Tryouts[2]

Disclaimer

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the products of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

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[1st April 2003▪︎]

Flying through the sky—with Eve beside me—we engage in small talk.

We haven't been in contact for a little while so I start asking her questions about her school life, her family, and all that, you know, all the mundane things that you ask to make people think you want to know more about their life.

She's opening up to me, that's a given since I was there at her most vulnerable moment. It's all part of the manipulation...sigh, I missed this slow but enjoyable process.

We talk for a while but slowly the topic switches to me.

"I've been hearing rumors about you being an Alien, is that true?"

She asks with her sweet voice, her tone laced with curiosity as we dodge a flock of birds.

"No, not really, I'm just from another Planet called Earth."

I answer cryptically, making her narrow her eyebrows slightly in confusion.

"What do you mean?"

"In simple terms, I'm from another Dimension with a similar but different Earth."

I smile at her and she nods in understanding.

"Oh I get it now, but it still sounds like you're an alien. Hmm, so I'm friends with two aliens, that's interesting."

She jokes with an arrogant smirk, making me chuckle.

"Whatever makes you happy, Eve."

I shake my head playfully with a soft smile.

"....I just remembered something. Robot told us that he was going to join the Guardians—way before they died—and when we asked him how he said you're going to get him in.

Here's the thing, I can almost swear Robot sounded happy and proud when he mentioned your name, so tell me, what's your relationship with him?"

She asks with a weird look on her face as if warning me against lying.

"Oh, that? He's just my protege."

I shrug playfully with a smile.

"Seriously? I guess that explains the overwhelming respect and pride in him."

She nods and then looks at me with a mischievous smile, flashing me her pearly whites.

"Say, I've been meaning to ask you this for a while now. How old are you?"

I raise an eyebrow at her question, making her smile deepen.

...Never thought I will ever feel weird about my age. I guess it sucks when you compare your age to a teenager's.

"Why don't you take a guess."

I suggest playfully as we leave the range of the city, and turn eastwards.

She holds her chin and hums as if thinking deeply and after a few seconds, she looks at me with a confident smirk plastered on her face.

"You look like a college grad so I'd say twenty-five, twenty-six?"

"Not bad, at least that's what's on my file."

I chuckle mysteriously, making her face change.

"What do y——"

"We are here."

I announce—cutting her off—as I stop in the air and look down. She also stops and follows my gaze to look at a wide warehouse currently filled with numerous heroes standing around.

We then slowly descend. Descending, some heroes notice us and start murmuring excitedly, making most of the heroes also look up.

As my feet touch the ground, the crowd becomes noisier as most of them look at me in awe—especially the heroines—with some of the male heroes even frowning at the attention I'm getting.

"The rumors are true..."

I hear someone blurt out, making the expressions of the heroes light up with serious smiles on their faces, their eyes flashing with eagerness.

This is the Guardians Of The Globe tryouts, an event that will herald the new age of the most elite superheroes on the planet and I'm going to the head of it.

That's what the person means by the rumors. After my, let's call it alliance discussion with Cecil, he informed me about something the government had decided.

With the Guardians now dead, they need a new team of sorts as a replacement since the passive deterrence they had on the villains across the globe is gone, making crime increase almost exponentially.

The team was a private corporation of sorts—owned by Darkwing and War Woman or Holly—but since Holly gave all her let's say shares to Darkwing, the corporation now has no owner so the government snatched it up.

Cecil proposed that I be the new head of the Team since Omni-man is...Omni-man and Holly didn't want in again.

I accepted on the condition that I get to be the Co-owner of it since I have some delicate plans and he accepted.

So now, the government—more or less the Global Defense Agency—is in charge of dealing with everything legal concerning the team, the damage costs we may cause during a major fight, insurance, etc.

I'm in charge of paying and training them, providing tech and pieces of equipment, their health, etc plus and most importantly, I have full authority over what they do.

Cecil didn't want to agree to the latter but it wasn't hard convincing him. The only thing concession I had to make is that Donald will be the team's consultant and the link between the Agency and the team which isn't a problem.

That brings us here, in one of the Agency's many advanced warehouses to conduct a test for the new team members.

I already have some people in mind but maybe the rest of the people here might surprise me, who knows?

"Wow, there must be at least a thousand people here. Everyone wants to be a Guardian."

Eve comments in awe as she lands and scans the place with her eyes.

"Yeah, interesting enough, the Capes Inc. from New York accounts for at least one-third of those here. Those guys are vultures."

I remark seriously, frowning a little as I recognize a majority of them.

After all, they are the biggest team in the world with more than a hundred active members in the country.

Eve doesn't comment—a wry smile on her face—so I start walking.

She follows and we pass by numerous superheroes—some I know, some I don't—and as we reach the main venue—which is a large warehouse blue and black warehouse—we come across Robot, Kate, and Rex Splode.

They are standing in front of the entrance on a raised platform, Ruddy is typing something on a holographic screen while the duo is talking.

As we near, Eve's face scrunches up into a frown, and immediately, Robot notices me and stops what he's doing.

"Sir, it's good to see you. Hello, Eve, how are you doing this morning."

He climbs down from the stage and greets us politely as he gets closer.

"Hi, it's good to see you too. I hope everything is in place and that we can begin?"

I ask with a warm smile. Eve nods in response but her eyes are firmly fixed on Kate and Rex who also climb down the stage.

"Yes sir, I was just doing the last minutes touches. Everything is set and ready, we can begin now if you want."

He responds calmly and hands me a small headset.

"Prime, how have you been? It's been a while."

Kate greets me amicably with a bright smile—her tone familiar—as she stops in front of me.

"I've been great."

I respond neutrally with a smile, and she flashes me a sly one in return, making Eve's frown deepen.

"Hey Eve, what's u——"

"Please shut up, no one wants to hear your voice."

Eve snaps at him and hisses coldly, making him jolt a little with an awkward smile.

Teenagers...

I shake my head and float to the platform, wearing the headset.

This breaks the awkwardness around them as I gesture to Robot to come to the stage with the rest of his teammates separating to stand near the stage.

I tap the mic a little—the sound reverberates all over—drawing the attention of the whole crowd and making them come closer.

After a few minutes, everyone's attention was on me, so I begin,

"Good morning to everyone gathered here today. Today is the tryout for a chance to join the Guardians of the Globe after the tragedy that happened a week ago. As some of you may know, I'm Prime and I'm going to be the new leader of the Guardians,"

I pause as the crowd starts mummering, a few seconds later they stop and allow me to continue.

"The former Guardians were the best of the best, some might say, individually they were among the strongest beings on this planet.

As such, the new Guardians are going to be filled with people who have the potential and the drive to surpass their predecessors. I've designed a test that will bring everything out of you so don't expect something easy...be prepared to get hurt."

I pause again to take in their reactions. Some are nervous, some are overly confident and some are calm with their eyes filled with conviction.

I nod as my eyes meet Black Sampson's own, he is wearing his new gold and black bulky metallic suit of armor with a serious look on his face. He nods in return.

"As I said, this is going to be hard but after all this, you will all know your worth and it will benefit you in the process.

Some of you will pass and some of you will fail but at the end of the day, you'll be glad that the future safety of the world rests upon the shoulders of worthy people."

I look at Robot and nod at him, he presses a button on his wrist and suddenly, the gate of the venue slides upon with a hum.

"Without further ado, let's begin the tryouts. May the best hero or heroine win."

•☆•

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