Superhero CITY - The Test

Chapter Seventeen (edited)

"Why don't we head upstairs?" My stepfather asked mildly as he turned to do so.

My eyes flicked up to meet his, searching for an answer. I knew that we had to talk privately somewhere, and I was terrified of what it might be about, but I had trouble understanding why he'd want to have what was bound to be a heavy conversation in a practice room.

The room he lead me to was the very one that I spent hours with my team in every morning; GT-05. Like every other white training space, the door was kept locked at all times during the day, but Andrew didn't even need a key card to get it. He only had to twist the handle and we were inside.

I must have made a sound of surprise without realising it, because he glanced back at me with quirking lips. "One of the few perks of the job."

I nodded quietly, biting my lip as I followed him closely. This room was like a secret, and he was another. I did not understand how I felt about that.

It was not until the door swung shut behind me and I heard the soft snick of the lock reengaging that I felt the knots in my shoulders begin to unwind. Even though I didn't think that anyone had been watching us, I could never be certain of it. But I could be certain of the fact that these walls were soundproof to the extreme, and that Andrew would have made sure there was nothing inside that could record what was about to be said between us.

I could relax.

I opened my mouth and drew in a breath, prepared to say something but not quite sure what it was. Before I got that chance, he shook his head in an aborted motion. A single sharp jerk to the left, to the right, then to the left once more, and his skull stilled so suddenly when he'd done that it was as if the motion had never been performed in the first place.

I was curious as to why he didn't want me to speak yet, but got my answer only a moment later when there was a quick rap that rang through from the other side of the door.

"Minister Justice, sir? I have Jason's equipment."

I didn't know what Chuckie was doing with my gear, but my stepfather did. He motioned with one hand for me to stay standing where I was whilst he walked towards the exit and used the other to open the padded portal.

"Thank you, Charles."

Chuckie didn't look away from him as he handed over what I knew to be the weapons I'd gotten only a week ago. A grin split his face, and I was sure that my stepfather echoed it, although I couldn't see for sure from my vantage point. I'd still be on it, though.

"Rosaline was hoping that when we come visit again in a week that you and Allison would join Jason in going out to tea with us, hmm?"

"We'd love that, Andrew. I'll tell my sister." His smile dropped and he lowered his voice until I had to strain to here it, before rebuilding the shit-eating grin and prancing off down the hall.

It's started happening again. I let the whispered words encompass my thoughts as I watched my stepfather fiddle around with the control band on his wrist. Periodically a beep or flash of light would emit from it every second, for over half a minute.

Then the mechanical annoyances ended and he lifted his fingertips away from the miniature screen embedded in the thin bracelet.

A low hum with a vibrating thump filled the small pocked of atmosphere locked away in the room with us and water began to flood the floor around us.

Stubbornly it defied gravity and began to stream through the air as the hydrographic simulator manipulated the transparent liquid.

I stood stock still for almost two minutes and watched the intricate setting develop itself around us. First came a park bench, in the design of the old twisting steel and wooden planks that I had loved as a child. Then the bare trunk and branches of an elegant willow, and a waterfall of leaf-like strands blowing softly in a phantom breeze. A squared hedge framed the beautiful scene, to my dismay.