The Next Morning, Drew's house,
Drew wakes up on the couch with her sister. She looks at the watch and sees it's close for them to leave. Slowly rising, she groans in pain.
"Too much information at once." She thought, scratching her head. "Right, I should call Mandi back." She said as she picked it up while cutting it on. Once on, Drew sees ten missed calls from Mandi and three missed calls from June. "Seriously, is that many calls necessary?" she said as she walked to her room door.
Opening the door, Drew quickly snuck to the closest and grabbed some clothes. "Transport lab," She whispered into her watch. Instantly, she was teleported onto the main platform of her lab. "Good morning, Saturday…Naala." She said.
"Good morning, Drew. Should I prep transportation for you?"
"No thanks… I'll take my hoverboard. Just focus on the assimilation process to the Tower's system. From what I seen, it's a highly advanced system." Drew said.
"Tower assimilation process, 69%. It should be done by the time you get back from school. I'll let you know if it finishes before." Saturday said.
"Okay, thank you." Drew said, grabbing her bag.
Twenty minutes later, At the school,
Drew arrives at the school as the bell's rings. Rushing to her locker, Mandi and June bombard her with affection.
"Okay, you can stop now." Drew said as she was being squeezed by them.
"What happened? Your call just dropped suddenly. And you never called back." Mandi said.
"Oh, right. Um, my phone died." Drew said nervously.
"Really? I thought you told us that your phone had an limitless battery." June said.
"And, you believed her." Mandi said.
"Well, of course. It's Drew. She doesn't lie." June said.
"Okay, you have a point there." Mandi said agreeing.
"Right. Anyways, have you guys heard about the new students?"
"Yeah, I heard they were gorgeous, smart and super popular. Despite just starting today."
"Really, I wouldn't call myself any of those things. Would you?" Dante said as he and Avery walked up to Drew.
"No, not really. At my old school, I was anything but those things." Avery answered.
Drew, nervously, eeped as they approached.
"Did she just 'eep'?" Mandi and June thought.
"Hey, you okay?" Dante asked as he touched her shoulder.
"Oh yes. I'm perfectly fine. Just a little tired. Wow, is it hot in here? Oh, look at the time. Class is starting. I have to go." Drew said, nervously, before running off.
"Uh, is she okay?" Dante asked.
"Yeah, she fine," Avery said, smirking. "You're not," she thought.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Dante asked confused.
"Oh, you'll find out." Avery said, walking away.
Dante thought about it and realized what she meant. "Wait, seriously!" he yelled, following her.
"What was that?" June asked.
"I don't know. But did you see how Drew reacted to the new boy. She was so flustered. She couldn't even form sentences. Is this the beginning of something?" Mandi said
In her homeroom classroom,
Drew lays her head on her desk. "What did I just do? That was so embarrassing." Drew thought.
"It wasn't that embarrassing. It was a normal reaction. Especially since I told you what I told you. I expect nothing less." Avery said, telepathically.
"WHAT THE…" Drew said, loudly, jumping up.
"SSSHHH! I'm talking to you using telepathy. You'll embarrass yourself if you react like that." Avery said.
"Uh Drew, are you okay?" Another female student asked.
"Uh, yeah. I'm fine. I just thought I felt something on my neck."
"Nice one," Avery said.
"Oh okay," the female student said.
Drew sighs with relief. "Did you need something, Avery?" she said.
"I wanted to continue our conversation from yesterday. Face to Face…Can we meet at lunch?" Avery said.
"Uh, sure,"
Later that Day, In the Cafeteria,
Drew walks in, looking for Avery and Dante.
"So, you came. Come on, I have enough for us both." Avery said, walking up on Drew.
Following Avery to an empty table, Drew wondered what else shocking Avery had to tell her. Arriving at the table, Avery sneakily summoned a lunchbox.
"So, Avery, what did you want to talk to me about?" Drew asked as she sat down.
"I wanted to ask you to join the ISL." Avery replied as she sat down and opened the box. Inside the box, there were a variety of party foods, such as meatballs, finger sandwiches, and etc. Summoning forks, Avery smiled and gave one to Drew, who was shocked by Avery's words.
"I'm sorry. I didn't here you right." Drew said.
"You heard correctly. I want you to join the ISL. If you don't want to, you don't have to join. I won't force you."
"But, I'm not a superhero like you guys." Drew said.
"Well, if you want to be technical, we're not specifically superheroes. We're just a group of people who want to help people with situations they normally can't handle. Like that alien invasion you rushed to stop. But other than that, we live how we want. Trust me, you don't need powers to be a part of the ISL. We have members that don't have powers in a sense." Avery said before grabbing a finger sandwich.
"Really?"
"Of course, everybody in the ISL is crucial and is like a family." Avery replied.
Drew stayed silent, closed her eyes, and thought about all the times she felt alone because of her abnormal desire to learn. She then smiled. "Seriously… You must be trying really hard to convince me to join." Drew said as she opened her eyes to see Avery holding a meatball on a fork, trying to feed her.
"No, if I really wanted to convince you, I would've told you'll have access to our technology and knowledge we have on the Omniverse." Avery said, smiling.
Drew looked at Avery and saw she was one-hundred percent genuine. She then smiled. "Okay, I'll join the ISL. But I want access to all of your technology and data." She said before eating the meatball.
"Of course, you would be in charge of the Research and Development department of the ISL. Actually… there's something I want you solely in charge of. The Omega Protocol."
"Omega Protocol?" Drew said.
After school, Drew sat at the steps contemplating about the conversation she had with Avery. "So much responsibility and pressure for someone like me. But to trust me so much, I'm honored they trust me for something like this." Drew lost in thought.
"Drew? Hey, are you there?" Mandi asked waving her hand in Drew's face.
"Huh, yeah. What's sup?" Drew said nervously snapping out of her train of thought.
"Let's go. Jason is going to meet us at my house after picking up the pizzas." Mandi said.
"Right tutoring! I completely forgot." Drew said.
"You have other plans?"
"No, I'm free. I just need to…
"Drew, Avery forgot something." Dante said, as he walked down the stairs.
"W-what?" Drew said, nervously. Mandi smiled, maliciously.
"Here. These are for you." Dante said as he gave her a bag. "And this is our communicator. It automatically connects to all of our networks. It's basically the world's best cellphone. We'll contact when we finish getting the HQs ready." Dante said, giving her a small device.
"Oh okay," Drew said, taking the device.
"Oh, giving present already. Is it the start of the of a relationship?" Mandi said, teasing.
"Shut up, Mandi." Drew said.
"Don't worry about it. You'll be surprised about how much I get teased by the others." Dante said, before walking away.
Drew smiled, putting on the communicator.
"Is that a smiled, Drew?" Mandi said, teasingly.
"Enough, Mandi. Let's get going." Drew said putting on her bag.
"Alright,"
An hour later, Mandi's house,
Drew, Mandi, June, Jason, and his friend are sitting at a table. Upset, Drew glares daggers at Mandi and Jason.
"So Drew, where do you keep all of this information?" Jason's friend asked.
"I have a photographic memory. Kinda makes it hard to forget things." Drew said as she continued to glare at Mandi and Jason.
"Hey, Drew, is this one right?" Mandi asked, showing Drew a piece of scratch paper. It reads "I'm sorry, Drew. Please forgive me and stop glaring at us."
"No, try again." Drew said, smiling.
"Drew the assimilation process to the Tower and ISL network is complete. Along with access to a large amount of information about our universe, there's an upgrade function here. Shall I use it?" Saturday called her communicator.
"Wait, I'll be there in a minute." Drew said as she got up. "Sorry guys…I have to go home." She said as she left, putting on her bags.
"Wait, Drew!" Mandi said as she went after Drew. Following her, Jason, his friend, and June sighed. Once outside, they've seen Drew waiting in the front yard. "Drew, what are yo…
Suddenly, they all disappeared as they walked near Drew. Then, they all appeared in Drew's underground lab. "What is this place?" June asked, confused.
Drew sighed. "Seems like I have some bugs to works out." Drew thought. "This place is my underground lab. A place where I come to get away from life. Now, if you excuse me. As a matter of fact, follow me. Don't want you touching anything life threatening or unstable. Who knows what might happen?" she said, before walking away.
Following Drew, the four of them were shocked by the size of the place and what they've seen. "Drew, did you make all of this? How? And, why hide it from us?" Mandi asks.
"Yes… A lot of hard work and patents…I hid it from everyone. Including my fami… ly. Drew said as the walked into the main section of her lab, only to find her siblings and cousins playing with experimental laser guns. Drew sighs.
An Hour later,
Avery and Dante laughs on the phone.
"It's not funny. Seriously, I lost my only sanctuary from my family and friends. The only place where I can be…
"Yourself. I understand. Despite our circumstances and looks, we are still teenagers. We know how it feels to hide your true self from others to feel a part of the crowd." Dante said.
"Dante is right. We both had hard times dealing with that kind of stuff in our dimensions. Which is why I think you'll enjoy our gift to you." Avery said.
"What?" Drew said.