Relic-Verse: Champions of Hope

Chapter 30

-- Part 1 --

Faron yawned while lounging in an office chair. In front of him, pacing back and forth, was Mister Grey, his eyes scanning the SWAN HQ's as they waited on someone to come retrieve them. The room they were in was barren, with only a handful of chairs, two small end tables, and a single door. The walls were colored black, with the only decoration on them being a large white SWAN Emblem painted on the wall. The emblem was of a swan, with large white wings and a curved neck composing a circular shape and the letters SWAN painted in black on the center of it.

"So, any idea why they called us here? I barely got any sleep due to this surprise meeting." Faron grumbled and closed his eyes while Grey stopped pacing and turned to the detective.

"The Alliance has passed a new bill, and they chose us to come in and take a new test."

"A text? I thought we were done with those-"

"A test to kill."

Faron shot open his eyes and sat upright, staring at the gentleman hero in surprise, "What do you mean a test to kill?"

Grey crossed his arms and looked towards the door. "I mean just what I said. The Alliance wants to see if we are capable of killing."

Faron went to reply but was cut off by the door opening and a SWAN Manager stepping in, dressed in the typical SWAN suit and sunglasses. "Abraham Grey and Faron Burr, otherwise known as Mister Grey and Detective Faron, you two have been selected by the Alliance and SWAN as the first two heroes to take the Registry of Lethal Force test." The manager nodded at each of them before turning and beginning to leave the room. "If you two will follow me to the testing chambers, we can begin."

Grey and Faron exchanged glances before following the Manager through the empty halls of the HQ. After several twists and turns, further convincing Grey that the building was nothing but a labyrinth, they ended up stopping before two doors on opposite sides of the hall, where the Manager turned and nodded to them.

"Abraham Grey, you are on my left. Faron Burr, you are on my right." The heroes went to move towards the doors, only for the Manager to raise up his hand to pause them. "This test is a virtual simulation of real scenarios that SWAN has hand picked for this test. You are welcome to tackle each scenario in any way you deem acceptable, but do know there is only a single correct answer to each of them. If you enact the accepted solution to each situation, you will receive your permit from the Registry of Lethal Force and be allowed to execute criminals under the correct circumstances. The test has a strict time limit for each scenario, passing that time limit means you have failed. You need to act quickly and intelligently to determine the correct course of action. Death is not something to be taken lightly. If you are overwhelmed, we can deactivate the test in an instant." Faron slowly took in the information before turning to look at his door. A red version of the SWAN Emblem was painted in the center of it, with the letters RoLF in place of SWAN. "You may now enter."

Faron promptly pushed open the door, stepping into the darkness of the room. As soon as he let the door close, he was hit with a wave of nausea as the darkness appeared to spin, before eventually a scene was formed inside of the chamber.

The detective was now standing in the middle of a street looking towards a bank. SWAN Police cars had surrounded the building, and through the glass doors Faron could make out the appearance of a trio of gunmen who were currently holding the people inside the bank hostage. Faron studied the scene and stretched before darting over to the side of the building and climbing up it. His eyes scanned the building's roof, spotting a skylight in the exact center. Without missing a beat he ran over to it and looked down, getting a different angle of the hostage situation and realizing he was now directly above the gunmen.