Tuesday, October 14, 2042
Ever since Arthur Gray’s School of Power began to usher out graduates, it has worked closely with the New Guard, a Seattle-based and government-sponsored superhero group, in order to train promising students to be defenders of their community. Many students work and train with high-ranking members of the New Guard to perfect their Courser powers and perhaps join the team’s ranks. Though not all graduates are cut out for this path in life, many work toward it in order to receive the substantial monetary benefits and high public esteem that come with making the cut.
Some training days, like this day, were considered off days for both the students and their New Guard mentors. Groups of students were shadowing individual New Guard members as they went about their business, though these were considered off days for the fact that nothing tended to happen. Students were not usually a fan of these days as New Guard members were not to do any training, so students were usually stuck watching a hero as they did nothing at all.
Sandra Cohen, ranked second among New Guard members, usually felt pretty bad for the students on these days. She knew how restless anyone at that age could get, especially Coursers who were usually brimming with energy. Sandra would often take her group of students to the Millenium Mall, located just a couple blocks from their school and the New Guard headquarters.
Millenium was built about twelve years prior during a boom in the popularity of shopping malls thanks to technology making navigation in shopping spaces easier than ever. Considering the complete domination of virtual shopping, malls became more about grandeur and display as they functioned more like tourist spots than anything else. Millennium was an eyesore to some, with five floors in total and a view all the way to the bottom from the center of each.
Sandra had brought her group to the third floor, where many of the stores were dedicated to kids, teens, and young adults. She had loved bringing her own kid there, so accompanying the students and letting them challenge her to a couple of the games at the throwback arcade was her way of sharing that joy.
Things were going as normal as ever until Sandra got a sudden call from the New Guard headquarters. She gestured for the students, Benny, Walt, John, Roman, Morgan, and Akiko, to follow her as she walked toward the center of the mall.
“Sandra, we got a disturbance at the mall,” said the bored voice of her operator. “Since you’re already there, could you check it out?”
“What about the mall’s security?” she asked. She looked toward the students that were shadowing her, hoping the matter was not too serious.
“They’re on alert but they believe it’s a PEP, so they would feel more safe with a New Guard member present.”
Sandra signed off and turned to her students. She was about to tell them the situation when she heard a scream nearby. She turned toward the sound, heart now pumping, only to see a commotion at a kid’s toy store. From what she could see, people were running away from what appeared to be giant bubbles. She watched as the bubbles consumed the fleeing customers, carrying them into the air and scattering about.
Sandra looked over her shoulder at her students as she ran toward the store. “We have to evacuate the people from the store!” she yelled. “Safely!”
She turned on her communicator, ready to tell the operator that a dire situation was brewing.
Meanwhile, Wu Zhang -- the third ranked New Guard member -- certainly made sure to take advantage of this sleepy "off-day" while he had his own fair share of students shadowing him, consisting of Tommy, Kylie, Rashida, Vanessa, Stacy, and Cain. Unlike Sandra or his other cohorts in the top echelon of the New Guard, Wu was hardly one for rest, always working to attain self-improvement at any given notice.
As the team found out, he could make for a tedious teacher.
Of course, the rules stipulated that Wu was not to train the students in any official hero matters, but the young man had found a loophole in the wording, and before anyone shadowing him knew it, they suddenly found themselves being forced to meditate in the living quarters of the New Guard HQ, completely empty aside from themselves, sitting crisscrossed on the floor.
As he said to anyone who questioned his decision, including Kylie, meditation was a universal gesture that could benefit anyone. It was important for even the common person to know how to meditate and consolidate their thoughts. It was a loophole, but in his eyes, at least he was teaching the group something of value for the betterment of their characters, so what was the harm?
"Meditation is about airing out the tension from your body and mind. Remember to breathe deeply, and breathe often. In this moment, the entire rest of the world disappears before--" He said, before the sudden sound of his device ringing cut through his words and the tranquil air like a hot knife through butter.
With an annoyed click of the tongue, the young hero stood up on his feet and fished his communicator out of his pocket. If there was one drawback to being such a highly ranked and demanded hero, it was that he was no longer allowed any true privacy. Every time he was needed, it was truly a matter of life and death, so he could never afford to just ignore it either.
"Zhang speaking. What is it?" He said gruffly, maintaining a furrowed expression on his features.
"H-Hi, Wu! Sorry to bother you on your day off and all, but we've got an emergency at the Millennium Mall!" A mousy, feminine voice came from the other end.
"I don't have days off," Wu only flatly said, not even seeming to blink at -- let alone respond to -- the mention of an emergency initially, until he let out a worn sigh. "Anyway, what's the problem?"
"Like I said, there's a big disturbance throughout the entire mall. Security thinks it's a Courser who lost control of their powers, but you'll have to check it for yourself. Sandra's already on the scene, but she may need an extra hand. Since you're just around the block at HQ, that makes you the next closest hero to take care of it. Good luck, Wu! Over and out!" The operator exclaimed, and with that, signed off, prompting Wu to look toward the senior students.
"Unfortunately, it seems that we'll have to cut our session short today. We've evidently got a situation over at the mall," Wu said, adjusting his glasses. "Who's ready to go shopping?"
...
Being that HQ was walking distance from the mall, it took little time at all for Wu and the others to reach the Millennium Mall, especially as he'd commissioned for an employee to transport the group there with a company van.
As they reached the destination, Wu stepped out briskly, hoisting his sheathed sword over his shoulder in a nonchalant manner. "Alright, stay close to me, everyone. This could be dangerous," he said sternly, and with that, made a beeline forward.
The front entrance of the mall was a sprawling open area with beautiful archways over top walkways that weaved through small sections of individual gardens. As Wu's group entered the mall, they found that the lobby was quite massive, with many holographic displays set up about for both navigation and advertisement. People crowded around the displays, apparently having not yet realized there was a situation at all. The robots that hovered about were performing their job of assessing people's needs and moving them along, though as if on cu with Wu's arrival, they started to emit emergency noises. The nearby shoppers looked confused as the bots began ushering them out of the building instead. Wu and his students had to show a scanning robot their badges before it let them through.
With Sandra handling a situation elsewhere, that left Wu confront the Courser. After a brisk run past fleeing shoppers down on to the basement floor, the group came across a young, blond-haired man in front of a large fountain. The normally calm running water was now thrashing about, spitting water everywhere while the man standing in front of it held his face in his hands. A few shoppers stood nearby, not moving despite being told to leave.
Jack, ranked fifth among New Guard members, teleported into the mall with his group of students, ending up on the fifth floor of the building. The man was grumbling, having been interrupted in his shadowing session of making the students stand around while he watched the latest episode of Coursing With Talent. He had been called in after Sandra issued an emergency, though he was specially not happy about having to bring the kids with him. He wasn’t supposed to go anywhere without the kids unless it was really dangerous, though he figured it must be if three New Guard members were being called in.
He was about to contact Wu when the sound of glass cracking distracted him. He turned to see a giant fish tank that went along the entire width of a pet shop. The water inside was churning like a sea in the middle of a storm, making the glass of the tank crack.
“Jack, we need you on the first floor,” came the voice of the New Guard operator. “There’s another disturbance, this one at the food court.”
“Well there’s a-a… situation on the fifth floor too!” Jack barked back. He looked around for a moment before deciding on what to do. He turned to his group of students and locked eyes with a bespectacled teen named Arthur. “Kid, you take charge, okay? Gonna send you and about half of ya down to the food court to deal with something going on there. Got it?”
Arthur took a deep breath and nodded. Jack then teleported him and about half the others away.
With that done, Jack sighed. “Why the hell is there a pet shop on the fifth floor?” He turned to see a group of shoppers heading their way, having no idea the danger they were potentially walking into. “Do what you can about the tank!” Jack commanded his students, consisting of Nathan, Peter, Ann, Dakari, Samantha, and AJ.
Jack then teleported in front of the shoppers, waving them away from the pet shop.
For Arthur and the other students teleported to the food court, what they found was a lot of confused and anxious shoppers standing around, watching as water poured out from the direction of the bathrooms. Arthur looked at the other students, consisting of Kassandra, Jack Parker, Maia, Natalie, Victor, and Melody, wondering what they should actually do about that.
The matter became obvious a moment later when water exploded out from the entrances of the bathrooms. What had been a trickle of water became a wave that rushed down the hall and overtook the food court, picking up poor bystanders in its path.
“Shit!” Arthur yelled. With a control over air, Arthur was able to conjure a heavy wind within the mall that slammed against the rampaging water. Rich, another student, stopped forward and reached out an arm toward the water.
“I’ll help you!” Rich said, adding more strength to the wind. Unlike Arthur, Rich had command over not just the air, but the weather itself.
“We gotta get these people out of here!” Arthur yelled.
