Yan Lin slumped into her chair and groaned.
"You okay, Ace?" Dr. Grant asked.
"Do I look okay?" snorted the former superhero.
Dr. Grant shrugged his shoulders and sat down. He gestured toward the guards, who walked to a pair of large doors. One of the guards opened them, and said something to whoever was on the other side. Slowly, one by one, teens, all around the same age, made their way into the room. Each sat down on, waiting to be called up for testing.
Yan Lin scanned each face of the waiting 'heroes-to-be'. Really, in a way she felt sorry for them, but then again, she also found herself disliking them more as she looked at them. Then her heart just stopped in her chest. Oh no, she thought, her eyes pausing at another Asian girl, one with long hair tied to in distinct pigtails. Both Asians made eye-contact, and looks they exchanged were less than friendly.
Dr. Grant stood up suddenly, booming out to the small batch of kids, "Alright, kids. Come up to the front and show us what you've got. Remember, only a few of you will be selected, so break a leg!"
"Just don't break your collar bone," Yan Lin murmured under her breath.
The contest wasn't as boring as Yan Lin credited it to be. It was actually . . . just plain annoying.
One kid tried to impress the judges with her 'gift' of blinking really fast. The only thing it did to Yan Lin was give her a headache.
The next kid thought it would be funny to spit out paper spit wods like bullets. That just plain rude, but thankfully Yan Lin had enough sense to duck before the paper bullets met their mark.
The next one, however, slightly caught her attention.
A redhead had stood before them, and when Dr. Grant gestured for her to act, lightning began to spark across the room. The woman's hands trembled a bit as she vagely remembered a friend of hers who had that same power. But she quickly pushed it out of her mind. Dr. Grant was grinning ear-to-ear as he stamped the redhead's report with green letters saying 'APPROVED.'
Next in line was something to behold. When Yan Lin thought she would end up laughing her head off again of the blonde's insisting her power was to cheer, and she was a cheerleader, finally getting her mad enough to lift the table with her mind.
Her report got stamped 'APPROVED.'
The next kid . . . urgh, his 'power' was too repulsive to even describe on paper or Internet. His report's only stamp was 'DENIED' forty seven times.
A brunette came up and lifted the water out of Yan Lin's glass without even touching it. She nodded to Dr. Grant, who stamped her report with 'APPROVED.'
Another joke of a kid came up, deministering his power of blowing up a giant, gross, green booger. And then having it explode. Good thing Yan Lin had extra clothes in her room.
A shy African girl came up, not wanting to meet anyone in the eye. Yan Lin, feeling rather impatient and uncaring of how the girl might being feeling right now, said, "So, is your power so strong that you can't even look at us?" And it wasn't just said in a mean way. It sounded mean, too. Feeling pushed to use her power, her eyes lit up and the paperwork caught on fire. Dr. Grant and the other judge worked on putting the fire out while Yan Lin gasped in awe, "You pass."
Now, now this was the one that Yan Lin wished she had the power of invisibility. Of course, ironicily, the next contestant had that very power. But Yan Lin knew as soon as she caught sight of the girl, her life was over.
It was none other than Hay Lin, her niece who made it her life's propose to make Yan Lin miserable. And boy, was she good at it. When Hay Lin demonstrated her power of invisibility, she walked to the desk unseen and slapped Yan Lin three times on the back of the head, at different times. It took all of security to relocate her, and it was just the Lin's luck that Dr. Stag had a spray paint can handy (though why he had one in the first place remained questionable).
Now, with five girls chosen to became the new Zenith team, Yan Lin had a very sick feeling in her stomach.
She slowly walked through the hallways, on her way to 'meet the new team and get to know them better', or as Dr. Stag happily put it.
However, Yan Lin took her sweet time getting to the classroom where the kids would be studying school based stuff (hey, while here, they couldn't get in trouble with the government and skip school), traveling back down the most hatred yet beloved memory lane. Here, she and her team made history. And it was also here where she betrayed them all.
Yan Lin stopped in front of the Gamma 13 ray gun. Memories of darkness and betrayal entered her mind, but she shook them away, not wanting to think of them ever again, especially once this was all over.
Dr. Stag was waiting in front of the classroom door when Yan Lin finally arrived. Eagerly, he rushed over to her with glittering eyes and breathed, "Are you excited, Captain Ace? We have the new Zenith team, and now there's nothing to worry about of Tsunami's attack. With you and them, nothing can hurt us."
"I wouldn't go that far, Doc," Yan Lin grumbled bitterly. Glancing at the kids in the room, she said in a hush voice, "Hey, the general doesn't plan on . . . you know, gamma 13 radiating them?"
"Oh no!" Dr. Stag stated sternly, shaking his head. "After what happened to Tsunami, well, we can't afford another incident like that. We'll do this the old fashion way, healthy and natural."
"What's natural about mutant kids?" Yan Lin muttered under her breath, but Dr. Stag didn't seem to catch that statement, as he opened the door and said, "Come on. Time to meet the team."
The two walked in, and the chattering stopped the moment the two stepped in. Hay Lin and Yan Lin made eye-contact again, and the two Asian descendants glared darkly at each other before Dr. Stag said to the whole Zenith team, "Kids, this is Captain Ace, the leader of the first Zenith team."
"Former captain of the depatched Zenith team," Yan Lin corrected. "I'm retired now."
Hay Lin made a loud snorting noise, and Yan Lin made a, 'I'm watching you,' sign with her fingers. Hay Lin shrugged in return, silently stating, 'I don't care,' sign.
"Right," Dr. Stag said, clapping his hands. "But she's come back to help train you all so you can get better at your powers."
"And then the government will juice up with Gamma 13 radiation so you can all go crazy and lose either your life, friends, or powers, or if you're lucky enough, all three at once. So just kiss your social life buh-bye."
Dr. Stag glared at Yan Lin before saying, "Ace's just joking, kids. The Zenith Project will never make that mistake again, I can assure you."
"Remember," Yan Lin said, leaning over and pretending to whisper, "this is the government talking. When have they ever told the truth?"
There was snickering in the room, and Dr. Stag again glared at Yan Lin. The Asian merely shrugged her shoulders. Again, addressing the class of five, Dr. Stag continued, "So, I hope you enjoy your time here working with me and Ace, and we shall begin your training tomorrow. You are dismissed."
The kids slowly got up, all exiting the room muttering to themselves and giggling as they passed Yan Lin and Dr. Stag. Hay Lin paused only to make a rude face and . . . uh, gesture to her aunt before leaving with the others. Yan Lin growled, "Oh, I'm gonna get her . . ."
"Captain Ace," Dr. Stag said sternly, hands on his hips, frowning like a school maron, "how could you say all those things. They aren't true."
"Hey, pal," Yan Lin said pointedly, beginning to turn around and leave, "it's time to wake up and smell the coffee. If you lived the life I did, you'd know exactly what I met by those things. They're all true. Every last one of them. And I'm living proof of it. And so's Tsunami, for that matter." She grabbed her bag and tossed it onto her shoulder, opening the door as she did. "Well, I'll see you tomorrow." And with that, she stepped out the room and left Dr. Stag to his own thoughts.