Disclaimer: I do not own Sky High.
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It had been weeks since Save the Citizen, and since Ivy last spoke to Lash. He and Speed had returned to each others' rotten company, and once more began causing havoc and chaos around the school. Every other day it seemed, they were being locked in the detention room for unruly conduct. He ignored her and her friends in the hallway pretending they didn't exist, but if Speed went to try to pick on them for any reason, Lash stopped him, telling him it was pointless and a waste of time.
Ivy had stayed with Warren, but was beginning to miss her flat. There had been no sign of Dylan since she had practically mauled him outside the church, and she knew that he was just regrouping his strengths before coming after her again, but she still wanted to go home. Warren's home was comfortable and nice, but it wasn't hers. She had hardly spoke to Warren, and he made no attempt to be her friend. He left her in peace unless she spoke to him.
"So it's really that awkward?" Magenta stuck her lollipop back in her mouth and frowned.
"It's like, we live in the same house, we eat meals together, we use the same freaking toilet, but he won't say anything to me unless I start the conversation. I don't know what to do." Ivy shook her head and exchanged a few books.
"Have you tried talking to him about it? Maybe he's just nervous." Magenta shrugged.
"No. He isn't nervous. He's just being a dick." Ivy slammed her locker door shut and growled in anger.
"Whoa, Miss Kitty. Calm down, dang."
"Hey, Zach." Ivy mumbled and shoved her books into her bag. She adjusted her long gloves and sighed as the three of them started on their way to the cafeteria. They sat at their normal table with Will and Layla, and Warren stalked in a few minutes after they had all settled down. He grabbed a bottle of cold water before coming over to the table.
"Well, I can tell you for sure that he's being himself." Magenta shrugged again at Ivy, and she just stared at Warren as he approached the table, and sat across from Will, not even paying mind to the rest.
Lash and Speed terrorized some small freshman before laughing and leaving her shaking. They laughed and joked past Ivy's table, and she turned her attention to Lash, who caught her eye and grinned maniacally. They left the lunch room, and Ivy stood. All her friends' conversations dropped to silence, and she went to the little freshman who was still sitting on the floor gathering her things. Ivy knelt down and helped her pick up all her books and pencils.
"Don't pay attention to them. They're just compensating." Ivy smiled at the girl, who looked at her confused.
"Compensating for what--" She stopped short and her eyes grew wide with horror and amusement, before she broke and giggled.
Ivy finished getting the girls things, and they stood. "Let me know if they bother you again, yeah?"
The girl nodded and smiled. "Thanks a lot. I'm Dara Cane." She held out her hand waiting for Ivy to shake it.
Ivy stared back at the girl, her eyes full of shock, her mouth gaping wide, fear and confusion crossing her face. "Cane?" Dara nodded. "Do you have a brother?"
"Yeah, Dylan. You know him?" She dropped her hand and started to put her books away.
"I, uh, I used to. A long time ago." Ivy's focus drained, and she momentarily got lost in her memories. She snapped back to reality. "So, are you a hero?"
Dara laughed. Loudly. "Definitely." Ivy raised an eyebrow. "I use cyclones to displace matter of any kind."
"Huh?" Ivy furrowed her eyebrows confused.
Dara laughed again and raised her left hand. A small gray misty cyclone appeared in her palm and grew until it was big enough to swallow her history text book she held in her right hand. It floated midair and over to the book. Engulfing the book, it shrank and eventually disappeared, taking the text with it.
"Wow. Impressive." Ivy smiled, trying not to look too shocked.
"That's not why I made hero. This is." Dara seemed cocky and sure of herself, but nevertheless, gray mist splashed onto her right hand, leaving the book behind. "I can return the object anywhere on the earths surface, and I can keep it hidden for as long as I want."
"That's some power." Ivy tried not to sound as scared as she felt. "Can you do it with anything?"
Dara nodded. "Yeah. From ants to people to construction cranes. Anything no matter the size or shape or weight."
"That's really cool. All I can do is beat people up." They both laughed.
"No, I've seen you during Save the Citizen. You're like, super-human-ninja-girl." Ivy smiled, and realized that Dara didn't know what she was, and a small sigh of relief passed over her.
"I should get back to my friends. I'll see you later, OK?" She waved to Dara and left.
Layla took a bite of her apple. "What was that about?"
Ivy sat down and shook her head in frustration and anger. "That was Dylan Canes' little sister Dara. I haven't seen her in years, I didn't know she went here, let alone was a super. She doesn't remember me, though. We only met a few times, and my hair wasn't white then. It was still strawberry blonde."
Warren's head shot up, remembering that she had told him her eyes hadn't always been gray. Confusion formed on her friends' faces, and Ivy ignored it. "Is she an Absolute, too?"
Ivy looked down the table at Warren, surprised that he actually spoke to her for once. "I don't know. Maybe. She wouldn't be parading it around if she was, so it's very possible. She didn't mention anything about Dylan or his powers, either."
"Should we be worried?" Ivy shook her head at Warren's question.
"Not yet. Just... Aware." Ivy groaned, and let her head fall onto the hard table top.
Of course that day had to be a Save the Citizen day, and Ivy truly believed it couldn't get any worse. Warren hadn't been allowed to play since his incident, and Lash had chosen not to, but Speed was in a fowl mood due to a run-in with Taylor during fifth period, and he decided to let off some steam. Speed chose Ivy as his partner mockingly, and Warren's face grew dark and angry at her calmness as she fought back the urge to hit Speed. She took off her gloves, and smiled at the fact that she hadn't used her serum. God help me I'll burn the bastard if he so much as looks at me wrong. She growled quietly at the idea of touching Speed at all, and watched as her buddy Trent came down into the arena. She took her time looking around the stadiums searching for an opponent, and she spotted Dara sitting with some friends on the far side from where Ivy's own friends sat.
"Stone. Opponent?" Ivy looked at Boomer as he said her name.
"Dara Cane." Ivy saw Dara's eyes shoot straight to her in shock, and the young girl smiled happily that she had been given the opportunity to play. Against seniors. Dara ran down to the arena and threw her gear on before Boomer even had a chance to find her name in his roster.
"A freshman? That's bold of you, Discord." Ivy stared Boomer down until he shrank a little in his seat.
"Don't. Call me that. Tommy." In an instant she was darker and angrier than she had been.
Boomer straightened in his seat at the sound of his name. "I am still a teacher here, and you are still a student. You will address me as Coach Boomer. Understand, Discord?" He stood in his chair, towering over her, but she paid his stance no mind.
"Call me Discord one more time." Her eyes grew wide and dark, and her pupils split white. "I dare you."
Boomer chose to ignore her challenge, and blew his whistle immediately. "Battle!"
Ivy whipped herself back around to see electricity spark around Trent, the lights overhead dim, and a small gray misty cyclone grow bigger and bigger in Dara's hand. Trent shot electric bolts at Speed, who ran and circled Dara, cutting off the concentration it took to create her cyclone. Ivy folded the light inward to block Trent's' powers, then turned her attention to Dara who was being circled by Speed at a dangerously fast rate. Dara luckily managed to create a cyclone big enough to transport Speed before her oxygen was cut s off completely. She encased him in her swirling mists and air and let the cyclone shrink around him until it was gone. She turned to Ivy and smiled, She looks almost as crazy as Dylan.
Ivy ran towards Dara hands flexed and open, dodging the path of the multiple cyclones that were following and attacking her. Ivy got within twenty feet of the freshman, and leapt towards her arms and head first, mimicking her cat counter-parts' leaps. She switched her leap mid-air, so her feet crashed into the young girl, her upper body repositioning itself as an after affect of the force. She pinned Dara down with her feet on the girls hands and her knees on Dara's biceps.
A burst of electricity hit Ivy on her left, and she was thrown back, slamming into the Plexiglas sideboards, and falling onto her left wrist, screaming in pain as she felt it pop and possibly break. With Speed still in Limbo, Ivy was left alone to keep the citizen out of the Heroes' hands. And with a possibly broken wrist, she wasn't sure if she'd be able to. Ivy struggled to sit up, fighting her way to her feet, and she staggered over to Dara and Trent, who had both turned their backs on the fallen villain. Ivy grabbed Trent's hand as he was building another bolt from the little light in the gym, and he screamed and writhed in pain as smoke emitted from her grasp. She let go of his reddened hand, knowing it was just enough that he was shocked and hurting, but not enough to burn him permanently. Ivy slammed a foot into the back of Dara's shins before she had a chance to see what happened to her screaming partner, but Ivy was too late. A cyclone had ripped through the gym, and devoured the citizen. Dara dropped to the ground from the kick, and the buzzer rang.
The students were silent in confusion and anticipation, and two clouds of mist appeared above head dropping both Speed and the citizen onto the hard gym floor.
"Heroes win!" Boomer bellowed and the room shook, but the students cheered and rushed into the gym to send their congratulations to the victors.
Dara regained her steadiness and stood to face Ivy who swayed back and forth, slowly losing consciousness because of her wrists pain, and Trent clutched his hand tight against his body.
"You OK?" Dara's face slowly became less defined, and was lost in a swirl of chaos, noise and a sea of faces in shades of gray.
"Ivy, what'd you do to me?" Trent's voice was hysteric, and Ivy turned to see his shocked and pained face before she felt her legs give way beneath her, and she collapsed to the floor. Her eyes would not open, not matter how hard she tried, and her voice cracked when she tried to speak.
"Move!" A growling voice came closer, and she knew Warren was there.
Someone tried to lift her, but jumped back and screamed. "Shit!" Ivy knew Lash's voice, and she wanted nothing more than to apologize for having unintentionally burned him, but her voice still did not obey her will.
She felt warm, almost hot hands and arms wrap around her, and lift her. Her left wrist pressed into Warren's chest, and her voice erupted in a scream mangled with a snarl and eyes flew open, glowing and burning with the pain from her wrist.
"What's happening to her?" Dara's voice shook and grew nervous. A shriek escaped her voice, and Ivy saw from the corner of her eye Dara stumbled back into Trent who stood behind her, and she fell backwards onto him, face clouded with fear.
Ivy managed to look down at her body and saw her hands had grown and lengthened, but remained human. She knew that her abnormally large limbs were not what Dara was scared of, and continued to search down her skin for the thing that frightened Dylan's sister. When she found nothing out of place, she reached her right hand up to her face, and explored her features. Her ears had grown and pointed more than they should have been for a human, and her teeth had begun to fold and take their feline form. She felt the bridge of her nose broaden, and she knew her pupils had split more, and her irises darkened. She turned her head towards Warren's chest, burying her face from her peers, and she heard Boomer tell Warren to rush her to Nurse Spex. Boomer's voice was wary and little, but she knew he was trying not to let his fear show, and she commended his efforts.
Warren pulled Ivy's body closer to his, and he straightened his back before exiting the gym with a trail of people behind him. By their scents, she recognized Will, Layla, Zach, Magenta, Taylor, Lash, Trent, Dara, and even Speed. Warren burst into the nurses offices, and lay Ivy on the exam table, where she curled into a ball away from all the pairs of human eyes that were staring at her. Warren herded them all out into the hall when the nurse came in, and even through the thick door and windows, Ivy heard Layla volunteer to get Principal Powers.
"Here, dear. I need you to look at me, OK?" Nurse Spex's voice was calm and kind, but Ivy shook her head in fear of the nurses expression for when she did turn over. "Please, sweetie. I can't help you if I can't see you." Ivy felt the nurse smile, but still she resisted. The nurse put her medical-gloved hand on Ivy's shoulder comfortingly, and Ivy knew she had to do as she was bid.
"What happened to her? Is she OK?" Dara asked too many questions for anyone's liking, and Warren could only take so much.
"Be quiet, freshman." He snapped his head in her direction and growled the cold words at her, before he saw her take a step back in fear. He returned his stare to the window of the nurses office.
Lash walked up beside Warren, and stared into the window with him. "She'll be fine. She's strong." He spoke quietly so that only Warren could hear his voice, and Warren nodded solemnly. Layla returned with Principal Powers, and everyone sat silently in the hallway for over an hour until the nurse came out, closing the door quietly behind her.
"She's resting. Everything returned to their normal state, but she's still scared and worried. She says she doesn't know why she changed, and that it's never happened from pain." All were silent. Nurse Spex hesitated a moment before continuing. "Has she injured that wrist before?"
Will and Magenta both looked at Warren, who spoke. "Yeah. A few months ago she had a run-in with some guy and she sprained it. Why?"
The nurse shook her head. "She said the same, but even so, breaking an already injured wrist shouldn't have been as painful as she says it was. It makes me think that--" She stopped short and looked at the principal. "Maybe we should speak alone, Evelyn."
Principal Powers' face dropped into worry and something that was almost anger, and she glanced towards the window behind the nurse before nodding her head.
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Next chapter should be up shortly! Happy New Years everyone!! =)