Hey guys. Sorry it took so long but life has been a bit hectic. I made this chapter just a little longer though, to make up to you guys.
Also, you guys all seem so interested in Emm's powers that now I'm a little afraid to disappoint you. Emm's powers weren't supposed to be a big deal, just a part of her.
I would like to thank you all for your support, however. I love reviews, I really do.
"So, anyone know what's happening this time?" Maggie jumped a little to find Will Stronghold standing next to her. The rest of Warren's friends fell in step beside him. On her other side Dan sighed.
"I don't think they even know at this point. They're just arguing for the sake of arguing."
The morning bell had not yet rung and already one Warren Peace and one Emmeline Garwin were hashing it out on the steps while students did their best to avoid them. They made an odd pair; Warren in his leather jacket and anger simmering just below the surface, Emm in a bright yellow tank top gesturing emphatically and cursing strongly every now and then for effect.
"Does anyone even know why they argue so much?" The two groups of friends had sometimes come together to watch the two have it out and had become mild acquaintances. There seemed to be a collective sigh at Layla's question.
Elijah moved to stand between Maggie and Dan, a poptart in his hand. "Well," he began, taking a bite and looking over at his sister, "Maybe Emm likes him."
Maggie squeaked, Dan choked on air, and all of Warren's friends seemed to lose their ability to formulate sentences. Elijah took a moment to notice the reactions he had caused, he seemed confused. "What? When we were younger Emm punched a boy in the face for telling her he liked her. She just reacts violently to romance."
As a whole they looked back at the two still arguing. Emm had begun poking Warren in the chest to emphasize each point she was apparently making. Warren's arms had begun smoking, but they all knew that Warren had never fired up when arguing with her. It was perhaps the reason Emm had survived for so long, because it was common knowledge that Emm had no powers.
"Ah, so that's her MO, huh?" Their attention was brought back Dan who was idly stroking a non-existent beard, "She punched me in the face for telling her I liked her once." Maggie choked and turned a violent shade of red before Dan could continue. "We were ten, her mom made her apologize. It's how we became friends."
Emm had as of yet to punch Warren, most probably because Warren wasn't about to tell her he liked her, because he didn't like her.
Emmeline made a face. She sincerely hoped no one chose to challenge Warren in today's Save the Citizen- or any Save the Citizen really, but that was too much to ask. Her only comfort was the knowledge that any hero who challenged him would be paired with a sidekick like her and she could, at least physically, stand her own against them.
Beside her Maggie gasped as the clock counted down and the heroes lost. Leaning forward to rest her chin on her hand she rolled her eyes, and sighed. Who was she kidding? There was no chance Warren wasn't getting challenged. Everyone wanted to beat Warren, and now that he wasn't paired with Will as Save the Citizen champions they all had a chance.
And it sucked to be Emmeline Jillian Garwin.
Almost as though the Powers That Be wanted a good laugh she heard Warren's name be called out by Jones. Ted Jones was an okay guy, in Emm's quite exclusive opinion, but his nasty electrokinesis was not gaining him any points in her book today. Muttering a long line of expletives she stood, patting Maggie on the shoulder and made her way down the bleachers to center stage to glare at Jones. Warren joined her not a second later.
Technically they had decided on a game plan last night- Emm would stay way out of the way and Warren would keep her from turning into a million little bits of shredded mini-Emms. Above them Coach Boomer shouted an unnecessarily loud "Begin!" and started the clock.
Instantly Warren had to dodge the bolt of electricity flying at him. He glared at Jones in typical Warren form and began his own attack. Satisfied that Warren and Jones would preoccupy themselves Emm turned to face her opponent who stood there as awkwardly as she was. Ryan Aarons sat behind her in Hero Support class and had the ability to turn into a cat, something he couldn't always control and often gave Emm a good laugh.
They looked at each other for a moment before shrugging and taking lax fighting positions. Ryan turned into the small tabby he was and looked up at her, wondering exactly what they were supposed to do.
"Ry, animal abuse or not, we're going to have to do something." Emm doubted that punting him like a football would go over well with the extreme animal lovers in the room; she'd seen him as a cat enough times to not even think of him as a real animal.
Giving her a weak cat look he jumped at her, digging his claws into her blue gym top. She picked him up by the scruff of fur on the back of his neck and pulled him off after a little effort. "Hey, I'm definitely pro-shape-shifter abuse," She tossed him away from her, secure in knowing that he would land on his feet, "But I just don't think it'd be fair to punch a cat."
Ryan smiled as he shifted back to his normal self and took a defensive stance. They were distracted by the sound of a park bench hitting the Plexiglas wall that separated them from the other students. Warren and Jones were still going at it fiercely and it was hard to tell who had the upper hand. Every now and then fireballs and sparks would fly past them, nearly hitting the crowd and Boomer.
She turned to face Ryan again and found he was gone. Her eyes widened and she quickly moved to search the gym floor- the stupid cat had to be somewhere.
"Garwin!"
She moved just in time to dodge the rather large bolt of lightning that had been heading straight for her. It grazed- or maybe scraped would have been a better word- her left shoulder. It left a tear in her shirt where she could see the skin turn red and ugly, the pain began kicking in soon after. Emm glared angrily at Jones, her blood pressure rising steadily.
A sound from her right made her twist around to face a now human Ryan clearly heading in for the kill, or at least the hit. It was pure instinct that made Emm swing out and punch him directly in the face, only recognizing the familiar leaden feel of her fist after she'd made contact.
Ryan flew back into the barricade and slid down in a heap. Emm's eyes were wide and she froze for a second. Most of the crowd had gone silent despite the glowing red numbers ticking down and the dummy slowly falling to his impending doom, which usually caused them to be their loudest. Warren and Jones were still off to the side and still fighting though they both seemed distracted.
Emm cursed herself a million times over before jolting into action and rushing over to where Ryan was still lying in a heap. She could see the bruise already forming on his jaw and immediately felt like the biggest piece of dirt the world had ever seen. The buzzer was ticking down and the general lack of shredding let her know they'd won, but she couldn't have cared less.
Warren was next to her a second later, looking a little tired but no worse for wear. He was surprised, no doubt, but he didn't say anything, just checked the back of Ryan's head for blood. He called for a nurse and Emm nearly died to think he could be bleeding.
The miserably yelp she'd let out made Warren look at her and he showed her his blood free hands. She let out a breath she hadn't known she'd been holding and continued to curse loudly while helplessly looking over Ryan.
When Nurse Spex got there and waved them all away Warren had to grab her arms to pull her from the spot. Dan was at her side in no time and pulled her from Warren's grasp into a half hug because Emm wouldn't turn away from the poor cat boy who sat behind her in class. Maggie was, in a bizarre role reversal, rubbing her arm and telling her repeatedly not to worry, everything would be alright. Elijah had only just reached them when Nurse Spex asked Will to help her carry Ryan to the infirmary.
Emm couldn't help the miserable moan that escaped her. How could she have been so careless? Her stupid temper had once more gotten away with her and now a friend was being hauled off because she'd nearly broken his face.
When Ryan was out of sight Emm let out a loud "Shit!" that bounced off the rafters and sounded for some seconds after she'd closed her mouth.
Warren was looking at her oddly, but that was definitely to be expected. As far as he or anyone (not including family, Dan, and Maggie) Emm was powerless, only at Sky High because of a super parent and super brother- powerless people didn't throw punches hard enough to make a boy fly ten feet away into a barricade.
Emm cursed the whole way out of the gym and onto the courtyard. Dan left to get her a drink of some sort while Maggie continued to try and ease her worry. Elijah stood off to the side wondering how best to help his sister but coming up with nothing and looking to Warren for help. For his part Warren had no idea why he had followed them, seeing as how there was no way anything he did was going to make her feel better, but curiosity was a strong thing.
"I hit him! Goddammit! I nearly broke his jaw!" She all but threw herself onto the grass and continued to curse.
"How exactly did you do that, by the way? What happened to no powers?" It wasn't exactly tactful but in a way Warren figured she would stop being angry with herself if she was too busy being angry with him. The glare she sent his way told him he was probably right.
"That was a fluke, Peace. Normally when I punch someone I don't nearly kill them."
Dan had returned with a Coke, knowing that, of all things, it would probably make her feel the best. She seemed to know that as well because she grabbed greedily at the bottle and practically tore the cap off. For a minute they were all silent as she downed it as quickly as she could manage.
When she finished Warren spoke again with a sigh. "You didn't nearly kill him, not even close. Nurse Spex is fixing him up right now." As he spoke Will Stronghold bounded down the steps towards them.
"Hey," He seemed to be speaking mostly to Emm, "Nurse Spex says he's okay. You can go see him if you want."
She moved so quickly they didn't have time to react until she already up the stairs.
The lighting was harsh in the infirmary and the already formed bruise on Ryan's face looked even nastier under the fluorescent light. Ted Jones had been with them for a while but an impending Mad Science exam called him away from his partner's side. Emm had been sitting next to his bed for the past ten minutes making a face and looking between them and Ryan. Maggie, Dan, Elijah, Warren, and Will stood there all the while in silence. Eventually it was Maggie who sighed and approached her.
"Emmy, we're going to go to class, okay?" Emm nodded and smiled at her. "He's alright and it's not your fault." She was rubbing her arm again. "And if you don't believe me, I'll just have to tell you in every language I know."
That brought a laugh out of her. They would be there all night if that were to happen. "Go on, get out of here. When he wakes up I have quite a lot of begging and pleading to do and I'd rather not have an audience." She shooed them out with her hand.
Maggie squeezed her shoulder and stepped away, smiling broadly, and was the first to leave. Dan followed after giving Emm a smile and a nod of his head. Will excused himself a little awkwardly with a smile of his own, not knowing Emm well enough to do anything else and having felt out of place the whole time he had been there. Elijah, rather than leaving moved to his sister and crouched down on his knees till he was level with her face. Having always been the sweeter of the two he had no problem kissing her cheek softly before unfolding himself to his full height and leaving.
Warren hadn't moved. Emm looked at him for a moment and cocked an eyebrow but said nothing before returning to watch over Ryan. She heard the scrape of a chair as he pulled it from the corner and brought it next to her. They said nothing for a while and the silence hung heavy over the glaringly white room.
"Okay, Peace, what are you still doing here?" She leaned back in her chair and turned to look at him.
"I'm your partner, I'm allowed to stay. I think I'm even supposed to."
Emm coughed something that sounded oddly similar to "Bullshit," before sitting up and pining him with a serious look. "You're just here to figure out how I punched him so hard."
Warren made no attempt to deny what was so clearly true. He leaned forward and looked at Ryan, taking in the heavily bruised jaw and the fact that he was still out and probably concussed. "If you have powers, why wouldn't you tell anyone?" He paused to look at her. "You don't strike me as the Layla type."
For a few minutes she didn't say anything. When she did he'd gotten so used to the silence that it startled him. "My powers aren't really a big deal. I can't control them and they usually only come out when I'm angry. A family trait; Elijah can barely control his telekinesis."
Warren didn't press the issue any further when he heard Ryan shifting. When the boy opened his eyes Warren stood and moved across the room where he wouldn't be imposing his presence on the two. He wasn't really sure if Emmeline was about to start begging and pleading but he felt he probably shouldn't have been a part of the discussion.
For her part Emm had immediately stood and grabbed Ryan's hand. After a second or two he seemed to come to his senses and he focused on her with a little confusion. "Why'd you let a Mac truck hit me?" He asked drowsily.
Emm was caught somewhere between laughing and dying of shame. "I'm so sorry Ryan." She began, clasping his hand in both of hers'. "I punched you and nearly broke your jaw. You also hit the barricade and got knocked out."
As though her words had reminded him he reached up to his jaw and cautiously felt along the right side of it. He winced and looked at her with wide eyes. "What kind of a punch did you throw? Did you channel the Commander or Superman?" He laughed. When Emm was feeling like the scum beneath her shoe, Ryan was laughing it off.
Warren snickered from his glare. Emm couldn't even glare at him; instead she groaned and dropped into her chair.