Variant » Places

         

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Night had fallen, the soft tickles of pink and sneezes of orange in the sky had long since faded to the navy of twilight and silence had begun to wrap itself around the Lower Ring. There was a false sense of security in the air as gangs retreated back to their homes for the day, done collecting their payments and raiding other gang bases. Blood was being blasted off of the streets by sidewalk washers and mothers were calling their children in from minuscule front yards, telling them that it was time to come inside for the evening.

At the police station, Sin was angrily buttoning up her shirt. She had been given the duty of rounding up all Variants tonight and begin to send them to the Upper Ring for whatever it was the government needed them for. Suspicion was high, there were whispers flitting across the halls as she made her way downstairs with the two other Variants that would be assisting her. In Sin's hand was a small device, a reader that could find the bar code of a Variant within three hundred feet. They were not going to take anyone in by force, no their job was to simply inform and point them in the right direction; should there be resistance however, they were allowed to subdue, but nothing more.

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It was a long night, Sin had gone into bars, knocked on apartment doors, and had crept through alleyways in order to inform Variants of the mandatory report. Only one had resisted, but Sin had stopped him before he could do any damage and brought him in to the police station so they could perform the transfer.

Currently Sin stood in front of Medical Research building A113A, her hands shaking a bit as she wiped them on the pant leg of her uniform. She strode into the lobby, the last one to arrive and the doors locking behind her. The deadline had passed and Variants were standing in the entrance of the building. A few Sin recognized, a blond that owned a bar she had frequented and his purple haired girlfriend who could often be found there, a stripper Sin had given a ride home to once on a cold winter night. There were others, the gardener she had seen beat up humans who stomped on his plants, Wilson and Christopher from the police department, the private detective Pandora she had helped solve a case with once, as well as the talented mute seamstress, and... Wait, was that a human? The person was handcuffed and two armed guards stood on either side.

Confusion rode her expression for a moment, but it wasn't any of Sin's business if the government wanted a human here. Unless they were actually a reporter that had gotten into the building for a quick scoop? She shook her head and turned to face the man standing on a mini stage at the front of the lobby. He cleared his throat, the sound coming over the loudspeaker. "I'm sorry to have to gather you all on such short notice, but-" he paused, hesitating. "War has broken out once more between the Americans and Koreans. I'm afraid you've all been recommissioned for a new assignment in Hoshii. You're all going back to the battle front."

Sin's heart sank, her knees began to shake and she felt weak. Someone in the room threw up, another few burst into tears. The Variant leaned against the wall, her head spinning as she digested this news.

They were going back to the war.