The minion was knocked out and brought back here for further interrogation in the cellar, and though Viva didn’t want to be a nuisance, she also didn’t want to miss anything remotely important. She liked the fact that the kitchen was the most modern area of the mansion; shiny metal counters and ceramic and glass and plastic… very clean, very sanitary, very well kept. The rest of the place was all rustic and classic. There were unused stables, and a barn that was actually a garage. Fabulous gardens were kept up by a family of garden gnomes. Kadija rendered them unable to see, hear, or touch the visitors, and they came to tend the flora every other day. Today was one of the quiet days, and people were generally keeping to themselves.
She snapped the yo-yo into her hand, hearing steps coming up. Jason closed the door behind him with a sigh. “That minion is one tough nut to crack.”
Viva raised an eyebrow. “Should I have stayed?”
“I don’t think so. He wasn’t rattled by anything. Like what you said about their masters treating them like cannon fodder. They don’t care, as long as they are valued by someone.”
“If you can count being part of an faceless army as being ‘valued’.”
“If their master spends a few minutes sweet-talking them whenever they begin to doubt…”
“They’re so gullible and desperate. On one hand, I pity them. On the other, I hate that they can choose not to feel pain. Even if their master ordered them to set fire to themselves, they’d say something like, ‘It is an honor to die for the glory of the master!’ and do it. If they felt the Though Viva was candid, her tone and expression revealed how troubled she felt by it. Minions had a miserable life; eggs developed in days, sat for two more, and when they hatched they grew to adult size in a matter of weeks, totally dependant on the master who bred them like animals. Minions were little more than slaves, as their race lived to serve. Only one minion in a thousand had ambitions to be anything else. Most people were unsettled by their monstrous appearance and obsessive devotion; as a result, minions were only used by those who needed workers who would never work for them voluntarily. Unless someone wiped them out, it was a tragic situation with little to no solution. Viva would’ve liked to present a neat, clean answer, but sometimes one just couldn’t be found without solving the problem of the human race. Just by damage they were doing to themselves, maybe they’d question their master, or feel guilt or shame for inflicting suffering upon others at the master’s word.”
looking at her, Jason could see the empathic ache in her heart.
Her expression wiped clean when the door opened again, and Justin emerged with Kadija. Jason folded his arms. “Anything new?”
“Same cryptic answers and smug attitude,” Justin growled. “Nothing shakes him.”
“Slade requested seclusion,” Kadija added. “If his scare tactics fail, he mentioned that starvation and suffocation can induce cooperation in lieu of pain.”
Viva frowned. “Isn’t that torture?”
Kadija gave her a long, level look. “I shall not permit undue suffering to occur. He will tell us what we need to know, or he will not. If it is necessary for him to die, it shall be as quick and painless as possible.”
Viva was clearly upset. “I hate how they’re treated like animals.”
“If they were governed by rationality instead of fanaticism, we could afford to.”
“There has to be a better way,” Viva muttered, frowning at the floor.
“Let us know when you think of one.”
Viva glared at Justin. “If I had one, I’d be throwing it in your face.” She turned on her heel and slammed the door behind her.
This is just absurd. I have no running theme, no structure, no recognizable motifs, no clear objective, muddled details about the world setting and the timeline... there are so many inconsistencies and rip-offs that I can't even begin to make heads or tails of most of it. And I wrote the thing!
I have Viva, a girl fabricated from the girl I am, the girl I wanted to be, and a few predominant characters I'd been exposed to at the time I began.
I have Jason, my... ideal best friend, I guess.
I have Quinn, who is mostly an objective spectator and voices the things which nobody really has time to appreciate, or the luxury to practice; wonder, awe, and innocence, having the courage doing stupid (impulsive) things because he doesn't fully understand the danger until he's there. The rest of us know to look before we leap... but a lot of times we don't jump because we can see the odds and we don't like them. Quinn naively rolls anyway. I don't even know why I came up with Molly, besides companionship for Quinn; she's kind of a pain to have to drag around.
I have Skylar, and then I have the supporting cast, each of whom is very much like another. Seriously, listening to the dialog alone and you'd think there were maybe four or five people besides the main three-- and there are supposed to be over a dozen. Amber was pretty original, I guess, but even her personality is pretty stereotypical. Jack Frost wasn't very consistent as a character, and I can't seem to shake the tendency to create characters who reflect people I'd like to hang around, and treat the masses like so many dummies.
Basically, the only good in my story are some concepts, the character-on-character banter, and the stuff that has absolutely no relation to anything in the fictional story, but translates to reality-- like the whole concept of 'monsters' that Jason and the mysterious woman in black discussed in the Architect Dimension. And I'm sorry, but I have no creative juices left for this story. I'm all tangled up in technicalities of my own making. Maybe a few years from now, I'll rewrite the whole thing into something almost publishable, but I wouldn't hold my breath. So here is the end. I'm sorry I couldn't make it to the end, but who knows how many chapters it'd take to get there?
And eternal apologies to kanimani for being the world's worst partner in a project that... actually never started because I was never able to get in touch outside of email. I would've liked to see some of my characters come to life. ;_;
Guardians not Friending are invisible protectors; secret sect of skilled warriors. Frozen girl
survived to continue research, founded sect to support Hybrids in their battle w/ creature.
Powers- mental AND emotional.
Indigo is special because of her unique lineage, thinking processes, and magicky magic.
Quinn's questioning glances and listening skills aided in Hybrid development.
Baffled Superiors watch developments with great interest after banishing Quinn to exile. (You like this place so much, stay.) Earth will be quarantined to prevent spread of radical thought. (Earth is dangerous. If our life is not for you, leave. We need no war or hunger here. You want change? Leave. We wish you luck. Leave our knowledge with us.) We'll find this out when one of Quinn's coworkers (exiles himself or comes to collect data packs?)
Hybrids have deep-seated issues because the scientist was scattered and drawn to them. His genius and issues were bestowed equally.
Villain – Ex-Guardian turned evil, self-deluded with twisted logic. (Savior who will rid the world of Man thing again.) The Hybrids are the only ones who can stop him, because his underground is so powerful. He snapped back when he accidentally killed his Hybrid twins, son and daughter, by trying to get them to do the special thing with the Mist (see plot point). He embraced the psychopath's essence after he, too, was scattered and drawn to the one creature who could and would accept him. Evil and destruction and madness, believing that chaos is rightful. This false righteousness, believing good is bad and bad is good, leads everyone (who doesn't know his secrets) to believe that he's a pretty good guy in general.
Plot point; super powerful technique which takes two people. If one pulls away, strikes or recoils, or hides something, the results are quite fatal to both parties. (basically takes down all the defensive walls so that the two can become one mind, like a Vulcan mind-meld)
Viva takes a day to recover
Discussion revealing that there's a bad guy out there.
“What do we do about it?”
Agree to lay trap
Catch minion, get cryptic answers and smug attitude, suicides when they're not looking
Find themselves trapped following a false lead; Jason gets Viva out
Viva attempts to raise mushrooms for mercenaries, finds Skylar waiting with all the mushrooms and his own private army (has been working to dominate the underground market of minions; treats them well, has them 'rented out' to do work for others, gives them purpose to partially eliminate abuse of their kind. His main competitor in the minion department is the Villain)
Jailbreak/rescue operation, cameos with Jack Frost, Amber, Levi and Owen and Randy the firefighter medic and more; Jason held separate from main group, find him chained and beaten bloody (bad guy wanted him to suffer b/c Jason got Viva out, and bad guy somehow learned of the 'prophesy' that Viva was special)
Boss appearance to smash their last chances
Uber (Jason and Viva) technique somehow fails
Black hood girl (Lydia, amnesiac?) appears with unique (power? Object?), sacrifices self to save the day because she's the only one who can (because plot-twist). “Go seek the truth, and find joy.”
Skylar gets bunch of data from the packs before the alien ambassador takes them and tells Quinn what's up. ;D
So they each went down their own paths, but stayed in touch. Jason and Viva walk off into the sunset together while Skylar rakes in the mushrooms, now that the Villain is gone.
THE END.
Many thanks to fourthing, snalbath, cutesheep, anselmh, heiderh, ashvio, and Hrainian for expressing interest in my little story-- and most especially fabianh for being my biggest (most vocal) fan. *sends virtual hug*
I hope you enjoyed reading my story, and that this provided adequate closure for you. If you'd like me to write a scene or two more focused on a piece of the ending, request it and I'll see what I can do.
Thanks for reading! 
