Prelude 1
“Crystal Sett, allow someone else the chance to answer, please?” Chris’ scowled. What the hell had her parents, the blessed Dorothy and Peter Sett, been thinking when they’d vexed her with that mouthful of a name? Better ‘Chris’ or ‘Browser’ as she’d been nicknamed, though of course teachers, parents and even some of her classmates still insisted on using the full curse of a name on each and every possible occasion.
A school trip to Belfast was a chance for Chris’ to get a couple of days away from her ever-critical parents (‘he’ immediately corrected himself. No, he had to be honest with himself, even if no-one else accepted it – yet. He had never identified as a ‘she’ for as long as he could remember; no matter what his body might look like…).
He’d wrapped his breasts as flat as he could for the trip, to give him a figure that better fitted his own self-image. Mercifully, he’d not been cursed with big boobs to begin with. He’d also been allowed to wear comfortable baggy clothes – thank goodness for unisex fashions, his mother had harrumphed but finally accepted it and didn’t insist he had to wear a skirt. Why did his school have to be so fucking sexist and insist on a female school uniform that consisted of skirts and blouses?
The school trip so far had been ok, a trip to the Giants Causeway and then to the Titanic Experience, where Chris had been able to use his weird ability to pull both relevant and accurate information out of thin air. Information he was sure he hadn’t learnt before. I mean why, and just as importantly when would he have memorised the entire passenger list of the Titanic? Arriving back in Belfast City Centre, their teachers had unleashed the school group to souvenir window-shop in one of the largest shopping precincts in Europe. Chris was trailing behind three others of his class when the explosion had gone off. He later learnt that the meta-terrorist Emerald had attacked an army recruitment office in the shopping precinct, blowing it and the soldiers inside to smithereens and bringing down the roof. Chris’ woke to found himself trapped under the rubble with the dead and dying including some of his classmates, and several live electrical cables jerking around them. He’d thought he was the only one alive until one of the loose, live cables connected with his classmate Colin and he’d heard him scream as he fried. Then the jerking, loose cable had touched his leg. He felt a severe pain as he blacked out. He awoke surrounded by armed Gardaí officers. Apparently, he’d somehow materialised out of a nearby electrical conduit next to the rubble, flashes of electricity still flowing through his body, shorting out the remaining power in the building. The Police initially assumed he was one of Emerald’s meta-terrorists; he had knelt whilst they surrounded him with armed officers, put his hands up and waited nervously…
Since returning home, the almost daily family in-your-face arguments with his parents about ‘her’ apparent abilities and ‘her’ desire to have gender-reversing surgery as soon as he reached 18, were only resolved when the scholarship offer from Claremont Academy arrived unexpectedly in the post. A full bursary, all expenses paid at an exclusive boarding school; it was a welcome relief for all of them.
Prelude 2
[Recording Start – female voice] “OK, so now we’re recording like we talked about. So, Gustav, tell me about your parents.”
“… [No response.]”
“The more we know about you and your genealogy, the better position we might be able to help you. This isn’t a test, and there are no wrong answers. Try to be as truthful as you can, okay? You’re in a safe place.”
“… I don’t have parents, not any more, anyway. It’s complicated. I’m still trying to work it all out myself.” (His voice has a quiet, softly spoken, BBC-English baritone quality. Strangely, it echoed.)
“We currently have some contact details for your Mother, admittedly indirect. What’s happened? Take your time.”
“I don’t know my mother. She’s not a parent, not MY parent. I’ve met her, once, recently. She didn’t say anything. I don’t even know the sound of her voice. She just wept. Her assistant said that she was a ‘vampire’ and we couldn’t be associated with one another. That’s when I got sent here with my papers.
My father was a medical scientist for one of those big international pharmaceutical companies. He was a good man, he died in a terrorist attack where he worked and where we lived ever since I was young, over in Carpathia. He was English, but he got transferred there before I was born. I got tutored in English by him.”
“How long ago was that? Have you spoken to anyone about it?”
“I’m not sure. They never told me how long I was underground. I don’t want to know. Couple of weeks? About a month, maybe? What about the attack? Sure. My Dad? He’s dead. What use is talking about it?”
“I’m sorry about your father-“
“-Everyone says they’re sorry. What does that even mean? You didn’t know him.”
“OK, Gustav. I’m just trying to help. Let’s change the subject, shall we? Did you know you’re currently activating our meta-nullifiers? How did you become what you are like now?”
“My mother’s assistant said that her blood in my veins kept me alive while I was buried, I should have died, but I didn’t. I didn’t have any control over it, I had this steel rod running straight through my leg, I have the scar as a reminder, and I stayed alive for days, weeks maybe, just bleeding. I screamed, but they couldn’t hear me. When they eventually dragged me out, I looked like this – pale skin, white hair, red eyes…”
“Any other differences you noticed, Gustav?”
“… You have my notes in your hands there. Anything I haven’t noticed or tested myself, I don’t know about.”
“I see. Do you suffer any difficulties with your changes? Anything that gets in the way of every day, comfortable living?”
“… I don’t want to be more stereotyped than I’m forced too already. Those things are also in your notes there. The rest I can deal with – but I burn up really easily in the sun. I just wanted to highlight that one. No tan, just sun burn and painful blisters. The chemist’s highest SPF sun cream helps, but only just. If you could possibly help with that, I would be extremely grateful.”
“So, is that why you would like to join us at Claremont Academy, for access to our medical facility?”
“No. ‘Excellence despite Adversity’. … That’s what their motto means, doesn’t it? I just want to be the best me I can be, and I think I can help others, but I also need help. I won’t be perfect, but I will try, if you let me.”
“You do understand that our tests confirm that the changes you experienced are due to a meta breakthrough? That there is no supernatural reason for your phobias and limitations that we’ve been able to find..?
[Silence then the recording ends]
Now
It was early, cloudy afternoon when the two boys stepped into the school reception area. They’d arrived separately, the white haired boy with the weird red eyes in a car with tinted windows and the slightly effeminate boy in an armoured security vehicle. Despite this, they both entered the single-storey reception together. Gustav pulled down his hood once in the shadows. In front of them stood a small Eurasian woman, maybe six inches short of five foot, dressed smartly in a dark suit. “My name is Ms Rui, welcome to Claremont Academy, I oversee school security. Mr Sett, Mr Jaeger, this way please?”
They walked past a number of small study booths, many of which were occupied by students, including some female students in trousers, Chris noted. He also noted that Ms Rui had called him mister – mistake or? He didn’t dare hope. They passed through the building and out the rear doors into the school grounds and staff car park, surrounded by a three-metre high wall. Gustav immediately jerked his hood back up and disappeared into its folds, even his oh-so-pale hands slid inside the baggy, oversized sleeves.
The three of them proceeded to walk past what looked to be a school entrance, passed the windows of occupied classrooms, through another car park, this one occupied with several school buses, towards another large school entrance. As she walked, Ms Rui explained that as well as boarders such as themselves, the school also acted as a day school for local residents as well as pupils from the nearby city of Wessex who were bused in every day.
While she was talking and walking them both towards the entrance, they saw a large mechanical wheelchair rapidly approaching them on the pavement. It zoomed towards them, doing well in excess of 40mph. As it got closer, they could see that a tall, laughing black female was seated in the powered wheelchair. The chair thankfully swerved round them at the last minute and as it passed them the occupant waved, “Hiya, welcome to Claremont!!!”
Ms Rui calmly replied, “Ms. Koyama, please stop souping up your wheelchair and driving it at such excessive speeds on the school grounds, otherwise I WILL act.”
The distant reply of “Sorry, Camille” was all they heard as the vehicle vanished in the distance.
Another girl, this one younger, petite with auburn hair, freckles and an infectious smile appeared, almost out of breath from apparently chasing after the wheelchair. On seeing the two new arrivals, she immediately jumped in front of them and took a selfie with them in the background. “You’ll laugh about this one day.” She sniggered as she continued her doomed attempt to catch up to the wheelchair.
“This is going to be a long day,” muttered Gustav.
As they were about to go through the entrance they saw a child, toddler age or maybe just a bit older, floating, bobbing towards them about ten feet off the ground with her tongue out as though trying to concentrate. She was obviously being chased by an angry-looking teenage girl in a school uniform – again in trousers rather than some ridiculous skirt – flying after her; their first impression was all red hair and red-faced.
“Ah, is this normal, Ms Rui?” muttered an astonished Gustav. With a sad shake of her head, their guide managed a smile and muttered, “Unfortunately, yes.” Turning to the child, she shouted, “Cassie can you come down here, now please? You’re upsetting Outrage.”
The floating child bounced across the sky towards them, “hello, I’m Cassie Hutchins-Jennings and I’m all of 3 and ¾’s.” The ‘boys’ both muttered that it was nice to meet her when with an “oops!” she sort of bounced in the air and a red angry figure collided with the ground in front of them. As she’d been speaking the red-skinned girl had managed to fly up behind Cassie and tried to grab her only for the child to weave away at the last second, causing the girl to slam into the ground; her hand held firmly around the giggling youngsters foot pulling her towards her. Cassie chuckled, “Again, again! My turn, my turn…” she demanded and tried to fly away, literally pulling the teenage girl off the ground and into the air. Cassie waved back at her ‘audience; smiling she turned back towards them and shouted, “You’re funny” as she headed back towards the bungalows, across the school lawn, dragging the angry teenager with her.
Ms Rui opened the door to the school and said, “Come along now, time to meet the head teacher, Mr Summers, before there are any more encounters of the Claremont kind…”
Chris’ smiled, she’d been worried she might be too weird for the school, not fit in, but now –he realised just maybe he might not be weird enough for the school.
Inside, they were issued with their electronic school ID badges, which gave them access to their classrooms and the school itself with a serious admonition not to lose or forget them. They were then sent through to the head’s study as Ms Rui wished them well and walked away.
Knocking, they stepped inside to be greeted by a fit-looking, grey-haired man with a big smile . Gustav was glad to see that the big picture window behind the head teachers’ desk had been polarised.
Once everyone was sat down, Mr Summers welcomed them to Claremont Academy. He then picked up some files from his desk and quickly scanned them, some of which looked vaguely familiar with their names on the cover, though Chris was happy to see that his folder wasn’t titled Crystal but Chris. He then turned his attention back to his latest pupils, “Now would you prefer I deal with you together or I can discuss matters individually if you’d wish?”
Gustav looked embarrassed but spoke up, “I’m okay to discuss matters together” turning to Chris, “provided you’re ok with that?” Chris agreed and Mr Summers continued after the two of them quickly introduced themselves to each other.
“Claremont Academy is a school with high ideals and high academic achievement. You will be expected to do your best in all subjects whilst you are here. You will both be staying in the dormitories at Albion House. Now we normally don’t receive new arrivals in midterm, so you are the only new students since the start of the autumn term bar one, a surprise guest. All of you will be staying in the same building.”
He paused then, “Mr Sett?” he emphasised the Mister to Chris’s delight, could he be willing to..? He didn’t want to risk completing that thought in case he jinxed it. Mr Summers continued, “due to your circumstances, for the moment you will be in one of the rooms on your own. Before the session is over, we will need to discuss in more detail your personal circumstances. In the meantime, you will be next door to Mr Jaeger here. Now, Mr Jaeger normally our rooms are shared but due to arriving midterm you will be also be allocated your own room but that may change in time. I would hope you and Mr Sett would bond with and help each other as though you were roommates?”
Both acknowledged they would do their best.
Mr Summers continued, “You’ve both been enrolled in our Special Curriculum programme here at the school. Your Housemaster, Mr Andrews, will explain more about that later. In the meantime, if you have any questions you can either raise them now or if you prefer you can ask one of your fellow pupils. I’ve arranged for one of the pupils from your house to act as your guide. This will be a different person every day throughout this week to give you a chance to get to know them. They will be someone who also attends Albion House, but not necessarily someone who will attend the Special Curriculum programme.” He checked his papers again and then looked up, “Yes, your guide today is Alaina Waraich, who is in the year above yours, so please be very careful what you say to others, in particular about your SPECIAL circumstances? Anonymity is very precious to many of our special students and we will enforce that throughout your stay. I personally will be taking some of your classes, particularly ethics, but please be aware you will still be expected to maintain a C pass or higher in all of your academic subjects.”
He looked at them expectantly, as though welcoming any questions they might have.
He continued, “There are I believe some special issue you might want to raise for yourself, Mr Jaeger to do with bedding..? “ Gustav looked up and began muttering about his needs… his inability to sleep properly without… Before he could say ‘coffin’ aloud, Mr Summers cut him off. “I’m sorry, but that is a particular request that we will not accommodate, both for your own long-term psychological needs and for the sake of the staff and other pupils who might enter your room and fail to understand what they might see.
We will be looking at a programme to look at resolving some of your psychological issues. We understand from your META profile that it is psychological and not a requirement of your physiology.
An embarrassed Gustav quietly said, “Yes, I understand…”
Mr Summers continued, “To the outside world, our Special Curriculum programme is known as the Hero Certification Programme. Now, how much you share with each other about yourselves is up to you, but please be aware that one of the conditions of being enrolled in the programme is that you must undergo a selective mind wipe if you leave the programme or when you graduate at 18. This is to protect the privacy of the other attendees, as unfortunately not all will go on to become heroes. Whilst ethics is a large part of the training, this programme is about learning control of your powers and accepting responsibility for your actions. Should someone subsequently go on to abuse their abilities or powers, they will do so in full knowledge of what they are doing and what their powers are capable of and must accept the full consequences of their choices.
The mind wipe will remove the personal identities of the people you’ve met, teachers and pupils, as well as the specifics of the training facilities. To make that easier, we ask wherever possible you don’t reveal your public identity to others, especially non-attendees and you always use your chosen codenames and wear costumes when attending. Of course sharing dormitories, arriving midterm does make it hard not to guess at some identities but we’d ask you as much as possible to respect your fellow students’ privacy… Mr Andrews will explain more.”
He reached over and pressed an intercom button on his desk, and a girl of Indian or Pakistani origin came in. “This is Alaina and she will be your guide today. She also has a copy of your curriculum and will show you around the school and make sure you attend your last two periods today.”
The girl smiled and gestured for them to follow her out as she set off down the nearby corridor. Once clear of the school offices, she turned and smiled and in a London accent and bubbly voice said, “Don’t worry, Claremont’s really a fun place to be. I’m Bubbles by the way, or at least that’s what most people in the school call me and I’ve been asked by ‘The Man’ to show you round the school and act as your tour guide for today, someone else will be allocated to you tomorrow and so on for the rest of the week.
So tell me, are you both metas or norm’s..?” Before they could answer, she continued; she was obviously one of those people who could talk incessantly, “Claremont’s got one of the biggest populations of metas in the Country you know, people like Judith, I think you met her outside? Though she prefers to be called Outrage, her and Princess babysit young Cassie as they are the only ones who can fly after her when she wanders away into the atmosphere. You met Cassie yet? She’s the daughter of one of the staff and just soooo Sweeet! “
Gustav, seeing a pause whilst Bubbles took a breath, asked, “Is it normal for people to be flying around in public?”
Bubbles quickly replied, “Nooo, not normally but she’s already been outed, hard to hide your identity when you fly or look like Outrage or Amy. Anyway, I’d better warn you I’m a meta – not a secret since I outed myself when I first came here and anyway I can only create bubbles out of thin air. See?” She produced a large bubble from between her hands out of thin air and followed it up with a stream of bubbles that she quickly reabsorbed back into her fingers, “Not supposed to do that inside the school.”
As the big bubble bursts on the ceiling, several of the nearby students shake their head as if to say, ‘not again’.
Chris’ smiled, “neat trick though. Ever tried making speech bubbles?”
She laughed, “Don’t think that works in real life but anyway, everyone here knows I’m a meta but my powers don’t allow me to enter the Hero Certification Programme which is supposedly held here – it’s either that or they are carrying out illegal medical experiments on some of the kids… No-one seems to know for definite which.”
Gustav tried to get a sentence in, but was drowned out by the non-stop monologue of a runaway bubbles. She stopped and pointed at a filled classroom, “Now this is your English classroom, then according to your schedule you’re due in maths after that and then last two periods in Special Curriculum. That’s held in the big house. I’m told that place is haunted. So tell me, is Special Curriculum a cover name for HCP training or remedial catch up classes, no one here seems to know for sure, including those who attend… Anyway, for gym or sports, you boys change in those changing rooms there. If you’re shy, and I’m told you might be, there are a couple of cubicles you can use but you need to arrive early (or late) to use them. Now of the P.E. teachers Silver is strict but deep down she’s a bit of a sweetie, Bully Boy Blaire on the other hand not so much.”
Chris and Bubbles grinned, as Gustav asked, “Is all this recorded somewhere. I sort of feel I should be writing this down.” and Chris stated, “don’t worry, I’ll remember it. I’ve a good memory, and it’s all on Facebook anyway.” Bubbles smiled, “In that case do you want the dirt on your teachers upfront or are you the brave, silent, wait and find out for yourselves types, eh?”
Chris’ said “Ah, we’ll find out ourselves, don’t worry” and Gustav immediately tried to protest that it could be useful… Bubbles then began going through a list of their various teachers and their various flaws and gossip as they wandered around the ground floor of the school. This included one of the teachers, Rhan, who was obviously an alien who apparently shot spines from her head at pupils that failed to pay attention in class and another that had apparently been a meta-villain at one time.
Gustav asked about warning sirens and, in light of the alien attack that had happened previously, what the process was in the event of another attack or disaster. Bubbles explained about the fire alarm, which was tested once a week, and about lining up in the school playing fields. There were other drills, just not held very regularly including a different alert, which if they heard it they were to stay inside the building rather than go outside and everyone was to line up beside the red painted pillars in the school for some reason. If they were outside when the siren sounded, they were supposed to head to the red pillar near the sports field and line up there.
Bubbles, at the end of her campus tour and extensive spoken guide to their various teachers, school resources and school timetable, guided them passed the memorial gardens and went silent for the first time since they’d met her as she looked at the ten names engraved on the stone of the students and heroes who’d died defending the school. She then carried on talking and did appear to know everyone in the school, including the first name of the cleaner at Albion House who they passed as they entered the quad and headed up to the second floor of Albion Dorms and their rooms where they were expected to change into their school uniforms.
When asked about people to avoid, she admitted that they needed to be aware of a couple of bullies in the school and if it happened they were supposed to report it to their acting housemaster, Ant’ Andrews. She admitted that he had a reputation for handling things differently to other teachers, in fact, the last bully woke up to find their room had been flooded and they were left to clean up the mess.
In Gustav’s room, he found a selection of skin treatment creams for his sunlight allergy waiting on the table and his uniform was slightly different from everyone else’s he’d seen; his school top had a large attached hood to protect his head and with a flexible metallic foil inside the lining designed to protect against UV radiation. On the bedside table, there was also a pair of ‘prescription’ sunglasses to protect and hide his eyes and a set of gloves. In the dark of the room, Gustav immediately began to heal the wounds from his time outside.
Then, as a young twenty something-year-old man in casual clothes approached, Bubbles said she’d wait outside at the end of the last two periods and chaperon them back over from the ‘Big House’ to the school cafeteria if they wanted. The man came over and introduced himself as Mr Andrews, a teaching assistant specialising in chemistry as well as their housemaster.
Mr Andrews entered Chris’ room first and asked him to sit down on the beds for the moment.
“I need to discuss some items that might be a little embarrassing but we need to discuss them.” Chris’ nodded “I’m used to it” he said, expecting the worst.
“I understand you want to identify as male and as such we’ve arranged for you to have a room on the male side of the dormitory. There are issues not just for yourself but also the other pupils living here regarding showering and as you will notice the rooms don’t have their own showers. There are showers available in the Special Curriculum facilities or,” and he handed over a key, “you can use the showers here when no-one else is using them and lock both doors. Please be aware you will need to shower in your own time, i.e. not first thing in the morning or last thing at night. Hope that’s acceptable?” Chris nodded.
Mr Andrews continued, “Purely because you’re in the male wing, we’ve fitted a bio-lock to your door that means no-one can come in without your permission – it’s sensitive to your palm-print. We’ve done the same for Mr Jaeger next door, but for very different reasons. This is to prevent anyone accidentally walking in on you without your permission. Please use it. I have a bypass key, but a light above the door will warn you beforehand and delay opening for 60 seconds to give you time to prepare. Are there any issues you need to resolve?”
For a few minutes, they chatted about his’ lack of financial support from his parents and what the system was if he wanted to work to make some money. In return, Mr Andrews explained about the support provided by the school including access to free sanitary products, weekend bus passes and pocket money. “Would this be charity or..?” Chris asked and Mr Andrews explained that depended on his definition of charity and as he was already here on a bursary that accepting some pocket money shouldn’t be too much of a problem surely?
Chris accepted that he would do his best to get by with what was freely available until he knew where he stood on catching up with his studies. Mr Andrews stood up but said, “Just don’t feel that you can’t come and talk with us about any item you might feel you need first. Don’t deliberately not ask for something you might need out of misplaced pride, ok? You’re not the only person who’s been where you are now, and you most definitely will not be the last. In particular, there are a number of Special Curriculum students whose home circumstances are not as easy as some other students and which may have left them in dire financial straits. Think of it as paying it forward, if that helps. However, please be aware we do encourage you to try and maintain contact with your parents, preferably at least once a week if you can bear it.”
After telling Chris to get into his uniform and prepare to head over to the Big House for next period, he went next door to Gustav’s room and asked if there was anything he wanted to discuss?
Gustav thought for a few seconds, “Until now I’ve only ever been homeschooled and this is my first time in the English school system. Is there any way I can prepare, make sure I’m not too far behind?” Mr Andrews sat down beside him and explained that over the next few weeks they’d assess his academic progress and make whatever adjustments were necessary to ensure both of the new students were able to cope. He then stated that he wasn’t worried and nor should they since according to the META assessments they’d received, they were reasonably sure that they would be able to manage the tasks expected of him. Perhaps the biggest obstacle may well be getting used to attending school classes rather than the one-to-one attention he was used to.
Gustav admitted to still feeling anxious and again Mr Andrews tried to calm him, pointed out that all the teachers were aware of his allergy to direct sunlight and his ‘sight difficulty’ which required him to wear sunglasses in class. That did not give him a free pass to avoid sports, but they would assess and make whatever additional adjustments were necessary to ensure he could participate. It will mean that they would evaluate which of his phobias were real limitations and which were psychological; the latter he would be expected to overcome during his time at the school. He again emphasised that the testing he’d undergone had proved he was a meta who’d undergone a breakthrough and not someone with a supernatural origin, despite his powers apparent similarity to the mythical vampire.
They discussed the need to use their agreed codenames and to wear a costume whilst attending the Special Curriculum, and Gustav asked what he should do if he couldn’t sleep. He looked at the bed, imagining the coffin he’d been using since he’d been rescued. Mr Andrews sighed deeply, “Let’s see how that goes. We are looking at means we can use to help you rest. Your body is still human and needs sleep, and you need to attend school during daytime hours. If nothing else, exhaustion will eventually hit. You need rest, you need to sleep and living amongst normal people that means at night not during the day. We will try to find aids to help you sleep but if you do find yourself suffering severe insomnia there is always a member of staff aware of your background, myself, the other housemaster, the residential assistants that you can talk with. If nothing else you can go for a walk in the grounds but be aware you will need to wear your ID and we use that to track your presence anywhere in the grounds, that is for your security as well as ours.”
After Mr Andrews had left, Chris’ joined Gustav as they discussed how they’d cope with the restrictions of having to be in bed by ten on weeknights. Both felt anxious and unsure whether being here had been the best decision.
There is a knock on the door and when they opened it, the female that had been chasing the child when they first arrived stood outside. She still seemed angry. Chris’ asked who she was, “My name’s Judith Taylor, but most people call me Outrage. I’m told you squibs have to come over to the special curriculum, so they’ve sent me to grab you and make sure you’re not late.” Gustav looked confused, “what’s a squib?” Outrage snarled, “You’re a squib.” Chris muttered that means a newbie, I imagine…” Judith turned and said, “No, newbies are plebs but that’s only applied to first years, not any other years. “ “We’d best come with you then” and Gustav couldn’t resist saying that had been a good landing she’d done by the way. Her fingers tightened on his metal door frame and when she removed them, there were five very clear indents where the metal was distorted by her fingers and thumb tightening.
She looked annoyed, ““Do you know where to go? I can’t be bothered nursemaiding you two.” When they nodded that they did, she explained that they needed to walk in and head for the library where someone would meet them and began to walk away. Then she turned, “Look I couldn’t help hear what was being said about money, look not all of us are rich. When I came here I had nothing, actually there’s quite a few of us that are like that. I came here with a group we decided to call the Amazons, I make my money by helping to babysit Cassie, so don’t let a lack of money put you off being here. Just don’t be a turd though, ok?” and wandered off.
They immediately headed in their new uniforms to the mansion, the Big House on the hill, in time for their session.
As they walked through the gardens out front, they could see that the mansion looked to be a couple of hundred years old but there were signs it must have been rebuilt multiple times since then, They walked in and through into the library as they’d been told. A few minutes later, a panel opened below the balcony and Mr Andrews walked out. “Ok you two, this way” and gestured for them to follow him down the secret, well-lit corridor towards a circular lift shaft. This allowed one person at a time to stand inside, but as soon as that chamber dropped another floor appeared above it and then another, each of which proceeded to drop about a hundred metres to the first level at a speed of 10metres per second.
This floor was designed with small changing rooms, each with an en-suite shower and toilet. Mr Andrews directed them towards two of the rooms and said they’d find costumes inside they could use until they either decided to adapt them or make their own. He walked over with them, opened a door and showed them a white jumpsuit. “This will be your costume, at least for the moment. It gives some protection, particularly against cuts, and allows us to monitor your health.” Picking up the suit, he pointed to the metallic collar, “And this is an anonymity collar, invented by a hero called Mace, it changes various elements of your face and voice. It doesn’t disguise you so much as change discrete elements of your face– it can change your hairstyle and colour, eye colour and the angles of your face sufficient to make you no longer resemble yourself without the need for a mask. It is adjustable and if you need technical help doing that, talk with one of the teachers, though I doubt Firewall” he pointed towards Chris’, “would find it too much of a challenge to program.”
Handing a suit to Gustav he mentioned, “In your case Ashen, it will probably be of limited use as it can’t really compensate sufficiently to disguise your red eyes though the face, hairstyle and voice alteration will work. Some students here refer to it as ‘Kent’s Glasses’.
Now get into your costume and we’ll explain today’s session once you’re ready.”
Inside the changing room, Chris, no he had to remember down here that he was Firewall, reached out with his mind, interfacing directly with suit circuitry and the anonymity collar and started to alter the primary settings. Minutes later, he had a skin-tight red and blue suit, topped with golden blonde hair and blue eyes, so different from his own bland brown eyes. He put the suit on and stepped out to see a slightly embarrassed Gustav; no, again he had to correct himself, he had to remember to call him Ashen whilst here, dressed in a plain white suit and unaltered face. “Would you like me to help?” To his surprise, all Ashen wanted was to alter the shape of his face and turn the costume black. He also changed his hair from white to silver and fiery eyes to disguise their colour. Seconds later, they both stood ready in the common room.
They were directed to another lift, which took them all down together to the Combat Simulator area on level four, which consisted of a number of individual simulator training rooms surrounding a larger combat area in the centre, which Andrews introduced as the Combat Testing Chamber where they tested team abilities. Today they would face a fight session against two of their fellow pupils, followed by further analysis sessions to measure the extent of their powers.
Andrews explained that if they were going to use their powers in real life and maintain their secret identity, they must only use their powers when in uniform and use the anonymity masks if they didn’t have any other means of disguising their faces. When with other Special Students, they must also only use their codenames and be in costume at least initially. He did admit it wasn’t too hard to work out who was who ‘above ground’, though.
Andrews explained that they weren’t going to introduce them to all of their fellow pupils immediately. What they would do is once a week they would be teamed up against their fellow pupils to take part in some form of combat to test and train their powers as well as classes on ethics, team work and Subtlety & Detection. Training would be three times a week and only on weekdays.
Firewall had to ask, “Just how long had Outrage being taking Subtlety lessons?” Andrews smiled, “She arrived here just four months ago and came as part of a team that call themselves the Amazons, or sometimes Arcana’s Amazons, and they seem to have taken it upon themselves to protect a certain other student who also recently arrived. Off the record, don’t tease her; she has been known to punch through concrete walls before now.” Firewall nodded, “Ah, Ashen’s door frame certainly bears testimony to that.” Andrews continued, “Unfortunately, due to her skin colour, she was already publicly outed as a meta-human before she even came to us. She has a publicly known identity, something we would like to avoid in your case.”
He explained that it was time to introduce them to their opponents for this session and assured them that there will be no special effects on this occasion, just two on two. Calling them Ashen and Firewall, he introduced them to the four other students present; Cadet who was apprenticed with London Watch, Kilowatt an energy controller, Icicle and L33t (he pronounced it as Leet) who appeared to be either a cyborg or robot.
Andrews continued, “Ah, I think L33t and Kilowatt would be best suited to this initial evaluation under the circumstances. You will be tested, but there is also a degree of finding out what you’re capable of.”
They entered the large central chamber with its observation tower at the centre surrounded by hopefully deactivated weapons.
Andrews told them to walk into the middle of the chamber and wait for their opponents. Combat would start as soon as the red light came on and they had to either win or survive for a full five minutes – all attacks were acceptable except any that might be lethal. Any attempt to do so would result in the combat being stopped immediately, and by force if necessary.
Then their opponents walked in and stood before them. A seven-foot, copper-coloured robot or cyborg patiently waited. It was dressed for some reason in a black sports vest with the moniker “L33t” printed on it and black sweatpants. Why would a robot feel the need to wear clothes?
Their other opponent was dressed in a standard white jumpsuit with only his gloves, and what looked to be insulated boots, being non-standard. His Anonymity collar has been set simply to distort, as though he rarely bothered to disguise his face.
He shouted, “So, you call yourself Firewall? Why? Do you create a wall of fire then?” Firewall shouted back, “What type of name is killer what?” A flash of anger as he shouted back “It’s KilOwatt not killer, you moron!”
As they waited, Firewall and Ashen whispered together trying to discover what each other’s powers were, then the light on top of the observation tower flashed red and all conversation ended.
Reaching out with his mind to try and connect to the internet, Firewall realised the building was shielded and he was on his own except – there was another, local signal, a variation on an encrypted Bluetooth that seemed to emanate from nearby.
L33t suddenly appeared to go invisible, in reality just perfectly camouflaged against the background, only visible when it moved, which it suddenly did as something, itself camouflaged, flashed out across the chamber at Ashen. Suddenly he felt something sting his arm and he felt a painful welt across his left arm as though an extremely large blade had hit it. His black costume hadn’t been sliced, but it did now show a thin, white stroke across his forearm. Would whatever it was have cut his arm off without the suit? Suddenly, non-lethal took on a completely different meaning. Damn, his arm felt badly bruised by the impact.
Ashen responded against kilowatt by running at speed and trying to punch him in the face. The blow, he’d obviously hadn’t expected direct conflict, took him by surprise. Ashen then tried to get him in a grab and wrestle him to the ground.
A second later, Kilowatt flared into existence. Only his boots and gloves remained solid. In place of a boy in a plain white jumpsuit now stood a person apparently composed of pure electricity. As he changed, Ashen felt as though he’d grabbed a live wire as his hands went through the ‘body’ and had to jerked away, suffering from an electrical shock from the insubstantial electrical form that was now kilowatt.
Firewall erected his energy barrier, which sparkled into life around him as he unleashed an EMP burst straight at L33t.
In the booth, Andrews and the other shadowy figures took notes. The squibs had switched obvious targets from the outset. That showed promise. Now to see just whether they’d succeed against their better trained opponents.
The energy spike had affected L33t, causing its arm to stop functioning. The recording function on L33t’s armour turned the whole of the right arm white to indicate it was no longer functional. L33t had used it to protect its chest panel. Better to sacrifice one function to protect all the others.
Kilowatt unleashed a solid electrical blast at Firewall. “There’s only room for one energy controller in this school,” he screamed as a wildly uncontrolled blast of lightning flared across the chamber, forcing Firewall to dodge rather than risk it’s impacting on his barrier. The blast grounded nearby as Firewall pulled himself up and prepared for another attack, only to see Kilowatt vanish and as the hairs on his neck rose from static, he knew his opponent had somehow teleported behind them both. Sneaky.
L33t responded by jumping towards and climbing up the outside wall of the chamber, then his fist separated from the camouflaged body and flew at immense speed straight at Ashen. The fist missed its first attempt, but suddenly swung back for a second attempt and hit him in the back of the head. It left Ashen dazed and forced his self-healing to start kicking in. Despite the double vision, he saw the fist speed back and reconnect with L33t’s wrist.
Ashen moved towards the shadowy figure and tried to engage in a conversation, to the creature’s surprise. “Never saw that one coming, the rocket fist. An inspector gadget classic. Wouldn’t it have been funny though if you’d accidentally hit your friend instead?” As he spoke, he forced his will to unleash what he called his voice of allure, to compel the creature to carry out his suggestion. Assuming there was a human controller, inside the suit or listening in, it just might work.
L33t was entranced but not sufficiently compelled to comply. To Ashen’s surprise, a female voice spoke out from the metallic shell, “Yes, that might be interesting. He’s not a friend, though.” Ashen moved closer and tried a closer, more powerful compulsion as Firewall turned insubstantial, his form an electrical illusion of its solid state then considered unleashing a burst area attack but seeing where Ashen stood he’d also be affected he tried to consider his other options. Taser? Not against a person who was already electricity and laser might be lethal… Unless, “Hot foot!” he screamed as he unleashed a blast at Kilowatts’ orange boots. The blast melted both the upper and sole, causing his energy foot inside to touch and connect with the metallic floor. A flare of bright light showed it had caused him to become temporarily grounded and forced him to raise the foot off the ground and hop as he screamed with a mixture of pain and rage, partially dazed by the pain.
Time to end this; putting all his energy into a one last effort, Firewall unleashed a second laser blast at the other foot. The pencil thin blast hit the top of the foot and went right through the sole to the metal flooring, as a second flare of energy caused him to collapse in a burst of electrical sparks and… The boy was unconscious and had reverted to his human form. Through the smoking burn holes in his boots his feet appeared, bruised and burnt but unpierced. The laser had caused him to become grounded and discharge his energy harmlessly into the chamber, leaving only the unconscious human aspect behind.
A couple of humanoid-shaped robots entered the chamber and removed Kilowatt to the medic bay. Meanwhile, L33t tried to fight the inertia caused by Ashen’s hypnotic voice and failed. Ashen continued, “You have such a lovely voice and your friend, sorry associate, well he appears to have bowed out. We don’t have to fight, we could all be on the same side…” compelling L33t not to fight. A wave of compulsion washed over her and she found herself unable to continue the battle.
As she complied with Ashen’s voice of allure, the red light stopped and normal lighting came on as a silver haired headmaster using a cane limped into the chamber accompanied by Mr Andrews.
Summers smiled, “Interesting. Were you aware Kilowatt could be grounded, or was that just a lucky shot?”
Firewall felt slightly embarrassed, but admitted it had been a combination of luck and sheer terror. “Well, it was very successful, a good strategy, well played. And your use of persuasion, Ashen on L33t, overcame all of her defensive abilities. I wouldn’t rely on it next time, as I’m sure L33t will upgrade against just such an attack in future, but on this occasion it was extremely effective. Now can you possibly bring her out of it?”
Ashen looked apologetic, “Ah, she’ll naturally come out of it soon, but although she might remember this she will not remember me, that’s how it usually works.” Summers smiled, “So we may need to reintroduce you all over again. L33t, do you want to head back up top? Your, ah, accessories are waiting for you in the library.”
Whilst Summers’ was speaking, Firewall tried to focus in on the Bluetooth-like signal, which now clearly came from L33t. It appeared to be an automatic connection between the suit and other nearby components; a link to a wheeled vehicle or wheeled mechanisms of some sort? She appeared to have used the Bluetooth, despite its many failings – range being one – to get round the Wi-Fi blackout of the chamber.
They spent the remainder of the two sessions being tested and prodded and analysing the combat session. L33ts use of a monofilament blade from the outset against his suit had been an extremely risky attack but admittedly one Ashen would have survived and, given his regenerative powers, might even have recovered from but it was not sufficiently restrained. A black mark for L33t apparently, even if she didn’t necessarily remember it.
After a gruelling hour of testing, they were allowed to go shower, change and head to the surface to meet with Bubbles who guided them back to their rooms before evening meal – they had no homework classes to attend – whether this meal was called dinner or tea seemed to depend on who they spoke to.
Chris’ decided to wear the uniform under his school uniform, in part because its form-hugging armour smoothed out his female upper body very effectively while Gustav left his in the underground locker.
A very bubbly Bubbles again came and got them from their rooms at Albion House just before seven and walked with them over to the school cafeteria, which now seemed more than half-empty. To Gustav’s delight and everyone else’s horror, he was given a large helping of very rare steaks as part of his ‘special diet’.
Bubbles introduced them to several other pupils from Albion House, including the girl in the souped-up wheelchair, Shini Koyama, the photographer from the same encounter Bethany Dalton, and several others including another clearly outed meta nicknamed Smiler. Chris’ recognised several from their Facebook pages but one of the crowd was not on there. The girl nicknamed Smiler was a female named Rachel who had been tainted by her Meta breakthrough that had turned her skin grey, her eyes had enlarged, had become totally black in black and her ears were now pointed yet the mutations somehow suited her personality and, despite not gaining any apparent powers, she topped it off with a brilliant smile, hence her nickname!
As they were being introduced to the other students their chairs were deliberately bumped by an arrogant male, This was Ces’ as the others quietly whispered when he pushed past; he was the school bully, apparently.
Lastly, another boy limped over. The others identiied him as Dimitri Ronin and he seemed to be upset at their presence though he sat down beside them and asked quietly if they were also attending Special Curriculum, bitterness in his voice, which they sensibly pretended not to understand though Chris’ suspected that Dimitri might also be a fellow attendee; Kilowatt?
His suspicions were confirmed a few seconds later when Dimitri leant over and whispered in Chris’ ear; “I’m assuming you’re the one who fired those bolts at my feet. There is only room for one electrical hero at this school, and it will be me!” Gustav leaned over and whispered, “Shocks fired?” Chris’ tried to apologise but Dimitri glowered, “Don’t worry,” he whispered back, “I’ll get my revenge” and banged the back of his chair as he walked away to sit at another table, with Ces and his buddies.
The rest of the evening went by far too quickly and despite the lights going out at 10pm, neither of them could sleep. Chris’ had discovered iPads in each of their rooms linked through to the schools’ black fibre connection, though it had a very effective program blocking access to ‘unhealthy’ sites.
It was near midnight when they heard it, a restrained whooshing, whoop-like sound followed by a wave of near silence that felt as though they were trying to listen underwater, as though their inner ears were out of balance. Something wasn’t right. Then their doors were flung open with great force, hitting the wall but without making a sound. Something or someone was cancelling out or absorbing the sound. From their beds in their individual rooms, Chris’ and Gustav could see four human-shaped figures completely covered in black, silhouetted against the dark of the hallway. The costumes didn’t match the special curriculum costumes, these were armoured with full face mask and hooded. Gustav had originally assumed the assault on his door had been Outrage or one of the older special curriculum students in the house, but as his darkvision kicked in, her realised that their silhouettes didn’t match anyone they had met so far. Three were female, one tall and muscled, another bulky and very overweight. The only male shape was tall, slim and moved slowly.
School hazing ritual or..? A female voice, unrecognised spoke out, “You’re not welcome here and we’re here to make sure you never feel welcome here, ever again.” Gustav reacted to the threat; he levitated from flat on his back to upright like a bad horror film in a single motion, and using his voice of allure told them to “fuck off”. The sound absorption seemed to reduce the impact of his voice. One of the females seemed to be projecting a sonic field that muffled sound and distorted his power. Damn, damn and triple damn.
The biggest female leaned into his room, her voice undistorted, “You’re not welcome here and you should really be at some other school for specials. Maybe the military school or maybe they might take sympathy on you and accept you at the Pryde Institute, but you don’t deserve to be here. We’re here to prove it.” As she spoke, she put her hands on the bottom of the bed frame and twisted it with ease into a metallic pretzel.
Their voices sounded too old for anyone except possibly the 6th years. If this was hazing, who were their attackers? The biggest figure, the female who’d remodelled the bed frame, thundered in to the room and grabbed at Gustav but she was slow and Gustav avoided the grab as he backed out of her reach. Chris… no under these circumstances she, he had to be Firewall, could see two of the dark shadows moving towards him, felt a psychic pull on his powers as though someone was trying to siphon her, no, HIS power. No time for fear, he reacted. He formed his barrier, the electricity of which sparkled and unleashed his powers as a wave of electricity filling the room and out the door, with Firewall trying to focus the wave towards his attackers. The wave hit staggering her attackers, leaving them badly dazed. Whatever had been blocking his energy vanished as a result.
Both avoided a responding wave that felt as though they were walking through treacle, as though time for them would have been slowed, however they got the impression their attackers would not have been as equally hindered had it succeeded. He shook off the feeling of inertia and attacked. Ashen wondered how his attackers could see in the dark and then used his power of movement through the shadows and dark, his ‘shadow’s alleys’, to his advantage. He dodged through them at speed, jumping from shadow to shadow, and grabbed Firewall in the process. Putting all his effort into it, he picked up Firewall and staggered away through the shadows until they were outside, then he collapsed with exhaustion outside in the garden. They looked up at their rooms; whatever had been muffling the sound stopped and there was a cacophony of sound exploding out of their rooms as though the sound had merely been misplaced and had suddenly returned all at the same time. Lights throughout the building flared into existence, followed immediately by a bright light into which their attackers vanished, their silhouettes partially eclipsing the flash.
“We need to get back inside.” Gustav tried to stand but nearly collapsed with exhaustion as they hobbled back inside and up using the lift. In the hall outside their rooms stood Mr Andrews fully dressed. He appeared to be examining their doors and the twisted bed frame. “What happened here?” His voice was angry, but they could see that anger wasn’t aimed at them. Chris’ helped Gustav over to the other bed in his room and turned back to talk with Andrews, “We were attacked. By four characters dressed all in black. Gustav got a better look than I did.” Mr Andrews said, “I don’t understand what happened, there isn’t a tradition of these sorts of things here at Claremont – in fact we come down hard on all bullying or stupid hazing rituals.” Chis replied, “Actually, I don’t think they were part of the school.” Andrews stared at them, “why do you say that? What did they say?”
Between them, they explained what they’d heard about not being welcome here and should go to another school – Pryde was mentioned, as was some form of military school.
Andrews explained that the Pryde Institute was a school set up for troubled meta-teens and Walford 6th Form only took in older students so they were too young to go there and that he doubted either would enjoy either of those schools if he were honest. There were some concerns about what was happening at the Pryde Institute at the moment, especially given the problems of some of their students… “It’s not that long ago that some of their students got kicked out for bad behaviour and formed together into a villainous group that called themselves the Rejects and some of their other students are less than hero material if I was being honest.
We’ll get the bed and doors repaired tomorrow, in the meantime use the other bed Gustav or if you want you can go to the lounge and sit down and relax a bit. If you don’t mind we’ll fit a few more sensors in the corridor, not to spy on you or limit your privacy but for your protection in case of any attempted return visits. I do wonder why it took so long to hear them, though.”
Both nodded their approval and explained that there had been some form of sound dampening used, as well as some form of temporal distortion. Powers not devices they thought. There was also some form of power drain. Mr Andrews walked over, picked up an iPad and logged onto HeroNet. There he checked some stats on the villain column and said, “I thought so. Those duplicate some of the powers that the Rejects are supposed to possess. In particular, there’s Siphon, SlowMo, Shriek and the brick could have been Savage – there are others in the team but of the powers you mention those four best fit the bill but they’ve got no connection to Claremont so why would they pick on you two? Any links you might be aware of?” Both shook their heads, why indeed? Was it because they were the newest metas to arrive in the last few months, or were they picked because they thought they’d be the easiest to defeat? Had they drawn the short straw?
Meanwhile, they wandered into the lounge to help themselves to a drink and to consider what to do next.
Postscript 1 – a note attached to the papers sent with Gustav’s Evaluation
[Classified Notes]
Gustav’s self-reporting and notes are surprisingly detailed and honest. It seems he has performed a lot of self-experimentation, and he is curious about being a Meta-human and what that entails. His power profile suggests that they may be quite formidable with the correct training and orientation.
– Gustav is clearly still in a period of mourning for his father, but seems comfortable to be estranged from his Mother. Close monitoring and grief support will be required.
Gustav doted on his late father, seemingly a kindly, medical scientist researching in Carpathia at the time of a terrorist attack on the facility where they lived and worked. The attack was only recent and naturally has left quite a blow on his son, Gustav (16?).
– Gustav is estranged from his Mother, who gave him up to his father at the time of his birth. Only recently has Gustav discovered his mother claims to be a fully-fledged “vampire” and they must not have correspondence.
Gustav has yet to fully process the implications of this and his new, forced, independence.
Further meta investigation required on Mother, searches show no records or details. Element of risk involved.
– He seemed irritated and distracted during the interview, but was apologetic afterwards. See below:
– He has noticed a number of physical vulnerabilities and traits that Claremont may be able to assist with (at little cost), but also certain emotional disturbances – the severity of which is yet to be recorded. There is potential that without effective management, this may be distressing for the other pupils.
Gustav suffers from some physical and psychological drawbacks vampires may endure, but to a lesser severity:
Direct sunlight and UV light burns the skin quickly, causing it to redden, become sore, blister and boil if it is endured without appropriate skincare. Meta-capabilities are reduced during normal daytime sunlight levels.
Garlic in a liquid or powdered form results in a mild allergic reaction, effects skin and breathing.
Religious and spiritual items are distressing. Mild phobia reactions and discomfort.
The touch of true silver items or weapons prevents immediate regeneration, but no other noticeable differences.
Mirrors show his reflection, yet he claims they also reveal hallucinations, projected visions, illusions or spectral patterns, they may be distressing.
Sleep is of a poor quality and frequented by nightmares without the use of coffin-like furniture.
– Gustav mentioned after the interview that he did not know what to do if he did not get enrolled, and had no alternate plans prepared.
– Interviewer recommendation: Gustav should be approved, but there are several difficult circumstances to consider should their enrolment be confirmed.
– High protein diet required. Meat products preferred.
Daily Schedule (as told by Bubbles)
Breakfast is served in the dorms, Lunch and dinner Monday to Friday in the school canteen, at weekends dinner is prepared in the dorms or you can elect to eat out if you request a pass. You can keep tuck in your rooms or in the kitchen, but anything in the kitchen’s considered fair game for everyone. Laundry day for 4th year boys in Albion House is Wednesday from 5pm – 9pm, or if you miss that Free-for-all Sunday.
School starts officially at 8:45am runs until 10:30 and then a 10 – 15 min recess, back in until 12noon or 12:30 and Classes restart between 1pm and 1:30pm depending on what sitting for lunch you have. School has another afternoon recess and finishes 4pm then you have either a couple of hours of sport, study or clubs on school nights – I’m with the school newspaper myself, then tea’s at 6pm – 8pm with the kitchen stopping serving at 7:30pm. Homework session is 8 – 9pm then the rest of the evening’s yours until lights out at 10am, though again there are clubs you can join. Weekends you can stay up until 11pm and 6th year can stay up until midnight and the weekend is yours to do what you want until teatime on Sunday night. If you want to go into St. Mary Mede or Wessex, you will need a day pass (and free bus pass if requested)
Uniforms must be worn Monday to Friday unless in year six, but you can ‘liberate yourself’ and wear what you like (within reason and as long as it doesn’t breach the school code) at weekends, even when in the grounds.
Growing up Meta, UK-Style! 