Zoom, Academy for Superheroes: Part 1

Everything Has Changed

"All my walls stood tall painted blue, I'll take them down and open up the door for you. I just want to know you better, know you better now. All I know is we said "Hello," and your eyes look like coming home, all I know is a simple name. Everything has changed."

-Taylor Swift & Ed Sheeran

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With the team's initiation training completed and everything more or less going as smoothly as it could, tensions were seemingly steady around Area 52. The children would now begin attending regular training with both Jack and Marsha and their talents were increasing almost miraculously. The kids didn't mind if their initiation training proved strenuous most days, they were just happy to be out of school for the time being.

Now that they were truly getting into the groove of things, the kids and Jack couldn't both help but wonder what came next? Would they be fully integrated into life at the facility just as the original team had been? Perhaps they'd go back to school regularly, though that would likely be difficult as they all came from different cities across the country, and getting together to fight crime when needed may take a flight or two.

So, they continued to live in uncertainty, though it was easier to ignore now that Larraby was pleased with their initiation completion. Jack still wasn't about to let his guard down, but at least he'd learned to take each day at a time. Still, there were certain things that he couldn't ignore. The whole process of him being taken back to Area 52 was all too secretive for his comfort. Every question that he had remained unanswered.

Why were they reassembling a new team in the first place and why now? What exactly was it that they were preparing for under such a heavy time constraint? There were many things that they weren't telling him, and what was most concerning was that Jack didn't know who knew what. Who exactly could he trust here and who knew things that he didn't.

When he'd found himself at the back of the empty lounge making a cup of coffee an hour or so after the kids had completed their initiation, Jack couldn't help but dwell on an incident that had occurred some half a week earlier.

He had stood outside of a door to one of the facility's smaller conference room that was often used for impromptu meetings or presentations. Though the door was heavy, Jack had still managed to make out a few muffled words coming from Larraby, who had clearly been on the verge of rage with anger and stress. Jack didn't know how no one noticed him eavesdropping, the room was basically all glass.

Larraby was speaking to Marsha, who stood at the front of the room looking rather confused, in a strained voice. Jack only heard bits and pieces, "Miss Holloway, if you can't train those kids well enough, I'll have no choice but to..." Jack nearly groaned in frustration as he missed the only part of the sentence that he really wanted to hear. "We have an imminent threat!" He finished before Jack perceived a familiar voice speak up tentatively in response to Larraby's warning.

"Well, Sir..." Miss Holloway had begun cautiously, "...it might help if I knew what the imminent threat was." Jack, apathetic of consequences, had chosen this point in time to attempt to get in on the conversation. As he entered the room in a charmingly lighthearted manner, he could practically feel the tense atmosphere of the room as all dialogue came to a halting stop.

"I didn't know we were having a meeting." He said, half-jokingly. Looking around the room, Jack noticed that some people looked surprised at his entrance, some looked relieved at the distraction, and one particular person was looking at him so sharply that he knew he'd be dead a few times over if looks could kill. "Hey." He tossed out in her direction, though he had to admit that the look of warning in her eyes spooked him a little.