*Discontinued* Villains (Not a Tale for the Faint Hearted)

Chapter 3

Blue is alone in his lab in the early morning two days after the infamous broadcast. He tries to remember the last time he slept. It was a few sunsets ago. His vision has become distorted and colours had started merging together into an inchoative multi-coloured blob.

The cold empty lab isn't the kind of place you sleep in overnight. The dangerous chemicals and violent mutated abominations are bad enough but when you add the paranormal incidents and mysterious deaths you start to wonder why it wasn't shut down years ago.

He could barely think for the migraine he got from working so long. He felt like he'd been clubbed over the head

"Boadicea run AIPS prototype 102." Blue tells the OS.
"Alright." She responds booting up the test run sequence.

"What's AIPS?" a woman looking over his shoulder. He turns quickly.
"Don't sneak up on me. I wouldn't want to kill you." he says not even questioning how she got in his lab.
"Was that a threat?" She says politely siting down on an old spinning office chair beside him.
"No it was a statement." He says going back to his test.

"Oh okay it's just you kinda talk like a robot so I couldn't tell." She says rolling over to the coatrack and grabbing a purple lab coat.
"That's probably an insult to robots." He says not flatly hardly even bothering to acknowledge whether she was real or not. She laughs but Blue doesn't show any sight of amusement so she turns it into a fake coughing fit.
"I'm Moe." she says sticking out her hand for him to shake. He doesn't shake her hand. She waits for him to say something... he doesn't.

"What's your name?" She asks.
"Blue."
"Oh because you have a blue lab coat. You Donloners sure do have interesting approach to naming people by a colour scheme." He stops typing at this.
"You mock yet your name literally just states that you're generally aesthetically appealing in a platonic manner." Moe notes this all down.

"I did not... 'Mock' as you say sir. I was just commenting on a pattern I observed."
"Yes well so but you're observation is invalidated by the latter half of your claim."
"What do you mean by that." Moe says struggling to spell half of what he's saying.
"You say names correlate with colour schemes yet the only blue thing about my person is my lab coat so can that really be a scheme. Furthermore I do not always wear a lab coat."

"I don't know. I don't understand what you're saying. Your one of that archaic emo types right. I hear gothic..." she trail off when she notices that he's staring her. She cannot see his eyes very well because of his fringe covering them but she can tell his left eye is twitching.
"I. am. Not. A. Goth." He says flatly looking straight at her for the first time with his haunting eyes (Or eye since she can only see one). There as white as a pearl except for his pupils and a thin black circle at the edge of his irises.
"Well technically emo is a sub-genre..."
"I. am. Not. An. Emo."

He goes back to typing and Moe knows not to bring it up again.
"So what is AIPS?" she asks once more. He doesn't answer. She pokes him but he continues to ignore her. She pokes him again... and again... and again until he finally turns to her.
"What?"

"What does AIPS mean?" She ask trying to give him the puppy dog eyes.
"Artificially Induced Psionic Shielding."
"Meaning?"
"Trying to give people the ability to make force fields."
"Oh why?"
"Because I've been told to."
"By who?" She asks scribbling this all down so fast her tablet starts lagging behind. Blue goes back to typing.
"By who?" She asks again.
"Higher powers. Now stop talking if I mess this up it could destroy the building."
"Then why have it in the building."
"What do you think stop talking means?" She mimes zipping her mouth shut.

'Can bore- I mean Blue and Moe please come down to the lounge of the training centre.' Hugh says unenthusiastically over the tannoy.
"Oh I wonder what this will be about." she says grabbing the room key.
"Don't get your hopes up we could be in for a beating." He says stopping the test run so the computer doesn't over heat. The way Blue speaks is so deadpan Moe really can't tell if he's joking. She try to read his body language and facial expressions but as far as she can see he has none. He has a static look of disinterest.

He takes the keys from Moe and goes out the room and Moe ensues.
"I know ensues is 3rd person but I'm not sure you used it right." Blue says absent-mindedly forgetting momentarily that I 'don't exist' and he's talking himself.
"I didn't say anything in the 3rd person Moe says baffled by his ludicrous outburst.
"Stop talking and leave me alone or get of my wavelength at least." Locking the door.
"I don't know how to change what wavelength I'm on Moe says hurt.

"I wasn't speaking to you."
"Are you mentally ill?" She asks looking around just to confirm they're the only people in the corridor.
"Maybe. But I was just talking to my mum on my ear piece." He lies. He my voice out his consciousness violently though he's composed outwardly. Moe clearly doesn't believe him as his tablet never rung or vibrated.
"I'm a technopath." He explains.
"Really? What it like?"
"It's like being able to understand and control artificial electrical communications with my mind. Now we should get to the training centre."
"That's not what I..." She trails off when he looks into her eyes again. She can't bring herself to look at him and she follows him in silence.

******

They reach the lounge and are met by Maya a small grope of people.
"Ah Blue I see you've already meet your new assistant." Maya says to him with only a hint of warmth or familiarity.
"What I'm his assistant." Moe say incredulously.
"Yes. Is there a problem with that."
"He's a teenager."
"No I'm not I just have a condition."
"What age are you then?"
"19."
"Oh my... he's not supposed to have legally left school yet how does he have a degree."
"It's complicated. He doesn't really have one." Maya says. Moe is lost for words abbot how ridiculous this is.
"Don't open your eyes that wide. I don't want to have to put your eyes back in there sockets." Blue says.

A restless teenager with short spiky carmine hair clears his thought loudly.
"Can you please introduce us." He say tapping his foot impatiently.
"Yes I'm sorry Blue lacks social skills and I think the purple haired one probably does to." Maya says.
"My name is Moe." She says smiling only because she knows it irritates Maya.
"And we've already established this is Blue." Maya says.

"Maya, Blue. Let me introduce..."