Chapter One
"Mom, can I have a superhero team?"
These were the first words out of Charlotte's mouth as her mom stepped foot into the Superhuman Training Center, STC for short.
Her mom let out a long, drawn-out sigh. "I'm thinking about it, Charlotte! Stop asking me."
Charlotte frowned. The same answer she got yesterday. And the day before. And the week before. For the past year, the second her mom stepped foot in the building, Charlotte jumped up from the desk and asked. Today, her mom added a small glare as she rushed towards the elevator.
With a sigh, Charlotte slumped in her seat. It rolled back a few centimeters despite her dragging her feet against the floor.
She considered a PowerPoint presentation on why she would be a successful leader for a team.
The door slid open, snapping her out of her trance of color-coordinated graphs. In walked Isabella, her sister.
"Yikes, it's dead in here," Isabella said, slamming a gym bag on the counter with a bang.
"Yep. It always is in the morning," Charlotte replied, rolling her chair back and forth. She glanced at Isabella's red and orange spandex suit that hugged her muscles. "Why did Mom give you a team and not me?"
"Are you really asking that?" Isabella asked, raising her eyebrows. She began digging through her bag for her key card. "You know why."
Because she had powers and Charlotte didn't. "Yeah, yeah, but she knows I'm smart!"
Isabella shrugged. "I don't know; you kinda seem annoying. You should convince her without asking."
Isabella might be onto something there. She leaned back in her chair, letting it squeak. Maybe she should clean the entire facility. It always smelled like sweat in the training area upstairs. And in the bathroom, the toilet paper was always unraveled. Would her mom like that?
Isabella started shaking her bag, sticking her arm deeper. "Where-is-it?"
"Just go in, Isabella. You probably left it upstairs or something."
"Thanks, you're the best." Isabella slung the bag over her shoulder. "If it counts for anything, I'd give you a team."
Charlotte smiled at her as she walked away into the elevator. As she turned back to face the front door, it started to make her think. Why doesn't her mom want her to have a team? Was there a reason? She's tried asking her before. Her mom had simply answered that she was busy and couldn't talk before leaving for a meeting. It wasn't her lack of enthusiasm, since she still had the old superhero posters hung up on her wall from when she was younger.
The door slid open, and Charlotte perked up. Eric and Sabrina, her sister's teammates, walked in. "Hey, guys," Charlotte said.
"Morning, Charlotte," Sabrina replied. She had changed out of her suit, but still wore a badge on her black tube top that read "Senior." She had been ranked up a month ago, and liked to display the tag. "Still working the desk?"
"Yep." Charlotte sighed.
Eric handed her both his and Sabrina's keycard. Charlotte scanned them in, and he dug another out of his pocket. "Isabella left this behind at Louie's. Could you give it back to her?"
Louie's was about twenty minutes away. The teams usually went there when they were assigned a route, since they got free food. "Another route mission? It's only seven in the morning. What time did you wake up?"
"Four," Sabrina said. "It's no big deal, though." She straightened her badge.
Charlotte shrugged. Maybe it wasn't a big deal for them, but she knew Isabella had been on two route missions last night and came home at twelve. Unless she got a nap, she was going to be irritated. "You guys can go on ahead."
"Thanks, Char," Sabrina said. She peeked at Charlotte's desk. "Girl, you gotta get that desk cleaned up if you expect to survive nine a.m."
Charlotte rolled her eyes. Three papers and a coffee cup were on her desk, leaving it mostly clean. It was messy for Charlotte, whose desk was usually spotless. "Alright, Sabrina. Have a nice morning, guys."
Even though it wasn't bad, she cleaned it up anyway. To pass the time, she went on her computer and played a short game about superheroes.
First, for her first member, she picked a hero with a fire ability to be the muscle.
For the second member, one with water powers and the ability to create ice, to be the speed.
Third, she picked the smartest character without any powers to be the brains. The tiny characters jumped up in the air, and five golden stars exploded on the page with a banner reading SUCCESS!
"See? Leaders don't need powers," Charlotte muttered to herself. She sighed.
When nine rolled around, Charlotte straightened her back and closed the unnecessary tabs on her computer, the tabs being shopping sites. The superhuman trainers ran up and down the stairs, getting ready to open the gym. Junior heroes came flooding in and grouped in threes as they found their fellow teammates. Once together, they flocked to Charlotte's desk, where she had to scan their tags as fast as she could and move on to the next team waiting in line.
"Morning, Charlotte," a girl with a sleek ponytail said, handing her keycard.
Charlotte pursed her lips. "Hi, Ivy." She scanned her tag. "You're good to go."
Ivy waved. "Good luck with the desk job, since it'll be a while before you get a team!"
As she scanned the next group of keycards, she muttered, "I'll show you, Ivy."
Once the rush settled down, Charlotte relaxed. It was ten, and her shift ended at twelve. Looks like she was going to be doing more shopping.
As time passed, junior teams started to leave the building. They were discussing routes.
"I got Woodbridge Estate again! The kids keep screaming at me!-"
"Whoop! Downtown! Shopping day, ladies!"
"Can we trade?"
"Trading routes is against the rules," Charlotte reminded with a forced smile. Three groans answered.
As they left, Charlotte felt a pang in her chest. Ivy passed her, with three junior heroes behind her. Usually, junior teams consisted of three heroes, and as they ranked up, they split up, but if someone wanted to be a leader with a team, they'd be a group of four. Charlotte has heard that it is easier to get assigned to a team than to rank up in Hero rank and group other heroes for a team, since they would have trained together for a while. Still, though, there was the issue that she had to be approved for a team versus signing up to be a hero.
"Have a nice day, Charlotte," Ivy said. "Working the desk.
Charlotte snapped out of her trance. "Oh, uh, you too."
Ivy saw her looking at the other teams and gave her a small smile. "I'll bring you a coffee. How does that sound?"
Charlotte nodded. "Sure."
An hour later, her mom came downstairs, followed by a young girl with brown hair. "Charlotte, do you have those papers I asked you for?" Her mom asked.
Charlotte nodded. "Yeah, they're in my car. I can go grab them."
Her mom sighed. "Be quick, I'm leaving for my meeting in three minutes."
Charlotte nodded again. She grabbed her car keys and ran ahead of her mom, out into the parking lot. She had parked her car in her usual spot, all the way across the lot. She found it, a red Honda she got for her sixteenth birthday. She got her junior driver's license last month, but could only drive Isabella or her mom around.
The papers sat on the passenger seat in a manila folder. She grabbed it and started running to her mom. When she reached her, she was out of breath and doubled over, holding up the folder. "Got it!"
Her mom frowned. "You didn't need to run over here." She took the folder. "But I appreciate it."
Charlotte glanced inside the building to see her mom's assistant covering her at the desk. She turned to her mom. "Hey, mom-"
Through the parking lot and down the street, there was a scream. Charlotte peeked her head in time to see a car come flying towards them.
"Mom, look out!" Charlotte yelled. She jumped and pushed her mom out of the way, sending them both flying to the ground right as the car flew above where her mom was standing and-
It froze in midair.
Charlotte pushed herself up using her hands, the hot asphalt burning. She saw Eric with his eyes glowing blue, using his hands to control the water, holding up the car as it was lowered carefully.
"What was that?" her mom asked, standing up. Her black bob was messy, and her gray suit had dirt on it.
"Oh my God, Mom, I'm so sorry!" Isabella came running over. "It was an accident. I didn't mean to hit the car."
"Why are you even hitting things in the first place?" her mom asked.
Charlotte looked at the car and saw a large black scorch mark and melted metal from Isabella's ability. She must've used a large blast of fire to hit the car, and that sent it flying towards them. But she would have to be aiming towards them.
Isabella's face turned red. "I was trying to hit the tree over there." She pointed at the tree in front of the parking lot, about six feet away. The impact of the car shattered some of the large branches. "The car kind of…was in the way."
"Was there anyone in the car?" Her mom asked.
Isabella shook her head.
"You'd better be grateful Eric and Charlotte were here," Her mom said. "We'll talk about this later. I'm late for my meeting."
Isabella nodded, her head down. Eric put his hand on her back and guided her away, back down the street.
"Mom, are you sure you're okay?" Charlotte asked.
Her mom paused. "Charlotte…thank you. That was very brave."
Charlotte's face flushed. "Oh, it was nothing." She kicked a small rock.
As her mom got into her car, she rolled the window down. "You know what, I think I can make your team happen."
Fireworks exploded in her stomach. "Wait, really?" A large grin spread across her face. Was she hearing this right? Could she be getting a team?
Her mom nodded. "Of course. We'll talk more about it later." She rolled her window up and drove away.
Finally. Finally, finally! Charlotte jumped in the air. "Yes!" Her ribs hurt from rolling on the ground, so she stopped. Now was her chance.
Her plan was coming into action, and the first step, getting a team, was done. Now, onto the second step: make the perfect team. What could go wrong?