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Chapter 03

Arrival and Retrieval

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The car was fast, and it seemed like only moments after they had crossed the bridge that they pulled up to the School. There were welcome signs and kids out waving at them, and even the school band was out playing some tune that Ace didn't recognise, but one of them seemed to be very, very into the song he was playing.

The melody though was obscured by Carlos and Jay fighting over a blue hooded jacket like a pair of pups over a bone, when suddenly the door opened, and the two came tumbling out with Jay on top and Carlos trying to fight the larger teen off.

"you have everything else, why do you want this?" Carlos shouted as Jay put his boot on his chest and pulled the garment.

"because you want it." He laughed

"give it to me."

Ace kicked Jay forcing him to get off Carlos and stumble forward, and it was only through his natural gymnastic talent and balance that he managed to remain on his feet. Ace shoved Carlos to his feet before he grabbed Jay by the back of his leather jacket, tossing both of them against the car roughly. The vehicle shook at the impact, the crowd that had gathered to meet them seemed aghast at the casual showing of violence as Ace banged their heads together.

"I have had just about enough of your collective stupidity." he grasped both firmly by their collars and to their amazement he raised both teens a foot from the floor displaying strength he had not had on the Island. "I would love to take the time to pull you both apart at the joints for this display of sheer incompetence and stupidity! But I'm sure Mal here has her methods of raining you in so I will defer to her judgement on this, but only this once, I catch either of you making so much as the equivalent of a mouse fart an I'll strip your hides raw." He dropped the two who landed roughly on their butts, before scrambling to hide behind Mal.

Ace's lousy mood had begun to take a turn to a worse one. The excessive brightness outside of the barrier was irritating his nerves and causing him to have a headache that burrowed into his skull like a blunt drill bit. If not for his caviller hat, he would have had a difficult time even seeing, he needed some sunshades as soon as possible.

"don't mess with my friends like that." Mal said as she rounded on Ace eyes blazing green with Draconic Power, Ace had almost a foot on her in height and more than a few pounds in muscle mass, but she did not back down. "only I mess with my friends like that."

"awe, you think you can overpower me little hatchling." Ace smiled unknowingly his own eyes flickered with crimson light, and a faint flicker of a crown made of flames seemed to appear above his head sporadically. Even though he would not hurt his sister intentionally, he could not abide being seen as weak in front of anyone least of all mainlanders and Mal's minions.

"Guys we have an audience," said Evie trying to stop the two teens from throwing down in front of apparently most of the Prep school students and teachers. All of whom nervously took a few steps back as waves of power wash over them like a raging storm radiating from the two teens. Jay and Carlos scrambled to their feet, moving behind Evie and picking up the arm full of things they had pried from the inside of the car, both Ace and Mal startled by the interruption struggled to pull their Power back. This was the first time they had even touched their real potential, and it shocked both of them.

"Just tidying up." Jay chuckled lightly and uneasily, but the older woman was not amused.

"leave it as you found it." Came the sing-song tone that reminded Ace of Mal's dragon mother almost unnervingly so. Ace broke eye contact with Mal and saw a middle-aged looking woman walking towards them who seemed to be in charge. "and by that, I mean just leave it." she followed quickly as the band separated as she walked through them. She was flanked on either side by a tall young man with mousey brown hair and a girl wearing a pastel pink skirt with a blue cardigan.

"Well, hello, foxy." Jay smiled in an attempt to be charming, he flashed the pink Princess a winning smile. "the names Jay" his eyes sparkled mischievously, she looked as though she just smelled an open sewage line.

"disgusting." The girl scoffed in reply as the middle-aged woman stepped between Jay and the girl.

"Welcome to Auradon Prep, I'm Fairy Godmother the Headmistress," she said with a flourish of her hands and a little curtsy.

"THE Fairy Godmother?" asked Mal as Ace began to guffaw that almost turned into a great Belly laugh if Mal had not elbowed him in the gut, this was the much-feared Fairy Godmother. The one who bottled them up and tossed away the key, Mal had to thump him again to shut him up. "as in Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo" Mal twirled her hand around mimicking a wand movement with a small faux innocent smile.

"Bibbidi-Bobbidi, you know it." she smiled almost bashfully at being reminded of the good old days of magic and might.

"I always wondered what it felt like for Cinderella when you appeared." Mal smiled as the Fairy Godmother blushed lightly again. "with your sparkly wand and warm smile, and sparkly wand." the girl in blue next to the Fairy Godmother smiled too before the woman herself answered.

"That was a long time ago, and as I always say don't focus on the past, or you'll miss the future." She made a strange sashaying jazz hands motion, followed by an awkward pause that felt like it went on forever.

"Question?" Ace interrupted the uncomfortable moment, raising a leather-covered finger angling it slightly to almost point at the Fairy. "you really couldn't give old Cindy till 1:00 am?" the question seemed to rattle the Fairy. She looked like she was going to build to a large tirade only for the wind to be blown from her sails when the boy stepped forward.

"I'm Ben." he started only to be interrupted by the pastel princess in a voice saturated with artificial sugar and sweetness that Ace was sure was as real here as it was on the Isle.

"Prince Benjamin." She smiled possessively in a not quite unhinged manner, but in a way very similar to Lady Tremaine's daughters. "Soon to be King." It was genuinely creepy how far her face contorted as she smiled, it didn't quite reach her eyes but was about as genuine a promise made by Ursula or by any of the Tremaine's except maybe Dizzy.

"you had me at Prince" Evie moved with a silky smoothness of a professional dancer even in her boots she moved with such grace as she glided forward as if she had been born with wings, "my mom's a Queen that makes me a Princess."

"The Evil Queen has no status here." answered the brunette with malicious glee "and neither do you." Evie was shocked and made her way back to the core when Ace stopped her for a moment before he whispered in her ear, keeping his eyes on the brunette.

"Evie, they know nothing of the High Table, nor the succession wars or the night of blood." Whispered Ace, who's sudden interruption jolted her from her shock "besides, your more royal than half the court here and worth twice as much for dowry." That brought a small smile to the Princess's face before she joined Mal, on the Isle they may have tolerated such actions from the pastel princess but here it was them against the world, and they could not afford to be divided or distracted.

Annoying as Evie could be this mainlander was so much more, it set off all of his fight or flight instincts, and it took a great deal of will power not to reach for his blade, everything here seemed to irritate him and make his teeth itch uncomfortably.

"This is Audrey." he strained a smile as she grabbed his arm and hugged it tightly.

"Princess Audrey." she interrupted the Prince again and made that unsettling smile that reminded Ace of the Old Dragon before she continued. "Bens Girlfriend, right." she looked at Ben who seemed very uncomfortable, he looked about ready to gnaw his own arm off to get away. Ace knew that Mal had seen it too and was already planning to exploit that small weakness.

"Ben and Audrey are going to be showing you around the campus." said the Fairy as she began to notice that Ben did not want any part of Audrey being super possessive. To Ace it was like watching an animal getting caught in a trap trying to gnaw its own arm off. she came between them and popped the vice like grip that Audrey had clapped on Prince Bens hands. "the Doors of Wisdom are never shut, but the Library hours are from 08:00 am to 11:00 pm as you may have heard, I have a little thing about curfews." She looked Ace right in the eyes as she mentioned the curfew, making Ace smile slightly before she left taking the band with her.

The Prince seemed immensely enthusiastic for them being there in Ace's opinion and very eager to meet them in person.

"it's so good to meet you all finally," Ben said as he approached Jay for a handshake, but Ace's hand stopped him, he gave the Prince a stern look. On the Isle walking up to anyone with a smile and a handout like that would get you stabbed, and Jay having survived a similar experience would have reacted had Ace not stopped the Prince. He didn't want Jay to have a flashback and attack the Prince just when they had gotten off the Island.

He took the young royal by the hand and shook it once sharply but briefly, the Prince paused for a second then slowly moved on to shake Jay's hand. "this is the day that we mended the rift between our two people." The Prince was slightly more unsure about Ace, the teen could tell by the small double look he gave him. But like a highly trained member of the royal family he was he managed to get back on track again quickly.

"or, the day that you showed the five of us the toilets." Mal Snarked, Ace watched as the Prince paused slightly with Mal, then the smiling happy facade slipped for a second before he reverted into the smiling happy Prince that he pretended to be.

'Interesting' Ace thought 'maybe not all is well here either.'

"a little over the top?" asked the Prince. He gave Mal a look that made Ace's protective instincts raise slightly.

"just a bit yes." The two were flirting, and Ace did not approve at all, this Prince was giving Mal the goo-goo eyes like the Hook boy before. Ace had put a Dead stop to it quickly because it had been an elaborate trap set by Uma the Pirate sea witch for petty revenge.

He knew that his relation to Mal was a secret, so becoming suddenly protective of her could give off the wrong impression and lead to questions best left unasked, but he was absolutely sure that she didn't know of their relation.

The Dragon had taken great pains to hide Mals parentage mostly so she wasn't tainted by association given that Hades got around and her succumbing to his wiles would have been deemed a weakness. That and Zeus was not known for being all that supportive of his Brothers children, especially Hades, on that end, he could be just as ruthless as his Wife.

Still, this Prince was going all goo-goo for his sister he may have to nip this in the bud and quickly, no sense letting this kind of thing fester as it would make it vastly more difficult to remove and root out later on.

"right." The Prince Smiled at Mal again. He turned sharply and held an arm up indicating to the school. "Auridon Prep was built over three hundred years ago and turned into a school by my father when he ascended the throne and became King." The Prince led them towards the main entrance past a towering monument to his father that suddenly transformed when Ben clapped his hands. This caused Carlos to scream in an undignified and an offputtingly high pitch. He jumped into Jay's arms "Carlos its Ok" the Prince smiled "my father wanted his statue to transform from beast to man to remind us that anything is possible." the man was a bigger fool than he thought.

"Dose he shed much?" asked Mal the prince hid a smile playing along.

"yeah, mom won't let him on the couch." Ace was not please as the two continued to flirt.

"so, do they teach magic here." Asked Ace he stepped between the two and glared slightly at the prince.

"not really." He said honestly, "it's been basically retired every student here is just a regular Mortal."

"Mortals who happen to be Kings and Queens." Reminded Mal.

Audrey used that moment to get involved again give a sickly-sweet smile that didn't quite reach her eyes.

"yes, our royal blood goes back centuries." She gave off an off-putting smile that gave everyone chills at the underlining insanity within it. She tried to force Ben's arm over her shoulders, but he resisted valiantly. She was obviously failing history if she forgot that Mal's Royal bloodline goes back millennia, Evie's was twice as long as Stefan's bloodline only Carlos and Jay didn't have Royal Blood.

The Prince in an effort to get things rolling again called out to one of the members of the Band.

"Doug!" he called almost making the bespectacled boy fall down the stairs. "this is Doug the son of Dopy of the Seven Dwarfs." the Prince introduced "as I have some duties to attend to, I will be handing the tour over to Doug here." The Prince clasped the boy by the shoulders and pushed him forward. The Boy was terrified standing straight as a rod but when he caught sight of Evie, he like many before him fell for the girl. He practically fell all over himself as he took them through several of the corridors all lined with suits of armour and portraits of kings and heroes. Which was in no way annoying as hell, especially for Mal as several of the paintings showed the defeat of the Old Dragon.

They were shown the classrooms, along with the location of the canteen as well as the exterior picnic area. The playing fields and the Library, as it was beginning to get dark, they were all shown to their dorm rooms.

The Villain Kids were all housed within the same wing of the Palace come School. More than likely so that they could keep an eye on them all at once. Without having to spread their security all over the place. It also allowed them to monitor their comings and goings and with whom. Ace speculated to himself for a moment running options for covert actions. He had taken the time to count the security members, the location of the cameras both real and decoy as well as their visual range and any obvious blind spots.

Ace was housed in the room next door to Mal's knuckleheaded friends, they would be sharing a single room together, his room was huge, but that was expected, in a boarding school for royals and nobles, there was a section of the room that was for studying and a four-poster bed by the window.

The carpet was autumn patterned green and gold. The whole room is panelled by dark wood, and where there was no wood, the walls painted in a pale cream colour. The beds were painted an intense green with the school arms painted in gold leaf on the footboard, the curtains and chairs were all made of the same deep green and blue tartan.

The bedding was a baby blue, and the pillows were the same tartan colour as the curtains. There was a single five shelf chest of draws near the doors that was the same dark wood as the walls. Next to that was another three-shelf chest of draws with a mirror on the top. The top shelf was split having two small draws that could lock with a key, and there was a single standing wardrobe that was also dark wood and could lock with a dark brass key.

The chandelier that hung from the roof was a more rustic and rust coloured brass it held eight lights, one in a cluster of four and then two clustered in doubles on either side of the main one.

The first thing that Ace did was close the curtains and lie-down on the bed, it was uncomfortable how comfortable the bed was, its insidious in a way that level of comfort could quickly become the norm making the naturally hardened teen soft inside and out.

It didn't take long before there was a knock at the door, Ace rolled off the bed and made his way to the door drawing a Bowie knife from the small of his back, he flipped it holding it in reverse with the edge facing out for better slashing and close combat techniques, he then hid the blade behind his back.

He positioned himself by the larger chest of draws a knelt, he gently turned the rounded handle enough for the door to pop open slightly then he waited. The door opened, concealing him for a moment. He readied himself to pounce on the intruder when his red bag was unceremoniously tossed into the, landing in the centre of the room.

The door then closed again. Ace waited a moment before he reopened the door to see who the intruder was, knife still concealed behind his back. Ace caught a glimpse of a man dressed similarly to the Limo driver, that included the dark aviator glasses and earpiece.

He re-entered the room quickly as not to draw any attention, he promptly re-sheathed the knife into the sheath at the small of his back and approached his bag, he grabbed a chair and sat staring at it, contemplating.

It didn't look like it had been tampered with. Nor did it look like anything had added to it. But then again, the mainland was far ahead of the Isle in technology. So, if they did plant something, it could be as small as a golf ball or as large as a bar of soap.

He stared at it, and thought would these goodie goods plant a device in his bag meant to kill him? It could accidentally kill a few of the pampered royals, and they would not allow that, but then again, they could play it off as Villains getting revenge and cause conditions on the Isle to get worse if that was possible.

If anything, the Isle itself was proof that the Heroes were capable of just as much evil as the villains, but would they put their children at risk? He didn't know the answer to that, his mother would sacrifice him if it meant getting ahead, but he doubted that the victors would gain anything from his death, besides there being one less villain kid to cause harm potentially.

Ace decided to take a chance. He picked up the bag very lightly then equally as gently he slowly opened the bag. It didn't explode as he expected, and Ace found a slight sudden and deep sense of disappointment from that, all that anticipation for nothing. Ace began to unpack, he had several changes of clothes all of them thread worn but still usable by Isle standards, but he would need to find replacements soon. The Old Wizard had packed everything he needed except more weapons.

He only had his Rapier, a bowie knife, a small bandoleer of ten throwing knives, a boot knife and a single garrotte wire. Not enough to deal with a protracted conflict, luckily this was just a quick seek and retrieval, he'd be back in his territory in a day at the most to restock his supplies.