Flint and Steel: A Warren Worthington III Series

Chapter Three: First Trip Over

True to your word, you meet Warren and the Professor that next day at noon, bags packed and disguise prepared. You don't know that many private schools that have a convenient airstrip for easy plane access, especially one that opens up in the middle of a basketball court, but life at a mutant school with excessive funding has its perks.

You may have agreed to go on this mission, but that doesn't mean you'll like it. Same with Warren- although Xavier greets you happily, you and your partner only exchange a few glares before the Professor sighs and gives up on any chance of hospitality between the two of you.

The plan is easy enough to understand, albeit less so to follow through with it and not get caught. You and Warren will be posing as new students to the Transformative Academy, and in between classes, you'll do your best to investigate the campus and figure out why it's shielded from the Professor's considerable resources.

The only problem, of course, is that the chance of you two getting caught is practically obscene. If you and Warren are found out to be spying for Xavier, especially if you stumble upon something rather unpleasant, you could be killed at best and experimented on at worst. This is why Warren hypothesizes that the Professor only sent you two as partners: you two were expendable.

And, when Xavier can't quite meet your eyes as he tells you to stay safe, you realize that Warren might be on to something after all. You've already said your goodbyes to your friends before you left, but the thought that this could be the last time you see Xavier's school again is certainly chilling. No wonder Warren seemed irate that you two were partners, even outside the obvious- he's the only thing between you and certain death. What a pleasant thought.

He's not going to make this easier for you, either. From the second Warren boards the plane, he makes sure to take a seat as far away from you as possible. When you call him out on it, Warren just sneers and says something about how he wants to treasure every moment he can spend away from you. All you can think is that this does not bode well for the lifesaving camaraderie that you're supposed to have with him to survive the mission.

Your plane touches down a few hours later, and although you're technically escorted by a few of Xavier's representatives acting as drivers, from the second your feet touch the ground you can tell that you're on your own. After a little while of driving in a car that seemed more hostile by the second, thanks to the intense avoiding going on between you and Warren, you arrive at the school.

You're not sure what you expected from a school called the Transformative Academy for Superhuman Kids. It's a terrible name, the Professor was right about that, and far too condescending to house a bunch of mutants who could probably all destroy the place in about an hour or so. Somehow, you were still thinking it would be at least a little like Xavier's school, but all it takes is one look at the campus to realize that you were very, very wrong.

Where Xavier's school had thrived on classic architecture, all stone walls and crenellated walls overlooking rolling hills, this academy is about as modern and utilitarian as you could get. They've taken great care to ensure that as few windows are present as possible, likely fearing that overeager mutants would shatter them. Although they're probably right about that (and Xavier has to have a glassmaker on speed dial for just that reason), the whole place just looks dismal and rather prisonlike.

The walls are tall and thick, the doors locked, and the few students that you see walking around keep their heads down. Despite your intent to ignore Warren for as long as possible, you can't help but exchange uneasy looks with him. This is where you'll be staying for the next few weeks, this jail for kids? This mission sounds less fun with every hour.

You're greeted at the door by a receptionist clad in a functional gray suit, who waves goodbye to your chaperones and gestures for you two to follow her into the building. You notice that she unlocks the door with a key card, and that the door shuts behind you with a rather threatening thud. You're fairly certain that if you were to try it, you couldn't get out without an administrator physically there to allow it.