The Scramble [Complete]

[Eighteen]

If Eighteen had grown up normal she would have seen this situation in a humorous light. To an outsider it would have been akin to any day-time teen soap-opera. Every now and then the members of this unusual group would stare in fascination of the unusual power that was Omnilium. One person would create an object, another a weapon and everyone was curiously compelled to understand what it was they were supposed to accomplish.

If it weren’t enough to whip out their Omnilium and discover together, some were prone to squabble and peck at each other as if fighting in a popularity contest. The way she saw it, some of these creatures were clearly meant to lead…while others were not.

Out of the corner of her eye she watched certain figures skulk away, while others came near. Soon enough there were what could only be troops, surrounding them, and the android moved no more than an inch backward to take stock of the situation.

As it was, the moment Whirda took off with her self-ambitions, Eighteen knew this would not be an easy group to fit into. Once upon a time she was able to lead a rally against aliens several feet tall. She had easily been one of the elite…but here, in this place, she was no one. It was giving her a strange sense of déjà vu.

The girl quietly separated herself from the group, allowing Nyx to make her own choices as the two groups all but fought over them. There was no use in making a rushed decision, considering this could very well be a trick…or some deeper plot.

Eighteen couldn’t help but, as she was wont to do in times like these, think back on what sort of life she had made for herself. Had she, in her haste to be human, given up a life of adventure and ultimately doomed herself to this weak and solitary life? It was a question that plagued her mind constantly.

Her arms folded against her chest and she stared at each of the so-called Primes that had become her acquaintance. Some had already made up their mind, others were in deep contemplation.

Did she want to live in a world thriving with technology? It sounded like home. It very well could have been, with the way Judge Dredd was dressed, as well as his troops. The other pair, they reminded her of stories she was sure she would have read as a girl. It didn’t matter…those memories had been wiped.

Then, again, it didn’t have to be that way.

So it was that Eighteen quietly walked around all the other people. Some of them were as tall as the horses their guests had ridden on, while she, being modest in height, was rather unobtrusive. She, with the emotional displays of a toaster, stood before the King of Camelot.

“As much as this will probably not end well, considering I’m technologically inclined…and well, I am technology, I feel the need to see what else is there to be seen. Besides…” she peered almost timidly, with a hint of that rare humanity, at the beast that had been the King’s mount, “I’ve always wanted to ride a horse.”