After our little coffee break, I took the team to the house we use as our accommodation and headquarters. It is a three-story house with twelve bedrooms, with a massive shared living area consisting of a kitchen, a large living room, a game zone, and a bar, which we cannot fill with alcoholic drinks for now but looks good, and a workshop big as the house next to it for me to work. My robots carrying our team's personal belongings began working hours ago.

 

"This place wasn't cheap, but I did some calls, and the school built it for us for a reasonable price, so welcome to your headquarters and the new home for the next six years."

 

Stephanie rushed inside. "A kitchen connected with this living room, arcade games on the corner! And all those gadgets, from high-quality coffee makers to a massive television. God bless this school."

 

Rest followed her inside. And believe me, all of them were at least as thrilled as Stephanie. But who wouldn't? I spent extra time to make this place good as I could.

 

I coughed to take their interest. "So, if everyone is satisfied with our common living space, let me inform you about private rooms. There are twelve bedrooms in total. All rooms have an ac unit, a bathroom with a bath, a bed, a desk, and a wardrobe for belongings. More importantly, the laundry unit is on the first floor if anyone asks, and we have an elevator too, but we have one last place that I must show all of you. Follow me."

 

I moved towards the elevator and forcefully ripped the control panel. Behind it, there was a handprint reader. After scanning it, the elevator opened with a red light. "Come one. This thing can carry all of us."

 

We all entered the elevator. It quickly took us deep underground. Here are our actual headquarters. We have a large conference room with a giant table with an earth hologram showing active Crimson attacks, an armory for everyone's spare weapons, and a private sparing arena. But these are nothing. The last and most important thing is a massive underground warehouse/factory that holds hundreds of different machines I designed or made in the past. I maintain almost all my armors, five drone tanks with heavy weaponry, and hundreds of sentry robots. I even have one ground attack UAV with its control unit.

 

Of course, the whole operation center and whare house are on different height levels, and we see all the equipment from a balcony twenty-five meters up from the store floor, so you may ask how I might carry these things in times of need. The short answer is aircraft carrier-style elevators that can carry up to 70 tons.

 

"Holly shit. How did you even get your hands on all these things." Lucas jumped down and slowed himself to safely reached the bottom using his abilities. "There is an entire army in here." His shouting barely reached up here.

 

"My abilities, UDC funding, and deep connections with several weapon factories. Sadly I have restricted access to all this stuff. Yes, my weaponry. UDC is quite strict, you know. So, this place is only for high-risk jobs. Like a fortress raid or defending the school against a rift."

 

"Okey! But now I have a new question. How do I get up there."

 

"By stairs."

 

"Nope, not doing that." Suddenly bluish lights flashed downwards, and we saw Lucas flying towards us. He created an explosion under himself and used it to go up here. Yet he managed to miss the balcony, but thankfully, Steinar immediately grabbed and pulled him to safety.

 

"Be more careful, friend. I am the one who can do all stupid things and still survive, not you."

 

"I will try to." Lucas dusted his clothes. "So, good place."

 

Yin tapped my shoulder. "Mister Leonard, I have so many questions, which I don't think I can get answers to, but how much budget do you get for all these things."

 

"After I entered the Horizon, I got a little raise, so around hundred, or hundred fifty million for now."

Marco began stuttering. "Hundred and fifty million! Hun- Hundred and fifty? I cannot even think about it. Like I stopped many bank robbers and such, but I doubt if all the amount they stole is a quarter of that."

 

"It is only to spend over weapons and all. UDC tracks every cent I spent, so I can only use this money on military projects like my tanks or armors."

 

Olie jumped to the middle of the group."Okay, if everyone has finished their talk, shall we finish setting ourselves to our rooms."

 

Everyone agreed on it.

 

*****

Everyone is sitting in the living room, eating snacks we ordered and talking with each other.

 

Marco is talking about his experiences as a vigilante to Stephanie and Ivan at the bar, Lucas is talking with Yin about a book they like, and Steinar is lying on a couch, doing nothing. Lastly, Olie is preparing tea in the kitchen.

 

I suppose our team got used to each other quite well. Maybe too well.

 

And suddenly our door ringed.

 

"Leave it to me." I got up and opened the front door.

 

A man that I assume was around the middle of his 40s. With his black hair with grays scattered around and stubble in a similar state, he might even be older. He also has an id card hanging from his neck and a briefcase in his left hand.

 

Jacob Smith. He works as a combat history teacher for second years, at least according to the id card hanging from his neck.

 

"Hello kids, are all of the members of this team inside."

 

"Oh, we are. Please, get inside." I fully opened the door and moved to the side.

 

"Thank you." He entered the house and moved towards the living room. "Hello, everyone. I am one of your teachers at Horizon, and I am here to give you your student id cards. Now the person I call its name, please come forward and grab your card."

 

He placed his briefcase on a counter and then grabbed several phone-sized metal cards from inside of it. "First student, Stephanie Baker."

 

"Here." She jumped forward. In a blink of an eye, she grabbed the id from the teacher's hand, then immediately began inspecting it. "Shiny, I like it. They even put the cute picture I sent, yes!"

 

"Glad you are happy. The next person is Marco Castro."

 

Marco got up from the couch he was sitting on and grabbed his id. "Looks nice."

 

"Good, next is Steinar Gleb."

 

"That would be me." He grabbed the id. "Thank you, sir."

 

"Thank you too, now twins next. Leonard and Olivia Clock. Hey, kids of James, right? I once worked with that guy in the past." I remember my father talking about some of his friends leaving field jobs and becoming teachers. This guy was probably one of them.

 

"I got it." I grabbed the id cards from the teacher's hand and threw Olie's to her. "Think fast."

 

She grabbed the id mid-air using a tentacle. "Faster than you think, hey, I look nice in this picture, but where did my scar go?"

 

"Ah, don't worry about much. I think schools use an AI filter on all photos, which makes some kids more comfortable with their ID photos." The teacher said while grabbing the last three ids.

 

"Oh, I got it. Thanks for the extra effort." Thanks, yes. But I am worried for her. Olie is currently wearing a dress with long sleeves and a skirt reaching to her shoes. In short, she is hiding as many scars as she can hide. Perhaps she feels uncomfortable in this foreign environment, but hopefully, she can break this. There is nothing to be ashamed of or sad about those.

 

"Okay, Yin, you have no surname or photo, kid. There must be a mistake."

 

Yin grabbed the id and began changing his face. "A long story, but I don't have a family, neither I remember what my original look is, so I prefer this, but I already have my DNA in the id bank."

 

"Huh, weirdest thing I see today. Now, the next person is Ivan Tabidzane. Ah, you are from the Caucasus. How is that place doing nowadays? I once got assigned there to help against a region-wide Crimson invasion when I was still a field agent but never had the chance to go there again."

 

Ivan sighed. "Same shithole, no difference. If you are near a trade way or resource-rich location, the government and UDC do everything to protect you, but if you are from anywhere else, good luck surviving against all the wild Crimsons lurking in the mountains."

 

"Just like Africa then, how bad. Now next, Lucas Smith. Wait, aren't you from the States? I think Horizon has the same entrance score as Arsenal. What are you doing here."

 

Lucas grabbed the id, put it in his pocket then pointed it toward me. "That guy, plus I have some close relatives living in Europe."

 

"Okay, now with you, it should be all. Now watch this." The teacher pulled another id card and pressed his picture. A little hologram screen appeared on top of the card shortly after. "You can get rest if the information you need, check time for your classes, make calls with other students, and even use it as a credit card after getting school credits. That's cool, isn't it?"

 

"The coolest." Stephanie was the first of us to open the card. "Oh, I can even see what class I am at, 1-D, wait? Is it bad?"

 

"No, Horizon classes are random till the second year. But for second years, D is above average, but believe me, D of Horizon is better than A of most schools." Teacher coughed. "Well, since I think as a teacher my job is to let you know all you need about this school, let me give a short explanation about the topic then. There are Twelve first classes, from A to J, there is also the special class for this year, X class, and while all but one class is the random first year, it will be your performance through the year that will put you to your new class. A is the best, and J is don't."

 

"So, are we all D?" Steinar showed his holoscreen.

 

"It appears to be." Lucas showed his.

 

And the rest of the team showed too. All D. Well, here comes my privileged ass. "Sadly, not all." I showed my holoscreen. "Class X."

 

"What! How you can be class X while I'm D." Olie slammed the table in front of her with outrage, but she cooled off fast. "Oh wait, I think you told me about a special test before."

 

"Yeah, when we were at the Prag, now. Let me explain my reason for that and other things about our team." Today will be a long day.