#106: Starting up
The next day...
In a park, we see Pamela, Jessica, and Karen sitting on a bench, with Aaron and Aarondroid standing in front of them. The latter was carrying boxes of stuff, and the former with the file of everything about Project H.O.P.E..
"Okay. Project H.O.P.E., a plan to help our planet and all of those that inhabit it. Trust me, it'll take a lot of resources, time, and effort, but it'll all be worth it now, you might be wondering, 'Aaron, how on Earth are we gonna start this?' By starting up *points to his right*right over there."
The girls all looked where Aaron pointed and saw across from the park was a big and wide building.
"Aaron, did you buy that place?" Jessica said.
"Yep. You'd be surprised how much a person would pay for my stuff at A's."
The main front glass doors, opened and the five of them were met with a hallway.
They were looking around as Aaron led them down the hall.
He said as he pointed at every door, "I'm thinking that rooms for new ideas, this room could be used for posters and pins and stuff like that, *points ahead* as for that one, still thinking about that.
When Aaron and A.D. turned the corner, the girls looked in the double doors' windows that Aaron was pointing at, and it was huge. It was like the size of a basketball court.
No wonder he doesn't have a plan for it, with that much space, options aren't limited.
They caught up with Aaron and Aarondroid and were led by them into a room that had a table that showed a holographic map of Metropolis.
"This map will help us with problem areas, and places that need our help the most, but they won't work without sensors spread out to keep track of said areas. That brings us to how we're going to start up Project H.O.P.E.. Everyone here has a job to do:
A.D., lead Karen to the tech room. You and her are gonna start building the tech we need to get the engine up and running. *opens file and gives blueprints to Karen*"
"Okay." "*puts boxes down*Affirmative."
"Jess, you're in charge of getting the word out. The top box has things like posters, staples, banners, that kinda stuff. There's a wagon by the door that you can use to carry the stuff in."
"Got it."
"That just leaves Pam and I." he said, making Pam tense up, "She and I are gonna go out and put these sensors all around Metropolis. When we're all done, we head back here, and I'll say what we need to do next. Everyone understand?"
Everyone said yes.
"Great. Let's help our planet Earth."
#107: First act of H.O.P.E.
A bit later...
Okay, Pam and I are out and putting these sensors around the city.
In order for them to work, we need to put them in certain places, like three to five in each district.
You might be wondering how on Earth we're moving across town this fast.
Well, remember that hoverboard I made? We're riding that. I'm driving this thing over all the buildings, and Pam is holding on to me tight. Every second or so, Pam would get a black cube from my bag and toss it.
When one would land on top of a building, it would transform into a decent sized cell tower.
It took a not so long while, but we're actually almost done.
"Aaron," I heard Pam say, "how do these sensor towers work again?"
"They connect to the map. When a problem in the environment starts, the map'll show us. Hoping that Karen and A.D. finish their part, the tech'll deal with the problem. Sometimes we'll have to get our hands dirty, but hey, what's a little hard work when you're trying to save the world?"
I heard a small, short, quick laugh from her, but she looked away, embarrassed. Then I said, "It's rare to hear a laugh from you. Don't worry, I won't tell 'd never let it go."
"Thanks...Hey, Aaron?"
"Yeah?"
"Do you really think that Project H.O.P.E.'ll save our planet?"
"...I actually have no idea. Yet, I'm not letting up. Our planet's in trouble, and every plant, animal, and human being living on it. It's either we do nothing and wait for the worst, or do something and give it our best."
Pam said nothing back, but I could feel her eyes on me.
It took a while, but we all finished our jobs and made it back to the map room.
"Jess, you got the word out?" "Yep."
"K, A.D., finished the tech?" "Mhm." Aarondroid just nodded, and gave me my tablet.
"Good. Now watch this."
I pressed a button on my tablet and the holographic map on the table showed blue pins that represented the towers Pam and I put around.
A second later, a red exclamation mark showed on a place on the map.
"Ooh, our first problem." I said.
I tapped the holographic exclamation mark, and text above it appeared saying,
WARNING: Air Pollution
and below it read more.
"Says here that air in the area's gotten so bad, that you can see clouds of bad air. Aarondroid, release the drones."
Aarondroid nodded and some sounds were heard from him before they went silent.
I then showed everyone what the drones were seeing.
These drones were really small and really fast. I told A.D. to release them, because they were made here. The drones actually have spaces they fit in at the observation towers.
The drones showed footage of them flying to the clouds of smog. This is because the need to take samples of the smog and see what they came from.
After the drones got enough data, I said, "Okay, says that the smog's started from two types of cars, and a faulty smokestack."
While dragging and pressing on some things, I said, "Now, we just gotta send the evidence and data with the smog to the companies, and tell the drones to take pictures of the cars and smokestack, and we can stop the pollution in the area."
Saying that, the exclamation mark, turned into three
"Whoa, Aaron, you really have this under control, don't you." Jess said.
"I thought of a lot of things. If we keep this up, we save our city.
Who knows? If we try hard and long enough, we can even make this world wide."
We all like the sound of that.
"Oh, and here."
I then put round pins on everyone. They had the picture of the Earth, and said 'H.O.P.E.' across it.
"We started this together, might as well show that we're a part of it."
#108: Teamwork makes the Dream Work
Cue montage!
The following two weeks, the five of them spread words of H.O.P.E. all throughout Metropolis.
The stuff that Jessica put around Metropolis, did get the word out. Gradually, they got support from people who posted about them on social media, which got to more people and got their support. Some people even volunteered to work there. That small group of five, now became a medium group of fourteen in short time.
At a certain point, Aaron noticed that the place needed a bit of color.
So the whole staff decided to paint the place green, purple, and blue.
We actually see Aaron and Aarondroid putting a sign up on the outside of the building, that's the same as the pins they're wearing.
Now we see Pam, Aaron, and Karen putting some stuff in another room.
This was the new chemistry room: used for making stuff like solutions, medicine, cures, and stuff along those lines.
Karen almost fell over on her back because of a beaker that was knocked on the floor by accident. Luckily, Aaron caught her in time, pulled her on her feet, and she gave her a kiss as a thank you.
Pam saw this and couldn't help but feel a little jealous.
Even at school, news about H.O.P.E. was flying around.
Lois even called them over to her office for an interview and some pics.
It's funny how at first Jessica's ideas of news weren't Lois' ideas of attention grabbers. But look how the tables have turned.
As for that big room that they had in the building, they still couldn't decide what to use for it.
They couldn't use it for events because that's what the building next door was for. There was a hallway that connected the two buildings.
They couldn't use it for storage, because they already had a room half the size of it for storage.
I'm sure the idea will come to them at some point.
End montage!
Right now the staff minus Aaron were all in the event building I was talking about and were decorating for it.
They're making a party for Aaron. It's a thank you party, for making Project H.O.P.E., and it's steadily rising success. It was Jessica's idea actually.
Said girl had a clipboard in hand, making sure everything was in place. Karen was standing nearby and was talking with Pam.
She was trying to convince her to distract Aaron long enough to get them to finish up the party.
After the twenty-sixth 'please' from Karen, she finally gave in.
Aaron was about to walk in, but Pam saw him and sped to him, stopping him in time before he saw anything.
"Aaron, wait a second!" "Uh, everything alright?"
"Yeah, it's just that I...I..." "I don't get it."
"No wait!" she said turning him around so that he didn't see the put up decorations.
"Pam, what's the matter?" "Can I, tell you something?"
"Sure, what's up?" he said, following her to the side of the room, before leaning against the wall.
Pam took a breath before saying, "I just need to say that, for as long as I can remember, I was sick and tired of how people saw the environment as nothing.
Then, I got to know you. You're unlike anyone I've ever met.
*grips arm and looks away* You're always thinking about everyone, and juggling responsibilities with school, A's, and H.O.P.E., and not once did you ask for anything back.
*looks back at Aaron*...I just wish there were more people like you in the world."
"She's right."
The two of them looked and saw Jessica wheel in a cake on a cart, with everyone behind.
"Aaron, we want to thank you for being such a great person. Even with so much weight on your shoulders, you never stop giving less than your best."
"Aw, you guys are too nice."
Everyone applauded for Aaron.
#109: Tech and Ivy's Talk
Later at night...
I'm suited up and I'm on patrol.
Pam was exactly wrong about juggling responsibilities. As hard as it is, my work is never done.
I'm currently looking down at the city on top of that tall building I like, and I'm looking around. Nothing yet.
Uh, never mind, someone's behind me.
"What now, Ivy?" I said, already knowing who it could be.
"It's nothing, I just want to talk." she said, before sitting next to me.
She was silent for a bit, so I was the first to speak.
"I know it's a little late to say this, but, thanks for the help with Chaos back in MegaCity. And thanks for catching Bumblebee. Guess I owe you one."
She still didn't say anything.
That was until,
"...How do you do it?"
"Hm?"
"How do you do so much without getting tired? You still kept trying to beat Chaos, even when you lost your powers. Even before that, you never gave up on what you were trying to do. How do you keep fighting?"
"Well, it's because people like me have a job to do: to do the right thing when the time's right. When something isn't the way it should be, I have to set it to how it should be. Even if some people have other plans. No offense, Ivy."
"None taken...
...Can I ask you something else?"
"Shoot."
"I need you to be honest with me. The reason I'm like this is because I no one else would. I'm just so, sick and tired of people being harsh to the plant life. It makes me not want to be human myself."
Huh. Well, that makes some sense.
"Look, I agree, sometimes the human race can be a little much, and I understand that our planet's dying and we do something. But that way's not the right way."
"So what is the right way?"
"Take that new thing that started up for example: H.O.P.E.. They made a place that helps out the environment, and they show what they did to everyone, which got a lot of people to listen to them, and some people are now doing their best to do better. It's like I used to say, 'If you help someone, you help everyone.'."
I looked at Poison Ivy, and it looked like she was in thought.
"...I see. Thanks for the talk." was all she said before going.
Well, I guess that went well.