Delta's Path/Uncertainty

The silence in the little concrete box was suffocating. Daniele didn't speak a word but he was struggling to stifle his nerves. The Asian woman sitting across the steel table from him just stared down at her data-tablet and sipped a glass of water. Her brown eyes were glued to the screen, seemingly oblivious to the boy's twitching across from her.

Five minutes and forty-three seconds. Forty-four seconds. The redundant ticking of an analog clock at the north side of the room was the only noise bouncing off the weathered-white walls. Boredom was the greatest killer of all kids in the galaxy - it made them hyper and grouchy.

Daniele's chair screeched slightly as it moved across the stone floor with his erratic vibrations. Daniele froze awkwardly at the new noise. His eyes darted to the lady across from him. Her eyes didn't dart up at the sudden volume change. Glancing closely at her features, he caught the woman's cheeks curving up into a small smirk before relaxing back into an expressionless stare. She noticed his antics, and she was doing it on purpose.

He grimaced at being toyed with. Daniele made to move his hands atop the table but was reminded of his restraints. Metal handcuffs wrapped around his wrists and kept him tied to his chair from the other end. Pulling at the restraints only produced a rattling sound in response. Nothing new there.

It had been seven minutes and ten-ish seconds since the lady had previously talked. What was she waiting for? God. Daniele just wanted to break the silence and demand to know what was going on. He'd been locked in this room for the last two hours or so, forced to take random comprehension tests. Some of it didn't make sense, but for the most part, it was easy. He performed all the exams on the tablet that the lady was holding now and she didn't even have the decency to let him keep it to placate his boredom. Daniele blew air out of his nose in frustration but didn't say a word.

Daniele glanced at the ceiling, still agitated. He wanted this period of nothing-happening to just end already. He performed a few breathing exercises to pass the seconds by. Exhale and inhale. Three times in a row with slow expansion and full deflation of his lungs. Just like William had recommended. Thinking back to William, Daniele recounted the events of the last few days - the San Diego riots that started this whole downward spiral. The adults, both cops, and crooks, trying to take advantage of the child thieving-ring, the Child Crusaders, for their own purposes. The children, mostly war orphans, had been detained and run through criminal court. They were filed, processed, and sent to juvie. Then this lady showed up.

No name. No motive. Just questions and tests. And then silence.

Thinking back to the boredom techniques that William had taught him, Daniele decided to try tile-counting. He was about to announce one in his head when the security door at the south side of the room suddenly clicked open. Voices entered from the hallway beyond the door as a blonde-haired man in a grey-military uniform stepped into the room.

Someone beyond the door yelled at the military man. "This isn't your jurisdiction!"

"We're in a war, everything is my jurisdiction!" He shouted back.

"You can't take him."

"Try and stop me," The military man yelled again before slamming the door behind him. He turned to face Daniele and the woman sitting at the table. "...so. How did he do?"

"About twenty minutes, still counting." The Asian woman replied, finally looking away from her tablet.

"Damn. That's kinda impressive." The military man as he takes a seat on top of the table.

"What is going on?" Daniele asks, finally breaking his silence.

"An ultimatum." The military man replied cryptically. Upon closer inspection, Daniele could make out the man's name as 'Korn' from his name-tag.

The woman asked the magic words, "Have you heard of the Spartans?"

"Unbeatable warriors, that kill the aliens right?"

"That's right. How would you like to become one?" Korn-Man asked.

"...what?" Daniele asked, not sure about what he was hearing.

"I asked, would you like to become one?"

"I'm not sure..."

"Let me put this into simpler terms - do you want to become a Spartan or you want to stay here, in prison?"

Daniele was suddenly unsure what to say. His mind was still trying to process what was being asked of him. They wanted him to become a Spartan? Is that even possible? And who didn't want to be a superhero? The answer was obvious - no question about it. "Yeah. I want to be a Spartan!"

"That was fast." The Asian lady commented as she typed something down on her tablet.

"Well, given his options and how I put it - I don't think anyone would say no, Mrs. Zhou."

"Just get him out of the chair Korn. We better take off then."

"Wait, you're just leaving?" Daniele asked confused as the Korn-Man stepped behind him and unshackled the boy's restraints.

"Well. You're coming too obviously. You said you wanted to be a Spartan."