Agent Jane Doe 1: The Catalyst

Wanted Dead Or Alive

The mysterious man leads me to a large broken down trailer that looks like it came from the 2010s. There's a campfire in front of it composed only of wood embers. The door creaks open and we step in. Inside are a bunch of all types of faces, some innocent, some not. They all stare at me as if I was unwanted. Of course, I was rejected from society. What else is new? I've been accustomed to dirty looks from all directions.

"Who's this chick?" a man with a square jaw points at me. The first thing I notice about this guy is his bulging muscles. Damn, he must lift.

"Everybody, this is Jojo Pullman. She's been ousted, just like the rest of us," the man introduces me to the rest of the gang.

"Been the center of a malicious rumor?" a girl with chin-length jet black hair asks me.

"How did you know?" I gasp.

"Easy, girl. Hot Mess,"

"The name's Trevan. Consider yourself lucky that you just happened to cross paths with me. I'ma open your eyes to the stupidity of society," the man explains. How was I lucky? He seems like a sketchy guy to me. I look around at all the faces and notice one extremely familiar one.

"Anthony?" I look closer at a boy with pimples and light hair.

"How do you know my name?" Anthony crosses his arms across his chest.

"You went to Basics Academy, my school,"

"Ah, gotcha," Anthony nods. "I was ousted from school, just like you. I heard about the rumors on Hot Mess. All it does is ruin lives like it did to me,"

"I understand,"

"Now, now, enough with the chit chat. Jojo, show me what you can do," Trevan instructs.

"Roger that," I go into the kitchen, which was clad in glassy gray tiles from ceiling to floor. I grab a pot, place it on the stove, and heat two cups of water in it.

"You can cook? Well, that's cool," Trevan says. "But Zahira here can cook food for us. We need someone with an unseen skill,"

"Well, we can work together," a girl with a red hijab interjects. "Cooking is fun but tiring. I could use a little help,"

"Sorry, that's not my strongest suit," I shrug as my attention diverts to the cup of sugar in my hand. I pour the sugar inside the pot and repeat this process thrice more. Once that's done, I begin to stir it.

"What are you making?" Zahira asks.

"I'm making rock candy," I answer as I remove the solution from the heat. Then, I pour a tad bit of food coloring in the solution and mix it.

"That sounds delicious,"

"Isn't it?" I pour the solution into a glass. "And voila,"

"Where did you learn to do that, Jojo?" Trevan questions as he stares at my melted rock candy.

"Well, I used to take culinary arts classes before I was ousted, but in case you didn't know, my strongest suit is STEM, especially science. Science is really cool,"

"That's really cool. We've got a martial artist, weapons expert, medic, cross country runner, and cook. We don't have a STEM specialist. Congrats, Jojo. You're officially a Team Ruber member,"

"Whoa," is all I could say. Trevan approaches me and hands me a red headband with a capital 'r' on a metal scrap.

"This headband is the mark of a Team Ruber member. Treat it well,"

"Alright, then." I shrug off my scrappy fawn jacket and tie the headband around my waist.

"That's supposed to go around your head but oh well," Trevan shrugs.

"Thanks. So tell me---what's the first order of business around here?"

"We've got lots of guidelines and rules if you wanna be in Team Ruber. But we'll talk about that tonight when I take my nightly stroll. You come with me then,"

---

Author's Note: So Jojo's a part of Team Ruber now, whoo hoo! What does it take to be a Team Ruber member?