Legendary

Chapter 18: Who wants shmores?

We got the ruby. Hooray! But that was just part of the challenge. Getting it safely to the President of the Academy was a whole different challenge. We were being hunted by voracious wolf-monkeys (probably some shape shifting gone wrong), ambushed by some hot warrior craze chicks who resembled  wonder woman. We were even tossed in the air like shuttle cocks between two unnaturally strong girls. I had never felt so used. I was surprised we made it safely to the president's office with the ruby. Talkless of our lives.  The President of the Academy, Mr. Whiteford, finally declared us the winners of this month's challenge. It felt good to achieve something for once in my life.

I could remember when my Mum and I would sit outside on the porch, she would jokingly tell me that I came on a mission, she'd tell me if any kid looked at me and said "You're wierd kid", I should punch him in the face. She would wrap her arms around me and tell me that if Dad were still alive, he would be very proud of the man I've become and like that, we would sit quietly on the porch with our drinks and brownies and just watch the sun set.

For the whole day, I felt important. We were the talk of the academy and we couldn't go anywhere without beig recognized.

Mark was walking approached us in the hallway clapping slowly. "Well done guys. Job well done. You guys really surprised me. Especially you Mike as you're...  still  getting acquainted with the system. To be honest, you guys were the last guys I expected to win", he said straight. I wanted to punch him in his grizzly face but if I did, I would live on to regret it.
Not because of guilt, because he'd literally bite my fingers off with no apologies.  You think I'm kidding? Hank told me that he once bit a student's asylum for not sitting properly in class.  

"You know, for a teacher/guidance counselor, he isn't that supportive," I noted.

The next day, after classes, we strutted off to the President's office for further details. We were at the front desk where we met his secretary who looked pretty normal aside from the fact that her hair was flickering blue flames. Kind of like Ghost Rider. It was pretty cool if you ask me.

"Ah, Good afternoon boys. Mr. Whiteford isn't around today. He went for a conference. He said I should take you around to view our mission headquarters. Shall we proceed?" She asked in a light hearted manner.

I shifted the thought of using her flaming hair to make shmores aside.

"Yeah... let's get this over with", Hank replied her in a not so light hearted way.

I was a little bit surprised that the sprinklers above us hadn't gone off. Then again, the water supply may have been used up.

Flame head took us through the bunker that was large enough to hold the whole academy. It was pretty huge. How did they make such a huge bunker? As we toured the vicinity, we saw some familiar faces. A group of other students, about twenty of them were in what looked like a practice room, trying to control their abilities. There was a teenager there who was tied up and was flickering uncontrollably. As if he was trying to teleport but couldn't. After long futile attempts... he gave up.

There was another person. A girl this time with another guy. They were in a room with several of those security autobots I saw earlier on except these one looked much smaller.  They were attacking and shooting at them. I was impressed with what I saw. While the  autobots were blasting at the girl, the other guy unexpectedly  teleported behind one of the four android bots and directed its beam at another, making the android explode and with his bare hands, ripped it's head right off it's body. I would never want to get into a fight with that guy... Whoever he is. Next, with incredible speed, the girl charged one of the androids and swiped it's arm off with a neo- plasma blade and kicked it off balance. She impaled it's head and it stopped struggling. It may seem as if these autobots were dummies from the way I'm describing the action, there was the occasional throwing and slamming of bodies  but you have got to believe me, they really nailed it. They weren't. They were just as fast, if not faster than I was.

We continued the tour and I was a little bit surprised to see Alicia in their laboratory along with other scientists. She looked up and was shocked as I was to see me and the crew. She looked like she was torn between coming to meet us and doing the finishing touches on her project. She just waved frantically. I expected that from her. Not so far away, I saw Augustus working on something. Apparently, he was a blacksmith. Augustus and a group of other blacksmiths usually helped to sustain and improve the weapons supply.

"This year, with the help of the scientists, the blacksmiths are working on a decimating gun", she explained to us.

"And what's that?" Clarke asked.

"It's a gun that can strip you to the bones. Pretty deadly and expensive so we are not going to manufacture more than eight of them for serious emergencies".

"The missions op consist of the best students who are inducted every year by the board of trustees for accomplishing astonishing feats. Most of them started off where you are. Some of them you already know", she said. She kept on blabbing about the history and founders of the mission corps and how it came to be. I tried to pay attention, I really tried but the yarn was voluminous and as she continued prattling, my eyes started to close. One eyelid after another.

"Mike! Are you dozing?" she asked. "I'm sorry. What did you say?" I replied putting myself together. She looked at me in an irritated manner before turning away to continue explaining the jeopardy of 1952 bunker. I saw that coming.

Hank mouthed the words," I could use some lightning or water right now". Clarke looked at me and mouthed," Make it stop!!" Josh was the only one paying attention... wait a second. He wasn't listening at all! He was listening to songs on his earpiece. He loves doing it to Alicia when she gets in the mood to talk about the intricacies of the universe. All of us would give up on listening to her apart from Josh and Clarke. Clarke's reason was he was her boyfriend, but Josh had no reason. He would always act like he was interested.

As she continued to yarn, the room got warmer. It was probably from her mouth and little from her hair. She continued to talk unconcerned of our wellbeing. We had started to sweat profusely. We would have gotten roasted peradventure no one intervened.

"I'll take it from here Susan", he told her gesturing for her dismissal. As Susan exited the room, the temperature began to drop to normal and we gasped for fresh air.

"She's like a bloody inferno man!!" Clarke managed to say.

"Yeah. She talks too much. We're working on it. She's a prototype."The man told us.

"She was hot... Yes. I said it", josh exclaimed.

"She was right? I made her! That deserves a fist bump Josh! I'm John Russel by the way", he told us.

From his appearance, you could tell he was a prominent figure with his neat hair cut and his full beards making him look a lot more regal and sophisticated. He wore a classy navy blue suit with amber Chelsea boots. A classic man indeed. Clarke mentioned him once or twice. He said he was the Tony Stark of our world.

"Now boys, I came here so I could congratulate you personally on being selected to go for the next confidential mission".

"Your mission is up in five weeks from now. You will be granted daily training for the mission along with a special accelerated program for your abilities. In other words, we will put you boys in a program that will enhance your arsenal and skills. Are you up to the task? Good", he said without allowing us to finish.

"Sweet!" Josh exclaimed.