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Warm Up - 14.3 | Declaration

Silence passed, with each moment a growing uneasiness between the four of them. The meeting was slated to begin in ten minutes but it literally felt like two hours had gone by. Easton started counting down with a stopwatch to make sure time hadn't warped itself. It hadn't, thankfully, or so they hoped so hard to be real.

Five minutes left to the meeting, more footsteps and chatter bounced around the hallway. Finally, a sense of... making sense. Maybe with these people, the meeting would actually start. They could finally get their answers, or in Fritz's case, they could finally stop. It was a calm before a shitstorm for either them or for Nicholas or Ricky or whoever was really in charge.

When the other Volunteers entered the room, the initial four maintained a level of calm, waving and greeting them as they found their own seats. Dark and Fddhty were with Kuno, and Ace. On Fritz's and Easton's side were Azenu and Cheez. Azenu, the only other amongst them who was nearly at the start, felt the tinge of those dark memories. He was good at hiding it at least.

Fritz read the room and the differing faces had given him familiar vibes. Three canines were here before, and other species that for the life of him he could not remember. Even though, not too long ago before the Flash, he knew their names. Now, however, it was an open scar. And the more he thought about it, the closer it defined the Shades that Nicholas brought up before.

That memory played near perfect, back in the Achshor hangars. Cheez was still a new recruit, even giving him a laser rifle that he kept using today. Nicholas was still Cas, and beside him a dark-masked mouse whose name too had been lost. Hence the near-perfect part. Everyone gathered around and he talked about shadowy figures who sought their eyes, so that they may tell a far more horrific story than what the crocodile could ever think of.

And that's when it hit him, a silent eureka that no one else

noticed. Not even Easton who kept whispering the countdown to the meeting, a minute left. Nor Dark and Fddhty chatting with Ace about ideal exploration ships. Fritz realized that these Shades were once people he knew- people Nicholas had known before. Volunteers! It hit him then, that some of them had turned to Shades. Which meant any of them could become such beings too. He kept his composure, despite the worry that he himself may become one, turned against his friends and would terminate them from this existence.

Fritz would've shouted it aloud if not for another set of footsteps coming down the hall, and based on Easton's countdown that would've been Ricky. The tap on the metal was not heavyset like Nicholas was yet every moment closer was a loud echo in his head that he felt in his heart. It lined up to an odd calm beat that would've had him panicked, and his chest pumping out adrenaline. Why did he feel such things?

Alas the door slid open, hushing everyone in the room. They all looked at the dox who stood at the end of the table closest to Dark and Fritz. He wore a smart casual outfit, long-sleeved, khaki slacks, and black leathers that shone against the light. There was no uniform here as the rest had worn what felt comfortable to them, and in Ricky's case it would be that.

Everyone had fixated on the dox who slotted something under his desk that they did not notice the backdrop changing to that of Earth's underground capital: Kerrigan's Sector. It was rows upon rows of skyscrapers that reached both top and lower of the Underground Habitat, and in the middle was a hexagonal dome surrounded by gates, and the shimmer of a transparent forcefield; Kerrigan's palace. It was present time as daylight shone over, with a skyscraper showing that same time on their clocks. Cars flew between structures, and on roads both upside down and downside up on the normal ground.

But alas, the attention was on the table humming to life. There were obscure outlines in the wood that lit up a very light blue that turned to purple, and where there was an empty seat lights sparkled underneath and holograms shimmered and shined into existence. Suddenly there were ten other occupants who sat past the already-present occupants.

On Fritz's side they were joined by who he recognized as Acer and Nero- the star pilot and his reconciled friend. Mizaru and Yanixter who he hadn't known much, and one they called Redgath who he barely knew at all other than being the latest member prior to Dark and Fddhty. His eyes ventured diagonally across, on Dark's side, and there were Umbra, Witch, Dix, Sahara, and beside her a muscular shark that must've been another new member. That idea of 'passing the torch' became more and more credible. Everyone exchanged glances and greetings were passed to old faces, and recognition of the new ones. That shark's name was Pascal, an associate of Sahara's and is responsible for guarding CASFHA's borders.

But once the niceties quieted down, the room dimmed with the holograms, Azenu's and Ace's protogen parts, and the light strips on the table being their source of illumination. Fritz saw the ominous darkness that covered the top of Ricky's face, save for the eyes that barely shone. There was that smile under the pale light blue, and he could see the dox peering at everyone's faces but they didn't see it.

Once it reached Fritz, he and Ricky had a prolonged stare. He felt that hope of retirement diminish as his frustration got quelled too. Replaced by trust, somehow, as if the dox knew something of him that most of the others do not. There was that smile, sincere at heart but the dark nature of the room made it intimidating instead.

And when Ricky had scaled the room, silence becoming absolute save for the devices' hums, and the throat-clearing to get things moving from one of the present people, he recited a poem:

Speak thy language, speak thy friend

Prospects' divinity has come to an end

Their protection gone, guidance limited

Yet free to do as thy pleases, nothing is prohibited

But be wary of Shades, they seeketh your eyes

Which they claim upon any of your demise

A hard fight by one's self, an endeavor without worth

Especially with more than ten here on Earth

My agents are in play to thwart their efforts

You may assist them accordingly, or inflict hurt

Know, however, that I am not idle, I have purpose here

And I am to move my pieces, with curiosity and fear

Lastly an important advice, please do not piss off my friend Ethan

None of you speak his tongue most certainly, brand you a heathen

Nicky and I speak in a much similar manner, but not like this- no

Only when you understand, or are desperate, speak thee and to you I go.