Look, two updates in quick succession to kind of make up for the months without.

Super History was as uneventful as always. The only thing that had changed in the class from the beginning of the school year had been the fact that Ayers was now present in class and had even done his homework. Warren had to admit, Garwin was a good influence on him.

Ayers still looked half asleep in the class though.

When the bell rang he filed out with the rest of them and made his way to his locker to drop off the ridiculously heavy textbook they'd pawned off on all of them and pick up his English books instead.

Zach, Ethan, and Magenta were chatting beside his locker when he arrived. The topic of the day was the impending Save The Citizen later in the day. None of them had actually been called into play since the first few weeks after the Homecoming fiasco when all the meat heads had felt obligated to prove that a couple of sidekicks were in no way better than them.

Warren and Will had quickly put an end to that practice.

Still, they liked to speculate on who would get called up, who would win. It used to be easy enough; Peace and Stronghold were undefeated, but with the new system in place they hadn't been able to team up since the year began.

Warren made an offhand comment about Bethany Ackles' skill when she was brought up. He was not particularly fond of hydrokinetics.

Zach was the first to notice the commotion. "What's everyone looking at?"

Several students had moved down to the end of the hall and around the corner while they talked. The general buzz of conversation was pitched a little higher.

"Another fight, you think?" Ethan sounded disapproving, but Zach and Magenta were already moving along with the crowd.

With as deep a sigh as he could manage Warren slammed his locker closed and followed behind.

It wasn't a fight, not yet. But Garwin was standing far too close, looking far too menacing, and speaking far too harshly at Isabel Jacobsen. It would only be a matter of time.

He wasn't an idiot. He knew Ian Jacobsen had been purposely avoiding him ever since they'd been partnered. And his sister had never hidden her distaste for him. He'd known from that first interaction in the cafeteria that Garwin's problems with them had to do with him.

But, he knew Garwin and she wouldn't have wanted to talk about it. So he didn't.

This was another matter entirely.

If Garwin decked Jacobsen now Principal Powers wouldn't take kindly to it. The last time had been under special circumstances and the same leniency would not hold.

Before she got too riled up and her powers started kicking in he pushed his way through the crowd, which seemed to part for him naturally, and grabbed her round the waist. When she didn't weigh a metric ton or pass straight through him he lifted her up and, without stopping at her shriek, walked back out of the crowd.

She called him an ass and demanded that he put her down; kicked and squirmed and cursed. Everyone in the halls, including Mr. Boy, gave them wide berth. Only when they'd gone two hallways down did she become too heavy to keep carrying.

He dropped her against a set of lockers and put both arms to either side of her head. Sure, she could have phased through him, angry as she was, but she seemed to have more trouble with that than the reverse.

"What the hell, Peace!" She tried to push past him but he roped her back in. "That was none of your business!" She was red in the face and gnashed her teeth when she spoke.

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah!"

"Then what was that about?"

Some harsh retort was right on the tip of her tongue, he could tell, but she bit it back just in time. She settled on glaring at him.

He sighed. He remembered a time when he was the one considered volatile by the students of Sky High. Clearly none of them had ever been in Garwin's presence for an extended period of time.

"I don't care what they say."

She looked surprised.

"Please, you think I don't know that Jacobsen, the bitch, hates me. I told you people still think I'm going to be a villain." He could see her start to deflate. "I don't care what she thinks. Or what she makes her brother think."

She still looked angry, but a pout had formed and she'd stopped struggling, so he felt safe in unboxing her. Realizing exactly how close they'd been, he took a step back. He ran a hand roughly through his hair.

The bell had rung at some point, but she had Mr. Boy next and he was lenient and Mrs. Macintosh loved him, so they'd be fine.

She was avoiding looking at him, pouting instead in the general direction of the cafeteria. "Garwin, you can't take offense for me every time some ass thinks I'm going to be my father."

She looked at him suddenly. "Oh, don't feel special, I'd do it for any of my fr-" The word trailed off awkwardly and she made weird noises to make up for it.

He smiled. "Yeah, friend. I won't tell anyone."

Some level of normality returned between them. She gave him a dry look. "You'd better not. I'll beat your ass into the ground if you do."

"As if I'd want anyone to know I'm friends with you. They'd think I'm a villain and an idiot."

She punched him in the chest (and to be honest she hadn't full powered down) and he swatted her head. He pulled on the strings of her yellow hoodie and attempted to lead her back to his locker before she smacked his hand away.

"I'm not a dog, I don't need to be lead."

"No, dogs aren't this much trouble."

"I'm going to kick out your kneecaps."

"Emm, I'm going to have hell later. You know that, right?"

Gareth Darrows was one of four students in Mr. Medulla's exclusive advanced class. He was also unfortunate enough to be Isabel Jacobsen's partner.

They hadn't had a chance to talk about her little altercation in Mr. Boy's class, but with only four of them working individually in the otherwise empty classroom, conversation flowed easily. Mr. Medulla had stepped out to retrieve the mutated rat that had escaped the period before theirs.

"Sorry, Gar. If she gives you any grief send her my way. I'll gladly take care of it."

Gareth actually had a decent power, it was just seen as useless. Talking to fish didn't really afford much crime fighting potential. Worked out perfectly for him though, as he wanted to go into marine biology.

Emm liked Gareth. But, then she liked all of her exclusive science classmates. Mr. Medulla's special class was a bit like Vegas. Anything that was said or done in the class, stayed in the class.

"What the hell was that even about?" Karl Harrison was the only junior in their class. He was a half Korean hero with the ability to turn into a massive two headed wolf and a fondness for rays. He also boasted Emm's favorite dry humor and tone.

Gareth had been studying radiate prokaryotic structures but he gave her his attention long enough to look expectant when she tried to busy herself with some wiring.

"Warren, I'd wager."

Emm looked up at Juliette quickly. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Emm had known Juliette for years. Her father had often supplied Mr. Brighton, known as The Frost, with a number of gadgets and had outfitted his hide-out with the newest technology before he retired. They'd had many dinner parties and visits to hero summits that left the two of them to entertain themselves. Juliette had always enjoyed Mad Science as Emm had and they'd bonded over it quickly. Emm had mocked and teased her relentlessly when she began dating Peace in sophomore year.

"It's no secret that Isabel doesn't like him. She won't work with him on assignments and she complained loudly after Ian got partnered with him." Juliette stopped working out the equation on the board and laughed at Emm's pout.

"Who'd have thought," Karl said with a chuckle. "There would come a day when you went to bat for Warren Peace?" He easily caught the rag she threw at his head.

"I wasn't surprised."

Emm, Gareth, and Karl all looked curiously at Juliette.

"What? Really? Come on, guys, we're scientists, we're supposed to be observant." She capped her dry-erase marker and stood at the front of the classroom. She cleared her throat for good measure and straightened up. She looked like a teacher.

"I know they've been fighting since day one. We all saw that, except Karl because he's a baby." They regularly teased their youngest mate. "But, remember when I broke up with Warren?"

"I remember when you started dating him." Gareth laughed. "Emm, you made such a fuss. Said Juliette was betraying you."

Karl didn't laugh. "Yeah, I know what you're getting at. I'd just been transferred over to this class. You broke up because of your dad." Juliette looked guilty for a moment. "And Emm thought that was the most bullshit reason ever."

"That's right!" Gareth poked Emm's cheek to try and dispel the pout. "She gave you such a talking to."

"She was so disappointed in me."

Tired of letting them all have their say Emm set her screwdriver down, hard. "Well, it was a bullshit reason! There's a million reasons to not go out with Peace, but your father thinking he was going to turn out like his dad was not one of them."

Juliette and Warren had long ago come to terms with the fact that she'd broken up with him for that very reason, but Juliette's continually guilty face told them all that she was still none too proud over it.

"Peace is an ass. He's picky and he steals your food and he's so OCD. There's so much wrong with him, but he's not a villain. And I really like your dad, but that was utter shit."

"I know. I know. But, it's done now. It's well in the past. What's important here," She adopted her teacher look again, "Is that you defended him even then. In just a different way."

Emm looked horrified. "Oh my god, you're right! What is wrong with me!"

She was met with a variety of things that were, in fact, wrong with her. The list didn't stop until she threatened to botch the calibration again.

When the bell rang for lunch they filed out, tossing the occasional barb at Emm, and skirted away when she made to hit them. Even when she sat down with her lunch, across from Peace, Gareth made a point to shout out a flaw he'd forgotten; her bad eating habits.

A table down Juliette laughed and ducked the roll Emm threw at her head. "Don't forget how she thinks everything is solved by throwing something at the problem."

"Trouble in Mad Science paradise?"

"Shut up, Peace."

"What's that all about?"

"Assholes."

"Sure."

"Am I attention stealing?"

"You're the worst."

"Oh, who asked you."

"You're also obnoxious, make no sense, and are far too arrogant for anyone's good."

"I really am going to kick out your kneecaps one day. Why do you think I keep sitting in front of you?"

"I always assumed it was to make my life miserable."

"Part of it."

"Eat your cheeseburger, Garwin."