Tenet leapt from his bed, head swiveling to find the person who was attacking him. His tired eyes failed to see anyone. It took a moment before he realised he wasn't being attacked, it was an alarm.
'Damn alarm'
His watch read 4:30 AM. Tenet sighed sadly and got ready; remembering the Lieutenant's threat last night, he took great care in cleaning his room thoroughly, trying to replicate how it had been before he entered.
After he was satisfied he undertook the grueling downward climb to the common room.
To his utter horror and betrayal, he saw his fellow kin of the upper floors, Kalb coming out of the room on the fifth floor with Kolb, his twin brother.
Kalb noticed Tenet staring at him in an expression of pure betrayal and disgust. He started to feel bad, trying not to meet the dark-eyed boy's hurt gaze.
Kalb at least had the decency to look embarrassed under Tenet's gaze, giving a weak smile. He explained to Tenet, in much the same tone you'd explain to a Lion why it couldn't eat you, "Me and my brother have spent our entire lives sleeping in the same room. Feels wrong to sleep in different rooms now." Tenet grunted in reply.
It surprised Tenet to see that it was Bean who lived on the third floor. He hadn't expected the scrawniest boy in the Unit to be deemed the strongest behind Theymin and Jellal who were quite literal demigods.
'I wonder how he handled the physical test. Must've been better than mine at least' he thought morosely, again regretting running away during the test.
At the bottom of the floor he saw Jellal and Finn playing table tennis, both of them seemingly fine at being awake so early. The game was close with Finn just about winning. Jellal gave a brilliant smile when he saw them descend.
"Beautiful morning isn't it?" He asked in a cheery voice.
Tenet had a sudden urge to hit him.
..................
At 5 AM exactly Lieutenant Scarlet stalked into the dorm, her eyes glinting with unconcealed malice. The were in a row waiting for her, saluting crisply as she entered. She nodded curtly, striding past them to enter Theymin's room. Tenet wasn't surprised when she walked out moments later, and nodded to Theymin, a look of slight disappointment in her eyes. "Perfect Unit Leader Callahan, as expected."
Tenet glanced at Theymin quickly. He had a strong suscipicion that Theymin was a Legacy. Aside from the atheltic body and a quite confident demeanour that suggested he had been preparing for this; his suscpicion towards Tenet being a volunteer and that slight remark by the Liutenant was a good suggestion that Theymin was the son of some powerful person, training his son to be a tool to increase his influence. He made a mental note to stay away from Theymin. Nothing good would come out of coming close to someone like that.
The next room was Jellal's. With Jellal, he had expected a spotless room with perhaps a lingering smell of roses or something. Maybe an angel or two stringing the harp as they danced in the air. He hadn't expected the Lieutenant to not even enter the room, turning around at the doorway and stating in a tone of what Tenet suspected to be ingenuine anger, "Lieutenant Zerr, you haven't even attempted to clean your room, 500 press-ups." Jellal shrugged, the prospect not fazing him in the slightest. She continued in a tight voice, obviously upset at the lack of fear on the red-haired cadet's face, "You will do it at the end of the day."
Tenet had to admit he felt a slight burst of joy knowing that perhaps he wouldn't be doing press-ups by himself today. Bean's room also came as a surprise, It was spotless. That seemed to anger the Lieutenant even more as she marched up to the next room, her calm composure starting to slip.
He turned to Bean in wonder, "how'd you manage that." Bean gave a shifty smile, "I slept on the floor, beds are too comfortable anyways." Tenet looked at him in disbelief, Bean seemed to be quite smart, in a different sort of way.
'Still though, I Wonder what type of life he's lived to be more comfortable sleeping on the floor?'
Finn and Kolb both received 50 press-up fine. Adam received 100, and Kalb who had slept in his brother's room received none. Tenet again felt a flicker of anger at Kalb's betrayal, more so now that he had to do 50 himself.
He sighed inwardly, 'could've been worse' he thought morosely.
Inspection over Lieutenant Scarlet escorted them to an empty classroom. It had eight chairs which they each took. Tenet was in the middle, seated next to Theymin and Bean.
Lieutenant Scarlet stood at the front.
"Before your physical training it's important for you cadets to find out why you're here. What constitutes passing to do the further six months training and what doesn't. The G.S.C's goal is to save humanity. The European branch is one of the most specialized branches in the G.S.C. Most of our staff are support personnel, centered around a program of elites designed to further our particular goal. The skill required to be part of the elites in the Space Scout program means that we only accept the top ten candidates in each facility to have a chance at applying. Everyone else can either be support personnel or can try their luck in the other minor branches or in South Africa and Russia. Though, Russia rarely accepts outsiders into their branch."
She paused, obviously waiting for someone to ask the obvious question. This came in the form of Adam who raised his hand. "Yes?"
"Lieutenant, what is the space scout program?"
She nodded, "The space scouts are split into two further divisions. One division even I don't have the qualifications to know about. The other is the Scout division. These are elite mutants who will travel to different planets and analyse it's suitability for human life, mapping the planets in it's entirety before either returning to Earth or going further to a different planet."
The cadet's eyes widened, a chance to travel to space, it was a quite a childish dream, but one that would excite anyone. Even Theymin's calm demeanor fell away to anticipation.
'So, that means your family never told you' thought Tenet as he saw the Number 1's expression.
"Be warned." Lieutenant Scarlet continued. "Space scouts live an incredibly lonely life. They spend years in the company of a few colleagues in space. With little contact with anyone from Earth."
"Secondly," she continued, "The requirements of passing the Y.S.C program is to awaken any latent mutations in each of you."You might've heard of the first generation of heroes who awakened following the second cataclysm. The abilities of a First Generation is the minimum rank each of you need to reach to pass the six month course. Right now, none of you are ready for the trials needed to be able to force your body to be able to awaken anything. Doing so right now will leave irreversible metaphysical and physical damage."
Everyone was silent, lost in their own thoughts.
'Metaphysical. What's that. Is a sort of superpower.' Tenet wanted to ask but seeing the Lieutenants eyes, he knew it was better to keep silent.
Looking at them the Lieutenant smiled, a cynical light in her eyes. "Seeing as though you all have so much to think about, why don't you give your body a bit of work to do as well.
What followed was the most grueling, painful experience Tenet had ever felt. After a 15km jog wearing 20 Kg weights in which Tenet had almost died three times. They were subjected through a series of obstacle courses and circuits designed to target and break down each muscle group in the body.
Tenet was pleased to note that he wasn't the weakest in the group. In terms of pure stamina and Physical strength he was better than Finn and the twins, but was comically surpassed by Bean, and by a much greater proportion Jellal and Theymin. By the end of it Tenet's legs were shaking uncontrollably after four hours of gruelling torture. All of them were covered in mud, grime, sweat and in Tenet's case, tears. A lot of tears.
Lieutenant Scarlet gave a poisonously sweet smile at them as they returned. Even Theymin looked exhausted. The only person who seemed relatively fine was Jellal, an aggravating bright smile on his face. Tenet had begun to feel a flame of hatred towards Jellal's inhuman abilities.
After the workout the Lieutenant dismissed them to wash up, eat and be ready for the next lesson which was called the basics of metaphysics. He perked up at that, realising that it wouldn't be long before his question was answered.
Tenet heaved himself to the dorm. Theymin, who had seemed to relax after seeing Tenet's performance, offered Tenet to enter the bathroom before him.
After cleaning himself, he stumbled out of the bathroom in a gown and towel, his dirt clothes folded in a corner of the bathroom.
"Hey Theymin", Tenet called, "How do we get our clothes cleaned?" He assumed Theymin being a legacy would know.
Theymin gave him a blank look, then smiled at him. It was a smile reminiscent of Lieutenant Scarlet's, making him shiver involuntarily. "We have to wash our own clothes. They'll provide the necessary detergents at the end of the day."
Shaking his head sadly he made his way to his room. He paused at the bottom of the staircase, half tears forming as he went through a grueling trial of forcing his broken body to make the climb.
It took Tenet some time before he mustered the courage and motivation to descend the stairs after getting changed in fresh clothes. It wasn't until his stomach started rumbling that he finally did so.
When he reached the other's he saw that they were all sitting on the floor in a circle, discussing and recounting their morning. Each of them had a tray of food in front of them. They were sitting in a circle talking amiably. Tenet noticed there was an empty tray and space for him.
Smiling, he took his place. After he sat down he turned to Theymin.
"Thank you, for letting me use the bathroom first. Not sure if there's much I can do for you but if you need anything let me know." He meant that part as a joke, he wasn't sure if there was anything he could do, but Theymin looked at him with a grave face and nodded. 'I'll keep that in mind Tenet."
Sighing inwardly at Theymin's stiffness he turned to his food, only half-listening to the conversation. As he was the last person to eat, he was also the last to finish. While he was eating he felt a pressure opposite him. Looking up he saw Jellal's eyes bright with desire fixed on his food.
Noticing that Tenet was staring at him, he asked in a hesitant voice, "If you don't want that, I'd appreciate taking it out of your hands."
Tenet glared at him, "How are you hungry, you didn't even look tired after that course." Jellal shrugged, "I've always been strong." Tenet looked at his wide blue puppy-like eyes and relented. He had eaten enough anyway. He gestured to Jellal to take it.
Jellal grabbed, digging into Tenet's remaining meal with a vigor that suggested he hadn't eaten in weeks. Frowning, Tenet turned to Theymin, "Is there a way for this glutton to be able to eat more?"
Theymin frowned, again Tenet had asked him the question. 'Does he know?' Theymin inwardly decided to find some time to speak to Tenet alone. Aloud he said, "There is a commissary, you'll be able to purchase using points. Instructors usually hand them in when they see exemplary effort and ability."
Tenet nodded, turning back to Jellal, "You best get some of those points, I don't want to keep giving you my meals. I still have a bit of growing left to do." Adam snorted, "Please Tenet, once a pipsqueak always a pipsqueak."
Tenet turned to him, his midnight eyes glittering. He turned his head slightly and added, "It would be terrible if you were to accidentally fall from your room. Do you think you'd survive a six floor drop?" He asked, his voice dripping with mock innocence.
Adam shuddered, he noted inwardly that height was a sore spot for Tenet. Finn broke into rampant laughter, snorting and hiccupping as he saw how Adam's expression dropped.
After they'd eaten, they returned to their previous classroom, knowing their way now. They had expected Lieutenant Scarlet to greet them. Instead there was a small girl in an army uniform with green eyes, tanned skin and brown hair that was tied into a bun.
"Excuse me, are you lost", came Kalb's voice in a gentle tone as if he was speaking to a baby.
The girl's eyes narrowed, her hand started smoking black. In a blur that smoking hand was plastered onto Kalb's struggling face causing him to fall backwards onto the floor. She held it there, and despite his efforts he couldn't get her hand off. No one moved to help him, they all were shocked when they saw the girl. But that smoking hand and the fact she was assaulting Kalb told them she must be a superior officer.
'Good luck brother' Kolb inwardly prayed. He had been about to do the same thing and was grateful Kalb had been first.
Kalb stopped struggling. After she released her hand Kalb was on his knees coughing violently, his eyes streaming and red. She sniffed as she looked at him, "You'll be fine, it'll work out your system. Be happy I went easy on you."
Tenet inwardly prayed not to get on the gir- no, this lady's bad side.
Her eyes fixed on Tenet, "You, do you know who I am?"
"You're our superior Ma'am", he saluted, his tone an almost perfect replication of Theymin when he was talking to Lieutenant Scarlet. The rest of them saluted, hoping it would somehow spare them from any sudden suffocation by smoking hands.
She nodded, "So only he's the idiot then. My name is Lieutenant Feinar."
They nodded, none of them admitted that they had all thought the same thing as Kalb.
Truth be told, Tenet was more interested in the smoke emitting from her hand then his friends safety. Besides seeing Kalb struggling placated the anger he felt at his betrayal. He decided it was justice.
It was common knowledge about the abilities of the smoke to irritate and damage, albeit it wasn't severe. He hoped to learn more about the mythical first generation.
She gestured for them to take their seats. "This lesson will be an introduction on Metaphysics. If you're interested in the topic, well tough. The Y.S.C only cares about it in relation to Mutants. To begin with metaphysics, it's best if we start on the topic of the metaphysical world. So I'll start with an easy question. The smoke that I emitted, where did it come from?"