Chapter 12 The Me in Team
“So, that’s all we know about you four. But there is someone who doesn’t want ya’ll true potential to be discovered. Director Vaughn and I decided that we’d gather all of you together and have you try to uncover who is actually manipulatin’ things behind the scenes.” Robert finished relating his story and looked at the group of assembled Supers. “Thoughts?”
“What is there to discover?” said Mina clearly angry at the revelation, “It appears that Alphaflight wanted to screw all of us out of possibly being Betas or Alphas. The guy’s a real jerk.”
“Well we don’t know for sure that it is Alphaflight. All we know for sure is that the file was Classified by someone or something with the initials AF. This is part of why we want someone to look into what is going on with all of this. We need to know why you all were miss tested intentionally. We needed to know who or what AF is. There is something going on with the Board of Directors, who are the only people who are allowed to test new Supers. Director Vaughn, is allowed a vote on any new addition to SUAVE but he is only allowed to review the information after the initial testing is done.”
Max had looked dazed ever since it was revealed that he wasn’t actually an Omega. “So, I’m not an Omega class Super? What am I then? What did it mean that I haven’t fully tested the limits of my power? I grow grass, under my feet. I turned green from all the chlorophyll that builds up in my body. When I bleed, grass brings up from the power of my ability. That’s all I can do!” He looked bewildered and lost. Mina felt for him. It had been like that when she realized that the only thing her power would do it let her eat anything. She felt like that feeling was common with her fellow Omega class Supers. She’d always wondered if there was more too her than even she saw. Now it turned out that it was possible that was real. That maybe her power was more than it seemed at first. That made her both happy and depressed at the same time. She didn’t know you could be both at once. She was happy that maybe she wasn’t limited to being just an eater of things, but she was also depressed because that meant she truly had eaten Dr. Sant. Well, there was only one thing she could think of doing.
“Well, Rob, you’ve convinced me to move forward with this Omega team up or whatever.” She said and Robert smiled at the response. She looked at the others, “I don’t want my answer to rush you however, what are you all thinking right now about all of this?”
The first to speak was her bestie. “Well, if you’re in Mina, I guess that means that no matter what you are going to drag me along with you whether I want to go or not.” He sounded as if he’d be defeated but the grin on his face said that he was just teasing her. “Just as long as you don’t try to put me into drag, Maw.” He knew that she loathed the definite article that was a part of her Super moniker.
“No promises, Tortie sweetie. What about you, Max? Any thoughts?” She looked towards the young Super. Had she ever been that young? It didn’t feel like it right now, but her perceptions had changed as she grew older.
Max didn’t hesitate for a moment, “The chance to be useful and find out why I was mis-categorized as an Omega? I was on board before even you asked. Let’s do it.” Ah, youthful excitement, Mina remembered the days when she had that. Then her power showed up and that all went to hell. Well, there was only one vote left and she was the only one that Mina was uncertain of.
All eyes turned to Sylvia. Mina knew that she was feeling the weight of all the eyes in the room on her. “Umm…yeah…so, I’ll pass.” She said and began to rise. “It was really nice meeting you all. Real nice, we’ll have to do it again sometime. It is possible that I could get a ride back to Denver SUAVE HQ, or whatever the heck in is called, so I can pick up my stuff and go looking for a new place to live?”
That was not the response that anyone had expected, not even Mina. She had known that getting the amazon on board with the plan might take a bit, but she never thought that she would give a flat-out refusal. Well, shit that was not the way this was supposed to go. Did she have a Plan B. Yes, it was called winging it.
“Uh…Sylvia. You do realize that you will be charged with assault and battery if you go back. Right? I don’t really want that for you. I know we’ve just met but I already feel a kinship with you” and she waved her left hand at the group of Supers, “with all of you. If you leave I feel like we’ll lose a valuable part of this plan.” Mina hoped that this might delay the departure at least, so they have a little time to try and convince Sylvia to stay.
“My father has a great lawyer on retainer. He should be all to get me a reduced sentence or get the entire case dismissed.” Said Sylvia working her way towards the door to the living room.
“Sylvia, mon petit, you have the ability to know information, yes?” When Sylvia nodded Robert continued, “Tell me, how many Supers charged with assaulting a civilian have been able to be acquitted? How many have had the charges reduced?”
Sylvia became very still for a moment. Mina thought that she might have seen a faint glow around Sylvia and then it was gone again really quickly. Sylvia had a sour look on her face. As if someone had just made her eat a lemon. Max looked between Robert and Sylvia and seemed to be nearly shaking with nervous energy. Finally, he couldn’t contain it anymore. “Well? What did you learn, Sylvia?”
Sylvia, looked at Max and said with a sigh, “Not a single one. They all were convicted and sentenced to several years in jail regardless if it was an accident or not. Apparently, the courts take civilian injury extremely seriously. Supers basically are considered to be armed and dangerous at all times with their powers and all.” She looked at Robert and sat back down, “Okay, try and wow me on why I should join your little band man merry men.”
Max looking hopefully to Robert. In the short amount of time Max had known him, he had grown to trust him. There were times that he caught maybe every third words, or it took his brain time understand what he said due to the southern drawl and French creole language additions but, he really like Robert White. Robed Justice had been one of the heroes he had followed since he was a kid. His shadow manipulation ability was so cool. He could travel through shadows and form shadows into simple objects he could use. Obviously, light negated his abilities but if there was even the tiniest of shadows near him, his power would work. The old adage said to never meet your heroes because they never measured up. So far, Robed Justice had. Max just knew that he had a brilliant idea to get Sylvia on to the team.
“Honestly, Sylvia. I can’t think of a single reason for you to join us.” Robert said and almost everyone looked crestfallen. The only exception was Sara, and she hadn’t changed her expression through the whole exchange. Max looked at her and wondered if she knew something the others didn’t.
“Well, that’s disappointing.” Sylvia shook her head slowly from side to side. ”Not even, a please join us the fate of the world might rest in your hands? Mr. White you really don’t know how to woo a girl.”
“Well, I thought it was obvious that joining would benefit you was more than you leaving to strike out on your own.” Robert looked at Sylvia with empathy. “ I mean, Chér, you realize that without us you are going to jail. Not you might go to jail, or even probably. You WILL be going to jail. You just said it yourself, Supers are considered to be lethal weapons, no matter what type of power you have. If you try to say that it has never happened before, the court will simply believe that you have a weapon that could go off at any time.”
Sylvia sighed and looked down at the table. It seemed like she knew he was right. Max really liked Sylvia. She kinda of felt like a sister he never had. Tracy had never been much of a sibling. She had always been completely wrapped up in her own life and had little time for her ‘loser’ little brother. Or at least that was how it felt. Within twenty-four hours of meeting Sylvia, they had already bonded about cartoons and television shows from the eighties and nineties. She felt like she would fit into his life a lot like Emily had.
Sylvia seemed lost in thought for a moment. She appeared to make up her mind and with a nod raised her head, “Oh, what the hell. What have I got to lose?”
Robert grinned and said, “About ten years in jail from what I gather. Or at least five with good behavior.” Then he clapped his hands and rubbed them together. “Now the real work begins. First off, know that with your agreement to work as a part of this team, your involvement, all of your involvement has officially been classified. No one, not even the Board of Directors will know about your involvement in this special team. As far as they are aware, ya’ll have been given official reprimands and placed on extended house arrests, so it is imperative that ya’ll do your best to keep from being seen by anyone, especially the media.”
Max felt confusion fill his mind and so he asked Robert, “Wait, we are secret even from the Board? Are you and Director Vaughn sure that is wise? I don’t want anyone to get into trouble on my account.”
The gazes that were returned back to him, made Max feel very young and naive. Max hadn’t had a lot of real life Super experience. In fact he had exactly zero experience in his chosen field so he was unaware of any of the potential dangers ahead of the group.
Robert’s grin turned into a wide wry smile, “Thank you for reminding me, Max. As you and Sylvia have had no formal hands on Superhero training, you both will be officially training under me. Now that doesn’t mean you get to not listen to your team leader, Mina here, but my word is the final authority in any action. Clear?”
“Yes, sir. Mr. White!” said Max
“Yeah, I get it.” Said Sylvia at nearly the same time.
“Good. Max, please stop calling me Mr. White. I don’t expect you to call me Rob like Mina, but at least call me Robert. Even though I’m an authority figure, I would like us to at least be friendlier than if this was a military unit. But in regards to that, when we are out in the field, I will need you all to use your Super monikers. Mine is Robed Justice.” He paused and there was silent but a couple of grins. “Just remember that most of us get given our monikers by our mentors. Supers rarely chose their own. Why don’t we go around the table and say what or moniker is and power. By the way, my power is to travel within shadows and manipulate then into simple tools. Mina you go next.
Mina looked sheepish at the request but a quick look at Robert seemed to retrieve her voice, “I am Mina Dimanche. My Super moniker is, The Maw. I have the ability to eat anything.”
Robert nodded and waved at Ethan. “My name is Ethan Marson. I am known as Tortie but some teams have called me House Panther. I have the ability to turn into a cat”
Next Sylvia went, “Hi there, Sylvia Forester and this is my first Supers Anonymous meeting.” Max and a few others chuckle at that. “My moniker, which I got to pick myself is Trivia. You can guess by the name, but I understand any piece of useless trivia instantly.”
Lastly, Robert said, “Alright, Max, you’re up.”
Max took a steadying breath. This was it. He finally would tell his new team his, stupid and useless power. “Hi guys, my name is Max Blumenthal. My Super name is Greenfoot.” He paused and rubbed the back of his neck nervously. Well, he thought, here goes nothing. “And… umm… my power is uh… the ability to grow grass under my feet.” He immediately closed his eyes expecting the worst.
When several moments passed and no noise, not even a cough happened, he opened his eyes again and saw everyone staring at him. It was weird to Max. Normally at least one person if not several people had to stifle laughs when he told people about his power. But everyone had a calm or neutral look on their faces. All except, Mina. She had a look of disgust on her face. Well, Max mused, not what I’m used to but still a reaction. That might be even worse that laughter. When Max began to turn away, Mina spoke.
“Kid. Max. How often do you get laughed at?” Mina asked.
“Quite a lot, actually. It is a really useless power isn’t it.” Max looked down glumly.
“I hate other god damn people at times like this. Max, your power isn’t useless. People are just assholes. They can’t understand how a power like yours, a power that isn’t useful in combat, is worthwhile. Most don’t see odd powers having use, but you will never find that to be the case around Supers like us. After all, I told you I can eat anything. How useful do you think that is on a normal mission? Oh and I do have a limitation. I cannot eat energy. At least,” with this Mina looked at Robert, “I have never been able to do so up until now.”
Max looked at her with relief but still thought that he had the worst of all the combined powers of this group, “Well, Ethan can turn in a cat. That’s pretty useful. I can think of a number of ways he would a great help on any team,” with that Ethan smiled at Max and started to speak but Max continued, “Sylvia can know any bit of trivia, instantly. How about what someone’s weakness is?” With this Sylvia started to interrupt but Max was on a role. “I won’t even go over how amazing Robed Justice is and Mina, you can eat anything. Anything! You can eat a car or a bomb or even a villain!” With this last bit it seemed that he ran out of steam. “All I can do it grow grass. What would I do to stop a villain? Try to make them slip on fresh grass? That is so pathetic. I’m happy to join your team but, I won’t be of much use on any mission.”
It was then that Max realized that there were tears in Mina’s eyes. She got up and walked out to the dining room into the kitchen. “What did I say?”
“It’s not your fault Max, but you shouldn’t brought up eatin’ a bad guy. Mina would never harm another person intentionally or not. However, she accidentally ate a perpetrator after he shot her on the last mission.” Robert looked worried. “Maybe I should go and talk to her.”
“No, Rob.” Said Sara with a reassuring tone, “I’ll go and check on her.”
Without any forethought, Max chimed, “Actually, I think I should go and apologize, Mrs. White. Would that be okay if I checked on her myself?”
Sara White looked at Max as if reassessing him. Then she nodded, “Go ahead, Max. I think that might be exactly the right thing in this case.”
Max got up and looked around the room before he left to go to the kitchen. He was met by a couple of nods from Ethan and Sylvia and a worried look from Robert White. He really cared for Mina. It was almost as if he was her father. Better make this a really good apology.
***
Mina didn’t know why it had hurt that much when Max has suggested that she eat villains but she knew that he was just trying to show how much more useful everyone else’s powers was than his own but, that memory of waking up and finding out that she had eaten something whole was terrifying to her. To think The Hunger had acted out of the normal so much that she had not only eaten Dr. Sant but apparently also some of the building, the sidewalk, the road, and nearly her teammates. It all had to do with that disintegration beam that hit her hands. How had she absorbed it? Why had it changed the way her power had worked? She needed answers and the only way she was going to do that was to worked with this team to uncover what was really going on behind the scenes.
“Mina?” Came a timid question from the door to the kitchen. Oh, good, Max she thought. Probably come to apologize. Let’s hear him out, shall we? Mina swiped her tear-streaked cheeks and steadied herself to speak to the younger Super.
She held up a hand to forestall an apology, “Hey, Max. You don’t need to apologize. You had no idea what happened to me. But you also need to understand that I would never willingly hurt someone else.”
“Mina, I do think I need to apologize. Sometimes I get so wrapped up in myself that I forget that I’m not the only person who feels less than. I’m truly sorry and no I don’t think you would intentionally eat anyone. I don’t even know why I said that.” Max looked almost downtrodden by his gaffe in the dining room. But there was now something that she was confused about.
“What do you mean by ‘less than’? Less than what?”
Max looked at the floor. The kid was obviously nervous. Mina didn’t know why. Yes, she was older than him but that shouldn’t make any difference. Was it because Robert had told the others that she was going to be team leader? Mina thought, I mean yeah I am going to be a team leader but as a team leader of Omegas, that really doesn’t mean much. Maybe the first among equals? Well, I have got to figure this kid out if we are going to work together.
As Mina was pondering what to do, Max spoke to her without lifting his gaze. “Less than Super. I love the fact that I am a Super, but how can I compete with people that can turn into living metal, or slow down time, there was even a girl that could turn into a big ball of goo. Seems silly right? But she can absorb anything into herself when she is in her goo form. She can even take on aspects of the thing she absorbed. Mina, all I can do is grow grass. Even my blood creates grass wherever it falls and I’m green. There is no way to blend in anywhere. I may have a power but I’m also a freak.”
“Max, I get why you feel like that. But according to your own viewpoint, every Super is a freak. In many, many ways, you are right. But you are also wrong. Can you bring life to a barren field?” Mina asked him tilting her head slightly to the left.
Max thought about it for a moment and responded, “Yes, but I would only be able to produce grass.”
“Do you always create the same type of grass, like crabgrass or blue grass? Not the music for the second type the actual plant” Mina queried even though she already suspected the answer.
“No, I can create a variety of grasses. Professor Salve had me create several different types to test my powers. Looks like it could be any type. Oh, were you thinking of lemongrass or sweetgrass? Those would be more useful.” Said Max perking up a bit. It seemed the kid had genuinely forgotten parts of what he could do. This kid has gotten so far into his own head that he can’t even remember what he can do with his own power. I guess that is part of the reason they wanted me to lead the team. Nothing like an Omega to lead other Omegas to their use. But this kid has a larger power range than he even realizes. Why in the seven hells had they classified him as an Omega? Yes, his power wouldn’t be highly useful in tight combat but, this kid, Max, might be able to feed hundreds of people. Maybe even thousands. What was going on with all of this? Mina felt like she had a better handle on why she and the others had been brought together to solve this mystery. It could be that the mystery might even be larger that Rob and Vaughn suspected.
“Mina? Are you okay?” Max asked Mina. She had obviously drifted off on her internal musings.
“Sorry, Max. I got lost in thought for a moment. Turning back to what we were talking about before, did you know that corn, wheat, and rice are all types of grasses?”
Max looked confused, “They are? I always assumed they were their own types of plant. Like all wheat were wheat plants and all corn are corn plants. Are you saying I might be able to create food plants with my feet?”
Mina shook her head briefly, “No, I am not saying you might be able to grow them, kid. I am saying you CAN grow them if your power encompasses all grass type of plants. Sounds like Katherine thinks so to.” Max’s eyes open a little wider with her statement. He looked shocked at what he could do.
“You seem to call all of the Supers by their actual names, Mina? Why don’t you use their Super names?” Apparently the shock wasn’t limited to his abilities. It was a good question after all.
“Listen, Max. Take a small bit of advice from someone who’s been a tiny fish swimming with all of the sharks. The best way to disarm anyone is to address them by name. The nice ones will appreciate the fact that you know their names and the arrogant, self-absorbed, or egotistical assholes will be indignant that you dare to address them as if your were their equal. Which you are by the way. First and mostly important is that all Supers are human. A great many of them will deny this and try to act like their bathrooms don’t stink but let me assure you everyone’s does. Everyone poops. Every single person.” Mina hoped she didn’t overemphasize the scatological nature of people but in her experiences most people sucked. There are always exceptions to the rule but on average most people Mina interacted with were jerks. But she liked the kid and Sylvia too for that matter. The already felt like her kind of people.
Max’s expression soften a bit but now there was a slightly disgust look to his face. “Thanks for the advice, Mina, but I don’t agree with you on at least one point. I think people aren’t that bad. Sure there a few bad eggs trying to ruin things for everyone else, however in my experience most people are willing to be nice if you just give them a chance.”
“You and I have had very different experiences with other people. But I’m not here to change your mind on that.” She paused and then held her left hand out to Max, “I really do appreciate the apology but, as of now you need to realize that you are on this team for a reason. Rob and Vaughn wouldn’t put on a team if you couldn’t hack it regardless of who you are friends with or not. We are going to get to the bottom of all of this. We will find out we Sylvia, Ethan, and my powers are acting out of the normal and we are going to find out why we all were intentionally placed in the Omegas when they believed that our powers might be whatever a second generation gene is. Are you willing to give this team at least a couple of weeks to figure out how your power works?”
There was no hesitation. Max shook Mina’s hand firmly but gently. Mina remembered that she had been told that she could a little forceful in handshakes, so she made sure not to grip too tightly. They released each others hands and Max had a grin on his face.
“What? Did I squeeze to tightly? I’m sorry if I did. My mother taught me that a firm handshake was not expected from girls and therefore I should develop the strongest handshake I could.” Mina felt a little embarrassed that she might have grip his hand too tightly.
Max shook his head and his smile grew bigger. “ Nothing like that. I just realized that you and I have something unusual in common and it made the movie ‘The Princess Bride’ play a couple of scenes in my head. Have you seen it?”
“Maybe a long time ago. I do like movies but I could never get into sappy love stories. Why? What do we have in common?” Mina was now confused by Max’s reference.
Max laughed a bit. It was a very good natured laugh and tears began to well in his eyes. “Oh, man. You really haven’t seen it if you think it is a sappy love story. But what made it play in my mind was a moment where two master swordsmen being to duel each other. Both starting with their swords gripped in their left hands but during the course of the battle, both men tell each other a secret about themselves that actually neither is really left-handed and the battle grows more intense after each confession. It maybe one of the best sword fighting scenes in any movie. Our handshake reminded me of that was all.”
Mina was even more confused by the description of the scene. “Umm…Max. I hate to disappoint you but I actually am left handed. There isn’t going to be any crazy escalation to our handshake. Sorry, if I used the wrong hand.”
Max appeared as if he was going to burst if he spoke. He went for it anyway. “That’s just the thing!” and he had to pause do to his inability to breathe, “ I’m not right-handed either!” With that, Max devolved into uncontrollable laughter and began to turn red and then purple appeared on his cheeks. The kid was going to pass out from laughing if he couldn’t get control of it.
Mina looked on as Max began to finally regain control of himself. In a comment that was mostly to herself, “I simply do not understand men.” For some that caused Max’s laughing fit to return and this time he appear on the edge of losing consciousness.
Mina rolled her eyes and called out to the dining room, “Does someone want to come in here and help me with Max before he laughs himself into an injury please?”
As Ethan and Sylvia came through the door one after the other in quick succession, they were just in time to catch max before he fell onto the floor as he had passed out from lack of oxygen. Both looked at Mina.
“Nope. No accusations should aimed my direction.” She said cutting off any comments, “He did this to himself. Something about some movie called ‘The Princess something or other’. We just shook hands and he lost it.”
Mina said to Rob as they returned to the dining room, “Rob this kid is a weirdo.”
“That means he fit will in with all of us like the last piece of a puzzle, chér.” Robert said knowingly.
“Touché.” Mina knew he was right about that.
***
Ethan helped Sylvia place Max into the chair he had been sitting in. The both sat down on either side of him, just in case Max started to slide off his chair before he woke up. Ethan realized for the first time how cute Max was. He was sort of tall, at least taller than Ethan, skinny but more on the young and runner side of things rather than not eating enough. The green hue to his skin and hair actually added to his attractiveness. If only he was a few years older and not straight, he would totally be his type. At least it wouldn’t hurt to have eye candy like that on the team. In all honesty the girls weren’t bad either. Ethan had always thought Mina was attractive if only she’d do a little more with her hair and wore clothes that fit her shape she’d be downright hot. Sylvia was also very attractive. He’d never really gone for the amazon sort of girl, but damn if Sylvia wasn’t working it, and Ethan could tell that she didn’t even know that was as hot as she was, which made him curious how much hotter she would be with just a small shot of confidence.
Ethan thought, She’s also mysteriously… exotic? Is that the right term? Oh man, I can never figure out the right way to approach someone’s cultural background with being offensive. She’s just hot and I’d just like to know if she has a specific cultural identity. I mean I’m English and Irish in background but really I just think of myself as an American. Something to discover in the future perhaps, but it would be rude to ask about it right now. He realized that Max was finally stirring and shifted his focus back to the matter at hand.
“You back with us in the world of the awake, Max?” Asked Robert as he saw Max rouse from his position with his head on the table.
“Huh? Wha? Oh yeah. Sorry about that. I’ve never done that before.” Max looked a little groggy still, but he seemed to be coming around.
“Well, now that everyone is back and awake we can finish with the preliminary discuss about ya’ll’s new role. Everyone still in agreement to work out this team?”
There were nods from every head except Sara’s. Ethan was eager to hear what was coming next. Hopefully there was good news about pay, clearances, transportation, just about anything would be an improvement over what he had now.
“Let’s start with what you know already. Your team is classified. Officially, you all don’t have a team and don’t have any current work through SUAVE. Unofficially, you will be taking small missions in order to provide cover for your larger goal of uncovering the truth behind this mess. That being said your team will have expenses for new Super uniforms in order to prevent both friendly and unfriendly eyes from tracing you back to the Director and SUAVE itself.”
New uniforms? Ethan thought, finally I’ll be able to get out of that god awful unitard that I was given right after I finished my undergrad program. It was the worst shade of tan ever. It was basically a poop colored unitard with a black and orange half and half harlequin mask to ‘hide’ his identity. He always felt more exposed in that costume that hidden. It was the reason why he almost never wore it anymore and usually just showed up in his cat form.
Mina rolled her eyes. “Really? New uniforms? Do I have to, Rob? I mean if I can get my shit back from the lab monkeys I’d rather go back to wearing that.”
This was one of those few things about Mina that drove Ethan nuts. She actually stayed in shaped and underneath her clothes was a nice figure from what he’d seen. Not that he’d been trying to ogle her in various stages of undress but Mina for all of her need to wear clothes that hid her shape, she had very little in the way of shame. When he’d told her that he was attracted to people regardless of gender he’d kind of assumed that she’d start to be a bit more demure around him however if anything she had seemed to become more comfortable around him. He could no longer count the times she’d stripped down while they had been talking in her apartment after a mission together and she was on her way out of an evening. Sometimes with him in tow. When he’d meet Jake it had eased the sexual tension between the two of them but with Jake having left all Ethan could do was hope that Mina would keep her apartment even though they were on the same team and that might creation some release from his unease. After all she was his best friend and really that was all he wanted from her. He just wasn’t sure that was what she wanted.
“Mina,” Robert started, “Although I understand why you want your clothes back, that was never a very effective Super costume. I mean a secondhand Rollin’ Stones tee shirt which you stenciled ‘The Maw’ over the band name. You really thought that was foolin’ anyone?”
Mina was defiant to the end, “Well, no one expects a Super to roll up in street clothes.”
This time Sylvia chimed in, “No one expects the Spanish Inquisition!” she said in a very passable British accent. She was now smiling like the Cheshire cat.
“Ha, ha.” Mina mock laughed. “Okay, okay. We will pick this subject up later. What else, Rob?”
“A couple of things to get through before interruptions happen again.” Robert looked annoyed but more like a parent who does want to repeat themselves than a boss whose subordinates are being unruly. “A few of these you might not like, but they will be essential to your cover. Ya’ll will have to get normal, mundane jobs.” The groans began and Robert held up a hand to forestall any disagreement.
“I said that ya’ll might not like some of these. The jobs should be part time so that the lion’s share of your time can be devoted towards our mystery. Two, all of you will be filing weekly reports with me directly. I will meet with each of you once a week and we will go over what you have learned. About the mystery and your powers, and what next steps we should take to move you along.”
“Jobs?” the voices around the table nearly chorused as one and then Ethan said, “You are going to evaluate our progress every week? I thought your where going to be the team leader’s boss?”
“I am and I will be around several times a week if you need help but remember than this is a classified mission and a chance for ya’ll to show the powers that be that Omegas are made of sturdier stuff than they thing you are. I can’t be around all the time or people will get suspicious. This way it seems like I am checking on a group of delinquent Supers who are under restrictions and have been placed in a group home for monitoring purposes.” Robert said. He seemed to hope that they would look on this as opportunity rather than punishment. Wait… what had he just said about being placed in a home?
“What home? I already have an apartment, Robert.” Ethan was sure he was not going to like the answer.
“I wondered if one of you had caught that. The final condition for this team is that none of you can go back to your current homes. For the three of you with apartments, payments will be made to landlords for breaking leases, and your things have already been placed into storage that you will be able to access on the SUAVE campus.”
Ethan felt depressed, “So it’s back to living on the SUAVE campus again is it?”
Robert shook his head, “ No, just your things are going to the HQ. Your new team headquarters and living facilities will be in a building in downtown Denver. Around fifth avenue and Ogden street.”
Ethan had been wrong. He had thought it was going to be bad, but it was actually worse. Way worse. He loathed downtown Denver and now he was going to be forced to live there.
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