Title: UVA
Author: Princess Geta
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: Don't own Sky High or any of it's characters, but UVA and it's character's are mine.
Summary: Royal Pain's far fetched idea of creating a Villain Academy may have not been so far fetched after all, one does exist stirring from underneath the earth's surface. For all those that attend the Underground Villain Academy (UVA) hope is nonexistent, cruelness is expected, and a normal life style is unheard of. They live with strict guidelines and go through life waiting to graduate to become Villains. 6 students cant do it anymore and attempt to escape.
Authors Note: I wanted to thank my one review, Jess Readin, Thank you!
Anything overly confusing go ahead and ask I'll try to clarify it all as much as possible but most of the stuff is going to be explained in the fic itself at some points. Any criticism to helpful suggestions are completely welcome, but please no flames I'm just letting out a weird idea I had.
UVA
Chapter 4
"I'm always late now." Paige muttered in complaint, frowning up at the sign over the wide double set of doors that read 'Gymnasium' over it; Making a face at the doors, she pushed them open without another thought, entering the enormous room. "Too bad Abel couldn't bring you today.." She mumbled more to herself, glancing at Cori in her arms, who clearly heard her and gave her a resentful look. Paige ignored the look momentarily as she made large strides across the gym, not wanting anyone's thoughts to invade her mind. "Gomen." She apologized after a moment, quickly beginning to feel prickles of guilt. "You're not a bad kid at all, Cori but-" Paige stopped a few feet away from the entrance to the tot's class, where the rude staff member who had escorted her when she went to get Cori for the first time stood. His name was Hank, if she recalled correctly.
Hank gestured wildly as he spoke with his good buddy, AJ, with his back turned partly towards them - unaware of the new arrivals - but AJ saw them and smiled in welcome; Catching the smile that had nothing to do with the story he was in the middle of sharing, Hank glanced over his shoulder and did a double take at what he saw, a large grin forming on his face as he turned eagerly to face Paige. Paige frowned, looking at he ground as she adjusted Cori on her hip, unhappily, having hoped he hadn't recognized her.
"Konichiwa." Hank greeted joyously, looking entirely much too amused to see the girl again. "Sorry, I'd greet you with some fancy Welsh saying, but I can't really say I took any extra curricular languages." He remarked, his smile widening when the girl cringed; satisfied, he let his gaze wander down from the girl to the boy in her arms, and his eyes lit up with recognition.
"Hey AJ, there's a clipboard right there, get it for me will you buddy?" Hank requested, without taking his eyes off the girl, smirk now in place. AJ took the clipboard on the desk nearby and handed it to Hank, incredibly confused as to how Hank knew this student. Hank briefly thanked AJ, tilting his head in amusement at the small glare the girl was giving him. "So who do we have here?" He asked playfully.
"..." Paige looked hesitantly at the child. "Cori.." She finally admitted.
He flipped through a few papers. "Westoby?" He asked receiving a nod in reply, looking the other way. "Temporary student Guardian; Paige Reynolds, status: Minion." Hank read out loud chuckling. "Things are finally looking up AJ!" Hank exclaimed, only receiving an eyebrow raise from his friend. "And here I thought this child interviewing gig was going to be boring," Hank continued, undeterred by his friends quiet nature, as he handed the clipboard back to AJ who held out his hand and took it back. Hank's gaze lingered on AJ's UVA Logo tattoo which AJ had put on the inside of his wrist, remembering AJ having told him once that he wanted it somewhere different than where UVA students typically put their tattoo.
As a 'present' UVA students were allowed to have the UVA logo tattooed somewhere on their body after graduation or after they'd been at UVA for ten years or more and most people had theirs on their arm on their back somewhere but not AJ, which Hank found incredibly amusing. He himself hid his tattoo on his rear end, not really wanting to display, what felt, like an ownership stamp. Hank smiled back at Paige, momentarily wondering if she had one, before sarcastically offering his arms to the child she was holding.
And for the first time since Paige got Cori, she was hesitant to hand him over. "You're going to have to give him up, little girl." He reminded, with a grin when he noticed her hesitation. Cori simply smiled up at Paige to comfort her, and that only made Paige hesitate all the more. She knew though, that there was nothing she could do and with a nervous swallow, she handed him over quickly, crossing her arms to fill the void. "Hello there little guy," Hank cooed, raising Cori to his eye level, absolutely loving how miserable he was making this girl.
I should give you some very special treatment kid, just to get under your girl's skin - the foreign thought invaded Paige's mind, making her gasp.
"You better not," Paige warned without thinking. Hank arched a brow curiously, wondering what the heck that outburst was about? was she was threatening him? "Iie!" She quickly shouted, cringing. "No I'm not-I just mean - please don't be mean to him because I'm his guardian-" Hank looked over at AJ, who shared his curious look. AJ took a step back and reached for the clipboard once more and flipped to the page that Hank had been looking at before.
"Paige Reynods, Mind Reader." AJ read aloud, noting Hanks confusion melted away, leaving his grin back in place.
"Good." Hank shrugged. "Means I don't have to tell you what I think of you," Hank said with a slight sneer. "And, of course, that'll mean extra special attention for this little guy. Don't worry, you go on ahead to class little girl, I'll take particular care of your little tot for the rest of the week." He assured, all pretenses of friendliness gone. "Bye now." He insisted coldly, shooing her away.
Paige took a step back slowly, looking miserably between Hank to AJ and after a painful moment of indecision, she finally ran off leaving Hank laughing. When the girl was a solid distance away, AJ turned to Hank with a frown of disapproval. "You're one messed up man, Hank." AJ remarked, as Hank smiled at him in reply.
"Oh I'm bluffing AJ, you know that - if you didn't you would have argued with me right in front of the girl." Hank shot back, receiving a smile. They took Cori in and set him on the carpet along with the other kids, hanging back the door to sign in anyone else coming in.
"So what's with the girl - what'd she do to irriate you so much?" AJ asked, curious.
"All the brats in here are snobs who turn their nose up at us, AJ - I'm just making sure I get to have some fun too." Hank said cooly, glancing towards the gymnasium entrance. "Sign in the next few brats on your own for a minute, will you? I'm going to make sure I get assigned to the kid we just got in." AJ nodded, waiting with his shoulder on the doorway casually, giving the teenage girl who approached with her own tot, a smile.
"Konichiwa" AJ greeted. "Who is this?"
"Kimberly Hart." the girl replied, stumbling slightly forward. AJ looked up from from his sheet, surprised.
"You alright?" He asked. She nodded and straightening up in front of the staff member.
"Yes sir, its just a headache." She admitted. "It's been on me all day and it won't go away." She said, pressing on one side of her head, miserably.
AJ nodded sympathetically, "You seen the nurse about it?" She shook her head.
"No, I don't have the time." She mumbled, eyes closed as she rubbed at her left temple. "I'm running late as it is, practically all the time. Its my senior year and I'm rushing to finish all these last minute credits with the end of the year coming up so that I can graduate," She explained, crouching a little and rubbing her tot's back briefly before gently shaking her head as she nodded for the little girl to go ahead into the class giving AJ a grateful smile, having suddenly realized she'd just been venting to a superior staff member. Go seichō arigatōgozaimashita." She mumbled in embarrassment, turning away to leave.
AJ looked back at the desk hesitantly, then back at her. "Hold on. I got something for it." He assured, going to the desk where Hank was finishing signing a paper as the overhead bell rang.
After all the teachers and staff finished settling down the children on the carpeted circle, they began explaining the same way they did every day, what they would be doing for class. "You know who you're going to interview?" Hank asked AJ conversationally, as the two men leaned back against one of the back tables.
"No, I think I'll just go down the list- you know, the way we're supposed too." AJ said teasingly, receiving a grin.
"Suit yourself, grandpa." Hank replied, stepping forward and deftly making his way to the young Cori as the new teacher separated them into small groups for a class exercise. Cori went with him without complaint, smiling happily as Hank lifted him up onto the table and sat on a wooden chair in front of him and studied him with amusement. "You already seem a lot easier to get along with than your guardian, kid, congratulation." Hank tilted his head as the boy stared back with a larger smile than before - almost seeming like he empathized with what he was saying. Hank waited another moment, almost expecting the child to formulate a coherent reply back to his observation; but when he received no response, he began to feel silly. "How old are you anyway, kid?" Hank muttered, embarrassed, as he picked up the boys chart. "Four years old." Hank laughed, shaking his head. "It says here you may be mute - is that true, boy? are you mute?" Hank asked, studying Cori closely who gave him a look that said, 'Really? How do you expect me to answer that?' Hank let out another bark of laughter and immediately quieted when he received a warning from another staff member from nearby.
Hank leaned conspiringly close, "You've been here less than fifteen minutes and you're already getting me in trouble," He accused. "I should dump you back with the other brats before you cause me any more, shouldn't I?" Cori only continued to grin and Hank chuckled dryly as he leaned back. "So I don't suppose there's any point in talking to you about your super-powers, is there?" Cori shrugged and Hank imitated the motion, grinning. "That's it huh? a shrug...you're a tough nut to crack, kid, I'll give you that! but even a kid like you comes with a price though, can I bribe you with apple juice?" Cori's eyes lit up at the idea and Hank went to go get it. Hank went ahead and put the straw in the boxed apple juice and set it on the table, pushing it towards the boy with amusement.
Another thirty minutes passed by and just as Hank had suspected, he had been duped. The boy wasn't saying a thing; Hank had even offered him a pencil and paper at some point and had gotten him to draw a picture of what appeared to be a sun shinning down on a house and family of three but never mentioned or displayed his powers. "...You could legitimately not have a power, I suppose." Hank mumbled to himself with a frown, not wanting to even think about what that would mean for the kid if the institution had taken him in and later came to find that it had been a waste. He looked up from his musing to find Cori still happily sucking on what little was left of his juice as he looked around and studied the class. Hank exhaled, throwing his arms in the air, grinning. "You win - I give up kid, you're good. I don't know any more about you than I did when we started. How's a bathroom break sound to you - that was an awful lot of juice you had there." Cori nodded and Hank automatically took his hand and helped the boy hop down. "Wait." Hank demanded, turning to look down at Cori. "You DO know how to do THAT on your own, right?" Cori rolled his eyes with a smile and walked past him towards the bathroom door that was attached to the classroom. "What?" Hank asked as he followed after him past the door. "That's a valid question." Cori only gave him a, 'Yeah, right' look as he went straight to a stall, leaving a perturbed Hank who studied the miniature bathroom; everything here was sized for the tots and Hank wrinkled his nose at the small size of it all as he went to another stall to go take care of his own business, complaining about the tiny accommodations.
A minute or two later Hank came back out and went straight to the small sink and washed his hands, looking himself over as he blindly ran his hand underneath the paper dispenser to grab a towel to dry his hands off; instead his hand came back empty, with the exception of a bleeding graze he'd managed to obtain from the sharp edges of the dispenser that were used to tear off the individual sheets. Hank cursed underneath his breath, glancing down at the boy who came up beside him and quietly climbed the little steps - reaching over to wash his hands - as he looked over at Hank curiously.
"What, you find this funny?" Hank asked, his mood soured, as he put his hands angrily under the spray of water to wash off the running blood. He brought the flesh wound up to his face to study it, annoyance flashing into his eyes as he put it underneath the spray of water again, angry that it was still bleeding; if he needed to get stitches for a stupid cut he'd gotten from the little boys restroom, he was never going to live it down. "Why the hell would they make dispensers in here so sharp?" He asked rhetorically, wiping at his hand pointlessly. Not having noticed him coming closer, Cori took Hank by surprise when he cupped his own small hand around the outside of Hanks injured hand. "What-" Hank pulled away quickly. "Stop that, kid." He roughly chastised, annoyed. The little boy insistently grabbed at his hand again - with both of his hands this time - and studied the wound, gently touching the edges o the jagged cut with his own small fingertips. Hanks eyes began to widen to the size of saucers as his cut began to heal right in front of him - his eyes rapidly shifted from the boy to his hand, as his mind raced a thousand miles per hours with the possibilities.
Hank had found a healer...talk about a bonus!
Hank whooped as he picked the little boy up, holding him close to his side, unable to wipe the seemingly permanent grin on his face, as he deliberated the best course of action to take. Should he take Cori directly to the White Room and inform them or go to the Main Office and request an audience with Mr. Whedon himself? now wouldn't that be something...UVA adored healers, they were always in demand and he just knew he'd be compensated generously for the find. "Wait until AJ hears about this.." Hank said gleefully, wondering what all he could request for, while he led the boy out of the bathroom; entering the main classroom to find two black suited staff members escorting a struggling AJ out of the classroom. Hanks grin immediately faded to a confused frown, as Cori back down on the ground. "Go with the others." He ordered quietly, as he took large strides towards the door, closing the door quickly behind him.
"Excuse me," He called loudly. "Is there something I can assist you, gentlemen with?" He asked them, voice etched with confusion. The two suited men, turned briefly to look at him, one having already pointed a revolver at Hank who immediately raised his hands up.
"If you take one further step in our direction, you will be eliminated on the spot - is that clear?" Hank nodded quickly.
"Absolutely." He assured, eyes lingering on AJ whose mouth was muffled by the hand of the silent suit, eyes wild and panicked. "But why.."
"No one is allowed to administer medication to students without the expressed permission of a Nurse, or Mr. Whedon himself- Mr. Welling here, as well as all UVA staff are not exempt from this rule, he knows this." The man holding AJ's mouth closed explained coldly, hand squeezing around AJ's face when AJ struggling increased.
"Excuse us," The man requested.
"Wo qui qui nile, please wait for just- couldn't there be a mistake?" Hank implored, heart pounding in his ears.
"Camera." The first said, easily as he pointed a thumb to classroom.
"It w-was only one, Hank." AJ sputtered, managing to shake off the hand around his mouth, blood on his cheeks from the nails of the man holding him. "She had a headache and I know what that's-I j-just felt bad and gave her one-" One clear hit to the back of AJ's neck was all it took and his best friend fell limp in their hold.
"Excuse us." The first man asked with finality, giving Hank a look that told him if he did otherwise, there would fatal repercussions. Hank licked his quickly chapping lips, taking a few slow steps backward, unable to take his eyes away from his best friend until he had been removed completely from the Gymnasium. Hank didn't react when he stumbled back onto the closed classroom door. What the hell had just happened? Face as pale as a ghost and with his hands shaking Hank went back into the classroom, avoiding the curious stares of all the eyes there as he made his way back to the large Desk he had previously seen AJ sorting through. Hank sat down heavily and opened the first drawer on the left, leafing through it briefly finding no pills; when Hank closed that one up, he moved on the the drawer on the right and immediately saw it. He picked up the small white bottle and brought it up to his face, finding it hard to read suddenly; he intently focused on the red and white title and finally managed to make out that it was Tylenol.
His jaw clenched viciously, nostrils flaring rapidly, struggling to keep control as a shaking hand came up to run through his hair. His gaze fell back down on the plastic piece-of-crap bottle he was squeezing in his other fist. Those Ta ma de hundan took his best friend to do who the hell knew what to, all because of pill? a gorram Tylenol pill?
Past him, the children on the carpeted circle attempted to repeat together the names of some of the most important Villains in History, an exercise that was being completely ignored by Cori, who only eyed the back of the classroom with concern; where a profusely sweating Hank dropped his head, his arms and shoulders occasionally trembling, but equally taut as a bow string that was pulled back as far as it could be pulled - and was ready to fire.
...
"Hey." Abel greeted with a smile as Paige came to sit at their usual table, where their gang was all sitting and eating their lunches.
"Wei" Paige said in a happy greeting. She had just picked up Cori from gym-tot class and was incredibly relieved not to have found Hank there.
"Everything ok today?" Abel asked, knowing she had started to get use to him taking Cori to class and feeling bad for being unable to do so today, due to being kept up by Mr. O'Breno in Quips.
"Yeah, everything's good, right Cori?" Paige asked her tot, still a little concerned that Hank may have kept good on his promise. Cori only offered a small smile in reply. Paige nodded, turning back to Abel with a more reassured smile, "Yup. You?"
"Of course, all is good."
"Good." Paige repeated, somewhat shyly, always a little overwhelmed when Abel gave her his undiluted attention.
"...Now that we've established that all is 'good' can I have your broccoli Abel?" Jordan finally asked, confused by how weird the two acted around each other sometimes. Abel glanced at him, then down at the plate that his youngest tyro was pointing at, and he nodded with an easy chuckle.
"Go ahead." He assured, nudging the plate his way, Jordan nodded with a grin.
"Excellenttt." He cackled, taking it all. Paige suddenly remembered it wasn't just them three at the table and blinked over at Lisa, immediately noticing the girl was looking away, apparently still upset over the other day; sweet Ruby, however, was contentedly sitting beside Lisa, giving Paige a bright and reassuring smile that Paige couldn't help but return.
"We're barely starting Destroy the Hero tomorrow, when you guys doing it?" Jordan asked Paige curiously, when he noticed that no one was going to offer up any conversation.
Paige looked at him. "We already did it this year but we're doing it again today, I think actually." She said, with a shrug.
"I know you're against it and all Abel," Jordan started, carefully trying to mask his anticipation. "...But I'm kind of excited about it." He admitted.
Abel chuckled, "It's alright," He assured. "To tell you the truth, I guess it was pretty cool to watch people duke it out." Abel conceded.
"Did you ever get picked?" Jordan asked, grinning - thankful that the topic wasn't off limits.
"Yeah, three times." Abel offered up.
"And?" Jordan asked eagerly.
"Won twice, lost once. They stopped letting me play because I had a bit of an unfair disadvantage." Jordan nodded, grin showing the pride he felt for his Au Fait's amazing super power.
"What about you Paige?" Lisa asked with an impish smile. "How many times have you won?"
"None." Paige said honestly with a smile, knowing very well what Lisa was trying to do.
"I imagine that's for a reason," Lisa started calmly, trying to hide her smile as she played with her food. "I mean what good could it do you to read someone's mind when you're fighting with someone?" She asked rhetorically.
"Actually it's probably of pretty good use." Abel countered with a easy shrug. "You can anticipate your opponents moves before they make them."
"Yeah, but what good is it to know what your opponents going to do if you cant defend yourself against them." Lisa argued.
"I don't know, Lisa.." Abel drawled with a smile, putting a confident arm around Paige's shoulders. "I wouldn't count her out because of that, she's done well for herself in PE against students who have more physical powers than she does." He said proudly, smiling at Paige who rolled her eyes at the attention, blushing as she looked the other way.
"Have to agree with him there, actually." Jordan said with a nod. Lisa gave a small roll of the eyes, having briefly forgotten how useless this battle was.
"Ok fine..." She waved off. "I've heard about the tank in there but I don't get to go in there so I wonder what's in there-I mean there is a tank, right?.." She asked Abel, somewhat, confused. Gym was only something they got to experience when they were in Powers Education (PE) and of course, all of that was when they turned thirteen. "How does that game work anyway?"
"Theirs two groups of two, they have three minutes to defeat their opponents and get to a button beside the Hero that's dangling from a chain over a tank." Paige explained. "When somebody presses the button, the hero goes into the tank, those villains win." Paige finished, offering Cori up his own juice but being rejected.
"What's in the tank?" Ruby asked, confused.
"Nobody knows" Paige answered, attention now on Cori as she offered him some peas.
"And if nobody presses the button?" Jordan asked, eagerly.
"The hero gets whisked away to safety." Paige answered, chuckling at the raspberry noise Jordan made in disapproval.
"Do they use real people?" Ruby asked fearfully.
Paige glanced at the little girl and offered her a reassuring smile, "Not usually, most of the time it's a dummy but..." Paige wrinkled her nose. "Sometimes when they can, they've used Heroes in the past." Paige replied honestly, shaking her head at the thought. "But I haven't seen them do it."
"You seen them Abel?" Jordan asked Abel, who tapped Cori's nose playfully, noticing the little guys mood was off.
"Eat your chicken strips, they're getting cold." Abel instructed his youngest tyro, who obediently did so knowing better than to insist on a topic that Abel didn't want to talk about. Paige clearly got the hint too because she quietly continued to try to feed Cori.
"..You know.." Jordan started carefully, keeping his eyes on his Au Fait. "I don't like it for the hero thrown in the tank or anything, I just like the idea of being able to battle someone and be able to use our powers." Abel ruffled Jordan's hair with a hand with a smile that told him he understood what he meant.
"You guys want to hear a joke Mr. O'Breno told us today?" Abel asked his pack who groaned mortified at what he'd tell them now, they'd heard some pretty pathetic stuff in the past. "No, this one will tickle you, I promise." He insisted.
"I want too." Lisa saidm smiling as she leaned forward.
"A man spoke frantically into the phone 'My wife is pregnant and her contractions are only two minutes apart!' 'is this her first child?' The doctor asked. 'No!' The man shouted, 'This is her husband'…get it?" Abel asked, smiling at the groans emitting from the others- except Lisa who merely played with her hair and laughed merrily for his sake.
...
Despite the fact that this was no where near Paige's first time attending, 'Destroy the hero' she still always had a bad case of nerves as she neared the gym for her PE class, trying to get past the mobs of students going past her.
"This should be fun huh?" A girl who bypassed Paige asked with a smile, before entering the gym.
"Real fun." Paige mumbled, as she entered the gym-immediately bombarded with the thoughts of others. Paige cringed as she quickly made her way up the bleachers to hide out behind the biggest guy she could find; this was a trick she had learned a while back when she didn't want to participate in certain activities.
In no time the gym started to fill up with students trying to shove into the bleachers, which was a much longer process than one would think, due to the fact that where each student sat was very symbolic to their character and ego as an up-coming Villain. It was an unspoken law that whoever sat towards the top of the bleachers was admitting lacking the necessary strength for the PE games and worst yet, was admitting fear. Those who sat more towards the middle of the bleachers usually were either trying to protect their reputation but did not want to get chosen - or as was the case sometimes, they might just not care either way. The students that sat at the very bottom and closest to the ring, with the shield all around its sides, were those that were very enthusiastic about the sports and most likely had large ego's regarding their strength; they were always the first to offer their participation.
"Hey," A young thirteen year old, thin blonde girl greeted Paige, as she sat down beside her. Paige looked over at her and offered up a smiled.
"Hey, just the girl I was hoping to see." Paige teased, the girl - whose name was Candy - rolled her eyes with a smile.
"Oh, I wonder why.." She teased back. "Naw, the truth of the matter is that I was looking for you." Candy admitted, poking Paige in the arm playfully.
"Oh?" Paige asked distractedly, looking back towards the ring to keep a look out for Mr. Galindo, her Powers Education (PE) teacher. This class always had her very edgy.
"Yeah. Ricky's over there." Candy hinted, nodding her head towards the left in an attempt to be subtle, Paige glanced over.
"You want me to sort out his voice from all the other ones in my head..?" Paige asked incredulously.
"Well...it's a good thing Paige, really, come-on try it, you have to train anyway right?" Candy asked eagerly. "Just try it" Paige glared at her.
"I better be getting A LOT of cotton candy for this.." She warned jokingly.
"Dahn rahn." Candy assured with a grinning, rubbing her hands together-fluffs of pink starting to appear to give Paige a preview. Paige nodded, exhaling as she tried to focus on the boy a couple of people down their row, for a few seconds before her eyes started narrowing on his voice.
Lao tyen yeh...I wonder who they're going to use..
Paige faintly brought her hand to her forehead with a frown, looking back up at Candy.
"What?" Candy asked. "Is he thinking of me?" She asked hopeful, her smile beginning to fade to confusion when she saw how grim Paige looked.
"...Somebody told him that they're using a real human today." Paige said quietly. Candy's eyes widened, looking over at her long time crush in surprise.
"Huh.." Candy mumbled with an exhale, astounded. A loud whistle was heard and their attention was immediately brought to the front of the ring where Mr. Galindo stood in a high platform in front of a chair, holding a clipboard, and dressed in his usual black sweats and black school jacket with red lettering.
"Listen up everybody" He called loudly. "Today, as most of you probably know, we will be doing Destroy the Hero, and in an unusual treat," Mr. Galindo started as a hatch door opens from the center of the ceiling. "We have a hero for the game." The Gym went into a booing frenzy when the colorfully dressed hero was lowered down to dangle high above the ground. Loud, excited murmurs filled the gym as the booing began to die down. "Until someone puts them in the tank that is," Mr. Galindo riled up, grinning as the a hatch at the center floor of the ring opened up and a tank rose up, eagerly approved by the loudly cheering students. "Alright, settle down." Mr. Galindo commanded, amused. "As usual, there will be two teams of two. Get down here if I call you and gear up," He instructed, looking through the sets of bleachers - feeling particularly cruel this day - as he picked the first group from two students on the higher sets of bleachers [Group 1] and the other two from the first row at the bottom [Group 2]. Once the two teams geared up they met in the ring and looked up towards Mr. Galindo, who now addressed them.
"Most of you understand the game but for those that don't, this is Destroy the Hero, you have three minutes to immobilize your opposing Villains and get to that button up there." He said pointing upwards near the Hero. "When that button is pressed the Hero's chain unlocks and the hero falls into the Tank; the team that presses that button first wins, if neither team gets to the button in the three minutes alloted then the chain that's holding up the hero whisks him back up and away from danger and both teams loose. Any questions?" Receiving none, he nodded in satisfaction. "I don't have to remind you all what an honor it is to have your first Hero kill be in our majestic institution, make UVA proud." He urged. Feeling the atmosphere was riled up and ready for the action, Mr. Galindo loudly began to shout, "3, 2, 1, BATTLE!" Immediately the two teams went into action at each other for a few intense minutes, Group 2, from the bottom bleachers easily pummeling the opposing team.
From the side of the gym, right outside the tot classroom stood an immobilized Hank, who watched the match with complete horror; his eyes pin pointed on the bruised, and accidentally exposed, UVA symbol on the inside of the wrist of the "hero" dangling from the chains. He knew the moment the hatch was opened that it would be AJ that would come down, and as sure as the evil that consumed the souls of everyone in this place, it was him.
"Thirty seconds left!" Mr. Galindo shouted. Hank looked over at Galindo before allowing his eyes to go back to his unmoving best friend; they were really doing this; they were going to kill his best friend because of a pill. They were unbelievable. Group 1, the weaker of the two teams managed to knock one of the opposing team members out by slamming them against the tank and went back to the fray, struggling to overcome the remaining member. "Twenty seconds!" Mr. Galindo shouted. Hank immediately looked up towards AJ again - his heart starting to speed up with hope - they weren't going to make it, they only had twenty seconds left; maybe by the time they got the next match started he could find a way to get AJ out of there. He looked up at the opening where AJ had been lowered down from, trying to figure out where that was, ignoring the louder cheering from the crowd of students, Hank quickly made his way out of the gymnasium.
"..Lao tyen yeh" Paige groaned, burying her face in her hands and dropping her head down onto her knees. Candy put a comforting hand on her back, concerned, as she rubbed up and down.
"Paige..?"
"He's awake - he's awake, he's freaken awake, Candy." Paige head came up, eyes panicked, as both girls looked up at the limp person who hung horizontally in the air.
"10! 9-" Mr. Galindo began the count-down. They all stared as a member from Group 1, the weaker team was thrown off to the side, the only remaining two opponents fighting it out still. The only standing fighter from Group 1 was slammed clear across the room and the remaining team member from Group 2 used the opportunity to fly up towards the button. Driven by adrenaline, the male from Group 1 who'd just been thrown down, sprang back to his feet with his hands and sprinted towards the Tank; using his momentum to propel himself up off the tank and jumped off his opponent before slamming his open palm on the button just as Mr. Galindo shouted, "1!" and the buzzard simultaneously went off.
The loudest roar of approval swept over the Gymnasium as students shouted, whooped, and rapidly stomped on the loud bleachers in excitement, as Group 1 was declared victorious. Mr. Galindo was just lowering back down the arms of the victors as they heard the first of the chains snap off loudly. The crowd quieted down, eyes glued to the Hero, as another of the chains snapped loose.
"..No, no.." Paige muttered frantically. "I can't-"
"Paige, please!" Candy pleaded, holding onto the shaking girl. "You have to calm down-"
"He's too loud-I cant," Another chain snapped off and Paige nearly felt her eyes cross in pain as she folded over, grabbing her head as she screamed - the howl of agony, of fear, and of sorrow - that the man about to fall to his death could not vocalize for himself. Many of the students began to turn to look at Paige but the whole room fell into dead silence as the unmistakable last of the four chains holding AJ up, snapped off.
Hank nearly fell from the ceiling hatch as he threw his entire body towards the chain, having tried to catch it before it snapped off, but his hands having closed on nothing but air. With his hands holding the edges of the hatch opening, Hank looked down inside the tank beneath him without so much as a blink; the only noise registering in his mind was the sounds of ripping flesh coming from the tank, from his best friend.
His fists clenched the edges tightly, failing to notice that he was drawing blood from his palms. He blinked as the hatch he was looking through began to close. Hank sat up - his knees still on the ground - watching the hatch close painfully slowly, almost mockingly slow, as it revealed the school logo. His eyes narrowed on that logo, reading that one word that embodied evil completely: UVA. He shakily began to pick himself up, distractedly wiping the blood off his hands on his shirt, as he exited the room and walked through the school halls, seeing everything with new eyes; three words pounding in his head like a unbudging mantra.
UVA will pay…
Translations:
Gomen (Japanese) Sorry.
Konichiwa (Japanese) hello.
seichō arigatōgozaimashita (Japanese) Thank you for listening.
Wo qui qui nile (Chinese) I beg you.
Ta ma de hundan (Japanese) F-ing bastards.
Iie (Japanese) No.
Gorram (Chinese) F- word.
Wei (Chinese) Hey/Hello.
Dahn rahn (Chinese) Of course.
Lao tyen yeh (Chinese)
Next Chapter: "Go ahead" Ruby said shyly. "But you probably shouldn't eat it"
"And why the gui not?" Jordan asked stopping his hand over the peach cobbler.
"Your allergic to peaches" Ruby reminded.
Note: Thanks for the patience and reviews! Keep reviewing! More interesting things should start happening now, please stay tuned!
:) Thank you! Arigatou! Shukran! Merci! Gracias! Grazzi! Danke Schon! Diolch:)
