Music...

He used it to escape reality. He just connected his air pods to his phone and listened. People would think he listened to ballads because of his appearance and all; not that he didn't, but really, when he wanted to escape reality, he'd go for rock or heavy metal. Which was why he couldn't hear a single thing anyone was saying.

He just kept his hands in his pocket and walked to the brightly-colored bungalow in The COSP. He pushed the door open and turned to his left, where his desk was. He paid no attention to the kids bickering amongst themselves, or the girl that sat by herself at the corner of the room. He removed the brochure he found lying around the day before from his bag and started reading through.
Most people wouldn't find it possible to read while listening to heavy metal but he found it surprisingly soothing.

A small hand obstructed his view, something he didn't appreciate. He closed the brochure and stared at the kid before him. Emphasis on the word 'kid.'
He didn't look a day older than seven; with his slightly chubby cheeks, ridiculously neat haircut and missing teeth. That's because he was seven. The entire room was filled with seven year olds.

That was what left him confused on his first day. He had chased after Katherine and she explained to him how recruitment worked. She said, once a person comes out; that means when the person's ability manifests, and the person is recruited by The COSP, the person starts classes as a new recruit.

And apparently, over the years, the age at which a person comes out kept decreasing till they were where they were at the moment.

Seven year olds...

She explained to him that he had to be in the class too. Something about rules were rules la da dee.

That was three days ago...

Since then, he had been stuck in a class with seven-year-old kids. Irritating seven-year-old kids, mind you. And the boy currently in front of him was the most irritating of them all.

His name was Kevin, no surprise there. That made two idiotic Kevins he knew. He paused the song he was listening to and faced Kevin with a bored look.

"Yes?"

"Do you have games on your phone?" the boy asked him, like he was entitled to his phone, his existence, and everything else. According to Katherine, The COSP Academy was like most private schools; ruled by parents. If your parents were influential in The COSP, maybe they are retired agents or something, you're free to do whatever you want. And Kevin's father, was currently an agent of The COSP, ergo, his pompous attitude.

"You know what? I don't want your phone anymore, my dad's gonna get me a cooler phone," Kevin declared.

The blond billionaire rose an eyebrow in amusement. His phone was the latest iPhone but okay.
"Good for you," he told the boy with little to no enthusiasm, before he played his song and went back to reading the brochure. He idly noticed the boy stomp away in anger.

As if Kevin hasn't caused enough ruckus for one day, he noticed him and his gang; fellow seven-year olds, picking on the girl sitting at the corner.

It wasn't his business. When the teacher showed up, she'd handle it.

But he just couldn't concentrate on what he was reading anymore. His eyes kept going back to the boy and his group. It was when Kevin started poking the girl he knew he had to intervene.

"Hey! Cut it out. Now!" he said sternly. Kevin's group were wise enough to back off, the dumb kid wasn't.
"Oh yeah, what are you gonna do about it? You don't even have any powers," the boy said back at him.

Okay, if Kevin wasn't careful, he was going to light him up. What he said was true though.
Ever since the Kevin incident; the other Kevin, Michael hadn't done anything out of the ordinary. He didn't know why; he had tried to see Director Gray about it but he wasn't in his office. He never was.

"I don't need powers to put a runt like you in his place." One thing the orphan learnt quickly, seven-year-old boys don't like to be called small, especially in public. Kevin went red in anger and embarrassment, causing him to smirk a little.

"Now, run along, little boy," he added.

The boy grumbled and fumed, but he left the girl alone. Not long after, the teacher walked into the class hurriedly. Good, because she was ten minutes late.
As Michael kept the brochure back in his bag, he noticed the girl that was being picked on staring at him. She looked away once she noticed he caught her staring.

"Alright class. Where did we stop last time?"

Michael groaned silently as he watched the kids raise the hands to answer the question. It quickly turned into a contest for who could raise their hands the highest, because if your hand was raised higher than everyone else's, the teacher would pick you to answer the question.

Dumb childish logic...

But was that what his life had turned into? Learning close to nothing about this new life of his, in a class for seven year olds.

Maybe he'd see Captain Ruiz so he'd talk to Director Gray.

«»

The soft wind blowing was soothing. Listening to the trees sway and the leaves rustle made it all more soothing. He knew for someone his age, he shouldn't really appreciate stuff like that, he was supposed to be into impressing girls and showing off his manliness, but if he was being honest; even without the death of his parents, that wasn't him. He just wasn't a typical thirteen-year-old, and he liked it that way.

Typical was... boring.

He wanted to stand out. Which was why he was a little bit excited about this whole evolved human COSP fiasco. But he should have known better. He had told himself repeatedly, "Never get your hopes up. People end up disappointing you."

The place sucked...

He didn't know much about the place. He didn't know anything about this whole evolved situation. Heck, he was in a class full of kids. The brochure gave him more information in one day than the teacher in three. Not that she was bad or anything, she just couldn't explain things to him then dumb it down for the seven-year olds.

After all, he was the newbie, not them.

He sipped his smoothie and looked to his right. He was sitting on the long bench Katherine and him sat on his first day here. What could he say? It was a comfortable place.

The large regal gate stood looming far to his right. Every day, he'd see the old man on his way in. But as soon as he entered through the warehouse, he was here, at The COSP. Katherine said something about a mirage or illusion. It was complicated and he didn't even try to wrap his head around it. He was still trying to wrap his head around the fact that he supposedly had 'special abilities.' Abilities that have refused to reveal themselves ever since he found out about them. The teacher said it was a common thing. "Evo blues," she called it.

Catchy...

"Can I sit with you?"

Well, that came out of nowhere. Everyone else passing by was too caught up in their own world to notice him sitting by himself on the bench under the shade of a large tree. This person though, noticed him.
Ironic really, back at Crestville Junior High, all he wanted was to be left alone, and at The COSP, that was exactly what he got, but for some reason, it irked him.

was the girl that was being picked on. Her name was Molly. She never really spoke to anyone. Well, who was he to judge? He didn't speak to anyone either. Her brunette hair was done in pigtails; it was always done in pigtails. And she had big brown kind eyes.

"Sure," he said, patting the seat next to him. She obliged and sat, but at the edge of the bench. It was obvious that she wasn't comfortable.

"Thank you... for earlier," came her quiet voice after a brief moment of silence. He dropped his smoothie can in the bin next to the bench and hummed.
"It's no problem."

She stood up to leave, then he called her.

"Hey, Molly. Next time he pokes you, you poke him harder. Boys hate that," he said with a small smile. He noticed how her eyes sparked with happiness. "Really?" she asked with enthusiasm.

"Really. Trust me, I know."

Almost like a robot, her mood reverted back to its former state. "But then, he'll just say my powers are useless," she said, her voice shaky. From the way she spoke, Michael could tell she was smart. Definitely smarter than everyone else in the class; except him of course. That'd be embarrassing.

"Hey. It's okay, it's okay," he calmed her down, "Kevin doesn't know anything. Okay?"

She sniffled and rubbed her nose. "But he's not lying."

Now she was definitely about to cry. Hesitantly, the blond boy grabbed her by the shoulders and smiled a little.
"Well, show me your powers and we'll see if Kevin's lying," he lowered his voice, "Plus I'm older than Kevin, so I'm smarter than him."

Molly giggled a little at this and nodded. Michael followed her as she went behind the bench to the base of the large tree. She knelt by one of the large roots and stared at it. Then she stopped and looked up at him in hesitation.

"It's okay. You got this," he reassured her with a thumbs up.

She nodded and placed her hand just beside the root.

Michael wasn't going to lie. He wasn't doing this just to make her feel better. He was actually curious, because he hadn't actually seen anyone in The COSP use their abilities. Except maybe that brunette woman with Director Gray then, but his memory was still hazy.

Molly removed her hand and looked at him in embarrassment. He looked back at the side of the root and his eyes started widening in amazement. He watched as; slowly but surely, a plant started to grow. It wasn't as tall as the root, heck it wasn't even as tall as a week-old blade of grass, but still... she just grew a plant by just touching the soil!

"Molly, this-this is amazing!" he told her in astonishment.

"You're just saying that to make me feel better," she mumbled dejected.

"Of course not. Molly, with this, you could end deforestation, help increase the amount of oxygen in the world, the-the possibilities are endless!" The young orphan rambled on about how Molly's powers could save the world from self-destruction, watching as her smile got wider and wider.

"You really think so?" she asked.

"Absolutely. And hey, if Kevin tries anything again, you can just grow a plant on his butt."

This time, she laughed out loud.

"I need soil to make plants grow," she explained, after she stopped laughing.
"Okay, then we'll pour some soil down his pants, then you'll grow a plant on his butt," Michael replied.

Okay, so maybe the place didn't suck entirely...

«»

Captain Ruiz couldn't help but frown at what he was seeing. He hadn't seen something like that since the days when he was still a fresh detective. The days when the underground lords weren't so... underground.
He was in his office when he received a call from one of the patrol officers for him to come to the docks. He obliged and when he arrived, he noticed that his officers were already on ground.

That was reassuring...

He ducked under the yellow caution tapes and the first thing he noticed was the bodies of three police officers. That had set his blood on fire. Those men were his brothers, his family, and someone just killed them, like their lives meant nothing.

What made it worse was the fact that all three of them were married and they had kids. He had never been a bearer of bad news since he became the captain of the CCPD. Guess his time had come; just like the three officers.

His initial thought, when he thought about who would do such a thing, went to the underground lords. But his mind changed after he entered the container A-712.

"My God," he muttered as he wore his blue disposable gloves. "What happened in here?" Limp, lifeless bodies; ten or so, were there, still and cold. One more than the rest.

And that was what caught his immediate attention.

He walked towards the forensic scientist there, doing well to avoid tampering with the crime scene.

"How on earth did this happen?" he asked when he got to the forensic scientist.
She sighed and stood up. "Liquid nitrogen. It has to be," she replied.

The body before them was frozen. Like, entirely frozen; head to toe. Everything else was unaffected but the body was a popsicle, literally.

The person was female, he knew that much. And the tattoo of a chess piece on her neck signified her affiliation with "The Red Bishop." One of the underground gangs hiding somewhere in the lower district. In fact, all the bodies here had a tattoo on them signifying their respective gang affiliations.

Were they all having a meeting but then the cops arrived and a fight broke out? No, that was highly improbable. The bodies of the cops were away from the container and there were no signs of dragging. Plus, these gangsters could never work together to save their lives, literally.

Then what exactly happened?

He noticed how some of the more notorious gangs didn't have any of their members as the body count. An attack orchestrated to reduce the competition, maybe? That still didn't explain the frozen woman and the cops.
And he didn't buy the whole liquid nitrogen explanation. He'd have to inform Director Gray. It seemed like something up his... area of expertise.

He'd also have to tell the mayor. Rather he heard it from him than from the press.

Oh shit, the press...

He always had a strong dislike for them. They were just nosy gossipers who got in the way of everything and hide under the umbrella of "human rights." And unfortunately for him, as the captain, it was his duty to handle them.
He sighed and walked over to where they all were, behind the caution tapes. None of them noticing 'Santa' watching them a few blocks away, with a sick twisted smile on his face.

He moved to hide when he noticed the captain of the CCPD looking in his general direction. The motion was too sudden, causing him said to himself with a little too much energy. He winced as the place where the bullet grazed him stung.
Apparently, the graze was much deeper than he thought. Sure, he had faced worse injuries, but that doesn't mean the minor ones wouldn't hurt.

He couldn't help but be excited, still. Everything was going according to plan, barring the little snafu at the container the other night.