Touched - Order of Odium: Book One

Michelle - 8

Michelle sat at a small table that had seats for three others in one of the many lounges on C-Level. The room was empty of others, but she could see the litter of they left behind on the various tables. Energy drink cans, wrappers from candy bars, and semi-filled bags of chips strewn across booths and tables. Apparently common courtesy was out of the question when there was a cleaning crew on staff 24/7.

She had been waiting for Aleksander to come to talk to her about the next steps in their experimentation. As usual, he was late, and Michelle wondered why she had even bothered to get there on time when she heard voices from outside of the lounge.

A man's voice said "I'm just checking up on you, this is an important day, wouldn't want to forget your coin purse, would you? You already forgot to wear your best dress, Danielle. You gotta start coming prepared for these things."

The door to the lounge slid silently open and two men walked inside, both wearing the typical grey jumpsuits of the Order, with one wearing a white lab-coat. The one without the lab-coat spoke to the other man, "Yeah? Well, this 'coin purse' is where I'm gonna put your balls after I cut them off, asshole."

The two men stopped walking when they noticed Michelle.

"Hey Steven," she said. "And I guess you must be... Danielle?"

"It's actually Daniel, Steven here is just jealous because he feels emasculated by my presence ever since they started training me practically nonstop."

Michelle had to admit, Daniel did fill the jumpsuit well. You could even see muscle underneath what would usually cover everything except a very large beer gut. His face wasn't too bad either, except for the beard, but beards could be shaved.

"I assume since you're here with Steven you're going to be my new partner for the next part of experimentation?" she said to Daniel. She glanced over at Steven, "You know Steven, I think that's the most I've heard you talk since I've known you."

Steven smiled sheepishly, his face growing a little red. "Yeah, well, when you have to deal with jerk-offs like this guy all day you kinda have to talk more than when you're working with someone competent."

"You two make a cute couple," Michelle said smiling.

"See what you did with your 'coin purse' shit? The first time I meet a beautiful woman I'm going to be working with and you make her think I'm gay," Daniel punched Steven in the arm lightheartedly.

Steven feigned shock, "That's assault you know! You're still a ward here, I could have you sent to prison for that!"

"I already tried that, remember? You guys wouldn't let me." Steven said, looking at Michelle. "We work with a bunch of dicks, did you know that?"

"Everyone here has been great to me. You ever think that maybe you're the dick in this situation?" Michelle said, smiling.

"See! Now everyone is against me here because of you." He gave Steven a scornful look and sat in a chair next to Michelle.

Steven sat in the chair across from Michelle. "Because of me? I can't help it if Michelle is a good judge of character."

Before Steven could retort, the doors to the lounge slid open and Aleksander walked in, staring at his tab. It was expanded out all the way and he was muttering something to himself. After a moment he realized he was not the only one in the room.

"Hello everyone! So nice to see you all again! It has been a while, yes?" Aleksander said.

Steven and Michelle both said "We talked to you yesterday, Alek," while Daniel sat with a confused look on his face.