Minutes after the team selections were up makeshift rosters were posted in the halls by a technician. Meanwhile the team captains were unable to adress their teams as they were immediately taken from the room they were deliberating in and briefed on the exhibition they would later do.
"What in the actual fuck?!" Belal shouted is bemusement at seeing his name placed in the same group as Willow but hers in brackets saying vice captain. "Timeout so I'm supposed to take orders off a kid? Lucas is out his fucking mind" he said angrily storming off.
Watching him leave Willow sneered and shook it off when she was met with a loud "Captain Low!" Jude yelled as he and Kosi trapped her in a massive hug. Rushing over to join in Brodie wrapped his arms around all of them for a tight hug.
"Gah get off me this is not professional!" Willow shouted from the center of the mass of humanity. Unwillingly listening to her the guys let go and backed off. "Geez just like that she's playing the professionalism card" Jude said rolling his eyes. "I will fire you. I don't have the power to do so but I'll figure something out" she replied pointing a finger at Jude.
"But in all seriousness congrats Vice Captain Bloom, I look forward to working with you" Kosi said in a heartfelt tone as he stood and saluted Willow. Unable to hide her smile Willow saluted him back. "At ease" she said a moment later in a soft tone.
Brodies smile quickly dimmed watching them. "Mhm um guys I hate to stop your little thing but I think that lab techs coming to tell us something" he said pointing at Paul. "Uh guys you're all needed outside, Captain- I mean Thomas said you should all get in you'd gear and come outside in thirty minutes" he said nervously to everyone present.
Heading to their locker rooms Kosi was elated to see what looked like the handle of a pistol shining from inside the crate his clothes were in. Excitedly pulling his crate out he was confused to only find what appeared to be the handle of the pistol.
Beneath it was an attached note which read "Please place the handle facing outwards in the holster attached to your harness". Let down by only holding a small metallic handle in his hand Kosi nevertheless go dressed.
Putting on what was presumably display versions of the added features their gear would have The Exploration Team now had more small cylindrical tubes on their utility belts and pistol holsters on the front of their harnesses.
"Is this stuff all necessary?" Sam asked in the men's locker room. "I mean none of it works probably just a little flash to wow the non believers I guess" Jude replied. "Yeah it's kinda nuts what we have to do to get people on our side isn't it. Think about it we're already doing this for all of them but they don't want to even just believe. Bro the mayor isn't even on our side" Sam said rolling his eyes.
"Wait what?" Kosi asked still facing the wall. "Yeah didn't you know, apparently he's never been a fan of this whole thing for some reason. Hated it last time around, Hori used to tell me about it. And I mean this is all guess work but he probably still doesn't like it now I'm guessing" Sam replied nonchalantly as he left the room.
Kosis blood ran cold as he clenched the pistol handle in his hand. A second later he was surprised the swelling of rage had just subsided. Holstering the handle and getting his equipment on he left the room.
To his surprise everyone was still waiting right outside the doors. In front of them were the team captains. The captains stood in their gear standing at attention and saluted their teams who in turn stood at attention and saluted them.
"Teams fall in!" Lucas, Eric and Hori barked. Everyone fell into their teams and as the captains turned in place and marched forward their troops did the same.
Marching through the street they drew attention to themselves. Drawing curios spectators in they arrived in the center of the city where they were met by Thomas. Nodding to them the captains turned to face their troops and dismissed them.
Moving over to stand behind Thomas the captains saluted him and their teams. Thomas and the teams saluted them in return and with a nod they stood five feet apart from each other, reached for their utility belts and swung off into the air.
"Ladies and gentlemen I present to you The Exploration Team!!" Thomas gleefully shouted as Eric, Lucas and Hori gracefully swung in the air. Using their new gas tanks to add propulsion to their swings they seamlessly detached and reattached from the stone city skies.
As civilians watched on in amazement Hori detached from the cave and began to plummet down to earth. Silently falling many turned their gaze as she inched closer and closer to the ground. Seemingly at the last second Lucas swung in and caught her by her hand.
Swinging forward he threw her to the sky as she reattached and swung around gleefully. "Gotcha!!" she shouted facing the onlookers as she lowered herself back down. Sighs of relief mixed with nervous laughter preceeded the round of applause they received when they got back down.
"Durability, bravery, intelligence, teamwork. These are just a couple of the things the team embodies, and trust me when I say those Luxens won't know what hit them" Thomas said smirking as he nodded to lab technicians in front of the crowds who quickly hurried off into a side street.
"Cover your ears for this one folks!" he shouted as he covered his ears and the technicians rolled out a massive boulder down the road. Standing next to each other the team captains faced it head on. "I recommend you all take a couple steps back!" Lucas yelled at the audience.
Watching on with curiosity everyone on either sidewalk took a few steps back as the technicians let go of the boulder watched it roll towards Eric, Lucas and Hori. Standing still for a second they then pulled out their pistols and shot the boulder at different heights as it crumbled down into many smaller pieces.
Watching on in amazement the audience applauded and cheered. Holstering their weapons the team captains turned to the audience and saluted them. Beaming internally they cracked and were met with even louder cheers. "Holy fuck that was terrifying" Hori said under her breath.