The abyss was cold and empty. Places like this almost did not exist in Lagos! But today was already as weird as it could be, so a cold abyss in a hot city was no strange thing! Bayo fell to the ground near a large trash can as he vomited the bread and tea he'd eaten in the morning. This was, of course, his first time teleporting! Who could blame him? After he'd gotten it out of his system, he lay on his back muttering words. 'What the hell is happening to me?' he said with tears clouding his eyes. 'God, take it away! Whatever the hell this is...just take it away!' Amidst the tears blocking his vision, he could clearly see a reflection of light approaching him. He struggled to yank himself to a position behind the trash can, as he thought that whoever owned the flashlight was probably part of the people from the market. 'Um...Bayo?!' A voice from behind the light called out.
'I'm not here to hurt you!... I'm here to help!'
The voice ceased as Bayo struggled to conceal his muffled breathing, all to no avail! Although Bayo could no longer hear the voice, he knew that the person was not gone. The person then pushed the trash can to the side to reveal Bayo, weak on the floor. 'Stand back! I'm going to hurt you!' Bayo said, coughing in between his words. 'You can't hurt a fly in this state!' Chike said! 'Who are you?' Bayo asked in a subtle tone, almost losing consciousness. 'I'm Chike, and right now, I'm your ticket to safety.' As Chike finished his sentence, he administered an injection to the left side of Bayo's neck. Bayo muttered, 'What... are...you...' and then became unconscious. 'I don't get appreciated enough for this,' Chike said as he carried Bayo and tapped his feet twice on the ground to reveal a previously invisible black SUV not too far from where he was standing. He then walked towards the car, laid Bayo in the back seat, and then entered the driver's seat, saying the coordinates of his proposed destination. An automated female voice responded to his prompt, and then the car, with its maximum speed, zoomed off with blue flames escaping the exhaust pipe.
* * *
Bayo woke up to the smell of fresh coffee and a warm feeling, in contrast to the cold alley he had last remembered. His eyes opened slowly to stare at a large computer screen that spun from across the room. It displayed different high-tech images, giving a pictorial representation of different data from their sources. He looked down at his body to find himself lying on a sofa, meters away from the concave screen, covered in a red silk blanket with roughly plaited edges. He wanted to be defensive and quickly stand up from the sofa, as he did not know how he got there. But his body restrained him, and he didn't know why! 'Sade! He's awake!' said the same voice he'd heard earlier in the abyss. He tilted his head in the direction of the voice to find Chike standing there looking at him with a slight grin on his lips. 'Where am I?' Bayo asked as he intended to lift his hand to massage a growing headache. 'You're at HQ,' Chike told him.
'Please, don't hurt me!' Bayo said as he noticed Chike walking towards him, making his figure clearer.
'I told you earlier, I'm not going to hurt you!'
'Why can't I move?' Bayo asked
'Well, that's because you are under a magnetic influence in the space you currently lie.'
Bayo searched the room again, taking note of gadgets and technologies he'd previously missed. 'Just let me go home! Please!' he said. Chike then took a seat on the glass table in front of Bayo and said 'Nope! Not until you figure out your purpose!' A feminine figure then emerged from a door that appeared out of nowhere. 'That is probably the Sade that Chike called out for,' Bayo thought to himself. For some strange reason, he could hear his thoughts speak to him louder. He knew he had passed out as a result of the sedative Chike gave him. But it felt like he was awake the whole time....still in touch with his environment. 'Hi Bayo!' Sade said while walking towards him as the doors she had just walked out of began to close. She came to stand at the table where Chike sat, picked up the cup of coffee that rested on it, and handed it to Bayo. 'I can't move!' He said, making eye contact with Sade. 'Oh, right,' she said as she touched a button on the side of the chair. 'Magnetic Manipulation Chair! Sorry she said as she chuckled slightly. Bayo sat up freely as it felt like a heavy anvil had been lifted from his body. He reached and accepted the coffee, lifting it to his lips and taking a sip. 'I know this is a lot to take in!' Sade said. 'You think?' Bayo responded.
'Look, I want you to tell me exactly what happened today.'
'I don't know what you're talking about,' Bayo countered.
Chike sighed as he faced his head in the direction of the floor, signaling distress and frustration. 'You're not making this any easier for yourself by lying,' Chike said.
'Do you work for the government?' Bayo asked after he calmly took another sip of the chocolate drink. He wondered how he was so unbothered. It was probably because he felt safe where he was.
'No, we don't.' Sade said, slightly raising her tone! 'And if we did, you would probably be in confinement somewhere away from people!' Bayo rolled his eyes as he stretched his hands to return the cup to the table. 'So, what exactly do you want from me?' Bayo asked, raising his eyebrows slightly and once again making eye contact with Sade. 'Follow me!' Sade said, turning and walking away from the scene towards an empty wall. 'What are you doing?' Chike asked, standing up from the table and following Sade at a relatively slow speed. 'You can't possibly take him down to the training room when he doesn't even know who the hell he is!' Chike added. Sade looked into Chike's eyes and said, 'I know what I'm doing.' 'Um....I'm still here!' Bayo reminded them as they turned their heads simultaneously in different directions to face him. 'Come on!' Sade said as she raised her wrist to her mouth and said, 'Open training tube,' and a door opened itself from left to right, and she jumped in, leaving behind a confused Bayo and a seemingly angry Chike. 'You coming?' Chike reluctantly asked as he turned to face Bayo, who was now standing beside him. Chike, facing Bayo, jumped into the tube, obviously leading to a training room or something. 'This is crazy..... Freaking crazy!' Bayo said as he inched towards the tube, looking down to see if it had an end. 'Whooo, I got this!' He said as he got closer to the brim and jumped.
* * *
The training room had an all-black theme. It was very large, and there were training materials all around the room. Sade stood on the pavement, placed high above the room. It looked like she was compiling some kind of information. Her hands were moving around, and graphic images in the form of holograms followed. Chike, directly in the middle of the training room, was putting on some hand gear. Bayo was still on the floor at the end of the tube, indicating it had been a rough ride underground. 'You okay?' Sade asked, still very much engrossed in whatever she was doing. Chike looked at her and asked 'Me, or the newbie?' Sade then smiled and stepped on something that looked very much like a brake. As soon as she did, the pavement that was fixed high above the training room walls began to descend, and simultaneously, Bayo got up from the floor, regaining his balance and walking into the room. When the pavement reached ground, Sade said, 'Bayo, as I said, I know this is a lot to take in! But you have to understand that you are special and people like you.....' pausing for a second and then pointing to Chike 'Like us, can change the fate of the world. Her tone was compelling, and it seemed to her like it was working to make Bayo interested in what she had to say. 'How so?' Bayo asked. 'Watch!' Sade said as she put her wrist to her chin and waved her fingers across a floating hologram of a purple sphere. In a moment, it seemed as though the walls of the training room came to life. Different holographic lines were converging to form images. Sade then began:
'Some years ago, there was a shift in the weather conditions of our country.' She said, as the lines began to form a pictorial representation of clouds. 'The first phase of this new weather occurred about 16 years ago! I was six years old at the time, and anyone who made contact with a conducting object at the exact time a current line passed the atmosphere got electrocuted. I happened to be playing with a metal object; I need not tell you that I got shocked. I was rushed to the hospital, and after I was discharged a day later, everything went back to normal. But when I turned 16, I realized changes in my body! And not in the way you'd think.' Bayo nodded his head, having understood her statement. Sade then continued, 'I realized that I gained a power I like to call molecular manipulation. It basically entails being able to move things with your mind.' Sade demonstrated right after her sentence by making a steel pole come to rest in her hand by just pointing her whole hand in its direction. 'Cool!' Bayo thought to himself with an expression of amazement on his face. Sade then continued, 'But that wasn't the end.' She paused as the holographic lines again began to form new images.
'The second wave of this 'Harmattan Pulse' as it was called, hit Nigeria 17 years ago. And I believe you can tell that this wave changed Chike's dynamics as a person, too.' Bayo looked at Chike, who was previously also staring at the appearing images, and smiled when Chike fluttered his fingers towards him, signaling a wave. Sade blinked once after observing the two boys and continued 'This pulse gave him abilities such as matter expansion. In other words, he is more in touch with the forms of matter around him than an average human being.' Chike demonstrated by lifting himself above ground level and flying around. He was obviously enjoying Bayo's awe. 'The third wave affected your generation. You were just being born on that day, and it kind of affected the powers that became yours after the pulse. Bayo, you basically died for two days and miraculously came back to life when you were about to be disposed of.' Sade said, looking at Bayo, engrossed in the holograms. Bayo then looked at his hands and noticed the blue sparks once again dancing around his fingers. 'You came alive again because of the electric interaction between your cells.' Sade said, controlling the holograms to form a representation of Bayo's cells exchanging current by waving her hand. Bayo did not know what was going on in his mind in that moment. He had never felt so close to who he was. 'And at around 12:00 today, we detected a strange energy go off unattended at your school.' Sade paused as she stared at the tear gathering in Bayo's eye. 'You unlocked your superpower! And we are here to help you master it.' Bayo then wiped the tear in his eye as all the holograms disappeared and said, 'Wow! Wait till Aunty Mo hears this!' Sade, as quick as lightning, then told him 'Look, Bayo, you can tell no one! A person who possesses supernatural powers is definitely a threat to everyone. Especially the people we are up against!' Bayo looked at Chike in a second, who was now sitting on the ground, and then looked back at Sade. 'Who exactly are we up against?' Bayo inquired. 'The most evil people to ever exist in Nigeria...The Corrupt Ones!' Sade answered and continued, 'They are people who loot our funds, convert our resources, and make life very hard for the average Nigerian!' Her tone is now rising. 'As simple and unimportant as it sounds, it is a very pressing issue in our country, and even the police can't fight it.' Sade said, calming her tone. Bayo felt interested in the fact that he was going to be fighting corruption because Aunty Mo had suffered greatly because of the deeds of some politicians. 'So, when do we start?' Bayo asked, looking like he had motive. Chike and Sade chuckled at the same time, and Sade said 'Oh boy, we've been fighting crime for about two years now! For you, this is like a new job opportunity! So rephrase your question!' Bayo shook his head with a smile on his face and then asked 'When do I start?' Sade then looked at Chike, who was now standing behind her, and said 'When you're ready.' Bayo then eagerly asked her 'When will I be ready?' Sade then answered and said, 'You'll know! But for now, let's get you home! It's getting late.' Bayo then remembered he had a home and asked, 'Where are we even?'
'Thirteen feet under the ground.' Chike said, walking towards the tube that brought them there.
'No way.....' Bayo said in a very slow manner. He then continued 'Who built all this?'
'You ask too many questions!' Sade said, grabbing his neck and pointing him in Chike's direction. 'Get home first! And tomorrow, you could figure this all out.'