Disclaimer: I don't own Sky High, or any of its canon characters.

Chapter Three- Rivaling the Flame

The next morning I saw the girl I knew to be Jana Vega on the school bus. She was dark haired, tall, had a pierced lower lip (a stud in the shape of a pentacle) and an air of bad-ass nonchalance about her. She was listening to her CD player which was playing hard rock music that was turned up way too loudly and nodding to the beat. Without hesitation, I sat down in the empty seat next to her and tapped her on the shoulder.

"Jana Vega," I said, not bothering to make it sound like a question.

She snatched off her headphones and glared at me resentfully. "What do you want?" Her voice was slightly husky with a hint of aggression.

What was her problem? Not allowing myself to be daunted however, I ignored her outburst. "Uh, hi. I'm Anna Arrian. We're in Hero History class together. You're in our group for a project we have to do. It's due in about three weeks."

"Oh. Fine." She put her headphones back on and carried on nodding as if I wasn't there.

Silently I counted to three. Then I tapped her shoulder again, waiting with a forced patience for her to take the headphones off...again.

"Yes?"

I gave her a sharp look before saying in a tense voice, "I also thought you should know- we're having our first meeting in the Study Hall right after school. It'll be me, Paul Findle and Warren Peace."

For the first time, Jana finally seemed to be paying attention. "Findle and Peace? Working in the same group?" She exhaled slowly. "That's a death match waiting to happen. No way, I'm out of it. I'm going to Mr. Mnemonic and-"

"No dice. We already went to him. He said the placing was final and whatever issues we have, we're going to have deal with it ourselves."

Jana sighed irritably. "Damn. Fine, whatever. But if one of them kills the other I am not going to be a trial witness. Now do you mind?" With that, Jana put her headphones back on and didn't speak to me, or acknowledge my presence in any way for the rest of the journey.

I stared at her incredulously for a moment, intense dislike straining against my resolve to be at least civil to my fellow group members. With some effort I decided to just dismiss it as everything about Jana suggested an attitude with the world in general. Humming an incoherent tune, I dutifully ignored her as she did me and thought about what would happen at the meeting.

xxxxxx

Looking back on it, I should have known better. I was naive to think it would be otherwise.

Needless to say, the first group meeting didn't go very well nor did the others that followed. Warren and Paul constantly bickered about the outline of the presentation, the various facts about the Maxville Hero time line, who should research what and in short, anything else they could think of.

Despite giving a deliberate and fervent impression of not caring much about school or grades, it turned out that they were both obsessive perfectionists who each thought that their way was absolutely right and the other's therefore was dead wrong. Hardly a moment went by when they weren't arguing about something or other and I always had to break it up.

In addition I quickly realized that Jana was not going to be much help in anything. She always arrived late for classes and our meetings (if she came at all), and rarely gave any input. In fact she just sat there, looking on in mild interest as my cousin and Warren waged their own little World War about yet another trivial matter.

But it swiftly went downhill on Friday when we were considering suitable examples for 'Super Heroes and the Villains They Regularly Encounter' in an empty classroom. Jana was nowhere to be found which was no surprise; we had all gotten used to her occasional attendance at this point.

"'Today's Commander and Jetstream are formidable Heroes- champions of the people, who have brought more villains to justice than any other hero in the history of Maxville,'" he read from our work in progress, which he was typing.

I could immediately see where this was going and I flashed a meaningful glance at Paul, but he was oblivious to it (or maybe he just wanted to be).

"'Many of these major villains would have caused irreparable devastation and mayhem to our city were it not for our great Heroes. Such villains include The Wing, Hackman, and Barron Ba'- ow!"

I had kicked Paul under the table seeing Warren's face darken. "Um Paul, maybe we should take a break," I said with a look tinged with warning.

"We're keeping my father out of this project," Warren said in a low and dangerous tone.

"No problem. Two villains are enough anyway, right Paul?" I said with a nervous chuckle.

"Why should we?" Paul said, ignoring me completely. "Barron Battle was one of the biggest villains in Maxville. It'd be stupid to leave him out of it."

"Paul, please don't. Really, we don't need to include him," I said urgently. Why couldn't he just end it? Battle, though a good example wasn't that incredibly essential. But my cousin was always insistent on having his way.

"I wasn't asking you Findle," Warren said, scowling at Paul. "My dad stays out of it."

"Well I'm the leader of the group," Paul said in a slow and deliberate manner. "And I say he's in."

As far as I knew, Warren had never backed down from anything, least of all a challenge. "I bet you he won't be," he said, standing up at once. He didn't take his gaze away from Paul for a moment.

"Oh, I bet you he will," Paul said nastily, getting to his feet as well. His whole body had tensed, ready for whatever was coming.

"Both of you, that's enough. I mean it," I kept my voice firm, but neither of them paid any attention.

"It's not going to happen," Warren whispered menacingly.

"Too bad- it is. Sorry." Paul didn't sound sorry at all. "Besides, it's not my fault that your dad went all evil and-"

It happened in a flash. Paul was pitched through the classroom door in a burst of flame. Warren stormed after him, his dark eyes (and hands) ablaze.

Gasping in surprise, I shot to my feet and dashed into the hall to stop them before anything else could happen. Too late. Paul, half of his shirt burned to nothingness and the remains smoldering at the edges, had powered up instantly.

He changed... and became a fanged creature. A vast gray wingspan burst suddenly from his back as he glared fiercely at Warren with bright silver eyes. His skin had become gray as well, looking deathly in the cold sunlight that streamed from the nearby windows. With a low unearthly snarl, he lunged at Warren.

They crashed into the nearby lockers, reducing them into twisted unrecognizable pieces of metal. Horrified, I rushed behind them, trying to deny what I was seeing and failing.

"Paul, no!" I cried out. "Stop it Warren!"

But they didn't listen. Warren, his face a mask of wild fury, hurled a fireball that nearly took Paul's arm off. Paul dodged it just in time and took to the air, fixing a terrible gaze upon Warren. He tackled him and landed a punch that temporarily stunned Warren. They charged each other again violently, and too closely it turned out- I had to dive out of the way and landed hard on my shoulder.

The exploding pain, the prospect of failing the project I'd already put so much work into and the nerve-wracking experience of their constant bickering sent me into a rage I didn't know I possessed.

"ENOUGH!" I shrieked, getting angrily to my feet. Thrusting my hands outward, a burst of dazzling tangible light shot out from both palms and enveloped Paul and Warren. In a flash I mentally fashioned my power into brilliant cords, pinning their arms to their sides. The two were immediately drawn apart as I spread my arms wide and raised them over my head (with some difficulty as my shoulder was now very sore). Gently, the two figures lifted off the ground.

They say that my eyes turn white when I power up. Not milky white like many super beings, but pure white light. In any case all I saw at the moment was the blazing red of my own anger.

Paul and Warren struggled for a moment in midair, trying to break free from the bright force that bound them but only for a moment. I quickly realized that the hallway, previously buzzing with jeering and taunts from the onlooking students had gone suddenly silent. I knew what was going on. Which was why I was not surprised when a voice behind me said firmly, "That's enough Anna. Put them down."

Catching my breath and coming to my senses, I immediately complied. Returning to normal, I said, "It isn't what it looks like, Principal Powers. I was only trying to-"

Principal Powers gave me a kind, but somewhat dry look. "I know. All three of you, come with me."