1: Ordinary?

A Chapter by Peregrinator7

It was a normal day. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, and the trees that watched over the football field cast a shadow perfect for relaxing in. It was, in fact, in good use, for four girls lay in the shadow, enjoying all there was to enjoy to this perfectly normal day.

Maybe too normal, in fact. That kind of day held a sort of tension that would put an out-of-the-ordinary person on edge. It would have annoyed all of the girls relaxing in the lawn out of their wits if they had known who they truly were. Or rather, what they were.

I should know. I was one of them.

The school year was just wrapping up, and as ordinary as it had been, it was also very exhausting. Morgan, Kyndra, Jules, and I had managed to sneak out of 6th period and were rather enjoying ourselves in the shade of the trees and the warm breeze that indicated summer was on its way. We were at a track meet, but weren’t competing in any of the events going on right then.

As the small white clouds passed over us on an endless blue canvas, I said, “Another year gone by.”

No one answered for a moment, we were all too busy soaking up the warmth of the sun up high and the cool grass below. “All the usual,” Morgan said at last.

“Everything’s so dull these days,” I replied. “I bet summer’s going to be just as ordinary.”

“Yeah, but that’s a good thing, right?” Jules said.

We all sighed simultaneously, and the warm breeze carried our voices away until we could both hear nothing but a whisper. Suddenly a voice cut through our relaxation.

“Last call for the 200-meter dash,” the announcer said. “Last call for the 200-meter dash. Also, last call for girls’ shot put. Last call for girls’ shot put.” I hopped to my feet as Morgan and Kyndra sat up.

“I guess we have to go,” Morgan sighed as I helped her up.

“Good luck,” I called after them. Morgan saluted a goodbye and Kyndra waved to me as I brushed grass off my pants. Jules left and joined the crowd in the bleachers. “Talk to you guys later!” I called after them.

With nothing to do, I surveyed the field casually. Off to the left of me was the school, a huge, fortress-like building that cast a huge shadow almost as big as the one the forest to the right made. The pine forest encircled the track and field about halfway like some kind of guard, and past a few sparse trees ahead of me was the road. From my perch at the center of the field, the people skirting the edges seemed only like little silhouettes in the afternoon sun.

I noticed there were a lot of people in black suits scattered around, but especially clustered around the start and finish lines of the track. Some were questioning the runners. Ignoring it, I shook my head and headed over to a goalpost. It was Morgan’s first race, after all, and she would appreciate my support. I set my hand on the bright yellow pole as the suspense of waiting for the gun to go off set in.

But I never heard the gun. In a split second, my eyes were drawn to the track, where frozen there, was Morgan, legs outstretched, teeth gritted, and gaze fixed forward towards the finish line. I blinked, and she disappeared. In her place was a faded gray outline, almost like a crease in the air. My heart started to pound in my ears. I had never seen something like that before, and yet it scared the daylights out of me. I tried to run, but it was on me in a second. The crease in the air creased me, and my vision blacked out for a moment. I could only feel pain coursing through my body. The next thing I saw was the cool green grass by my head, and a tiny potato bug that was a few yards away. Wait… how can I see that?

Unconsciously, I picked myself up as fast as I had fallen. Immediately, I knew something was wrong. I felt more aware. I felt stronger. I felt different. I could see and hear everything. A baby crying in the bleachers. A car pulling up in the parking lot. And worst of all… the faces of people in a crowd, every last detail �" from a mole on their face to sweat on their forehead to bushy eyebrows �" yes, everything, and Morgan in the center of it all. The noise was almost unbearable. The crowd had gathered almost instantaneously at the finish line of the race. What did Morgan do? What even was going on? And why was one of the persons with black suits on standing next to her? My eyes moved for me. They zoomed into the midst of the swirling, pulsating crowd and onto the clipboard the official was holding. In bold black letters at the top was a word: S.W.O.R.D.

S.W.O.R.D? An acronym? These officials weren’t from the government? What kind of organization was S.W.O.R.D? And what were they doing at a middle school? Still too confused at everything, I rubbed my eyes just to make sure this was all real, and I was back by the goalpost again. The crowd now looked like a flock of birds from across the field. I ran as fast as my feet could carry me to the crowd.

I wove through the bustling chaos, trying to reach Morgan, but I was pushed back. I finally spied her, standing next to that official with the clipboard. She looked excited, nervous and shocked all wrapped up in one facial expression.

“Morgan!” I shouted over the noise. She turned to look at me, alarm new on her face. “What's going on?”

She opened her mouth to reply, but the official shouldered his way in front of her, blocking my view. “This young lady has shown incredible power,” he said. “She will be part of the new class at S.W.O.R.D’s VTBs.”

My eyebrows shot up. VTB? Was this institute’s thing for acronyms? Why were there so many acronyms that I didn’t understand? I was ready to ask another question, when the official put his hand up in some sort of gesture that probably meant move out. In one swift movement, all the fancy-looking people in black started moving towards the parking lot. The official that had just spoken to me grabbed Morgan by the arm and yanked her towards a black car that was sitting and waiting for her. Some people tried to follow, but the officials lined up to create a barricade. “Morgan!” I screamed, struggling to get past the wall of officials. She didn't reply, her eyes huge. “Morgan!” I screamed again, getting nothing but an arm past the human wall.

“Mandy, we'll see each other again!” she shouted after me as she was escorted into the black car.

“I promise!”

When the black car had left, everything died. The principal told us, after much chiding and calming down, that the track meet was over, and that we could leave. Everyone was excited that we could go, since it was still ten minutes until school got out. Everyone except me.

I hung my head and shuffled towards the forest on the far side of the football field. I barely even acknowledged the birds singing in the trees. Now they seemed to laugh at me. As I walked, I tried to wrap my brain around what had just happened. Morgan, my best friend, my only close friend, was now gone, taken by black-clad fancypants to some sort of pompous organization. S.W.O.R.D? VTB? Those terms were alien to me.

My stomach dropped to my knees. What if they worked for Darknight, the most feared supervillain on earth, and only took Morgan to turn her to the dark side? Or worse, kill her? I shuddered at the thought, wishing it would rain to match my grim mood.

The forest opened up into a dry grassland that teemed with bugs. On normal days I would prance around the yellow waving sea and clap my hands until bug guts started dripping down my arms. But I definitely wasn’t in the mood, and I only swatted at my face irritably and prayed I wouldn’t get eaten. By the time I got to the woods again, my spirits were even lower, possibly on the brink of despair. Walking home reminded me of Morgan, as she normally came home with me after school. Emotion hit me like a wave. She wasn’t here. She was taken. Gone�" forever. Fighting back tears, I entered my house through the back door.

No one was home yet; my parents both worked, and they got home long after I was asleep. I usually only saw them in the morning at breakfast. I flinched. They weren’t my real parents, as I was actually adopted at an early age. I didn’t know who, or where my real parents were. The only thing I did know about them was that my father put a knick in my left ear so that if we ever saw each other again, he would recognize me. Other than that, I probably had some old memories of them that were more like distant dreams, but that was it.

Setting that thought aside, I trudged past the kitchen and to my room. I didn’t feel like doing anything. I wanted to get away from this world, to be back to when Morgan was with me. Pulling back the covers on my bed, I decided to lay down for a little while.

Suddenly, my eyes snapped open. I groggily stepped out of bed. It was pitch dark in my room. All was quiet. But the quiet seemed ominous, like that moment before something terrible happens, when that monster from underneath your bed emerges and grabs you and soundlessly kill you.

And indeed it was an ominous quiet. A split second later, I heard a thump that sent me a foot off the ground. In that moment, I realized that things felt different again. Everything in my room seemed much more detailed and brighter, and the sounds echoing off the house were louder than ever. I felt tense and on edge, like someone was about to jump out of the shadows and grab me.

The thump came again. I clenched my fists in fear, and my fingernails pierced the skin in my palms. I shuddered in pain. What was going on? My grip had never been this strong before.

The basement. I thought suddenly. It’s coming from the basement. Not even putting a second thought into it, I slipped out of my room and towards the kitchen, watching and listening. A few moments later, the thump came yet again, and it was louder. My head immediately snapped towards the basement door, heart pounding loudly in my ears. So it was coming from the basement. Hesitating, I opened the door and stalked down the stairs.

Our basement is pretty ordinary. No one went down there that often, and it was usually used for storage. A sliver of light appeared as I entered, running over the boxes that climbed up the walls, and then disappeared as the door creaked shut behind me. As I descended into darkness, I fumbled around for a light switch, and not finding it, I eventually gave up. As my eyes focused, though, I could see the outline of most of the things in the basement: the furnace, boxes of old toys and board games, and some Christmas ornaments. Nothing here. But as I turned around to leave, the thump came. And it was right behind me.

Breath stopping short, I whipped around. “Who’s there?!”

I saw nothing, but only for a moment. Something moved out of the corner of my eye. It wasn’t anything but a shadow, weaving in between boxes and shelves, consuming them as it passed by. It went a full circle around me, until stopping where the small slit of light coming from the door would be. It may have been just a shadow, but in the shadow could be anything. Uh oh…

Then came a voice. It was nasty, like nails on a chalkboard, yet mesmerizing, smooth and bubbly like water and absolutely chilling to top it off. “Adira…”

My heart leaped up to my throat and got lodged there, and I choked on my own spit. Spasms of cold flew down my spine like a fireman on a pole, and panic flooded into me, overflowing so that I started to shake. “W-who’s there?” I stammered.

The shadow moved closer. I backed up, but that only seemed to encourage it. Any light that I had seen was gone now, and I was alone in the darkness. Paralyzed by fear, I could only stand there and wait as it consumed me. “I’m coming for you…”

Suddenly, I was thrown back and shoved up the far wall of the basement by my neck. I tried to scream for help, but it only came out garbled and airy. I could hear maniacal laughter echoing through the basement as even the darkness faded away...

...and I woke up on the floor screaming. I was in a cold sweat, tangled up in tattered bedsheets, and choking myself.

My eyes wide, I took my hands off my neck and saw they were bleeding. So I had pinched my palms with my fingernails… how was my grip so strong? And why were my sheets all torn up? I waved it off, but it still freaked me out.

It took me probably ten minutes to untangle myself from my trashed blankets, and by the time I had gotten myself free, I was so frustrated that I threw the sheets against the far wall of my room and stormed out to the kitchen.

It was now dusky outside, and the stove clock read 7:30 PM. No one was home yet. I must have slept longer than I thought. I quickly downed a bowl of cereal, patched up my hands, and retreated back to my room.

Wiping milk off my face, I sat down at my desk, opened my laptop, and searched up S.W.O.R.D. This is what I found:

S.W.O.R.D stands for Security of the World: Operations with Rare persons Department. It was created by Dr. Gregory Linn in 1939, to aid the United States in wars with deviant human beings and genetically modified (GMed) persons. Gregory Linn was well known for his advancements in research on the human body, such as the discovery that a human’s genes can be altered. He invented a machine called the Genetic Modification Machine (GMM) that could alter a human’s genes to give them supernatural powers. The first man that was GMed was called Strong Man, whose physical strength was heightened.

Gregory Linn was aware of humans that possessed powers naturally (more commonly called deviants), and he began to search for and recruit them. He began to set up S.W.O.R.D’s headquarters in crime-ridden Coma City, and founded the first VTB (Vigilante Training Base) in Portland, where the recruits could live and train.

There were also other experiments to give the powers of flight and speed, which both succeeded. These three ‘superheroes’ (nicknamed The Three) were iconic in the U.S and their allies’ nations.

However, one of The Three (Hawk Guy, who held the power of flight) grew envious of Strong Man’s fame, and tried to kill him. Hawk Guy became the first supervillain, a much larger threat than S.W.O.R.D had ever faced before. Hawk Guy created the I.I.E.M (which stands for the International Institute for Evil Masterminds) to oppose S.W.O.R.D. Hawk Guy recruited his own team of deviants and GMs and used them to build up his Institute.

Hawk Guy died in 1950, in a battle with his nemesis Strong Man, when a building collapsed on top of him. The I.I.E.M has still been training and creating super villains with their own team of scientific researchers and experienced hackers.

Dr. Gregory Linn unexpectedly died in 1980, leaving S.W.O.R.D to his assistant, Dr. Richard Oswald. Under Oswald’s leadership, S.W.O.R.D has grown to be the biggest and most widely known group of superheroes, however, some heroes have broken off of S.W.O.R.D creating their own societies that, too, fight crime. S.W.O.R.D has established more training centers and VTBs, the main ones located in Austin, Texas, New York City, and the Coma City-Portland center that also houses S.W.O.R.D’s main headquarters.

I closed my laptop and turned away from my desk. It was starting to get dark. The official had said that Morgan was going to a VTB. Was she actually a deviant? Or was she getting a GM? I had no way of finding out.

Giving into despair, I sank onto my bed. I would never see Morgan again.

Chances were, I was wrong.

But it was definitely not in the way I would expect.

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