The Delta Crew

Chapter One

          Three individuals trekked through overgrown forest. They'd been walking for hours, and there was one in particular that complained the whole time. Dressed in baggy cargo pants and two layers of large t-shirts with chains dangling from his neck and waistband, Jace Harley walked with a shit ton of stuff he'd packed for the journey. He had no idea it'd take this long, but it didn't matter. This stuff, he needed at all times, no matter how much it was.

          Accompanying him were his two guardians, Jade and Jake Harley. Jade was his mother, and although Jake was technically his grandfather, he referred to him as uncle due to the two guardians considering themselves siblings. He didn't mind, nor care, actually. Jace knew they were going to go meet with Dirk Strider, presumably to discuss things in regards to The Glitch. He didn't know the specifics though.

          Jace groaned as he walked, his two sets of long and sharp fangs showing and his shaggy, black hair moving out of his face more as he threw his head back with irritation. His hair could almost be considered a mullet, but everything seemed to be more cut down and cleaned up except on the top of his head. On the top, his hair was longer, and always messy. "How much longer? And why did I have to come anyway? Isn't this dangerous stuff for you guys?" Jace had the faintest lisp due to his fangs, inherited by his troll father, Sollux, a gold blood. Gold-blooded trolls often had this characteristic. He was very insecure about it and he was always subconsciously making sure his tongue placement was correct to limit the lisp as much as possible. However, his efforts to hide it lessened when he got angry; correcting his lisp was definitely not on his radar when he was upset. Despite being raised by a guy that loved the outdoors and adventure, Jace hated physical labor. He was in shape, but man, he didn't want to be. His feet hurt as he walked, and he refused to blame it on the fact it was because of all the stuff he was carrying. He preferred being inside, like the antisocial shut-in he was.

          Being raised in seclusion, combined with having the introverted traits of his father, it was natural for Jace to feel this way. Even with the good internet and technology he had, he rarely spoke to people online. Due to this lifestyle and inheritance, Jace had grown to be more technologically-abled, and learned to survive against anything in the wild that ever threatened him. He was trained in several survival techniques, along with multiple weapons thanks to Jake and Jade both. However, Jace was not parented well outside of survival, as neither Jade nor Jake were emotionally mature enough to raise a child. He was spoiled with material things and although Jade and Jake tried their best to be loving parents, they didn't guide him in the maturity sort of way, nor could they help him with how his mind worked. All of this fighting to survive and always being on the run is supposedly how his crippling anxiety formed, and he could guess that the others felt the same. Even being outside of the bunker made him uneasy.

          Jade responded, although her tone was cautious as she and Jake frequently looked around to check their surroundings. "You'll see why soon. Besides, you're almost an adult now, so it's time you start being filled in on more things." Jade had a more nasally voice when she talked. It was one of her notable features.

          Okay, that was sort of ominous. Whatever. Jace scanned the forest with his red and blue heterochromic eyes, also inherited by his father. Most of his features and personality were taken from Sollux, which Jace wasn't sure if he was too happy about or not. Despite his almost inhuman smarts, he was bipolar, irritable, an insomniac, and just a plain asshole a lot of the time because those were the traits that were, by random coincidence, given to him. He showed heavy symptoms of being on the spectrum, but he'd probably never admit that, even if it was obvious. Hell, he even preferred using typing quirks instead of just typing the words regularly like a normal human. Despite having the desire to appear calm and collected at all times, Jace often failed miserably at that because of his bipolar disorder. Some days, there were a lot of things he didn't like about himself, but the other days, he felt like God himself. There were few things he had in common with Jade, and Jace often worried Jade didn't like him as much because he was so different from her and his uncle. The highs were high but the lows were... very low.