Author's Note That's Super Important, PLEASE READ BEFORE CONTINUING: So I realized that a lot of readers were under the assumption that the device used in this chapter was supposed to be a certain weapon and that gave them a huge scare. I need to clarify that the device is NOT supposed to be THAT weapon. It was never my intention to make readers assume that this chapter would involve something that's all too real and far more tragic than the other real-life issue I was trying to draw attention to. I need to be clear that this chapter is NOT supposed to be about an ACTUAL weapon being brought to a school as that would be such poor taste and highly disrespectful to the readers and anyone whose had a personal experience with such an event. And this is the last fictional world that needs such a thing to happen.

I know it won't do much, but I changed the wording of what the device looks like. (And while I'm here, I feel like it's my duty to say that if you are in school and you suspect that something is wrong or off, do not be afraid to alert someone as soon as you can. Or if you need help or you're upset over something, go seek a guidance councilor or SOMEONE who'd be willing to listen to you.)

I apologize and I hope this clears things up better.


Second part: What would it take to make Krupp's anger be awesome for a change?

*Note, so I struggled with this scenario for a bit because it deals with something a bit more realistic and likely to happen in our world–no matter how low the chances could seemingly be–even with those CU elements still there. It's something that a lot of educators and staff on campuses have to be alert about. So, for those who are sensitive, this chapter has a potential trigger warning involving intruders on school grounds and kidnapping in general.*


As per usual, the day started out seemingly normal. It recently stopped raining and the sky was still cloudy, yet the many puddles and mud meant that everything had to be taken indoors. Such a day was rarely fun for both students and staff unless you could be really creative, as was the case for the experimental after school program.

Edith wasn't super knowledgeable about all of the choices made around the school, but she had been aware of this recent one. Because of how many parents were still working by the time school was over, this meant some students were forced to stay at the school for longer than they–or the teachers–would have liked. This, plus a school board that wasn't happy about how most of the students were doing academically, forced an equally (perhaps more so) none-too-happy principal to agree to something a bit different. The idea was that certain grade levels would be paired up–first with fourth, second with fifth, and third with sixth–for after school. The younger grades would get help with school work and have someone closer to their age to look up to as someone who could behave and follow the rules, and the older students were given something to do that would encourage good character development and keep them out of trouble.

Though of course, if you translated that into Jerome Horowitz Elementary School language, that would mean something along the lines of 'the younger students don't have to keep coming to the teachers for help and the older students will enforce the rules set upon them, thus saving multiple headaches and giving the teachers free time away from the students.' Also, the teachers took advantage of it by having it become an after school detention for any troublemaking student who would have wanted to head straight home.

None of the teachers wanted the students to hang out in their classrooms, so that honor was given to Edith and the cafeteria. She almost wasn't surprised, but she agreed to it as fast as possible before a certain principal would start protesting against it.

She didn't like hearing the mutters of 'probably hoping to get more pay', 'they'll drive her nuts,' or 'too nice for her own good' behind her back after that. She didn't care because it gave her something to she wondered if the fact that she didn't have a teaching credential or–perhaps more importantly–a substitute teaching credential could come back to haunt the teachers in all of this.

This day fell on a friday, which meant it was more agonizing for the students to stay after school, and not being allowed outside made things worse. Still, some were choosing to make the most of things by playing with a basketball or two, while others sat on a few tables and benches to gossip, discuss video game strategies or cartoon shows, do school work, or other activities. Meanwhile she was offering snacks to those who wanted them from a cart–either it was all from money out of her own pocket or else it was fruit that would have been thrown away over the week.

"Thank you!" A first grader named Caden gratefully accepted a small individual sized bag of pretzels.

"You're welcome." Edith smiled and waved as the child hurried off before she could serve another child. As she did, she looked around the huge room.

Among the children who were present, there was Melvin and, while he usually kept to himself, there was at least one student who he had been paired with who had actually taken a liking to him. The child in question was a second grader named Myrah Amer and she was apparently a Math genius–the kind who knew subjects way beyond her grade level, which should have allowed her to skip some grades if it wasn't for the fact that her grade levels for other subjects were rather normal for someone her age. Naturally she was paired up with Melvin and not only did the girl put up with his behavior, but she could easily talk about the things he also liked, which made him happy. Edith had to admit that it was nice to see the boy be happy to have a friend and truly enjoy himself with someone he could relate to–she wondered if Myrah was also as much of an inventor as he was, seeing as how often they talked about physics, machinery, and whatnot.

At one table, there was a small group gathered together–George and Harold were with a few first graders. Naturally, Krupp didn't want them involved with this after school program as he didn't want them to inspire other children to learn from them and thus force him to deal with a new generation of pranksters. Unfortunately for Principal Krupp, he had no control over when the pranksters' parents could pick them up and there was also the fact that the boys were temporarily banned from the bus due to a past prank, but he could force them to stay as long as possible for after school detention and this was the only place open at the moment. Yet instead of writing 'I will not re-write a teacher's lesson plan and fill their desk drawers with toothpaste' fifty times, they were showing off their new comics to a couple of second graders.

"F...fear not... c...ci..." A first grader named Kira was struggling to read the dialogue that Captain Underpants was saying in one panel. "Ci...cit..."

"Citizen." George patiently helped her out as he pointed to the (very misspelled) word and sounded it out. Harold paused in drawing some new pages out to watch while a first grader named Brayden had been watching him in awe.

"Citizen." Kira repeated with a bit more confidence. "I will stop the... ev...evil do...do..er. Evil doer."

"That's good!" George beamed at the child as did Harold. "You want to try another one? Or should I take over?"

"I can try!" Kira was feeling braver and looked at the next panel where the Waistband Warrior was about to face off against a monster. Much like many of the students, both she and Brayden adored the comics, but especially the actual flesh and blood version whenever he magically appeared when he was most needed. They always looked forward to seeing him, but they never realized just how close by he always was to them.

Edith smiled at this moment of help. While she understood why the boys were a cause of stress for Benjamin (and she had been on a receiving end of a few pranks herself) it was such a shame that he could not see this as two boys using their gifts to help other children learn. Instead he was likely still up in his office and would likely refuse to go down until it was close to four or unless something were to happen. Until then, she observed the children and kept her eyes on the doorway as the time ticked by and a parent would come every five or ten minutes to pick a child up.

It was about three minutes after the last observation that she saw a man peering through one of the opened doors leading to the hallway. A man with dirty blonde hair and a huge coat that was perfect for the rain, but was also oddly bulky looking for this time of year. He was looking around the room, but he wasn't exactly going towards her or any of the students.

"Uh, hi?" Edith approached him and he looked about ready to jump out of his skin when he heard her voice. "May I help you?"

He gave her a strange look for a few moments before he smiled. "Uh, is school almost over? There aren't many kids out and about."

"This is an after school program." Edith had never seen him before in all the years she worked here, so she wondered if this man was supposed to be someone ready to pick a student up or if he was intending to see one of the staff members, but he seemed to be dressed too casually for the latter.

"Oh," The man nodded in understanding. "Ok. Uh, actually maybe I made it on time. Is there a girl named Myrah Amer here? I'm here to pick her up."

"She's–" Edith started to turn her head but then hesitated. It was a requirement to have contact information with parents, relatives, or guardians of every child, and this man did not look like he was anywhere physically close to being a blood relation to the child. "I'm sorry, I think her mother or her brother normally pick her up." Edith looked back at the man and observed him a bit more. "Do you know–I mean are you a–?"

"I'm a friend of the family." His response sounded natural, but there was an odd guardedness in his features–an odd stiffness in his face.

Normally someone would inform the school if someone else were to pick up their child... right? She even had a list on hand just to be safe, and the only people who were assigned to pick Myrah up were indeed her mother or high school-aged brother. Neither of them called directly called her or someone else to say someone else would do that today.

Suddenly she began to have an odd feeling about this man–why didn't he come to her or directly to Myrah in the first place? "If... if we were told that someone would be picking her up, I'd know about it beforehand." Edith told him, although she wondered if anyone would have bothered to inform her about such a thing. Did the staff care about such things, or was it only if students were being picked up early?

"Maybe they forgot." The man continued with that odd stiffness. "Just point the way to her and we'll go."

That made Edith's heart stop.

Myrah was easily in view with Melvin–still discussing inventions and what-not with him–and Edith could easily turn and point her out to this man who should have also easily seen her. More importantly, he should have known right away which child he was looking for.

He didn't recognize her on the spot.

He couldn't call himself a friend of the family if he didn't recognize their child in an instant.

There were certain incidents this school had yet to experience as far as she knew, and it was not the kind one would automatically assume or even guess. These were incidents that would be every staff member, student's, or parent's greatest fears.

Stars above, she would take robots, being shrunken down, or monsters made out of snot over the all-too-real.

Her voice was surprisingly calm, even though her nerves were starting to shake, but it was gradually wavering when she said "I think you have that student mixed up with another girl who goes by that name."

The stiffness in the man's face hardened. "Where is she?" She didn't like that response.

"I–I'm going to have to ask you to go to the principal's office, or–" God, what was she saying? Why wasn't there another adult down here with her?! In fact, why wasn't she even given a radio?! This wasn't a child she was dealing with–she had no clue what she was dealing with.

At that point, George and Harold were close enough to hear what was going on and they finally looked at Edith and the strange man. They both picked up that she was dodging his question for some strange reason.

"Just answer the question–is a girl named Myrah Amer here or not?"

"S-sir, if you won't do as I suggest, I'm going to have to ask you to leave the school grounds."

The man's eyes hardened before he let out a sigh and grabbed the handle of the door. "Great, you had to make this difficult for everyone, lady."

He slammed the door shut as he reached into his jacket and took something blue and black out, but Edith's mind was racing too fast to process anything other than the absolute worst case scenario.

"EVERYONE GET OUT OF HERE!" She screamed as she tried to grab his arm as fast as she could.

This made many students look up in alarm to see her trying to wrestle with a man for two seconds–trying to tackle him to the ground–before she was shoved away and he whipped out a large blue and gray object.

A combination of P.E. and having to deal with the bizarreness that occurred once or twice a week made many bolt it towards the nearest door out of the cafeteria as fast as possible, away from the man with the strange device that looked like some sort of science fiction vacuum. Within seconds, the man pressed a button and something black shot out of the device and splattered all over the double doors behind him.

Most of the children managed to rush out to the other doors that lead to the outside, but not all of them made it–somewhere within that short amount of time, another person appeared at those doors with a black mask with a huge hole for his eyes and a similar device in his hands.

"What the heck?! You said you had this under control!" The second man yelled at the first one as the other children backed away from him in alarm.

"Yeah, well so much for the adults here being stupid!" The blonde man snapped as he pointed to Edith while that black stuff hardened upon the doors and within its gaps and cracks. "She was onto me!"

Edith could barely process what was happening now–somehow, this man was trying to go after a student to the point that he did something to the door and had someone with him. There were also a small handful of terrified students trapped in here with her, and none of them were the one they were after–Myrah managed to get out in time, along with Melvin. Among those still in here were George and Harold, and while they were not as terrified as the others, the fear was still there in their eyes if you looked close enough.

"Well now they'll know we were after the kid!" The second man yelled. "You know how much money we were promised for this?!"

"Yeah, well–!" The man stopped before looking at Edith again. Then without any warning, he put his device back in his pocket, went over to her, and grabbed her arm before he started pulling her away.

"Wait, what are you–?!" Edith was now getting horribly confused as well as more terrified as she tried to pull back.

"You owe us a kid, so we'll just use you as compensation instead!"

It clicked for George and Harold was to what was about to happen and the same time it did for Edith, and just as the man was about to get Edith halfway across the room, they rushed over and grabbed Edith by her free arm together.

"What the–LET GO!" The man yelled as he tried to keep his hold on Edith, who was still struggling to pull away, but now with more desperate force. The added force of two boys pulling her away didn't do a whole lot to pose a threat, but her constantly pulling and kicking would eventually make it problematic for her captor.

The other man noticed that other children were about ready to go help, but he aimed his own device on them. "Hey, do any of you want to get stuck to the ground?!" He snapped at them as he aimed the device at them. "Yeah, I didn't think so!" He said when he saw them freeze up. "Hey you need help?!" He turned to his partner.

"NO, YOU STAY THERE! YOU ALREADY LET A BUNCH OF KIDS ESCAPE!" The other man yelled. "HEY YOU WANT TO END UP LIKE THAT DOOR?!" He snapped at George and Harold as they tried with all their might to pull Edith away.

"STOP!" Edith screamed as loudly as she could as she tried to hit her in his chest with her elbow, only to miss.

"Pft, they're just kids." The other man scoffed and rolled his eyes. "What's the worst they all could do?"


Sometime right before this incident went down, a certain principal was either trying to work or was lost in thought and was eager for the day to just finally be over.

Krupp finally pushed the paperwork away after failing to once again try to forget about the reason why the two most troublesome students at his school were still on campus, as well as the much dreaded possibility of owing Ribble a new desk if that drawer couldn't get cleaned out, or the delay the 'improved' lesson plans would cause.

Somewhere deep down–in a part of him he tried almost constantly to ignore and force down–he imagined her unknowingly forcing her hand into the minty smelling stuff when she thought it would hold her missing lesson plans, and found that it was kind of funny. The 'newly re-written' lesson plans were oddly well written out despite that–

No.

The part of him that had been created out of years of stress, annoyance, difficult students, too many fits of anger, and other issues he'd never be open to talking about was too fed up to care. He forced those thoughts down once more.

With a scowl, he turned his head to look at the window for a second–he honestly wished that all the adults would just come at once to pick up the kids so that he could go home, even if this gave him much needed time to catch up on work. His eyes drifted to the curtains and he had to remind himself once more that he needed to find a brand that would not magically get torn off the pole without warning. (Seriously, how did they keep vanishing and leave behind only the rings every single time?!)

Moments passed before he finally got up to walk around and he opened the door to this office. Sure enough, Anthrope had long ditched her post when she thought he wasn't looking again. It only increased his annoyance because that meant he'd have to deal with the things she usually dealt with at the last minute again.

Thankfully things were much quieter without her... come to think of it, was it his imagination, or was it too quiet?

"Mr. Krupp?!"

Judging by the familiar voice and the panicky tone, he spoke too soon.

He let out a sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose as Melvin came rushing towards his office. "What did they do this time?" He grumbled. There was no other explanation to why the boy would run so fast like something was chasing him down.

"There's an intrud–!" The boy had to stop to catch his breath and he grabbed the doorframe to Anthrope's office before he could finally force out "THERE'S TROUBLE IN THE CAFETERIA!"

There was only so few ways that Krupp could have interpreted those words, but they were used together in a sentence he did not like and his instinct was to make a run for it as fast as he could down the flight of stairs. The moment he started hearing the muffled yelling coming from the direction of the cafeteria doors was when he reached the bottom but it was the moment he had only ran two steps that he heard one voice scream over it all:

"STOP!"

He knew whose voice that was and the way the word came out–as if the owner was terrified for her life–made something in him lose all thought as his own fear suddenly increased, along with whatever anger he could manage to summon.


It was at that exact moment that the second man had asked the fatal question.

Three seconds later, one of the thick metal doors that had been sealed up by the black stuff was forced open with a loud 'BANG,' which broke off a section of the black stuff in the process, and which made the door quite literally rip off the hinges and it went flying a few feet before crashing to the ground. No one expected it to happen and it caused most of the students to scream and duck. Even the men who trapped them were taken by surprise, and the one who had grabbed onto Edith unintentionally let her go, forcing her to stumble forward a few feet.

"WHAT'S GOING ON?!" None other than Principal Krupp forced himself through the gapping hole where the door frame was, with teeth gnashed in rage and a face almost a spectacular shade of red. "I SWEAR, IF YOU TWO–!"

"WHO THE HECK ARE YOU?!" The second man demanded as he pointed the device at Krupp.

This made Krupp momentarily lose his anger as he realized that whatever that thing was looked all too much like a certain object that was something that shouldn't be on campus. He froze up on the spot for one moment as he felt like his heart almost went into his throat and he let out a lot of curses in his head.

Who the heck was that?!

Oh God, was this another weird incident that he couldn't handle or have control over?! Why did it always have to be at this school?!

What if that thing was exactly what he thought it was? The thought made him too terrified to move an inch or even say anything at that moment.

Meanwhile, Edith had one moment to realize that Benjamin was now here. If only she had been more careful with her words and then none of them would have gotten into this mess. She honestly had no clue what was about to happen, but it was only a matter of seconds until a switch would occur, right? A quick snap of the fingers and then they could all laugh about this later?

"George." Harold nervously hissed as he readied his fingers and shot his best friend a knowing look.

"HEY, DID I SAY YOU COULD GET AWAY?!" The man who previously had a grasp on Edith realized that she was not with him and he stormed up to her. This time he grabbed her and pulled her with enough force that for her it was like he was about to pull her entire arm off as he resumed his attempt to escape. It both startled and hurt her enough to let out a yelp and the whole thing happened so fast that both George and Harold were startled out of triggering the appearance of their principal's more heroic persona.

It only took one second for Krupp to look and, more importantly, understand why he had heard Edith yelling for help in the first place.

It was only one second of pure fear before something else began to take over.

Now, as any student could tell you, one thing you did not want to do at Jerome Horowitz Elementary School was to get the principal mad at you. It didn't take much and, if done 'correctly,' his outbursts were an absolute terror to behold, especially if you were on the receiving end–unless of course you were someone like George or Harold, who had been used to them by now. However, if you asked the two when he was at his most scariest, they would reluctantly admit that one time it was during the infamous carnival incident as it was like he was trying very hard to restrain himself from doing something when he got angry at them–like something worse than anything they thought possible was threatening to come out of him. Like he could of torn them up into several pieces over the destruction the whole thing caused to the school if he wanted to. The sound of his voice, the way he was trembling in anger, the awful expression on his face–something bad was being kept at bay.

Now despite whatever the students might of thought, there were certain rules that all educators and staff had to obey and that which protected the students from the most extreme outbursts. If a teacher acted on them, it would more than cost their job. Even those like Krupp were smart enough to know that, no matter how much they wanted to on their worst days, they could not resort to violence upon another. This naturally meant that none of the students had ever seen what could happen if that restriction wasn't forced on Krupp.

However, neither of the men who had been trying to kidnap a student knew Krupp like the students did, nor did they know that the woman they were trying to take away and who they were causing harm to in the process also happened to be someone very dear to him.

Seeing her being taken away by these dangerous men–one of whom just caused her harm–was all it took to make Krupp see red faster than anything George and Harold could have possibly done.

Just as George readied his fingers to snap them, both he and Harold felt a familiar, ominous force behind them, and when they turned around they had one second to see something arguably more terrifying than anything they could have imagined and they did not like the downright murderous fire in Krupp's eyes.

Then with a yell that in no way could have possibly been human, Krupp charged towards Edith's captor as fast as he could.

"What the–?!" The man turned around in time to see a man with a face scrunched up in rage and teeth looking more like those from a wild animal as he bellowed out the unholy sound.

A second later he found himself crashing to the floor and getting pinned by the much larger man, and he accidentally took Edith down with him.

"I DON'T THINK SO!" Krupp roared into the man's face as Edith was forced to scramble away.

"WHAT THE–?!" The shocked man was forced to move as fast as he could before a huge fist slammed into the spot where his head had been and heavily cracked the floor in the process.

"YOU THINK YOU CAN COME HERE AND–NO DON'T YOU GET AWAY!" Krupp grabbed the man's shoulder's before he could get away as Edith forced herself back up. "YOU THINK YOU CAN BARGE INTO MY SCHOOL AND SCARE MY STAFF AND STUDENTS?!" He furiously shook him as he screamed at his face.

To be honest, all the students were both scared of Krupp as well as stunned at what was happening. Even George and Harold stared in shocked silence for a moment.

"Well, so much for needing to snap." Was all George could comment before Harold turned his head to see that the other man was about to grab Edith while everyone was distracted.

"MISS EDITH, LOOK OUT!" Harold yelled and pointed. Unfortunately, this made Krupp stop and look in alarm at the exact moment the blonde man was trying to grab his device from earlier. Krupp had only one second to see the other man running towards Edith as she looked behind her before he felt something hard slam against part of his upper face and eye socket to the point it cut into his skin.

With a pained yell, the action forced Krupp to let go of the man with one hand grabbing his face while the other kept him from falling to the ground as the other man ran towards Edith, who let out a horrified "BEN!" and made to run towards Krupp, but the blonde man grabbed onto her once more.

"Stop it!" Harold yelled as he tried once again to pull Edith free before the man could get too far with her again, as did George. Both tried to pull her away, but they had neither the strength of a full grown adult or the super strength of their superhero friend to aid them. To make matters worse, the other guy came over to aid the blonde man.

"GET RID OF THEM!" The blonde man snapped and pointed at the boys at the same time their principal was able to turn around to see what was happening as one hand still covering part of his face. The other man proceeded to grab the boys by their shirts and pretty much tossed them away–right into the nearest bench–before grabbing Edith. With two men pulling at her, she was unable to pull free, no matter how hard she tried to run and yell.

This only made Krupp even more enraged as he forced himself up on his feet and let go of his face–ignoring the nasty stinging sensation, the wetness seeping out, or the swelling pain–and ran after them.

"Run!" The blonde yelled and the two them hurried out of the doors to the outside, where a few additional students tried to get away as far as they could. Meanwhile, Edith was still trying her hardest to try to dig her feet at the ground–desperate for anything to brake her free.

"Come on, come on–HOLY–!"

Edith felt herself get pulled to the side as something was hurled at her captors and she heard it crash to the ground, but the speed at which she went made her slip on the wet grass, and the way she had been forced back on her foot somehow created a sharp pain in her ankle before she crashed on her back against the ground–knocking the air completely out of her in the process.

It all happened too fast too fully process it.

She couldn't breathe–it was as if something crashed against her ribcage and was pressing down on her all at once, and whatever sound she could make was not even human. The throbbing pain that erupted from her ankle made her want to scream, but she couldn't. It was almost making her lose all awareness as to what was going on around her.

"GET BACK HERE!" Krupp yelled as he resumed his chase after hurling one of the cafeteria benches at the men. The blonde man's own anger rose as he aimed the device at Krupp and readied it.

In the haze of the storm that clouded his mind, something buried deep in Krupp's head made him notice what was about to happen and then–for some reason as if he had done it several times before–he felt himself leap out of the way right before the blast could hit him and he almost slid across the grass and hit the ground before his hand was quickly forced down upon it to stop himself.

That one action almost caught him off guard–how did he even know how to guess the exact moment?–and yet his body was still being flooded with an adrenaline that seemed to keep him going. A part of him knew that he should have been winded by everything that was happening, and yet somehow he wasn't.

There wasn't any time to dwell on it and every second was now too crucial to waste. One of the men had picked up Edith again, but this time he was forced to carry her upper body while the rest of her dragged her across the ground like she was just a bag of flour. This time she was wasn't even moving, but she looked as if the blood had drained out of her face and she was gasping for air like a fish out of water while trying to not scream at the same time. The blonde man finally came over to grab the other part of her and they raced towards a nearby vehicle–the kind that a sport's mom would drive–with a door already opened for them and an engine already roaring and waiting for the getaway.

Too many awful scenarios were now racing in Krupp's head when he saw this and that odd instinct in him was screaming–begging–at him to not stop.

"Go! Go!" The blonde man yelled at the driver and as soon as they got close enough, they just tossed Edith in and the second man jumped in after her while the blonde man entered through the front door by the driver.

Edith was aware of what was happening, and yet she couldn't get her body to do anything, and the pain in her ankle kept getting worse. She couldn't even muster enough strength to even get scared.

The vehicle began to move and the blonde man had entered the car, and it started to pick up speed, going from ten to forty miles per hour–

Then without warning, Krupp crashed his huge frame into the side in an attempt to grab the nearest door, causing the vehicle to unexpectedly tip at a very wide angle and for one second it was as if it was about to completely fall over on its side and crash to the ground. It would of, had the enraged principal not grabbed the handle of one of the doors and pulled the vehicle back onto all four wheels, but in the process he ripped the handle completely off.

There was no time for any of them to react when a huge fist then slammed through the glass window–shattering it to pieces–and somehow the door ended up getting completely ripped off by the large man's bare hands and tossed to the side as the brake was slammed down in the horror of the moment.

Within seconds, the blonde man found one of those same large hands grabbing him by the shirt and he found himself almost literally face to face with a face that almost longer resembled anything human-like at this point. Anger wasn't even close to what was in the owner's eyes as his tensed up shoulders rose and fell and his nostrils flared up with each breath he took, which also came out through his clenched teeth. The injury he had sustained on a face full of dark shadows and harsh lines as the blood that seeped out of the damaged skin was already darkening up around one of his eyes and furthered the terribleness of the display.

"Give. Her. Back." He slowly growled through those clenched teeth. "I don't know who you are, but you made a huge mistake. You do not–" He snarled "–lay so much as a hand on my students. Or my staff. And Especially. Not. Her." His grip tightened as he forced the other man to get closer to him. "You got that, bub?"

The blonde was both too stunned and terrified to respond back. At this point he highly doubted that the relentless man before him was an actual human being–what kind of person would be that strong?

"If I see your faces around here again, I promise you'll regret ever coming within even an inch of this school or this city. Now give. Her. Back."

The man in the back didn't even need to be told twice as he hurried to open the door. As if he were fast like lightning, Krupp barged right over and scooped the woman in the vehicle up in his arms. If her captors had even bothered to pay close attention, they would have seen that some of the tension in his body had loosened up at the exact moment he had touched Edith, who had been quick to wrap her arms around his neck while trying to hide her discomfort for every time her injured ankle hit something, but he was still giving him a terrifying death glare even as he cradled her carefully in his arms and backed away from the vehicle.

"Now get out of my school!" He commanded–his voice like that of a dog growling before he bursted with one final "NOW!"

He backed away a few more steps as the vehicle made its getaway and he hoped to the higher powers that he'd never have to see it again.

Krupp took only a couple of moments to calm down and let the haze die out before he tried to take deep breaths despite that his nerves were shaking and his heart rate was going too fast for his liking. His face only relaxed to a more natural state when he glanced down at the woman in his arms–he could feel her hands clenching tightly on the fabric of his shirt. Her head was buried against him and he couldn't see her face, but he could barely feel her breath against him.

"I'm so sorry–I'm so sorry–" Edith voice was shaky as she slowly regained her ability to breathe, but her nerves were terribly rattled after that nightmare. "–They wanted to take a student away–they wanted to take Myrah, and I–" She messed up. She knew he was going to get more than angry at her for what just happened. "I'm so sorry, I didn't–"

In that instant, he began to put together what exactly happened. None of this would of happened if he had been there–if someone else had been there with her.

Instead, one of the worst case scenarios that could ever happen at a school somehow came rearing its ugly head at them and he had not prepared for it.

"What just happened?!" He turned around in time to see that a few parents had managed to come upon the school grounds–expecting to pick up their kids and go home without any worries–and judging by their terrified expressions, they saw almost everything.

"What was that?!"

"Where's our kids?!" One of them yelled at him, not knowing that they were either peering through the door to the cafeteria or were slowly emerging from their hiding places and were still shaken by what they saw.

"I... I don't..." He stammered as he tightened his hold on her. It was only then that he realized one of his hands was bleeding–the opened cuts stung and the blood was seeping into Edith's dress–and they could see it.

"Oh my God, is that blood?!"

"You need to go to the hospital!"

"Yeah I know!" He snapped at whoever it was. "I–I–look, I–where's the other staff members?!"


With not a lot of staff members left on campus, Krupp had very few people to rely on to help him out, when all he wanted was to get Edith somewhere safe and make sure nothing else would happen to her. He almost felt sick to his stomach when one of the parents who checked on her (and was also knowledgeable in medical treatment) confirmed that she had sprained her ankle and right now she was recovering in the school nurse's office. Meanwhile, his hand had some scrapes as well as cuts from breaking his hand through that window, and his face was a wreck, but he didn't care if he looked like an abomination or could barely see out of one eye at the moment.

Krupp barely even registered that the students' parents of all people were the ones who were trying to calm the children down and get information about what went down. Which meant he was eventually forced to tell Myrah's mother exactly what almost happened to her daughter, and he couldn't find it in himself to blame the child for the whole situation (maybe a long time ago, under different circumstances and a more selfish outlook, he would have, but it wasn't something he was even thinking about). Mrs. Amer was naturally horrified, but she voiced her suspicions.

"Some scientist I denied a loan from... he must of tried to–" She couldn't even bring herself to finish it or dare look at her daughter as she nervously waited a few feet away. "I'm so sorry, I didn't know it would come to this." She shook her head. "I'll contact the police about it."

Speaking of that, the cops came by yet again and they wouldn't let him get anywhere near Edith before they started drilling him with questions, and he could feel their judgmental gazes on him, like they thought they knew whose fault this all was as he was slammed with question after question when he wanted to stay with Edith and make sure she was ok after she almost got kidnapped. He had no clue how often they came to the school by this point and now it was saying a lot about the school–about himself.

He had little to no control over these unexpected moments, as well as other things he couldn't explain, nor really be able to. Couldn't they just give him a break?

It was when they finally left him alone and it seemed that no one was coming to him that he was able to cease being just Principal Krupp–to shed all those layers he had to keep up for every day he was at this school–and just be Benjamin again. He could sit down on the steps of the main stairway in the school where he was trying to hold his head in his hands moments after they were done and gone. All he wanted was one moment of peace until he sensed someone standing in front of him and he was about to snap at them as he looked up, but then he shut his mouth when he saw that it was George and Harold of all people.

Why were they still here when most of the kids were gone?

They took a pretty nasty tumble earlier. A very faint concern in the back of his mind thought.

"Is she–?" George began, but then bit his lip and shifted his eyes. "She's going to be ok, right?"

He just stared at them; he had no clue how to respond back to them right now. He had almost expected some smart aleck response, but not that question.

"We saw her talking with one of those guys before he covered the door up with whatever that stuff was." Harold began. "We don't know why he was here, but he was mad at her about something." He gave up. "Sorry, I guess that's not much help."

It wasn't.

"Uh, by the way." George began. "What... what happened back there with you going after them–" He hesitated "That... that was actually awesome."

This made him fully alert and he looked at the boy in confusion. "I'm sorry, what?" He asked.

"Yeah, it actually was." Harold admitted before he laughed. "I think you showed them who was boss!"

"Yeah, you almost knocked that van on its side!" George grinned as did Harold. As they realized that their principal was still giving them a confused look, they calmed down.

"Are you two... complimenting me?" Benjamin finally asked in a dumbfounded tone.

"Well–" Harold realized it and was stunned. "Oh... yeah I guess we are... yeah we are... huh."

"Yeah, that's not something I'd ever expect to do." George admitted before turning back to Benjamin. "Well, I hope they catch those guys. If we had our way, they would have been stopped by now–but maybe next time."

"Well, we need to get going." Harold admitted. "Mom's about to pick us up, but we just wanted to check in on you."

Why–what?!

"See you on monday, Mr. Krupp." George waved as he and Harold turned around and started heading out.

"Wait a minute!"

Both boys turned around to see a look of extreme conflict on his face. Like he was remembering something and was trying to keep himself from saying it, but then he gave up, gave in, and let out a sigh. "I can't believe I'm about to say this... but... thanks for trying to stop them and–" he stopped before he could finish what was on his mind.

and thanks for giving me a chance to get Edith away from them before they could have done something to her that'd make me hate myself for the rest of my life.

"Hey, you're welcome!" Harold was able to pick up the hint of what he wasn't saying. "We didn't want her to get taken away either!"

"Wait, I didn't say–!" But it was too late as both boys shot the principal knowing grins and headed out the doors.

Once they were outside and out of earshot, George let out a deep sigh. "Oh man, the look on his face earlier! And I thought we were the ones who could get him at his maddest!"

"Yeah, I'm glad the pranks we used to pull on Edith were harmless." Harold shuddered as they headed to Mrs. Hutchins' car. "Detention would have been a mercy compared to what he could have done."

"You know, do you think we could have stopped them a bit quicker if we had turned him into you-know-who?" George asked Harold who hesitated.

"You know... I'm pretty sure he wouldn't of done it as well as Krupp did this time." Harold looked at the sky–the clouds gradually parting to reveal the late afternoon sky. "Maybe... maybe it was better to let Krupp be the hero for once."


After having to respond to the police's questions, Edith allowed herself to fall asleep on the 'bed' in the nurse's office, where she could finally try to rest off the discomfort in her sprained ankle. Her ankle was propped up with a cold compress on it, as well as a bag full of ice, and the radio was playing with faint static that swam in and out while playing the 'best of' sort of songs that were usually tolerable at best. It was when she could hear someone coming in that she could pick up Alanis Morissette crooning a very familiar signature song.

"You've already won me over in spite of me. And don't be alarmed if I fall head over feet. And don't be surprised if I love you for all that you are. I couldn't help it, it's all your fault."

Whoever was inside the room with her snapped the radio off before walking towards her while pulling up the nurse's chair along with them, but she was sure that she could recognize who it was just by the exact sound of his footsteps. She heard him sit down in the chair before she felt a large weight pressing down on the side of the bed.

She opened her eyes a few seconds later and turned her head to see Benjamin resting his head in his crossed arms which were on the bed beside her. She could see that one of his hands was now bandaged and she could tell that he was completely exhausted. He just barely fitted his enormous frame in the nurse's chair and he was almost like a giant mountain of flesh, cloth, and false black hair resting protectively before her. It was almost hard to believe that he had been storming with fury not that long ago.

Now? It was one of the extremely rare moments where he could stop shouldering so much and could finally just relax and be human and vulnerable.

She smiled. "Hey." Her voice came out so soft as she reached out to touch his arm. This caused Benjamin to raise his head to reveal his weary dark eyes, which made her smile a little more.

He let out a deep sigh before he took her hand in his much larger one and just held onto it as if squeezing the smaller hand even once would crush it, so he held it with care. It felt so comforting and so right to her.

"I should of had someone there with you." He shut his eyes as his voice came out in exhausted regret. "Why didn't I see this coming? I could have been there with you."

"We–well we didn't know." Edith tried to reassure him. "As long as the students are safe, we both did our jobs, right?"

"Yeah, but they almost took you away!" He sat up, while still holding her hand. She could detect the anger in his voice as well as the fear, which was all too visible in his eyes. "You have no idea how scared I was! I didn't know what was going on and then when I saw you getting pulled away like you were nothing, I–!" He screwed his face up and held his face in his free hand. "I couldn't just stand around! I had to do something!"

He hesitated as he relieved what happened against his will in his mind. "I guess I really am the worst principal in the world, aren't I?" He let out a frustrated laugh. "I thought it was going to be another stupid prank when I heard you scream–I got too afraid for one moment when I saw–!"

"Hey, don't say that!" Edith tightened her hold on his hand. "You're not being fair to yourself!"

"This isn't going to look good for me or you–I let you down!" He grew more upset at himself. "God, I'm such a lazy selfish–you got hurt and you almost–you could have been–!" He let out a deep sigh as he pressed his hand as well as her own against his head, like in some sort of prayer to make the bad thoughts go away.

Edith stared at him as she thought back to what had happened. She thought about his words to her, which sounded so hauntingly familiar... from another incident so close to this one.

"I was scared. I don't know why, but suddenly I was scared like I was going to lose something really, really important. I didn't like that feeling, but if something happened to you, I–

I just had to save you and it was all I wanted to do."

He was afraid for more than her safety. He had to unknowingly relieve it again, only this time as himself, yet fully aware and under much potentially darker circumstances.

And yet...

"But you stopped them." Edith slowly began. "You didn't let them take me–you went after me, even if it scared you." She smiled. "You're a hero, Benny."

He gave her a confused look. "I'm... what?" He then let out an unamused snort and shook his head. "No, I'm not–I'm the farthest thing from one. I don't even look like one–I know I sure as heck didn't look like one back there–I'm not some grinning Superman–"

"No, it's true!" Edith now grabbed his hand with both of her hands and gently lowered it so that they could face each other properly. "Benjamin, you have no ideahow heroic and kind you can truly be! Believe me, I've seen it and I've seen you be capable of it even before today! You're not as bad as you or everyone makes you out to be and this proved it! Isn't it called courage if you act, despite being afraid?! And you know what? You're my hero." She smiled once more and meant those words with all of her heart.

Benjamin stared at her in disbelief and awe. He had never been called that, so he had never been another's hero as far as he could recall. He knew he had done too much of the complete opposite (especially in the eyes of all the students) to even earn a title anywhere close to that one. He didn't think she'd have any faith in him after what happened and yet–

He smiled and shook his head as he moved his other hand to cover her own. "I don't know what someone like me did to even get to know someone who'd actually say that to me."

"Well, maybe someone out there cares about you as much as I do." Edith admitted as she momentarily thought of two certain pranksters. "Even if you don't know who they are."

Benjamin hesitated for a moment. "I'd ask if you wanted to go home, but to be honest, I'd rather you not be alone tonight." He confessed. "Not after today."

"Is that an invite to stay at your place?" She grinned, which only widened when a blush creeped into his face and he started stammering.

"Uh–well I–I mean–it's a complete wreck right now and–I don't–!"

Edith forced herself to finally sit upright and carefully swung her legs over the side of the bed before grabbing Benjamin by the shoulders. "I'd feel safe with you no matter where I was." She also meant that with all her heart. "And I'm used to a bit of chaos at this point, so I don't mind whatever state your house is in right now."

And just like that, his blush deepened. "I–" He let out an awkward laugh, which only increased how adorable he could get.

"Oh that's right!" She let out a laugh of her own as a wave of deja vu hit her. "I guess I owe you something for saving me!"

"Wait, what?! No you don't!" Benjamin protested, but it was too late as Edith placed her hands on his cheeks and leaned in to kiss him on the lips. Within seconds, his body began to finally relax and she began to lightly brush the pads of her thumbs back and forth in a soothing way upon his cheeks as she shut her eyes, with him soon closing his. She smiled when she felt his hands upon her hips, encouraging her to deepen the kiss a bit more. All the while, his hold was very careful and gentle–as if he made sure to not accidentally hit her foot or grab her too tight, but at the same time it was as if he had no intention of letting her go if he could.

She let the kiss linger before she parted from him. "Shouldn't every hero get a 'thank you' kiss from a person they like?" She giggled as she watched his blush deepen again.

"I–" He gave her an awkward, yet sweet smile as he nervously rubbed the back of his head. He then let out a familiar, nervous sounding laugh. "I'll just go, uh, get what I need and then we can go." He got up and headed out of the room–but not without accidentally hitting his shoulder against the doorway, causing him to let out a pained, embarrassed "Ack!" before dashing away.

It didn't matter if he was the harsh, no-nonsense principal or the goofy, fun loving superhero–deep down he was always the same sweet, awkward, determined Benjamin that she loved.

Minutes later, he carried her back to his car (much like he carried her earlier) and she tightened her hold on him. He didn't have to do this–any of it–but the moment of him being so sweet like this was what made her appreciate him even more.

She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and she was able to catch a glimpse of his smile–that beautiful, honest smile she always enjoyed seeing. She found herself looking forward to spending a peaceful night at his house, even if it was just simply to relax and chat while eating take-out.


So I really wanted this scenario–what if Krupp–mean ol' Principal Krupp–had a moment where his anger could be awesome for a change? What if he could have a proper chance to be the hero for once?

Oi, this was actually not an easy one to write out, given the rating, the possible subject matter I was working with, and making it still enjoyable to read. I only knew WHAT elements I wanted and was trying to work on that. And there was also a need to utilize as much as I could of what I had offered to me.

So... I admit it's not the first time I put Edith through a foot related injury for a CU fic, but the first option felt a bit too dark for the rating, especially given what was going on. (And in case anyone is wondering, I kind of see the blonde man as the 'canon' version of that same jerk who gave Krupp so much trouble in the prologue oneshot/chapter 11 flashback of 'From fathoms below.' Except this time, Krupp was able to get back at him. Kind of).

Also, 'Head over feet' by Alanis Morrisette has been one of my favorite songs since childhood, so it's a delight to finally use it in a fan fic, especially given the possible timeline of the CU 'verse in general.

Whelp, I guess I need to go back to working on 'Braided together,' but I hope you enjoyed this two-shot.