High School Revolution

Chapter 3: The Three Heroes' First Meeting

Strider panicked, screaming for help as fell down this strange tube large enough to fit him. So many thoughts were running through his head, not helped by the rushing acceleration that coursed through his body like a rollercoaster. Where would it lead to, was he about to die, would he end up in a garbage chute or something, or break his bones?

All that was answered for him as he saw a dim light from below, and dropped out of the chute, belly flopping on a hill sized nest of pillows. Cuddling them and embracing the joy of not being dead, he slowly swam to the bottom of the floor, feeling the cold, yet calm nature of what seemed to be a base.

He looked around, spotting different gadgets, piles of machinery, a room over to the side, then he noticed a control console, with numerous screens, couches, buttons, consoles, a tv, some food on the side, a coat rag of lab coats, and finally Strider noticed the locks of the person in front.

"Kevin," taking off his glasses, "it's really you." He felt as though he was going to cry, but the pain he went through as a child rendered him barely able to shed off a tear. "I'm so glad you're alright." It had been at least five years since the two of them were in the same room, interacting with the rest of their family. Strider walked off the pile, heading towards him, but holding his hands behind his back and crossing his left leg behind him, stopping himself.

"Right, boundaries. Um, I don't know why I was picked for this school. Everyone so far seems really cool and stuff, but I wanna make this project a success. And, well," shyly looking away from his cousin, "I missed you, Kevin. I don't care about what the news reports say though. You're not a monster or murderer or anything like that. Before class starts, can we just talk a bit? There's a lot that went down."

When he went to look at Kevin's response, only to spot the latter typing, as if he ignored everything. Then the large screen started blinking, with the words, Anomaly in base detected, alongside the image of four columns, most of which were checkmarks. He saw the image he sent in for his application and a crossing X next to it.

"An anomaly? That's out of the ordinary. I just entered." Strider heard Kevin's voice sounded more mature than his, but took the anomaly aspect to heart.

"I mean, I guess that I am an anomaly. Kinda used to everyone else seeing me that way." Every second he spoke, his heart leaked the emotional pain his brain could not forget. "Especially when you have the other black kids telling you that you're not black enough, year after year. But you've worked hard to power through stuff like that for years," tightening his grip on his hand, "and I'm not asking for special treatment," looking up. "If-if you could just give me some tips and tricks, I wanna be able to enjoy school again. For now, I feel like I could, but this time, I need someone to watch my back. I'm guessing you have a lot to do, but if you have the time, can we just chat?"

When he rose up, all his eyes saw were disappointment as Kevin continued typing. He let out his storm of anguish through the years, and in his mind, Kevin was unfazed as a rock, still focused on whatever he was working on. Strider sighed as what he saw was a robot bird flying around him. Too sad to bother even asking what it was, he let it rest on its arms, near his heart without thinking. Then Kevin reared his head ever so slightly, but not enough to see this.

"Wait," pressing a button. The bird immediately cooed and Strider found himself being blown up by a strange vortex, looking up to see a massive tube slowly suck him up akin to a vacuum. He usually loved the feeling of wind coursing through his veins, but not like this.

"You're a student right? Just ignore this and go to class, this is the operating room and nothing more."

As Strider panicked from his body being sucked up, partially out of a fear of heights that countered his love for roller coasters, he yelled, "Kevin, it's me, your," before sighing, "cousin," resigning to his fate. For a second he thought he could see Kevin removing something off his face but just closed his eyes, hoping the rest of the day would have more highs than lows.