The Code of Our Alliance

1: Imprisoned

My mouth is dry, and I can't get rid of the headache I have. The moment my eyes open, I find a cell. There are four others in here,  who, like me, are chained to a large water trough in the middle of the room. The chains around our wrists are painful, and I try to pull at them to see if I can get free of the chains. But no. I can't seem to rip free.

The only other awake person in this dim, concrete cell, is a man with black hair and pale skin, as well as a pair of faintly glowing red eyes. He watches me right back, and I watch him, too.

"Who are you?" I ask him.

He snorts derisively. "I mean, hells if I know...."

"What?" I ask.

"Don't you know me? Or even yourself?"

I tilt my head. My mind is foggy, but that's surely just because I just woke up. Right? I mean, it would make no sense to not know who I am. So, I try to think about my name. But I can't. There is pain in my head, and I hiss. The man across from me sighs.

"Got you too, huh?"

I watch as he stands up and walks to the water trough. He is silent as he cups his hands and dips them into the water. He takes a deep drink from the waters, and then he looks at me.

"So," he says. "You and I both can't remember shit. Right?"

"Uh .... right," I whisper. "So, you don't know where we are?"

"No, I have no clue," he says. "You, though?"

I shake my head. I look up as one of the other people starts to stir. He's absolutely massive, which makes him tall enough that his head nearly hits the ceiling. Amber eyes sparkle in the dim light in here, which also seem to glow in the dark. He brushes back locks of curly brown hair, then steps closer to the trough. He hunches over it, and takes a large gulp. He looks up at me, then.

"Who the fuck are you?"

"Could ask you the same," I reply. "You probably don't even know who you are, which seems to be par for the course, as he and I both don't even know our names."

The man stares at us. "You ... don't know your name?"

I shake my head. He glances over at the other guy, who shrugs. That's when a girl in the corner of the room stirs in her sleep. She sits bolt upright, gasping. She blinks at us, her breathing fast. She is trembling hard, looking between us. She sighs.

"Oh, another girl," mutters the big man with brown skin. He sits back.

"What?" she asks, blinking slowly. "Who the hells are you people?! Who ... what happened to me?!"

"You likely cannot remember anything, not even your name, right?" I ask, inching closer to her, as best my chains allow. "It's okay, none of us can."

The girl's green eyes gleam. She looks over to the final person in the cell. This final woman has dyed blue hair, and when she finally awakes, I can better see her other features and her face. She's a curvy Black lady, hazel eyes. Her cheekbones are sharp and her eyes seem brighter than even those of the guys' whose eyes glow.

"You, you are an amnesiac, too?" asks the girl with green eyes.

The last girl to wake nods. "I'm kinda used to it, by now."

"Wait ... what all can you think of? Not of yourself, but look at us!" exclaims the first man. He smiles. "Veilshade. You are Veilshade!" He points at the Black lady, grinning.  "You are Veilshade, and... you are a stealth agent."

Hazel eyes flashing, Veilshade tilts her head. "You ... how do you know that? I don't even know that!"

The man laughs and claps his hands. Then, he flinches. He touches his head, his black hair brushed aside, showing his long, jagged scar on his scalp. "Ah, what the fuck? Since when do I have a scar?!"

"Orothos," says the big man. He sighs. "You are Orothos."

Just then, lights, bright and blinding, shine in from the slats in the concrete ceiling and walls. The night outside becomes bright, and we wince, shielding our faces from the light. Orothos steps toward the wall beside me, but his chains restrict his movements. He hisses and curses.

Orothos looks at me. "This is not good, guys."

"Ya think?!" demands the big man.

The door to the cell slides open, and bright flashlights shine in on us. A rough pair of gloved hands grab my arms, and I yelp, trying to buckle in their grip. Something heavy smacks my head, and I black out.