"Isn't it a little early?" Charlotte asks, arriving at the top floor, right outside her mom's office.
"It is. They weren't scheduled to be here until at least next week," her mom said, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Someone messed it up and gave them the wrong message."
Charlotte straightened her back. "Well, I'm ready to meet them. Which junior heroes did you recruit?" There were a few available who weren't part of a trio. A girl with a rare telekinesis ability came to mind. Was she in the office right now?
Her mom shifted. "Well, about that. Your team is not made of junior heroes."
Charlotte frowned. "Wait, what?" Were they a rank higher?
"It's a test run for a new program. There are a lot of children in the Children's Center down the road, and I decided to have a trial run with three of them on a team to see if it can work out. It's very important."
The Children's Center was full of abandoned superhumans. Either they were orphans and their parents died in a car crash, or they were abandoned. And most kids were the latter.
"But…aren't they untrained?" Charlotte asked.
"If this works out, I'll put more resources into having trainers go there and find potential. But I need to know if this project is worth it first."
Charlotte let out a sigh. She'll have to make the best with what she had.
"Don't worry, you don't need to do any missions today. Just do a meeting, get to know each other. It's better like this, since you can see what you have to work with."
Was it that bad? "Well, I'll need someone to cover my shift at the desk."
Her mom sighed. "I'll call someone in. The team is your priority now."
As she walked away, Charlotte frowned. If she could get someone else so easily, why did she call Charlotte in? She shook her head. It didn't matter. She pushed the door open to the office and slipped in.
Inside, the office looked like it had been redesigned. The floor was made of black slates with white cracks connected by gold metal. There were mirrors in gold frames, and the desk was black stained wood on top of a black and white circular carpet. Sitting on a bench in the corner of the room were three people who must be her team.
"Hi, my name's Charlotte." She looked between them all.
The only boy stood up. "I'm Leo." He was wearing athletic wear and had toned muscles. At least he was someone who worked out.
Charlotte held her hand out for him to shake, and Leo almost jumped. He said, "Are your hands clean?"
"Uh, yeah," Charlotte said, her face red.
Leo ducked down under the bench and pulled a large, red backpack out. "Hold on, I have some sanitizer in here."
With a nod, Charlotte turned to the team. "Uh, hi, my name's Charlotte."
The girl who was sitting in the middle nodded, her blond, bobbed curls bouncing. "I know, you said that already." She was looking at her reflection in a pink mirror. "My name is Marissa, by the way, since you must know."
"Nice to meet you, Marissa," Charlotte said.
Marissa adjusted her pink bow on her head. Charlotte couldn't help but notice that she was short and had thin wrists. She looked kind of like a doll with a button nose and massive green eyes framed with long lashes. Impossibly long lashes.
The girl sitting next to Marissa looked up at Charlotte. She was wearing an oversized, black leather vest over a black lace dress and fishnet tights and gloves, and black lace-up boots. Her hair was dyed an Oxford blue and had dark roots. It covered one of her eyes, and when she saw Charlotte looking, her gaze flitted away.
"Hello," Charlotte said, shifting. Should she leave her alone?
Marissa waved her hand dismissively. "Don't mind her, she hasn't spoken a word since we got here."
Charlotte nodded. She didn't say anything about that, since it felt weird to say anything in front of her. "Anyway, why don't-"
"I FOUND IT!" Leo yelled, making Charlotte jump. He held up a bottle of hand sanitizer like a trophy and kicked his backpack aside. "Here!" He offered it to Charlotte.
"Um- thank you," Charlotte said. She took it and squeezed some onto her hands and rubbed them together.
Marissa rolled her eyes. "Ugh, you're so rude! You just interrupted her."
Leo frowned. "Oh, I didn't notice, I'm so sorry!"
"No, no, it's fine," Charlotte said, shaking her head. She handed Leo his sanitizer.
Ash brushed a strand of hair behind her ear, revealing small, dangling earrings with a little blue bird on them.
"Oh, those are cute earrings!" Charlotte said.
"Thank you!" Marissa said, even though she didn't have earrings on.
"Are those blue birds?" Leo asked, looking at Ash.
Ash's pale face turned red. "Um…they're actually blue capped…chickadees…" Her voice got lower and lower until she was barely audible. "Sorry."
"Oh, no, no need to apologize," Charlotte said.
"Sorry." Ash hung her head.
"Don't-" Charlotte shook her head. "Nevermind. What I was saying earlier was what are your powers? If you have them." She only realized the last line was stupid after she said it. Of course, they had powers; they were from the children's home.
Leo nodded so fast his head looked like it might fall off. "Yeah, my power is superspeed!"
Superspeed was good. Someone on her dad's old team might've had it. She was little back then and couldn't remember much, but it seemed familiar. "Great! That's a good start. How fast could you go?"
Leo paused for a moment. "Oh, well, I can do fourteen miles per hour."
Fourteen? Isn't that average?
"Without training or exercise," Leo added quickly. "It's pretty good for an average person, so I can bulk up on muscle without having to worry about slowing down, haha."
Marissa pursed her lips. "I bet I can run faster than you. I was on my school's track team."
"Not in those shoes," Leo muttered.
Charlotte glanced at Marissa's shoes. Pink Mary Janes with three straps and heart buckles, and white lace socks. The heel was at least two inches long, and didn't look easy to run in.
Marissa smoothed dress and fixed the bow on the chest. It had an intricate flower design, and was pink. It was cute, but it didn't look fit to train in. The STC provided suits, but what about training?
"Isn't it beautiful?" Marissa asked, smiling when she saw Charlotte looking.
"Uh, yeah," Charlotte said. "Anyway, what's your power?'
Marissa pouted. "Water, if you must know."
"That's good, it's a great defensive power," Charlotte said. She remembered Eric, and how he stopped that car. "How much training have you done?"
Marissa giggled, making Ash flinch. "None. It isn't pink, water is so…plain."
"We'll add pink paint to it," Charlotte muttered. She turned to Ash. "How about you?" Ash looked up at her. Her eyes were the color of raven's feathers. Her gaze was piercing, and a chill runs through Charlotte, like there's cold water trickling down her body.
"I summon birds," Ash said, looking down.
"Oh," Charlotte said. "Birds? How does that work?" Even though it sounded useful, she knew she shouldn't get her hopes up, especially after the other two's powers.
"Any kind of birds," Ash said, half answering.
A moment passed, and she didn't get anymore explanation. She cleared her throat. "Okay then. So, what we should do next is-"
The door opened, interrupting. Her mom walked in, her heels ringing out on the tile like gunshots. "I arranged a ride back to the children's center for you three. I apologize for your inconvenience."
Ash seized up, while Marissa narrowed her eyes. Leo looked between Charlotte and her mom. He bent over and swung his backpack over his shoulder with ease. "Alright. Bye, Charlotte. It was nice meeting you."
Charlotte nodded. "Nice meeting you, too."
Marissa waltzed over. She only came up to Charlotte's shoulder, and had to crane her neck to look up at her. "Bye, I guess." And with that, she strutted off, giving Charlotte's mom a look on the way out.
"Bye," Ash whispered, standing in front of Charlotte, almost making her jump. "Sorry if I wasted your time…"
"No, it was nice meeting you," Charlotte said.
Ash turned and swooped out of the room, like a small bird retreating from danger. The door slams behind her, and Charlotte put her hands in her pockets. "So, what next?"
"Back to the desk. You need to do the rest of your shift," her mom said, taking a seat.
"Oh." Charlotte had thought the person filling in would take over a little longer than half an hour. "Alright, see you later."
"Wait," her mom said.
Charlotte looked up.
"Bring this to your sister." Her mom slid a white envelope across the desk, eyes fixed on her computer. "Make sure she actually reads it and doesn't throw it away."
Charlotte collected it and dropped it into her purse with care. "Of course. Bye, mom." As she shut the door behind her, she let out a breath. Maybe it was a good thing she had a few hours of alone time, since she needed to look at the manual.
The team might be a disaster, and not one Charlotte was prepared for.