Chapter 1
Riptide Gym
"You know, you're better off getting a job at the car wash just down the street." Genieveve's boss, Alfred Oray, said as she stacked her three cups in a neat tower. She had her eyes trained on the guys and girls copying Blaze, the karate instructor.
"My first job was supposed to be the martial arts instructor, but Blaze got to bribe you." She crossed her arm and served a bright blue tray of strawberry milkshakes to table four. "Sometimes I wish I was that rich." She took a-hold of her necklace and glanced back over to the mats.
Chants of "fight, fight" echoed through the gym and she slipped off her stool to overlook the mats. Blaze looked as though he was going to murder the guy. She wanted to stop him, but their fighting skills were pretty good.
"Blaze, stop it!" A girl with long, blonde hair attempted to step in.
Genieveve approached the mat, but immediately stepped back as the Mayor barged in and demanded Blaze's partner to go with him.
"You know, I would bust your ass for that fight, but it was pretty good. So, I'll let you off on this one." She remarks, quietly slipping away.
"Maybe you should finish what he started." Blaze snipes back. She whirls around and picks up the lone pole, not backing down from a challenge.
"Blaze, you know I'm more advanced than you. This isn't going to end well." She swung at him, catching Blaze off-guard and getting in a hit to the back of his knee.
The battle ends soon after with Blaze on his back and Genieveve with a foot on his chest, her stick at his throat. They swapped handshakes and bowed to each other.
"Now, I will see you later. I have to get to Grid Battleforce before twelve." He heads for the male bathrooms and exits in a red shirt and black pants.
Gen ran up to his car and he rolls down the window. It was now or never for her. "Could I get a ride there? I have an interview with the boss."
"Sure, get in."
She slides into the passenger seat and straps her seatbelt on. "What's your position there?" She questions, drumming her hands on her lap to the song playing on the radio. She reaches for the volume knob and "Alpha Omega" by Machine Gun Kelly, plays louder. Blaze says nothing. "Do you work in the lab?" Genieveve knew that he could often be seen as conniving, but secretly he was a huge nerd.
"You could say that." Blaze finally says, parking in the back lot. "You coming or what?"
She slams the door behind her and follows Blaze into the building, the first room being what looks like a locker room. She recognized Ravi from the Riptide gym - he tried to intervene in the fight. They wore multi-colored body armor: red, yellow and blue, dressed like, well, almost like Power Rangers, but the world had stopped needing them three years ago. She was fifteen when she first met a ranger.
She had even fought alongside them in the last battle, power raging from her necklace and into her veins. Obviously it wasn't a freak accident.
