I Now Realize

Chapter 16: Stage Two; One By One (part 7 out of 9)

With Jokka...
"You know, I expected a stronger looking anti-ally." Astoroth glanced unamused at Jokka.
"And I wanted her." Jokka smirked.
"You are a pig," Astoroth face palmed. "No, I won't allow you to do that to her." Astoroth shook his head.
Jokka scoffed, "Why not? Don't tell me you're getting soft."
Astoroth growled in offense, "I'm not. I don't want you creating a pregnancy and a whole case bursts out chaos just because you can't keep it in your pants. At least I'm a little more respectful than you."
Jokka remained calm. But in his mind, he stabbed Astoroth multiple times after he strapped him with tape.
Astoroth chuckled, "You wished you stabbed me a thousand times. Oh, and I'm not a bag of saggy bones, like you thought."
Jokka widened his eyes and stayed quiet.
Astoroth held Jokka by the neck in midair, choking him. "You may be a tracker from Xaver, but you do not disrespect anyone IN MY BASE! Much less me!" he roughly slammed Jokka on the cold, smooth floor.
Jokka death glared at him. If he wasn't allies with Astoroth, he would take the pleasure to kill him.
"Now," Astoroth crossed his arms. "Ah, yes, our little anti-ally. Go wake her up, will you, Jock?" He smirked at Jokka.
Jokka thought better and left Astoroth's office...

Jokka entered in the prison chambers and observed Kiana's unconscious state. He observed her ashy blonde hair and her light skinned face covered in the dark cell. She had to be an anti-ally, what a shame. So beautiful, but the enemy. Jokka grabbed a pole and hit the bars that caged Kiana, hoping that would wake her up.
Kiana jolted and gained conscious and observed her surroundings in a calm manner.
"Hello, sunshine." Jokka hypocritically greeted.
Kiana didn't want to respond or make eye contact with him.
"What? No little smile at least?" Jokka carelessly shrugged.
"You don't deserve a speck of emotion from me..." Kiana answered emotionlessly.
Jokka smirked. 'Feisty...' He unlocked the cell and wrapped his arm around Kiana's waist.
Kiana growled and pushed him away.
"You don't want a tour guide?" Jokka chuckled.
"No, thank you." Kiana thought to have self esteem if she were to survive God knows what...

With Sasha...
"Guys?" He sat with his group of friends, hardly touching his food since it was break time now.
"Yeah, man?" A man with orange hair stopped gobbling on his food and payed attention to Sasha.
"We need to plan something to save my sister." Sasha insisted.
"Again with this?" A redhead man asked him, rolling his eyes.
"Red, c'mon," The orange haired man scoffed, "we could probably patrol the city to search for her."
"Nah, stupid," Red shook his head, "You always say the most pointless things."
Then a idea lit up in Sasha's mind. "Say that again, Jules!" He waved at the orange haired man, pointing at him at the same time.
"We could probably patrol the city to search for her?" Jules raised an eyebrow.
"That's it! Perfect idea, Jules!" Sasha could jump cheerfully like two year old now, but he controlled himself.
"I'm a genius!" Jules threw a double thumbs up in the air and leaned in his chair. "I'm gonna wave these hands in the air like I just don't give a fu-"
Red slapped Jules at the back of his head and forcefully pulled him to sit.
"Man! I was in my groove, Red!" Jules crossed his arms and stuck his tongue out.
Red slapped Jules's chin up, making him bite his tongue. "Well, you almost left a bad influence on the kids around us."
Jules squealed and placed a hand over his tongue, trying to console the pain. "You almost made me bite my tongue in half! And stopped snickering, Sasha! I know you're laughing when you're covering your face!"
"That's what you get." Red smirked.
Sasha couldn't help but laugh at the situation. But his eyes still showed hopelessness. "Actually, thanks guys. I needed to laugh."
"See?" Red gestured at Sasha. "You and I make a good comedy show for Sasha."
"I'm not for entertainment!" Jules grumbled.
"That sounded wrong..." Red raised an eyebrow.
"You think wrong!" Jules waved his arms impatiently.

With Kiana...
Kiana emotionlessly walked beside Jokka, observing the base. "Ok..."
Jokka blinked and wondered what Kiana was going to say. "Yes?"
Kiana sighed, "Since I'm going to be so bored, may I have a tour guide at least?" She fluttered her eyelashes in a charming manner and faked a smile.
Jokka only chuckled, thinking if that would be a good idea or not. "We will see if my leader allows that..."
As they strolled through the base, Kiana observed the base members. No eye contact, no conversation, nothing. The people just swarmed around while time constantly ticked by. Their faces looked...dead. They showed no smile, not even the slightest emotion in their eyes. Kiana wondered why, but she thought it was best to stay quiet and observe. Good thing she is acting like them to hide her true emotions.
Jokka opened the door to Astoroth's office and gestured Kiana to enter. "Ladies first?"
Kiana gave Jokka a nod and entered like nothing would happen. 'So this is the path to Astoroth's office...' Kiana thought to herself and stared ahead, waiting for a small conversation, a question; something.
"Your real name?" Astoroth calmly asked.
"...Kiana." Kiana sat upright and blinked emotionlessly.
"I suppose you know my name," Astoroth's eyes glinted, "And I know you wouldn't tell us Alue's location. So, we're just going to turn you into a Blooder the next day. You can cry your eyes out, if you're want."
Kiana forced a smile, but on the inside, she was crying. 'I'll be turned into a mindless machine and be controlled to kill those I love... I can't let this happen. I need to create a mental map of this base if I want to escape.'
'What is this one thinking? Why can't I read her mind?' Astoroth glared at her on the inside. He thought Kiana must be a Shadow Shear.
"Ok," Kiana still forced a smile. "I will wait for the experiment tomorrow."
Astoroth raised his eyebrows in amusement, but his eyes remained cold and emotionless. "Alright, then. Jokka, take her back to her cell. If she needs a break, let her, but supervise her. You two may leave..."