"Congratulations," the skull man began. "My name is Mr. Bones. You have all chosen to join the DEO. Let me tell you that was a really good idea."

Hank thought to himself that the name Mr. Bones was very fitting. The sight of this guy gave him chills.

"All of you were brought to our attention due to your unique abilities," Mr. Bones said.

He stepped in front of Hank and said, "Mr. Hall, when you say the word ‘Hawk' you gain enhanced strength, flight, enhanced speed, and the ability to be completely unpredictable in battle."

Then he stepped in front of the pretty blonde girl, "Ms. Granger, when you say the word ‘Dove' you gain the ability of flight, enhanced strength and speed, as well as the ability to see the tactical patterns of any opponent."

He then stepped in front of the large Samoan, he was wearing a light blue suit. his belt had many buckles made of many different substances, "Mondo, you have the ability to gain the properties of whatever you are in contact with."

Hank looked over and the man called Mondo. Mondo was a very muscular guy.

"I will leave the three of you, so you can get acquainted. Tomorrow we start training with some of our other agents."

Mr. Bones left the training room leaving Hank standing there with Ms. Granger and Mondo.

"Hi," Hank began. "In case either of you were wondering my name is Hank, and I don't know about either of you, but so far this place has me terrified."

"Thank god, I thought I was the only one," Ms. Granger said. "Oh yeah, and my name is Dawn, so don't call me Ms. Granger please."

Hank and Dawn looked at Mondo as he stood there silently.

"You going to tell us anything about yourself big guy?" Dawn asked.

Mondo continued to look at them before he started. "My name's Mondo. I don't really want to be here, but their offer was too good to turn down."

"Am I the only one who feels like he just joined the army?" Hank asked.

"I know what you mean. I mean training? They told me that I was going to be in a fancy school," Dawn said.

"I was training to be a cop," Hank said.

"I got a visit from some guy in a suit named Mitchell Shelley. He offered me money and travel possibilities. How could I pass that up?"

"Sounds like you were the only one they were straight with Mondo," Hank said.

"I don't know about straight offers or anything like that, but being in this room is making me claustrophobic and bored," Mondo said.

He walked out the door before Dawn or Hank could say a word to him.

"Not the social type I take it."

"I guess not," Dawn said with a chuckle.

Hank and Dawn both stood there silent for a moment. Both of them semi-nervous and at a loss for words.

"I was thinking," Hank began. "Well, wondering more than thinking. Umm . . . would you like to have dinner or something with me sometime?"

"We'll see," Dawn said with a coy smile.

"Would you like to walk around and check this place out with me?"

"Can I get a raincheck on that, Hank? I just want to go to my quarters for now and get a little sleep."

"Sure, we can do it some other time," Hank said.

"Thanks, I'll see you later," Dawn said as she walked out the door.

Hank smiled as he walked to his quarters.

Mr. Bones addressed them. "Hello, recruits. I would like you to meet the rest of our great agents."

First he introduced a Hispanic man who appeared to be about four or five years older than any of them. This man's name was Angelo Espinoza.

Next he introduced them to a girl who looked to be their age, maybe young. Her skin was a whitish blue color and she had black hair. Her name was Toni Monetti.

After Toni was introduced he introduced a blond haired girl with brown eyes. She had a serious look on her face that made her look older than everyone. Her name was Cameron Chase.

He then introduced a young man who looked to be about the same age as Toni. He had brown hair. His name was Grant Emerson.

The last person he introduced was a young looking woman named Elizabeth Rourke. There was nothing special looking about Elizabeth, besides her rainbow colored eyes.

Mr. Bones spoke again. "Group, these are our newest recruits. Hank Hall, Dawn Granger, and Mondo. They will be a part of our group for now on so make them feel like they are a part of the team. We will be performing regular training procedures today. Go easy on them."

Mr. Bones left the training facility and went up to his control room overlooking the facility. When he arrived in the room he saw a man with white hair and silver eyes standing there. Mitchell Shelley, the head of the DEO had decided to have a surprise visit.

"Hello, Mr. Shelley. To what do we owe this surprise visit?"

"Relax a little, Bones. I am just here to see how the newest recruits handle their first training session.

Dawn looked around and saw Toni, Cameron, Elizabeth, Angelo, and Grant move into positions. She could tell from their areas the exact tactics they were using. At about the same time Hank said the word Hawk and Dawn said the word Dove.

"Hank, move to the far right wall. Mondo, use your steel buckle."

Hank Hall moved swiftly to the wall and Mondo tapped the steel buckle turning his body into a living version of the steel. Cameron Chase approached Dawn slowly and cautiously. Dawn took to the air avoiding her.

"Mondo, take her out quick."

For a large man, especially a large man made of steel, Mondo moved quickly. His steel body did not allow Cameron to use her ability to nullify powers. He delivered a quick blow knocking her out. As Mondo was dealing with Cameron, Toni Monetti had entrapped Hank in a bluish silver energy bubble. Elizabeth Rourke was standing next to Toni. Elizabeth's body seemed to glow the same rainbow colors her eyes did. She fired a blast at the flying Dawn Granger.

"Mondo, do I have to tell you everything? Take them down. Hard and fast. Use your buckles when you need to."

Mondo did not say a word but attacked Elizabeth and Toni at once. One punch from his strong steel fists and they were knocked out. freeing Hank. Before Mondo could attack anyone else Grant Emerson fired a concussive blast at him. Mondo was hit in the chest and thrown to the wall. His steel form turned back to normal flesh as he slid down the wall.

Elizabeth began to regain consciousness as Grant turned his attention to Hank. In the commotion Angelo Espinoza had attacked Hank and used his extra skin to grab and hold him. Hank had Angelo's extra skin over his eyes and holding his wrist. Angelo had a knee in Hank's back keeping him from moving. Hank was struggling hard but he had never fought such a well trained adversary.

Dawn landed back on the ground.

"We surrender," she said.

"She gave up too easily," Bones said.

"That was a brilliant tactic on her part. She could not take your group alone and she knew it. Rather than risking serious injury for herself and her comrades she ended the practice and she was able to take out three of your people. I am impressed."

"But she just gave up."

"Yes Bones, and this is just a practice. Her first one at that. She knew your teams tactics and dealt with them in less than a minute. Then she protected her team. She could be a great leader. Let's go out and speak to them."

"Bravo," said Mitchell Shelley, "I am very impressed with this little test. Mr. Espinoza and Ms. Granger I am the most pleased with your work. The rest of you have a lot of potential but really need to learn to work as a team. But in general good job."

"Your session is finished for right now, take care of the injured," Bones said.

Bones and Shelley walked off. Angelo Espinoza and Elizabeth Rourke walked over to Toni Monetti. Grant Emerson and Dawn walked over to the still unconscious Mondo.

Dawn got Mondo to wake back to consciousness. He looked sore and battered.

"Is the fight over?" he asked

"Yeah, we lost," she replied

Grant Emerson held out his hand to help Mondo up. Mondo took his hand and got up.

"I am really sorry about that, big guy," he said.

"It was a one time thing," Mondo said. "It won't happen again."

Mondo walked out leaving the facility. the rest of the team members left soon after.

"What do you want?" Mondo asked.

"I was disappointed by your lackluster performance earlier today. I did not recruit you so that you could be beaten with one shot."

"It will not happen again."

"You're right. It won't happen again. You are coming to the training room for some extensive training."

Mondo looked at him. He had a look of hatred on his face. "Whatever you say, sir."

Mondo put on his training uniform and went to the training facility where Mitchell Shelley was standing there in a uniform not much unlike Mondo's.

"You're the one I am fighting, sir?"

"Yes Mondo, I can defend myself."

As Mondo got in his battle stance the door to the training facility opened. A man wearing a standard DEO uniform entered.

"Sir, you have a phone call from a Mr. Cantrell on the phone for you," the agent said.

"Tell him that I'm busy."

"Yes sir," the agent said as he left the room.

"Are you ready?" Shelley asked Mondo.

"Let's go," Mondo said as he hit the steel buckle going back to the living steel version of himself.

Mitchell Shelley's hands glowed a bright orange as he fired an energy blast at Mondo. Mondo was hit square in the chest and knocked across the room. He was shaken up. Shelley walked over to him and stood over top of him.

"You can't take an energy blast. Can you do anything but turn to steel?"

Mondo stood back up. He hit a quartz prism on his belt that was next to the steel. He was a walking prism now. Mitchell Shelley backed up again and Mondo moved into his battle stance.

"Are you ready again?" Shelley asked.

"Bring it," Mondo replied.

Shelley fired another energy blast at Mondo. This blast was more powerful than the previous. The blast blew a large crystal chunk out of Mondo's chest. When Mondo turned back to his human form, a large chunk was missing from his chest. He was bleeding profusely.

Mitchell Shelley left the room instantly to get a medic. As soon as he was gone, the DEO agent who had entered before walked in. The man tapped his belt buckle and his entire appearance changed. The man was now wearing a shirt of gold chain mail, what looked like shoulder pads that formed the shape of an eagle, and a gold helmet with horns.

"Mondo, listen. My name is Gog. You don't have much time left. I can heal you and let you get even with Shelley. The keys to the Kingdom are yours if you choose to take them. What do you say, Mondo? Make your answer quick. I say you have about thirty seconds left to live."

"Help me and I will do whatever you want," Mondo said with a weak voice.

"Door," Gog said.

A glowing yellow doorway appeared. Gog picked up Mondo and carried him through. After Gog and Mondo walked through the glowing door it quickly vanished.

About three minutes later, Mitchell Shelley entered the room quickly with two medics and a portable medical unit. When they arrived all they found were crystal shards that had been blown out of Mondo's chest. Mitchell Shelley believed the worst and blamed himself.

"Welcome to the Castle," Gog said.