Mr. X
The girl with shoulder length red hair, stepped out of the car. She had been at boarding school when a man came and told her, her father had died. She cried her heart out, for the man she barely knew and only saw a few times a year. The Alpha held her close. He was there at the funeral, he stayed by her amongst all the strangers. Whenever she asked about the future all the big Scotsman would say.
“You will be taken care of, Joanna.”
When the end of term came. An old, small round Omega, picked her up. At first glance Mary was very much like the other nannies, dressed in tweed and a tartan shawl. However, her brown eyes held far more awareness and intelligence than the servants picking up the other children from School. They then got a flight to Glasgow. Then a car had brought them to this island and the castle perched on a rock.
From the courtyard, the little Omega entered the keep at the back of the enclosed space. Through rooms and passageways Mary led her. Stopping at a set of arched double doors she turned the iron ring and opened it. “In you go dear” the old Omega said with a smile.
Inside was an unfurnished great hall of hight vaulted ceiling, grey flagstone floor and a great fireplace halfway along one wall. Ornate carvings decorating the fireplace, doors, the frames of the high arched windows and the beams in the roof. On the walls were portraits, some painted others photos, Joanna recognised one or two of the people, they had been at her father's funeral.
She was not alone in the room, others, about her 13 years were also there. The young man who once introduced himself as Daniel Carrington stood tall and imposing at the far end of the room, where a head table should have been. He was bulky without being fat or overly muscled, genuinely big boned. His black hair was swept back. In the corner was a shorter and rounder man, although younger than the Omega that brought Joanna he did have more of her look about him, with a greying beard and his mane of hair swept back and more salt and pepper. There was a definite similarity between the two men though. Behind Daniel was a full length portrait of the smaller man, along with another of a similar man but the other portrait looked far older.
Daniel's brown eyes caught her green ones and nodded to the wall by the big open fireplace. Moving to the far side of the chimney-breast one of the photos stood out to her. The photo was a man with lean face, leaner than Joanna ever saw it in real life. Auburn hair where she remembered silver/grey and before there was a scar above one of the green eyes. Her chest clenched looking into the eyes of her father.
She watched as a boy came in. He was small and round faced. He had dark hair with blond highlights and hard blue eyes.
Doom! Doom! Doom!
All eyes turned to Daniel. In his hand he was now holding a Shepard's crook with an antler for a hook. He hit the floor again, for emphasis making the doom sound.
“Welcome! As of this moment, no matter what you know me as. I am Mr. X”
She didn't know what was going on but Joanna nodded anyway.
Mr X pointed to a portraits behind him. “Grandfather, in his time Mr X too.” Walking to one of the portraits on the side wall. It was of a tall thin man with narrow face and a slight hook to his nose. “My Grandfather's most infamous student. Francisco Scaramanga. A million dollars a shot. Hallmark, a disguised golden gun that fired a single shot.”
Moving to picture of a scary man with grizzled jaw, with cropped blond hair and green eyes. Using the crook Daniel pointed to his picture and looking to a standing boy, of black hair swept back and gelled into place.
“Father” the boy said, in a reserved and upperclass English accent.
Daniel nodded. “John Preston is correct. This man is called Father he is not John's father.” Daniel announced. Joanna now knew the name of the creepy dark haired Alpha boy.
Not lingering on a picture of a small black haired man. Mr X said, “Dupont. The man who recommended John.” If Joanna didn't know better Mr X did not like the person.
Another picture was indicated. A black man with a shock of hair sticking up and grey at the sides. Mr X looked to an Alpha girl with long black hair and a boy with bleach white hair. “Sloane” They said together.
“Very good, Lady Croft... Fox” Mr X said to the girl. She too had an upper class English accent and had a way of standing, one hip slight out to the side that gave her an outward impression of an arrogant and blasé attitude.
Mr X then looked at the bleach blond boy, “And you Mr Teh-ah-time-eh” getting a smile from the very lean boy with slightly hunched posture, which disappeared when someone shouted.
“Teatime!”
The blond boy glared at the source of the voice. She flinched, Joanna wasn't the recipient of Teatime's or Mr. X's glare but the boy behind her was. The Alpha boy with American accent dropped his head, only the the sandy hair able to be seen. The boy muttered an apology, Mr X returned to his normal self and continued on.
“That is all that is needed of my grandfather's time. Now my father, who was also called Mr X by his students.” Daniel said pointing to the picture, ignoring the man in the corner who the picture was of.
Mr X swung the end of the crook to point to a picture on the side wall. The round faced Omega, who was standing as far from the others as possible identified the picture. “My dad. Cross” the young Scots Omega said.
“Wesley, very good lad” Mr X said
Continuing on to a picture of a man with a fake golden glass eye. The boy who shouted 'Teatime' spoke again. “My father. Goldeneye. Jonathan Hunter Sr.”
Daniel nodded, not needing to point out the boy would be Jonathan Hunter Jr. and pointed to the picture beside Joanna. She started breathing heavily.
“My father. Jack Dark”
“A good man Joanna” Mr X said.
That left the last person to arrive. The Omega was standing alone, like Wesley. A firm glare on his face. “There's no one on the walls for me” The boy spat, like Jonathan he was American.
Mr X chuckled. The noise bouncing off the stone wall and high ceilings. “You are right. The ones in the pictures nominated those around us. I nominated you lad. Everyone, Clint Barton the poacher with a two sticks and a piece of string for a bow and arrow.”
So on the first day the introductions were made.
--
The keep split the castle in two. On the island side there was the courtyard, with its portcullis, bridge to the island, stable block and guard houses. On the side that looked out to the sea. The grass covered ward with curtain wall around it. There was also a barracks where they had some of their training.
They were in a line. At the back of the ward were targets. Dark was holding a Beretta, it was small, felling more like a toy in her hand.
Mr X's voice called over the line of students. “The guns you are holding are not meant to be accurate at this distance. Compensate!”
They had already been told they weren't allowed to move. John was the first to fire, two shots hitting the dead centre. Then Fox followed with one shot in the centrer and Teatime got the centre with one shot as well. They were considered the best shots until Mr X noticed Wesley was holding back. The Omega liked Fox and didn't want to surpass her. A threat that if Wesley wasn't in the top three it would be Fox that was washed out. The Scots Omega put all six bullets dead centre, the only one to do so.
Like herself Jonathan managed the yellow ring outside the bull's eye. Clint didn't even try, missing completely.
Mr X's father gave a subtle shake of the head. Both at his son and the Omega who had given up so easily.
The next day they came out to the ward. The targets again set up at the back and a table full of bows and crossbows. Clint immediately went for a Greek style bow with a resemblance to a curving M shape. Fox going for a crossbow. A small fight breaking between John, Jonathan and Teatime over the other one.
Joanna picked up a light brown bow, with intricate vine carving. This one, like the ones she saw in movies was a long graceful arc with flicked ends.
“Have you all chosen your weapon?” Mr X called. Everyone responded in the affirmative. He then indicated the targets before taking a restful stance, with his hands clasped behind him.
Everyone hesitated. Mr X liked to teach by mistakes. If he wasn't going to give a lecture first. It meant there were plenty of mistakes to learn from. Clint stepped forward, the only one not to hesitate.
There were buckets of arrows of different lengths, heads and flights. Clint spent a few moments picking one. Loading, he drew back and loosed the arrow. In a graceful movement, Mr X pulled a bow from behind his back, loaded and loosed. He knocked Clint's arrow out of mid air.
The Omega looked to the Alpha in rage.
“Are you going to give up again like a whipped puppy. Or are you going to step up” Mr X challenged. Mr X's father raised an eye brow at his son's taunting but didn't interfere.
Joanna like the rest should have known. Mr X never gave up. Clint was paying for the day before.
The Omega moved quickly. Grabbing an arrow at random and fired. Mr X knocked the arrow off course as well. The Omega made an annoyed sound and tried again, and again, and again.
Clint raised his bow high above his head. About to throw it down in anger and frustration. Everyone held their breath. The first rule, treat your weapon how you wish to be treated.
Jonathan said to the other Alphas in particular, “Told you. If there's no point teaching a bitch to read why teach one to be an assassin?”
Clint lowered his weapon, loaded and loosed an arrow. He emptied the bucket beside him then moved to the next lane. With the first arrow he hit the bullseye. Looking to Mr X for an answer. The big Alpha stepped out of the way to reveal an empty bucket behind him. “I seem to have exhausted my ammunition. It's amazing what you can do if you don't give up, lad.” The big Alpha smiled his approval and pride and the omega returned it.
With the show over it was their turn. Joanna stepped forward to one of the lanes. She didn't know what she was looking for in an arrow. Suspecting they were to experiment she picked one with a narrow, light point. Hoping it would go further.
With the bow in her left hand, she rested the arrow on the notch. Pulling back on the string, the muscles straining along both arms, shoulders and back. Her fingers stinging, holding the string. Letting go she screamed as did a few others. Dropping the bow she cradled her left for arm. It took her a while to think beyond the pain and realise the string had hit it.
Mr X and Clint were chuckling at them all. Even the usually emotionally controlled John was wincing and holding his forearm.
--
On this Jonathan was her only competition. Clint and John were the next best. Fox, Teatime and Wesley not liking the dirtiness. Even Mr X had shown his Achilles heel, he was not built for running and they had to run to get here.
Survival. They were in the middle of the woods. In the centre of the island the castle was attached to. They were to survive for two weeks. If Mr X got any report of their activity they would fail. She suspected it was also a temptation tactic. To see who would cheat and approach the village and who would approach the village without getting caught.
A snick sounded a distance off. Joanna smiled. It had been four days since she had meat and now dinner was ready. Silently the beta girl crept closer to the snare.
“NO!” She screamed and ran for the Omega, the thief was stealing her rabbit.
The blond rounded a thicket and all sound stopped. Rounding the dense foliage herself. Nothing. Clint's tracks stopped. There was no noise. Pulling the thick branches apart. She couldn't see the thief. Clint couldn't have gone far. He had to be hiding. Backing up she sat on a log. Keeping the thicket in her line of sight.
It was getting dark and if the rabbit wasn't gutted soon it would decompose. Saying as such, Joanna felt silly speaking to the thin air. For all she knew Clint had slipped away and was eating the rabbit she carefully snared.
“Share?”
The American voice seemed to echo around the woods.
“If you skin and gut it.” Joanna said. She was hungry and sharing was an acceptable trade. And if she could avoid the part she disliked the most, all the better.
The rabbit landed in front of her. Looking up Clint was in the branches high above. Joanna was impressed, disappearing around a thick bush and climbing a tree without notice. She hadn't even noticed the omega when she looked up occasionally.
There was enough kindling and broken branches about. Clint did the nasty bit, skinning and gutting the rabbit. Joanna got the fire going.
“Beware there may be other thieves about” Clint called. He then brought over the butterflied rabbit. They both kept a watch out for anyone approaching. The fire, smoke, smell of cooking meat and sounds a big giveaway to their location. Picking the cooked meat from bones they ate.
“So what's your story?” Joanna asked.
“Dad, our Alpha died. We're not as bad in America with Omegas, but not far off though. Mom, an omega could only pimp herself out to make money. Omega Protection Services seized me. When I was being taken to the group home, the social worker didn't lock the car. When she stopped at a cross-walk I ran. Lived like this for ages,” Clint said indicating the woods around them. “Made a bow and arrow. A park ranger thought I was a poacher and tracked me. Thought his luck was in with me, I cut off his dick before he could stick it in. Then there was the cops. Daniel, Mr X appeared and took me away. Thought he had paid for my ass. Being trained as an assassin was not what I was expecting. You?”
“My dad was trained by Mr X's father. One day Mr X came to my school and told me he had been KIA. Then he invited me here to learn who my father was.” Joanna said.
“How Sweeeeet!” A voice said from the darkness. Jonathan Hunter the sandy haired Alpha. He was crass and had a nasty thing to say in every situation. However, unlike Teatime Jonathan was never physically abusive. “ My one eyed dad was a complete and utter psycho.”
“Rabbit?” Clint offered holding up a piece of meat. Joanna could see it along with the Omega. Both recognised a coping mechanism. Jonathan wanted everyone to feel as bad as himself.
Jonathan approached like a wary animal. The Alpha took a scenting from the air, making a judgement on the emotional ques of the omega. Being a Beta Joanna never picked up on them. She could tell Jonathan was an Alpha and Clint an Omega but that was about it. There must have been something in the Omega's scent. Hunter accepted to morsel and joined them.
“He tried to pluck my eye out so we would be exactly alike” Jonathan eventually said. “Mr X appeared. I had never seen anyone able to match my dad, and he was no match for Mr X.”
--
As days became weeks and weeks months. Joanna noticed there were groups forming. Since the night in the forest, She, Jonathan, and Clint in one. Fox was reluctantly in a group with Wesley, he had attached himself to her, whether she wanted him or not. John and Teatime were the loaners.
Heading down to the great hall where they started most of their days. It was not Mr X standing waiting for them it was his Father. From the table the rather round man picked up a knife and twirled it in his fingers, tossed it up in the air to catch it and finally balanced the knife across his index finger. “How do you know a good knife?” He mused in a soft gravely voice.
The were sitting in a semicircle while Mr X's father gave a lecture on knives. 'He had a nice voice' Joanna mused, her eyelids getting heavy as the man spoke.
“Joanna Dark! Just like your father!”
Joanna snapped her eyes open. “Sorry” she muttered and really tried not to let the hypnotic tones lull her back to sleep. Although it look like Clint had managed to fall asleep with his eyes open.
A few days later Mr X walked in and there was new boy behind him. He was blond with a hard, narrow face and cold green eyes. “Everyone this is Errol Partridge. John show him around” Mr X ordered. “I want all of you to spend the day getting Errol familiar with eventing you have learned”
The new Alpha boy was rather strange. He was quiet, very much like John. Teatime went through blades. Jonathan, SMG and assault rifles. Joanna took Errol through ranged weapons. He was nowhere near as good as Clint with a bow but no one was, he did accepted instruction from an Omega without complaint, strange for an Alpha. It took Jonathan weeks and becoming friends to even consider Clint's opinion. Fox still though Wesley was weaker than her when he left her standing in all aspects of their training.
Fox and Wesley gave the tuition on bullet dancing. As they were the only ones that could do the trick shots. They had all seen it done but only they and Mr X could get the bullet to curve around an obstacle and hit a target dead centre.
It was clear. And they all saw Mr X and his father watching them from the curtain wall of the ward. The newest addition had also been trained as they were being.
In the dorm an extra bed had been made up. They had all heard to various degrees each others stories. Fox, Teatime, Wesley, Joanna, Jonathan, John were all generational. Clint was new. And Errol was pressed for his.
Errol looked around, giving a shrug. Using soft emotionless tones the new boy described his past. Like Joanna herself and John it sounded like Errol went to boarding school. Then added, “Dupont was training met. The Big Alpha, Daniel showed up. We fought him, Dupont was killed and when I tried to fight Mr X, he exhausted me then offered a place here”
John surged to his feet. Everyone followed. John found Mr X in a large drawing room. The little round Omega who had picked Joanna up from school was there knitting. There was also a tall, thin Omega male, with lean face and grey at the side of his temples, sitting beside Mr X's father. Mr X turned to them and raised a single eyebrow in question.
“YOU KILLED HIM!” John screeched, his voice breaking.
It was the thin Omega, beside Mr X's father that spoke. His high and effeminate Scots voice and way of speaking needed a moment to understand. “John. Was Dupont a good man?”
John looked about him. To the other recruits behind him. To his teacher in front and the two Omegas and Alpha sitting to the side.
The Omega stood. He was well over 6', a very rare thing for an Omega and the source of Mr X's height. He was exceptionally thin though. One gentle breeze looked like it could send him flying. Like his son he was in an immaculate three piece suit. With a gold pocket watch spanning across his waist. He eyes were sharp, knowing and understanding.
Joanna watched as her fellow recruit who controlled himself to such an extent as to be emotionless, panic. John's eyes darted wildly from one person to another.
“Dear” the little round Omega called with a pleasant and reassuring smile. “I was once in Clint and Wesley's position. Sebastian, my son-in-law as well, was a student in his time. You are in a safe place.” She insisted.
“Prozium” Daniel growled softly and it was the scariest thing Joanna had ever heard.
“I need it” John insisted.
A tug from Clint had Joanna looking at the newest boy. He looked as frightened as John. “What's Pros... pro-z-thing?” Joanna asked. She knew there was a z in there somewhere but she didn't quite catch the name as it was said in the scary growled.
“It stops emotions” Both John and Errol said together.
“It stops deviant behaviour. Gets rid of those nasty little compulsions. It is chemical castration” Daniel growled. He then brought himself to his full 6' 6”. Looking between John and Errol he put a heavy note into his voice. It resonated a little around the panelled room. “You are what you are. There is nothing wrong with either of you or how you feel. It is the world that is wrong.”
Joanna didn't quite understand. John and Errol were looking at their instructor like he had just grown two heads. Mr X then looked at them all. Joanna felt frozen by his gaze.
“Learn this and lean it well. The needs of the minority always outweigh the desires of the majority. And sometimes, just sometimes, the needs of the few are more important than the needs of the many. Ultimately that is what you are here to learn.” Mr X then pointed to each student in turn. “Oppressed omega, ignored Beta, oppressed homosexual...” It was when he turned his finger to Teatime. “Oppressed Omega” Everyone turned to look at the overly aggressive psycho. He was scared. He smelt as Alpha and aggressive enough to be one.
“Think on this. Who are you?” Mr X commanded and dismissed them.
--
They were in the great hall. Mr X's Papa and Grandmother were there as well for the first time. They were all wandering about. Arguing, debating, shouting. Wesley and Clint liked it, as long as they were away from the aggressive Alphas, their scent didn't imped the Omegas ability to argue their points.
They were arguing law versus justice. They were arguing tradition and was it was right to do something just because it had been done before.
They had been shown and told about Whelping farms. Joanna had heard of them at school, some of the older students had even been to one. She never understood why they wanted to be parents. But it wasn't being a parent that they went for. It was tradition and sex. A chance to mount an ever rarer Omega. For Alphas to learn they were superior and omegas nothing.
They were also shown a burning of a Homosexual. A public flogging of an Omega on the order of an Alpha. A castration of an Alpha convicted of unnatural acts.
Mary, Mr X's grandmother who was sitting on a chair in the corner. She raised her voice. “Before. When we were pagan savages. A woman who could be father and and a man who could be mother were the pinnacle of the celebrated fertility. In times of hardship they above all others were protected. They could rebuild the numbers the fastest. But now, ever since the war especially, from Alphas almost becoming extinct to Omegas now being endangered. With Betas being on the cusp of being endangered as well. I wonder what will happen when there are only Alphas?”
Jonathan shouted from across the hall, “Nothing. Only if there is an Omega mother dose it change the odds of a one-in-three chance of a baby being born an Alpha”
“Inbred populations.” Sebastian, Mr X's Papa rebuked. “The chances of a Male being produce start to climb exponentially the more inbred it becomes. Weakness and defects are also magnified. Just look at the royal households though history. Only diversity creates strength”
“Homosexuals don't breed” Errol shouted. He was wandering, looking at all the portraits as he moved.
“My father did” Mr X shouted. The man sent his son a look.
Mary added, “An Alpha woman can impregnate an Omega male or a woman of any sex. However, if she takes an Alpha or Beta woman, their union is still illegal”.
Sebastian said. “Did you know. With an Omega mother, homosexuality is a hereditary trait. In my own, admittedly small sample group it is 100%. That included Daniel, his father, grand father, John, Errol and Jonathan”
Looking up. One thing had crossed Joanna's mind. Her father was Alpha. Her mother was Beta. So what was his involvement. “Was my dad Homosexual?”
“No lass. This is a very inappropriate use of the the word 'just'. He was just a good man. But that is like saying the sun is just a yellow ball. It doesn’t quite convey the magnitude of what you are describing” Mr X called.
Joanna's chest swelled. To hear someone talking bout her father like that. She hoped someone would talk about her like that one day.
--
They were in the great hall. Mr X was not in his usual suit. He was like them in a tracksuit. He was leading them through Gun Kata forms. Everyone had practice weapons. One in each hand. They were forced to be as good with their off hand as their dominant.
After warming up, and moving through the forms. They began the practice. Someone would stand in the middle of a circle. Then the others would walk, run, or doge about the room. Whoever was in the circle had to keep the two closest, trained with their practice weapons.
The last time Joanna was in the centre, she had been so focused on those in front of her. She didn't see Mr X come up behind her. He blew gently on her ear and she screamed and punched him. He criticised her for not being observant and from the floor were he was holding his jaw, he complemented her on the punch.
She was determined not to let it happen again. “Can I go first” Joanna demanded. Mr X gave a nod and they began the exercise.
Tracking the location of seven people was complex. Mr X was on the periphery of the room. She kept him in her sight at all times. One of the fake guns trained on Jonathan, the other on Clint. The two friends also the ones most determined to get close.
Suddenly Mr X stormed towards her. Releasing her aim on Clint she aimed at the Alpha baring down on her. She was trapped by his intense eyes. She spun, closing from directly behind was Errol. Switching aim from Jonathan to Errol.
With Mr X to her left and Errol to her right. Mr X started circling to her back. A pirouette and she was facing her instructor again. A feeling, Joanna dropped her aim on Errol and took up aim on Jonathan. The feeling of someone behind her didn't go away. Braking the rules she stepped back hard and fast. Clint gave an oof as they collided.
Mr X gave her a smile. “Sometimes. There will be more than you can handle. In those moments, follow your instincts, good, lass”
But the martial art class was ruled by John and Errol. Both followed the instructor's teaching until they could match him. Then Mr X's father added what he could and both taught them techniques they knew of but could not do themselves.
It was a thing of beauty to watch John and Errol fight. Not even a ballet dancer had the grace and elegance of those two trying to keep the practice weapons trained on the other, while avoiding being in the line of sight. Since both had stopped taking the mediation they were on, both had been freer with smiles and John had even made a joke.
The two boys were in a duel. Everyone had seen it growing. John was holding Errol's right wrist keeping the practice gun pointed away from him. Errol was holding John's right wrist also keeping the gun pointed away from him. John had a leg wrapped behind Errol's trying to trip him. They were close, body to body. Eye to eye. They kissed.
In the moment of stunned silence. A loud wolf whistle from Mr X broke the moment. They looked at the rest of the recruits, the faces of both boys going bright red. Clint hooted and Joanna joined in as did Jonathan.
--
Joanna could feel it. She arrived at Thirteen she was now fifteen. Teatime walked passed, his natural Omega scent trailing him. He was still a volatile little psycho but he was more open and relaxed.
There was no secrets, there was no threat, but it couldn't last.
John and Errol were on Errol's bed. Both reading from the same book. Fox and Wesley, Wesley didn't give the Alpha a chance. He wanted them to be a pair and he stuck to her until she relented.
Clint looked the most nervous. He could feel it as well. Unlike Teatime who was practised at hiding or Wesley who had a reluctant Alpha. He would be going out into the world alone.
Joanna was going to return to boarding school for her A-Levels. Jonathan was going to join Mr X in America, with Clint.
A small white haired Alpha arrived. He, Mr X and his father disappeared into the workshop for several days. Sebastian took a photo of all of them. He took measurements, hands, arms, fingers, height, eye spacing all strange things.
--
A clap woke them. It was Sebastian. The lean Omega waited until all were awake and alert. “You are requested to attend in the Great Hall”
Just like when they arrived. Mr X was standing at the far end. The first thing Joanna noticed was the wall behind Mr X had three portraits. The picture of the big alpha being added beside his father and grandfather. Also, like the first time Mr X caught her eye and indicated the place where her father's picture was. Below the picture of her father was one of Joanna herself. Her green eyes and dark red hair grown out a bit since she arrived.
Doom! Doom! Doom!
Everyone looked to Mr X, in his hand was the crook again. How he could move silently and without notice she still couldn't tell.
“Mr X, a title held once in a generation. I have born it and I must now give it up. I have taught you all I know. It is up to you to practice, perfect and excel. I am one again Daniel Carrington”
Doom, Daniel hit the floor with the crook. The little white haired Alpha came in carrying a large flat box. Daniel's father bringing in a load of other boxes.
“Clint 'Hawkeye' Barton step forward” Daniel called. Using Clint's chosen nickname.
Opening the box the little Alpha was holding, Daniel extracted a bow. It was similar to the one Clint had been practising with. Quite short with wheels and pulleys and string wrapping round them. Although this one was black with a webbing pattern to it. Daniel then presented it to Clint. The omega smiled and nodded. Clint was then indicated to take the box from the other Alpha.
“Joanna 'Perfect Dark' Dark”
She stepped forward. The little alpha had brought out an ornate box. Daniel pulled from it a white metal gun. Joanna had been around the guns in the armoury. It was meant looked like a Walther but it wasn't. “A Falcon. My own creation” Daniel whispered.
Accepting the box from the little Alpha. Joanna saw the gun had a range of attachments. All sitting in their assigned place in the ornate box.
“Lady Lara 'Fox' Croft.”
The long haired alpha stepped forward. She received an ornate white mettle automatic pistol. It was larger than Joanna's but the Alpha always preferred something with a more impressive appearance.
“Wesley Gibson.” Daniel called.
When the Omega stepped forward the little white haired Alpha smiled in his direction. Speaking for the first time in a raspy voice. “I knew you father boy. It's right you should have his gun”
Wesley was presented with what looked like a flint lock pistol. It had gilding and intricate decoration. It also had slot for a magazine which a flint lock shouldn't have. He was also given a range of attachments.
“Jonathan Hunter”
The Alpha was presented with a magnum revolver. His preferred side arm. Like Joanna it was one of Daniel's own creations.
“Errol Partridge and John Preston”
The two Alphas stepped up together. They were presented with the same type of gun. Each was given a modified Beretta 92FS. Much longer than the usual version and able to fire full auto.
Joanna smiled at them. They were like an old married couple already. There were times you weren't sure where one stopped and the other began. And they looked like they had just exchanged rings rather than graduated.
“Jonathan 'The Repairman' Teatime.”
The Omega stepped forward. He received the weapon he had grown attached to. He used it, cleaned it and treated it more like a pet than a tool. It was a simple Smith & Western Revolver. And it was now his.
Daniel then looked over his students. “You now go into the world. Errol and John, you will be with a friend, Jurgen. Fox, Repairman and Weasly, Sloan will continue your apprenticeship. Jonathan, Hawkeye and in time Perfect Dark will continue under my tutelage. To those who move on to different teachers, I ask one more thing. Make the world a better place, not worse”