10 Years Later:
Ch. 1 Moving Day-The beginning of the school year at the New Vindicators Academy in Vienna, Austria was much like the beginning of the school year at most boarding schools. Parents or guardians left their children or adolescent charges at the entrance to wrestle their luggage into the dormitories and drove away. Students clutched class schedules in their hands and fretted over room assignments. The big difference between this academy and any other in europe was the students here were all SPB's. Super-Powered Beings with all the angst and drama of high school. A potentially explosive formula if there ever was one.
Looking around as he dragged the steamer trunk with his belongings in it, Antero Tuominen could only think critically, the complex didn't look nearly durable enough. After a quick check of his admissions form, the tall, burly Fin searched out his room. Opening the door he saw another boy already inside, stretched out on one of the beds. The dark haired teen looked up from the book he was reading and waved.
"You must be my roommate." He said cheerfully.
"Antero."
"Hey 'Tero, my names Janez. You can call me Jan. This is pretty cool, eh?" He made a sweeping gesture with his free hand indicating it was the room he referred to.
"It's alright, I guess." The bigger boy said, looking mournfully at the unoccupied bed he'd be using. It was a little on the modest size for his massive frame and he was already imagining uncomfortable nights.
"Alright?" Janez scoffed. "You only say that because you weren't here last year. That was a mess. School housing wasn't complete. Only the seniors got to live on campus and they were bunked three to a room in the same building as the faculty, thanks to all the extra security. On top of that, the Vindicators were still here part time because their sea base wasn't finished. So for those of us unlucky bastards enrolled here,
not in the senior class, it was host families and commuting to school. A total pain in the ass."
Antero nodded as if in sympathy, but the reality was he was a bit steamrolled by his roommates aggressive sociability. "I didn't realize." Was all he managed to mumble, still standing in the doorway.
"It doesn't matter now 'Tero." Janez said, sitting up. "Now we're one big happy commune of neo-Sapien delinquents. The only thing that sucks is the dorms aren't coed. When the classes were smaller they used to be, but apparently a couple years ago some imbecile who'd never heard of condoms got a girl pregnant. Big drama."
Suddenly the Fin's steamer trunk pulled free from his grip and marched itself into the room. The big blonde lunged after it instinctively. "What the devil?"
Janez grinned. "I animate the inanimate and you weren't moving, so I figured since we already have a door, I'd inspire you to come in."
"Right." Antero said, eyeing his roommate as critically as he'd eyed the room. For the first time he was regretful of the manifestation of his Neo-Sapien powers. Somehow the ability to turn into a nigh unstoppable stone powerhouse didn't seem like it would be enough to withstand the juggernaut of Janez' gregariousness.
Down the hall, Volkan Yilmaz and Felix Reiter were rapidly making themselves at home. Like all the Sophmore class their room was on the second floor of the dormitory. Unlike Antero and Janez, they didn't have to struggle through their meet and greet. They had been Freshmen together the previous year and good friends besides. So posters of their favorite bands were tacked up on the walls, clothes were dumped unceremoniously out of suitcases into piles on the beds and Volkan was already burning incense to cover up the odor of the pipe they'd smoked even before unpacking.
"That was some good weed." Felix stated with the type of authority only stoned people can manage.
"Not weed. Pot is for heathens. I'm from Turkey and that my unrefined friend was hashish."
Felix ignored the jab. "I still don't understand how you always manage to bring in so much."
Volkan shrugged and smiled. "Airport security waves me through. The only good thing about being a public SPB is I make muslim security agents twitchy."
"Twitchy how?"
"They're afraid I'm unclean or being an NS is contagious or something, so they try to hurry me through with as little contact as possible. They don't want to touch me, much less search me."
"Isn't Jihad a Muslim?" Felix asked a little perplexed.
"Don't try to figure it out Felix. You're trying to apply logic to the illogical and after what we just smoked, that'll make your head explode."
The small Austrian boy shrugged in response. "Whatever you say. Hey, did you happen to pack any snacks?"
Across the quad in the girls' dorm, Sophie Brouwer and Paula Cabrera lay side by side, pressed tightly together on the same narrow bed.
"Did you see the hot new guy?" Paula asked, her voice breathy.
"Which new guy?" Sophie asked, whisking her bangs out of her eyes with her free hand. "There are like, a boatload of new Freshmen."
"Not a freshman." The milk chocolate skinned, Paula responded with a goofy grin. "The new guy from Finland. That's a fine piece of man right there."
"The big guy? Blonde? Built like an oak tree?"
"Yeah." Paula gigled. "I'd like to climb that tree and shake his branches...if you know what I mean?"
Sophie blushed like she always did when her friend started making sexual innuendos. "You're bad!"
"Yes...yes I am and you should be."
"How do figure that?"
"You got the perfect powers for it vibrator girl." The dark skinned girl snickered.
"Oooo...you hag!"
"Prude."
"Slut!"
Suddenly Paula rolled on top of Sophie and grinned wickedly. "Prepare for tickle torture!"
Sophie grinned back and grabbed at her friends' wrists "Have at you harlot!"
Even through the door their shrieks and laughter could be heard, as well as a loud thump that sounded suspiciously like two bodies falling to the floor.
Not far away a change in living arrangements was being executed. Somehow, Danielle and Darielle Bertrand, twins from France had been split up. The twins found being split up objectionable, and their erstwhile roommates, Veronica Ferreira and Mallorie Weber were more than happy to switch up with them. Like most twins, the Bertrand twins were close, but they took it to the level of creepy and in a school where both a member of the faculty and a student belonged to the neo-sapien bloodline from which the vampire legends sprung, that was saying something. During the entire process of changing rooms, the twins, a light controller and a darkness manipulator spoke infrequently. When they
did speak, it was in unison. The entire time Mallorie cursed herself for her punctuality. If either she or Veronica had been late, the whole process of re-packing to change rooms would have been unnecessary. Of course, had Mallorie known she was supposed to be bunking with Darielle Bertrand, she might have been days late.
Similar scenes were taking place in every dorm room on campus. Some pairings worked well, like Riina Tamm and Margueritte Wauters, two aspiring artists. Others, like Bartholomew Hastings and Manfred Furst seemed doomed from the outset. Most worked like Honok Szymanksi and Georgi Katzarov. Every student needed a roommate and one would do as well as another. On the whole, most were glad to be living on campus, free from the added politics and household dynamics that came from living with a host family. All were anxious to get back together with friends they hadn't seen since the beginning of summer break. Janez Vidmar was hoping for an exciting year.
That wish would come back to haunt him. To haunt them all.
Next: The Day It All Went Wrong.