FORMERLY KNOWN AS OM: DISTRESS CALL
Lexi and her team face a mysterious enemy and an alarming distress signal in sunny California. Beneath the clear sky and palm trees, they face plot twists, plot devices, and, shockingly, the plot! Wowie! It's bett...
Lexi had started waking up early. In the year after she went into the Fog and rescued Jean, her team was one of the most in-demand in all of Seattle. She never knew when a new mission assignment might come in, so she tried to get everything out of the way early. She attended GenEd first thing in the morning, and combat training right after. Then she convened with her team. If a mission came in, they would complete it as soon as possible. She was proud.
Her team was a well-oiled machine by now. They worked smoothly and cooperatively, while making sure everyone had an equal say. They had just gotten out of an awkward patch where Lexi and Taylor were dating, but they broke it off on the laughing conclusion that they were meant to be best friends. Lexi still cringed at herself then; mistaking friendship for a crush.
Striding down the hall, she ran into Diana. Stumbling back, she tried to pass the older girl, but she held out a hand.
"McAllister, relax. I was just coming to talk to you." Lexi gave Di a funny look.
"I'm not in the mood for insults, secretary." She hated Diana less now, it was more of a rivalry than enemy-ship. Was that a word? Nevermind.
Diana gestured to her red hijab. Lexi noticed it just then with confusion. Smiling oddly, Diana said, "Yeah. Pule decided I need to go back and visit my family. And by that he means not make any more gates for foolish Finders." She shrugged. "Anyway, I was just gonna say bye and thanks for being my entertainment. And maybe I'm just a little bit sorry for making your life Hell for a few years. You're a big shot now, though, so I didn't do much."
Lexi took a moment to process. "You're leaving?"
"Yeah. Didn't you hear?" Diana reached out. Lexi shook her hand.
"Bye, Diana. Have a nice life."
"You too." Diana brushed against Lexi and continued down the hallway.
Lexi stood still for a few minutes and then shook herself and continued down the hall. She was almost late for class.
As the professor droned on and on about Spigs in Mesopotamia, Lexi gazed at her phone screen. She was browsing for sweatshirts when an official notice from SAEPTA appeared at the top of her screen. 'Mission Assignment: Urgent' She tapped it and opened the full notice.
"Lexi and team: Please meet in Dr. Pule's Hub Office to discuss your most recent mission assignment. Marked Urgent."
Lexi stood and raised her hand. "Sir, I have a mission assignment, Imma-May I go? It's urgent." The teacher opened his mouth in irritation, but Lexi was already hurrying out the door. It had been over a month since her last mission and she was anxious for a change of scenery.
She jogged to the elevators. The floor pressed against her feet as she rose to the 22nd floor. She bit her lip in excitement and straightened the collar of her green jacket.
JEAN
The pennies in Jean's hand were getting hot as she loitered by the cash register at Rendezvous. Any more time and her nervousness would melt them. She inhaled sharply and walked up to the counter.
"Hi, hello, I'm back you did everything just right and you gave me too much change-" She clamped her mouth shut and stuck her open hand out. The register girl looked at it blankly. The nametag on her chest read "Liv". Jean decided Liv's boobs were not a good place to stare. She painfully raised her gaze to meet Liv's. Liv, equally slowly, took Jean's change and recounted it.
"Is that all?" Her beach wave curls bounced as she tilted her head. Askheraskheraskher Jean's brain screamed.
"Nope." Yesitisyesitis walk away while you still can
"Oh? What else can I do for you?"
"Nothing! Nothing at all! I love-HAVE A LOVELY DAY" Idiot. Jean walked outside Rendezvous and slumped in exasperation. She was certainly off her charismatic game today. Putting on her hood against the rain, she shuffled to the crosswalk and wiggled her toes at the stop sign. The paving stones, bricks, and deep ore under her feet responded with a warm feeling, almost like a note of a violin. Some of the stone was foreign, some synthetic, some at home in the earth. As she scrolled through videos on her phone, her feet began to sink slowly into the pavement. Irritated, she looked around to be sure no-one was watching and pulled them out.
Halfway to pick up her movie rentals, her phone buzzed. An official SAEPTA alert. An urgent mission. She actually laughed out loud. Turning on her heel, she jogged back to the academy building.
CORDUROY
Unbeknownst to the others, Corduroy was already in the Hub when he got the alert. He walked calmly to Dr. Pule's office and picked up a magazine. He waited.
TAYLOR
Raindrops fell into the water. Dangling his feet in the pool, Taylor wondered if maybe he should have told others about the pool. The Academy building had been built and rebuilt and repurposed over and over, leaving a lot of interesting features. Considering that only one side of the top half looked like apartments, that was the only place with a fire escape (Which was definitely too high off the ground. Taylor had no idea why the top half was built like the bottom half). Said fire escape passed by very few windows in its state of half-removed. One of those windows was Taylor's.
He had discovered, through nighttime flying, that the fire escape went up to a partial rooftop and a light-from-below swimming pool. It was accessible only by fire escape, flight, and a rec-room closet staircase on some other floor. Taylor had gotten lost trying to figure that out.
The pool had become his private haunt, with its view of the city and unused nature. He was loath to give up his hiding spot, but people were starting to wonder where he went sometimes. His phone buzzed.
He leaned back and delicately picked it up from inside his shoe.
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With a groan, Taylor stood and put his shoes back on. He crept down the fire escape and in his window. The closer he got to the hub, the more his sleepy listlessness evaporated. The more his lips twitched to smile. The more he became coiled, buzzing with excitement, ready for excitement. Ready for destiny.
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