Chapter 3: The Resistance

Vincent groaned as he rolled over, pulling the blanket tighter around his shoulders as light invaded his senses. Ooh, please don’t be morning yet…

“Wakey, wakey.”

Vincent quickly sat up to see the blond man from the previous day standing next to his bed. The teen suppressed another groan. In all honesty, he hadn’t gotten a whole lot in the way of sleep.

“Rough night?”

The brunette ran a hand through his disheveled hair. “Just had a bit of trouble sleeping is all.”

Leo smiled, handing the boy a sheet of paper. “Perhaps this will cheer you up.”

The teen glanced over the paper, his eyes nearly crossing as he tried to make sense of the daunting block of medical text. “What is all this?”

Leo clapped a hand on the boy’s shoulder as his grin widened. “Your results. They turned out just as we’d hoped.”

Vincent shook his head. “It’s all gibberish to me.”

Leo chuckled, removing his hand from the boy’s shoulder. “Well, congratulations, Vincent. You are officially among the winners of the evolutionary lottery. You’re a Touched.”

The teen sighed. “Not this nonsense again.”

Leo quirked a brow, a hint of annoyance creeping into his cool tone. “You call being superior to every other Homo Sapiens nonsense?”

Handing the piece of paper back to Leo, Vincent shook his head as he stood up. “Look, I have no idea what Touched means. To tell you the truth, I don’t even care at this point. I just want to be on my way. I do appreciate the help you’ve been kind enough to give, but I’m going to be okay now.”

Leo’s icy-blue eyes narrowed. “To suggest that this is mere trivial knowledge only proves your own ignorance.”

Vincent frowned. “I never said it was trivial. I just don’t really care to know at this point. Right now, I’m more concerned with finding out who I was…or am…”

“Then you’re worse than ignorant. You’re a fool.”

Vincent glared. “I’ve had enough of being jerked around by you people! I-”

The rest of the teen’s words died in his throat as the blond quickly grabbed him by his collar before slamming him back onto the bed.

“Listen, and you listen well, you spoiled, little brat. I don’t know where you came from but let me give you a little reality check. Ever hear of survival of the fittest? Wake up! We are at war! People want us dead for what we are. It’s kill or be killed out there! Think you’re going to last with such a naïve attitude?”

Vincent’s eyes widened as the pillow next to him then began to levitate before floating over into Leo’s waiting hands. “H-how?”

The blond smirked. “Curious, are we? I figured you might be. You’ll have your answers soon enough.” Depositing the pillow back onto the bed, he turned and began heading for the door. “For now, you’ll get cleaned up. You have another long day ahead of you. I suggest you do some thinking about what I said.”

****

Alice gave a small yawn, pushing back her desk chair slightly to stretch her stiff legs. Rotating her wrist, she glanced at her watch. 9 o’clock. Closing the book she was currently reading, she placed it neatly upon her desk before stretching her arms above her head with a contented sigh. The peaceful moment was brought to an end, however, with a hesitant knock at the door.

The teen sighed, a sour frown darkening her features. “Come in,” she called.

Kurt poked his head in the doorway, a sheepish grin tugging at his thin lips. “Uh, hey, there. Sorry to bother you in your downtime, Alice, but you have new orders from the commander.”

Alice groaned, resisting the urge to slap her palm to her forehead. “Are you kidding me?”

Kurt fully entered the room, a slip of paper clutched in his hand. “I wish I was.” The brunette handed her the paper.

The blonde quickly scanned the contents before she scowled. “Come on! Seriously?! Why do I always gotta be the one to train the new soldiers?”

“Probably because you're one of the strongest soldiers here, if not the strongest. Not to mention your reliability.”

Alice rolled her sapphire eyes. “Was that shameless flattery supposed to make me feel better?”

Kurt snickered. “I’m merely stating the facts, Lieutenant.”

Alice gave a rueful frown. “Do you have to call me that? I’ve told you before that you can just call me by my name.”

Kurt gave an embarrassed smile. Perhaps he’d said too much. “Well, whatever you say. Though, I don’t know why you make such a big deal out of it. You should be proud of your rank, Alice. After all, you’ve worked so hard to earn it.” Not to mention all the sacrifices you’ve made…

“I never said I wasn’t proud of my title, Kurt.”

“Then what is it?”

Alice sighed, shaking her head. “Never mind that. So where did Leo dig this new, poor soul up from?”

The brunette scoffed. “Oh, I’m sure he’ll want to tell you all about himself. He’s a bit on the ‘damaged goods’ side, if you know what I mean.”

The young Lieutenant failed to suppress a groan. “Oh, lovely. Probably another clueless idiot that doesn’t even know how to hold a weapon. And I’m supposed to turn them around and make a soldier out of them, so they can go and steal admiral out from under me!”

Kurt winced at the tirade. “You can’t keep comparing everyone to him. We all know he’s an asshole, but he hardly represents the general population.”

“I know that! I’m not a moron, Kurt.”

Trust me…I have a feeling you’ll actually like this guy, Kurt inwardly mused, a knowing grin creeping into his features.

“What are you smiling about?”

The boy cleared his throat. “Oh, nothing. Well, I got to be getting back to the lab. Leo’s going to be sending your new soldier to the training room in just a little bit.”

Alice nodded, giving the boy a smile. “Okay. Thanks for the heads up, Kurt.”

“No problem at all.”

****

Vincent sighed as he tugged at his new, restrictive clothing. Did they really expect him to move about freely in this?

“There, now. Don’t you feel much better?” Leo smiled in triumph as he glanced the boy over.

Vincent shifted uncomfortably in the blue armor once more, grumbling in irritation. “I feel ridiculous! Do I have to wear this?”

The blond gave the teen an exasperated look before nodding. “Yes, you do. You said you wanted answers, so you’re getting them.”

The teen quirked a brow in question.

The door opened, momentarily interrupting the conversation.

“I gave the lieutenant the news,” Kurt informed as he entered the room.

Leo nodded in acknowledgment. Turning his attention back to Vincent, he then continued. “As I said before; you are a Touched, or, as some would call you, Cursed.”

The boy, once again, felt all the color drain from his face. “C-Cursed?!”

Leo held a hand up to silence him. “There’s no need to worry. Vincent, you have powers that no ordinary human being will ever know.”

The teen’s brow furrowed in skepticism. Powers? What was he talking about? “You’re joking, right? Powers?”

“You’ve never noticed anything…unusual about yourself?”

Vincent frowned. “I-I don’t remember.”

Leo reached into his pocket to retrieve his cigarettes and lighter. “To be perfectly honest with you, Vincent, anyone else probably would have died from the wounds you had.”

Once again, Vincent felt himself grow pale. No wonder they all appeared to be so surprised when he’d awoken. “B-but, then how did I-”

“Survive? Simple: your organs essentially froze themselves out of instinct in order to preserve your life,” Leo cut him off as he lit a cigarette, taking a long drag.

“Wh-what?!”

“Calm down,” the blond murmured, pausing to exhale the smoke from his mouth. “Look, under normal circumstances, with a wound like that, the body would suffer massive internal bleeding. However, your powers kicked in, triggering that defensive response.”

Vincent shook his head, desperately trying to wrap his head around the situation. Powers? It was all so overwhelming, and the teen immediately felt the beginnings of a headache setting in. “B-but how? I don’t recall having such abilities. How is such a thing even possible?”

“Well, since you have amnesia, I’m assuming you were probably aware of your abilities in the past. As you’ve probably guessed, your powers are derived from water and ice,” Leo replied, finishing his cigarette.

“And how do you know this? None of it even makes sense. This all just seems impossible to me,” the brunette returned, though he couldn’t seem to shake the sickening feeling in the pit of his stomach.

Leo shrugged. “That’s easy. The tests I had Kurt run on you showed that your heart rate was significantly lower than any normal human’s. Your core temperature was also very low.” The blond paused as Kurt handed him a sheet of paper. “You see,” he continued, “with most Touched, their core temperature will also reflect their particular elemental aptitude. Everyone here is a Touched.”

Vincent’s eyes widened. “Wait! So no one here is normal? What exactly is this place, then?” The overwhelmed teen couldn’t help but feel he was in way over his head. How long did these people intend to hold him here? Though, if the implications he’d been given held any truth, perhaps he shouldn’t be in such a hurry to leave.

Leo laughed, folding the paper he held up and placing it in his pocket for safe keeping. “That’s an interesting choice of words, but I’d say you deserve an answer. You’re currently in an underground military facility controlled by what is known as The Resistance.”

Vincent cocked his head as Leo made his way toward the back of the room. He could feel his heart begin to race. “The Resistance?”

“A rebel army that stands against our current government: The Order.”

Vincent spared Kurt an apprehensive glance as he spoke. Rebels, huh? That explains a lot…

“You asked why I had you change into armor, Vincent. Well, I believe it goes without saying that the population of people like us is a little on the small side,” Leo spoke as he sat down in one of the black, leather chairs in the back of the room.

“Especially with The Order killing off pretty much all of us that they can,” Kurt commented ruefully, a sour frown darkening his boyish features.

“What?!” Vincent replied, appalled.

“Not now, Kurt. Calm down, Vincent,” Leo intervened. “Your superior officer will answer any additional questions you may have.”

“Superior officer?” the brunette questioned, cocking his head again. They surely didn’t mean…

“Yes. Lieutenant Lynheart,” Leo replied, handing the boy a new dog tag with his name engraved on it. “Here.”

Vincent glanced the tag over. The blue insignia below his name was different now. Instead of the star-like symbol, there was what appeared to be a shield with a sword. “What’s this for?”

“Protocol. It signifies that you are now the newest member of our army,” Leo responded casually, lighting another cigarette.

“What?! I never agreed to such a thing!”

Leo shrugged at the young teen’s outrage, taking a long drag of his cigarette. “The little details aren’t what’s important right now. Issac’s waiting for you in the hall. He will take you to the training room to meet your commanding officer.”

Vincent sighed. “And I suppose I have no choice in the matter?”

“None. You know as well as I do that it wouldn’t be right to turn you out into the world as you are. You’d be found dead within five minutes,” Leo returned. Green or not, the boy was still a Touched, and, therefore, ultimately useful.

The brunette ran a hand through his disheveled hair. How was he going to get himself out of this? He didn’t know the first thing about being a soldier! What did they expect him to do? Kill people? The mere notion repulsed him. “You say I have powers?”

The blond scrutinized the teen for a moment, taking another drag. “Correct.”

“Well, I don’t see how I can be of any use to your little army, since I don’t have the slightest clue how to use them.”

Leo waved his concerns off. “That’s where your commanding officer comes in. They will teach you all you need to know.”

Vincent felt his blood run cold as a rather sadistic smile began to tug at the man’s lips.

“By the way, I heard about your little tour around the base yesterday.”

The teen swallowed hard. Why was he looking at him like that all of the sudden? “Ye-yeah.”

“And what did you think of the girl that saved your life?”

The teen’s eyebrows furrowed in both apprehension and confusion as he quickly ran a hand through his hair in nervous habit. “W-well, uh, she-she seemed nice.”

“Beautiful, isn’t she?” Leo’s grin widened. His eyes narrowed as Kurt began snickering under his breath.

Vincent’s pale cheeks filled with color. What on earth?! What relevancy could such a question possibly have? “I-I don’t really think that’s my place to say.”

“Just answer the question.”

Refusing eye-contact, the teen shuffled his feet at the question. He would be lying if he were to say that the girl’s looks hadn’t struck him at all. “W-well… Y-yes, she’s very pretty,” he murmured finally.

“And my daughter.”

Vincent felt the blood drain from his face immediately. “Wh- I-I mean no disrespect-”

“Enough. I just thought I’d let you know who you should be extra respectful to. Now, go on. It’s time for your training, young man.”

The blond watched as the teen immediately fled the room as though he’d been set ablaze by some unseen force. Finishing his cigarette, he sighed.

“Um, Leo, I get being cautious and all, but did you really have to scare him so badly?”

“Kurt, in order for him to have a dog tag from The Order, he would’ve either had to have been in a fight with a soldier and stole their tag…”

“Or he was a soldier himself?” Kurt guessed, offering his father a questioning gaze.

Leo nodded in approval. “Correct, and you’re going to find out which.”

“Huh?”

“Until we know everything, he isn’t to be trusted. No matter the case, he did something in his past to make someone want him dead… and I want to know what.”