Two metallic arms shot out of behind Eve's empty podium to grab Eli and Nicos. Eli seemed resigned to his fate, though Nicos struggled fruitlessly.

"Y'know, it's strange..." Eli began as the arms dragged the pair off through the facility. "All I can think about now is my family. I know I can't really ask for much, but it'd do my heart good if someone could buy 'em a nice house in the suburbs...A bit of a last request, I guess."

The arms seemed to be bringing them quite far, and the students were only able to keep up with the action due to the monitors switching between various camera views to track their journey. As it turned out, the arms were heading for the teleporter, where they pushed Eli and Nicos through and handed them over to a second, smaller pair of robotic arms. It seems they'd been sent over to the base at the fairground, and it quickly became apparent why: they were pushed down into the strange metal chairs that the students had found when first exploring the place. Restraints quickly sprang up, and then the instruments around the head area of each chair moved in to fit around their heads.

They could barely move, but Eli managed to turn his head a little and face Nicos. "Guess this is it. Let's go, Nicos... There's a new future ahead, for better or for worse..."

"H-Heh! Not a problem for me! This isn't gonna bring the legendary Nicos Agne down! Just watch -- I'm still gonna reach out towards the world with open arms!""

All of a sudden, the instruments lit up a bright blue and both Ultimates tensed up in their chairs. Some form of energy seemed to be flowing between the instruments and their heads, and with each pulse they flinched instinctively. However, after each subsequent pulse their responses grew less and less pronounced, until soon the pair slumped limply against the restraints, no longer cognisant enough to resist.

On another set of monitors, two very ugly-looking, vaguely humanoid robots in a hangar were glowing the same blue. The less responsive Eli and Nicos became, the more lively the robots seemed to get. Eventually the process was over and the two robots looked at each other, moving their arms feebly to grasp each other's hand in an unsettling display of kinship. Then the floor between them suddenly opened up, dropping the pair into an unfamiliar wilderness. The camera quickly panned away as the aircraft it was presumably in swiftly left the two robots behind, all to themselves.

…

…

…

It had already been raining for several days. Since it was the end of the year, it was only getting colder too.

“Expelled?!”

Kyoya had never seen his sister look so angry. She was looking at the now-soaked piece of paper that he had handed her, and didn’t know what to do besides nervously grin. He was hoping he’d be given some more sympathy given the cuts and bruises on him but it seemed that only made her more angry.

“Goddamnit, Kyoya! You have no idea how hard I worked to get you in there.”

“Everyone there was stupid anyway.” Kyoya frowned, tightening his wet hoodie to try to keep the cold away.

She sighed and roughly grabbed his arm as they began to walk home, not forgetting to slap him upside the head. “This better have been worth it. You better have really roughed up the other kid.”

Kyoya didn’t respond to that to spare her more bad news.

It wasn’t long before they had arrived at their home. His sister walked up to the chainlink fence and peeled the bottom upwards, allowing him to bend under and get through. He then held it up from the other side as she passed through, then they walked to the side door together. It was the only one that wasn’t boarded up.

Knock knock knock.

Pause.

Knock knock.

Pause.

Knock knock.

The door slowly opened, a pair of eyes peering at them before opening the rest of the way. They both stepped inside, heading immediately up to their room without greeting the others.

“I have to be at work in an hour.” She grumbled, then sighed with heavy exhaustion. “It would be wonderful if for once you could make things a little easier around here.”

He didn’t respond. He stood still, taking the verbal beating and watching as she walked up the rest of the steps.

“And don’t think you’re done with school.” She added. “You’re studying tonight. You’re gonna finish those books.”

He waited a moment before deciding to stop pitying himself and heading downstairs. Most of the people in the house were on the ground or in chairs, sleeping in their high stupors. Kyoya headed towards the fire pit, hanging his hoodie up nearby in an attempt to get it dry.

His eyes glanced at a man sitting nearby. He was shooting up with a needle into his right arm. He looked at Kyoya as he did it.

“Don’t ever think about starting this, boy.”

Kyoya nodded. He had heard that enough times where he didn’t need to be reminded. He then bent down and opened his backpack.

Beans. Pass.

The next thing he pulled out was a loaf of sliced bread. It was good quality, and he had taken it from a store the previous day. He was saving it for a day when the food pantry had deli meats.

He took a piece of scrap metal nearby and laid it across the top of the trash can with the fire inside. He waited for a few minutes, not knowing when it’d be hot enough. Slowly, he placed the bread on top.

He watched carefully as he waited. He could see the bread slowly cook, its scent already filling the room. He quickly picked it up to flip it over, then saw that the side he was just warming up was charred black. He frowned, but quickly shoved it into his mouth, cringing at each ashy bite.

He tried again. This time he pulled it out quicker. He examined it for some time, seeing that it was still pretty soft. He put it back on the metal.

“That won’t work, kid.” One of the observing burnouts said.

Kyoya frowned at him but didn’t say anything.

“You can’t pause toast. It loses its essence man.”

Kyoya sighed and ate the half-cooked toast. Frustrated at watching Kyoya’s efforts, the vagrant walked to the fire pit and grabbed another piece of scrap metal. He used his boot to curve it a little and then placed it in the firepit underneath Kyoya’s scrap. The bread could now be heated on both sides.

“... thanks.” Kyoya muttered.

He tried again. This time when he went to grab it he burnt two of his fingers. He cried out and sucked on them, giving the bread to the vagrant who helped him and then and throwing another piece on.

I can help. I can at least try to.

He carefully flipped at set intervals. It became more golden brown. And soon a very smoky and alluring aroma spread throughout the room. He did it again, the next piece coming out even better.

It was perfect. Or at least… the best he had ever seen yet. For as long as he could remember, it was the most delicious looking thing he laid his eyes on.

He smiled, almost drooling on the pieces but taking great restraint not to. He already ate the burnt pieces so he instead put the two newest ones to the side. Before going upstairs he made sure to take the pieces of scrap metal off of the trash can and douse them with cool water.

“I brought dinner.” Kyoya called out into the room before coming in. His sister was laid out in a bed, just staring at the ceiling.

“Kyo, if I had to look at a plate of beans right now I might vomit. After work.”

“It’s toast.”

She looked at him curiously, then sat up. She walked over to him and grabbed the pieces, taking a small look at them before grabbing a gluttonous bite. “Thanks.”

They didn’t talk as she ate the first piece. He could tell she was really enjoying it though, even though she was trying not to smile. For a moment it felt like they were home again.

“Wipe that smile off your face.” She said, smirking at him. “I’m still mad at you.”

He snickered. “Right.”

She licked her fingers as she finished the piece. “Did someone have a toaster downstairs?”

“I just used the fire.”

She smiled. “This is really good for something cooked over a fire.”

“Thanks.”

“... look, Kyo. I didn’t mean what I said earlier. I’m happy you’re here with me and… I’m sorry things aren’t better right now. I’m really trying.”

Kyoya looked at the ground, a little guilty. “I know you are. You were right, I shouldn’t make things any more difficult than they need to be. I know you are too… in your own way.”

She broke the second piece in half and gave it to Kyoya. “You should really try it.”

He ate it with a goofy grin on his face. He was genuinely impressed with himself. For the first time in a long time.

“You got a gift. I’m not kidding.”

“It’s definitely better than beans and beets.”

She grimaced at the reminder.

He flipped the small piece in his hands before putting the rest in his mouth. “... I don’t mind doing some of the cooking from now on. The bread is free if we get it from the food pantry too.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

She wiped at her eye very quickly. “Well, I’d appreciate it. Do you have any left?”

“Yeah. But maybe it’s best if we save it.”

“Fuck that. Long enough day, let’s milk something good out of it.”

They headed downstairs, Kyoya arranging his old setup on top of the firepit and placing two more pieces on. They waited together in the nurturing light of the fire. For a moment it was like they were stuck in a different place, in a different time.

“You have to watch it carefully.” He advised. “Otherwise it makes a mess.”

“Sounds like someone I know.”

He snickered at that. They watched the bread slowly cook, the only sounds coming from the crackling fire and rain against the rooftop. He closed his eyes for a moment, imagining he was somewhere else. The scent of golden toast filled his nostrils, and for a moment he felt he wouldn’t be hungry again.

…

…

...

A small door on one side of the utility room led to a few bedrooms. As per usual, they were poorly equipped, presumably intended only for workers staying late into the night for whatever reason instead of teleporting back to the main base for a proper room. Yet somehow the bedrooms here seemed even less appealing than those in the jungle or the theme park, almost military in their minimalism.

The door led to a large lounge. Chairs, sofas, books and vending machines for refreshments, the room was somewhat nicer than the previous ones, though the floor was still plain metal. Furthermore the walls and ceiling were all made from the same transparent material as out in the corridor, making the place the perfect viewing gallery. From here they could see various tube-like corridors trailing about the place, leading to other sections of the base. The outside surface of most of it seemed to be coated in something that partially camouflaged it.

One of the rooms was full of computers, and near the back was a door leading to a water-cooled server farm. The computers could not connect to the internet, of course, and most of Alabaster’s network seemed to be encrypted, but there was still a wealth of information that could be accessed. Additionally there were various games and movies stored on the computers.

Another room turned out to be the main source of the strange chemical smell permeating the base. The lab was highly advanced, and most of what was there seemed far beyond what any of the Ultimates understood. There were signs of both chemical and biological experiments being done here. Additionally there were enough resources stocked up that the students could mess around with them if they so chose.

A small side room led to a specialised robot lab of some kind. It seemed dedicated to just one kind of robot, though: Eve. Displays on the walls showed Eve’s original body at various angles, many as cross-sections and with various labels identifying features and research notes. A complicated-looking apparatus on one end of the room appeared to be where she was made, and was possibly also responsible for modifying her as the tests continued. There was a large closet in the room, which turned out to be for storing toys, games and other such items, though whether they were genuinely for entertainment or simply part of the experiments to make the original Eve more human-like was unknown.

One of the rooms was a docking station for a very small, spherical submarine. As it turned out, there were many such docks around the base, but only one sub. It could travel between the various docks, and was largely free to move about otherwise, though it was partly controlled by a signal from the base and so was unable to stray too far from it. It would probably make for a nice way to explore the surrounding underwater environment.

Unlike Eve’s lab, this one was much more mechanical in nature. It was also much larger, and full of all kinds of robots in varying stages of completeness. Software on a computer here appeared to allow for the automated construction of robots based on input parameters, such that even the students could try making some, though more advanced types seemed to require much more technical knowledge and were largely infeasible to design.

Presumably this was here to test out the robots… right? Though the existence of a betting station suggested the scientists here weren’t above using it just for fun.

The arena was highly modifiable via a control panel to one side. It was encased in a thick transparent barrier that kept spectators safe from anything that might happen within. Robots could be made to battle automatically, or via manual control, and various parameters for competition could be set. A passageway connected the arena to the robot lab, so that robots could be constructed or repaired there and then taken to the arena to do battle.

Railings surrounded a square hole in the centre of the room, which led directly into the water. A forcefield seemed to be keeping the water from flooding into the room, while still allowing anyone in a diving suit to go past it; anyone not wearing a suit was blocked just like the water was. There were diving suits on rungs on one side of the room, and lockers along the other. The suits were range-limited by tethers, which could be retracted by someone in the station to pull a diver back to safety. They were also specially-made to resist incredible pressures, allowing for diving quite freely without much worry.

Constructing robots, working with chemicals or doing strange biological experiments all day made a well-equipped bathhouse even more desirable than usual. It would be unhygienic if employees had to traipse all the way back to the main Alabaster base just to wash all the muck off. Plus it made for a great way to relax after a stressful day of cutting-edge science. Perhaps this was why it was so... elaborate, compared to the rest of the base. Split between male, female and other, each contained showers, baths and even saunas. One bath in each was housed in a transparent casing, allowing for the unusual feeling of bathing in the middle of the ocean, surrounded by aquatic life.