A whirlwind. I sort of expected it to happen, but I think it caught Mindy by surprise. What surprised me, though, was that apparently, being registered as a class six support made me a kidnapping risk.

Seriously. A kidnapping risk. I didn’t have any registered combat abilities, or defensive abilities, which was intentional, but I didn’t expect that. The worst part was, IF someone kidnapped me, I couldn’t technically defend myself. First off, I was still at only about 25 energy, and showing off my abilities would 'not' fit into my plans.

This meant they hustled us into an unmarked van, along with five other identical vans that took off in other directions, in mere minutes after I got my paperwork. Somehow, Mindy was changed from my ‘referral’ to my ‘sponsor’, and the agents that were escorting and driving us were keeping mostly quiet.

“Now you see why I was a little worried about the whole black site thing.”

Mindy sighed. “I get it, but at least we aren’t wearing bags over our heads, and they haven’t tranquilized us. Hey, can you tell us anything?” she asked one of the suits in the front.

The guy with a thick mustache on the passenger side shrugged, “You aren’t hostiles, but I don’t have much to say. All I know is that we have a drive-through to the transit hub, and we drop you off there.”

“Transit hub?” I asked.

He nodded, “Transit hub. I can’t tell you much more, except to say that in this case, you are getting the golden ticket from the Champions HQ. I don’t know your names, and I don’t want to, no offense.”

After about ten minutes we were driven into an underground garage, and I couldn’t bear to tell Mindy that based on molecular links, the entire drive wound up being a big sprawling trip around a few blocks to deposit us right back under the BSA center. I guess the point was to confuse things, but with the amount of obfuscation, I half expected to hear ‘Hail to the Chief’ playing when we hopped back out of the van.

The transit hub wound up being a quick maglev trip to the east, a private car on the public line, to Reagan Island, in the middle of Obijway Bay. The maglevs were almost necessary for underground transit between Empire City and the bay since surface transit was entirely too vulnerable to attacks by awakened beasts. There was a small chance that something like a carni-worm or voleoid might get through the armored underground tubes, but mostly they stayed in the deserts to the west… anything this close to the east coast was more likely to wind up as food to something bigger like an earth shark.

Once we got back into the sunlight, past the Reagan Island walls, A charming little city was revealed. Most of the architecture was clearly either here or transplanted from someplace before the Q-bombs went off, with shopfronts that would be more at home in an antique row or maybe an eastern town from the 1800s, right up until the Kellar station. The Kellar Academy itself was a lot more impressive since parts of it had been transplanted directly from Boston after it fell.

Ivy-coated buildings from some school in the past, which I wasn’t sure about, although I think there were plaques inside each building’s lobby that would remark on its history towered over tree-lined paths, offered a glimpse into the past. The ancient architecture was matched by more modern structures, but the world-famous arena, housing, and additional buildings built from more modern materials were carefully sculpted to match the prevailing brick and whitewash ivy-league aesthetic.

There were not actually a lot of students at the Kellar Academy, less than two thousand per semester, most of whom were class two or normies, which was a drastic reduction from its twenty-thousand plus students back before it was relocated. The difference, today, was that it housed a much more technically-oriented crowd.

Fantasists from the forties probably would say that our world was clearly set in the future because we had flying and maglev vehicles. The reason, though, was that cities, often overcrowded and protected by walls, almost required a computerized system just to handle traffic. Public air transport, unless you were a widgeteer or extremely wealthy, was almost necessary to fly between cities unless you fancied getting eaten.

Ever since the Q-bombs, open-air and wireless transmission have been very unreliable, and a lot of cities and even smaller towns kept the majority of their growth underground now. Obviously, the surface-level construction was a lot more dangerous, which was why my crappy flat was ten stories underground.

Of course, the super-green folks who wanted Earth to return to the wilderness had seemed pleased about the new focus of vertical populations and lots of untamed green, right up until they got eaten by some animal that was mutated by the exposure to Q-radiance. Today? Well, wilderness and nature were the enemy, an enemy that was more than capable of protecting itself from humanity.

Add in ‘invasive species’ from the occasional mythological or alien assault, some of which, like dragons, were more than capable of fighting back against a class six alpha, and the occasional Kaiju that was often unable to be killed, only driven off by as many alphas as could show up, and humanity had retreated to the kind of protected city-states of the ancient past.

We were escorted to the main building, where we were finally dropped off at a high-security elevator leading down.

When the elevator doors opened, we were greeted by a woman with bright silvery-blue hair, dressed in a silver and red contraweave. She was, as expected, very attractive, but looked like she was in her early forties.

“Mister Doyle, Miss Pearlance?”

I nodded, and Mindy said, “Yes?”

“Welcome to Kellar Academy. I apologize for the less-than-ideal greeting, but considering your classifications, operational security was paramount. My goodness, a class five and a class six!” she looked a little flustered.

I was honestly surprised, I would have pegged Glacier Girl as a class four, not a class five, but she might have been holding back a lot while we fought. Of course, in hindsight, if I could, I would have chosen a different way to display my abilities… class six was entirely too notable, and as a male? The last male class six or higher I had heard about was Graviton, a class eight, and we all know how THAT ended.

“A couple of questions.” I asked quickly, “First, I am support. Is there a way we can keep my rate on the down-low?”

She nodded, “Of course. I used to be active, but I retired to work in security here at the academy. The only people who have to know are the dean, myself, and, from what I understand, your alpha placement specialist. Operational security makes sense. Are you two a… uhh… couple? Should we board you together?”

Stolen story; please report.

Both of us shook our heads quickly, and Mindy said, “No, not at all. We are acquaintances. I was originally supposed to refer him here since his original assessment was as a class two, but for some reason he re-assessed as a support class six, and they changed my category to sponsor… what does that mean?”

The woman tilted her head, “Well, I am Subvector, class four personal kinetic. You probably won’t see me often after I get you situated because I am the Master-at-Arms under the security chief. At least, I hope you won’t see me much, because I usually only make an appearance when someone gets into trouble or in my classes. A sponsor…” she thought about it for a few seconds.

“Some of the old terminology has gotten outdated. The term ‘sidekick’ for example is considered demeaning. But when you are someone’s sponsor, they are sort of like your sidekick. In this case, it’s probably because you are a powerful combat alpha, and he’s a support. You get to… umm… protect him and keep him out of trouble? I mean, he’s a class six, we could probably find someone else to sponsor him if you would prefer?”

I laughed, “You mean I am like… her ward?” I glanced at Mindy, who was blushing fiercely, “So does that mean I call her mistress? Or mommy?”

Subvector shook her head, while Mindy started coughing. “No no. but the Academy trains people to work under constant threat, we are training heroes, not kindergarten teachers.” she shrugged a little, “We also train kindergarten teachers, since the Academy has fully accredited educational programs, but that’s generally secondary for maintaining a civilian identity rather than our primary focus for higher-category alphas.”

“In this case, most support classes work with combat classes as sidek… sponsored. The Academy is very competitive, up to and including rank challenges, which will affect your placement when you graduate. The Champions, for example, won’t even accept someone who is not a class four and is at least one of the top ten combat-rated graduates. There are frequent competitions in all aspects, from widgeteering and support, crafting, combat, scientific, or even artistic pursuits for those who use them as part of their Hero identity.”

“But every hero needs support, and even support needs to know how to fight. Thus we have sets of ranks. Any student may challenge another student for their rank in their particular category, and teams have ranks as well. As a sponsored student, if someone challenges you in a combative or obstacle course completion, and it’s a team challenge, Glacier Girl steps in as the primary combat role. If it’s someone training to be a combat hero, she may choose to take your place in a single combat challenge, since support are not expected to go toe-to-toe with combat beasts.”

“What challenge categories are there?”

She smiled, “Single combat, group combat, single obstacle, group obstacle, technological competence, magical competence, artistic, gearing, criminology, survival, and stealth. Each student has a rank in each category, although sometimes scheduled competitions do not fit strictly into a single category. Different teams, as you are well aware, in the real world, often have different central foci. The Watchers, for example, tend to look for those who excel at single obstacle, stealth, and survival rather than strict combat, The Champions look for single and group combat as well as criminology, while the Monster Hunters out of Denver try to nab anyone that has high ranks in group combat, group obstacle, and either technological or magical competence.”

“What about groups like The Flare?”

She sighed, “More than a few teams are put together strictly based on their popularity. We certainly have public relations and media appeal classes, since that’s an important part of being a hero, and the artistic challenge category tends to focus on that, but groups like the Flare don’t care as much about rankings. They are still important, but it’s more about how photogenic they are, as long as they are reasonably competent and have a decent power category.”

GG nodded slowly, “Groups like the Flare, Summer Wild, and Olympus are the ones that make the big bucks and keep the public interested, especially when they are in movies and stuff. But when there’s a wall breach, it’s the Champions or the Hunters that the city calls. I sorta want to be in the Flare because it’s my home team, but that’s because I wanted to make my career and then get out, and just be on emergency call. Maybe find a nice guy and settle down.”

“How about you? What’s your end goal, Blueprint?” Subvector asked curiously.

I monologued, “The same thing we do every night, Pinky… Try to take over the world!” and at her odd look I realized she probably didn’t have any idea what I was referencing, even though Glacier Girl was snickering. I wondered if it was a generational thing.

“Seriously, I am hoping to get a good job in supply and manufacturing logistics, maybe play the chair guy for a team or two, and then, once I have a civilian job in a good place, retire to the emergency reserves. Of course, if my abilities pan out, it might be nice to run my own super-gear or transportation production company, but I am not really interested in a family until I am totally solid and stable, maybe in my thirties or forties.”

She looked at me oddly, “That is really thought out. As a class six support, though, you might not need to wait that long… some of our students already have trademarked materials worth millions.”

I nodded, “Sure, and I already have logistics chain training, but I was halfway through my degree. I still need to work on the business management aspects, but mostly I need the degrees so I can get the right start with the right company.”

She nodded slowly, “This is getting outside of my area of expertise, but most standardized courses can be tested out of if you are already grounded, with full accreditation. You will still have to put in the full four years for Alpha courses, but I sort of applaud you for having everything charted out like that. You should have a master’s degree when you leave your civili… standard job.”

“So they are looking at keeping me on a full four-year scholarship?”

She smiled a little, “As a class six? They’d keep you here for a doctorate if they could. But most Alphas choose to do what they can to keep their civilian identities quiet and peaceful, or they go full-time heroes. Between the salary for being on a team and various bounties, keeping in the black is absurdly easy for someone higher than a class three.”

I nodded, “If you survive. The Monster Hunters have a turnover rate of what, fifteen percent annually? And that’s not from retirement or transfers.”

She sighed, “That’s not a lie. I actually retired from the Monster Hunters myself, but I will admit that far too many kids leave in a box. That’s why I am here, I also train unarmed and creative power courses, and I keep hoping that a little common sense might sink into more students.”

“That being said, You are coming in mid-term. From my information, you are both going to need some minor remedial power courses, to get up to speed for your first year. Unfortunately, no team suites are available until the second year, which means I need to put you in the solo dormitory. Because she’s your sponsor, I think I can get some rooms on the same floor, but you are going to have to remember rule number one.”

“Rule one?” Mindy asked.

“Yes, the academy has a lot more unpowered students than powered. Keep your abilities close to your chest. You’ll receive special uniforms, and you are not to use any powers higher than class two when you aren’t in your uniform and your alpha identity. It’s not really a secret that there are powered students, but once you are in uniform you are ONLY your alpha identity… other students might know that you have a few tricks, but unless you are planning to spend your entire life as a full-time super, you are just a class one or two enhanced, not an alpha. Got it?”

We both nodded, and she led us out of the transit terminal.