“Once again, good job today. I’m pleased to see you guys alive and…somewhat well.” Principal Jones smiled.

 

“Well is an overstatement. Both Teo and Shawn are battered black and blue while there are bruises on my lovely neck.” Rachel sarcastically remarked while she glanced over towards the two men in wheelchairs wrapped like mummies.

 

“Ah, well….” Principal Jones scratched the side of his head. “Luckily, we have state-of-the-art equipment just for that. Follow me. Let me show you the underground base we have here.”

 

“Oh! S-Secret lair! Just like the superheroes in c-comic books!” Teo couldn’t help but utter out despite the pain that each word caused him.

 

“That’s right. That is why you must never tell anyone about it or all the preparations we have in that lair will be compromised.” Principal Jones walked towards the storage closet in his office and pushed back a small statue on top of a pedestal.

 

The statue flipped over, revealing a lever. The principal grabbed the lever and pushed up. With a clang, the storage closet door slid open, revealing an elevator. The group entered the spacious elevator while the principal pressed the bottommost button for the base floor.

 

Once the doors closed, the elevator quickly descended down many floors before finally stopping at their destination. When the doors opened, Teo gasped in surprise. It was…not what he had expected.

 

The room was about the size of a standard gymnasium. There were about twenty people in lab coats scurrying about. Some were testing newly created devices while others were tinkering away. Where were all the firepower and cool gadgets?

 

“I-Is this it?” Teo couldn’t help but utter in slight disappointment.

 

Seeing the chubby security officer look downcast, Principal Jones grinned and patted Teo on the shoulder. “Don’t worry, this is just a small branch. The larger equipment are stored safely around the school campus.”

 

“Oh! Can we see them?” Teo perked up his ears.

 

“Unfortunately, you don’t have access.” The principal shook his head. “Currently, the Reformation Program has placed you all under probation. They aren’t confident in your abilities to fend off the enemies. I was able to plead your case and get them to agree on providing support once a week has passed.”

 

“I see. That seems logical.” Shawn nodded while the other Reformers murmured in agreement. “All these equipment must have cost a fortune. Giving us a probationary period will allow us to prove that we are capable of the investment.”

 

“That’s right. Anyways, come along. I’ll introduce you to someone.” Principal Jones took a step towards one of the enclosed rooms.

 

As the team followed the principal, they could hear whispers coming from the workers. Rachel could even catch some of them giving weird glances at them. With a smile, the curvaceous woman turned towards them with a wink and blew out a kiss. The male workers, who generally spent most of their days at the laboratory with no interaction with the other sex, flustered at the sight of a kiss blown towards them and stumbled away with burning faces.

 

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!

 

Principal Jones rapped the metal door of the room. Immediately after the third knock, the door slid to the side, revealing a casually dressed man with scruffy hair and sleepy eyes. The man squinted at them before rummaging through his pockets and pulling out a pair of thick spectacles. After wiping away some grease on the lenses, the man put the glasses on.

 

“Jones!” The spectacled man grinned as he reached out for a warm hug. “How are you holding up? Who’s they? The new Reformer team?”

 

Reciprocating the spectacled man’s hug, the principal nodded in confirmation. “Kevin, I’m doing fine. They are Teo, Shawn, Joseph, Sylvia, and Rachel. As you can see, Shawn and Teo are heavily injured. Do you think we can use the healing tubes to speed up their recovery?”

 

“Of course, of course! Follow me.” Kevin smiled brightly as he walked out of the room.

 

The group followed the scientist as they made their way to the end of the room where another enclosed room resided. After entering a password and scanning his palm print, Kevin opened the door, revealing five large tubes filled with greenish blue liquid.

 

“What’s inside the tubes?” Sylvia asked as she carefully studied the colored liquid.

 

“Healing Salve – they’re a fusion of magic and herbal extract.” Kevin opened the first two tubes. “Okay, help me get these two inside.”

 

“How long does this take?” Rachel asked as Principal Jones, Joseph, and Kevin moved the two injured men into the tubes.

 

Once the two men were halfway submerged in the tubes, Kevin closed them and began filling up the tubes all the way. “Given their injuries, eh…about two hours.”

 

“Two hours, eh? Okay, we’ll come back for them by the end of the day.” Principal Jones nodded.

 

The principal and the rest of the team left for classes while Kevin stayed to monitor their statuses. Two hours went by fast and soon, the day ended with the last bell of class ringing into nonexistence.

 

Principal Jones led the rest of the team back down to the base floor where they saw Teo and Shawn happily chatting with Kevin. As they approached the trio, they couldn’t help but overhear the conversation in play. 

 

“…and also add in some ability to say stupefy those who wear it.” Teo pointed to his head while Kevin nodded and wrote something down on his worn notebook.

 

“I see, I see. And then? What about you Shawn?” Kevin asked the mathematics teacher.

 

Shawn held up his left hand and clenched his fist. “I sometimes use a metal protractor in this hand. It would be cool if I could turn it into something defensive…like say a shield?”

 

“What are you talking about?” Rachel asked as they and the others walked up to the trio with piqued interest.

 

“Kevin offered to help us create a new skill as a sign of trust.” Teo smiled.

 

“Skill?” Principal Jones glanced over to the scientist. “I thought they couldn’t get anything extra because they were on probation?”

 

“Well, Shawn and Teo told me about the new monster they were facing and the hardships they encountered, so I thought I could lend a helping hand.” Kevin retorted as he nodded towards the three Reformers. “Teo here wanted a support skill and Shawn wanted a defensive skill. What about you three?”

 

“I don’t know. What can do with a book?” Sylvia inquired as she took out her book and flipped through some pages. “This is my primary weapon as well as my journal. I usually write some notes or draw for fun in this book. Do you think you can get some inspiration for a skill?”

 

“I think we can try.” Kevin grabbed the book and started to flip through some of the pages, revealing a few decent drawings of mythical creatures. “These drawings are very good. I think we can come up with something that will satisfy you.”

 

Kevin closed the book and handed it back to Sylvia. He turned to Joseph who pulled out his flute. “I keep this flute on me most of the times. I’d like a skill that could cause illusion-inducing sounds to my enemies like they show in fantasy dramas and movies.”

 

“Hmm, I think we can do something about that.” Kevin confirmed. “And…Rachel? What about you?”

 

“I’d like attacking with my flogger…I mean my primary weapon. Can you develop a skill for close-quarter combat for me?” Rachel reached into her purse to pull out the handle of her whip.

 

“Y-You’re fl – I mean sure. I’ll see what we can do.” Kevin’s bulged slightly as his face tinged with hues of red. “Give me your handbooks and I’ll try to magically program a little something something into them. I’ll give them to Principal Jones once we’re done.”

 

“Thanks. Your help will be much appreciated.” The principal smiled as the team handed in their handbooks.

 

While Kevin left to assign some work to the other employees, the team headed back up. After bidding each other farewell, they separated and headed home. The five were restless after a day of action and surprises. Just the thought that an enemy was still out there somewhere stirred their minds so much that they could not immediately fall asleep.

 

Shawn rummaged through some plastic bags and pulled out a couple boxes of pencils he had bought recently. Taking out a razor, he began manually sharpening the pencils. Although he already had a bag full of sharpened pencils, something about sharpening the new ones put his mind at ease.

 

At the same time, Joseph was at home practicing his flute for the first time in three months. Teo tried exercising but the fatigue and stress got to him. Instead, he curled up on the couch snacking a few bags of chips and catching up with some episodes.

 

Sylvia, excited for the new skill that she might be getting, pulled out her large book of myth and legends and started tracing over some images of the mythological creatures that might come in handy for future battles. Rachel was lounging on their bed in a rope corset while reading a book from their favorite erotic series.

 

The night flew by quickly while the team of five enjoyed themselves. Quickly, sounds of snoring emerged from their rooms as sleep took over their minds. Seconds turned into minutes and minutes turned into hours. Soon, the sun peeked out from the eastern horizons. Another day has come.

 

Alarms blared once more. Luckily, it was very early in the morning. Except for a few students conducting club activities, most of the people present were faculty so none of the teachers and staff were present when the enemies attacked.

 

The five Masked Reformers rushed to the principal’s office in order to retrieve their handbooks. After half a day of working nonstop with no sleep and cups of coffee, Kevin and his team were able to input new updates into each of the Reformers’ handbooks. Once the five received the handbooks, they hurried to check their statuses while they made their way towards the location of the abnormal activity.