An Eventful Bus Ride

The Captain led me out of the station with several officers flanking us, mostly me, after . It was an understandable situation given my old profession and my power level classification. The police and agents that had been involved wanted me fully shackled and in power blocking manacles. However the Captain vouched for me and I ended up only in a pair of dampening bands. The entourage followed us all the way curbside where a long distance travel bus for Orion Academy sat waiting for me.

Captain Valor, who identified himself as Richard, dismissed the authorities as he removed the bands and parted with me on the bus. Honestly I didn't sign the paper because I was feeling remorse or guilt. The people I killed shouldn't have expected a long or free life, but this was an opportunity to get out of the business and stop getting contacted by people wanting families wiped out or some sort of soup kitchen person talking to the wrong person.

Surveying the bus revealed there was no one else onboard save myself and the driver implying this was the first pickup location. Having the whole bus to myself and no personal belongings I chose a seat in the back of the bus near both the bathroom and two of the emergency exits. "Ya got any luggage kid," the driver asked in a genial manner as he looked up into the mirror above the dashboard.

I glanced toward the mirror and responded lazily with a simple, "Not this time." With that he leaned over and closed the door. After a few checks of traffic he pulled into the right lane and we were soon leaving the Marlin City Police Station behind. Knowing that this was going to be a long trip I decided to kick back and get comfortable.

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At some point I had fallen asleep and the bus's sudden stop woke me up. We were parked outside a gated community and there was a few kids waiting with suitcases and a backpack each. A few moments after the doors slid open the driver got up from his seat and headed out to load their stuff. There wasn't much special of them but it seemed like there was an age diversity. From elementary to high school age.

Most of them were fairly regular but one of them was obviously very spoiled. She had five different sized suitcases that all seemed about to burst. I was just about to get up to load the vehicle when the driver showed off one of his powers. Telekinesis. He seemed quite adept at it maybe a high level gamma or low level beta.

The girl, garbed in a white frilly dress and carrying a matching umbrella, made no motion to help load her stuff. She started to walk towards the bus, well perhaps walk is the wrong word she was gliding towards the bus. While her movement was graceful she seemed to also carry herself with an air of superiority.

Boarding the bus she approached me, took one look at the casual clothes I was wearing and wrinkled her nose. "I see they let any random person off the streets into Orion Academy," Her voice as haughty as she looked. "Well, no matter peasants should sit with other peasants. I require your movement peasant. You have happened to choose the optimal location in this bus."

"Well first, I didn't just happen to pick this location. Second I'm not a peasant. Third I was on here before you showed up so I'm not moving." I had a feeling that I was not gonna like her.

"The insolence!"she shrieked as she recoiled with the back of her hand covering her mouth. "To think that a plebeian like YOU would dare defy an Elingston! I'll Show you what consequences that reaps," she nearly shouted as she raised her other hand and started to form a ball of energy just as it was starting to get big and appear dangerous I reached my up my own hand and snapped dispelling the energy that she was projecting and manipulating. The look on her face was priceless. "H-h-how?"

I paused as I analyzed the type of energy. It was some sort of mixture of thermal and kinetic. it would have caused an explosion which means it was reckless. "Why would you create an explosion in this confined space. Think before you do these things. You would have blown up the bus and us along with it. Even if we survived how would we get to the academy. Now pick a different seat and shut up."

Following exactly as I said she sat almost directly across from me in a childish fit. Everyone else had apparently gotten on and seen the spectacle cause they were all applauding. One of the other high school age kids started making his way towards me. He was a little chunkier than other kids but seemed to keep his appearance up more. He was wearing a black shirt under a plaid button up pairing with dark jean pants. His skin had a constantly shifting skin tone probably had something to do with his powers. Not only did he decide to sit down in front of me he twisted himself so he could talk to me. "That was amazing guy she's supposed to be a top tier alpha. The rest of us wanted to do something about her as well but, we find her a tad on the intimidating side. My name's Garrick, what's yours."

"If how she behaves intimidates you than you might not want to become to a superhero. They'll be facing a lot more dangerous or intimidating people than that," I replied before continuing. "My name's Mordecai. Nice to meet you."

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The remainder of the trip was mostly pleasant Garrick and I conversed for a little while between stops. Eventually twenty six of the forty seven seats were filled and most of the remaining space was taken up by backpacks. The girl who sat across from me, whom I learned was named Lilliana, remained where she was and whenever she wasn't talking with some of the other spoiled types would look over and glare at me. Where as My area was joined by; a twin brother and sister pair going to Orion Academy's middle school campus, Darcy and Dean Dark; A high school freshmen, Penelope; and a boy same grade as me, Uriel.

The rumor of how Lilliana's yearly seat choice had been thwarted by me had spread quickly throughout the bus. Thus a little group had formed around me. Every once in awhile I would glance around and take in my surroundings to break things down. A habit that I would not let go away. While the spoiled bunch weren't weak, no one on this bus was, they weren't particularly strong either but their families were well acquainted with the Elingstons clearly at the top. Everyone else seemed to be clustered more towards the front of the bus out of intimidation. It seemed that the groups surrounding me and Lilliana were some of either the more well known people or seemingly intimidating.

Eventually we reached a tunnel that seemed to go underground. The entrance was guarded by a gate and about seven uniformed men. I recognized them as members of the four hundred strong hero group, Battalion H, which has a very militaristic structure. Two of them walked forward as the bus approached at which point the the driver opened his window and handed them some documents.

After a few moments chatting one of them raised their hands with a few hand signs and the one manning the gate flipped some switches or pressed some buttons, I wasn't sure which, and the gate began to slide out of the way. Our driver inched forward and as we passed through and entered the tunnel I was met with a bright light, swirl of color, the feeling of falling. When I reopened my eyes we were making our along a what was essentially a small city street.