Chapter 3.
Layla reached over and grabbed Stronghold's hand, presumably giving it a squeeze, or as much squeeze as you can give to someone who has super strength of course. At the same time she gave Warren a meaningful look and he powered down immediately. Whipped much?
I audibly scoffed and Warren gave me a dirty look, "So if she says jump, how high can you go Warren?"
As he opened his mouth to respond Greenpeace cut him off, "look, I know we aren't friends or anything, but we're all going to be hanging around each other till graduation. Can't we at least be civil?" The short amount of time it took for her to forgive me and regain her cheery disposition was disconcerting.
"No, we can't. I don't associate people like you." I spat, and shovelled some steak into my mouth to make a point.
"People like what, exactly?" an Asian girl in purple asked from the end of the table. They were all leaning in now to take part in the conversation, and I could sense some nearby tables attempting to eavesdrop as well.
"People who save kittens from trees."
Stronghold caught my eye and spoke up, "So, what's wrong with that? At least we don't try to turn people into babies. We might save kittens from trees sometimes, but we also save people. We're heroes it's what we do."
I was seething, how he dared to speak to me as if he had more experience than me. I was being the good guy before he was even in this school. I'd been on both sides, I knew what a hero was and what a villain could be, I'd been there.
"You think you know what it takes to be a hero freshman?" I directed my comments to the entire group, "you have no idea. You beat Speed, Penny, and Lash – big deal."
"We beat them fairly, and if we would have known we would have taken you down a couple pegs too." Warren said menacingly.
"Six on three is your idea of fair? I take it back, maybe you are heroes after all. It's all spandex, capes and victory for you. "
With the exception of Warren they all squirmed in their seats - not comfortable with the facts of their victory. It had evidently not crossed their minds that their fight had been tipped in their favour; they were too busy revelling in the glory of being victorious to notice.
"What would you know about being a hero?" he asked.
"Warren!" Layla chastised.
I gave her a side glance, I could hold my own. I didn't need some freshman defending me. "Only about the same amount you would know about being a villain." I responded coolly.
Warren's eyes narrowed, we both knew I was treading into a touchy subject. He slammed his hand on the table right by my food tray and lit it up. I could smell the plastic table beginning to burn.
"Don't think you know anything about me, or what I do and do not know. Villains are scum, they are cowards who are too scared to play by the rules, to fight for what's right." He snarled.
"You know that sounds a bit rehearsed Peace, I'm getting the feeling I may not have been the first person to hear this little tirade?" I questioned. He retracted his hand and stood up. He knew I had him and wasn't about to respond to my provocations.
As he zipped up his bag I got up and pretended to check my nails. "Your original audience was Daddy perhaps?"
That did it. I didn't even have time to react as he swung his fist back and let it connect with my jaw. He got in another good punch to my gut while I was reeling from the first hit. The second sent me falling to the floor.
The freshman jumped from their table as did the rest of the cafeteria who eagerly formed a circle around us. They were looking for a show, for a little vengeance – If they couldn't get at me they were happy to allow Warren to.
"Hitting an unsuspecting neutralized girl? Is that what passes for a hero Peace?" I spat at him, and he made to advance to my spot on the floor.
Layla stepped in front of me, "Enough!" she bellowed.
I propped myself up on my arms to see the sidekicks holding back Peace by his arms. He shrugged them off and after sending me a baleful glare he slowly made his way through the disappointed crowd. It didn't escape me that none of the teachers had come to stop our would-be fight, much less come and see what all the commotion was all about. The staff room was next door after all.
The lunch bell rang and the onlookers began to drift away to their lockers and classes, the cafeteria slowly emptying out. The sidekicks and I had yet to move. I was more than sore now and from similar experiences in Save the Citizens I knew the worst of it would come tomorrow with the bruises. I still had an image to maintain so I tried to look dignified as I slid myself over to lean against the legs of the table.
Stronghold ran a hand through his hair, probably still processing what had happened. The sidekicks were staring at me like I was crazy. As if they hadn't thought it already.
The Orange Kid broke the silence, "we should go guys. The warning bell will sound soon." The group muttered agreement and gathered their stuff before leaving. I wasn't sure what transpired between Will and Layla because her back was still turned to me, but she stayed after they had gone.
Turning around to face me with her hands on her hips she sighed and reached down offering me help up. Despite my better judgement I was obstinate and unwilling to accept the help of the freshman, even if she wasn't one of the sidekicks.
I brushed her hand away and with my face composed I pulled my self up using the cafeteria table for support.
"Do you need to see the nurse?" She asked.
"No."
She let out a small strained laugh and gave me this look. It was pitiful. Why would she pity me?
"Do you have a death wish?"
"Maybe, but certainly not for myself." I grabbed my food tray and tossed it in the trash before heading for the doors. She quickly caught up with me and slowed down to match my limping stride. I took it as a small favour that she didn't make any snide comments or demand I see the nurse.
"Where are you headed? You know you can't go anywhere without one of us."
"I'm going to find Warren." I heard her snort and I couldn't help but smirk. When I looked at her there was a small smile playing at her lips and she was shaking her head.
"To apologize?" Her tone was sarcastic. Sarcasm would have been the last quality I would have attributed to the earnest hippie. She surprisingly seemed like the least neurotic person in the group.
"We have class." I answered in a saccharine tone.
"He'll be in Mad Science right now, in the lab room in the West Wing." I looked at her surprised. She wouldn't meet my glance and continued to stare straight ahead. Two could play like that, besides if I was going to be saddled with their presence for the next few months I might as well make an alliance with someone. Maybe in time, I could even turn them into villains, my own personal band of minions. I could be the new Gwen.
In a serious tone I added, "Thanks."
She stopped in her tracks as I hobbled off.
I hobbled my way to the door of the lab and took a minute to compose myself. I didn't want to let anyone get the impression that I was injured. Now that I was powerless, and almost defenceless against the Hero population of the school I was pretty open to attack regardless of what Powers had told me. I wasn't about to let my defences fall and give people the impression they could hurt me. If they thought I could survive Warren, then perhaps they'd believe that any damage they'd attempt to do to me would be pointless.
I didn't bother to knock because I didn't want to attract attention to my entrance and let everyone notice the slight hobble I couldn't cover up. I think he actually might have shoved around some ribs, damn pyro.
As I slid into the open seat next to Warren he paid me no attention and I was able to feel the relief of no longer having to support myself. Uncharacteristically, Medulla continued with his lecture sparing me just a brief glance, no inquisition on why I was tardy or jibes, thankfully.
"And now you and your partner may begin to assemble your ray with the provided pieces. Unsuccessful attempts will result in a failing grade." Ugh, he was such a sadist ever since he fell in that toxic dump that made his brain huge. Good thing he wasn't born like that, I would have felt sorry for his mother.
I turned to Warren and chirped exuberantly, "Hey Partner!" If I couldn't escape his presence I'd at least make this as bad for him as it was for me.
He grunted in response and pulled a tub of mechanical parts towards him. He had begun to fumble with the parts and forcefully try to attach the trigger to the pointer. Incompetent I thought, then again as I looked around the other students seemed to have as much trouble as him. I hadn't been in any classes with him before, my partner for all projects had been Gwen or Lash, and we always finished early using the remaining class time for gossiping or plotting.
Sighing I reached out an expectant hand and he turned to me. He was unwilling to verbally communicate so he just stared and I attempted to lift one of my eyebrows in what I hoped was a condescending look. I had never gotten a hold of the eyebrow thing.
He grudgingly shoved over the tray of parts and ten minutes later I had a fully assembled stun ray in front of me. I was running my hands over its casing, it was quite magnificent. Sleek, capable, deadly-ish. Warren was staring at me with something that wasn't disgust or hatred for once, admiration.
"How'd you do that so quickly?" He asked.
"When you spend three years being the lab partner of a great techno-path you pick up a thing or two." I responded. At my mention of my villainous past associations he turned away from me again and put his head on his arms. He was writing something in a notebook, what it was I couldn't tell. Strange, I had never pictured him as the Starbucks-novelist type.
I put my head down on the desk as well and willed the time to pass faster. If I could have any power it would be time manipulation. I'd love to be able to jump into the past and change the future, or present situation. I'd like to change this situation more specifically.
Bored, I began to watch the people around me. There was still the majority of the hour left in the period and my bumbling new classmates had yet to finish their rays. Medulla was walking around supervising, making the snide comment when necessary. He went up and down the rows till he spotted our table, and made a beeline for us to see why we had stopped working.
"Miss Travers, Mister Peace. Finished already?" He asked rhetorically, eyeing our ray gun. "Let's test this shall we."
He walked to the front of class and pulled out a jar with a single butterfly in it. "Students, attention please! Miss Travers and Mister Peace have already finished assembling their ray."
I, and I'm sure Warren could as well, felt the jealous eyes burning holes in the back of our heads.
"They are now going to test their ray to demonstrate its effectiveness, if built and utilized properly." He let the butterfly out of the jar, and that was our cue to get it. Warren made no move to reach for the ray, so I grabbed it and looked up. The butterfly was fluttering high above our heads. I took aim and shot it down. It inaudibly fell right on Warren's open book and startled, he knocked it to the floor.
"Well done Miss Travers, I see you shall be maintaining your 4.0 average this year." Medulla praised. Warren looked at me astonished, he mouthed '4.0?' and I grinned like the Cheshire cat. Probably the main reason they had let me back, aside from Gwen, I was the star pupil of this school.
"Although next time I assign partner work, do try and let Mister Peace have a few attempts at building it himself. We can't have him graduating on your good grades." Medulla snickered.
"I'll do my best." Warren picked up his notebook and put his head on his desk again. We fell into silence for the rest of the period, again.
AN: Wow thanks for all the reviews guys, they really gave me the motivation to finish this chapter. I know I'm pretty terrible at spelling, and grammar, but I've tried to give this chapter a decent look-over and I hope that it's significantly better than the previous ones in that area. Also, sorry for the 10 day wait! I had a bunch of homework to contend with.
To Rakurai San: Thanks! & to Anon: Thank you as well. Yeah, in the movie I always wondered why they didn't all just rush Royal Pain at once. They didn't have the excuse of being panicked, since they're in a school being trained not to, and because she can only pacify one person at a time it would have been easy for the entire gymnasium to sub-due her. As for the living situation, there was almost no way I could have her boarding with Warren and not have a 'ship develop. Also, it seems natural that he would not want to associate with a villain in any way for obvious lineage reasons.