Ch12 First Come, First Served

 

Mikey got signed up to be a minion without any problems, even though he was hesitant at first. He had tried to explain to me how the super heroes were the ‘good guys’ and the super villains were the ‘bad guys’, but I hadn’t really understood the reasoning. I had thought maybe that meant the super heroes won engagements more often, but even Mikey admitted that it was probably more like half and half, if not in the villains favor. I think it was that fact that made him finally follow me to the recruiting office on Ashwood St.

 

That and the money. Sandra assured the both of us that as long as a job was completed to satisfaction the reward was well worth the effort. Once she heard about Mikey’s situation she estimated that he could easily make up the money by the end of the summer with a few big jobs, or just a bunch of little ones. Technically Hellion also paid a ‘living wage’ but that was only for permanent employees and we had to get past the ‘trial phase’ before that was ‘on the table’. Either way, she assured Mikey that he could ‘hench’ for the summer and leave afterwards no questions asked if that was what he wanted.

 

Once we were done we left for Mikey’s home again, Mikey with his new black face-mask in his possession. Unlike mine which protected the entire head, his mask only covered the upper portion of his face, and was just for protecting his ‘identity’, a concept that I found… humorous, once I understood it. Apparently the masks were more a form of social protection than physical, both for villains and heroes. It surprised me to know that all of them were doing the exact same thing I was, albeit for a slightly different reason. I was starting to understand what Jasper meant by ‘guarding our secrets more than our lives.’

 

Mikey also warned me not to tell Tim about the henching job. Apparently Tim was a ‘super hero fanboy’ and ‘dreamed’ about getting a power so he could become a superhero. I found that very strange, especially since Tim was always quoting odds and statistics. He should understand that being a hero was the more dangerous option.

 

The next few days settled into a steady rhythm. Wake up and explore the city in the morning. Go to the school for lunch and Mr. Kimber’s informative lectures. In the afternoon ‘hang out’ with Mikey and Tim, and finally hunt rats until it was time to hibernate for the night.

 

It was… relatively peaceful, and I learned a lot of new things (the ordering of the days being among them).

 

But eventually things came to an end when Friday ‘rolled around’. I ate lunch with Mikey and Tim in the cafeteria, thanked Mr. Kimber for his teachings after sixth period, and walked home with Mikey and Tim once school let out. I didn’t go rat hunting this time, instead doing a general systems check.

 

I was currently about a little over twice as dense as a normal drone my size. I had traction claws hidden in my ‘shoes’, and my arm bones and muscles were modified to allow for rapid extension, both for surprise attacks and for mobility. My core was hidden in a protective shell made from scraps of metal. I still had my knife, kept sharp with micro unit repairs. I had various bits of loose change hidden in different spots, and finally my mask.

 

Mass: 135% norm.

Energy reserves: 10 cycles continuous.

 

Yup, I was ready for tomorrow.

 

 

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I woke up a little before dawn. The mask had beeped which had triggered my awakening, and I checked the display.

 

:514 Ashwood St. 9:00am. Bring Mask. Wear Something To Move In.

 

I left the tunnel, and headed towards Ashwood St. Technically I still had time, but I also didn’t have anything else to do. I hadn’t gathered enough money to get breakfast at Maggie’s and I didn’t want to get caught up in rat hunting right now.

 

The areas near Ashwood St became active quickly as the sun rose. I wandered around the ‘store’ windows looking inside them. Figuring out that they weren’t all food dispensaries had been a big disappointment the first time I came here. The worst was when a place selling ‘candles’ had smelled delicious, but hadn’t had anything of nutritional value when I went in to check.

 

By my count it was eight thirty, and I decided to just head for the designated location. Being a bit early was better than a bit late, and the message had only said nine a.m.

 

514 Ashwood St. turned out to be a… clothing store? It was right next to 512 as well, not the most subtle considering this was supposed to be a secret location.

 

I entered the store and looked around. All of the coverings on display were large, padded jackets meant for cold weather. Odd.

 

“There are changing rooms in the back if you want to try something on,” said a bored looking drone behind the counter. Then it went back to reading its ‘magazine’.

 

My mask was currently in a torso pouch, and I checked the message displayed on it again. Yup, 514 Ashwood St. This was the correct location, maybe the orientation just hadn’t started yet?

 

I browsed the store for a while, it really did just sell jackets. I was beginning to worry when another drone walked in. This one wore blue leg coverings and had a red shirt on its torso.

 

“There are changing rooms in the back if you want to try something on,” said the drone behind the counter.

 

In the exact same tone it had used before.

 

The new drone ignored it completely and headed straight for the changing rooms. It entered one (without bringing a jacket to try) and then stayed there.

 

And stayed.

 

And stayed even longer. It never came back out.

 

Very odd.

 

Something was suspicious with these changing rooms. I tried to ask the drone by the counter if the orientation was taking place here, but it just repeated the same phrase again.

 

Well, this was getting pretty obvious. I entered one of the changing rooms in the back, and the moment I closed the door behind me the mask beeped with a new message.

 

Put On The Mask.

 

I did, and when it was in place it beeped again before the back of the changing room opened up, revealing a corridor into the darkness.

 

Ah ha. It had been some kind of puzzle test.

 

I entered the corridor and the door closed behind me. There were dim guiding lights along the floor, and they led to something I recognized. It was one of those metal moving rooms that transported drones from one layer to the next. This one only had one button next to it, and I pressed it. The doors opened immediately.

 

I entered the small room and found there were no buttons on the inside, only a metal bar to hold onto along the sides, and a single red lever next to the door labeled “Emergency Stop.” Luckily I recognized the symbols thanks to my time at the school, and I knew enough not to pull it.

 

I’d had my fill of ‘fire alarms’ already.

 

The doors closed on their own and I was on my way. Unlike the room back at the test chamber that went up and down, this room went in multiple directions. During transit I detected the room changing directions more than once. If my guess was correct, I was somewhere in the underground tunnel layer by this point. Jasper was right about super villains and underground lairs it seems.

 

The room finally came to a stop and opened into a brightly lit corridor, lined with lots of frames for multiple metal moving rooms, above each was the location where that moving room came from. Seems like you could get to almost anywhere on Ashwood St. using this place.

 

I followed the corridor until it exited into a large empty room. Tables and chairs were scattered around and there was a small box-like device on a table in the corner, along with a ‘coffee maker’. Several other doors and corridors were spaced out along the walls, making me think of the test chambers again.

 

A multitude of masked drones were milling about the room. Some talked in small groups, however most of them seemed to be keeping to themselves. Almost all of them were wearing the black face masks, and I only spotted three other drones wearing the full cover shells. One was the drone with the red shirt from earlier, another was a bit smaller than me and wore red metal hand coverings, and the last was an obvious combat model drone, standing at about eight feet high with its skin covered completely in thick green scales. These three stood alone in their own little pockets of space.

 

The last drone in the room was somewhat different than the others. This one wore a red mask that was physically identical to the white masks except for the color and two stubby horns that poked out from the forehead. Its body coverings were different as well, made of a black, flexible material that appeared armored and covered it from its neck to its feet. The only other items it possessed were a pair of projectile weapons it kept in holsters under its shoulders. The red mask drone was talking to three other drones with black face masks, one of which was the Lily drone from the recruiting office. It was unmistakable with its scales and claws.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

 

Nobody in the room gave instructions, so I just found an empty seat and sat down to wait. I did see Mikey in the crowd, standing awkwardly near some of the other drones that appeared to be younger. Most of them appeared nervous. Mikey didn’t recognize me with the white mask on, and I realized I hadn’t told him I signed up as a powered minion.

 

Eh, I would tell him later.

 

We waited until about nine thirty before the red mask drone cleared its throat and addressed the room.

 

“Alright, looks like anyone who’s coming is here, anyone showing up later than this is fired anyways. Come closer and grab a seat if you want. My name’s Imp, and I work for Hellion. Welcome to orientation, we’ve got some announcements to make before we proceed with the physical portion of the job interview, and before you ask, yes this is still part of the interview.”

 

Most of the drones shuffled and took seats, a few choosing to stand around the edges of the room.

 

“First of all just to make sure no one is still confused, this is a henching job for the Super Villain known as Hellion. It involves doing criminal activities which may or may not result in injury, incarceration, or death. If any of these sound bad to you feel free to leave, just do me a favor and leave your mask in the changing room on your way out. This goes for all of you at any time during this orientation. If you don’t want to be here, we don’t want you here. Oh, and don’t bother trying to inform police or heroes about this meeting, nothing we do at this orientation is illegal and I can guarantee they probably already know about it anyways.”