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Week Three - This will thread will contain a week's worth of writing exercises to be completed each day. I'm going to award W.P. (writing points~) for completed assignments, and to give myself less math this time, it's 1 W.P. per regular assignment, 5 per bonus. If I make a super bonus assignment, I will tell you what it's worth individually. (Please bear in mind that I will not award points / will deduct points for incomplete / improperly completed assignments and I cannot award points past the days of the week in question. Thank you.)

You may do as many or as few as you please. Anyone is allowed to join up at any time, but please let me know in a PM if you want to be added to our tag list because only people on the tag list will be awarded points. Also, you may leave the exercises at any time. Please tell me if you wish to be removed, though. I will not remove you unless you request it.

Our goal here: Fun, encouragement of young and old writers, and self-improvement. :D

ONE IMPORTANT RULE: PLEASE DO NOT REPLY TO ANY OTHER WRITER'S POST. I created a feedback thread, please use it: Link! My insistence on this is to ensure that other writers can edit as needed, and while it is possible to unlock posts, it's best not to create any more work for our admins / mods than necessary. Thank you for your cooperation. =) 

Monday! - The theme? "Character relations / interactions."

Create four characters who cannot stand each other. Gives us names, brief back stories with their reasons for hating each other. (Idea / theme for this week provided by @ISentinelPenguinI -- thank you, Sent.)

Bonus: Following up the trope theme from last week, just try to identify or incorporate some common tropes. There are several regarding hatred, rivalries, exc. (As usual, please state which tropes and to get the bonus, you only need to identify or incorperate two--but go nuts if you wanna.)

@Will11 , @TheNewIAP , @Ogre11 , @Kwism1127 , @ecoLyte , @Beagle , @Ford , @betaband , @Claw2k11 , @Dynamism , @SonicTurboTurtle , @DerpBacon , @Romulus , @galobtter , @Swiftstryker , @BenCrucifix , @31TeV , @MadHattersDaughter , @At_Your_Throat , @LeoScales7 , @Tim36D , @Jibble , @NightBirdBlue , @3173v3 , @Vampwolfie

I’ve got for ideological rather than personality differences for this one :D

 

John Havelock is a Fundamentalist Christian of the deepest faith, all his life he followed the word of the Bible and actively tried to apply it in his everyday life. He takes the Gospel literally, believing the earth was created in six days and such things as abortion and homosexuality are sins. He has a vague sense that he is socially unsuccessful and uses his religion as a way of giving himself value: he genuinely believes because he is more religious he is better than everyone else.

Michelle Horne is a Radical Feminist. She regards the slightest act of condescending behavior as an egregious sin continuing thousands of years of male oppression over female: men holding doors open for her or giving up their seat for her on buses is enough to drive her into apoplectic rants. She sees religion as one of many tools men uses to oppress women and as a staunch atheist this puts her at odds with Havelock.

Thomas Young is a White Supremacist who considers any white person who intermarries or even talks to someone with a different colored skin as a blood traitor. An enthusiastic Holocaust Denier he is opposed to all the things the Nazis were opposed to including organized religion, homosexuality and of course Jews. Outspoken and even slightly psychotic he has served multiple jail terms for hate crimes.

Bill Grey is a survivalist who just doesn’t like people full stop. He has been living in the wilds of Canada for the last five years and has emerged with a fervent hatred of the human race in general, specifically the way they are destroying the planet, killing animals and has nothing but contempt for materialistic cultures. Moody and uncommunicative he can suddenly explode into furious rants when someone says something he especially disagrees with.

 

The storyline would involve these four being trapped in a lift or possibly a train carriage together for several hours :D

Going for the bonus, so included two tropes.

Ethel Bouquet is a middles class, catholic conservative woman. She can act rather snobbish, and has an inflated ego. She likes to think that she is a respectable socialite, with all the airs and graces of a proper lady. She has three young children, who are almost as important to her as her social standing, and she will talk about them incessantly at any opportunity. The Large Ham trope fits her quite well.

Gerald Bouquet is Ethel’s husband of twelve years, and he has grown to be thoroughly fed up of her. However he’s a bit of a dweeb, and a massive pushover, and so doesn’t stand a chance if he attempts to disagree with her over anything. Because of this he generally just allows his wife to decide his opinions for him, and only grumbles about it when she is out of earshot. He has considered becoming an alcoholic to help him vent his emotions, but he’s too scared that Mrs Bouquet would find out.

Gareth “Snoop Kitten” White is Ethel and Gerald’s neighbour. In his late-twenties, he still hasn’t quite accepted that he’s no longer a student that can spend his life as a mixture of partying and sleeping. He’s a far left political activist, although the only ideology he’s truly behind is the legalisation of marijuana. His weekly parties, drug usage and avid atheism all make him arch enemy to Ethel, and hence Gerald too. He’s also, like, a New Age Retro Hippie, dude.

Lucy Green is a pretty young woman about the same age as Gareth, and lives across the street from the others. She’s an extremely shy recluse, who tries her hardest to avoid the other characters. However, Gareth has a massive crush on her, but she dislikes him due to his noisy parties and drug usage. Ethel will talk to her at any opportunity in an attempt to be the local socialite. She’s rather sympathetic of Gerald, and Ethel has grown to be jealous of her due to her young age and good looks.

1. Biff Boorstein. Biff hates girls. It is not that he is gay, just annoyed. Every interaction he has ever had with females has ended up bad for him. He has had bad relationships, bad bosses, and bad sisters. For the longest time he thought if he’d just meet the “right” one that everything could work out. But he has learned that is not the case. He has sworn off females entirely and just can’t stand anything about them. Party because of that, he has really become a slob. He is overweight and tends to not tend to his own personal hygiene. Since he’s not trying to impress anyone, he really doesn’t care.

2. Lilly Porter. Lilly likes being pretty. She takes great care in her own appearance and spends hours each day ensuring she looks her best. She isn’t out to impress any one person, she just thinks that everyone should always look their best. She doesn’t like anything that’s “gross” and the grosser and smelly something or something is, the more she will dislike it. She hates anyone who doesn’t look as impressive as her, though because of her high standards, no one will ever be quite that impressive…but at least they can try.

3. Tamara Mae Hill. Tamara is an extreme introvert. She avoids people at all times. She works from home as an editor for encyclopedia entries on an obscure web site. She fears people and fears any interaction with people. She blames people for all her ills and therefore doesn’t want anything to do with anyone.

4. Missy Tomey. Missy is a hard-working janitor. She works in a large office building, mainly cleaning out the bathrooms. She spends her entire day working from the top floor to the bottom floor. She hates everyone in the building. She hates her job and by extension everyone that makes it so she has to do her job. Every time she has to clean up something nasty in the bathrooms, she blames every single person who works in the building. She tries to avoid talking to anyone, but she smiles when she has to because she doesn’t want to lose her job, despite all the horrible people who can’t seem to hit the toilet.

The scene is the four end up in an elevator together and the elevator stops.

Bonus: In the story, the trope Nice Job Breaking it would show up as Lilly accuses Biff of breaking the elevator. Another trope included would be We Used to Be Friends between Lilly and Missy, because, well, they used to be friends but then Lilly moved on to bigger and better things. Lilly fits the definition of a Princess Classic trope.

*references*

Henry: A 17 year old smartass who craves conflict and enjoys abusing his powers of luck in order to have fun. He causes havoc wherever he walks - but somehow managed to make a few friends along the way who seem unaffected by his ridiculous nature. Henry somehow always finds a way to create conflict, yet escapes (mostly) unharmed - laughing throughout any situation. He sees no disadvantage if he can control himself - because even in the worst of times, he knows it will get better in the future.

Mr. Pen: A conspiracy theorist. He made his own religion to worship an inanimate object - defending himself under beliefs that the "good" in this world is out to get him. Constantly on the look out for anything, wearing tinfoil hats, and generally making an arse of himself - he became a social recluse at a very young age. Therapists have attempted to help him, but none have succeeded in establishing long-term changes. Completely scientifically illiterate, Mr. Pen relies on spouting lies at the top of his lungs to bring attention to his beliefs.

Barbara: Crazy about pets and animals, this crazy old lady has chaos in her eyes - but a gentle grandmother in her heart. She enjoys all the little floofs, trash pandas, giraffe sheep, sea flap flaps, and danger noodles. However, she has osteoporosis and other old-lady medical problems so she wears a cross for her faith in God and the bible is the only truth in the world to her. "Everything is part of God's plan." is what she often says. She knows other people have blasphemous beliefs, but dismisses them as heathens and moves on. Also, she's a regular at the Rusty Spoon Bingo Tournament - though she's never won before.

Mexi: A talking feline who can't keep her mouth shut for more than a few seconds. An airhead at heart and head, she has the attention span of a fruit fly. Her mind races through thoughts so dizzyingly fast that even her mouth can't keep up - not to imply she's smart, she just thinks of a lot of things. Especially coming back to several topics such as waffles. When she talks to people, they leave with the thought that a certain cat might have a waffle fetish.



I'll follow suit and say they all wake up trapped in a scary room like in SAW - but they aren't chained up. They're just in a room with no doors and shit for a couple days at least (nobody can stand each other for that long, even if they're friends). I wonder who will eat who first.

Gonna pay some tribute to the old owl by making a few characters based on the Tavern, mostly.

(Part of Saligia and Liminal Academy / Dawn of the World) Alexandria Teach views herself as the one to lead the old ages to rest as the rest of the world moves onto towards progress.  She's moderate, to a fault, but her soft heart has made her good intentions stick solely to the people who are practically doomed to death and exile in the name of an ever-changing progressive world : one that scorns and rebukes with poison the traditions of old, one that has access to greater riches and technologies that the old people did not.  Any suggestion at her letting go of her charges would be met with hostility, and with hostility she retaliates at a plethora of people.  She's definitely an Ubermensch with ties to days of antiquity.

(From The Tavern) Juniper Ildrith is part of a smuggling chain that focuses on emancipating enslaved races and bringing corruption and collapse to wealthy nations and races.  She has an intense dislike for elves, and more recently humans, since she was sold by her pure-blood grandmother for a brooch.  She views magic as a tool through which anyone can do anything, as taught by a blood-elf broodling called Theo, and strives to stretch its boundaries in retaliation of "traditional magic".  Conversely from Alexandria, she wants to do away with all remnants of the old world, including the people who can't contribute to progress.

(Also from The Tavern)  Liana "Spark" Gray is the charge of Lady Gray, who runs perhaps one of the most impartial, strict taverns in the world.  True to her guardian's nature, she really does anything and everything for the sake of self, within reason, and generally isn't too picky about any side of any conflict.  That was all...until a bar fight broke out and trashed her favorite counter.  So she's out on an adventure to pick out a very particular type of granite, even if it takes weaving her way through a clutter of ever-changing politics and civil conflicts...as well as price tags and bunnies and funny magic.

(OG Tavern Era) The Barkeep is back, and someone had the audacity to replace his countertop and his position.  No one is going to stop him, even if they're capable of summoning the end of the world just to deter him for 30 seconds.

Tropes Used: Straw Vulcan, Extreme Omnisexual

Dr. Mason: From an early age, Dr. Charles Mason has been considered a childhood genius, just like his late father. He would often spend his time reading anything he could find, from encyclopedias to Old World literature. He averages about 5,000 words a minute, and can do multi-variable calculus as easily as breathing. Years of being locked away in his room and the local library have made him believe that everything can be solved if one thinks hard enough. Everything must follow the laws of causality, and all emotions must always be kept in check. That being said, he is always calm and collected, to the point of being nearly mute.  

Professor Ingram: Also considered a genius, Jessica Ingram has an eidetic memory, which enables her to remember anything up to the point when she was one-week old. She has an immense vocabulary, and has been speaking in complete sentences since she was a month old. However, many would not believe these facts to be true at a first glance, because she does not act like the stereotypical “genius”. In particular, most of her interest since age thirteen has been directed toward sex. Her creativity and spontaneous personality have left her highly interested in biology and the workings of the human body. In conjunction with her Ph.Ds in Biology, Psychology and Sexology, she uses her intelligence to invent different types of sex, sexual pleasures and even enhance her own urges and pleasures. Not a day goes by without her being sexually stimulated by something or someone.

Frederick Smalls: Although coming from a dysfunctional family, Frederick was always considered as somewhat of an oddity. Though not necessarily a genius, Frederick is by no means an idiot-a product of studying for all of his courses for five hours each day. He is extremely compassionate toward everything and everyone, tries his hardest every day, and always uses his knowledge to help those in need. His only noticeable flaw is that he has very little time for himself, because he is too busy helping the people around him. He is often wandering the streets as a consequence, and has very little goals or thoughts other than helping others. Anyone from a first glance would think that the man is somehow empty inside.

Jericho: A man with schizophrenia, whose name and past are unknown. “Jericho” is the alias his doctors gave him at the mental institution where he resided for over fifteen years. From an outside perspective, Jericho seems to be absolutely normal. He is able to converse with others, show emotion and remorse, as well as speak multiple languages. The only reason why is was kept locked away is because of his habit. He has a tendency to constantly speak with someone whose name he claims is “Elena”-a person that can only be seen by him. So long as he is allowed to talk to her, which he does often, he is normal. If anyone tries to “harm” her, or claim that she does not exist, his personality undergoes a shift into psychosis. Nobody knows from where this habit stems, but it is severe enough so he genuinely believes that the woman is next to him and speaking at almost all times.

Scene: All of them encounter members of a terrorist group on the day it attacks a government facility in New Mexico, and the government trains them as a unit in order to discover the group’s identity.

 

Characters in my secret game.

Peter Hail is a criminal. More specifically an arms dealer. The path to becoming one seemed logical, some kids at school needed guns, he sold them guns. Flash forward a few years and he's helping cartels out, and becoming filthy rich in the process. He is ruthless to the point that he despises those with honor. If they want to become a criminal, they better be prepared to stab a few backs. This gives him hatred towards Pedro. He doesn't exactly hate Jamal, but hates the fact that Jamal is always one step ahead of him. The story of why he hates Thomas is much simpler. Thomas shot his young love. To be fair, she was Thomas' love first but fuck that. The woman can choose who she wants.

Jamal isn't in the arm's trade for money. He was a childhood prodigy, claiming America's youth chess championship at the astonishing age of 14. He could be a tech billionaire swimming in money, but instead he decided that becoming a criminal was a good idea, just for the kicks. He uses the inferior criminals as tools to further expand his own empire. He hates those that get in his way, however.

Pedro was born into the arm's trade. His father was a cartel supplier, and when his car exploded, the empire was thrust onto Pedro. Pedro hates it. He wanted to go to college and become a lawyer, maybe even a politician. Instead he got shot in the spine and is paralyzed from waste down. Despite his business, Pedro is known for his honesty. This business tactic gained him a lot of powerful allies. With those allies came enemies. Namely Jamal and Peter. All he wants is to leave the trade, but he knows once he does that his mother and boyfriend will be killed without the armed protection that they have.

No one knows Thomas' name. He is 6'4 and swollen with muscles. He is a self made man, murdering and blackmailing anyone who stood in his way. One particularly unfortunate drug dealer was ripped apart by his bare hands. Despite his massive figure, Thomas is a genius. He realized by having no one know who he is, he is invincible.  He craves power. Once his bribed government officials slowly became the property of Peter, he became weak. Thomas fell very far, and he'll be damned if he will fall further.

 

(You’re going to ask us to get them on a journey together for the next exercise, aren’t you?)

Bonus attempted; tropes incorporated into exercise.

Brad grew up in the same neighbourhood as Anna and Jane, so he has known them for a long time. He dated Jane a couple of years ago, but ultimately dumped her because she was a clingy jealous girl but at the same time didn’t put out enough. After the breakup, she spread all sorts of malicious rumours about him to their mutual friends and even people in his other social circles. He is perplexed by Anna’s inconsistent behaviour towards him, sometimes nice to him and sometimes downright poisonous. He does find Anna cute and sorta likes her, but her constant swinging back-and-forth of attitude pisses him off. Brad has a dislike of Mike simply because Anna hates him, although he keeps it quiet because he doesn’t want to admit to liking Anna.

Anna, Jane and Brad used to be very close from a young age. Anna liked Brad as more than a friend from a young age, but despite knowing this her then best friend Jane dated Brad. The two eventually broke up, but it still turned Anna’s relationship with Jane sour. She is irritated by Brad’s inability to notice her blatant signals towards him that she loves him, something which she showed towards him even before Jane dated him, but she continues to do it now. Anna and Brad are currently roommates, constantly arguing, and there is a belligerent sexual tension there. Anna, for reasons unknown to even herself, just feels uneasy around Mike to the point of hating him. Maybe she just hates creepy guys with long hair and glasses who never talk?

Jane once loved Brad a lot, and kept a close eye on him for fear of losing him. Despite this (or maybe because of this) he eventually cheated on her behind her back, breaking her heart. He was the one who dumped her in the end anyway, adding to her resentment towards him. Jane feels that Anna, who would often try to subtly hit on Brad even when he was dating Jane, was to blame for tempting him with the thought sleeping with other girls, even though the girl he cheated with wasn’t Anna. Jane won’t forgive Anna for her betrayal. Mike hasn’t done anything to Jane personally, but Brad’s treatment of her probably in addition to her father who cheated on her mother, has lead her to hate all men (including Mike) and their cheating ways.

Mike only met the other three earlier last year, when they started university. He is a very cleanliness obsessed guy who takes pride in the spotlessness of his house. One day, Jane came over for a house party. Later on in the party, Mike discovered a big smelly poo clogging up his toilet, and even worse, a huge pile of vomit that had managed to spill out of the toilet bowl and down the sides of the toilet. Horrified, he immediately cancelled the party and kicked everyone out. He found a bottle of red WKD in the bathroom, a drink so vile that only Jane would drink it. That bitch had tarnished his record as a party host with an impeccably clean house! He vowed to get his revenge on Jane, planning to one day get invited to her house and mess up her toilet even worse. He hates both Anna and Brad for no other reason than they are loud and obnoxious.

Some liberties with the prompt...

Right there, on the carpet, is the turd. Chestnut brown, large, and daunting.

John, wearing nothing but a bathrobe, stumbles out of his room, wipes his eyes, and promptly startles backwards away from the turd. For a moment, he dares to believe that he's still warmly enveloped in his covers and that this is simply a dream turd. An ethereal turd. A turd existing only in his mind and definitely not on his carpet. His new carpet. Expensive carpet. Then, dreary-eyed, half-asleep John comes to terms with reality and promptly slips into the kind of rage that can only accompany an inconvenience in the early morning. Uncaring that this is unfolding before dawn, he shouts at the top of his lungs: "Will, I swear to God, if you don't clean this up in thirty seconds, I will paint. The. Walls, with your face!"

You see, Will and John don't get along at the best of times (the best of times: when John is sober for once and Will is in one of his rare moods where he isn't trying to get a rise out of everyone and everything around him) and so when a hungover John has to get up for work... well, it's a recipe for disaster. Will tosses and turns and most certainly does not hear John's maniacal yelling, because he is part of a rare class of people: the 1% of deep sleepers. Will could sleep through an earthquake. It's not the only thing that Will is particularly skilled at.

Did you know that only one in ten thousand people regularly shit in their sleep? That's pretty rare. Most of them are old, too. Will is only seventeen so that's got to be even rarer. Only one in one thousand people sleepwalk, so considering that Will does both, he's in the 0.0000001% club for people-who-have-horrible-sleeping-habits. Will is supposed to wear diapers but the sleepshits happen so rarely that he mostly doesn't bother. He should, though, because Will is well aware that stress brings on the bowels, and he's certainly been stressed since his mother Angela married John some months back. Sure, the big house is better than the shithole they'd been living in before, but, well, with Will around...

John throws the door open, takes two steps, throws the blankets from still-soundly-sleeping-Will and drags Will from his bed. Will remains asleep. Drool falls from his mouth and lands on John's nightgown (a gift from his late mother... cirrhosis). For that, Will's nose earns a punch. That wakes him up and he screams. John is a large man and he knows how to punch.

"Shut the fuck up, you git!"

Will whimpers and John drags out into the hallway by the collar of his nightshirt.

"Why---"

John throws Will face first into the turd. His world goes brown.

---------

Yesterday, as fate would have it, Will had found himself on the other side of a similar exchange. Will didn't have to change schools when he and his mother Angela moved in with John. This was particularly important for Angela, as she is Will's teacher at school. Some of the other boys at school have come to resent Will for the favoritism that Angela indiscreetly shows him. No one believes that Will deserves the grades he earns, and no one believes that any other student could get away with half of the nonsense that Will does.

Yesterday, Will had finally had enough of the snide comments about his mother, and in a fit of rage, he'd thrown himself at his target: a young, Sri Lankan boy named Paul. Paul had been making snide comments to Will for years and so he was completely taken off-guard. The tussle was short and it ended with a concussed Paul and a suspended Will.

Unsurprisingly, yesterday was not a good day for Angela. After bartering with the principal of the school to keep her son from being expelled, she realized that her prescription for Lomotil had run out. Angela has hated running out of medicine for about a year now. It used to be fine... just a trip to the pharmacy. Now, though, a trip to the pharmacy meant facing Kasun.

More interestingly, and more to the point, yesterday was at first a very bad day for Kasun, and then a very good one. Kasun had dated Angela for a few months and truly, he'd loved her. He'd given everything he could to her, but she'd left him for some snobby financial advisor because that man had money and he didn't. It's not as if Kasun had nothing, but his job as a pharmacy assistant was barely paying his student loans from his university back in his home country. For months after Angela had unceremoniously left him, he was dejected. But, over time, he had put it behind him and found it in his heart to forgive her. Well, mostly to forget her, anyway.

However, yesterday, he was delighted to see Angela come into the pharmacy, in fact Kasun could not believe his luck. She had come to fill a prescription for Lomotil and Kasun knew immediately what he had to do. He was nervous... would she remember that he had a a nephew named Paul? Had he ever mentioned him? He put on a happy face and greeted her. They talked for a couple of minutes while he filled her prescription. He sussed it out. She had no idea.

He sent her on her way, but with Amitzia instead of Lomotil. Kasun had long thought that those two pills looked far more similar than they should. . .

Lilith Earnhardt is a young librarian with ambitions for the best. This made her focus on her job and not so much on others. She could be described as reserved and introverted: it's hard to come close to her, but when you do, she will not bite. In fact, once you get to know her she's not that bad of a person to live with. She keeps her calm through whatever happens - even though it doesn't often in her library and there were times where she wished for a more exciting life. She wisely put that wish aside: there's no future in danger. Corresponds with: Defrosting Ice Queen

There are four characters: Catalina (Cat), Matteo (Matt), Eve, and Alexander (prefers Alexander but gets stuck with the name Alex). Each character has strong opinions on the other.

Catalina

Eve: You’re a sneaky little rat, aren’t you? Poking your little nose into things that are none of your business. Spying on people, stealing their secrets. You think that just because you know one or two things you can wrap people around your finger. Does is make you feel powerful, to hold people’s secrets above their heads? Does it disappoint you when you find that people aren’t as predictable as you think?

Alex: Ah, well if it isn’t our favorite bitch! The party isn’t complete without you here. Tell me, how have you been spending your life recently? Still desperately hoarding secrets like a pack rat, hoping that if you have enough dirt on people then maybe someone will actually begin to like you?

Matt: … (So far Matt has avoided saying one word to her.)

Matteo

Alexander: You’re worse than weak, Matteo. You're boring. You have potential, but you lock it away so you may have the shallow achievement of ‘being normal.’ You have no goals, no drive, and no ambition aside from your mindless goal of conformity. Why are you even here?

Eve: Do you want to know what I think? I think you’re afraid.  You’re afraid that people will find out that you really don’t give a shit about them. I think that you hide yourself underneath a mask of ridiculous social awkwardness, just so that they would never find out how much of a sociopath you really are. I think that you’re afraid of people. I think you’re afraid of disappointment. Most importantly, I think you’re afraid of yourself and what you’re capable of. God knows why. Whatever secret you may be keeping has yet to impress me.

Cat: Why don’t you ever answer me, Matteo, whenever I try to talk to you? Why is it that you can never look me in the eyes? Could it be that you’re… (slow grin) Oh, I see. You’re a fake, aren’t you?

Eve

Matt (after hearing what Eve has to say about him): Interesting psychoanalysis. Want to hear what I think of you? I think you’re rotten. You claim that you don’t care about anything so you can safely judge people from a distance without owning up to your own weaknesses. You claim you’re just ‘telling the truth,’ when really you’re just using condescension to distract yourself from your own failures. You don’t really hate anyone. You hate yourself.

Alex: Well, you’re attractive. Maybe you’d make more friends if you cleaned up a bit both physically and attitude-wise. You don’t go out a lot, do you? Mm, I guessed as much. You’re pretty charmless. You don’t know how to play the game. If you can’t feign respect for authority, you should at least try faking your own self-respect.

Cat: You know, I almost don’t hate you. In many respects, we’re alike. We both don’t care about what other people think of us because we don’t care about people. The only difference, I think, is our attitude. You sulk around, spending your days moping, while I wait for… opportunity.

Alexander

Cat: So what’s a pretty boy like you doing around here? Has the pressure of being a goody-two-shoes finally cracked your skull? Nah, just kidding. I’d be selling you short if I assumed you weren’t always this pretentiously self-righteous.

Matteo: It’s not that I hate you; It’s that you’re dangerous. People like you… think that they’re out there for some greater cause. I can see it your walk, your talk, your eyes… Everything that you do, you think you’re doing it because you think you’re right. And that’s what makes you dangerous. People like you are the hardest to reason with.

Eve: There’s only one reason why I’m not concerned that you’ll kill us all with your crazy conspiracies: I don’t think you have the guts. I’m not denying that you’re an incredibly self-absorbed asshole, I’m saying that you don’t have the guts to carry out whatever apocalypse you’re planning. And even if you did have the will to match your mouth, you still wouldn’t have what it takes to achieve.

Bonus: So far, I see a possible Knight Templar with Alex, I Just Want to Be Normal with Matt, The Cynic with Eve, and smug snake with Cat. There's a couple of more, but I can't name anything more specific at the top of my head.

Seems interesting. Okay here's my entry:

Fawkes Census is the school bully. He thinks he's better than everyone else and takes any and every chance he gets to make sure they know it. Nearly every student and staff member detests Fawkes, but they would never dare say it because of his father's position as WWE champion, who has taught Fawkes the ways of the ring. He often gets into fights with one kid in particular: the Scottish transfer student Avery McAllister, who either doesn't know or doesn't care about Fawkes' wrestling expertise. Whenever the two meet, the air seems to get thicker and the whole room suddenly seems much smaller. Maybe it's time Fawkes stops mocking Avery's accent.

Avery McAllister hates repeating herself. She's a new student at her school, all the way from Scotland. She'd been born and raised there, and often has to repeat everything she says much more slowly than before in order to be understood. Avery swears the all-American douche bag Fawkes is able to understand her perfectly, and absolutely hates him for acting like he has no idea what she's talking about. She isn't that close to the teachers' pet, Tiffany Blacke, either. The only person she can stand to be around is Christian Pyrite, her lab partner, and even they argue sometimes. 

Tiffany Blacke is the teachers' pet. She always brags about her grades and how punctual she always is. She always compliments a passing teacher's outfit or says their hair looks nice, no matter how awful it really is. Tiffany acts like a perfect little angel around the school's staff, when really she's probably one of the biggest jerks you'll ever meet. She absolutely despises the Scottish transfer student Avery, and similarly dislikes her lab partner Christian, because they 'ruined' her hair when she tried to sabotage their work. She shares this quality with Fawkes Census, the bully, but even then those two are at each other's throats all the time because of a little mishap when they were six. Never judge a book by its cover, because that book might be like Tiffany Blacke.

Christian Pyrite is a genius. He's a miracle worker with computers, has memorized the periodic table, and can answer any question you might have about advanced algebra. Sadly, due to his insane brain capacity, Fawkes Census and Tiffany Blacke often pester him into doing their homework and school projects. Fawkes scares Christian nearly to death, and Tiffany would find some way to get him expelled, so she begrudgingly does what they tell him. Needless to say, he severely dislikes the two. He gets along quite well with Avery McAllister, his foreign lab partner, and the two once got revenge on Tiffany by making their chemistry project explode in her face. This, however, only deepened their rivalry.

Hope this wasn't too late...

 

Tuesday! - Now that you have your characters, give them a goal / destination and force them to go on a road trip together. Even the greatest of enemies have to team up sometimes. It could be a school field-trip or a journey to the end of the world to stop Cthulu, explain the reason to us, then write either the scene where they begin their "journey" or one of their moments "on the road."

Bonus: Write both scenes rather than just picking one.

@Will11 , @TheNewIAP , @Ogre11 , @Kwism1127 , @ecoLyte , @Beagle , @Ford , @betaband , @Claw2k11 , @Dynamism , @SonicTurboTurtle , @DerpBacon , @Romulus , @galobtter , @Swiftstryker , @BenCrucifix , @31TeV , @MadHattersDaughter , @At_Your_Throat , @LeoScales7 , @Tim36D , @Jibble , @NightBirdBlue , @3173v3 , @Vampwolfie

(Okay, am I the only one seeing the thread freak out?)

Fixed~

Thanks a million, Berka. :D You saved it!

Thank you oh holy Berka..

Basically my four characters share the same grandfather but through a series of adoptions they have been scattered throughout New York city. When grandfather is on his deathbed he has his lawyers track down his grandchildren, his only surviving relatives, and insists that they all travel together across the country to California to see him as a way for them to get to know each other. Unfortunately they loath each other but through a series of incidents and accidents on the trip they come to accept each other's extreme points of view, teaching the reader to be more accepting of other's views even when they don't match their own. Or something like that, I don't know, I'm tired :)

 

"I can’t believe we’re related…” Thomas Young said when the four of them had assembled at the rendezvous at the arranged time. “You don’t even look like pure blood Aryans! My god, if grandfather’s still alive when we get there I’m demanding a DNA test.”

“Strange and wondrous are the ways of the Lord,” John Havelock intoned heavily. “For he said ‘indeed the people are one and they all have one language… come let us go down and confuse their language so they may not understand one another’s speech. So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of the earth and they ceased building the city. Therefore it’s name is called Babel because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.”

“Jesus Fucking Christ,” Bill Grey muttered and spat on the ground.

“Forgive them Father for in his ignorance he understands not what he says,” Havelock put in quickly and made the sign of the cross.

“What’s all this Father bullshit? Who’s to say God isn’t a woman?” Michelle Horne demanded. “Just because the Bible was written by men doesn’t mean you have to automatically side with whatever the fuck they say.”

“Can we please just get in the goddamn car and get this shit over with,” Young snapped. “The sooner we get to grandfather’s deathbed the sooner we can go on own ways and you can return to whatever nigger-loving cesspools you all crawled out of. Wasn’t it lucky that we all happened to live in the same city when grandpa had his lawyer track us down? Now let’s get in my car and get the hell out of this city. New York! Ha! More like Jew York!”

“Oh my God you drive a Humvee,” Grey muttered. “Have you no shame? Because of you six hundred insects will die this day.”

“And the Lord made the birds and the bees and they were blessed…”

“WILL YOU SHUT THE FUCK UP?”

 

I’m not sure where the story would go from here but it’s quite fun to write :D

Goal: To get away from each other and back to normal life.

Bonus included, scene 1 is beginning the trip, scene 2 is while they are “on the road.” I’m with Will11 – this was the most fun for me to write, but I really have absolutely no idea where the story is headed down there at the end of scene two!


Scene 1


Tamara got on the elevator first, on the 35th floor. She seriously considered taking the stairs just to be sure that she wouldn’t have to deal with anyone, but that was a lot of stairs, even for her. So she left the office appointment with her editor and got on the elevator. She hated that she had to come to these meetings, but at least they were only twice a year. She pressed the button for the lobby and just hoped that by some miracle no one else would get on. However, it was mid-afternoon, so she just knew someone would be leaving work around this time. She headed to the back corner of the elevator as the doors slid closed and tried to make herself look invisible. She sighed as the elevator only made it to the 33rd floor before it stopped and the doors slid open.


Biff shoved part of an old tuna salad sandwich in his mouth as he stepped into the elevator. He thought the tuna smelled good. He turned and faced the door like everyone does in an elevator and noticed that someone had already pressed the button for the lobby. He squeezed out some gas as he turned and realized that he was not completely alone in the elevator. There was a small waif of a woman in the corner. Biff barely glanced at her as he turned back, digging in his pockets to see if he had any extra candy bars.

Tamara shrank even more as the large man entered the elevator preceded by a horrible stench. Whatever he was eating, Tamara was sure she did not want any. When she heard the squeak of his rear, she almost gagged. Who farts in an elevator? Oh, she really did not want to be here. She looked up at the numbers and saw they had a long way to go until the lobby. She thought once again about taking the stairs as she felt the elevator slow when it reached floor number 25.


Lilly looked at her face and checked her hair one more time in the reflective doors of the elevator as she waited for it to arrive. She was done at the office for the day and ready to head home, but there was no reason she shouldn’t look good while she traveled, too. She touched her long, blond hair and placed it just right by her ear when the chime indicated the elevator had arrived. As the doors slid open, her eyes almost started to water from the stench that had been contained by the elevator. She stepped forward and almost stepped back when she saw the large, unkempt man in front of her. But as if working of their own accord, her feet led her into the elevator. The man did not move and she found that she had to step around him. She quickly placed a finger up near her nose, trying to limit the amount of odor that penetrated her body. She almost felt physically ill as he stood as far as she could from him as the elevator doors slid closed.

Biff thought he felt a piece of food trapped in his teeth as the blond woman stepped onto the elevator. He reached up with a finger and dug around in his teeth, trying to see if there was anything there by looking into the reflective surface of the doors. He coughed as he did so, accidentally leaving a number of drops on the door. He turned and looked back at the blond woman when he thought he heard her gag. She was standing up against the wall, hand to her mouth and nose. He shrugged and tried to decide if that gas inside him was going to slip out or if he should hold it for a bit longer.

When Tamara saw the blond woman get on the elevator, she was intrigued and distracted from the horrible man at least for a moment. If she looked that good, she would be confident, too. But that woman was so wrapped up in herself, she didn’t even see Tamara in the elevator. That was for the best because at least she didn’t try and talk to her and make small talk. There were still 25 floors to go and the chimes told her they were making progress. When the elevator slowed, she looked up at the numbers and saw they were only on the 12th floor. There was no point in heading for the stairs now, they were almost there.


Missy walked towards the elevator, pushing her small cart with cleaning supplies. She knew Alfredo would be by later to empty all the trash cans, but she still thought it was odd that she had to clean everything else without emptying the cans. At least she was almost done, only a dozen more stinky bathrooms to go before she could go home for the day. She didn’t know why they didn’t have a different elevator for the cleaning crew, but she didn’t really care as long as they paid her. Maybe today she’d get to “accidentally” spill something on some moron with a suit in the elevator. The doors open and she shoved her cart into the elevator, ramming it into a fat man who didn’t move until she hit him with the cart.

He cried out, “Hey, watch it, you a-hole.” Spittle was flying everywhere.

She rammed him again with the cart and mumbled, “Sorry, sir. Sorry.”

He finally stepped to the side with the blond woman and let her shove the cart into the elevator. She stood next to her cart and waited for the doors to close. She looked around at the others in the elevator and wondered if she would get fired if she spilled some bleach on the woman’s fancy business suit.

Lily ignored the cleaning lady as she walked into the elevator. She glanced into the silver surfaces of the elevator and checked her hair one more time. But she recoiled in horror when the large man moved to the side and bumped into her. She felt like she needed a shower just from making contact with his greasy, hairy arm. She closed her eyes and tried to take a deep breath, but the body odor emanating from him made her gasp. She took very short breaths, trying to avoid the stench as much as possible.

Biff looked down at his leg and imagined a bruise forming there. He looked over at the cleaning lady and snorted. He mumbled, “They ought to have a service elevator here somewhere.” He felt an itch in his nose and went digging. Then he used that same finger to press the lobby button a few more times, trying to get the elevator to hurry up so he could get to the lobby and grab a soda from that nice guy at the hot dog cart.

Tamara couldn’t believe it. She was hoping for a completely empty elevator, and here the elevator was completely crammed full of people. She pressed her back to the rear wall and tried to make herself even smaller. The air felt stifling and the stench of the man was almost more than she could stand. She looked up and saw the number ten lit up and could just think that there were only ten floors left, she could make it. She watched the man press the button and then suddenly the lights in the elevator flashed and the elevator stopped dead. The emergency lights turned on, but the doors did not open.


Scene Two


That was it. Lilly couldn’t take any more. She yelled out, “You horrible man! You broke the elevator! Why would you do that?”

Biff turned and faced her, yelling back, his bad breath almost visible, “Shut up. Just shut up. I did no such thing.”

Missy shook her head and mumbled, “Stupid people and stupid elevator.”

Lilly turned to the wall and tried not to throw up after nearly swallowing Biff’s awful breath while Biff quickly turned to Missy and said, “And you can shut up, too, you whore.”

Missy shoved her cart into Biff once again, stared him in the eye and said, “Oops. So sorry, sir.”

She hit him hard enough that he jerked out of the way, stumbling in the small space. Lilly managed to nearly dive out of his way, but he crashed fully into Tamara, squishing her entire body up against the rear wall. Tamara let out a wail, half in pain and half in terror. Lilly put her hands over her ears as Biff stumbled to the ground, still pinning Tamara to the corner.

Missy lifted a dirty rag and called out, “Shut it little girl, before I ram this in your mouth to shut you up.”

As Biff pulled himself off Tamara and the ground, Tamara slammed her eyes shut and closed her mouth.

Lilly tried to take control, saying, “Okay, everyone calm down. I’m sure that…”

Biff interrupted her, “You shut up, too, you hag. You don’t ever get to tell me what to do.”

Lilly’s mouth opened and closed as she tried to come up with an answer for Biff. Before she could form any words, Missy spoke up and pointed at Lilly, “If anyone here is a whore, it will be that one.”

Tamara stifled a giggle, but Biff heard her. He turned on her and said, “Oh, so the whiny bitch thinks that’s funny, huh?”

Lilly finally found her voice and said to Biff, “You are a horrible person! Why would you say such things to people? That is just mean.”

Missy mumbled under her breath, “And if anyone would know mean, that would be her.”

Lilly snapped and turned to Missy, saying, “What is with you? Why do you hate me?”

Missy looked over and replied, “You don’t know. You really don’t know.”

Lilly looked Missy in the eyes and tried to think what she could be talking about. As a memory started to form, Biff shoved his way forward, knocking Lilly to the ground. He reached out and lifted his arms, gripping the edges of the elevator doors, and tried to separate them. Tamara moved quickly to help Lilly back to her feet and the two women stayed at the rear of the room as Biff tried fruitlessly to pry the doors open with his hands.

Tamara whispered, “I need to get out of here. I really need to get out now.”

Lilly answered back, “I know, we all need to get out. Out and away from that, that, brute there. And someone needs to introduce him to deodorant.”

Biff kept working on the door, starting to work up a sweat. The smell got worse in the small, enclosed space. Finally Lilly couldn’t take any more and said, “Hey Hercules, that’s not going to work. You might as well stop before we all die from exposure to your stink.”

Biff turned, angry at the door, and pointed directly at Lilly. He said, “Didn’t I already tell you to shut up? If you don’t…”

He was interrupted by a sudden spray in his direction. Missy had opened up a can of air freshener from her cart and started spraying Biff. She started spraying his body, but he moved and the spray ended up hitting him in the face. He swallowed the spray and choked. He coughed again and stumbled, once again crashing into Lilly. She was knocked backwards into Tamara and Tamara started wailing again. Biff covered his ears and yelled out, “Shut up, just shut up! Everyone shut up!”

After a dead body was found in the street outside their homes, the four characters are taken in for questioning by the police.

Scene 1:

“But what about my children?” demanded Ethel. “They are such sweet children; they won’t understand what’s going on.”

“Don’t worry Mrs Bouquet, PC Plodder will look after them whilst you’re gone,” said the police constable.

“Are you sure they’ll be ok with him?” asked Ethel. “They are so innocent; I don’t want them to be scared if they see he has a gun.”

“I’m sure PC Plodder will not show them his gun, Mrs Bouquet,” said the constable, growing tired of the woman’s constant worry.

“In that case can you tell him to listen to Bethany play the piano? She’s wonderful, I’m sure that he will love it.”

“I’m sure this Mr Plodder won’t be too interested in the piano dear,” said Gerald to his wife.

“Nonsense! I bet he loves the piano! Do tell him to listen to Bethany play the piano; she’s like a young, female Adrien Brody.”

“Wasn’t he the act…” the policeman cut himself off, deciding she wasn’t a good person to point out corrections to. “I’ll make sure to tell him,” he said instead, with no intention of doing so.

They approached the police van at the end of the road, ready to be taken to the local police station. A dead body had been found nearby, and so all the local residents were being taken in for questioning.

As they neared the van, Ethel was surprised to see Gareth standing there. “Gareth!” she greeted him loudly. “What are they taking you in for? Been found taking illegal drugs I suppose.”

Gerald looked around nervously. “You probably shouldn’t say that next to the cops dear.”

Gareth managed to force a laugh. “No man, I’m being taken in for questioning about the dead guy. It’s, like, such a shame, he was friends with my dealer, dude.”

Ethel gasped. “Did you do it? Did the poor man try to steal your drugs? You animal!”

“What? Nah, fuck you man. I didn’t do it. Like, I just said he was friends with my dealer.” Gareth glared at her in annoyance.

“There’s no need for language like that young man. What if my children had been here? They’re such sweet, innocent little things. You’re swearing would horrify them.”

Gerald glanced around and saw Lucy approaching. “Oh hello Lucy, I suppose you’re being taken in for-“

“Lucy!” interrupted Ethel. “How good to see you! Are you being taken in for questioning too?”

“I, umm,” began Lucy, before quickly being interrupted by Ethel.

“Of course you are! It will be like a neighbourhood outing. I’m sure we will have a lot of fun, won’t we dear.” She glanced at Gerald expectantly.

“Yes dear,” he agreed.

Gareth sidled up next to Lucy. “Yo, hey there Lucy, how you doing man?”

Lucy glanced sideways at Gareth. She’d been hoping to avoid him. “I’m doing alright thanks.”

“Awesome,” said Gareth slowly. “So who do you think did the murder thingy?”

“Umm, I, err.”

“Leave her alone Gareth,” commanded Ethel. “Give the poor girl some space.”

“Come on dude,” complained Gareth. “You’re not my bloody mum.”

“And a good thing too!” yelled Ethel. “I would be ashamed to be your mother. My children would never be a lowly pothead such as you. My children are sweet and innocent.”

Gareth grinned evilly. “Oh really? Then why did I see your son Charlie smoking weed the other night?”

Ethel’s face turned a deep shade of purple as she stared at Gareth. “What?” she asked, deceptively quiet.

“Ignore him dear,” began Gerald. “I’m sure he’s lying.”

“BE QUIET GERALD!” screamed Ethel. “My son does not do drugs! You filthy lying scum!”

Lucy slowly backed away from the others, just as a couple of policemen ran in to calm down the situation. One of them tried to calm down Mrs Bouquet, but she went into an angry fit, and it wasn’t until one of the cops got out a taser that she was convinced to calm down.

“Right,” said a police officer. “Why don’t the rest of you get in the car, and we can take you down to the station now.”

 

I haven't got the free time to write the second scene today, but hopefully I'll remember to do it tomorrow at some point.

*I will be posting my entry and bonus here tomorrow morning, but right now I am dead tired*

**Sorry about the wait, here it is, but boy is it long...**

Goal: To complete the government training and find the members of the terrorist organization as quickly as possible (so as to return to their normal lives). Both scenes are combined, and from the perspective of the government agent who picks them up, and then brings them to the nearest training facility in Nevada.

I didn’t know how much I hated heat until then. Thank heavens I didn’t live in that God-forsaken place where Summer reigned supreme, king of the empty expanse, brutal desert. New Mexico.

I was always a Winter person myself, having lived in the Adirondacks of the Empire State for over thirty years. But nothing had prepared me for that battered landscape. I had gone to university for criminal justice-I was fascinated by the law and how it stopped the people who hated to adhere to its regal beauty. But more importantly, I was enamored by the idea of stopping these criminals. My father had been a lawyer, and my mother had been a police officer. Their teachings had instilled into me a sense of justice, righteousness that should be respected. But as most children are, I was not exactly like my parents.

I did not like dealing with problems in their aftermath as they often did. I always liked handling problems before they began. I preferred “nipping them in the bud”, if you will. So I worked myself to death, excelled in my studies, built up my body, and landed a job in the CIA. All of this, and I was only three years out of college, with a job at Wal-Mart to pay the bills. It was a lot to take in, but I managed.

I started out with desk work, and then was quickly thrust into the life of an agent. I was even given my own codename: Law. Quite fitting, don’t you think? My first few assignments were easy, though I was paired with some of the senior agents would teach me the ropes. Look into threats of a bombing in Chicago, take a flight out to and keep an eye on the Soviet Union in Afghanistan, go out to the Chinese embassy and check in on our D.U.C (deep undercover) agents; I had a lot of fun in that first year on the job.

But then that assignment came; it was 1987. I was twenty-seven years old and by myself for the first time. I was just coming back from a trip to Europe, when the Director of the CIA decided to call me in for debriefing and a mission. Considering I had never seen him before in my life, I avoided crapping my pants as we talked for what seemed like ages.

“Good Evening, Law. I take it you enjoyed your trip to Europe?” the Director asked with a collected look.

“I did, sir. I also did as Rambo asked, and learned some of the basics of some languages.”

The Director gave me a knowing look that was nonetheless surprised. “Would you mind telling me which ones?”

“Romanian, Italian, Swedish, French, and Spanish.”

“Good. You’ll need the last one for your next assignment.”

The Director pulled out a file from under his desk and threw it to the other side in front of me. I probably looked confused at the time, so he informed me more of the matter as soon as I opened it.

“Your next assignment will be a place you’ve never been before, Law. I want you to investigate an incident that may be linked to an international terrorist group. Our country has been researching powerful information technology, which could be used for the manufacturing of high-tech equipment and weapons in the near future. The facility in charge of this research was in New Mexico, and had been working on this for years.

“Unfortunately, about a month before today, the facility was attacked by a group of what many of the living researchers claimed was a diverse group of all nationalities. Of course, when I say this, I imply that the group slaughtered the majority of the researchers, and took a substantial amount of the information held in storage.”

My face grew pale as I became sick to my stomach. How could people do a such a thing, regardless of whether it was for another country or their own benefit? I was so stricken by his words that I barely croaked out a question. “So what is it that you want me to do, sir?”

The Director looked at me with a light smile. He continued, “Your senior agents had only praise to offer me about your work and dedication. I can now see why that is the case. You will help your country by helping us, the C.I.A, to interrogate and train four individuals who were all linked to the scene of the crime on that day, and use them to locate and bring these terrorists to justice.”

I looked at him with a mild sense of apprehension, but I knew that he would not take “no” for an answer. “I’ll do my best sir.”

The Director looked at me briefly and laughed heartily. “No, you WILL succeed. I just know it. Pack your bags. You leave tomorrow!”

---

And that was how I ended up in that blasted place. I had flown into Santa Fe through the “red eye” flight, and arrived at my home base-the place where I would be staying for the next week until I brought these individuals to the nearest base in Nevada.

It was a run-down apartment with one bed and a full bath. The kitchen barely worked, and the place smelled of mold and rat droppings. But it was home, and all I needed to do was sleep there.

I had waited before showing up at the local police station, as I was tired from my trip. I would regret that at about noon, which was when I followed the directions to the police station, and arrived at a place filled with commotion. In fact, upon opening the door, I remember hearing a sound that still rocks to me core, a phrase that still rocks a retired agent like myself.

It was the sound of a knife searing through bone, sinew and flesh.

I heard it before I saw it. I walked into the lobby. The smell of blood was everywhere, and I released that was the case because of the large pool of it on the floor. A police officer lied dead at my feet, his mouth and eyes wide open with surprise. I threw up all over his corpse, completely disgusted with both the scene and myself. After I finished, I noticed that the culprit, a man with an incriminating bloody knife, was sitting right next to where I stood.

He seemed to be normal, except he was talking to himself. He completely ignored the fact that I was there, talking only to what I presumed was the air-only there was nothing occupying the space with which he talked. I drew my gun, and pointed it at the man, obviously a monster in human flesh. But I was scared, evident from the shaking of my usually steady hands. this man could have killed me, and yet he did not. Why?

“Hey you, drop the knife and stand up slowly!” I barked with the most authoritative voice I could muster.

The man ignored me once again, so I tried to get his attention in vain with another order. Only this time, I shook his shoulders. “I said, get up and drop the knife!”

“Lo siento senor, perdoneme. Pero yo estaba hablando con mi amor, y yo no lo oi.”

The man stood up, and realized that I was staring at the knife nervously, then continued. “O, olvide que yo tenia el punal. Espere un momento por favor.”

The man dropped the knife. Even through all of this, he had not heard a word that I said, nor understood that I barely comprehended anything he had said either.

“So, I see you’ve met Jericho.”

I turned to see another man, who for some reason put all of my worries to rest with a single glance. The man looked as though he had seen many things, many places and all kinds of people, yet still remained calm, almost to the point of being aloof.

“Jericho, you should know better than to frighten this poor man. I have been looking everywhere for you, and not everyone is used to your … ways.”

The man named Jericho looks back and forth in between the two of us, and then spoke aloud to the mysterious man. “Sorry about that, Fred. I didn't know the guy spoke English, and Elena was telling such a good story and I couldn’t help myself!”

“Wait who is Elena, I don’t-”

“I would stop right there if I were you, Mr. Agent.”

Another voice, which came from the back right of me this time. It was another man, dressed entirely in a suit and sitting comfortably in the corner with a book. Had he been there the whole time?

“I see that you have been dumbfounded by my presence. If you assumed that I had been here the whole time, you would indeed be correct. But please, let us converse in private for the time being, considering that you have most likely been called to speak with us.”

This man seemed to be highly intelligent and intuitive. He was almost too much so, but he dragged me off into the nearby hallway and into an interrogation room. At that moment, I recognized that there was nobody else besides us in the station. How is that possible?

The man locked the door as soon as the two of us were inside. He instantly began to speak. “We are alone, Mr. Agent. My name is Dr. Mason. I take it that you noticed the lack of officers in this station? It was an agreement between our group and our detainers. The police would leave us alone so long as we stayed inside the station. Anyone who entered would do so at their own risk.The dead one was a product of that idiot Frederick’s carelessness, but we are quite alone nonetheless.”

“How is that possible?”

“You have obviously noticed Jericho’s condition. A long story short, the man believes to be talking with his ‘lover’ Elena. He believes her to be very real-a result of his poor mental health. Though he is fairly sane otherwise, any person that attempts to disprove her existence is killed by him. The police officer outside is a good example of his momentary psychosis.”

I shuddered at the thought. So the man really is a killer, then. “But wait, how is that other man … Frederick, still alive?”

“Frederick saved his life once while we were staying here. Jericho has vowed not to kill him for now, and Elena supposedly agrees. At least, based on what Frederick has told me.”

By that point, I was becoming increasingly annoyed by the situation. I doubted that any of my superiors had ever faced a situation such as this one. I was becoming anxious to just get the job over with, so I told Dr. Mason about my assignment, who then suggested that I share this information with the others.

As we got ready to leave the room, I opened the door, and asked Dr. Mason, “Hey, I thought there was supposed to be four of you? What happened to the other one?”

“She’s right here, and waiting for your sexy ass push her up against the wall and take her!”

Immediately, a pair of women’s arms wrapped themselves around me in the doorway. The lady caught me before I could even fall down in surprise. She used one hand to grab my butt and the other to rub my neck and upper back seductively.

“Oh look, the wretched whore has arrived.” Doctor Mason said with obvious contempt.

The woman flashed a look over my shoulder, and replied to the Doctor with a similar level of disdain. “I’m sorry, Charles, but it’s PROFESSOR whore to you! Though most of my colleagues know me as Professor Ingram, I shouldn’t expect a neophyte such as yourself to understand the complexities of the relationship between man and woman!”

“I’m sorry, but I doubt that you need Integration for having sex and being tied up!”

“It’s called bondage, and it’s an art form!” Professor Ingram then remembered that she had screamed into my ear, and whispered sweetly. “Did I hurt you, sweety? Jessica will make you feel so good if you give me some time alone with you...I’ll make you feel like a man any day of the week.”

I recall my cheeks blushing a deep scarlet after that comment. Behind me, Dr. Mason huffed in a rage, and dragged her off of me before I could respond with another word.

“We’re leaving soon, Ingram! This man is getting us out of here!”

“Oh goodie!” Jessica squealed with delight. “But do we have to bring along that Jericho?”

“Yes.” I replied. “All of your skills are essential to this operation.”

Soon enough, the three of us left the hallway and went into the lobby again, where Jericho and Frederick lied waiting.

“So I see that you found the Professor.” Frederick commented briefly.

“Indeed he has, and how I would be lost without his man meat!” Jessica swooned with a hair-raising level of passion.

Next to speak was Jericho, seemingly bothered by Jessica’s comment. “Oh, so the slut has returned? I thought you tied her up in the storeroom, Doctor?”

“I tried, Jericho. But this woman is too strong.”

“Of course I am! A limp-dicked Doctor like you is better for anything other than dealing with women!”

“Okay guys, can we all just calm down,” Jericho pleaded.

This time, both the Doctor and Jessica responded at the same time. “Not everyone is perfect like you, Frederick!”

“Enough!” I shouted with a bark.

All of the people in the room focused soon focused on me. It was almost surprising, considering their different personalities, but I knew that I needed to take advantage of the situation as quickly as possible.

“All of you are coming with me. I honestly don’t feel like waiting in this God-forsaken place anymore, so we are leaving in my SUV today. We will go to Nevada, and get all of you ready to help me complete my assignment. Are we clear?”

The group exchanged glances amongst each other, and gave a collective nod. I led them outside to my car in waiting, and most of them got inside, with Jessica and the Doctor fighting over who would get the front seat with me. It was Frederick who eventually asked before getting inside, “What assignment?”

“I’ll tell you on the way. But for now, just get in!”

Frederick complied quickly, and I started the car, nervous yet also strangely excited for the adventure ahead. I guess the craziness was getting to me too.

---

It’s been about fifty miles, and nobody has said a word.

By that point, I decided to continue with my plan. “Okay everyone, listen up. My name, or should I say codename, is Law. You are all coming with me to the nearest government facility, where you will be interrogated and trained by the C.I.A.”

Jericho spoke quickly. “Will we be locked in rooms without doors? I don’t like those…” Jericho looked afraid as he said it, but I dismissed it with a wave of my hand and a reply.

“No Jericho, you will not be detained like that. All of you will be given proper living quarters.”

“Thank goodness,” he said with a sigh of relief.

“Anyway, I want to save some time for the interrogators, so tell me all what you were doing a month ago in that government facility?”

None of them responded immediately. It was strange the way they all were so quiet, almost afraid to speak of a potentially dangerous truth.

The Doctor is the first to speak up. “I suppose I should take the lead.”

“I was there helping the researchers with some of the more complex data entry and math required to run the machines. Up until a week before the terrorist incident, the machines had begun to malfunction with increasing frequency. The government called me in because a friend from Princeton recommended me, and a day later I had arrived. I was only there for three days before that group came, but I was terrified like the rest of them. As the terrorists began their slaughter, I bribed one of the members that looked like a leader to keep me alive. It turns out, that man was a lieutenant. The money and my luck saved my life.

“After the group had left with the massacre in their wake, I searched the facility, and found nobody else but this whore here,” the Doctor said with a sudden jab at Jessica. “I called the police, and our predicament began.

“You seem to forget that both of us are doctors in our respective fields, Charles.” Jessica said suddenly. “After all, I do have Ph.Ds in Biology, Psychology and Sexology.”

“So were you there helping the researchers too, Professor Ingram?” I asked.

“Oh she was helping them alright, but only with their sexual desires!”

“Shut up, Charles. Nobody asked you and your flaccid friend!” Jessica turned to me and shared her tale. “While I was helping the researchers take care of their … ehem … ‘business’, I was actually there for a legitimate reason. The technology they were developing was going to have drastic effects on the environment, assuming the technology was to be used for weapons. I was invited by my MIT colleagues to run checks on the biological impacts of the machines on both humans and animals.

“But Law, I may need you run some biological checks on my machine later…”

“Get some standards woman! Law is trying to save our asses, and you just want to save his dick!” You were surprised that the previously frightened Jericho could make such a vicious remark.

“Do you need me to claw your eyes out, bitch! Or perhaps I could do it to your precious Elena?”

“Do it, and I kill your herpes ass in front of everyone here!”

Jessica held her tongue in shock, and I took that time to ask Jericho about his story. “So how did you two meet?”

“You heard Doctor Mason: he called the police to investigate the incident. What he didn’t see however, was that I was still alive as well. I was working maintenance at the facility for a little over a year as a ‘rehabilitation into society’ exercise from those bastards that kept me locked away in that loony bin! But I’m not crazy! Elena is right here, patiently listening to our stories!

“I had seen the slaughter first hand, and barely escaped being shot myself. I managed to hear a few names thrown around as they killed everyone, but that was it. I spent most of my time in the broom closet, waiting until I thought it was safe. Then I followed Doctor Mason and the slut as they left the facility. But on the way, I was attacked by a mugger in town…”

“And that is when I saved him.” Frederick continued where Jericho left off. “I had come to New Mexico in order to check in on my brother. My parents were worried about him because he seemed to be getting involved in more shady businesses than the last time they saw him. Supposedly he had entered this gang that was going to hold the facility hostage. When I heard that the group had already attacked the facility, I expected the worst, and followed what appeared to be a man suspiciously trying to escape.

“But then I saw the man attacked. On instinct, I saved Jericho from the mugger, and learned that he was in fact not involved. After that, we went to the police to file a report, and the whole business with the police deal happened. The four of us were looped in together as suspects, and now here we are today.”

The whole SUV returned to silence. It was strange how all of these people, who probably never would have met under any other circumstances, met each other in this way. What an introduction!

But I didn’t want to dwell further on the topic, as it was beginning to get a little awkward. Besides, I would find out in due time at the facility.
“I’m going to make a stop soon”, I told the group as I passed a sign for a rest stop. “Anybody wanna play cards?”

Scene: The characters are flying to Israel to secure some deals in the Middle East. 

 

"Gotta hand it to you Jamal, this is a nice plane. Holy fuck though, a plane? You're richer than I thought buddy." Thomas says.

Jamal nods while taking a sip of champagne.

Peter paces frantically on the finely carpeted floor. "Are we sure this isn't a trap? Like how sure are we? If I wanted to off us, this is how I'd do it."

Pedro sighs. "Jesus Christ dude, fucking chill."

Peter pulls out a pistol and points it an Jamal. "How do we know this isn't behind all of this?"

Within a second, everyone on board pulls out their respective side arm and points it at Peter. 

Pedro closes his eyes. Only 15 more hours.

*same as leoscales*

Bonus attempted.
Goal: get out of the zombie infested campus and get to somewhere safe.

Beginning scene
Mike tried to start up his engine, but it wasn’t working. He cursed, giving his dashboard a smack. He looked in his rear mirror. An enormous group of zombies, probably in their hundreds, was making their way towards him. The only consolation was that they were still far away and moving very slowly. Suddenly, the passenger seat door opened. Mike had been paying so much attention to the zombies behind him and concentrating on starting the car that he didn’t notice anyone getting close.

“Shotgun!” said Anna, trying to climb into the passenger seat. Then, seeing Mike, she retreated back out of the car. “Shotgun back seat, I meant.”

“Oh come on, there are zombies coming after us, Anna. Make up your fucking mind!” said Brad, climbing into the other back seat. Anna started arguing back.

Jane, who had arrived slightly later than the other two, had no choice but to get into the passenger seat. “Hey, did I tell you guys you could come into my car?” Mike asked, looking around at them all, but Brad and Anna paid them no heed, shouting at each other about zombies and personal choice.

“No time for that. That one zombie’s rushing ahead of the others. Just drive!” called Jane.

“I was trying to! I would have been out of here if-” he paused as the engine finally started up. Mike stamped his foot on the accelerator and drove away as fast as he could.

Middle of the journey scene
“Hey, don’t you want to stop the car? She won’t make it out there alone and with no car,” said Brad, eyeing the young woman which the car was rapidly approaching. “And she is pretty hot.”

“That hot girl, Brad, has a massive gash down her arm. She’s probably infected,” Anna said, pointing dagger eyes at Brad. “Don’t stop the car, Mike.”

“Don’t worry, I wasn’t going to, anyway,” assured Mike. Wouldn’t want to get blood all over my car. That would be disgusting, he thought to himself.

“We’ve got this zombie outbreak and the only thing you can think about when deciding who to save is her looks? Men are so shallow,” said Jane. “Brad, weren’t you the one who was arguing with Anna earlier about how you have to stop acting in your normal way given this extreme situation?”

As Brad retorted, Mike thought hard about how he could get his revenge on this situation when her home would have been overrun with zombies. How could he go mess up her toilet now? I know! he thought. When we find a place to settle down, we’ll dig a hole to use as a toilet. And then I’ll put a zombie in it to surprise Jane.

Again, I hope I'm not submitting these too late.

Christian nervously entered the minivan and took a seat next to his lab partner, Avery. The two were going on a road trip along with two of their other 'friends', Tiffany Blacke and Fawkes Census. This was all Christian's mother's idea. She said he needed to do something with his fellow students, and assumed the four were close because she had seen them talk together a few times. Moms, amirite? 

A harsh voice broke the silence. "Are we gonna get moving or what?" Fawkes barked.

"Oi! Shut it, ya' big oaf! We'll go when everyone's ready!" Avery snapped, her accent making the words slightly difficult to make out.

"Ugh stop shouting before my ears start bleeding!" Tiffany whined. 

"Can't we all just get along?" Christian asked.

"I hope there isn't any trouble," Christian's mom broke in as she entered the car. "Is everyone ready?"

"Yes," they all moaned, bracing themselves for the weekend of agony they were about to face.

~On le road~

"OH GOD THERE'S A SPIDER IN THE CAR!" Tiffany wailed.

"What?! Where?!" Avery asked, her arachnophobia showing through her tough girl demeanor.

"Oops! Nevermind! Just some dust!" the suck-up said, casually.

"WHAT THE HELL, TIF?! HOW DO YOU MISTAKE DUST FOR A FREAKING SPIDER?!" Fawkes shouted.

"Well I'm sorry! It looked like a spider! Blame Avery, it was from her coat!"

"Don't drag me into this!" the Scot yelled.

"Guys! Seriously! Stop arguing! Can't we at least try to make the best of this godawful situation?" Christian intervened.

Just then, Christian's mom, who conveniently decided to leave the kids in the car while getting snacks for the trip, thus making this conversation possible, re-entered the car. "I hope all was well," she said before starting up the engine.

"It was fine," the kids said in unison, not wanting to be grounded for eternity.

"Good," the mother replied, buying the lie. She drove out of the parking lot and they continued their journey. Hopefully no one dies on this trip...

Wednesday! - There's bound to be tons of conflict on this hate-filled trip. Show us their worst moment of conflict among themselves. A hair-pulling, knock-down, drag-out fight that ends with a severe wound? A shouting match which leads to them driving off the road?

Bonus: Show the fight initially from one person's perspective, then write it again, this time from someone else's point of view. And, this is optional, but I'd encourage you to try to make us sympathetic to the person whose view we're seeing.

@Will11 , @TheNewIAP , @Ogre11 , @Kwism1127 , @ecoLyte , @Beagle , @Ford , @betaband , @Claw2k11 , @Dynamism , @SonicTurboTurtle , @DerpBacon , @Romulus , @galobtter , @Swiftstryker , @BenCrucifix , @31TeV , @MadHattersDaughter , @At_Your_Throat , @LeoScales7 , @Tim36D , @Jibble , @NightBirdBlue , @3173v3 , @Vampwolfie , @Spacecats

(Kiel forgot to tag everyone earlier. Now he's stuck at work so he asked me to do it on his behalf.)

I am sincerely sorry that I haven't been able to post for most of these few weeks. I've been drawing a blank for everything. So, since I can't make up the Week Two exercises, I'm going to post every single Week Three Exercise here. Since every time I switch tabs my browser likes to refresh, I'll be posting these in small segments

Monday (With bonus):

Erik is a person who Hates Everyone Equally, and is a bit of a Misanthrope Supreme, because he thinks everyone else is a dick (which, in his defense, they kind of are). Talks with a Machine Monotone voice, but is a Deadpan Snarker to piss people off. Has a Goth look about him, but he's just angst-y because his parents suffered Death By Origin Story.

Don is a person who has Super OCD. A Control Freak, but also has Hyper Awareness and Photographic Memory, all while sill being a Nerd with a Geek Physique.

Cassy immedietly sets off the Bitch Alert. Not only is she an Alpha Bitch, but she's also a Rich Bitch as well. Her wealthy family, with her parents being owners of a Mega Corp, usually invoke Screw the Rules, I Have Money/Connections! 

Jacob seems to be the Only Sane Man. A Knight in Sour Armor, He lives in a Crapsack World with Black and Gray Morality. Although he believes that Anyone Can Die, he will gladly Try to Punch Out Cthulhu.

k dun wit munday

Tuesday:

A disaster happened in California. That's right! It's sinking into the ocean! But this time, it's at an increasingly dramatic rate. The fault line is literally a wall now. Nobody knows why this is happening, but they aren't staying to find out. Jacob, Erik, Cassy and Don were all on their way to "Anywhere But Here", but Erik's adopted parents booked it without him, Cassy was on spring break and the airport is overrun, and Don... has no friends. Jacob was just driving out of town when he met these amateur hitchhikers. Now they're all on a journey to the east coast so that Cassy's parents could 'supposedly' hook them up.

Bonusu!:

Scene 1 (Jacob's car, after everyone has gotten in):

Jacob: So, I assume that you all are headed out of California?

Cass: OH MY GOD YES!

Erik: I guess so...

Don: Affirmative. I already have a route planned out for us, so if you would be so kind to look at this map I made...

J: Wait, you want to give me directions? Takes map

D: That is correct. so, if you would pleas- Jacob lets go of the map out the window

D: WHY DID YOU DO THAT?!

J: I didn't need any directions.

D: It's ok... I've memorized the map in my head... We just need to make a left here...

Jacob passes the exit

D: Um... You've just passed it...

J: Yes.

D: Why aren't you going back then?!

J: You can't tell me what to do.

C: Guys, stop fighting, I'm trying to do my makeup!

Erik has his headphones in the entire time

D: This is going to be a long trip...

J: Yyyyyup.

 

Scene Two (One day later in a highway littered with traffic):

Erik's IPod is dead. Cass hasn't taken hers off the charger the entire time and refuses to take it out. Erik seeks entertainment elsewhere by fucking with Don. It's been like this for two hours and Jacob is not pleased.

D: Jacob, Erik's touching me again!

Erik's finger is pointed at, but not touching, Don.

E: I'm not touching yooou...

D: He's touching me!

E: I'm not touching yoooooou...

D: HE'S TOUCHING ME!

Jacob is at his breaking point, but comes up with something funny

J: Jesus Christ, Erik, I didn't know you liked touching guys.

Erik drops his hand and a child from the next car over yells "OH SNAP!"

E: I wasn't touching him!

J: You were earlier.

E: I was just messing around with him!

J: Of course you like messing around with guys. Faggot.

A man resembling Terry Crews yells "DAYYUM" and the child yells "BURN"

D: Ha! Gaylord!

J: Oh, don't think I forgot about you, Don. The way you were screaming, you sounded like you were enjoying it.

The entire highway around them is hearing the entire conversation and yells words such as "OOOOH SNAP" and "SHEEEEEIT"

Tuesday done

Wednesday:

Scene EEEEEEH (A small mechanic repair shop):

Jacob's car has broken down in the hot Nevada desert and he had to stop at "Mick's", A repair shop just off the road. They've stayed for two days in the makeshift Inn next to the shop, also called "Mick's". Seeing as there were only two rooms available, Erik and Don shared a room while Jacob and Cass shared a room (he won the straw poll). Of course, Jacob and Cass banged. Erik basically harassed Don the entire time.

It is the second night. Jacob's car is fixed. Don has snuck out after Erik went to sleep and the sounds of a female losing her virginity stopped. He plans to take the car and leave.

D: I'm sorry, you guys, but you kept messing up my plans.

Don opens the car door and searches for the keys, just as Jacob enters the garage to get a soda from his cooler in the trunk

J:...Don? What the fuck are you doing to my car?!

Don closes and locks the door just as Jacob gets to it

D: I'm sorry, Jacob, but this is the only way!

J: Oh, you'll be sorry! GET OUT OF MY FUCKING CAR!

Just as Don finds the keys under the chair, Jacob breaks through the window and pulls him out

D: JACOB NO!

J: YOU'VE FUCKED UP, DON!

Don stabs Jacob in the forearm with his own keychain knife

J: AH! YOU FUCK! Jacob drops him

D: Jacob, please, don't be angry!

J: ...you just tried to STEAL MY CAR... and you FUCKING STABBED ME WITH MY OWN KNIFE! Jacob punches him right in the gabba!... the mouth

Don falls, bleeding from the mouth, and Jacob grabs a tire iron

J: OF COURSE I'M FUCKING ANGRY!

Jacob raises the tire iron to smash Don's face in, but Erik grabs it from behind Jacob and takes it away

E: What the fuck are you doing?!

Don runs away

J: Don just tried to steal the fucking car!

E: What?

J: You heard me! AND he stabbed me with my keyknife! Jacob shows his bleeding arm.

E: What the hell, Don?!

Cass comes out wearing a robe and rubbing her eyes

C: What the hell are you boys shouting about?

J & E: DON TRIED TO STEAL THE CAR!

C:... what?

Don comes out with a woodcutting ax

D: DON'T MAKE ME USE THIS!

A *click* is heard behind Don

Mick: Don't make me use THIS, boyo. He is wielding a double-barrel shotgun and is pointing it at Don's back.

Don drops the ax

 

I can't do the bonus. Not now. Bye.

Wednesday, Bonus attempted with fight scene 3A and 3B:

Scene 3A

Biff made his way back to his feet. His eyes were burning, his face hurt, and his hip hurt where he hit the ground. And it was all that damn janitor’s fault. He looked over at the other two in the elevator, then stepped towards the janitor. As he did, the lights flashed momentarily, and the elevator shifted. They all looked up, but then it went dark for a moment before the emergency lights went on again. Biff pointed at the janitor and said, “YOU.”

“You are the reason we are stuck here, you and your cart.” He knocked the air freshener can out of her hand as he moved even closer to her, his rancid breath covering her and spittle forcing her to blink. He continued, “And you sprayed me, you miserable bitch!”

With that, he reached back and backhanded her across the face. Her eyes widened as the pain quickly spread across her cheek. As she tried to regain her composure, he swung his arm the other way and slapped her other check just as hard. She fell back as she saw stars.

Before he could strike her again, Biff felt one of the other women jump on his back and grab at his ears and hair. He cried out and turned, but in the small space his feet got tangled and he fell to the ground. The woman on top of him slapped him in the head and back. Biff curled up on the ground and she got off him, breathing heavily.

Scene 3B

Tamara stood in the corner and looked up at the ceiling. Why did she have to be trapped here, with these horrible people? She watched as Biff made his way to his feet and over to the janitor. She held her breath as she heard Biff say, “You are the reason we are stuck here, you and your cart!” Tamara gasped as she watched Biff slap the janitor. Her eyes widened as Biff slapped her again – the sound was loud in the small space.

Without thinking, she and Lilly both moved towards Biff. Lilly jumped on his back and Tamara started slapping him in the shoulders as Lilly brought him to the ground. She kicked him as Lilly got off him when he curled up in a ball. Tamara stood there and watched Lilly standing there, panting. She looked over at Missy, the janitor. Missy stood there, her cheeks quickly reddening, eyes wide. Tamara wasn’t sure if she was going to stay there or if she was going to jump on Biff.

As it turns out, nobody wanted to play cards. We sat for the rest of the car ride in silence, staring blankly out at the desert and mountain ranges. We made a quick stop at the rest station, going to the bathroom and stocking up on food and drinks. It took another two hours after that before we made it to the motel.

The motel was literally in the middle of nowhere, dozens of miles from any life in any direction. The building itself looked habitable, but extremely old and run-down. It was almost as if nobody had taken care of the building for the past twenty or so years. But home is home. Anything was better than that dump in Santa Fe. Though to your dismay, the others are not quite as comfortable as you in this environment.

“Uh, I hate to inform you, Law, but Elena and I are not staying here.”

“Why not? We need a place to day for the night, and there are no other places in sight. This places fits the bill.”

Jericho shrugs his shoulders, and sniffs the air before answering. “I can smell ‘death-trap’ from a mile away. Considering Elena and I spent most of our time in a decrepit building like this one, I think we know the smell of rotting wood.”

“I hate to agree with the psycho, but he’s right,” Jessica states bluntly. “How am I supposed to get my privacy and satisfy myself in a place like this?”

“Who cares? Besides, I doubt the neighbors will dislike what they hear. Elena suggests that you might even like the fact that they heard you.”

Jessica’s face twists into a combination of fury and embarrassment. She responds with an indignant, “I would not!”

The Doctor, previously occupied by his book, looks up with a smirk. “Ms. Super Harlot feeling a twinge of shame? I never thought I would see the day…”

“Shut up, virgin! You wouldn’t understand because you deny your body the most basic of needs. I do not.”

“Yes, and look at how more successful I am than you. I am smarter, of better reputation and wiser than you. You might as well be a child-oh wait, you are!”

Jessica grew increasingly livid as Dr. Mason pushed her boundaries.“Perhaps I am a child, but at least my demeanor is not the product of antisocial behavior and anxiety disorders! At least I have LIVED life. Neither of you would understand what it means to live a normal life.”

Frederick began to notice the danger of the situation, and attempted to speak up and calm everyone down. “I would suggest that you stop there, Professor Ingram. Anymore and you might upset the balance between-”

“Did I ask you, Frederick? No I did not! Neither of these lunatics think of me as a human being. To them, I’m a worthless slut. But at least I didn’t spend my life living in an institution as a schizophrenic! At least I didn’t live locked away in my house, devoid of emotion and connection like a sociopath! I’m fucking done with you people. Go to hell, all of you.”

Before anybody could say another word or react, Jericho picked up a stone from the ground and threw it at Jessica. While I was distracted by the flight of the stone, Jericho tackled me to the ground and wrestled my .45 magnum from my belt. It took only a second for him to cock it and fire it at the ground just before her feet. Everyone was stunned into silence.

“You think my life is a fucking game, bitch? How dare you call me mentally handicapped. Elena and I will not stand by and listen to your shit anymore. Either you shape up and apologize, or I give you another hole that men can fuck. Pick one. You have ten seconds.”

“Do it. I dare you, psycho.”

Jericho cocked the gun for another shot when I tried to interrupted them.

“Jericho, don’t do it, please.” I begged. If this went over poorly, there is no way I would be forgiven. I would be out of a job, and the C.I.A would be out of options. But Jericho did not listen. He walked over to Jessica and steadied the gun in front of her forehead.

“Why shouldn’t I?”

“Because the country and I need all of your expertise. But worse than that, think about how Elena would feel if you killed the Professor right now?”

“What do you know about how my Love feels for this woman?” he said with cold, unforgiving eyes.

“You’re right, I don’t know. But I doubt that any person would permit their loved one to kill another person-assuming they loved them in the first place.”

Jericho gave me a look filled with rage, possibly for suggesting that Elena does not truly love him. But after recognizing my intentions somehow, he backed off and threw the gun back into my hands. Perhaps Elena convinced him to keep his cool?

“Thank you. Now I’m going to get us the room. Wait here, and please don’t kill each other while I’m gone.”

“No guarantees, Law,” the Doctor replied.

That got a laugh from everyone, dissipating the tension in the air. “At least nobody’s dead,” you mumble to yourself.

“But it looks like I have my work cut out for me.”

"Oh, now you've really done it!" Tiffany yelled from the bathroom of our shared hotel room. Fawkes and Christian shared the room next door, and Mrs. Pyrite had rented her own room. 

"Done what?" I asked, putting on my most innocent smile.

"Don't play dumb with me, McAllister! I know you put that weird goop in my shampoo!"

"I did no such thing!"

"I've had enough of your antics! You did it and that's final!"

"If you say so," I chuckled. God do I love to see her suffer. She probably used my own shampoo since I ruined hers, but I don't really care. I'll be able to get her back later. Tiffany turned on the hair dryer, and I struggled to hold in my laughter when I heard her shriek. 

"I WILL KILL YOU FOR THIS!" she screeched. 

"I'd like to see you try!" 

I immediately regretted those words. Turns out I got what I asked for. Tiffany charged out of the bathroom, hair filled with powdered sugar, holding some scissors.

"You know what, Scottie? I will try." 

She thrust the scissors at my neck, but I blocked the blades with my hand. I'd much rather lose my hand than die at the hands of an incredibly shallow suck-up like Tiffany. I pulled the scissors out of my hand and tossed them aside before using my good arm to pin her to a wall. One of the boys must have overheard our arguing, because just then both Fawkes and Christian came rushing in. 

"You're strangling her, Avery!" Fawkes shouted.

"Oh God, your hand!" Christian remarked. 

"What is going on here?!" Mrs. Pyrite yelled. Then she noticed the bloody mess that was my hand. "Avery! What happened?!" 

"I put some powdered sugar in her hair dryer and then she tried to stab me!"

"Everybody get in the car! We're taking Avery to the hospital and then we're going home! I'll make sure all of your parents know about this!" 

I let go of Tiffany and the pain from my wound set in. That must have been some adrenaline rush for me to barely feel it. 

"Avery? Avery are you okay? Can you hear me?" 

"A' course I can hear you! I was stabbed, not deafened! Let's just go! This hurts like hell..."

"Watch your mouth! You may be hurt but that's no excuse to use foul language!" 

"Sorry," I moaned before following the rest of the group out of the hotel. The lobby was surprisingly empty. Mrs. Pyrite drove us all to the hospital and called our parents. At least I can finally go home...

Thursday!  - Aside from conflict, there's probably going to be some low points. Show us the group at a moment of failure, loss, depression, or even sheer exhaustion.

Bonus: Show this scene from the POV of a character you haven't shown yet, and try getting really deep into their thoughts and motivations.

@Will11 , @TheNewIAP , @Ogre11 , @Kwism1127 , @ecoLyte , @Beagle , @Ford , @betaband , @Claw2k11 , @Dynamism , @SonicTurboTurtle , @DerpBacon , @Romulus , @galobtter , @Swiftstryker , @BenCrucifix , @31TeV , @MadHattersDaughter , @At_Your_Throat , @LeoScales7 , @Tim36D , @Jibble , @NightBirdBlue , @3173v3 , @Vampwolfie , @Spacecats

(The reason I'm posting this now is because I will not have any time later on. I've got 3 hours to get sleep, then I need to get up and get ready for an hour and a half commute to work 12 hours to drive another hour and a half ... and I've got company at my place, too! xD All I can promise is to try not to die tomorrow.)

Thursday, Bonus included:

Lilly stood over Biff’s body, panting heavily. Had she really done that? Did she hit him? No, that could not have been her. She looked over at the janitor and saw her staring. Lilly looked over to the other woman in the elevator, and she was staring, too. She looked down at Biff, still curling in a ball, whimpering. She really did do it. She attacked that man.

Lilly started to lose her balance and reached out for the janitor’s cart. She slowly slipped to the floor and sat down. This was not her. She did not attack men, ever. Why had she done that? It was just a little slap he gave the janitor and heck, the janitor did spray him in the eyes. Lilly leaned forward and put her head in her hands. No, she couldn’t have done this. No way. She gasped as she tried to catch her breath.

It’s been a week since we arrived at the training facility.

After staying at the motel in Arizona for a night, I drove us straight to the facility in Nevada without stopping. It was rough, but by the end, everyone managed to arrive in one piece. We all rested like dead logs, but the time since then has been brutal. It began the morning after we arrived, when Colonel Draden, the one in charge of our training for the next month, gave us devastating news.

He stood in front of us without a hint of emotion or hesitation. “Law, you and group you brought with you will be a team of special operatives. This is not my order, but rather that of some of the highest level officials in the country. You have no choice in the matter. Any dissent will end in a bullet to the brain-you all know too many secrets of the government to leave here without my permission.

“Law will be the leader of the unit, and be given separate assignments from the rest of you. While he conducts other missions, the rest of you will have your records expunged and be given new codenames. You all will be trained and designated in a particular field with the rest of the members in this here facility.”

“Understood sir!” I saluted proudly. But the rest of my “team” was unsure. Jericho seemed to be in another world, Frederick looked incredibly anxious, if not terrified, and the two geniuses looked very displeased.

But the Colonel did not give them much time to think on the matter. He picked up where he left off a few moments after your salute. “Hey, you there!”

Colonel Draden looked to the Doctor, who looked back at the man with disdain. He would regret that shortly. “I know all about you, Mr. Fancy Pants Genius. But we don’t have the time to keep geniuses locked up in their rooms doing nothing. I know just what to call you!” The Colonel soon gave him a military ID with his photo, and the codename displayed right below his name and credentials.

The Doctor took a moment to read the ID card, and in a matter of seconds his eyes widened in horror. “You have got to be kidding me…”

“Welcome to the military, Pussyfoot.”

Everyone in the room-except for the doctor-burst out into laughter to the point of tears. The Colonel was the first to regain his composure, and continued, “You will be apart of the technology and weapons divisions as an advisor.”

“But I’m a doctor! I would probably know more than anybody in the room!”

The room fell silent, awaiting the Colonel’s reaction. It was clear that the man was barely able to control his anger. He did not like to be disrespected it seemed. “That may be so, but we have some pretty bright folks here. Maybe you can learn from them about how to shut your goddamn mouth and listen to your fucking order?”

The slip of anger was minor, but more than enough to quiet the unruly Doctor. “Serves you right, arrogant prick,” Jessica said mockingly. “Why don’t you swallow your pride and listen? You did it on the way here, you can do it again.”

“Though I appreciate your concern for my rules, Professor Ingram, I am both of your superiors,” Colonel I can handle enforcing my own rules. Which reminds me: your codename is Amazon, and you will join the science division as well. And yes, you are forbidden from seducing my men here. If I find out that any of them are slacking on the job because you fucked them, I’ll fuck YOU over myself.”

The last comment drew a smug grin from the Doctor, who eyed her carefully. But seemingly ignoring this, Colonel Draden looked at his watch for a moment. It appeared that he was on some sort of schedule-he did take time in his busy day to see us after all. As a consequence, he looked upon the other two men, and quickly gave them assignments and codenames.

“Jericho and Elena, I am aware that you two have skills with languages and combat.” That line had surprised me. I wonder if the people who debriefed me had shared the information about Jericho’s condition so quickly? “The two of you will both be assigned to advanced weapon training with Law, as well as the foreign affairs division. What languages do you two know?”

“We both speak English as our first language, but Elena speaks more than I do. I can speak Spanish, German and Russian. Elena can speak Chinese, Arabic and Hindi.”

“That covers our bases pretty well. We’ll be happy to have you, Dido.” The Colonel soon turns to the direction of Frederick. “Unfortunately for you, Light, you got wrapped up in all this with little to no skills whatsoever. So for now, we’ll just give you weapons training and a job at switchboard.”

Frederick was obviously disappointed, but responded with energy nonetheless. “Understood, Colonel.”

“Good. All of you, report to your divisions. Dismissed!”

---

We have been running ragged ever since.

Once again we met in our room, exhausted from the third session of weapons training. We get three different sessions in addition to our division-specific work. We have one drill at 5:00 hours, another at 14:30 hours, and the last at 22:00 hours.

I was the last to arrive, as the others always left the training area before me. I always preferred the extra practice.

“So how was your day guys?” I ask already knowing the answers.

“Terrible.” It was the Doctor to go first, though he always did that anyway. “The work is too easy, with infantile mathematics and easier computer simulation creations. But the workload is so much, that I’m being bombarded with monotonous work that I care little about. I might prefer death over this…”

Jessica rolled her eyes and faked a cough. It was a both a subtle and obvious provocation, but the Doctor did not seem to care.

“Do you have something to say, Amazon?”

“Yes, PUSSYfoot. Your job is nothing. I could do my work half dead with a frontal lobe cut off and all my limbs tied behind me. And to top it all off, the others were made aware of my habits, so now I am prevented from pleasing myself.”

“Someone finally put your sex on lock.”

“I should be the only one doing that!”

Jericho, previously talking to Elena, suddenly addressed the group. “We ALL have hard jobs, even Elena and I are swamped. I never knew that a country could contact another so many freaking times. Goddammit, who cares about what China wants! Elena and I have to constantly go back and forth, sometimes in two or three languages at once!”

“I don’t know about you all, but I find the recent work to be fascinating…”

“Nobody cares, Frederick,” the rest of the group said in unison. Frederick never seemed to have a problem with anything.

This time, I spoke up, mostly to reassure the rejected Frederick. “Don’t worry about it, Frederick. They’re just jealous that they can’t be as calm as you.

“But anyway, if you guys think this is bad, you’ve got another thing coming. C.I.A training was ten times worse. It only gets worse from here; God forbid we encounter any trouble that makes the training and reality more difficult. We’ve got a long day tomorrow. I think I heard about an early morning drill before the first weapons session, so we’d better get to sleep. I want at least some sleep tonight.”

 

Never before had I seen such a rag-tag bunch of trainees before today.

I am Lieutenant Colonel James Nye, second only to Colonel Draden. I have worked at the facility for twenty years, advancing through the ranks as quickly as possible. When the Colonel retires, I hope to take his place-but I don’t know if I could fill his shoes. I have advanced as far I as have in life because of my tenacity and penchant for hard work, but never by being a “bad guy”. It’s just not in my nature.  

That is why the Colonel’s way of doing things is so fascinating to me. Colonel Draden is never too nice or cruel. He always serves as a neutral party unless he loses his patience. But at the same time, he is always firm and ready to accept only the answer he wants to hear. He does not accept anyone’s attitudes or sarcasm, but is willing to give them their just deserts if they need to be taught a lesson.

So here I stand, listening in on the conversation he is having with these new recruits. I’m only supposed to be watching the door, but what the Colonel doesn’t know won’t kill him. I don’t know where they came from, but they don’t look like military. Are they really greenhorns? Or do they just look that way because of their civilian attire?

“Law, you and group you brought with you will be a team of special operatives. This is not my order, but rather that of some of the highest level officials in the country. You have no choice in the matter. Any dissent will end in a bullet to the brain-you all know too many secrets of the government to leave here without my permission.

“Law will be the leader of the unit, and be given separate assignments from the rest of you. While he conducts other missions, the rest of you will have your records expunged and be given new codenames. You all will be trained and designated in a particular field with the rest of the members in this here facility.”

Law? Why does that name sound familiar? Based on what Colonel Draden said, anyway, he must have some credentials and influence with the big wigs. I wonder why they chose to come here?

“Hey, you there! I know all about you, Mr. Fancy Pants Genius. But we don’t have the time to keep geniuses locked up in their rooms doing nothing. I know just what to call you! Welcome to the military, Pussyfoot. You will be apart of the technology and weapons divisions as an advisor.”

It’s a good thing that I’m behind this steel door, or else I would have been seen laughing my ass off! The Colonel has an excellent sense of humor…

“But I’m a doctor! I would probably know more than anybody in the room!”

….

 

What did that pussy civilian just say to the Colonel? I’m already cocking my rifle, ready to shoot that bitch ass motherfucker. If I wasn’t worried about the Colonel being disappointed with my eavesdropping, I would tear that guy a new asshole!

“That may be so, but we have some pretty bright folks here. Maybe you can learn from them about how to shut your goddamn mouth and listen to your fucking order?”

The slip of anger was minor, but more than enough to quiet the unruly guy, whoever that was.

“Serves you right, arrogant prick,” said another voice. It sounded like a woman. “Why don’t you swallow your pride and listen? You did it on the way here, you can do it again.”

Oh, how sexy! Strong and putting that fucking bitch in his place. How I love a good woman. Who is she?

“Though I appreciate your concern for my rules, Professor Ingram, I am both of your superiors” the Colonel interrupted. “I can handle enforcing my own rules. Which reminds me: your codename is Amazon, and you will join the science division as well. And yes, you are forbidden from seducing my men here. If I find out that any of them are slacking on the job because you fucked them, I’ll fuck YOU over myself.”

Dang it, Colonel-don’t keep all the women to yourself. Let the Professor seduce me! I’ve been horny for the past two weeks without release because of my work.

“Jericho and Elena, I am aware that you two have skills with languages and combat. The two of you will both be assigned to advanced weapon training with Law, as well as the foreign affairs division. What languages do you two know?”

“We both speak English as our first language, but Elena speaks more than I do. I can speak Spanish, German and Russian. Elena can speak Chinese, Arabic and Hindi.”

“That covers our bases pretty well. We’ll be happy to have you, Dido.”

That’s strange. I don’t remember another woman entering with them. Weren’t there only five, including that ‘Law’ guy?

“Unfortunately for you, Light, you got wrapped up in all this with little to no skills whatsoever. So for now, we’ll just give you weapons training and a job at switchboard.”

Hah! Looks like I won’t be alone for the next week at the front desk.

But overall, I need to do some background checks on these people. I’ll ask for the guys down in the Debriefing and Interrogation unit to give me a look at their files. These people might be suspicious after all; that is, excluding that fine piece of work, the Professor! But more importantly, I can’t let them get too close to the Colonel while they are here. If they stay here for too long and get on the Colonel’s good graces, I may be out of a promotion.

It’s a good thing that I’m in charge of the weapons training. They will need all the luck they can get with the regiment that I will provide.

“Good. All of you, report to your divisions. Dismissed!”

Oh, they’ll be dismissed alright. Nobody survives my hardest exams.

Fawkes sat down in the hospital's waiting room. Sure, he hated Avery, but he didn't want her to end up in the hospital. Similarly, he had never felt so much negativity toward Tiffany that he'd wish she'd be sent to prison. An incident just a half hour before had resulted in Avery being stabbed in the hand by Tiffany, landing one in the ER and the other in jail. You can probably tell which one ended up where.

"You really shouldn't feel bad for the crazy she-devil," Christian muttered. "She took things way too far."

"This is all your dumb mom's fault. How could she not tell we all despised each other? Even if she didn't know about Tif's dramatic tendencies, she should've at least known that the son of Jonathan? Census would want nothing to do with some nerd like you."

"Yeah... I'm sure she meant well, though. I mean, she just wanted me to get out more."

"That's right," Mrs. Pyrite said as she crossed over to them, putting away her phone. "Mr. McAllister's threatened to sue us and Mr. and Mrs. Blacke are outraged! Even worse, we can't afford to bail Tiffany out of prison! Could this day get any worse?" she sighed.

For the first time in his life, Fawkes felt sorry for someone. Tiffany was in jail. Avery had been stabbed. Christian was broke. It seemed like he was the only fortunate person in the entire world. 

"I can ask my dad to cover the costs," he offered. 

The Pyrites looked shocked. 

"Oh no I can't accept y-" Mrs. Pyrite began.

"No. I'll get it," Fawkes stopped her, before taking his phone out of his pocket and dialing his father.

"Hey, dad..." he started, and went on to describe the situation. His father agreed to fly out to their location and pay for Tiffany's bail, but only after a ten minute argument about how much the other needed it.

When he hung up, Christian said, "Thanks, man."

"Don't think we're friends now! I only did this because I don't want you to go broke!" 

"Whatever. Now that the Tiffany situation is solved, all we can do is hope the doctors can save Avery's hand..."

 

Scene BUGATTI (inside Mega Corp Towers- Penthouse):

It has been a long, toughening trial, but the four have finally made it to Manhattan. The group have since forgiven Don for his actions back at the repair shop, after Don got them out of some trouble with the Cartel using his quick thinking and ingenuity. They are now inside Mega Corp, the monopoly owned by Cassy's parents.

(This scene is from the point of view of Mr. Vito Burgesi, owner of Mega Corp and Cassy's father (as per the bonus).)

Vito is currently looking over Manhattan from his office on the top floor, out of a small indoor balcony.

 

Manhattan.

My city.

Ever since I came here with my mother and father, long ago when I was just a young boy, I'd dream of looking over the city like this. Working with my father in his little repair shop. Fixing trinkets, bikes, watches, you name it. But it all changed when that man walked into the shop, dressed in that two-piece suit. Told my father he'd pay 100 bucks a day if he fixed things for him and his friends. Business had been slow at the time, and Pop couldn't afford to pass this opportunity up. Next thing we knew, we were fixing guns and cars for the Mob.

One day, Dad stopped workin'. Said he didn't want to do this no more. Asked the Don to stop sending him things to fix. At first, he did. But then one day, his men came in, said that they had to 'fix the place up'. Started smashing everything.

That's when Pop tried to stop 'em.

That's when one of 'em pulled out a gun.

That's when they shot my father seven times through the chest in cold blood.

That's when my mom came down from our apartment, and they shot her too.

That's when they said to me: "Vito, be a good egg to the Don, eh? Don't wanna end up like your parents, do ya?"

We buried my parents two days later. Right after their funeral, a man came up to me, claimed to be from the insurance agency. Said my father took out a huge life insurance policy a few months after we started workin' for the Mob. Told me since he and my Ma' were both gone, I was the sole beneficiary. That day I not only became an owner of a small business, but also a multi-millionaire.

I immediately invested into other businesses, growing my wealth as I slowly bought out smaller ones, growing mine until I had enough to cripple all other competition. Buying businesses, selling stocks, selling businesses back, buying more stocks. Horizontal integration, baby. Soon, I had enough power for people to buy and sell things FOR me.

But my biggest achievement was buying out a small PMC to wipe out the Mafia. Oh, the look on the Don's face when my guys busted in and killed all his men was PRICELESS! Who'd of thought little Vito, the orphan from the repair shop, would come back to kill all of you? I sure didn't. They were all buried in a large, but shallow grave.

At first, all them government officials thought they were free. The Don was gone, and they were all praising me for my efforts as a 'Good Samaritan'. Oh, how they were wrong when I found the dirt on them in the Don's vault. They weren't free. All that changed was a new master was holding the leash.

To this day, I thank the man that shot my parents. Without him, I wouldn't be where was. Eventually, I settled down, met my wife Fabianna, had a beautiful baby girl. Life was good.

But then everything changed when my little Cassy walked into my office with her three scumbag friends.

 

"Daddy!" She said, as she rushed in to hug me. She planted one right on my cheek and said "I've missed you so much!"

"Cassy!" I said as I hugged her back. "What happened to the plane? Why weren't you back sooner? Why didn't you call? I was so worried about you, baby girl! I almost thought you died!"

"The airport was so packed, people started rioting! I got out of there and hitched a ride back here! I couldn't call because SOMEONE disabled my calls and messages to ground me..." Cassy looked at me fiercely.

"Well, SOMEONE could've called your father if SOMEONE ELSE wasn't hogging the charger the entire time! Jesus Christ, the amount of times we had to stop because your phone guzzled all the juice out of the battery is INSANE!" A voice said.

"Who is that?" ,I asked my daughter.

"Oh! I nearly forgot about them! Come in, guys!" , She responded, shouting towards the open door of my office. Just then, a bum, a nerd, and an emo walked into my office. It looked like the start of a bad joke.

"Hello." The bum said, "My name is Jacob. This is Erik and Don." He explained, pointing at the emo and the nerd, respectively. "It's good to meet you, sir."

He extended his hand and I stared him down, analyzing these strangers in my office, leaving him hanging.

"Um... ok, then..." Jacob lowered his hand. "I drove your daughter and these two here from California. It took us a while, but we've finally made it."

"I see... but what are you doing here? In my office? In MY building?" I said to him, demanding an explanation.

"Daddy! Don't be so rude to them!" My daughter said as she slapped me on my shoulder. "I told them you would help them. Give them one of your spare high-rise apartments, some money, a job maybe?"

"What?!" I replied.

"Well, of course. They've saved my life more than once. It's the least you could do."

"Wait... more than once? What else happened?!"

"Well... we may have been attacked and kidnapped by the Cartel."

"WHAT?! What did they do to you?! Did they hurt you?! I'll kill them!" I said. I was so angry, i rose up from my seat and slammed my fist on the table.

"Dad, wait! Not right now! They didn't do anything to me! Don got us out of there before they could." She said, pointing at the nerd, while resting her hand on my shoulder. I sat back down.

"... Ok... I'm calm... now, onto the business of these three."

"Yes?"

"No."

"What?!" Exclaimed Jacob. "Huh?!" Exclaimed Don.

"Dude, this is BULLSHIT!" Shouted the Emo.

"Dad, what the hell?! Why not?!" My daughter shouted.

My daughter. My little princess. Shouting at me. After all I had done for her. My rage was beyond extreme. It was divine.

"THEY PUT YOU IN DANGER AND THEY'RE TRYING TO TAKE MY PROPERTY AND MY MONEY!" I stood up. "MY! MONEY!"

"Man, you do not KNOW the SHIT we went through to get here!" The Emo shouted at me. "I WAS ALMOST SOMEONE'S BITCH!"

I hit the intercom and shouted "GUARDS! GET THESE THREE OUT OF MY SIGHT!"

The guards came in and grabbed the three of them.

"DAD NO! I LOVE HIM!" My daughter shrieked at me as she grabbed Jacob.

"WHAT?! BRING THEM BACK IN HERE! AND GET MY DAUGHTER OUT OF HERE! I'll deal with you later!"

The guards held the three of them in my office. I walked up to Jacob, grabbing my 'negotiation' baseball bat from under my desk.

"Is this true?! What have you done to my little girl?!" I hit him in the stomach. "What have you done to my Cassy?!" I hit him again.

He lurched in pain and said "Yup... You've caught me... *cough* ... I did EVERYTHING to her..." He had a shit-eating grin. I hit him in his fucking annoying face.

"You know, I was gonna kick you to the curb. But now..." I said as I walked over to the balcony and opened the window. "... I'll let you use the express elevator."

"NO!" Cass yelled from the other side of the door.

"You can't do that! The police and media will find us! It's against the rules!" Don shouted.

"The rules?" I said, staring at him."The rules?! Screw the Rules, I Have Money! I Have Connections! I Make Them! I OWN Them!"

"N... no... the... the rules..." Don collapsed.

To Be Concluded...

Friday! - Yes, it's been a rough road, but you can't keep going without running into some success. Show us the most triumphant moment of their trip.

Bonus: In addition to this moment of triumph and the good vibes all around, try to address the hatred between the characters and give us an idea of how this trip has effected their relationship / feelings toward each other. Do they still hate each other just as much? Do they at least respect each other now? Like each other? Love? 

@Will11 , @TheNewIAP , @Ogre11 , @Kwism1127 , @ecoLyte , @Beagle , @Ford , @betaband , @Claw2k11 , @SonicTurboTurtle , @DerpBacon , @Romulus , @galobtter , @Swiftstryker , @BenCrucifix , @31TeV , @MadHattersDaughter , @At_Your_Throat , @LeoScales7 , @Tim36D , @Jibble , @NightBirdBlue , @3173v3 , @Vampwolfie , @Spacecats

This is a continuation of Thursday's post.

It has been a long, perilous journey, but the group had finally made it to Manhattan. When they made it to the top, Cassy was reunited with her father, Vito, the CEO of Mega Corp. But everything changed when rewards were mentioned. Seeing it as his daughter made promises for him, behind his back, without his consent, Vito saw those promises were null and void. Obviously seen as a way to get out of paying anything, the group was outraged, and the rage escalated so much that Vito is currently going to throw them out of a skyscraper.

But that's not going to happen.

Don has collapsed onto the floor.

Vito: What the hell is wrong with him?

As all of the guards turn to look at Don, Jacob grabs his keyknife, stabs his guard in the throat, grabs his gun, and shoots the other two guards in the head before turning to Vito.

V: WHAT?! HOW DID YOU-

Don gets up off of the floor, dusting off his shirt and pants

Erik: Good acting, Don.

Don: I almost can't believe these guys fell for it...

Jacob: Good job, Don. Your backup plan worked like a charm.

D: Well, of course it did. I made it, after all...

V: WHAT THE FUCK JUST HAPPENED?!

J: Well, Vito-May I call you Vito?-Don here had a failsafe in case you tried to fuck us over. Don would collapse, I would grab the nearest gun, and Erik would hit the deck as I shot everyone.

V: FUCK! FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK! YOU WON'T GET AWAY WITH THIS! I OWN THIS TOWN! PEOPLE WILL COME FOR YOU! THEY'LL FUCKING KILL YOU!

Jacob stares into his eyes for a moment.

J: No, they wont.

Jacob shoots Vito six times in the chest.

V: *gurgling noises*

J: Try not to hit anyone on the way down.

Correction: Seven times in the chest. Vito falls backwards out the window. He lands on top of a vacant car, crushing the roof.

J: So... that's it, then...

D: Yup...

E: Mmm hm...

Jacob opens the door to a struggling Cassy in the hands of a guard.

Cass: Let me go, you fucking ape!

J: I would do what she says. You don't want to hurt the new CEO of Mega Corp, do you?

The guard turns to see the three covered in bloodsplatter. He immediately backs off of Cassy.

C: Oh no... what the hell did you guys do....?

E: He was going to fucking throw us out of a fucking skyscraper. What did you expect us to do?

C: I don't know, just...

D: Cassy, you own Mega Corp now!

C: I know, but... he's gone...

J: Cass.

Jacob puts a gentle hand on Cassy's cheek

J: You still have us, Cass. You still have me.

She instantly goes for the kiss

 

Afterword:

Cass grew up as the CEO of Mega Corp. She gave money, jobs, and a large skyrise executive penthouse suite apartment to her friends. She was a benevolent leader, giving raises, bonuses, and time off to her workers almost every time she saw them. But she still held the leash on political figures, even tighter than her predecessors. She currently sits in her office most of the day doing... stuff.

Don was immediately appointed as Vice-CEO to Mega Corp. He was seen as the obvious choice for his intellect and sense of order. He mostly just does all the legal and day-to-day work for Cassy, but he enjoys every second of it. He is also currently in his office, a few doors away from Cassy, meeting with a foreign executive and... negotiating a merger with her...

Erik was assigned as a PR guy, boosting morale around the workplace while not doing anything at all. The perfect job, in his opinion. Life has never been so sweet for him. He is currently skateboarding through cubicles, slapping hands and bumping fists.

Jacob was designated as Cassy's personal bodyguard. He does his job ruthlessly, protecting her at all costs. He also shields her from paparazzi and fans, such as a few months ago when a man tried to bolt into her office exclaiming "CASS PLEASE HAVE MY BABIES!" As Jacob tackled him to the ground, he whispered in his ear: "Too late. That's my job." He is currently walking to Cassy's office after taking a leak, past the sounds of Don moaning.

 

It was only half a year ago that they got into Jacob's car, complete strangers, with total contempt between each other. But now, they're all the best of friends. Erik used to constantly harass Don, but now Erik and Don get along so well, they hang out all the time. They have the apartment all to themselves, since Jacob moved in with Cassy. Speaking of those two, they're expecting. Cass is about 7-8 months in, so it should be soon.

Even though they all don't hang out as much as they used to, every Friday they go to Don and Erik's place to play video games and order room service and fast food. They are all very dear to each other, the closest of friends.

 

But everything changed when Cthulhu attacked.

 

The End

Entry/Bonus:

August 30th: the day the United States stood still, heels in the dirt, head in the sand with fear. It was funny how we were the only ones who made a move to counteract the disaster. A group of misfits were supposed to stop a nuclear bomb posing as “welcoming gift” by a terrorist organization? Even though we were trained by the military and C.I.A, the prospect of such a thing was ridiculous.

It began with a siren at 12:00 hours. The sound was deafening as it echoed off the steel walls of the facility, crushing eardrums with its blare. It meant only one thing: a Def-Con Five emergency. In times such as those, all personnel were required to either report to the bridge or evacuate immediately. We were not so lucky.

“Law, Pussyfoot, Amazon, Dido, Light, get your asses up here!”

It was the voice of Colonel Draden over the loud-speaker, which meant that the situation was in fact not a drill. Already on break from my morning assignments, I sprinted to the bridge as fast as I could. When I arrived, all of the members of my team were assembled and surrounding the Colonel awaiting orders in silence. They truly had come a long way.

“Listen up! I don’t have time for any fancy shit, so here’s the news. That organization you all have been training to fight just sent us a message. According to Dido’s intel from the Germans, The Soviet Union just shut down our embassy and is preparing to fire an ICBM to somewhere in the U.S. as a warning.”

“I thought U.S.S.R relations with the U.S were improving,” the Doctor said exasperated.

“They were Pussyfoot, but it looks like our little terrorist friends convinced the Soviets that we kidnapped one of their operatives. And to top it all off, look at that.”

He pointed to the television screen behind him, which was broadcasting the event nationwide. In the center of the screen was a timer, which only had about two minutes left. “It’s been broadcasting for the past three minutes. A missile from the U.S.S.R will only take a maximum of one hour to reach us, only twenty minutes if they fire it at Alaska.”

“So what are we supposed to do sir?” Frederick asked with unusual composure.

“Simple. I’ve seen your team over the past couple of weeks. You all have improved drastically, and now your skills can be put to the test. But that is not my order.”

Colonel Draden stared at me, leading the others to do the same. Why were they doing that?

“The one thing that needs to be worked on in your group is leadership, Law. Your team is now prepared, but are you? Over the course of these past few weeks, only your leadership skills haven’t improved. You’ve just let things happen, and the team led itself.”

He was right, but that didn’t mean that I was going to admit it. I had never been apart of a team until now. It was not that I disliked my team, but more that I did not want to push pressure on the group, especially with how crazy they could be.

Jessica broke the momentary silence. “I hate to agree with the Colonel, but he has a point.” She put her hand on my shoulder, letting it linger as she said, “You may not have needed as much training as us, but now it’s your turn. We need you.”

“The slut’s right, Law.” the Doctor agreed.

“Hey!”

The whole shared a quick laugh, but then remembered the task at hand. “Fine then. My first order as leader: stop calling the poor girl names!”

The Doctor gave me a surprised look with a tilt of his eyebrows. He then shrugged his shoulders, backing off in the process. “Okay, ‘sir’.”

“Now for the rest of my orders-”

BEEEEP. The sound of a buzzer came from the T.V. It was the timer, signalling the television screen to show footage of the launch of the missile. In the top right hand corner of the screen was a combination of letters and symbols that seemed like gibberish.

“Shit!” I yelled in anger over my incompetence. “We need to try and locate where that missile is headed. But what the hell are those symbols?”

Jericho walked over to the screen suddenly, glancing over each line. He appeared to be making some kind of analysis. I couldn’t take it anymore. “Jericho, what are you doing?”

“It’s a collection of symbols-”

“No shit,” Jessica commented with a roll of her eyes.

Jericho retained his composure. “...From multiple languages. All of them are numbers or symbols that translate to a lot of math.”

“Does it look like an equation of some sort?” the Doctor asked him with excitement.

“I think so.”

“Good. Write the numbers down, and I’ll handle it. Hurry!”

The Colonel threw Jericho a pen, and furiously began to scribble down everything he could translate. His fingers moved like lightning, a result of his constant documenting of information in multiple languages no doubt. When he was done with the first line, he threw the paper to the Doctor, who completed the problem with inhuman speed.

“It’s been awhile since I did strings of multivariable calculus. I’m a little rusty, but the thing is a set of coordinates. Jessica, type these into the computer and figure out where this is!”

“Got it, Charles.” Jessica grabbed the paper and got to work. Even though this ‘computer’ device was just created, it seems to have a lot of interesting features. The military just hooked it up to the satellites orbiting Earth a week ago. “Um, guys, you may not believe this, but .... the location is here, or somewhere within thirty miles of this exact location.”

In a flash, we all ran to the monitor. A large red dot hovered over the coordinate point. Sure enough, it was our base.

“So what happens now?” Jericho questioned with a look of horror on his face.

“We build a system.” The whole group turned to face me. “Dido, you continue to translate those lines, and Pussyfoot will do the math. Give all the info you get to Amazon. When she narrow down the location, give us a call.”

The three looked to me with a perplexed look, and spoke in unison. “Call? For what?”

“I hope you don’t mind, Colonel, but I will require your services, and yours, Frederick.”

“But I have no skills! I barely did any training other than desk-work!”

“No, don’t forget that you also received weapons training. The Colonel will authorize our use of the anti-air system.”

The group shared a collective gasp. Though the government denied the lawful creation of any high tech weaponry under Reagan’s Space Wars-due to the monumental amount of capital it would cost to build it-the C.I.A and F.B.I worked together in order to revive the plans ‘under the table’. Across the country are numerous turrets and counter missiles across the United States, in addition to not-yet-operational space turrets. I had found out by chance that one of those very missiles was placed in the care of this facility. “We will aim and fire the AAS turret at the ICBM hundreds of miles above the ground before it hits anything or anyone. Do you agree with my plan, Colonel?”

“You’re fucking crazy, you know that! That thing cost billions of dollars, and only because Reagan was acting like an idiot!”

“Who ever thought Space Wars would come in handy?” the Doctor said with a grin.

“Apparently Reagan did, so let’s go.”

I threw a walkie talkie to Jessica, who barely caught it in her hands, and ran out of the room to the weapons system room. Upon entering, I realized how massive the space was, being the equivalent of three large warehouses: all of it completely filled with military vehicles, weapons, and everything else a facility such as this would need. In the back corner of the room was a state-of-the-art control panel which required both the Colonel’s ID and fingerprint to access.

We stopped in front of it, and the Colonel reluctantly authorized the AAS turret’s use. “I hope you know what you’re doing.”

“I don’t. I’m just doing the best I can.”

In a matter of seconds, the ceiling opened up to reveal the sky above. From the floor rose the massive AAS turret, easily the size of a football field. There was a seat for the ignition, and another for aiming. “I’ll fire the thing. Frederick, I want you to aim and shoot the ICBM.”

“You’ll need to be careful, Frederick,” the Colonel reminded him. “I set it to manual mode so that you can fire, but it only has two shots because of budget cuts. If you miss, a shot from this thing can wipe an entire city off the map.”

Frederick gulped in reply, but steadied himself nonetheless. “Okay then, I guess nobody said this job would be easy. I’m ready.”

“It’s about damn time! Starting engines now.”

The walkie talkie garbled, and sprung to life with a message from the bridge. Jessica’s voice rang true. “Good news, we know that the ICBM is nearby. The problem is that it is huge and will be in sight in about ten minutes. If you’re gonna shoot, do it now or we’re dead!”

“Engines online. Firing pin released. Systems warming up.”

“How’s the aim?” I called out to Frederick.

“Bad. this thing is really hard and heavy to move.”

The Colonel called out to us. “All systems are a go! Fire when ready, Light.”

“Dammit, I’m trying.”

Suddenly the missile came into view. It was only a black dot, and yet it couldn’t be any more than 15,000 feet up. The thing was massive!

“I can’t do it! It’s too hard!” Frederick screamed. It was the one time he lost his composure.

I got out of my seat and slapped him. He froze in shock, and I stared holes into his eyes. “I know it’s tough, but do it. This is our job, and our lives are on the line. When did the Frederick I know ever lose his composure? I believe in you, and our team believes in you. You can do it!”

Frederick took a deep breath and exhaled. “I guess I lost it, didn’t I Law?”

Colonel Draden screamed. “It’s closing in. We’ve only got one shot!”

Frederick moved the wheels and levers, until an audible click was heard. “I did it! It’s locked. Fire, Law.”

“Fire.”

It was then when we tore the heavens open.

---

Two days passed after the destruction of the ICBM, and yet the facility was still collecting its fragments from the desert expanse. The before was spent clearing up any misunderstandings with the Russians and for re-calibration of the AAS turret. All of us took a well earned break, and the Colonel gave us permission to leave the facility without a threat of death.

“You guys have earned it. We have nothing left to teach you. You all can only teach yourselves from this point onwards.”

And it was after the Colonel said that when we packed our bags with joy and loaded what little we had into the SUV. We would drive back to the airport in Santa Fe and take a flight back to Washington D.C for a top-secret meeting with the Director. On our way there, we reminisced about our training and laughed over our stress and exhaustion.

“I still can’t believe we did all that.” Professor Ingram said with a laugh. “But did our Frederick REALLY fire the thing?”

“Yes, I did. Why don’t you believe me? I’m apart of this team too.”

“Yes, you are. And yes, Jessica, he did. I was there the whole time.”

“But Law, you never say anything bad about Frederick! He’s a freaking goody two-shoes.”

“I have to agree with Jessica, Law. You never praise us for our good deeds.”

“I shouldn’t have to, Doctor Mason. Geniuses such as yourselves don’t need constant encouragement to excel. And since when do you call the Professor by her first name?”

The Doctor blushed hard, responding almost too quickly. “Well you told me not to call her names, so I just called her by her real name.”

“We fucked. He’s just scared to admit that he loves me.”

“If that’s the case, Elena and I can give you some good tips, Doctor!”

The whole car broke into uproarious laughter, except for the Doctor, who remained silent and turned an even darker shade of crimson. Everyone in the car was overcome with excitement as we talked for the rest of the way. Before we knew it, our journey to the airport had already finished. As we walked into the terminal with our boarding passes, we were suddenly surrounded by a group of men in black suits.

Although the rest of my team was on edge, I knew exactly what it meant.

“I see you brought the standard entourage, Director. Everyone, meet the Director of the C.I.A, and my boss.”

Everyone instantly stood straight and in file, saluting one of the most powerful men in the country. Nodding with approval in light of their deference, he spoke to us with his typical collected voice and demeanor. “At ease, men and women. We’re not in the military base. But I do have another place where you shall be staying. Only this time, it’s abroad.”

“When do we leave?”

“What does your boarding pass say, Agent Law?”

I looked at it, and sure enough, it was not Washington D.C. “You mean we are all going to the Netherlands?”

“That’s right. I received intel that some of the terrorist group’s operatives have a home-base there. I want you to investigate the matter as quickly as possible. That means now. But before that…”

The Director rummaged through his pockets, and smirked briefly after finding the desired item. He handed me a business card. “I thought you might like it. A calling card, if you will. This will be the name of your team when conducting any business, transactions or the like.”

The rest of the team gathered around me to look at the business card. “Desert Storm, huh?”

“That’s right,” the Director replied with a smile. “Any problems?”

“Nah, I think it suits us just fine.”

“Good. I hope to see you again with results once you return. Good luck.”

The Director and his group of bodyguards converged into a single unit and walked with haste to another terminal. It seemed as though nobody noticed your conversation. The work of the Director, perhaps?

“The work only gets more dangerous from here, guys. We’ll give ‘em hell!”

That was the beginning of my special operations unit, Desert Storm. It all began in that blasted desert, sickening wasteland, filled to the brim with heat and drought.

Our home.  

 

Your second week scores are as follows:

@Will11 - 2
@BenCrucifix - 7
@Ogre11 - 24
@Ford - 1
@Swiftstryker - 6
@LeoScales7 - 25
@betaband - 2
@31TeV - 12
JJJ-thebanisher - Great to see your post! ^^
@Spacecats - 6
@MidnightPhoenix - 4
@Tim36D - 25

Congratulations to Leo and Tim for your character development efforts. Honorable mention to Ogre11. Good job! 

I'd like to remind everyone that you are welcome to invite anyone who you feel could benefit from this practice. Also, I will be moving this week in roughly two days, hence why getting to scoring took its sweet time. If a lapse in communication occurs, I apologize, but reaching me via PM should still be possible. Thank you again for your participation and your wonderful posts. :D

Updated!

Thx m8