He was going to be home alone… again.

The note on the fridge had said that his father was working late again and that he should just make himself something or go over to the Palmers for dinner, be in bed by ten, etcetera, etcetera. It was the same note his dad left him at least four times a week, just written on different paper.

He sighed and shrugged it off. You're a Hannon son, his father would say, and a Hannon soldiers on, no matter what.

He shouldered his book bag and headed for the class room.

A few security officers nodded to him, being the son of the chief of security had its perks, he was proud of his father. He just wished that he could spend a little more time together.

"Hey Butch, hey Wally" his best friends, or the closest thing he had to best friends, were waiting for him in their spots at the back of the class room.

"Hey PJ" he hated that name, but it was one of the nicer nicknames he'd been given, so he didn't say anything.

"Did you bring it?" Of course Wally was the one who was excited for this.

"Yeah, here it is." A small glass ampoule, filled with a yellow green liquid. Wally snatched it out of his hand like a squirrel going for a nut.

"How do you get this stuff Paul?"

"It was easy, Ammonium Sulfide's the stuff they use in maintenance to find gas leaks, and the ampoule was in the storerooms." Stealing wasn't Paul's favorite pastime, but they had rows of that sort of stuff, no one was using it. He wasn't hurting anyone, right?

"Yeah, yeah, shut it with the geek speak Kid Cop." Wally's grin could put the Cheshire Cat to shame.

"Nice Job Pauly, now for phase two of operation: stinky girls."

Wait what?

"You didn't tell me anything about any girls, Butch?" He knew exactly which girls that Butch was talking about. They were sitting three desks away, playing paper football. The thought of crossing them again made Paul's ribs hurt.

"You always act like a little scaredy cat when we try to give the baby and her pet psycho what's coming to them." He hated when Wally called him that, he wasn't scared.

"That's because whenever we try and mess with them, Amata beats the stuffing out of us, remember the time she beat us with a tee ball bat. I still have the scar from the time you guys stole McKenna's jumpsuit and left a diaper, and Amata hunted us down one by one and stabbed us each with a dozen sewing pins. Or what about the time you guys broke McKenna's art project, and Amata broke Wally's arm, gave me two black eyes, and that's not even saying what she did to Butch." He caught Amata's eyes by accident, she gave him a cold look that made him shudder. Okay, he was scared, but he had a lot of good reasons to be.

"We were kids then, we're seven now. They're still six for another two months. We're men now, well… we're men any way, you're still a little kid for two months. But we're unstoppable, and since you're with us, you'll be able to hide behind us while we beat her up if she tries anything." He saw a lot of holes in that plan, but they were his friends.

"OK guys, what're we going to do?"

"It's simple, we break it open in her bag when she's not looking, she'll never even know who did it." Yes she will, he thought, they always know because we're the only ones who do anything.

"Alright ladies and gentlemen, find your seats and let the show begin. The order of the day is MECH, Math, English, Chemistry, and History."

…

"Alright ladies and gentlemen, this performance has concluded. I expect you all to attend my next show tomorrow. Now, if you would all leave the artist to prepare, unless you would all like an encore?"

No one wanted an encore.

"Paul, would you mind hanging back a bit, you too McKenna." Brotch's voice caught him like a noose around his neck.

"This is your chance PJ, break it in her bag the second she's not looking." The ampoule was shoved into his hand as Wally passed.

He walked to the Mr. Brotch's desk like he was walking in front of a firing squad.

"Paul, you've been scoring lower and lower on your English tests."

"So I'm in a slump, give me a week or two, I'll get better." He knew why his scores had been going lower, he'd been spending all of his time with Butch and Wally, skipping the reading material.

"That's what I thought at first, you've got a bit of a hit and miss record in that subject. But you always keep it C or above. You're sitting at a D right now." Damn, he always kept it just high enough not to attract any attention, he'd thought he had a bit more time before it went too low.

"So what, you want me to stay after class, do extra work. Whatever, I'll do whatever you want me to, just as long as you don't bring my dad into this." His father had a lot more important things to deal with other than his grades.

"Well, I thought about that, but I figure that if I do that, then you'll just cram and memorize instead of actually understanding the material."

"Mr. Brotch, I don't mean to be impolite, but Amata's waiting for me just outside of the classroom, she gets anxious when I keep her waiting." Her voice startled Paul, he'd actually forgotten that she was there. McKenna always spoke in a quiet polite manner, it was weird, and kind of creepy.

"I know how 'anxious' Miss Almodovar gets when it comes to you, McKenna, and I'm sure Paul knows even better than I do. What I was getting to was that you have a your reading comprehension is college level, I was wondering if you could tutor Paul in English until his grades go up?"

"Aww, come on, if you have to give me a tutor can't it be…"He couldn't think of anyone, but there had to be someone else, anyone else.

"I'll happily do it Mr. Brotch. It's not a problem." No, no, no, no, no, if he was stuck getting tutored by her, he had two options. A, he spent the entire time pranking her and bullying her, which he didn't really want to do because Amata would beat him to a pulp every time he tried anything. B, don't do anything, let her tutor him, and get his grades up, which he didn't want to do because if he did that, he'd end up on the receiving end of Butch and Wally's antics.

"Alright it's settled then. Now you two get out of here and get to studying." That was the end of it, he'd been in Mr. Brotch's class to know when his teacher wasn't going to discuss something.

"We can study in my apartment, I'll show you the way." She grabbed her book bag and headed for the door. With little choice, he followed.

"Kenna, why'd Mr. Brotch keep you?" And then she noticed him.

Oh crap.

Amata's arm was crushing his neck before he could even put up his hands.

"What did you do?"

What do I say, what do I say? She wouldn't believe the truth. She loomed over him, pressing harder, he was never more aware of the fact that Amata was the tallest kid in the class than when she was bearing down on him.

"I.. I.."

"Mr. Brotch asked me to tutor Paul in English, Amata. Could you please give us a half hour? I don't think he'll be able to pay attention if you're in the room." There was that creepy calm voice again.

"Sure Kenna, no problem."

She didn't let up on his neck before leaning in to whisper one more thing in his ear though.

"If anything happens to her, I'll kick you in the nuts so hard, they'll come out your throat."

Just like that, the smile was back and she seemed completely at ease.

"I'll meet you at your apartment in a half an hour Kenna."

"Of course Mata." The two girls hugged and then Amata was gone down the hallway.

"Please follow me."

Considering the alternative, he did as he was told. They continued down several hallways before he finally worked up the courage to speak.

"So why in the world would you want to tutor me? You hate me."

"I don't hate you."

"Of course you do, me, Butch, Wally, we do all sorts of mean stuff to you." They came to a stop at one of the vault doors in the lower level.

It's pretty close to Butch's place, he thought.

"You all have your reasons, excuse me" She brushed past him and slipped a key into the lock.

"What? I mean… what?"

She disappeared the second they were in the apartment.

"Would you like a Nuka Cola?" She reappeared next to him holding two bottles of Nuka Cola.

"Uh, sure… how'd you do that?" She just disappeared, she just freaking disappeared. How the heck did she do that?

"We can study at the kitchen table." She guided him to the table next to the kitchenette.

"Umm… ok, I'm really confused right now. What reasons do you think we have?" His head felt like he'd spent an hour on a sit-and –spin.

"Butch is trying to redirect his anger at his mother for her drinking problem, he can't yell at her, so he takes it out on me. Wally's dad has taught him that if he wants to be a man, he has to bottle up his emotions, bullying me relieves the tension that comes with that. And as for you, we both know why you do it" She's not even looking at me, all she's doing is pulling books out of her bag.

And wait a minute…

"What do you mean we both know, we both know what?"

"It doesn't matter, now why don't we start with the reading assignment, the Ho-"

He cut her off.

"We both know what? What are you saying?"

She sighed, took off her glasses, and looked back at him.

"You do it because of your father, now back to the book-".

"You're wrong!" The chair slammed against the floor behind him.

"My father is a hero, he keeps us all safe, and I'm proud to be his son!" Why was she just sitting there, she should be doing something, he was sure of that. When you yelled at people, they reacted, he'd seen it dozens of times. But all she was doing was sitting there with her hands folded letting him scream at her.

"You just wish that he had a little extra time for you?"

"He…" he tried to ask, but the words died in his throat.

"Wha…"

"Who…"

"I know it because I know you Paul, I know you only hang out with Butch and Wally because they're the only people ignore the fact that your father is chief of security. I know that you're grades have slipped because you spend all your time being roped into their pranks. Just like I know that you were planning on breaking that stink bomb in my bag."

"Wha.. What, I wasn't going to do…" Where was it? It wasn't in his pocket anymore, crap.

"Have you misplaced this?" Sure enough, there was the vial in her hand, practically glowing in the bright fluorescent light.

"I wasn't going to…" The look on her face stopped him dead in his tracks.

"Alright, I was going to. So is Amata going to beat me to a pulp now?" He cringed, expecting the girl to burst out of some hidden corner to deliver retribution for his intended crime.

"No, because she's not going to find out." She went over to the trash chute, and all evidence of his malicious intent went down into the vault incinerator.

Paul's jaw dropped, he'd been sure that he was in for a beating.

"Why would you do that?"

"Like I said, I don't hate you." She sat back at the table, it took a second for him to realize that she was waiting for him to do the same. He picked up his chair and did what she was silently telling him.

"Amata is my best friend, she's very protective of me and I love her for it, but I don't hate you and I don't wish harm on any of you. What she does to you three, she does on her own. I won't stop her because it satisfies her, but despite what you may think, I don't tell her to do anything." She smiled at him, and he realized that this was the most that he'd ever heard her speak.

"I'm sorry about all of the stuff we do, it's just that if I don't help them out with that stuff, they won't hang out with me, and then they'll do stuff to me."

"So why do you hang out with them?" Something about McKenna's big blue eyes made it hard for him not to answer her question, it seemed like they were drilling right through him.

You know why, you just said so."

"So you do stuff for them so that they'll hang out with you and so they don't bully you, right?"

"I guess" he suddenly developed a very big interest in the tabletop.

"Paul that's not friendship, that's them slavery."

Neither of them spoke for what felt like a long time. Paul finally broke the silence.

"I know."

"I know, but no one else wants to be friends with the head of security's son. What else can I do?"

"Well, you could be friends with us, and if you're worried about those two, they're terrified of Amata." For someone who doesn't tell her best friend who to beat up, she doesn't have any hang ups about using her to scare people, he thought.

"Why would you want to be friends with me?"

"Because you're smart, because you seem like a good guy, because you're better than Butch and Wally." She took a long swig of her Nuka Cola.

"Give me some time to think about it." He stood up, he needed to get out of there, think everything through.

"Alright, we'll do some actual tutoring tomorrow, for now, take this." She slid a piece of paper across the table to him.

"What is it?"

"The answers for tomorrow's quiz."

"Ok" it wasn't any crazier than the rest of the conversation had been, so he took the paper, grabbed his book bag, and headed for the door.

….

She found McKenna where she expected to find her, stretched out on the couch in her family's apartment, napping.

She dropped onto the couch next to McKenna and folded her legs in to sit indian style. As gently as she could, she slipped her hands under McKenna's head.

The smaller girl's eyes snapped open, wide and alert. Almost as quickly, Amata felt McKenna's small hands tightening around her wrists.

Just as quickly, the hand's relaxed and fell away as she realized who it was.

She just smiled and slipped McKenna's head into her lap. She'd gotten used to this reaction, McKenna slept like a soldier in a warzone, Amata knew how that was, her own father said the same about her.

"So how'd it go?" she ran her hands through McKenna's hair, it was so soft and silky against her skin. She loved McKenna's hair.

"He'll do it, I was right about him not liking what Butch and Wally do. They're friends of convenience and necessity. All he needed was a slight push and a way out."

"You always are." There was that brilliant way her eyes twinkled when she knew she had won, Amata loved that too.

"I wasn't lying to Paul, I don't hate them for what they do, but I would much prefer they stop. Without Paul, security will start to pay attention to Butch and Wally's antics, not to mention, they'll no longer be able to perform some of their more complicated schemes."

"I'm happy to keep beating them up for you until they get the message." She felt McKenna's small hands on her own again, running over the bruises on her knuckles from the last time she'd split Butch's lip. He and his little gang had broken McKenna's art project, a collage of pictures taken of the two of them over the last three years. Her response had been quick and brutal, she'd done the worst to Butch. She'd knocked out three of his teeth, broken his jaw, and gave him a concussion that put him in a three day coma. An I.V. of stims and some reconstructive surgery had fixed that, and Butch was back to messing with McKenna the day after he was released from the clinic.

It's a good thing my father's the overseer and his mother's too drunk to care about anything, she thought, otherwise I might actually get in trouble for doing things like that.

"I know you are, and thank you for doing it for being so protective of me, even though I don't ask you to. But I'd prefer a more long term solution, they don't seem to stop no matter how badly you beat them. And besides, he really is a nice person."

There was the part of McKenna that she really admired, you could hit her, mock her, dedicate every fiber of your being to annoying her, and still she'd never really hate you for it. Stop you, sure, but never hate.

"I am getting a little tired of bruising my knuckles on his face, but I don't think I'm done with Butch and Wally."

That was okay though, Mckenna might not hold grudges, but Amata was happy to do it for her.

Ok guys, I know it's been a while, but I was waiting for my beta to get back to me on this chapter, and I haven't heard from her in months so I'm officially giving up on hearing back from her.

Currently, I'm putting all of my efforts into my latest project, Dominance. if you haven't seen it yet, check it out.

But even though I have no betas for these, I'm still going to release the chapters that I have.

R&R people.