01. ARCH Assemble! Pt. 2

After Georgie's arrival, things were calm. Suspiciously so.

Now that there were three of them, they started what the Lieutenant called "tactical training". It was mostly a lot of running and pushups and team building and planks.

6 weeks of this training, and all three wanted to strangle each other. Their coordination was terrible, their teamwork was clumsy, and their trust in each other was essentially nonexistent.

How does an adult get three kids to get along? Lock them in a deadly and elaborate escape room where their cooperation is absolutely necessary to getting out.

Surprisingly enough, it worked. Lieutenant Sage opted to only monitor for signs of danger in case an agreement couldn't be reached. Otherwise, there was no telling what happened.

With this development, the woman decided that it was time for another subject to be retrieved.

Like Seph, Jade was a fairly isolated child, but her intelligence was nothing like the woman had ever seen before. Her mind would be an integral part of the team.

That's how Seph ended up behind a glass wall surrounded by lasers. On the other side of the glass stood Jade. Lieutenant Sage stood behind her with a smile.

"You have 15 minutes to disarm the system before those lasers cut through and kill your new friend here."

Seph and Jade looked at Sage with the most raw terror they had ever felt. Sage left with no further explanation.15 minutes remaining.

Jade immediately pulled open the circuit panel, seeing what she had to work with. It was a standard mother board, used in most of the remaining technology. Simple enough.

The small tablet she'd arrived with was hooked up to the computer in a matter of seconds. She clicked away at the screen, working to override the system and shortout the board. 9 minutes remaining.

As the timer ticked by, the small beams moved closer to Seph little by little.

"Ah!" Seph pulled her arm closer to her body. A small line was now seared into her skin. Jade looked up for a moment before typing faster. She finally got through the firewall and was able to override the computer. 2 minutes remaining.

Jade moved to the box and looked at all the wires. One of these would short the system and one of these would. . . well, she hoped it didn't come to that. 'Most people favor their right side over the left side in these situations and the blue wire over the red. But, the blue is on the left and the red is on the right,' she thought. 1 minute and 30 seconds remaining.

'Screw it!' Jade cut the blue wire.

Seph let out a shaky breath as the red lines disappeared from around her.

"This is Joan. You guys make sure she feels welcome."

After that, Joan kept to herself. She followed along in training, but outside of that she was like a ghost. It took almost a year for her to even sit comfortably at meals. But, it was good enough for the Lieutenant.

The next one was a wildcard in all meanings of the word. Submitted into the raffle by a neighbor she believed and, of course, chosen in the drawing. However, weeks long surveillance and the small file put together showed the boy to be promising.

Seph frowned, finding herself in the little, white room again.

The door opened, revealing a taller, gangly kid with dark hair.

Seph pulled her knees up to her chest and studied him quietly. He looked scared, not entirely unusual. It was a common expression worn in the other facility.

The boy took a similar position in the corner opposite of Seph. He made no effort to look at her, only staring at the floor. It was quiet as small sniffles filled the air.

"It'll stop hurting, eventually. Whatever it is."

". . ."

Seph stood up with a sigh. She walked to the door, waiting for it to open. Her head hurt. This was ridiculous.

"What's your name?"

". . .Kaito." Finally.

"Well, not to be the bearer of bad news, but it would be wise to realize that you won't see him again as quickly as possible. Makes things easier when you don't have attachments. I'm Seph, by the way."

Finally, the door opened, and Seph left. Kaito was left with his thoughts and Seph's words. Not a good combination.

Later, Seph found out that the Lieutenant had given Kaito a notebook from his home. It was chalk full of stories and facts he'd learned from the people in his camp. What was the point? He wouldn't remember it anyway.

"This is Osamu. You four will be kind to him, won't you?"

"Yeah, sure." "Of course!" Georgie and Julia agreed. Joan gave a thumbs up without looking away from her screen.

"Seph?" The Lieutenant looked at the child pointedly.

Seph rolled her eyes. "Mhm."

Training was a nightmare. The first four ARCH members moved in sync, following one another in their training smoothly. Naturally, having been there the longest, Georgie, Joan, and Julia gravitated towards Seph on guidance. She knew what WCKED and the Lieutenant expected of them. It was best to go with what she said if they didn't want to end up in isolation.

However, Osamu didn't seem to get that memo. If Seph said up, he went down. If Seph said left, he went right. If Seph ran through a training session before them and explained it after, he would question every suggestion she made. At meals, he got along perfectly fine, cracking jokes and making the other three members laugh. It just seemed like when Seph was involved, he flipped.

It irritated Seph to no end. But, that was Kaito, she realized, not Osamu. Eventually, she stopped trying. She figured he would come around after he got tired of being scolded for not passing their training sessions.

And, he did. After 3 years.

Their first mission had been less than ideal. The Lieutenant had a 30-minute lecture after the debriefing. This time, Seph and Osamu were handcuffed to each other for an entire training session, and every one after that for 2 weeks.

The next mission arrived. Again, less than ideal on account of they almost lost Joan.

"This is why you listen to me! I'm not just saying shit because I want to. Our lives depend on us working as a team. Joan almost died, Osamu. I don't know what your problem is, but you need to get it together. You're gonna get someone killed."

Lieutenant Sage was pleased to see Seph taking on her leadership role. The animosity seemed to resolve itself within the year and a half following that conversation.

Perfect timing.

Seph had been called to the Lieutenant's after their last training session for the week. When she went in, she saw a boy much younger than her.

"Um, you called, Lieutenant?"

"Yes, this is Alexander. I figured you could spend some time with him while he got acquainted."

"Yes, Lieutenant."

Out walked Seph and Alexander hand-in-hand. It was a long weekend; it was also the shortest two days of Seph's life. Alexander was a sweet kid. He didn't seem very angry, like Andrew had been, or gifted like Joan. He didn't even blur the line between smart and stupid like Osamu. He was just a kid.

Seph didn't like that. They were all just kids, but this was outrageous. By the first dinner of the new training week, he was just another subject.

"Everyone meet, Eddie."

That night the Lieutenant sat at her desk and looked at the bulletin board with each subject looking back at her. She glanced over at the monitor showing the inside of the other facility as well as the mazes.

"Chancellor, Lieutenant Sage reporting that Phase One is complete. We may proceed with Phase Two."

"Glad to hear it, Lieutenant."

────────────────────────

ARCH has been formed. Lieutenant Sage,
being a little bit of a self-insert,
is a lot of fucked up.
You're gonna love to hate her.

Hopefully, this gives y'all some
better insight into how the team
came to be the way they are and also
why it took Eddie so long to join (bombastic, criminal offensive side-eye to Osamu 😒).

Don't forget to vote and comment.

xoxo, Sage ♡