Finding her room hadn't been too much of a challenge. Each door had two recruits names on it, so all Demi had to do was find the right one.
The rooms were about what anyone would expect of a dorm, with two beds and two desks on opposite sides of the room. The closets were in the wall, which gave some more space for the girls that would be forced to live together.
The brunette had to admit, she was a bit saddened to not be rooming with Lani, but they barely knew each other, so that might be for the best. Besides, the girl Demetria was rooming with, - Riley was her name-, seemed young, and shy.
Speaking of, Riley was currently sitting cross legged on her bed, completely absorbed by her computer.
"Hey, are you hungry?" Demetria asked the girl. The other recruit just kept furiously typing on her computer, oblivious to the world. It was then that Demi realized Riley had earbuds in, and probably hadn't heard her.
The girl was startled when her roommate gently tapped her shoulder. She took out one of her earbuds, looking up at Demetria with wide, hazel eyes.
"Wanna head down to the mess hall with me? "
Riley thought about this for a moment, before speaking in a soft voice. " Sure."
Smiling, Demi let the girl get up, then walked out of the room with her.
The two were both quiet as they headed to the mess hall. Demetria couldn't help but notice how many freckles seemed to dot across the girl's face and arms. Her hair was pulled up in a messy ponytail, bright fiery strands of hair sticking out. She couldn't help but ask the question that had been bothering her since she had met the girl.
"Hey, how old are you?"
Shocked, the girl nervously played with a few loose strands of her hair. " I-I'm 14," Riley answered.
'Christ, this girl can't even be out of high school yet!'
"14? I thought you had to be 18 to even be considered by the NS-"
" The NSA invited me here, I didn't… I didn't join on my own." The teen interrupted.
"Invited? But… wouldn't that mean you did something to be noticed by them in the first place?"
"I graduated last year, and.. I'm good with computers. Cyber security is pretty important nowadays. Everything is connected to the internet… which means anything can be hacked."
Demetria couldn't argue with that. A few weeks ago an entire state almost lost their power grid because of some freak computer virus. Luckily it was stopped before any serious damage could be done, but thousands had lost power in the process.
Still, recruiting a kid who just barely hit the age of consent had been a pretty bold move on the NSA's part. Riley probably had offers from the FBI,CIA, and other parts of the government, considering she was skilled enough to be picked up by the National Super Agency.
The girls stepped into the bustling mess hall, the smell of food wafting through the air.
"Let's see how this food tastes, huh little one?" Demetria picked up a tray, setting some grub on it. A bit more at ease, Riley smiled, then placed a sandwich on her own tray. "Little one..?"
"Sorry, but you're definitely the youngest recruit here. You'll probably be getting that a lot."
Looking for a table to sit at, the older recruit spotted Lani flagging them down. She was sitting with a few other recruits, and Demetria led Riley over to the group. As soon as they both sat down, the brunette regretted it as she realized who was sitting right next to the larger girl.
It was the male, -Jordan the name under the profile had been-, who she was meant to be investigating. And who was meant to be doing the same to her. They both seemed to be glaring at each other, both realizing who the other person was.
Lani had noticed the look that passed between the two, and proceeded to wave her hand a bit." Hello? You two gonna kiss or what?"
Jordan's head snapped up to the bulky female. " You would like that, wouldn't you, Yol-?" before he could say anything, the girls hand had clamped down on his mouth.
"Don't. Call me. That. Here." She spoke in a menacing tone. No sooner than the words had left her lips, had she let out a screech. "You bit me!"
"You should know better than to cover my mouth!"
"You should know better than to bite people!"
"I wouldn't have bitten you if your had hadn't been by my teeth!"
Amazed by the scene in front of her, Demetria had to interrupt the bickering pair.
"Erm, you two know each other?"
As if nothing had happened, Lani had rested her elbow on the male's shoulder.
"Oh, you haven't noticed by our amazing good looks that we're twins?" Jordan replied.
That had to be the biggest joke on the planet, because the two looked nothing alike. Lani was tall, pale, and very well built. Jordan, while also tall, was more lanky looking, and had much darker skin than his sister. Not to mention the difference in hair color, but Lani clearly dyed her hair so….
Actually looking a bit closer, the two had the same eyes, down to the same curl of their lashes, but that seemed to be the only similarity between the duo.
Demetria couldn't help but think that she had seen those eyes somewhere before. She just couldn't quite put her finger on where….
Her thoughts were interrupted by a small voice.
"Oh, so you guys are fraternal twins?"
Demetria had almost forgotten she had brought Riley with her. The girl was so quiet!
"Yeah, that's right. " Lani held out her hand to the younger girl."Name's Lani, you're Demetria's roommate right?"
"Um…. Yeah." She started at Lani's hand for a second before shaking it. "Riley."
Lani released her hand before going back to her pasta. "Riley, huh? You look a little young to be here, don't you?"
Jordan immediately gave his twin a smack on the shoulder." Ignore Lani's manners, she doesn't know any better. I'm Jordan." the male introduced.
Well at least he seemed a bit more gentle than his sister. They all ate their dinners, chatting and getting to know each other a bit. Demetria kept an eye on Jordan, attempting to dig up info on him.
'He'll be doing the same to me, so it's best to be careful what I say around him. Lani too. Blood is thicker than water after all.' Demetria told herself.
"Hey, so what do you guys think of this whole ' uncover secrets' bull?" Lani had to bring that topic up, didn't she?
Jordan and Demetria shared a quick glance.
As if reading their minds, the loudmouth nodded." Ah, you two are paired up huh? Damn, I was really hoping we could team up to handle this." She sighed, then quickly changed the subject.
"So, you said the NSA came to you, right? You must have some pretty good hacking skills then, huh?"
Riley seemed a bit uncomfortable about the subject. "Yeah, I'm pretty good. I'm not hacking the agency for any of you though." She stood abrubtly, leaving the trio alone at the table
"That's a bit odd, isn't it? I wasn't even going to ask that!" Lani proclaimed.
"Yes, you were. Anyone would have asked her that, honestly." Jordan chided.
"Alright, so I was. Did you pick up any dirt on that Walters guy?"
"No, but I did talk to him about some of the other recruits. It seems like we're all here for different reasons." Jordan informed.
"Wait, what do you mean by that?" Demetria inquired.
"I think he means, that not all of the recruits signed up to be here." Lani stated, " You see that girl with the black hair over in the corner?"
Turning, Demetria spotted who she was talking about, she was laughing with the two guys next to her,"Her name's Miu. Supposedly her family pushed her to be here. The two guys next to her? They were both approached by the agency, but they never actually signed up to be here. It's sort of like what happened with your friend Riley." the male informed
'They're both already trying to figure everyone out, aren't they? Damn, I was hoping I could get a head-start.'
"What about you?" Demetria questioned, " Lani told me she was here to be a scientist, but why would you follow your sister here?"
Jordan seemed a bit surprised that she would ask such a question." Don't you think that asking me something like that, might be what I'm hiding?"
It was a possibility: That's why Demi had asked the question. If he answered, then that would rule one possible secret off her list. If he didn't, well then the secret would be pretty obvious now, wouldn't it?
"Well, that would make things a lot easier for me."
Jordan shook his head with a laugh. " You're right. Well, it's a good thing that's not my secret," He leaned forward, " I wanna be a field agent, same as you."
'Yep, Lani will definitely be keeping an eye on me.'
"Now it's my turn. We might as well get the interrogation tactic out of the way: Why do you want to be a field agent?"
'Because I want to be able to use my powers to help people.'
Instead, Demetria replied, " Doesn't 'aiding Super's' sound like an awesome job description?"
"Ugh, don't tell me you're one of those Super fangirls." Jordan seemed slightly disgusted at this point.
Demetria could understand the Super ban, mega fans tried to model after their favorite heros. Some would even go so far as attempting to fight crime on their own. Most of the time, these people would just end up getting hurt in the process, and, -if they were lucky-, needing to be rescued by the very hero they were trying to imitate.
On top of all of the Super lawsuits, it was just another reason why the Super Relocation Act was enacted in the first place.
"No, I just think it sounds better than a boring civilian life, doing who knows what to get by. Besides, this is like how the FBI works. The only difference is that instead of aiding cops, we deal with helping Superhero's, and taking down Supervillians."
"Can't help but agree with you there." Jordan glanced outside. The sun was beginning to set, which, this early in the summer, would only mean less and less darkness to actually sleep. " We should get some rest. This is still the government we'll be training for. No doubt we'll be woken up early tomorrow."
"Yeah, you're right, see you guys tomorrow."
The sound of sirens was not how Demetria was expecting to be woken up the next morning. She shot up in bed, turning to Riley, who was already up and getting ready. The door to their dorm was wide open, allowing them to see the chaos that was going on in the halls. There were recruits rushing to get dressed, and rushing to the common room.
Quickly throwing on some decent clothing, Demetria ran out the door as well, with Riley right at her heels. " Any idea what's going on?" The ginger just shook her head, following the crowd of recruits as they went.
They were all met by a buff, army looking guy. He was intensely gazing at his stopwatch, as if he was timing at a track meet. As the last of the recruits poured into the room, his booming voice yelled.
" 5 minutes and 37 seconds! That has to be a new record for the slowest wake up call in the history of the NSA! How can any of you expect to rush to an emergency with sluggishness like that?! It seems you recruits need to work on your speed! Outside! All of you! Move it, move it!"
Obligatory drill sergeant? Check. Government or not, this wasn't exactly the marines that they signed up for. Still… the guy had a point. They should be in good shape if they hope to handle Supervillains for the rest of their life.
Everyone headed down to the track where, Agent Hanson as he called himself, ordered the recruits to start running laps, 'until I order you all to stop'.
They had to be out there for at least half an hour when he finally called them to the center of the track field.
"Not bad, an hour of running and none of you collapsed out there! Seems you all made up for this morning then."
Dear god, it had been a full hour?! It was no wonder that they were all exhausted! Some of the recruits were starting to fall to their knees in the grass, drenched in sweat from the summer heat and gasping for air.
Demetria herself felt her chest heaving, her mouth dry, and her hair sticking to her face. The only one who didn't seem to be in as much distress as the rest of them was one of the guys that had been with Miu the day before. He just seemed pumped up, and ready for more.
Luckily, their drill sergeant wasn't completely cruel, as he allowed the recruits to take a quick break, and drink some water.
"Alright, now that you're all warmed up, let's start with the fun part. We all know how to punch and kick, yes? I want you all to pair up and spar with your partner. I'll jump in if I feel I need to."
Before Demetria could do anything, Jordan had already paired up with Riley, teaching her how she should keep her fists when she punched.
"Did my brother steal your roommate? Sorry about that, guess your stuck with me." Lani grinned, then got into a defensive stance. "Don't go easy on me now, Hippie."
Demetria smiled, " Wouldn't dream of it, Pinky-pie."
"Pinky-pie? What kind of-"
Taking advantage, Demetria gave a swift kick to Lani's chest. As the taller girl fell to the ground with a thud, the girl above her couldn't help but laugh.
"Hey! That was a cheap shot!"
"You told me not to go easy on you."
Demi offered her friend a hand, and immediately regretted doing so. Lani had pulled her down, and into a headlock. " How does it feel now, blondie?"
"Truax! Paladino! I said kicking and punching, not wrestling! This isn't Smash Mania!"
The girls quickly got back up to their feet. As they continued to spar, they would sometimes sneak glances at the other recruits. They all seemed to be at the same level when it came to fighting, except for that one girl from yesterday, Miu.
She seemed to be completely dominating her partner. Her punches and kicks were nearly a blur, and the male she was sparring with was having trouble keeping up. He had no choice but to play defense. It wasn't long before Miu had the poor guy laying on the ground in pain.
"That's it Yoshioka! Finish him off!"
The recruits had gathered around her, watching the two spar. Demetria and Lani quickly found themselves joining the crowd.
Miu must not have actually done as much damage as she had thought she had, because as soon as she turned her attention to Agent Hanson, her partner had kicked the girl's feet out from under her.
"And that is why we make sure our opponent is really down before we turn our back." Agent Hanson wrote something on his clipboard," Alright, Yoshioka, Wood, hit the showers."
Looking up at the other recruits that had been spectating the event, he added, " That goes for all of you! Once you're all cleaned up head down to the lecture hall!"
Just hearing the word 'shower' put a pep in the steps of some of the recruits. Some of the recruits that had kept sparring during Miu and Wood's fight seemed comfortable on the ground, where their partner had left them.
One of those people seemed to be little Riley. Jordan had been watching the fight, so she was probably just exhausted. Demetria went to help her, but Lani had beaten her to it, offering a hand to the girl. Instead of taking it though, the ginger stood up on her own.
Lani looked at the girl quizzically, and Demetria couldn't help but stare.
"Can you guys stop treating me like a little kid? I know I'm young but it's annoying." She gave the two a cold glare.
The two woman held their hands up as Riley stormed off to the showers.
After getting cleaned up and rehydrating, Demetria was walking with Lani to the lecture hall. Despite what she had said earlier, Riley wasn't too far from the two women, but she was just out of earshot.
"You know, I can't blame her for not wanting to be helped, she probably thinks we're underestimating her." Demetria told Lani.
"Yeah, I was thinking that too. Still, I wasn't helping her because she was small, I was helping her just to be nice. I would have done the same for anyone else."
The brunette was silent for a moment, before adding, " You know, she's always on her laptop. And with what she said yesterday-"
"-you can't help but think she might know a bit more about some of the recruit's secrets?"
Demetria gave a small nod. " Exactly. I think I'm going to talk to her about it later. It might be cheating a little, since she probably hacked our profiles, but once we're an Agent, won't we be expected to use all of the resources we have available to us?"
Speak of the devil, Riley appeared between the two. "Hey, I'm sorry about earlier, I just… This is frustrating for me. It's weird to be here."
Demetria's look softened at the girls words." Hey, I get it. I just wanted to try and get you out of your shell a bit. I'm not underestimating you at all. Sorry I'm making it seem that way."
"Yeah, I'm sorry too. Clearly if you're here, you're more than capable of handling yourself." Lani joined in.
Riley rubbed her arms. "It's okay. I'm not this quite normally. I just need to get a feel for what's going on is all."
"Speaking of not underestimating you… You wouldn't happen to be able to get us information on other recruits would you?" Lani was trying very hard not to grin, but she failing miserably at it.
"Ah… Um. Actually I wanted to respect that we're supposed to figure it out on our own. I mean… If I did it to figure out my partner it might be okay, but I feel as if this is a test. I don't want to cheat, ya know?" Riley was innocently scratching the back of her head.
Lani's face fell. "Of course. Ah well, back to plan A."
They were the last one's to enter the lecture hall. The trio quickly found a spot to sit, looking up at the Agent in front of them. The name Suksma Raju was at the bottom of the presentation, and the Agent made a point of sounding her name out for the recruits.
"Now, this will probably be the most boring part of your training here, especially after combat training, but it's still important, nonetheless. I'm sure you all are aware of the assignment we have already given you, but now let's get to why we are having you do it."
The presentation switched to the next slide, which had an old black and white image of a male,grinning wildly. "Can any of you tell me who this is?"
Someone near the front seemed a bit uneasy, but didn't speak up.
"No, I imagine not. You most likely all know him by his public persona."
The image was switched to that of a familiar superhero, Dynaguy.
The lecture continued, with Agent Raju showing the recruits images of a superhero's secret identity, followed by their more heroic alter ego. Each time a new image appeared, there would always be a recruit that moved a bit too much in their seat, or suddenly wouldn't appear interested in the presentation. Demetria, Lani, and Riley had one of the better views of this phenomena, and when the image of her Aunt as Elastigirl appeared, Demetria couldn't help but intently stare at the picture.
Eventually the last image to be shown was that of Gazerbeam, and his civilian identity. Lani had leaned a bit forward in her seat a bit, and Demetria slowly realized what Riley may have figured out.
Were all of the recruits in this lecture hall relatives of super hero's? That would be a pretty big secret for anyone to keep, and something that the NSA would very well know about. Hell, that may have been why Demetria had been accepted in the first place, she would already know the Incredibles secret identities!
"You may be wondering why I'm showing this to you. That would be because a superhero's secret identity is the most important aspect of their life. It's the reason why they put on the mask, and get in the costume in the first place. Without a secret identity, a Super would be nothing more than a person with some extraordinary abilities."
Agent Raju allowed her gaze to fall on every recruit in the room. " Keep this in mind, as this is what you will all be protecting if you make it through training."
A figure stood alone, staring out at the people running laps from the workshop window. His bright blue eyes seemed troubled and the bags under his eyes only served to show how depressed the figure had become.
Just months before, this man had the world at his fingertips. He was the CEO of a multi-billion dollar company, and had more than a hundred henchmen willing to do his bidding by the time he could legally drink.
Now, the man had nothing. The sole reason for him to build up his fortune had been his downfall, and with it had gone the dream that he would have a mass of fans chanting the name; Syndrome.
He had wanted to make pay. Pay for warping his dream of one day aiding people with his inventions, to harming and killing them. His greedy family had started selling the inventions the child made to anyone willing to buy them. Buddy's family didn't care if they were selling to both sides of a civil war off in some foreign country, or if they were helping a tyrant strike fear into the hearts of his people. All that mattered was that there was money coming in, and lots of it.
This increase in income forced Buddy Pine to be a slave among his own blood. As soon as he had turned 18, he ran away, aware of how much harm his inventions were causing. 9 months later, the kid was forced to return to making weapons to survive in the big bad world.
Buddy blamed for turning his life into what it was. That's why when his plan was foiled by the Incredibles, he had decided to corrupt their youngest son. Just like he himself had been corrupted.
When his cape had gotten caught in that jet's turbine, Buddy's entire life had flashed before his eyes. The months he had spent in the hospital afterward had given him time to think about what he truly had done. The whole incident had been the cause of his depression and the reason why it was so hard for him to get out of bed most days.
That's why, when Mirage had come to try and persuade him to join the NSA, the man had already decided on what he wanted to do with his life. He didn't want to feel broken, and useless anymore. He wanted to reclaim his childhood dream, from the nightmarish hell he had been forced into.
All those Super's he had killed, had families. Innocent kids who had to live knowing mom or dad wasn't coming home anymore. Only, some of them were the same age as Buddy himself, and no doubt they held a grudge against the former villain.
The NSA would train the next generation of Supers. They would try to train them to try and keep the cost of damages in mind, but the main priority would be the same as with all Super's; to ensure that the loss of life was as minimal as possible.
The best way to do this, would be to teach the new Super's how to deal with a villain before they became a bigger threat. The only way to do that, would be to train them the same way the agency trained its own agents. Somewhere along the line, someone decided 'to hell with it, might as well make them official agents'. Such a plan meant that the young super's would have to figure out their fellow recruits were also, Super's. Buddy himself did not understand the logic of that last part, but Rick had assured him that this was a tradition in the NSA.
Of course, the NSA knew that such a secret couldn't be kept for long. Hand-to-hand combat training could only go so far, and eventually the power's themselves would have to be brought into it. It had been the agent that handled the Incredibles that had brought up the idea of letting the recruits figure it out for themselves. They would give the young Super's two weeks to figure out what one other recruit's power was, before Mirage would reveal the true reason for them all being brought to the NSA Academy.
Buddy wasn't sure what his role in all of it was, but if the NSA was willing to let him try and repent for his past deeds, he would take the opportunity.
Which was why the man was staring out at the window now, watching as these 'recruits' ran laps around the outdoor track. He had taken a break from working on his latest project after hearing that loud mouth Hanson yelling.
Buddy brought himself to his feet when he heard the door to his workshop open. Mirage came walking in, gaze focused on the tablet in her hand. She looked up when the man had let out a small cough.
"Are you watching the recruits?" She asked, walking closer to see what he had been looking at.
" I was. Hanson is being tough on them, isn't he?"
Mirage didn't reply, as she was busy watching one of the recruits that seemed to be lagging behind the rest.
" I came to talk to you about mentoring one of them."
Buddy seemed shocked, by her words." You're telling me the NSA think's it's a good idea to leave me alone with one of them?"
"Are you saying it's not a good idea?" Mirage implied.
"No…"
"Good."
The recruit Mirage had been watching was now running with three other recruits, who seemed to not care about how much Hanson was yelling at them to keep up their previous pace. The recruit was very young, and the recruits who had slowed down to keep her pace seemed to be instructing her on how to run faster. Slowly the group began to catch up with the recruits in front of them.
Buddy was curious as to why the woman seemed so interested in watching them, and before he could voice his thoughts, Mirage had spoken up.
"The red-head in that group is the one we want you to mentor. We pulled her out of foster care to be here. Before you ask, no, you had nothing to do with her being there. "
'Unlike everyone else out there…' Buddy thought.
"I thought it would be helpful to pull someone that smart out of a situation like that." Mirage added.
That comment seemed to be directed more towards him, than the girl.
"So she isn't a Super then?" Buddy questioned.
"We aren't sure. There were a few… incidents at some of the foster homes she had been placed with, and they seem to hint the girl is." Mirage seemed a bit saddened, before saying; " Her name's Riley."
Buddy nodded. "Ok, well, why have me mentor her?"
"She's has an extremely high IQ, and is excellent with computers." Mirage informed.
"No offense babe-"
"Don't call me that." Mirage quipped,
"-but you're just as good with computers as me, so why not take her in yourself?" Buddy finished.
" I think it would be good for you to have someone to teach. The whole reason why the NSA is letting you stay here is so you can fix your mistakes. We can't exactly have you teach any of the other recruits, so this is your only option." Mirage told the male.
Buddy stared out the window, watching the recruits collapse in the grass from exhaustion. He had never met any of them before, hell he didn't even know of their existence before the NSA had gotten a hold of him. No doubt they all want to kill him in the most gruesome way possible. The male was fairly certain he wouldn't fight back, either.
But there was something Buddy had seen in the recruits that had inspired him to actually do more than just repent for his misdeeds. For the first time in months, he wanted to build things again. In fact, he was working on a schematic for upgraded rocket boots at the moment. Or at least he was, before Agent Hanson's yelling had brought Buddy's attention outside.
Either way, the man was in a much better mental state than what had come to be the norm for him. If he were to accept, Buddy would have to strive to be a better person….
Which might be exactly what Mirage meant, when she said this would be a good opportunity.
After mulling it over so more, he finally gave the women his answer,"Okay, I'll do it."
Mirage gave a silent nod of acknowledgment, but said nothing more. She had already turned, and started making her way towards the door when Buddy's voice had stopped her.
"I know you're still angry about what happened on Nomanisan, so why are you trying to help me?" The question had been eating at his mind for months now, ever since the blonde had first come to him at the hospital.
"I was at a low point once too, and you were the one that pulled me out of it. All I'm doing is repaying that debt." Mirage didn't skip a beat. She then left, leaving Buddy to his thoughts.
Rick Dicker was monitoring the recruits as they went through their first day of training. So far, it seemed as if they had not been wrong to go with this group. Hopefully they would be able to have them trained up before another Super Villain appears. After the Omnidroid incident, more wannabe Super Villains had begun to pop up. Of course, the Super Relocation Act was still in play, so legally Supers like the Incredibles, or Frozone couldn't be allowed to handle them.
The agency had been dealing with pop up villians for nearly fifteen years now, without the help of supers. The public just wasn't aware of it. Just how the politicians wanted it.
The older agent's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of heels getting closer. He didn't bother turning around though. If it was important, he would have had a call by now.
"Pine has agreed to mentor the recruit." Mirage spoke behind the older man.
"Ah, the Chief is letting you go ahead with that plan then? I thought he might be worried he could corrupt her." Dicker couldn't help but hide the hint of amusement in his voice. The former villain was a shell of his former self. Nearly dying to a jet explosion will do that to someone.
"He is, which is why he wants the both of us to keep an eye on them when they interact." Mirage replied.
"Of course. At least until I retire. I'm not sure how long I can keep this up. I would like to see Supers made legal again before then, though." That was the only thought that kept Agent Dicker going for all these years. Otherwise he would have retired already. Hell, the man nearly retired after the ban was announced in the first place.
Mirage let out a small laugh. "I think you and I both know you can't retire. You love the job too much."
"Well, hopefully if these plans of yours works, I will. Have you started looking at who you're going to mentor?" Rick turned to the woman who now stood beside him.
"I have a few prospects in mind… ." Mirage watched the monitors in front of her. " Though I am disappointed none of the recruits have figured it out yet."
"Soon Mirage, Soon."