Chapter 21: The Meeting...

Walking back into the Mellbrook building I enter the common room. In the common room are what I can only assume is the other mellbrook residents. Scattered across the couches and chairs are 2 girls and 3 boys. I can see both Nick and Vince sitting on one couch to my left. Then there is a wiry and petite girl sitting in a corner. She has shoulder-length brown hair and amber eyes that are way to intense for a woman of only 18 to 20. though with her height of 154cm (5'1") added onto her diminutive weight she looks more like a 14-year-old. Especially since she is holding onto a stuffed animal in her lap. The other girl in the room is sitting in a chair and seems to be studying me. she has green eyes and blonde hair. Her body is rather slender with an hourglass shape. She is what I would refer to as elegant when describing appearances. she obviously takes great care to look as good as possible and to leave no openings which people way take advantage of. The last boy in the room was rather ... plump. He was wearing a shirt with DnD dice on the front and seemed nervous to be here. though with that shirt I'm sure he would have gotten along swimmingly with my past self. DnD might be super nerdy but that doesn't mean if you get a little drunk it can't be really fun.

Smiling and waving at everyone I introduce myself, " What's up everyone, the names David and it seems I will be one of your dormmates for the next few years." After introducing myself I went and sat down at a chair closer to the boys since I at least have met 2 of them.

As I sat down I felt someone prodding around my mental wall before giving up on finding an easy way though and simply forcing there way in. It was quite a feeling. it is like having someone test your reflexes lightly, give up, and decide to just smash your knee the hammer.

Looking around the room I see the girl with intense amber eyes focused on me so I think. (you know it isn't very polite to go smashing into someone's mind without their permission)

Looking shocked at being caught the girl blushes slightly and looks away. Smirking slightly I think about the feeling I just had. I can tell from that experience that the girl is a very powerful telepath. Her only problem is that she doesn't have the experience or control necessary to do the fine work of infiltrating a mind that is ready for her power.

As the clock on the wall hit 7 Mr. Transport and Mr. Numbers appeared in the center of the room.

"Hello students I am Mr. Numbers and this is my partner Mr. Transport. We will be your overseers for the extent of your stay at mellbrook. We will be living in the room behind the steel door in the kitchen. You will not be granted access to our living quarters. There is an intercom on the wall next to the pantry in case of an emergency contact. Are there any Questions"

"I will take your silence as meaning that there are no questions. now I want to be clear. We have met most of you already when selecting you for the program. David here is the exception. He is not a previous powered like the rest of you, but with his powers and capabilities if we are not here and you lose control of your powers he can help mitigate the damage. No, that does not mean he is in a position higher than yourself, he is simply a last line of defense and is to be treated no differently than anyone else. Now Mr.Transport and I are here to enforce the rules and we are good at our jobs. That does not mean that we will be mean or cruel.

"Uhm... what rules are you talking about" (Vince)

"You will get a copy of the rules before the end of the week. I will go over the main three though. One, you will keep your identities secret at all times. Two, there is to be no fighting with supers or other non-supers outside of class."

"Wait we are going to be fighting others in class?"

"Of course. You are training to be heroes which means you must fight to protect the people of the city you will be looking over. To be a hero you must be strong and know how to handle yourself in a fight. Thus, there will be combat training."

"Don't worry though. The fights are always strictly monitored and there is always someone with a healing power on duty." (Mr. Transport)

"Now then back to the topic before I was interrupted. The third rule is the most important. Your powers must stay under control at all times. This rule is particularly important for all of you. Be aware that this is the primary reason Mr. Transport, David, and I are around. If you lose control we will act decisively to guarantee the safety of everyone else around."

"Wait, I thought we all had control of our abilities? That's why they let us enroll here."

"All of you do have control over your abilities, currently. The procedure you underwent was experimental though. So no one knows how long it will last. It could be a year it could be a lifetime. No one knows. the ones who created it are certain you will remain supers but we like to be skeptical of these guarantees."

"So what happens if we lose control?" (green-eyed blonde girl)

"Testing"

"What Mr.Numbers means to say is we will test and investigate the reason why control was lost. We don't expect anything to go wrong but if it does we will be there to handle it. " (Mr. Transport)

*hmpf* "I feel 'Testing' was an adequate answer. Now do any of you have questions about the rules I have set down thus far?"

The silence that greeted his question I can only assume comes from fear of one of them losing control over their power. Which is understandable, no one wants to go back to a life of being at the whims of their power. After seeing no questions were coming his way Mr. Numbers sat down across from the Green-eyed girl and Mr. Transport started to speak.

"Well then. Why don't we do an exercise to learn about each other?"

"Boo! everyone hates these! Boo!" (David)

"Thank you, David, for your response. I will take that as you volunteering to go first. Please stand up tell us your full name, your power, what you are majoring in, where you are from, and one interesting fact about yourself."

"Very well, hello everyone, as I said to you all earlier my name, is David, last name Braveheart. My power is body cultivation. which means I am very strong, very fast, and can fly. I am majoring in nursing and I am from LoneStar City, and one interesting fact about myself is my middle name is Danger."

"Your middle name is Danger? Really?" (green-eyed blonde girl)

"Yes, really. Do you have a problem with that?"

"No problem. Just thought it was rather... interesting" (green-eyed Blonde girl)

"That was good. Any more volunteers?" (Mr. transport)

"Very well I suppose I will introduce myself next. I am Mr. Transport and my power is instant teleportation of myself and others. my birthplace... is classified and an interesting fact about me is that I like to collect bottle caps from around the world."

"They still make bottle caps?" (Nick)

"They do. In other countries and in America. Since you spoke why don't you go next?"

"No Prob. My name is Nick Campbell and I create and control luck. I am from Sin City itself good old vegas. I am majoring in business while here at Lander and my interesting fact is that I have been punched in the mouth by a senator."

"Punched by a senator? would you care to elaborate on that story?" (Mr. Transport)

"You aren't the only one with shit that's classified." (Nick)

"Okay then, who would like to go nex...?"

"My name is Alice Addair and I have the power of flight. I will be majoring in communications and I am from Los Angeles California. An interesting fact about me is that I have been riding horses since I was five and have won several championships. (Alice)

Hmm, it seems the Green-eyed blonde girl is called Alice. She seems to radiate confidence and assurance. But honestly, to me, it seems like she is a little cocky and looks down on the other powereds here. she doesn't look at me like that, no, she looks at me with wariness. As she should. I know who her father is but I simply don't care. Her father is Charles Addair. He is a former hero who became a businessman. His power allows him to permanently change the chemical compound of anything he touches. So he uses his power to turn toxic sludge and garbage into gold, precious metals, and necessary compounds that sell for a lot of money. The man has connections and power over a lot of people in the government. The only problem with all of that is that I don't care. If his daughter fucks up I will still take her down and give her to Mr. Transport and Mr. Numbers.

"Very nice to meet you, Alice. Who would like to go next?" (Mr. Transport)

"..." (everyone)

"Well since there are no volunteers why don't we start at this side of the room and work our way around."

"My name is Hershel Daniels and I am from Chicago. I am majoring in creative writing and.. and... an interesting fact about me is Uhm... I won a couple of competitions in short stories" (plump boy)

It seems he doesn't have any confidence in himself. He also didn't say his power.

"Yo, what's your power?" (David)

"Well, I don't really have any powers. I mean I do but. It's complicated."

"How complicated can it be? You either do something superhuman or you can't." (Nick)

"It's more that I do something. Then I can do something super. Does that makes sense?"

"He is a shifter." (Telepath girl)

"Oh, so you turn into something and then you have your powers. Why didn't you just say so?" (Nick)

"Yeah, that's how it works." (Hershel)

"There is no shame in that. You should have just said so. Some of the best Heroes have to go through a transformation before they are ready for business. Just look at Granite on Elemental Fury. He turns into some giant rock golem before he fights. " (David)

"My name is Vince Reynolds. My power is the absorption, storing and using of energy. I am from New York originally. when it comes to my major I am undecided and my interesting fact is that I have been in 40 of our 50 states." (Vince)

"How do you get your hair that color?"

"I don't. My hair is naturally this color and i can't get any dye to stick to it." (Vince)

"Oh I didn't know"

"Don't worry about it. it's good that people think i dye it. It will make it easier to blend in."

"That is very optimistic thinking Vince, now shall we hear from our last resident" (Mr. Transport)

The telepathic girl did not stand instead she said while still sitting, "My name is Mary and my power is an advance brain that gives me telekinesis and telepathy. I was born in Louisiana but I have been in the forests of colorado for 8 years now. I am double majoring in psychology and biology. An interesting fact about me is that I know how to turn beavers into hats."

So it seems Mary here will be the resident that will give the most trouble. With her powerset, she is a natural counter to my type of strongman. So it seems I will have to catch her off guard with my speed or some other tricks that Titan Taught me while I was training with him.

"What is your last name?" (Hershel)

Seemingly caught off guard mary thinks about it and says "I don't remember. I haven't had a need for one in a long time."

"Luckily we did. your last name is Smith, Mary. We had to look into it. We have a form signed by your parents if you want to see it."

"No, thank you. I have no reason to doubt you."

"Thank you mary. That takes care of the meeting tonight. but there is one more thing I need to go over before Mr.Numbers and I take our leave. As you were all told classes for Lander take place on the ground level while classes for the HTC take place underground. Other dorms that house supers will have elevators hidden that take their occupants down. However, since ours is new and is not yet hooked up to the system I will be your means of transportation down. Don't fear though I know all of your schedules and will be there to pick you up and take you down when needed. David here is the only exception to the rule since he has obtained the clearance to use the elevators. the reason you all can't is that we did not know if you would be able to attend this year. (Mr. Transport)

"So how will we get back up?"(Nick)

"You can use the elevators for that. No clearance was needed to get back up. Only going down. All of you should know that there will be a meeting to welcome you at 8 in the morning. So I expect to see each of you bright and early at 7:45 ready to go. Aside from that, please get to know each other and have a great night. "(Mr. Transport)