Chapter 2 - Meet The Kids

Nadia's first day at her new job has a strange start.

Before yesterday's callback, she had spent weeks agonising over the outcome of her interview.

Nadia had stuttered whenever the panel of stern-faced men and women asked her simple questions, questions that she knew the answers to, but was too stressed to deliver..

Yet somehow, despite her blunders, they had seen fit to employ her.

To show her appreciation, she arrived early to Lonryn's city centre, where all the great clans kept their head quarters.

Clan Bayne was headquartered in a tall silver skyscraper. A black and blue sigil, with a white spear pointing heavenwards and surrounded by seven stars, stood above the enormous entrance.

Nadia saw a group of security personnel slowly circling the perimeter of the building. With their painted assault rifles and unhelmeted exosuits, they made for an intimidating sight. Not even the Bayne seal on the left breast of their exosuits brought comfort.

A few of them had line tattoos and odd coloured eyes and hair, marking them as Geno-Soldiers. Amongst the geno-soldiers, was one so beautiful and with skin so smooth that she could only be a Valoured.

Her confident demeanour and tangible aura of power caused Nadia to stumble and nearly fall. The embarrassing act was witnessed by the guards, who openly chuckled at her distress.

One of the younger security guards, his name-tag simply read "Mouse", was cajoled into approaching Nadia. "Hello miss, name and ID please." He said too quickly.

After giving her name and military ID number to the security guard, Nadia watched him type her details onto a small digital pad on the forearm of his exosuit.

His eyebrows rose when the information came back, but he quickly controlled his emotions.

"Come with me miss." Was all he said.

Soon, Nadia was being escorted by the security guard through the massive entry hall and into the lift opposite the entrance.

The guard entered the lift and pushed a key into an undetectable slot above the numbered floor buttons. The lift began descending, with only Nadia and the guard in it.

After an awkward minute of silence Nadia spoke to the guard. "This elevator is really taking its time isn't it?"

The guard looked perplexed. "Of course, we're going down 200 storeys."

"Oh."

Silence once more oppressed the small lift.

It lasted another two minutes until Nadia broke it again.

"Mouse, that's a weird last name. Then again, you Clan guys from across the pond are like that. But I'm a Clan guy now too. Well, girl... I guess."

Her awkward ramble sputtered to a stop when Mouse's perplexed expression came to view.

She looked forward for the remainder of the lift's descent. Keeping quietly to herself.

The ride itself, awkward attempts at conversation aside, was smooth. The lift did not jerk or jolt, otherwise leaving no tell of its perilous drop.

At random times the lift would begin buzzing and clicking but quickly quieted after a few seconds.

"Mouse isn't my name, it's a nickname."

Nadia nearly jumped in fright. She calmed her stirred mind and realised what Mous- the security guard meant.

"Oh, well I don'... it's just- Mouse isn't an accurate nickname is all."

It really wasn't. The security guard brushed against the bottom end of two metres. If he weren't a bit too homely he could have passed for a rather short Valoured.

He shook his head lightly. "Yeah, it isn't. I only got it cause I usually serve with Valoured. They call all us mortals stuff like that; ant, pixie, bunny, you know."

Nadia did in fact not know. She simply nodded. She had only encountered Valoured distantly during her military service. The rest she knew from TV broadcasts.

"-and the only reason I got it on my uniform is because one of the brats gave a request to the Resource Department." Mouse continued.

"Those don't sound like good friends." Nadia delivered simply.

Mouse's face darkened. "They aren't my friends."

His expression grew pitying and he said. "Yeah, now they're your problem. Real sorry about that, mate."

Before Nadia could process his ominous words, the lift came to a gentle stop and the doors beeped open. Another Valoured woman, this time clad in golden armour stood before the door.

As a true Valoured, she towered over Nadia and Mouse, so much so that Nadia finally understood the aptness of the security guard's nickname.

The Valoured woman had honey brown skin and dark blue-tinted hair cut to her shoulders. A spear was hooked to her back and an assault rifle attached to her armour's side.

Truthfully, she looked like a war goddess pulled from some Forsworn tribe's pantheon. The unknown warrior's aura exuded bloodthirst and rage, strong enough that Nadia felt suffocated by it.

"Mouse, who's this?" The warrior asked after giving Nadia a quick inspection.

The security guard besides Nadia seemed to pale. "Captain Bayne. This is miss Nadia Youssef. She came in this morning. She's the new nanny."

"Overseer?"

"Overseer, yes, you're absolutely right Captain Bayne. My fault, I apologise." The intimidating Mouse from earlier had disappeared in front of this vicious warrior.

Nadia was taken aback for a moment by the word nanny, but in applying for this job, she was expecting some strangeness.

But more than that, Mouse had referred to the Valoured woman as 'Captain Bayne'!

A real Bayne! On her first day on the job Nadia had already met a member of the elusive Bayne Clan!

Captain Bayne gave Nadia another inspection before speaking. "Raymond hasn't seen her yet?"

"No ma'am, I was just escorting her now." Mouse replied.

"Good. I will escort her the rest of the way. You just return to your hole, little Mouse." she jeered.

Mouse seemed apprehensive about leaving Nadia alone with the domineering warrior, but his own need for self-preservation won over his meagre chivalry.

Mouse lightly nudged Nadia out of the lift and was quickly on his way back up 200 storeys to the ground floor.

Nadia found herself stuck in a white corridor with the strange Valoured in brilliant golden armour. Being more than a little hazy from her aura, Nadia was startled when the Valoured spoke: "Follow me."

Captain Bayne did not wait for Nadia's response before walking off. Her loping gait caused Nadia to rapidly lag behind.

Following minutes of silence, traversing sterile passages abutted by sophisticated alloy doors, Captain Bayne suddenly asked, "You're early. Why?"

Ahem. "Well, I wanted to be considerate seeing as you hired me even though I wasn't one of the best candidates applying..." she trailed off under the captain's pressured silence.

Captain Bayne turned abruptly, causing Nadia to almost bump into her. The captain bent her knees and leaned until her eyes were level with Nadia's.

With a mad smile. "They're gonna eat that up. Especially Nautilus."

Following that, the Captain resumed her hasty walking. This time, however, she opened a few of the advanced doors and showed their contents to Nadia, accompanied by a brief introduction.

—A brightly lit hall with three parallel metal tables.

"The cafeteria. The kids get served six times in a 24 hour cycle, except for the ones with deviant diets like Dee-Fox, S3-T47, and Babs and Bugs, they can get up to 12 on some months."

—A long window where green meadows and trees were visible, a false sky depicted the morning sun.

"This is the Grounds. It's mandatory for all of them to get at least 2 hours of sun per 24 hour cycle or else they'll get a bit funny. Especially S3-T47.

—She paused in front of a dark wooden door that felt more out of place than the fake outside 'Grounds'.

" The training hall. Mandatory ten hours, with the option to deduct two for reading. Some kids have permits for extra reading hours, but it must be deducted from the three recreational hours."

Following that last description, Captain Bayne fell silent.

As for Nadia, she had heard the word kids several times now, but suddenly the urge to ask intensified its gnawing.

"You've said kids a couple times now. What exactly.."

Captain Bayne chuckled. "Raymond will explain."

Those were the last words shared between them.

They crossed two more intersections between corridors, eventually ending up in front of an oak door with the words: 'Captain Raymond B' on a plaque beside it.

Captain Bayne did not knock, entering the room immediately.

The door opened to a cold metal office lacking any adornment except pictures nailed to the walls opposite the door, behind the office's sole inhabitant.

A short man with pale porcelain skin, a military cut, and clad in a crisp military suit lounged on the front edge of the only desk in the office.

"Theria, I didn't expect you back so soon. You change your mind?"

"Not at all. I just found a little mouse with a treat for you." She entered the office proper, allowing the man within to see Nadia.

"Ah, the new nanny. You're rather early, aren't you."

"Overseer, she's an overseer." Captain Bayne said sternly.

Captain Raymond gave her a pleasant smile. "Thank you for accompanying the new nanny, cousin. Would you mind calling for your father? I believe he'd enjoy briefing her on the kids."

Captain Theria Bayne did not answer, pushing past Nadia into the corridor.

"Close the door would you, Miss Yousef." requested Raymond.

Nadia shut it and turned back to see Captain Raymond standing away from the table and searching through a steel cabinet.

"Don't know fret now, dear heart. It'll all be explained in a moment. Riiiiight.... Here! There it is." Raymond spun, pulling a folder from the cabinet.

He flipped through it rapidly, pulling a page every once in a while to put on a corner of the desk. Once he was done he compiled them together and placed them before a seat on the table.

"Sit, please, Miss Yousef, I'll explain it to you while you sign."

Nadia complied, with a single enquiry; "What am I signing exactly?"

"Oh,you have an American accent? The kids will love that, real retro." Captain Raymond absentmindedly added. "Oh and this, it's an NDA. I know you signed one after your interview, but this one is the real one. Now please, sign."

Nadia resolved to carefully peruse the pages in front of her, but under Raymoond's pleasant smile she felt pressured to sign swiftly.

After helping her place her signature on a final dotted line, Raymond snapped up the NDA and said, "Good. Lovely, " while inserting it into the same folder he'd pulled it from.

He placed the folder in the cabinet and strutted to his seat on the desk, opposite from Nadia and facing the door.

"So, miss Yousef, how are you doing."

"I'm well." Nadia hesitantly responded. "I'm just a bit confused, I'm hearing a lot of talk about kids and a nanny job, but I applied for a secretary position."

"Ah, yes. The job." Raymond steepled his fingers. "Miss Yousef I am afraid to say, you have been lied to. The job you had been applying for was the position of secretary, but once your resumè reached our systems, one of our analysts found that you would be a better fit in a more... clandestine post in the Clan hierarchy."

Eyebrows furrowed, Nadia said, "The nanny position?"

"The official title is Subject Group 3 Overseer, but it is just a fancy way to say nanny." Raymond joked.

"I'm really honoured," Nadia hesitantly supplied, "but I don't know anything about kids. It's not the job I applied for. Matter of fact, I don't think there's anything in my resumè that says I know anything about kids."

A bright smile came onto Captain Raymond's delicate face. His beauty half-convinced Nadia he too was Valoured, but every other of his features was too moderate to be one of these special humans.

"You see miss Yousef, another applicant would have kept that to themself, and that's exactly what would have done them in. Add to that your extensive travel history, you might be exactly what they need right now."

"I didn't add my travel history to the resumè." Nadia said feebly.

Captain Raymond just answered with a patronly smile. "Regardless, our analysis is that you'll make a great fit to our small team here at S-3. Plus, I managed to convince my uncle that a six figure salary will do well at dispelling any lingering doubts. Was I wrong?"

With a small reserve of bravery she said, "Six figures annually?"

With a look of genuine bewilderment, "No, weekly."

Nadia felt her face warm and her ears buzz. Her vision went blank for a while, but when it returned, it had outpaced her hearing and remained so for several long moments.

"–so of course your move to the penthouse will be finalised after the initial week spent here in "the Hole." That's what they use to refer to the bedrock level buildings. An updated list of their slang will be provided to your barracks. You need to familiarise yourself with it, the last few nannies didn't and it led to a few accidents. Now, any questions?"

"N-no." Nadia managed to say meekly.

"Well I have one," Captain Raymond added, "Are you excited to be working with us?"

Looking up to see his beaming face, Nadia was shocked to find question was genuine. She endeavoured to answer sincerely.

"I really am. The pay is great and I get accommodation to boot. Ever since I left home I've sort of been looking for something like this, so it came at the best time. Plus, it's the Bayne Clan!"

Captain Raymond raised a soft eyebrow. "I thought you lot from the Conglomerates couldn't stand us Clansmen."

Nadia shook her hands, "No, no, definitely not. I served with a lot of clansmen during my off-world mandatory service. And the Bayne Clan is definitely one of the most famous clans! Right up there with the The Jians and the Manta Conglomerate."

The comparison caused the captain's expression to sour.

"After your service you travelled around for a while. Earth and the near worlds. Do you have any trips planned for the next few months, particularly off-world?" Raymond asked, promptly changing the topic.

"Honestly, I just travelled around because I didn't really know what to do after... all of that. Now that I'm solid, I'm just content to set up my life. Also, I haven't seen any Valoured since I ended my service and came back to Earth. Now,, I've seen two Valooured just today so this job is already awesome." The last words were delivered with a fangirl smile.

Captain Raymond chuckled. "Monica at the entrance and Theria?" Nadia nodded, "Mhmm, thought so. Do you have a fascination with Valoured, miss Yousef?"

"Who doesn't!" Nadia exclaimed with joy, "When I was younger I'd watch the Valoured Broadcast Channel with my parents. I saw all the great battles. Gumanda dying to The Scarab Army, Lady La Noir versus the Poison Hawk, Patriarch Silverod's battle with The Lich Mother, and I still catch Azure's defeat of the Demon-King whenever they play reruns at like, midnight."

Raymond leaned backwards into his chair. "And did you ever wish you were Valoured yourself?"

Nadia sighed. "When I was younger I hoped to Ascend naturally, but 21 came and went. Then when I had to conscript I thought I'd get sent to one of the mana-rich worlds and I would get put on the front-lines to Ascend-by-Blood. Good news, I was stationed on Heilryf, but I had a congenital heart defect, and I was stationed in an office job in the rear. I missed nearly every battle but the battle of Dower's Hill. Even then, I was shot in the chest by a barbarian arrow within hours of arrival and had to be evacced to a healer four days away."

With a chill mood, Nadia added.

"By the time they fixed me back up, battle was done and my 4 years was up. I was 28 and unlikely to ascend at that age. Funny part is, when the healer healed me, they also healed my heart defect. Ain't that a sucker punch. I was pissed, but there was nothing to do about it so I just came back to earth and here we are."

"Here you are." Raymond said, smiling sadly. "Miss Yousef, may I call you Nadia? Yes? Good. Miss Nadia, if someone were to offer you a way to ascend to Valoured, would you take it?"

"In a heartbeat."

"Good to know. Now come." Raymond rose to his feet and strutted to the door. He held it open expectantly until Nadia stepped through it, confused.

Captain Raymond briskly walked past her, silently leading her away from the door, taking care to lock the oak door with a silver key around his neck.

In a curt way, he said, "Also, you were wrong, Nadia, you've met three Valoured today."

"Really, who else?" Nadia asked, her mind running to the timid young security guard, Mouse.

Slowing, Captain Raymond turned back with a mischievous smile.

"You?" Nadia asked, "but how when you're so..."

"Short?" Raymond suggested.

"Normal." Nadia stated.

A booming chuckle came from the militarily attired captain. "Ascending is a deeply misunderstood topic. It makes your body better, yes, but an enormous part of 'better' is subjective. I guess my subconscious did not think I needed great height and eye-turning beauty to be better, and on that point, it and I must agree. Amongst Valoured, the less you change, the stronger your mental fortitude and identity. It's a mark of good Valoured."

He allowed her to digest his words before loping towards the direction he was leading her to." Come along now, miss Nadia."

"Sorry, but where are we going," asked she, shakily.

He was faced away from her but Nadia could detect a smile on Captain Raymond's face.

The humour was palpable in his voice:

"Why, Nadia, we're off to meet the kids, aren't you very much excited?"