Happy Holidays Everyone!

Delta

A young lab tech walked briskly through the sea of doors on either side. He quickly looked at a large slab of glass before several images appeared through the glass, reflecting four different youths and a large number twelve floating next to their faces. Their cold faces looked back at him, as he stared at the report in front. He walked past a few set of doors before stopping at the large door labeled 12.

Pulling a small keycard from out from his electric slab of glass before sliding it in front of the door. It slid opened noiselessly to reveal a large room with several pieces of furniture but besides that, empty. He poked his head in quickly, searching the room, as if they were hiding. I couldn't resist any more.

“Boo!” I yell, my face an inch from his ear. I had never seen any one jump as high as he did. It wasn’t even a successful landing. He looked up at me from the ground as I stood in front of my team, my dark green eyes piercing his own brown.

“Please stop doing that,” He said slowly getting back to his feet. I only smile as a response.

“It's fun,” I responded as the man quickly got to his feet and dusted off his jacket. “We finally get to do something to you people and observe your reaction.” Beta chucked quickly behind me. The man only put his glasses back on before closing the door, anger radiating off his face. He gestured for us to follow before starting off down the hallway.

“Please, this is a professional corporation here,” He muttered, so low he thought we couldn't hear. “Quit acting like animals.”

“Now hurry up and fight like an animal for your own life,” His voice came through out minds as Beta mimicked the voice exactly. We all chuckled, which seemed to annoy the lab tech even more. His face turned red as he turned away and walked off, muttering curse words and insults.

“Can I hit him?” Epsilon thought to the group. “Please?” Before any of us could respond, he jumped forward silently sliding a blade across the rails on his wrist. It soundlessly slid and locked into place by a set a gears built by Alpha. With in a second, his hand disappeared, covered by the blade extended over his wrist. He walked towards the lab tech, his noiseless footstep unsurpassed by any. Even his heart beat seemed to stop before he lashed outwards, swinging the back of his arm around before the back metal of the blade made contact with the lab tech's head.

He soundlessly went down, as if someone had pulled the plug and he ran out of juice. Catching him quickly, Epsilon dragged him into our old room and grabbing his keycard.

“Well, no turning back now.” Epsilon said quickly, waving the keycard over our door before it closed with a electrical swish. I only nodded as a reply.

“Lets see how long this fun filled field trip will last this time,” Alpha said anti-optimisticly. Beta rolled her eyes at him.

“Oh Alpha, don’t be such a downer,” Epsilon added started down the hallway, Beta in toe. I shrugged as I walked back, following Epsilon.

“So, I would hate to be a downer...” Alpha started catching up. “But where exactly are we going? I mean, there really isn't a clearly marked exit route.”

“Maybe there is!” I say, sarcastically. “We might have just need to ask. Maybe there has always been an exit and we just never thought to-”

“Shhh” Epsilon said, cutting me off. I shut my mouth quickly as he and Beta took up either side on the hallway. Beta waited, listening. After what felt like an hour, Beta raised a hand with three fingers held upward. I let out the breath I didn’t even realize I was holding.

Epsilon made eye contact with everyone in the group before holding up his own hand. He held his hand in a fist and tapped it with his first finger twice. Their silent signal for "Ready?" We responded by tapping our fists with one finger once, the sign for "Lets do this."

Epsilon snapped his wrists and a spring released and a safety slid back, releasing the blades on his forearms and shooting them forward rapidly. There was a ripple in the air around him and a half second later, he had completely vanished just as the two security sentinels came into view. One quickly raised his weapon at the sight of us, shouting something to the other before pulling the trigger. Before he could however, the gun shot upwards, embedding countless bullets in the ceiling before a secondary force sent the first to the ground. Before its partner could react, his legs quickly flew to one side before his body followed. He flipped completely horizontal before he hit the ground hard.

Before the last sentinel hit the floor, Epsilon came back in to view and put his hands together and rotated one of them 180 degrees. "All clear?” Beta flashed the sign back. He nodded and gestured down the hallway. The rest of them ran down the hallway, their footstep's making micro sonic sounds on the stone floor, using the keycard to get out of the room of doors.

Quickly passing Limbo, they continued running passing another set of doors, rooms containing experiments whose tests would start that day. Beta could sense fear, as if a fog, emitting from those rooms. It was the same fear she and the rest of her team had felt on numberless occasions. She released her breath, trying to focus on the world instead of the fear.

Blinded by the sensation she felt, she nearly collided with Gamma, who had stopped abruptly. Her mind snapped back into the real world as she saw her team standing by a large wall. Alpha was studying the wall for a moment. A large steel door stood before them, seamless blending into the wall. A large control panel sat off to the side, a panel they had seen lab techs and sentinels use when they dragged the test losers through it.

“Let's see how far we get this time,” Alpha said, lacking optimism in his voice as he stared at the door. Epsilon opened his mouth to respond before he saw the metal in the door slowly start to swirl around him. Layer by layer, a small section of metal stripped off the door swirling around the room before succumbing to gravity in the air and falling to the ground, leaving a large gaping hole in the door in front of a pile of sandy metal.

With a sweep of his hand, Alpha invited everyone through the opening before entering and starting off down the hallway. He waited until the rest of the group got through before the dust swirled around the room again, swirling around and connecting, forming a seamless connection with the door, removing any trace that they had passed through.

They ran down a flight of stairs, each of them jumping the last ten steps and landing noiselessly on the floor below. They turned the corner and continued the process, the stairs making a small u-turn. They turned a corner and came face to face with a fork in the road.

"What now?" Beta asked. The question wasn't directed to anyone as much as it was directed to herself. The rest of the group knew what she was doing and that it was rhetorical so no one answered. She closed her eyes and stood completely still for a few seconds, feeling a small psychic wave bounce off the wall. Then she opened her eyes, the psychic echolocation ending before pointing to the left side.

"This way," she said, already making her way down her selected hallway. No one questioned her. She was never wrong. They followed her down her selected hallway, running down it for a few minutes until they ran into another set of sentinels. They quickly melted into the shadows, evading the gaze of the sentinels.

Beta studied them carefully. They looked different, unusual even. They stood with an air about them that stuck out to the entire group. For one, their weapons were different. In lue of the usual assortment of projectile weapon the Titans were use to, they held long metal batons, both ends humming with electric energy. They stood differently too, more alert and more attentive; as the Titans, who had training, would stand.

“Salvaged,” Gamma projected to the group, pointing to a patch on their uniform. The number 2 surrounded by a round incomplete circle ending with an arrow. Alpha and Beta shot Gamma a confused look before she explained.

“Salvaged, also known as recycled, are failed test subjects with potential. Instead of disposal they are used again as sentry units. They, unlike your run of the mill rent a cop, have training, special skills and weaponry. And even worse than that, a grudge.” Gamma ended, pointing at the nearest member of the group, who just so happened to resemble the man Epsilon had knocked out in their battle yesterday.

“We have some experience with the Salvaged don't we Gam?” Epsilon projected, smiling slightly as he remembered their own escape plan, put into action several years earlier. Then grimaced as he remembered how badly scarred he was after that fight. “They are not to be underestimated. We strike hard. We strike quick. Don't give them a chance to hit back.” The rest of the group nodded.

Epsilon sucked in a deep breath of air before taking off running, emerging from the shadows as if breaking the surface of water. The Salvaged saw him immediately and turned to face him. With a quick rotation of his wrist, Epsilon extended the blade on his wrist before running low. A sentry anticipated the attack and lowered the baton, the blue sparks dancing around the air, sending adrenaline through Epsilons blood stream.

His body tipped backwards and Epsilon felt the ground come up to meet him as his run was transitioned into a slide, propelling his body under the dangerously close sparks. He grabbed two recycled's legs before quickly standing up, throwing them horizontal before they too met the ground and fell flat.

A green mist materialized in the center of the battle field before Gamma rose from the ground, jumping up into the middle of the fray. Stealing a baton from one of the fallen recycled, she tossed it over to Alpha. The baton slowed in mid air as a thin mist of dust swirled around the rod before an explosion rent the air and the rod broke into hundreds of large sharp splinters.

The shrapnel floated in the air for a moment as Beta held them up with her arms straight above her head. She brought them down and forward in one fluid motion and the splinters became deadly projectiles each one shooting directly at the remaining sentinels.

They hit them at full speed, Epsilon could hear each one whiz past his head as they sailed past him and embedded themselves in their attackers, before he felt gravity take over as he fell through a portal at his feet and resumed his position with his team. With in a matter of seconds the battle was over. Every recycled lie immobile on the floor in front of them. Epsilon held out both of his hands into fists and had the thumbs pointed straight up, then he put both fists together. Their sign for “Good Work Everyone." The rest of the group smiled, remembering the old sign and flashed it back.

Then they continued down the hallway again, hiding the fallen guards and their weapons, save a baton Gamma stole, in the first open room they found. This hallway, they quickly discovered, consisted of the same tiny rooms the previous hallway contained. Experiments, ready for their tests. They turned the corner again to find staring down a large hallway with nothing but doors on either end.

They walked slowly through the room, trying not to draw attention or make any noise. The doors had no windows on them but Beta could sense there was only one occupant in each room. More fear than the other doors they passed by. She was overwhelmed by the fear of the occupants she could hardly sense anything else but her team. Her eyes quickly darted around, trying to remember what Epsilon taught her about minding her surroundings naturally. Her concentration was shattered by a loud piercing scream.

“Sector 8, respond,” a loud distorted voice called from behind them. The four whirled around toward the sound of the voice. The hallway was empty.

“Sector 8! Respond!” The voice repeated. A moment later, they realized it was coming from the radio clipped to a recycled's belt. Epsilon quickly ran over, opened the door and picked up the radio. Epsilon looked over and they just shrugged. A moment later, a loud siren emitted from above them.

“Well, that was quick,” Gamma said, looking upward at the flashing red alarm.

“This never would have happened if we just stayed in the room like I wanted to,” Alpha said smugly over the loud shrill repeating tone.

“Shut up,” Epsilon yelled over the alarm.

“Quick, in here,” Beta said pressing a button on the closest door, it quickly slid open and they all rushed it. Epsilon pressed the button again and the door closed, sealing them in.

They all pressed their ears against the door, listening. The door was thick so any outside noise was heavily muffled. They started to hear footsteps fill the outside hallway and shouts of orders and commands. Epsilon was still holding the radio and heard several people shouting indistinctly.

“Where are they?” Epsilon heard one of the men outside shout. He didn't know if he was referring to himself and the rest of the Titans or the men they had incapacitated and hid. They all heard footsteps around the door and each held their breath.

“Don't bother, they wont be able to hear you anyway,” came strong voice from behind them.