Disclaimer: I do not own Sky High.
Evelyn was coming to her wits end. She stared at her beaten and broken students as Nurse Spex made her rounds between Trent, Speed and Taylor healing and x-raying them to make sure there were no severely broken bones. Evelyn looked at Logan, Boomer and Jamie who stood with her. Pity, fear, anger, empathy and compassion glazed over all their eyes as they watched the group of children before them. That's what they were; children. Children that were being asked to grow up before they were supposed to, before they needed to. Logan looked over at Evelyn and shared her anger above all else. He had barely been gone a day, and he comes back to three more of Evelyn's student injured.
Nurse Spex looked over Magenta and did her best to smile, in spite of the situation. Magenta was fully functional again, with no traces of her beating left behind. Ivy comforted Layla who was still in shock from Trent's condition, Dara sat between Will and Warren, who acted as her shields. Lash and Zach did the same to Magenta. Gambit stood to the side, with neither Logan and the teachers, or the group of students. Logan glanced at his fellow X-Man and broke the silence.
"I'm calling Charles." Everyone looked at him. "This is done. You've all been saying that from the beginning I bet, and no one has done anything. I'm calling Charles and I'm going to have him send the X-Men. We're doing this on our terms. No more letting them strike first." He looked at Evelyn who didn't take her eyes from her students, but nodded her head.
"Do it." All the students looked at their principal, Ivy at her aunt. Evelyn looked at Logan. "Do it." She looked back at the students. "Layla, Ivy, Magenta and Dara. You're playing Save the Citizen this afternoon. Whoever wins will face Zach and Warren, and those winners will battle Lash and Will. Get ready." She left the gym without another word, and the students had never been more sure of her relation to Ivy.
After Evelyn was gone, they all looked at Magenta. The color drained from her face as she warily looked straight ahead. Ivy was sure she heard Magenta gulp. Lash gently turned her chin to face him.
"I can do it." She nodded, worried.
"You don't have to." He whispered, but it was of no use. The rest of the group was silent.
"No, it's OK. I can do it." She gulped again and forced a smile before getting up and walking out of the gym steadily. Lash looked at Zach worried. He stared back and the two bolted from their seats to catch her.
Layla and Ivy stood up and Ivy squeezed her arm and went to Gambit, ignoring Warrens smoke as she did so.
"Did you get to a hotel OK?"
Gambit smiled at her concern. "Gambit was fine, Cher." he flipped the Queen of Hearts over in his fingers.
"That wasn't my question." She looked at him, and he knew to answer properly.
"Gambit walked most of da night. Couldn't sleep." Warren and Will glanced at each other angrily, missing Layla's entrance on the conversation.
"You didn't stay at Ivy's?" She took Ivy's hand gingerly, needing comfort and affection, needing to know everything was going to be OK.
"No, dere was a complication." He did not want to start a fight with Warren in front of anyone.
Ivy looked at Layla, who simply shrugged. "Stay at Layla's." She looked at Gambit with pleading eyes. She wanted to know he'd be safe, and walking alone at night was not going to guarantee that.
Will and Warren both jumped down from the bleachers, leaving Dara who moved to Trent and took his hand in hers.
"No." Will and Warren both said in unison. Logan stood to the side with Jamie and Boomer, all watching each other trying not to eavesdrop.
"And why not?" Layla looked back and forth between the boys, dropping her hand from Ivy's and putting both on her hips defiantly. "You're not my boyfriend anymore, and you're the reason he doesn't have anywhere to sleep to begin with." Layla looked at Gambit. "You're more than welcome in my home. We have an extra pull-out in the old study. I'll see you for Save the Citizen, Ivy." Layla made a conscious effort not to stomp her feet or make a big scene as she left, but she was sure she would have had a Warren-amount of smoke coming off her if she could.
Warren looked at Ivy. "What are you thinking?" He clenched his fists, wishing he could hit something. Preferably Gambit's face.
"I'm making sure my friends are safe. Which is more than I can say for you."
"Well you've done a pretty bang up job so far, haven't you." Warren glared at her, something he had never done, and she was taken aback in shock that he could say that to her after everything that had happened. "Look at Magenta and Trent and Taylor and Speed. You asked Dara to go in and talk to Dylan about his plans with no regard about what he could have done to her. So tell me one more time that you're keeping your friends safe, Ivy. Tell me more time that it has nothing to do with this Cajun piece of-" Logan grabbed Warren by his collar, extending his claws just enough. Warrens eyes widened in shock and horror.
"That's about enough out of you, bub." He dropped Warren's collar and looked at Ivy. "You're gonna need a new boyfriend. This one's just about broken."
Ivy just watched Warren as he stalked off, Will close on his heels.
Dara joined Gambit and Ivy after they were gone. She stood directly in Ivy's line of sight, and forced Ivy to look at her. "You've done nothing wrong. You've done everything you can and more. Don't listen to him, he's just stressed and angry and hurting. We all are." Dara pulled Ivy into an engulfing hug, and the two of them stayed that way for longer than either of them knew.
What was left of the group stayed in the gym until the end of the day when the inevitable games of Save the Citizen were to be played. The rest of the student body trickled in as Ivy and Dara were already dressed. Taylor, Speed and Trent sat on the bleachers, much in the same places they had been that morning, all still in their normal clothes. Gambit stood off to the side with Logan, both getting extremely odd looks from the student body, both getting extremely devious looks from the girls. Gambit was about to smile at one cute little brunette with Logan cut off his smile.
"Don't even think about it." His eyes never left the students entering, and Gambit shifted his weight uncomfortably, dropping his eyes to the floor. Magenta and Layla walked cautiously into the gym, both dressed and nervous. Warren, Will, Lash and Zach followed close behind. Warren was still smoking, Will was clenching his fists and Layla was completely ignoring their presence. Magenta tugged at her shirt while Lash and Zach practically smothered her sides, refusing to leave her alone. Ivy left Dara as the group approached Trent, Speed and Taylor and went to Gambit and Logan, feeling Warren's seething glare on her back.
"Keep an eye on Dara. She's still not used to her Absolute." They both acknowledged her statement with slight nods.
"What about you?" Logan raised an eyebrow.
"I'll be fine." She handed them a bag that she had been carrying. Logan picked up the blankets and liter of Sprite. "Just in case." His eyebrow arched even more, but shook his head and put them back in the bag. Boomer and Jamie walked over to them, Jamie in her combat robes, Boomer in his regular P.E. Uniform.
"Are you ready?" Jamie took a deep breath and looked at Ivy.
Ivy nodded solemnly. "I'm worried about Magenta. I know why Evelyn wants her to participate, but it's so soon after... You know."
Jamie nodded. "She wants everyone to be prepared and there's no time to waste. We're all here, just in case." Jamie put her arm in Ivy's, and smiled sweetly.
"Alright, let's do this." Boomer looked at Ivy. "Don't hold back, Discord. Not this time. Dara will team with Layla, Magenta with you, OK?" Ivy nodded, ignoring the name Discord.
"I'll tell them." She started to leave before turning back to Logan, Gambit, Jamie and Boomer. "Thank you guys." They all nodded and smiled, save Logan. Ivy glanced at Gambit, who held himself back from embracing her in public, let alone at all. Ivy hesitantly took a step back and turned on her heel to find her girls.
"Rogue will be back in a few days." Logan stretched his fingers out nonchalantly.
Gambit simply nodded.
"OK, guys. Boomer wants Magenta with me, Layla you're with Dara. We're not supposed to hold back. Not at all. Layla, use all you've got. You, too, Dara."
"What about me? I haven't gotten any new fancy powers. I'm a guinea pig, remember?" Magenta looked embarrassed and upset, but tried to hide it the best she could.
"Evelyn wouldn't have put you in here with us without a reason, I promise. She knows what she's doing." Ivy nodded encouragingly, and the girls started for the arena. Dara and Ivy both forsaking their protective gear in case they changed.
Warren gathered his bearings about him and hopped off the bleachers to Ivy before she disappeared behind the plexi-glass. He caught her hand as gently as he could, and she flung around to face him, almost losing her balance. When she saw it was Warren, she instinctively pulled her hand back.
"Ivy-" She turned and walked away.
"Asshole." The girls looked at Layla. "What? He is. They both are." She scowled and muttered some incoherent curse words under her breath as the three other girls watched her in shock that she used such language.
"Teams ready?" Boomer called from his high-chair, knuckles turning white against the stop-watch. The girls nodded as Dara helped Layla with the last of her equipment. They walk into the center of the arena, giving each other quick squeezes on their hands. "Ready. Set. Battle!"
Five Chapters Left.