That was the night the dreams started.

This one started innocently enough. Gabriel frolicked through the clouds, twisting and looping in the sky like an eagle when the sun went dark behind him. He spun, perplexed by what was happening. Since he’d had lucid dreams in the past, he knew he was sleeping.

The sun going out like that wasn’t normal. When the world went black, he began to feel an unnatural force pulling on his psyche. It was weak at first, insistent. Then it tugged harder. Then harder. Gabriel lost control of his metaphysical state. With a snap, he surged forward through the blackness, unsure of what was about to happen. The pull stopped suddenly, and he felt himself slow. Alone in a world of darkness, unable to move. He stayed that way for what felt like hours.

Gabriel began to panic.

The hours turned to days, then months. He was losing his mind, beginning to doubt whether everything he had ever experienced was the dream. Maybe this inky void was his actual reality. The people he’d met and interacted with started to fade from his memory, and his panic turned to terror.

It could have been years later.

Gabriel could feel the thoughts and feelings that defined him lose strength, all coherence of the material world lost. Yet still, he battled - he knew there was right and there was wrong; love and compassion; nurture and safety. Comprehension and understanding came slowly, as he coexisted with everything around him.

It was a hard struggle - there was nothing in this plane of reality to understand - and as time crawled by, the pieces of his consciousness fell deeper and deeper into nothingness.

All at once, everything he was rushed back into his being. His soul burned in agony forced back into alignment. The darkness remained, but he no longer felt alone. A presence surrounded him, the most tangible thing Gabriel had felt since falling into the abyss. It felt familiar.

Emotions and feelings began to rush into him. He was sure they weren’t his own, although they carried the same sense of closeness as the energy surrounding him. He felt rage and pain. Fear and resentment filled him, along with a sense of hopelessness. Then came a deep yearning, a longing for something lost. No, not something. Someone.

With that knowledge, Gabriel understood who it was communicating with him. To test his hypothesis, he radiated a feeling of safety. He focussed on how he had felt as a newborn - cuddled next to his only surviving relative. The energy around him recoiled immediately, then flooded even more information into him.

It was Lucian, though how he was contacting Gabriel was a mystery. The messages he received made him feel that Lucian was sorry for what he had done. More than that, Lucian was calling Gabriel for help. He kept sending a sense of impending doom and urgency. Gabriel couldn’t understand what his twin wanted to tell him. He emitted a feeling of curiosity, but his brother seemed unable to elaborate past emotions.

All at once, a second force invaded their space, enveloping Lucian’s presence and ripping the siblings apart. Gabriel felt panic from his brother but couldn’t do anything to help as the aggressive force flung him back.

He felt the two energies getting farther and farther away as he tumbled through space when a tendril of power reached out across the void and tore into him. His Being exploded with pain, and he lost all logical thought.

Gabriel’s alarm saved him more pain and fire. He rose from his bed, shaken by his experience. Slowly, he walked to the bathroom for a cold shower, pausing at the mirror for a moment to gaze at his appearance, trying to take his mind off the dreams.

He looked the same, unaged. I felt like I was there forever. Well, at least I’m not an old man, he thought. His ribs and back were nicely healed, showing a slight bruising remained as evidence of his battles. His black hair was getting a bit too long for his taste, he noticed. It was close to reaching the top of his finely curved nose above his eyes.

He kept his shower brief, not wanting to get lost in thought. He always liked to arrive punctually. He dried off and was zipping up his skin-tight black jumpsuit when he realized he had no idea where he would be training. Then came a double knock at the door, and Gabriel headed towards it, pressing his hand against the console.

The door slid open, revealing a robot identical to the one that showed him around the day before. “Hello Gabriel, it is nice to see you again.” It said.

It was the same robot!

“Hello, little one, are you going to lead me to my team training?” Gabriel asked.

“Yes, this one will lead you. I volunteered to come for you, friend.”

The Bot chose to guide him today? It must be AI, but that couldn’t be possible; that would mean that all the Custodians in the Spire were sentient! He had never heard of conscious AI being used for anything other than running monumental installations, and while the Spire was no doubt such an operation, why would they need AI inside every single robot drone they had rolling around?

The robot said, “Ahem. Orders were to be swift, please.”

Gabriel stopped rabbit hole-ing. “Of course, hold on a moment.” He closed the door and quickly summoned his suit to hover into place, the hum of the generator against his back comforting.

Exiting the room, he found his mechanical companion waiting patiently outside. “Please follow me, Gabriel.” He, as Gabriel had come to consider the robot a male given its blunt mannerisms, rolled along at a pace meant for him to jog. Gabriel followed promptly.

The droid led him towards the lobby, stopping at a series of elevators and pressing the “up” button. The silence that filled the air barely had time to bother Gabriel when the elevator opened, mere seconds after having been called. The ride up was no slower, shooting them up to floor 43 in an instant.

He wondered what kind of inertial dampeners were installed in the lift as he followed his guide, only to see they had arrived at their destination.

The other team members were standing around the large, circular room that took up the entire floor of the building. It was massive and split into two areas. One of them looked like a break room; a drink dispenser and comfortable chairs sat around a large holo table. The other zone was bare, save for the fact that the entire floor was covered in strange metallic circles.

The homey section of the room was large enough to allow the other three Supers that made up his Strike Force to spread out and stand, or sit, alone and unsocial. Gabriel walked into the pseudo-living room and sat in a recliner across from Rosenquartz.

The crystal man was standing perfectly still in the center of the living room setting was slightly off-putting, but Gabriel did his best to ignore the feeling lest he appear judgemental.

“So you’re him, huh? The hotshot that got skipped basic training?” Came a male voice behind him.

It must be Falco, considering no other humanoid men were in the room. Well, that and the German accent ringing in the man’s words.

Gabriel turned to his left and got a better look at his team’s Speedster. Surprisingly, Falco didn’t have the habit of talking faster than normal humans. His face had a glimpse of humor. He had on his trademark trench coat and ancient gelled hairstyle, having ditched the hat in his report. Various knife handles were visible under his jacket at first glance.

“Yes, I’m Gabe. Pleased to make your acquaintance, Falco.” Gabriel responded as he stood and stuck out his arm to shake hands.

A slight look of confusion crossed the super’s features, but he took the handshake in stride. His eyes lost their mischievous glint and appropriated a more concerned expression under his coiffed hair. “I’m glad you read the files, at least.”

He glanced behind Gabriel. “Let me warn you, dude. I might not take it too personally that you skipped out on the tests like the rock man over there, but the lady behind you is fuming mad. No, don’t turn to look! Just play it cool and try not to take anything she says at first to heart.”

He released Gabriel's hand and said, “I’m gonna go help myself to some gelato from the fridge. You want some? No? Are you sure? It’s lemon. Alright then.” He walked away humming.

Gabriel hadn’t thought that his abrupt inclusion to the team would cause insult. It worried him that Lilith might start something that could ruin any chance they had forming a solid team.

The elevator door opened, and out stepped Zero - covered in shadows - clapping his hands and thundering, “Alright, everyone gather round, it’s about time to start!”

Gabriel stepped into formation with Rosenquartz at his right and Falco to his left. The man was eating his gelato merrily, unperturbed by the appearance of one of the most potent Supers in history. Lilith stood to the right of Rosenquartz, so of her, Gabriel couldn’t get a good glimpse.

Zero glanced at Falco, and Gabriel sensed a rebuttal coming. “Enjoying your gelato there, Falco?”

At the speedster’s vigorous nod, he continued. “Is it lemon?” Falco nodded once more, scooping another bite into his mouth.

Zero stared for a moment before smiling, the whites of his teeth a startling contrast to his pitch-black form. “Perfect, they stocked the right flavor today!” He turned back to the group as a whole. “My name is Zero, but I’m sure you all know this - except you Rosenquartz. Nice to meet you.”

Rosenquartz stirred, and a gravelly sound came out. “Hello...Zero...Nice...Meet.”

Zero was unfazed by Rosenquartz’s lack of grammatical skill and went on with his introduction. “I will be the mentor for you all in Central Strike Force Gamma. We have quite a bit of training to do. If no one has any questions, I’d like to jump right into our first exercise.”

“I have a question!” Lilith raised her hand. “Why are being teamed up with this...this clone? He hasn’t properly trained, and he was never even tested against all the people who really deserve to be here. I mean, I understand Rosenquartz, no one else can deflect Pulse Lasers, but this kid could get us all killed!”

Zero waited patiently throughout her tirade before replying. “I vouched for him. That’s why he’s here.”

Before Lilith could voice another opinion, he sharply cut in. “That is reason enough, and you must accept that. Consider it your mentor’s first order.” No response came from the woman, but Gabriel knew this didn’t settle the matter.

“Okay, first things first, you are going to duel. Lilith against Gabriel and Falco against Rosenquartz. Each of you, go to the areas marked on the floor in blue, and we can begin the training simulation.” He pointed behind them to reveal four glowing circles projected from the metallic objects on the ground. Those must be for simulation display, thought Gabriel.

He hadn’t counted on the first training exercise being one-on-one combat, but Gabriel could adapt. He glanced at his opponent as they walked to the blue markers and almost tripped over himself.

She was stunning. Her dark hair flowed like a river, cascading over her round eyes that burned with emerald fire. He’d memorized her round button nose and gorgeous petite lips before realized he was staring.

That got him to notice her mood. She glared bullets at him, and her mouth set in a grimace that told him she would gladly rip him limb from limb.

As the team neared their respective positions, Zero continued his instruction. “The machine will scan you, and the simulation will place your minds into whatever world the machine desires. Right now, it’s set to the training dojo, nothing fancy today. Keep in mind that any harm sustained within the simulation is just that, simulated. So, feel free to go all out. I really want to see what you’ve got. Rosenquartz, you got that?”

“I...fight...hard?” Rosenquartz said.

“Good enough. Good luck, y’all, starting scan now.” The plates beneath their feet began to hum, and scanning lasers coated their bodies.

BEGIN SIMULATION