"Commander sent an assignment." A bland brown folder landed with a slap at her elbow. Like a waiting jaguar, Li turned from the glowing computer screen to snatch it up.

Her first words were unintelligible but the gratitude came through clear, "I've been twiddling my thumbs for two months, just the weight of this could make me cry." Bridge Port and Surrounding Areas is typed on a white sticker across the top of the file. As Li examines the colored tabs, a line appears between her brows.

"Have you been bored, Little One?" Clive smiled and asked before she could interrogate him. Commander was the one to talk to her and take on that wrath. As hoped Li was easily distracted by this understatement, her eyes widen to take over her face.

"Bored?" Her hand shot up to grasp the air between them, mouth agape like a fish stranded on the beach as she struggled for the right words. Clive grined at the inhibited reaction and immediately she was composed, jaw tight, "Bored cannot properly explain how I've been feeling, Clive. Not to be dramatic, but I really thought I was being tortured, on a slow road to death. But you're trying to throw me off, what's this about? Bridge Port High School? Neighborhood & House? Neighbor Summaries?" Li flipped the tabs as she read them.

"You two are leaving."

"There couldn't be better news, I thought you were punishing me or something." Commander smiled back from a video box on screen, "So what's in Bridge Port that needs our attention?" No answer but her own slow heartbeat. She looked to Clive, who could only shrug, then back at the monitor.

"Ok then. Why are there no profiles? Who are we supposed to be?" Again nothing. Commander must have seen her shoulders straighten with growing frustration to prompt him to respond.

"You're going as yourself." Li's ears were sharp, the hitch in his voice did not go unnoticed. Clive wasn't included in that statement either.

"As myself."

"You're going to high school with Clive as your uncle."

"High school with Clive." She looked from one to the other again, needing to see both faces to begin entertaining this joke, "What am I bringing back?"

The hesitation was so brief that it could have been imagined, "That's yet to be determined." Immediately her mind went to work and she sat looser in the computer chair. Despite the relaxed posture both Clive and Commander were familiar with Li's moods, could spot the thoughts falling over each other behind the brown eyes. This was her shutting down, her mind was made up and now she was bored with the topic.

"Think of it as a vacation."

"People go to Hawaii for vacation, Commander, not high school." She waved dismissively at the closed file on the corner of the desk, "Something tells me Bridge Port is not a hot spot and why go if I'm coming back with nothing." The silence was thick and her eyes shift to Clive. His stare is even but unreadable and she didn't expect him to keep anything from her, "I don't like how the chips are falling into place."

"You'll be packed up within the month and you have the rest of the summer to acquaint yourself. Your leave has no end date but you're required to stay at least six months." From Commander.

"You're sending me to high school." Li hissed.

"You're seventeen, it's where you should be. It's time you took a break from this place." The video went black to punctuate the order, Commander was gone. She already knew Clive had left.

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Author guidance for This story

I had to change up the tenses and POV so please let me know of any mistakes. Feedback in general would be nice :)

Any and all are welcome to join, just let me know in the thread (http://www.protagonize.com/group/collaborative-corner/topic/1469) and keep an eye there for the important stuff ^_^

This story takes place in the town of Bridge Port and it's high school, the area can be seen as a city area in it's center (school, malls, etc.), family homes and communities around that, then more spacious the farther from the center a person travels.

As far as Commander knows Li and Clive are the only people with gifts in the area but things sometimes change.

The Facility can be thought of as a homeland security kind of set up that does not work under any country's government. It occupies it's own (cloaked) island and takes contracts from any government to capture the baddies. However, they predominantly operate for the protection and training of those who are gifted. There are those that live here by choice and some because of their appearance, but there are ways to leave the island (teleport, boat, plane, highway, etc.).

Characters
Li Morrigan - Age: 17, Gifted (Ar'cusak), Earth elemental & ancient, high school junior, 5' 6", brown eyes, heart shaped face, blackhair to middle of back, slim build
Clive Morrigan - Age: (Appears 35), gifted (Dan'cusak), Guardian, solid, muscled build, low cut, dark hair, 6'8", green eyes, square face.
Damien 'Slick' Silver - Age: 17, no gifts, high school junior, 6'3", brown eyes, dark hair.
Avani 'Pixie' Lori - Age: 17, Gifted (undiscovered pixie), Earth and some light, high school junior, 5'2", green & gold eyes, mid-back, curly, brown hair (has lots of wigs though), round face.

updated May 19 '10 by Grim.R