Yeah, yeah!! I never felt so alive in my entire lifetime!! Look, that guy over there!! He seems good: well dressed, lotsa jewelry and stuff. How 'bout we give it a try, 'Jefe'??

He experienced all in first person, even though he couldn't seem to control the action. Yet he felt, somehow, what he was going to do. He felt such anger at the lack of responsibility...no, the lack of care his apparent followers had. He saw the man, and indeed, he recalled doing the same...

The same? What was the same? Almost superposed, a flashback before a flashback, he saw how he emerged from the shadows while the two people that answered him were hitting on a woman, while at the other side a man was to start a fight with them. He drew closer to the man, and lifted him. It seemed, despite how he saw right now, that he held a good deal of strength so as to lift that man, even though the size of his victim was nothing surprising. The man looked terrified, while the two goons asked to him...

"Hey Chief, what with the girl? Can we...get a bit of her?" The first goon that answered her laughed, while he licked the face of the trembling woman.

Then he realized words came from his own mouth. "Go ahead, and hidden. We don't want la policia to come and bust our asses."

"Aww Boss, only him? What, he your favorite now?" The other goon that answered him before the flashback grabbed the breasts of their victim. A third goon, the other one that flirted with the woman, held her by the neck and mouth, so she could be unable to scream. The muffled sounds of despair and the tears flowing from her mouth evidenced the outcome. He saw her, and he saw she was very beautiful. Long blonde hair, green eyes, the typical shape and form of a Gringa...

Wait, "Gringa"? Why, somehow, he recalled what seemed to be slang from his past? All he knew is that, while he was waking from the installation, he saw many people and didn't felt as...lustful as he felt that moment. He gave the grabbed man, desperately trying to release himself, to a small group of his followers. He neared the girl, and...

...a lapse of memory later, he returned to the man. For some reason, he knew, and what he knew broke his desire for her. He left the woman to the desires of his men, while he bashed the desperate man, as he saw how the other goons dragged his woman into someplace unknown. The flashback faded as he began punching the man with heavy knuckles, feeling a mix of excitement and duty.

It was that feeling of duty that returned him to his earlier vision. He watched over the man closely, and felt an eerie feeling surrounding him. He felt, for some reason, the man was not to be touched. A councilman, perhaps, or someone of importance? No, it was that subtle mix of Asiatic features and the impeccable dressing that told him off. Making a move against him would be a terrible mistake.

He grabbed his two men, pushed them and almost simultaneosly punched their guts. He proceeded to warn them of their folly, responsible for the acts they would do.

"Not this time!! El tipo ese...gives me a funny feeling. We're here to make us get known. We here to expand territory." As he explained, he felt how he made a gesture with his hand, which the others recognized, and some even imitated. It was a gesture of crossing their arms upon each other. "Peoples here, they need to know 'bout us. We got to be careful, or we'll be prey of the azules, or worse, snuffed by the competition..."

One of his goons replied in disbelief. "But Jefe, ain't we the best of the gangs? We Maras, y'know."

"Duty before all. Maras are strong, not ..." He recalled his voice lacked the depth he had now, perhaps due to the strong sedative. Or...his age. He realized this was a memory of his youth. "Maras"? He recalled that term...Mara.

Just as it began, the flashback faded. His eyes opened again, his pulse still trembled, his ears began capturing sound yet again. He was alone, the Professor to which he lended his..."powers"; disappeared. Only the walkie-talkie the Professor used was on his hand. He hadn't recovered from his sluggishness. It still was a chore to rise from the floor, when moments ago he fell from what seemed to be tremors. The place was dark, only slight shocks ever lighting the corridor where he stood. Close to him, the complex was nearly divided in half, a large crevasse becoming the dividing barrier between the two halves of the complex. Once up, he stumbled. He could barely hold himself merely standing. He made some slight steps, only to stumble and fall near one of the live wires close to him.

The surge of energy alone should have killed him. He felt the telltale numbness of electricity, the current flowing into him. It caused pain at first, and he flinched. But, the reaction it produced was easy for him to see; his hand moved at a greater speed than before. The live wire arced, then sparked, the shock of electricity pounding upon metal. He resolved to grab the wire from where it was unexposed, and he dragged into one of the walls. Almost instinctively, he placed the live and exposed wire to his arm, and felt how the painful current slowly became ecstatic for him. His pain, his numbness were completely starting to fade. It was like...a drug for him.

He was starting to fade from the world, inebriated by the flow of energy into his body, when suddenly he felt the telltale sound. It seemed the monsters he saw, the ones faced by the others, were still alive and looking for survivors to devour. He awoke, this time with minimal effort. He released the wire, this time with a flow so natural it surprised him. His lost strength and his dexterity were now almost normal; he wasn't as sluggish as before. He could swear he moved faster.

The monster's sound was growing nearer. The monster's movement, judging by the sounds, was erratic, stopping and moving at rare intervals. The shock of the wire touching the metallic surface alerted the monster, and he stood almost completely still. XIII rose to his feet, knowing eventually he would face the monster. He recalled how the sparks caused light to emerge, so he rubbed his forearms in an attempt to create sparks. Indeed, although not by the rubbing, the sparks emerged from his body, in time to reveal the monster was almost right in front of him. XIII wasn't scared, however. There were no brass knuckles this time, but he somehow wasn't afraid. He clenched his fist, ready to strike the monster until it bled from so many fists. His fists began to spark, a current of energy stabilizing upon his fists almost like a knuckle. The monster lunged at him, and XIII weaved down, ready to receive him with a solid uppercut to the monster's apparent gut...

[Hyzenthlay]

A man opened his eye's to a flickering jungle. As he sat the image flew from sight almost as if somebody had changed the channel. Then, as he sat up straight and still it appeared again. This time more hazy and it rippled like water on the edge of a beach. As he began to marvel at the sight a headache struck him. The pain was almost crippling. He turned his body slowly to let his legs dangle over an edge. He was apparently sat atop a capsule he had so strangely woke inside. Shaking his head he peered around the room in which he sat. The vast jungle had completely vanished and had left the scene of a, not as aesthetically pleasing, medical lab type room.

He noticed, from the corner of his eye, a body lay still on the floor. Whoever she was she seemed to have a numerical symbol on her. He didn't fully understand how he knew the symbol, he just knew he did. He also knew that he could draw most of the symbols that followed it. He winced as another pain shot through his brain. When he opened his eyes the body had gone. He stood up and, stumbling, looked around frantically. However, when he turned back to the spot in which the woman had been lay, it was still there.

"Erghhhh" he spoke, holding his head. "I'm going insane. Jungles... Disappearing women..."

Looking around he also noticed several other capsules similar to the one he had woken in. He payed no attention to these at that moment in time. Instead he decided to try to rouse the girl from the ground. He walked slowly over to her feeling as if he were walking on clouds. KNeeling beside her he placed a hand on her arm and gently rocked her.

"H... Hello? Are you okay miss?"

He felt his headache creep back again and the subside. It was bearable now. Though he still felt his head with his free hand. The woman didn't wake up. With a sigh the man stood. Not knowing what to do with himself his attention was finally focused on getting the other beds opened up. The first one he came to, however, had a chunk of ceiling through the glass and the sides were covered in blood spatter. The man instinctively looked up, cracks had formed above them. He stepped away from the ruined capsule and turned to the one opposite. On a control panel was a large button, mentally crossing his fingers he pressed it. The pod did indeed open letting out a strange wisp of delicate vapor. He wafted it away and looked at the man lay before him. He was a middle aged man with long hair and a scarred face. He was clad in a white robe and was stirring slowly. Suddenly an arm shot from within to grab the neck of his rescuer. The rescuer stumbled back pulling the arm from grip and fell against another capsule. He gasped for air as he watched the scarred man sit up slowly and look at him.

"What's goin on!?" the scarred man demanded a response, this was not a question.

"I have no idea... I don't even know who I am," replied the rescuer.

He saw the scarred man hold his head, as he had done. Then he looked back at the rescuer sitting before him. He looked around, saw the girl and stood up. He carefully stepped over to her, as if he were walking on jelly. Meanwhile the man who was sitting stood and faced the capsule he had struck and opened it. This time he was unsure what he would find and so stood back. To his surprise, though, inside this pod was a young boy. Glasses crooked on a gaunt, pale face. The most shocking thing was his eyes. They were the purest of ebony. The boy shook slightly and then sat bolt upright. He looked directly into the rescuers eyes and he looked back.

"Am I safe?" asked the boy.

This was a disturbing question, to say the least. The rescuer didn't have a clue how to answer. As he tried to find the words to re-assure the boy the scarred man spoke.

"Who did this? Did you do this, Mr Hero!?" the man spoke with a fearsome malice, he had extended his index finger to point at the unconscious girl's severed arm.

"What!? No!" spoke the rescuer in defense. "She was like that when I woke up. I think she got me out."

"Well. What do these symbols mean?" the index finger of the scarred man moved to the roman numeral on her chest.

"How the hell should I know?" the rescuer began to sound angry, "I guess, maybe, they are so we can tell each other apart. Have you even thought yet what your name is? I bet you don't have the answer!"

The rescuer watched as the scarred mans face went blank. He had almost turned ivory white and his face stayed expressionless. In reply to the rescuers statement he simply shook his head. The boy then spoke in a high pitched voice making the rescuer jump.

"Maybe we are supposed to give ourselves numbers? I don't see any written on the pods we slept in. My suggestion is that we count the capsules within this room. From that we can guess how many there were in the room the girl came from. With any luck we may find our own numbers."

This solution was so obvious that the rescuer felt stupid not having thought of it before. All three men started to count the capsules. As they all ended on fifteen they looked at each other, the scarred man looked at the rescuer.

"Sixteen." He spoke, he then pointed to himself "seventeen," then his gaze was on the boy "eighteen."

"Dude! That is so cool!" Spoke XVIII.

Both XVI and XVII looked at him in surprise. The boy had a look of purest content on his face as he looked from one man to the other.

"We're like the androids from Dragonball Z!" Said the boy looking at the men in turn. A wide grin on his young face. When he saw that they weren't as impressed the smile dropped and he fell silent.

"So, er. What do we do now? Like, write it on ourselves or what?" Asked XVII apparently taking XVI as this groups leader.

"Again, I don't know. I don't have any answers and... This damn headache." XVI grabbed his head. The room flashed red and changed shape, the surface of the walls crackled. Then, it all returned to normal once more.

"Whoa! What in the hell was that?" XVII sounded worried and he stood up quickly showing his immense height. He peered around the room looking terrified.

"It keeps happening. I think its something to do with the equipment in this room." Answered XVI unsurely.

"In that case, I'm outta here." XVII set off towards the door.

"What about her? And, the rest..." XVI pointed at the woman on the floor whilst still looking at the scarred face of XVII.

XVII looked at XVI and then XVIII and shook his head. XVI looked into the boys face and saw that he, too, wanted to go.

"You would both just... Leave? Cant we at least wait for the girl to wake up? She could tell us what is going on. The cracks in the ceiling... The ruined capsules. Why we don't even know our names... She could explain it all." XVI suggested frantically trying to get them to stay.

"Curiosity killed the cat, man. I ain't no cat." Said XVIII smirking as he hopped down from his capsule. As he began to walk towards the scarred man XVI grabbed his arm.

"Think about it. Stay, 5 minutes... That's all I ask for."

XVIII looked at the scarred man who nodded in reply.

"Fine, we'll stay for a bit. After that I'm getting out of these rediculous white robes... With or without you." Spat XVII apparently re-aquiring his fiery persona.

[Acheron]

As the beam ripped through the building, IX felt his feet slip from under him and soon enough he was laying on his backside. He had not been too far from the beam itself, not being caught in it was something of a minor miracle. Though he had fallen, his magnetic-made barricade was still holding place at the end of the hallway. The creatures were pounding on it with great intensity, but IX wasn't too worried. It wasn't ideal but the beam had severed the hallway into two sides, he wasn't able to see anything more than rubble on the other side. For whatever reason, what awaited him beyond that barrier he made did not worry him, not in the least. The emergence of his powers made him more intrigued, exactly how far could he push all of this?

He didn't know what the others were up to, he was curious but apparently they were not. IX gathered himself together and finally got back on his feet, his feet which he careful had to place after the beam caused debris everywhere. His bare feet were freezing on the metal floor, but there was no solution that he could see in the area. One thing was clear though, the stability of the building was in serious doubt. He was not an architect, at least he couldn't remember being one, but he was fairly certain of this. The first thing that came to mind was using one of the metal panels; by doing that, he could make a bridge over to the other side.

Yet while that might have been a good choice, IX wasn't sold on it. "They didn't follow me out, though I sealed a side off for them....I think I'll allow them to find their own way out then...", he wasn't bitter about it, it was more of a pragmatic view. He had showed them what he could do and proved he could hold his own, he was looking for a similar return from the rest of them. If, there still was a rest of them. That left him with one choice, he would have to unseal the door he just closed off. He scanned the rest of the hallway that was in front of him, trying to figure out what he could use. More of the ceiling and floor panels, wiring and casing from inside of the walls, maybe it wouldn't be so hard for him.

IX tried to clear his thoughts; his powers had awoken not too long ago and he didn't know if they would be fading in or out. He didn't know exactly how many zombies would be behind the door he blocked. From his short term memory and the glance he got of the elevator area, it did not look like it could hold too many of them. He didn't have the blessing of ignorance though; he was well aware there were others with powers, possibly ones who had been using theirs longer than he. Options were limited though, he would have to push through whatever was waiting for him, whether he liked it or not.

Raising both of his hands from his sides, IX opened up his palms and focused on what was in front of him. The metal panels that covered both the floor and ceiling once again started to shake, then freed themselves from being in place. Six panels in total hovered in the air in front of IX, he then lowered his hands as the six of them started to hover around him. As he started to walk toward the door he had blocked off, the panels started spinning around him, faster and faster. Once he was a few feet from the doors, he raised a hand and the blockade moved. He was ready for a fight, stepping into the elevator lobby and expecting hell.

....He received nothing of the sort.

The flood of zombies that had been a major threat not too long ago, were gone, every single one of them. IX scanned the area vigorously, making sure there was not a single place they could be hiding. The panels that had been spinning around him fell to the floor, rattling as they did. Nobody was around him, all alone in front of what looked to be an easy escape route. IX walked over to the elevators and started pressing the "UP" button, but there was no sign of life from the elevator.

"Of course not, that would just be way too convenient, wouldn't it?", he shook his head in a sign of disgust. "So now what..?"

"You've always been so clever....You can figure this all out...and if you can't....then I can help you..."

IX turned back around when he heard the voice, but there was nobody there. The voice was familiar, that of a woman's, a woman that he swore he knew. An Irish tone to her voice, he couldn't bring an image to his mind just yet but he knew she was important to him. He knew very well that she was someone special, but he also knew something more important, that she was right.

He back up from the buttons and stood in front of the steel doors leading to the elevator shaft. He raised his right hand and made a sweeping motion with it, opening the doors. Once they were open, he walked over to the edge of the shaft to see where the elevator car was. It was only one floor down, which ended up working perfectly for his situation. Using his right hand again, he made a rising motion with it, that allowed the elevator car to come up to his floor. Instead of hopping inside of it though, he waited till the top of it got to the edge, then he stood on top of the elevator car.

"Hopefully the surface is a little more pleasant than this place...", he spoke once more to himself as the elevator does started to close and he slowly rose to the surface level, on top of his elevator car. IX did not know what to expect when he reached the surface, but he was hoping at the very least, that he would be able to get some decent clothes.

[loaf]

A blank empty space of pure black and pure white is pictured.

...Wake up...wake up...come on wake up..HEY WAKE UP!!

A man wakes up with a surprised look on his face, as if he is unsure of anything. He pondered for a second to then notice that he is stuck in some sort of capsule. [i]"How am I going to get out of this," he thought to himself. His thoughts couldn't go anywhere, like he had no past but only in memories. "How else am I able to know what a capsule is, or have nice grammar."

The capsule then opens and the man gazes out slowly to see where he is. The man gazes upon the room to see many other capsules and a women lying on the ground. He gets up and hurries to the women to see she is knocked out. "I need to find help, I'm no doctor and I am dressed in some sort of robe for a hospital," he quickly said to himself as he rushed off through a door inside the room.

The man closed the door behind him to notice he is in an office room "Nobody in here at all," he thought. He exited through an other door in the room, the other room had shelves thrown across the room as if a huge brawl went all out in it. Slowly walking on and around fallen shelves the man looked outside the window of one of the doors to see the place was a mess. As he looked around through the window as far as he could, he was able to peer around the corner, as he gazed upon the area of the hallway he could see, a blue creature walks out of the darkness. Stunned, at the sight of this thing, he is unable to move not just from fear, but from curiosity, just to know what it is. He then looked away, "Maybe there isn't gonna be any help for me to find," he said under his breath, moving along to find another door at end of the room.

As the man reached the door, he noticed it wasn't blocked off completely and the one shelve blocking it was easy to move. He enters the room to find it was rather small, he looks for a switch and to his surprise the light turns on to reveal he is in a little supply closet with boxes on every shelve. Opening the first box to find it filled with blank paper. Opening another to find nothing but empty needles. It appears most of these boxes have random things in possibly even nothing at all. He leaves the room and continues to now leave the room now that the blue creature is gone for now.

In the hallway he looked around for a second, I'll go the opposite way I saw the blue creature came from," he thought. To his left was the capsule room which appeared to be partially open but also stuck. He peered off to the right to see the rest of he stretch of the hallway, some lights on, some lights flickering on and off a few dried blood stains on the ground and wall. He began walking down the hallway only to hear a man yell within the capsule room.

[Sinister]

Eleven rolled her eyes. As if they weren't cold enough the sprinkler system blasted to life and made them all a little colder. On the upside it would wash away the drying blood. On the downside it would lower her immune system and expose her to infection...

"Nice." Eleven glared at XIV, while 8 giggled. "At least you didn't destroy the building." She quipped, shivering. Eleven was in serious trouble, the wounds were beginning to slow her down and she felt stiff to her core and full of slow ache. "But I don't suppose you can pull those tricks under a fire suppression system." Eleven's mind lightened with a quick improvisation.

Eleven reached down to the headless-beast's corpse and snapped it's arm off at the shoulder. She hauled it up as it spilled a dark purple blood from the point of removal. The remaining ghouls were trying to walk over their burnt brethren towards the three of them.

"I'll do my best to not bring the building down on us." Eleven said, cheerfully.

The hinge in the arm prevented it from being a conventional weapon and made it difficult to aim, but Eleven swung it like a club and the talons whipped through the air, tracing a dark ripple in the air. The ripple shot forward like a bullet and halving the remaining ghouls into gory piles...spilling onto the charred remains of the first assault.

The ripple scrapped the sides of the hallway, shearing lacerations, some that showed through to the rooms beyond. Eleven watched the ceiling warily, expecting it to spontaneously crumble... It was doing it's best.

"Chyort voz'mi!" Eleven yelled in frustration, dropping the arm. "I barely swung it!" She protested. "Lets leave, now! Okay, dears...?"

Eleven turned but 8 was grinning, standing next to a perfect doorway in what had been the blank wall. She shrugged, but the light was pouring through the opening, and Eleven was too exhausted to make work of questions. They could leave... Eleven finally felt the full effects of pain-driven fatigue...and almost collapsed on the spot... But she began shuffling towards the door, both before the building collapsed, the door disappeared or she got even more drenched by the sprinklers.

Finally achieving the outside, she felt the sundrops on the wings of her shoulders and her cold cheeks. The wind blew abrading with granules of dirt... The optimism died on Eleven's face... Outside...nothing but a blasted wasteland...

[Doc Rocco]

“Darkness. Again?! Damn, I’ve got a real knack for this unconscious thing.” XV laughed to himself, “What happened. I remember…”

His mind suddenly went from dull, incoherent babbling to razor sharp thought. The man’s eyes flew open, and took in the scenery, if you could call it that. Rubble lay everywhere, and a huge crevice had appeared around twenty metres to his left. XV also noticed his left leg had something slightly wrong with it. His tibia had snapped in half, and had perforated the layers of muscle and skin that once surrounded it. Immediately after he noticed this, pain shot through his leg.

“Shit, this kills!” he shouted, “Piss off pain!”

His body seemed to answer him as his leg was engulfed by numb, the burning pain dissipating. Fifteen’s mind brought up the event in his pod earlier today, where his stiff muscles had seemingly became elastic again at his command. Curious, he pushed the broken bone back into place and whispered “Heal yourself, bone.”

The effect was almost instantaneous. As the site of injury began to experience pins and needles, the cells of his muscle and skin began to divide, and quickly repaired the hole the bone had made. The swelling lessened, and the pins and needles died. XV stood up, and discovered his leg was indeed able to support his weight.

“Seems like my theory has just become a law.” grinned the young man, “Now, feeling in legs please!”

Of course, feeling returned. XV turned to face the crevice, and his smile dropped, replaced by a dark look. The memories of what had caused his unconsciousness swam into his mind.

He was following the girl numbered XIV, the one he’d stolen the marker from. It had been simple enough, just making sure he’d avoided the blue things that were plaguing the facility. Well, what he assumed to be a facility of sorts, anyway. Besides, XIV seemed more than capable of taking down the things with her flames. Of course, he needed to stay far away enough so that he didn’t raise suspicion. Funnily enough, getting roasted wasn’t something XV felt like. As they passed the numerous corpses, and scenes of fighting, a bright light had erupted from the floor, and the entire world seemed to shake. The massive tremors threw XV off balance, and as he headed towards the floor, he had said something.

“This is just like that earthquake we had last summer. Matt and I… we were at the park.”

He returned to the present.

“Who the hell is Matt?” he thought aloud, “And that’s sunlight.”

He spotted the rays pouring in from the hole above. Sunlight meant the surface, and that meant escape. He looked around, and spotted a group making their way through the haze of confusion. Deciding that following them was his only choice (The crevice limited the choices somewhat), he ran after them, but at a distance. If they were hostile, XV didn’t have anything to hurt them with. But he was sure as hell they had something to harm him with.

He realised that the two ahead were being followed by XIV, and that he was following her. Her green hair like a beacon in the darkness that had enveloped the facility.

“The hunter becomes the hunted.” he laughed quietly.

Suddenly, an azure blur rushed at XV. He watched in horror as it got ever closer. XV dodged the creature, but it wheeled around and made for him again.

“What good is this body healing thing if I cant do anything to attack?” cried XV.

A loose bit of metal piping lay next to him, and XV spied an opportunity. He grabbed the instrument and swung at the monstrosity before him. A dull thud sounded as the pipe made contact with its head, causing it to crumple. Satisfied, fifteen made after his target. The clacking of her Stilettos made it easy, and he wondered how the other two ahead had not noticed her.

“Idiots. She’s like a fricking marching band.”

They had found stairs. Well, the two ahead had, which had led XIV and subsequently himself to discover them. Stairs meant closer to the surface, causing XV to sigh with relief. A certain calm filled him, one that said ‘It’s okay. You’ll get out of here.’ Upon turning the corner, however, XV saw hundred of ghoulish nightmares. The calm was quickly replaced with fear, and he hid behind a pylon.

“Oh SHIT. This is not good.” he shivered.

“Relax, Eleven. I'm one of you guys...” said XIV.

“So. She’s joined up with them.” he thought.

Banter ensued, culminating in XIV devastating the freakish beings with her flames. They were off again, and XV followed. The sight of the burning bodies was disturbing, yet it gave him a sense of relief, knowing they wouldn’t harm him. If there were more, he’d need protection. It dawned on him that XIV would be the perfect bodyguard for this situation, so he rushed to her.

“Hey hun! You were pretty badass back there. Mind if I tag along?” he asked, willing every inch of him to be dazzling.

XIV turned to him, and looked shocked at seeing him. A spark ran through his mind, and he remembered that day where she’d looked at him and said.

“It’s a cruel beauty. You’re lovely to look upon, but it’s like... Scary at the same time, you know?”

Was she scared by his cruel beauty as well? Or was she just shocked by his sudden words? The green haired woman opened her mouth to speak, but before she got the chance, XV shouted.

“Sunlight! Look!” he pointed, “It’s a way out! Those others must have found a way out!”

XV made a dash for the doorway, only to be greeted by a wasteland. The lifeless expanse seemed to laugh at him and his euphoria at discovering it. Suddenly, escape wasn’t as glorious a word as it was ten seconds ago.

[Fehrant]

Moving through blinking lights and sheer darkness, V walked at a steady pace not tripping on anything despite the constant debris the recent energy outburst had caused. Her steps were precise, and she knew exactly where she was, and where she needed to go. That was her power. But was that really all there was to it? She wasn't certain why, but she knew she could do so much more.

It didn't take long for her to reach the first floor. However, the very room where she had seen that familiar face laid now vacant. She realized it had been actually foolish to think the person would stand still after the commotion. Yet seeing that face had stirred something in her mind. After having ponder about it all the way up to this room, she was certain this person was a link to her past, and perhaps something to help her unlock her sealed memories.

Resigned, she decided it was time to leave this facility. It didn't take her ability to realize the structure of the building had been compromised. She turned around, and left the room. She took two steps, and then stopped. In the eye of her mind, she could clearly spot the horde of zombies marching through the only available way from this point -if her memory didn't fail her, and she recalled the map in her head correct- she believe led to the outside.

She walked calmly forward, and the horde didn't take long to notice her. She probably wouldn't be able to fight at her full potential, she surmised, but she would be able to defend herself. She had some small cuts, and her back hurt from the previous encounter with zombies, though her main concern at the moment was not to exert herself and go blind mid-battle again.

She tensed her body, and got ready to take them on, but something odd happened. The zombie army stopped dead in their tracks. One of them walked forward, leaving the rest behind, who stood still. The lone zombie walked towards V and stopped at talking distance.

The zombie then slowly started to change its appearance, as if what she had seen before was merely a mirage. Illusions didn't work against V because she didn't use her eyes, so it surprised her that this creature was actually morphing into a different shape, and this was no mere visual trick.

A tall asian guy with spiky hair stood before her. He had a tight vest, and pants, and was very lean. He smirked at the sight of V. "Cassandra," he called in a thick foreign accent. "久しぶり".

The foreign language took V by surprise. Her head started to hurt. It all seemed familiar, somehow. The language. This man. Yet, the more she pondered about it, the more her head hurt. Her face writhed in visible discomfort. She felt something welling up inside her. Words inside her mind wanted to come out her mouth.

"誰だ、おまえ?" She found herself saying.

The asian guy blinked a few times, the burst out laughing.

" 何が面白い?" V added in a angry tone, then shook her head as if snapping from the very words she was saying. "What's so funny?" She was back to her own self--the self she didn't know.

"You joke," replied the asian guy in broken english. "I thought you no tell jokes."

V felt the headache gripping back her brain. The more she thought about the person in front of her, the pain got more intense. "I... do I know you? I don't remember anything. I... 何も覚えてない." Once again, the words came out without her trying. She certainly knew this language, but she wasn't asian. Or was she?

"マジ···?" He replied surprised. "You not joking?" He glanced skeptical for a moment, then his face changed as if he had become aware of something. "Ah, yes. Yes. That!"

V raised an eyebrow. "That...?"

"You not belong here," he explained. "You dangerous but useful. So, they erase memory, you not dangerous anymore. If you not know who are you, they can use for their 目的."

That makes sense. If they somehow erased my memory, they might be able to use me, for whatever goals they have. It isn't a fail-proof plan, but it might work for some. "So who am I...?" She asked tentatively.

"You... " He started but abruptly ended his sentence. His eyes shifted one side and the other as if he was looking at something that was only visible for his eyes. "They moving. I go. 時間がない."

The asian guy morphed back into the lifeless zombie, just as the rest of the horde started regaining motion again. Ignoring V, they walked in a different direction.

V felt she was forgetting something very important, but she couldn't recall anything yet. She headed towards the exit. "Cassandra... Cassandra... Cassandra." She kept repeating the name in her head even though her it wouldn't stop hurting.

-----

Number IV had searched for survivors of his party, but aside from I's crushed corpse, the rest appeared to have fled to safety, or at least had died somewhere else. Though slightly concerned by the recent damage to the facility, he still searched intent, unaware of a party of four or five that stalked him from the dark. They were wearing light padding armor, and all of them looked to be in top shape. They all had the same apparel, and the same weapons as well: a gun, a sword in the back, a shotgun, and a bunch of tools tucked into a belt. There clothes were black, and they were could easily pass for a modern-day ninja.

One of them took the lead, and from his belt he grabbed a thin metal pipe, and a dart. He carefully placed the dark in the pipe, and aimed at Number IV. He blew the pipe, and the dart quickly traveled through the air, stopping at IV's neck.

"Ouch, that stung!" He complained while instinctively reaching for the dart. He held it in his hand, and stared at the direction it had come from. "Who the hell... is... there?" His words somehow got harder and harder to pronounce, his vision blurry, and his head fuzzy. The last thing he saw before his eyes closed was a group of shadows approaching him.

-----

"Quickly, scan the boy!"

A single man from the group of five took the lead, while the rest stood behind, at a safe distance, readying their weapons. From his belt he took out a device that looked like a sewn-off pistol. He raised IV's arm, and searched for something while having the scanner ready in his other hand. He kept searching, but apparently he didn't find what he was looking for.

"What are you waiting for?" Called one of team members in a hush.

The one with the scanner let the arm fall to the ground and turned to face his teammates. "He... doesn't have a number."

"What?"

The teammates warily approached their target, and carefully glanced at his right arm, using a small flashlight to see clearly in the dim light.

"What does this mean?" Asked one.

"They are not registered. It's that simple," explained another one confident. He took out the gun and shoot IV in the head with no hesitation whatsoever. Another one in the group took out his sword, and cut through IV's neck cleanly, beheading him.

"How would they not be registered, commander?" Asked the man with the scanner casually.

"There are two possible reasons for this," started the commander. "Either they were kept in the dark from the moment they got their powers, or he probed to be a troublesome one before he got the label. See those robes? He was probably kept in cryo until they figured what to do with him." He kicked the head. "No matter anymore. But it does concern me: he probably wasn't the only one. We got enough trouble dealing with the registered ones.

"Troublesome, eh...?" Mused another.

"Yes," affirmed the commander. "Either they had a rebellious attitude, or their powers were unstable or troublesome to deal with."

"Oh, you mean like Lilith...?" Wondered another underling.

"Don't call her name outloud! Bad mojo, man. Bad mojo," said another one.

"No, A021 it's a different matter altogether. Numbers 015 to..." He suddenly ended his explanation. There had been a noise not too far from their position. "Let's move."

[Lady Rika]

Twelve barely even took a few steps before the place began to shake. At first the thoughts earthquake ran through her mind but this was different. Before she could think things further a huge beam of blinding light shot upward near her feet. Her scream wasn’t even heard as the sound roared louder than anything she’d ever heard in her life. The pressure flung her backwards but not far. The floor split open, floor tiles spewed up in the air along with random debris. Using her back legs Twelve pushed herself up off the ground and got out of the way of the splitting floor. Lights flickered on and off, she heard things breaking and people making noise in other places then as soon as it had started it then ended.

“What was that?” She questioned stepping over to the large scar in the ground. She looked downward her eyes growing wide. It was amazing, this power that had erupted. She knew it had to have come from one of the people she’d met in the capsule or someone else with powers like hers. Twelve wasn’t sure what to do now; since she was alone she knew she had to take care of herself if she was to get out.

Twelve stepped carefully towards the end of the hall very sure of herself that there possibly was a staircase nearby. ‘An exit sign or something!’

Then she sensed something strange, taking in a deep whiff from her nostrils feeling them expand then release. Something was coming her way, ‘Another monster?’ but considering what had happened earlier it could be that she was the true monster. Twelve tried to put those thoughts out of her head and focus more deeply on getting outta here. The attack on the building not just with the zombies but also the cut that ran deep throughout its body; in time it would collapsed she guessed.

Her bare feet stepped in chilled blood as she reached an empty room. Twelve made a face but didn’t stop to wipe them off but out of curiosity she poked her head in the room with the wide open door from which the blood was trailing out of. Her eyes grew huge with horror at the sight of the three creatures feeding. Mouths stuffed full of bleeding flesh that hung from their chapped lips, the loud sounds erupting reminded her of some sort of rabid dog attacking a ball. Deep and growly.
Twelve felt her fingers grow cold from fear; taking a few steps backwards Twelve hoped that they wouldn’t notice her in their terrible feeding frenzy. She didn’t know exactly what it was they were eating; she only guessed it was a human though it could have just been a large animal. But now it was too mutilated and pulpy to even tell.
As she stepped back and felt out of the hot water she didn’t notice the broken glass that was spread across the floor. Her eyes watered as glass stuck deep into the soft middle of her foot. Twelve tried to muffle her cry but it wasn’t covered enough; the creatures looked up, their soulless eyes burning holes into her own.

Twelve didn’t wait for anything else to happen she just turned and ran as fast as she could. She was surprised how fast the creatures were as they caught up to her but she was also surprised at how fast her legs were carrying her. Despite the shard of glass in her foot her speed stayed the same pace, her legs felt longer in some weird way. Looking down she saw nothing unusual except the way her legs spread out as she moved. Almost animalistic.
Her knees cranking up higher than humanly possibly when her agility quickened, Twelve looked back twice and grimaced. They were getting closer even though she was as of now faster than them. “Leave me alone!” She screamed back at them knowing her words weren’t understood by them, “Get away!” Twelve felt her voice crack from the screaming. She wanted to bellow at them with the terrifying voice that had come out once before but now it was the chilling cry of a little girl.

Her eyes then spotted the staircase sign. She headed towards the sign reaching the upstairs staircase door, Twelve pushed against the door but it didn’t budge. ‘Oh no it’s stuck!’ She pulled back and rammed against it hard, she felt it shutter but other than that nothing happened. The creatures were upon her now, snarling with blood stained lips as their hunger grew. Twelve clenched her fist as her back pressed hard against the door, her fear was rising and this time she didn’t think any strange power of hers was just going to pop up like it had before.
‘I am going to die here in this hole if I don’t do something right now.’ She told herself releasing her hands from their clenched form. Two of three zombies fought at each other for dominance to attack first but the third stared her down preparing to charge at her in her vulnerable state. Twelve took in a deep breath focusing hard on whatever it was she had dwelling inside her waiting to come out.

She closed her eyes tightly then upon reopening them she forced them to slit again, her sight and senses grew as did her awareness of all around her. So she stared back at the creature just waiting for its move, unsure of what was to happen next but her head now was racking with ideas.

The creature made a slurred sound then came full force at her, as it neared hitting her Twelve moved from door and hit the side of the wall while the monster crashed into the door making it swing open. Without even looking at the two others she made her way through the door and up the stairs, her feet made strange padding sounds as she rushed upwards holding tight to the railing for fear of slipping. Only one came after her this time so she figured she would get away from it.

But it charged up the stairs with a speed that matched her own agility the zombie’s sounds making her get cold chills. Though it seemed like she was running up thousands of flights of stairs though it really was only two but she finally reached the floor she desired.

Twelve saw the exit, it was so near but as soon as the loud sound coming from the zombie that had reached her. It leaped on her back flinging her on the floor knocking the breath out of her. Twelve was able to turn over on her back and stare up at the zombie. It was a woman this time, she hadn’t noticed but all the others she’d seen before were men. Her face was twisted in some sort of monstrous hatred that would forever be unexplained.

Its mouth hissed open and snapped at her throat, Twelve pushed her hands against her breasts to keep the dangerous teeth from her soft flesh.
“Descendez-moi!”
She didn’t know what she’d just said; those words were another language that confused her. But it flowed off her tongue like she’d been speaking it for years. It sounded so familiar but she could put her finger on it.

It wasn’t fair that the door to freedom was right there, so close but she just couldn’t get there. ‘I wasn’t fast enough.’

Twelve’s fear began to rise to its max once again; her face began to hurt so badly for some reason. Her mouth opened again letting out the disgusting diseased scent once more. She licked her tongue against her teeth only to prick one of them; she tasted blood in her mouth and made a face. She forgot the zombie was there on top of her all she could do was focus on her mouth. Twelve wanted to move her hands off the zombie girl’s chest and touch her teeth. They felt so different now and it scared her a little more than the psycho thing on her. Without realizing it she removed one hand and touched her face. She let out a sound that ruptured throughout her entire body. It was misshapen now.

Releasing her hand hadn’t been a smart move; it gave the zombie woman an advantage as Twelve ignored her. With one of its dirtied hands she yanked Twelve by her hair to stare into the vicious face. Time slowed, she didn’t feel herself reach out to the zombie’s own face. Getting closer. Her mouth got heavy then opened without realization and crunched down on the woman’s face. The woman yet howls of pain in a wild fury as her hot blood ran down in huge gushes. Twelve felt the thick iron tasting blood fill her mouth. She choked on it, releasing the girls face. Twelve spit out the blood then looked up at the girls face. It was smashed together, the skin was flopped over and the many rows of punctured holes decorated her face. She fell backwards in a weird sort of shock and Twelve took advantage of that. She bolted for the door her legs wobbly and in pain, the glass had embedded deep into her foot but the pain came in on and off.

As soon as she got out the door all her wounds and other pains started up once more.
Her eyes returned to normal and the slit went away as did her weird strength that also went on and off. Her legs wobbled more now as the outside air hit her. Twelve touched her face smearing the blood already more than it already was. It ran all the way down her body, her little dirty gown was completely crimson matching her face and neck.
Her vision blurred again and she fell down on the ground, she wanted nothing more than to go to sleep. Twelve knew she needed to get up and get away from this terrible place but her body couldn’t do it anymore.
“Aide-moi quelqu'un.” She coughed out a little blood that was not her own before as the strange words came out again. Her eyes couldn’t stay open anymore so she let them fall down and rest. Then soon she did too.