Algernon Fitzroy
[November 28th]
An alarm went off.
Immediately he rose up from his chair and looked out through the misted window. On the street below stood several people, too faded beyond the fog to see properly. They were right by the entrance, the rising metal gate. Who were these strangers? They didn't look like police. There was no siren, no armed response vehicles, no weapons visible. Just a group of grey silhouettes underneath him.
His hand reached to the desk nearby and scooped up a plastic coated phone, hail falling from the device as it was wrenched free from the table. Dialling a number, he put the device to his ear.
"Janus, we've got a problem!"
A startled yet stern voice responded, "Have the police found us?"
"I don't know." Algernon told him. "Someone's trying to break in, but I can't see any detail - Bloody mist!"
"Just one person?"
"No, there's a few of them."
"How many?"
"I don't know... maybe nine, ten... eleven..."
"Christ!" The speaker hissed down the throne. "Should we enact the Conservation Strategy?" Janus asked, his deep voice breaking up with the poor signal.
Algernon glanced back through the window. The figures had managed to get the gate open, though there had been a lot of loud chatter that was audible even through the frost covered glass. They took no time stepping inside, and he could see cold air billowing out through the open entrance. The fingers inside his gloves itched. He tried not to scratch, or the frostbite might get worse. He felt nothing as his frozen digits ran across his frozen hands. He felt nothing for these strangers either. They had entered his home. They should have known better. What happened to them next was their fault.
"Inform the others, and bring Geoff, Jael and Xavior with you. I don't care what they're doing, drag them here if you have to. We need to protect it, do you understand me?!"
"I understand, Al." The recipient sighed, frustration evident in his breathing alone. "Alright. I'll gather them. I can't promise they'll come quietly, though. Once they're here, I'll help you deal with these intruders. Hold them off until then."
Algernon smiled with brittle teeth, his warm breath chilling the moment it left his mouth. "This is too soon!" He growled to himself. "Too soon! We aren't ready for conflict yet. Just a few more days... then we can get started!"
He ended the call.
Jared Wreath
[November 28th]
His first day experiencing the job of hunting actual criminals had been rather dull and simplistic, all things considered. Other than the initial incident and encounter with Karol Wyrzykowski, the rest of the day had been largely uneventful. The other targets Aries' group had been assigned to hunt down and catch were all petty thieves, who themselves were rather weak and unchallenging. Tracking them down and catching them had been simple, and there hadn't been any complications as there had with their first target. By the end of the day their group had managed to bring in nine different criminals, including Ratty, who was being cared for by a medic at one of the nearby police stations. After being checked over and healed up he would no doubt be thrown into a cell with very narrow bars.
They had finally stopped working at eight o'clock, as the sun was already setting behind the walled off horizon. A great shadow fell over the city of Scarow at that moment. It made Jared shudder to witness such a sharp and unnatural change in light levels. After dropping off the last criminal he and his group left the police station and headed back to the hostel. Megalodon and his escorting officers stayed behind for obvious reasons.
Most of the other groups were already returned and waiting for them, except Silver Streak's group who apparently had lost track of time due to a rather resilient and evasive target they were still trying to capture. The moment he stepped through the sliding glass doors Jared was welcomed back by Maisie. She ran up to him and hugged him, which took him by surprise. He nearly fell over as she tackled him, and he had to look away awkwardly, knowing that the other members of his group were staring at them. He wasn't sure where this sudden affection had come from, and when he asked her she simply smiled and told him that she'd felt lonely without him. As much as he appreciated the sentiment, it conflicted with his understand of how her brain worked. She had already clarified that she wasn't interested in him, or any other boys for that matter. She never touched other people, or let them touch her, and now she was hugging him. On the Maisie scale of affection, what level was this? If her behaviours hadn't made him feel confused before, this behaviour certainly was making him feel confused now.
"Jared, we had an awesome day!" She exclaimed, dragging him by his hand into the recreational area, where most of the other students were relaxing after a day of working. "We went to this stall market, and we chased a criminal who had a quirk like Ravenhead's, and we met this other hero who's a rival of his, and we managed to catch three criminal!"
"Right." Jared said with a nod, overwhelmed by her excited babbling.
"I missed you." She squeaked, grinning from ear to ear.
"We were only separated for a day." He told her with a laugh. "Though I did miss you, too."
"Alright, lovebirds, break it up!" Tate hollered from across the room. He had a bowl of curry held by one hand underneath his chin, and a fork was half raised to his mouth. Evidently the meal was quite spicy, because the moment it touched his lips his eyes widened and began to water.
Jared knew that he was blushing, and tried to pretend that he hadn't heard him. Maisie didn't seem bothered by the mocking call, which was perfectly normal for her. Perhaps nothing had changed between them after all.
"So, what did your group do?" She asked, excited and enthusiastic. It was a refreshing change for her to show interest in his activities. Usually she only focused on the things that directly affected her.
"Nothing much different." Jared said, a little quieter that he'd intended to. His mind drifted momentarily. He wasn't sure yet whether he should tell her about his encounter with Karol the Vigilante. As much as he trusted Maisie, he wasn't sure if telling her would be a good idea. He certainly knew that telling the teachers or the other students was a smart idea. They would either mock him, doubt his ability as a hero, or scold him for not capturing Karol. Jared couldn't defend that decision, not in a way they would understand. He was still struggling to defend it to himself. "We caught a few criminals, and that was it. Nothing special."
Maisie looked a little disappointed at that basic and boring explanation, but she didn't let her smile drop too much. "Okay." She said, hopping on the spot. "Working under Aries must have been really interesting."
"It was." Jared supposed. He'd certainly learned a lot about stealth and avoiding detection from a target. Aries had shown his group a few techniques, and given them some rather useful advice. One suggestion he had given that Jared would hold on to was the concept of walking silently. The volume of a footstep varied depending on the footwear, the weight on the foot and the type of floor being stepped on. The third point was less easy to control, but the first to a person could reasonably manipulate. Wearing shoes with soft soles helped absorb sound, and by stepping lightly and slowly moving your weight onto a foot after it had been placed meant that there would be much less force being pushed into the ground, thus creating less sound to begin with. Jared had struggled a little because his shoes were rather bulky and thick, and they created a loud slapping sound whenever he walked. He would look into getting softer shoes once he got home.
He glanced past Maisie, seeing his other friends sat together on one of the sofas. Most of them were chatting with each other or checking their phones for messages, emails or news updates. That was to be expected. The only one who wasn't doing that was Aaren. Instead she was staring directly at Jared and Maisie, and to Jared's surprised realisation, she looked... annoyed.
That quickly changed when she realised Jared was staring back, and she looked away, trying to hide her face.
Maisie suddenly coughed, drawing Jared's attention back to her. Her smile had faded a little more while he was looking away. She glanced back at their group of friends, and when she turned back her smile was almost gone. "It's getting late." She muttered, pretending to yawn. "I'm going to head to bed now."
"O-okay." Jared muttered. He didn't try and stop her from walking out of the room, though he got the impression that she wanted him to do that. She was behaving very differently. Though she was putting on a smile, something about her wording, her attitude, suggested a more antagonistic intent hidden beneath the excitement and joy. Who was she trying to antagonise? He was certain she wasn't angry at him. She would have said so otherwise, that was the sort of personality she usually had. This was very unusual for her, and Jared didn't know yet if that was a good thing or a bad.
Only after Maisie had left the room did Aaren stand up and approach him. He wasn't sure what to expect from her, having just been through an interesting experience with his other female friend. Aaren was not usually an emotional person. Only rarely had he seen her show anything beyond a calm sternness. She was quite the opposite of Maisie, who was prone to emotional outbursts on both ends of the spectrum.
"We need to talk." The red-haired girl instructed.
She led him out of the recreational area, away from the prying eyes and ears – and, in some cases, noses - of the other students, and together they found a private place to talk in the empty dining room. Most of the students had already eater then evening meals, with the few who hadn't instead dining on leftover takeaways or snacks they had brought with them. The chairs were stacked on top of the tables with their legs erect in the air.
While they had a moment alone to themselves, Aaren began to talk. She explained the incident that had taken place between her and Maisie earlier that day. Jared waited for her to finish before speaking.
"I see." He muttered, uncertain of what to say.
"I'm as baffled as you are." She reassured him.
"Are you sure you didn't say anything to provoke her?" He asked.
"I told her that she was a bit too clingy with you, and that it was strange... and then she snapped." Aaren blinked, still in shock over it apparently. "I didn't think that would upset her so much."
Jared tried not to be angry at her. Aaren wasn't at fault. Maisie's reaction was very unnecessary. He knew that she could get a little over-emotional. He could understand her being upset about being criticized, especially if she hadn't asked for it, but that didn't justify her reaction. Calling Aaren a leech? Where had that come from? Aaren wasn't a leech. If anything, Jared's life had been improved because of her. He had been able to make some major steps towards becoming a hero with Aaren's help, just like how Maisie had helped him when they first met.
"I asked you to look out for her-" Jared began, trying not to get angry, though he was clearly frustrated.
"I was trying to do that." Aaren immediately interrupted. "I was trying to help her understand that her behaviour was making you uncomfortable. I was trying to be kind to her."
Jared sighed and rubbed his forehead. He didn't know how to deal with this. This sort of situation was beyond him. What had caused this? What was going on between these two? Before this he'd known that Maisie didn't exactly like Aaren, and he'd known that Aaren didn't exactly like Maisie. He had hoped that he could get the two of them to at least respect each other if not become friends, but instead the exact opposite had happened. What could he do to amend this? Was there anything he could do to amend this?
"Okay... just keep your distance from her for now." He instructed after a moment to think. "Maisie's not usually this aggressive. Maybe she's stressed, or nervous, or something. Let her cool down by herself. I'll talk to her tomorrow."
"This wouldn't be such a problem if you were honest with her."
Jared froze. He looked at Aaren. She stared back, her blank expression mirroring his.
"What do you mean?" He asked after a very long and incriminating pause.
"Her little outbursts obviously make you uncomfortable. The other day, when Jason made that harmless joke about you, everyone could see it."
Jared sighed, relieved at first, though quickly being overcome by embarrassment. "I don't know why she's doing that." He admitted uncomfortably. "She's becoming a lot clingier, that's for certain." He recalled the awkward hug she had given him only a few minutes ago. "Did she say anything that might suggest why she's behaving this way?"
Aaren shook her head. "She just kept saying that you are her friend, and that she would look out for you."
That left too much room to speculation. She could have any number of reasons to be insisting that. Perhaps she felt threatened by Aaren, though Jared had not seen Maisie show any sort of jealousy over anything before. Maybe she was feeling lonely. Jared had been trying to spend time with her more, but due to their studies, training, homework and – more recently – being on work experience and in separate groups made that much trickier. But perhaps it was something else. Maisie had mentioned once that she was afraid he would stop being her friend. He could faintly recall her point at Aaren as a reason for that happening. Though he'd tried to reassure her that would never happen, it seemed she had not yet let that fear go.
"We only have two more days left in Scarow." Jared reasoned, wanting to be done with this situation. He was tired from a day of chasing and catching. "Tomorrow is the second half of this Crime Hunt activity, and then on Sunday we go back home. Once this is over we can try and sort out whatever's going on between you two."
"That's a good plan." Aaren agreed. "I suppose I'll have to keep my distance from her for a while."
"That would be best. Just make sure she doesn't get into trouble."
"She won't make that easy." Aaren narrowed her brow. "The both of you seem to attract trouble. Jason Jones and the Andersons are good enough examples of that."
"Hey, I never asked for that kind of attention." Jared complained. "Truth be told, I'd rather everyone got along and we all avoided fighting each other."
"Well, sadly the real world isn't that simple." She said that with a surprising amount of sadness, which Jared hadn't been expecting. Aaren usually bottled all her negative emotions up. Had she intended to seem so glum? "I know you want us to be friends, but Maisie and I are completely different people. I can try and be nice to her for your sake, but in doing so that may only make this situation worse."
Jared ran a hand through his hair. His mind was lagging and his muscles were aching. He didn't want to argue anymore. He wanted to lie down and sleep for a few hours. "Just... keep an eye on her for me... Just do that."
Aaren seemed to give up her argument with that statement. Evidently Jared wasn't getting the message right now. He saw her unhappy look, and felt a little guilty for being responsible for this.
"Okay." Aaren sighed, tilting her head and letting her short fringe fall just above her eyes. "I'll try, but I can't promise anything." She turned to leave. "Goodnight, Jared."
Jared stood standing there for a few moments more. He was still standing there when he heard the other students heading for the stairs. Only once they had gone past and the sound of footsteps going upwards had faded did he decide to follow. He had no doubt that he would sleep poorly that night.
Jared Wreath
[November 29th]
The final day and the final activity. Though it had been only a week, for most of the students it had felt both longer and shorter than that at the same time. Excitement creates a paradox of time, especially when no one is paying attention to the clock. Only yesterday it felt like they had arrived in Scarow, and tomorrow they would be leaving. As much as the city was a depressing, rundown slum, overpopulated with criminals, it would be sort of sad to leave.
They only had the one task left now: to hunt down the rest of their criminal targets.
Jared tried hard not to yawn. As much as he had wanted a good night sleep, there really was no preparing for the wavering moods and thoughts of Tate and Mitchell Anderson. Not one night they had been quiet, not one night had they let the other male students sleep. Several times there had been a vote to throw him and his ethereal twin out of the window, which had eventually succeeded in shutting them up. Still, if there was one good thing about the situation it was that it was only for seven nights. After tomorrow, none of them would have to share a room with the Andersons ever again.
The groups were organising themselves in the hostel lobby, while also chatting with their friend groups while they had the chance. Jared and the rest of Aries' group were mostly ready to go. Ty and Catherine were yet to leave their rooms, but Jared suspected Aries would not leave without them. He had an odd affection for them, slightly beyond the normal teacher student relationship. Jared would have thought it odd if not for his own unusual relationship with Ravenhead.
Maisie hugged him goodbye. That was also unusual. She was definitely behaving differently. She was never this clingy, at least not physically. It had taken a bit of force to break free of her grip.
"Be safe, okay." She insisted with a soppy expression.
Jared had already felt awkward with the outbursts and random embraces. Now she was saying stuff like this? He could barely hide his reddening expression.
"Hey now..." He muttered, looking away with an awkward grin. "We're not going after any major criminals. I doubt we'll be in any danger, certainly not if Aries is there." He rubbed the back of his head. "I'll be fine, I promise."
Maisie didn't seem to buy it, tilting her head in doubt. "Well, if you come back with as much as a scratch I'll slap you."
He laughed, though only a little. Though he had never seen Maisie be physically aggressive with anyone, he knew all too well that even the frailest of girls could leave the reddest of marks. Past arguments with his sister had given him lots of evidence.
"Then I'll try not to get scratched." He said with an attempt at confidence.
Maisie smiled up at him. Then she hugged him again, this time trapping his arms to his side. Jared could feel many eyes staring at them. His cheeks went from salmon pink to dark red, as blood was pushed out of his arms and into his face.
"Please, don't get killed!"
That had certainly filled him with confidence.
"What makes you think I'll get killed?" He asked, trying to break free of her boa constrictor grip.
"I don't know... I'm just afraid that you will." She rubbed her face on his chest, like a dog brushing its nose against its owner's leg.
Jared gulped. He was starting to sweat now. The gaze of every student in the room was fixed upon him and her. Far too many minds to misinterpret this moment. "I won't do that. I'll be fine. I promise."
"Maisie, he's struggling to breath." Jon told her. His words finally manage to break her grip on Jared. The Quirkless young man took a few large lungful's of air into his body, and exhaled them just as viciously.
"He'll be fine." Payton reassured her, slapping Jared on the shoulder, which did not help him at all. "He's got me to keep an eye on him."
Again, this was not reassuring at all. Payton might look out for him, but Jared doubted he could do much to help if they did happen to cross an actually dangerous opponent. He would certainly try, but Payton's Quirk would be little help in a fight. A pair of frail moth wings couldn't do much against a gun, after all.
Maisie was also not especially reassured by the moth boy's statement, though she didn't try and hug Jared again, which he was grateful for.
"We're leaving in a minute." Aaren interrupted them. Thankfully she had chosen not to get involved with Jared's awkward goodbye, though she had been reluctantly watching from a few feet away and she didn't exactly look impressed.
"Finally!" Tate groaned from his seat on the bench near the front desk. "Enough chatting, let's get going!"
"Aries will be late again." Payton groaned.
"Well, if he's bringing that shark guy with him again, he probably will be." Barbara said. She and the other members of Aries group waited while Jared and Payton said their goodbyes to their friends.
"By the time we get back tonight we'll have had a taste of real hero work." Mitchell stated with excitement. "Let's see which team can catch the most criminals."
"This isn't a competition." Jon reminded the Anderson's. "It doesn't matter how many miscreants we catch."
"I'm betting we'll have locked away ten." Tate said, ignoring Jon completely.
"I'll take that bet..." Payton countered, "...and raise it. By the end of today, Jared and I will have captured a syndicate."
The Andersons laughed at him. "You really think you two could arrest an entire group of criminals?" Tate shook his head in doubt. "I'd be impressed if you could catch just one member of a syndicate."
"Stop it, you two." Jon tried to interrupt. "You're being stupid. We're not professional heroes. We're first year students. We're not ready to face actually dangerous criminals yet. Let's be glad that we're getting the chance to catch small time criminals right now and not push our luck."
Tate and Mitchell gave him a mocking look. "You know, for someone with such a strong kick I had no idea you were such a pacifist." Tate said with a harsh glare.
Jon held on to his dignity and chose not to respond to the twins. It was a wise decision, as retorting would have only encouraged them to keep going.
"Alright, my group, get your stuff together, we're heading out!" Ravenhead called from the doorway. Their time for chatting was now over.
With a final goodbye, Maisie waved back to Jared and Payton as she and her team left. She was not the only one to do so. Jon wished them luck before leaving, and even Aaren had given them an encouraging nod. They got nothing from the Andersons, except for a slight snigger, which was to be expected. A moment later the majority of their friends had left the building. Dubstep's group was getting ready to set off, but had not left just yet. Other than them, there was only the other six members of Aries' group waiting in the lobby.
"What would you do if we did encounter a criminal syndicate?" Barbara asked Payton now that they had the time and privacy to talk without the Anderson's interrupting.
Payton shrugged. "I dunno. I'd probably get as high as I could and attack them from above. That's really what I'm best at."
"Didn't work so well in the Combat Exam." Niall reminded him.
Payton puffed up his cheeks and spread his wings. "Look, I would have won that match if Philip had lowered his defence for just a moment!" He snapped in annoyance.
"He wouldn't have done that, though." Niall continued. "I mean, he's Philip."
"I didn't exactly ask to fight that hedgehog." Payton said defensively. "Anyone else and I might have won."
"At least you weren't humiliated." Victoria told him. She gave a rather nasty glance back at Anny, who was avoiding the group and their conversation.
"I felt pretty humiliated." Payton told her.
"We all did pretty crap during our fights." Barbara told her. "I mean, I was put up against Jean. Just my luck, fighting the one student in class who's insulated against electricity."
"I won my fight." Niall reminded her.
"Be honest, though... You're Quirk's pretty unfair." Jared said.
"It's not like I can help it." Niall argued. "I don't ask people to do what I say."
"No, you tell them." Payton agreed.
Jared would have defended Niall, if he had not been on the receiving end of his Quirk before. He knew how it felt to suddenly be unable to speak become someone had instructed you to 'shut up'.
The sound of creaking stairs caught their attention, and the argument stopped for a moment as the group turned around. The two missing members of their group, Ty and Catherine, were now joining them, looking as glum as ever.
"Blimey, do those two ever smile?" Victoria groaned.
"Leave them alone." Jared told her. He didn't know why, but he felt a little protective towards them. He supposed it had something to do with them witnessing his conversation with a vigilante. Subconsciously he must have thought that being kind to them would encourage them to keep that meeting a secret.
Victoria's eyebrows shot up, and she looked at Jared with derisive surprise. "Ooh, sorry. I didn't know they were your friends."
"They aren't." Jared said in a lower voice. "It's just disrespectful."
"Don't start fighting, you two." Barbara interrupted. "We haven't even started working yet. The last thing we need is for this group to fall apart before we even get outside."
The glass doors slid open at that moment, and Aries walked in. The two police officers followed behind him, dragging with them the muzzled and bound shark criminal. The moment they entered the room seemed to quieten down.
"My group, we're setting out now. Get your stuff together and follow me." The hero stated.
Jared couldn't have been more relieved to be out of the hostel. It was a nice day to be outside. The cold November weather had shifted a little, allowing a nice ray of sunshine and a slightly less bitter wind to fill the sky. It was almost refreshing considering the dark clouds and rain of the past few days. Scarow certainly looked different under sunlight. Not too different, just a little less grey.
Once outside, the group was filled in on their targets for the day. They had several criminals to catch, all of whom were small time crooks and petty thieves. It wouldn't be so different to yesterday.
"Pass these sheets along. We only have the one copy, so don't damage or lose them."
One of the officers handed out a series of warrants to the students. All of the targets were pretty similar. Most of them had very mild quirks, nothing that posed a danger to any of the students. Only one of the criminals had a Quirk that posed any sort of risk. His name was Urchin, and like his name suggested he was covered from head to toe in thin black needles.
"This one looks like a prickly customer." Payton joked.
"You were saving that one up, weren't you." Barbara groaned, not at all impressed by the bad joke.
Payton grinned. "Maybe."
"So long as we're cautious, his quirk shouldn't be too dangerous." Aries reassured them. "Just make sure you keep your distance. I'll need you lot to corner him, I'll worry about bringing him down."
Other than that one spiky individual, this group of criminals looked rather easy to catch. Given a bit of time Jared was sure they could have them all locked up in prison cells by the end of the day. He was starting to feel excited about their chances of beating Tate's bet. He hadn't even considered doing so before, but this list of targets looked so simple he was sure that his group could manage it.
And so Aries' group of students set about hunting down and capturing their criminals. By percentage they managed to find and capture at least one criminal every hour. It hadn't been easy all the time. The character known as Urchin had definitely been try, putting up a fight and using his needle covered body to protect himself. Aries had managed to kick his feet out from under him, and then he used a large roll of Styrofoam to wrap him and cover his needles. After that the criminal was defenceless, and they had taken him straight to the nearest police station.
The rest of their targets had been easy compared to him. Some of them didn't even put up a fight. A few of them were drunk, or high off of some other kind of substance that was probably illegal. Jared had to admit that he hadn't expected to be hunting down substance abusers, but if they were breaking then it was necessary. Some of them had odd scents, beyond the sort of foul smell that came with a lack of cleanliness. Megalodon fidgeted when he caught that smell, though he didn't have another moment like he had the day before. The students were glad of that, even if the criminal had to be around them.
In fact Megalodon had been really helpful. It not for his nose it would have taken them much longer to find the majority of their targets. Jared was starting to see Aries' point about the criminal being useful. There weren't too many people with such a strong olfactory sense. But still, something about the shark-headed man bothered him. It wasn't just the way he looked. Jared couldn't judge him for that. He wasn't exactly a quiet man, but when he did stop talking he instead stared at everything in front of him, including the students. He had such black eyes, so black that it was impossible to read emotion from them. While his lips hid his teeth most of the time, when those serrated fangs did become visible they were glistening with saliva. Jared didn't share Aaren's fear of him. She had already expressed pity for his group in having to be near him. But while he was not afraid of Megalodon, he was uncomfortable around him. Out of all the students in their group, or perhaps in the school, his eyes fixed upon Jared the most.
There was also that one incident that bothered him. There had been only one moment where the criminal had willingly tried to escape from his captors. That moment had been when Jared fell from the climbing wall. For some reason the criminal had broken free of his captors... and had caught Jared before he could hit the ground. Jared didn't know why he had done that. He'd laid awake that night, pondering it. Why had a man who was arrested for murder been willing to risk his one chance at freedom to save a quirkless teenager? It made no sense. He wasn't sure how it should make him feel. Should he be grateful, concerned, scared? He wasn't sure he felt any of those things. The more he thought about it, the more it bothered him.
Finally, after seeing Megalodon block the path of a rather muscular individual who was wanted for robbing a convenient store, and witnessing that individual drop to his knees in fear of the shark-headed man, Jared decided he couldn't ignore the issue any longer. The first chance he got, he would ask him why he had saved his life.
That chance came at around four O'clock in the after. After capturing their sixth target, Aries stopped his group outside of the police station and turned to them with a proud smile.
"We're over halfway through out list of targets now." He announced with a proud smile. "You've all impressed me today. So, as a small reward, we're going to take a short break."
He turned now to one of the officers, and made a strange gesture. That same officer turned and walked hurriedly to one of the service vehicles parked nearby. They opened the boot and began pulling something out.
"I was going to save this for tomorrow, but seeing as how you've all done such a great job today..." Aries blushed slightly. Jared had never seen him look so proud of someone before. Usually Aries was much more reserved than this.
The officer returned, bringing with him a flat white box. He lifted the lid. Inside was an assortment of cakes and pastries, from slices of Battenberg, shortbread and flapjack to French fancies, jam tarts, Eccles cakes, Chelsea buns, Bakewell tarts and Danish pastries. The eight students stared at the box's contents, as if they were looking into the Ark of the Covenant. So far no faces had melted off, though the excitement was still very visible.
"This is awesome!" Payton exclaimed, snatching a Bakewell tart from the box.
"One cake each, okay." Aries instructed quickly, seeing the hungry looks on his student's faces. "I'm not going to let you lot pig out on treats for the rest of the day. We still have another four criminals to catch."
Jared took a cinnamon and raisin swirl from the box, before the others could snatch it from him. He hadn't eaten one in years. His father didn't allow him or his siblings to eat food like this too often, and Petra never bought them because of that. When he bit into it he was reminded of how much he had used to love this kind of food. The sugary taste of the cinnamon, the squish of the raisins, the crunch of the pastry. For a moment he was taken back to his early childhood, when he had been allowed to eat this sort of food once a week. It reminded him of his mother, and the good times he had spent with her.
He opened his eyes. The other students were too busy eating their cakes and tarts to notice a small tear slide down his cheek. He turned his head to the left. One person had seen him. Megalodon was looking at him, his black eyes glassy and emotionless. Jared looked back. He supposed now was as good a time as any.
While Aries, the other students and the one police officer were distracted by the cakes, Jared approached the remaining officer and his accompanying prisoner. Almost immediately the officer raised a hand in warning, looking Jared dead in the eye.
"I dunno what you think you're doing kid, but it isn't smart." The officer told him sternly.
"I just want to ask him something." Jared explained, sounding as innocent as he could manage.
The officer narrowed his eyes in doubt. Even if Jared's intentions were harmless, he wasn't stupid enough to let him get too close to the dangerous criminal.
"Go on, guv." The shark man said slyly. "Let the kid ask his questions. He's not harmin' anyone."
"It's you I'm worried about." The officer reminded him, giving his captive a sharp prod with the inactive stun baton.
"I don't bite." The criminal insisted, baring his sharp teeth as said it. Jared flinched momentarily, though he held his ground and tried to step closer.
"Just one question." Jared pleaded.
The officer sighed. "Alright." He said, defeated. "Just don't get too close to him." He pointed his baton at Megalodon's face. "Try anything funny and you'll get five lashings."
"Message received, boss." Megalodon grunted, glaring at the weapon. The officer lowered it and stepped aside so that Jared could properly approach the criminal.
He felt quite intimidated now that he was standing in front of him. The man was more than a foot taller than him. He looked down at Jared, his black eyes peering over the tip of his wide snout. Jared had to look up into his face, see his emotionless stare. The muzzle might have stopped him from opening his mouth too far, but it didn't do much to hide his features. In some respects it made his appearance more petrifying. Only dangerous animals needed to wear muzzled. What did that say about this man?
"Go on, then..." the half-human half-fish criminal stated impatiently. "You've got a question, so ask it."
Jared cleared his throat, suddenly feeling very nervous. He hadn't expected to feel so overwhelmed now that he was stood in front of the criminal, and his attention was focused solely upon him. He took a deep breath to calm himself, and spoke.
"The other day, when we were in the gymnasium... I fell of the climbing wall, and you caught me before I hit the ground." He swallowed awkwardly. "Why did you do that? Why did you save me?"
The criminal's eyes were unmoving, unreadable, as black as the midnight sky. Jared expected them to stay that way. They had barely changed at all since he had been introduced a few days ago. But then suddenly the hairless ridges of his eyebrows rose upwards, the skin under his eyes tightened, the tight flesh of his cheeks twisted his lips into a smile, and from the depth of his throat the criminal began to laugh. The sound of his guffaws was somehow rubbery, like moist blubber. It was a low laugh, deep and loud, echoing off the stone walls of the buildings around them. When he finally stopped laughing, Jared could see small white tears slide from the criminal's eyes. Had he laughed so hard that he'd started crying, or were those tears for something else?
"Save you?" The criminal repeated. For some reason those words had humoured him. Jared didn't know why. It hadn't sounded like a stupid statement before he'd said it. He reached his bound arms to his face to wipe the tears away, but a sharp yank from the officer at his side prevented him from doing so. "Kid, I've never saved anyone in my entire life. I didn't save you either. All I can do is kill."
Jared was now rather confused. If this man was trying to be modest or polite he could understand, but most people wouldn't want to be seen as a killer instead of a hero. Sure, this man had committed crimes, but did that have to be the only thing that defined him? If he hadn't caught him, Jared might have been seriously hurt.
"Then why did you catch me?" Jared persisted.
The criminal shrugged. "I dunno. I suppose I did it cos no one else was gonna."
That was at least an answer, but for Jared it wasn't enough. He felt that the man was hiding something. He had seen how he reacted to the smell of blood. Had that played a part in it? Though Jared doubted hitting the ground would cause him to bleed, it was a possibility. So then was that the reason?
"You frenzy when you smell blood, don't you." Jared noted, catching a concerning hungry look from the criminal. "Was that why you saved me? You didn't want to frenzy?"
"What gave you that idea?" Megalodon asked mockingly. "I'm a criminal. I killed people. I could easily do it again. I don't need to frenzy to do that."
"That didn't answer my question."
"So many questions." The criminal groaned in annoyance, but Jared could tell there was a deeper relief in his voice. Being allowed to talk was gratifying for him. Perhaps if he persisted he could pry out some sort of honest answer.
"Why did you kill people?" He had to ask. Perhaps it would be useful insight, understanding what may drive a person to kill.
"You don't wanna know." The criminal told him dismissively.
"I won't judge you." Jared reassured him. As if his opinions would matter at all to this criminal.
Megalodon looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "You sure you can stomach it?" He asked, a menacing tone in his voice.
"Easy, now." The officer warned him, raising his baton again in case.
"I'll be okay." Jared responded.
The criminal growled through his lips, hissing through his narrow nostrils. "Alright." He grunted. "But don't say I didn't warn you."
He looked away from Jared, turning his head to the afternoon sun, as if he was about to lay out a Shakespearean monologue.
"A lot of people are quick to blame the parents when a killer comes to light." The criminal began, speaking with a surprisingly much clearer voice. His accent seemed to momentarily fade away. "But, in truth, my parents had nothing to do with the man I became. They deserve no hate for my actions. That didn't stop some bastards from taking it out on them, however." He growled quietly under his breath before continuing on. "I was a bad apple right from the start. It's hard not to be when you've got a face like this." He gestured a handcuffed hand to his muzzled face. "People take one look at this face, and before even speaking to me they decide I'm a badden. I didn't really have a choice but to become the man I am now."
"That doesn't dignify murder, though." Jared told him, his sense of justice kicking in hard.
"Never said it did." The criminal responded quietly. "But when society judges you based on your Quirk, it's tough to live up to their standers... or against their prejudices."
Jared paused as he was about to respond. That feeling was all too familiar. People could be really nasty when they wanted to, and individuals like himself got the worst of their wrath. The Quirkless of Britain, the unfortunates with Type Five Quirks, all were abused and ridiculed for something they could not help. But if you mocked any of them for their unusual attributed it was completely wrong and you were a bad person. He hated how the society he lived in could be so hypocritical sometimes. Perhaps this man wouldn't have become a criminal if people hadn't treated him like one. In just one sentence Megalodon had gotten Jared onto his side.
"I could say that I don't like killing..." Megalodon continued. "...but that wouldn't be true. I actually quite like it. Nothing gives you quite a rush like seeing a man's life snuffed out right before you-"
And in one sentence he had lost Jared.
"Hey, shut up now!" The officer wanted, prodding Megalodon in the side with the now switched on stun baton. The criminal shuddered and buckled, but managed to stay standing. He grunted a few times and glared at the officer.
"You wanna know why I killed people?" The criminal asked, his accent now returning as strong as ever. Jared nodded, though he doubted the answer would please him. "Because they were evil!" The shark man snapped, his teeth visible for a brief moment. "Every single one of them, rotten to the core. Like apples left too long in the sun. No good would come from them."
"Enough!" The officer warned again.
"One of them was a boy, not much older than you." The criminal continued, enjoying the shock on Jared's face and ignoring the electrical jolts in his side. "He was a real piece of work. On the outside he seemed so sweet, but on the inside he was as foul as fresh cowpat. He'd cut up his parents and served their chunks in stew to his little brother. When I found him he was laughing like a madman, his eyes filled with bloodlust." He leaned towards Jared. "Wanna know what I did to him?"
Jared, against his better judgement, nodded. He could barely manage to move his head, every muscle in his body tense and terrified. "What did you do?" He managed to utter out.
The criminal grinned, each and every pearly white tooth visible from within his massive maw. "I put his head between my teeth... and bit it off!" He howled wildly, slobber dribbling from his lips, his eyes rolling white with glee. "The bastard's skull cracked like an egg!"
Jared almost turned and ran from the criminal, unable to listen to his joyous recollections any more. Thankfully the officer who was still guarding him rammed a boot into his ankle and thrust his stun baton into the side of his ribs. Megalodon's blood hungry laughter cut short, as his jaw clenched shut and froth began escaping through his lips. He hunched forward, kneeling on the ground, as the officer secured him again.
It had been a terrifying second to experience. Jared was shaking afterwards. Though he still wasn't exactly afraid of the criminal, he could certainly see now why Aaren was. He wouldn't be asking him any more questions after that.
However, before he could escape the criminal's attention for good, Megalodon had one last thing to say to him.
"There's no such thing as a one sided coin..." He grunted, hardly able to talk through the foam in his mouth. "...and, just like coins, there are no one sided people."
Jared finally broke away from the criminal's gaze. It had been an interesting experience talking to him, though not one that Jared would remember too fondly. He hadn't intended to set him off, but something about their conversation had awoken that side of him. As much as he hadn't seemed like such an awful man, he clearly took much joy in his past actions. But that in turn raised a lot of questions. If he was proud of his past actions, why was he trying to change? In fact, what was he trying to change? If he wasn't resentful of his past actions, why was Aries trying to help him become a better person? Why was Megalodon seeking his help? He had intended to get answers, but all he'd been left with were questions. The criminal hadn't even answered the one question he had intended to ask. The only thing he had said of any use was that statement at the end about one sided coins. What was that supposed to mean. Jared doubted it was a literal statement. There were probably some coins out there with only one side on them. It was probably supposed to be metaphorical, but then how was he meant to interpret it? Was he saying that no person has one side to their personality, no one side to their goals? What? Why had he come away from that conversation feeling so confused?
"What's going on?" Aries asked, now arriving at the scene unfolding with the other officer following.
"I didn't mean to anger him..." Jared began.
"Don't worry about that, we need to get straight back to work." Aries instructed, and turned sharply to the accompanying officer. "Moffat, help Davies secure Thalassa, then get him moving."
"Yessir." The officer nodded and hurried over to help his colleague.
"What's happening?" Jared asked, looking around to see the equally confused expressions of his classmates.
"I've just gotten a call from a patrol near the wall." Aries told him, as he lead Jared and the other students away from the station. "Apparently there's been sightings of a shadow in the window above one of the cold storage warehouses. We're going to investigate."
Jared was a little taken aback by the sudden announcement. Considering his recent experience with Megalodon he had every reason to be jumpy. "Why are we going? Why aren't the police dealing with this?"
"They are. The patrolling officers will meet us there." Aries explained. "They recently busted a drug den in that area. They suspect that whoever's hiding in this warehouse is one of their sentry's, waiting for a chance to escape.
"Wouldn't that put us at risk?" Jared asked.
"I don't imagine there's anyone especially dangerous locked up inside." Aries reassured him. "Probably just the one guy. We'll corner him and hand him over to the waiting officers, then we'll continue hunting our actual targets. If they turn out to be dangerous, I'll take the lead."
As much as Jared was reassured that Aries would protect them, he couldn't shake the feeling that whatever was waiting for them in that warehouse wasn't going to come quietly.
Since most of their targets had thus far been located south of the hostel, it didn't take their group too long to reach the location in question. On a street not too far from the wall was a row of large metal and concrete warehouses. They looked quite different to the ones used in Galafrei. There the buildings were made to look shiny and appealing. Here they were made to be robust and spacious.
They spotted a couple of officers waiting for them just outside of a warehouse near the eastern edge of the street. Aries approached them with his students and following officers standing to the side and waiting patiently.
"Alright, we're here. What's the situation?" Jared overheard Aries asked one of the officers.
"Thank you, Aries, sir." That same officer responded. He turned and pointed towards the building they stood in front of. "Just up there. That's where we saw them, sir."
Aries followed the finger, as did Jared and the other students. It pointed to a glass window about eighteen feet above the ground. The panes were covered in ice and mist, and through gaps around the edges there was a visible white steam. There was no sign of a person, however.
"And you're sure that this place is used for cold storage?" Aries asked.
"Positive." The officer confirmed. "We called up the owner of the building, and he said that he was using it to store frozen foods. It hasn't been in use for the last few months, though. There was some work needed on the cooling system."
"I see." Aries glanced down at the locked gate, then back up at the window. "Tell me this... did the owner say anything about the second floor being used for storage?"
"No sir. It was just the first floor." The officer said.
"I see." Aries hummed. "So then why is the upstairs window frosted over?"
They all looked at the frozen glass, watching as small icicles fell dripped down from it.
"I think we'd best be careful." Aries murmured to his students. "We'll go in and check. I want you two out here just in case. If whoever's in there manages to get past us, you're to catch him."
"Yessir." The two patrolling officers confirmed.
"Should we stay out here, too, sir?" The officer named Moffat asked?
"No, I can't let him out of my site, remember." He pointed at the now sedated and weakened Megalodon. "Bring him with us."
"Yessir."
Aries approached the large metal gate now, pulling out what looked like a small black electronic pad. "You lot, stand back. I'll need a moment to unlock the gate for us."
"Sir, where did you get a Decoder?" Barbara asked, looking at the device with impressed surprise.
"I won it from Obsidian a few years back." He explained, not looking up from the pad. "Mind you, she wasn't happy. She doesn't like giving away her babies for free. That woman is a capitalist through and through."
"Obsidian's a woman?" Payton said in surprise.
"How do you not know that?" Barbara asked with even more surprise in her voice. "She's the number three hero!"
"Well, she doesn't exactly show her face much, does she? She's always hiding behind those gadgets and robots of hers."
"Quiet, all of you. I need to concentrate."
"Sorry."
The eight teenage students stood quietly and patiently while their teacher attempted to decode the safety lock on the gate of the warehouse. He was doing this for about ten seconds, before suddenly the burglar alarm went off.
Jared covered his ears, the blaring, high pitched sound filling his brain. The other students were doing the same. Even Megalodon was struggling to shield his eardrums in some way, though the handcuffs and muzzle were making it much trickier for him.
"Sorry!" Aries shouted over the din. "I accidentally triggered the burglar alarm. I'll switch it off."
A moment later the deafening sound ended, and the students were able to lift their hands from their ears.
"That really hurt." Payton muttered, rubbing the side of his head. "Maybe he could warn us next time."
"Don't places like these use silent alarms when they aren't in use?" Victoria muttered, apparently still dealing with ringing in her ears.
"Not all places." Barbara corrected her. "Those sorts of alarms can be quite expensive."
"But less annoying, I'm sure." Payton groaned.
Jared looked away from the group for a moment, up at the window far above. There was still ice forming around the frame, still mist gathering on the glass. It was rather strange to see, considering this building was not supposed to be in use. That suggested the cooling system would have bene turned off.
He almost jumped when he realised that a face was staring back it.
He only saw it for a moment, but he caught a glimpse of pale skin, sunken eyes, white hair. Someone had been looking right at him through that window, watching the group.
"Guys!" Jared hissed, his voice betraying his panic. "I just saw someone at that window!"
"What?" Payton asked, still rubbing his ears.
"There's someone standing behind that window!" Jared repeated.
The other students followed his gaze. The figure was gone now, disappeared into the mist.
"Are you sure. You might just be seeing things." Barbara reasoned.
Jared shook his head firmly. "No, I definitely saw someone! They was standing right at the glass, looking down at us!"
Though the others didn't quite believe him, they weren't going to ignore the possibility that he was telling the truth either.
"Sir." Barbara called, trying to catch Aries' attention. "There's someone at the window."
Aries glanced back at them, peered upwards at the window, and then turned back to his students. "Right. Come here, all of you." He ushered them closer, and they approached. "We need to move quickly. Whoever that was is probably trying to get away right now. Once we're inside we're going to try and lead them back out through the entrance. Everyone stay together and be careful, okay."
The students nodded. Jared was starting to feel nervous again. They had already dealt with several criminals today, some of who had put up a fight, but none of them had given him a feeling like this. Something about the look in that man's eyes unnerved him. He had only seen him for a second, but that had been enough.
"Here we go!" Aries exclaimed, as the gate suddenly began to creak. The metallic echo of the gears and pulleys reverberated out through the widening more. As the gate opened, it allowed a billow of frozen air to escape out onto the street. It passed over the group of trainee heroes, and the evaporated into mist in the yellow sunlight.
"Looks like someone forgot to turn off the cooling system after all." Victoria muttered, shivering.
"Or someone else turned it back on." Payton added with an eerie voice. Normally the other students would have ignored him, but right now his sinister suggestion sounded worryingly accurate.
"Remember what I said..." Aries told them as the gate finally clanked open and locked into place just above the gaping entrance. "...stick together and keep your eyes open."
Stepping into the frozen warehouse was akin to walking into Narnia. A deforested, less magical version of Narnia perhaps, but it still held that similar arctic mystery to it. There was a heavy hanging mist in the air. As the lights switched on, their white glow reflected off the ice upon the walls and caused a sharp yet momentary flash.
Aries took the first step inside. His shoe stepped onto the frost covered floor and did not slip. That was at least a promising sign. His other leg followed and stepped past it. He right arm raised up and made a gesture, which the students took as an instruction to follow.
"I feel like I'm walking through an arctic storm." Barbara muttered. As the students breathed in the cold air they breathed back out small clouds of mist.
"I should've brought my winter coat." Victoria murmured.
The area beyond the gate and entrance was only a small room, nothing like any of them had expected. Four white concrete walls surrounding a space that was barely four metres squared. It was barren as well, save for the ice on the walls, ceiling and roof.
"This doesn't look much like a storehouse." Payton murmured, wrapping his arms around his narrow chest.
"This part isn't." Aries explained, glancing back to check that his students had followed him. After counting eight heads he continued. "This is just the entrance. They must have removed the desk after they stopped using it." They looked ahead. Two doorways sat before them, one of which had a noticeable chill wind billowing from it. "The actually warehouse is probably through there." Aries pointed at the door on the left, the door through which the cold wind was blowing.
"How is this place so cold?" Victoria murmured through chattering teeth.
"I think they use a really cold type of gas." Payton answered her. "Like nitrogen."
"Nitrogen turns into a liquid when it freezes." Barbara told him. "And if they were pumping that into this place our feet would have frozen off within seconds of stepping in here."
"What do they use then?" Payton asked.
"Tetrafluoroethane." Anny answered quietly.
The other students looked at her in surprise, and she looked away uncomfortably.
"This is real ice." Aries interrupted their conversation. "Those man made gasses don't make icicles like this. This is actual frozen water."
"Then someone's turned the cooling way low down." Payton muttered, shivering a few times. "Either way, we'd better catch this guy quickly before we all turn into ice cubes."
There was a sharp creaking sound, followed by something heavy slamming into the ground behind them. They all turned, far too late to see what had happened. The gate had closed, locking shut the moment it fell back into place.
"What the hell?!" Victoria exclaimed.
Before panic was allowed to set in, Aries and the officers had rushed back to the entrance. The hero tried to unlock it using the same decoder pad as before, but this time the metal wouldn't budge. The officers tried to lift it but there was no gap for them to slide their fingers through. The entire outside world had been shut off by this one piece of thick metal, and now they were trapped inside the cold building.
"Don't panic, everyone!" Aries shouted, trying to prevent the oncoming fear that was already filling the hearts of his students. "The lock must be worn down. We'll get it open soon."
The decoder bleeped a few times. It hadn't done that while they were outside. Aries slapped it in the hopes that it would start working, but it didn't help.
"Are we trapped in here?!" Payton inquired, his wings shuddering with anxiety.
"This can't be happening...!" Victoria murmured, biting her fingernails.
"Don't panic! I'll get us out of here!" Aries insisted. Still the decoder was doing nothing.
"Stop feedin' them false hope." Megalodon interrupted, standing only a few inches away from the hero and his officers. Aries gave him an annoyed glare before returning to his unlocking efforts.
"Sir..." Catherine whispered, her voice as frail as the ice around her. "...It's getting colder."
Jared could feel it too. The air was growing colder. The mist was getting thicker, denser. The ice upon the walls was growing. Even the ground was freezing over now. Small stalagmites of frozen water were growing out of the ice patches that surrounded them. This wasn't natural, he could see that now. Ice doesn't form like this by itself, certainly not this quickly. Then this was had to be the effect of someone's Quirk.
The other students were trying their best not to panic, but the lack of an escape route and the dropping temperature were only increasing their insecurity. Even Aries was beginning to panic, as his decoder pad could do nothing to unlock the gate.
And then Barbara froze in place, her expression one of horror. "Shut up, everyone!... do you hear that?"
They were all quiet, listing for whatever it was that she had heard. All to quickly did they realise what this new sound was.
Footsteps.
Heavy boots upon fragile snow, crunching, growing closer with each step. It grew louder and louder, until it was almost inside the room.
A man walked through the left doorway. Jared's breath almost froze in his throat. He recognised him. His face was the one he had soon looking at them from the window. There was the same white hair, the same pale skin, the safe scowling expression, only now his other features were visible too. Light blue eyes, almost a cold as the air around him. Black patches of dead skin dotted his face, especially around his nose, ears and lips. His upper body was wrapped in a thick navy blue winter coat, his hands were enshrouded in thick mitten gloves and his feet were encased in heavy arctic boots.
It didn't take much for Jared to figure out that he was responsible for the drop in temperature.
This new person stopped at the edge of the doorway. His frozen eyes were fixed upon Aries and his students, and his expression never changed from that angry glare.
"Everyone get behind me!" Aries instructed, speaking more fiercely than any of them had heard before. He stepped in front of his students, hunching his back and lowering his head so that his horns were visible. The two officers abandoned the door and joined him, their batons readied in their hands.
"Who is that man?" Victoria exclaimed, pushing herself up against the gate. "Is he the criminal we're after?"
"No!" Aries told them, that same serious tone in his voice. It sent a shiver straight down Jared's spine. "This isn't some petty criminal. That man is a Villain!"
There was no word quite as chilling at that point as villain. Not one of the students had faced an actual villain before. The Criminal Apprehension Exam may have been good practice, but nothing could have prepared them for an encounter like this. By Aries' tone they could tell that this was serious, and, for the first time since their training had begun, they all felt that their lives were truly in danger.
The villain raised his left hand, snow and frost falling away from his protected fingers. The temperature dropped another degree. Upon the ground the ice began to spread, creating much larger patches of frozen water upon the floor. One of the officers suddenly exclaimed as his right foot was swallowed by the cold. He tugged and pulled but could not break free of the now solidified see-through substance.
"Sir, we should help you!" Barbara insisted.
"No! All of you, stay back! I'll deal with this!" Aries held his arms out, keeping his students huddled up behind him. "You too, Thalassa. Stay back."
"Understood, boss." The shark man kept his distance from the students, but backed away from the villain just as the hero had instructed.
"Now, you!" Aries shouted, glaring and pointing at the frozen figure stood in front of him. "Who are you, what are you doing here and why are you attacking us?!"
The villain tilted his head, surprised and curious. "I'm attacking you?" He repeated, somehow finding that line comical. "Mr Hero, you walked into my home. I am merely defending myself."
"Then you'll let us go if we leave?" Niall asked, the terror of the moment overwhelming him so much that he forgot about his Quirk's effect.
The villain shook his head. Jared couldn't quite tell, but he looked apologetic for what he was about to say. "Sorry. You know about this place, about me. You cannot be allowed to leave now."
The feeling of doom and horror that had captured the group of students was now palpable. They really were in danger this time.
Jared stared at the arctic villain, wondering why he was doing this. Why was he attacking them? Why couldn't he just let them go? Why did he want to kill them? More worryingly, could Aries win? He was strong, but this man could control and manipulate ice, or at the very least lower the temperature of the room. Was he strong enough to beat him?
The feeling came back to him, the need to act. It had taken control of him yesterday and had ushered him to chase after a criminal against his teacher's instructions. That action had gotten him in trouble, but it had also given him a chance to meet Karol Wyrzykowski and learn a little about the world and about vigilantes. As much as it had been a dumb and risky decision, he had gained something from it. Now that he and his friends were trapped and facing their death, that same thought crawled into his head. If he acted now, could he help?
He might be Quirkless, but he had come this far without a power. He knew that he could face the same threats as other heroes if he tried hard enough, if he pushed himself. He couldn't just let Aries face this man alone. If his teacher was going to risk his life for his students, it was only right that his students risk his life for him.
Jared gritted his teeth, clenched his hands into fists... and ran.
"Jared, no!" Payton called, trying to grab him before he could move, but his freezing fingers narrowly missed Jared's hoodie.
"Not again, you idiot!" Victoria yelled after him.
Jared ignored their warnings. He ignored the attention that the villain was now giving him. He ignored the concerned warnings of his teacher and the two officers. The only thing he was focusing upon was the group, making sure that each of his feet landed upon the less icy patches. Though he nearly slipped a few times, he was quickly making his way towards the villain. He had his power glove upon his right hand and his stun gun in his left. The moment he was close enough he would use them. He would make this villain regret threatening his teacher and his friends.
The villain looked at him, with an expression that could have been pity. He didn't move or react, only watched as Jared approached. Jared didn't think twice, he approached, yelling as he pulled his right arm back and prepared to swing it.
Suddenly something yanked his legs out from under him. He fell forwards, hitting the frozen ground hard with a loud crunch. He squirmed, but could not break free of whatever had him. He rolled over and glanced down. A pair of black arms were reaching out of a rectangular black hole in the floor. The hands at the end of those arms had gripped onto his ankles and were quickly pulling him towards the pit which they had risen from.
"Jared!" Payton called in concern. None of them could do anything to help him. Jared couldn't break free, no matter how hard he kicked and struggled, the hands kept a hold of him. He realised how foolish he had been to charge in like that without thinking. Of course this villain was not alone. He was a fool to think he could charge head long at his opponent.
The arms made a final pull, and with them Jared was dragged downwards, into the hole, into the ground. The last thing he saw before falling into the darkness was another rectangular hole appearing underneath the other students. Another pair of arms reached out from it and grabbed Catherine by the ankles.
Then he was pulled down, into the darkness of the hole.
For those of you who were waiting for the heroes to encounter the villains, you have gotten your wish. What will happen to Jared and his classmates? Tune in next time to find out!
So, this chapter's question: What commonly used hero power would also work well for a villain?
The best one I can think of is increased strength. Imagine a villain with the strength of Superman. That'd be pretty terrifying.
Also, since I'm trying to be more interactive with my readers, I'm going to start answering questions left for me at the end of these chapters. I want to clarify straight away that I won't answer questions that will give away future events in this story or reveal too much about a character, line of dialogue or plot point. In those cases, I will simply answer with the word spoilers! Also, please don't span questions, I don't want to be leaving answer segments that are longer than the actual chapter itself.
That's all this time. Stick around to witness the upcoming fight between the heroes and the villains.
