pep talk from a hero! This is going in the grail diary for sure.
Earthquake wipes his brow, grabbing his protein drink. “Well, back to the gym. See ya.” The ground quivers as he walks away.
Talking to him energizes me, and I quickly assemble a tray of breakfast items, piling on everything I can find—bagels, oranges, cereal, three kinds of milk (skim, chocolate, almond), granola, strawberries, and muffins. Plus the coffee! There’s so much on my platter, it’s like breakfast Jenga, and I can barely see over the top, where my tablet precariously sits. Following the wisdom of my map dot, I blindly walk through the halls, finding my way to conference room 1A, but not before bumping smack into someone at the door.
No! Everything goes slo-mo as I watch muffins and milk go sideways. Yet nothing hits the floor, thanks to two strong hands that grab my tray last minute.
“Whoa, killer. Got enough stuff here?”
“Joy?” I stumble back, my heart in my throat. She has a golden glow, even under the blue-tinted fluorescent lights, her blond waves cascading over her leather jacket. “What are you doing here?”
“Uh, I work here, remember?” She balances my whole tray on one finger, Harlem Globetrotter–style. “The idiot girl who knows nothing about Warrior Nation?”
I resist an eye roll, seeing as how she did just save my butt. “I meant in this room.”
She shrugs, setting down the breakfast spread on the conference room table. “Millie calls a meeting; I show up. They don’t like it when I’m late.”
“Most people wouldn’t.” Who doesn’t show up to things on time? I almost break into hives just thinking about it.
“Good. You’re here,” says a voice behind me, and Teddy stares down at my messy breakfast. “Um, can we make this more presentable? Did you get lost in the wind tunnel or something?”
“Wait, there’s a wind tunnel?!” I cry, even though I know he’s scolding me.
He sighs. “Yes, for flight training. Now clean this up!” As I busy myself straightening the fruit and wiping up spilled milk, Teddy begins fawning over Joy.
“It’s so nice to see you, Miss Goodwin! Are you ready for today?”
“Oh, I’m more than ready. It’s time to take this to the streets!” She punches a fist into her palm.
“What’s today?” I ask, stacking the bagels in order from sweet to savory.
“They’re revealing my superhero persona,” Joy says. Plucking a strawberry from the spread, she takes a slow bite before adding, “Name, outfit, the whole thing. Finally!”
I stop my tablescaping. “Are you serious? Right now, today?” I get to witness the birth of a Warrior? I forget how to breathe again. “That is so freaking cool!”
She gives a half smile at my geek-out. “I hope so. And they better have done a good job. I don’t want some lame-o hero branding. Two months of nonstop training and tests—this better be worth it.”
I’m ready to respond with a “How could it not be?” but Millie Montouse and six other Warrior Nation executives enter the room, each expressionless and dressed in drab grays and khakis. At the end of the line is Roy Masterson, chapter president and former hero Mr. Know-It-All, the only man in the room wearing a bright, optimistic smile. Even though he holds the record for fewest days in active service, it’s still thrilling to see another Warrior in the flesh.
Mr. Know-It-All’s power was the ability to sense other people’s superpowers, which seemed cool but proved to be kind of worthless in the heat of battle. Knowing someone could liquefy your bones or shrink you down and squash you like a bug is great, but since he didn’t have any power to stop those attacks, he frequently found himself on the receiving end of serious injury.
Pulled from the chapter lineup after only two months, his ability eventually proved useful once he was transferred to the recruitment department. He personally brought Earthquake and Vaporizer to the team before being promoted to Chicago chapter president, choices that cemented him in the WarNats’ good graces. A bit of a goof with severe substitute-teacher vibes, he must’ve played a part in recruiting Joy too.
“Can’t wait to see what you’ve put together here, Millie!” Roy exclaims once everyone finds their seats around the table. I try envisioning him in his former super suit, a bumpy pink jumpsuit that I think was supposed to represent a brain or something, but really just looked like he had constant measles. His current bow tie and sweater-vest combo suits him much better, sandy-blond hair