A steady stream of new acolytes, apprentices, and students were making their way through the Tower, following a trail of signs leading to the recruitment division's office. All available Chosen Ones were eagerly showing the new hires around, from the Sages and former Sages to the Keepers of the Sacred Mystery to the humble receptionists and interns that worked tirelessly behind the scenes keeping the Chosen criminal empire running. There were a lot of lost, bewildered faces out there, and while Miss Planner would normally love to help them all get to where they needed to be, she couldn't spare the time right now.

There was only one set of recruits who truly mattered to Miss Planner at the moment, and it wasn't because they were better than any other set of applicants in any particular way. It was simply because she'd claimed ownership of them before anyone else could, and she'd given up a lot of ground for that privilege. They were her four young fighters, and although they didn't realize it yet, they were under a great deal of pressure to live up to her expectations.

Miss Planner sat in her office reading e-mails, waiting patiently for her new recruits to arrive. Erica stood behind her chair, deep in thought, casually twirling her hair with her fingers. She didn't seem very motivated, but that wasn't much of a surprise considering she'd worked straight through the weekend and was running on very little sleep.

"Erica, did you want to go to the sales meeting today? There's probably still time for you to head down there before they get started."
"Oh. I forgot. I should probably go see how we did on Sunday..."

"If you want to stay here, we've got the first batch of candidates coming in ten minutes."
"Already? Which... which one?"

"It's the team I was telling you about last night. Remember? Kay's little team of volunteers."
"I thought they weren't going to be ready for another two months."

"Well, I'm fast-tracking them. We need people now. Two of our teams got sniped. Security division wanted them more."
"They did?"

"Yep. The college girls and the rich kids from Central. You know how it is. They always ask for the best talent so they can throw it right in the meat grinder."
"I thought the college girls seemed pretty nice. I guess we can't blame security for wanting them.”

"I hate it when they throw their weight around. Security always gets the biggest slice of pie, even though they never actually do anything except get promising young acolytes killed off. "
“Yeah..."

"So did you want to meet Kay’s team or not?"
"I think I'll go to the meeting instead, if that's okay... see you at lunch?"

"I’m not sure how long this is going to take, but I’ll let you know. Bye bye!”
"See you later..."

Erica stepped out of the office, closing the door behind her. Miss Planner pulled up her information on the new recruits one last time just to make sure she didn't forget any of their names.

"Let's see... Casey, Mona, Angelo, and Leon... Casey, Mona, Angelo, Leon..."

They were teenagers from North Grandebelle High who volunteered at Kay's homeless shelter out of the goodness of their hearts. They worked well together as a group and generally received glowing recommendations from every adult they'd ever interacted with.

They were perfect, all except for one minor issue. They had no worth in a fight whatsoever. They had good grades and they were excellent at passing out blankets and soup, but that wouldn't be of much help against the Controllers. If Miss Planner wanted results out of these kids, she needed to toughen them up, and fast. Maybe she should give Wiseman a little extra energy or something to make sure they got some especially good psychic powers...

Thump thump thump!

A quick succession of light knocks on the door.

"Come in! It's open!"

Mona Mooney's head popped through the door. She was a tall, athletic young lady with long blonde hair, bright blue eyes, and a goofy smile on her face.

"Hi, um, is this the right place for the interview?"
"Is that Mona? Come in, come in! Please, have a seat."

The four teenagers filed into the office with anxious expressions on their faces. The girls were wearing modest dresses and the boys were wearing bulky suits and ties, just like the office-dwellers of old. Angelo and Mona giggled and whispered to each other. Casey fidgeted with her bracelet. Leon was looking down at a fistful of papers with grim seriousness, but he kept stealing glances at the girls.

Miss Planner smiled warmly at the new recruits.

"Casey, Angelo, and Leon, right? My name is Miss Planner. I'm the Chosen Ones' general manager. It's so very nice to meet you all. Kay has told me wonderful things about all four of you."

Casey blushed and looked away, embarrassed. Mona perked up.

"Oh, really? What did she say?"
"She said that it's rare for young people like you to want to help out the homeless shelter, and she was very impressed by your compassion. She also mentioned that you were all very hard workers. And of course, she told me you'd make great Chosen Ones and that we should hire you as soon as possible."

Mona's eyes were sparkling with excitement. The rest were excited too, but they were slightly better at hiding it.

"That's so sweet of you to say, Miss Planner. I'd just like to say, um, I really like your clothes!"

Mona was almost too eager to become a Chosen One, which made her seem a little awkward. But Miss Planner could tell that underneath the nervousness there was a strong will and a strong spirit.

"That's very kind of you to say, Mona. I think it's very important that we present ourselves properly. It's a way of showing respect to ourselves and the people around us. I like the color of your dress, it looks nice on you."
"Thank you, ma'am!"

Miss Planner leaned forward closer to Mona. She couldn't help but be excited at the idea of hiring her. She loved people who were confident in themselves, but didn't try to act superior. People like Maxwell, Black Smoke, and herself. Such people tended to go far in life.

"Now, I've been reading through your application materials, and I have some questions for each of you. I'd like to start with you, Angelo."
"You can call me Ace, if you don't mind, ma'am. I think Angelo is kind of embarrassing..."

"Oh. Okay, Ace. My question for you is, what do you think makes a good team player?"
"I think a good team player... is someone who people want to be around. You know? Someone who's positive and helps everyone else feel positive too."

"Hmm, I see. Thank you, that's a very thoughtful answer. What do you think, Leon?"
"A good team player is someone who does their job right. They take care of themselves so they're able to take care of the people around them."

"Very insightful. And you, Casey?"
"A good team player knows how to cooperate. They know how to work with people, not against them."

"Good answer, Casey. I'm beginning to see why Kay was so impressed with all of you. Mona?"
"I think a good team player is someone who shows respect to everyone on the team. They're considerate of others and always put other people's needs before their own."

The teenagers' answers were polite, to the point, well considered, and well spoken. They were definitely all team players.

"I agree completely, Mona. I would add one more thing, though. A good team player has the humility to recognize that everyone's skills are different and complementary. They understand that each person's unique qualities help the group function at its best."
"Yeah! That's exactly right!"

"How would the four of you feel about working for me in the research division? I think it would be wonderful having people like you helping me with my work."
"Really?"

The four exchanged quick glances with each other. Casey smiled, a little bashfully.

"What do you research?"
"We make sure all the other divisions are running well. We gather data, test out new ideas, and make sure everything is running optimally. It's very important work."
"Oh, that sounds really cool! What do you think, Mona?"

Mona was a little hesitant to commit, and she wasn't afraid to speak her mind.

"It does sound really cool, but maybe another job would be better... I don't really know anything about numbers or statistics or anything like that. I'm still learning how to use a computer."

"Oh, that won't be a problem at all! Our research division does do a lot of work with math and statistics, but we do a lot of hands-on, practical stuff as well. I promise, you'd have a lot of fun working with me! But if you're not interested, you're not interested. How about this. I'll show you around the Tower and you can see what they do in all the different divisions, and you can choose which one you like the most. Does that sound good?"

Mona was happy to be given the choice. She looked at her friends with a big, dopey smile plastered across her face. She couldn't hide her eager, innocent enthusiasm from anyone. She reminded Miss Planner of an excited golden retriever.