Unwanted Heroes

chapter one: a disease

Finley's sixteenth birthday was tense and uncomfortable.

His family sat around the table with somber faces instead of happy ones. Candles were blown, cake was sliced and eaten, and Finley's bags were loaded into the van.

"I-It's not so bad," he mumbled under his breath as his Aunt Beatrice started getting into a long-winded speech about how much she pitied him and his so-called "predicament."

It had taken Finley quite sometime to accept the fact that he was a vero, that his single mother loved him so much that she was willing to pay a fortune to keep him for such a long time, that his sixteenth birthday meant he'd go up to the place he and his friends talked so much about.

The Vero Containment Center, otherwise known as the VCC.

The word containment made it sound as though it were a quarantine, like their abilities were a disease or illness of some sort.

Just thinking about it made Finley feel dirty and infected around his otherwise normal family.

"We promise we'll visit you every month, Finley," Mrs. Fairbairn promised, giving him an earnest smile as she started the car.

They backed out of the driveway in silence as his family waved goodbye to him and his mother.

Finley could've sworn that he saw relief instead of sadness in their eyes.

~•~•~

The dining table was abuzz with the excitement and tension of a newcomer. Many discussions were about what their supposed powers were, or where they came from.

A lot of veroes had come from many places around the world, not just in Chrimata City. Asia, Africa, North and South America, Europe, Australia--every single continent had some freaks in town.

Al picked at her food, thinking about the newcomer as well. Newcomers were always a refreshing and mysterious force that kept the VCC's inhabitants entertained with their own imaginations.

"Hey, Al, Kem," Mar hissed to her two best friends, "rumor has it we're gonna have a newbie today."

"Well, Mar, rumor for once is correct," Kem confirmed.

"I wonder what the newbie's gonna be like," Al wondered out loud. "Maybe we can recruit them into our group!"

"We don't even know their power yet, so we should take it slowly," Kem advised. "We need to decide if they're an asset to the group once we know."

Al shrugged. "Hm. Good point. Maybe we can help the newbie around the VCC before recruiting them into our group."

Suddenly, as if it heard her, the intercom buzzed to life with an announcement.

"Kemuel Belfon, Maria Reyes, and Alexis Magayon, please report to the administrator's office at once," it spoke.

All eyes turned to them immediately. Being called to the administrator's office was a gamble.

He was either going to reprimand you and give you a long talking-to, praise you for your exceptional behavior, or call you over to discuss business.

For the three of them, it was almost always business.

Kem pressed a button on the table, calling the servant bots to their table to clean up after them.

"Let's go," he said as the cleaning bots busied themselves.

~•~•~

"Finley Daniel Fairbairn," Administrator Keen muttered. "That is your name, correct?"