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Thankfully, Dottie did not fall as her pod door opened, though she came damn close. At the last possible moment, fingers had clasped the entry way with a death grip, knuckles pale, arm shaking, breath held and teeth clenched.

"What the <********>" She gasped out, and then began to cough, fitfully, her free hand clutching at her chest as she stumbled out and into the open, her pod, along with several others, it sounded like, beeping in a way that made her want to scream at somebody to shut them off.

If only she could just catch her breath to do so. Why did her chest feel so damn tight (she refused to believe it was panic, panic was for pansies)? Where the hell was she?

Who was she?

For a split second, she actually couldn't even remember her own name, and then, suddenly, a few key memories wriggled their way to the surface. Getting her coughing under control with a deep breath, she leaned heavily against the side of the pod she'd just exited, and pounded a fist against it, as if that would shut it up.

"Tobin?" She called out, remembering that there was someone else, someone important, that was always by her side.

There was the sound of distant footsteps coming towards them all. Their groggy mumbling was then superseded by a muted screech.

"OH MY GOD GET ME OUT OF HERE!!"

thud thud ******** ******** ******** I'M NOT GETTING ABDUCTED ******** THIS s**t!!"

Dean, who had jerked awake and smacked his head on the inside of the pod, had quickly flipped the switch from just barely awake to full on panic. He had had nightmares of aliens before, and the sterile surroundings he could make out through the glass triggered his anxiety immediately. Whether he was lucky or it was coincidental, the lid lifted with a soft hiss, and he immediately--

--fell to the floor unceremoniously. His legs weren't working yet, and nothing was making sense, and why were they even there...Wait.

"Guys!" Dean shouted as he crawled, eyes wide and slightly glazed still from the drugs those damn aliens had given him. Holy ******** s**t, they all got gotten. s**t. <********> "G-Guys, help me up, we gotta--"

Several people in white and gold coats approached them. "Please calm the hell down," one said, looking amused.

kuropeco

figured we could just

Seussi

gm a few hunters to explain stuff

kuumeii

otherwise they'd flop about

Her head hurt, and the beeping noises weren't helping, and the shouting really wasn't helping, and the flashes of images in her mind were making her feel dizzy on top of it all, so she closed her eyes and pounded her fist against the pod a second time while letting out an exasperated whine.

"Shuuuuut uuuuuu-uuuuuup."

Who was that shouting, anyways? It wasn't Tobin, she had heard his voice a moment ago, much to her very quiet relief, but all that panicked yelping about abduction and s**t was getting on her last nerve.

"DEAN!" She roared out, sudden realization striking, as she opened her eyes, and just as she did so, the beeping of the machines all cut off, likely due to the approach of the white coats.

"Shut the ******** up." She grumbled, uneasily as she eyed the approaching strangers

She had pushed herself away from the pod without really realizing it, her hands clenching and unclenching as she worked out the stiffness of her joints, before she crossed her arms over her chest.

"Nobodies been abducted. We agreed to this, remember? At least, me and Tobin did." She glanced towards her brother, then to Nash. Her memories were still fuzzy but there were pieces, here and there, that had slid into place, and things were beginning to make a little more sense.

"And I'm guessing this fancy schmancy lookin crew are here to explain, in case we don't all have our bearings yet."

The collective mass of shut the ******** up Dean comforted him in a weird and familiar way, but it also meant that this was not a nightmare. Normally in his nightmares, Dean couldn't speak at all. He shut off a whimper before it could get out and flipped over to face their impending....oh. Not aliens. But then why was...and what were...huh...???

"Thank you," said one of the strangers. "Now, welcome to Deus Ex Machina. Your memories will be hazy for a few days but they will return. I'll go ahead and get it out of the way: yes, you signed up for this; no, there's no leaving now that you're awake; and yes, you will get paid, but not until after your first month." They started to write something on their clipboard, squinting at the name tags on each pod.

Dean scooted back until he hit the posse's entangling of legs and attempted to get up. He was dizzy, however, and it showed in the way he grabbed two of their shoulders. "Who the hell are you?" he asked, trying to sound tough. The others could tell: his voice purposefully deepened.

"Hunters," they said without looking up. "What you'll be if you don't immediately die out in the field."

"Geeks." Dottie agreed with a laugh, "Hey, Dean, it's your people! You should feel comforted, not threatened." If she was within reach, she would have reached out an noogied his head, but as it was, and with how shaky she still felt, that was waaaay too much effort.

Still, she straightened, not wanting to look as weak a** as she felt, while the group of white coated figures ran through their little spiel, her memories jarred more and more.

"Hunters, like that s**t on Supernatural! Oh man, I'm so stoked. When can we start punching monsters in the face?"

The stupidity comment from Nash directed to Tobin was ignored. Her brother could stick up for himself. Besides, she wasn't sure it was untrue.

"M'fine!" he protested quickly, finding his legs as Nash helped him up. Dean gave them all scowls, but now wasn't the time to answer them with well-meaning violence. He fixed his best glare at the hunter, hoping that with all four of them like this they could provide a solid front. Alien abduction, no thanks. Humans? Totally game. All he needed was for either twin or Nash to make a move, and he'd follow.

"A little like Supernatural! You can start punching, slicing, shooting, or whatever," one hunter said with a grin, "as soon as you hit the cove. Which is what you'll be doing right now, actually. You won't survive on the island without it."

"We're dealing with a substance called Fear," the initially unimpressed one added. "That's their make up, the monsters and s**t. Getting a weapon gives you a Fear shield so you don't get too much of it at once and explode. This island's infested with Fear, hence why that's your first step."

Dean snorted.

"You don't have to go, of course," they said with a shrug. "What's one less idiot trainee to fund? Or four?" A hand was waved impatiently at the pamphlets another hunter was gathering. "Just read that, it'll explain everything."

"I mean," Dean began, "Fear? Really? That's what you call it? I thought this was supposed to be a badass group. Like, Dottie's a p***y around needles, so I guess you can let her go, but I ain't scared."

The group of hunters let those last few words hang uncomfortably in the air before one started laughing darkly. The sound made Dean wonder what they had all gotten themselves into, and he hunched ever so slightly to feel more embedded in the middle of the four.

Another hunter offered them pamphlets with a sigh. "Sure. Just read those and ask around if you have questions."

"a**." She hissed, and effort or not be damned, she moved within striking distance so she could attempt to punch Dean in the back of his head for his needles remark, not at all appreciating him letting slip that bit of information in front of a bunch of strangers.

Shaking her hand out afterwards, her next glare was directed at Nash. "Har har." She took a pamphlet and squinted at it, flicking through the pages with the briefest of glances to each. "You know weapon or not, I could still kick your lilly a**." She said, closing it and tucking it beneath an arm.

"So, we going or what?"

As much as she behaved as if the whole weapons thing was totally lame, she was actually kind of excited to see what type of arsenal they had to choose from.