Zoom, Academy for Superheroes: Part 1

Heroes

"Anybody's got the power, they don't see it 'cause they don't understand. Spin around and round for hours, you and me, we got the world in our hands. Everyday people do everyday things but I can't be one of them. I know you hear me now, we are a different kind, we can do anything. We could be heroes, me and you."
-Alesso & Tove Lo

*****

Jack Shepherd was woken up much too early on this busy Monday morning. The sounds of rushed footsteps, rustling paper, the murmur of a crowd, and stressed voices became too much for him to continue sleeping. A month had passed, the whole "adult schooling" was over, thankfully. Grant considered the experiment a success, but Laraby wasn't too convinced.
The hallways were filled with people trying to get their files from Miss Holloway and Dr Grant. They were all late for work and were growing impatient with the line system, so they just started to crowd. Jack could barely make it out of his room.
He caught a glimpse of the children on the other side of the hallway, they looked to have already gotten their files and were heading towards their usual classroom. Jack had an hour and a half to spare before he needed to be anywhere, so he had time to kill, but he did need to grab his file.
Because their idea of a nice, neat, line had failed, Dr Grant and Miss Holloway began walking up and down the rows of people, trying the hand them their files that way. It was a long and painful process, people weren't exactly cooperating, and it was 7:30am on a Monday morning, not the most pleasant way to start the week.
        Jack was getting shoved around as the mob of people shifted, he saw Grant grow uncomfortable with his close proximity to everyone, he watched Miss Holloway basically get swallowed up by a swarm of people, and he felt his own feet getting trampled on.
        Marsha soon came up with his file and quickly handed it to him before continuing to distribute the others. He could tell that the unorganized chaos of it all was making her nervous, and she began to get flustered, dropping papers and getting stuck between people.
        Everyone was rushing and complaining, Jack knew he had a long time to spare and he really didn't want to help hand out these files, but something told him that he had nothing better to do.
        He folded his paper up and shoved it in his pocket before grabbing half of Marsha's stack of papers and helping to hand them out. The job got done much faster with 6 hands. When it was finally all over, the three of them let out a breathe of relief.
        "Zoom!" Grant shouted as he made his way through the people who had finally gotten their files and were heading to their offices or laboratories.
        "Grant, that's not my name. We're not in battle, we're not out on the field, could you just call me by my normal, human name?"
        Marsha giggled behind the two men, she'd been hearing this argument go on between them ever since Jack first came back to Area 52.
        "Alright then, Zoom- I, I, mean Jack. I need to let you know that we have to do the first six month assessment of the children's powers this week. It would be nice to get started today, it's most likely to take four or five days."
        "An assessment? Like what?"
        "Well, it's been 6 months since they've been brought here, we need to see what kind of new skills they've acquired, try and find certain things they need to individually work on, and ask them some questions. We used to do this with your old team too."
        Jack just shrugged, he wasn't exactly looking forward to 5 days of assessments. Grant's pager went off, signalling that he was needed elsewhere, and he disappeared quickly.
        Jack turned around to face Miss Holloway, he'd forgotten she was even there for a second. She had her back to him, cleaning some papers off a table against the wall.
        "Well, that was... something." He broke the silence and Marsha turned to face him as he spoke. "Now, the question is, did you just have to hand out the files right outside my door at 7:00 in the morning?"
        Marsha smiled and turned back to the table. "Well, I don't think you would have gotten up any other way."
        "Yeah, that's the thing, I don't actually see a problem there."

*****

       Come on, people! We need to hurry this process up! Miss Holloway, where is Mr Shepherd? Didn't you tell him to be here at 3:00?" Laraby was close to raging as he stood up on the observation platform with a very nervous Dr Grant, and a wide-eyed Marsha. Jack came swinging through the door with his usual apathy.
        "Yeah, she told me, don't get your panties in a knot, old man." His comment was unnecessary, and it cost Jack a bit of trouble, but it was worth it. Grant fidgeted nervously while trying to change the subject, Marsha put her head in her hands and shook her head in annoyance, but Jack could see the smile that she was trying to fight off.
        "Well, um..." Grant stuttered, fixing his glasses as Laraby sat down in a big chair while muttering curses.
        "Well, on that note, can we start?" Marsha suggested, and the four curious-looking children entered the big room below. The adults had a good view, behind the glass of the platform, looking down at the children. They just hoped that Cindy didn't throw another tantrum while holding one of her humungous weights. They'd just repaired the glass from her last incident and they really didn't want to have to do that again.

        Dylan was called up first, Marsha handed Jack a clipboard with certain commands on it. Jack read off the list of things Dylan had to do, it wasn't a test or anything like that, no reason to be nervous, they just wanted to see where their powers were at and if their abilities were increasing or diminishing.
        Dylan first made himself turn invisible, something they'd seen a million times before, but Marhsa looked inexplicably excited as she recorded the results on her clipboard.
        "That was 0.9ths of a second faster than before!" She exclaimed excitedly, looking at Jack who didn't exactly share her enthusiasm.
        "No way, well he sure has grown up hasn't he?" He responded with sarcasm. Dylan performed some other things, making objects around him turn invisible, making objects he wasn't even touching invisible, he seemed to be improving greatly. He also seemed to have acquired a new power of sorts, he could now not only make things invisible, but make certain things disappear completely.
        Just little things of course, and he had to be touching them. But it went against scientist the original Atomic Theory stating how atoms cannot be created nor destroyed. Dylan was breaking the laws of science, and the four adults were amazed, even the never easily impressed Laraby and Jack.

        Summer stood in front of them next. She did the same as Dylan, showing off her powers, they were also improving, but Summer, as well, had developed something new. Aside from her regular telekinesis, she could now perform teleportation. With just the blink of an eye, she could move a few feet across the room. Not a very long distance, of course, but with help from Jack and Marsha, these powers could, too, be developed.
        Tucker stepped forwards next, he now had full control over his powers, something he struggled with in the beginning. He could expand even greater and with more force, but as of now, he has developed the opposite power as well. He demonstrated how he could not only expand, but also contract. This could certainly be of use during a hand to hand combat.
        Cindy was next to demonstrate her powers. She could now lift 10 tonnes, twice as many as she started with. The adults in the observation booth cringed as Cindy held the weights, and were relieved when she finally put them down and no glass had been shattered.
        But Cindy had also began to develop a very different power. As it seems, her sheer strength combats the force of gravity, making the air around her seem lighter, giving her the ability to jump really quite high. Not extremely high, but high enough to be considered super.
        Upon further investigation, it soon became clear that Jack and Marsha had also developed some new powers. Jack found that he can, not only run extremely fast, but he can also throw at great speeds. And Marsha discovered that she can now shoot her "rainbow air" from her hands.

        Laraby was pleased at all the new developments in their powers, but he also seemed a bit frustrated. Jack knew why; Laraby never believed that the children could amount to anything without the help of Gamma radiation.
        To be fair, Jack also believed this at first, but as time went on he realized that it wasn't necessary, they just needed some proper training and a lot of practise. Jack leaned back in his chair with a satisfied look on his face, aimed towards Laraby, who huffed and walked away without another word. Marsha understood what was going on just rolled her eyes. If there was anything she'd learned about Jack over these past six months, it's how much he loves to be right.