I Am A Horrible Person
Dan walked to dinner with everybody.
They were silent; almost in memorial for Connor. It made them furious to think that Brant was the cause of Connor's death- Brant was the one in charge of this, after all.
"I can't eat," Tyler said, pushing away his food. He didn't know if Troye was okay- he knew Connor wasn't okay- and it was driving him crazy.
"You have to," Dan urged. It wasn't a matter of want. It was a matter of necessity. Tyler ate the food slowly and chewed it like it was cardboard, hair turning a gray color and eyes growing dull.
"To Connor," Hannah said after a long silence, holding up her water cup. Everyone else said, 'To Connor' and they drank the water. It was like they were saying goodbye.
Troye didn't know.
Tyler had tears streaming down his face, not quite breaking down, and yet, not quite put together.
"Who else isn't here yet?" Dan asked, leaning into Phil (actually, Phil was leaning into Dan- and eating all of his food. Damn was he hungry.).
"Just Troye and Joey," Shane shrugged.
"What's keeping them?" Mark wondered. Nobody seemed to have a good answer.
"The next class is good, I promise." Dan said softly, threading his fingers through Phil's hair. Phil closed his eyes a bit and leaned into the touch- it felt nice after the weeks of solitude. Everybody who'd had Ben agreed.
"Thanks," Phil said, burying his face in Dan's neck. For the most part people attempted to ignore the palpable adorableness radiating off of them- actually, it might have been something else.
"Uh- Phil?" Dan said, looking into Phil's eyes.
They were pitch black.
"Dan?" Dan's eyes were bright white, like a sunbeam.
"What do you know?" Jon said, "You're like Yin and Yang. The phangirls were right."
"Shut up," Phil joked. The conversation became lighter and with more laughter- Tyler even joining in for a while- and strayed from Connor.
"We're not going to lose anybody else, right?" Tyler asked.
"Nope." Hannah said with such determination that it impressed Ingrid.
.o0o.
That night, Ben started to talk about something different.
"We have some Level 2 Agents," He seemed a bit stricter, "They will be sparring with you-" There were guards near by. That explained it, "And if you can beat them, you will move up a rank. If they can beat you, they move up a rank and... you will be punished." He grimaced. A grim feeling settled over the people.
"You may choose one person to team up with," Ben said, "They will be your partner nearly permanently, so choose wisely."
The choices people made were pretty obvious, weren't they? Dan and Phil, Hannah and Ingrid, Mark and Jon (because why not?), and leaving Tyler, Shane, and Louise to be by themselves- Tyler and Shane because the people they would partner with were still Level 1, and Louise because she was too polite to break apart anybody's group.
Dan and Phil were up first. They were facing a rather scared-looking girl in pigtails and a brutish man with beady black eyes. Dan motioned for Phil to take the girl, and Dan would fight the other one. The fight started and the girl threw a punch at Phil's torso, hitting him in the ribs. He flinched a little and shook it off, using a blast of light to knock the little girl back, eyes flashing dark. Dan's brightened as he took on the man, who'd gotten in a few good blows before Dan could retaliate. The man slipped under the shadowy tendrils to sweep kick Dan to the ground. And, of course, Dan had to land on his wrist. He cried out, and Phil became angry. Instead of a gentle, bright light that flowed from his hand, he let out a beam of light that could only be described as fire-like. It sparked from his fingers and was a reddish-yellowish glow that knocked their opponent down. The little girl roundhouse kicked Phil in the jaw, a nasty cracking sound could be heard. From his spot on the ground, Dan turned into a shadow and stood up. He walked over to the brutish man and wrestled him out of the ring- difficult when you can't really use your arm. That was one opponent down. The girl got in another kick and Dan put her in a choke-hold so she passed out and carried her off.
"Congratulations, Howell and Lester!" Everyone on their side cheered. Louise pressed her hand to Phil's face and concentrated, and Phil felt a tremendous pain in his jaw and then... nothing. It had been healed.
"Lou, you genius!" Phil hugged her. Louise did the same with Dan and then walked over to the other side. Some of the opponents gasped- wasn't it her job to defeat them?- and she healed the brutish man with the beady eyes and the girl with the pigtails. In that second, they looked so grateful.
Then Louise was called into the ring to fight an opponent. A smaller man with very, very visible ribs.
"I'm so sorry," Louise said, grabbing his head. He grew weaker in the knees and slowly fell down, not even given a chance to fight back. Louise dragged him off before healing him again.
"So, so sorry," Louise smiled down at him before joining her own side. Her, Dan, and Phil were each given a patch to be sewn onto their outfits.
"You will move to the Level 3 containment units." Ben said gently, as he said everything, "Trust me. They're much nicer. I think in Level Four you're actually at a higher rank than some of the operatives, and guards are at Level Eight." Saying things that weren't necessarily allowed not absolutely banned was his specialty, "And, of course, Brant is Level Ten."
"At Level Six, you are allowed to attend meetings. At Level Seven, it becomes almost mandatory. Level Eights and Nines are in Brant's personal circle, and are treated like kings." Ben said in a voice that was lower than the congratulations of everyone else.
"At Level Six, you get a extra clothes and your own showers and to room with your partners," Ben said, "So shoot for there. That's where it all gets okay."
That's where it all gets okay.
Better than what Connor got.
"I hope Troye and Joey join us soon," Tyler remarked, as he, Shane, and Louise were the only ones who would be getting their own rooms and, trust me, they were lonely as shit.
"We all do," Dan said.
Throughout all this, sparring was still going on. Jon and Mark made a surprisingly good team, Jon and Mark both being able to move things with their minds. Of course, the Smosh fight was almost ridiculous- in fact, I'm entirely convinced Ian just told the people to walk back out and say 'Uncle'.
"Well, let's get you to your new rooms," Ben said, the guards leading them down a different hallway than they were used to.
When Dan got to his new room, the concrete... everything... was gone. The walls were plaster and the floors metal. The cot was still there, and the toilet didn't look like it would give Dan some sort of nasty disease. Dan settled on the cot and started to sing, because dammit, singing is a nice way to pass time.
"So this is what you meant, when you said you were spent. And now it's time to build from the bottom of the pit right to the top, don't hold back. Packin' my bags and givin' the Academy a rain check. I don't ever wanna let you down. I don't ever wanna leave this town. 'Cause after all, the city never sleeps at night. It's time to begin, isn't it, I get a little bit bigger but then I'll admit, I'm just the same as I was! Now don't you understand, that I'm never changin' who I am." Dan sang, sleep taking him over, feeling strangely content. He knew where he could go. He could gain power. He wasn't just a slave.
.o0o.
Dan woke to a guard knocking on his door. He groaned, stretching. He got up and the guard led him outside, where he expected to see General Brant. He was not disappointed in that aspect, let's just say.
"Level Threes, huh?" He said, "Well, your friends are Level Twos. If they're lucky, they'll get to fight someone every night and they'll catch up to you in no time." He sounded a bit... proud? He seemed to be a bit easier on them, and they even got a water break.
.o0o.
Dinner was a bit earlier than normal, and they realized just how much they appreciated that. Hannah and Ingrid shared a kiss that earned a wolf-whistled from Shane, who was smacked on the back of the head by Louise.
It was around this point that Dan realized that things were looking up. But he kept seeing the image of Connor, eyes glazed over, neck snapped. He realized that all the smiles around the table were forced. They could see it too.
That single image fueled a rebellion. Against Brant, against the little pigtailed girl and the man with beady black eyes. Against the skinny man Louise fought. Against every single guard that hadn't stopped what happened to Connor. They were all responsible. And they would all pay.
Dancing monkeys, my ass.