L'affaire Bob

9. Quick introductions

-"Alright, guys! Let's start with a little ice-breaker now, shall we?" Miss Rousseau said excitedly.

-"Are you kidding me!? What are we, first graders?" I barged in.

But the little vixen gracefully ignored my little comment and instead directed her attention at the four others.

-"The first thing we are going to do is get to know each other better! Hopefully, by doing this, bonds will form between us, which will increase our aptitude to work as a team. Each one of you will, in turn, introduce himself. You just have to tell us your name, your age, when did you arrive here, and what is your ability in time-traveling. I'll go first, just to give you an example," she elucidated.

I rolled my eyes. "Can't you just shut up?" I seemed to say.

She rose one of her eyebrows as a reply to my previous gesture. The words "And why is that? Am I irritating you? Getting on your nerves, perhaps?" were gleaming in her eyes, maliciously, daring me to say something.

I glared at her.

She glared back.

"I'll show her who was in charge here!" I thought to myself. She will have to deal with the fact that I am better than her!

Narrowing my eyes, I deepened my glare and stared at her more intensely, fueled by the resentment and exasperation she had planted in me.

Unfortunately, the gazes of the others on us reminded me that this staring contest had to come to an end.

She seemed to arrive at the same conclusion because, after throwing me a last murderous glance, she continued:

-"So, let's start! My name is Emmanuelle Rousseau, as you guys may know by now. I will be your coach, trainer, instructor, teacher, whatever you guys want to call me. I arrived at the base two years ago. I was your age, Lucas, back then," she added nostalgically. "Anyway, I'm 23, now, and I've participated in numerous missions, each more dangerous than the last. So, don't worry, you couldn't have fallen into better hands. I'm sure you guys will be one of the best classes this year, just like I'm certain all of you will make me proud," she trailed on and winked at me.

Rage and fury started building up in my throat, but I controlled my temper and reminded myself that she wasn't worth my time, let alone my anger and frustration.

-"And lastly, my ability is, as you will soon discover, quite uncommon, but not as rare as some," she said, throwing me a meaningful look. "Both my parents were time-travelers, and so before they died, they told me all about time-traveling. After they passed away in their latest mission, my guardian, Angelo, brought me to the headquarters and led me to the lab to take the test, only to find out that my powers were much weaker than those of a normal time-traveler."

Amazing! I thought grimly. She talks even more than Amanda!

What did I do to deserve this?

Why did my so-called luck and fortune toss me in this place? And why were Amanda and Emmanuelle insisting on making my probation a living hell?

"But hey, who said that only they were allowed to make one's existence a purgatory?" prompted me the little voice in my head.

And that's how an idea struck me.

Oh, now that I think of it, her interminable speech was making my legs ache!

My punctilious eyes surveyed the room in search of a chair and found one in the right corner of the room, next to a closed door.

-"My capacities are therefore limited to teleportation and telepathy, seeing that... Blind guy, what are you doing!? she half-yelled, as soon as she caught sight of me carrying the chair back to where I initially stood.