Nexus

Chapter 1.

Alex Martinez stood in the pick–up zone of the airport, his black wavy hair being softly tugged by the breeze from the northern Oregon coast. For a first impression, the city of Beacon Coast was beautiful, a sprawling metropolis of neon–lined buildings and digital billboards. He stared at a billboard displaying the Antares Sentinel League, the most recent line–up of heroes that had been formed to protect the nation. It lasted only a few seconds before changing, but the motivation from the screen left him awestruck.

He would be joining them soon.

Alex leaned against the stone column with a large purple F noting its zone, grabbing the hilt of his suitcase and gently pushing it to the side. He dug in his pockets and pulled out his phone, looking through the texts from the agency group–chat to verify if he was in the correct spot. It was three minutes from noon, which is when the ride was scheduled to arrive. He clicked on Instagram and scrolled through his feed for a few seconds, before a caller ID from the agency appeared on his screen.

"Hello?" he answered, putting the phone to his ear and standing up straight. He looked into the road, seeing if some sort of limousine was arriving.

"Alex Martinez?" a man replied. "It's me, the chauffeur. I'll be arriving shortly. Look for the clown car."

"The... clown car?" he replied, confused. Alex looked into the road again, and saw a bright yellow car with splotches of pink and green, and a swaying clown head at the top.

He couldn't believe his eyes, and noticed that it stopped a few zones down, and a boy got in. This must've been one of the others that'd been accepted into the Sentinel Training Program. A man stepped out of the driver seat and put the boy's luggage in the trunk, and then hurried back inside. In a few seconds, the car was directly in front of him. Alex looked inside the backseat, but it was completely empty. He was skeptical of the situation, but the chauffeur stepped out and immediately showed him a badge that denoted him as part of the agency.

"I'll handle the bag," the chauffeur said, offering him a handshake. Alex obliged and gave a firm grip. "Call me Chauffeur Charron."

Chauffeur Charron had brown skin and short, curly dark brown hair, with a goatee around his mouth. His eyes were a striking amber color and likely gleamed whenever he turned towards the sun. He wore a regular tuxedo, with a gold watch around his wrist.

Alex opened the car door, and immediately saw six other boys in there, all staring up at him with varying looks. The backseat resembled that of a limousine, with enough space to fit at least ten people. Bewildered at first, he gave an awkward "Hello," and stepped inside the car as the Chauffeur finished putting his luggage upon. He closed the door, and everyone gave brief greetings and waves, as Chauffeur Charron pulled off.

"You were the last stop, Mr. Martinez. All of you are the trainees for this year's Sentinel Program," Charron said, looking into the mirror briefly to meet their gaze.

"There's no girls this year?" a fair–skinned boy with wavy auburn hair asked.

"Having all boys is definitely considered an anomaly," Charron replied, "But, some years have no trainees at all."

"So, what's the deal with this car? Is this your Nexus?" a boy with cornrows asked. He seemed to frown at the thought of this vehicle being someone's power.

"Yup. We can't all be winners in this superhuman world," Charron sighed. "At least the agency pays me good money."

"Are you allowed to disclose that?" a black–haired boy said, slouching in his seat.

"It's not like I mentioned my salary. Neverminding that, you should all introduce yourselves," the chauffeur said as he started to drive over a bridge that overlooked the beaches and ocean of northern Oregon.