Chapter 1: The Entrance Exam
The plane’s engines slow down as it makes its final approach towards the tarmac of Dulles International Airport in Washington D.C, the flight had been long and uneventful, with a couple of stops in the Midwest where more entry exam candidates where picked up. The plane stops next to it’s assigned ramp and the doors are opened. Hera picks up his bags at the carousel and follow’s the information that he had been given with his entrance exam invitation, the terminal is noisy and large groups of people move around going about their business, in the far corner of the terminal there is a large group of kids his own age and a couple of adults in suits holding clipboards and talking to the kids.
Hera approaches the large group and taps on the shoulder of one of the minders, she turns to him and immediately looks at her list without saying a word, flipping through a couple of pages before looking up and saying “You must be Hera! Welcome, please take a seat with the rest of the kids, we are still waiting on a couple of more people to arrive, it shouldn’t take much longer.” Without saying anything else the obviously overworked lady turned around to continue what she was doing previously. Hera looks around for a seat, the only empty one is by an aloof brown-haired kid who is intently looking out of the terminal’s window, on the opposite side of the chair seats an eager looking beagle. Wordlessly Hera takes his seat in between them. Around him there are about 30 or so other students, most of them looking either bored, anxious or a combination of the two.
The minders continue to look at their charts and talking among themselves, one pointing to his chart looking slightly worried after about 15 minutes the young lady who had been welcoming the group approaches them and announces “We are sorry that this is taking so long, we are still waiting for one more applicant, he should be here shortly. Please let me know if you need anything, that is what I am here for.” She gives the students a frail smile clearly marked by the stress that she is currently feeling. The monotony is broken up when a large crowd of people start congregating around one of the gates phones in hands, as the gates open the crowds start taking pictures, whatever is happening they are clearly excited about whoever is walking through the gate. As the excitement dies down a bit and the crowd dissipate, Pro Hero Frostbite emerges, a large smile on his face as some people continue to take selfies. Next to him is a muscular teenager. Both minders rush to welcome them, clearly this is what they had been stressing about. Frostbite amicably shakes their hands and they join the rest of the group. “Everyone! We are ready to go, please grab your things and come with us to…” as she is saying this she is interrupted by Frostbite “I’m sorry but our driver is waiting for us, we will meet you at the school.” Without waiting for a reply, the pro hero and his son exit the terminal and get into a large SUV. Bemused the minders are left speechless, “Uhm, ok, everybody please grab your things and come with us.” The kids stand up and grab their things as they do one of the kids say “can you believe this? We have been sitting here waiting for them and the pull this crap.” The kid voicing what everyone else was thinking stands up and grabs his bag, annoyed he says “I’m going to destroy that guy, making us wait like that, Who does he think he is?” Surprisingly the kid’s confidence can only be matched by his large stomach.
The group is ushered outside where a large expensive looking bus arrives and pulls open it’s doors, the kid’s bags are placed inside the storage compartments and people take their seats, the minders announce that the trip should take about an hour and plop on the front row seats clearly exhausted and frustrated. The crowd of kids becomes more agitated as the sights of Washington are left behind and the bus makes it's way towards Virginia.
