"Ok Cory, what kind of job do you want to offer me?" Jacklyn leaned back a bit, judging on what the best thing to do would be.

Cory grinned and gave a small laugh. "Now that is something I can't exactly say until you agree on accepting."

"Well I'm not stupid so why do you think I'm going to accept something I know nothing about?" By now, she was getting ready to leave this stranger behind and continue on her way.

"How about you ask yourself what other options you have? This opportunity will give you a place to stay in return for a bit of training. You'll be fed and you won't have to be living off of sandwiches either." His words ran through her mind. "What do you have out here? Family? No, you just ran out of an orphanage, I saw. The world out here is dirty, ruthless and cruel. You'd have a slim chance of surviving."

Trying to blink away her hurt and confusion, she turned back to him, "Ok, first of all, I've survived this dump before and I'll do it again. Also, how do you know so much about me? Did the police send you after me?"

"Well, I guess that'd be a yes and a no. But I can't really say anything else without confusing you to death."

"I mean I kind of already am so go ahead, damage is already done." Jacklyn waved towards him to explain and crossed her arms.

Cory though about it for awhile until he shook his head. "Look kid, I'm looking for someone to fill in for a friend of mine. They need to be quick, agile and know how to get around places. I just saw you practically prove to me that you are completely qualified. This whole thing would work out for both of us."

"No it wouldn't. It would only help you. I know what I'm doing here." She lied. "I know where I'm going and I know how to survive in this dump, so my answer is no. I won't do this job of yours. You
just came out of nowhere thinking you could shadily offer a job to a kid."

Cory sighed and rolled his eyes back to look at the dark clouds. "Apparently your a stubborn one." His eyes shifted back to Jacklyn's face. "Let me explain something to you here. This city, is crawling with people you pray to never meet in your entire life. My job, is to get rid of them. Look around you." His arms stretched out to emphasize his point. "Filth is everywhere and I don't know about you but I want to change that. My goal, is to make Epektasi (pronounced as: a-peck-ta-ce) what it used to be. I'm simply asking for help on that."

Jacklyn found herself grudgingly agreeing with the stranger. "I'd want to know more about this but you obviously can't say anything so I guess my answer is still no."

Releasing a deep breath, Cory complied. "You want to know who I am? Fine. I'm a Superhero trainer who works for the government, and you are my next student."

"Ha. Superheroes are just a fairytale that people made up to make life seem more bearable and interesting." It's true. Some of the stories that were told were of the masked heroes that supposedly helped keep peace in the world. From what she knew, Epektasi's hero was The Shaft. Some guy with a bow would go around and keep the people from breaking in the small business shops down near the taller structures. She'd never believe the stories but so many others did. So many others wanted the small hope that there was someone out there protecting them.

"Kid, I can't wait to see the look on your face when I prove you wrong." Cory smiled and started backing away with a wave. "Come on. Your gonna love this."

Jacklyn was prepared to shoot Cory's offer down again but he was already climbing the next building and before she knew it, she found herself climbing after him. He reached the top and jumped over the edge, hitting the roof and mumbling something like "...gotta be one around here..". She continued to follow his graceful movements as he masterfully leaped from an AC unit to another building. Occasionally she'd lose sight of him suddenly and have to wait for him to reappear from behind a shadow covered wall or something.

They'd only been scaling buildings for a good three minutes until Cory decided to stop suddenly. The next thing he did about made her trip over the edge in shock. He turned with a grin aimed at her then standing at the other edge, free fell backwards down the five story building. Jacklyn sucked in a breath and raced to the side he fell from. Carefully looking down, she saw nothing but a couple of empty windows on the sides and a chain fence at the bottom. Her heart was racing as she tried to figure out where the he could've landed.

She was about to give up and forget about the stranger Cory when she saw a head of gray peppered hair pop out of the window a couple feet below her. "Well are you coming or are you gonna fall over the edge?"

Now sure that he didn't just drop to his death, Jacklyn slowly put one leg over the side. She didn't realize till now that climbing up was a lot easier than climbing down. "Oh jeez." She said under her breath.

"Something wrong?" Cory's head had reappeared. "You were literally just doing this minutes ago."

"Oh shut up! This is different." She could hear his impatient huff of breath below. "Before, I wasn't exactly looking down five stories. I was looking up."

"Just use the same holes and grooves in the wall we've been using." He said back. "There's plenty of them."

Not replying, she began concentrating. She placed her hands on the bumpy concrete and swung the other leg over. Shifting her feet onto the ledges below her, she started to make her way down. Shoving her fear to the back of her throat, Jacklyn forced herself to avert her eyes from the drop below. By doing this, she miraculously made it down to the window where Cory was there leaning against the wall with his head back and eyes closed.

"Took you long enough." he commented. Jacklyn rolled her eyes scowling and watched as he pushed off the wall and began feeling around the grey rock. Stopping with a satisfied looked he pushed on a random spot and grinned as a rectangular shape popped out. He continued to slid the piece to the left where a green sheet of glass lied behind it. He placed his hand on the glass and waited as it turned clear then green again. The next thing she knew, the same thing happened to a rectangle in the floor just reverse, revealing an illuminated white staircase.

The movement startled her, causing her to jump back. "What the hell?" Cory gave no explanation but just beckoned her to follow.

The stairs lead to an elevator which lead to a completely different world than Epektasi. The whole place was white and lit up with hidden lights under the walls and desks. The celling was high and made of glass. Apparently you couldn't see anything past it and was just there for the grand splendor. Jacklyn was seriously starting to wonder what the architects here were thinking. All that glass is going to do is become a safety hazard during an earthquake.

She almost lost Cory in the crowd of people dressed in white or black suits as she gaped at the fantasy world she just stepped in. "Ha! You should see your face!" He laughed when she caught up. "You act like you haven't seen the color white before, which honestly wouldn't be that hard to believe considering where we just came from."

Jacklyn shrugged. "I mean you're not wrong."

"Fair enough. Now come on, I want to get to my office before people start asking questions." He walked towards a pair of elevators and Jacklyn fell in step beside him.

No one was in the elevator when the stepped inside which gave Jacklyn the opportunity to pelt Cory with questions. "So what is this place?"

"It's the S.P.R.B.O. or the Specialized Personal Reconciliation Base of Operations. Most of us here called it the SB but you can choose." He stated with a short laugh.

"And SB stands for superhero base?" She asked.

"That would be correct." He nodded. "That other crap is honestly a mouth full that none of us want to repeat more than once."

Jacklyn's eyebrows scrunched together. "True, but why choose such a long acronym when you could just call it the "Superhero Base"?"

"Do you honestly think anyone would've really taken us seriously if this was officially called the "Superhero Base"? I mean come on, superheroes were created from comic books a long time ago, and then later into movies but they always were fake until about a decade ago." He explained.

"Ok I guess that makes sense." She said as they exited the elevator.

Stepping out they were met with a man holding a folder and a pen. "Ah, Cory." The man had a cunning glint in his eyes and greeted Cory with a smile then turned to Jacklyn. "Is this the new recruit? That was fast."

Jacklyn opened her mouth to correct him but Cory cut her off, his voice strained and his demeanor different than before. "Yes this is."

The man looked me up and down causing me to shift my feet involuntarily. "You do realize that she's a girl Cory. The Shaft is portrayed as a male. This will more than likely bring up some complications."

Cory's features were strained into a scowl. "I find her gender not a problem Montgomery. Now remember that my job is to hire and train the Shafts so do well to remember that it's my choice who fills in next. Not yours. Your opinion is unwanted." He walked past Montgomery with his teeth clenched and I followed behind. The man's professional smile still plastered on his face and his eyes glued to the back of my head as we left and headed into a room.

"Sorry about that. Sit." Cory waved to a seat across from where he sat down with his feet up, dirtying the white table with black smudges from his boots. "Montgomery and I have a track record for unpleasant encounters."

"Why did you agree that I was the new recruit?" Jacklyn cut to the chase.

"Well," he started. "The thing is, I'm not exactly allowed to bring people in here unless they work for the actual SB or they're a new recruit. If he of all people knew that I broke one of the rules, I'd be in a lot more trouble than I'd like."

"Why did you risk bringing me in here then?" She asked.

"Because I knew there'd be about a 85% chance that you'd agree in the end." He said simply.

She folded her arms. "And what makes you think that?"

"Kid, tell me. If you had a chance to choose between the dirty city and a place like this, what would you choose?" Cory grinned.

"Depends. I'm actually starting to like scaling buildings in the middle of the city." She shrugs.

He just laughs. "Well, would if I tell you that scaling buildings in the middle the city would be your actual job?"

Jacklyn lets out a breath of a laughs. "Then I might fully consider your offer, under one condition though."

"And what would that be?" A triumphant smirk on his face.

"I get to walk away whenever I want." She replied.

~~~

Oh jeez...I should really stop writing these so late. Soooo I'll make this quick.😋

Thank you for reading!!!! You're amazing and please stick with me for the next chapter!!

If you can, spare a vote and maybe a comment to tell me what you think!!!

📝~Photo30