Notes

I have no rights to any of the Characters I am simply using them as puppets for my own amusement

Claudia had never hated herself so much for being right, she had taken the five days she said she would but that now left the weekend in front of her and more questions than could possibly be answered. She didn't know what to do with herself but she did know she needed to get out the house and stop reading the file, so she went out into the town. Spotting the ice-cream shop she checked her pocket for any change she might have left in there already knowing there would be none. With nothing to do she continued walking to find a small coffee shop with a sign in the window announcing open mike night every Wednesday and Sunday. She was about to just give up on finding anything to do, she spotted a large pile of scrap sitting outside the hardware store, she may not be able to afford anything inside but no one would care about this she though picking through the pile for usable pieces.

She found a small field, okay she though maybe it wasn't a field, those involve actual grass but it was still a space where no one would give a crap about her being in, she needed to be left alone if she was to make what she wanted. Carefully drawing in the sand with a stick she began to create a set of blueprints using the components she had recovered. After an hour she not only had a new gadget but a bracelet she put together from what had been left over. Removing the blueprints with a couple of quick kicks she began to head back, aware of the sun slowly setting in front of her and the hunger from not having eaten all day.

Sunday, that was what the poster said, checking on the website she found that the open mike night started at 6 that afternoon. She would head there and maybe if she was lucky they would have a guitar lying around she could play. After stealing an apple from the kitchen, hey they had to at least provide her with the ability to get food if they wanted to keep getting the cheques, she realised that after yesterday she had completely wiped out all possibilities of entertainment in this town so sat down with her laptop to continue with the new coding, next time it wouldn't take her even half as long to get into such strong encryption.

Running into the coffee shop at 6:30 Claudia was panting, she had gotten so caught up in her coding she hadn't even noticed the time until at was past 6 O'Clock.

"Hey do you still have any spots left?" She asked the man at the counter between deep breaths still slightly doubled over.

"Kid. Breath. Look we only have three people on tonight at the moment, this isn't LA. You'll be on about 7:30."

"Also do you have a guitar I can borrow, mines kinda bust right now." She looked up happily, seeing that there weren't too many people in the shop she could breath more easily, as much as she enjoyed doing this it always terrified her too.

"Runs in late, no guitar, please at least tell me you know what songs you're doing." Asked the worker looking at her exasperated, after seeing her nod furiously he pointed to a guitar on the corner of the stage. "That one's mine but you can use it if you want, I'm stuck here today so it's no use to me." Claudia thanked him and walked off to find a seat and watch the next two singers.

An hour later she climbed up onto the stage already getting funny looks, she was under half the age of any of the other performers and probably the youngest person to have the guts to get up there. Grabbing the guitar from the corner she softly strummed it relieved to find it in tune.

"Hey I'm Claudia." She spoke to the audience hesitantly unable to stop fiddling and clearly looking uncomfortable with the eyes on her but the second she started to play she relaxed and came alive with the music. She sang a sad song to start but one of her favourites.

"It doesn't hurt me.

You wanna feel how it feels?

You wanna know, know that it doesn't hurt me?

You wanna hear about the deal I'm making?

You be running up that hill

You and me be running up that hill"

Opening her eyes she looked around the crowd to see everyone getting into her music, it was slow and easy though she enjoyed herself as it sped up.

"And if I only could,

Make a deal with God,

And get him to swap our places,

Be running up that road,

Be running up that hill,

Be running up that building,

If I only could, oh…"

Finishing the song she looked up and heard the applause of the audience. Deciding she could get away with her next song she started. STOMP STOMP CLAP. STOMP STOMP CLAP. Quickly the entire room joined in everyone loving the old classic and she started playing the guitar once again. She kept up the lighter and faster pace for the rest of the time feeling exhilarated as she thanked the crowd and left the stage.

"Great show tonight but I think you might have forgotten something." She heard coming from behind her making her jump.

"Pardon."

"My guitar, you're still wearing it." She turned to face the worker from earlier and then looked down to realise she had gotten so caught up she had walked straight of the stage with it still on.

"Thanks for letting me borrow it." She said while handing it back to him.

"Thanks for entertaining that crowd tonight," he came back with, "Come again Wednesday and I might just let you borrow it again."

Still smiling as she got home she collapsed onto her mattress all thoughts of the file completely forgotten for the time being.

Walking into school on Monday she was already looking forward to getting some answers, it was a weird feeling though she had never been this excited to go to school. She actually did work during home room, trying to catch Artie's attention but he was actively ignoring her. After she finally accepted she wasn't going to get what she wanted until after school she fell back into her old routines.

Sitting against a wall at lunch she heard a set of footsteps coming towards her.

"I saw you yesterday." There was a youngish teacher stood above her that she didn't recognise, "You should come down to the music department at some point, you're good."

"Not a big fan of kumbaya music groups but thanks mate." Claudia had learnt long ago you join a club like that it was so much harder to leave.

"Well if you change your mind I'm Mr Maddox, I teach music." He started to walk off leaving Claudia sitting happily on the ground with a smile on her face.

"Okay spill, why us lot." Claudia spoke while storming into the library desperate for answers at this point.

"Five days I was impressed. I take it you read the file then." Artie seemed unfazed by her attitude.

"Yes. Make teams. Solve the unsolvable. Get people with special gifts. Train them up as kids. Awesome, but I don't see why I'm here and what about the rest of these guys, what are they gifted at apart from Myka being gifted at being a freaking pain in everyones ass with her rules." Claudia was getting more worked up, not only had she discovered a government program that trains groups of children but there had been various example cases in the file of unsolvable mysteries.

"Look at your computer." Claudia did as Artie asked unsure to why, she already knew exactly what it looked like. "Okay to find a computer better than that you would have to head to the NSA or NASA and you made that one with nothing more than spare parts you found lying around. That encryption you broke in what 12 days, it took longer than that for a team of NSA hackers to get through and you are 14 years of age." She knew most of this already and the main thought going through her head was humour about how useless the government is. "Claudia, you are probably one of the worlds greatest computer minds to date. That is your gift, as for the others that is for them to tell you." Claudia was frozen, she had never received that much praise in her life and here she was being told she was not only good at what she did but the best. Still frozen in place the other three, who had watched the scene unfold before, them started to nudge each other as is to decide who should go first.

"I can read people auras." Leena had stepped forwards and spoke with an eerie calmness as if she knew the panic within Claudia's mind and was trying to give her something to latch onto and calm herself down with, "Or colours, depends how you look at it." She reached out and placed a hand on Claudia's arm grounding her and bringing her back to reality.

Pete spoke next, "I get vibes."

"You get whats."

"Vibes, kinda feelings when something good or bad is gona happen." As Pete spoke he reached backwards onto the table to where Artie had placed a plate of cookie as he did every session.

"Okay what about you then?" Claudia turned to look at Myka, "Cause you don't seem to be able to do anything due to the stick up your butt."

Myka sighed exasperatedly, "Observation and memory, I can look at something and then recall it perfectly any time later."

"Dude, you must not even have to study for tests, that's awesome."

"Well children now we have got all that sorted Claudia would you like to join as at the table today, I made peanut butter scotchies," after a quick look at the nearly empty plate he continued, "Though if you want one before Pete gets through them all you may want to hurry."

"Awesome so what are we learning today?" Claudia was almost bouncing in the chair as she sat down. "Espionage, code breaking, how to shot a gun?"

"Mission reports and how to write them." Artie announced only to be met with a loud groan.

"Dude seriously." Pete spoke between mouthfuls of cookie, "Look it's Claudia's first real day, couldn't we at least do something vaguely fun."

Claudia took that as an invitation to join the complaining, "I mean come on dude, mission reports, I don't even know what these missions are."

"I am well aware that you read the mission reports in the file." Seeing that they were about to start again he quickly held up his hand to silence them, "We are doing mission reports and that is final." As he turned to face the board Claudia relaxed and sunk slightly lower into her seat, she thought she might start to like it here.

It might slow down slightly update wise soon when I get back to school due to exams, as ever please tell me if anything needs changing, I am aware Myka is a bit off compared to the series but this is going off pilot Myka she should hopefully be more normal Myka as the series progresses.