Carmody and the Electric Dragon

10th District Junior High School, Pan City

Monday November 5th 2046

It had been a gruelling Testing Day for all of the friends, especially for Sarah with her new Mentor, Sister Domenica.

“It’s bloody awful” the blonde haired girl complained to her friends as they trudged into the school courtyard. “She keeps summoning up these dead spirits for me to talk to. Half of the dead don’t even speak English and all I get are waves of hate from them until Domenica dismisses them”

“Well, on the bright side, guess who got assessed as a Grade Two today?” Lilly asked them all, gripping Achmed’s arm closely so he had to walk extra carefully to avoid tripping on her feet.

“Um, I am going to guess it was Sarah” ventured Angelina which earned shouts of good natured annoyance from Sarah and Achmed. “Seriously though, well done!”

“Thanks!” Achmed replied with a happy grin. “My tester asked me if I had been practising my skills a lot recently”

“My tester asked me the same thing” Carmody admitted, flexing her fingers carefully in the bandages she had to wear for one more week to be safe. “It was really hard NOT telling him how I punched out a dragon!”

“Does anyone know why Eric asked us all to meet at the Project headquarters this afternoon?” Sarah asked her friends. They all said no or shook their heads.

“Maybe he needs help finishing the report on the Festival battle” Achmed suggested. “The school governors are getting a lot of heat from the parents about how dangerous the place has become, so that is probably being passed onto him by his brother”

The discussion continued all the way up to the rooftop and into Stanley’s house, also known as the Project headquarters. All of the students had waved and said hello to Lucky and Deuce who were on duty at the time, looking fully recovered from the battle.

When they entered the main room they had some unexpected visitors, seated at a table and drinking tea together.

“Mother!” cried a stunned Angelina. “What are you doing here? I thought you were in Jakarta on business?”

“Don’t be silly dear. As soon as I heard you had indebted the family for one million Pan City Dollars I rushed back on the first available flight”

“Oh” was all the crushed girl could respond with.

Miss Abrams and Jericho-Two, the other visitors, were quietly drinking their tea on the same side of the big table, nearly touching elbows despite the fact there was plenty of room around the other sides.

“So what’s going on, Eric?” Sarah demanded and dropped herself casually in her favourite chair, the one closest to the large rug that Stanley like to doze on. For a change, the Steam Dragon was sitting upright and leaning against a wall, looking at the assembled humans with interest.

“Allow me to explain” Jericho-Two interjected and placed his cup precisely on the saucer before him. “It has been decided that this Project needs some adult guidance in its daily operations here at the school. Things have become rather careless in recent weeks and I have appointed Miss Abrams as your, ah, overseer”

The assembled students all looked at Miss Abrams, who smiled sweetly at them and placed her own cup down.

“Firstly, let me say that I would rather be seen as a chaperone, maybe a guidance counsellor, than any form of overseer or supervisor” The children all nodded in pleased agreement at this.

“Secondly, whilst I appreciate this means we will be spending even more time each week together, I am not your mother nor your housemaid. Clean this place up, you little pigs!”

Miss Abrams picked up her cup once more and sipped at her tea. They all looked at her in stunned silence until Jericho spoke up again.

“Right, thank you Sofia...Ow!... er... Miss Abrams” he began, rubbing at his shin where the teacher had kicked him. “Next, the school board has been approached by a private sponsor to upgrade the security at the grounds. Mrs Brackenridge, did you want to explain this?”

Angelina’s mother drew some actual paper documents from an expensive tooled leather case at her side and laid them on the table.

“As everyone here will be patently aware, this school has been the subject of two concerted attacks in a short space of time. Luckily the damage to the school has been minimal and injuries have been much less than they could have been. The true nature of the attacks has been suppressed and as far as the general public is concerned they were the result of Anti-Awakened extremists”

“Sadly” she continued “Such attacks are becoming commonplace around the world. Public opinion towards the Awakened has been poor for years now, yet the recent escalations are a sign of a rising hatred of these gifted people. This makes it easy to conceal what really happened at the school, but it proves the need to increase the security around our children”

“To that end, Brackenridge Transportation has offered to donate security personnel and resources to the school. The board of school governors have already accepted our generous offer”

The friends gathered around the table looked at each other, then Carmody spoke up.

“Does that mean the Guards at the Post will be leaving us?” she asked worriedly.

“No, they will remain as dedicated to the Project team security. The additional security will be provided by humans, not Guards” Jericho-Two explained to them. “They will have responsibility for all of the students and staff and will patrol the rest of the school grounds”

“Sounds great, but can we trust them?” Eric asked, his eyes on Mrs Brackenridge.

“Of course you can, because they will be commanded by a woman you all know and respect. I have obtained her agreement only this afternoon to lead the security force” Angelina’s mother answered with a narrow lipped smile at Eric. “We have to finalise her Ident papers and she won’t be released from her current employment until this coming Thursday, but after that she will be ready to assume command”

“Who is it?” Eric demanded. “One of your corporate lackeys?”

“Why no, dear boy” she said with a smirk. “It’s Fiona, although I believe you still call her Unit F-Zero-Three don’t you?”

Eric sat back dumbfounded as were the rest of the table. Carmody looked at Jericho-Two and at Angelina, confused by this revelation.

“How are we paying for her release?” she asked. As rich as the Brackenridge’s were, she doubted they had a spare million Pandas lying around the house. She had been fretting over this very issue for some days and knew time was running out.

“Don’t worry, dear Carmody” Mrs Brackenridge assured her. “Our family lawyers have submitted a very strong case for damages, both physical and emotional, caused by a lack of adequate security at the Halloween Festival. We are suing the Pan City Board of Governors and Archimedes for ten million Pan City Dollars, but I believe we are willing to accept an out of court settlement of just one million”

Angelina’s mother winked at Carmody and gave her a smile.

“I expect to hear sometime tomorrow morning about how the case is going”

Jericho-Two had never looked so uncomfortable as he did this evening. Sarah and the others were starting to feel a little sorry for the Avatar in fact. He cleared his throat self-consciously and spoke up again to the group of students.

“One last piece of business to attend to, if you please” he began. Jericho looked across the table at Angelina, who had been sitting quietly since first greeting her mother, obviously unsure of her status in the group. “Miss Angelina Brackenridge, on behalf of the AURA Project Team, I would like to invite you to join our ranks”

Angelina looked around the table full of expectant faces then settled on her friend Carmody.

“Do you want me to join?” she asked tentatively.

“It’s as dangerous as hell but it’s kind of fun” Carmody answered as honestly as she could.

“Then I would love to join!”

The table erupted in cheers and all of her friends swarmed over her, patting her back and trying to hug her at the same time, until Miss Abrams broke it up and told them to wash the dirty cups and take out the trash.

=====

Most of the others had left already and Carmody was slowly walking to the elevators when Eric called out her name. She stopped and waited for him to catch up to her.

“Almost forgot to give you this” he announced and pulled from behind his back a familiar worn cricket bat. He laid it in her hands as she gazed in stunned disbelief

“The clean-up crew at the reservoir found it yesterday. They nearly chucked it out but I had given their supervisor specific instructions to keep their eyes peeled for it”

Carmody ran her hands over the leather grip and the dented wooden face of Excalibur.

“I thought I had lost it forever” she said softly. She raised her eyes to Eric and he could see the gratitude shining there. “Thank you so much, Eric”

Without hesitation she stepped forward and kissed him lightly on the lips. The boy and girl jumped back in sudden realisation of what she had done, Eric lifting his hand to his lips, watching the girl with wide eyes.

“Carmody...” Eric began, but whatever came next was lost as the girl turned and ran off across the rooftop. He wanted to run after her, yet he knew this was not the right moment. There still needed to be a decision made by himself, one he suddenly found even harder to make.

Unseen by either Carmody or Eric, indeed by any living creature of this world, Sarah was standing on the rooftop, gently stroking Stanley’s long, warm neck. She had seen what occurred and the old familiar ache was there in her chest.

“Do you think there is still time for the Courtship Dance?” she asked the Steam Dragon, a hint of sadness in her voice. Stanley huffed thoughtfully, sending flower scented steam over her.

“Maybe, as Eric still seems quite unsure of himself” the dragon said. “Even if Eric falls for another, you will always have me” he added hopefully.

“Thanks Stanley, but I am not going to kiss a dragon, no matter how good looking you are!”