A Reminder

Responding to the angry woman's demands, Ace stepped forward first.

"Thalia please, we-".

She raised a hand. 

"Laevus, be...QUIET! I want to hear it from Icarus. I know it was his idea."

After hearing his real name Ace realized that Thalia wasn't just mad, she was downright furious. Wanting to avoid one of her signature beatdowns, he decided to step back and keep his mouth shut. The boys may have escaped being captured by government sentinels but nothing was worse than being on Thalia's bad side!

After a long stretch of awkward silence, Thalia walked forward until she was standing mere inches from Icarus, staring down at him with her piercing green eyes. 

"WELL? Where were you guys?"

Preparing himself for the worst, the frosty haired boy finally mustered the courage to speak. 

"We were just out getting some food for everyone. Look!"

He excitedly opened his pack revealing the dozens of canisters of rations. It was so much that the fires of Thalia's fury were momentarily quenched as a light smile found its way onto her face. 

"This is enough food to last for weeks, no...months! Where did you guys find this?"

Icarus sighed. "Is that really important? Everyone in the orphanage has been living off scraps for the past couple weeks. Some more food isn't gonna hurt."

The smile on Thalia's face quickly dissipated. "Don't make me repeat myself." 

Sensing danger, he quickly replied. "FINE! We got them from a depot.....a government supply depot. It was on the city outskirts. " 

"YOU DID WHAT!? Do you know what you've done!? There could be Sentinels that followed you guys back here!"

Hearing Thalia's rage, Icarus only hoped he could avoid a beating. Her strikes were always sharp and painful; he and Ace had found out the hard way numerous times in the past.

The woman was completely ruthless during their weekly training sessions and was even worse when she caught the boys acting out of line. Fearing the worst, Icarus put up his guard while he got out his final words.

"Wait! We lost them for sure, let me explain!"

He recounted the day's events, including how him and Ace had infiltrated the supply depot through a faulty air ventilation system, how they had tripped the alarm and ran all the way back to the slums, and how they led the sentinels on a crazy chase throughout most of their district. As he told the story she grew increasingly annoyed, especially when he mentioned the part about hiding in the junkyard. Right as Icarus was about to finish, she cut him off with a glare.

"That's enough Rus. You can head back inside." 

Hardly able to believe what they were hearing, the boys began walking towards the door.

"Not you Laevus, come back here."

Caught off guard, Icarus looked back at his brother but was quickly calmed as Ace beckoned him to head inside. The two boys almost never had to speak to their older sister alone since she always disciplined them at the same time. This made Icarus incredibly nervous but he still closed the door behind him, trusting his brother's judgement. 

Not even a second after the door closed, Thalia exploded into a charge and threw a jab, aimed directly at Ace's face. With wide eyes he managed to dodge her attack as he rolled onto the ground. 

Leaving him no time to recover, she continued her assault with well placed kicks, hooks, and attempted grabs. Ace did his best to avoid her strikes, doing a better job than usual. 

They continued their dance beneath the streetlight with Ace constantly giving up ground to retreat. He thought he would actually hit Thalia for once but he was viciously humbled by a low kick that swept his feet out from under him. Before he could get up, a heavy boot pressed on his chest causing him intense pain. He clutched the boot with his only arm as he gasped for air. 

Perfectly composed and not out of breath like Ace, Chelsea looked down at her watch and spoke with a tone of disappointment.

"15 seconds. Not bad but..... certainly not good. If you actually had to fight those Sentinels, maybe you could have bought poor Rus enough time to make it down the street before they finished you."

Pressing down harder with her boot she continued. This time her voice was stern. 

"What I don't understand is why. I leave you with Icarus so that you guys can balance each other out, not so that you can say yes to all his shenanigans. A supply depot raid? Seriously? You can hardly defend yourselves against me 2 on 1. What made you think this was a good idea?" 

Ace grunted. "B-But"

"There are no buts. How many times do I have to tell you Ace!? Risk and reward. Analyze the situation. YOU HAVE ONE ARM! Are you trying to lose the other? This will not happen again, UNDERSTOOD?"

Clutching the boot, Ace wheezed out an affirmation as Thalia lifted her foot and offered him a hand. He grumbled a response as he swatted her hand away and stood up on his own. 

"I know you're worried about us, but what about the others? They don't know how to fight like me or Rus, let alone you. Hell, they're barely getting enough food. Maybe things would be easier if the rest of us were primed."

Thalia scoffed. "Primed? Are you suggesting that I bring everyone to an exposure facility? Stop joking around and head inside."

Seeing her disdain for the idea, Ace fell silent as he thought about their current situation. 

'Its not like being primed is guaranteed death anyway. If we expose ourselves to the Sever then at least we have a chance. They'll let us past The Wall if we show we've survived the ordeal. If we just stay like this, I'm not sure how much longer everyone can be taken care of... 8 people is a lot of mouths to feed. I guess we'll just worry about it later... after we run out of rations again.'

As the pair walked through the door and into the foyer they were greeted by an image of Icarus being dogpiled by five young children. Their names were Dane, Hannah, Kalen, Lucy, and Zeke. Icarus tried to take out the rations but his efforts proved futile as the children mercilessly pulled his hair and tugged at his cheeks. Looking up, he gave his brother a huge smile and shouted. "Get him guys!" 

Ace stood no chance and was quickly toppled like a tower as the children and Icarus unleashed a tickle attack on him. 

While the children under her care continued to roughhouse, Thalia walked to the kitchen and boiled some water for the rations. By the time the kids were tired out, she had globs of ration biscuits ready for everyone. They all enjoyed them with some light hearted conversation. 

Suddenly, their peace was rudely interrupted by a synthetic voice that shook the entirety of GQC-1. The voice was distinctly different from the one earlier that day. It didn't come from the speakers installed by humans, but instead seemed as if it was coming from the air itself, like it was in the room with them. 

"WARNING....WARNING....WARNING."

"THE PROMISED 15 CYCLES HAVE PASSED. OUR RETURN AND EVALUATION WILL BEGIN AT THE END OF THE 24TH HOUR." 

"1 MINUTE REMAINS....PREPARE FOR.... JUDGEMENT."