Unity

Sixteen: Abandoned

A/N: Even though I'm behind on pretty much everything in this thing we call "life," I somehow still managed to write this chapter. It's odd because not a lot happens but it's still pretty long. *Shrug* Have fun. (comments and such are still appreciated)

I tried to move through the rest of the month without revealing how confused I was. We didn't see Aphrodite's team, not even in the halls, for days. It was a few weeks before we even got a glance of them. On February 27th, I caught sight of Dominick in the hall. He waved at me before leaving quickly. That day, Lautrec called us in for a talk and announced the circumstances surrounding Aphrodite's team.

"The Facility apologizes for the poor behavior of their Agents," Lautrec told us. "We will be cracking down on security in general. We came to the conclusion that allowing so many products in from the outside world demonstrated a lack of control. That will disappear."

Chance and Lynette shared a look that I caught out of the corner of my eye.

"You will only wear the clothing provided to you. This includes any accessories." Lautrec pointedly glared at Lynette's jacket.

Her eyes widened.

"No!" She cried out.

"The rules are clear, Bianchi," Lautrec said, and I thought I detected a slight regret in his voice. "No outside garments or accessories. Not outside of the resident areas."

"It's not doing any harm!" She pulled the green fabric closer. "You can't!"

"You can wear it here. Just don't wear it outside of the wing." Lautrec dropped the conversation. "We aren't debating this."

Lynette looked down, folding her arms protectively over her jacket. Mallory put a hand on Lynette's back and moved it in small circles for a short bit.

"I just barely won the discussion over hair dye," Lautrec muttered. "You should be grateful."

I saw a look of surprise from Lynette and felt the same way. She gently brushed the sharp ends of her blue hair and half-smiled.

"Reed's team is being closely monitored and tightly managed. They have been restricted from field missions for the rest of the year and have been confined to simulations. If they don't cause any trouble by the end of the year they should have their authorization restored." Lautrec told us. "I need all of you to keep in my the strict rules being set into place here. Punishment will be given to any who break them."

We nodded.

Lautrec nodded in return and we moved about the day. Lynette left her jacket in the wing and we stopped openly showing the books and other items that had been somehow smuggled in from the outside. The whole place seemed shaken up, and every Agent looked duller without the splashes of color that had been added to their clothing. The only thing sticking out was the colored hair of Lynette, Aphrodite, and Roy — the green-haired male member of the junior team — and even that looked duller.

Things started to go wrong faster than I anticipated. At the beginning of March, everything moved steadily downhill.

We were walking back from a training session when Lynette excused herself, saying she needed to get something. Everyone except for me encouraged her to leave without any questions. I had a nasty suspicion that she was up to something. The rest of my team ushered me away from her and down to our wing.

As soon as we got there Mallory directed me to the couch. Chance started up a conversation about the symbolism behind the main character's motives in his most recent book. Rex actually sat in the main seating area and nodded along with each of Chance's points. I didn't sit down.