Alex and friends were eating breakfast Monday morning when Jim's nephew Chris walked in and pinned up a poster. Alex got up and walked over to check it out, then returned. "It's a men's volleyball league sign-up sheet. Is anyone planning on signing up for it?" he asked. "The first practice is 2 days away, sign-up deadline is dinner tonight. I already threw my name up. Anyone else interested?"
The other guys conversed, walked over and signed the paper, and the bell rang for class. The day went by and 4 rolled around. Classes let out for the day and Alex walked out into the soccer pitch. There he saw Ulrich drilling some striker drills "You know that soccer doesn't start until spring right?" Alex called out. Ulrich kicked another goal from the penalty spot and walked over. "I'm well aware of that Alex; I'm just trying to work on some trick shots."
Alex pulled out his laptop and opened it "Ulrich, I was looking online and I found a competition for high schoolers. Best soccer trick shot video wins the chance to show off their skills at the River Park/Bordeaux match in a few weeks." Ulrich smiled "If you want to help, be my guest." Alex set his stuff down, grabbed a ball and placed it on his feet. He turned on his heels, did a standing back flip and sent the ball flying into the goal. Ulrich applauded his friend's skill with a soccer ball, and Alex gathered his stuff and checked his cell phone "Hey Ulrich, we have a volleyball meeting in a few minutes, uniform fittings and pre-season physicals."
Alex and Ulrich ran to the gym and saw Chris sitting on the bleachers "Hey guys, glad you made it. I'll get you run through and out of here. Alex, I need your sizes." He said. Alex responded "Large jersey, medium shorts, tall socks, size 12 shoes." Chris wrote all that down and waved Alex over to nurse Yolanda. After a quick physical examination, Alex was dismissed.
Ulrich went through the same routine as Alex. Medium jersey, medium shorts, tall socks, size 10 ½ shoes, physical examination and out the door as the rest of the team showed up. The days went by and volleyball practice started up. Alex was grouped with Ulrich, William and Odd for warm-ups and practice at the net. Ulrich served the ball, William volleyed it, Odd went in for a spike but Alex jumped, blocked it and the ball hit the floor near Odd's feet.
Chris blew his whistle after a few hours of practice and sent the boys off. Alex checked his Rutgers watch (Yeah I know what you're thinking, Alex is from Greece, he lives in France, and his watch is from an American university) then checked his phone. A text from Jeremy I was able to program you some new powers and gear, come to the factory ASAP –Jeremy. Alex pocketed his phone and ran for the sewer entrance, climbed down the ladder, mounted his BMX bike and pedaled off.
He walked into the lab 5 minutes later. "You're here already?" Jeremy asked, then he remark "Man, you pedal fast." Alex smiled at that comment and climbed down onto the scanner room. "Hey Jeremy, sent me in. I'll hang out in a tower as to avoid the scyphozoa or any other problems." Alex called up. Jeremy gave his approval and Alex stepped into a scanner. Above him Jeremy worked quick "Commencing virtualization procedure. Transfer, scanner, virtualization." Alex dropped into the ice sector to find that there were more patches of silver on his outfit. And that his rapier didn't have a cup guard, instead it had a spiral guard "Jeremy did you change my blade out?"
"Yeah, I changed the guard on your rapier, added some new types of shots to your musket, and added a barrel to each of your pistols. Test it out." Alex quick tested his weapons out and walked into a tower to wait out his friends. In the lab, Jeremy picked up a blip on his radar screen. "Alex, you have company. It's right outside the tower. Be careful." Alex looked up, "What is it Jeremy, can you tell?"
Jeremy called up an information window and his eyes went wide. "A-Alex, it's you out there. Along with a krabe, weird how there's only one." In the tower Alex asked, "So what do you want me to do Einstein? Wait for backup to arrive?" Jeremy shook his head. "I'm on my way Alex. Hold on tight." Jeremy set his headset down, set up a delayed virtualization, and climbed down into the scanner room. He was virtualized in and took off in Alex's direction.
Alex walked out the back side of the tower and drew his blade. He ran out and watched as Jeremy destroyed the krabe and get devirtualized. Alex flourished his rapier and advanced on evil Alex. Their blades clashed several times before Alex drew his pistol, pressed it to evil Alex's head and squeezed the trigger. Evil Alex exploded into data fragments, devirtualizing Alex in the process.
In the scanner room Alex stepped out and went upstairs
. "Ok Einstein, I'm going back to school. I'll test my powers some other time. Alex hopped in the elevator and rode upstairs. He got on his bike and rode back to school. He decided to go to his room, lay back on his bed, pulled out one of his Highschool of the Dead Mangas, put his headphones on and started the song The Hangman's Body Count, and began his reading.
