The Timeservers

Chapter 10

New York City, New York

The Spire

Sub-floor 3, Training Floor

December 4, 227 P.F.E

1330 hours

Leo steps into the elevator and calls out his clearance then nods to Via for her to do the same. "Spectre Evanesce, clearance 1, same floor." After rocking back and forth for a second Via turns to Leo to ask a question. "Clearance 9, that's high, I'm assuming?"
"Second highest you can get. Wisp is the only one with clearance 10. She's retired though so she doesn't use it much anymore. Clearance 10 allows her to have the authority of a commissioner if they aren't available for some reason. If all the spectres are deployed in the same area she's the one that leads the charge."
"Anything else I need to know?"
"Stay clear of Viper and Wasp, they're Southerners and aren't exactly welcoming to anything Historian, sympathizers included. They'll love you though because of the candidate thing. Phoenix is awesome. He's a Northerner and is Sophia's step-brother. You've met Sophiaalready, so I'm hoping you know that she's amazing. Trust them with anything. The rest are okay, but don't trust Hound. He's the other clearance 9. He's good, but he's lost it a little over the years. Once you show how good you are he's going to be perfectly willing to take the credit."
Via smiles. "You think I'm going to be good?"
"Isn't it what you do best?"
Via shrugs but winces internally.
"Sorry. I should have realized that might be a sensitive spot," Leo apologizes.
The elevator shoots up and Via braces herself against one of the handrails. "You'll get used to the speed soon. Everything here tends to move a little bit faster than out there, a necessity of the job. Just brace yourself, keep your legs shoulder length apart, it will help." Via nods and adjusts herself then watches as the colored floors fly past.
"It's beautiful. That woman, in the middle of the Spire, who is she?" Via asks, looking down before thinking better of it and backing away from the glass walls.
"She's Liberty Enlightening the World. She was a gift from France to America. To France America was a symbol of liberty, they inspired their efforts toward independence, and America had abolished slavery at the time which furthered the symbol."
"The chains come off so the cage gets built. Why is everything beautiful destroyed or defaced in the name of progress?" Via asks as the statue shrinks beneath their feet. "What would those french think of this today?"
"Who knows, most of them are still trapped in a tear."
The elevator reaches the spectre floor and Via shivers a little. Leo offers a hand to her and she takes it. He stands close enough to her that his open jacket covers their hands and they step out of the elevator. The doors open for them and the spectres are waiting behind it. Each spectre has a smile on their face, each smile a different shade of truth or lies. Hound steps forward and extends a hand to Via. Leo squeezes her hand once before letting go so that she can give a proper shake.
"Welcome to the spectres, I'm Hound. What might we call you?"
"Evanesce. Call me Eva though."
Eva goes around the circle and introduces herself to each person. Tigress got home last night from a mission so Eva gets to meet her. Tigress has bright red hair that she's dyed black on the bottom. She's in her thirties and was recruited when she passed theGuardian test at fifteen. She was basically forced to join since she had racked up thousands of infractions before joining and could barely get a job, let alone a decent place to live. "Welcome to the Guardians, you've gotten lucky. Mythos has taught us some things about the Historians. You're going to be an expert. Just come to me with procedural stuff." Tigress shakes Eva's hand andgrins.
"You don't know anything procedural," Deathstalker argues.
"I know how to get rid of stuff we're supposed to do that's procedural. I'll give you a hint. It involves a lot of anomalous tears of tomorrow that just seem to pop up all over the place and wipe my memory of anything I might need to file paperwork for."
"You have to do paperwork when you've been exposed to a tear," Mythos points out.
"Yeah, when people remind me of that the tears just seem to keep getting me. The whole week or however long certain annoying analysts decide they want to nag me for." Tigress gives a pointed glare to Sophia before turning to Eva and smiling.
"Anyway, this is Wisp," Leo introduces Eva, moving her down the line of spectres. Wisp smiles and holds Eva's hand in both of hers, keeping them like that for a moment. Eva smiles back and the nerves she didn't know were there disappear. Wisp's approval seals the deal. She's going to be a spectre.
Phoenix steps up next and gives Eva a mock salute. "Heard a bit about you from Sophia and Mythos. Mostly good things, though he's still got a crooked nose over how well you scored on the tests. Noone's done so well since him."
"It's got your nose bent out of shape, pal," Leo corrects.
"Not mine; yours."
"Leave the figures of speech to me or they'll sound like a chicken with its head cut off."
"Morbid!" Eva cuts in.
"Don't worry. It will live for days, maybe weeks after. Just drop food down the neck hole and it'll keep running."
Eva's eye twitches a little. "I won't have to do that; right?"
"This is Viper and Wasp," Leo introduces.
"I won't have to feed a chicken by the neck hole; right?"
"Isn't that all that a mouth is though?"
Viper and Wasp are just about falling over themselves to fawn over the perfect Eva. To the Southerners a chancellor position is a dream. Inventing is so gauche. "I'm Viper; it's going to be great to have a former candidate around. It will be a change from all of these moral slackers. They think joining the Guardians is a license to ignore the rules."
"Flush them down the drain," Kelly suggests.
"Toss them out the window," Leo adds.
"Throw away the book," Kellycontributes.
"Toss them to the wind," Sophia jumps in.
The little aside is enough to get Eva out of her shock and she finally has a response to Viper that's not chicken related. "Yes, I'm sure that when someone who respects the rules comes along they'll be great to have around." Again, where did that come from?
Viper and Wasp's smiles fade a little. The gleam of greed in their eyes disappears now that they realize the former candidate won't gain them proximity power points. Instead they get the same dull and disgusted look that they turn on the Northerners and Leo. Eva gives them a genuine smile, taking the look of disdain as a badge of honor. Kelly and Sophia share the smile and Eva moves to the next person in line.
Sprite shakes Eva's hand and grins brightly. "Welcome, we're glad to have you here. Be careful in the halls though, some of the elite might get confused."
"I'm not that obvious, am I?" Eva asks. No one answers.
Phoenix steps forward and pats her on the back. "You'll do great."