The meeting room becomes slightly more tense. Stifled. The air stops moving. And Hale brushes his hair out of his eyes as he and Alex catch each other’s gaze.“Question?” Alex asks.Hale shakes his head, signaling that he has nothing to say. He wipes his eyes and looks toward Sam sitting next to him, a smug grin on his face.Hale turns toward Gaby. Her hair twisting around her index finger. Could anybody be more girly?Alex turns and faces the front projector screen as Hale raises his hand at light speed.“I actually do have a question,” Hale asks.“What is it Hermes?”The team turns and faces him. All but Hugo, who sits still watching the screen intently.“Hugo, you don’t care?” Hale asks.“Not really. I’d rather just finish the presentation. It’s a lot more exciting than whatever you have to say,” Hugo answers back.Gaby laughs as Hale’s face turns red. He cracks his knuckles in rapid succession and a small mini-burst of sound erupts from the knuckles. This catches Hugo’s attention.Hale smiles and brushes his hair back.“My question was going to be very simple. I was going to ask when we could get out of here.”The team groans and turns back to face the front. Hale begins to tap his foot quickly against the tile floor, quicker and quicker until another small burst explodes beneath his foot. Alex, angered, glares at him. All Hale can do is smile and wave. His hand rips through the air at lightning speed. He laughs again.“I really wish you’d grow up. The sooner you do, the sooner we can adjourn,” Alex says.“Seriously,” Sam answers back, “it’s pretty sad when the 10 year old acts older than you.”Hugo turns and shoots his tongue out at Hale. He becomes incensed. He juts his eyes back and forth around the room at all the people standing around. Mulling. Slowly letting life pass them by.He stands and turns, his back pointed toward Alex. “What do you think you’re doing?” “Leaving,” Hale answers.“You know you aren’t authorized to leave. Unless it’s as a team or for a function, you’re not permitted anywhere in the city,” Alex demands.Hale stops and puts his hand up in the air. He taps his foot again rapidly.“Yes?” Alex asks.“May I be excused?”“Why don’t you just sit down and pay attention,” Sam says.“Make me,” Hale answers.He blasts out of the meeting room at top speed and turns down the hall. Screaming comes from the room, but he no longer hears it. He’s moving so fast, he just broke the sound barrier. He feels a little bad for the scientist he just knocked to the floor when that happened.He screeches and his heels squeal against the tile as he makes his way to the elevators. He looks around as the people all stare at him. Disapproving looks. He bites his fingernails and looks down toward the ground.He grabs his headphones out of his front pocket of his hoodie and pops them in his ears. The loud drone and bass boom of the music rock his ears and he lifts his head up as the floor shakes. A number of large guards approach him in stampede formation.He laughs at the sight of the winded, middle-aged men approaching. The first one reaches him and places his hand on Hale’s shoulder.Winded, he talks. “You’re…not supposed…to leave, I…” the guard says.“Finish that sentence quick, I gotta run.”The guard’s hand still on his shoulder, Hale blasts through the stampede of guards, the one tugging tightly against his hoodie. He laughs loudly as the music blares in his ears, and smashes against the guards.The middle-aged guard is thrown aside as he makes his way down the great hallway toward the stairwell, and down it toward the main lobby.“Piece of cake,” he says. He stops suddenly and falls to his knees. His music drones and drums loudly against his ears as guards, scientists, and the rest of Team Zeus fill the lobby area.“Seriously?” he asks.“Seriously Hale, we told you you aren’t permitted to leave,” Alex says.“I didn’t ask permission…”He blasts straight toward the front entrance through the guards. Mayhem breaks out and sheer insanity fills the room. The low growls of the men and women he blasts through are barely audible over his music.He doesn’t care. He just smiles to himself as the light from outside starts to bathe over him. He usually hates sunlight, but today is special, today is his…A lightning bolts rocks the ground beneath his feet, his music skips, and the headphones pop out of his ears. He falls face first, screeching against the tile. Hugo laughs as he begins to brush himself off. He looks back toward the door and blasts toward it again, screaming.Zeus blasts in front of him once more, stopping Hale in his tracks. He glares back at Sam and races toward him. He runs around him in circles, racing as quickly as possible and trapping the air around Sam.Sam falls to the ground, gasping for air, and Hale laughs, his feet slapping against the tile at full speed, another burst of sound explodes as he makes his way to the doors.“I’m gonna make it.”He looks over his shoulder as the team rushes to Sam, helping him up off the ground. No one attempts to stop him at this point, the door is right in front of him. He’s clear. Easy escape.He stops running and turns back, looking at the team.Sam coughs and looks over at Hale, who smiles at him.“Come on, it’s no fun if you’re not all playing along!” Hale says.Sam laughs. Hale smiles and puts his headphones back in as Alex glares at him.“It was all a game? This was just your way of having fun?” Alex asks.Hale walks smugly past him with his hands in his pockets and smirks.“Sure livened up that meeting, didn’t it?” The end.
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