Chapter 4- The Gauntlet is Thrown
"Well man, I think it's about time we head down to that big meeting thing we've all got tonight." Sean sighed as he and James finished getting ready in their room. "Yea, you're right." James replied. Both of them were wearing their gray jumpsuit uniforms, courtesy of the company that hosted all of these events. "Do you have the map?" James asked his roommate. "Yep, right here. I think we're all set." Sean responded as he held up the map. As they were instructed in the pamphlet to always carry with them the items they required to fight, James brought with him his two tonfas, harmlessly strapped to his arms until he needed them. Sean on the other hand seemed to not have anything with him, as his mutant ability was his strength although, as he informed James of earlier, he secretly stashed a good number of seeds for various plants in his pockets. "It's tough to carry full plants with me, but if I throw down these seeds, I can instantly make big and dangerous plants grow to battle with me. Pretty cool, hunh?" He had earlier explained.
"Ok, then let's go!" James finalized as they opened their door and left. Sean went out first and began walking down the hall. James paused for a moment and then turned to lock the door behind them. "There we go." He said softly to himself as he began to turn around. As he did however, he sharply realized there was a problem, especially after he bumped into another person in the hall. "What the heck is wrong with you?! Watch where you're going, loser!" The other person who James bumped into shouted. "Oh sorry, I didn't realize you were there." James told the young man apologetically. The other young man had medium-length dark hair, about a quarter of which was sticking up on the left side. He too wore the Graycon uniform, but it seemed to be a little darker than his or Sean's, but that may have just been a trick of the light in the hallway.
"Well you know, sometimes sorry doesn't cut it. But I'll let it slide this time. Consider yourself lucky now… because it won't happen again." The young man told him in a snide, condescending voice. "Um, ok thanks." James replied, mostly unsure of the situation and began to walk away as the other young man just stood there. He hadn't gotten about two feet however, when he felt something hit the back of his leg, and suddenly found himself tripping, falling towards the ground. "What…?!" James exclaimed for a brief second until he impacted on the floor. "You know, on second thought, it seems your luck already ran out." The mean young man laughed, one hand raised, with his pointer finger smoking a little. "What's going on back here?" Sean shouted back and he realized the scene playing out behind him and turned around to meet James and the other guy.
"What's going on? Well, like I said, it seems like your friend here ran out of luck… oh do I always have to repeat myself?! Listen, the name's Chad Black, and if you know what's good for you, you'll stay out of my way." The young man snapped as he raised his hand again. Flicking his wrist, a small black diamond of energy was flung from it and hit the floor right in front of where Sean was walking. When this happened, a small bit of the carpet came up, and Sean tripped over the new obstacle. "How did… is that your power then?" James asked as he got himself up from the ground and Sean stumbled, but regained his balance again. "Yea, that's right. I'm only the strongest mutant around here and everyone who's anyone calls me Black Die. That's because I have the power to cause bad luck to happen to whoever comes my way, or crosses my path. Now, like I said, out of my way, losers!" Chad explained and retorted as he pushed his way past the two heroes and continued quickly down the hall.
"Hey, man, are you alright?" Sean asked his friend. "Yea, I was just taken by surprise, that's all. I guess not everyone who's here is so nice." James noted as he brushed himself off. "Eh, there's always one bad apple in the bunch, don't take it to heart." Sean told his roommate. "Fair enough, yea it happens I guess. Let's just keep going." James replied as the two began again down the hallway. They got to the elevator and hit the button, standing by for a moment for it to arrive. "Hey, guys! How's it going?" The voice of Nicole Oakley called out as she ran down the hallway, waving to meet the two boys near the elevator. "H-hey, Nicole! Pretty good, how's it going with you?" Sean responded in a slightly embarrassed way. "Looks like I'm not the only one taken by surprise." James whispered to his friend, as Sean lightly jabbed him with his elbow. "I'm great! I finally got all my stuff in order and ready to start my training!" Nicole replied with a big smile. "Training? You mean we're going to have to do training?" Sean asked, still a little surprised. "Yea, like you don't need it." James whispered again with a grin, only to be met with another light jab. "Of course, silly! It was included in this pamphlet my roommate gave me. You guys didn't read yours?" Nicole responded with a giggle. "Uh, we must have gotten a different pamphlet. Or maybe didn't read ours through, we just kind of skimmed it." Sean told her with a light chuckle of his own.
"How is your roommate by the way? She's not here now?" James interjected with a question. "Well, yea, she's kind of weird. I mean, nothing against her of course, she just doesn't talk much and told me she'd come down in a little bit. I think her name was… that's right, it's Eileen! Eileen White!" Nicole told them after a brief moment of thought. "Well, that's alright, I'm sure you two will be best of friends in no time!" Sean replied with an optimistic smile. "Yea, in the meantime, we should probably go before we're late." He then added as the elevator door pinged and opened. All three of them entered the elevator and worked their way downstairs. According to the map, it was only a short walk down a few hallways to almost the largest room in the facility, second only to the gym.
"Well I guess this is the place." James stated as the trio stood in front of two, double doors. As Sean pushed the doors open and they went inside, they noticed the room was indeed quite large. It was set up to accommodate the large crowd that now filled it. There were many rows of chairs filling the space, with almost as many people, all no doubt exceptional young adults like themselves. At the front of the room was a portable stage, with a podium and microphone and twin speaker stands on either side. Lining the walls were more, smaller speakers, as well as a few banners showing the Graycon company logo, the infamous lined sphere. "You think there have assigned seats?" Nicole asked the two boys as the doors shut behind them. "I don't think so, but I see a few seats near the middle. You want to sit there?" James asked his companions. "Sounds good to me." Sean answered as all of them worked their way to seats in the middle. "So what do you think they're going to talk about at this meeting thing?" Sean asked James and Nicole. "I'm not totally sure, but the pamphlet said that it was to tell us more about the Hero Initiative and stuff." Nicole replied. "That's good, maybe we'll finally know what this is really all about." James commented.
"Hey, man, I think I see your Amy over there." Sean whispered slyly to his roommate with a nudge to the arm. Sure enough, near the front stage was Amy, standing next to Scott and Smith. "She's not 'my Amy!" James replied defensively, as he playfully nudged him back. "Hey, guys, I wonder who those people are. They look a little intimidating." Nicole pointed out as she literally pointed to the other side of the stage, where an important-looking man in a suit stood next to two secret-service looking men. "Yea, you're right, I don't like the looks of them for some reason. Maybe it's some kind of politician or something." James suggested. "Oh and look, there's our new buddy Chad." Sean then added flatly as he noted the mean-spirited young man a row above them and farther to the left. "Who's Chad?" Nicole asked the boys. They explained their encounter with the bully and chatted about a few other things amid the chatter of everyone else in the room while waiting for the real show to start.
"It's practically time now. I hope we start soon." James said to no one in particular. As if on cue, the speakers clicked to life and a female voice began to talk on it. "May I have everyone's attention, please? Please everyone take your seats; we are about to begin tonight's events." The voice called politely to everyone in the room. The chatter in the room ceased at once and all eyes turned to the front stage. Standing at the podium, was an unidentified woman with short hair and a business suit. "Thank you. I would like to congratulate you all on qualifying for our company's newest and greatest project. Welcome all to the Graycon Corporation." The woman calmly told all of the gathered, which resulted in a round of applause. "To further tonight's assembly, I invite Mr. Richard Smith to speak." The woman continued as she walked down from the stage. Amidst more applause, the older gentleman stepped up to the podium.
"Good evening everyone! Well to echo what was just said, congratulations to all of you for making it to the team. If you're sitting here in this room, it means you're at least halfway decent." Smith began his speech. "But don't celebrate just yet! Yea, you may have made it this far, but nothing's set in stone. If you're not performing up to snuff, we can let you go at any time. Not only that, but the road ahead of you won't be easy. As cliché as that sounds, you all still need to earn your places on this team. What do I mean by that?" Smith continued as he paused for a dramatic moment. "I mean training, boys and girls! Over the next few weeks you will all undergo rigorous, and soul-building, training exercises. Think of it as a type of boot camp. After a few weeks of training, we will test you again, using a more difficult one than the entry one. Then, we'll see how to stack up and if you truly have what it takes to be members of this team. Are there any questions?" Smith shouted and then asked. A good number of hands shot up right away, but the female worker who just stepped down walked up to Smith and whispered something into his ear.
"Well, sorry about that, kids. I've just been informed all questions will take place at the end of this little party. So just to sum things up, you may have made it this far, but we'll see how you fare in a few weeks after our Graycon boot camp! Well I guess that's all I have to say." Smith finalized as he stepped down from the podium amidst a round of applause. "Thank you, Mr. Smith. Our next speaker will be Mr. Scott Summers." The woman who served as MC told the masses as another round of applause ensued and the sunglass-clad young man stepped up to the microphone. "Hello everyone! Before anyone asks, yes, these shades are awesome, and necessary." Scott began his speech with a smile as the room let out a chuckle.
"Now I know there's been some confusion about exactly what this Hero Initiative is all about. Unfortunately, I'm not the man to clear that up. I am however, a… specialist of sorts and I'll be assisting with the training routines. As my associate and friend Smith told you all, there will be a few week period of preparation and growth for all of you. During that time, you will undergo intense physical activity, but you will also grow in mind and spirit. It's not going to be easy, but none of you will have to go at it alone. Each of you has been assigned a mentor to help guide you through this experience. Although each mentor has multiple protégés, they are here to help guide you and one another through this. One of the main themes of this Initiative, and Graycon in general I'm told, is personal growth and teamwork. Therefore, there are different groups of you assigned to each other and you are to help each other, at the guidance of your mentor. You will find out which groups you've been assigned to, and who your mentor is, when you return to your room." Scott told them all, leading to much whispering among the crowd. "Now settle down, there's no reason for nervousness or anything. You all are amazing people and will make great heroes. Thank you, and see some of you later." Scott finished as he stepped down. Another round of applause occurred, and the MC woman walked up once again.
"Thank you, Mr. Summers. As you've heard, most of the technicalities of the upcoming events, that is, the training regiment, has been revealed. Before we dismiss tonight's assembly, we at Graycon would like to thank you once again for joining us. Without any further ado, I would like to introduce the man behind this company, a man of great wisdom, knowledge, vision, and taste. Please welcome warmly, Mr. Blake Gray!" The woman semi-exclaimed as the room burst into applause once again. As this introduction, the man himself, dressed in black, walked up on stage with a wave. "Thank you, Pamela, you've been great tonight." Blake Gray nodded. "At the risk of sounding repetitive, congratulations and welcome to Graycon, we're so glad to have you here!" Blake told them all in his somewhat serious, yet mysteriously emotional voice. "I would like to personally address you all tonight because, as Scott has said before me, we are all a team, and even I, its leader, cannot accomplish much on my own. I founded the Graycon Enterprises Corporation with the hopes of building a better world, no, to improve, to evolve this world and make it the world of peace and hope that I know it can be." Blake began his speech in earnest.
"As you may know, Graycon produces, develops, and distributes medical, communicative, and law enforcement technology, items, and personnel. This is one way that we help change the world: by giving life to those in distress, justice to those wronged, and bonds of connection to the lonely. This however, is not enough for me. I won't stop until this world is the beautiful planet I know it can be, and that's when I got the idea for the Hero Initiative. What if I could bring together people, all people, of different backgrounds and abilities, exceptional people such as yourselves, and together we could do more than any individual could? That is what this is all about: to build a team of, I guess you could say superheroes haha, and be there for the citizens of the world, for all mankind in ways are scarce imaginable now. That, my new friends, is my dream. No, it was a dream, but now it is coming true. And you, at least for now, are all a part of it! The gauntlet is thrown, and with the power of unity, we will bring this dream to full fruition and bring life, new life, to a world bound in chaos!" Blake exclaimed as he finished his speech and all left sitting in the room rose to their feet to deliver a standing ovation. "Thank you, my new friends. We are dismissed for tonight, but I hope to see you all again soon. Farewell for now, and the best of all good luck, for tomorrow, the journey to a new world of dreams begins!" Blake concluded the assembly with a huge smile and more applause.