Hayland City, Northern Empire. 416 P.A.
Once again, Sun found herself in a place she didn’t recognize. At least this time the faces around her seemed friendly. And, in their favor, they did rescue her from the impending dust storm. It took an entire hour of driving at a hundred miles an hour to finally get them far enough away from the storm, and once that storm became a recollection in the distance everyone’s faces relaxed. They ended up driving past a small desert town that gradated into a metropolis of technology and buildings. Even Detroit paled in comparison to the grandiose size and wealth the city displayed.
Vehicles around here imitating bubbles rose carrying passengers into the sky, propelled by some sort of mechanical device stuck at the bottom. A large metal ring floated in the air around the main central hub where all the larger buildings were located, but Sun had no clue what it was for. Other larger vehicles, like the one she was in, glided gently a few feet off the ground, but not floating as high the bubbles. Large circular semicircular rings were plunged into the ground on one side of the road and wrapped to the other side, making it seem like the road were a fancy garden pathway with overhanging vines. There were giant moving pictures in the sky at that advertised things like ‘Tonin, the only auditory surgery you’ll ever need. Get yours today’ and ‘Apply to Hayland City College and land yourself a job in the Capital. Apply now!’
The floating car Sun was staring out the window it took a sharp turn down another road, her view of the main hub and the advertisements hidden by the larger buildings around her. Two more turns later, the car came to a halt in front of a very unappealing apartment building. Unlike the rest of the city that boasted architectural achievements, the building she stood before simply looked like a brick box piled unceremoniously atop each other.
“Come on, this way.”
Sun turned to see ushering hands guiding her towards the side of the building. Who were these people anyway? She’d been so caught up in the relief of not getting caught in the dust storm and then so absorbed in absorbing as much of the city as she could, that the fact she was in the company of strangers seemed to had slipped her mind. She followed their beckoning hands into the building in the hopes of finding more information. They could have easily just left her in the desert to face the heat and storm, but they had picked her up and rescued her, so if they had any plans to hurt her they hid them very well.
There were five people in the group, but a sixth joined them inside the building. They all looked generally in their late teens with just a few years difference here and there. The two females of the group were taller than the rest of the males and seemed much better built than the others. The males still rose a few feet higher than Sun, she found to her disappointment. She wanted to hurry up and grow up so she could face someone eye to eye.
Looking around the room she saw a bunch of new devices she’d never laid her eyes on again. On the far wall were six glowing screens that displayed weather patterns and building schematics. A few tables lined the walls, some littered with chip bags and trash, while a few others were covered in miscellaneous wires, soldering sets, and odd looking guns. A larger computer stood in the right corner with a single keyboard and there was a set of stairs that led to an unopened door across the room from her. The walls that weren’t laden in screens were covered with posters of people and colorful figures she didn’t recognize. In her defense, this was a completely new world so there was a lot she didn’t recognize.
“What took you guys so long?” Asked the male that had already been in the building. “I told you guys that there was a disturbance in the atmosphere and that you needed to get out before something bad happened!”
“We did, but we picked up a signal on our radar, so we turned around and followed it.” A female piped in, the one that had been behind the wheel.
“Good thing too because we found another one.” The male that had picked motioned to where Sun was standing near the doorway.
Everyone turned to face her, then fell into a huddle to talk to each other in confidence. Sun rolled her eyes since she could still hear them, she didn’t even need to strain her ears they were still conversing so loudly.
“Do you think she’s the one?”
“Sure hope so, I’m tired of these trips to the desert.”
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“How many does this make now? Fourteen?”
“Fifteen if you count the boy.”
“Well, there’s only one way to find out.”
They all dispersed and lined up in front of Sun. The door was to her immediate right, so if they all attacked her she could just bolt.
“My name is Podinal, I’m the one that picked you up.” Podinal gestured to the person next to him. “This is Roip, our driver. Next to her is Dexai, Beiwot, Unter, and the one who likes to stay home is Vazerio. We’re part of a group that calls themselves ‘The Rebellion.’ Why get the help of a bunch of teenagers, you ask?”
All of them suddenly struck a pose and their clothes shimmered, in an instant replaced with a colorful set of uniforms with weapons attached.
“It’s because we’re superheroes!” Podinal yelled into the space, pointing a sword that had materialized into his hand.
Sun was dumbfounded, and the sound of laughter startled her. None of the people in colored costumes were laughing, they were wearing masks but the sound wasn’t coming from their direction. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a flicker of light and she could see Alter having a laughing fit in the mirror.
“I did not see that coming! I love these guys!” Alter squealed in the spaces between laughing. Sun strolled over to the small mirror sitting on a desk and flipped it around so she didn’t have to see Alter. She was still pretty pissed for having dumped her onto this world for no reason.
“I think she might be the one we were looking for,” stated Vazerio. “Now can you get me out of this purple thing? I don’t even go into the field so I don’t need one.”
Everyone else seemed taken aback at Sun’s lack of enthusiasm towards meeting superheroes and ignored Vazerio, but Podinal cleared his throat and continued introductions when Sun had turned to face the group again.
“My power is to materialize things. I take care of all weapon needs and uniforms.” To show off his skills, the red sword in his hand transformed into a dagger, then a bow, then a gun. Sun had to admit, that was a pretty useful skill.
“I have super speed,” Roip said, continuing the line of intros. “My brain works a bit faster than everyone else's, so I can make snap decisions and do other stuff really quickly.” In a blink, she was standing behind Sun, and then she was in line again, a blur of blue in Sun’s eyes.
“I am incredibly strong.” The yellow costumed Dexai, the smallest male out of the group, stepped forward. “You’ll just have to take my word on it since Vazerio gets mad whenever I mess this room up.”
“Alright, I’m Beiwot. I like long walks down the ocean sim and I’m looking for the one. I’m beautiful...” the female in green flipped her short hair in the air. “...smart, and have the ability to cast illusions.” He pointed in one corner expectantly. “See?”
Sun didn’t see anything. She squinted, but there was nothing in the corner to see. She gave a short shake of her head to indicate that she wasn’t seeing what Beiwot wanted her to see.
“Do you guys see it?” Beiwot asked the rest of the group with a flummoxed expression.
“Nope.”
“Nope.”
“Nada.”
“No. Maybe you’re having performance issues. I don’t see any giant hamster in the corner.”
Beiwot smacked Roip, who just giggled.
“If you could see what I cast, there’s supposed to be a giant hamster eating a strawberry. Everyone is just a dick and made me think that I lost my powers. They’ll be seeing spiders everywhere for a while as punishment.”
Everyone groaned, and Sun was almost jealous that she didn’t see the creature in the corner. What was a hamster anyways?
“Moving on, my special power is pyrotechnics. Anything I touch can become an explosive if I want it to.” Unter spoke, a small male wearing a pink outfit. When he didn’t offer a demonstration the introductions moved on to Vazerio.
“I can see a few seconds into the future if I focus on exactly what I want to see. But there are limits to everyone’s power that they just so casually happened to not mention.” He shot them all a look. “We can only use them for an hour total a day when they’re engaged. Unter can only cause three things to explode per day while I can only have five visions. We’ve got timers on all our watches to keep track of our time because we’ve had a few instances we ran out and barely made escaped with our lives.
“But enough about us, do you want to tell us a bit about yourself?”
The group looked at her as if they expected her to burst out in a costume and provide an elaborate explanation as to why she was standing before them. Was she auditioning for something? She didn’t really know what to say to this group of strangers who gave her so much information when she didn’t even ask for it.
“I’m…” Sun started.
For some reason she didn’t want to use the name Roger had given her; it felt wrong. If other people started calling her by that name she would constantly keep remembering his face in his last moments. Her heart felt like lead when she made her decision.
“My name is Terra.”