Clair de Lune

24. None

Soft light hit my skin and pulled me out of my sleep. I blinked a few times before I was finally able to yawn and look around. A couple lumps were still left in their blankets and others had already awoken and moved onto their daily things. A sound reached my ears and I realized with a small start that it was the piano. Thamyris was passed out across the room, her tongue lolling from her open mouth as her head hung over the side of the bed, so I knew it couldn't have been her. A smile appeared on my lips and I pulled some clothes on before walking out to meet everyone.

"Good mornin', Spitfire." Marshall chuckled from the kitchen, flipping a pancake over in the pan he was holding. The smell alone made me want to drool.

"That smells amazing."

"Well, grab a plate and get some from the stack." He gestured to a few plates that were piled with the fluffy material, and I happily scampered over and stacked a few onto my own plate.

The sound of little footsteps reached my ears and I turned around just in time to see Lily running toward us. Her hair was frizzy and her smile was tired, but there was an energetic air about her and it seemed to catch on. She wrapped her arms around Marshall's legs, giggling loudly while I put a few on a plate for her as well.

"Well good mornin', Lily." He laughed, placing his hand on her head and giving it a little shake before she let go and ran over to the table. His whole demeanor seemed to change around the girl. There was still pain in his eyes but I could tell he was doing everything in his power not to collapse and hug her. I set her plate down in front of her along with some utensils and sat beside her as she dug in. I grabbed the butter and maple syrup, drizzling the warm amber liquid onto my plate and across my pancakes. These smelled even better than that venison.

While we continued to eat, I watched the rooms around us as people began to come and go. Osiris walked down to the showers while Murmur came out from the piano room to get some food. Eventually Necro walked in as well with Thamyris shortly behind him, her bandages having been replaced and her eyes being hidden. She didn't eat, and that didn't surprise me. Thamyris just sat down at the table and joined us, stretching her arms in the air while she did.

"Hey man, these are pretty good," Necro said around a mouthful of food, "thanks for breakfast."

"No problem, zombie." Marshall sat down at the table with his own plate, starting to stuff his face.

Lily and I were the first to finish eating of course, and by the time this happened Osiris had come out of the bathroom looking even better than ever. Her skin had a warm glow and her face was flawless and full, much different from the gaunt creature I'd pulled out of that cell. She nodded to me before grabbing a plate and a large stack of pancakes, larger than everyone else's. I suppose deities had big appetites.

I was walking with Lily back to the bedroom when I paused in front of the massive screen display. It seemed a little dusty, but with the press of a button, everything lit up. There was footage from about twenty to thirty different cameras on here, and I took a seat in the chair to try and explore them. One in particular caught my eye and I pressed the button to zoom in on it, watching as it filled the whole screen. Everything was in black and white, but you could see the figures moving inside as clear as day.

Sergei was carrying around more files, speaking with another agent. There was no sound on the recording or else I would've tried to turn it up to hear their conversation. Still though, as I watched him I could see a certain level of discomfort. Something was clearly wrong within the facility, and I realized why moments later when the camera panned to the entertainment area. Everything was empty.

"What have they done...?" I wondered aloud, not expecting a response. "It's like they went into lockdown."

"I think that's exactly what they did." Marshall walked up beside me, leaning his hands on the edge of the control panel to get a better look. "In case of a breakout, procedure code 85A goes into effect. All subjects on lockdown until location of or disposal of escaped subjects."

"Jesus." I wheezed, glancing around the facility as I hurriedly switched through cameras. I landed on the one that had been pointed at the holding room, and I could see that they still had not fixed that window. Two figures were lying inside, knocked out cold as they were strapped to the gurneys. I felt so bad knowing that I couldn't help them.

Once everyone else was done they crowded around me, pointing to separate cameras to zoom in on and examine. There was a mass of people crowded around Osiris's cell, most likely tallying up their losses as they ticked off who escaped. It looked as if they corralled the Operator back into his cell, and I was a little surprised that they'd managed to do it so quickly. Murmur pointed to the infirmary, and it looked as if numerous agents were exhausting their stays. The poor boys were all wearing casts and neck braces, and I could only imagine what they went through to gain such injuries.

"Do we have a plan?" I asked, "what are we going to do? We can't just stay down here forever."

"Right now, we need to rest and recuperate," Marshall said, "we can worry about a plan when we've had enough time to collect ourselves."

"I have to agree," Thamyris spoke up, "I don't have the energy to worry about everyone else right now. What matters is that we're safe here, at least from what we can tell."

"I'm with Hellfire on this one."

Everyone turned to look at Osiris as she dabbed a napkin along her lips. She stood up and walked towards us, the intimidating attitude I'd heard of having returned to her. I'm not sure why but I found myself looking up to her more than I had to anyone else. She leaned over the panel and typed in a few things on the keyboard, and a whole database appeared on the screen. The PASCI name was on the left side with a logo below it: two crossed swords and a shield with a planet on its surface. Osiris swept through a number of things before landing on what she wanted to find. A codex came up of all the procedure codes available, and she opened one labeled 01S.

"This is the mission of the PASCI agency," she directed our eyes to the very first line, "to collect superhuman anomalies and distribute them worldwide for safety and control."

"So they were never an agency to protect us to begin with." Necro said gruffly.

"In the beginning they were, but not anymore," Marshall replied, "The PASCI agency is only here under the guise of a government program to sell human beings for profit. Most of you run about five million each, and that's just for D Class subjects. C Class is boosted another five, B Class is raised another ten, and A Class subjects are worth around thirty to fifty million apiece."

"What about S Class?" I asked.

"We don't get to be sold, love," Murmur laughed, scrolling down the page, "right here under Article IV, it states: "Any and all subjects deemed S Class will be contained within the facility for an infinite amount of time, or until need of their use arises", basically it's saying that they get to keep the best of the best, and everyone else gets the rest."

"How many S Class subjects are in containment currently?" Thamyris inquired.

"Currently, there's only 152. Most of the facility is made up of D and C Class, and about a fourth of it is B and A." Osiris brought up the logistics for the residents. 152 two S Class, 206 A Class, 349 B Class, 575 C Class, and 423 D Class, all leading up to a total of 1,705 subjects in total.

"That's...a scary number," I said quietly, "how many of these people know the truth?"

"None," Marshall said quietly, "lets leave this thing alone for right now, we don't need to worry about it."

Everyone began to disperse, but I didn't move from my spot. Instead I looked over at the man, seeing that there was something off about the way he was acting. He was staring at the screen like it was a distant memory.

"What was Sergei talking about, Marshall?" I asked finally, breaking the silence between us. "Sudan? What happened there?"

"It was nothing," he replied gruffly, "just a big mistake in where I put my trust."

"I feel like your whole career was like that."

"Well, you're not wrong."