Team Pure

Just as before a special taxi picked the foursome up from Micu's house again. Jane had wanted Jayce to come home last night but she realized her son was having far more fun at his friend's house. Instead, she made it a rule he had to stop by on days she wasn't at work. He had swung by in the morning to say hello and get a change of clothes.

"Jayce, where are you off to today?" Jane had asked him while they shared cereal together. He smiled at his mom, "If I tell you the team name will you be able to figure it out?" Jane thought for a moment, "maybe? Try me." Jayce grinned. "Okay, we're going to team Pure's base. What hub are they located in?"

Jane searched her memory. She definitely had heard about team Pure. "They recruit a bunch of humans don't they?" She asked for a hint. Jayce nodded impressed. "Very good mom! They do recruit a lot of humans. But none of them have become anyone famous in their team." Jane nodded, she felt she was going in the right direction. "Major hub.... three...?" Jayce smiled at his mom, "so close! major hub two. But I have to give you props for coming really close." He put his cereal bowl in the sink and hugged her goodbye. "Be careful Jayce!" She called out after him as he boarded the taxi waiting outside.

A familiar robot was installed in the driver's seat. "Are you our driver the whole exam?" Jayce asked it. "I am, master Good. It is funny, your friend asked me a similar question just two minutes and 13 seconds ago." Jayce grinned as he looked at Ralnas. "Great minds think alike." He patted the spot next to him and Jayce plopped down next to him.

Their taxi zoomed once again through traffic. "Hey, driver do you have information on how much this car you drive costs?" Jayce asked as they bobbed and weaved through construction. "This unit only knows that it requires a salary most individuals never achieve to rent my services. I am not aware of my initial starting price. I would recommend calling the capability exam number if you are curious for an answer." It buzzed back as they flipped upside down to avoid a large crane. Jayce leaned back, "Nah I was just wondering, I'm not going to work that hard to find the answer."

They zoomed into major hub two. This hub was themed like a medieval village. A futuristic medieval village with flying cars zooming through it but the intent was clear. Micu leaned against the window. "I think this is my favorite hub." Ralnas twisted back to look at him, "why do you say that?" Micu pointed to the three castles rising from the ground. "The theme here is cool and all of the elite teams bought into it. So they built their bases to look like castles. I don't know it just feels...different I guess?" Ralnas made an understanding look and turned back to face the front. The driver slowed their cab down in front of a gleaming white castle flanked by huge spiraling turrets. "We have arrived, please watch your step."

As the four made their way to the door a petite woman dressed in a simple white robe stood before the castle gates with a sign that read "Chiron's Chosen" on it. Jayce glanced at the others before nodding towards her. "Guess that's our guide. She's a human?" Ralnas was curious. Micu polished his glasses, "So who's going to do the talking this time?" The three looked at him. "Obviously you?" Jenira said. Micu sighed, "I thought as much. Come on then."

They approached the woman. "Hello, that's us," Micu said politely and then pointed at each of them introducing them to her. She smiled, "We're pleased to have you visit us here today! Team Pure has heard quite a few things about you so we promise to try and impress you." Micu smiled, "Well then, after you ms....?" She jumped with surprise, "I forgot to tell you my name, I'm Anna! I joined the team last year." Ralnas turned to look at her, "Are you a high up in the organization already?"

She shook her head, "No not yet! There's a lot of really talented members to team Pure. I'm happy just being asked to be your tour guide today." She pressed a key into a small gate and ushered them through.

A hallway with high walls stretched before them. Statues of what looked like angels were positioned every 25 meters. In between, there were incredible oil paintings of what looked like religious moments. Angels fighting off monsters, angels being lifted up high by a blue light, angels praying together. Each angel was distinct in their shape and it was obvious that not all of them were humans. However, each had gleaming white wings and wore a blank white mask to obscure their faces. Bleach white robes with thin gold trim were also obscuring every inch of their bodies except their forearms. Every angel differed from the others only in the number of arms and legs or size of their bodies.

Ralnas let out a low whistle. "I've heard of team Pure's religious associations but this is beyond what I expected." Anna smiled and pointed to the individual statues. "Each one was the leader of the high order at some point. They can only serve a maximum of a hundred years but most chose to retire long before that." She continued leading them down the hallway. "This is our visitor entrance and although you can see it anytime I always like to show it to visiting teams. It's my favorite place in the whole base."

Jayce was awestruck and looked around with wide eyes. "Anna, do you know if team Pure existed when humans last won the grand prize?" She thought as she walked, "I believe they did, at least they were founded at the time. I don't know if they were an elite team yet. But! Our founder was part of one of the first mixed-race groups to attempt to claim the grand prize!" Jayce and Jenira looked at each other quickly. "There was even a human in that group! Isn't that amazing? We're pretty sure our founder was the inspiration for what angels ended up looking like on Earth."

"You obviously know you're stuff about the team's history." Micu complimented her. Anna smiled and then pointed them down a side hallway. "It's one of the core tenants of our team that you learn the history and join the religion. I wouldn't be a good team Pure member if I didn't know it well." Micu nodded but looked at Ralnas with concern. He was already thinking about how poorly Ralnas usually did with strict authority figures. He then glanced at Jayce. Micu sighed. His two best friends were an organized religions nightmare.

Anna pointed to a large room with a carved angel carrying a parchment above it. "We'll speak in there. I'll be right behind you, I'm just going to grab another team member so that you don't get sick of my voice" She smiled and then quickly walked down the hall behind them.

Ralnas sat down in one of the gorgeous white chairs set out for them. "This looks extraordinarily expensive..." he said with a tinge of awe. Jenira and Jayce sat next to each other and Micu swore they were whispering to each other but he couldn't make out the words. The door to their room opened and two people stepped in. One was Anna who had a small notepad with her, the other was another human who they didn't recognize. "Hello everyone, you can call me by my pure name Arik." He was wearing a far more intricate outfit than Anna was with thin tinges of gold trim around the sleeves and collar.

Micu stood and shook his hand. "We're Chiron's Chosen." He again pointed to everyone and introduced them. Arik smiled and pulled a table to the front of the room. "At team Pure the most important aspect of adding new members is this interview. No pressure though." Everyone chuckled at his joke. Ralnas moved chairs to be next to Micu and now the arrangement resembled a school room with the two teachers lecturing the four students. Anna and Arik then opened up their notebooks and sat behind the desk. "Are you ready to begin?" Micu nodded, "We are."

"Alright then, first question. How much do you know of the true history of the simulation?" Micu frowned and glanced at his friends. He noticed that Jayce and Jenira stiffened slightly. "I'm sorry Arik we don't know anything about that." Micu tried to be as diplomatic as possible. Ralnas chimed in, "and why did you say your pure name?"

Anna smiled and then quickly pressed a button on her watch. A screen floated into the room and turned on behind them. Arik pushed the desk out of the way and Anna stood to the opposite side of the TV from him. It was obvious that they had done this many times before. Arik stood proudly. "We here at team Pure follow the holy laws handed down from our founder who was a mentor to the great King Arthur." The screen flashed to an oil painting of Arthur claiming the grand prize. "She saw the truth after serving with him. The Overwatchers are our gods and we have not been worshiping them as we should have been doing from the beginning."

Ralnas nodded along and Micu resisted smiling. He had seen his friend adopt that look dozens of times during lectures he got bored in. He glanced at Jayce expecting a similar look but was surprised. Jayce had a look of barely suppressed anger on his face and Jenira had tinges of disgust on hers. Micu made a mental note to observe them more closely and turned his attention back to Arik.

"And so she founded team Pure with help from the Overwatchers. They gifted her the power to acquire enough money to found the team. They supplied her with excellent team members to earn their promotion to the elite team level. And now we venerate them in all our thoughts and deeds. Our goal is to win the grand prize so that we may choose to found the Overwatcher's religion on an entire planet." Arik was pulsing with pride and divinely inspired confidence. "All are welcome in team Pure so long as you cast off your mortal name and take on a pure name of the Overwatchers."

He then nodded at Ralnas, "and that is why I introduced myself as Arik. I have given up my human name in service to the great gods." He then stepped back and allowed Anna to speak. " Team Pure is the fastest growing team by quite some distance and every year new converts join our cause. We are only behind team Chief at this point in terms of numbers." She laughed, "Though I don't think we'll ever actually have more members than them." She then looked at the four of them. "Any questions?"

Ralnas had perked up hearing Arik actually answer his question and he raised his hand. "So how exactly do you stand out here if you have to all wear those masks?" He paused, "Oh! And how do you get the wings?" Ralnas thought for a second if he had any more questions. "That's all I have, for now, anyone else?"

Micu had been watching Jayce and Jenira's faces with interest as slyly as he could. The anger and disgust alternated between the two of them but remained constant throughout both Arik and Anna speaking. Micu's mind was whirring as he tried to guess why both of them would have such negative feelings about what they were hearing. He shook his head after Ralnas' question and smiled at the two Pure members. "Sorry, I'm good for now. Jayce? Jen?" He hoped that they might reveal their true feelings with the questions they asked.

Jayce smiled disarmingly at Anna and Arik. "I was just curious how many Overwatchers there are? You said gods so I assume there's more than one?" Jenira politely smiled, "I don't have any other questions, sorry."

Anna and Arik looked pleased that there were questions at all. Micu guessed it was rare for high potential recruits to join team Pure. "Well, those are good questions. Arik can answer Ralnas' the best and I can answer Jayce's." She smiled and stepped back to allow Arik the center of the room.

"We have four high angels. Because our founder was also part of a team of four. You may have seen them competing before?" Arik pulled up a picture and pushed it onto the screen. Four imposing angels appeared on the floating TV. One with shiny white wings who looked almost human except for his pointed head. One with deep red wings who wielded two scythes, another with bright blue wings and four arms and finally one with black wings who had one mechanical arm and one fleshed arm. They were obviously posing. Micu wondered if the picture was part of a marketing promotion of some sort.

Arik continued, "These four are our high angels and each has been with the team for decades. Our leader is Zakzakiel, he's the white one or the leader of the high order. Then there's his three generals Astaroth, the red one or the rage of the Overwatchers, Oriphael, the justice of the Overwatchers, and Anauel, the hope of the Overwatchers. Every team chooses a path to follow and train under one of the generals." Arik smiled proudly looking at his heroes.

Micu spoke up, "and which path did you choose Arik?" Arik pointed at the one in white. "I chose the path of the high order." His pride was dripping off him and Micu had to smile witnessing such staunch belief. Arik then pulled the top of his robe off and turned his back to the four. Tiny organic wings were forming on his back. Ralnas gasped, "that is sick!" Arik put his robe back on and returned to his initial stance. "When you get your pure name you get a special surgery to get these wings. No other team has our technology to make them organically part of the body." Arik beamed, "just another gift from the Overwatchers!"

Micu had to resist the urge to roll his eyes. "Maybe I can't handle such an intense religion either," he thought to himself. Anna smiled and then stepped forward. "And now to answer your question Jayce."