Gosh this took way too long to write! Thanks for all the compliments on the dream. I've found that most dreams really do make no sense whatsoever and therefore I try to write my dreams as realistically as possible while still keeping it essential to the storyline and where its heading. I hope you like this next chapter that took so long to write. :-P

Chapter 20/Knowing the Enemy

Violet's attempt at recruitment went about as well as mine did. The kids were just too afraid of blowing up to accept our promise to protect them. So Violet decided to do something else. We needed to know these students. We needed to know what we could use in order to coax them to join us. In order to do that, we needed to break into Mrs. Elridge's office where the Academy students' records were. It was risky, but Violet insisted that it was absolutely necessary.

The next question was "how?" It was a very important question. I had no idea what Mrs. Elridge's schedule was and if she had any assistants that we needed to look out for. Luckily for us, Violet did. She had worked as an assistant for the two Principals for a couple months. She was let go in order to train me.

She said that every afternoon around noon, the Elridges took a lunch break from the office and went off to the cafeteria with the rest of the students. I wondered if they would notice our absence but Violet assured me that many students skipped lunch for various reasons. The assistant would be in the front office and the file cabinet where they kept records would be locked, but Violet said she could bypass both. I was skeptical, but I didn't show it.

Right after morning classes we started our plan. Ignoring the curious glances of Gabe and Karl, I faked getting sick and excused myself to the infirmary. Violet had asked to volunteer there that morning and, being a favorite of the Elridges, she was allowed to work with the sick. When I arrived, she coaxed a fellow volunteer into picking up her shift by promising to teach him a round kick she had not even shown me yet. He instantly agreed without question.

Our next obstacle was the assistant. Violet said she could handle her so I didn't interfere. Walking steadily toward the gum-smacking, nail-filing receptionist chick, Violet only had to whisper a few words into her ear before her heavily painted eyes widened and she hurried out of the room, not even glancing at me as she did so. I gave Violet a questioning look.

"Told her Connor was looking for her," she answered with a smirk. I smirked back. I half wished I could be there to see Conner's reaction to his over-eager fangirl.

"Won't there be security cameras?" I asked in a low voice as she made her way to Mrs. Elridge's office.

"Already took care of it," Violet said confidently, opening the office door and going for the locked file cabinets. "I used my marvelous powers of persuasion and got one of the technopaths to download a minor virus into the monitors of all the security computers. They'll be all static until he fixes it which he told me should take about thirty minutes, so we only have that long before they can see us, and only fifteen minutes after that before the Elridges come back."

"Are you sure we can find everything we need that quick?" I asked, growing doubtful at the seemingly easy way everything was falling into place. I was still waiting for the next shoe to fall down hard on our heads and crush us.

"If not we'll have to make do without," Violet said, jimmying the lock until the file suddenly shot out into her abdomen. She grimaced slightly but pulled out several files which she tossed toward me. "Start on those."

I set them on Mrs. Elridge's desk and tried my best to not be too nervous. "Doesn't this seem a little easy to you?" I asked in a soft voice, sure the place had some sort of bug system.

Violet gave me a look as she flipped through some files. "Your confidence in my skills is inspiring," she told me dryly. "Stop worrying and get to work."

She turned away and left me with the stack of files. The first one I picked up was of a kid I had seen around but had never spoken to. He had the same basic scenario most of the recruits had: rebellious teen run away from home only to be coerced into joining the Academy by some smooth talking persuader who was paid to do so by some account Royal Pain had. Looking under his behavioral records, I saw that he was rather arrogant and conceited. I set that one aside as a "no." He wouldn't help us unless we could assure him that no harm would come to him.

Suddenly I was hit with an inspiration. Maybe I could find out who that girl had been; the one who came to me in the last round of the Penalty Room when I was out cold. Deviating from my original search, I began looking through the files for the picture that would show me who she was. As I shifted through, I came across Karl's file. I stopped, spreading it out in front of me as I began to read it.

Apparently Karl used to have quite a brilliant mind. He had gotten all A's in school up until fourth grade then suddenly his grades began declining. I searched deeper in order to find out why. My brows knit together as I read down the file. His father had been overbearing and had pushed him to study harder and work more at being the best he could and all that stress had damaged his brain. He wasn't a genius anymore. Now he was just like everyone else, even a little less so. I remembered his bruises and winced. He certainly paid for his lack of genius. I scowled at the thought of the Academy punishing him for something he had no control over. The thought just made me all the more eager to get out.

I came across Chanel's file as I continued my search and could not resist taking a quick peek. A wave of pity for the girl came over me as I read how she was abused as a child and ran off to get away from her mother's boyfriend who had been making advances on her when she was only twelve. Royal Pain took her in and I could see how being a villain would appeal to Chanel. She could make the boyfriend pay for what he did to her. The thought made me sad and I wondered if there was any hope for her to not get slapped in prison but instead find a nice foster family like Ana Lucia's.

Sighing softly, I looked up and noticed Violet look at me funny.

"What?" I asked, closing the file and picking up the next one.

"Do you need more?" she asked briskly, her facial expression shifting to impassive. I looked at my dwindling stack and nodded.

"Sure."

She added more to my pile and continued with her own.

"How much time do we have left?" I asked, glancing at her wrist watch. She looked down at it too.

"About fifteen more minutes, better get back to work." And she did so without another word. Catching on to her not-so-subtle hint, I returned to my stack of records, shifting through them once more. I hoped she was having better progress than me.

I paused when I came across Jayden's file. I wondered if it would be wrong of me to look at it, me being his murderer and all. Still I felt like I should know more about him if I ever rubbed Adams the wrong way again. I wondered if Connor's file was in here as well. Remembering those ice blue eyes and the cruel intentions behind them, I shivered slightly and hesitated further before opening Jayden's file.

A large "DECEASED" stamp had been pressed over his photo in bright red ink. The word made me flinch, but I was able to read on. Apparently his mother had been the daughter of a Japanese ambassador that came to the states for some big important meeting of some kind and met Connor Adam's father while she was there. They had a fling and she went back to Japan pregnant (although she had not known it at the time). When her parents found out they were naturally furious and told her to get rid of it, but she would not. Instead she waited until it was born before sending the infant (along with a nanny) to America to a Mr. Conrad Adams.

Mr. Adams, who had been married this entire time, took the baby only after his wife left him in her anger. So he was left with a toddler Connor and an infant Jayden. He kept the nanny who took care of both boys and they were raised just like two real brothers. However Mr. Adams harbored hard feelings toward Jayden and began abusing him verbally from an early age. His older brother instincts rising up, Connor did his best to protect his younger sibling. It was then, around middle school age, that their powers began to develop.

Connor used his memory powers to wipe out the bad memories of Mr. Adam's abuse and replace it with good ones. (My eyebrows rose at that, I did not know Adams was that powerful.) Therefore Jayden grew up never knowing how much his father despised him. Finally, when the abuse turned physical, Connor got both of them out. He discovered his little brother's ability to mimic any physical action he saw.

They were discovered by Royal Pain's henchman when Jayden performed a complicated break dance move on the street just seconds after viewing the same stunt done by some street kid. When she offered them a place to live, food to eat, and a way to grow more powerful, they were hooked and joined the Academy.

I set aside this file slowly, thinking about what I had just read. I suddenly felt pity for Connor where there had been none before. I knew what it felt like to be the victim of abuse, so I couldn't relate to him that way, but I did have an older brother who had done everything he could to protect me from our raging father. Guilt from the murder began to consume me and I had to shove the file away violently and pick up another before the feeling overwhelmed me.

Halfway down the new stack I had three "maybes." Looking over at Violet I saw she had a couple stacks set aside as well. One was much larger than the other and I hoped that was her "maybe" pile. Trying to get a glimpse of her wristwatch, I wondered how much time we had before we had to scurry out or get caught with our hands in the cookie jar.

I still had had no progress with finding the girl from my dream. Sighing, I picked up the "no" pile and put them back into the cabinet. As I did so I noticed a file with my name on it. Hesitating, I reached over and pulled it out, curious to know how much they knew about me exactly. I was shocked to see how much detail they put together in the file. Everything was in there. From a certificate of my birth, to my latest report card before I left Sky High, it was all there. I wondered how exactly they had obtained the Sky High records and realized with a shudder that they must have an inside man. I wondered who that was and if I should be worried about Ana Lucia.

A tag near the end of the file caught my eye. Holding it closer to my face, I read the name "David Newton." My heart caught in my throat and I'm sure I gave some sort of strangled gasp because I heard a funny noise and suddenly Violet was at my elbow. She frowned as she looked down at the file and then suddenly snatched the papers away. I started and then frowned back.

"What was that—" She cut me off with an urgent look.

"Times up, they'll be here in fifteen minutes and we've got to get this place looking how it was before and be out in the hall before they do." Violet began swooping up the files and returning them to their places in the cabinet. I began to help her, doing my best to remember the names of the ones I had set aside as "maybes."

We had just put the last file away when we heard approaching footsteps. We exchanged horrified glances; the Elridges were early! Glancing around the room frantically for a place to hide, I was completely caught off my guard when Violet suddenly grabbed me and flung me down on the Mrs. Elridge's desk.

"Don't freak out, okay?" she told me in a low voice. I found I suddenly couldn't speak. Just then the door of the office opened and Violet threw herself down on top of me, her lips crashing rather painfully with mine.

I was so shocked I could not move for a moment, but I had enough sense to close my eyes and refrain from grimacing. Footsteps approached and someone cleared his or her throat. Violet slowly extracted herself from me and brushed the hair out of her eyes as she turned to whoever had walked in. I was still too stunned to move.

"What's going on here?" The bird-like voice of Mrs. Elridge, the second most important teacher in the school, rang out through the room. I opened my eyes and slowly sat up.

"Oh, um, we were just, um . . ." Violet blushed rather prettily and gestured to me vaguely. I gave Mrs. Elridge a very pathetic and weak wave, swallowing hard. She gave us both a shrewd look.

"My office is not a bedroom, Miss Walker," she said airily. "I would thank you to remember that in the future." She sniffed.

"Yes ma'am. I promise it won't happen again." Violet grabbed my thin wrist and practically dragged me out of the room. I stumbled along behind her until we were outside her room where she stopped and released my wrist. I fingered my lip tenderly. The harshness of the rather abrupt kiss had caused my teeth to bump so hard against my lip ring that it split my lip slightly.

Violet noticed my probing and grimaced apologetically. "Sorry," she said. "I couldn't think of anything else. If it makes you feel any better, it's not exactly a pleasant experience to lock lips with someone who has a lip ring. Very uncomfortable." And she poked her own lip with a finger.

I allowed a small smile. "I'll keep that in mind." She blinked at me for a moment before laughing.

"You do that." Leaning back against the door, she tilted her head as she looked up at me and again I was surprised at how much I had grown in the couple months I had been here. "How many did you find?" she asked.

"About four or five," I answered truthfully. She sighed and I figured she had not done very well herself.

"Most of them either have an ego problem or their just plain evil or their too afraid and inexperienced."

"Yeah."

She sighed again. "I guess we'll have to make do with what we've got and take it from there."

"Ten or twelve teens isn't very much," I pointed out the obvious. She shrugged.

"We'll have to make do," she repeated. "I'll try to get at least some of them into the training dome with me and I'll give them some fighting lessons. Hopefully I can get all of them and they'll all actually learn something. You pulled through alright though, so I'm not too worried."

While she was talking I inadvertently started watching her lips. They were not as full as Megan's, but they were kinda nice. I began wondering what it would be like to have them kiss me for real instead of just in a cover up. . . . I mentally slapped myself silly and returned my gaze to her eyes just as she was finishing up.

"Yeah," I said, for lack of something better to say since I had not really been listening in the first place. Apparently my reply came a little too late for she looked at me funny.

"You alright?" she asked worriedly. I flushed.

"What? Oh, yeah, I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?" I mentally smacked myself again. I was making an idiot of myself and I needed to go. Now. I began backing up slowly.

"So, uh, I'll see you at the training dome," I said, before turning and hurrying away.

The first thing I did when I got to my room was rinse my mouth out with water. I didn't really need to, seeing how it wasn't a French kiss or anything like that (thank God for small favors), but I still felt like I should. Karl and Gabe were back from the cafeteria and in the room when I came out. Karl glanced at me, twitched, and offered me a tiny smile. I gave him a somewhat weak one in return. Gabriel looked at me with mournful eyes, but I could not hold his gaze. I turned my back on him and walked over to the bunks where I flopped down on my bed. We usually had about five minutes to rest after lunch before meeting at the Training Dome.

Gabe gave several loud hints about how quiet the room was, but when neither I nor Karl took the bait, he left in an indignant huff. Again I felt bad for giving him the cold shoulder, but I still could not bring myself to make the first step in mending out friendship. Besides, if we were going to attack Sky High soon anyway, it did not really matter. We'd be enemies sooner or later.

Karl sidled up to the bunk and sat down beside me on the floor, twitching slightly.

"How did it go?" He alone was the only one whom I had told about the plan. I shook my head then shrugged. He got the message.

"Connor has his arms full with that assistant of Elridges all during lunch. Literally." I looked over at him and saw that he was grinning faintly. I grinned back as the mental picture settled. Then I snorted with laughter which made Karl's grin widen. "They were quite the spectacle."

"I'll bet," I said with another laugh. He grinned again and then slowly the grin died away.

"You read about me, didn't you?" he asked softly, his sandy cowlick twitching and his fingers tapping the floor agitatedly. I hesitated before I nodded.

"Yeah."

He shrugged although it looked more like a convulsion. "Well, now you know."

"You were a brainiac."

"Yeah."

"A real honest-to-goodness genius."

"Uh-huh."

"Your dad was an idiot."

He looked up at me sharply then, in surprise. I grinned faintly and slowly he matched my grin.

"Thanks, Alex," he said quietly. I reached over cautiously and laid a hand on his shoulder. He flinched slightly but held my gaze. I gave his shoulder a reassuring squeeze.

"We're going to get out of this," I said firmly, looking hard into his blue eyes.

He studied me for a moment before nodding slowly. "Okay," he answered in a whisper.

"Okay," I repeated softly.

Staring at me for a minute longer, his lips suddenly twitched as he straightened. "Hey, that's weird. I thought your eyes were black. But they're not; they're dark brown."

I grinned suddenly and pulled back my hand, folding them both underneath my head as I stared up at the doodles and sketches above me. "So I've been told."

Gahhhh, yeah I know the whole "cover-up kiss" thing is a bit cliche, but I was watching Smallville a couple weeks ago, Episode "Magnetic," where Chloe and Clark are "caught" in the records room of the hospital and thought that it would kinda help move Violet and Alex's relationship along without being too intentional. The rest of the chapter built itself around that one scene so you should be grateful it's there otherwise you'd have no chapter! ;-) :-P I tried to make it more original with Alex's response (or lack thereof), but yeah. Don't worry, the next chapter will be more original (I hope). :-P

So yeah, we've gotten to know some of our fellow students a lot better, haven't we? Review and tell me what you think! :-D