Zoom, Academy for Superheroes: Part 1

Gives You Hell

        "Tomorrow you'll be thinking to yourself, "Where'd it all go wrong?" But the list goes on and on. And truth be told I miss you, and truth be told I'm lying.When you see my face, hope it gives you hell, when you walk my way, hope it gives you hell."
-The All-American Reject

*****

        Laraby came back from a meeting in Toyko with big plans to make Area 52 better. Thus making all the employees stress out and the team stay far away from the majority of the people here. Over the past couple weeks, the team could feel themselves drifting apart as they trained intensively. The kids didn't spend as much time together, everyone was always tired and grumpy, Miss Holloway and Jack began to argue a lot like they did when they first met.
        They were all under a lot of pressure to make sure that Laraby was happy, everyone knows what happens when Laraby's not happy, Jack rolled his eyes at the thought. He thought about the division between people here at Area 52, it was basically the team of superheroes, who were essentially being used for their powers, versus the scientists and people behind the scenes, like Laraby and Grant. It was always somewhat like a war, the facility was like the government and the team of dysfunctional superheroes were like the revolutionaries.
        Someone who was uncomfortably stuck in the middle was Miss Holloway. She was part of the team, but she was also working for Area 52. She couldn't contribute to any of the team's conversations about the certain things they hated about the facility, but she also wasn't allowed to be told anything by anyone about secret missions, plans or whatever because she worked too close to the team, who couldn't know anything of the sort.
        So Marsha was at a loss from both sides. And it was all about trust, as things got more tense and complicated, Laraby couldn't trust her, he refused to trust superheroes, and she was losing Jack's trust too, something she wasn't sure she'd had in the first place. He was always suspicious that she knew something that he didn't, that she knew the secrets, but she didn't know anything.
        Miss Holloway was currently extremely frusterated with Jack. He needed to open his eyes and realize that they're on the same team. She's never lied to him and she never would, she believes that honesty is the most important personality traits, besides, she's a terrible liar. The team was always in her best intentions, whatever she did, she was always trying to help, just because Jack Shepherd refused to see that, doesn't mean that it wasn't true.
        It was a day like any other when Dr Grant had wanted Jack and Marsha to meet him in a conference room. The two had just been arguing before they'd gotten the page from Grant, so as they made their way down the hallway together, Jack tried his best to remain frustrated with her, but the sweet smell of her perfume was making that extremely hard.
        Jack didn't think to hold the door open for his female companion as they entered the room, leaving an annoyed Marsha rolling her eyes and struggling with the door as she tried to hold her clipboard, without Jack even noticing. Always the gentleman. The two were greeted by Dr Grant, "Ah, good morning Miss Holloway, Captain Zoom."

        Marsha smiled, Jack sighed at his label, Grant was the worst for not calling him by his proper name. "I have some news. After talking to General Laraby and having him approve my idea, I've decided that your team needs another bonding activity. The ski trip was fun and obviously brought you all closer together, which is something that I think you all need right now. So we've made some plans for you-"
        "What?" Jack interrupted, unamused by Grant's suggestion. But Marsha just smiled, she too thought that team building opportunities couldn't be overlooked. 'Psychologists....' Jack thought, rolling his eyes and crossing his arms when he noticed her usual enthusiasm.
        "So, as we have quite the hearty amount of funding, we are going to provide your whole team with a bunch of fun activities and things to do, outside the facility, I might add."
        Jack's outlook seemed to change at the idea of getting out of Area 52 for a while. Grant told them that there were all sorts of activities that happen during the summer around here. It wouldn't be hard to find something to do.
        Both Marsha and Jack were given credit cards with basically an endless supply of money, fees for any activities, snacks, souvenirs, anything and everything. When they went to tell the kids, Summer, Dylan and Tucker were enthusiastic, but Cindy? Well, Cindy took it a bit over the top with her excited cheering. Jack and Marsha just looked at each other and laughed at the little girl's strange antics.

*****

        Miss Holloway and Mr Shepherd looked through the schedule book full of activities that Grant had just given them. The first activity was apparently today, June 21st, the official first day of summer.
        The plan was to go to some huge shopping mall that was having a summer sale. Jack thought he could take the boys to look at guy stuff while Miss Holloway took the girls to look at "girly crap", as he put it.
        The kids were all seated in Grant's van as he started it up. They sat their usual spots, Dylan up front, the three other kids in the back, Jack and Marsha's middle seats were free and waiting for them. Jack was rushing Marsha out the big doors as she took her time looking through her purse. When she'd finally finished taking her sweet, sweet time and they were all seated in the van, Grant drove away as they watched Area 52 vanish behind them.
        The drive only took about an hour and a half, they reached the big mall with time to spare. The sale was going on all week and, being a Tuesday morning, the mall wasn't at all as busy as they were expecting. Jack took the guys as planned and went to look at stuff like model cars, sports gear and fishing equipment. They easily moved between shops when they wanted and weren't looking for anything in particular, so it was a casual, relaxing stroll through the mall for them.
        The girls were a different story. Cindy needed to look at the princess dress shop and the toy store, Summer needed to look in clothing stores and bodyworks stores and Marsha wanted to find a good shoe store. They had a good, though, Marsha listened intently to Summer as she talked nonstop about Dylan, Cindy held on to Miss Holloway's hand tightly so she wouldn't get lost and dragged her into some shops here and there with her super strength.
        Cindy found a brand new princess dress, pink as usual, complete with a tiara and white gloves. She also bought a new Barbie doll and a few stuffed animals. Summer bought some coconut body lotion, candles, a pair of jeans and a few shirts. Marsha found some nice perfume, a beautiful pair of shoes and some lipstick. Jack didn't find himself in need of actually purchasing anything, he was more of a browser, but Dylan bought nice new wheels for his skateboard and picked up a bouquet of flowers for Summer. Tucker bought a model airplane and a pair of soccer cleats.
        The 6 met up again by a big water fountain. Cindy ran up to tell the boys what she bought, Summer and Dylan caught up with each other and Marsha was tugging her bags along with Cindy's bags and some of Summer's bags behind her. Jack courteously took half and then they proceeded to all made their way back to the van.
        It had been a fun way to pass time, but they couldn't help thinking about the other events that Grant had planned for them, they had a feeling that the best was yet to come. Nonetheless, it was a great way to kick off their summer.