E Z R A

Ezra thought he was biggest freak on the Zephyr 13. Not anymore.

In a few hours, Maddox would have three more superpowered people brought to the ship for evaluation to be sentinels. Along with Callum the immortal knight, now one of the world's greatest spies (who just so happened to be part siren) was also onboard. With the new recruits, the hero-headcount was at least at five more people than average.

If only that didn't make him want to throw up his lunch. Ezra was caught between excitement for what was happening, but also worried his little secret would get out. Finally he felt at home somewhere. He wasn't ready to be treated like a freak again.

Maddox looked to a monitor displaying the view of one of the landing deck cameras, the vortex over the ship abruptly subsiding. His expression settled into a calm, amused smirk. He grinned,"Jones."

Ezra frowned, peeping up from his alcove of monitors and guard-dinos,"Who's Jones?"

Maddox crossed the room,"A demigod I know. Want to come with me to meet him?"

Ezra gave a curious look,"W-Why me? I mean, Jennifer looks way more up to this." He gave a look to a blonde woman at the control panel, who seemed to not look exactly up for it.

Maddox shook his head,"I want you to join me."

Ezra gave a sigh,"Well, if I'm going, I'm packing heat." The boy grabbed something from a stand beside his central computer, a steampunk ray gun plugged into two electrified coils.

The gun was peculiar in design, with a long, clear barrier with a small coil inside. Along the side of the gun was a setting dial ranging with increments of power level, and it featured a few small bulbs that glowed.

Maddox gave Ezra a smirk,"That's a gun?"

Ezra nodded,"This is one my latest inventions. I call it the Volt. I studied some of Tesla's confidential files and applied some of my own noggin to make it. It's a mobilized resonant transformer similar to a tesla coil, kinda like an electroshock-super-taser. It uses polyphase voltage to deliver stunning blasts of electricity that not only knock unconscious, but scramble the synapses of the brain, erasing short term memory."     

Maddox grinned,"Impressive."

Ezra tucked the Volt in his homemade carrier on his side, and walked out of the Bridge. Maddox looked to him with a softer look that his usual expression,"You alright? I was wondering how having all these recruits with powers around made you feel."

Ezra shrugged. "I feel hotmazing," he stated with a false smirk.

Maddox looked straight through him,"You're lying."

Maddox had the uncanny ability of knowing when people were lying, and Ezra definitely was not up for going against a human lie detector. Maddox even knew his secret, so his anxiety not only had his stomach in knots, but had his ears blazing red as he tried to lie his way into confidence.

They turned a corner, approaching the door to the landing deck. Ezra frowned,"No, really, I'm absolutely, positively A-OK."

Maddox winked,"We'll talk later." He opened the door to the landing deck, and looked straight ahead at a boy standing in front of Callum and Vera.

He was taller than Ezra's average height, but still a little shorter than Callum. Along with bright blue eyes and a streak of white hair, Ezra could already believe this guy to be pretty powerful.

The boy cracked a grin,"James, how are you?"

Maddox gave a dry expression,"You attacked my ship, had an unauthorized landing, and could have blown the Zephyr 13's cover and secure location."

Callum looked to Maddox,"You know this guy?"

Maddox gave a nod,"Mr. Jones is a demigod I talked to in the early stages of the Sentinel Enactment's proposing. I thought he would be a valuable addition to the team."

Callum put Excalibur back into its sheath, and his shield followed, once again spiraling back into its ring form. He gave a welcoming grin, holding a hand out to Jupiter. "It's nice to meet you, Jupiter. My name is Callum."

Jupiter shook his hand in return,"What do you bring to the table, Blondie?"

Callum shrugged,"If you're asking me if I brought the Round Table, then no. I'm afraid the table was left in Camelot."

Jupiter gave a confused look,"Camelot? You just used a sword. Wait, who are you?"

Callum smiled,"Callum Pendragon, rightful King of Camelot and son of King Arthur."

Jupiter's eyes widened, and he peeked his head around at Vera,"And you are?"

Vera smirked,"Wouldn't you like to know."

Jupiter turned to Ezra, and he shrugged casually,"I'm just the tech guy." 

A sleek ship reminding Ezra of a spaceship-jet hybrid emerged from the clouds, approaching silently. Ezra recognized it has a pulsejet, an Aegis ship capable of moving rapidly.

"What's that?" Callum asked, Ezra seeing the boy whose mindset was horseback and torches still amazed at everything he saw.

"That's Agent Novak. She's back with the other recruits."

* * *

Maddox elucidated on the Sentinel Enactment, and the three recruits looked to each other. The boy, Fletcher, raised his hand innocently.

From the file Ezra read on Fletcher, he was 6'3, making him the tallest of the recruits. His auburn hair was short and cropped, similar to a military grade haircut. Ezra noticed his eyes were a dark, gunmetal gray— glinting and sharp. He was stocky, and heavily built. A quiver was strapped across his back, and he carried a bow.

"Who else is on this team, Mr. Maddox?" He asked politely. Ezra found his appearance betrayed his gentler nature.

Maddox gestured at Callum, Vera, and Jupiter; who were sitting on the other end of the table,"Right now, these three."

Callum gave a friendly wave, Vera gave a troublesome smirk, and Jupiter waggled his brows, giving an Elvis-styled double snap and point that gave out sparks.

One of the two girls, Kaia, turned back to face Maddox,"So, you want us to show you what we can do?"

Kaia was tall and elegant, and her strikingly bold, aquamarine eyes were as clear as the sea. Her long, dark brown hair was woven tightly into a braid, and around her neck was a glowing blue crystal. Intricate blue tattoos were etched into her tan skin.

The other girl, named Wren, smiled,"And then we'll be Sentinels?" Maddox gave a silent nod.

Wren was equally beautiful, but her aura was kind and down to earth, differing from Kaia's spunkiness. Her eyes were a deep green, and her wavy strawberry blonde hair rolled down her shoulders.

Maddox looked to Ezra, who was sitting beside him,"Care to take them to the Training Room? I will be there later."

Ezra gave a nod, and gestured to follow him as he opened the door out of the Conference Room. The group of teenagers walked the halls until Ezra led them into a large room.

The room was spacious and had an arced ceiling. With multiple targets set up, a sparring ring, mats covering sections of the floor, and various exercise equipment, it appeared to be an all-purpose gym more than a top-grade training facility. The Olympic swimming pool was in the adjoined room beside them.

Ezra looked to his homemade watch, and clicked a button, causing the watch to unfold into a small screen. He typed in a code, and the room hummed to life. Equipment folded into the walls, and the center of the room was cleared into an open area as the floor split apart, a large platform rising up. The Training Room instantly becoming double its original size, the walls moving and repositioning.

He gestured at the platform,"Do your thing, ladies and...gent."

Fletcher looked to the girls,"Do you two care if I go first?" After both girls nodded, he stepped up to the platform. "Ezra, can you fix me a few targets?"

Ezra walked over to a code pad on the wall, and typed in a few buttons. Soon three targets sprung up from the floor. Fletcher took his stance.

Fletcher grabbed an arrow from his quiver, and nocked his arrow, aiming. He then released, and the arrow blurred through the air, striking the bullseye dead on. He then began to let loose arrows rapidly, hitting the other two bullseyes. He starting back over, and split all his first arrows in half.

Callum looked to Jupiter and Vera,"Goodness." Jupiter shot him a grin,"Watch your language."

Fletcher stepped back, grabbed a special arrow from his quiver. He aimed once more, and shot a final arrow. The arrow exploded into three in mid air, splitting the second round of arrows and going straight through the bullseye.

Fletcher looked back to the trio of Sentinels,"W-Was that okay? I can do it again if you want..."

Vera looked over Ezra's shoulder at the panel of glowing buttons while Fletcher spoke, and smiled,"Click that one." Ezra gave an unsure expression,"Alright."

Suddenly, a holographic figure of golden light materialized behind Fletcher, charging him with a glowing sword. Fletcher spun around and released an arrow, shooting it into the figure's chest. It shattered into sparks that danced across the smooth floor.

Figures started to appear in all directions, and Fletcher snapped into an intense focus. Ezra frowned, finding the big guy switching from 'Big Teddy Bear' to 'war machine'.

He shot arrows expertly and swiftly, taking down each figure with single hits to the chest or head. He tumbled from attacks and evaded swings, raining down on each holographic attacker with arrows.

Without any arrows left for the last remaining attacker, Fletcher charged. He lunged and grabbed the figure, throwing it to the ground where it exploded into sparks.

Ezra turned the attackers off, and Callum clapped,"That was amazing, Fletcher! You are definitely sentinel material."

Fletcher sighed with relief,"Really?" Callum clapped him on the shoulder,"Really."

Wren smiled,"Can I try now?" The group agreed, and she walked up to the platform with her floral sneakers. She looked to her unusual audience,"What do you guys want to see exactly?"

Jupiter propped his feet on a chair he was lounging in,"Blow us away, Sister Nature."

Wren held her hands out, and a swirl of air spun into her palms to create a small tornado. She then materialized a cloud with a wave of her hand, and it darkened to roar thunder and crackle with lighting. It then shifted, becoming gray. A flurry began to spread through the room, sprinkling the team with snowflakes.

Wren gestured at a few withered plants by the wall, and they were rejuvenated to full health. Large blossoms unfolded as they bloomed in seconds, and they shifted with kaleidoscopic colors, becoming vivid hues of every color in the spectrum.

The girl motioned at a stone pillar, and the stone rippled, changing into a Greek-styled statue.

The group looked to her with awestruck faces, and Vera chuckled wryly,"Is that all you got Not impressed." Wren grinned,"I can also talk to animals and do other things too."

She stepped down, and Kaia smirked,"Nice job, Wren. That's a pretty hard act to beat. Can I ask to move this party to the pool?"

The group entered the conjoined room, and Kaia dived in without a second thought. In a few moments, she raised up onto the surface of the water, standing on it like it was solid ground. She then held her hands out, and a large ripple traveled across the water. A stream of water twirled around her, and she threw it at the team, where it instantly globed over them like a bubble before returning to her.

She tapped the water with her foot, and the pool froze solid in moments. After unfreezing it with a similar gesture, she rode a wave back to the edge of the pool, where Ezra found her to be completely dry. She winked at Wren,"How'd I do?"

Wren tittered,"I would say you made a splash."

Jupiter jumped up,"Well, that's six of us. You have any powers you would like to entertain us with, Ezra?"

Ezra's heart stopped. He shook his head a few too many times,"Uh, no, I'm a perfectly average dude. But, ah, I have a few...diagnostics to run on the ship's central mainframe. I gotta make like a banana, and leaf. Nice meeting you guys."

Ezra darted out of the room, eyes locked to what was in front of him. He cursed under his breath,"Diagnostics? Seriously?"

Jupiter frowned as the door closed behind him,"Was it something I said?"

* Author's Note *

I would like to thank Arrow900 for being such an awesome reader and commenter! You have definitely helped this book gain attention! Thank you so much!