Leonce walked along with the herd, his eyes flickering from kid to kid, taking in their appearance and spinning their stories in his head. They boy with the grey hair had an ax to grind. He had the eyes of someone who was angry at the world, though Leonce guessed it might have something more to do with the Cruxi. Most people had an ax to grind with them. There was another kid, a girl that was either his age or a year younger who seemed to carry some kind of complex with her. The soldiers and constructs they passed by seemed to be of little interest to her, almost as if she was bored with it all. Probably a military kid. Before Leonce could continue to do a half-assed psychoanalysis of his fellow pilots, the reached a room and were herded inside by their weasely shepherd.

They were told to take seats and Leonce opted for the one most near the door, as far away from the man that seemed to be waiting for them with devilish intent. A faint scent of cleaning solution lingered in the air, though that very well might have been in his head. This man, whom he was led to believe was now his [i]father[/i], was the type of man that Leonce would beat to a pulp for trying to do something shady to one of his girl friends back home. There wasn't a doubt in his mind that this man was ready to use, abuse, and discard each and everyone of them and not necessarily in that order. Unfortunately, there wasn't exactly an option to go back. There wasn't even an option to refuse, was there?

The white-haired boy spoke first, his voice slightly manic, his questions all surrounding the Cruxi. It was rare to hear of someone his age so interested with the Cruxi, even rarer to hear of someone [i]his[/i] age imply that they were a scientist. Either he had an inflated ego or was a child genius. Leonce would bet money it was the former. The blonde girl he had been examining earlier spoke up now, her calmness drawing some of Leonce's curiosity. She definitely seemed to feel at home in this situation, something he couldn't say for himself.

Leonce let the doctor ramble on again, the man referring to himself as the father to all of the pilots again, sending a shiver of disgust through Leonce. There wasn't a very warm relationship in the doctor and his future, though the white haired boy's frustration with the doctor gave Leonce the idea that he would get on well with him. Drake's remark drew a sudden fury out of the doctor that neither shocked nor scared Leonce. The man was on par with your typical cockroach. Leonce made a mental note to talk with the white haired boy and get the kid in his corner before either the doc or the kid did something stupid.

[i]Any more questions?[/i] A sigh drew out of his lips and he half-raised a hand, "Hey, Doc," he spoke up with an intentional emphasis on the [i]Doc[/i]. He wanted to be sure that the man knew he wasn't going to call him a father. "How expendable are we meant to be?" Leonce continued on, his voice smooth and slow, his green eyes locked onto the doctor, "What's the expected mortality rate among us in the next few months? If you're willing to take on folks like us, especially someone like myself, you must be awful desperate."