Chapter Twelve

On her way to Gym, Aryana wasn't horribly enthusiastic about having to deal with Boomer giving her grief because she wasn't able to perform or do anything other than lay down on the bleachers. That's all she planned on doing anyway.

"Come on Gimpy," a voice said from behind. A moment later Warren walked pass her and to the doors that lead to the gym. "Don't want to be late. Again."

Her mouth hung slightly slack at his comment and the taunting smile on his face before he disappeared. She wanted nothing more than to burn the look off his face but she pushed passed it and went into the gym.

Like she had expected, Boomer was less than excited about her not participating in anything for what would likely be a while, but today didn't really matter. It was Save the Citizen day and apparently, that was a big deal. Slowly, Aryana managed to make her way up the steps and rather than sit there, she just flat out laid down. She didn't care if anyone sat next to her or even near her, she just needed to get off her knee. So, with her gym clothes under her head as a pillow and her bag under her leg, she laid on one of the upper levels of their designated section while everyone else filed in. She got a few looks but her lack of caring was evident. She was a bit surprised however when the others came to sit on the benches just below her.

"How's your knee feeling?" Layla asked with a slight wince.

"Hurts. Throbs. The usual." she replied with a smile. "I'll be fine though. Don't worry about it."

"I still feel kind of bad though."

"Why?" she asked, kind of surprised. She turned and saw where Peace was sitting. "He's the one that did it."

She was pointing blatantly at the man, not bothering to hide it. Something he noticed and turned his attention to her. He cocked a brow to her.

"You got something to say to me Gimpy?" he called down to her, separated really by only a few levels.

"You know what…" she muttered to herself, her hand mocking a gun.

She took aim and when she 'fired', a small ball of blue fire was sent flying at the man and would have hit in square in the forehead if he hadn't caught the slow moving object. His hand ignited as he caught it, squelching the fire ball easily. She didn't seem to really care and only giggled to herself before turning back to the conversation. Warren smiled inwardly and diverted his attention back to the things happening in the pit.

The first few people that had gone about attempting to beat their villains failed horribly. Aryana was fairly certain they didn't get within a few feet of the citizen let alone close enough to save them. She sighed and shook her head at the latest utter failure when Boomer called out. To her surprise, Will and Warren were chosen by the two in the pit. Aryana was thoroughly unaware the two had a rivalry, her own world a bit more pressing than schoolyard squabbles, but she was filled in quickly. It soon became apparent why neither young man had mentioned it to her or even around her. There was no way Will would have admitted to being the Commander's son when that's who killed her dad and Warren wasn't about to say he was pissy for the Commander locking his away because again, he actually killed her dad.

Aryana didn't blame Will though, for their dads fight. She had read stories about what had happened only being five when it did and her memory not the best. She remembered the first time her dad had gotten locked up shortly after she was born. She never really knew the man other than through thick plate glass while he was relatively sedated to keep his anger to a minimum. She lived with her mom, human and not even a bad person until she passed away when she was five years old. That's what sent her dad over the edge.

When they had told him about it in prison and said he wasn't allowed to go to her funeral and Aryana was going into Foster Care, he lost it. Emotion is a downfall with them. In his rage he was almost indestructible and went on a rampage trying to get to Aryana and see his wife. When the heroes had tried to calm him down, in his altered form, he easily overcame the weaker of them and nearly did another before the Commander had gotten a hold of him. They fought for almost an hour the papers said and causing millions in damages before Stronghold Senior had gotten his chance and had to take it. The Red Devil had quickly become known as the Killer of Heroes, Devil Incarnate, and a lot of other things she couldn't say without getting in trouble, but he was also the first and last person the Commander said he would ever use lethal force with.

Aryana didn't really know her dad so it was hard for her to try and defend either what he did or be angry about what had to be done to him. It was the way things went. Although just having his name and obvious traits made her life a living hell so it was easy to be angry about a few things.

When her attention finally turned back to the display below, she had just watched Will turn the wood floor of the gym into a tidal wave sending both villains into the air. It was impressive to say the least. She perked slightly, sitting up as best she could as Warren launched one fire ball after another after Speed. He was too slow. Will was in the middle of running for the citizen, the two on the brink of winning when Warren was suddenly trapped in a vortex of Speed's making. Aryana sat completely up, worry on her face. He couldn't breathe and Will couldn't decide what to do. Tension was growing thick.

"Come on, come on, come on…" Aryana was muttering to herself repeatedly, praying he would help Warren before he passed out.

Thankfully, Will chose to save his partner, moving towards the running man and snatching him out of the air. He sent him flying into Lash, the two slamming into the wall with the force. Warren had collapsed on the ground when Will grabbed his gear and launched him at the citizen when the class was counting down. He plowed into it and caught the dummy before rolling onto the ground.

Aryana sighed her relief when the class cheered and rushed the gym to congratulate the one hero that didn't care being around people. Warren stood, his head throbbing from nearly passing out and headed towards the locker room without so much as looking over his shoulder at anyone else. She silently congratulated the man in her head as Boomer dismissed them to change before the end of class.

When the bell rang and everyone began making their way into their fourth period class, Aryana realized that this was the first time she had even been to this class. She had been hurt right after lunch and since then, never made it passed into any of her other three classes. She wondered what kind of class History of Heroes was and soon got her answer.

She sat there, barely listening as the teacher all but swooned over the heroes of the past but mostly the Commander and Jetstream, the Stronghold family. She wondered if Will sat in the class answering questions all period long or if he actually got sick of hearing about his parents for more than an hour. She shook her head lightly. It had to suck. Before the end of class, she handed in the work she had been given by Warren and glanced to her schedule before feeling her heart sink.

"Great." she muttered to herself.

Villain Logic looked back at her and she couldn't help but wonder if this was going to be as bad as she thought. When she walked into the classroom and saw most of the people staring at her, she realized it very well could be. There were muttered whispers and fear it sounded like, when they spoke but as she handed her work to her teacher, she caught it. There, on the wall behind the teacher's desk to the right of the chalkboard was a billboard filled with mug shots.

America's Most Wanted Super Villains was in bold print above about thirteen pictures of super villains and the one, right front and center above them all with deceased in bright red under his name, was her dad. She growled under her breath at the picture when she was told where to sit. Turning around, she realized that Warren was sitting in the back corner, the chair in front of him scooted up a bit more than it was supposed to be and the student in it leaning forward while the seat next to him was empty. Figures.

Without saying anything about the offending photo, she walked through the desks and took her seat, immediately hearing scooting desks before she even set her bag on the ground. She looked up and noticed the kid in front of and next to her were moving away ever so slightly, just weren't very sly about it. She sighed and shook her head. Of course they wouldn't want to sit near someone like her or Warren, though he prided himself on being scary and intimidating anyway.

The woman at the head of the class, the teacher, went about speaking. The subject today tended to be more about the most classic villain's technique and how to spot which version of the plan with what clues. It was slightly tedious and Aryana found it a little more difficult than she thought to concentrate when her father's mug shots were staring at her. He wasn't even normal enough to have one. There were two. Her eyes narrowed on them as she contemplated burning them from the frame.

The pictures had always bothered Warren too, his dad on the second row, furthest over, but he kind of liked it too. It reminded people who he was and where he came from, instilling that fear they had that he would be just like him. But he had noticed Aryana's reaction to them and it made him slightly curious. She had sat next to him and he was fairly certain her eyes hadn't left her dad's picture since class started.

Her entire body had gone rigid, her fingers constantly tapping the top of her class book lightly while she stared down the picture on the wall. He had to admit though, to himself not other people, that the one of the Red Devil did kind of creep him out. It did everyone. They had a picture of the man when he was arrested, the standard mug shot, and then the one next to it was him when he had transformed so people knew what to look for. Though honestly, a giant red demon was pretty obvious.

Aryana sat there, still staring at the picture that seemed to be looking at her. This was the first time she had seen a picture of the man since she had hit double digit age. When she was about nine or ten, she had read the articles and seen the documents about what he had done his entire criminal career but she had never been able to take a copy home, for obvious reasons. So she sat there, staring at her fabled father.

He had a narrow face, long almost and slightly sunken in which she was sure had to do with all of his years on the run or in jail. He was a relatively good looking man, something that was more deceptive than anything, with jet black hair like hers and deep brown eyes. She had his ears, something she could see in the picture, his cheek bones, his chin and his hair color. He had thin lips and a stern mouth, something she was so glad she hadn't gotten from him, instead inheriting her mother's full lips and rounded features. Then there was the one next to it.

It was a photo of the man from his hips up instead of just his shoulders up like the other so more of his features would have been visible. It was color too. His skin was a deep burgundy red like a blood shade more than anything. His face had shifted to a more demonic form, despite the skin color, his cheeks more sunken in, bags under his eyes and jet black eyes. He was holding up a sign with his abilities, height and prisoner number on it but it was the talon like claws that were more prominent. And then, as though his name hadn't already been completely self explanatory, there was the edges of wings behind him that didn't fit in the picture. There was a reason they called him Red Devil. He looked like every biblical portrait of the Devil in Hell when he let rage take over and transform him.

Aryana shuddered slightly, fearing how much she might have inherited from the man and turned back to her paper, her hand on her forehead to shield her eyes from the people that were still looking over their shoulders at her. She did her best to try and forget that her father was sitting there at the head of the class staring blankly at her and would be for the next few months until the semester was over. The thought made her feel worse but she did her best to push passed it.