Worlds Between

ASPIDA Headquarters

A sharp crack echoed strangely through the chamber. The tall, arching walls appeared to be made of a light, almost silvery, metal. At the center of the round room, the walls melded into a blue crystalline ceiling that shimmered as if there was a pool of water overhead. Selene dropped Mark's hand and withdrew her touch from Gabriel's shoulder before stepping towards a door made of the same metal as the wall. Beside the door there was a small blue screen against which she pressed her hand. With a small technological whirring and a chirp, the door slid open.

Through the wide doorway they could see the center hub of Headquarters. If they had thought that the ceiling of the previous room was high, the ceiling of this room towered far above. Graceful columns reached up to support the structure, and stairways curved around the edges, leading to ledges and doorways to to other rooms on a number of levels. She glanced over her shoulder and smiled welcomingly, "Welcome to ASPIDA, gentlemen".

Mark unsure of what to expect when Selene grasped his hand braced himself and relaxed his knees in case he needed to duck and roll or absorb some form of shock. The feeling was weird today the least but before he knew it, it was over and he was in some room that didn't appear to have windows and came to the conclusion they were either underground or inside of another building, quickly glancing about taking in his surroundings before jogging to catch up to Selene. He just nodded his head at what Selene had said and with a look on his face saying 'Let's get this show moving.' All in all Mark wouldn't say it out loud but he was definitely impressed he just hoped that there would be time soon for him to unwind.

---

In another chamber exactly the same as the one that Mark, Gabriel, and Selene had just excited, six figures appeared with a snap. [OOC: please read the first two paragraphs of this page for details] Tera dropped the hands she was holding and stepped foward to place her hand on the small rectangular blue screen. The door slid open quietly. Across the large, circular atrium, the six of them could see Selene, Mark and Gabriel exiting a similar door. "Welcome to ASPIDA," Tera smiled. "If you would please follow me," then she walked forward into the atrium confidently.

Ann followed without a word, looking warily around at everyone in the area.

"Ass-peedah?" Tom said, frowning around at the fancy looking cerulean walls and ceiling with a grin crossing his lips "Why the HELL did you name this place ass-peedah?" That was just weird. This place was impressive, huge, vast and technological; incredible and wonderful, he could see a place like this training people to become amazing warriors. And it was called ASS-PEEDAH? It also showed how much respect he had for authority; he arrives here in this amazing facility possibly in another dimension that trains people to become super natural heroes, and he was criticising the name.

"This place is...wow!" Howell was awestruck. While a little devil on his shoulder wanted to say "More like ass-paedo, amirite?" Howell was a bit more...subtle than Tom. At least in this case. "So...this is...AS-Your Headquarters? Fancy." Following behind, his eyes looking around, taking everything in. "After you."

Marcus Wade sighed, "No place like home." Marcus didn't really consider the place he was from home. He tried to get away from it as much as possible, yet at the same time, he always wanted to be there. It was as if he wanted to be left alone, but craved company. Here though, at headquarters, it was like everything he ever wanted all wrapped into one and he loved it. "While you're here, please feel free to make yourself comfortable and to enjoy the comforts this place offers. The moment you don't feel comfortable or want to leave, all you have to do is let me know and I'll take you home, no questions asked." Looking around, Marcus quirked an eyebrow. "Now, where to start, Tom and Howell, or Ann. Hmm. Any volunteers?"

"I'm gonna have to agree... with Tom." Sean muttered, looking around the place. "I mean, Olympus, Valhalla... SHIELD, something like that..." With a sigh Sean tore his eyes away from the high ceiling and planted them on the group, this was quite a big transgression from the normal world he knew to this one, he'd have to be careful and watch his step. Who knew, killing a butterfly in this world could mean the death of a butterfly in this world...

Ann drew in a deep breath, "I'll get it over with." She volunteered, stepping forward. She was still somewhat skeptical, but then again, she really couldn't think of another rationalization as to how she'd ended up in Wales.

Tom nodded to Ann as she moved past, giving her a small smile "It'll be ok, I'm sure. The rest of us are here for you." He tried to seem confident, warm towards the girl "If you'd prefer, I'd go first. I mean... if it would make you feel better to have me do it before you."

Tera smirked, "Aspida is Greek," she answered patiently. "It means to protect. Somewhat similar to SHIELD in fact, but we're not a super military force." As she lead them forward, she took them across the room towards the base of the staircase that hugged the wall of the circular atrium. "We are taking you to a room where we can safely test your abilities."

As the newly arrived group reached the bottom of the staircase, as did Selene and Mark. Selene inclined her head to Tera and Marcus and smiled, "I am glad to see your first mission was so successful". Selene was their superior in the community, but not by too many years. She was the one who had brought Marcus to ASPIDA years ago.

Following Selene, Mark let his mind wander slightly to the events that lead him here and thought about it more and more. Certain things weren't adding up, granted he knew more then the average person how secret or supposed secret organizations worked. But even still with the best kept secret there were still bound to be leaks of information, it was just a matter of how hard and bad the person wanted to find said information. Adopting a wait and see approach to see if they could walk the walk that they had spoken about he brought himself out of his reverie as voices he wasn't familiar with floated along the hallway they were in. Slowly a group of people came into the same area and he glanced about trying to figure out just what he might have gotten himself into from the looks of awe and disbelief on some of the other faces.

"Oh? I thought the Greek for protection was Aegis?" Sean questioned, cocking his head slightly in puzzlement. He had an interest in Greek mythos due to reading the Percy Jackson books and researching everything he had read. Sometimes his mind would wander off whilst reading these books, dreaming of finding that he too had godly parents much like the characters within the pages of which he clutched so desperately. He was excited about the prospect of learning whether or not he was able to utilise any powers he may possess, but at the same time something was holding him back. He wanted to discover the truth, but the thought of finding out that he was nothing worth mentioning, something ordinary, well he just didn't think he could take it. But what if? For a moment he imagined himself atop a skyscraper, looking down upon a dark world with him as the shimmering light that it needed. Mentally slapping himself for watching too many movies, he shook his head before perking up. "I wouldn't mind taking a trip into the world of tomorrow" he said with a weak smile.

"Ummm... what happens if some of us... DON'T have powers?" Tom asked once Tera had brought up the idea of testing their powers out. He didn't want to learn that he didn't have anything special about him and suddenly be teleported back to his old home... While he LIKED his home, this was amazing. He couldn't just be told "Well, you're not special" and stuck back into his boring old life.

"Well, I know that Aegis was the epic Grecian shield." Too many fantasy games had taught Howell too much. Sephirot, the ten aspects of God in the Kabbalah. Ragnarok, the fall of the Norse Gods. He probably knew Excalibur from Final Fantasy before Arthur! Ragnarok was his favourite word, any time he could name a team, a castle, a weapon, the first choice was Ragnarok, with most cases only just allowing the 8 letters, which always caused a smile. "But yeah, we're all up for mutant...I mean, superhuman, whatever the hell training it is!"

"In common Greek mythos, Aegis was a weapon slash breast plate slash shield carried by Zeus and his daughter Athena. Athena's breast plate Aegis bears the head of the Gorgon Medusa, and is said that it possessed the power to terrify and disperse the enemy or to protect friends." finished Sean, his thoughts remained on the Grecian gods, imagining them sitting up there in Olympus all but one brother Hades, left alone to squander his powers uselessly, he felt as such sometimes, always thinking he wasn't good enough for the outside world, yet left alone in his own wasting his time.

Ann listened to the conversation quietly. Looking around at the others in the hall she caught sight of Mark, who looked almost as uneasy as she felt.

Not usually the impatient type, Marcus Wade could see the growing tension in some of the guest he brought along with him to headquarters. Though he hated rushing people, he also disliked when people felt uncomfortable and/or overly anxious. "Well, to answer your questions, all of your questions, we might as well get this show on the road, shouldn't we?" With an encouraging smile Marcus looked at Ann, then motioned for her to follow him. Turning towards Selene, Tera and Mark, Marcus nodded, indicating that one of them should lead the way so that he and Ann could follow.

Selene paused at the bottom of the stairs, gesturing for them all to follow Tera up the stairs. Tera walked, at ease and confident now that she was back at Headquarters. "Hm, protection is not exactly the same as to protect," she considered, amused by the three boy's enthusiasm.

As they conversed, Selene's blue eyes moved from individual to individual. She tried not to look intimidating, but her eyes were often sharp and probing when she used this particular ability. Then she smiled, and followed them up the stairs.

When Tera reached the top of the staircase, she followed the curving wall along the edge of the atrium until they reached the first door. Then she pressed her hand against another blue glowing rectangle in the wall, and the door slid open. The guests were usherd into a modestly sized room that was much more welcoming. There were comfortable chairs, and a small coffee table, and the colours were soft and warm. There were a number of doors leading out from that room, all of which had the strange blue rectangle beside them.

"Is this the room we're meant to be testing our powers in? Because I'm going to crap myself if the coffee table jumps up and attacks me" Tom said aloud, scanning the room they had been lead into. Alright... different doors, all with the same blue rectangle on them. They had to go through those he assumed... But he wasn't going to go first, unless he was pointed out to do so... which he might be due to him speaking. He should really learn to hold his nervous chatter sometime.

Mark lagged behind the rest of the group he took his time taking stock of the other people and any training they might have. 'The lot of them are kids barely able to think rationally and focus at the task at hand. Distractions like that could be deadly and I won't be so easily caught.' He thought to himself as he glanced over to the other two operatives that brought in this group. 'Wonder if this is all a bunch of hogwash?' The final thought transpired in his mind before he forced it to be quiet and take in his new surroundings awaiting what was to come next.

Sean took a walk around the edges of the room, looking down at each of the blue rectangles as he passed. Hand print recognition software, sure why not. This place seemed the real deal alight but was this real life or just some deluded fantasy? He had no way of knowing but why not go along with it, see where it took him.

Ann straightened up and stood tall. She didn't feel like showing her unease anymore. After all, if this was some sort of scam or something, what did she have to lose? She wasn't really inclined to care too much anymore. "So what do I do?"

"I'd hate to be that guy, but it's been said before. What happens if one of us doesn't have powers?" Howell was suddenly becoming less optimistic as he entered the new room. It's not as if he was feeling any different than normal. It's not like there were any signs of powers. "I mean, do you even know who has the powers and stuff? And aside from some teleportation, do you know what powers we have, if any?"

Selene gestured for them all to sit down, except for Tom, upon whose shoulder she placed her hand and gently guided him towards one of the doors on the far side of the room. "Please get comfortable. Tera and I will each tests one of you at a time, and Marcus will stay here with the rest of you. Master Blake will join you momentarily." She smiled kindly at Howell's concern. "Do not fret. My ability senses the potential in all of you. It is only a matter of discovering what your particular abilities will be", then pressed her hand against the blue rectangle beside the door. The door slid open.

Tom had moved to sit down a moment before the hand landed on his shoulder; since he was facing away from selene, only she would have been unable to see the look that passed over his face. It was as close to "the willies" as any mortal man could really achieve; he dropped the foot that had been extended to head towards the chairs loudly, then straightened his face and turned towards the open door. "Alright" Tom said, coughing as he realised how strangled and nervous his voice had sounded "See you guys later then..." He moved slowly towards the door, chewing on his lip for a moment before stepping through into the other room.

Upon hearing that, as it turned out, he and both his friends all had powers, or 'potential', Howell turned to Tom and Sean, but, seeing as Tom was leaving for tests, only managed to high-five Sean, hard. Perfect. Everyone's special. While the cynic in him whispered 'If everyone's special, no-one is', the rest of him was giddy, wondering what power he'd have. As Tom was about to leave, he shouted after him. "Don't let them probe you!"

Seeing that the other woman had chosen Tom, Ann stepped forward, "Wait, I had volunteered to go first." She didn't know if these people were legitimate and if they weren't she wanted to give the boys as much time as possible to figure it out and get away together. It was her fault they'd ended up here.

Sean met Howell's high five with equal force, "Aww yeah!" He grinned, pleased at the news he had 'potential'. At Howell's comment to Tom, Sean chuckled, adding in "Well if that's the price of powers I'd happily live with an adamantium prostate."

Mark stood off to the side and in the corner so that no one could sneak up behind him. He wondered idly how they would test all of them especially if they didn't know how to activate there gift. He wasn't too worried except for the exuberant attitude the young men were exhibiting. 'They think this is all a game, some sort of fantasy come alive that would be so peaceful.' He was thinking to himself as he watched Selene and Marcus.

Marcus Wade was never really the best host when it came to dealing with people and entertaining them. He usually would rather just go off by himself and play WarCraft or watch anime. However, this was his job and it was something that he had to do and in some cases has gotten use too. "So, what would you guys like to do while you wait? We have plenty of entertainment, games, or whatever else you'd like to induldge yourselves in while the testing process continues to each of you in turn." Marcus then turned to Ann with an apologetic smile, "I apologize. Sometimes the women here tend to well... do whatever they feel like doing. And I rank lower than them so I really can't say what exactly 'goes' even though I do have input. I know you wanted to get this over with quickly, but we can keep you fairly occupied while you wait. Anything in particular you'd like to do till it's your turn?" Marcus felt kinda odd being so nice and open and friendly, he was a nice person but hosting and entertaining just wasn't really his style and he hoped it didn't show.

Tera couldn't help but roll her eyes at Marcus' comment about women and Ann's impatience. Asking what to do next wasn't precisly the same as volunteering to go first. The tan-skinned woman wanted to point out that Ann should try communicating more effectively before getting testy, but swallowed her annoyance, understanding the girl's impatience and unease. "Come along dear," she gestured to Ann, inviting her to go into a second testing chamber. "As Selene said, two tests will be performed at a time." The second door slid open.

"So...what games do you have?" It had to be Howell that asked that first. "I mean, this is another dimension, so I doubt you have Xboxes, or what?" Truth be told, even though it was an obvious sign of near-addiction, he always calmed down when playing a game. Even if he was getting constantly killed, at least it was the game, or some player far away that was annoying him, nothing else. But, if there wasn't any games consoles, he'd probably just play a tune on his ocarina. Hopefully people wouldn't mind the high pitch.

Sean dropped down onto one of the sofas, looking around the room. He wondered what to do before the testing came to him, then remembering, maybe... Sean dug around in his pocket, feeling a large hard object. He pulled it out, "Yes!" He thought as he looked down to what he was holding in his hands. He thought he'd left his psp at home but now, switching it on, he instantly relaxed into his favourite game, Dragonball Z Shin Budokai.

With a chuckle, Marcus Wade asked Sean if he would rather play that on a big screen t.v. "I'm more of a Playstation man myself, but we have X-Box, Wii, even old school box Nintendo. Whatever you'd like while you wait. Hell, I'll even play against you. No one beats me when I have Gohan or Kid Buu." With a look at Sean and Howell, Marcus smirked a little cockily, though with a glint of humor and playfullness in his eyes.

"Puh-lease! Really? Unless you mean Kid Gohan, Ultimate Gohan sucks! Buuut Kid Buu kicks ass...Super Buu sucks, because I keep forgetting his Ultimate Attack blows himself up..." Howell had played the Xbox360, Wii and Gamecube games, and smirked, stopping himself from saying the usual mock insult 'PS3 has no games!' "But yeah, I'll kick your ass...I mean play a game with you. My rules are: No sports games unless they have Mario in it, no Racing Simulators, but Arcadey ones like Burnout or whatever are fine, aaaaand no War Shooters, Halo is fine, but no COD, I hate the war style."

"Maybe, but I know the absolute ins and outs of Goku and Vegeta!" Sean smiled, sliding up the off button on the psp and letting it go quickly so that it would go into standby, rather than shut off completely. He didn't want to lose where he was now, and placed it back in his pocket. "Although I don't care much for the battle set up of Tenkaichi, I much prefer Budokai 3 for it's battles." Sean continued, "But sure I'm up for some gaming, not too keen on the Xbox controls though, they feel unnatural in my hands."

"Well then my friends, have at it." Marcus Wade pointed to the t.v. display on the north wall of the room. Walking over to it, he pressed a button underneath the t.v. itself, a panel sliding out from under it. On this sliding panel, several consoles were present. An PS3, an Original Nintendo, a Sega Genesis, and XBox 360 and another box called 'other'. "The other box is an emulation console. On it you can play basically any game from any system that isn't present here. The consoles here also are preprogrammed so that the games are loaded directly into the console, no need to reset, swap games or anything else." Walking back to the couch, Marcus sat down and pulled a book from his back pocket, flicked through a couple of pages and started reading. "I'll face the winner of whatever. Have fun gentleman."

Mark was leaning against the wall wondering just what the hell he had gotten himself into. The young men who were about the room, along with Marcus all thought this to be some kind of grand adventure that they would read about in a book, and all the novelty that it entailed. As if this would let them save the damsel in distress, or they could just hit the restart and begin again if it got too hard or they got themselves killed. 'The fools the lot of them, doubt they'd survive a minute out there in the real world were they didn't have the comforts of home and someone holding their hands.' Mark thought to himself as he watch the argument of the geeks. Snorting to himself he let his mind wander slightly till he heard one of the boys comments about war games and how he doesn't like them. Mark rolled his eyes and muttered under his breath "As if you'd survive a war with the way you act." Before glance up and focusing in on the kid that made the comment his eyes hardening sorely tempted to do something about the comment. Kicking off the wall he strode towards Marcus intent to find out if there was somewhere else he could bide his time. "Yo Boss since it looks like Selene and the other girl are off testing, looks like your in charge. There a gym? Or a range in here?? I need to get out and about." Mark said a little coldly, glancing about the room and dreading having to wait here any longer for fear he might not be responsible for his actions.

After judging Mark for only a second, Marcus Wade could easily register his mood and the mind frame of the man. Not to long ago, Marcus would have done the same thing actually, he just wouldn't have asked however. He simply would have got up and started walking around. "Yes, a gym we do have, not a range however." Looking at Howell and Sean, Marcus decided that they'd be preoccupied for a while and thus able to be left alone. He highly doubted either one would mind if Marcus missed his turn. Stowing his book into his back pocket again, Marcus motioned Mark towards the door and then started to walk towards it himself. "If you'll follow me."

The door to the atrium slid open before Marcus could reach it. In the doorframe stood a tall, middle-aged man with dark hair and pale green eyes that flicked around the room in a casual manner, but anyone who knew him would know he perceived far more than most. Despite the quiet intensity in his eyes, his demeanor was welcoming and confident. "I see you found them, Marcus. Well done." Master Blake inclined his head to Marcus, then said to the group "Welcome to ASPIDA. I am Blake, Master of the Seeker Department. It's always good to see new faces."

Sean looked up at the new arrival, unsure what to make of him. "A pleasure, I'm Sean." He said smiling, inclining his head. He wondered if Howell was going to pick a game or not, he really didn't mind just so long as he had something to occupy himself with whilst the others were being tested.

Mindlessly scouring through the piles of games, Howell barely acknowledged Blake's arrival, aside from a nod, not even pointed his direction, and a "Hi there, so you're the boss eh?" He eventually decided on Super Smash Bros. Brawl for the game. "Pikachu for the win."

"Why have pikachu when you can have all three starters? Pokemon Trainer rules." Sean noted, smiling and wondering how long they would both have to wait, any longer and he just might go insane. What would happen when they were getting tested? How would they get tested? Who knew. The boss probably would.

"Pshaw. Squirtle's good, but the others? Meh." Howell turned to the others. "You know, this game's four player if anyone wants to join in?" He hoped it would get people together at least, and he might be able to get more information if they weren't exactly concentrating. "And hey, boss man Blake, what exactly are these tests? Nothing dangerous, right?" Meanwhile, he had turned back to the game, picking a good stage, like Metaknight's stage, Halberd.

"Screw Squirtle, Charizard is a winner. Unless you're in the Pokemon games of course, then Squirtle beats Charmander and Bulbasaur." Sean added, he loved the games so dearly but got so tired of them so quickly, never completing them again after the first time. He perked up as Howell mentioned the tests, eager to hear what was said.

Master Blake watched the boys bemusedly. He felt this new group would be.. interesting to work with. "The tests are not dangerous," he answered, his manner easy, "Essentially most Kleidi - people able to travel between dimensions - develop peternatural abilities pertaining to an element. We merely wish to determine which one so that we can procure the proper resouces".

Mark was slowly becoming fustrated it seemed all the canidates thought this was some sort of joke and Marcus was undisciplined and really didn't know anything. 'People like that wouldn't last two minutes in the corp before they were chewed up and spit out again.' He thought as he did a perfect about face and stalked back to the corner and tried to relax and gave it up as a bad job. Shrugging off his shirt leaving him in a form fitting muscle tee began to stretch his body before starting to do jumping jacks to burn off the excess energy he seemed to be oozing with.

The door into which Tom and Selene had left slid open once more. The tall young woman was speaking to Tom and inclining her head to the new man in the room who was clearly her superior, Master Blake. "If you have any further questions, please direct them to Master Blake."

"Selene," Master Blake's demeanor stiffened, as if getting back down to business that was not going well. "A word?" The shadow of a frown crossed Selene's face as she and the Spirit Master moved to a corner of the room. Their discussion was held with low, urgent voices.

Selene nodded her understanding. "Of course, sir. I will take care of it." Turning back to face the rest of the room, she addressed the other occupants. "I am needed elsewhere, but someone else will soon replace me to continue your testing."

"Oh... ok" Tom said as she emerged from the door, blinking as the hot white liquid cooled on his shirt and trousers. "So... ummm... guys?" he asked, looking around towards Howell and Sean as they played on their video game "Do I have eyebrows anymore? I had a little accident." He was smiling widely as he spoke, trying not to look too happy with himself.

The other door whirred softly as it opened, and Tera stepped out. She quickly noted Selene leaving and cast an inquisitive glance to Master Blake. They exchanged a brief, silent conversation, and she nodded minutely before walking forward into the room and addressing Tom's last comment. "Your eyebrows are fine, hunnie," she assured him with a grin. "So who would like to go next?"

Sean stood abruptly, dropping the controller he was holding onto and almost falling over again. Smoothing down his front, he calmly smiled with albeit wild eyes and said "I wouldn't mind taking a turn..."

Ann followed Tera out of the room and looked around at Tom, Sean, and Howell. She didn't look nervous anymore, just determined, though the most observant of persons might still sight the last traces of sorrow in her eyes. "So far as I can tell, it's safe." She nodded to Sean.

"Well, I don't know, handing a bunch of kids super powers. Not sure how safe that is" Tom said, a small laugh coming from his lips as he began to sweep the dried wax from his stomach and chest. He was glad his eyebrows had survived, but he was rather shaken mentally from discovering he could create fire with his laugh.

"Woah Tom, the hell did you do?" Howell was more than puzzled about the white aqueous liquid on his friend's tee. "Or do I not wanna know?" At this point, with Tera's question, and an opening in testing, and Ann's confirmation that it was safe, Howell put down his controller. "I'll go."

"My candle exploded dood" Tom told Howell, trying not to smile too wide; pride, shock and laughter was bubbling away inside him like a dormant volcano. He couldn't help it. Super powers. He'd always wanted them, but he'd never really suspected that he would get them. This was a dream come true.

Sean was growing more excited and impatient by the second, but also nervous. Why did Tom have candle wax down him? Was he producing the stuff? Was that his power? But at Tom's notion of 'My candle exploded', he was sure he was producing it from one particular area, and he really didn't wanna ask if this was true. He took a step forward, almost vibrating with anticipation and anxiousness.

The air around Tom began to heat with his excitement, and Tera put a calming hand on his shoulder. "Control it," she said in a quiet voice, only to him. "Your power can be dangerous, be sure to only channel your energy into flame when you mean to.... we don't want to have to buy new fourniture," she smirked mildly, then withdrew her hand. "Alright .. Sean was it?" then she looked at Howell, "someone will arrive to test you momentarily." With that, Tera moved back to the room that she and Ann had just left, and the door swept open. She gestured for Sean to proceed her through the door.

Sean nodded, taking a steadying breath as he stepped forward, not sure if there were butterflies in his stomach or a mini generator making him slightly sick. Sean walked forward and entered the room that was gestured to.

Ann's eyes followed Sean and then turned to rest on Tom, "So, fire, huh?"

"Boom" Tom muttered, giving a small laugh and waving his hands in front of him as if scattering debris "What did you get? Or... do you not feel about sharing?" He still wasn't sure about Ann; he had had to calm her down after she'd waved a knife at him after all, but after that she had been just... nervous.

The main entrance to that room slid open once more and a short, burly man with blond hair and clear blue eyes walked in. "Selene sent me," he spoke to Master Blake, who inclined his head.

"Thank you Jason," the middle-aged Master Blake said with his easy confidence, turning to Howell, "I am sorry young man, but I think Jason should test the Sergeant here before he hurts himself." He was refering to Mark, who was still doing jumping jacks in the corner.

Jason turned those blue eyes onto Mark analytically, already assesing and testing his potential in his head. Jason usually good at reading people. "Sure thing, Master Blake," he made his way across the room to one of the doors. "Sergeant, if you would join me." The door hissed open.

"Water." Ann murmured in response as she watched the new arrival. Truth be told, she wasn't certain why it was water. Water was calm, it went where gravity and the moon pulled it. She was nothing like that, her emotions writhed and churned. There was a part of her that thought that fire would have been the better fit. Though, she supposed there was no telling nature what would be better, if it was indeed nature that had caused this.

"Cool" Tom said, giving her a thumbs up and still smiling; he was still caught between screaming at this news and laughing again, and he wasn't sure what would cause more damage right now. "We didn't even get there with me..." he admitted "The candle just up and burst."

Thoughts were running through his head, fairly dark thoughts and the situation he found him only served to make his anger peak higher. He was letting his mind wander to a place he knew he shouldn't ever be within. Letting emotions and past experiences rising to the surface. 'Why the fuck did they have to die, WHY!' Mark thought angrily to himself as he pushed himself harder with the self imposed training. He knew from past experiences that letting this energy/anger stew and sit was self destructive at best and down right dangerous at worse. It led him to a almost tunnel like vision trance that while helped him focus the objective made him ignore all else around him. 'Why was it Dom, Baird, Jack, and the rest of Delta. WHY didn't I go with them?!' Mark though viciously to himself as he pushed his body from jumping jackets to push ups and any other exercise he could think of. His mind was going blank and the world seemed to disappear into nothingness around him. Only when he heard the voice calling him by rank did his training and everything come to a fore front. Breathing slightly heavier then normal he blinked a few times to get the world back into focus and looked around for the voice that had called to him. Finding it he looked at him to take stock of him then followed him to the door, walking passed his discarded fatigue shirt he grabbed it and slipped it back on.

Ann's eyes flicked around the room, actually taking it in for the first time. As her eyes rested on Mark she thought he caught a glimpse of an all too familiar emotion. She shook her head, almost a whole semester without letting her mind wander and one woman tells her to think of an emotion and she practically falls to pieces.

"Aww..." Howell was more than a little disappointed, especially as it seemed that Mark had jumped the queue. "Ok, but I'm definitely next, right?" He was happy that Tom had managed to get Fire Power, knowing how explosive his tendencies were didn't stop this feeling. He was even happy for Ann. He had just met her, but even so, 'the more powers the merrier' seemed to be his current mindset. But with Sean and Mark off to be tested, he couldn't help by wonder. "But what'll I be left with?"

"The way these people talk, I have a feeling that we have these abilities by natural causes--like the X-Men." Ann responded to Howell, "If that's the case, then there wouldn't be any reason to worry about what you'll be "left with."

"So..." Tom was staring down at his hands, as if expecting flames to flicker out from beneath the nails like a candle "Can anyone think of something GOOD I can do with fire? I mean... I like helping people and all... and fire isn't very good at... helping..." That was a little thing he'd been thinking of. Water could help, earth might help, wind could help people... FIRE however, fire burnt, fire destroyed... Maybe he could help keep hobos warm. By lighting them on fire.

"Fire is...warmth, light, emotion, passion..." Ann stopped herself and shook her head, "Light and heat are as necessary for life as air. What's more, it sounds to me like you can produce fire, so far as I can tell, I can only manipulate water. What good does that do when you're dieing of dehydration in the desert where there is no water?"

"Oh please. You've got something straight out of the bible!" Tom laughed softly, shrugging off her words with a smile "Parting the red sea and all? You can save drowning people, extinguish fires, stop ships from sinking. You think fire is vital for life? Water is what it came from. Water is the beginning." He gave a small shrug again, still smiling "And as for the desert... you could pull water from a cactus with ease, perhaps even find buried water under ground. Hell of a lot more useful than fire."

Mostly just bored, Howell joined into the conversation. "You know the body's about 60 percent water right? Or am I going too close to bloodbending now?" In his defense, so far, we had water and fire, if the trend kept going, he couldn't help but link it to cartoons. "Sorry, Avatar nerd here. And before anyone says it, I mean The Last Airbender, not James Cameron's circlejerk." He breathed heavily. "Overrated shit."

"You're really going to bring the Bible into this?" Ann rolled her eyes. It was bad enough her aunt made her go to church every Sunday, this guy was really going to start this?

"I like it, over rated, yes, but I like it" Tom said, getting the point out of the way to Howell first before tackling Ann "And it's just an example of what use it could be. Alright, it's an old text, and what you believe in it is up to you, but you CAN part seas now. Well, after some heavy training I suppose."

Ann shrugged, "Ok, sorry I flipped." She mumbled, "It's just been a tense day and faith is a sore subject for me right now."

"Yeah...I can imagine." Howell wasn't even there for most of what happened to Ann, but he knew she'd been through hell. He found it slightly amusing that she could now put out those hellish flames, but kept it to himself. "So...what exactly do you do in those tests?"

"Oh, they just tell you to use your emotions and stuff to control certain objects. I only got to do two" Tom said with a small shrug. He thought about it for a second, then said "Yeah, there is no way you're getting fire."

"What, like get angry, make fire? Get sad, move water?" Howell's face remained stoic. "Well that's great. I don't get angry, I get annoyed. As for sad, I can count how many times I've cried on my hands. This should be interesting." He hated to think it, but the one word that repeated in his mind was 'Soulless'. He'd learnt to bottle himself up years ago, but unscrewing the bottle wasn't as easy.

"No, like... I laugh, that makes fire" Tom said thoughtfully "active emotions they called it. Dunno about water. Earth just seemed to be concentration however. Just... go with it dude, you'll find something. Even if you have to crack up a little bit."

"Hmm, concentration. I do get distracted, but I should be able to do that! Case in point, me playing any game." Howell's hopes were rising it seemed.

"The fire thing, I can understand, it's strong emotion. But water...you're supposed to calm your mind and 'feel' the water..." Ann explained "I don't get it, but apparently I can do it. I guess each element is a little different in the way that it's manipulated. Actually, so far it's not much different from a magic system I was working on my-" She stopped talking and turned away abruptly. Without a word, she moved over to sit down in a chair away from everyone.

somebody's got a secret Tom whistled to himself, not saying the words. He slowly made his way over to the chair, leaning on the back carefully and saying "So... you could tell us a little about yourself. I mean, we really don't know much, even if we did find you in my living room."

"What do you want to know?" Ann asked, leaning forward with her elbows on her knees, "I'm a history student, I'm from California but live with my aunt and uncle in Pennsylvania, I dress gothy and work in a second-hand shop." She shrugged, not certain what more she was willing to volunteer to strangers.

"Well, all that stuff helps" Tom pointed out with a small shrug "Just... you really. What do you enjoy doing? Any piercings? I dunno, I was never good at this kind of chat. I just like meeting people." And he often heard their problems. But he didn't mind that.

"Only two sets of piercings in my ears, and even if I had money for a tattoo I'd have to deal with my aunt and then my mom." Ann said, "As far as hobbies go...I've had a bad case of writer's block since before I graduated highschool. My life is pretty boring. I'm just trying to get through school."

Howell had become quiet for a moment. He did this every now and then, especially when people were talking in groups. Most people assumed he was being patient, and waiting to talk, but normally, he was just thinking about things, normally overthinking. 'So Fire is active emotion, Water is calm, Earth is concentration, maybe. What's that leave wind with?' While the others talked, most of the words were going in one ear, out the other, but with the words 'Magic system I was working on', Howell had to repeat that in his head a few times, just to check, which led to him missing most of the rest of the conversation. "Sorry, you mentioned magic systems. I have one question. Game, or RP?" He hardly knew anyone that roleplayed, but he didn't exactly know many people who did games design, even non-seriously, so either way, it could be interesting. Unless he'd got it wrong.

Ann looked up at Howell, "Novel. Though I used to roleplay." she said quietly.

"Howell, myself and the invisible wonder over there" Tom pointed to the door that sean had gone through "All roleplay rather a lot." He paused, then tutted to himself "Oh dear. How am I going to explain my absences to that lot? They're going to get peeved at me..." He paused again, then cocked his head to the side "Ohhh and I would LOVE to tell them about all of this... but I guess they can't be told..."

"I kind of miss it." Ann admitted. Though she refrained from mentioning that she probably wouldn't start again if she got the opportunity.

"Maybe we could try it again" Tom said to Ann and Howell with a small shrug "I mean, we might not spend ALL our time training. Heck, with powers now, it could actually become even more awesome." There was a general desire to roleplay among them... ironic, they'd been given powers, and great responsibilities, and already they were talking about being other people.

Ann didn't see the irony that Tom saw, it was human nature to desire to be someone or something other than what you were. Hell, her own life was practically one big roleplay anymore, today's events only served to make her wonder if she was finally losing her grip on reality. In response to Tom's suggestion, she just shrugged, she didn't want to come out and say no, especially after admitting to missing it.

"Ah, proper writing! That's more Tom's thing. He's the Creative Writing student, I'm Games Design." Howell shook his head when Tom mentioned absences from roleplaying. "God, and I was worrying about Uni affecting it. Although I'm pretty sure, what, saving the world or something, is a bigger deal." Truth be told, he still wasn't sure the purposes of these powers, but if this thing was training them, there had to be a reason other than 'So you don't kill yourself'.

"Well, lets just... see what they have planned" Tom said with a small shrug. Maybe they didn't have designs on super heroes. Maybe they just wanted to see who had them... stick them on a register or something. He wasn't sure he liked that idea.

"I don't know what to tell you guys there." Ann said, glad that they didn't seem to be interested in questioning her anymore.

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