[IC] Herculean Academy, The Top School for Aspiring Superheroes: Prologue

[Rune_Alchemist]

~Meredith Hillard~

~Your average space alien Horror~

Meredith sat on a bench near where the tram stopped to let the students off. Well, as close to sitting as she would ever come to. Currently, she was sitting on her heels, in a manner that people would probably call 'owling'. If that wasn't odd enough, she was currently slowly chewing on a carrot that was sticking out from her mouth, and spinning a leek in her right hand as she waited for the new students to arrive. She was wearing black stockings, a black cap with gloves the color of rust - or blood, whatever she was in the mood for saying. Her shirt was a white button up top, with the first button remaining undone. Over it, she wore a black jacket with long sleeves and a black corset, making her blond hair contrast quite noticeably with her dark clothes. In all though, she looked quite out of place compared to the stark white walls of this facility.

She wasn't much a fan of the decor, to be honest. She preferred something less government labish looking. The place made her feel like she was going to be dissected and studied instead of being the one doing the dissecting.

She was told to greet the new students, or at least be here when they arrived so that someone could keep an eye on them. And what better way to do that, than to have a what could only be described as a possibly psychotic eldritch horror scare them into submission if they misbehave? Of course, not that she'd actually do that. She tried to avoid conflict, lest she get a tad bit carried away. Nasty bit of business if that happened, and she wasn't up for killing a bunch of kiddies. Well, not today anyways.

Swallowing the last of the carrot - even the green leafy bits, she turned her attention to the rails a few feet away from her, still spinning the leek in her hand. The tram, railcar, subway, or whatever you wanted to call it should be coming any moment now. She hoped anyways, and she was getting bored. Maybe she'd just leave them here and go mess with one of the others...no, that was a bad idea. She should stay put for now. Oh well, at least she had a tasty leek on her.

With a happy giggle, she chomped down on the vegetable with a pleased smile and slowly chewed while she continued to wait.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~Alexis Sinclair~

~Audiophile~

The vehicle in question, was moving speedily along its designated course, carrying the new students its destination. The Herculean Academy for Aspiring Superheroes. It was mostly quiet, for now. That was likely going to change soon, however as the tram was nearing the end of its destination. Students were going to be waking up soon - which meant more than a few were probably going to start making a ruckus over being drugged before being brought here. The Academy had to keep its location a secret, of course. Not even the students could know its true location.

One student in question, was dozing quite loudly in her seat on the car. Her snoring would probably wake the dead, if there was such a super power as that. She was wearing a white hoodie, most likely not wearing a shirt underneath. She was wearing torn and ragged looking jeans that looked to be a few years old, and she was wearing some well worn sneakers that seemed she seemed to have gotten a lot of use out of. Her hair, was almost pitch black in color, though electric blue streaks ran through the short, messy looking hair.

The most noticeable thing though, was the headphones hanging around her neck. They were a dark blue in color, and had a stylized 'A' on the sides of them. They were customized, and her favorite pair, and they were currently hooked up to her Ipod...which was set on a timer to start playing the loudest track she had on there.

With a startled yelp as the music blared very loudly out of her headphones, she woke up, shooting straight up in her seat before losing her balance, causing her face to meet the floor of the tram as she groggily tried to register what the hell just happened. With a yawn, she rubbed her head, not moving from where she laid on the floor as she woke up from her drug induced nap, trying to recall how exactly she got into an underground subway..tram, wherever the hell this was.

...where was she anyways?

She sat up with another yawn, sleepily rubbing an eye as she sat cross legged right in the middle of the floor. She looked like she was on some underground subway of sorts. Did she fall asleep or something while she was doing errands?...No, that can't be right. Maybe...oh, right. It was starting to slowly come back to her. Her mom had made her decide to go to some stupid hero academy, and then they had the nerve to drug her before they brought her in here. She didn't recall all the details, but she fairly sure she remembered something like an elevator or something, but other than that, she couldn't recall the details of how she got here, or ever where 'here' was.

Instead of pondering something useless, however she gave an annoyed sigh, and stood up. The thing had windows, but all she could see was blackness when she looked out of them. Well, that didn't help her. She wasn't going to go around blasting things either. She may have preferred doing that, but from the sounds this thing was making it was going pretty fast and she'd rather not become a red splat on the side of a wall.

With an annoyed sigh, she pulled her headphones over her hears as she rubbed a sore spot on her head from where she had landed on the floor, and waited. Something was bound to happen soon enough, she's get some answers then.

[Ogo]

~Graham Turner~

~Little Red Coughing Hood~

Nothing. Nothing exists. The universe exists. Is the universe nothing? What is nothing? In the bleak, utter darkness, something begins taking shape from nothing. A familiar mop, a striking face, a small body. It was him. The observer was watching himself from aware. But where was he?

A static erupted. From nothing, there was numbness. The darkness, the complete and total darkness, became less and less. Nothing was retreating into nothing. Blades of light cut into it from somewhere.

“Hnnngr…? Whhhrrr. Mmmrmg.” murmured the barely conscious boy.

From the light came sound. His sound. His voice...joined with something else. The tingling started to fade with the dark. He heard rattling. He felt his body move. Wait, he heard? He felt? He was real? Of course he was real. Why wouldn’t he be? Wait, was that a train?

The boy’s eyes slowly opened, and the world came into focus. He was in a seat alright. In a...a subway car? He wasn’t too sure, having only seen them in movies. Subways aren’t exactly native to eastern Kentucky. The walls were rather barren. The chairs were bland, but comfy. He couldn't quite make out many details, his eyes still a touch fuzzy, blurring everything they came across. The walls, the door, the kid.

Then he realized he wasn’t alone. His eyes shifted to a form in the seat across from him. Some other kid. He called to the other, little more than a groan with a slight affliction, but got no response. Out like a light, it seemed.

Graham rose to his feet. Err, attempted to. The feeling hadn’t yet returned to his body. He collapse like a ton of bricks. He groaned, he grunted, and he grasped, but he couldn’t seem to push himself up. Immediately that is. His hand found the seat, and he pulled himself up. He held onto it, steadying himself. Tossing one last look over to his sleeping buddy, Graham slowly made his way to the door once his legs began to wake ever so slightly.

He tried the handle, and to his surprise, the door jerked open. Not for the last time, Graham asked himself where in the world he was. Last thing he remembered was…

Well, he couldn’t remember. Why couldn't he remember? Why didn't he care?

He looked out into the hall and stumbled forward. There was a window opposite his door. He grabbed hold of it and looked out into nothing. He looked left and right, not catching sight of anybody else. He wasn’t alone, was he? He couldn’t be alone. Please, don’t let me be alone.

“H-hello? Is…” Graham began, but was interrupted by a cough. His voice sounded horribly gravelly and scratched. What the hell had happened to him? “Is anybody out there?” he finished as the coughing subsided. His head pounded something fierce. He had a slight shiver, and he brought his hands up to his arms, holding himself. He was scared. All he wanted at the moment was his comfy bed. Nice pillows, warm blanket, the works. Maybe he could find some here. Trains have those, right? He'd just ask someone...

If there was anyone.

[Classified]

Dr. Isaac Archer

Isaac sat in front of a small round table, his cup of coffee in his hand as he took a sip reminiscing about his first year teaching, which was only last year. He smiled to himself remembering how nervous he was last time, scared that the students would find him too old, scared that the other teachers would find his ways too old fashioned but mostly scared that he would not be a very good teacher. This year he was much more confident in himself from the success he had the previous year but in the back of his mind he was worried as his closed off and timid granddaughter would be arriving soon, not to mention the fact she didn't know he would be here.

Isaac's son and daughter-in-law had both attended the Herculean Academy many years ago and had planned on sending their daughter here too in the hopes that it would help. Isaac's son had many worries about his daughter as they did not know much about her; she did not even know much about herself. After they had rescued her, Isaac's son had told him they planned on keeping her away from "normal" people for a while and that her first time socialising with others her own age should be here, where the children were different too.

Isaac grimaced at the thought of his granddaughter attempting to make friends, she hardly spoke and as much as he hated to say it, with her being his family, she was a little strange...it was unsettling. He guessed that was why he was here, to help her grow and open up, if she was to be a hero she needed to free herself and be able to get out of her comfort zone.

Feeling it was best not to confuse his granddaughter with his appearance at the Academy just after her waking up; Isaac sat in the quiet room alone with his coffee in a mug that had a picture of his face from back when he was in his prime. The Interceptor, he couldn't wait to see the look of those children's faces when they see him as their Physical Training teacher, he may be old, be he's still got it.

Aspen Archer

First there was silence, then there was a yelp. Aspen's eyes shot open before immediately closing and them opening again and finally closing. Opening her eyes felt like an impossible task, they just wanted to stay closed, the light, wherever it was coming from was too bright. Aspen blinked fast and then blink hard very slowly, finally she could see the ceiling and it was shaking. Aspen soon realised she was on a moving vehicle, lying down on a seat that smelt like an antibacterial cleaning product, it had just been cleaned. She lay on the seat, still and quiet, soon Aspen heard the sound of movement but it was not mechanical.

There was another person in here, a person whose yelp must have woken up Aspen. Slowly she pushed herself up from the horizontal position and stared at the windows that showed nothing but darkness. Looking around she saw other young people nearby, most were asleep but one in particular was wide awake rubbing her forehead as she listen to music. Aspen listened carefully, she could hear a faint beat leaking from the headphones but she could not tell what song it was; not that she would know anyway.

Aspen sat up properly and straightened her skirt, smartening herself up. As she looked around she suddenly felt out of place, everyone was in informal casual wear but here she was in a school uniform her mother made her wear. She didn't mind, it looked smart and it just felt right. Aspen remembered her mother's panic when trying to find her a uniform, making her try on many different types of skirts and blazers, she had no say in the uniform but she didn't mind, her mother chose the right one.

Aspen sat quietly, her hands folded in her lap. She wasn't nervous but this new environment didn't make her feel at ease either.

[DaDrummer676]

Tony Hart - Techno

Unconsciousness was an unmoving and silent place. There were no thoughts or dreams, there was just inescapable darkness. Inside of his mind, Tony fought for freedom. What he was feeling was something akin to swimming in molasses. Everything was slow and hard to move through. Just like he was actually swimming, he wished to reach the surface. To wake up. There was a mental struggle, his mind finally awakening. Eyes fluttered, muscles twitched. Tony rose from his drugged state like a zombie. A small groan rose from his throat as he swung himself from a horizontal position to sitting. His head pounded, as if the headache was driving a nail into his forehead in an attempt to split his skull in half. His tongue felt cottony and too thick for his mouth. He may have been awake, but he felt like the living dead.

Drowsy eyes shifted around the shuttle as it sped towards its destination, Herculean academy. The teenager glanced down at his body, making sure he had everything on his person that he did before he was drugged. Even though he was a returning student, they drugged him every year. Same shit, different day. That day Tony wore black vans, grey pants, a black shirt with a white hoodie on top, and a black hat to hide his wild brown hair. Thankfully his various gadgets were still intact and functioning. Fully cognizant at this point, he sighed and stretched, muscles bunched and relaxed. Most of the students would wake up and be confused or scared, but Tony was what you could consider a "veteran." Speaking of the other students, some in his tram were beginning to wake up. The teen would give them a serious stars and say, "rise and shine newbies. We're almost there." He enjoyed messing with them a little, and wouldn't disclose any information until they arrived. That's what the teachers were there for anyways.

Instead of speaking more, he took out an electronic device that resembled a smart phone. He tapped the screen and a hologram projected above it. Tony then proceeded to interact with it, seeming to be engrossed in it. He had hacked into the information storage of Herculean Academy to access all of the information on all of the new students. There were some perks of being able to hack into any electronic. Hart was able to memorize all of this information displayed on his device just by looking at it, as he possessed what people would call a "photographic memory." The information was not extensive: only showing their names and abilities. After Techno had digested this information, he would put away the device and sit back in his seat and close his eyes. With his headache ebbing away, and his tongue regaining its normal feeling, he almost felt okay. Oh, the price of being a Hero.

[Rune_Alchemist]

@Ogobrogo

~Alexis Sinclair~

~Audiophile~

Alexis sat, eyes closed in her seat with her music still blaring quite loudly. She wasn't really annoyed - in fact, she was quite calm, but despite that, her face still appeared to have a slight scowl to it. That was normal, for her, really. It was a bit off-putting for most people, but she didn't care. She didn't like most people to begin with, and if they couldn't handle her scowl, well that was their problem. She did want this trip to be over soon enough though. She didn't like being so...close to all of these other people. She hoped to god she didn't have to share a room with any of them.

Knowing her luck though, she was going to be rooming with someone who insisted on being friends and doing girly girl stuff. She was not wearing a dress. She shuddered slightly at the thought of that. She really didn't want that to happen now. If she did have to share a room, she could tolerate them as long as they didn't get all buddy-buddy.

It was then she heard a quiet voice through the loudness of her music. She cracked open one of her eyes slightly to see a boy standing at the end of the tram. Apparently, he had been in another car or whatever. So they had multiple cars then? Makes sense. They couldn't be the only students here. The boy was coughing too - quite violently. She hoped he wasn't sick. She didn't fancy catching whatever he had. He had asked if anyone was out there...what, was he blind too? Alexis gave a huff as she stuffed her hands in the pockets of her jacket, turning the volume down on her headphones a bit before speaking. Might as well say something.

"No, its just you and your annoying coughing." She replied to Graham. She knew she probably sounded like an ass, but hey, she didn't particularly care. People skills weren't exactly her strong suit. If he got offended over it then she'd just shut up and let him do whatever.

[Ogo]

~Graham Turner~

"No, its just you and your annoying coughing."

A voice sounding none too pleasant answered him from his right. He quickly turned his head and spotted the source: a scowling dark haired women. With blue streaks to boot. For a moment Graham was shocked. There were other people here. He then shook his head. Of course there were. Why wouldn’t there be? It’s not like one uses a train to kidnap a single person. Unless, of course, they were like a head of state or something, and last time he’d checked, Graham was not one.

His thoughts flew by rapidly. An entire string of logic passed in a fraction of a second. Then his attention shifted back to the rude chick. For a moment he started to cut back, but he held his tongue at the last minute. Perhaps antagonizing someone you’ve just met in a strange location isn’t the brightest idea. He sucked in his breath, calmed down slightly, and started walking down the aisle towards his heckler. Along the way, he noticed plenty of people, all around his age, give or take a couple years. He felt slightly embarrassed for not having noticed, but his vision had just started clearing up. The faeries had gone away.

He stopped a seat before her, holding onto the chair to steady himself. Then, before he could even think of stopping it, his retort slid out.

“Hey...my Koffing may be annoying, but I love the feller. Really airs out the lungs, y’know?”

Graham wore a grin that stretched from ear to ear. He was kicking himself mentally. A Pokemon pun? A groan-inducing Pokemon pun that she’ll probably not even catch. That’s the best he could come up with. Slight disappointment wrapped it’s arms around him. Still, the smile endured. If he was going to be cheesy, might as well own it. But the sooner he could retreat from this failed engagement, the better. Probably.

Graham unknowingly grabbed a button on his blue and red flannel shirt, fiddling with it. He slid into an empty seat a few up from Alexis, by a window. His hand stopped playing with the button, slid through his red locks quickly, then finally settled on tugging at the bottom of his black tee-shirt emblazoned with the smiley face so commonly associated with Nirvana. Fear had receded into nervousness. And Graham’s natural response was to touch. Anything at all.

After a few moments, he sighed.

[Nightmare Bunny]

Kitty Lee

When she came to, Kitty was in a dark train compartment with her hands cuffed behind her back.

She frowned. Well, this was odd, but no matter. For all of its inconveniences, this was when being a teleporter came in handy! She closed her eyes, focused, and—

Nothing. Wait, seriously? She tried again, but nothing happened.

Startled, Kitty twisted around. Oh. Those were anti-teleportation handcuffs, weren’t they? She stared at them in disbelief. Weren’t anti-teleportation handcuffs really expensive, and only authorized for government use? Had she been kidnapped by the government?!

Well, it wasn’t like she could do much about that, then. There didn't seem to be anyone in her compartment, so she'd go to another one.

Shrugging, she got to her feet, and came face to face with a sliding door. Now, how would she open this? After a few minutes of having an awkward staring contest with the door, she finally managed to wedge a toe in the gap and drag it open. Sounds of a conversation drifted down to her.

She managed to drag the door the rest of the way open with her foot just in time to hear someone make a Pokemon pun.

“Hey... my Koffing may be annoying, but I love the feller,” said a boy who looked about her age. “Really airs out the lungs, y’know?”

Spirits considerably lifted, she burst in through the now open doorway during the pause that ensued, not giving any thought to the idea that the people inside might think that seeing a short Asian girl (whose hands were handcuffed behind her back) practically bounce into the room was odd.

“Sorry to interrupt!” she chirped, energetic as usual. “But I Bayleef that I have no idea where I am, and also someone’s handcuffed my hands together. What’s up?”

[Rune_Alchemist]

~Alexis Sinclair~

~Audiophile~

Audio blinked, as she tried to process what he just said. Did he...just make a pokemon pun? He...did, didn't he? Normally, she'd have just ignored a stupid pun like that, but this pun had something she liked in it. Pokemon. She may not have looked like it a whole lot, but she absolutely loved the pokemon games. She wasn't sure if she should say something, laugh, or possibly both. She wasn't so good at the whole talking with strangers thing. She opened her mouth to say something, but she was quickly silenced.

“But I Bayleef that I have no idea where I am, and also someone’s handcuffed my hands together. What’s up?”

Before she could get a chance to react though, another girl walked up - and another pokemon pun was thrown out there. She couldn't resist now. She may have not liked this whole idea of a school, but so far these two didn't seem like they'd be annoying to hang out with. Really, if they're making horrible puns like that, they'd at least get a long a little surely. So, she started laughing quite loudly as she pulled her headphones back down around her neck as she looked at the two newcomers.

"Well this is Onix-expected." She grinned, still laughing loudly. Alexis' mood had considerably brightened, her scowl had been replaced with a wolfish, mischievous grin that was about the equivalent of a happy smile on anyone else for her. "Dunno about those handcuffs, but you guys can sit if ya want. Just don't go Weezing on me, and you'll be Absol-utely fine." She chuckled one last time, flashing a grin at the boy. Maybe she was overdoing it a bit with the puns, but she didn't really care too much. If they had a problem with it, that wasn't her problem. Besides, what self respecting pokemon fan could resist a good pokemon pun?

"Names Alexis." She said to the both of them. "And from what I've heard, we're on some sort of train headed to the Herculean academy. You know, that place that trains superheroes." She ended the sentence with a scoff, obviously not to impressed with the whole 'superhero' thing.

[Nightmare Bunny]

Kitty Lee

Wow. Those were some pretty great puns. Kitty nodded approvingly, beaming. Alexis definitely seemed pretty cool! And Graham... well, she had no clue, but if he liked making Pokemon puns, then she was sure she could get along with him as well!

"Nice to meet you!" she practically sang. "I'm Kitty Lee. Fifteen, really terrible teleporter, badass gamer!"

She was pretty sure she remembered getting a letter from a "Herculean Academy", actually, but she'd been pretty sure it was a prank. Maybe she should have told her parents about it after all... Her dad would be so worried. Speaking of her dad, she started twisting awkwardly around, until she managed to get a hand into her pocket to pull out her phone.

It was a pink, fancy-looking little thing that her dad had bought for her. He'd insisted that she'd put that sticker on it, which a lot of people seemed to think looked like that super-villain Dr. Freeze's insignia... for some reason. But it wasn't like her dad was a super villain or anything: in fact, she was certain that her dad was an ordinary stock broker.

She twisted back around. "By the way, uh, could one of you help me out? I need to text my dad, tell him that I'm on my way to Herculean Academy and perfectly fine, but, um... having a few problems with the whole 'texting-while-handcuffed' thing! He's the first contact listed!"

[NarcissisticPotato]

Olivia Octavia Delacroix

There was a war raging within the cramped cabin of the tram. A war between the light and the darkness, good and evil, waking up and continuing to sleep. The battlefield was predetermined: her sleepy mind was easily convinced into doing things she wouldn't normally do so it made the perfect opportunity for her to be swayed by either side. Logic fought a hard battle, reminding her that she had been drugged and that quite literally anyone could have access to do as they please with her. Desire, however, argued that sleep would have her heal any damage or implications caused by the drug. It also argued that this was a train full of wannabe heroes that had probably suffered from the same drugging that she had. Eventually, it was desire who won the battle but by a close margin.

Stretching, Olivia peeked her hazy eyes open for a single second before deciding that it was fine to go back to sleep - nothing was happening anyways. Allowing her eyes to drift closed once more, she fell back asleep but with a heinous cost. She barely even noticed the guy with his hologram beside her or, for that matter, how close they were to each other. If she did notice then things would have turned out very differently.

The silence was palpable, a pin-drop would have been enough to cease the probable outcome of Olivia falling asleep close to a heat-source. No pins dropped, however, and Olivia subconsciously cosied up to the technopath, resting her head on his shoulder. Releasing a contempt sigh, she adjusted herself then settled down for the long haul.

The poor guy probably didn't know how to react but somehow, the subtle movements of his muscles were enough to rouse her. Waking, fog still hung over her mind and much of her senses as it took her a few seconds to process what she was doing and more importantly, why the guy she was resting on was staring at her. "Gah!" Thankfully, it seemed that she had Lepus activated last as she suddenly moved from beside him to facing him in a fraction of a second. "Who are you!?" Olivia blundered, her voice shaky with embarrassment as her senses came back onto the playing field. Despite her embarrassment, there was an edge to her voice that even had an accusing tone to it - her suspicions were roused.

[Ogo]

~Graham Turner~

“Sorry to interrupt!”

Graham turned his head to the second voice, one which sounded much less angry with the world and all that was good. He saw a small girl (small he thought, but he quickly realized that she was about the same height, if not just a smidge shorter than he) bouncing up to where he and Ms. Sarcasm were. Alright, so another one was awake. But why were they all asleep in the first place? And…

Was she wearing handcuffs?

“But I Bayleef that I have no idea where I am, and also someone’s handcuffed my hands together. What’s up?”

She was in fact handcuffed. And she didn’t know why either. Graham wasn’t sure if he was relieved or even more anxious.

Wait…

She made a PokePun. She actually made a PokePun. For a moment it went over his head. Then immediately his forced grin turned into a honest-to-god smile. Well, if they were being shuffled off into parts unknown, at least his company would be pleasant. And then something he never would have expected happened.

The girl in headphones laughed. She was honestly laughing. He would have thought she was just being cruel and about to mock them, but then she opened her mouth and all doubts were erased.

"Well this is Onix-expected. Dunno about those handcuffs, but you guys can sit if ya want. Just don't go Weezing on me, and you'll be Absol-utely fine.
"

She sounded so...so happy! And that grin...well it was actually rather infectious. Graham couldn’t help but join in the laughing. As he did he took a seat. Anyone that could enjoy a PokePun like that, and fling so many on the fly to boot, was good people in his books. Well, most people were good people in his books, but they just climbed the rankings a bit.

"Names Alexis. And from what I've heard, we're on some sort of train headed to the Herculean academy. You know, that place that trains superheroes."

So it was true. Relief hit him like a Mac truck. He hadn’t just been losing his marbles the last few years. And he wasn’t being kidnapped, just taking a hive of Superheroes. Still, a wave of disappointment hit him for just a moment. Superheroes, huh? So who would he be? Dr. Vet? The Incredible Mr. Spay? Ace Ventura Pet Medic? He couldn’t complain too much, I mean he HAD actually gotten some form of superpowers. He just couldn’t help but feel a bit shafted by what he drew.

"Nice to meet you! I'm Kitty Lee. Fifteen, really terrible teleporter, badass gamer!"

The handcuffed girl, or Kitty Lee he supposed, seemed incredibly bubbly. Rather chipper for someone with restricted arm/hand usage. Or maybe not, Graham had never been handcuffed. Maybe people liked it. He mentally shrugged and decided that he’d rather not find out.

"By the way, uh, could one of you help me out? I need to text my dad, tell him that I'm on my way to Herculean Academy and perfectly fine, but, um... having a few problems with the whole 'texting-while-handcuffed' thing! He's the first contact listed!"

That reminded Graham! His phone! He shot a hand into his pocket and pulled out a think looking brick. He tapped the screen. He could tell his parents what was going on. Surely they’d want to know. No service. Thanks, AT&T. Glad to see you’re looking out for the little guys.

“Alexis and Kitty, eh? Pleasure to meetcha both. Graham Turner here. Not like the cracker. And I…” Graham paused for a moment and furrowed his brows, trying to figure out how to explain what he could do. He never planned on telling others, so it’s not like he had something ready beforehand. “Well, I can make your goldfish live longer. So that’s a thing.” He looked at Kitty for a moment. “I’d volunteer, but I just checked mine. No bars. Still could give it a shot, if you want. Err...actually no, I just had a bit of a coughing fit. I don’t think I’m coming down with anything, but hey, better safe than sorry, right?” his wordflow was picking up speed. He wasn’t quite at Mach 5, but it was slightly quicker than normal.

[Nightmare Bunny]

Kitty Lee

Huh. The boy --"Graham", apparently, sure did talk fast, but Kitty wasn't exactly one to judge, being a rather speedy talker herself.

No bars? Darn, seriously? Well, that was frustrating. Her parents were going to worry, weren't they? Although, her dad had always seemed rather knowledgeable about the lives of superheroes and super villains (maybe he was some kind of superhero buff?), so she was sure he would figure things out. Somehow.

And maybe there would be signal when she got there! Kitty nodded to herself, and sighed. "Well, there's no helping it then! My parents will just have to wait!" she said, and bounded her way over to the seat beside Alexis. It was kind of hard to get comfortable with her hands cuffed behind her back. She couldn't really lean backwards, because her hands kept getting in the way, and so she ended up kind of leaning against Alexis, hoping desperately that the other girl wouldn't mind.

Actually, maybe this would be a good test of whether Alexis would be a suitable cuddle-buddy or not. Her shoulder seemed to be fairly comfortable, but the real test was whether the other girl shoved her away in the next two seconds. After all, Kitty was a big fan of cuddling, and it was pretty much essential for her to track down a person to cuddle with, everywhere she went.

If they all were going to school together, though, then she might as well make some conversation!

"So!" she said at last. "Where are you guys from? I live… uh… somewhere in New York? But my dad's from Hong Kong! He's a stock broker! And my mom owns a Chinese restaurant! It's a great place to grab a… Gabite…" Kitty giggled nervously. Okay, maybe she should stop with the PokePuns. But they were so… hard to resist…

[Vec]

Paul Ray

"Pfff, when will the train arrive miss Meredith?" Paul asked his teacher. When asked about which teacher Paul is most cautious around, he always answers Meredith Hillard. That woman is a walking mystery. In the two years Paul had been a student at Herculean Academy, Meredith was the one he had the hardest time dealing with. It's not like she is a bad teacher or that Paul doesn't like her lessons; it's her freaking personality that Paul can't get around. One second she's your typical teacher, doing whatever teachers usually do in their free time, and the next second she becomes a little kid that loves nothing more than to annoy the other students with her overly hyper, happy and infectious personality.

Paul wondered what a person's first impression of her would be if they were to look at her right then. They would see a blonde woman, dressed from top to bottom in black clothes, munching on a leek, sitting on the bench in a perched position. Can't get more crazy than that... Paul thought, a small grin forming on his lips.

They were waiting for the train with the new batch of would-be superheroes to arrive. Paul remembered his first day, stepping out of the train car and into a world that would change his life forevermore. Today, he had been tasked to escort the freshmen along with miss Meredith back to the academy. Paul figured why the vice-principal made that decision. If miss Meredith was the only one to greet the students, the poor souls would go crazy after only 2 minutes of exposure to her.

Paul sighed, "Oh well, i guess i'll just wait" he said and sat on the bench, next to his teacher. He reached down on the floor with his left hand and, using his powers, drew the iron from the steel-reinforced floor tiles and created two perfectly round, shiny iron balls. He picked them up and started rotating them in his hand.

[Fabricant451]

'The acoustics are absolutely phenomenal in here'

That had been the main thing Brett Faulkner had been thinking of before things went dark. She had been, as she so often did, seated in an empty theater, playbill in hand, and eyes taking in the environment. Though in this case, her eyes were focused on a sharp dressed woman in the center stage, barking orders at stagehands and set designers like a foreman at a construction site barking orders at workers. That woman was Eliza Faulkner, star of the stage and one day the screen, though to some in the know she was known as 'The Furie', then The Fury due to her temper; but to Brett, she was mother. Brett had accompanied Eliza to various rehearsals and preparations, and this one was no different. How else would Brett grow comfortable with theaters, the stage, the flashing lights?

It was those flashing lights that did it. More bright than flashing, as Brett was looking around, tuning out the screams of perfectionist mother, her eyes crossed paths with a bright overhead light. Too bright. The flash was the last thing sh remembered seeing before everything went dark.

It was still dark, but that was probably because her eyes were closed. But not her ears, no, not those, as she was hearing conversations. She squirmed and slowly her eyes opened to a blurry scene. This wasn't the theater in New York. This...this was a lot less elegant. A lot...worse. How pedestrian, wherever this was. The first thing Brett did was brush the strands of platinum blonde hair from her face; and her hair was unkempt, as if things couldn't get any worse. At least her outfit was in tact, from what hr hands could tell. Still the same black heels, the same designer skirt that cost high end triple digit figures, and her blouse was still quite intact.

In fact, were it not for the hair, Brett would assume nothing had gone terribly wrong, that she had simple dozed off. But it was the voices, the voices that alerted her to the fact that she was not alone, that she was surrounded by others in a similar situation of confusion and general bewilderment.

The problem now was WHAT these voices were saying. What were those awful sounding...puns? Could they be called puns? She listened in, shaking her head with each new addition to the mix until her breaking point was reached and a horrible realization hit her. A realization that she had to exclaim in a yell.

"OH MY GOD, I'M SURROUNDED BY FUCKING LOSERS."

That didn't explain just what had happened, but it made her feel better. That was what mattered most.

[Classified]

Aspen Archer

Aspen sat quietly in her seat, she stared at the three others with her that were talking about something and laughing. Aspen was confused, she didn’t understand their jokes; she felt so out of place. Here they were, all new students and already these three had managed to make friends. She listened again, "Well this is Onix-expected" was she missing something. They were pronouncing the words wrong, she was pretty sure that unexpected began with a ‘U’. Aspen didn’t want to correct her, the last thing she wanted to do was annoy anyone.

"Nice to meet you! I'm Kitty Lee. Fifteen, really terrible teleporter, badass gamer!" Teleporter?Aspen reiterated in her head, her… grandfather is a teleporter, maybe she could use that as a conversation topic. Although Aspen didn’t want to butt into their conversation, if they spoke to her it could be something to talk about.

Aspen stayed quiet, her hands still in her lap. She stared at the girl who was playing the loud music, Alexis, the girl who had just arrived, Kitty and the boy who stared the conversation, Graham. Aspen made a mental note of them and their personalities. She preferred to observe people before doing anything, assessing a situation was the logical thing to do. There were a few more students around that were awake, the only information she had gathered was a boy who owned some advanced technological equipment and a girl who she assumed was his girlfriend by how physically close they were to one another.

Aspen’s assessments were incorrect as she observed the girl jump away from the boy and ask who he was. Her attention was taken away by another newcomer, "OH MY GOD, I'M SURROUNDED BY FUCKING LOSERS." Aspen’s observation of this girl made her come to the decision to avoid her at all costs, her attitude was atrocious not to mention her foul mouth. The girl seemed to be Aspen’s opposite; she had never come face to face with anyone with behaviour like hers.

[Weird Tales]

Sam awoke from his sleep and found himself on a train. His mind was a little fuzzy, whoever had knocked him out must have been smart enough to not make him ingest whatever was used otherwise it wouldn't have worked on him. His mind quickly went to the thought of food and he felt his stomach growl. He needed something to eat and he quickly got up from his seat and began to look around for anything that resembled food. If all else failed then he would have to eat something that wasn't edible for any normal human. After a bit of searching he was able to find some bread and meat for sandwiches.

Sam quickly grabbed the food and began to shove it in his mouth rather gluttonously. He then heard voices coming from other parts of the train and began to walk in that direction, maybe they would have more food, he thought to himself. Sam wondered if this train was headed to the academy for superheroes, it would make sense given the fact that they had been made unconscious. He soon came to where the other students were and gave a wave as he continued to scarf down the meat and bread.

"Hi my name's Sam. Do you guys have food?" he asked curious to know if they did or not. He had to admit that it was a strange first question to ask especially since they had recently just woken up from being unconscious, but he loved food and it was on his mind a lot. He wondered how his fellow students would act at this school and if he would need to watch his back.

[DaDrummer676]

Tony Hart

Tony had just closed his eyes and leaned his head back with a sigh. 'This is what I get for going off campus for a week, I get drugged and have to escort the newbies.' The technopath was just getting comfortable when the girl next to him that he hadn't noticed began to stir. The girl was actually quite beautiful to Tony, so when she pulled herself close to him he wasn't exactly complaining. Sadly, when he yawned, it seemed to be too much movement and the girl woke up. "Gah!" Hart jumped a little, hoping he hadn't scared her. "I, uh," the young man started as he fumbled for words. "Who are you?" The girl asked suspiciously.

Tony was about to reply when a girl started yelling profanity. He turned in attempt to calm the situation, "hey!" He started. The returning student stood up, his tall figure seeming out of place in the small tram. The technopath was actually quite tall, standing at six feet four inches.

"Listen up guys, and calm the hell down. My name is Tony, and we're going to Herculean Academy. The school should have sent you guys a letter. They want to keep the location of the school a secret, that's why you were drugged. Now please remain civil until we get there." After he finished his little speech, he sat back down.

Hart was becoming impatient, super powered teenagers in a small place was a recipe for disaster, the last thing he needed was a fight to break out on his watch. He'd get reamed out by one of the teachers if that happened, he did not want any more contact with Meredith than he already did. She creeped him out sometimes, honestly. Techno placed his hands behind his head, 'fuck it' he thought, sometimes it was better to not care than to worry.

[Rune_Alchemist]

~Alexis Sinclair~

~Audiophile~

"Nice to meet you! I'm Kitty Lee. Fifteen, really terrible teleporter, badass gamer!"

Teleporter and badass gamer? Oh yes, she liked the girl already. She doubted they'd be able to game much down here. They probably wouldn't have access to a computer if they went through this whole elaborate thing to keep the location of the place a secret. Well, a computer with outside access anyways. Maybe she was just being paranoid though. She had a tendency to not trust the government. Or anyone with any more power than she had, anyways.

"By the way, uh, could one of you help me out? I need to text my dad, tell him that I'm on my way to Herculean Academy and perfectly fine, but, um... having a few problems with the whole 'texting-while-handcuffed' thing! He's the first contact listed!"

Ah...her phone. She pulled her own phone out of her pocket. It was the latest Iphone, and she didn't have any bars either. Not like she ever called anyone on it or anything. Just her moms and dads numbers were in it - she didn't have many other people she hung out with. Though, it did have a Stylized A on the back of it, just like her headphones.

“Alexis and Kitty, eh? Pleasure to meetcha both. Graham Turner here. Not like the cracker. And I…Well, I can make your goldfish live longer. So that’s a thing. I’d volunteer, but I just checked mine. No bars. Still could give it a shot, if you want. Err...actually no, I just had a bit of a coughing fit. I don’t think I’m coming down with anything, but hey, better safe than sorry, right?”

Graham, eh? Well, it wasn't a name she would have given anyone. Neither was Kitty...unless she wanted that person to grow up to be a stripper. Still, they both seemed like cool enough people. It was then, Kitty decided to sit next to her. Alexis visibly tensed at the unwanted contact with the other girl. She turned her head slightly, giving her a slightly pained look as the other girl decided to what could only be described as 'cuddle' with her. She was conflicted. She couldn't decide whether she should shove the girl off or not. She wasn't a fan of contact with other people unless it was her fist meeting their face at mach five.

"So! Where are you guys from? I live… uh… somewhere in New York? But my dad's from Hong Kong! He's a stock broker! And my mom owns a Chinese restaurant! It's a great place to grab a… Gabite…"

She lived in New York too? Hey, they could have been neighbors then for all she knew. Not that she'd ever have probably associated herself with this girl before now. Whatever the case, she was going to do something about Kitty trying to use her as a pillow.

"Uh, I'm from New York too, actually." She replied to her question, using a hand to shove Kitty off of her, sitting her straight up in her own seat. "And uh, could you not do that. You're cute and all, but I'm not the cuddly type." She continued, stuffing her hands back in her pockets before she continued. "My dad owns a club. Take that anyway you want." She chuckled. "My moms a..." She visibly hesitated for a moment. She couldn't tell them her mom was...well, used to be a supervillain, could she? She didn't know many details herself - just that her mom had the ability to create force fields. She didn't even know her supervillain name. She had been out of the game since she was born - only using her abilities again to rescue her from that...place.

"...Businesswoman. She's a business woman. Travels a lot." She finally continued. "But takes care of the clubs finances and stuff. As for what I can do...well, lets just say you ever need a personal Bass Cannon, I'm your girl." She grinned with a chuckle.

"OH MY GOD, I'M SURROUNDED BY FUCKING LOSERS."

Her good mood was immediately dashed by those words. A scowl immediately donned on her face as she looked for the one who had uttered those words. A posh looking moron who was sitting a few seats down. Any happy thoughts she was having was immediately replaced with thoughts of pummeling that slut into a bloody, messy, pulp. Alexis stood, a low growl escaping her lips as she looked over at the other girl.

"Listen up guys, and calm the hell down. My name is Tony, and we're going to Herculean Academy. The school should have sent you guys a letter. They want to keep the location of the school a secret, that's why you were drugged. Now please remain civil until we get there."

Alexis ignored 'Tony'. She didn't care who the hell this guy was, she was gonna teach this uppity looking chick a lesson. She wasn't about to take such an insult standing down. Her headphones were blaring a rather loud beat now, and she had no intention to turn it off.

"Yo, slut." She was standing in front of the other girl now, giving her an eager, wolfish grin as if she was daring the other girl to try something. "I don't know who the fuck you think you are, So how about you apologize and I don't kick your ass."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meredith Hillard

~Your Average Alien Space Horror~

"No idea~" She replied to Paul, a student who had just spoken. She opened her mouth just long enough to reply to his question before going back to the leek. Apparently he was supposed to assist her with the new students. She outwardly laughed at the thought. Like she needed the help - she could do this herself. What, did they think she actually would eat the students?...well, possibly if they annoyed her, but that was probably not gonna happen. She might threaten too, just to see their reaction. No matter how many times she did, it never got boring. Even the older students were fun to mess with.

Instead, she starting humming a pleasant upbeat, but still annoying sounding tune as she continued to munch on the leek. She had nothing better to do until the students arrived. She supposed she could mess with Paul, but she was too focused on the leafy vegetable in her mouth as she waited.

[Nightmare Bunny]

Kitty Lee

Aww, man. Kitty teetered in her seat as Alexis pushed her away. She instinctively threw out an arm to balance herself, but because her hands were still handcuffed together, the attempt to stabilise herself failed, and she promptly toppled over onto the floor onto her face. Ouch. After a bit of squirming, she managed to worm her way into a kneeling position. To her surprise, it was actually more comfortable down here than on the seat, if only because the seats were rather narrow and very, very cold.

She laughed sheepishly. "Sorry, sorry! I like hugs, what can I say?" She tried to stifle a disappointed sigh: it wouldn't do to make her newfound friends feel uncomfortable! But since Alexis didn't want to cuddle with her, she'd have to find someone else to be her cuddle buddy. Oh well. She respected Alexis's personal space! That was something that her parents had drilled into her head since third grade, when Kitty had gotten in trouble for latching onto a fellow child and refusing to let go until a teacher physically separated the two.

Alexis was just telling them about her background, when--

"OH MY GOD, I'M SURROUNDED BY FUCKING LOSERS."

Kitty frowned. Well, that wasn't very nice.

An older looking boy started trying to say something, but was summarily ignored by pretty much everyone. Alexis got to her feet and crowded into the kind of posh-looking girl's space, rather menancingly, actually. "Yo, slut," she said. "I don't know who the fuck you think you are, So how about you apologize and I don't kick your ass."

Uh-oh. Kitty squirmed around a little more, and finally managed to get to her feet. From the look on the girl who had called them losers's face, she definitely wasn't going to apologise. If her hands were uncuffed, she'd probably be waving them around or something, but as it was, she settled for hurrying to Alexis's side. She couldn't really tug Alexis away (what with the lack of hands, and all) but she nudged the other girl with her shoulder.

She thought she heard someone say something about food, but was a little too distracted by the confrontation taking place to do anything about it.

"Come on, come on!" she said anxiously. She wasn't sure she liked the looks of this, and glanced helplessly at Graham for help. "Don't fight, fighting's not nice, and we're all supers, so we could cause some serious damage to each other, and--" she stopped, taking a deep breath. She'd started anxiously bouncing up and down. "--and, I'm sure that this girl is really very nice, deep deep down, Alexis! Let's just all calm down, and, um, be friends?"

Well, she said that, but it really didn't look like Alexis and this girl who had just woken up were willing to back down.

"Be the bigger person!" she said anyway. Kitty had always been a rather enthusiastic mediator. Once, she'd gotten in between two people who were fighting, and actually physically teleported one of them away. "She's probably just grouchy, so, uh, maybe we should all cool off and wake up properly before we get into any, uh, sticky situations?"

[Ogo]

~Graham Turner~

"So! Where are you guys from? I live… uh… somewhere in New York? But my dad's from Hong Kong! He's a stock broker! And my mom owns a Chinese restaurant! It's a great place to grab a… Gabite…"

Graham grinned at the latest pun. Gotta love when everyone’s having a great time. And he certainly was.

"Uh, I'm from New York too, actually. And uh, could you not do that. You're cute and all, but I'm not the cuddly type. My dad owns a club. Take that anyway you want. My moms a...Businesswoman. She's a business woman. Travels a lot. But takes care of the clubs finances and stuff. As for what I can do...well, lets just say you ever need a personal Bass Cannon, I'm your girl.”

Well, she didn’t explode when Kitty touched her. So she is human. Graham had to admit, he was glad that he had met these two. They were fun. And New York? That sure beat Kentucky. Hell, all he had have was...well there was a university in the town across the river in the next state over. Sometimes he and his father would catch a game or two. Basketball, football, anything worked really. Graham liked sports, but he never could play any. Being sickly sucked. He was pretty good at video games though. There's a silver lining to everything, he supposed. He was about to speak up, giving his own mini-biography when something ripped through the air.

"OH MY GOD, I'M SURROUNDED BY FUCKING LOSERS."

It took a moment for that to register with Graham. Who was that? Who were they talking about. Then he realized, this little group had been pretty much the only conversation around. And they were talking about Pokemon. Was she, Graham was pretty positive it was a female voice despite his increasing rage, talking about them? The hell was her problem? He had to know.

Someone spoke up, probably trying to get a handle on the blowup before it happened. Graham didn’t know. He was fired up. Alexis had gotten up and was heading towards The Rude One.

“WHAT THE HELL? FUCK OFF.” Graham flung out and he climbed up in his seat, standing admitting not that tall. He had been pretty loud though, never one to have problems projecting his voice. They were just having fun and some jerk wanted to throw a fit about it. That’s not cool. She needed to chill out. Now.

Then something hit Graham. He might be a chihuahua, big bark, but too small to really do anything except chew an ankle or two. Alexis, however, didn’t seem to be the same. No, she seemed a little more...volatile. The look she had...that was a wolf about to jump a prey. Go for the jugular. She might actually attack this girl. Graham was a bit conflicted. He hated when people fought, but this chick had been an ass for no reason. No, he couldn’t rightly just let something blow up right here.

Apparently Kitty had the same thought, already hot on Alexis’ heels.
He climbed off his chair and got into the aisle. He, rather slowly, approached the three ladies but paused a few feet away. There was a hell of an aura. The tension found its way into his throat, restricting his air. What Alexis said next stopped Graham dead in his tracks. If anything started to happen, he’d try to jump in. Would probably just be flattened, but them’s the breaks. Otherwise, he wasn’t poking that poochie.

"Come on, come on!"

She looked back Graham. He offered a nod.

"Don't fight, fighting's not nice, and we're all supers, so we could cause some serious damage to each other, and--"

Graham had caught up by this point. He couldn’t just stand around and let a poor HANDCUFFED girl try to stop a fight here. She’d be flattened quicker than he.

"--and, I'm sure that this girl is really very nice, deep deep down, Alexis! Let's just all calm down, and, um, be friends?"

“Y-yeah, come on, dude. She’s not worth it. Might as well let it go. If she wants to make an ass out of herself, we can all laugh about it later. It’ll be fun, yeah?” He quickly sputtered, ending with an uneasy laugh. He didn’t like the look of this.

Not one bit.

"Be the bigger person! She's probably just grouchy, so, uh, maybe we should all cool off and wake up properly before we get into any, uh, sticky situations?"

Graham waited on bated breath, hoping that one of them had gotten to her. If that failed, what was the backup? Physically hold them apart? Hopefully Poshy-Posh wouldn't take the bait. The two of them might be able to hold back one. MAYBE. But two? What happens if it does go down and they can't stop it? What if someone gets hurt? Graham thought back to all of his "experiments" over the years. Never once did he try to heal a person...that'd require spilling his secret. No...he couldn't. Even if he could, he didn't know how, and he sure as hell wasn't about to turn people into guinea pigs. Shiiiit...