The Variable Project ([Melappy X Kit-N-Kat])

[Wryneck]

"This one, too," a suited male spoke, motioning towards a young girl no older than eight.

Two men nodded and led her into the gray bus parked outside the orphanage. The establishment's owner watched on with a mixed look of relief and guilt. Relief that he'd no longer need to worry about her causing anymore trouble; guilt that he was giving such a young girl up to the government for god knows what.

They knew better than him how to deal with her type though. To him, that was all that mattered.

The girl didn't go easily. She was rambunctious, and tried to fight back. Unfortunately, her powers were useless against them — she couldn't even get them to work. Within seconds of her kicking and screaming fit's start, she was in the bus, being driven to what would be her new home.

All she'd remember from that night is that it was raining.

---

A familiar alarm resounded throughout the facility halls.

Laura Weiss grunted and opened her eyes. Sitting up, she looked about the small room she was afforded. Other than a small dresser and some personal belongings they afforded her, there wasn't much to see. She would've hated it if it wasn't all she knew.

"Rise and shine." A male's voice spoke through the door leading to her private quarters. She and several other Constants woke up to the same routine everyday. They didn't all share the same handler though.

Hers was a man named Michael, and she only shared him with one other — a girl named Eva. He was an alright person who just did his job. He tried his best to make their time here more enjoyable, but there wasn't much to be done for it.

They were prisoners that didn't know they were prisoners. Or rather, those who had yet to adapt didn't.

Laura knew better, but said nothing. Making a fuss in here would be like calling attention to oneself in the middle of enemy territory. She'd quickly be silenced, as so many others were.

Changing her outfit and fixing her hair, the redhead donned her trademark hat and left the room. As usual, Eva was up first, breakfast already in hand. They were woken up in alphabetical order, so that would always be the case.

Fetching her own morning meal of bacon, eggs, toast, and more bacon, she took a seat across from Eva. Though the two were competitive in training, they got along well enough outside of that. They'd be paired up as a unit once their training was complete, so they'd decided early on that it would do them both well to try to maintain some semblance of a friendship.

Talk is cheap though, and their teamwork was still very much rusty. They wouldn't be seeing any action anytime soon, to say the least.

"Same ol', same ol'?" she asked, knowing what a silly question it was.

 

[Kit-n-Kat]

"Screw you! Get off me! No! Get off me!" Sh Le had a rather vulgar language choice for someone as young as she was. Then again, growing up as she did. Kicking and yelling as they brought her towards the van, the girl continued her flailing struggle even after she got thrown after the van.

Seeing as a few of her old 'friends' had just seemingly submitted to her leaving, Eva knew that her window of opportunity was slowly decreasing and decreasing, as she found herself face down, half unconscious and half stunned. No way in hell she was just taking this at the moment. Why would she? Nothing to lose at this point.

Once she found herself waking up after the van, she took no time to make the biggest fuss she could - A small pulse from her abilities and promptly punching the nearest guard as hard as a 7 year old could.

~

"Yeah I'm up, I'm up.. Gimme a break, Michael, you know I'm up in a minute.."

The ringing of the alarm was still tough in the morning considering the training schedule, although Eva found it.. Too structured. Too irritating.

Although of course, Eva was the first one to bounce right out of bed, fix up her loose fitting tie, look through her relatively small mirror and get her hair all perfect for the day. Wasn't all that hard, though today she felt like tying it back with a rubber band. Might as well. Spice things up, as best as she could.

Getting her usual, relatively balanced meal, Eva was in the mood for some eggs. Just a few extra on her plate, then to the corner of the cafeteria which she and her partner Laura sat in. She always found it the easy way to find someone to bother. The only problem? Eva seemed to be getting burnt out of the routine, as much as she was. She was always searching for something, and everyone else on the base? None of them really.. Bothered anymore. None of them were fun in her mind.

So Eva was in a bit of a rut, half assed playing with her fork as she ate. As she did, she found Laura approaching her, maybe even a semblance of excitement from her friend and rival here in the facility. Eva sighed, looking up to Laura, propping her head in her hands and her shoulder on the table.

"Same ol', same ol'..." She droned off, a clear sign of her irritation with monotony here on the base. She shook her head, now just staring at her food. "Nothing's happened lately... We're not really doing anything." She shook her head, twirling her fork and seeming to bounce back, poking Laura in the nose with the flat end her fork. "Gotcha there!"

 

[Wryneck]

So their daily routine continued. Laura swatted the fork from the nose with enough force to get it out of her face, but not enough to send it flying from Eva's hand. "Yeah, yeah. Sometimes I wonder if we shouldn't just go crazy once, ya know? Too bad practice variables can't combat for shit."

It was true. Practice variables were much weaker than the real deals. Even for normal combat, practice versions were somewhat unreliable. That wasn't the only problem with the redhead's suggestion though, and she knew it. An outburst of any sort would be met with either indefinite detainment or a quick death. The government had their ways of dealing with rebels.

"Course with how well that'd go, we'd probably be better putting that effort into something silly, like breaking outta here." Laura motioned with her fork as she talked, slouching forward with her chin rested on her left palm. Kidding though she was, there was a little hope in her words. A hope that, maybe someday, such a thing would be possible. She was certain it wouldn't be now though. Once she opened her eyes, something, or rather, someone caught her attention behind Eva.

Silver.

"Don't look now," she whispered to Eva. "But it looks like the neighborhood babysitter is here."

 

[Kit-n-Kat]

Because of the way she held the fork, Eva was able to hold it in her fingers, twirling it as she seemed... More bored with the world in general. "Yeah.. I just wanna do something fun with our variables." She twirled her fork just a bit more, then going back to eating as Laura started talking to her.

Eva had experienced first hand the consequences of pushing the limits of the guards and those here at the facility. It was somewhat unfortunate, but it did give Eva some form of goals for her to reach on her adventures. Try to bend the rules a bit too much before someone decided to prod her, give her a massive headache, or until Silver showed up.

Laura's suggestion had somewhat caught Eva in for a loop, as she repeated that thought in her head a lot. Escape. Escape. Escape. Her signature borderline evil grin made it's way to her face, as she twirled her fork in her hand. Taking a few bites out of her food, she was admits her scheming and planning for her next venture, snapping her a bit out of the rut she had found herself in.

Not turning her gaze as instructed, Eva knew exactly what she would be in for if she was caught out by Silver at all. Time to act like the perfectly normal yet energetic protege. Returning her whisper to Laura, she seemed a rather bit serious, although joking as much as her voice had a bit of a twinge to it. "Oh joy, ready to expose my evil plans. Whoop de do, bite me.." She seemed to grumble, however, though her mind was mostly somewhere else.

 

[Wryneck]

Eva took the same attitude she always did when Silver was around — not that Laura expected her to react any differently. Her partner had always been more openly defiant towards authority figures than she was. While Laura wasn't one to take any crap, she didn't like causing herself unnecessary trouble either. The girl of brown hair just loved herself the attention.

"Yeah, I know you don't like 'er, but there's not much we can do about 'er right now. She's supposedly crazy strong. Even if she was being really annoying, I'd hate to go up against someone like that..." Leaving Silver to the background, Laura returned her gaze to the girl in front of her, now visibly elsewhere.

"You aren't coming up with some cockamamie idea, are you? We have it pretty good right now, ya know." Laura sat back in her seat and stretched — just as the alarm decided to sound a second time. A sigh escaped her lips as she rose with her tray in hand. "I can't help but feel they're starting us off earlier and earlier lately. Soon we won't even get breakfast."

 

[Kit-n-Kat]

Eva had already started to zone out into her little mind of ideas and planning, only being snapped back into reality by the sound of Laura scolding her for thinking about something. Though Eva herself had already missed out on what she said.

"Mm? Sorry, I think I mi-" The morning training alarm buzzed and Eva groaned, eating as much as she could in the span of about five seconds, then quickly throwing out the plate.

She threw the spare food out, then putting the plates back on the collection tray, before walking over to Laura, with a bit of a grin on her face and the usual bounce in her step. "Mmhph.. Look, I'm just gonna be looking for something for us to do, that's all? Tell me you haven't gotten bored by all the routine.." Eva asked Laura, before stepping next to her partner and walking down to the training hall, making sure to be quiet as to not alert Silver. If she was alerted, Eva would be in a shit ton of trouble, amplified by the fact that Eva never took anyone's shit.

 

[Wryneck]

Breakfast over with, the pair made their way towards the training room. Their supervisor would retrieve the practice variables they'd be using for the day. It didn't matter which one they got, because practice versions were universal. Anyone capable of Psychokinesis could use one, provided they were compatible with the type. For Laura, that was long range physical and long range mental. She felt a bit weird about the results of the first one, having always considered herself more of a hand to hand type of person. She appreciated the latter though, which allowed her to detect and locate Psychokinesis signals. Or at least, she would've appreciated it, if she had a use for it in everyday training. They'd been at it so long that the randomly generated simulation exercises didn't seem so random anymore.

The training room itself was huge. There were practice dummies along onside for short range variable users to practice on, and several targets spread out for long range users. There was also the simulation room, in which a more "advanced" level of training could be undertaken. None of it was really sufficient though, and the pair knew it. A real fight with another constant would be levels higher than any amount of training they could undergo here.

Today was different though. Silver was joining them in the training room. Standing at the room's head, she eyed each Constant as they entered, her gaze towards Eva slightly more intense than the others. Though not on good terms, this was one training session she thought even Eva need not miss.

"Attention, everyone!" one of the supervisors shouted. Attention was given. "Today's a special day. Our very own Silver has decided to take time out of her busy schedule to give you all a demonstration of what someone on her level can do."

"That's right," Silver carried on. "I'll give you all a little show, and then if anyone is feeling gutsy enough, maybe we can have a bout or two." Her survey of the room paused on Eva, and a smirk graced her lips. She'd know that'd be all it'd take. "My practice variable, please?"

The supervisor from earlier reached onto a nearby table and grabbed a small sphere, handing it to Silver. She was tall, and slender too. She lended herself well to flexibility.

Laura looked over to Eva every so often during the elder constant's spiel, hoping there wouldn't be an outburst. It could be saved for the bouts she proposed.

Variable in hand, Silver synced with it and the sphere instantly took the shape of a great sword. None of the trainees knew her type for certain, but it was probably safe to assume she was at least a short range user. Silver dashed towards the front row of constants and swiped with enough force to send a gust of wind through the crowd. No one in the front row was harmed, but most were now shaking. One of them fell backwards.

While impressed, Laura didn't like Silver's show of force. She couldn't say anything though. This woman was clearly well above her. Turning away from the crowd of students, Silver turned the great sword into a scythe and bumrushed one of the practice dummies, swinging the scythe with such speed that the dummy was completely severed — something most didn't think possible with a practice variable.

"It's all about speed." Her advice was like an answer to the question everyone had but no one asked. "Speed creates power, and you need as much of that as you can get while in battle, so I suggest those slowest among you practice keeping up in the simulation room."

Silver faced the crowd once more, and the practice variable reverted to a sphere.

"That being said, anyone up for a bout?"

Laura looked to Eva again, wondering if she'd take the offer. She'd no doubt that Silver would probably be harder on her than anyone else who might challenge her. "Ya gonna do it?"

 

[Kit-n-Kat]

Of course, Eva knew she was getting taunted before Silver even finished stepping into the room. Did she really care? Nope. She got a chance to throw a few blows out at Silver, and that would be worth just about every single punishment she would get about it later on. Not to mention Eva was sometimes a stubborn girl, and that sometimes she can be a bit difficult to deal with. Sometimes was the biggest understatement of the century.

She was somewhat too giddy throughout the entire show of force that she didn't exactly pay too much attention to the massive power gaps between both the other Constants and Silver, although with Eva? Well. To sum up the main thoughts in her mind - Land a single blow? Mission accomplished. Even challenging Silver? Well, either the others would think she was crazy or gutsy, and the crazy card was thrown out the window a long, long time ago.

What did that leave? Gutsy. Maybe a bit of respect. And landing a single hit? Simple enough. In bursts, Eva was one of the quickest out of their group. And if she had pulled herself to full power, for only enough time to land a hit, well, Eva was confident even Silver couldn't avoid. Of course, that was just how she thought.

Hardly waiting for Laura even to ask, Eva turned to look right at her partner and winked, before stepping forward and raising her hand in a rather odd salute. "Right here, I can guarantee you, the only one not as scared of you as you'd like, at your service." She finished her salute with a bit of a giggle, before stepping right up front to the group, and turning to the training supervisors with an outstretched hand, waiting for any of the practice Variables. Unfortunately for her, Eva wasn't even close to prepared for the absolute ass kicking that was about to fall over her.

 

[Wryneck]

A smirk graced her face as soon as the girl's hand was raised. There wasn't ever any doubt that it'd shoot up as soon as the opportunity was presented. The only misconception between the two, other than the obvious difference in their power levels, was exactly who that opportunity was for. More than for Eva, it was a chance for Silver to show all the other Constants-in-training just why they should all stay in line and do as they're told.

"Eva Castillon-LeBlanc, Constant ID#13. Short-range physical, short-range mental. Enhanced reflexes and perception. The Variable Project's own troublemaker. Is that about right?"

When Eva approached, one of the supervisors gave her one of the short-range practice variables. A knowing smile plastered on his face. Most weren't as nice as Michael was. Whereas he actively took interest in those under his care, the others just wanted to enjoy watching one of the juniors get curbstomped. Many of them were of the opinion that, with the strength of the Constants they already had in the field, these younger ones were a liability.

Laura watched in dismay from the back, knowing the inevitable conclusion of the impending fight. While she viewed her friend's confidence with admiration, she knew it could sometimes show in excess. Despite her worries, she couldn't help but wonder how well she'd do against Silver. Most of her hoped she'd never have to find out.

Their variables ready, the two took up positions opposite each other near the center of the room. The field was clear of obstacles, so there'd be nothing getting in the way. Silver threw away her smile for a more serious expression, as she always bore in a fight, be it casual or more urgent.

"After you," Silver spoke, transforming the practice variable she held into a sword resembling a katana.

 

[Kit-n-Kat]

"Troublemaker and the only girl gutsy enough to actually take each challenge she's given." Eva clarified and hyped herself up, cracking her knuckles as she took the Variable in her left hand. It took her a moment to properly get in the moment, with a few breaths which she used to orient herself for the battle. The only thing stopping her from taking a proper stance on the other end of the floor was basically the hype Eva had created for herself.

Holding the practice Variable, Eva usually chose the route of a bladed gauntlet on her left arm. She was ambidextrous, and she found that in the event she needed to use her surroundings for assistance, her right hand would be dedicated just for that. That's pretty much the only reason she would choose left over right, but it really.. Didn't matter in hindsight.

She shaped her Variable to it's usual weapon form, a dagger with a serrated edge, which Eva currently held in a backhanded form. She got herself ready for her stance and took her cue, waiting for Silver to say she was ready. Before Silver was comfortably finished with her statement of engaging, Eva had already began her rush forward to her enemy, dagger in hand. It was clear she was already using her abilities, speeding up her perception of the fight pretty drastically. Only problem is, the fight would likely only last a minute or so.

Eva's plan here was to direct Silver's strikes right to her center of mass, and at this point dodging one or two strikes wouldn't be too difficult. That is, unless Silver was a lot, a lot faster than she was before. As she rushed for Silver, Eva lunged for her with the tip of her knife out, ready for the proceeding strikes, hoping she could land at least this.

 

[Wryneck]

Eva wore her confidence on her sleeve. Were it not about to be her own undoing, Silver would've been impressed with the way the girl emanated with it. 'Maybe if confidence was enough to win battles.' Her opponent's weapon of choice was a serrated blade — an unusual choice, taking into consideration the form she usually went with. Was she trying to go for a surprise tactic?

As she expected, the younger female took the chance at initiating the duel. Revealing no hints as to her amusement, Silver readied herself for the incoming attack. It was evident in her speed that she was already using her mental type variable. 'This won't last long then...' she thought to herself. A lunge — a rather simple attack. No need to expend her energy on flashier moves that would be met with the same futility.

Once Eva was close enough for her liking, Silver swung her katana from her left side with her right hand — her target, the incoming blade. If she connected, the impact would redirect Eva's rush and send her flying past her to the right, where Silver would quickly follow through with an upward slash that would send the girl's weapon flying up and out of her hands.