School of Power

Mission started

-So... what's his deal?- was Adora's question while the first year students were following Nora and Avalon through the halls of the basements of the school. Anthony was barely paying attention to the conversation, he was too stunned by the fact that he was in a part of the school he didn't even know, while Zion wasn't missing any part of that, waiting for an explanation. -What do you mean?- asked back Nora, that was eager to move at superspeed and rush to the armory. It was Avalon's decision to guide them at normal speed, so that they could learn the passages to get there by themselves. -The big leader himself, Osborne. What's his problem?- clarified Adora, and the change in Nora's demeanor brought tension to the following steps through those halls. She was now looking down, searching for words. Avalon quickly stepped in -You know what, Nora? You should go looking for the technicians of the teleport device. Tell them to get ready- she put her hand on Nora's shoulder, and the other girl looked relieved, before running at superspeed away. -I'm pretty sure that you could have called them with your notepad- said Adora looking in the direction of the streak left by Nora, before Avalon gained her attention back -Yes, I could have. But you deserve an explanation, and Nora is not the right person to witness that- -And why is that? Is she in love with him?- asked jokingly Adora. -No, she fears him- interrupted Zion, making Avalon stop and looking at her with a curious expression -Yeah, it's true. But how do you know that?- Zion felt strangely: all of a sudden she was at the center of the attention, but she wasn't enjoying that. She felt all the eyes on her, including Anthony's, that had turned his attention back on the main topic. She startled a little -Well, it's just a thing I know, I mean... I just felt it- Avalon seemed satisfied by the answer, and turned on her original direction and started to lead them again, while Zion could feel the new interest in Adora's eyes when she looked at her, but decided to not look at her back. The daughter of Batman's eyes made her feel uneasy, she didn't know why. She would have thought about it another time. Now, she had to think about the boy who was going to guide them on their first mission. Avalon continued her explanation -Heinrich Osborne is one of the sons of Norman Osborne, better known as the Green Goblin. He's one of the best students, stopped only by his behavior with people he doesn't trust, and his trust is not easy to gain. He only hangs out with his actual team, and basically trains himself for the missions. I know he's extremely strong, fast and smart, but I also heard that he has powers he never showed at school- -Basically, we're going on a suicide mission- interrupted Adora -Absolutely not. He's not a bad leader at all, and when he's on a mission, the only thing that matters for him is keeping his team members safe- replied Avalon. Both Anthony and Adora thought that, due to how tense the things were between Osborne and Avalon, he was probably good, since the girl was still describing him as a good leader. -What about Nora?- asked Zion, and Avalon sighed before answering -Well, I don't know for sure. I just know that Nora went on a mission with him, at the beginning of our days, and she ended up terrified by him. I think it was because someone kinda screwed up the mission, and the team barely got out of there alive. I never knew who was, I wasn't there, but due to the fact that Nora never talked about it, I believe it was her. Of course you don't know about this last part-. Their conversation ended right before they got to the armory: it was a big room with a lot of armors and weapons displayed on the walls, together with probably every piece of defensive and offensive technology everyone could think off. Anthony was drooling all over the floor, checking on everything, while Avalon grabbed some special arrows, then concentrated her attention on the others. She got near Adora first, and she found her near the ropes and the grappling hooks. It took them a few minutes, and since Adora didn't have a suit, they decided to go on a Kevlar armor, that Adora defined "pretty basic" before taking it nonetheless, and she took some grappling hooks, but didn't take any weapon, due to "having some aces up in her sleeve". Avalon then went to Anthony -Are you sure that we're a good solution for the team?- he asked her when he was sure that the others couldn't hear him. She peaked at Adora, that was approaching Zion to help her, and then answered -Honestly, I don't know. I guess we'll know today. About your powers, I read through your files while I was coming to Hidalgo's office, and I think I have something for you- she guided him to a metallic bracelet, and handed to him. He put it on, and started it: an energetic shield formed on his forearm, while Avalon was explaining -I know you have a superhuman durability, so I think you could cover us from enemies by holding them back, while we handle them for good- Anthony seemed worried -Will we have to kill people?- -It depends from the leader, actually. But don't worry, I heard that Heinrich doesn't kill without hesitation- that answer seemed to put Banner at ease, and the two found a technological robe that could cover him without slowing him down or weighing him too much. In the meantime, Zion was asking to Adora -Do you like pendants?-. The girl was instinctively holding it between her fingers, so it took her a second to answer -Yeah, actually. I never go out without wearing one. Some of them are gifts from my mother. Why, you like them?- -Yes, I'd need to create one of them for a project I'm working on- -Great, if you get out of there alive, I'll gladly help you with some fashion advices- Adora noticed that her answer had made Zion worried, so she put a hand on her shoulder and laughed -Don't worry, I'm just joking- and right after Zion looked a little more at ease, added -We won't probably make it-. Ten minutes later, they were entering the teleportation room, in which a portal was being charged by a couple of technicians, with Nora checking on a computer nearby the last specifics. The team was finishing to gear up, when Heinrich entered: he was wearing an extremely processed armor, dark green colored with a deep purple cloak on his shoulders. -Wow, do you wear it at the school parade too?- asked Adora, making Nora bursts out of laughing -No, youngling- he answered looking at her dead in the eyes, and with his surprise, the girl held his gaze. He started his speech -Okay, it's time to get straight to the point: I didn't want to work with you, at all, but it looks like I have no choice. It doesn't matter what we feel towards each other, from now to the last second of this mission, we are a team: this means that nobody is left behind, nobody goes on their own and everyone follows my instructions. Is that clear?- nobody answered, but all of them nodded, even if not without some doubts from some of them. -The mission is simple: we're going to be dropped to an alternate universe where a virus spread and turned its inhabitants into zombies. Our plan is to get inside a laboratory, find a prototype of a cure that some scientists were working on before dying, and then get to the rendezvous point. We go in three minutes- he then proceeded to reach the mechanism that was charging, and stood right before them, ready to guide them. The others geared up: Adora stuck her tongue out in Osborne's direction without being seen, Anthony took a deep breath and activated the shield, Avalon took out her compound bow and put on her mask, Nora put on her mask as well and struck into some kind of pose, Zion put her hands on her face and breathed deeply to calm herself down. The portal opened up, with its purple energy lighting up their faces, and Heinrich said a simple phrase: -It's on- and then went right through it. Avalon followed right after, Nora run in circles around the portal at superspeed before entering as well, leaving the three new students. Adora looked at them -Well, it was nice to meet you guys- she pulled out her watch -Twenty minutes ago- continued after checking, and then she went through the portal. Zion and Anthony looked at each other -I don't know if I can do it- he said -Neither I can- she answered, before offering him her hand -Let's see if we can make it together- he looked at her, then smiled and took it -Yeah, let's see- he said. And the two of them went through it together. The view on the other side was terrible: they were on top of a building, probably in a big city, but something was off. It was in fact a city, but desolated and devastated. Plants were taking over the remaining of the buildings, but it didn't feel right: they were a wrong kind of green, like a rotting one, and the sky too, even though it looked normal, had some strange green shades in it. But the thing that bothered the most the team was the silence: even since they were alive, they never experienced that kind of silence. It was like the entire world had died, and the bare minimum noise sounded like a gunshot to the ears of the group. Well, probably the part about the world dead was kinda right. Heinrich gained all of their attentions, raising up is forearm in a gesture that demanded focus -Okay, from here we need to get to the old Roxxon LABS, a few blocks from here, we recover the samples we need, and right after we head straight to the top of the Daily Bugle. From there, we'll be teleported back- he explained while projecting a little map on his pad to help the team understand. From that, it looked like that the LABS were a few blocks down from there, and then that Bugle place was half a kilometer away in another direction. Adora raised a question that was probably in the back of Anthony's mind as well -So why are we needed? Nora is a speedster, why couldn't they just send her?- Nora seemed to turn a little red, but it was hard to understand because of the suit -Because the professors thought that it was not enough. If this team is needed to complete the mission, then the team is needed to complete the mission- Osborne answered her calmly. Zion was stunned: he seemed like a different person now. -About our roles: Allen, you're our support, every time someone is in danger you go there and you help them. Queen, Wayne, you're going to be our eyes and ears, if one of the enemies gets closer, you'll inform us and I'll decide how to act. Banner, you are our shield, if we get ambushed you need to be ready to defend your team. Zatara, you use your magic in every way I tell you: we don't know what dangers and difficulties may find here, so we'll need you. All clear?- nobody replied, not even Adora. They just nodded. Osborne decided to go down via the fire escapes -Because we're a team on fire?- Adora asked making Nora chuckle -No, because we don't know what is inside this building, and I don't want us to fight avoidable combats- was Osborne's answer. He probably had decided to just ignore the girl, for his own sake and the one of the mission. While they were going down, he and Avalon filled the others with other information they read from the briefing -This world was infected with some kind of virus, years ago. The results were mindless zombies that started to hunt down and to devour to death the sane people- -And the heroes of this dimension?- asked Banner -Well, when they got infected, that was pretty much the end of the story. That's why we better pay attention to everything here. We don't know what kind of powered up zombies we may find- he said while they were on the street. Adora and Avalon were on the forefront, checking on the streets. Heinrich was right behind them, guiding them with a low voice on which direction they needed to go. Anthony and Zion were behind, both of them looking around confused, and Nora was in the last place, ready to transport the others if needed. It looked like it was going too easy, so it was pretty much obvious that a problem was waiting for them. -Ok so... what now?- asked Adora looking at the extreme abyss that was separating the team from the LABS: an enormous hole, so deep that the bottom couldn't even be seen, like a contained nuclear explosion. -I could bring all of us with my superspeed- pointed out Nora -Yeah, but the sonic boom produced may alert some of the zombies around, including the ones that could be inside of the building- Osborne answered -Give me a few minutes, I'll figure something out- Avalon got closer to him -We may use some of my arrows with wires to make us a passage, so that we could reach it one by one- -We'd be vulnerable to an attack, but I admit that it's the best solution...- they went on for a few minutes, until Adora's voice interrupted them -Ehm, I'm sorry, geniuses?- the both of them turned their head to her: she was pointing out at a subway station -How about we use this passage to reach it?- Heinrich opened his mouth, and then closed it, and then reopened it -That's... actually well-thought- Zion raised her thumb up smiling to Adora, without being seen from Osborne. They took the stairs and went down, but the second problem was waiting them: a problem in a form of a little piece of scrap metal. The team was silently trying to pass through the tunnels, in an almost completely dark atmosphere, until they saw what probably was a crash: two destroyed wagons, in part one on another, were occupying the tunnel. No zombies were to be seen, which surprised a little Avalon: they had spent a big quantity of time without meeting any zombies, and it was strange. But anyway, she wasn't going to complain. Heinrich didn't flinch, and just told them to help each other crawling through it, and casually lifted a destroyed metal door (that was probably enough to take down four grown up men) with one hand, trying to make zero noises. Avalon started to crawl through it, and Adora, right after, pulled out one of her ropes and started to crawl on the upper destroyed wagon, in order to keep an eye from above. Anthony helped Heinrich to lift another part of the wagon without making any noise, and Zion crawled under that. Nora just phased through the wagons, and helped Avalon to come out from the other side. While Zion was crawling, she saw something curious: it was some kind of metallic claw, with four talons on it, one per side. She wanted to touch it, but something in the back of her mind, probably her survival instinct, stopped her. She was about to move on, when a noise was heard. Adora, on the top of the wagons, had kicked inadvertently a little scrap of metal, that unfortunately had fallen down, bashing on various parts of the wagons and making one hell of a noise, followed up by a whispered -Fuck!- from the Wayne daughter. Heinrich was looking in her direction with an expression that, if it could, would probably have killed her right on the spot, and Avalon had pulled out her bow and was ready to shoot an arrow towards the first enemy on sight. Noises from the zombies had already started to echo through the tunnels, but they seemed to be pretty far: that, until the claw right next to Zion started moving. It was a pretty slow movement, like a snake waking up and checking around, but it was definitely moving on its own. Zion had read of various people with metallic limbs or armors, but she didn't know exactly what it was. -Heinrich...- she whispered softly, her voice filled with preoccupation, and his answer didn't take too much time to arrive -What?- he said, right before lowering his head so that he could see on the inside of the passage she was crawling into. She just pointed at the thing, and her preoccupation spiked right to fear when she was his expression change into a worried one while murmuring -Oh shit-. And the next second, hell broke loose: some very strong noises started to come from the inside of the wagons, while Avalon realized that it wasn't a crash. It was a nest.