Dynamic Duo: Gauge & Polly

Chapter 11: Resolve

The time was finally 0800. The sun was rising, and Gauge had collected some noticeable bags from the excursion under his eyes. Polly, however, looked utterly... normal. A benefit to being an Omeocoon was the ability to walk around for hours and not sleep or rest. Gauge was sure he enjoyed being solid— he didn't like having gooey bones like he'd hear Polly tease about occasionally. But the benefit of avoiding sleep for up to 70 hours... was appealing. The first few people fluttered in; some were students, others heroes, and then civilian staff like Mrs. Zee, but she didn't appear with the first fleet of people. Either she was off or coming in later. Gauge claimed a seat in the briefing room and dozed off before anyone could use it. Polly was standing there and would wake him up when someone was on approach. As the room gradually filled with a mix of students, heroes, and staff, Polly stood guard beside Gauge, who was already in a deep slumber. Despite their bustling activity, Gauge's snores echoed softly in the otherwise quiet briefing room.

Polly couldn't help but snicker as he observed his brother's ability to sleep through almost anything. He glanced at the clock, noting that it was time to wake Gauge before the briefing began. Just as Polly was about to tap his brother on the shoulder, a stern-looking instructor entered the room, prompting Polly to straighten up and assume a more serious demeanor.

Gently nudging Gauge, Polly whispered, "Hey, sleepyhead, briefing's about to start." Gauge stirred, blinking away the remnants of his short nap. He adjusted his posture, feigning alertness as the instructor entered. "Don't try and appear to be awake now, Gauge. I already caught you." Tera expressed. "Given your exhaustion, I presume your first watch was productive?" Gauge stretched out and groaned obnoxiously. He was still shaking off his sleepy attitude, but Terra continued. "Well, we observed the camera footage from last evening, and we can tell you were certainly busy." She stated with a hint of sarcasm. At this point, Polly didn't care if they would be forced to stay up from dusk to dawn. Then, he would make the best of it. "Well, what can we say? You don't exactly make it easy to be a junior member."

"Well, I agree, which is why you've been unsigned to watch."

"Oh, goodie! Does that mean we'll be executed next?" Polly sneered; Gauge chortled quietly, trying to stifle his laughter at Polly's dramatic response. Terra sternly shot them both: "No, it means you've been assigned a special task that requires your unique skills."

Polly raised an eyebrow, intrigued, while Gauge fought off another yawn. Terra continued, "We've been funding a startup. And since we've acquired them as a subsidiary, they are entitled to some Dynamic Patrol benefits. Like heroic protection." Gauge's eyes lit up with excitement. "Wait... so first you demoted us... and now you're... promoting us?"

Terra nodded, "Trust me. This was different from our idea. But someone requested your unique expertise... and since she has the positional authority in this sector, it was clear that we had no further say in the matter. She heard about the 'punishment' we gave you and disagreed. So, you've been reassigned to a new subdivision that's relatively new. But requires strong-willed heroes such as yourselves. We had many volunteers from your class, but because of the nature of the projected assignments, the other instructors believed it would be too complex for junior members to handle. But since it's watch or this for you two. We figured this would be more exciting... not that we had much choice, and I will remind you both that the CEO asked for you directly."

Terra pushed a file across the table toward Gauge and Polly's direction. On the front, it was marked with large bold letters, 'Insight Foundation.' Along with a picture held by paperclip to the envelope, the photo featured a large three-story futuristic building, which combined colors of white, warm oakwood, and large panels of glass on the front. "Wait? Do you want us to be bodyguards for some puny start-up? This is NYC Alpha. There are tons of start-ups, and you know what? They all fail in the first year." Polly went to push the file away, but Gauge snatched it up and ripped it open, flipping through the stacks of pages; while this 'start-up' had been founded just last year, with DP funding, it seemed to explode into many research many topics; temporal mechanics, biotech, even more minor things like the next generation of holo-phones, a little bit of everything. It was indeed a think tank, "You misunderstand, you won't be bodyguards, you'll be interns."