School had opened back up the day before the truce ended, meaning it had been open for three days and I hadn't been back yet. Mostly because I was busy dealing with Espada things. Madison was fine skipping out for our raid on the Merchants the day before and the school hadn't seen fit to call her mom so she was in the clear too. I also hadn't gone because I was waiting for the education department in city hall to open up so I could get the paperwork to drop out. I spent nearly half the morning being given the typical run around and having to get through some red tape due to not being sixteen but after showing them some signed notes from my father and confirming I was taking the Exit Exam as soon as I could after I turned sixteen they gave me the paper work. I was surprised at how far Lisa's forgery got me on that front. They probably dealt with a lot of kids who wanted or needed to drop out a bit earlier than legally allowed whose parents couldn't be there to deal with all the bureaucratic nonsense and lines.
I was lucky to be out of there before lunch at the rate things had been going. When I finally got all the stuff I needed I turned a corner into an alley and opened a Garganta to Lisa's apartment. She was sitting on the couch, having been waiting for me to get back so she could once again forge my dad's signature then drive me to school to turn it in. Alec had also come over for some reason. He was laying across the couch, forcing Lisa to sit in the chair off to the side.
"You were gone a while." Lisa said without looking from the TV.
"You know how it goes. You have to wait in line just to find out you need a form and you end up waiting in line just to wait in line."
"Bureaucracy is evil." Alec nodded.
"A necessary evil." Lisa said, getting up to sign the parts she need to while I worked through the parts I needed to.
"We're getting lunch after we turn her stuff in, right?" Alec asked.
"What are you even doing here, anyway?" I asked.
"I was bored of games and heard there'd be food at some point." He shrugged.
"He made that last part up, I never told him anything about food." Lisa said.
"But you admit there will be food."
"Has anyone ever told you to go fuck yourself?"
"Several times, yes." Alec said casually.
"You should go do that." Lisa responded in the same tone.
"You have anything I can use?"
"I know you're joking, but please don't put that image in my head." Lisa blanched. She signed the papers she need to and sat back on her chair.
"By the way," I start as I flip pages, "I forgot to mention it last night, but Coil knows about our teams working together."
"That's… Not good." Lisa said slowly. "How did he find out?"
"No idea. Trainwreck didn't know."
"Trainwreck was Coil's mole in the Merchants? Damn, talk about a surprise." Alec said.
"Okay, so I should bump up our plans to take him down." Lisa sighed.
"At your earliest convenience." I nodded.
"Speaking of, any luck with Squealer?"
"Yes, actually. She agreed to join and spent a bit of last night getting to know her new boss."
"How is she?"
"Personality wise? She's pretty much the same. Turns out she was trashy before she was forced on drugs."
"Huh. You almost done with those?"
"Yes, mother." I rolled my eyes.
Lisa stared at me for a moment, before smirking.
"You know, you're being a lot more open than before."
I looked at her, puzzled.
"What do you mean?"
"A few weeks ago you would never have made a joke like that. You're obviously starting to really trust me. And that's not a bad thing. It's good you're starting to open up more around us and you're faking it well enough when you need to around other people."
I stared down at the paperwork, brow furrowed. She was right. I was being a lot more open than before by a noticeable margin and I had no idea what had spurred the change. I decided not to dwell on it, introspection was for late night smoking, and finished my paperwork.
"Alright, let me get changed and we can head out."
—
"Whose car is this?" I finally asked. We were riding in a cherry red 60s era Pontiac convertible. Lisa had a key to it so I didn't really think anything of it when we first got in. Then I considered that she didn't have a car.
"My asshole neighbor." She said plainly. "Dickbag works from home and typically sleeps during the day. You know that loud music that comes from a couple doors down?"
"This is *that assholes car? Fuck it, I should be mad we stole a car, but fuck that guy." I said.
"That's the spirit, Tay! We should find somewhere to do donuts." Alec said from the back. He was laying down across the seats.
"Much as I'd like to do that, we still have work to get to later." Lisa said.
We pull into the parking lot of Winslow a few minutes later and park.
"Wow, what a shit hole." Alec said as he sat up.
"It's worse on the inside." I said blandly.
"It's worse?!" He laughed, "Oh, I have to see this!" He hopped out the back as I stepped out the car.
"You coming?" I asked Lisa.
"Nah, you go do your thing. I'll watch the car. It feels like someone would try to steal it if I left."
"That's…"
"Yes, I understand the irony, Taylor."
"Will you come on?!" Alec shouted from the door, "I want to see what this dumpster fire looks like on the inside!"
"Relax, Alec, Jesus." I shout back as I catch up.
I get up to the stairs and take a deep breath to steady myself before going in. I may have been slowly freeing myself of the chains this place had put on me, but I wasn't quite free yet. Finally, I pushed the door open and we walked on. It was lunch so the halls were filled with people.
"Woah, this place really is worse on the inside! Its like that sci-fi show except instead of getting bigger it gets shittier!" Alec said in awe.
That got a small chuckle out of me.
"I didn't think you were into sci-fi."
"I'm not. I watched a few episodes when I was bored. If it's on and nothing else is I'll watch it, but I don't go looking for it."
"Fair enough." I shrugged.
As we made our way to the Office I noticed people turning to look at us. I didn't know if it was because of me or Alec, but I was trying very hard to remain calm and keep the anxiety away. The stares just brought back memories of January. At least this time people weren't smirking, just looking surprised. Which, I guess was fair considering what I was wearing. I looked like I had just stepped right out of Woodstock, wearing ice blue paisley pants with a white spaghetti strap crop top and a thin, sleeved floral shawl. Even bought some round yellow sunglasses with zigzags on the frames. The neutral look I was trying to keep on my face probably made it look like I was about to go perform with Janice Joplin.
"I can't believe they let kids tag the walls!" Alec said. "This place is insane. How do they not do anything about this?"
"Most of the faculty doesn't care." I answered. "I've seen kids show off their knives during class and the teachers ignore it."
"Fuck, this seems like the type of place I'd actually enjoy going to school."
"That says a lot of negative things about this school coming from you."
"I know, right." He snorted.
We finally made it to the office after what felt like an eternity with all the other people watching me. The secretary didn't acknowledge us walking in, but that didn't matter since I had to walk to her desk to talk to her anyway.
"Is Principal Blackwell in her office?" I asked.
"She's on lunch." She told me, barely glancing up from her computer.
"That's not what I asked." I said.
"It doesn't matter if she's in her office, she's on lunch. What do you need?" She asked with the hospitality of someone who had given their two weeks and was just doing the bare minimum until they could leave.
"I need her to sign some paperwork. Won't be more than a few minutes." I explained.
"What paperwork?"
"Dropout paperwork."
That made her perk up a bit. Probably glad to be rid of the "problem child". It would suck for her when other students started getting it worse enough to complain, but that wasn't my problem.
"Well, if you'll hand it to me I can print out the survey you need to fill out and—."
"No, just hand me the survey. I can fill it out before she signs the rest of it. Shouldn't take much time, right?"
"I'll make sure she gets the—."
"See, that doesn't work for me. I don't trust you to give it to her nor do I trust her to actually sign it. Last thing I need is to get caught up in a truancy case because of this schools neglectful administration." I said as if it were obvious.
I could tell she took exception to that by the way she twitched, but she didn't address it directly, instead asking again for me to give her the paperwork.
"You have my word that she'll get it before the day is out." She reached for the paperwork, but I pulled it out of her reach.
"Your word means nothing to me because I don't trust you. You can print the survey and I'll fill it out before having her sign it or I can just barge into her office and talk to her myself. Which would you prefer?"
She tries to stare me down and, to her credit, it might have worked on anyone but me. I gave her the same withering look I did the last time I was in the office and she eventually relented, printing out the paperwork and handing it to me.
"Damn, Tay, you sure know how to stare people down." Alec smirked.
"It comes with the apathy." I smirked back while I filled out the survey, marking all the reasons that applied to me not wanting to continue school including unsatisfactory classes and bullying. Oh, I make sure to circle, underline, and check that whole box.
"Alright," I said, standing up, "I'm done with this. She in?"
She rolled her eyes and pressed a button on her desk. "A Ms. Herbert here to see you, principal Blackwell."
My eye twitched when she got my name wrong, but I wasn't going to bother with it for now.
The door to the office opened after a few moments and Blackwell steps through.
"What do you need?" She asked. I couldn't tell how much of the look on her face was annoyance and how much was just her general demeanor.
"Just need you to sign some documents, Ms. Blackwell."
"It's Mrs. Blackwell, actually."
"Really?" Alec asked, genuinely surprised. "Someone actually married you?"
I had to cover my face and turn away to keep from giggling at the harsh glare she shot his way.
"Yes, I'm married." She said harshly. "What paperwork do you need signed and why?" She turned back to me.
"Oh, I've finally decided to leave." I said as casually as I could.
"Leave?" She asked.
"Yup. Finally had enough of this god forsaken school. Got me a job lined up until I can take the Exit Exam and then I'll finally be home free. It feels so nice to be so close to freedom." I smiled. I could tell how much she hated me talking about her school in such a way, but I wasn't going to miss my chance to be at least a little petty.
"And what makes you think you're ready to take the Exit Exam? Your grades are substandard." She said like it was a win.
"Please. The only thing substandard here is your staff and curriculum. I got a ninety-eight on Arcadia's entrance exam. I only came here because a former friend was. Look where that got me. So if you'd kindly sign these papers and make a copy so I can turn them in to the Education Department soon, I'd be more than happy to have us fuck off out of each others hair."
"I should be the one filing these. Why should I make a copy so you can do it yourself?"
"I don't trust you to do it. I'd feel a lot more comfortable not having to put any modicum of trust in you after I leave here today."
She growled lightly, but grabbed a pen from the cup on the secretaries desk and signed all the pages she needed to quickly before making copies. The whole process took maybe two minutes, but if felt longer.
"Here." She nearly snapped, handing the original papers to me.
"Thank you." I couldn't help the predatory smile that stretched across my face at finally being free.
With paperwork in hand I waved Alec to follow me out.
"So, where do you think we should go for lunch?" Alec asked.
"I'm not sure. Pizza?" I asked.
"I'm not sure I want pizza. I doubt Lisa would either. Maybe we could—." Alec was cut off by the familiar voice of Emma behind us. We turned to find her with Sophia and a few of their usual number. I didn't see Madison with them, much to my surprise.
"Well, well. I wasn't sure what to think when I heard you'd finally decided to stink this place up again. And with some new clothes to my surprise. You know paisley hasn't been in style since the seventies, right?"
I blinked, then Alec and I looked at each other.
"So, as I was saying," Alec said as we resumed walking toward the parking lot, "I was thinking we could hit up this—."
"Hey!" Emma yelled.
"— Place near the university. They have some half decent poutine there."
"You know I've never had poutine." I said.
"Hey!" Emma called again, closer this time. I turned and caught her arm before she could grab my shoulder.
"Can I help you?" I asked.
"You can't just ignore me!" She said, yanking her arm back. I let her go, not really wanting to indulge the behavior more than I had to.
"Says who?" I quirked my head to the side.
"Says—." She stopped, trying to think of anything to say.
"Right, well, if you're done I've got things to do today." I said as we started walking again.
"You really need to try poutine, Taylor. It's so good!"
"You Leafs and your gravy." I grinned, shaking my head.
"Don't call me a Leaf you fucking Burger." Alec said. He raised his arm to yawn and I heard Emma stumbled to the ground behind us. I barely spared her a glance as we left. I could tell they were following us, but no one had tried anything, so that was nice. When we got to the door outside I felt Sophia get close. I was ready to dodge the push I felt was coming when Alec twitched his finger and she rolled her ankle and went stumbling down the short flight of stairs.
"You know," I said as we walked past Sophia making sure she didn't get too hurt to run track, "It feels nice to say bye to this place."
"I bet it'd feel nicer if you said it with a flamethrower." Alec suggested.
"I'd prefer not to get jail time for something so petty."
"Took you long enough!" Lisa shouted as we approached the car. "I feel like I'm gonna get sunburn out here!"
"Oh no, your pasty complexion will get some color! Whatever shall you do?!" Alec snarked, diving into the back seat.
"Fuck off." She said as I vaulted the door and landed in my seat.
"That won't fuck up the suspension right?" I asked.
"Probably not. But it's not my car anyway so…" She trailed off and shrugged.
"Point." I concede.
As we pull out of the school parking lot I get one last look at the fuming faces of Emma and Sophia and I can't help but smirk. When we get a few blocks away from the school I finally let all the tension go.
"Fuck, that was exhausting." I said, slumped back in my seat.
"But you got through it." Lisa said.
"I did. And it felt good. So, outside of me asking for a job and us putting up our signs, what else is on the agenda for today?"
"Food." Alec droned.
"Yes, after food too." I rolled my eyes.
"I looked into it and found Canary's being transported with Bakuda and Lung later today. The transport she's in should be coming up from New York around four or five and they should be leaving between five-thirty and six."
"Well, that's a tighter schedule than I was expecting. I should be able to get them while they're in the city though. Shouldn't be too hard. Especially since they have no choice but to pass through my territory with the PRT building out of commission for the time being."
"I wonder how they'll handle all the damage. Those transmutation bomb did a number on things."
"I'm sure someone will figure something out." I shrugged.
—
"Hey Abby." I my voice accompanied by the sound of the bell on the door.
"Taylor. It's unusual to see you on Thursdays. Not that I mind."
"I actually came to ask a favor. And buy donut's, but also the favor." I said, handing her the list of donuts I wanted boxed up.
"What's the favor?" She asked as she looked over the list and started getting things together.
"That job offer still on the table?"
She looked taken aback for a moment before laughing lightly.
"What'd you do?"
"Dropped out. Couldn't deal with it anymore and since I can test out of school next month, it's basically smooth sailing. Now I just need something to do until I can take the test."
"Well, I did say I could offer you a job. And I need an extra set of hands in the mornings a few days a week, so sure, you're hired. You start Saturday. Be here at four am sharp."
"Okay. Thanks for going out of your way like this for me. I really appreciate it."
"Don't worry about it. You're a good kid, Taylor. I'm glad to help." She shook her head.
"Still, it means a lot. Short as they were, our occasional morning talks were the only positive interaction I had with other people for months."
"That's sad, considering I'm not much of a people person."
"Your lack of morning pep is what kept me coming here."
"Glad to know some people like my prickly personality." She rolled her eyes, handing me my order.
I chuckled a bit, shaking my head.
"Again, thanks, Abby. I got a few more things to take care of today, so I'll see you tomorrow."
"See you tomorrow. And don't be late on Saturday. Four am sharp."
"Four am sharp." I confirm as I leave.
—
Waiting for the others to get off school was annoying since we were a day behind on this particular task in the first place, but there wasn't much I could do about it. We met up on the roof of a building in downtown. It was high enough to see most of the city and far out into the waters of the Bay.
"So, it's finally time, huh?" Samael asked.
"We're pretty much declaring war on the city." Nihilus said.
"Maybe. But it's one we can win with minimal collateral and the city will be better off for it. We've only got two major threats left: Coil and the Empire. The former is slippery as the design on his costume and the latter has power in more than just Capes. We can beat their Capes easily, but money and influence is harder. Which is why Samael is such a huge boon. Knowing what they're going to do before hand will help make things easier on us."
"I haven't gotten anything really useful yet since Kaiser's always busy with something but I'll be seeing him Saturday and that should be a good time to get some info out of him." Samael said.
"Great. Be careful about it, though. Last thing we need is to suspect you of anything. You might be his son, but Kaiser is the type of person I wouldn't put filicide past him if he thought it necessary."
"Filicide?" They asked in unison.
"Yeah. It means to kill your own kid. There's a specific word for each act of killing a family member. Fratricide if you kill your brother, Sororicide if you kill your sister, Matricide for mother, and Patricide for father." I explained.
"Why do you know that off the top of your head?" Nihilus asked.
"There are some things that don't go away once you learn them. Like the word aglet. Once you know it means that bit of plastic on your shoelaces it's kind of just burned into your brain forever. Bet if I ask you a week from now you'll still remember."
"Fuck it, I'll take that bet." Samael said.
"Great, five bucks."
We shook on it and Nihilus cleared her throat.
"We still have work to do, guys."
"Right, I got side tracked." I said. "You know what you have to do. Let's go."
We all shot off towards different parts of the city ready to leave our marks.