"As anyone else in this room would be proud to say, I welcome you, Leaders of the World, to the Annual Gala!" Violet's voice rang clearly across the large room. Tord grinned as his friend welcomed them all, reaching over to take Tom's hand.

"Enjoy yourself, elskling. But remember, I have enemies here. There is a truce, yes, but.... some people," the Norski glanced at a figure at another table, who wearing a white coat, before drawing his gaze back to his second in command," Have other ideas...."

"Don't piss anyone off. Got it." Tom rolled his eyes, a slight smirk on his face.

"Good luck keeping that promise with that attitude of yours~"

———————————

Tord had been dragged off somewhere into the crowd of people, most likely by Violet. Tom was sitting off to the side, watching everyone else. He was so zoned out that he didn't realize that someone was trying to talk to him until they physically tapped his shoulder.

"Wha-?!"

"Oh, sorry to startle you, I was just looking for someone to talk to I guess," the man who had gotten his attention was the very same person who Tord had been glaring at earlier.

He looked to be about 18, and it was clear from how he would glance around nervously every once in a while that this was his first Gala as well. He had dark skin, and darker hair, which both contrasted nicely with his light green hazel eyes. His uniform, like every other Army Leader's, told which one he was by the color of it, and his was as crisp of a white as Tord's uniform was the same shade as blood. His hair was one of the more interesting styles of the people Tom had seen; half of it was tightly braided up against his head, while the other half was a half messy fluff of hair that hung in his face.

There's no way he was White Leader. Absolutely not. The White Leader Tord had described was almost the complete opposite of this kid.

"It's alright. I could probably use the interaction, since I know Red won't be to happy if I don't talk to anyone. I'm Blue, by the way."

"Issac. My dad's White Leader. He wanted me to go this year in his place.... wait... you said Red won't be happy with you...?"

"Yep. You're not the only one who's here that isn't leading an army. I might have 'Leader' in my title, but I'm still second in command to Red."

The two of them started talking, despite the fact that Tord was clearly irritated that Tom was talking someone from one of the two armies he was enemies with.

———meanwhile———

It was dark. Where.... was he...? It smelled different. It wasn't home. And... why did everything hurt...?

Another jolt of ... something... shot through him, and he screeched in pain. He was awake, but everything was black. Maybe he wasn't supposed to be awake. Everything felt blurry. It felt wrong.

"The kid's a piece of work, I'll admit it. Perhaps... sir... it would be better... to get the ... more ... controlled one...."

"Just because he can't control his powers doesn't mean we can't. I already told you why we are doing this. And if you can't figure out how to make that happen, then you will be feeling the same pain as him, do you understand?"

"Y-yes, of c-course, s-sir."

—————————

Though they had been offered to go to the Gala, and as much as Matt had begged Edd to let them go, the green-clad brunette had absolutely refused to change his mind on the decision that they weren't going. He was still outraged at what Tord had done to Tom, and even though the Norski had sworn up and down that he hadn't done a thing, in Edd's mind, he was convinced that something was wrong with Tom. And he wasn't exactly wrong, but his reasoning was completely off. He didn't want to be anywhere near either of them right now. He wasn't sure his blood pressure could handle that much stress.

——————————

"Agent Black, report."

"No sign of the monster, sir. He seems to have full control of it."

"Get the job done. I don't really care how, just as long as no one can trace you to me. Oh, and I'm not sending anyone to pick up my son, I'm leaving that to you, since you're there already. Fail any of this mission, and I will see to it personally that you suffer, understood?"

"Yes, sir. I'm on it."

Cass closed his eyes, brushing a strand of hair out of his eyes. From his station, he could see everyone in the Gala Hall. His gaze trailed after a specific pair, watching with a tiny smile as one laughed at the other's joke. He knew somewhere in him was regret, empathy, something that someone should feel for their extended family. But he didn't. This was about him. It always was. He lived dangerously, life or death was always a lingering threat. But he was the one who had chosen this. And he had work to do.

How to do this..

The edge of his laptop caught his eye. Music. Music.....

He knew what to do. It was dangerous, but it had to be done. He couldn't waste any more time.

———————

"Ginger?" the voice was familiar, but completely new..

"Huh?" his head hurt. A lot. He knew something was wrong, but he was too tired and in pain to care.

"This are gonna seem really weird, and they are, I know, but I need you to trust me, ok?"

He wanted to reply, but the aching in his head was making it hard to do much. He simply nodded, blinking in the bright lights that had come on in the room.

"I don't want you to freak out at what I'm about to tell you. I just need you to trust that you're ok, and you're safe. I promise."

—————————

Just getting the kid's DNA would have been too easy. It was also not what they needed. The kid was half human. They needed pure monster DNA. 

On the laptop screen, color flowed back and forth in luminescent waves. Low tone blue waves, mid tone green waves, and high tone red waves. The overlaps created yellow in the upper two and cyan in the lower two. Then he added the one that shoudn't exist.

Purple.

—————————

Miss Tamara was nice. She was like Mom, but actually a girl. She had explained to him why he looked like he did now. And it was scary, but he understood, she had told him.

Two small light green horns were sticking out from his fluffy brown hair. His ears had taken the form of something animalistic, but he didn't know what creature they could have even resembled. His hands had turned into something almost crystalline, with tiny claws on each fingertip. A small, arrow tipped tail swished back and forth behind him, and a little pair of wings rested on his back. One of his eyes had turned silver, matching his father's eye, while the other had turned solid black, but glowed softly with a pale green light.

He still didn't know where he was, but he knew it wasn't close to home. Running away wouldn't do anything for him. So he had decided to just go with it. His parents would come get him at some point. 

Right?