Brother Knows Best

Posters adorned the four walls, each one perfectly identical to the next, save for one insignificant scratch near the door handle, which Jason did not know the origin of, however he liked to pretend, making up dozens of outlandish scenarios for it. It was one of his favorite past times, when he was supposed to be asleep. Sleep was boring, unless you were dreaming about potato chips. Potato chip dreams were the best kind.

The posters were an odd variety; two advertised an action/adventure movie from the late 1980's; one had two kittens rolling around inside of a fish bowl; another displayed the "Swimsuit Model of 2018", scantily clad in a vivid orange bikini, that was more just a scrap of fabric, held together by the forces of magic; and, his favorite, a large poster with the entire lineup of Lay's® potato chips flavors. The reasons for the posters varied as widely as the posters themselves; the first because he enjoyed action movies, the second because it was cute, the third because the female form intrigued him, and the fourth because he could think of no food on the face of this Earth, or in any dimension outside of it, that came close to equaling their splendor.

Jason sat up, and removed himself from his bed. Bartholomew rolled out from underneath the bed and floated up near Jason's head. Jason reached out and patted the robot before grabbing his white, fluffy robe, and heading outside of his room into the lair beyond.

Travis monitored the being suspended within the tub, dressed minimally with just enough to cover their adolescent female form, tan skin with strange tomato colored hair. Something that he had captured not too long ago before they could resist and now he was considering the DNA of this inhuman being, alien almost in origin with a strange coding to its DNA that he had never seen before. Standing behind him was perhaps the third most accomplished of his siblings he had come to know as Gamma, a female with sandy blond hair and with arms crossed behind her back. While physically inferior her control over metal made her useful and her seeming compliance with Travis was also a factor. Much like the rest of the siblings, she respected and revered him, yet this one seemed to have an interest beyond that. Travis however never even noticed anything, beyond acknowledging the female.

”I want you to keep monitoring this specimen while I check up on something else.” Travis noted to the female with typical serious face, grey eyes glaring into her own for a moment. He was dressed in simple white jeans, a white shirt, and a jacket with a matching color over that with a hood that was internally colored red. Much like their surroundings, he was dressed in white and so was everyone else that walked through the facility. Leaving the small hidden lab he would take an elevator, clear with walls like glass that allowed him to see things as it moved about the facility, walls moving past him and such. Above him yawned a darkness as no cables seemed to support it and something else did, likely some manner of sci fi technology.

It would ascend for a moment minutes before dropping him off within the living quarters and letting him walk around, and into his younger sibling and the current Beta. Travis would let his lips mold into a smile, white teeth flashing as he would look to Jason. ”Jason, how are you? Is the robot I had made for you functioning properly?”

Jason was approached by his eldest sibling, the one with the best musculature and brains, though no one came close to having better hair than Jason himself. It was an unspoken fact of life that Jason had the best hair of the Masters.

Bartholomew bounced in the air beside him, as Jason smiled endearingly at Travis, flashing his stereotypical pearly whites and pair of dimples. “BB works great, thanks!” he chirped. “How are you and G-ma doing with the toaster lady?”. Beta rocked back and forth on the balls of his feet, wishing he had root beer at this time.

Jason would flash him what one would call an endearing smile, white teeth peering from between his lips and dimples forming. He would say that the robot was working great, though the nickname that he had given it onfused Travis somewhat, as he did not quite understand where it originated from. ”Gamma is still looking over the extraterrestrial, though I think we are almost done with examining the DNA.” He explained, for a moment forgetting that his sibling had the mentality of a child. He considered beta for a moment, humming softly to himself and then spoke up. ”I assume you’re in the mood for some Root Beer, because I happen to have received a new shipment today.”

Jace retained the information given to him concerning the redhaired lady and Gamma, and he would always remember it, though at the moment it was beyond his comprehension, and as such metaphorically flew over his head. The next statement was far more interesting to him, as it pertained to one of his true loves in this world he inhabited. He looked almost like a young dog being offered a morsel of exceptional taste, his eyes “lighting up”, pupils dilating, pulse quickening and the general posture of his body relaxing. Strange, that a liquid such as the effervescent herbal concoction he was being promised could induce such a state of joy in any being, but particularly a human-and, as advanced as he was, even such a term did him an injustice.

These physiological indicators of ecstasy had taken place over the course of a minute number of seconds, and he began nodding enthusiastically. “Yes, I think I would like that very much,” he said, directing the statement, obviously, towards his brother.

Jason seemed to  light up upon hearing that there was root beer for him, an endearing trait to be sure and one that reminded him of when he was just as innocent. ”Very well then.” Like that he would send out a mental message for the male to be brought some root beer while he stood there with his hands cleanly crossed behind his back. ”You will have your drink soon enough.” Travis said to his sibling with a smile, flashing white teeth as he leaned against the wall with arms crossed over his chest. He hummed softly to himself. ”So have you done your training today?”

Jason continued to smile at his eldest, and most respected, sibling; that was, until he mentioned Jason's "training". The young male had not yet performed it, and he always hated to disappoint Travis, especially now, when doing such a thing could cost him his root beer. Even so, lying to Travis was a far more unspeakable act than forsaking his favorite beverage, so he merely lowered his head and mumbled a "No sir," rather dejectedly.

Travis smirked and shrugged, looking to his sibling that had seemed to forgotten his whole training thing, but then again that was a forgivable transgression. ”I suppose that means I will have to personally get your training done.” Travis noted as he took notice of someone walking down the hallway, carrying a bottle of what he had ordered. It seemed to be Jason’s preferred brand with a small amount of fizz bubbling to the surface of the caramel colored liquid, Travis taking it and handing it to Jason. "I can’t have you slacking in your practice, as you are the Beta afterall.”

Jason's "long face" quickly shortened in length, his expression brightening as Travis seemed not only lacking in disappointment, but also amused and in an altruistic mood this morning, offering to train Jason himself. Up to this point, he had trained for only six days-four times with Omega, and twice with Gamma. It would be both an honor and extremely exciting to train with his favorite sibling. Graciously accepting the carbonated beverage, he grinned up at his older brother, proud to have the title of "Beta".

"Yes sir!" he chirped, and began walking towards the area in which the siblings usually trained their powers and combat abilities.

It was strange how a drink like that could draw such a positive reaction out from his sibling, sad face turning into a rather happy expression as he was handed it. He would reply positively, taking the drink and with that Travis would lead the male along to where they would be training. They would be walking through a small hall way, leading into a white room large enough for the two to test their abilities with little issue, small articles, tables and such strewn across it, with Travis resting his right foot over a smallsand bag. It was messy compared to the white walls, but then again all of the walls were white. ”Alright Jason, you make the first move.”

The room provided several options for attack, though the young Masters doubted he could best his brother in open combat, for their sparring matches, and that of his with the other siblings, usually ended in his defeat, despite Jason's growing skill. Because of this, he figured a defensive maneuver would be best, and and grabbed several items from across the room-two tables, a small, broken desk, and a dozen sandbags-and dragged them towards himself, making a makeshift shield before him.

Jason would start with what appeared like a defensive maneuver, which was something that he could respect and see the strategic value within, but at the same time there were many ways that one could break through such a see through defense. Travis had mostly given him all of this scenery for his own defense, and he would work with mostly what he had, which was his personal weapons when all else failed. With a thought ten metal spheres would rise from his right pocket and then begin to levitate around him in a circular formation, swelling to a size that they would be more of a problem. With a flick of the wrist, two would stray from the formation at high speeds, aimed to slam through the widen barricade with impressive force, but that was just a cover for when he would draw a small chain from behind Jason, aiming to wrap him up around his legs. Face as cal as ever as he crossed his arms over his chest.

The balls, always with the balls. Males seemed to have a fascination with them, from the round and white, to the elongated and brown, to the larger, bouncier ones of an orange-brown hue. In this case, the spheres were rather large, and made of a lustrous metal. Though he managed to block the orbs by throwing more objects in front of himself, he was blinded from the attack behind his person, and his legs were entangled by the chain. With an indignant cry, Jason was thrown to the floor, his legs bound by the metal serpent.

Disgruntled, the Beta glared up at his older brother, and with his mind threw sand up all around the room, while simultaneously hurling objects towards his brother and sending a telekinetic force between the links of the chain, seeking to separate them from his body.

The entanglement tactic seemed to have worked rather easily as the chain wrapped around the males leg, and for the most part immobilized. It would not be a permanent solution, but it was enough to give him the advantage a she would make his move to end this spar with a single, and swift motion. Sand would throw up in a cloud, a way to distract him from perhaps an attack that was meant to hit him, and with with a thought he would condense the sand thrown up around him into an impromptu shield, something that would take the brunt of attacks, along with a sheidl formed from condensed air to overall protect him, and so it did while these things slammed into the barrier. With a flick of the wrist, the sand would begin to swirl around him in a dense cloud to hide his visage, and with that he would send back the things thrown at him with enough force to perhaps knock the Beta down.

Struck out again. Jason's attack was foiled by his brother, and then he was swept off his feet in a rather unromantic fashion, falling to the floor beneath him. For but a few moments he was chagrined over this, though the embarrassment over his blunder quickly passed. "Well, it looks like you beat me again." He had become accustomed to this being defeated, as his brother had much more experience than he, nearly 365 times the amount. "Would you please let me go?", he inquired, addressing the chains around him.