"I think that's our escort," Annabelle said. She pointed towards a tall, dark woman in a well tailored business suit. The woman was walking towards us, briefcase swinging at her side.
Yesterday, each one of us had received a memo from the office telling us to meet up here with enough clothes and amenities for a week. And so a few hours ago we met up here, in front of the school's administrative building.
The silence was awkward as we waited from something to happen, even Clarence was beginning to fidget and tap his fingers in rhythm against the bench he sat on.
I didn't know what we were expected to do, or for that matter what to bring for a week long stay anywhere. Still, I packed a few changes of clothes in my backpack and some of our course books, just in case. My other toys I had on me, or maybe in me. English doesn't combine well with superpowers. All four of us had bulging backpacks piled up to one side, where Lillian could keep an eye on them while reading through some harlequin romance she had brought with her.
She looked up from the book as the woman approached and stopped a few metres away from our group. I heard her muttering under her breath, "About time."
"I am Agent Linda Evans of Crawford Security," The woman said. "Are you all ready?"
I raised a hand, as though to ask a question in class. "Ready for what, exactly?"
Agent Evans looked me up and down. "You'll be debriefed on route to the transport. Follow me."
We scrambled as Agent Evans spun on a heel and began walking away. Soon, all four of us had shouldered our bags and were jogging to keep up with the agent's long stride. "I understand that this is your team's first mission?" the agent said.
"Yes ma'am," I replied.
She nodded, then waved a keycard at a flat panel set beside the entrance to the building. The door slid open. "Then I might need to cover a bit more than I had thought."
"Cover more about what, exactly?" I asked.
The inside of the building was one long corridor, white walls bathed in fluorescent light that went on for quite a ways. Just how big was this place? It looked rather squat from the outside.
Five pairs of feet clacked on hard cement floors as Agent Evans answered. "As you should be aware by now, selected teams from the student roster are given low-priority missions. These are supervised by both the Crawford staff, and by fellow students. As a group of first-years, your duties will most likely be background work. Guard duty, information extraction, warding. Things that won't put you in any great risk, but that will allow you to see Supers at work." She looked at us over her shoulder. "At no time and under no circumstances are you to disobey a direct order. Doing so might cost you your lives."
"Won't that interfere with our classwork?" I asked.
Surprisingly, it was Clarence that answered. "No, not really. You get credits for these missions, and exeption on homework, and you're expected to keep up with the classwork either via video lessons or by following some assigned reading. If you're behind on your work, they'll usually tutor you to help you catch up after."
"Well said, Mister Harrington," Agent Evans said. She stopped before a simple doorway and opened it. "Follow me."
The room, or rooms, were rather huge. Definitely bigger than anything that could have fit into this stubby building. The three sections I could see were separated by half-wall broken up in places wide enough for a car to drive through. The walls were covered in posters and calendars, tool boxes lined some parts and couches that looked like sidewalk discards were pushed up against the walls. At least three different stereos were playing at the same time, filling the room with a discordant mix of bad dubstep, pop and some old orchestral piece.
I blinked at the four battle-tanks lined up against one wall, each with the Crawford logo painted on their gray sides. Across from them were a few all terrain vehicles and an armoured troop transport with a widescreen TV hooked onto the racks on its side. Someone was sitting in a beanbag besides it, playing video games with headphones on.
He wasn't the only person in the room. At least three dozen were milling about, some sleeping on the couches, others fixing things at workbenches, a few were doing martial arts katas on floor mats in one corner. Every one of them were strange and distinct costumes, though they seemed to be mostly colour-coordinated, with brown and black armoured plates and trousers everywhere.
A lanky young guy ran up to us, a poster-worthy smile on his face. He stopped a few feet way and brushed back his mop of curly brown hair. "Hey, you must be the new kids," he said.
I saw Annabelle look him up and down, then poke at Lillian with an elbow. "I wouldn't mind being his new kid," the girl said in a whisper silent enough that I'm sure no one but the two were meant to hear.
Lillian's face flushed red and she looked down.
"I'm Gorgon, but you can call me Steve when we're not in costume. Pleased to meet you all," the guy said.
Agent Evans took a step forwards, turning as she did so to face all five of us. "Gorgon here is team leader to a group of Primes. You will be under his direct command for the duration of your mission. Any order he gives must be followed as long as it does not contradict any prime mandate." She turned to face Gorgon. "Any specifics for the mission, Gorgon?"
He grinned at us. "Nothing too serious, these tur-- I mean, these tertiaries will have plenty of fun. We're going on a relief mission somewhere in Detroit. Mostly escorting supplies there and back. Some guard work too. I'll be sure to put them through their paces, but it won't be anything too excruciating."
"Who is mission command?"
"Euclid, with Master Bow as second in command," Gorgon/Steve, said.
Evans nodded. "Then I will leave you to it." With that, she spun on a heel and walked right back out into the corridor.
Steve watched her go with a rueful smile. "Alright, if your first time is anything like mine, then you probably have about a million questions. Who's your team leader, if you chose one yet?"
I raised a hand, stepping up to be between him and my team as I did so. "I am."
"Cool," he said. "You guys arrived on the nick of time, which is about par for the course with Evans. She's creepy that way," he said the last in a conspiratorial whisper. "Anyway, we're due to leave in twenty, you'll be riding in the fun wagon with me. Maybe we can switch things up later if you've got powers that are useful enough, or a driver's license. Mission objective is four hour's drive from here. Plus an hour for material pick up. We'll be sleeping at Detroit Camp Alpha on the most comfortable cement slabs you've even napped on. Any questions?"
"A few hundred," I admitted.
"You single?" Annabelle asked. She grinned at our shocked looks. "I'm asking for a... friend."
That got a laugh outta Steve. "No, no I'm not, sorry. As for your questions, we're going to be in the wonderful tight confines of an armoured transport for a few hours, I'll try to answer them then. You can bring your stuff with you."
He began walking as he talked, and soon the four of us were jogging to keep up. Steve waved hello to a group of three walking by and they waved back. "Hey, Gorgon, you're babysitting the new meat?" one of them asked.
"Yeah, heading over to Detroit on a milk run. You guys just got back?" Steve asked, slowing down as he did so.
The leader of the trio nodded. "Yeah. Jim misplaced his leg earlier, so we're back a day early. He's over in the med bay. Should be alright." the leader nodded. "Watch out eh, Detroit's a real hornet's nest."
Steve nodded, his smile never fading. "Will do."
A minute later he was showing us the inside of the armoured troop transport. Two rows of low benches lined the sides and a rack was mounted to the ceiling. I helped Lillian get her backpack stowed while Clarence looked around the tight confines of the vehicle. He was the only one of us who could stand straight in there. "From what I've seen so far, I think that this sort of mission is the bread and butter of Crawford's younger heroes," he said.
"How's that?" I asked as I reached into my bag. Focusing for just a moment on my power, I felt a few more items appear in the bag and I was suddenly a little lighter on my feet. I didn't think I'd need extra rations or rope any time soon. (If playing DnD taught me anything, it's that you could always use more rope.)
"Well," Clarence began, eyeing Steve who was still outside the vehicle and talking to Anna. "Crawford's tuition is very, very low. It's one of its selling points. On the other hand, it's one of the academies with the highest mortality rate. It's also well known for producing Supers with decent amounts of field experience. This sort of mission is why."
"You mean, the other schools don't let their first year students run headlong into danger?" I was beginning to reconsider my stay at Crawford. Maybe Richardson had an open slot for me, or the Crow's academy.
Clarence shook his head. "No, they do this sort of thing too." I suppressed a sigh. So much for that idea. "They just usually wait until the final year first. Most students there go in the field with training. Crawford has more of a... sink or swim mentality."
I thought back to what I had seen of principal Crawford. Yeah, that fit.
Gorgon snuck his head into the car. "Got your costumes all ready here. You guys want some room to get changed?"
Costumes? We didn't even have names yet! "Um, I don't mind changing here, but maybe we can step out and close the door, for Lillian, I mean." I had no doubt that Anna would gladly change clothes out in the open. Hell, she'd make a show of it.
Lillian blushed as she looked at me, then to Steven. "Um, is there a washroom?"
Steven smiled. "Sure there is. Here, I'll leave the two boys here and point you in the right direction."
"T-thank you," she said as she skirted by me.
Steven placed a bundle of cloth on the side of the doorway and walked off escorting both girls. I shrugged mentally and picked up both bundles, noting that one of them had my initials stenciled on the back of the neck. I unfolded it and stared.
The 'costume' if you could call it that, was a one-piece suit of black material with thin padding around the elbows, knees and chest. Pockets lined the pant legs and front of the outfit and Steven had left a pair of pocket-lined belts beside the door.
I sighed as I quickly tore off my uniform and slid into the costume. Clarence did the same. Soon, both of us were donning the revolting outfit and looking at each other. "It looks like a cheap gimp outfit," I finally said while tracing out the school crest on my chest.
Someone near the door snorted. I turned in time to see a young woman, maybe in her late twenties, staring at the two of us. "I've heard other names for it, but that's pretty close." She was wearing a black swat-like armoured suit with yellow highlights all along the edges and a full face helmet that was cut to expose her chin and mouth she looked like an extra from Judge Dredd. "I'm Stinger," she said, extending a hand in my direction.
I shook, then Clarence did the same. "Pleased to meet you, Stinger," I said. "I'm Willam, this is Clarence."
She nodded. "I heard. You're riding along with us today, huh? Gorgon's my team leader, I'm the team's bulker. I hit things."
I had the impression that Stinger was going to get along with Annabelle just fine. "Great. I'm looking forwards to meeting the rest of the team. Are we leaving soon, and is there any way at all that I could convince you that we shouldn't wear this... thing?"
She grinned at me. "Sorry, Turd, it's your privilege to wear the Crawford colours. And it's a rite of passage." She tilted her head a little to one side. "Though, since I can vividly remember the horrors of the outfit myself, I'll give you a pointer: you can't modify it, but you can wear equipment over it. If you want, I can show you to the equipment lockers. Non-lethal toys only, but they might come in handy."
I wanted to kiss her. "I would love that. Clarence, wanna come too?"
He just shrugged. "I see nothing else to do. And I think our things will be safe here for a while. Shall we?"
We hopped out of the back of the 'fun wagon' and followed after Stinger. She crossed the room in time for me to see Anna and Lillian walking back on their own, both decked out in the same horrid outfits. At least each one seemed to have been tailored to fit us, and both girls somehow managed to look good despite the costume.
"At some point, usually during your second year, you get to have a sit and pick out your own custom," Stinger said. "Most folk go for a theme, though some of us just try to have as much armour as we can carry while still being armed to the teeth. This ain't the good ol' days when a bit of spandex and a cape would do. Nowadays even the most... enthusiastic Super goes out equipped like a marine. That's what our coms do."
"Coms?" I asked.
Stinger nodded. "Right, you wouldn't know yet, I guess." She nodded to the end of the room, right by the opened garage-like door. A few people in what looked like toned-down army gear were pushing crates around. "Coms, it means commissioned. Basically non-Super guys who work for Crawford. Some call them grunts, but it's not really fair, they work harder than some Supers."
"Alright. So can we pick out a costume before second year? I don't want to look ridiculous forever."
She shrugged. "Sorta? That ugly thing you're wearing is nearly fire proof and is hard as hell to cut. It'll slow down lighter calibre bullets too."
Slow down was not exactly reassuring. She continued, "There's nothing in the rules against you decking yourself out before second year. But there are rules about appearances. You need to look passably good, or at least properly equipped, or else they won't let you go out. I remember this one guy who kept trying to wear nothing but a speedo and a towel-cape though his first year. Real weirdo. I mean, he was a hell of a brawler, and he was pretty much everything proof, but he looked stupid as hell."
"What happened to him? The academy got on his case?" Clarence asked.
She shook her head. "Nah, he died before they had time. Turns out he could take a tank shell to the face and laugh it off, but he wasn't fireproof. Suit probably would have saved him. Like I told you, he was dumb."
Stinger stopped before a set of double doors, then led us in. The room was gorgeous. Racks of guns. Boxes filled with ammo. Spools of rope. Displays of armour of every sort. Walkie-talkies, ear-pieces, radio-packs, sensors, and hidden surveillance gear.
I wiped a hand across my mouth before I started drooling too hard.
"This room is the non-lethal stuff. Feel free to take anything you can carry. But nothing more. You don't have to sign off on any of it, but you're not allowed to just use this stuff on school grounds. Trust me, they always find out." She glanced sideways and I had the impression she was staring at something within her helmet. "You have three minutes."
I nodded eagerly and walked across the room, Clarence following a step behind.
What followed were some of the most frantic minutes of my life. I needed to not only nab what I could for myself, but also anything that I figured Lillian and Anna would want. So, while Clarence carefully picked a rifle and some 'non-lethal' ammo for himself, I raced across the room.
By the time our time was up, I had a burst-fire rifle with a 2x scope, a pair of heavy handguns, a taser, and an assortment of black body armour. Nothing too heavy, but enough to protect my important bits. I stuffed as much ammo and as many spare toys as I could into my hammer space and followed Clarence out the door, grabbing a few more things for the girls as I followed.
The main room was abuzz with activity. One of the tanks was rumbling towards the exit while the all-terrain vehicles roared to life and followed it. Our ride, the armoured troop transport (the fun wagon) was already in motion.
"I'll see you kids later," Stinger called as she ran up to one of the jeep-like vehicles and hopped into the passenger seat. "Behave!"