3. Student Arrivals

Posted on Mon Apr 10th, 2023 @ 4:10pm by Eli King & Kranny Shtorm & Rebecca McMillen & Duke Drake & Astrid Lindstorm
Edited on on Sun Apr 30th, 2023 @ 6:10pm

2,277 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: 1. Year One
Location: Haven Manor
Timeline: September 1, 1992 0800

Doctor Drake walked to the main entryway of the school, and opened the door, while holding a disposable foam cup of black coffee. Today was the day his vision would come to fruition. The students would begin arriving throughout the day.

He stepped off the large porch and walked through the pecan orchard as he finished his coffee. The days ahead would be trying and would have their difficulties, but he was excited about the possibility of protecting the young mutants. With a flick of his hand his empty cup turned to dust and he brushed his hand off. The sound of a vehicle approaching brought his thoughts back to the present, as he walked back towards the front door.

Astrid waited by the front door, having donned a pair of glasses. They were fake, just something to obscure her appearance. She looked to Duke as he approached.

"A brave new world awaits. And soon many are going to take their first steps along an arduous path. One we're all on together." She commented.

"This is a journey we get to go on together. Luckily they won't be alone as they move forward in life. Thanks to people like you who are willing to help mentor and teach them, they will have a better start than we did." the Doctor replied.

Shtorm comes out behind Rebecca, Astrid, and Dr.Drake, putting his arms arounds their shoulders pulling them in for a Sudo group hug. " It most certainly does look like a new day. You two have built something great here and i'm honored to be a part of it. I will try to not let you down." Shtorm releases them giving a full belly laugh. "Well i'm going down to greet people and put fears as ease." Shtorm says with a large welcoming and friendly smile as he heads down the manor's steps.

Drake chuckled and whispered to Rebecca and Astrid, "I think his smile is nearly as big as he is, it's impressive."

"Yeah, but I could do without the broken ribs." she put up some mock pain, but it was all in good spirits.

A red Subaru Loyale came up the driveway, driven by a balding man in a beige shirt with a brown tie. next him sat a woman that many would say was out of his league. They parked near the entrance and the back driver's side door opened.

"Ugh, as if you think I'm going to stay here." Heather Sinclair said with a sneer as she stepped out of her stepfather's station wagon. "This looks nothing like the one in New York." She commented looking around. Heather was blonde, her hair pulled into a high ponytail. She looked like every high school mean girl in every John Hughes movie ever made.

Her mother, Carol-Anne, came out on the passenger side. Her husband, Heather's stepfather, stayed in the car. His eyes firmly locked forward. Carol-Anne's long hair teased to high heavens barely moved in the warm September air. "I think it looks darling." She remarked, closing the door and coming around the back of the car to meet her daughter. You could tell by looking at them that Carol-Anne and Heather were mother and daughter. "More charming than the one in New York and much closer to home."

Rebecca was out in force, smiling and waving to the new arrivals in an effort to make them feel about as welcome as they could be. Some were local, while others had driven a very, very long distance. Long enough to separate them from their less understanding neighbors, or family. For that, everyone got a smile, everyone was greeted.

"Hello, and welcome. My name's Rebecca." She offered to Heather and Carol-Anne. "I hope the drive wasn't too terrible?"

Carol-Anne shook Rebecca's hand and smiled wide. "Traffic was good the whole way." She said. She sounded sincere, but perhaps a little nervous. "We were very excited to hear about this school opening, and I hope it'll be good for Heather.

Rebecca offered Heather a smile, "Well, we're very excited to be able to help, and looking forward to doing just that." the mousey blonde responded. "Just head on in right through there, and we'll start new student orientation once everyone's here. Coffee and tea are on a table inside, along with some nice cold water. Plenty of water." Rebecca smiled, as though to say 'why yes, it actually IS a billion degrees out here today'.

Carol-Anne put her arm around Heather's shoulder and guided her towards the front door.

A black van will drive up to the manor with a Federal license plate. As it stops two men step out, one baled with a thick black goatee and in a black suit. The other gentleman has a short military haircut also in a black suit but minus the jacket has his sleeves were rolled up. "This the place? "The 2nd man asked. "Should be." The 1st man responded. "Lets get this done with already. Between the humid air, the swamp smell and well." he looks around seeing the students and teachers out to greet them. "well lets just say I don't want to stay for the circus they are brewing up here."

The 2nd man nods and smirks a bit. He opens the door to let out a child with a blindfold on him and a women also in a black suit. She leans over to the child. "ok, we are here and I'm going to remove the blindfold are you going to behave?". The child looks towards the noise coming from the school. "I guess we will see" He responds. The women sighs and begins to remove his blindfold. "come on Zaid, its not like the government is going to give you many more chances. Infact I'm sure this is the last one. So please, for your own sake, listen, learn, and try to go to be a productive member of society."

Man 2 whispers under his breath "hopefully just not our society. The freaks can have their own". The women ignore this and finishes with Zaid and goes to help him out of the van but he just pushes her away and steps out on his own. His medium long messy black hair covers part of his face. His old torn blue jeans, a shirt with the Nasa logo on it and a very worn out grey hoodie with small burn marks on it.

Zaid takes in the sight of the school, looks towards the woods nearby and sighs. "Welp, that's it then I guess" He looks over to man 1 and smiles but a very unsettling smile "see ya soon Sirus" as Zaid grabs his bag and walks to the school. Man 1 looks like he about to go over and hit zaid for the comment when man 2 puts his arm out and shakes his head. "Not worth it on the animals" The men agree and go to get back into their vehicle. The women watches Zaid with a hint of sadness, almost as she wished she could do more for the boy. Man 1 calls back to her "close the door we are done her. Dropping the shit off was our only duty." As he starts the van back up again and leaves. Leaving Zaid to walk up to what seemed to be the teachers all alone.

Rebecca watched the scene unfold in disbelief. She knew well the disdain that some could have for her kind but this... this was almost cartoonish... and to a child. She shook her head slightly then turned to face the doc before she made her way over to the approaching Zaid. "Hello, and welcome. I'm Rebecca, one of the faculty here. It's nice to meet you."

Zaid looks at her through his hair as he looks around at each teacher who has come out to help and greet lingering a bit on the larger teachers before finally looking at Dr.Drake and back down to Rebecca. "Zaid" He responds. "Out of idol curiosity how far is the nearest town, lets say by walking." He says with a smirk.

"Half an hour, that way." she pointed. "Through bug and snake infested swamp land. Maybe a gator or two. Now, it's either the swarms of mosquitos or the alligators that are nocturnal, but for the life of me I don't remember which." Rebecca responded with that same smirk.

"Out of idle consideration, as the Girl that Ran From Her Family to be here, give it a try before you plot your escape." she offered, perhaps a little more helpful than her GPS impression.

"Oh don't worry I have to make sure to give enough time for Sirus and his other to leave the state before I make any moves. I learned that lesson last time. So it looks like I have little choice at the moment then to bide my time." Zaid says with a touch of impatience in his voice.

As he goes to move past her to head up the stairs to the manor he stops next to Rebecca but still looking forward. He looks like he wants to say something, probably snarky but decides not to. He gives a deep sigh. A look of exhaustion seems to hit Zaid as he recenters himself. "Do i ask you which cell I'm in or do I ask the gentleman up there?" Pointing at Dr.Drake. "I could really go for a nap."

Doc stood with Rebecca as she made her introductions. It was because of short sighted, close-minded people like these ones that they built this school. He made a mental note to keep an eye on this poor child.

"Cells are for prisons. You're free to go about as you wish." Rebecca responded, continuing her glance forward as well. "I'm going to imagine you're looking for a movie reference. In which case, cell block one one three eight." she glanced towards Zaid with a giggle, "I lived in a movie theater for a year. Lived off popcorn and whatever else spilled on the floor. Enjoy your stay."

"Beats the places I've stayed some nights and the meals I had on those nights. And boy oh boy, I don't even remember the last movie I saw." As Zaid heads up the stairs towards the front door only now thinking "was 1138 a movie reference or simply his room number." Not directly knowing the answer to that question, and not willing to ask for clarification, acts as if it was his room number.

A small olive green colored jeep turned in to the drive. Joe stepped out of the driver's seat and picked up a large aluminum foil pan full of food. He carried it up to Doc, "Cooked up a special dessert for you and the kids it's a chocolate Haupia, or pudding. The wife and I wanted to do something for your staff and the kids. We believe in what you're doing here. In fact I wanted to see if it would be possible for my son to attend here also."

"Absolutely," Doc replied, "Let's set this down inside and we can talk further. I didn't realize Kai was already a junior or I would have dis used this with you earlier."

"No worries, Doc," Joe said with his large ever present grin. He is out making his last delivery, but he will be arriving here as soon as he finishes."

Doc showed Joe where to set the dessert tray and walked with him back out to the jeep as they continued talking, "Thank you for helping with our school uniforms too. I heard that they enjoyed your shop and even asked for hoodies."

Joe laughed, "Yeah they did, though what they want that heavy stuff in this humidity, I'll never know. I have your uniforms and the hoodies too," he said picking up two packages from his jeep and handing one large one to Doc. "Everyone is in there, I even made a special one for you too, they're wrapped individually in here with their names on the box containing each suit."

"Joe, as always you outdid yourself. Thank you again for all the help. I will continue recommending you to my friends," Doc said as they carried the two large packages to his office. A few minutes later, a small box containing each heroic suit was passed in each of the staffs room, along with their own customized hoodie.

Doc returned back to the porch with Rebecca and waved at Joe as he pulled out of the drive. "Everyone's new uniform has been placed in their rooms; also Joe's son Kai will be arriving after making his final delivery for his dad."

She gave a smile, shifting her mood from the melancholy of Zaid to the enthusiasm that Joe's son would likely exhibit. "Oh that's good good, is he anything like his dad or...?"

"Personality wise, yes Kai is like his dad, but a completely different ability. Joe's power is to manipulate fabric, which is why he asked about yall's abilities before making your suits. Kai can manipulate water. It was kind of funny watching him surf in Joe's pool at 10 years old. He sure made some waves," Doc said with a smile.

Eli came out to the porch. "Some woman, with amazing hair, just told me my bone structure is to die for." He said, his cheek still flush with color.

"Good for you Mr. King," the Doctor said to Eli as he watched students meeting teachers and getting tours of the campus. 'It's going to be an interesting year' he thought to himself.

#The End

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