Open House

“I’ll do it.”

There was no fanfare at the immediate response, the entire room just cocked their heads in confusion.

“You didn’t think about it at all!” Ellis called out.

“Why would I have to? If I don’t accept, I can’t protect anyone.” His words came out flat, and just as mundane as Ellis’ deal itself had been delivered.

The man in the sleep mask gave a simple smirk, and like a fleeting mirage, disappeared out the door without so much as a sound. Ellis rolled his chair backwards, nodding his head.

“You’re a strange one, Slater Ferruccio. Now, follow me. We have to get you all set up.” The president exited the hospital room as well, beckoning his new subordinate to join him. The pair exited into a blank white hallway, the black suits flooding the halls and usurping the dominating color with their own. Making their way down the halls and through a rather cramped elevator ride, the group arrived at the ground floor where a striking black vehicle made itself apparent from beyond the white gateway to the building. When they got close enough, and Ellis had been satisfied with saying farewells to the receptionist, the men in black opened the doors to the elongated vehicle, helping Slater and Ellis respectively into the seats. The fancy green velvet interior stuck out, especially in contrast to the older teenager in a medical gown sitting across from the younger one fully dressed in a suit. Once the two were situated, the car began its movement and Ellis began the conversation anew.

“We’ll take you to where your new home will be, and that’s where you’ll find your weapon and clothes will be as well!” The president foraged around to his side without looking, placing his hand in a small glass bowl of dried apricots, throwing them into his mouth haphazardly as he spoke. “Still, you make no sense to me. Did you not want to see your sister before you left?”

Slater’s eyes fell to the floor as his hand rested on his knees.

“We sacrificed so much to get here… I don’t want to face her until I can show her it was worth it.”

A small clap came from across the detailed interior.

“Oh! How noble of you!” The young president’s eyes shifted to their altered disposition yet again. “But, in this line of work, you’ll have to drop that attitude quick.”

“You don’t mince words do you?”

The boy chewed on another apricot, swallowing it before spouting out a reply.

“People appreciate a leader who can tell it like it is.”

“Then tell me, great leader, why do all your vehicles here still have traditional wheels when hover tech is so common back in the West?” If he had to be subjected to this kid’s ego, the least he could do was get some information out of it.

Another apricot entered the boy’s mouth, and he haphazardly sent out an answer between chews of the dried fruit. “Put simply, they lack morals.”

“Morals?”

“Of course.” Ellis lectured as if he was explaining how to breathe to a grade schooler. “They aren’t afraid to experiment on whatever humans they find to produce Aether to any extent they want. When they have much more land than us, and a much higher chance to find people like that within their borders, it’s no surprise their Aether-inspired technology is farther along than ours.” The boy then set his sights out the window to his left. “Our only one isn’t even from our own soil, and the man overseeing them at the moment makes it difficult to get any testing done. If you ask me, he’s way too uptight…”

Slater took the opportunity to look out the window himself. ‘Uptight?’ I wouldn’t want to start my time here working with a hard-ass, but I doubt—

“And he’s going to be your boss here too!”

And there it is…

Almost in time for Smith ruining Slater’s hopes at an easy time, the presidential vehicle halted to an abrupt stop in front of a large building, a glass spear piercing through the clouds overhead. The sun glinted off the side into Slater’s eyes when he placed his feet on the pavement and tried to get a feel for how tall it truly was. When hands began pushing him along, he decided to abandon that venture. He was funneled inside the building by the men in suits he had gotten used to, with Ellis rolling in close behind him. The boy in the wheelchair was able to speed ahead of Slater, spinning his chair around in a fashion that had it almost tip over, but the fact that it barely stopped itself from falling to the side showed a level of dexterity despite the boy’s condition. He had stopped next to an elevator, which he scanned a card on a panel next to, before turning his line of sight back to the still-approaching man still in his medical gown. He threw the card over to Slater with an underhand toss, which he caught after fumbling around in the air with it for a few moments.

“Go down to Floor B-Three, take a left down the hall and the first door you see is where you want to be. However, this is where we part ways. Have fun!” The little president began joyfully riding back to his transport.

“Wait! You’re just leaving me?”

“Of course!” The boy now embodied the petulant attitude one would expect of one his age. “I’m the President! I had preparations prepared for you, but you can’t expect I’d have my entire day booked to play info broker with you!” He swiftly turned and exited the building before Slater could get up so much as a hand in protest. Once the president’s vehicle had pulled away with no fanfare, it was celebrated by a solitary ‘ding’ from the elevator behind Slater arriving. Giving a sigh of acceptance, he walked into the doors and gave himself unto whatever came next.

His finger pressed the button for the floor Ellis had outlined in his explanation, and the elevator made its descent. It wasn’t long before it arrived, and Slater hopped off to greet his new life… Which was a nondescript gray hallway. Slowly taking in the blatant same-ness of the hallway, Slater was truly impressed by how underwhelmed he was, and nodded his head to even express it.

Hoping the room prepared specifically for him wouldn’t disappoint at least, Slater made his way to the left and down the hallway, entering the first room he saw once he pressed his card to the lock and saw an inarguable green.

Held behind the door was a simple pile. On the bottom, neatly folded clothes, brand new and fully intended for Slater. Above that sat something he clearly recognized. His blade had been spared and returned to him after all. Without wasting anymore time, Slater threw off the unwieldy gown and began throwing his new uniform on. Now, he had black slacks with a jet black belt, pearl white boots, and a white jacket over his black t-shirt to call his outfit of choice.

The room was small, but in the corner next to where the clothes had been placed was also a full body mirror. Slater spun, checking out the look of the outfit. They seem to have gotten my measurements right… Did they measure me while I was asleep?! He thought on it for a moment, but ultimately dismissed it. This wouldn’t be the craziest thing he’s heard today. With one turn, he even made notice of a special hilt attached to his belt. Taking the dormant blade in one hand, he spun the hilt around before stashing it at his side, giving a celebratory reserved fist clench at his success.

With his wardrobe now set, Slater exited the cramped room back into the hallway. Ellis hadn’t given him instructions beyond this, which had him torn in indecision as he figured out what he was supposed to do next. He leaned against the white door he was behind just a few moments ago, thinking it over. That is, until the stench of smoke invaded his nostrils. Out of the door frame of a closed door down the hall, dark gray smoke was flooding out of the cracks and, starting from the ceiling, filling the hallway like a strangely-shaped upside-down glass of water.

His feet did not hesitate a moment longer, reaching the door within a couple seconds, filling the hallway with the sound of him banging on the door. Arguably, the noise from his fists surpassed the presence of even the smoke.

“What’s going on, is everyone alright in there?!”

Slater’s fists continued their assault, until, before he even noticed, the door slid open. This only became apparent to him when banging was no longer heard and his fist felt the distinct sensation of fabric underneath it. His eyes lifted to meet the man who now stood before him.

His fist had made contact with a navy blue tank top draped over a well-toned physique. Slightly tanned skin was all that was visible on his torso outside of the aforementioned dress. Below his waistline, the man wore acid-washed jeans, with one hand slipped into a pocket as he leaned against the door frame with the other. Just under his arm holding him up was his face. His eyes were a rich blue, with a few strands of his straight brown hair falling in front of them, as if fishing lines being cast into a deep well. Outside of his main clothing, he also wore a set of dark colored headphones around his neck, and a pair of plain black socks on his feet. All things considered, his appearance did not fit that of a panicking damsel at the sign of fire.

“Are you a new janitor or something?” Asked the man, completely ignoring the smoke passing over his head.

“There’s smoke, is something—“

“Yeah, Charlotte tried cooking again. I told her not to, but she went ahead anyways… I swear, for all she says about efficiency and crap, she doesn’t have a lick of common sense.”

He slicked back his hair and glanced back into the room. Seeing him in motion, Slater noticed he didn’t seem much older than him, only about a year or two older at maximum from what it seemed. Before he could continue examining his appearance, he saw movement from a side area behind the man, making out the distinct figure of a woman hanging an apron on a hook. More notably, the smoke filling the entire floor was sourced from whatever room she had just exited from. Assuming the man’s words were to be trusted, it was a kitchen.

“Is someone here, Blitz?” She asked, noticing him facing the doorway. Hearing her no-nonsense voice, Blitz flew his head over his shoulder and nonchalantly gave a reply.

“I think he’s a janitor, those are the only people who ever come down here anyways.”

Raising an eyebrow, the woman made her way to Blitz, pushing him aside to lay her own eyes on Slater. Her hand went up to her chin as her eyes scanned up and down, but never deviating from their original distant expression.

The woman herself wore the complete opposite to the more casual dress of the man Slater now knew as “Blitz.” A white collared shirt covered her chest, with a dark teal tie running down and stopping just above her waist. Black suspenders held her black slacks up, with her hair, dark and bordering on navy, braided and draped over her right shoulder. Overall, her appearance made her look leagues more mature than the other, although physically only seemed to be a year older at best. Fiery orange eyes betrayed her straight-laced demeanor, and seemed to exit out of a trance-like state when she was done looking the boy over. She then quickly turned to Blitz, an expression of annoyed disbelief overtaking her unemotive face.

“Did Lupus not tell you? This is our new member of the division.”

Just as the conversation had started, the halls were filled with sound. This time, however, it was that of the two boys letting out simultaneous cries of shock.