Lucid Visions

Miles was back in the marble while room. He was laying in the same bed, but the Chinese man was no longer leaning over him. There was no one in the chair beside his bed, or any of the other beds. The man and woman still stood in the center of the mysterious room, walking toward the back of the room. The man said something to the woman and she stopped following, instead gazing upon the many beds lined up on each side of the room. Miles noticed that there were other figures in the beds. From Miles' point of view, however, they were merely shapes covered in mystery. None of the figures seemed to be moving a muscle, and Miles imitated their slumber, peeking out of his eyes every once and awhile. The man—who Miles now noticed was wearing a spotless black suit—approached another man in the back of the room. The other man's back was turned, his face not visible. Miles had not seen the other man, as his suit was white, same as everything else in the room. The two men spoke in hushed whispers.

"How are things coming in here?" began the man in black.

Miles closed his eyes, but still heard the response.

"As expected."

"No delays?"

"None."

"Perfect. It seems this group is getting along quite a bit better than B and the others. This will be crucial for us."

"Us? I thought this wasn't about us."

"You know as well as I that we must be focused on our own good during these times."

"You never used to think that way."

"Difficult times. I need not explain."

"I just sometimes wonder if we really are doing the right thing."

"Don't ask that."

"How can I not? What we're doing here is not exactly—"

The man in black interrupted, raising his voice.

"What we are doing here is for the best! You have to know that, especially now."

"So I keep being told."

"It's not always going to be pretty. Nothing this big ever is."

"Speaking of that—is it time?"

"Yes, it must not be put off for much longer."

There was a long silence and Miles opened his eyes again. The original man he had seen—the man in the black—was gone. The man in the white stood rigid, his back still turned. As if he was waiting for something. But what?

As if in answer to Miles' question, something began to whir to life. It was a small sound that turned into a roar a few seconds later. Then everything was quiet. The man in all white looked down then. It was obvious that he would not enjoy what happened next. Something got close to Miles' head, and he resisted the urge to jump out of the bed. It was two metal rungs, one on each side of his head. They got closer and closer, making Miles shrink back. And then they touched Miles' temples. And then came the pain. Indescribable pain, as if his body was being pulled apart limb by limb. The feeling spread and Miles forgot how to move. Forgot where he was. Forgot everything he once knew. And was left with one thing. Pain.

--

Miles woke up. It was light outside the cabin. No, he thought. That's wrong. It can't be morning. I barely slept!

But it was indeed morning, and Caspar and Kane were already gone. Jason was in the bathroom, making a ruckus while brushing his teeth. Miles groaned and rubbed his eyes. The thought of another day knocked the wind out of him. With the kind of day he'd had yesterday, Miles would have been okay if another day didn't come for weeks. Unfortunately that wasn't how it worked. So Miles would have to rely on his wish for a very boring day. His wish was granted. Sure people were looking at Miles differently now—as if he was some sort of saint—but for the most part, the day was very bland. Perfect. Miles could deal with some sideways glances and looks either of approval or confusion. As long as there weren't anymore killer creatures, he felt like he could handle a day of school.

Math was, well, math was math. They didn't do much in the second part of first period either—their first day of Combat Training. Mr. Turner mostly talked about the importance of combat and how it should be used for defense and stuff like that. Halfway through the lecture Miles was sure Caspar had fallen asleep behind him, but Mr. Turner didn't say anything about it if he noticed. He probably had heard along with everyone else how Caspar had dealt with the Necron man and one of the beasts on Lancaster while Miles had used super strength to save a total of three students. Word had travelled fast, and when Miles heard people talking he knew it was about that event, and not just because they almost always looked over at Miles and sometimes Caspar too. Caspar had made light of the entire situation, jokingly giving stories to people on the ways he and Miles had conquered the beasts. He mostly told about how Miles had beaten the beasts, and rarely put any input in on his own heroisms. For once he seemed to be bringing the attention to someone else.

I guess we're both being sort of modest, Miles thought. Just in our own ways.

Ms. Lisa did not turn out to be any better a foreign language teacher than she was a history teacher. She appeared to now loath Miles and Caspar even more, if that was possible. She still hated Jason and Lilly too, and was trusting of no one. She droned on about many different languages, mostly focusing on Spanish. She mostly ignored the students when they asked what a certain word meant, so many of them stopped trying and just listened.

Miles and Jason hadn't talked to each other since the previous evening, even during math and Combat Training, which they sat together in. He'd been expecting Jason to have some questions about what happened, but if he did he didn't ask them. Miles didn't mind. He was more than happy to have some time with himself, and his own thoughts.

Class continued to go by and science was next. Ms. Lukeson was just as adamant about that subject as she was about English. She began drawing on the chalkboard cells and their contents, as well as talking about carbohydrates and lipids. Some of the kids seemed to be fascinated, but most, including Miles, looked completely out of their territory. Miles almost felt more comfortable fighting a beast than he did solving a Punnett square. Well, maybe not quite. But he did have a better success rate at slaying the things than he did solving the square, so that was something.

When the class ended a couple hours later, Miles felt relieved. He liked Ms. Lukeson, but science just plain bored him. He couldn't complain, though. It was normal, and normal things were getting nicer and nicer as time went on.

In fourth period, Captain R was waiting for them to enter the room. When they'd all piled in, he wasted no time in getting started with the class.

"Welcome to class," he growled. "Today we will be doing a unique activity that will allow me to assess your skill as well as intelligence. I would like you to enter the circle behind me and try to grab this flag from my hand. In any means you can think of."

The class looked at each other with uncertainty, and no one said anything. It wasn't that he hadn't been clear on what to do, but he sure had been brief about it. No one really knew exactly what was expected of them.

"So, who's first?"

The class began to back away, everyone nervous as Captain R stared each person down. Finally, Caspar saved them all.

"I'll do it," Caspar said. "How hard can it be?"

The corners of Captain R's mouth twitched a little as he backed into the circle. Caspar followed.

"Go," said Captain R.

Caspar didn't move at first. They were both in the circle staring at each other, beginning to rotate around each other as if it was a boxing match. Without any warning, Caspar's arm shot toward Captain R faster than anyone could register. Except for Captain R. The man pulled back the arm with the flag—just a handkerchief—and used his other hand to shove Caspar onto the rubbery floor.

Caspar got back to his feet slowly, now moving very cautiously. Captain R didn't make another move toward him, though, so Caspar continued forward to him. He reached once again toward Captain R's arm, but this time he withdrew his hand quickly and grabbed Captain R's other arm. He twisted it and flung Captain R to the ground. Miles heard a couple of gasps from his classmates. Caspar moved toward the flag, but Captain R kicked out and Caspar was forced to join him on the floor. They both withdrew to their sides of the circle and stood up. Caspar ran this time toward Captain R, and before he connected with him, slid on the ground to avoid Captain R's blow. Captain R was turning around to face Caspar when he kicked him in the chest, causing Captain R to, once again, fall.

To Miles' surprise, Captain R was grinning when he stood back up.

"You're pretty good," he said to Caspar. "But not good enough."

Caspar's shoulders relaxed, him probably thinking the battle was over, and Captain R took advantage of that to throw him to the ground. Caspar coughed and looked up at Captain R standing above him.

"Don't ever tell me it's not fair," said Captain R.

Caspar stood up and brushed himself off a little. It was his turn to smile. "Wasn't going to. Nothing's unfair in battle."

Captain R looked him over, seeming almost impressed. His eyebrows quickly furrowed again and he nodded curtly. "I like you. Next!"

Caspar fell back in line with the others and Dawn smirked at him as Kane clapped him on the back.

"I said, next!" Captain R repeated, annoyed.

"I'll do it," said Dawn. "You're about to be beaten by a girl."

"It is not your gender that will cause you to lose," replied Captain R simply.

Dawn entered the ring and closed her eyes. Nothing happened. She opened them a few seconds later, confused. "Why can't I—"

"Read my thoughts? Manipulate them?" Captain R growled. "I have very strong will, and I'm also experienced in closing my thoughts and keeping them contained. I've been tortured before by professionals and have given up nothing. You will not break me."

Dawn rushed toward Captain R and started to fight, but Captain R countered her every blow.

"Next!"

Half an hour later, no one had done better than Caspar when it came to grabbing the flag from Captain R. Miles hadn't stepped up to try yet, so he stood back and watched the others try and fail, some taking up to ten minutes to admit defeat.

"Next!" Captain R called again when the Indian girl named Gala had tried and failed to talk Captain R into just handing her the flag. She had used no abilities, just conversation. Miles watched Ian walk into the circle and suddenly he had an idea.

"Hey," he said to Jason, the first time they had spoken that day. "What if we all just go up at once?"

"Is that allowed?" Jason asked.

He was thinking about the idea when Caspar walked over, having overheard. He wore a big smile and looked impressed.

"Brilliant," he said. "The big man never said we had to go one at a time."

Lilly had also overheard and looked over. "I'm in. Miles, you go up and distract him while we go from behind."

"Good idea," said Jason.

Miles was surprised he had gotten three whole people to go with his plan. He had never led anything before, much less an attack.

Ian was just as unsuccessful as everyone else had been, so when Captain R called "Next!", Miles walked up.

"Ah, the hero. Let's see what you've got."

Captain R was mocking what people thought of him during the previous night's battle. It was really just luck then, though, and Captain R knew that better than anyone.

Miles saw Jason, Lilly, and Caspar moving around the circle from the corner of his eye, until they were standing behind Captain R. Miles lowered himself into a stance, waiting for his friends to make their move. But they couldn't; Captain R's hand was too far away. Lilly motioned for him to do something and Miles just shuffled his feet.

"Well?" asked Captain R, impatient.

Miles reached up quickly toward the flag, just as Caspar had, and Captain R pushed him to the ground with his other hand. Just as before, the hand holding the flag went back defensively and Caspar jumped onto Captain R while Lilly tried to pry the flag out of Captain R's hand. The flag wouldn't budge, even when Jason bent down to help. Miles ran over to help Caspar hold down Captain R.

"Help us, you twits!" Caspar called to the others, who were standing around awkwardly in shock.

Some people took on Captain R while the others tried to get the flag out of his hand. Eventually they succeeded, Lilly being the one to take the flag out of his hand. Everyone piled off of Captain R and the man stood up, smiling faintly, as if he was impressed.

"Took you long enough," was all he said.

Lilly walked over and handed the flag to Miles, then moved back with the others. Captain R looked at Miles, studying him as if he had never seen him.

"Your plan, huh?" he grunted.

"Yes," answered a majority of the class before Miles could say a word.

"Well done," Captain R growled. "I never said you all had to fight me individually. Sometimes it requires more than physical strength or mind control. Sometimes you just need to use your brain. This class is dynamic, per say. Sometimes you will use your powers, sometimes you won't. We'll do things here that will strain every part of your body and I will form you into a force to be reckoned with. That's all from me today. I was impressed, and that's the only compliment you'll ever get from me. Class dismissed."