The Wastelands

"Where the hell are they?"

Statson stood in the hidden bas.e.m.e.nt training room, the operator's booth, his face beet red. Rachel was worried that he would keel over from the stress.

He really looked pissed. Not only because the Lumeye hadn't shown up yet, but because when that lady Andres came to Statson's door to receive his answer, they were given a note.

'The students will arrive at 16:30, waiting for your instructions.

Please arrive at 16:15 with your young partner.

Andres will meet at 16:10 to show you the way.

Everything will be clear at your arrival.

Headmistress Weatherly'

He was sulking; it was funny to watch. But in the end, when the time had arrived, he allowed himself to be led to an underground training facility.

Statson's mood downgraded to grumpy, and then it upgraded back to pissed when 16:30 had passed, and only Stella showed up with no Lumeye students in sight.

"Where are they?" Statson glared at the twelve-year-old.

Stella was taken aback, scared. "I um don't know."Not making eye contact. "Um, I got to go." Stella scurried away out of the line of fire.

"I'm going to kick those kids asses if they ever show up," Statson growled out. He absolutely hated it when people were late, especially when he was the one left to wait. To him, it was insubordination, and that behaviour wouldn't be tolerated.

Stella looked a little worried, especially when Statson moved too close. She was using an effective barrier, her computer, keeping her head down and hidden behind the computer console,

Mostly to get away from Statson, Rachel moved to see what Stella was doing. "What do you do here, anyway?"

"I'm a data analyst, or at least I am trying to be." Stella paused, she looked up at Rachel with excitement. "Basically, I catalogue my sister's and the other abilities, their weakness, their mediums. Everything."

"That's very impressive." Rachel was not shocked. Stella's mother was a genius, and Stella had shown signs of high intelligence even eight years old.

'Genetics is a beautiful thing,' Rachel thought with a little bit of bitterness, thinking about her own corrupt genetic tree.

"I even got fighting styles. Like how Heather's a long-ranged shooter but had minuscule defences. But Terran's defences are even higher than Lilia's. But he is not an attacker, so they cover their weaknesses by working together…" Stella stopped talking, looking away, embarrassed. "Sorry I have a tendency to ramble."

"No, that' just…"

A puff of smoke and flame appeared in the middle of the training room. Rachel turned towards the commotion.

A familiar redheaded beauty, Druid, popped in. Rachel winced, her thoughts turning to her own experience with Druid's teleportation abilities, rubbing against her bandage burns, and not to mention her singed hair. Teleportation certainly wasn't human-friendly.

'Oh, the hair!' Rachel thought with regret. She'd always prided herself on how good her hair looked. 'Better that than dead, I guess.'

Druid waved with a glint in her eyes, she didn't look surprised that she was the only one who'd shown up.

Statson left the operator's room and stood right in her face. He seethed out, "Where are they?"

Druid didn't even flinch and tapped her index finger against her chin. "I wonder..."

Then Statson gave the girl that look, and Rachel couldn't help but shudder; she knew that look well. The look that said, 'I will stomp you into the ground before chasing you around with a sharp object.'

He was not bluffing, as Rachel remembered her own experiences on the receiving end of that look. It always ended… painfully.

The Druid girl didn't look concerned, even giving her a wink like she knew what she was thinking. "Reading minds?" she whispered.

Druid laughed, "No, that is not one of my abilities, but did anyone tell you how expressive you are? You should work on that." Her blatant snub of Statson didn't go unnoticed, but she continued talking, "If you wanted to know so badly, Stella probably knows. In that database system of hers, she recorded our habits." Rachel glanced at the tiny girl who was still doing a successful job at hiding behind her console. "Stella?"

Stella popped out behind her computer and gave Druid a dirty look.

Druid put her hands up in surrender, but she didn't lose that secretive smile of hers. "What?"

Statson momentarily stopped glaring at Druid and stepped toward Stella. "Well." When the girl flinched. Statson sighed, and his eyes went significantly softer. "I'm not going to yell, so tell me."

Stella looked nervous, but she complied, taking only a minute to look up the information. "There was an incident last night where Team Tango came back with injuries that need to be treated immediately. Terran is most likely in the herbal garden on top of the roof, replenishing his supplies. He would have been here otherwise." There was a pause, then she continued, "Since Terran is busy, he didn't get a chance to retrieve Heather from the garage like he usually does. She is highly… um… excitable, especially when she has a new vehicle to work on. Bryson, well..." she hesitated, glancing at Druid.

Druid stepped up. "Bryson's sulking, so he is most likely in the library. That is where he usually goes after his ego receives a blow." She rolled her eyes a little, but there was something in them that she let leak out, something tender.

Stella continued talking with a big sigh. "Lilia had gone to her classes in the morning but missed her afternoon ones. Most likely, she is sleeping underneath that snarly looking tree, at the side of the compound near the entrance to the courtyard." Under her breath, she added, "I am so going to get her after this."

Rachel smiled, glad Lilia and Stella had the same sisterly relationship as before. That, at least, was still the same.

"And Sean?" Statson probed, and Druid and Stella glanced at each other, with worry etched in their features. He and Rachel had gotten the basic profile when he'd arrived, including the Lumeye' given names.

Stella spoke up first. "Sean? Oh, you mean Shadow. He is, well… where ever Lilia is, Shadow is."

Druid nodded her head in agreement.

Rachel asked, "Wait, do they see each other?" She didn't know why she cared, but there was something deep down. Never mind.

They glanced at each other, and Druid spoke up this time. "It's more complicated than that. Their relationship is more stalker-like in nature."

Statson threw his hands in the air. "Why'd chance has to curse me with damn teenage drama?"

"Fate, I suppose," Druid said offhandedly. Her eyes looked far away.

A loud stomp broke up the silence. Startled, Rachel jumped.

"It is time to get moving," Statson commanded. "Little Einstein, I don't know head or tail of where everything is, so you are going to show me. Let's get those kids."

"Little Einstein? He means me, right?" whispered Stella, looking towards Rachel. She got up to follow when Rachel nodded in confirmation.

"Now, Girly, can you oversee Fire Princess's training? We need to keep an eye on her before she disappears like the others," he said, not even checking if Rachel agreed.

Rachel could only sigh, already used to his quirks.

"And Fire Princess?"

Druid stood up straight. "After warming up, start with fifty push-ups, sit-ups, then planks, then run around the training room until I am too tired to move," she said with that sparkle in her eye.

"Well, close enough," he mumbled, a little startled that she knew what he was about to say. "Cheeky kid."

Before he left, he turned with a pointed look at Druid. "Fire Princess use the door next time. Or I will see you hanging upside down, underneath 100 gallons of water."

"Yes, Sir!"

"Sergeant, not Sir!" Statson's bellowed, echoing from a distance.