Chapter 2: History Part 1
7 YEARS AGO
The Hawthorne Company specialized in selling custom orders of windows to various clients around the world. Their fame was not widely known, however, due to their high profile clientele. Only the rich had the money to buy the works of art Hawthorne produced, which could be anything from stained glass to a large bay window, all hand made by only 20 artists and 20 carpenters in their only headquarters, which was about 40 miles away from many things, including a college they sometimes partnered with, sending architectural, artistic, and carpentry students out to study the workings of the company.
However, The Hawthorne Company did not just sell windows. They also led an underground organization forcing superpowered children, teenagers, and adults do do various tasks for them, depending on what their power was. Some came willingly, but other candidates refused or were too young to make the decision, and the Company would coerce them into joining.
Every six months the top three executives of the company, the only ones besides the Enforcers and Recruiters to know about the company's double agenda, would meet to discuss potential candidates for the company. Usually they looked for teenagers or young adults, though it was good to have older ones as well.
At this particular meeting Anazi Tarvitz, the CEO of Hawthorne sat at the head of the small table, looking at several monitors, the other two exectutives sitting on either side of her. The room was dark, but the screens were bright. The man on her right, Mark Barnes, was their "finder", finding candidates and proposing them to Anazi and the other executive, Clarissa Henkes. Barnes was hunched over his computer, mumbling to himself. After a few minutes of impatient waiting, Anazi finally snapped at him, "Are you ready yet, Barnes?"
Flinching hard, Barnes stammered out a "y-yes ma'am" and pressed a button on his computer, the monitors on the wall flickering and pulling up two pictures, one of a young girl, no older than 10, and a woman around 30.
"These were the only candidates I was able to find," Barnes said nervously. "Avianna Steele and Linda Richardson."
Clarissa Henkes tapped the table. "Why is the one so young? Is that her current age?"
Barnes nodded. "She's 10 years old, but has already shown a very unique and powerful ability. It was caught on camera last month, but I was able to copy the files before erasing them from the system…" He tapped a few more keys on his laptop, another window popping up in front of Avianna's profile. A grainy video started playing.
It was in a parking lot during the day, and the girl stood with a woman, presumably her mother, and a boy a few years older than her, helping put groceries into the back of their car. Soon, Avianna took the cart and was wheeling it to one of the cart returns, when suddenly a car started backing out of the parking place towards her. The video flickered slightly, and a huge circle of energy, or something, appeared between the girl and the car, stopping the machine completely, leaving Avianna unharmed. Her mother and the boy came running at her, and the video cut off. Barnes pulled Avianna's profile and picture back onto the screen along with the other woman's, and waited for the CEO's opinion.
"Magic circles?" Anazi questioned. "And very strong too. Was all the evidence wiped up?"
Barnes nodded. "The ones in the car didn't see the circle; apparently they had panicked when they saw Avianna behind and missed it. The girl's mother and brother, however, both have abilities of their own, but this was the first time she showed any indication of having one herself."
Anazi thought silently. "It would be nice to get her...however, she's too young. And I doubt her guardians would take kindly to us using her, since she can't sneak off on her own quite yet."
"We should keep her in mind though," Clarissa commented. "We can keep tabs on her over the years."
"Agreed. Now what about the other?"
3 YEARS AGO
Avianna Steele nervously walked into the principal's office. She'd never been called up before, and barely knew what the principal even looked like. Trying to tell herself she did nothing wrong, she tapped on the door and went in at the "come in".
Inside there was a desk with three comfortable chairs in front of it, but not much else. There were two adults sitting in two of the chairs, one a younger woman in her late 20s, with dark hair and skin, dressed formally and neatly. The other, a man around 50, sat next to her, dressed more casually, though he had a tie on. The principal, , smiled at Avianna as she walked in.
"Sit down, Miss Steele. These two want to speak to you about a great opportunity."
She nodded and quickly sat down, hugging her backpack in front of her, sitting as far from the man on her left as possible.
The woman leaned forward and smiled thinly at Avianna. "Hello, I'm . This is ," She indicated to the man next to her, who nodded. "We want to talk to you about an apprenticeship program at our company."
"Apprenticeship?"
smiled even wider. "It's great! They come from Hawthorne Company, who sells windows. They want you to go and help them with new technical upgrades."
"You would simply give us suggestions, and help out a little," said. "Just for an hour or two after school, and the company is only a minute away from here. We would personally give you transportation there, and to your home, if needed."
Avianna was silent for a bit. She'd heard of the Hawthorne Company; they were right by her house, but she didn't know they sold windows.
"Did you ask my parents? I can't just do stuff without telling them," She asked, trying to sound confident. "And why do you want me?"
"Your father came in today and signed a paper approving it," spoke up, taking a paper off of the principal's desk and handing it to her. She took it and looked it over. The principal, , and her father all signed it. The only signature missing was her's. It basically said that she would work and learn for them for an hour everyday, and get transportation from school, and transportation home if her parents requested it. She handed it back and replaced it on the desk.
"We ask for recommendations from high schools all around the city of students in various fields," said. "Some help us with the windows, others learn about being business owners. We were told you were excellent with technology, and we just so happen to be upgrading some of our old computers and wiring throughout the facility. You would get volunteer and apprenticeship hours, and not to mention a lot of experience."
"So, just for an hour everyday? I have a lot of homework." And she did, with four pre/ap classes everyday and a few electives with homework.
nodded. "So, will you do it?" She was staring at Avianna intensely, as if daring her to say no.
"Um, sure. I'll do it." She was handed a pen and she signed her name on the paper.
"Great!" exclaimed, taking the paper and skimming over it. "We can start next week. You don't need to bring anything special, but if you want to change into more comfortable clothes after school that's fine!" Both her and got up, said goodbye to the principal, and left.
