Chapter 5: Roman and Hudson meet
Roman stretched languidly at 0900 hours, the next morning. He had fallen asleep as soon as they had reached the M3. Jazz had driven for another two hours before pulling over at a motorway services, which had a Travelodge located on the same grounds for them to stay in for the night. Johnny had carried him into their pre-booked hotel room on the second floor; room 214. They had arrived at the Travelodge at 21:00 the night before. Luckily they had packed an over-night bag between them.
Looking around the room, Roman noticed that it was a double room with an ensuite bathroom. He looked down and saw that Johnny had changed him into his sleeveless Transformers pyjama t-shirt and shorts. Clearly he had found it amusing that Roman had bought a set of pyjama t-shirts and shorts with designs of each of the six worlds on them. Roman shrugged; to him, it made perfect sense. If he was destined to protect these worlds when he was older in their individual wars, he might as well buy something relating to them now whilst he was still very much a three-year- old innocent kid and not a war-trained teenager. Next to him, Johnny was slowly waking up, having felt his charge move around. He sent Roman into the bathroom with his clothes to freshen up and get dressed.
They would then walk into the main services to grab breakfast and then head towards the M25 leaving Surrey behind. But before that, they needed to check out of their room. They desperately wanted to get an early start to clear some distance between them and the Dursley's. The more distance, the better it was for them and for Roman. Johnny and Jazz knew they were being paranoid but they coulds not change the mindset as they were worried Roman would be taken off them and forced back to the Dursleys. Even though the only member with legal guardianship rights had been Petunia, her guardianship had transferred itself over to Johnny as soon as Roman left until they landed in America. Until Roman saw each of his guardians and had spent some time with them, Johnny remained as his legal guardian.
Soon the two had checked out of the hotel, had breakfast at Costa and were on the road. They refuelled (recharged in Jazz's case) and left the services. Jazz had recalculated their route so they were heading for Odiham AFB. This meant they were now back on the M3.
"Jazz, why are we back on the M3? You're not taking me back to the Dursley's are you?" Roman asked, dreading the thought of returning to what he fondly called 'Hell on Earth'.
"No, we're not headed back to those animals, silly. Instead, we are heading to the RAF Odiham base. They have a C-17 Army cargo plane waiting for us there." Jazz replied
"Why?" Roman questioned
"Easiest way to get to America" Jazz explained
"Fair" Roman conceded
Within less than twenty minutes, they arrived at the base. Johnny handed over the relevant paperwork hidden in the glove compartment to the officer at the gate and they were let onto the airstrip. The C-17 was waiting for them, it was already packed with equipment ready for drop-off at Annapolis. Roman was bouncing in his seat from excitement, he had never been in an airplane before so this was his first time travelling in one. Johnny chuckled as Jazz parked and cut the engine when they were safely inside. Roman unbuckled himself and got out of the car. Jonny also stepped out so Jazz could transform back into his mech form. It would take around five, six hours to get there but Roman was just glad to get away from England. He looked around the plane; now he definitely knew what he wanted to do as a career when he was older. He wanted to be in the Army. He turned to Jazz.
"Jazz" Roman called
"What's the matter, buddy?" Jazz asked him
"Where can I learn to be in the Armed Forces?" Roman asked
"That what ya want to be when your older" Jazz replied
Roman nodded "Yeah" he answered
"America or Britain?" Jazz questioned
"America, along the Western side of the country" Roman replied in a duh voice
Jazz chuckled "Well, there is Hawaii MA, Valley Forge MA and Army and Navy MA. Valley Forge may be in Pennsylvania whilst Army and Navy is in San Diego but Valley Forge is a good academy to have as a backup plan. Saying that, your best bet is HMA. " he said
"When will I start?" Roman asked, interested; he knew Jazz was right about having another school as a backup even if it happened to be located on the Eastern half.
"When you're eleven. It's basically a senior school for students who want to go into the Armed Forces. Another point is that the academies take after the English education system and not the American." Jazz explained
"Oh," Roman said; he only had to wait seven years, which was fine by him. Until then, he could concentrate on his Predators Scorpions training, his junior school studies and being a kid.
The plane took off, it would take six hours to arrive at McGuire AFB. Roman grabbed his Nintendo DS Lite and played Narnia Prince Caspian for half of the journey. A thought came to him. Jazz and Johnny were seated next to him reading various articles about the current war going on in Iran in an abandoned newspaper.
"Jazz, do you know who my guardians are gonna be. Three couples, one of which are my biological parents, but I don't have a clue as to who the others are." He said
"Yeah I do. Sean and Kirsty McKinley along with Daniel and Angelina Lennox. Daniel and Angelina have a son your age, Will. Will does have a key part to play in one of the worlds but he is not one of the Predators Scorpions. You will know who the other Predators Scorpions are when you meet them." Jazz replied
"Would ya like to know the world's" he added
"Please," Roman said
"Sean and Kirsty are Mutant and Olympian as Sean is the Magical US President and the Olympian Representative whilst Kirsty is the Mutant US Leader. Daniel and Angelina are Magical and Cybertronian. Daniel is an Army Commander and they both know of our existence. Your parents, Steve and Maddy, are the Mundane, Supernatural worlds." Jazz informed him
"Thanks," Roman said; now he knew who his guardians were, he was less anxious to meet them and about his destined role in the Scorpions. Predators.
For the rest of the journey, Roman carried on playing. They soon arrived at the base and Jazz transformed back into his alt-mode. Private Johnson saw them and handed them the relevant paperwork that had already been filled in. Johnny and Roman hopped in and they were off. they headed towards the NJ-68. They were driving for the NJ-536. They had just turned onto the NJ-536 before Jazz spoke.
"I need to get you enrolled into junior school or kindergarten soon, buddy," he said
"Kindergarten, I'm four Jazz. Besides it's the summer break so I'm guessing this is for September." Roman replied
"Yeah, it is. OK, hang on." Jazz said; he quickly filled out an application form for City Centre Kindergarten. Ironically it was where Will Lennox was attending.
"Done, you're in City Centre Kindergarten" he added
"That was quick," Roman remarked
"Yeah well, transferring happens to be easier when it's for the start of the school year" Jazz explained
"Point" Roman agreed
Soon they were on the I-295 which would lead them to the NJ-70. Jazz continued onto the I-676 and he followed the signs for I-76 east. They took the exit 345 towards the market street and turned right onto Arch street. Jazz turned back onto Market market street and turned right for north North 32nd street. Finally, they turned left onto Powelton Avenue and arrived at their new home, West Village Apartments. It was only temporary because as soon as Roman met one set of guardians, Jazz would go with him. The drive took an hour or rather 40 minutes as Jazz went at 90mph for most of it.
Roman ran up to their new apartment: Apartment 240 (see photo on profile). He waited impatiently for Jazz to unlock the front door, before bounding straight in. it was a relatively small apartment worth roughly $20 000. However, since Jazz and Roman were renting it, the price decreased to $420 a month for it. The rent included food, water, gas and electricity so they ended up with a good bargain out of it. As it was late in the day and they were weary from a long day of travelling, Jazz sent Roman to bed soon after giving him something to eat. Roman found his room and crawled under the cool covers. He lay there for half an hour before tiredness took him to the land of sleep and dreams.
A week had passed since Roman had Britain behind to spend the rest of his remaining childhood in America. The next few days had been spent by Roman and Jazz moving their possessions into the apartment. They had also got Roman a name change so he was now Devon Raiden Killian Potter, in order to honour both sets of biological parents.
The following Monday, August 26, Devon started at his new kindergarten centre and he thoroughly enjoying being there without Dudley turning up to terrorize him every chance he got. At lunchtime, Devon was seen relaxing against the old tree in the playground. It was a hot day, about 82°F, and the humidity was making him drowsy. It didn't help him being drained mentally and emotionally. He had spent the entire morning working himself into a panic over his insecurities over not being able to gain any friends at his new play centre.
He had just closed his eyes when he was approached by a quartet of boys, who had also started the same day. Opening his eyes again, he grinned at the pair and patted the ground next to him. He felt a jolt go through him. One of the boys was a Scorpion. He had found his brother. Once they had sat down, Devon could tell all four were nervous. One was rubbing his left arm with his right hand whilst another was looking fascinated with the ground.
"Hi," the boy on the left said
"Hey, you ok" Roman said
"Look I know you probably don't know me or my name but I could really use with a new friend here. I mean I don't really know anyone to be friendly with and I figured that since your new as well, we could kinda stick together. I'm Will, by the way, Will Lennox." the boy, now Will, said, nearly crying from nerves.
The boy on the right looked up "I'm Hudson, Hudson Ward." he said.
Motioning to the other two boys, Devon noticed that one was of African descent and the other was British-American descent.
"These two are Paul Donnelly and Robbie Epps." Hudson introduced.
"I'm Devon Potter, nice to meet you Will, Hudson, Paul, Robbie. I'll be your friend if you'd like, I mean like you said I'm also new, so it kinda makes sense for us to stick together." Devon introduced himself.
"Likewise," Will said softly, his earlier near breakdown showing
"Where are you all from?" Devon questioned, changing the subject
"I'm from Toronto, Canada. There aren't any kindergarten centres over there so my parents enrolled me here. Mom works as an Architect and dad is an Army Commander" Will explained
"Hudson?" Devon asked
"From Massachusetts. Dad's a Senator whilst Mom is a Youth Worker."
"Paul?"
"Republic of Ireland. Mom's an Interior Designer whilst Dad's also an Army Commander.
"So you and Will are both Army Brats. I'm a Navy Brat. My dad served in the Navy SEALs with my uncle Dean and his cousin Steve whilst my mom was a media editor. And Robbie?"
"I'm from Chicago, Illinois. Dad's stationed at PPD, Philadelphia Police Department whilst mom works in the CIA." Robbie explained
"You?" he added, him and the three boys leaning forward
"England, would you believe? I don't sound like I'm from across the pond, though, knowing me. Probably because I was born in Skyros, Greece. I'm an Orphan so my information about any of my family comes second with someone telling me." Devon informed them
"Any siblings? Got an older brother, James, whose like four years older than me so I'm suspecting my uncle Craig had a role in my recent situation over there." He continued
"Nope, an only child,." Will stated
"Ditto" Paul and Robbie added
"Ditto?" Will and Devon looked at them curiously
"Ditto is another word for saying same" Jai Paul said
"Cool" Roman stated
"Got two brothers Christian and Grant. Christian's seven years old so he's older, Grant's three years old so he's baby, leaving me as the middle of three at five years old." Hudson explained
Devon grinned "Well guys this is it. The start of a friendship brotherhood."
The all looked at each other, turned to Devon and grinned. A minute later the bell rang causing the three to race each other back to the classroom. During the next activities, the five boys stuck together in everything. Another bell rang signalling it was the end of the day.
Devon grabbed his bag, with a happy glint in his eye. He had made four good friends on his first day and was enjoying being away from the Dursleys. He saw Johnny and ran to him to hug him. From his perch on his uncle's shoulders, he waved at his new friends, who waved back. He couldn't wait for tomorrow.