Echo [11] (ON HIATUS)

Chapter 8

"What now?" I asked as we left the gym.

 "Uh, study period. Basically, you do your homework right now or study for an upcoming test. But, since it's the first day of school, there's no homework or studying. So we can just relax, kick back, and have some fun," Carol said.

"God, this is basically boarding school with superpowers," I muttered. 

"Yeah, basically. And people with more than one dimension," Carol said. 

"Oh, I just remembered. All of the other agent trainees want to meet you, perform the induction ceremony, and whatnot," she said.

"Induction ceremony?" I asked. 

"I can't say. It's not as bad as you think it is, trust me," she said. 

"When is it?" I asked. 

"Right now," she tied a blindfold around my eyes, put a hand on my shoulder blade, and steering me around. 

"Carol? What the hell are you doing?" I asked.

"You'll find out," She said. We went down 2 staircases, and I heard a door close. 

"You can take the blindfold off," Carol said, her voice sounding muffled. I untied it, looking around. I was in a room that looked like a dorm except for one of the walls having a huge mirror.

There was a piece of paper sitting on the desk, so I picked it up.

 "Welcome to the agent induction ceremony. Your task is simple: escape this room. There are notes all around the room, you just have to find them. The door has 4 different locks on it. Undo all the locks, and you've passed. By the way, you only have three hours. Good luck," I read. I moved to the door, deciding to go to the corner and work my way inward. I found the first clue hidden in a book on the shelf.

 "This task takes a bit of time. But it should be easy if you have a sharp mind. Find the directions of time. Check at 3:15, 4:35, and 5:26," I read.

I looked around the room, spotting a clock. 

"Directions of time. Maybe what direction the hands are pointing?" I guessed. I took a piece of paper, tore it into three pieces, and placed them on the clock. I took another scrap of paper, drawing three clocks on it, then where the hands would be at the designated times. One of the hands pointed east, another southwest, and the last southeast.

I went over to the lock, putting one east, another down, then one west, then another down, then the final east. There was a click, and I pulled off the lock. I went back to sweeping the room, finding another note. 

"What is the value of S.H.I.E.L.D.?" I read.

 "What? Value of S.H.I.E.L.D.? This makes no sense. You can't put a value on such a large organization," I muttered.

I kept sweeping the room, finding another scrap of paper. 

"Hint: Think A Gent," I read. Shrugging, I tucked the note away and kept searching until I had found all the notes. I laid them out across on the desk, resting my head on my hands as I stared at them.

 "Hint: There are 26 letters in the alphabet. What does that have to do with anything?" I mumbled.

"Value of S.H.I.E.L.D. Value of S.H.I.E.L.D. 26 letters. S.H.I.E.L.D. S.H.I.E.L.D. Shield. Shield! The value of the shield, the numerical value!" I realized. I wrote out all the letters in the English alphabet, then a number below it. 

"S is the 19th letter, H is the 8th, I is the 9th, E is the 5th, L is the 12th, and D is the 4th. 19+8+9+5+12+4 is...57," I went over to the lock.