Welcome to Gaia! ::

((Captive from Group 7, Room 2, too!))

The first thing she felt when she regained consciousness was pain. A flash of pain, like nothing she'd ever felt before- unlike the dull throb of a scraped knee, it was a sharp pain.

It faded away soon enough, but that was enough; Vieve convulsed slightly, trying to overcome this feeling of weakness. She looked up, her eyes straining to keep open. She was in a cage- that much was obvious. Despite having taken one of the strangers now, she'd been captured somehow- apparently just one hadn't been enough. She let out a low growl, trembling in rage. It took some effort to pull hefself upright. Luckily, being almost pure flame, she wasn't hurt physically- but the pain was still there. Crouching, she curled her tail around her and flapped her wings experimentally.

Where were the rest of them? A scream answered that- it seemed Lattice, too, had regained consciousness- and she was in a cage close to her own. They would not stand for this, naturally- to be caged and humiliated in this way. Slowly gathering her strength back, the salamander blazed a little hotter than before, her rage still fueeling her natural form.

Caelius' last words echoed in her mind, still. "What are we not?" She wasn't that interested in an answer, anymore. They might be in cages, but they weren't done. Eventually, she was sure someone would unlock her cage. And when that time came...

Davey entered just in time to see several Halloween creatures respawn in the empty cages. "It's kinda cool, right?" Clarice's voice came from one side of the tent. She was staring at a small bank of monitors, and writing a few notes down on a clipboard. "We weren't too sure how well it would work here, but so far, between the thirteen from earlier and this new lot, it's gone pretty well." Stepping away from the console, she gestured to one of the empty cages, "These things dissipate when KO'd, you know? And then they respawn? Well, these cages can pull and trap them when they rez. Your boogey boxes follow the same principles, but are more portable...though sadly not as powerful...yet."

The assistant turned to inspect Davey, still ignoring the chatter and whining from the cages, "I hope you managed to get at least one, the doctor's been looking for you." This was, unquestionably, a bad thing for one Mr. David Brant. Her cowled head turned toward the entrance, "Oh, yay. More trainees. Hello trainees, don't touch anything or you may get volunteered for experimental testing, mkay?"

[Student; kidnapped and entering from Group 7's thread.]

Lizzy took a long time to wake up after materializing in the cage.

Or rather, she subconsciously did not want to wake up - part of her hoped against all odds that everything that had happened was just some sort of a horrible nightmare, and that anytime now, Professor Red would pop by with a smug grin on her lips and a swagger in her step, yelling "SURPRISE! The training's done!" Then, they would all go home and she would be able to give everyone a hug and tuck her head under Mac's chin while burying her face in his chest.

Maybe she would even gather up enough courage to ask Hel and Mot why they looked so upset at her back in the hub, and then ask for their forgiveness so they could all be friends again.

As she slowly regained consciousness, however, the sound of Lattice's anguished scream pierced her heart, and she winced, curling up tighter; Lattice wouldn't be here if she hadn't asked her to come! It was all her fault and there was nothing she could ever do to make up for it. Ever.

It was Edel's question that finally got her to sit up, her eyes uncharacteristically hollow and sad as she lifted her head to look at her teammates, all trapped and caged up like mere animals - they were so near, yet so far from her... If only she could-

"AH!" She yelped, quickly withdrawing her hand from the bars of the cage; the electricity stung and she cradled it to her chest, trying to slow down her breathing. Trying to calm down.

"Long story short," Her voice was low as she turned to look at Edel, "These people... They have weapons the same way reapers do, but they are not reapers - their weapons have this ability to... To drain our FEAR, and if I am not mistaken it, this drained FEAR charges up their weapon for them..." She paused, looking down as she pulled her knees to her chest, staring at her feet, "Those weapons... They used to be like you and me. I have no idea how they do it, but... But..."

She squeezed her eyes shut, her voice lowering further, "But I believe it involves some sort of torture." The hooded figure in the lighthouse on that island did say something about 'screaming and screaming till he stopped screaming', after all...

Her crying relented after a few moments as she heard familiar voices and she simply listened, her body feeling heavy and prone. Anger ate at her as she struggled to sit up. Keeping her façade of calm and seeming like she lacked emotion had long sense left her mind upon the moment she'd been caught. In fact the idea of doing so had left when she first arrived at the Academy and now she was being 'punished' she was sure of it.

Lattice heard Lizzy's voice of course though the tone of it only seemed to upset her that much more. Again she began to tremble as mask covered eyes stared up at the shape standing in front of the cages currently. She didn't know them. She didn't want to know them. They were doing horrible things.

They were dragging people away to do what? To torture them?!

The ghoul uttered third scream, "I CURSE YOU. I CURSE YOU AND EVERYTHING YOU STAND FOR. YOU HAVE NO HONOR. YOU HAVE NOTHING." She lunged at the bars only to become electrocuted again only this time the force of it flung her against a far wall where she then collapsed to the ground.

For the moment she was out of it.

[[ Entering from Group 7's thread, Capturing exercise ]]

The first and best part that Bix was immediately grateful for was that they were outside. The air may not have been fresh, but it wasn't from inside that house. It wasn't a booby trapped room and all the monsters here were appropriately caged.

The albino hunter was silent. His face wasn't red anymore but his eyes seemed lit up with anger. It was mostly when he saw those... things in cages. They looked like girls but he knew that was all just a trick. He noticed Before, silent and off to the side. Tika was with him and so he joined them. He clapped Before on the shoulder, rubbed it in a buddy-buddy way. He wanted to apologize for yelling but he wasn't sure that would be the right avenue to follow right now. He also put an arm around Tika, holding his two friends to his sides.

"Thanks for taking care of Gale, Tika." He nodded and smiled a bit, keeping his voice low so the things in the cages would hear as little of their conversation as possible. "You okay buddy? I didn't mean to yell back there.." It was directed to Before this time. He had been mad, but he was still mad, and he wasn't wrong about asking his friend to stop throwing shoes. There had to be a better alternative.

The albino did step away from them though. He took a moment to observe this new camp and the strange contraptions involved. His heart rate had calmed but the normally fun-loving hunter was still bristling with anger every time he looked into those cages. He could hear them whispering, a few words standing out like weapon or torture. He didn't really approve of torture but he did summon his weapon, the beautiful bow flashing into his hand as he paced in front of their cages. It was almost like 'hey look this could be your mother.. HA'

I like thissss ssside of you Bixy.
I can't believe they would act like that. Ganging up on a guy. It was almost an even fight and instead of each of them taking one.. they gang up on the smallest guy? What a bunch of scumbag bitches.
Mina chuckled. You read too many of your comic books. The live off of FEAR. They would eat your future babies as a ssssnack. Whatever rules you think there are for battle probably don't even exist for them. There was another chuckle. They are also women.
Women. Bix's response was disgusted.

Things had suddenly gotten much busier.

This only served to really clarify things for him as to how he'd gotten there. The newcomers sounded as distressed as they had on arrival and realisation of their situation. But now fear had dropped away from Glen, in a sort of lucid state of terrror off the other side of fear. Earlier he might have tried to comfort the new arrivals but he knew where they were there was no comfort awaiting them at the end, only the monstrous transformation into a lifeless object. At least he hoped it was lifeless, he didn't want to know the lifespan of a sword, or a scythe, or, as his attention was drawn to Bix summoning, a bow.

He tried to find the bright side of all of this, a cold, harsh bright side, which was that the more of them there were, the greater the chances that he would get to live longer and possibly formulate a plan out of there.

Though the downside of this was that he possibly would get to live long and go insane with fear watching the procedings.

Okay it wasn't really a bright side at all.

He flinched as someone yelled and was duly followed by the zap of the bars. He knew the feeling all too well, let them draw attention and make a racket. He kept his voice low as he simply listened, straining to hear what people were saying in case their interactions held some clue as to a way out.

She could hear the desperation in Lattice's voice- all of them seemed to be in the same state of rage.. and helplessness. Trapped in cages.

What a ******** joke.

Since the start, Lattice had seemed shy and quiet, the perfect type Vieve would have attempted to pick on, had the situation been different. Now she was railing at the hunters, throwing herself against the bars of the cage- and even for the normally cold, uncaring salamander, the screams of pain as Lattice was electrocuted again and again were almost heart-wrenching. The silence that followed a loud crash, and then a thud as the engraver's motionless body slid to the floor of the cage, was even more unnerving.

How would the figures milling around outside like to be trapped in cages?

And then she caught Edel's little show of defiance. Ice sculptures, huh.. the salamander smirked as she saw Bix's head being smashed; yes- that was what they fully intended to do, once they got out of this place. But perhaps the statues could serve a better purpose.

"Put them inside the cages," she whispered in Edel's general direction. "The hunters. See how they like seeing themselves trapped."

There was a moment during his first ever training, back in the Gym when he saw his teammates die in front of him, where Before revealed his petty, vindictive side. He'd tried to forget about it because it hadn't been his finest moment, not that he has many fine moments but let's give Before the opportunity for a handwave on the technicalities. But right now? Seeing these creatures in cages, and listening to their screams and curses and their attempts at pandering to his usual bleeding heart syndrome?

Yeah, no dice, sister.

He continued his wordless stare as he actually listened to the one with the cotton-candy-colored hair. Oh, they were talking about weapons now? He was probably the only trainee in the room earlier on who hadn't drawn his weapon. It wasn't his instinct or style but... Kill or Be Killed. Boss-dude-Caelius had made it very clear.

Sure that creature Gale had caught lunged and was thrown back by the electricity, sure this could be barbaric if it were reversed. But that's the thing. It wasn't, was it?

"What does it matter to the likes of you?" he sneered. The intensity of his disdain would have been more felt if his voice hadn't squeaked towards the end.

He felt rather than saw Tika arrive but rather than feeling happy at the touch, the moment was ruined by the screaming and cursing. "Oh, I'm sure he's doing great," he muttered to the female trainee.

Bix's question was answered with a grim nod and an unconscious wiggling of his sock-clad foot. A grin, however, crept across his face when the pale-haired trainee summoned his weapon. Bix obviously had the right idea. Rubbing salt in their wounds? Sounds good to him!

"Field Trip?" Before echoed, blinking. "This... this is just some sort of happy fun time excursion for you freaks?" His voice sharply rose an octave as the bottlecap pin practically leapt off his coat, enlarging in his hands into a very solid-looking and ready-for-bludgeoning wheel.