SEEING STARS: SQUAD ONESHOTS

Puddle Problems

The day started out normal for Cho. She got out of bed and brushed her teeth while playing her favorite Rick Astley songs much too loudly for the calmness of the morning. She spent way too long deciding what to wear before finally pulling an outfit that looked exactly like the one she had worn yesterday out of her closet and throwing it on. She checked her phone for messages from her friends, but knowing them, they were probably sleeping in. It was Saturday, after all, and nothing out-of-the-ordinary was supposed to happen.

She ate a random cookie she found laying out in the kitchen and then decided to take a walk. Maybe she'd finally catch one of those weird-looking birds she always saw on the street. She'd been trying to catch one with her bare hands for months, at least. Don't ask why. No one knows.

It must have rained overnight, because when she stepped outside, there were puddles glinting in the morning sun. She spotted a small flock of grey birds down the street, and slowly approached, copying the method she had seen a cat use to catch one.

She was close now, closer than she had ever been to the birds, only a large puddle on the sidewalk standing between her and them. Carefully, she stepped into the puddle, making sure not to make any noise as she did so. The closest bird kept its back to her. So she took another step, but as she did, her foot slipped, but instead of falling on the hard ground, she sunk into it, like the puddle was hiding quicksand.

The bird turned and looked at her with beady, yellow-orange eyes. If birds could smile, Cho had no doubt this feathery bastard would be grinning diabolically.

The bird squawked and flew off, and Cho was fully submerged in the puddle.

~~~

"Oh, hey. It worked."

"Of course it did, gramps. Did you ever doubt me?"

"...maybe."

Ana rolled her eyes and returned her attention to the secret camera hidden in the tree above the puddle that Cho had just fallen into. "Okay, give her three, two, one..."

"Received," a voice in Ana's headset said. "Repeat, package received."

"Copy that, James," Markos said into his headset, switching his computer monitor to the security camera set up in the room next door. Cho was laying in a little puddle of water, her clothes wet, but that was quickly fixed by James activating a fleet of mini robots wielding hair dryers. As they worked to dry her off, James made little notes of her vitals, making sure the teleportation process hadn't accidentally broken something important. Like, maybe her brain.

"Her brain's fine," he decided after three seconds. "All I see in there are songs from the '80s."

~~~

"This is a delicate operation, Lia. You need to be careful when you go in there. One little slipup, and you could bring the entire organization crashing down."

"Then why am I doing it?" Lia asked, fidgeting with her belt. "Why not you?"

Lizi shook her head. "You're closer to her age, so I think you two will connect well. Also, I generally disapprove of social interaction."

Lia rolled her eyes. "Fine. Where's the elf?"

Lizi shrugged. "Probably making sure the crocodile doesn't eat the parrot. Alright. You ready? James and I'll be by the door in case something goes wrong."

Lia nodded. "So... just break the news to her gently."

"Make sure she's awake, first," Lizi said. "I mean, when you first came, you were so out of it from the chloroform Ali had dosed you with that I had to explain everything over again. Three times."

"Yeah, yeah, that wasn't my fault though," Lia waved her away. "Let's go complete the squad."

~~~

"It's been way too quiet around here," Ana noticed as she and Markos watched Lia and Lizi move rooms on the network of cameras. "Check on the elf, would you?"

Markos clicked around a couple times, rapidly switching from monitor to monitor until he found the shortest member of the squad, Ali, sitting in a random tiny laundry basket in the living room, the small monkey she had adopted in her lap, as she watched her cat Michael chase a laser pointer she was flashing up on the walls and floors.

"Okay, good," Ana breathed a sigh of relief. "She's not blowing anything up again."

"Not yet," Markos agreed. "Better keep an eye on her, though. Who knows what ideas she'll get if left unsupervised for long enough."

"True..."

~~~

Cho woke up, her heart pounding in her chest. She sat up rapidly, taking in the tastefully-decorated room she was in. The walls were painted a muted shade of mint green, with white accents. She was laying on a soft twin-sized bed with light blue and pink sheets.

"Where am I?" she wondered out loud. Her head hurt a little bit.

A knock sounded at the door, and it swung open. A girl about her age sauntered in, wearing black pants and a fitted yellow t-shirt.

"Hey, what's up? I'm Lia."

Cho frowned. This whole situation was confusing to the highest extent.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"Uh... Lia."

"Where am I? Why are you here? Am I dreaming?"

"Nope," Lia said, popping the 'p'. "Welcome to HQ."

"HQ for what?" Cho asked. "How did I get here?"

"Oh, you fell through a puddle," Lia shrugged. "At least you weren't literally kidnapped in the middle of the night."

"I fell in a puddle," Cho said. "Yeah, I remember that. But how did I get here?"

"We were trying out our new teleportation device," Lia said. "Obviously, it worked."

"Teleportation?"

"Long story," Lia waved her hand. "Anyway, you're here for a very important reason."

"Where is here?"

"I told you— HQ. Also known as SyncBase. I tried calling it SB, but Lizi shut that down because it reminded her too much of her ex Sebastian."

"What?" Cho was even more confused now, if that was possible."

"He... well, I'll spare you the gory details. Anyway, what was I saying? Oh yeah. You're here for a very important reason."

She paused dramatically. Cho scrunched her eyebrow.

"Am I supposed to ask you what that very important reason is?"

Lia nodded.

"Okay... what's that very important reason?"

"You..." Lia held up her hand, and a glowing sphere of light appeared above it. "Are one of us. You have special powers that you were born with, but without our help, you'll never master them."

"Whoa..." at this point, Cho was convinced she was a character in a shitty YA fantasy novel, but Lia's ball of light had looked too real to be the product of movie magic. "Wait... what?"

"Long story. And Lizi's more the historian, anyway. You'll hear it from her soon enough. Anyway, it was important we get to you sooner than later, before your powers started manifesting on their own and you end up hurting somebody... but that's not important right now. Right now, what's important is starting your training so you can become part of the team and help save the world from certain death and destruction. Any questions?"

There were too many questions in Cho's head, she couldn't decide on one to articulate. Instead, she passed out from sheer information overload.

"Welp," Lia murmured to herself. "That went better than I expected."