KILLJOY

Chapter 2: New Normal

The hallway they were walking through was a lot brighter than the dim room he was stuck in earlier, but it was still of the same grey tile. "Is the entire base as boring as this?"

"Nah, just the lower levels. All you recruits got your rooms down here, in the dorms."

"Like some college type shit?"

"Yeah, sorta. Hope you don't hate your roommate, since you're getting one."

"Do I have to?"

"Quit your damn whining, you'll need to get to know the other recruits anyways."

After a while of walking, he had eventually made it into a slightly nicer looking area, with some carpet floors to serve as a nice contract to the hard stone of the hall. A few doors were placed on either side of the large room, enough for 6 living quarters. As he was taking in the new environment, a man walked out of one of the rooms, looking over at Mayeda. "Oi, boss dude. Who's this fresh meat?" Mayeda looked over at him for a moment before turning back to Liam. "Oh, Liam. Meet your new roomie, the worst piece of work we caught in our four recruits. Other two are already roomed up, so you're with him."

The man's expression turned sour as he got pretty pissed off at Mayeda's way of introducing him. "Hey, I'm not that bad!"

"What about the time you started a damn brawl in here, Max," Mayeda said, starting to get a bit tired of having to deal with him already.

Max responded, "He was being a dick, I had every reason to!" He was already starting to regret coming here, but he had to make that cash, and this was his best bet, so he reluctantly walked over to Max, and held out a hand to try and be polite.

"Hey, I'm Liam. Guess we'll be sharing a room, so you better not be a prick." Max just swatted his hand away, already annoyed by his presence. "Look, I don't like you, and I don't think you like me. So just keep the talkin' to a minimum, and we'll both be happier, I'm sure of it." And with that, Max walked back into the dorm, with Mayeda looking a bit tired— it was late after all. "Look— just get some sleep, and figure some shit out with him and the rest of the recruits tommorow, aight?"

He let out a small sigh as he made his way over to the room Max had just stormed into, looking at Mayeda with his hand on the doorknob.

"G'night then."

As he opened the door, Max was already laying down on the top bunk of the bunk bed, just looking up at the ceiling as he walked in. He ignored Liam while he set his stuff down against one of the room's plastered walls. He was pretty annoyed that he had to deal with yet another recruit— that made three other people down here that he had no interest in. The fact that he would have to not only interact with all of these randoms, but work with them once the rest of them got their training felt absurd to him.

Max finished setting some of his stuff down as he went into the bathroom to change into some comfier clothes for bed. After a couple minutes passed, he changed in to some soft, white pants and a green t-shirt, and went to lay down in bed. He plugged his charger into the outlet and plugged in his phone— a Orion VII, one of their newer models, but not the newest. He opened up his messenger app as a holographic keyboard displayed itself in front of the phone, as he typed a message to his Ma. 'Hey Ma, I just got into that new job! I'll be bringing in plenty of cash for the house soon, love you! Goodnight.' He set the phone down on the bed as he closed his eyes, quickly falling unconscious.

He had a bit of trouble waking up the next morning, probably as a result from whatever the hell he got drugged with to get him here. As he finally opened his eyes however, his adrenaline quickly jolted him awake as he saw a dagger hovering mere inches away from his face. He quickly slapped it away as he was breathing heavily, before seeing it stop midair, as if floating. Chuckles could be heard from above him, as he heard Max speak, in a bit of a condescending tone.

"Well, if that scares ya' then you're gonna be fucked on your first mission! Mayeda will beat ya' into shape soon, so get your ass ready."