Like an Acorn

The woman in violent shades of crimson and black pointed a gloved finger towards the shell shocked girl before her.

Five said nothing to the woman, her mind a jumbled mess desperately trying to figure out her environment. Her widened eyes stared around the familiar and yet different room in curious fascination.

Somewhere in the back of her mind the teen knew this wasn't right, the walls were not supposed to look like that. These women, the clown? And Red... did not belong.

The women dressed in flashy costumes were not like the people who'd molded her. The world felt raw; Five's knees shook again, unused to being pulled so abruptly from her hibernation.

"The walls were white.... before" she whispered almost to herself, a nauseous feeling drifting into her stomach. A twitch in her hips made the girl clutch the pod entrance with an iron tight grasp.

"Wow, Red ya' got yourself a real prize in this one!" The clown laughed, her cackle filling the teen with unease.

This statement should have unnerved her more than the laugh, but Five was more curious than scared. Curiosity had always gotten her into trouble.

Head cocked to the side, the teenager stared oddly at the women, her face pressed into a deep set frown, "This is a horrible simulation," she finally stated crossly.

This seemed to cause amusement between both of the women, the clown, and the quiet Red... Who wasn't much red as she was green.

"Simulation?" The voluptuous woman in green asked, a cheeky grin evident on her face, as if she was holding back her own laugh.

"Obviously, how else would you be here? No one comes here besides the doctors," the girl said with a sigh of disappointment, "and the G-Gnomes..." her lips parted slightly as if she was going to continue, eyes scanning for other imperfections in the system when the daze of the sudden awakening broke and the realization of the blood on the walls clicked in her mind.

"Oh," She wanted to step out of the pod then, her heart starting to kick into overdrive, with the sudden realization that she could actually be in danger.

Five didn't need to ask where her G-Gnome was, now that she looked carefully she could see it. Well, she could see parts of it; one next to the pod controls, another almost hidden around the side of her container, another smeared against the door.

The clown and Red just watched her carefully as she studied the room, "It didn't like us wak'n you so it had a little accident," The clown laughed again.

A small ripple of remorse coaxed its way down Five's spine. They'd always been together. The little creature that usually sat on her shoulder, was now gone and she was alone again. "Oh," She whispered again, a look of disgust filling her eyes with more than silent tears.

"Don't be sad Darling, we came to liberate you," Red murmured sickeningly sweet, the girl assumed this was supposed to be comforting. She didn't do well with other people's definitions on emotions.

"Liberate?" she asked brokenheartedly. The word felt wrong in her mouth, like they were someone else's ideas. "I do not understand," she whispered in a clipped voice, her brows coming together in a crease as she tried to see past tears.

Five's fingers dug into the metal edges as she teetered over the edge, yet she hadn't made the plunge to the floor. 'You shouldn't do that.' The voice in the back of her head reprimanded her harshly.

She wasn't supposed to leave the pod. Not without the doctors. That was the rules. T-this though, this was different, she wasn't sure if the same rules applied now.

"I don't like it when people steal from me," The redhead said seriously as she stepped forward hiding the closest body part from Five's view as she approached. Her eyes scanning the girl up and down as if appraising a lamp in a department store.

Swallowing hard, the girl refused to flinch holding back the contempt for the woman as she came within inches of her.

"What did they steal from you?" The teenager asked sidestepping the woman, her legs wobbling awkwardly a bit as they hit the ground. It felt strange for the girl to be outside of the pod, but she knew that being cornered felt worse.

"It's rude... To not ask your savior's name," Red taunted back as if this was some exciting game of cat and mouse. Five wasn't sure who was winning-- or if she wanted to even know. All the girl knew was that the mouse always died.

"I'm not skilled with social customs, forgive me..." her voice trailing off as she rounded the terminal slowly, as if they wouldn't notice her making a beeline for the exit. Shock registering in her system as she almost tripped over something that should not have been in her way: a set of human legs. A familiar looking geneticist's vacant eyes stared up in what appeared to be fear.

His blood was what coated the walls. The girl couldn't help but notice that it was in part blood splatter, the other sections though- they looked almost smeared on as if a small hand had used the gory lubricant as fingerpaint.

Blood coated the dead man's stomach a bullet hole through his once white jacket and flesh told a crystal clear story. The teenager had never seen a gun in real life, but had been educated enough upon what they could do.

Five's bottom lip pressed dangerously against her teeth as she held in her fury, the nauseous feeling returning to her stomach once again.

"Did he steal from you too?" She asked using all of her might not to attack. Two against one, and the clown had a gun, even she wasn't that slick; not in these tight quarters anyways.

"No, he'd tried to set off the alarm," the redhead smiled sadly acting as if the murder was simply out of her hands. "He didn't like the punchline," the clown girl snickered as she flipped across the room with alarming skill, her body bending over backwards in perfect formation as she completed her back flips. Her cheery smile infuriating.

"I don't understand why you are so upset, they were keeping you prisoner, you were a weapon to them we've come to free you." Red continued, her eyes had a familiar quality as she rounded the corner, the clown approaching Five from the other side, both were literally cornering the teen now, their faces deadly serious.

"And what if I don't want to be liberated?" she asked carefully trying to think a way out of the situation. The room had only one entrance, which Red was blocking.

"It doesn't work that way, you walk out with us or Harls can show you one of her famous punchlines," Red continued, smiling grimly as if this was an unfortunate job she had to do with no say over her actions.

"Hrmh, you don't say?" The girl whispered to herself after a moment, wondering what it would be like to be shot. She'd never been shot before. Of course, Five really hadn't done a lot before. Simulation aside obviously. No, death didn't seem to appeal to her as she weighed her options with consideration.

"You're not leaving me with a lot of choices here are you... Red?" She asked guardedly her mind racing as she thought about how to best counter this attack.

"You're a smart girl, and you can call me Ivy," The woman smiled saucily as she outstretched an arm in the girl's direction holding it in the air as if waiting for her to shake it.