“Of course. We’d be happy to comply,” Anya said to the sinister looking creature looming over her. She could feel Ryan stiffen beside her. The worst thing we could do right now is panic. As long as we remain calm, answer their questions honestly, we’ll be completely fine. Anya did feel a little strange though. She could feel her pulse quickening as the faceless being continued to stare her down. It shouldn't have been a big deal.  This isn't the first time different species are being seen together. Hell, Chameleon and Warrior do things together all the time. This isn’t any different, right?

“Stay where you stand. And answer the questions,” the being said slowly. There was more murmuring going on in the back, where the rest of the beings were sitting. A pause, and then a small beeping sounded. A recording system? Where? I guess it makes sense, they’d want to have this for their records.

“Who is leading this unit?” The being with the tall hat hadn’t backed up at all. It intended to question them while it stared them down, the cracked smile shoved down their mental cavity.

In answer to its question, Jamie and Ryan both looked at Anya. Before Anya could confirm, the being spoke with a chuckle. “Oh, Divinity is leading, is she? That comes to no surprise. Now…” The being turned to Jamie, who took a deep breath.

“Do you represent Chameleon? Warrior? Or Both?”.

“Chameleon,” Jamie said without hesitation.

“Does Warrior know you are participating independently?” the being’s words almost slithered out in a whisper. Jamie’s eyes averted its gaze as she uttered,

“I am free to do whatever I want.”

“Of course you are.” The being then turned to Ryan, who had decided to stare at his feet. “And do you, Pyrotanian, adhere to working with these two?” He was the most hesitant to be part of the group. Anya knew that, but his conviction seemed strong enough the night they met.

“I’m more of a symbolic member,” he said after awhile. Ah, don’t say that!

“Symbolic? What does this symbolize?” the being spoke.

“Unity.” Anya quickly interjected. “Unity between…the Noble Four.” The being paused for a bit. It began tapping its nails on the floor. There was a wave of whispers and murmurs coming the rest of the faceless beings. They too, began tapping their nails.

There’s nothing wrong with that. Right?

Anya could feel Jamie and Ryan tensing up more than before. Ryan refused to look anywhere other than the floor, with his hands in the pockets of his hoodie. Jamie pulled at the sides of her new leather jacket but kept her head up high. However, her eyes did waver nervously. Finally, after what felt like an eternity of tapping, the being spoke once again.

“The most important of the matter is, who does Earth go to if you win?” the being asked.

“It would go to us.” Anya said.

“Just the three of you?”

“Just the three of us. And we would do with it and its species, whatever we please.”

“Three individuals cannot sustain a whole planet, let alone win it.” It said while raising its head.

“Well, we’ll try. Is that all? We wouldn’t want to be wasting your time.” Anya said trying to wrap up the questioning.

“Why?” the being asked.

“Why what?” Anya asked.

The being continued moving backwards, retracting its body back behind the long, white desk. As it got further away from them, Anya was surprised to feel her body relax. She hadn’t realized that she had been taking small breaths and had tensed her muscles.

“We have records of you already registering for Open Conquest, what of your prior companions? Why have you abandoned them? Why must the Noble Four unite?”

Anya was confused. They don’t make this big a deal when Chameleon helps Warrior take a planet. What’s the big deal? What harm could this do? If they fear our unification will inspire others, I don’t see why they should worry. Fat chance of that ever happening. The only reason it works for us is because we have a common……goal. Oh…shit.

“Origin sees no need for the three of you to have a planet,” the being said while cocking its head to the side, folding its long fingers. The other beings nodded in agreement.

“What are the chances of us winning anyway?” Anya said, quickly changing her tone.

“Whom do you win the planet for?” the being asked.

“For…” For the human race. But they won’t like that answer. “For the three of us, as we said before,” she decided.

“That is not what we believe.” The other beings began to stand up, their great height almost grazing the ceiling.

We need to go. Now. But I can’t back down. My people don’t bow down to anyone. I will not be the first.

“We believe your union will cause much unrest for the other species. If we let you do as you please, it will incite others to do the same. You see, we can’t have three individuals as powerful as you three, become a symbol, as you so rightly put it.” ARGH, why did he say that here?

“But there are plenty of other unions, between the lower species, we were told!” Jamie suddenly spoke out.

“What the lower species do is of no concern or threat to us,” the being said as the rest of them started coming out from behind their desk, inching closer.

“We have no intention of upsetting or threatening the order of things. And I am offended that you would assume us to do so.” Anya said, standing her ground. Ryan began to nudge her as they crept closer. The being with the tall, diamond-shaped hat started tapping its nails again.

“We’ll decide that later when we have a representative of Warrior here. We’ll see what they think of your union.” I knew it. “For now, if you’ll come with us, we’ll give you some accommodations while you wait. I am sure your prior companions will want to know what you've been doing as well.”

If they think I’m going to let them treat me like a lower species, they’re crazy.

“Never has one of my species been disrespected like this. We may not be participating for our respective species but we are members of the Noble Four.” Anya said. “We do not need permission to do anything except wage war and you’ve already given us that consent when you allowed us to register.”

Ryan nudged Anya again. “You’re going to get us killed,” he said, whispering through gritted teeth. Anya continued.

“If you wish to question us again, you can send a formal request via transmission when all parties have been gathered. We won’t be put in a cell like common criminals,” Anya finished.

“Yeah,” Jamie added with a huge smile. “You forget who you’re speaking to.”

Ryan raised his hands and slowly rubbed them down his face in an exasperated manner.

“Oh, we’re quite aware of who we’re speaking to. That is why we offered accommodations, but you forget...” The whirring of the recording system suddenly stopped. “We serve the ones who gave you life, who gave you that noble status, we maintain balance and order. If you will not cooperate, we must use force.”

Fine then.

Anya grabbed Ryan’s arm with one hand and used the other to pull on Jamie’s, dragging them with her as she ran towards the exit tunnel. All at once the faceless beings lunged for them. Their nails scraped along the floor as they used their giant limbs to scale the gap between them and Anya. The sliding door started beeping, being told to close as Anya approached it; she dove inside just as it closed. All three of them fell with a thud. The tunnel was dark and a red light shone as a siren began ringing.

“WHY DID YOU DO THAT?” Ryan yelled. “We should’ve just done as they said!”

“To be taken seriously, you must demand respect.” Anya said as she pulled out from her inside jacket pocket, the gun that she had swiped from the human on the train. She had forgotten that she had it and only realized when she had taken out the registration cards.

“I do! When it won’t get me killed! You've killed us!” he said, spiraling.

The tunnel’s going to open any minute now. The question is, from what end? They’ve probably warned the guy from the first entrance. How many were there in that room? Eight? No, more like six.

“Here,” Anya handed the gun over to Jamie, who was furiously rubbing her elbow. She must’ve fallen on it. She took it tentatively. "They've already chosen their winner," Anya grumbled.

“What do you mean? And what do I do with this?” she asked. Her voice was shaking.

“What you do best, you shoot.”

“I’ve never used a human gun before.”

“It doesn’t matter, it’s better in your hands than in ours.” Anya watched as Jamie slowly examined it.

Both exits suddenly opened with a whoosh. White light from the white interiors spilled into the tunnel. The faceless being from the reception desk was peering in from one end, and several of the faceless beings from the registration room were trying to claw in from the other end. Anya used her arm to push against Ryan’s chest, pinning them both against the wall of the tunnel to avoid the claws from snatching them. There was a click as Jamie tried to shoot the gun, but nothing happened.

“Nothing’s happening it won’t shoot!” Jamie said, staring at the gun intensely as she jumped up against the opposite wall.

“Keep trying!”

The being from the reception desk began clawing at them as well. Ryan started squirming as it scraped up against his leg. He kicked at the arms, again and again but it continued to grab at him. He yelped as it finally wrapped its nails against his ankle and pulled, hard. He fell to the ground and frantically tried to pry the hands off of him. Anya rushed to grab under his arms and held on as he was dragged closer to the being.

“Get it off! Do something!” he yelled.

“What do you expect me to do with no powers?” Anya yelled back. Her sneakers squeaked against the floor as she tried to hold him while being dragged.

“Jamie! Now would be a great time to…!”

BANG

There was a loud bang as something crashed into the faceless receptionist's head. A bullet was lodged into its hard skin. Anya looked to Jamie, her mouth was open in shock, and her hair was frazzled, the gun aimed, her finger on the trigger. The sound reverberated against the walls and caused the beings to retract their claws in surprise. The receptionist let go of Ryan’s ankle and grabbed at its face in shock and panic. Jamie whirled around and aimed the gun at the group of faceless beings on the other side. They scurried away immediately in caution. They knew nothing about human weapons, they didn’t know what to expect.

Anya picked up Ryan off the floor. The being in front of them was still grabbing at its face in confusion.

Anya motioned to Jamie and the three of them pushed past the receptionist, knocking it over, and dashed out.