V E R A

"I can count 42 ways I can kill you right now, and that's with my hands tied," Vera informed dryly.

The man in front of her scowled,"You have been hiding a long time, Ms. Swan. Sixty years to be precise."

Vera lifted a brow,"Who said I was hiding?"

The man grabbed her chin, and another man behind her held the chair she was tethered into down. He got obnoxiously close to the young woman's face,"Tell me what you know, Vera Markova. Or should I just call you the siren whose immortality is almost up."

Vera started to hum, and her violet eyes glowed with light. The man's stare was hypnotically drawn into her eyes, and she smiled innocently,"Mind untying me?" The man behind her complied without question, wrestling with her restraints. Vera smirked,"And you, Unibrow, run into the wall."

The man nodded, his face almost emotionless. He started to run toward the wall when Vera shouted,"Wait!" He stopped, and she grinned,"With your head. Try it again with a little more oomph."

The man backed up, and lowered his stance. He then rammed the wall with his cranium, falling to the floor unconscious.

The man freed Vera from her binds, and she looked to him sweetly. She then jabbed him in the temple, applying a small amount of force. The man fell unconscious to the floor.

Vera stepped over his body, and retrieved her belongings from the nearby table, a few guns, a dagger, and a rounded blade with handles in its center, a chakram.

The backdoor to the room bursted open, and a man glared at Vera,"She's escaped!"

Vera threw a disk-shaped device from her belongings, which attached to his leg. It electrified him on contact, jolting him like a compact taser. Four more assailants ran inside, and Vera grabbed the table, throwing it at them. She then charged behind it.

Vera ducked between a punch and a knife, and kicked one of the men in the chest, knocking him back. She grabbed another, knocked him out with one punch, and used him as a human shield from another.

She flung the limp man to her side, and grabbed a fist sent at her face. Vera twisted his arm back, and snapped it. With a graceful movement she then flipped the man onto the floor.

Two more attackers remained. She cracked a grin, and ran toward one, ducking from a kick. The other grabbed her, and she flipped, sending him to the ground with her. With a swift jab in the back and neck, the man became limp, temporally paralyzed.

She tumbled backward, and jumped to her feet before grabbing something from the floor. The last man lunged at her, but she intercepted his attack by smacking him with the broken table. He fell to the ground, moaning.

Vera's eyes glowed again, and she weaved her words with power,"And just like that, all of you forgot what has happened in the past 24 hours and fell asleep."

The remained men left conscious passed out, snoring.

The young woman that appeared to be in her early twenties glanced around before nodding to herself,"Well, that was fun." She started to leave the room when she stopped, hearing a faint sound. A metallic slashing, similar to a helicopter's blade slicing through the air.

A sword suddenly flew through the open doorway, flying straight toward her. She threw her hands out defensively, but found the sword had frozen in the air in front of her. She let out a sigh, and grabbed the sword from the air,"Cal?"

"Hello?" A familiar voice spoke. Vera grinned as she saw who the voice belonged to step inside the room.

A tall boy appearing to be about 21, with short, spiky blond hair looked to her with light blue eyes. He had a cleft in his chin, and a small scar that zigzagged through his right eyebrow. The same boy she had grown to trust over seventy years ago, looking exactly the same as he did the last time she had saw him.

His cracked a wide smile,"Vera!"

Vera rolled her eyes playfully,"Hey, Callum." She tossed Excalibur at him, who caught his sword with one hand,"I think you dropped this."

Callum walked over to her, giving her a bear hug,"How have you been?" Vera nodded, happily surprised,"I'm not dead yet. Can't say the same about these guys though."

Callum looked around, and winced,"They did know who you are, right?"

Vera gave a shrug,"They do now. Or at least did." After reading Callum's concerned expression, Vera waved it off,"Doesn't matter. Are you okay?"

Callum gave a nod,"Yeah, I actually came to ask you something."

*  *  *

Vera sat in the glass walled conference room of the Zephyr 13, eyes set on Maddox.

"I'm impressed with the ship, but, um, what about this...team?" She asked.

Maddox explained the Sentinel Enactment, and Callum looked to her,"I wanted to ask you if you wanted to be a sentinel. You're one of my closest friends."

Vera smirked,"I'm your only friend. But I'm in. Someone needs to have your back."

Callum smiled brightly,"Great! Now we just need to recruit five more people."

Maddox gave him a curious expression,"Why five?"

Callum looked at Excalibur before turning back to face Maddox and Vera,"My father believed the seven Knights of the Round Table could protect the kingdom, so seven sentinels should protect the world."

Vera frowned,"Who are the other five?"

Maddox checked his watch. "I would say a few will be arriving here shortly. I had Agent Novak pick up a few potential sentinels that were inside our database."

"Who are they?" Callum inquired curiously.

Maddox grabbed a remote from the table, and clicked a few buttons. The room darkened, and three of the four glass walls around them tinted to black. The remaining panel of glass shimmered to life, becoming a holographic screen.

Vera had been a spy since she was a little girl, trained at a young age in the covert arts of stealth, lethality, and espionage. Growing up in the Soviet Union, and trained in a Russian assassin academy, she had seen technology so twisted she wondered how someone could think up the very idea of it. But Aegis's technology was a pure form of brilliance, an amalgamation of magic and highly advanced tech that served to better the world. Vera closed her eyes, shaking off her memories. She had left that evil school behind. She had left that life behind a long time ago.

The holograms showed the profile of a teenage girl. Maddox read from it aloud,"Princess Alakaia of Atlantis, goes by the alias Kaia Cress. Appears 18, but actual age is undetermined. She has the ability to manipulate water, along with communicating with aquatic life and possessing an advanced intellect."

Maddox swiped the screen with a flick of his wrist, and a boy's profile appeared. Maddox continued,"Fletcher Hood, 18. He has shown superhuman expertise in archery and marksmanship. He is the grandson of Robin Hood."

He showed the last profile. "Wren Underwood, 19. She was detected at age 6 after she completely dematerialized a tornado on her family farm in Ohio. She is a Druid, descended from the Tuatha Dé Danann. She has powers over nature and weather, along with many notable magical abilities."

Maddox clicked a few buttons, and the glass around then cleared. The holographic lights flickered away.

Vera grinned,"So, an Atlantean princess, basically Mother Nature, and impossibly skilled archer. At least we're well rounded."

The ship suddenly shook, and Maddox shot up from his chair,"What was that?"

They ran into the Bridge, and one the agents at the controls reported an anomalous atmosphere disruption was forming around the ship.

Callum turned to Vera,"I'm going up to the landing deck." Vera gave a nod,"Right behind you, Camelot."

The two ran out of the ship, and Vera looked to the sky above.

The clouds swirled into a churning vortex of storm clouds, lightning breaking across the sky violently. Thunder boomed loud enough to hurt Vera's ears, and the wind whipped her shoulder-length black hair.

Suddenly from the tempest blasted a single blazing lighting bolt. The bolt snaked through the air, and struck the landing deck in front of Callum and Vera. Callum, who had instinctively shielded them from the blast with his shield, lowered it to see the damage. Vera cocked a brow,"Huh."

A boy stood in front of them. His electric blue eyes literally flickered with energy, and he held a jagged gold sword that reminded Vera of a lightning bolt. A streak of white zigzagged through his dark brown hair.

He raised his sword into the air, and shot a lightning bolt into the storm, causing it to instantly disperse. He cracked a troublesome grin,"Jupiter Jones, son of Zeus. Now who do I talk to about joining Hero Club?"

* Author's Note *
Since I have yet to master the art of dedicating normally, I guess this will have to do. Anyways, I would like to give a huge thank you to RachelS8766 ! She is such an amazing author, cover designer, and friend. Thank you for being such a great and loyal reader; I appreciate all of your awesome comments! You guys should really check her works out!