The tall, silvery gleaming tower stood tall in the outskirts of the main city in Focal. It could be seen from miles around, being one of the tallest buildings in Markson. Just shy of being taller that the wall, one could see into the Outlands from the top of the roof. Today was a special day. Today, the Recruits would be showing up for the first time, each arriving two hours before dinner. Slowly, one by one, twenty limos, one for each new Recruit, pulled into the circular driveway in front of the facility. A young, Asian man stood out from, a smile on his face, as his companion scribbled things down on a clipboard, looking over his glasses at the different colored limos. The Luminosity limos are completely white, where the Till ones are brown, the Principle limos are dark green, the Slight limos are dark blue, and the Focal limos are completely black.
Up on the rooftop, a helicopter prepared for launch. Sky Carlson hung out on the edge, a laser M26 Rifle on his hip as he gripped one of the handrails on the underside of the plane. He looked out over the limos as they pulled up. Kym Carspring hopped into the helicopter as well, holding a semi-automatic machine gun. Sky tapped his nearly invisible headset and asked her, “Well, what do you think?” Kym looked over the edge of the roof and nodded up at him. “They’ll do,” he told her, his muscles flexing as he looked over the edge again. “Pilot, take us out! I want to be back before dinner!” He hit the top of the helicopter and it took off from the roof, heading toward the Outlands.
Going back down to the front of the building, Nau Trent, one of the teachers and the leader of the facility, looked toward his companion, Tri Crater. Tri rolled his eyes at Nau and watched as the new Recruits began to get out of their limousines. Nau stood up straighter, put on his best, winning smile, and announced loudly, “Welcome, all, welcome. Please, come gather in front of me.” He waved to the area below the stairs that he and Tri were standing on. He watched carefully as the new Recruits approached the area below him and he noticed a familiar face. He nudged Tri and jerked his chin toward one of the Luminosity limos. “Is that…”
Her large green eyes flitted around nervously. She tucked a strand of black hair back behind her ear and tapped her fingers on her legs. Citrine picked at the edge of her dress, feeling nervous, as she should be. Her brother forced her to wear this dress because he wanted her to look “nice” for her arrival. She peered out of the tinted windows of the limousine and saw that a few of the other girls had just come in jeans and an old tee shirt. That isn’t fair. She sighed and looked toward her small backpack full of snacks from her brother. Well… at least she had these. She hiked the backpack up onto her shoulders as the limousine pulled in to a stopped behind the other Luminosity limos.
Taking a deep breath as the limo driver opened the door for her, she stepped out of the cab, Bright sunshine shone down on her and she held up her hand, blocking the sun from hitting her eyes. She looked toward the glass tower and saw the light reflect off of it. The tower was gorgeous, but she knew that beautiful things can be deadly. She looked around at all of the other new Recruits and she immediately felt like a recluse. None of these people have probably ever met an Anomalous face to face when she has met them multiple times. She felt a bitter rage rise up low in her throat. She hated Anomalous. They killed her whole family besides her brother Rey, which is one of the reasons why she is here.
She looked around for any familiar faces, but she didn’t see any. The people from Luminosity were obviously not from her neck of the woods. Right then, the man from the steps called for them to come gather underneath him. She immediately walked over, her old, worn out heels clicking against the pavement. She went and stood at the very back of the ground, hoping to remain hidden from everyone. She didn’t need to be see in her old dress and old shoes. She tucked another strand of black hair back behind her ear and, in frustration, just pulled all of it back up into a ponytail. She twisted it up into a bun and stuck a pencil from her bag through it before settling and watching the man on the steps. He looked at her curiously before looking over the crowd again.
His entrance was more… exuberant than the rest’s. “Hello, Guard Facility!” Colt yelled as he leapt out of his limo. He didn’t even bother waiting for the limousine driver to get the door. He slung his single duffel bag over his shoulder. Just like everyone else, his stuff had been shipped here straight from his house. He looked around and saw that he was slightly underdressed, only wearing a pair of black gym shorts and an open vest with no shirt on underneath. He saw some Slight girls gawking at him. He winked at them and they giggled, looking away quickly. He didn’t care about being shirtless in public. He loved the attention.
Walking up to the glass tower, he whistled. “Damn, this is even bigger than I thought it would be,” he said to no one in particular. He looked around and saw the two men standing on the steps. He also saw one of the younger girls from his Grid getting out of her limo with a backpack on her back. He smiled and turned back to the glass tower. He noticed a helicopter fly up and off of it, heading out toward the Outlands. He smiled. One day, that would be him in there. And, only a year and a day away, it would be.
The man on the step called the Recruits over and he immediately began walking over toward him. He stood at the very front, probably blocking a few peoples’ views, but he plopped his duffel bag down in front of him and stood at attention with his feet apart and his hands clasped in front of him. At six foot five, Colt was a very intimidating size for a guy his age, but the men on the step didn’t even seem scared of him. He wasn’t worried though. Guards were supposed to be fearless, especially considering the creatures they went up against every day. Colt smiled and waited for the rest of the Recruits to approach.
