A Hero's Song (Darkest Secrets Volume 1)

Chapter 11 - Old Family and New

He kept his shower brief, not wanting to get lost in thought. He always liked to arrive punctually. He dried off and was zipping up his skin-tight black jumpsuit when he realized he had no idea where he would be training. Then came a double knock at the door, and Gabriel headed towards it, pressing his hand against the console.

The door slid open, revealing a robot identical to the one that showed him around the day before. "Hello Gabriel, it is nice to see you again." It said.

It was the same robot!

"Hello, little one, are you going to lead me to my team training?" Gabriel asked.

"Yes, this one will lead you. I volunteered to come for you, friend."

The Bot chose to guide him today? It must be AI, but that couldn't be possible; that would mean that all the Custodians in the Spire were sentient! He had never heard of conscious AI being used for anything other than running monumental installations, and while the Spire was no doubt such an operation, why would they need AI inside every single robot drone they had rolling around?

The robot said, "Ahem. Orders were to be swift, please."

Gabriel stopped rabbit hole-ing. "Of course, hold on a moment." He closed the door and quickly summoned his suit to hover into place, the hum of the generator against his back comforting.

Exiting the room, he found his mechanical companion waiting patiently outside. "Please follow me, Gabriel." He, as Gabriel had come to consider the robot a male given its blunt mannerisms, rolled along at a pace meant for him to jog. Gabriel followed promptly.

The droid led him towards the lobby, stopping at a series of elevators and pressing the "up" button. The silence that filled the air barely had time to bother Gabriel when the elevator opened, mere seconds after having been called. The ride up was no slower, shooting them up to floor 43 in an instant.

He wondered what kind of inertial dampeners were installed in the lift as he followed his guide, only to see they had arrived at their destination.

The other team members were standing around the large, circular room that took up the entire floor of the building. It was massive and split into two areas. One of them looked like a break room; a drink dispenser and comfortable chairs sat around a large holo table. The other zone was bare, save for the fact that the entire floor was covered in strange metallic circles.

The homey section of the room was large enough to allow the other three Supers that made up his Strike Force to spread out and stand, or sit, alone and unsocial. Gabriel walked into the pseudo-living room and sat in a recliner across from Rosenquartz.

The crystal man was standing perfectly still in the center of the living room setting was slightly off-putting, but Gabriel did his best to ignore the feeling, lest he appear judgemental.

"So you're him, huh? The hotshot that skipped basic training?" Came a male voice behind him.

It must be Falco, considering no other humanoid men were in the room. Well, that and the German accent ringing in the man's words.

Gabriel turned to his left and got a better look at his team's Speedster. Surprisingly, Falco didn't have the habit of talking faster than normal humans. His face had a hint of humor. He had on his trademark trench coat and ancient gelled hairstyle, having ditched the hat in his report. Various knife handles were visible under his jacket at first glance.

"Yes, I'm Gabe. Pleased to make your acquaintance, Falco." Gabriel responded as he stood and stuck out his arm to shake hands.

A slight look of confusion crossed the super's features, but he took the handshake in stride. His eyes lost their mischievous glint and appropriated a more concerned expression under his coiffed hair. "I'm glad you read the files, at least."

He glanced behind Gabriel. "Let me warn you, dude. I might not take it too personally that you skipped out on the tests like the rock man over there, but the lady behind you is fuming mad. No, don't turn to look! Just play it cool and try not to take anything she says at first to heart."

He released Gabriel's hand and said, "I'm gonna go help myself to some gelato from the fridge. You want some? No? Are you sure? It's lemon. Alright then." He walked away humming.

Gabriel hadn't thought that his abrupt inclusion to the team would cause insult. It worried him that Lilith might start something that could ruin any chance they had forming a solid team.

The elevator door opened, and out stepped Zero - covered in shadows - clapping his hands and thundering, "Alright, everyone gather round, it's about time to start!"

Gabriel stepped into formation with Rosenquartz at his right and Falco to his left. The man was eating his gelato merrily, unperturbed by the appearance of one of the most potent Supers in history. Lilith stood to the right of Rosenquartz, so of her, Gabriel couldn't get a good glimpse.

Zero glanced at Falco, and Gabriel sensed a rebuttal coming. "Enjoying your gelato there, Falco?"

At the speedster's vigorous nod, he continued. "Is it lemon?" Falco nodded once more, scooping another bite into his mouth.

Zero stared for a moment before smiling, the whites of his teeth a startling contrast to his pitch-black form. "Perfect, they stocked the right flavor today!" He turned back to the group as a whole. "My name is Zero, but I'm sure you all know this - except you Rosenquartz. Nice to meet you."

Rosenquartz stirred, and a gravelly sound came out. "Hello...Zero...Nice...Meet."

Zero was unfazed by Rosenquartz's lack of grammatical skill and went on with his introduction. "I will be the Strike Force Gamma's mentor. We have quite a bit of testing planned for the next few weeks. If no one has any questions, I'd like to jump right into our first exercise."

"I have a question!" Lilith raised her hand. "Why are being teamed up with this...this clone? He hasn't properly trained, and he was never even tested against all the people who really deserve to be here. I mean, I understand Rosenquartz, no one else can deflect pulse lasers, but this kid could get us all killed!"

Zero waited patiently throughout her tirade before replying. "I vouched for him. That's why he's here."

Before Lilith could voice another opinion, he sharply cut in. "That is reason enough, and you must accept that. Consider it your mentor's first order." No response came from the woman, but Gabriel understood this didn't settle the matter.

"Okay, first things first, you are going to duel. Lilith against Gabriel and Falco against Rosenquartz. Each of you, go to the areas marked on the floor in blue, and we can begin the training simulation." He pointed behind them to reveal four glowing circles projected from the metallic objects on the ground. 

Those must be for simulation display, thought Gabriel.

He hadn't counted on the first training exercise being one-on-one combat, but this was right up Gabriel's alley. He glanced at his opponent as they walked to the blue markers and almost tripped over himself.

She was stunning. Her dark hair flowed like a river, cascading over her round eyes that burned with emerald fire. He'd memorized her round button nose and dainty lips before realized he was staring.

That got him to notice her mood. She stared bullets at him, and her mouth set in a grimace that told him she would gladly rip him limb from limb.

As the team neared their respective positions, Zero continued his instruction. "The machine will scan you, and the simulation will place your minds into whatever setting we choose. Right now, it's set to the training dojo, nothing fancy today. Keep in mind that any harm sustained within the simulation is just that, simulated - though you will still feel pain normally. So, feel free to go all out. I really want to see what you've got. Rosenquartz, you got that?"

"I...fight...hard?" Rosenquartz said.

"Good enough. Good luck, y'all, starting scan now." The plates beneath their feet began to hum, and scanning lasers coated their bodies.

BEGIN SIMULATION