04x01: New Beginnings

As a survivor of the previous book's climactic battle is recruited by a new group of villains, Austin and the gang begin their third year of high school

NEW BEGINNINGS

June 8 �" 12, 2011

 

     He was on a stretcher, being rolled over to a medical room where a man put his hands on his chest and suddenly felt a wave of healing wash over him. He drifted slowly towards consciousness until finally he woke up.

     He opened his eyes but he couldn’t make out anything. All he saw was white light.

     “Gv hm a sedatv,” he faintly heard. He soon fell back into unconsciousness.

 

“Mr. Landers, wake up.”

     He felt his surroundings again. He was sitting down.

     “Mr. Landers…”

     He opened his eyes and he let the white light fade away. He was in a circular room with a few guards near the rear exit. His hands and feet were pinned to the chair he was sitting on by metal restraints.

     “Well, Mr. Landers, it seems as if you recovered just fine,” the man in front of him said.

     A memory suddenly flashed in his head of him falling from the sky. He hit the ground and everything went black.

     “Let me introduce myself, you can call me Titus.”

     “Where am I?” Landers said groggily.”

     “You are in my ship. We’re headed back to our base. For security purposes, we cannot tell you where our Base is.

     “Who are you people?”

     “We work for a very powerful man. You see, we share similar interests with your previous employer.”

     “He was my friend. Where is he?”

     “Oh, the Mastermind? I’m afraid he’s dead.”

     He felt saddened by this news.

     “Those brats on the Island successfully killed him but fortunately, the Island has gone under. Nothing is left but rocks.”

     “Similar interests, what do you mean?”

     “We intend to destroy everything. The motivation behind that is classified but we are offering you something in return for your allegiance to our cause.”

     Landers began to laugh.

     “I’m not an idiot, Mr. Titus. Your endgame is global, even universal destruction and you’re offering me something I won’t have after then?”

     “Oh, you’ll have it. We’re offering you your life. M, kindly show our guest what is in store for him.”

     The man beside Titus formed a little rectangle between his hands and this rectangle was glowing brightly. He enlarged it and placed it in front of Landers’ face. The light dimmed and it now looked like a mirror.

     Landers saw in the mirror himself being tortured with medieval tortures.

     “Those won’t hurt. I have powers like you.”

     “Oh, you don’t understand. We have been observing your operation from the beginning. We have observed that you got a stock of anti-radioactive darts a while back and stored them in your flagship. We hijacked said flagship and crashed it for good measure. We got your supplies. We can disable your powers as long as it suits us. Once we are bored with you, we will kill you. Or you can join us and have a chance to get revenge on your murderer.”

     The mirror now showed the face of the girl who forced him to jump off the top of the flagship, Erika Sanchez.

     “And of course, Mr. Fernandez.”

     The mirror showed him the face of Austin Fernandez.

     “How did I survive?” Landers asked out of curiosity.

     “The Anti-Rad Darts or ARD’s for short only disable your powers but the resistance to injury that comes with it stays untouched. Quite convenient for us. Our best healers took you out of your deathbed just in time.”

     Landers thought about their offer for a while.

     “And what if I escape?”

     “What if, Mr. Landers. There’s a slight faith on chance there. But if you do, we’ll find you, torture you, and kill you all the same. We believe that if you do not become an asset to us, you are a liability that needs to be extinguished.”

     “Alright, I have nothing to do for the rest of my life anyway. I’m in,” Landers said as the man beside Titus retracted the mirror.

     “Oh yes, before I forget, Mr. Landers, there’s someone I’d like you to meet.”

     Titus spun Landers’ chair around to face the door as the guards let a man in.

     “Hello James,” he said

     “Spike? What are you doing here?”

     “I’m with them?”

      “They picked you up?”

     “No… I’ve been with them for a long time now.”

     “We’re all going to the same places, aren’t we Mr. Landers?” Titus said before letting loose a demonic smile.

 

On the last day of May, Austin planned to meet with Marise in Elizabeth Seton School to check out their sections for the upcoming school year.

     During the summer, Austin had spent most of his time fixing up the Island where all the superpowered people and their parents and family could stay in secrecy and peace. It had been destroyed before the summer in a giant full-scale attack.

     Construction had been going on in the Seton in the city. Austin would later duplicate the changes in the copy of the school on the Island.

     He took out what looked like a gun and stood on top of the Sanglayon building across the street from Seton where nobody could see him. He aimed the gun and fired at Seton. And invisible portal now shrouded all entrances and exits.

     He walked through the front gates and ended up on the Island. He did the same here but this time, from the inside.

 

The next day, he was woken up by a text message on his cellphone. He looked at the time and immediately jumped out of bed. It was Marise who was texting. They were supposed to meet ninety minutes ago but she decided to wait for a while.

     Austin got ready and went in the Anonymous, a car he created which could transform into other models via advanced technology but its main function was to absorb the superpowers of whoever was driving it via a bar on the dashboard called the Power Shift.

     He activated the cloaking device on the windows to hide the fact that a fourteen year old boy was driving the car and he drove it to the school. He went through the portal and went over to the bulletin board outside the entrance. He looked at the listings and he was devastated. Marise was in another section, Surigao Del Norte or SDN.

     She met him last year by being classmates. They started out as friends but he eventually developed a crush on her. He told her already but that’s as far as it got.

     He was also disappointed that Kyle Gomez was in another Section along with Ernst De Vera and Bianca Blanco. They were in Surigao Del Sur or SDS.

     Kyle was his best friend since fifth grade and Ernst was another one of his best friends since first year. Bianca was his best friend since last year.

     He saw that most of his closest friends were in another section. Ivan Chan was in Lanao Del Norte or LDN. Mo-on Curiba and Johan Tan were in Agusan Del Norte or ADN.

     There were a few new students like Harold Martinez in Cotabato City or CC, Yuuta Masuda in SDN, JT Gregorio in SDN, Patricia Rosales in LDN, and Marvin Dela Cruz in SDS.

     His very own section, Agusan Del Sur or ADS was very promising. It had some old friends, Bam Napiza, Rico Donato, Lui Santos, Alyssa Estrella, and Roey De Santos.

     It had some of his classmates last year like Sean Asprec and Chili Zablan.

     Everyone else was either a friend or an acquaintance. They did have one new student named Adam Morales.

     Eventually, Marise arrived, pretty as ever, wearing the team shirt for the 2011 Intramurals with an ambigram of the word “IMORTAL” on the front.

     “Hey there. You’re in SDN.”

     “Cool. You?”

     “ADS.”

     “Aww… It’s okay…”

     “Hey guys!” Mo-on said, popping out of nowhere.

     “Hi!” Marise said, giving him a high five.

     “Long time no see!” Austin said, giving Mo-on a high five.

     They sat around catching up on their summer vacations. Soon, Ivan and Ernst arrived and joined the team.

     “Alright guys, let’s make this year awesome,” Austin said putting his hand in the middle of their group circle. Everyone else followed and they raised the hands up in the air.

 

Eventually, June 8, 2011 came and Austin drove to the school from his house. He went through the portal and went up to his classroom on the third floor.

     He waited for someone to arrive and the first to arrive was Chiara Saniel followed by Sean Asprec.

     “Hey Sean, Long time no see!”

     “Yeah, man. How was your summer?”

     “It was okay. I had a little help fixing up the entire Island. The hotel is now newly refurbished.”

     “Great!”

     Pretty soon, more people arrived. Austin noticed that ADS had a lot of people from his previous two sections, Bukidnon and Compostela Valley. This made him slightly more comfortable.

     At around 7:15, the bell downstairs rang and Austin’s first year CCF teacher, Sir John Joseph C. Bernabe, came in and asked everyone to line up. Austin assumed that Sir John was their adviser for the year. He was happy since he was one of the more awesome teachers in Seton.

     They went to the gymnasium. On the way there, Austin engaged Janusan Ng, an old friend, in non-stop conversation.     

     When they got there, the floor was covered with a black cover as everyone lined up by section. Austin caught a glimpse of Patrick Astom in the freshman area. Patrick was also one of his best friends.

     Eventually, everyone quieted down as Dr. Suarez, the owner of the school, stepped up and spoke in front.

     “Now I know most of you are thinking about the… unusual things about the school.”

     “Well that was a direct intro…” Austin thought.

     Dr. Suarez gave the usual speech about the staying calm and the superpowers she gave every year since they all got their superpowers on December 18, 2009.

     Once they got back to ADS, Sir John began speaking.

     “This year, the administration has decided to reduce the number of advisers from two to one. As you might have already guessed, I will be your adviser from now until March.”

     Everyone cheered a little.

     “Definitely, the first thing to do would be to elect our officers. I open the nominations for President of ADS.”

     Austin was seated in the right side with Sean, Rico, and Bam. Ivan Handog, the usual fourth member, was forced to sit up front with Jade.

     “Austin, why don’t you be our president?” Sean said.

     “I don’t know but it’s fine with me.”

     “Yes, Rico?” Sir John said. Austin and Sean turned to Rico who was sitting behind them.

     “I respectfully nominate Austin!”

     Rico smiled dorkishly at Austin and he smiled back.

     “We’ll support you,” Sean said.

     “Hell, Rico, if I get elected, I’ll give you yoyo privileges.”

     The only other nominee was Belle De Leon. The voting began and, much to his disbelief, he was elected as president of Agusan Del Sur. The last time he was president was back in second grade and he conquered his section like a dictator where he tortured offenders by forcing them to sniff down the putrid odor of a rusting multi-colored ballpen. He was definitely not going to do that this year.

     Sean, Bam, and Rico congratulated him.

    Belle was elected Vice President. Lui was elected Secretary. Marga Lafuente was elected Assistant Secretary. Marko Socco was elected Treasurer. Roey was elected Timekeeper. Finally, Janus and Kristina were elected as Reply Slip Monitors.

     “The first main project of this year would be the Open Museum. This will be a contest between sections in each year level. We will have to redecorate the open museum in the classroom.”

     Aside from being classrooms with three walls and a glass showcase in the wall facing the hallway, Seton’s classrooms were open museums for whatever province they are named after. Theirs was obviously Agusan Del Sur.

     After Sir John asked for suggestions from Austin regarding the Open Museum. Afterwards, there was time for questions.

     “I have been in the third year level for a long time already. If you have any questions about it, ask now.”
     Mary Duritan raised her hand.

     “Yes, Mary?”

     “Is third year hard?”

     Sir John laughed and he seemed to be very familiar with this question. Austin saw Ivan was falling asleep up front.

      “I can’t really say for you whether it will be harder or easier than your previous years but one thing I can assure you of is that third year is a rollercoaster ride.”

     Sir John let that sink into everyone’s heads.

 

After lunch, Sir John passed around a seat plan and he asked people to choose if they were okay with the seat plan or not.

     Most of them approved, namely the TWP fellows in the front-right corner.

     The TWP (Tropang Walang Pangalan) was the biggest clique in the 3^rd year level.

     The right side held Paulo Tuason, Jack Bungag, Reiji Moriyama, and Marko Socco. This was an almost deadly combination when referring to seat plans.

     In the two seats behind them were Belle and Anne Sino Cruz, a member of the Student Council.

     Behind them were Sean, Ivan, Rico, and Bam. Austin was now the outcast.

     He was in the second row from the right beside Kristina Escobar, a classmate from last year. In the four seats in front of them were Mary and Tennet Rojas in the front seats and Froilan Rabaria beside Marga Lafuente in the second row. Austin had a bit of trauma regarding Froilan from last year since he was his lab partner and he did all the work.

     On their left were Roey, Janus, Riez Valenzuela, Miguel Pilapil, Alyssa, Kyra Mamuyac, Sophia Golimlim, Winona Salanguit, Shane Gamboa, and Paula Zoleta.

     On the left side were Ryan Lopez, Gen Delos Reyes, Chiara, Bernie Cabrera, Lui, Jazzsha Ko, Ea Francisco, Carmela Moalong, Giannina Tiempo, and Kirwyn Aram.

     Once the seat plan was approved, it was once again submitted to Sir John for checking.

     During the last three hours of the day, Austin was relishing his last few moments in this seating arrangement.

    

After recess, they met their second teacher, Ms. Jen Semira.

     She had this strict first impression and spoke with a “no nonsense” kind of tone. She gave everyone their course outlines and an overview on the year’s lessons.

     Austin got a bit excited and intimidated because this year’s focus was English-American Literature. Second quarter in particular was focused on Hamlet and A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

     She then laid down the house rules, one of which was nobody talks while she talks.

     After Ms. Jen left, their next teacher to be revealed was their Social Studies teacher (Social Studies in the Philippines was Araling Panlipunan or AP for short).

     In the level, there were two AP teachers, Ms. Emily Pancho and Sir Ben Ocon. Sir Ben was Sir Leo’s counterpart last year and AP and has gained fame in the batch due to word of mouth regarding his insane awesomeness. Austin for one would have wanted to see this.

     On the other hand, Ms. Emily was a good substitute two years ago when Sir Leo had to leave in the fourth quarter. He would also enjoy the year in AP if she was their teacher.

     Overall, he was just glad that he got a break from two years of Sir Leo. He was on the verge of tears during AP Class because he could not make heads or tails of the lesson; that and Sir Leo was just unlikeable.

     Some students were crossing their fingers, closing their eyes, and begging the heavens “Sir Ben! Sir Ben! Sir Ben!”

     Some were doing the same but begging “Miss Emily! Miss Emily!”

     Jack Bungag’s wishes were borderline controversial for, at least, this batch: “Sir Leo! Sir Leo! Sir Leo!”

     After a while, their teacher hadn’t arrived yet so Jack and Paulo decided to play a game where Paulo clasped his hands and only left out his index fingers while Jack was doing the same only he was trying to hit Paulo’s fingers. Jack charged his shot then he went for the kill. Unfortunately, Jack had terrible aim and hit the table full force. Sean, Austin, Rico, and Bam, who were behind them, along with Paulo, Reiji, Marko, and everyone else who saw this, burst into laughter.

    Finally, Ms. Emily arrived and greeted everyone.

     “Miss, are you really our teacher?” Mary asked,

     “No, I’m just a substitute for Ms. Ruby,” Ms. Emily joked.

     Ms. Ruby was their first year TLE teacher who switched to AP last year. Almost everyone hated her because she spent most of her time humiliating students. She failed sometimes but succeeded most of the time.

     Ms. Emily began writing down requirements and then she asked everyone to write down ten things they know about world history and ten things they want to know.

     “Miss, I don’t know anything!” Jack comically joked.

     “Think harder,” Ms. Emily replied.

“Umm, Legends…” Jack began thinking. “I KNOW! Si Malakas at Makinis!”

     The actual legend was named Malakas at Maganda. Unfortunately, the humor here is lost in translation.

     After AP was Music time where they met Sir Miel. Sean instantly remarked on how weird Sir Miel was. He was the usual, enthusiastic Music teacher and Austin couldn’t really see too much wrong about him.

     He began handing out insight papers to be filled out. He distributed the first few one by one, walking through the aisles with what Sean referred to as a goofy facial expression. This was classic Sean Asprec, a hard critic despite some criticisms being for the sake of criticisms.When he got to Austin, he gave him about five and said, “Can you please just pass this around,” before turning around to give out more. Sean instantly remarked, “Leche, tinamad! (#@$&! Looks like someone got lazy…)”

     After the class which Austin fairly enjoyed despite not actually having any music lessons in it, Sir Miel asked for the windows to be closed and the lights to be turned off. Sean remarked, “Ano ba ‘yan. Nandito pa tayo eh (What the hell? We’re still in the room!).”

     Sir Miel ended with a long prayer thanking the Lord for allowing him to meet these students to which Sean was groaning every fifteen seconds or so.

     General consensus was, everyone liked Sir Miel. He was one of the few teachers who allowed free seating arrangements. He was fun and charismatic. When Sean found this out, he couldn’t believe his ears.

     Austin went down with Mo-on to visit their teachers last year starting with Sir Jojo and Ms. Mac, their advisers last year. They were in Teacher Center B near the ramp in the middle of the west wing of the Mindanao Building, their building. Afterwards, they went to visit Ms. Sharon in the Faculty Center A on the ground floor of the north wing.

     Austin went to the newly constructed Base halfway from the school to the hotel on the other end of the Island. The Base was a rectangular building with steel walls and a two meter steel entrance where you had to pass an identity test and a biometric scan to get in. He just uploaded about a hundred DNA samples.

     He stepped in front of the door and the camera on the steel door recognized him. The biometric scan opened up and he placed his hand on the pad. The door opened and to his surprise, Kyle, John Guino, Ernst, and Mo-on were already there.

     John Guino was the Tech Specialist for the Island.

     “So Austin, I want to know your updates to the Base,” John said.

     “Well, as you might have noticed, ground floor is still the same.”

     In front of the entrance, there was a long table with multiple chairs and a television on the far end. To the left was a kitchen and to the right was a laboratory. At the back of the television was a glass dome with a steel top and a steel base with a control panel beside it. This was the Dome of Power which could be used to give an individual a certain superpower. Austin vowed to never get in here himself after what happened in the past two years.

     Behind the Dome to the left were a few shelves, one of which had an odd structure within a specialized glass jar with steel ends. This was the Mutant Bond which showed all the relationships between the superpowered beings, usually focused on the one viewing it.

     To the right were the male and female wards where people could heal for serious, usually power induced injuries.

     At the very back of the base was an elevator that led to the bottom levels. Before, there were only two lower levels, a virtual reality simulation room for training purposes and a Tech Garage for engineering specialized vehicles. The Garage was also a simulation room for testing purposes.

     “If you would step with me into the elevator, I’ll show you the subterranean floors.”

     “You were serious about that?”

     “Yes, this is now the headquarters of E.N.I.G.M.A.”

     ENIGMA was the sort of “government” of the Island that Austin began last school year. It stood for Enemy Neutralization and Internal General order Management Association. And yes, he did think of the acronym before its definition.

     Austin went to the back and pressed the open button of the elevator. The curved door spun to accommodate them. Ernst and Kyle caught a glimpse of the buttons.

     “Greek Alphabet, Austin? Seriously?” Kyle asked.

     “It’s great that you’re back, Kyle!” Austin said as he pressed the Beta button.

     “The ground floor is floor Alpha, naturally. The Alpha section of ENIGMA is focused on missions, combat, and the likes. The main members of this team were last year’s teams which were lead by me, Kyle, John, and Michael. This year, all previous members are still members but I am promoting a few to main status.”

     They arrived in floor Beta.

     “Like before, this is the training room. Not much to see here that you haven’t seen before. Let’s go lower to Gamma.”

     “So who are the new main team members?” Ernst asked.

     They arrived in the Gamma floor as Austin stepped out. It was a room with a few tables and computers but, most notably, a giant screen in front.

     “This is my unit, the Power Regulation Unit.”

     Austin went to the front desk and typed a few things on his computer. The screen turned on and flashed some names.

     “The team this year will consist of four teams led by me, Kyle, Ernst, and John.”

     “Wait, wait, wait, wait, back up. Me?” Ernst said. “My powers are useless.”

     “When you first asked me to give you laughing gas as a power, I knew that would be useless and I never denied you an opportunity to use the dome. Take your time in choosing another power to back you up. Anyway, my team will consist of Johan, Alyssa, Sean, and Lui. Kyle, your team consists of Mo-on, Michael, Patrick, and Janus. Ernst, you’ll have Ivan Handog, Rico, Ivan Chan, and Ibarra Libosada. John’s team will be Bianca, Bam, Roey, and… well… there’s one open spot.”

     “Why not put Marise in?”Ernst asked.

     “She opted to stay out for a while but she is still in the Alpha team. Anyway, we might add a few members but basically, that’s it. Any objections will be negotiated at another time. Let’s head lower.”

     Austin led them to the elevator and pushed the Omicron button. He then pressed a button that made the walls of the elevator see through.

     “These floors are relatively unimportant to Team Alpha save for a few exceptions. Delta deals with Investigation. Epsilon, Zeta, and Eta deal with Science, Research, and Technology. Theta deals with Island Transportation. Iota deals with Environment and Natural Resources. Kappa deals with Architectural stuff. Lambda is the Educational branch where the Admins have full reign. There’s another elevator in their office designed to transport them there so using this elevator is unnecessary. Mu is finance, Nu is the judiciary body in case someone wants to sue someone on the Island. Yeah right, right? But just in case that happens, there you go. Xi is the legislative body. And now we arrive at Omicron-Pi-Rho.”

     They went out into a room three floors high with a giant screen surrounding the center. In the middle was a small podium with a holograph of the island.

     “This is the INTELSS. Not my idea but, hey, I liked it. That stands for INternal TELepathic Surveillance System. Basically, you type in any date, any time, any year since April 2011 and you point your finger to anywhere on the hologram.

     Austin pointed to the Cardinal William Square in the middle of the Mindanao Building. The screens around them showed a 360 degree view of the scene.

     “It is top notch surveillance. It has no limits and nobody ever notices the cameras because there are none. It is all a telepathic feedback.”

     “This could be useful…” Ernst said.

     Austin pushed the running feed button which placed the time back to the present and he led them back to the elevator.

     “Sigma deals with Health so there are a few extra wards down there. Let’s go to Tau-Upsilon-Phi next.”

     Austin pressed the button and they descended all the way. They went out of the elevator and they saw a few familiar vehicles.

     The Anonymous was parked here as well as John’s Bus with the Power Shift installed and the Pegasus, a jet with a Power Shift and weapons systems.

     “I thought the Pegasus was destroyed,” John said.

     “Yes but I retrieved it and I spent a week in summer fixing it with some help because I lost all my technopath powers.”

     “Anyway, the Chi floors consist of B21F-B40F and they deal with Archives and Documentation. The Psi floors are prison cells and they range from B60F-B100F. B41F is the Omega floor where the Executive body is stationed and B42F-B59F are all empty to distance the hoodlums we lock up.”

     “But there aren’t any hoodlums left, right?” Kyle asked. “We beat the Mastermind.”

     “Can’t be too safe. Let’s get out of here.”

     Austin created a shadow vortex on the floor and they all stepped through it. They went out in the basement of the hotel.

     Austin used to have all the powers but The Mastermind attempted to get all of his powers and put it under the psychic spoke to preserve his control over them. Austin was able to hang on to umbrakinesis, or control over darkness (more on dark emotions than physical darkness) which was a psychic’s weakness. Eventually, he was able to defeat the Mastermind with some help.

     “Oh yeah, we installed something interesting over the summer. The Island emulates the weather in the part of the city where our school is. And guess what I’ve heard.”

     “What?” they said simultaneously.

     “There’s a big storm tomorrow. Guess the second day of school will have to be suspended…”

 

As predicted, Thursday was a free day. Austin spent the day in his suite watching Ghostbusters 2 with Kyle.

     “This is meh…” Austin said.

     “Then why are we watching it?” Kyle asked.

     “Obsessive-compulsive disorder but not all the way. It’s something in me that says, ‘if you watch a part of a series, you have to watch the whole thing all over again’. It’s painful when I accidentally or willingly watch Star Wars. I get paradise for two movies and get torture for two and a half.”

     “So I’m assuming you watched Ghostbusters recently.”

     “Yeah…”

     Silence…

     “So,” Austin began, “How’s school?”

     “Sir Jeff, former TLE teacher in sixth grade of all sections except Albay and Camarines Norte, is our adviser. So far, the year is dull.”

     “So far, my year has been great. I’m classmates with Bam and Rico and we’re sitting in a square. And there are a lot of promising people in the class as well like Lui, Alyssa, Roey, Anne and Sir John is our adviser! I haven’t had a first day that good since… ever.”

     “Austin, your year has only lasted for a day.”

     “So did the end of the world but let me assure you, ADS is looking to be the section that will revitalize the lump I’ve been for the past two months.”

 

The next day, Austin caught up with Ibarra Libosada, a close friend last year, and Ernst. After the formalities, the students went to their classrooms. ADS now had art class with Mr. Dhani Reyes.

     Sir Dhani was the boys’ PE teacher back in first year. Now in his third year of teaching, he seems to have gotten the hang of it.

     After a diagnostic test in English and meeting Sir Jeff in Entrepreneurship class, lunch finally came.

     The biggest downside in lunch is having to witness the cold, ugly, b***h-shrouded, miserable-state-inducing, aura of Janella Deabanico, Austin’s old flame.

     “This b***h took my heart, put it in a blender, and hit turbo,” Austin said before sipping his Iced Tea.

     “Damn,” Adam Morales said. The rest of the table was staring at Adam.

     “Glad to know you feel my pain. And guys, stop staring at Adam. BY the way, guys, this is Adam.”

     “I think we deduced that when you told us to stop staring at Adam,” Ernst said while staring at Adam.

     “Adam, this is Bianca, Ernst, Janus, Anton, and Rod.”

     “Hi guys.”

     Adam was a pretty average looking guy. He was nice enough to land in TEAGS (The Extremely Awesome Guy Society, Austin’s social clique). Unfortunately, the only thing people noticed about him was that he was in a wheelchair and that he did not have a girlfriend when he so obviously deserved one.

     “Anyway, so last summer, damn,” Austin said. Summer was his codename for the “B***h-Who-Shall-Be-Referred-To-As-B***h” AKA Janella from the film (500) Days of Summer.

     “Last vacation, Patola invites me to Queennie’s farewell. Actually, not all of us came. Only me, Nica, Queennie, Dory, Rica, Alyssa, and BWuSBaRTAB”

     “Bwusbatrab?” Ernst asked.

     “B***h-Who-Shall-Be-Referred-To-As…”

     “Yeah, I got it when you said ‘B***h’.” Bianca said.

     “So we have a farewell, watch Scott Pilgrim. Okay, brief digression in 3, 2, before Scott Pilgrim, we began The Thing, by John Carpenter, you know that one?”

     They shook their heads.

     “With the alien and the body sna�" forget it. Anyway, there I am, having a good time, when they get bored and disgusted and ask for a change. Luckily, I had Scott Pilgrim because I refuse to watch any generic horror bloodfest.

     “Back to the main story, after the farewell, we have to get a ride home. This all took place in Queennie’s house in the city by the way. We get into the Anonymous but Nica, Rica, and Alyssa rush to the back, which is the maximum capacity of the back, forcing BWu, oh, what the hell, Beelzebub to sit beside me.”

     “So you two got back,” Ernst began.

     “Let me f�" f**k no! If that happens, just kill me, shoot me in the head, oh wait, that won’t kill me. If that happens, suck my powers away then kill me. Anyway, that place was like the mind of a schizophrenic, two completely things happening at the same time. Of course I’m not a psychologist so I’m basing this on what I think I know but I digress. The back, giggling and s**t. Well, okay, they weren’t ‘giggling’ per se but they were having a viable conversation. The front, brain dead. I looked straight and played my driving video game, getting us to Seton in the city. The back people go their own way. I decide to go down for some soda in Finds.”

     Finds was a convenience store right beside Seton.

     “I enter the store and Cesar and the other jocks are there, drinking and eating. Afterwards, son of a b***h, Beelzebub is right behind me. The jocks began wailing and teasing, accusing us on being on a date and crap. Cesar then asks me if we’re together, I say no, he asks if she was my ex, I slip out yes but then I retort because, hey people, nothing ever happened. It was all a lie!

     “So Cesar, being the a*****e he is although I am thankful that he is only what he is and not some typical high school drunkie with a knife like in those movies, asks me to give her a kiss and I throw up on the floor.”

     “Wait, you really did that?!” Adam asked.

     “Sorry, I got away with the magic of storytelling. I was this close to throwing up. I said to myself, ‘screw the soda, this isn’t worth it’ so I step out to head back to my car when Beelzebub follows me and says ‘Thank You. I ask, “for what?’. And she just smiles and goes on her own way.”

     “So what you’re saying is, you’re falling for her again?” Bianca said.

     “Shoot me, please, if that happens. The point is, she’s getting close and I don’t want her to. I want to be as far away as possible, d****t!”

    “Fernandez!” Sir Dan Labajo, head of discipline, calls. “You’re needed in the Base. It’s power day.”

     Usually on the third day from the start of the school year, Power Day takes place wherein new students were given superpowers of their choice.

     Austin was only in charge of his own batch. This was good news because he only had to deal with 6 people.

     “Good morning, Harold Martinez, what superpower would you like today?” Austin asked.

     “I was thinking something along the lines of Green Lantern.”

     “Which part? The yellow weakness or the cooler part?”

     “Hahaha,” Harold said dryly. “The visualization thing.”

     “Gotcha, although it won’t be green. Is that okay? It’ll be more of a vermillion-like color.”

      “What’s vermillion?”

     “Never mind, just …  it’s not green.”

     Harold stepped inside as Austin gave him what he wanted.

     Yuuta wanted heightened senses and increased strength. He seemed like the basketball type.

     JT Gregorio asked for Aerokinesis and was overall, alright..  Patricia Rosales asked for Cryokinesis and Steel powers in a rather bitchy and self righteous tone. Marvin Dela Cruz took the cake for stick-shoved-up-one’s-a*s to body mass ratio. He just asked for the power to cause pain with his mind. Austin took note of this and gave him a weaker version of that, having to be within one meter of the target.

     Finally, Adam’s turn was here.

     “You okay, buddy?”

     “Yeah, Marvin just shoved me on the way here.”

     “Oh, God, this is gonna take forever,” the guy behind Adam said.

     “Hey! Why don’t we cut off your legs, see how you deal with it?” Austin said.

     “No, Austin, just�"“

     “Okay, what powers do you want?”

     “Something to help me get past this,” Adam said, pointing to his wheelchair and his legs.

     “Enhanced lower body muscle strength. You know, let’s just do the whole body. What else?”
     “And I’d like the power to manipulate minds.”

     Austin was rather taken aback by this desire.

     “Can you be more specific?”

     “Just cause emotions like fear, anger, helplessness...”

     “Don’t you want something more tangible?”

     “No, Austin. Fear is our number one weapon.”

     “Alright. Look, Adam, you’re gonna have to part with your wheelchair for a while.”

     Austin supported Adam as he slowly  sat inside the Dome of Power. Austin indicated the parameters but gave Adam only a 5 meter radius with the neuromanipulative powers. He turned it on and after the time was up, the doors opened.

     “Well, can you stand up?”

     Austin saw that Adam was trying to, but failing.

     “Austin, what happened?”

     “Don’t worry, your body is probably getting used to it. Wait a few hours, it’ll kick in. I promise.”

 

A few notable events after the Power Day session was Ms. Cha, their Filipino teacher whom Austin feared last year since higher level teachers apparently like scaring lower batches but are actually really nice, giving out questionnaires regarding their expectations.

     The answers would be written separately, the questionnaires were to be kept clean. While passing the papers, Austin noticed one paper with someone’s name on it: “Micherenz Guioguio.” He was the poor sap who got bullied incessantly last year. He was quite a fail but can you blame the guy? Austin showed it to Sean, nonetheless, and they had a small laugh about it.

     During Science time, some members of the Seton Notes, school newspaper, went in the room and recruited members. Austin was pretty good at writing but he didn’t really want to be on the school paper right now. Rumor is, third year is even harder than fourth year. He didn’t want to have too many side-projects.

     After they left, it was lab partner time.

     “Choose your lab partner for the first quarter,” Ms. Mariliz said.

     Austin looked at Sean and said to him, “Sean, tayo na!” After a split-second, they both bursted out laughing. “Okay, that came out wrong.”

    (In Filipino, “tayo na”  in the above context meant, “let’s be lab partners” but in a general context, it was what one person would say to another if they wanted to go steady in a relationship.)

     During CCF class, Sir John allowed them to split into groups of five to ten members. Austin joined with Sean, Bam, and Rico. Sean, Bam, and Rico joined with Ivan. Ivan joined with Riez. Riez joined with Jade, Froilan, Pilapil, and Jamil. In short, they had this behemoth of a group with ten members.

     Sir John then asked for the leader and assigned a timekeeper for each group.

     “Jack, you are the timekeeper for your group,” Sir John said.

     “YES! MADALI LANG TRABAHO KO!” (Yes, my job’s easy!”)

    “WALA KANG RELO, TANGA!” Paulo said. (You don’t have a watch, retard!)

     Don’t be deceived, Paulo and Jack were very good friends.

     They were to make a product which they were to advertise. Austin didn’t know what this had to do with morality but knowing Sir John, there was an underlying significance to this.

     Ivan proposed the Fleshlight, some sex toy or something. Riez’s proposals were less lewd and more absurd like a universal pass that could let you go to the bathroom anytime during class, a laser that would sound if anyone threw trash on the floor, and a pen that can act as a cheating aid using a roll of paper inside it. Rico proposed a 2 in 1 product: party hat and breast cone (see Katy Perry’s music video, California Gurls for further reference). Bam proposed a lavender scented katol (thing used to ward of insects). In the end, they went with the pass. Austin had no idea how to make it a viable product but this would be only the first of many more wacky and/or useless ideas that Austin and his group would attempt to advertise with two things: smiles and pseudo-charisma.

     Aside from Ms. Eds correcting Austin regarding the spelling of her name (Austin spelt Ms. Edz), him getting a 26/30 on the diagnostic test and Sir Geck, his former math teacher,  and Maan Jimenez, fellow math enthusiast, saying “Ikaw na”(a Filipino saying which could be best translated as, “Fine, you be the high scorer” or something similar), the day ended pretty sub-standard.

     Weekend finally came . It was fairly uninteresting. Austin was debating within himself whether to continue reading Fellowship of the Ring which he stopped last March due to the first half being extremely slow. Aside from that, it was just another bridge to the first Monday of the school year.