Utterly Mad

Blue passed the bolt to Mica. Mica flicked it to Caramel as they passed in a hall and from Caramel it made it's way into one of the children's many dead drops in the lab. From the dead drop, it would be picked up by Lily and given to Whiskey during a brawl.

What he wanted it for was a mystery to everyone but the children themselves. The dead drops weren't too secret, at least the ones the science team and their security had tracked down, but the items usually found within were. The children were still small, growth hormones and genetic excitement having only been in use for a year. As such the children passing the bolt around the lab looked to be about seven or so, when in fact they were only around three or four. They were clever for their age.

It still wasn't clear, watching whiskey in the corner of his room, what he wanted the bolt for. Whiskey knew what he wanted it for though, he was just working himself up to it. The children did not yet know what a "camera" was. Only that the little red thing in the corner was watching them. Whiskey peered over his shoulder at it, his shoulder length blond hair obscuring his face from veiw and clashing terribly with the thin sheen of brown peach fuzz that covered his entire body. Of all the children of X7, whiskey hated the little red thing in the corner most of all. He glared at it with open hostility, sometimes even charging across the room like an animal and taking a leap at it. He couldn't reach it though, and that was what the bolt was for. He spun from the corner, arm coming out like a whip sending the bolt in a straight and true trajectory. The red eye in the corner winked out.

"Security, collect contraband from cell 3. It'll be a bolt. Camera in that room is damaged, bring backup." Crackled the intercom at the security checkpoint up the hall. Very shortly, two men would arrive to find whiskey stomping on the remains of the cameras external globe, but the camera itself otherwise undamaged apart from the red LED that indicated it's state.

---

In the room across the hall, Setsuna was standing naked in front of the two way mirror examining herself. She wasn't as smart as some of the others but she was observant and had watched the changes in herself and her siblings with suspicion and fascination since the first few shots. They were subtle changes, unless you were whiskey, who had grown a crop of thin fuzz, or mica, who had grown a tail. Setsuna's changes were more subtle, but none the less fascinating. She was paler, for example, and her teeth seemed to stick out a little further in front. Today, she was looking for different changes.

It came over her all of a sudden, the feeling of being watched. Not from the red eye, but by herself. Setsuna's reflection in the mirror was watching her with it's blue eyes hardly seen through her curtain of b Judging her. She slipped back into her gown quickly, not forgetting to tie it up in the back and then slipped under her bed with the blanket and sheet. Occasionally she stuck her face out to look back at the mirror and get a whiff of the air. It smelled to her like danger. It would be some time before they could get her out, and in the end she would in all likelihood stay put even then.

---

Two rooms down, beyond Mona and Snowballs empty rooms, Wolf and Mocha worked quickly under Oni's supervision. Oni was biggest, and that made Oni the boss of those three present. If Mica was here, it would be Mica, but she wasn't there so naturally it fell to Oni. What they were doing, was digging a trap.

They knew the big people would be there soon, so it was important that they be quick. Oni had given Mocha and Wolf spoons, given by Catnip for the job. It was that and the teamwork being displayed that made this instance unusual. The children often expected one another to accomplish their favors unaided. Catnip wanted a guards badge for the clip and plastic sleeve, and she had provided for the task a pair of spoons. They scraped and scraped until the rug and the wooden paneling beneath were a pile of shredded threads and splintered wood beside a very shallow depression and the spoons we're worn away to handles. Right on cue, the door opened and On I played his hand. Another tool provided, this one by Mica who wanted a guards light stick, made the real trap. Oni shifted his weight and jerked his right foot back, drawing the wire across the door at ankle level tight and tripping the guard. Oni was pulled down onto his legs, and the other children got to work. Wolf snatched the guards badge while Mocha withdrew the flashlight from it's loop on the guards belt. The two items vanished as quickly as they'd been taken and wouldn't be found until the sisters were done with them.

As for Oni, the guard kicked him hard in the face and would have done worse if not for the intervention of his partner.

"What the flying fuck are you little shits doing?!" He demanded. None of the children answered. It was very obvious what they were doing, digging a hole. The wire was dangled before them like a rotting fish, and they were asked, "and this?"

"So we can get out again if we fall in?" Oni replied unconvincingly. The guard looked at him, then let them go with instructions to not feed them for a day. Later still, Oni would present the items to his sister's, secure in a job well done.