Paragon

Chapter 18

"Hey, wake up."

I rolled over to look at Roman.

"What is it?" I asked.

"They're interviewing Mrs. Weezbi."

I sat up so I could see the TV. Sure enough our old principal sat on a couch with a host, answering questions about her occupation.

"Yes, I'm a principal." She said. "I run one of the best schools in Calpernica."

"We've all heard about your school." The host smoothed his hair. "How long were the Paragons students at your school?"

"A bit over a year and a half."

"Were they good students?"

"Good heavens no."

I rolled my eyes. "Liar."

"They were quite violent." Mrs. Weezbi continued. "Their leader, Katana, got in several fights with other students."

"That was one time." I corrected.

"Her second in command often snuck into the rooms of female students."

"I thought you were my second in command." Roman said.

"In your dreams." I nudged him with my elbow. "Let's turn this off."

He pulled up the holographic interface for the TV. "Look at this, we're on channel 9 too." He changed the channel and Calpernica News' introduction sequence began. I went over to the window and opened the curtains, revealing the rainy city far below. The Sky Spire was the world's tallest building at just under a mile tall. Officially, it was still under construction, but in reality it had been completed for a year. No one dared come up to the top ten floors which we call ours, as Ezekiel was careful to mention that due to the height of the building, any tampering before the place was finished could result in a total collapse. He had thought of everything it seemed.

"That new shortened name seems to have stuck." Roman said.

Over the last eight months our name has gone from Fighters Against Master Kontrol and the Skyfall to just Skyfall. As many times as we'd tried to correct people, they just didn't take the hint. Apparently our old name was just too long.

"Skyfall: Heroes or Villains?" I read the title.

"Welcome to Calpernica in the Morning." The anchor said. "Today we're going to talk about Skyfall, the world's favorite new organization. With me is Schreiner, a representative from Master Kontrol."

The man beside her is attractive and well groomed, dressed in a typical red and black Master Kontrol uniform.

"Now, a little history on Skyfall." The anchor said. "This enigmatic group was first heard of around 8 months ago, when their leader, who claims to be an escaped Master Kontrol test subject, quite dramatically broke into a council meeting and announced her intentions. This test subject, who calls herself Katana Wilder, now runs an underground group who specialize in sabotaging Master Kontrol. Earlier this month they freed a group of 18 individuals who claim to have been captured by Master Kontrol to be used as human test subjects. Two months ago a woman appeared in London claiming that she was captured and tortured by CEO Xavier Cane for three weeks before being rescued by Skyfall representatives Nikara and Weska Ross. Six months ago the group exposed two councilman as being guilty of accepting bribes. Besides this, they've pulled off a number of raids on Master Kontrol compounds who they said were doing human experimentation. What do you say about this, Schreiner?"

The man cleared his throat. "We're clearly dealing with a group of juvenile anarchists. The reason they haven't been captured is because people are helping them. When our people and Prime Order agents get close to apprehending them, some civilians go so far as to physically prevent our forces from getting close to these...Skyfall representatives."