Fan Fiction ❯ The Blackhawk Chronicles 00: Origins ❯ Chapter 2

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

Xavier strode briskly down the hall as people flitted to and from his side briefing him on projects, getting his signature on budget amendments, and other mundane office issues before he managed to slide into his office.

"Shoo! Bug off you bleedin' vultures!" A harried voice cried as Olivia Foxe pushed the heavy double doors shut. "He'll see you when he's ready!"

"I'm not sure I want to know." Xavier said as she handed him his first cup of coffee. "What would I do without you as my personal assistant?"

"Run around like a headless chicken." Olivia laughed as she sipped her own cup of coffee. "Everyone is way too uptight."

"Then I think we're due for another casual day."

"Ahead of ye as always." She said in her mixed Irish-English-Scottish dialect. "I've got one booked for this Friday with the usual decorum standards. The memo will be going out this afternoon."

"Where exactly are you from?"

"Do you really wanna know?" She asked taking off her glasses and leaning across the desk to gaze at him with her intense emerald eyes.

"Yes. I wouldn't be asking if I didn't."

"Heaven." She said promptly. "They said they needed someone to look after you."

"You are hopeless." He laughed. "So what is on my agenda today that is truly important?"

"Meeting with the board the directors in an hour, then you've got to present your graduate thesis ten minutes after that, then be back here for..." She paused to fish a data pad out of her suit coat. "overseeing prototype testing."

"In other words, a lot of explosions and smoke." Xavier sighed as his phone rang. "Falcon Industrial Technologies, Xavier Falcon speaking. How can I help you?"

The view screen rose out the table and flickered to life. "Kill me." Meliana moaned.

"Hello Mel." Olivia said. "Bad day?"

"I take it Takimoto fell through." Xavier asked.

"Not yet." She replied burying her face in her arms. "But the man is infuriating. He already has something against the fact that I'm a woman, he relays instructions through subordinates, even though I speak fluent Japanese, and he said that I would make an excellent geisha. He called me a geisha for Christ sakes!"

"So what did you do?" Olivia asked.

"If it wasn't for Max I'd have told him exactly where to shove his damn contract. He discretely took me aside and ... clarified what a geisha is."

"I'm a little out of the loop." Olivia said hopping onto the table. "What's a geisha?"

"Kind of like an erotic companion." Xavier said.

"Like a hooker?" Olivia exclaimed.

"No." Mel said. "It's not just about sex. It's complicated."

"How are you doing Mel?" Maximillan Stone said as he placed a steaming cup of tea in front of her.

"Where's my sword? I'm gonna kill him." Mel mumbled into her arms.

"Wait Mel." Olivia said. "I'll come hold him down."

"Oh, 'Via, Mr. Falcon. I didn't realize you were on the line."

"No problem Maxi." Xavier said. "And call me Xavier, call me Zavier, call me X, but please for the love of god, stop calling me Mr. Falcon."

"Of course, Xavier." Max said with a wry smile.

"What else do I have to deal with today?" Meliana sighed, massaging her temples.

"Nothing more important than Takimoto and your Laser Battle Tryouts."

"Speaking of which, when do I squeeze the tryouts into my schedule?"

Olivia checked her data pad. "Right after prototype testing. Then you're free until the gala ball where you'll be presenting a generous donation to a scholarship fund for orphans. It starts at 8 and should be over by 11, but you're presenting the check at 9:30, so once that's done you can stay, or slip away."

"You up for dinner, baby?"

Mel brightened somewhat. "Really? Can we go out?"

"Anywhere you like." Xavier agreed.

"The Hanging Dragon." She said promptly. "Then the Ball, right Max?"

"After laser battle your schedule is clear." Maximillan confirmed.

"Done." Olivia said briskly making the appropriate notes on her data pad. "Now Mr. Fal-" She was cut off by the chirp of the intercom.

"Um Mr. Falcon, sorry to bother you, but there's a courier down here with a package."

"What's the problem, then?"

"You have to sign for it sir. She says it's from Citadel."

"Hold on Mel!" Xavier paled as he bolted for his private express elevator. Less than a minute later he was in the lobby, confronting the teenage courier. "What do you know about Citadel?" He asked quietly.

"I don't know nothing about none of de customers." She said blowing a bubble and popping it. "I'm just supposed to get a DNA scan from you to verify dat you're de guy who's supposed to get this. Put your tum dere."

With some trepidation, Xavier pressed his thumb to the small oval scanner. "DNA match confirmed." The box chirped as it opened to reveal a small program disc which Xavier calmly palmed into his pocket.

"T'anks an' ya have a good day now." The girl walked out and climbed into a waiting van which disappeared around a corner. Once out of sight Isis pulled off her glasses and wig. "And I'll see you soon Falcon." Isis grinned.



"Mel, what's wrong?" Xavier asked, sensing her discomfort as he disembarked.

"This just arrived for me." She said shakily holding up a data disc. "It was in a DNA locked box."

"It's from Citadel." It was a statement, not a question. "What's on it?"

She tapped a portion of her desk and a data drive rose smoothly from the black marble. "I don't know, but something about it gives me a bad vibe." She said as she slipped the disc into place. "Antiviral scan is clean. It seems to be a massive program of some kind." She touched a panel to run the program before frowning.

"Then I take it your screen says the same as mine?"

" 'Not yet Miss Andrews. Wrong time & wrong place.' " Mel read. "Interesting."

"And disturbing."

"Aye, Xavier, you've got thirty minutes before you face certain doom." Olivia said.

"And you should get back to Takimoto." Max said.

"Right." Xavier said producing the disc and tossing it to Olivia.

"An what would ye want me to do with this?" She asked with a half smile tugging at her lips.

In perfect unison the two CEO's gave the same command. "Vault it."



Deana strode through the halls coming to a stop where there was a large crowd gathered at her locker.

"What's so interesting, Ricky?" She said as the boy closest to her locker spun to hide something.

"Oh hi, Deana. Just admiring the color of the paint." He said nervously.

"Right." She said. Grabbing him by the collar she flung him easily across the hall to find a black box stuck to her locker.

"It's an electromagnetic seal." Deana's best friend Selene said. "It won't come off."

Smirking, Deana pressed her thumb against the surface of the box. "DNA match confirmed." A moment later the box detached itself and fell neatly into her palm.

"What is it?" Selene asked.

"My business." Deana smirked, pocketing the box and grabbing the data pads for her last class.

So we have something in common. Trevalian thought. But what? Could it be Citadel? She seems so familiar somehow... "Hey Deana!"

"Huh? Oh hi...."

"Trevalian Hawke. I'm behind you in com tech."

"Right. Look Trevalian-"

"Call me Trev."

"Trev. Look I'm really busy and I've got to get to class."

"Look all I wanted to ask was if you're going to the NRO Laser Battle tryouts at the college tonight."

"Ordinarily, I would say no." Trevalian's face fell. "But these last few days have been anything but ordinary. I assume you'll be there?"

"I wouldn't have asked if I wasn't."

"Then I'll see you there and may the best man win." She said jogging away. He seems familiar. She thought. Not to mention devastatingly cute.



"Humph. Thinks she's all mysterious now because of her little box. I'd break her in half. " Robyn snarled, donning her sunglasses as she stormed from the building. Her last class was phys ed, which she could ace without trying, so she decided to vent her sleep deprived frustration on the firing range in preparation for the tryouts.

"Hello Robyn." A voice said as she approached her truck.

"Whatever you want, I'm not interested."

"Not even in Citadel?"

"Who are you?" Robyn asked drawing a gun from her glove box and spinning around to confront her tormentor, a middle aged woman in a wheelchair. "And what do you want?"

"My name is Nemesis." She reached slowly into her pocket and produced a familiar box. "And I want to give you answers."

Robyn smacked the box away with her free hand. "I don't want anything to do with Citadel! You took my father from me."

Nemesis was silent for a long moment. "Does Jasmine ever talk about your father, about how he died?"

Robyn trembled. "What the fuck do you want from me?" She sobbed.

"Simply to listen with an open mind and see with eyes unclouded by hate. The choice is yours." She said gesturing to the box. Robyn's eyes flicked over to the box for a fraction of a second before snapping back to Nemesis.

The woman was gone.



Despite his performance at the hearing the night before, saying that Adair was pissed would be an understatement, as the beer bottles he was using for target practice indicated.

"Adair!"

"Hi mom." He said as he lay down his pistol and hit mute on his stereo, which was blasting at a deafeningly loud level. "What brings you here?"

"What?" She shouted feigning deafness. Adair laughed weakly as he pulled the hearing protection from his head. His mother did the same as the twenty-one year old poured her a glass of Iced tea and gestured to a seat. "So I hear they bounced you from the force."

"Yeah." He said sipping his tea. "I'm just venting a little. Good time to live in the middle of nowhere huh?"

"Adair, what if I told you there was way you could still make a difference? Keep your word to your sister and stop the Blaze Boyz before they destroy everything."

"How?"

"You have to go to Citadel." She said nervously as she pushed the DNA locked box across the table.

Adair looked from the box to his mother. "What do you know about Citadel?" He asked quietly.

"More than I can tell you, I'm afraid. But Adair, please be prepared." She said as she pushed away from the table. "I don't want to lose you."

"I will." Adair promised. "So what have you been up to these days?"

"The same as usual, pharmaceutical research for Kane Industries." She spat out the name with obvious distaste. "I'd rather be working at F. I. T. but, that's not the way things go."

"Diamonde Caine." Adair snorted. "One of the most powerful and the least liked man in all of Metroplex. It's a wonder that no one's tried to kill him yet."

"No, it's the fact that Kane Industries is built like a fortress with security to match. So what are you doing with your free time?"

Adair stood and crossed the yard to a small storage shed, which he opened to reveal a wall lined with trophies and medals opposite a wall lined with firearms. He silently crossed to the back as motion sensors triggered the lights, throwing a spotlight on a empty plaque. "That should have been mine." He said bitterly running his battered calloused hands across his chin. "Laser battle was my life, and the pinnacle of my efforts was stolen from me."

"So what are you going to do about it?"

"I think it's time for the Phoenix to rise from the ashes." He said with a tight lipped smile.



"Hey, Martinique, you're sprung." The guard said.

"Zank you, Jimmy. I will try to stop in when I am not under ze arrest." She said walking out of her holding cell, and pulling on her jacket as she squinted into the bright sunlight.

"I thought you'd be needing these." Steve said as he met her outside and handed her a pair of dark glasses.

"Zank you, mon ami." She said in her rich French accent before she walked to where Steve had parked his truck. "I see you have already loaded my bike." She frowned slightly.

"Something wrong?"

"I was hoping to ride home."

"And I was hoping to talk about- what's this?" Steve said picking up the locked box.

"It appears to be a DNA locked box." She said as she pressed her thumb to the scanner.

"DNA scan invalid. No match."

Steve looked from the box Martinique held to the one on the passenger's seat. "Let me try." He said pressing his thumb against the oval.

"Match confirmed." The box chirped.

"Interesting." Martinique said opening her own box. "What did you want to talk about, sweetheart?"

"I'm concerned about you, 'Nique. I love you and I don't want to lose you." Steve said as they climbed into the truck and drove away.

"You want me to stop doing my stunts?" She asked.

"Never. I want you to happy but I also want you to be safe." He said. "Just put a little thought into these things and don't be quite so impulsive."

"I thought you liked when I am impulsive." She said, running a hand suggestively across his inner thigh.

"Not while I'm driving, sexy." Steve said placing her hand back in her lap with a good natured grin.



"So Drake, what do you suppose Citadel is?" Silver asked as the two teens walked to their apartment.

"I dunno. I know that there was some kind of military school by that name, but that was closed down in the mid twenty first century after some sex scandal." He said as he swiped his keycard.

"Greetings Silver, Steel." The computer chirped.

"Athena, you know I hate that." Drake said, dropping his coat onto a chair. "Any mail?"

"The usual deduction confirmations for the bills and a package for the both of you in a DNA locked box."

"That's odd." Silver said pulling back the naturally platinum blond hair that she took her name from before applying her thumb to one of the two DNA scanners as Drake applied pressure to the other causing the box to open.

"A data disc. I wonder what's on it." He said sliding it into a terminal and tapping a command to run it.

"No time. NRO starts in thirty minutes." Silver said. "We better get changed."

The two changed quickly before dashing out the door. Neither stopped to abort the mysterious program that was already beginning to reshape their lives.



The pair pulled into the parking lot next to the Metroplex Area Community College Athletic Center. "That's it Silver, The Battledome."

"Over half a million square feet of the most advanced high resolution holographic equipment available. Just thinking about it is making me crazy." She sighed. "We've gotta win a spot on a team."

"And we will. Now let's go."

"Please state your name." The computer said blandly.

"Ugh. Low budget AI." Silver made a face and stepped forward. "Silver Castaway."

"Hello Silver." The computer said dryly as a laser scanned her face.

"Zero personality. Drake Steel." He said briskly as Silver moved aside and he subjected himself to the scan. A moment later she handed him a photo access card.

"I've seen worse." She said as the door opened and Drake followed.

"They're only temporary." Drake said. "We'll get better versions once we make the team."

Inside the locker room was a veritable who's who of college, high school, and freestyle laser battle players.

"There's Takishino Xiang, the Women's Olympic Laser Battle Grand Champion five years running." Silver whispered in awe.

"I didn't know she was in college, let alone in Metroplex." Drake murmured scanning the crowd. "Oh my god. Look over there by the lockers. Isn't that..."

"Xavier Falcon, CEO of Falcon Industrial Technologies, and his long time public love interest Meliana Andrews."

"Check out her piece." Silver said. "That's gotta be custom made."

Drake narrowed his eyes to get a better look at the pistol the older woman had strapped to her side. "Looks like a German Loch Seven modified with a laser sight, DNA encoded trigger, extended muzzle and clip mockup, and I can't swear to it without a closer but I think she's also got an audio recall module in that baby." To his surprise, Mel looked him square in the eye, nodded slightly and smiled.

"No way!" Silver said. "It's like she heard you." Her eyes flicked from Mel to Xavier, who bore a slight smile himself. "The recall module is keyed to a preselected sound. When triggered it launches the weapon from the floor back to it's owner. Very expensive even just to maintain one, and the module itself..."

"Runs at least 25,000 credits for anything consistently reliable." Robyn said. "I'm guessing 75,000 to 100,000 for what she'd have."

"Oh!" Silver squeaked, startled. "I didn't know you were there."

"The names Robyn. I'm something of a handgun aficionado myself."

"I'm Silver and this is Drake. Nice to meet you Robyn."

"So are you hoping to get a spot on the NRO team?" Drake asked.

Robyn shrugged. "I'd like to, but I won't be heartbroken if I don't."

"You just wanted a chance to get into the dome, didn't you?" Steve said as he approached the small group. "I'm Steve, and this is my girlfriend, Martinique."

"I zink zat iz vat ve all want." 'Nique said brushing her blue gray bangs out of her hazel eyes. "It iz a pleasure to meet you Miss..."

"Call me Robyn." She said clasping the girl's slender hand in her own muscular one. To her surprise the slim girl's grip was just as strong as her own.

"All right everyone quiet down. I'm Anthony Raven, the head of the athletic department here at M.C.C. and I'll be overseeing the Freestyle Laser Battle competition, or as most of you call it, NRO, No Rules Observed." A cheer went up from the assembled throng, which died abruptly as Coach Raven blew his whistle. "Some of you came for a shot at the team, some of you just wanted one chance in the 'Dome."

"Some of us came to see if we have what it takes." Deana said as she and Trevalian came through the door looking more than a little nervous. They had just joined the rest of the group when the door opened again and the silhouetted figure spoke.

"And some of us come to see if we ever had it to begin with." With those words Adair Phoenix stepped into the locker room to a low rumble of murmuring.

"Who's he?" Robyn whispered.

"Oh my god, that's Adair Phoenix. He won the gold medal at the Olympics last year, but they stripped him of it because they found performance enhancing drugs in his bag. I personally think they were planted there by one of his rivals, but the damage was done. His reputation and his confidence were destroyed. He dropped out of sight, just like that." Silver replied, snapping her fingers.

"Until now." Robyn murmured. He doesn't look too bad. The green eyes go well with his red hair.

"So washout, you decided to rejoin the living." Raven sneered mockingly.

"Hey Raven?" Adair snapped fighting the fiery temper that threatened to explode, destroying his new life before it began.

"What?"

"Fly with a phoenix and get burned." He said pulling on a pair of dark glasses and ending the conversation.

Raven gave an inarticulate grunt in response as he continued his pep talk. "You're all veterans at this. You don't need to be told about Laser Battle's evolution from the early twentieth century sports of Laser tag and paintball. You don't need to be told how real the 'Dome's environments can be. I am going to tell you this, though. This is a free for all war. There are no friends, no lovers, no classmates, just enemies with a single minded goal." He paused here while he raked the group with a cold dead glare. "Your destruction. The dome will be running our terrain sampler today, ranging from Arctic glaciers to post apocalyptic cities. Every five minutes the computer will randomly choose a name from the roster for insertion into the dome via short range transit pod. Each pod will end up in a different section of the dome. If you are killed, you are eliminated. Return to the nearest pod so you can come back and be scored. You will be scored on accuracy, strategy, resourcefulness, agility and speed. Nothing is forbidden inside the dome, so it'll be interesting to see what you kids do with what you've got. In a normal tournament you'd be able to have multiple weapons equipped at all times but for the tryouts you will be restricted to one active weapon." This brought groans from many players. "Any questions?"

Trev raised his hand, then asked. "Do we have to wait for everyone to enter, or are we hot going in?"

"Your weapons will be active immediately upon entry. You're ready to shoot when you go in."

"So you're saying we can only have weapon inside the 'dome?" Robyn asked.

"You can have as many weapons as you brought, but only one of them will active at any given time."

"What if you don't have a gun of your own?" Xavier said idly.

"Then you shouldn't be here." Raven snapped. "Firearms will be provided today only. Now if that is all, computer select the first insertion!"

"First insertion is Robyn Hood."

Robyn flushed as she stepped into cylindrical tube amid the restrained snickers from the crowd and the flat out hooting of Raven.

Adair's tenuous grip on his rage evaporated. "Hey! Cut it out!" He said grabbing Raven gruffly by the throat and lifting him up with one hand. "I've had more than enough of your attitude! You are going to straighten up and treat these kids with some respect or you will regret it. Am I clear?" He snarled relaxing his grip just enough for Raven to take a tenuous whistling breath.

"Crystal." He wheezed as Adair dropped him to the floor.

Robyn gave him a grateful smile before the tube disappeared into the floor.



Robyn stepped from the tube into a sweltering jungle environ. She touched a button on her wristwatch starting a countdown timer. "Five minutes before I have any company." She grinned drawing and equipping a pistol from her hip holster and scouting the area. As she began her reconnaissance, she mentally reviewed her firepower. A nine millimeter on each hip, a thirty-eight in a dual shoulder holster, two twenty-two's in the small of her back, and a pump action shotgun hidden in her hip length coat. Good thing these are only laser mockups. She thought with a slight smirk. There's no way I could explain all these to a cop if they were real. Her watch chirped sharply once then fell silent. "Company's coming." She whispered with a feral grin as she crept through the jungle hunting for her prey.



Xavier was unceremoniously dumped to the ground as his transit pod deposited him several feet in the air.

"That wasn't an accident Raven, and I know it." He hissed as he dropped to the holographic roof and rolled Being sent in fifth wasn't necessarily good but it wasn't that bad either. "Better get out of the open before it's too late."

"It already is, Falcon." A voice sneered.

"Ethan Marcus." Xavier said, not bothering to turn around. "I should have known you'd be here. What's wrong, can't you beat me when the rules are in effect?"

"No. I just like cheating better." With that the brown haired boy fired. Xavier dropped into a split and rolled to one side drawing his gun from under his short leather coat and firing as the blue energy bolt went high over his head while his own black bolt hit Ethan square in the chest. "No!" He said futilely pulling the trigger.

"Tsk tsk Ethan. You know that your weapons are deactivated once your dead." Xavier smiled as he got back to his feet.

"I'll get you for this Falcon."

"Sure you will." He smirked as he moved to the edge of the roof and peered over the edge. "Neo Apocalypse World." He said approvingly as he took stock of the building. To his dismay the entire side of the building had been demolished taking the stairs with them.

"So what are ya gonna do now tough guy?" Ethan sneered.

"Jump." Xavier said nonchalantly as he holstered his pistol and took a running start to leap across the gap to the nearest building, rolling and redrawing as he landed. "Whoa." He said in shock before creeping off to find a route to ground level.



Adair trudged slowly through the frozen whiteness of the glacier environ feeling more than a little exposed. The hair on the back of his neck rose for just a second before he was forced to dodge a sickly green laser blast. "I thought I taught you your lesson at the Olympics, Phoenix."

"Alexis." He said more to himself than to his adversary. "I'm a slow study Viper!" He called scanned the blinding whiteness for any sign of the girl who had taken the gold medal that should have been his.

"Then here's a refresher course." She laughed as she fired again.

"Gotcha." Adair grinned to himself as he dove back and fired.

"Too bad you missed, Phoenix. I'll be sure to give your little girlfriend Robyn- huh?"

"Who needs mirrors, Alexis?" Adair said as the ricocheted blast struck the girl. "Ice reflects just as well."

"You may have gotten me this time Phoenix, but I've still got your gold medal." She laughed, sliding down the ice to a transit pod.



Meliana dodged two more blasts before ducking behind a tree. "Unbelievable." She muttered pulling her clip to check her power level. "Completely drained. There's got to be someone else these guys can pick on." She quickly flipped her recharge switch as she thought about her weapons. " Computer equip-"

"Gotcha Andrews." Candace Caine sneered leveling a laser pistol at Meliana's temple.

Meliana cursed silently for having let guard drop so far. "Well if it isn't little Candy Caine. How's your father? Anybody try to off him yet?"

"Don't call me that!" She screamed as she pulled the trigger.

Moving with a speed she didn't know she had, Mel twisted out of the way, hearing the crackling energy fly past her ear. "Tsk tsk Candy. A miss at that range. Just think what it'll do for your accuracy rating." She said moving a hand towards her right wrist. A quick draw and a single word and...

"Hands over your head." Candace snapped. "You think I'm stupid?"

"You want me to answer that?" Mel asked flippantly as she quickly created a new plan. Candace's order had placed her hands in a very profitable position and she prepared to exploit it. "Look either shoot me or don't, but this is getting tiring." With that she lowered her arms and laced her fingers behind her head.

"You think you're so high and mighty."

"Because my parents were good upstanding people and not a low life pond scum like your father, yeah."

"You take that back."

"You'll have to shoot me." She chuckled.

"Fine!" She said swinging the barrel around to center on Mel's chest. "Adios, Andrews." With that she fired...

... and gasped as the beam bounced back to hit her square in the gut. "Ooh. Self termination. That'll cost ya. Computer, equip shotgun."

"But how?"

"Personal shield, duh." She said tapping a button on a wristband. "Illegal in standard competition," She said as shucked her jacket and pulled a pump action shotgun. "but of course, this isn't standard competition." With that she pumped the gun once and turned to find Deana staring at her. For a moment they stared at each other, uncertain what to do.

"Drop." Deana said casually drawing her weapon and firing.

Meliana reacted by dropping out of the way as Deana's golden beam lanced past her to take Xiang out of the competition. The slender Asian girl bowed deeply and holstered her weapon with a slight smile. Deana returned both bow and smile at once and as she did Mel caught the glint of metal in the trees. "Sniper!" She cried swinging the shotgun up and firing over Deana's back.

The deep green pulse tore into the trees. "Computer last termination in this sector." Deana asked calmly.

"Michelle Nivens, terminated by Meliana Andrews."

"Nivens. Go figure. You got her." She said calmly. "We're square?"

"Yeah." Mel said suddenly awkward. Deana nodded and walked away. "Hey kid."

"Deana."

"Deana, thanks."

Deana touched a hand to her black fedora. "Fuhgedduhboudit."



Fuck! 'Nique thought. I severely underestimated the fire power I needed.

"She's over here!" Someone shouted.

"Head that way!"

"Cut her off!"

"We've got her now!"

I'm through being hunted. She thought viscously. She skidded to a stop and whipped off her long coat, throwing it to the ground. "Bring it on!" She growled.

A half a dozen combatants swarmed around her.

"You're finished, kid." One sneered.

"My mother taught me to alwayz have an ace in ze hole." Martinique snarled whipping her loose fitting gold silk shirt away from her waist and grabbing the grenade that hung there. Without further threats or posturing she yanked hard leaving the pin clipped to her waist as she hurled the grenade. With a blinding white flash it exploded terminating everyone in a twenty foot radius, including herself.

"Yo, girl that was some straight up psycho shit!" One of the attackers said.

"What good is playing ze game if you're afraid to go all out?" She stepped lightly on the grenade and it spun up into her hand. She gathered up her coat, already mentally rearming herself.



Xavier stepped out of the transit pod into the locker room and fell on a bench. The tryouts had been more exhausting than he had remembered but he still had survived.

"All right." Raven said as the exhausted teens stared at him. "We've got a three way tie for first place. Xavier Falcon, Meliana Andrews, and Lucient Darke. These three will be the team captains."

"I request to be removed from the captaincy list." Mel said coolly.

"I bet you just want to be on the same team as your boyfriend." Lucient said.

Xavier moved to hit him but Mel beat him to it, pinning Lucent to the wall with a backspin kick. "I've heard of you. Lucient 'Lucifer' Darke. A big bad laser battle devil. I saw you out there today and let me tell you. I'm not afraid. I'm not impressed. I am not even amused." The last three words hissed like acid on metal.

"Mel." Xavier said dispassionately. "Let him go. This worm's not worth your time."

"Whatever." Mel shrugged. She pressed her booted heel into his throat a moment longer before releasing him.

"You'll regret that." He growled nursing his wounded throat.

"All right. Then Takishino Xiang will take leadership of the third team." Raven said. "Mr. Falcon, please choose nine other people for your team."

"Meliana Andrews." He said moving to a terminal and making his selections. "Trevalian Hawke, Deana Van Pier, Robyn Hood, Adair Phoenix, Drake Steel, Silver Castaway, Steven Knight, and Martinique St. James."

"Ha! No account soft spines!" Lucient laughed. "Give me Candace Caine, Ethan Marcus, Alexis Viper, Leena Black, Razer Darke, Michelle Nivens, Callista Gray, Calvin Blade, and Foxe Frost."

As Xiang picked her team members, Xavier looked around at his new team mates. Meliana was close by his side with her waist length brown hair and sparkling hazel eyes. Trevalian had a personality like ice with steely electric blue eyes. Deana on the other hand was flicking her green flecked eyes around the room trying to take in everything. She may be blonde, he thought. but she's definitely not stupid. Robyn was obviously of African descent, with coarse black hair and brown eyes and darkly bronzed skin, and Adair, with his green eyes and red hair looked vaguely Irish. But what kind of name is Phoenix? Native American perhaps. He made a note to ask the boy later.

"I think you picked a good team." Mel whispered looking around herself. Drake had an extremely bored look on his face while Silver looked as though if she died on the spot, she'd be the happiest girl in the world. Martinique and Steve drew closer together, obviously a couple and obviously very protective of each other. If they practice together, they can turn that closeness to their advantage.

"All right. For those of you who were chosen, congratulations. For those who weren't, It's not over yet. Practice, train, and plan and tryout for the winter season. Dismissed."

Xavier pulled his team aside. "I saw you all shooting daggers at Darke's team, myself included. Let's get these personal vendettas out in the open. We may be able to turn them to our advantage. Ethan Marcus and I go way back. My father sent his father to cryo prison for industrial sabotage and espionage. It's been a family feud ever since. We do our best to make each other miserable."

"One day you two are going to destroy each other." Mel said prophetically. "But then I'm one to talk. Candace 'Candy' Caine is the bane of my existence, but not my main target. I'd put real money down that Diamonde Caine had something to do with the plane crash that killed my parents."

"But he's too hard to reach, so you'll settle for taking out the offspring." Adair said.

"Just my public service to future generations, eliminating the heir to the Caine evil." Meliana said. "So who's yours, firebird?"

"The Viper. She took the gold medal in Laser Battle at the Olympics last year."

"That should have been yours." Deana said.

"Right. Now I just have to prove that I'm better than she is."

"I can see you as a samurai. You have the pride and honor." Deana said. "I have a long standing score to settle with Lucient Darke."

"What's wrong Deana?" Trev asked watching the girl tremble with rage, hatred, anger, fear, and vengeance.

"He used to be my babysitter until..."

"He molested you, didn't he?" Robyn asked.

"How did you know?"

"Color me crazy, but for a while I was dating his brother Razer. He couldn't keep his hands off me and one night at a Rave..." She hung her head in shame. "After that I broke it off, but at a terrible price. My little sister was strangled to death and left on my bed. The police arrested Razer, but Lucient took the rap and somehow managed to convince the jury that it was self defense, knocking the charge from murder one to manslaughter three. Luce spent two and a half years in cryo before being returned to circulation as cruel and spiteful as ever."

"Hey." Deana said taking her hand gently. "We'll beat 'em both. Together."

"Right." Robyn said. Well what do you know? Seems we have somethin' in common after all. Who'd have thought? "What about you kid?"

Trevalian shrugged. "Same old story. Used to date Michelle Nivens. Broke it off. More her grudge than mine. She likes to sniper though, so keep your eyes peeled."

"What about you two?" Steve asked addressing Drake and Silver.

"Stolen hearts, like yourselves."

"That obvious huh?"

"Oh yeah. If looks could kill, Leena and Calvin would have you two in your graves now." Silver said.

"Foxe and Callista didn't seem too happy with you two either." 'Nique said as her stomached growled. "Here iz my vid phone number. Steve, I am famished."

"Right." Falcon said. "We'll exchange numbers and I'll contact all of you to set up a date for practice."

That done, the teams left and Raven returned to his office to create a highlight reel.

"How'd they do?"

"Isis, will you stop that!" Raven spun his chair hurling an old fashioned lead shot put at the invader.

"Sorry Tony," Isis said as the ball sailed through her to land on the far side of the office. "But I couldn't be here in person, so I sent this high res." With that the hologram moved closer to the terminal. "Where did Martinique get a grenade from?"

"Your guess is as good as mine. I thought you said that Hood was the one I had to watch out for."

"You shouldn't have pissed Phoenix off." She said. "Are they all on the same team?"

"Yeah. Falcon picked them himself. Are you sure he doesn't know?"

"That he's different yes, that there may be others, yes. Who exactly they are, no."

"So what's so important that you can't be here yourself?"

"I'm preparing for a homecoming."



"Silver, Drake. I'm glad you're home."

The fact that she had addressed them both by their first names caught Drake's attention immediately. "What is it Athena?"

"You sound odd." Silver said. "Are you all right?"

"Yes. No. I'm working on that." The AI sounded completely flustered. "You remember the program you ran before you left?"

"Yeah." Silver said as she worked her fingers across the keyboard, running through Athena's diagnostic routines with her.

"Okay. That program was a secondary operating system from Citadel."

"Citadel?" Silver paused in mid keystroke.

"Look, I've programmed the coordinates into the car's computer. The auto pilot will take you there."

"And what will we find when we get there?" Drake asked.

"Answers, but also danger." Athena said gravely. Across the room a holographic painting vanished and the wall safe opened. "Please take the guns."

"We can't. If we take those and we're caught we'll be arrested."

"And if you don't you'll be killed." Athena said gravely. "Please, you two are my best friends and I don't want anything to happen to you."

"All right." Drake said crossing to the safe and producing a nine millimeter and a forty-five.

"I'll take the nine." Silver said absently. "Are you sure you'll be all right, Athena? And why can't you tell us about Citadel?"

"As far as I go, I'll be fine once I merge my two operating systems. As for Citadel, I just can't. Please trust me."

Drake let go of his tough guy pose. "Athena's never done anything to harm us." He said placing a hand on Silver's shoulder. "And I know she never will. What do we have to lose by not checking this out?"

"Our minds. By checking this out?"

"Our lives." Drake yanked hard on slide as he tucked the gun into his coat. "You up for the gamble?"

"Let's go." Silver said snapping a clip into place.



Xavier and Meliana pulled into the parking lot at the exact same time, Mel still in her evening dress and Xavier in a white tuxedo.

"It happened to you too?" She said moving briskly across the parking lot.

"Yeah. Lisa rerouted all incoming calls to my voice mail while she explained things to me. I wasn't exactly happy, but I'm more interested in answers now." He said as they approached the door

"Fortress Industrial Security. Of course. Another term for a fortress is a Citadel."

"Someone obviously wanted us to come here, so how do we get in."

"If we're expected..." Xavier trailed off before placing his hand on the palm scanner at the door.

"Good evening Mr. Falcon. Welcome home." With that the main doors slid open and Xavier stepped inside. Mel attempted to follow only to be stopped by a force field.

"Procedures, of course." Mel murmured pressing her hand to the scanner.

"Hello Ms. Andrews. Sorry about the shock." The computer said amiably. "Please follow the red line to the lounge. The others are waiting for you."

"What others?" Meliana asked as a red beam illuminated the dark hallway.

"Beats me." Xavier said gripping his cane as the pair's shoes beat a rhythmic staccato on the linoleum.

"Hello cap." Adair said flippantly as they entered. "I take it this isn't a team meeting."

Before he could answer a door opened and Isis came in. "Welcome home, Prospero's Children. Follow me."