Warren found himself watching Dannon leave the bus. The way she crooked her fingers at him before hopping off made him want to grab her fingers in his hand and feel the coolness from her water element seep through onto his own. The curiosity that swallowed him when he walked off the bus seemed to knock her out of her thoughts because she faltered right in front of him, breathing hard as his curiosity continued to swirl through his mind. What's she like under that crazy hair, he thought.

He watched her walk into the school, greedily drinking from her thermos what smelled like cranberry tea. His chocolate eyes followed her form until she turned the corner through the door and disappeared inside the building.

He turned his thoughts to something else. For example, the letter received from the containment center that currently held his father. It was addressed to Warren specifically. It was from his father. He didn't even bother to open it, assuming the letter was just another ploy to try and get his son to act as a messenger for him so that Lila Peace, née Cross and soon to be again (the moment the stubborn villain would sign the papers, that is), would know that he still loved her; and that he hoped she still loved him.

He could still remember the day his mother sent in the papers. He could smell the salt in her tears that endlessly streamed down her cheeks and pooled at her neck. He could hear the sobs that racked her body and carried throughout the whole house. He saw all of it fresh in his mind, despite the fact that all this happened ten years ago.

The warning bell rang loudly throughout the school.

His first period class passed by in a daze. When he regained his subconscious by second hour, he was taking notes in Villain Sociology and Psychosis II Honors beside Ethan. Their first villain to profile and diagnose: The Stormbringer. His picture was being projected on the chalkboard, thunderbolt yellow eyes and all. His skin was horribly pale beyond healthy and his murderous growling smile was partially hidden behind a mask colored in black and streaked with yellow. His eyes glowed with evil visions.

Warren remembered his mother battling him once. The way she used her telepathic powers to go inside his head and project his worst fears with her illusionary gift. The way he screamed as he dug his nails through his skin and down his face. The way his blood poured out of his eyes as he had gone legally insane. The way he plummeted to his death and the lightening striking several schools and homes stopped and floods left. He also remembered the way his mother never played hero again after that last battle.

"The Stormbringer: also known as Riley King the business tycoon and owner of The King Boating Sales Lot. Also one of the most feared villains of the twenty-first century. What can some of you tell me about him," Mrs. Jameson asked the class.

Several students raised their hand; including Ethan. Ethan's extensive knowledge and strong will power had allowed him to unlock the extent of his powers. Not only was Ethan a striking young man who "was sex in a pair of eyeglasses," he was also on the Hero Track due to his newfound ability to harden himself so that he could dent an oncoming car without being moved a single inch and break himself apart as if he were air. The past year involved Zach constantly bagging on Ethan with the nickname "Mr. Molecule."

The middle-aged woman pointed to the new hero. "Well," Ethan began as he racked through his large library of facts, "he was raised in an abusive home, brought up by a mother who constantly drank herself into sleeping coma and a father who regularly sexually abused him."

"Thank you, Ethan." The teacher looked around before settling on Josh Hartley, the boy with the six arms. "What can you tell me, Mr. Hartley?"

The sleeping boy jumped awake in his seat, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes before answering back, "Uh, I guess he was an old guy with a temper tantrum." The class laughed in return to his gag. The teacher gave him a warning look before turning to Icy White, a.k.a. Freeze Girl. Warren detested the blonde. To this day, he questions why he ever went out with her. No, he thought, why did I even give her that goddamned dance?

Her white eyes blinked in confusion before she gathered her thoughts and smiled in her seat. "He was a psychotic time bomb. But he was like all of us. He looked like us. He talked like us. He thought like us. He wasn't a villain. He was deception."

The way her eyes trailed to Warren as she spoke those last words…Just like that, the room was one fire.

"I'm very disappointed in you, Warren." He'd heard this all before. Those same six words were so engraved into his brain that he could pinpoint her entire speech; beginning with…

"You set a classroom on fire. Not only is that expensive to repair but traumatizing to all the other students in that room! Including Mrs. Jameson!" The young Peace boy sat there, contemplating just how fast Principal Powers would react if he jumped out of his seat and hurled himself out of that shiny Plexiglas window he knew only he and Stronghold alone could break. The thought was slowly turning into a plan, ignoring impending doom from an endless freefall when he heard the comet of a principal sigh. He looked up at the graying haired woman. "What were you thinking, hmm? I want to know what went through your head when you busted into the world's biggest human candlelight."

The pyro crossed his arms in front of his chest, wishing he was back home, staring at the white ceiling surrounded by red walls or taking orders at the Paper Lantern. But he wasn't in any of those places and wouldn't for a long time. He was staying at Stronghold's house tonight because his mother was out of town and she didn't trust him enough still to not set something on fire while she was away and his shifts at the Paper Lantern were thin and weary due to the school year beginning again. Especially since it was his senior year.

"I'm not talking about this," he muttered.

"Yes, you are, Warren." She stood in front of me, hands on her hips and foot tapping. That was his warning. He knew better than to test a woman of age when her hands were on her hips and her foot was tapping on that ground. He sighed.

"Icy said some things directed at me when she was answering a question in class." Powers' brow furrowed. "I lost my temper. It won't happen again, I promise."

The principal sighed and handed him a slip with her signature on it. "Get onto class. Advanced Functions I should be starting right about now." Dark eyes looked up in surprise at the shock of not being sent to the Detention Room, or as Zach once called it, "Purgatory."

"Are you serious?"

"Warren Peace, by all means, I will strangle you and then drag your dead corpse into the Detention Room if you do not leave my office in 5…4…3…"

Principal Powers had never seen a grown man run out of a room so fast with his tail tucked so far between his legs. She pressed a finger on a button.

"Nurse Spex," she called.

"What can I do for ya, Doll?"

"I'm going to take you up on that offer."

"Which one? The Tylenol or the giant bottle of wine?"

Powers thought about it for a second.

"Both."

It was horrifying. The sight of Majenta sitting on Zach's lap, letting him feed her pieces of cannolies, was the scariest thing the group of friends had ever seen. Warren had pushed his food away, actually intending to eat it today instead of reading his many books or engaging in one of Zach and Will's many lunchtime pranks. Somewhere around the third pastry, Warren threw away his tray.

Ethan was burying his nose in a book that, suspiciously, looked like he was reading upside down. Layla was chewing on her pigtail, digging her nails into Will's arm. Will was…he was watching the door. Lately, Will had been hearing things that were just a little too far to hear.

The doors crashed open and a familiar laugh rang through the cafeteria. It seemed that Dannon was always on Warren's mind. And when she wasn't, she was right in front of him, taunting him with a pureness that was hidden under 115 pounds of natural sex appeal. Yes, Dannon Price was a total and utter tease.

There was something different about her, though. When she had busted into the room, she was surrounded by a crowd of students who seemed to be coming in from a dance elective class. They were all dressed in basketball shorts and giant T-shirts. Warren found the difference.

Her hair wasn't down in crazy, frizzy dreads. They were pulled up atop her head to reveal the curls at the nape of her neck. Instead of her own tank from this morning she wore a purple sports bra with a mesh crop top over and a pair of street sweatpants. Her feet were clad in gray Chuck Taylors. It was the sheen of sweat that brought Warren's attention to the thin pink line running down her spine. The puckered scar was angry-looking in bright pink compared to tan brown skin. What were even more noticeable were lined scars that branched out from that one scar down her spine to create the form of a dead tree.

Dannon left her friends at the line with a smile as a certain blonde called her over to a table. Dannon sat across from Icy with a confused and questioning glance. Warren watched with a determined stare. He watched her smile first, and then her head nod. She spoke to Icy. Icy said something back. Suddenly Dannon got mad and spoke back with fierce lips. She left Icy's table and walked away, but not before coming over to where a certain pyrokinetic young man sat.

"Take my advice," she said. "Don't let that bitch with the glacier up her ass beat you down. She's not worth it. Never was, never will be." Her fingers skimmed along his shoulder as she walked away from him. He shivered, watching her leave, eyes fixed firmly on her funny scar. Or, in her case, scars.

The looks on his friends' faces were refreshing. At least Majenta and Zach had stopped feeding each other. They were too busy looking at Warren.