I was sitting in a giant terminal with over one hundred other youths. The building used to be Reagan National Airport but was repurposed when airplanes became obsolete. Similar to diesel and gas cars, flights these days consist of the old-world planes superimposed with various new-world tech, such as spells to insure speed and safety. While I don’t know the details, the planes are now launched like rockets, straight up. This conserves space and apparently leads to a faster travel time due to planes being further up in the atmosphere. Just a bunch of physics and math mumbo jumbo which I don’t really care about. The lady at the counter of gate 3B gave me a tablet full of forms to fill out.

Double checking I answered all the fields, I walked back to the counter. The lady scanned the pad to her computer, and raised her left eyebrow. She was a fat, and what I can assume sassy, black woman who disagreed with my choices.

“Look hon. I know that youth like taking risks but only applying to three colleges is no good for your future. The admissions process is very selective and you shouldn’t overestimate your capabilities.”

I smiled at the lady, just noticing that her tag read Deborah. “Thank you, Ms. Deborah, for the concern however I am confident in my choices and my abilities.” She gave me a measured look. After a couple of seconds, she turned back to the computer and entered in a few things.

“Alright, I entered your registration and you better know what you are doing. NEXT!”

I moved back out of the gate entrance and sat back down again. The results should come in about an thirty minutes as most of the selection is automated.

nd and registration started yesterday. It might have made a better impression and I cou…>

“Hey! Get out of that seat!”

Someone had thrust their face right in front of mine. I could see one-day old stubble, a few pimple scars, brown hair, and an otherwise normal face. The only defining characteristic was his eyes. They reeked of disdain and had overwhelming arrogance.

“Excuse me? Why should I do that?”

He grabbed me by my shirt. “I was looking for a seat and I decided yours looked the best.”

Grabbing his wrist with my left hand, I chopped down at his bent elbow. He bent down, eyes wide. It seems he didn’t expect me to retaliate. I twisted downwards with my left hand, still attached to his wrist, causing his arm to bend awkwardly. I proceeded to clamp down on his neck. With his hand locked by mine and my other one on his neck I squeezed, almost choking the guy. I leaned forward, my head stopping next to his ear, I whispered, “Don’t you fucking touch me you piece of shit.” Bringing my leg up, I kicked him away from me.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING!!” Expecting a Coalition officer, I was surprised when a man around my age strode up towards me. His face was a mask of anger, the bright red mane of hair on his head contrasted with his pale skin. His black pants and maroon t-shirt looked high-quality and very expensive. “You imbecile what did I tell you? Look for an open seat I said, and you had to get into trouble again.” Stopping next to the guy I kicked down, red-hair pulled him off the ground. “And you.” He turned to me. “My name is Ethan Cinder and I apologize for the trouble this idiot brought you, however I can’t help but look down upon the way you handled things. You could have calmly deescalated the situation but instead you had to fight him. Please apologize.”

I smiled coldly. “While he is the one who started it, I did indeed overreact. I am sorry for that.”

Mr. Cinder over there smiled gratefully. “I hope you won’t hold a grudge, I’ll make sure he won’t be rude again.”

“Fuck that.” The loser finally realized what was going on. “He just took me by surprise that’s all. Coward can't take me in a real fight.”

This drew the ire of Ethan again. “Tanner are you stupid? You already got one strike and this is your second one. The only reason why I accepted you into our team was because your aunt Veronica asked me to. Any more incidents like this one and you are out.”

“Fuck you I don’t need to be in that shitty team. You might be royalty but my family owns the East Coast. I have the power here.”

Suprised I inspected the royal.

“Excuse me, what is all this ruckus about?” Suddenly, standing next to us was a man in a black and grey uniform. He was a shorter than me by a few inches and he had an obscenely self-important aura. Swiping his dirty blonde hair behind his ears he pointed his long nose towards Ethan. Before he could answer Tanner patted the officer’s shoulder.

“My name is Tanner Marshall and this man assaulted me.” He pointed at me, and made some exaggerated gestures. “I simply wanted to ask that man to leave his seat yet he beat me up. Look at these injuries.” He held up his left hand and you could see an inkling of a bruise on his wrist. “I hope you can help me here.” Taking something from the pocket of his jeans he handed it to the officer. “Now excuse me I need to attend to some business.” He started walking away. Before he walked away completely he turned his head, “Oh, and don’t bother Ethan, you don’t have to kick me out. I quit.”

The officer turned to me and gave me a crooked smile. Turning to show off the gun in his holster, he said to me, “Excuse me sir. Can you please come with me? You caused quite the ruckus and unfortunately you have to answer to your actions today.”

Ethan stood in front of him. “Excuse me, I am Ethan Cinder and this man did nothing wrong. Please don’t make trouble for him.”

“Sorry Lord Cinder, I still have to take him in for questioning. If you continue to obstruct me I’ll have to restrain you. Just doing my job.”

I stood up. It was better to go along with what he said. I had long become the center of attention, everyone, including that receptionist, had their eyes on the racket. “Thank you, Ethan, but I’ll go ahead with the officer here.”

He nodded his head and moved out of the way. The blondie turned his gaze back on me. “Follow me.”

As I looked back, I saw Ethan was shaking his head. After a few seconds, he sighed and walked away.

It was an interrogation room. The décor was somewhat tasteless as it was really just a repurposed storage closet. Two chairs, one table, one camera, and a staring contest. Police on one side, the criminal on the other. In this case the policeman was Officer Klay, at least according to his nametag, and the criminal was me. He looked at me with pity.

“I truly sympathize, you happened to annoy a Marshall and you had to run in to me. See, I don’t pretend to be moral, it doesn’t pay as well. I was told, and I quote, 'Beat that brown-skinned monkey until he wishes he was dead.' And that is exactly what I intend to do.” He nodded towards the wall camera. It turned off.

He took something out of his pocket. It was a white handkerchief. Throwing it to me, he said, “Hold it. You aren’t getting out of this room until this turns entirely red.” Holding the piece of white cloth I sat there. He pushed the table out of the way. “This could be easy or hard, your choice.”

He took one step towards me. Another step. On the third step I acted. I threw the cloth at his face obstructing his vision. As he brought his hands up to his face, I sprung up and kneeled down. Grabbing the back of his knees, I pulled as I headbutted his chest. He fell backward and hit the ground. Grabbing the chair behind me, I smashed it towards his face. As the pieces broke apart I tried to grab his gun. He turned his body and kicked me on my side. I crashed down, bumping into the table. Officer Klay stood up. Breaking off the back of the chair from the seat, he held it up. “The hard way then.”

The door burst open. “Solare!”

I turned to look. There was Steven, in all his glory. My fairy godmother had arrived. He took in the posture of my assailant and the block of wood in his hands.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you. You are assaulting a Class 2 Citizen.”

The officer paused. “Class 2? How is he a class 2, he had just applied to college.”

Steven looked at him coldly. “And he got accepted. Mr. Solare King here is now a part of the ISOM Class of 2084.”

Blondie Klay dropped his chair fragment. “Well fuck.”