The beeping of an alarm is the first thing he heard the morning of the week that would change his life forever. Peter yawned as he hit dismiss on his app flashing on his phone's screen, rolling over again.
"Peter! Come on, time for school!" May's voice called down the hall, her footsteps pounding through the dorm apartment. "Your breakfast is going to get cold!"
That got the boy moving and five minutes later, as he was making his way toward the kitchen, the melody to wake up the entire academy started playing over the loudspeaker. Peter always woke a little early because he hated being startled awake by the annoying good morning song. He slid into his chair and smiled as May gave him a kiss on top of his head, ruffling his curls. "I'll be home early today, so you won't have to cook."
At that the boy made a face. "Why don't we just eat in the cafeteria? At least they're a little edible."
"Hey!" she said in shock, though amusement could be heard in the tone. "I'll let you know the headmaster enjoyed my walnut date loaf very much, thank you!"
"He only took it because he wasn't trying to be rude. Come on, May, your reputation for being a bad cook is pretty infamous in the halls of the school." He picked up the fried-cake on his plate which was like a plate and stiff as a board for an example.
"All right, I'll admit I don't cook that well, but it's not as bad as all that." She poked at the stiff fried-cake before she left the room. "And make sure to finish what's on your plate. Both of them!"
Peter laughed at the joke and just hid the cake in a napkin before throwing it out and racing back to his room. With his door closed, he put a CD into his stereo and started getting ready for the day. Brushing his teeth, he bopped his head back and forth to the beat, his curls bouncing along, which he then fixed. He then quickly put his uniform on and grabbed his homework, the papers filled with elaborate equations and safety protocols that he had to memorize. But, it excited him, because he was closer to becoming an apprentice flight engineer, which was even closer to becoming a pilot! "See you later, May!"
"Bye honey!"
The boy shut the door and practically ran to the school building, throwing open the doors. "Peter!" His best friend's voice made Peter turn around and a big smile lit up his face.
"Harley, what's up man?" They grabbed each other's arms, then slid their hands down then to 'explode', making the sounds as their hands separated.
"Nothing much, just wondering why you're always the first in the halls." The dark haired boy smirked at him as he slammed Peter's shoulder playfully.
"I may be first, but you're always right behind me. Looking to get on Captain Potts' good side? Because you loooove her?" Peter cackled when Harley's face went red.
"I do not. I just want to impress her because I think I'm failing." Harley sighed.
"I got a ninety-eight on my last equipment test." His head hung down as he pouted.
"Oh, ninety-eight…that's harsh," Peter joked, stumbling when the other boy pushed him and laughed. "Don't sweat it, man! You're one of the smartest kids in the academy, and anyone would be grateful to have you on board."
"Oh, I know," Harley joked, puffing his own chest out, but the other boy elbowed him in the chest, making him choke. "Dude! Not cool!" He rubbed his chest, but Peter was laughing too hard to respond.
"What's so funny Penis?" An annoying voice sobered up both boys and the older of the two stiffened. "Finally get to look in a mirror?" An oily haired student slid in between the two. He wasn't smarter than Peter, but since the boy's first day, the bully had been on Peter's case. Harley said it was because he was jealous, but Peter had no clue why. Flash had everything. He had good grades, two parents, was popular, and rich, everything that Peter had wanted. But, he couldn't help but feel bad for the bully.
Harley moved, making Peter snap out of his thoughts. The older boy was smirking. "No, we finally got to see you without your makeup, and boy was that hysterical!"
Flash's face turned red and he balled his fists at his sides, bringing one up. "You're dead, Keener!" He was about to bring his fist up to Harley's face, when a hand grabbed him from behind.
"What was that, Mr. Thompson?"
Mr. Barton scowled down at the boy, blue eyes churning like the ocean during a storm. "Did you threaten a fellow student with bodily harm and a death threat?" The man's chiseled jaw was ticking in his annoyance under his five O'clock shadow.
"N-no!" the bully squeaked, his coffee skin turning a sickly green, brown color. "I-I-I-I-" He stared at the muscled arm beyond the hand that was holding him half off the ground.
"You were what?" Mr. Barton finally released the boy, watching him stumble back into the lockers. "Get outta here, you little punk. You have detention. With me. After school. Now go." When the boy stood frozen, the teacher growled. "That's an order, Cadet Thompson!" Flash jumped and practically ran from the man, not even looking back. "You two okay?"
"Yes, Mr. Barton, sir!" Peter replied, both cadets standing at attention. "Thank you for your assistance."
The man smirked and clapped both boy's on the shoulder. "At ease, boys. You're gonna be late for class. Go ahead."
The boys smiled and almost ran down the hall to Ms. Potts' class not noticing Mr. Barton watching them.
"You're late." Captain Potts stated to the two boys who ran into the classroom, both panting. The woman's strawberry blonde hair was pulled into a serious bun, highlighting her classic bone structure. Her blue eyes showed her annoyance at being interrupted.
"Sorry Captain!" Peter said in between breaths. "We were detained."
"Hmm…see that it doesn't happen again. Now, to your seats. We're discussing sub-orbital flight and the long term effects on the body." She waited for the boys to get to their seats, and started. Pepper checked on her students often during her lesson, noting that more than a few looked bored. But, the two students she knew who were paying attention were staring right at the board, pens scribbling like mad as they took notes on every word the Captain said.
"Who can tell me how far up you need to reach sub-orbital flight and feel weightless?" She waited, staring at the company. "Anyone?" Two hands shot into the air and she had to hide a smile. "Harley."
"One hundred kilometers, Captain, or sixty-two miles above sea level."
"Very good, Cadet Keiner. Now, extra question, what is that altitude called?" Peter's hand shot into the air a second before Harley could answer, and this time she couldn't help but chuckle. "Peter."
"The Karman Line, named after Theodore von Karman, who formulated the idea that at this height was too thin for regular flight. It's also called the edge of space."
"Very good, Cadet Parker. I can see someone has paid attention in the past," Pepper sent a glare to the other cadets, who sat straight at that look. "All of you have a bright future, but you're not showing that you have the drive to become Pilots for the Reed center…." She sighed. "And because of this, I am telling you that tomorrow there will be a pop quiz on all of this. I'm being nice and letting you know beforehand this way you can come prepared.
"Now, there are twelve long term effects on the body and they are as follows: after about a dozen flights, the pilot's spine itself stretches, but it doesn't cause too much pain. It corrects itself in a few months of being on the ground and the pilot can start flying again.
"The second is on too many extra long flights, the muscles of the pilot loses some of their muscle mass. This is why we insist on the pilots being in fit shape in order to stay on, especially those who take long flights that last more than six hours. Please turn to page thirty-two of your books and read the following pages and take notes, until you reach the third effect."
Silence followed for a long while, everyone focused and taking the appropriate notes until the last page was turned and the students turned their attention to Captain Potts. "Everyone ready to move on? Good. Now, the third effect would be-"The bell rang and the students started packing their bags. She saluted the cadets, who stood altogether and saluted her back. "You're dismissed." She watched the kids rush out of the classroom to their next class.
The day went by fast, and before he knew it, Peter was in line for lunch, his foot tapping with excess energy from sitting so long listening to teachers drone on and on. He was young and needed to move. After his muscles were tired from hopping in place, he leaned against the window, the smog so thick that the city was barely visible from the sky deck the school was built on. Pollution and factory smog had been getting worse and worse with each passing year until people had to start building homes on top of towers to give them clean air to breathe. But, it happened that only the rich could afford to be in those towers.
Peter remembered living in the smog filled city below and it left some bad health problems like asthma, which was getting better now that he lived in the dorms of the school. If he hadn't gotten the scholarship, he would still be below that thick cloud, struggling to breathe, or dead.
He noticed the line moving and stepped forward, when someone rammed into his shoulder, causing the boy to cry out and hold the limb. "Oops." Flash's annoying voice filled the boy's ears and he rolled his eyes.
"Just leave me alone, Flash." Peter was getting tired of the bully's crap. He rolled his shoulder and winced when it was tender.
"Why should I when you obviously have no one around to protect you. No friends," the bully looked around. "No teachers." He then pressed Peter closer to the window, the other students backing away. "And I still owe you for what your boyfriend said to me this morning." Flash's eyes hardened. He looked up slightly into Peter's face. Then, without hesitation, he slammed a fist into Peter's stomach, causing said boy to double over and gasp for air. "That was just a love tap. You or your boyfriend say anything like that to me again, it'll be worse." He turned and walked away, laughing with a few of the other kids pointing at the boy holding his stomach.
Peter lost his appetite after that, so he got off the line and went to the library, grabbing his books out of his locker on the way. The least he could do was get some of the assignments Captain Potts gave them. And wait to see if a bruise formed on his sore ribs, which the way he felt, he was sure about that.
Lost in the pages of a book, Peter barely heard the bell ring. A clearing of a throat made the boy look up, the librarian gesturing to a clock with a smirk. Peter gasped and started packing his books wildly when he heard the chimes for an announcement coming over the loudspeaker.
"Cadets Parker and Keener, to Colonel Richards' office. Cadets Parker and Keener, to Colonel Richards' office." The near robotic voice of the colonel's secretary rang through the halls. Peter froze as the few students in the library stared at him.
The first thought that came to mind was what did they do wrong? Then it was, did Flash say they started the fight? Or, his overactive brain thought, maybe they did something terribly bad, and they were going to be expelled? Peter shook his head. No, that couldn't be. It was on video that Flash had hit him.
With a gulp, he stood up and crammed what books and papers he had left, into his backpack, not caring about the state they were in before practically running out of the library. The entire way to the headmaster's office, the bad thoughts kept running through Peter's mind, making his heart beat faster and the dread rise farther.
Harley was waiting outside the headmaster's office. He looked as nervous as Peter did. "What do you think we did?" Peter asked panting, his eyes wide.
"I have no clue, but it can't be good if we're being summoned to this office." The door swung open and Mr. Barton stuck his head out, his eyes softening at the look the two gave him.
"Hey, what's with the scared looks?"
Harley gulped so loud, even Peter heard it. "We're ready to accept our punishment for whatever we did, sir," he said lowly and Peter just looked at the ground. What they weren't expecting was the laugh coming from Mr. Barton. It started out as a chuckle, and then he was actually holding his middle.
"Punishment?" the man cackled. "What made you think you were being punished?"
"W-well," Peter started, wringing his hands. "No one is called to the Colonel's office, except for punishment…and the fight Flash caused this morning…" He wasn't going to mention the fight-if you could call it that- which the headmaster probably had seen on the security cams.
"Don't even mention that little creep's name to me. I still have plans for him in detention. But, don't worry, you were called here for something good. Promise." He stepped aside and ushered the cadets inside. Instantly they stood straight at attention, saluting the dark haired man sitting behind the desk, Mr. Barton following.
"The cadets you wanted, Sir."
"Ahh, thank you, Clint. At ease." Colonel Richards sat back, his elbows on his desk. "Peter and Harley, correct?" He couldn't miss the way the two seemed to tremble in his presence.
"Y-yes sir," Harley nodded.
"Good. I've been looking into your grades and I must say I am very impressed. Normally, when we do have scholarship students, they slack off once they're in the school." It didn't happen very often, and Peter and Harley both had stunning grades to go with their scholarships. "But, not you two. And that impressed me." He smiled at the look the boys gave him.
"It impressed me so much, that I've decided to let you two take the flight simulation for real. The only placement I could get for the both of you though, was next week." The room became silent from the news, both boys staring at him slack jawed.
"I don't expect you to be flying alone, though. Mr. Barton and Captain Potts have both agreed to be with you on the flight. You both are allowed to take one extra person of your choosing to take with you. It will be a week long excursion. Consider it a reward for your hard work this year."
The boys smile's grew brighter and they looked at one another excitedly. "It's an honor, Colonel, Sir!" Peter said, his voice cracking in his excitement, making him turn red.
"Yes, this is a great honor, Sir." Harley said, his face so serious, it made Reed chuckle.
"Calm down, Cadet Keiner. But, I will warn you," his face turned serious, "that this is also a test proving the two of you will be capable pilots and your futures are riding on this."
Peter and Harley both trembled at that, but saluted the man with a loud 'Yes Sir!'
"Study hard, and try and get as much Simulation time as you need. In fact, I'll open the Baxter building to the both of you, this way you'll have state of the art simulators to work with."
To say the boys were shocked was an understatement. The Baxter building? "I-it's truly an honor, Sir!" Peter said, his face beaming.
"I'll have your passes ready for you by tomorrow. You're dismissed."
Both boys slammed their heels together and saluted before exiting the room.
"We get to go to the top floor of the Baxter Building!" Peter cried as soon as they were out of the Colonel's office. His young eyes were sparkling with wonder and excitement. "I've always wanted to see what they do up there! I've heard that they've been working on actual space flight! How crazy is that? We might get to go to the moon someday, maybe farther! We may even discover a new planet! How cool would that be!"
Harley listened with a soft smile. His younger friend always got this way when talking about the science of space flight and or chemistry. "It would be so cool. You gonna be the first to step on the moon?" he ruffled Peter's hair, cackling.
"I just might!" Peter said indignantly.
"I'm sure you will, bud. Come on, we'll be late for Harrington's class, and you know him and his stories if you're late." Harley slung his arm around Peter's shoulders and tugged him towards the classrooms.
*~*
"May?" Peter tossed his bag into the corner of his school apartments, listening for his aunt moving about the house. "May, you home?" He bounced through the kitchen and down the hallway where he found his aunt working on something at her computer, headphones in and speaking to someone.
"That's fine. Just keep an eye on her vitals and BP, okay?" There was a pause as the other person's lips were moving. "No, no, she hasn't had a problem with her oxygen since she was admitted, so you should be fine. If not, call me and I'll walk you through it on my way. Janet, you'll be fine, I promise. Just do what you have to do and you'll be great. Okay, talk to you later." The screen went blank and May sighed, pulling out the earphones.
"You got a call from your apprentice?"
Peter's voice made the woman scream and twirl around in the chair so fast she actually spun herself in a circle. "Peter! Oh my god don't do that!" She held a hand to her heart and gave her grinning nephew a mock glare. "I swear you're out to kill me." Getting up, she gave the young boy a hug. "How was school today?"
The boy was practically bouncing in May's arms until she finally let go. "I have something amazing to tell you! Captain Potts suggested to Colonel Richards for Harley and I to take the flight test early!" His face was beaming so much it was almost glowing. "He scheduled the test for next week! And that's not the best part, either. Colonel Richards told us we can take one person with us, and since you're family…can you maybe take a week off?" He looked a little worried when May's brow furrowed.
"Next week? Isn't that a little last minute? And why a week? I thought the test was a one day thing." What would cause the man to schedule a test so soon? Maybe she should call the school.
"Well, that was the only placement open in the next two years, and the colonel really thinks we'll do amazing! And he also said we deserved a break, so the test would be the flight to wherever we're going, he hasn't told us yet, and back, but there will be a small vacation in between, so that's why it'll be a week. Can you come?"
"I don't know, honey. That is really short notice, so I don't know if I'll be able to get that time off, but, I do have some vacation coming up, so I'll talk to my boss. I can't-" She laughed at the way Peter was practically bouncing in place. "I can't promise anything, so don't get your hopes up, okay?"
"Yes, May." The boy was still grinning though. May's boss was sweet on her, so he would so approve this vacation. He wouldn't want Skip dating her, but if he could pull some strings, he would definitely allow it. "Okay, I'm gonna go call Harley and tell him the good news! Bye May!"
"Peter, I told you….and he's gone." She hung her head. "I swear that boy is too hyper." She smiled all the same and turned back to her computer to get some work she'd brought home done before taking her nephew out to dinner to celebrate.
*~*
That weekend found two boys stepping off the monorail above the city and stopping to look up at the intimidating white and silver building towering over Peter and Harley. The afternoon sun glinted off the windows, reflecting it back onto the clouds to create a mirrored world of light. It was a sight to behold.
"I wonder how tall it is?" Peter asked, staring up at the top of the buildings that looked as if it were scraping the sky itself.
"It's thirty-five stories tall, so about three-hundred-eighty feet in total. But, that doesn't include the sublevel floors. I read it last night on my comp-tab. It's really interesting. Did you know this is also where the city gets its power, including our school?" The younger boy just rolled his eyes.
"You're a dork. Let's go." He laughed and pulled a pouting Harley behind him. They had just walked in and Peter stopped, causing Harley to collide with him.
"Woah! Look at this! How cool is this!" Peter's voice echoed through the lobby, making a few of the employees smile and giggle. "I mean, we're in the actual Baxter Building! I wanna see every floor before we go to the simulation floor!" Harley shook his head, pulling the boy's head under his arm.
"No, we're on a time schedule, you doof! We only have a week to prepare for our flight."
Peter pouted and tried to pull his head out from Harley's grip. "I know that! I just got excited, that's all." They walked to the receptionist, who was giggling at Peter's outburst, making the boy blush and look down.
"Good morning boys. How can I help you today?" She smiled at Peter, who had looked up.
"Hello Ma'am," the older of the two spoke in a deeper voice. "We're here to use the simulation room. We have our flight test in a week." Harley puffed out his chest, but his voice remained the same volume.
"Oh really? Aren't you a little young?" The woman pushed her brown locks behind her ear. The boy couldn't be older than fifteen, possibly younger. and Jenny couldn't allow kids upstairs just because they said they were given permission. If she did that, every kid would have to be let in, and she could never handle that.
"He's not," Peter said lowly. "But, I was offered to take the same test together as Harley by Colonel Richards himself." He then pulled his backpack off his shoulder, digging around and showing the woman his pass. "He even made us these passes."
"Oh my," the woman stared at the pass, her green eyes wide in shock. They were actual building passes given to the members of Richards' team themselves. "I had no idea the special visitors Mr. Richards would be so young. Let me just scan your badges and you can go right up." Peter and Harley handed the woman their passes, both boys looking proud, as they should. They would be the youngest pilots on the sub-orbital force in history, especially Peter.
"Okay, everything checks out. You boys train hard, okay, but remember to take frequent breaks. I've heard that room can be intense," the woman informed, her face serious.
Harley nodded. "Thank you, Ma'am. We will." He began walking, Peter following, looking around with wide eyes.
"I still think this is awesome," he said for the hundredth time. "Have you asked your mom to come on the trip?"
The older boy's face fell as he nodded. "Yeah…but she can't get off work on such short notice." He had really wanted her to come, but she couldn't. The diner wouldn't have been able to cover her shift for a whole week. His mom did seem sorry to have to miss his test, but she promised to tell everyone at the diner, this way they could celebrate with them after hours. "But, I understand. I'm not some little kid," he pushed Peter playfully through the elevator doors as they opened.
"Hey!" The younger stumbled, catching himself on the wall. "I'm not a little kid! I'll let you know my fifteenth birthday is in two months, thank you very much." He put his nose in the air.
"Okay, okay. Your aunt coming?"
Peter's eyes lit up and he nodded. "Yeah! She said she'd talk to her boss, but it looks good! So, she'll be able to video every second of the trip and show it to your mom when we get back!"
Harley nodded, watching the numbers rise until the elevator beeped and the doors opened.
*~*
"Woah…" was all Peter could say as the two stepped through the doors. The technology on this floor was amazing! In the middle of the floor sat a large dome shaped room that took up more than half the floor. "This…this is so cool."
"I know, right?" Harley was looking around, his eyes wide with wonder, when suddenly a gruff voice snapped them both out of their stupors.
"Hey, there's no kids allowed on this floor! It's dangerous!" A hulking bald man made his way over to the boys, his footsteps quick. "Waddya think you're doin' here, anyway?"
"We…we have passes," Peter stuttered, holding up his blue pass in a shaking hand. "The colonel invited us. For simulation practice…" His face was red and he was looking at the floor.
"Lemme see those." The man grabbed Peter's pass and studied it. "Well I'll be a monkey's uncle. You must be the little geniuses Richie told us about! How ya's doing?" He clapped both boys on the shoulder, catching their winces. "You wanna get straight to it, or do ya's wanna have a tour first?"
"Umm…a tour would be great, Sir," the oldest responded.
"Tour it is. I know you's don't have a lot of time, so let's get rolling. Introductions first. Susie! Over here!"
A blonde woman looked up from the keyboard she was furiously typing at. "What is it, Ben? I'm kind of busy."
"Well, you can take a second break. These are the kids Richie told us about. Introduce yourselves."
Peter and Harley stared up at Susan Storm as if they were seeing the northern lights themselves. "Miss Storm…I mean, Dr. Miss-I mean Dr. Susie…Oh, I'm dead." Peter's face turned an even brighter shade of red and he hunched his shoulders down until just the tips of his ears were showing. Dr. Storm chuckled as she took her glasses off.
"Susan is fine. And let me guess, the red one is Peter," the boy nodded. "And that must mean this is Harley."
"Yes Ma'am. It's nice to meet you." He held his hand out and shook the woman's hand.
"Good to see one of you is together," the woman said jokingly. "Don't be so nervous, Cadet Parker. I don't bite, I promise." She smiled softly at the boy, who nodded.
"Yes Ma'am."
"Good. Now, my job here is to measure spikes of electromagnetic fields that appear in the upper atmosphere." She pointed to three screens that had small lines jumping up and down on them. "This measures the amount of activity, this tells me where they are and this one measures the frequency," she turned to each screen respectively. "I see nothing new, so this is a good thing for suborbital pilots. It helps keep them safe and us out of trouble." She smirked at her joke.
"Do you have any other jobs?" Peter asked, watching the lines on the screen jump.
"Yes, actually. I often have to go into suborbital space in order to get a better reading of the ozone for safer flights, and to experiment on new ways in order to create quicker flight plans safely."
"That's kind of awesome, actually," retorted Peter, staring at the consoles. "Do you send your findings to the pilots or to the radio tower?"
"Excellent question. I actually send it to both, plus the pilots also get a vibration meter just in case any falling debris from space comes into the atmosphere. It's happened quite a lot, and before this, a lot of crafts actually went down. We had a whole legal battle until we came up with this idea."
"So it measures any kind of disturbance around the plane?" Asked Harley. "How does it do it? I mean, it's got to have a high frequency to detect even the most subtle of vibrations in the atmosphere around the entire plane. There's got to be hundreds of tiny cameras and wave sensors hidden in every plane!"
"Yes, actually," Susan's eyes were alight with wonder. "No wonder why Richard likes you two. He loves students that are full of questions." She smiled down at the two. They really were a little young to be taking the flight simulation test, but her fiance had been talking about these two nonstop for days. Ever since Pepper had mentioned it, he'd been all gung-ho about it. It really was cute to see him excited about something.
"Don't let Suzy-Q here bore you guys," came another voice as the door opened. "I actually have the best job."
"Great," Ben sighed. "Kids, this is the younger-and dumber- sibling of Dr. Storm. Johnny, introduce yourselves to the cadets."
"Heys, kiddo's. Nice to meet you, I'm Captain Storm. The youngest pilot the Sub-Orbital crew has ever seen." He made a muscle man pose. His uniform was a dark blue, as was everyone's, but his matched him better with the darker skin. It might have been the shaved head, or his attitude, Peter didn't know. All he knew was that he liked Captain Storm.
"Hello sir," the younger boy said, saluting him.
"Hey, hey, no sirs around me, okay? And put that hand down, don't want you poking an eye out. Just call me Jay, okay?"
Ben snickered. "He always wants to seem cool and hip in front of the kiddies."
"Hey, I am hip, man! It's just hanging around you old dudes all day makes me miss seeing young faces." Jay then looked around the room. "Oh yeah…where's their tour group? I was hoping to let the little group to take some photos of me being the awesome pilot I am."
The two scientists looked at each other before bursting into laughter. "That's a good one, hot head!" Ben cackled.
"What?" Jay cried angrily.
"There is no tour group. It's just these two. They're here to use the simulation machine," Sue responded. "Oh, and I would rethink that 'youngest pilot ever' title, because these two are taking the test in a week's time."
The pilot's face fell as he stared at the two youngsters in front of him. There was no way! "When did this happen?"
"Colonel Richards told us earlier this week, Mr. Storm." Harley felt pride well in his chest at that. And Ben noticed, grinning at the look on the boy's face.
"Well, I think we should let them get to training," the bald man said, clapping Johnny on the shoulder. "Come on. You can show off later, or maybe the kids can tell you how to do your job better."
Johnny sent him a look that made Ben throw his head back and laugh, pulling the young man out.