Fandomania: The Reign of Necron

Chapter 2 - Three Superhuman Kids Walk Into Norcen Industries

Caspar stepped back as Lilly approached, swinging two batons wildly.

"Strike, strike, block, parry, block, strike," Caspar guided Lilly through his steps as he effortlessly used his own batons to rival Lilly's. Caspar struck with one baton, then the other as Lilly used her batons to avoid his. Caspar easily blocked Lilly's first baton, parried the next, and struck again in a similar movement. That time, though, Lilly wasn't fast enough and ended up with the end of Caspar's baton against her throat.

Caspar flashed a grin, then lowered the batons. "Well done. You're improving, really."

Lilly slumped her shoulders. Her green eyes looked dejected as she tugged her blonde hair beneath her ear. "You're still going easy on me, aren't you?"

"No! Of course not. You're doing much better, I promise. I'd place a fair wager on you myself if you were going up against one of the Necron gits."

In the past several months, Caspar had taken up training Lilly as one of his personal challenges. It was hard at first, especially since Caspar wasn't one for patience, but Lilly had become a decent opponent. At least, she was when Caspar was telling her his every move beforehand.

"Again," Caspar ordered, raising his batons for another round.

Unfortunately, Dawn took that time to walk up with that too-serious look on her face that never seemed to come off. If it weren't for that look and the grimace that always replaced a smile, Caspar would have found her incredibly attractive. She had brown hair with fiery red highlights and eyes that looked caring but stern, as if she were trying to understand what made you put your hand into that cookie car when you knew you weren't supposed to. She could control emotions, which Caspar found immensely annoying but also useful at times. Before school had started at the academy, Caspar had spent most of his time traveling around with the Doc and Dawn. Despite her good looks, Caspar could and would convince anyone that she was the most annoying girl on the face of the planet. And no, that had nothing to do with the fact that she was the only person so far that's even come close to being better at archery than Caspar. How dare you even suggest that.

Caspar and Lilly were about to start again, but Dawn objected. "Guys, wait."

"Your turn to be beat is next," Caspar groaned.

Dawn scowled and glanced down at the iPad she was carrying. Curiosity getting the best of him, Caspar dropped his batons and walked across the large, empty penthouse room to see what Dawn was so concerned about. That's right, penthouse. After seeing Jason and Kane dragging Miles out of Fandomania, Caspar, Lilly, and Dawn had known the battle was over and Necron had won. Admitting defeat wasn't easy for Caspar, but upon hurried protests from Lilly and Dawn, Caspar eventually decided it was for the best to leave as quickly as possible and regroup. They never regrouped. Caspar and the girls had been forced to leave in a different direction from Miles, Jason, Kane, and the rest of the students. While searching for an abandoned vehicle that no one would notice missing, Caspar and the others came across a blue Bugatti Chiron. Dawn and Lilly had both protested the stealing of the car, but the Bugatti Chiron was known for being able to reach 300 mph, so it was kind of a no-brainer. On an entirely unrelated note, it was one of Caspar's dream cars. Not that that fact influenced any decisions, of course. Dawn had, ah, convinced the owner of the car to let them take it. Steal from the rich and give to the poor. And Caspar had just happened to be poor at that moment. So... no harm done?

After getting in the Chiron, Caspar had driven from Oregon to Nevada in no time. Once getting to Kingman, Arizona, they decided to stop and try to figure out where things stood. Caspar had immediately wanted to bolt to Virginia, as that was where he suspected the Doc had been taken. Dr. Lancaster had been the founder of Fandomania, the (formerly) safe place for superpowered kids like Caspar, Lilly, and Dawn. He was also the closest thing Caspar had ever had to a father figure. So naturally he'd wanted more than anything to drop everything and go to his rescue. But had had been convinced by Dawn to help train Lilly, who was sort of hopeless when it came to combat. They had tried to find word on where the others had gone, but no such luck. So they were still searching—four months later—for any signs of the Extol or Necron. They had gotten pretty much nowhere. The news was corrupted with politics, some new on-the-rise company called Norcen, and these weird vampire Barbie dolls that nobody could shut up about. Plus, neither Caspar, Lilly, nor Dawn were good with technology. Caspar wished Kane, his closest friend at the academy, was around. He could probably do it. Or even that weird kid that didn't talk much: Ian. Apparently his power involved technology. Unfortunately, Caspar didn't know where either of them were. They could already be captured by Necron, as far as he knew.