Inversion

TBE

The auditorium was tightly packed with excited murmurs rippling through the crowd like an electric current. Aria had been sitting sullenly in the furthest corner of the bleachers when we came in, and I decided to make a tactical decision to keep a couple people between us in case she had revenge on her mind.

I placed myself between Devin and Sparrow and scanned the large chamber for any sign of our teachers, but all I could see were rows and rows of students doing the same thing as myself. The back wall of the auditorium had a raised semi-circular stage with a corkboard hanging from it. The corkboard had a number of different pieces of paper tacked to it, but from this distance it was impossible to tell what any of them might say.

“Where do you think the teacher is?” I asked Devin, since Sparrow was chatting up a short blonde girl sitting in the row in front of us.

“Dunno, maybe they couldn't find the room,” he replied with a chuckle, “I sure as hell can never find my way around this place. It seems like every hall is the same.”

“Right?! I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels tha-”

“STUDENTS!” a loud voice boomed across the room as a familiarly bulky figure strode onto the stage from a door on the side that I hadn't previously noticed, “As you all know, I am the Dean of this fine Academy, Gunnar Doran. I am not your teacher for this class, please hide your disappointment,” he continued over a polite bout of laughter from the assembled students, “However, your teachers have been caught up in their other duties for the time being, so you will not be meeting them until tomorrow.”

After this statement a number of hands shot up in the crowd, but the tenacious Dean carried on, “At this point you are probably all wondering what 'TBE' stands for, and what it is that this board behind me says. It's Team Building Exercises, and this behind me,” he gestured to the board,

“Are your team assignments. As you have most likely guessed at this point your house assignment was not random, nor was the fact that you have been working in the same group all day. These six people are your new family. You will live together, eat together, play together, fight together, and if it comes down to it, die together.” Even though I was a few seats away I still heard Aria's derisive snort at this last comment and had to restrain myself from glaring at her. If this was our new family, she was the bitchy step sister I never wanted.

“These assignments are your team positions, sort of like a sports team, but more akin to a party in an MMO,” the Dean continued, his booming voice drowning out all the laughter over his strangely high tech comparison, “There are six positions on the team, you have all been chosen for your role based not only on your Ability, but also from our assessment of your strengths, weaknesses and character traits. The positions are Tank, Assassin, Point, Recon/Support, Healer and of course, the Captain. Each role has it's own important duty to fulfill for your team to succeed, and over the coming weeks you will get intimately familiar with each of them and their functions.”

“Every Friday will be an inter-house tournament, the top 3 places receiving points which can be spent in the House Shop for various prizes. The rest of the week will be spent either practicing team plays or being escorted out in the field by your teachers on a hunt to capture marauding Forsaken. Points will also be awarded for exceptional performance on these expeditions, and at the end of the term the team that has accumulated the most points will be awarded a special prize from me,” he looked very pleased with himself as he finished up his speech and began to walk off stage, and then added almost as if he had forgotten, “Now if you will please form an orderly line at the side of the stage to come up here and take note of your position, I will be on my way.”

As soon as the Dean exited the room there was a mad rush to the stage, complete with pushing and insults to try and be the first ones up there. We were about four groups back from the front of the line, even with Devin manhandling people out of our way. Time seemed to slow to a standstill, with very little chatter after the initial onslaught as each group filed on stage and read their assignments and then shuffled off the other side, either whispering excitedly or gesticulating furiously depending on how they felt about their new position.

I was getting pretty nervous the closer we got to the stage, I didn't really know what position I was going to be placed in. I didn't feel like I could be particularly useful in any of them with my Ability. Images of me skittering about a battlefield with a first aid kit as Healer or getting mercilessly beaten on as a Tank flashed through my mind and I shook my head to clear them out. The Dean was a bit, well, odd, but he seemed sharp enough and I didn't think he would intentionally put me in a position I couldn't handle.

After what seemed like hours, but was probably no more than twenty minutes, it was finally our turn to get up on stage and see what our assignments were. Aria was first up the steps, and was already scanning the board for our names when we got there. I stayed back a few feet and waited til the others had found their names. Aria threw up her hands in frustration and whirled on her heel to face me, a look of disgust on her face.

“What is it with you? Fucking special little you. Ugh, some people just get everything handed to them on a silver platter while the rest of us sit under the table stealing the scraps as they fall,” she yelled, pushing hard on my chest and I felt a sharp pang in one of my bruised ribs from our earlier encounter. Before I could respond she had stormed off the stage, pushing people out of her way left and right before loudly slamming the auditorium door on her way out. I stared after her for a few moments, utterly baffled, before turning back to the board and checking the team assignments myself to see what had gotten her so pissed.

Devin Steinhart: Tank

'Sparrow' Smith: Point

Ceri Dubois: Healer

Jared Dawson: Recon/Support

Aria Nanashi: Assassin

Jack Sloane: Captain

Captain. Captain. Fucking Captain. Of course. Of all the things I could have been assigned, they give me Captain. Now I see why she was so angry, I'm the new guy, the guy who just rolled in and knocked her off her high horse and then took arguably the most important position on the team. I felt like a total ass. But at the same time I couldn't help but be a little proud of myself and do a sort of interior victory dance, even if I was feeling incredibly inadequate to my new title. I had my eyes closed and was gently massaging my temples to try and alleviate the cornucopia of emotions rattling around in my head when I felt a hand clap on my shoulder and turned to see Sparrow grinning at me, ear to ear.

“Captain Jack, eh? Got a nice ring to it if you ask me,” he said jovially, “Don't mind her. Assassin is more her style anyways, she just wants something to hate you for.” Jared, Devin and Ceri made their way over to us and we began to head back to our house, excitedly discussing our new positions.

“I'm so glad I'm the Healer! I don't think I could hurt, let alone kill, anyone,” Ceri burbled happily.

“Tank. Me like. Smash good.” Devin said in a fairly convincing cave man imitation.

“Yeah, Support suits me just fine. I'd rather not be in the fray so to speak,” Jared said, then turned to me with an eyebrow raised, “Jack as Captain though eh? This ought to be good.”

“Aria didn't seem to happy about it,” I said with a shrug, “but I would've been rubbish in any other position anyways, so this is probably the best possible outcome.”

“You said it brother, you are pretty terrible at most things. I'm just glad we're finally done for the day. Time to go home, relax, read a nice novel and get black-out drunk,” Sparrow chimed in as we pushed opened the door to the courtyard and took in the setting sun over the sprawl of the campus.