Everyone of the Interns leaned forward in blatant excitement. They’d all had some small amount of experience with the famous figure of the Hero world during their many mock-battles in the HCP.
“Dispatch will be your main means of communicating with the DVA while out in the field and for talking to other Heroes. She will also be your most reliable source of information about any threats you may be called into to deal with or run into.”, Maria explained as she handed out all four of the small black cases. They opened to reveal tiny silver earpieces, all identical in design and none with the standard rubber hook that most wireless earbuds needed.
Shane tried his on immediately, not particularly surprised when the shiny piece of tech fit in perfectly. Staying that way even after a few experimental shakes of the head. It didn’t even alter his hearing, unlike most other headphones.
“These things can hear anything going on around you within a couple of meters.”, the agent rattled off with practiced ease. “They’re waterproof, immune to EMPs, and ridiculously durable. ”
“How do ya turn them on?”, Greg asked, his southern twang creeping in slightly.
“They’re always on. The internal power can last for a week and it charges wirelessly; so long as you are in the base it will automatically charge. You can go ahead and register with her now: Just identify yourself by your Hero name and set your status as ‘On Call’.”, Maria said.
Shane reflexively put his hand to his ear as he complied, “Dispatch, this is Styx. My current status is now On Call.”, he said with surprising confidence. The others quickly following suit before they all simultaneously received a response from a calm voice on the other end.
<Your status has been confirmed, Styx/Gadreel/Samshiel/Simikiel.>, the smooth and slightly European accented voice responded crisply.
Before any of them had the chance to question how she had responded to all of them at the same time and with different words, Maria snapped her suitcase closed and announced that the meeting had officially come to an end. She held the door open for all of them, “Come on, your day is pretty much over now and you can all get more familiar with your new quarters.”
***
Shane had only really given the lounging area a cursory glance when they’d gone through it originally. But as he riffled through the full-sized fridge that was practically stuffed full of healthy food and all kinds of drinks. Shane was able to truly appreciate how this place could ruin him for when he finally graduated from his internship and made his own base. He wouldn’t have the luxury of being on a legacy team then, nor would he have a lot of money; new Heroes were pretty much expected to scrape by.
After all, Hero or not, a recent college graduate was still just a recent college graduate.
“Oh god, I could get used to this.”, Greg remarked as he laid back in one of the bigger recliners.
“How can they even afford all this?”, Vanessa wondered as she rested across the dark-leather couch, shoes off and hands behind her head.
“Steve and his buddies probably gave them a significant discount.”, Amy informed as she looked through all the pantries fixed to the wall, “Besides; they’re both a legacy team and one of the most popular ones in the city. The standard Hero salary may not be much but the money you can make from merchandise and advertisements isn’t anything to sneeze at.”
“Assuming you’ve got a good enough Agent to handle all the contracts and PR issues.”, Shane commented after picking out a water bottle and plopping down on the couch opposite Vanessa. Agents were considered essential for most Hero teams, they made it significantly easier for Heroes to deal with the media and manage their personal image. “And that reminds me, I need to call mine before going to bed today.”
“You already got one? Man, our school barely gave us the basics on the non-combat parts of this gig.”, Greg bemoaned as he adjusted the chairs’ angle.
“Which HCP did you guys come from anyway? I feel like you three definitely would have made it to Intramurals or I at least would’ve heard about rumors about a group of such powerful Supers.”, Shane asked pointedly. Intramurals was a very closed-door event conducted by every HCP in the nation. Pitting their best students against each other in a gladiatorial-style competition. There was no way these three, with such high-caliber abilities, wouldn’t have made it in. But he opted to ask them instead of making it seem like an interrogation.
Greg opened his mouth to answer before Amy flicked his ear, giving him a pointed glare as she moved forward, “We were hoping to put this off until later, so could you wait until it’s time for dinner? Our mentors will probably be able to explain it better than we could.”, Amy responded in a measured toned and with obvious authority.
This pretty much confirmed her position of a leader in Shane’s eyes, but with his curiosity about their background semi-sated, he decided to let it go, “Well, in the meantime let me tell you about my school.”, Shane took a swig of his water bottle before going any further, this was going to be a long story.
“I graduated from the Lander HCP, the first HCP to house Powereds-turned-Supers in human history.”