Jake was still sipping at his drink playing video games when another knock was heard at his door.
"COME IN." He shouted.
The door opened and on the other side was doctor Kain, still wearing a gasmask and holding a clipboard. "Hey Damien. How's it going."
"Ehh, I can't beat this boss." He replied, baiting more mundane conversation... Or perhaps just avoiding medical talk for a little longer.
"Yeah? Is it a tough one?" She walked around to the other side of the bed and sat down next to jake. She politely watched the screen until Jake died, then stated. "I see you're wearing clothes."
Damien smirked. "Yeah, not going to lie, it's pretty nice. I might even be able to use blankets when I sleep tonight." He shrugged, "Not that I'm ever cold anymore."
"You do have an incredibly effective hypothalamus" The doctor noted as she flipped through the clipboard. "So, are you ready for the meeting?"
Damien sighed. "Bring them in."
Damien could tell Dr.Kain was smiling as she said, "Actually I thought you might want to go to the meeting room down the hall, get some fresh air."
He sat upright. "Really?"
The doctor nodded, and gestured towards the door. Damien walked over excitedly, practically bouncing on the balls of his feet as he waited for her to open the door. The action sent a pleasant ripple across his bust, and a pleasant bounce beneath his hoodie. He was ushered into the small room attached to his door, and the doctor hit a button. Damien held out a hand and felt the gentle flow of air from the top of the chamber to the bottom.
"That's it?" He asked. "I thought it'd be stronger."
"It's the flow that matters, not the strength. If it were any stronger it would just swirl around all of the particles we want to filter." She explained.
Jake nodded, his heart was racing as Dr. Kain opened the door, and the two stepped out into the hallway. Just like that. He heard the chorus of beeps medical instruments down the hall, and saw that there were a few other occupied rooms, but none with his little decontamination box. Dr. Kain removed her mask, took an experimental sniff of the air, and smiled. Damien had always imagined her a somewhat stern woman, but without the mask she actually had an almost matronly softness. "Your room is still too strong for me to breath in without being affected, but between your satiated hunger and air tight clothes, we should be good for a few hours at least."
Damien nodded. "And this is the part where you tell me how you know that."
Elizabeth nodded. "Of course, right this way."
As they walked, they passed a nurses station where Damien once again saw the nurse who had delivered his shakes, and enjoyed his little show. He smiled crookedly at her and waved with his fingers. She flushed red and looked away, and the other nurses tittered at the interaction. Their destination was a meeting room at the end of the hall. He got the impression this was the place where families were given privacy as they made tough decisions about... You know what he didn't care. This was the first place he'd been other than his room and the hallway in the past 10 days. This was a good room, old furniture and ugly 2000s cream color scheme and all.
Sitting at a round table was an upright man in a suit. He had a forgettable sort of face that was contrasted by steely blue eyes, and a demeanor of intensity.
"Damien, I'm Mike." The man said as he rose to his feet and offered his hand. Damien shook it lazily. "You would not believe the feeding frenzy it's been. Everyone wants a piece of The Classroom." He sits down and his intense demeanor becomes soft and friendly.
"The FBI claims jurisdiction in investigations, but there's technically been no crime committed. The NSA argues that this is a matter of domestic security and so under their jurisdiction. Congress drafted their own special committee to investigate, we had to drag the army in for one special case that required high security, and apparently some secret department of the Navy has disclosed knowledge of possible extra terrestrial phenomenon as an excuse to claim jurisdiction. And that's before we even get to the private sector. MIT, Hawkins, Stanford, journalists the world over."
He leans back and smiles. "But I get the good fortune of working with the good guys."
"Good guys?" Damien asks.
"Maybe good guys isn't the right word. Rather, those that have cooperated with us."
"Some of my classmates haven't cooperated?"
"Most of them haven't."
Damien blinked a few times and started scratching his horn again. "Why not though."
Mike shrugs. "Psychological changes, teenage rebellion. Hard to say when it comes down to it. But your compliance is the reason things have been so easy. You get an xbox, someone else gets a jail cell. Truth be told, I thought you were going to give us a lot more trouble than you have..."
"Playstation..." Damien interrupts him, stomach wrenching for reasons he couldn't quite understand.
"Huh?"
"It was a PS5 not an xbox."
"Oh sure. The point is, I've been able to keep your case from turning into a spectacle in large parts thanks to..."
"Are some of my classmates really in jail?" He interrupted again.
"Well, not jail per say. They haven't broken the law, but these are special circumstances. We can't let incredibly powerful supernatural beings walk around without..."
"Am I incredibly powerful too?"
The mans face started to flush. "Not... We have reason to believe that... you may have certain abilities."
Dr. Kain spoke up. "Damien. I can feel the affects of your pheromones. You might be getting worked up."
"Yeah yeah, fine." Damien slumped back into the chair pulled his tail into his lap and crossed his arms. Dr.Kain walked over to a window and opened it. A breeze cleared the air and "Mike" seemed to regain his composure.
"Put simply, yes. You've been completely compliant with us, and I should reward that trust with honesty. We have reason to believe you have a number of powers that cannot be explained by conventional science." He leaned forward and his former intensity returned. "And we want you to learn how to use them."
