The day was nearly coming to an end and Max had gone through most of the mutant teens. Most of them had pretty good mutant skills but they were not good enough for the last position.
" How many are left?" Max asked.
" We have five left." CJ replied. " I hope at least one of them can measure up."
The first of the last five mutants to present was another girl with brown locks and brown fair skin. Unlike the lat girl, this one was quite shy and timid. She even had some of her hair cover her face.
" H-hello f-fireman. My name is Chelsea and my skill is teleportation." With that said, she squinted her eyes very hard and her body started vibrating lightly. After five seconds, she started lighting up in a blue hue and suddenly vanished. For once, Max and his friends were a little excited to see where this new mutant was going to do next. They waited anxiously for her to appear but nothing happened. A minute turned into two then three then four and honestly, no one was looking forward for her anymore.
" Where is she now?"
" Did she get lost in her own power?"
" Weak."
Just then, the girl re-apperead again but this time, she fell on CJ's laps. The two looked in each other's eyes for a while. CJ raised his left eyebrow and said to the girl, " Hey" kind of like the shoulder touch. Chelsea blushed and looked away from CJ's blue eyes. Seizing the opportunity to crack a joke, Max looked at CJ and silently laughed uncontrollably. Sue and Rin joined in and soon everyone else was laughing at CJ.
" Chelsea, your ability is very important but you haven't learnt how to control it yet. However, I personally will teach you how to focus your power and control it." Phoenix said. Three more mutants show cased their skills but they were all body altering mutants, so nothing special about them interested Max or his friends. The last contestant was a big guy without any hair. His structure resembled the bone boy from earlier. The boy bowed before Max and then pounded his fists on each other. A clanging sound could be heard coming off from his hands as they slowly turned into metal. The metal spread all over his body, making him a man of steel.
" What kind of mutant is that?"
" That's so cool."
" Pfft, big deal."
The boy then stretched out his arms and they fell off of his body. At first, everyone was confused but then, the arms turned into exact replica's of the boy. The replica's then touched the ground and their textures turned into earth. " I can turn my body into anything I come in contact with. I believe my skill can be of great use to your team, i you will have me fireman."
" What's your name?" Max asked.
" Benjamin Stone."
" Well Benjamin, I believe your skill will be useful to us. The third position is yours." With that said, the three positions were given to the bone boy, the advanced fire mutant girl and Benjamin.
" Thank you all for taking part in this event today. Not all of you made the top three, however, there were many who had promising abilities. We will divide you in ranks according to your levels and powers. The first group will be for those who have important skills that can help in combat. The second one is for those with stealth skills and the third one is for those with skills that can be used behind the scenes of our gang."
" Please separate yourselves in the ranks you have been assigned. Our first assessment will be at the end of this week." With that said, Max and his friends went inside Phoenix's house. It was more spectacular on the inside as it was on the outside. The floors were made out of the most expensive wood in the world. The walls had small designs that portrayed Phoenix in all his glory.
" This will be our gangs main domain. My home will now be your place of business, Max." He said as he bowed. Phoenix gave the kids a tour around the house. It had enough sleeping quarters, multiple bathrooms, kitchens, dining rooms and an underground layer dedicated for the storage room, secret bunkers and the training room.
" Damn bro, you thought of everything. How'd you know we'd need this?" CJ asked.
" I had this place hear a long time ago. It was after felt something burn inside me that I remembered it so I had my men come and install all of this. Little did I know that that burn was directing me to you. I know there is something great about you, about us. You have a lot on your plate. As long as I'm a member of this gang, I'll be the main financier. You can trust me."
" Thank you Phoenix." Max said. " We don't know where we'd be without you. I promise, as long as I'm the leader, we will..." As Max was in the middle of his 'speech' two boys came running towards him.
" Fireman, we have news. Two mutants have attacked the warehouse bar. There's no one there to help."
" Let's go guys." As the tryouts were going on earlier, Phoenix had set up a system that monitored everything the Cold Flame Gang owned. Since it was the only thing they owned, all the attention was on it. For the kids who didn't have mutant powers, they were stationed at the warehouse, where they could work and earn money for themselves and the gang.
Max used his fire walk skill to arrive at the warehouse while the others were in Phoenix's car. When Max got there, he found two mutants, male and female, trashing his warehouse. They were both in masks but Max knew who the male was judging by the ponytail and the fact that he was the only four-armed mutant in the town.
" Pharaoh, is that you?"