Age of Darkness [Titan 2]

After the mixed wonders and horrors of the arena, the titans were led back into the stark, sterilized environment of the barracks. This time, the halls seemed to have no offshoots, likely to dissuade any further escape attempts.

The room had changed somewhat in their absence. Now, there was a chair and desk beside each bed, with a nameplate, stating their designations. Both the chair and desk seemed to be molded into the floor, but were also seemingly the perfect size for each of the titans. On top of each desk was a small box, and a note-card.

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Darius blinked a few times as he walked into the room. "Uh..." He said, less than eloquently. "what's going on with this?"

He walked over and brushed his hand over the surface of his desk. It was unreasonably smooth. He could feel it with a clarity that bordered on creepy, and it quite literally, even on a microscopic level, seemed to be almost entirely smooth. The corners were rounded.

"Something tells me that they think we are a danger to ourselves." he muttered sardonically.

He glanced at the card. It was written in a flowing, but legible script, that listed his designation, and the word Aamon.

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Riley yawned as he re-entered the room, but chuckled as he saw the desk next to his bed. "Nice" He said, flashing Dane a grin which he did not return. He padded over to the chair, and sat down with a contented sigh. "Well, could be worse I guess, as far as being kidnapped goes."

He swiveled the note-card to face him. On it, below his designation, was the word Thyme.

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Dane rolled his eyes at the weird optimist. He supposed that the guy was trying to make him feel better about what he had done in the arena, but that wasn't really a big issue. He would have done it again.

Still, the nagging nauseousness that followed doing serious violence wouldn't quite leave him. He gritted his teeth, sighing, and leaning over to read his note-card.

Imprinted on it was his designation, and the word Gauss.

Chris made his way to the desk, sitting down and running his fingers over the flawlessly smooth surface. It was at the perfect height, as was the chair, and he was beginning to think that these people (whoever they were) had taken measurements of his ass when he wasn't looking. These chairs were unreasonably comfortable for what they were. His card read "Erebos" which, he had to admit, was a pretty cool name. Below that was the name "Juniper".

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"Guess they redecorated while we were gone." Devon mumbled, picking up the card on the desk and turning it over in his hands. "Themis...Bay."

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Jennica picked up the card and flicked it to the side. Yeah, yeah it said Coeus, probably. That's what the freaky orb had called her earlier. It also said "Amethyst", but she wouldn't have known that because she threw it on the fucking floor. She fell back into her chair and pulled the little black box into her lap.

"Look," she said in a mockingly cheery tone. "Presents for winning our very first cockfight."

With a bored sigh, she yanked the lid off of the box.

ATLAS
Match Grade: B
Potential: 8
Highlights: Impalement, teleportation capabilities.

As he came out of his reverie, Darius looked like he was going to be sick. He sat down shakily. "Fuck." he said, his eyes still wide. The image of his arm going directly through another person's chest wouldn't leave him. What disturbed him most was not that it had happened per-se, but rather that it had looked like the other boy had simply not been there.

He had gone through him like water. Darius sat in silence for a while, barely feeling the little cube drop from his fingers. He thought idly through his disgust that he might be ahppier about his victory if they hadn't shown him four seperate diagrams of how he had won.
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CHAOS
Match Grade: C-
Potential: 7
Highlights: Phasing, near limb removal.

Riley seemed to snap out of his daze with a full body twitch. He looked exceedingly concerned, if not disgusted like Darius. "Did I... It looked like I dissapeared, did I dissapeer?" He seemed a bit perturbed by this. "I mean, I thought i just dodged him but..." He looked at his own hand as though convinced it was going to fly off. "That's creepy dude..." He muttered to himself.

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MNEMOSYNE
Match Grade: A
Potential: 5
Highlights: Eye gouging, promptness.

When Dane came out of his trance, there were little droplets of blood running down his clenched fists. He unclenched them slowly and sat down, examining where his nails had bitten into him. He said nothing, seeming content to sit in silence.
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EREBOS

Match Grade: B+
Potential: 8
Highlights: Collarbone break, good avoidance skills.

As he came back into reality, Chris sighed. He was both repulsed and impressed with himself. Good avoidance skills. Is that what they're calling it.
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THEMIS

Match Grade: B
Potential: 6.5
Highlights: Spinal break, good finisher.

Oh come on, you're really going to force feed me this shit after that?

Devon made a quiet noise of exasperation as he finished watching, for the second time today, a gaping hole open up in his opponent's neck. He didn't know what was worse: The fact that no matter how tightly he squeezed his eyes shut he could still see it all, in high definition, zoomed in and slowed down just to make sure he could see the individual shards of bone resting in his neck cavity...or the fact that he had done that in the first place.
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COEUS

Match Grade: A
Potential: 6
Highlights: Good endurance, took a souvenir.

Jennica's eyes went wide in shock. For a moment she just stared, mouth hanging open in a rather dumb way and a smile slowly spreading across her face. That had been kind of fun but it was even better in high def. She had just watched herself, in slow motion, violently rip the girl's jaw loose before falling backwards. Admittedly she was kind of proud to see that she had successfully removed the most annoying part of that girl's face.

[Progress: The recreation room was discovered. Riley decided on volleyball as an activity. Chris knocked into Devon twice before Devon literally removed him from the playing field. Jennica discovered that she was the only one who had ever played on a volleyball team seriously and her mood improved significantly. She gave everyone pointers to improve the experience. Darius was originally against volleyball due to lack of sports skills until Riley convinced him to try. Jennica taught him how to serve, which he was good at, but lacked in his ability to actually volley. Riley himself failed to perform very well. Though he served and hit enthusiastically, he failed to keep the ball in the court. Dane refused to participate until everyone forced him to do so. He saved his team in a sense but was still new to this sport.]

As Darius awoke, he found himself looking down at his won hand, which was on the floor, fingers splayed out. He blinked groggily as the light that had woken him up brightened to daylight levels.

"It's time to wake up Titans." The orb's voice said.

Darius rolled over onto his back, sitting up, and reacquainting himself with the fact that he was, in fact, still kidnapped. And had killed someone... He shook himself, and stood up, realizing with a burst of irritation that he was no longer in the clothes he had fallen asleep in, but was instead in a pair of old plaid pajamas. They were his, but he hadn't worn them in around three years. They fit, but it didn't mean he liked them.

"Fucking..." He glared at the orb. "Did you put in these?" He asked irritably.

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When the light started to brighten, Riley turned over, making a low grumpy noise that suggested a quite serious lack of interest in waking up. When the orb spoke, he reached over to put a pillow over his head, but was foiled by the fact that it was attached to the bedspread. He groped around, eyes still closed, until he finally, grudgingly, opened his eyes.

He looked around, squinting through the light. "Welp...still here..." He said, sitting up. His hair was a flotilla of loose clumps, making him look like a particularly demented feather duster. He glanced down, and then sat up, swinging his legs out of bed. He paused for a second, to make sure the orb wasn't going to zap him, and stood. He admired the bathrobe he was in with approval. "Right... What's for breakfast?"

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Dane awoke with a start, which surprised him even more as he had been completely sure he would not ever sleep again. He swallowed the sour taste in his mouth and looked around as the orb told him it was time to get up. A quick survey showed that, yes, everyone was there. He had the sudden urge to go downwards, to run out of the door and find a way below...but there was no door and that was stupid. He sighed and sat up, noticing that he was dressed in his cloth cargo's, and not a whole lot else. It was his normal sleeping attire, but he felt a twinge of irritation. He would rather have a shirt if he was going to be in a room with five other people.

Chris sat up and yawned loudly, wincing as his jaw cracked. The leg of his sweatpants was bunched up under the blankets and he reached down to fix it with a little aggravated grunt before swinging his legs over the side of the bed. Chris tested the floor, a little confused as to why his carpet was so flat and hard, and he reached out groggily to shut the blinds of his wind-

"Crap." He muttered. Still not home. "Well I guess this is reality now. Fine. What's for..." Trailing off as he realized that a) someone had already asked that and b) Jennica was topless in the middle of the room. He cleared his throat and looked down at his lap.

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Devon's eyes fluttered open and he sighed. Mornings were never really his thing, especially mornings away from home. At least his pajamas weren't neon plaid. It was his opinion that an oversized t-shirt and a pair of shorts would suffice as sleepwear. His head rolled to the side lazily and he immediately groaned, shutting his eyes and rolling his head back into its original position.

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Jennica did not remember that she had been kidnapped. She did not open her eyes as she sat upright, planted her feet on the floor, and made her way towards the general direction of her kitchen. It took the odd sensation of what was most certainly not hardwood flooring to make her brows knit together and her eyes open halfway.

"Oh." She looked down at her bare chest and sighed. In a low grumble that suggested she was too tired to be legitimately upset about flashing an entire room full of teenage boys she added, "Good morning, everyone."

At least she had boxers on. She walked backwards to her bed, sat back down, and pulled the sheets up to cover herself.

"Merry fucking Christmas." She called with an impressive amount of sarcastic enthusiasm, adding a flamboyant arm gesture for good measure.

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Darius was midway through complaining about the selection of sleepwear to the inanimate orb when he noticed Jennica. He turned a lovely shade of red, and looked pointedly at the orb, and nowhere else.

"Okay." he muttered uncomfortably, realizing that despite his best efforts, he was still aware of being multiple places. "Not helping."

It was mercifully then that the wardrobe boxes slid up out of the floor. Darius sighed, looking over the selection. It was his normal fare, but he wondered idly if his captors just didn't quite get privacy. He shrugged to himself, pulling the plaid shirt over his head, and picking out a long black T-shirt.

He supposed that if he was going to end up being around these people for a while, he was going to have to get used to it. He switched pants with all due speed.

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Riley looked around again, glancing at Jennica, and giving her a sleepy thumbs up.

"So, breakfast?" he prompted again.

The wardrobe box slid out of the floor and he shrugged. "Fine have it your way, clothes first, breakfast second.

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Dane blinked. He supposed that he wasn't the worst off in the clothing department.

As his clothing slid from below, he sighed. He wasn't looking forward to this day.

Honestly Chris was almost content to stay in his sweatpants. He supposed, however, that he was probably going to be fighting people again and that overly baggy sweatpants would be counterproductive in that situation. At least he got to wear his own clothes. It could have been worse. There could have been uniforms.

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Devon made a point not to look at anyone while he was changing. He had nothing to say. The weird kid, the one who seemed to have become a completely different person after his fight, was right. This was reality now. Fine.

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"I know, right?" Jennica called in response to Riley, trying in vain to re-spike her flaccid mohawk after forcing a t-shirt over her head. "Major drag."

She didn't suppose they would supply her with any max-hold hair gel in the near future. That, too, was a major drag. Perhaps when she was more awake and less hungry she would be actively angry about it rather than mildly annoyed.

When everyone was fully dressed the orb whirred and began to speak. "Congratulations on your first diagnostic combat assessment." The orb said. "Today will mark the start of your training. We wish you the best of luck in surviving further events."

The Door slid open from what seemed to have been solid wall.

The hall outside appeared to be completely straight, much as the former one had been. Apparently, after the first escape attempt, the lure of alternative routes had been deemed too much of a risk.

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Darius looked worriedly at the door. The last time he had walked through that he had come back a murderer... He wasn't sure he wanted to try a second time. Still, when others started towards the door, he found himself following.

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Riley looked a bit grim, rather at odds with his neon yellow shirt.

"No breakfast, and now 'training'?" he said. "Not sounding like a good morning.

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Dane stood. "Well, at least we aren't going to get bored." He said, sarcasm permeating the phrase. As he approached the door, he spared a moment to wonder for the first time whether this was permanent. Somehow, that hadn't entirely sunk in before...

Chris sighed. He found himself sighing quite a lot lately. Somehow it didn't feel like anyone was actually wishing him luck in "surviving further events".

Ah, what does it even matter? You thought you were dead for four years anyway, so what if they make you right?

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"Is that all you care about? Food and tits?" Devon shot an annoyed glance at Riley as he made his way towards the door. Behind him, Jennica snorted.

"So what if that is all he cares about? In case you haven't noticed the situation we're in is kind of really fucking surreal. Kid found a reason to make jokes and smile. Good. Let 'im."
"Wow they sure did slim down these hallways." Devon said loudly, pointedly ignoring her (mostly because she was right). "Wonder why."
"My bad." Jennica yawned, stretching out her shoulders as she walked on. "Shame that. I would give my right lung to run into that beautiful bastard again."
Devon made a quiet noise of disgust in response.