G Building—or, the Research Building—ends up not being too far from the office Marley was just in. It's maybe a minute long walk, and when he reaches it he spots a few people going in, but not enough. He's either earlier than the rest or late.

Mind jumping to the latter, he speeds up. According to the map, the wing he's supposed to go to–which is actually planned around where his residency room is–is on the third floor.

Marley walks up the stairs that are almost next to the entrance, nose in the handbook the whole time. He's trying to memorize the map so he doesn't have to carry the thing with him everywhere. He could take a picture and follow it on his phone, maybe, but he doesn't see anyone else with their phones and doesn't want to risk punishment if he's not supposed to have it out.

It's a miracle that he doesn't run into anyone by the time he reaches the doorway that leads to the third floor and takes a right, following the map. Once he finds the room, he notices that the door is closed and there is nobody out in the hallway.

There's no window or anything on it, so Marley is left wondering if he should knock or just walk right in. Deciding that the latter would be rude and he should try to make a good impression, he knocks.

It's not but three seconds after he does that the door is opened, and he's met with the sight of fluorescent lighting crowning a figure that he can hardly see.

"Marley Nocona!" The person cheers, and he notes that the voice is female. She's still taller than him, which is surprising because Marley isn't particularly short. Six feet tall, last time he checked.

This is also the first person that has greeted him cheerfully. Everyone else has been either angry or nervous, but, by her voice, she seems pretty happy to see him.

The lady grabs his arm and yanks him into the room, momentarily blinding him. He's barely holding on to the handbook and many papers he has, as the bright lighting clouds his vision. When he closes his eyes his vision is all spotty and he wants to rub at them but can't because of her hold on his other arm.

"I was wondering when you'd show up!" She cheers, and she's leading him somewhere but he honestly can't see where it is, so he just blindly follows her, blinking rapidly and deciding to try and fix it by rubbing at them with the back of the hand that's holding his papers.

When he can finally see, which takes at least another minute, he finds that she currently has him at the front of a room. The walls are grey, the floor and ceiling are white, and... there are people.

Marley counts seven, though he can hardly see their faces with his vision not fully recovered.

He is reminded that there is a large woman beside him that is currently holding his arm far too tight when he hears her speak again;

"Have you met all your group mates? Pretty soon you will get to know them very well!" She cheers, looking down at him with a smile.

He should like her, should he? After all, she's smiling at him and seems completely ecstatic at his presence. However, there's something wrong here. Something that doesn't quite add up with her.

One, it's the way she's dressed. She's wearing a pantsuit that is all black, not a single hair or scratch or wrinkle in it. It seems far too pristine, and he can't really explain how unnerved he is by her upright posture.

Then there's her smile, cutting into her cheeks like a razor blade. It's not real, she's smiling with her mouth but not with her eyes. It's fake cheerfulness, Marley notes. She has red painted lips and sharp eyes. They make him want to look away.

She reminds him of a threat that is trying to look harmless.

He's freaked out.

He looks back at all of them, and realizes that he does know a few of them.

Sadly, none of them are Lola. However, he is able to recognize Brian and the girl that had been lounging on Nero's bed yesterday. And... well, and Nero himself, sitting right beside her.

"Uh..." he trails off stupidly. Should he tell her that he did actually meet a few of them yesterday?

Instead he decides to go for the neutral, "not really." Because he doesn't think it's a lie.

The lady grins even harder, "then lets introduce ourselves!" She chirps out, resulting in Marley leaning away from her. She sets him on edge, okay?! He also doesn't appreciate her raising her voice like that for no reason.

Nobody in the room is giving him any kind of friendly look. They either look indifferent, maybe even bored, some a little irritated, or—if they're Nero—they're glaring at him. He wants to mess with his keychain, but his arms are occupied. He hates this feeling.

They're all sitting in a bit of a half circle, in chairs that don't look comfortable. They're pretty spread out, and Marley is currently on a raised portion of the floor. There are a few posters on the wall—Your Telekinesis and You, Controlling Your Superhuman Urges, Why Enhanced Speed is Bad for Your Health—and they all look pretty bland. Some with badly drawn pictures and others just text.

"Let's start from the right. Names, reasons you were sent here, and if we've found out how to control you..." she licks her teeth and, if Marley's not mistaken, her eyes are wandering over the room, "share that too."

The first person to go is a blonde girl that has on a sundress. It's then that Marley realizes he was supposed to get a uniform. He's confused, though, at the fact that nobody here has one on. They're all wearing their own stuff.

"My name is Leilani, I..." She seems nervous. Marley really hopes it's not because of him, "I got sent here because I tried to attack my parents with Venus flytraps. I can be controlled with weed killer."

Marley blinks. Wow, okay then. He's never heard of attacking someone with Venus flytraps before but... well, whatever works.

The woman beside him nods, and then she motions to the person beside Leilani. The person happens to be Brian.

"I'm Bren." He starts, and Marley blinks. Bren? Shit, Marley's been calling him Brian. Bren, Bren, Ben. Ben, got it. "I got sent here because I convinced some cats to attack these kids that were bullying my brother... they haven't found my weakness!" He finishes off proudly, crossing his arms over his chest.

Wow, okay, that seems pretty reasonable. If someone were to mess with Marley's non-existent brother, he'd probably... uh... get some cats to attack them too.

It goes like that. There are three more people that talk about themselves, all of them avoiding eye contact with Marley and the lady next to him. Then, it gets to the girl Marley remembers from yesterday.

"My name is Eli," she says, looking angry. She's mostly glaring at the lady beside Marley, though, not Marley himself. "I made black widows bite my roommate. Bug spray."

Alright then, nothing too... crazy. Okay so maybe Marley is a little bit scared of her as well because she seems angry for no apparent reason and... huh? She can control spiders or bugs or what? He doesn't really know.

Then the lady beside him makes a point to look at Nero. It's the most threatening Marley has seen her, as she drills holes into Nero and says with an eerie smile; "now, you..."

Nero, who hasn't taken his eyes off of Marley this entire time, finally turns his laser beams to her. "He already knows me, Hooker." He addresses her. Marley is immediately caught off guard because did he... did he just call her a...

"It's Supervisor Hookler, to you." She says, finally losing the smile and glaring at him full on. Marley would hate to be on the other side of that. "And introduce yourself before I get the hose."

Marley kind of wants to help Nero out here and tell her that he doesn't have to introduce himself. That Marley met him yesterday and this has all been kind of unnecessary. However, he doesn't want to get on her bad side this soon... or at all, so he just waits.

Nero openly rolls his eyes, and goes back to glaring at Marley. Shit.

"Nero. Silor Electricity Blackout. I'm not telling a Nocona how to control me."

It takes a moment, but what Nero just said really processes in Marley's mind. The Silor Electricity Blackout Crisis was a pretty notable, wide scale power outage. He's pretty sure they teach it in some history classes... and Nero caused it? That's... that's entire cites that he took the power from. Shit, people died.

Marley thinks he may have imagined this, but he's pretty sure Supervisor Hookler just growled. She finally lets go of Marley's arm for the first time since he'd gotten here, and he looks down to find she's actually created fingermarks and cut off his circulation, just a bit. Holy shit, she was holding his arm in a literal death grip.

She walks over to a place on the side of the room and he doesn't see what she's doing until she's walking back to her place beside Marley, with a hose in her hand.

Marley's immediately confused, because what in the world is a hose going to do to—

She sprays it, and like a bullet, it shoots right into Nero.

Marley doesn't expect it to do anything to him, it's just water, but then Nero's hand actually flies to his shoulder, where she'd gotten him, and he groans out in pain.

When she lets go of the nozzle and the water stops, he's still grasping the spot on his shoulder, breathing heavily, and Marley realizes that his shoulder is sparking. Like a shorted out computer, and his arm is twitching a bit. Holy shit, she actually just blasted this dude with water. Hoses hurt in general, maybe, but Nero looks like he's genuinely in severe, mind numbing pain.

"Are you fucking done?" He growls out, once he calms down and is able to look at her again.

"Say it!" She hollers, effectively terrifying Marley to where he completely steps away from her. She doesn't notice, thank god, and he really wants to cut Nero some slack here.

"Water."

"What kind?" She pushes, and Nero looks like he both wants a new shoulder and also like he'd love to electrocute her right now.

He licks his teeth, makes sure to look at her long and hard, venomous, then turns his gaze to Marley;

"Hot." He grits out, his shoulder still uncontrollably sparking, red electricity cracking over it as he holds onto it. It doesn't help that the way he's looking at Marley right now is absolutely accusatory. Pointless, too, because Marley already blames himself for enough.

Supervisor Hookler seems content with herself, giving Nero a smug, self satisfied look that Marley should be fine with because Nero hates him.

Afterwards, she turns to Marley and smiles. She gives him an expectant look, and when he just stands there looking stupid and utterly clueless, her expression turns strained.

"Your turn," she smiles and it's scary. Marley gulps, staring at her with wide eyes. His hand had gone down to his key chain at some point, having been freed, and he wills it away so he can look professional.

He doesn't look at the rest of them before replying, "my name is Marley..."

How in the world is he supposed to word this? He got shot and didn't die so he's here? Someone tried to assassinate him but he has evidently been abnormal for at least a few years, so 1-A it is?

"Someone tried to assassinate me but I lived, which was impossible, so uh..." his mind blanks out. What is he supposed to say after that? He can't remember, not when everyone's eyes are on him and he doesn't have a script. He doesn't have a plan. He had no idea what to expect when he got here, and it still hasn't gotten any clearer.

"Thank you, Marley," Supervisor Hookler says from beside him. The longer he stands in her presence and the more pleased she seems to be with him, the more uneasy he feels. He can't shake the feeling that she should not be trusted. That if she's happy with him, he's doing something wrong.

Marley doesn't answer her, wide eyed and examining everyone in the room. They all look angry and miserable. Marley's always been a pretty upbeat person, if a little nervous. Constantly. He seriously hopes that this place doesn't break him the way it seems to have these people.

Sadly, he's not so sure about that.

"Now," She says, turning to face Marley, "we're almost out of time here, but—" then she turns to address the room, "can anyone here tell me what we do in here?"

One of the girls towards the middle that Marley can't remember anything about, answers her.

"Learn about our abilities."

Supervisor Hookler nods and turns back to Marley, who is still trying to process that this is really his life now. She looks like she expects him to say something, so he just says awkwardly, "um, okay."

She smiles, and then a voice from the intercom says;

"All greens and first yellows report to the education building to receive their work, everyone else report to residencies for any further instruction." The voice talking is pretty obviously prerecorded and set on a timer. As soon as it finishes, everyone in the room stands up and starts walking out, zombie-like.

Marley's about to follow them out, but then his arm is being grabbed yet again. Unsurprisingly, it's the same lady that's been doing it this entire time.

"Doctor Rellik is going to love you," she notifies Marley, then, "you'll be a challenge."

So Marley was already pretty on edge, but this ominous warning that the predatory lady in front of him just said really makes his lungs feel tight.

He doesn't answer, and even if he wanted to he wouldn't know what to say. She's already turned around anyway, so he takes the hint and hastily heads for the door. He doesn't want to think about what she just said, but it doesn't leave his mind the whole way to the education building. He gets lost twice, just because of that.

Something tells him 'Doctor Rellik' is not someone he wants the attention of and, well...

He's not particularly keen on being a challenge, either.