The sound of a buzzsaw awoke William. Sitting upright, he was in a bed he didn’t know. Looking around him, the dark room didn’t appear to have any windows, so he had no idea what time it was. He could barely make out breathing in the room, and as his eyes adjusted, he noticed more beds around him.
Slowly, he remembered the events of the day. He recalled his graduation, the unexpected revelation of his Arc status to everyone he knew, and ultimately, the examination with the enigmatic Maven. Rubbing his head, Will vividly remembered the delve into his mind with the older Arc.
“Did that really happen?” He mumbled to himself. A day ago, that would have seemed absurd. He hadn’t heard of any psychic Arcs. He had seen Goons lift items, but a thought about some that could enter your mind was a little too concerning. How had Maven done that? Was he psychic?
William was about to get up, looking around for a light switch, when he suddenly remembered his own power. Maven had said they would be training; it was dark in there, and the one thing Will was good at was making light. He decided to bring out his power for the first time in a while.
He took a slow breath and felt the power in his gut call for release. A warm area that normally lay dormant came out in an instant. Energy moving to his skin with hardly a thought, his white skin began to glow a dull light. All areas of his skin simultaneously emitted a faint yellow glow.
With a little bit of focus, he directed the glow to his hand. Instead of a dim glow, the light became stronger. The power focusing on his palm, William used his hand like a flashlight, illuminating what was around him.
He appeared to be in a classroom. Unlike the rest of the school, this one appeared newly renovated. There were new squares of carpet on the floor, fresh ceiling tiles, and white walls. He was surrounded by four other beds. They were small twin beds like his own, and four other kids around his age slept on them.
William recognized Samson first. The big man grumbled and turned over as the light shone at him. Samson's brother Santos was on the other side. The trio was set along the same wall. On the other side of the wall were two people Will didn't know. The first was an Asian kid. Around William’s age, he had dark hair, pale skin, and slept soundly. Someone was awake in the bed next to him—a girl. She moved her hand in front of her eyes to block his light.
The surprise motion caused Will to pull his power back in, making the room dim once more.
“Why’d you do that?” The girl inquired. Her voice was weak; he guessed she had just woken up.
“Uhh,” Will said slowly. He hadn’t expected to find a girl in the room in the first place. But that wasn’t why he dropped the light. "I, uh, try not to use my power around people.”
"Well, get used to it, I assume,” she said. Will heard her get up from the bed. As he debated whether he should, she began to move her hands along the wall. “Ahha,” she said as the light in the room was turned on. Samson immediately groaned, throwing the blanket over him. Will’s eyes slowly adjusted to the light as he heard the others begin making noise. When most of them were sitting up, they stared awkwardly at one another.
They were all wearing the same clothes they had before the last test. William assumed the old man had delved into their minds like his own. Revealing secrets that the teacher could use to understand them. They all seemed mostly unaffected, with the exception of Samson, who continued to hide under the covers.
"I'm, uh, Katy, by the way,” the girl said. Will studied her. She was short. Probably 5 feet, 5 inches tall. She wore her long, dirty blonde hair tied back in a ponytail. Black leggings and a loose red shirt covered her body. She was rather average in Will’s eyes. She was a girl who would be challenging to identify in a crowd.
“Ryu,” the Asian kid said. He pronounced the name as Ree-you. Will thought the name was Japanese, but there was no accent in the man’s voice. He must have been American. He got off the bed. He was a little taller than Katy, about 5 feet, 8 inches tall. With a mess of black hair on his head, he was skinny and unimposing.
“Good to meet you; I’m William,” he said.
“Santos,” the brother said. He pronounced the name as Sawn-tos. Most everyone turned to the last person in the room. Santos added, “This big idiot is Samson.”
The group sat or stood awkwardly. More noise emanated from the hall. This time it was a hammering noise.
“What now?” Katy asked slowly.
“No idea,” Will whispered, too confused to speak loudly around these people.
"Well, I’m going to find out what the hell that noise is,” Samson said, throwing the covers off. He stood up in a smooth motion and looked down at his feet. "The guy didn't even bother to take off our shoes?" What a monster!”
Will looked down, noticing that he too had his shoes still on. Samson was his usual boisterous self as he got out of bed. “Isn’t that a sin to your people?” Samson questioned Ryu.
“Not so much a sin, as frowned upon,” Ryu said, unbothered by the statement. “But I’m only half-Japanese.”
“What’s the other half?” Samson unashamedly inquired.
“Chinese,” he said without hesitation. “And 100% American.”
“Fancy, that makes enough for almost two people,” Samson said, and then without a word, he walked toward the door. Will eyed the others, but most decided to follow the tall man as he headed out. Will brought up the rear. Despite the silence in the hall, Will could hear more hammering in the distance. Will didn’t know exactly where they were, but the room must have been a repurposed classroom.
"I'm guessing you all went through the same crapshow of being mind raped?" Samson asked bluntly as he led the group.
“Yeah, that was, uh, different,” Ryu said. “Not what I expected.”
"How did you all become involved in this small project?" William asked.
“My folks are friends with the mayor,” Ryu said.
“Ryu and I are old friends,” Katy said as she yawned. All this didn't seem to bother her. Will was curious what their stories were.
“We uh-” Santos said, but Samson interrupted.
“We got caught jaywalking and were told to show up,” Samson said. William doubted that. He had spent only a few days with the brothers during the war, but neither shied away from danger nor taking what wasn’t theirs. For some reason, he felt that hadn’t changed with the duo.
The group walked out into a large area near the entrance. Construction noises continued from one of the side doors. Samson started to move towards it, but halted as a thick white bolt of electricity streaked across the open area and shot under the door where the noises were emanating from.
"Did everyone see that?”Samson inquired, glancing over his shoulder at the group.
"I think so,” Katy said. It hadn’t been as fast as lightning, but it was close to it. The afterimage of the bright bolt was still in Will’s vision. When nothing else showed up, the five of them slowly walked toward the door.
Samson went in first. “Holy hell,” he mumbled as the others filed inside.
They were now in the school's old gymnasium. The light brown laminated flooring was a clear indication to Will where they were. Maven was in front of them, in the center of the large room. White beams of electricity shot out of him, illuminating him like a Christmas tree. As Will studied the man, he decided to scratch that; he looked more like the center of one of those plasma balls at the mall, where if you put your hand against the glass casing, the electric lines congregate on your hand.
William exclaimed in astonishment as electricity emanated from Maven's clothing, as if it were a typical day. "What the absolute hell?" He was facing away from them, but with William’s words, the old man turned around.
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With a wide smile on his face, the electricity stopped shooting out of him, but instead of the white bolts disappearing, they coalesced into random parts of the gym. Will couldn't make out the bolts, but they seemed alive as they moved along the walls and the steel of the roof. Another bolt of lightning streaked across the floor and zapped around them, sliding underneath the door behind him.
Before anyone could say anything, Maven said, “Good, you’re awake. Welcome to your new home.” He studied the awed looks on the group’s faces. “Wait, none of you are epileptic, right? Bright lights appear around me all the time. I didn’t see it in any of your memories, but better safe than sorry.”
No one answered as the old man walked up. “I’ll take that as a no. Come on, I’ll show you around.” He walked around the group and headed outside the door they had entered from. He shared a glance with a few of them. Seeing the living lightning still zipping around the room, they slowly backed away to follow the old man.
“What exactly is your Arc ability?” Samson posed this question as he moved to the front of the group.
“I’ll tell you mine if you tell me yours,” the old man said, looking behind them. Samson hesitated. “Don’t worry about it; we can talk about that in a bit. Alright, so that way is your room, where your beds were. We should be getting tools and weights for the gymnasium tomorrow. By then, we should have resolved most of the major problems in the school. Uhhh, auditorium, we don’t really have a use for it. The cafeteria is this way, though. Let’s get you all something to eat.”
With the thought of food, Will’s stomach grumbled. The doors in the main area didn’t show any light, so he guessed it was still nighttime, but he had no idea what time it was. Maven led them down the hall to a set of wide, open doors. Clapping his hands, the lights came on, showing a large cafeteria. The room was cleaned up. In the center was a long lunch table with circular plastic stools for seats, the same kind Will had at his old school.
“I ordered pizza a while ago. I wasn’t sure how long you would be out,” Maven said. He pointed to an open section in the wall where kids used to get food buffet-style. There were a few pizza boxes sitting on the shorter wall. Everyone was too hungry to care. Moving over to the pizza, they grabbed slices as Maven passed them paper plates. “Alright! Alright!” The old man yelled as they fought over the boxes. He pushed his way to them, picked them up, and walked the pizza to the table set up for them.
“Calm it down; there is plenty,” Maven said. As people filled their mouths and plates, he continued to talk. "Out of all the applicants, I have selected five of you for training. The mayor has asked me to train you all to be as strong and knowledgeable about Arcs as possible. To get you up to snuff for the average Goon, that should take me about a month or two, depending on how hard you work.”
Between bites, William inquired, “That’s it?”
“It will be a challenging couple of months, that’s for sure,” Maven said. “The average Goon is pretty weak, but I don’t like to do anything half-way. It’s all or nothing. So expect to be working daily for the foreseeable future.”
“What do you expect to work on?” Samson asked.
“Everything,” Maven said after a moment of thought. “Strength of your bodies. Teaching you to really use your powers. Knowledge of Arcs. Different people you could face. There is a lot out there that I can teach you. Once I deem you ready, you’ll show the mayor what you’ve learned, and boom, you’ll officially be the only line of defense this city has against our kind.”
That seemed to sober them up a little. No longer eating so quickly, they shared looks. “What?” Maven asked.
“Seems weird to think we would be police,” Katy said. “Shouldn’t we like train with them?”
“Do any of you want to become police officers?” Maven asked. Prior to the Anarchist War, William had expressed a desire to do so. Now, he wasn’t so sure. “Look, I really don’t care what you do. The mayor is an old friend of mine. He asked for help, so I’m giving it. I plan to train the five of you to learn about your powers. Whether you want to fight other Arcs is up to you. Individuals who exploit their abilities for personal gain are not uncommon, and you will undoubtedly encounter them. Goons or unaffiliated. So why don’t you focus on learning what I have to teach you, then go from there, alright?”
William nodded as the old man locked eyes with each of them. It seemed simple enough. Will was there for purely selfish reasons. Katarina and the other Goons had humbled him earlier. They really were the power in the world. Will wanted to know what it could be like to not be scared of what an Arc could do.
“Perfect, let’s skip to the introductions then,” Maven said. “My name is Richard Maven, you can call me Mav. I am old, don’t ask how old. I’ve had my Arc ability since I was 15 or so. I can’t remember. I've been using it for decades. The Goons would label my ability as a Jolter. I can manifest electricity.” He opened his palm, and sparks of electricity shot from his fingertips.
“Electricity? How does that lead you to entering our minds?” Katy asked curiously.
“It doesn’t at the start. Like I told each of you, your powers are merely in their infancy. It takes training with them to understand their capabilities.” He eyed the group, but they didn’t appear pleased with the explanation. “How do you control your bodies?” He asked. There was a long pause. “It’s not a trick question.”
“You think it?” Samson offered.
“Nice try,” Maven said. “Electrical impulses travel through your brain and body, telling you what to do. I can do most anything with electricity. Reading brainwaves is a more advanced version of that.”
“So you can read thoughts?” Ryu asked.
“Kind of,” Maven said. “It takes focus, but again, I can do most anything. Don't waste your time wondering what else I can do. We will have plenty of time to go over that.” He eyed William. “Let’s start with the youngest and work our way up. William, introduce yourself, please.”
“I um-I’m William Matthews. 17…uh just graduated…today, I think. I can make light emit from my body.” Will looked to Maven, who nodded. Will forced some of his power out, focusing it on his hand. It began to glow. The others all studied it. It was weak, but obvious. Will let the power wink out.
“So you’re like a night light?” Samson asked.
“Pretty much,” Will said, his face heating up with embarrassment.
“Very good, Katy?” Maven asked.
“I’m Katy Graham. 18 years old. I graduated high school last year. I can make wind.”
“Break wind?” Samson asked, unafraid to make jokes with the strangers.
“No, make it,” she said angrily. She waved her hand, and William felt a large wave of wind blow past, lifting most of their paper plates off of the table.
“Good, the Dragoons call Arcs like you, Aeros.”
“Are there a lot like me?” Katy asked.
“More than a few. But it’s a powerful skill. Master it and you could learn to fly,” Maven said. Katy’s face lit up with excitement, but before she could ask more, he turned to Ryu.
“My name is Ryu Chu,” he said. Chu was pronounced like chew. “19. I went to school with Katy. I can turn into any animal whose blood I’ve ingested.”
“No way,” Santos said.
“Cool,” Samson said. Will thought the same thing. That seemed like an interesting ability. He wondered how someone figured that sort of ability out.
“You can show us later,” Maven said. “Santos.”
“Uh Santos Rodriguez. 20. I can feel the pain of people around me,” Santos said. William waited for more. He hadn’t known the brothers were Arcs back in the day, but he expected something cool.
“That’s it?” William asked before he could stop himself.
“That’s all,” Santos said with his own blush. It seemed he, too, was embarrassed by his power. Will felt a little better about his own lackluster skill.
“Don’t worry about it,” Maven said. “Samson?”
“My name is Samson Daniels. I’m 21 years old. My power is to force myself to become stronger,” he said.
“How strong?” Ryu asked.
“Don’t know. I just know I can make my body grow bigger and lift more weight if I focus.”
“Very good,” Maven said. Looking over each of them, he seemed to have come to a decision. “That about does it, shall we start?”
“Start what exactly?” Ryu inquired after a brief pause.
“The training, of course,” the old man said cheerily. Standing up, the kids followed him back to the gymnasium. Once inside, the small balls of lightning that had been floating around were gone. A very clean and open layout remained. Basketball hoops were taken out of the rafters. The bleacher seats were gone. All that was left was the light brown, clear coated floor.
Maven moved to the center of the room after flipping the light switches on. “We will be working on four main points over the next few weeks. "We will be focusing on growing your own physical strength," he said, holding up a finger to indicate each item. “Growing and familiarizing yourself with your Arc ability. Learning about other Arcs, our history that I know about, and different methods to handle them. Lastly, fighting.”
“Like fighting, fighting?” Samson asked, raising his hand slightly.
“Yep, bare knuckle/fancy ninja move/street fighting,” Maven said. “There is no point in having strength if you don’t know how to utilize it. So we will start simple. Will, let's start with you.”
“Me?” Will asked.
“No, the other Will, yes, you. Come on up. I am going to show you how to fight,” Maven said. Will slowly walked toward him. “Ever been in a fight?”
“A real fight? No. More like scuffles,” William admitted.
“There is not much to learn. This is why I didn't test any of you on your physical attributes before joining. You can learn to fight, run far, and lift heavy objects with practice. That’s what we will focus on, then. Your strength, speed, and endurance.”
“Okay,” Will said. Standing a few paces away from the old man, Maven smirked.
The old man walked closer to him. Slowly, he adjusted his stance. “The legs are the most important part. You need sturdy footing. A strong foundation is what makes a fighter. Never keep your feet close together. Arms here and here. Make fists to block. We will learn an assortment of martial arts techniques, but for now, simple boxer defense will do. Good.” After appreciating his own work, Maven stepped back to his original spot. Taking a similar stance as Will, he asked, “Ready?”
“No?” Will asked, and his voice cracked.
“Good,” Maven said, and then, in the blink of an eye, the old man was within arms reach. Will felt the force of a mule's kick as Mav's fist moved to his stomach faster than he could react.
His abs closing in around the fist, and he felt his stomach lurch as his pizza vomited out before he could stop it.