Sorry! Yet again the time got away from me, so sorry for the delay on the chapter. I do try not to go over a week… but, yeah, go back to the beginning of this apology, hehe.

Also, it's kind of funny that everyone thought last chapter was short, when it actually was the longest chapter so far at 3,000 words. Odd how that works out

So, as I said last chapter: New Location, New Characters Exciting… Eh, maybe not…

Anyway, I hope you enjoy.

November 18th

The teacher at the head of the class went about writing on the chalkboard, the chalk tapping against the hard surface. The students watched closely as the algebraic problems were written out, going about figuring each of the problems in their minds to shorten their work. There was little other noise except for the whispering, students' pencils tapping against their desks, and the soft breathing of the sleepers.

Whatever was being talked about behind the teacher's back was normally random. Events of previous days, afterschool activities and the like, but now there was a single subject that was on everyone's mind…

"What are we going to do?..."

"My parents said that we're 'going on vacation' until Rancid is locked up… I've got football practice, man!"

"Johnny Rancid..."

"Rancid…"

"Trouble…"

The teacher finally stopped writing, and that seemed to silence the class. They glanced towards the man, who kept his back to them. He turned to them and cleared his throat, "Everyone take the next thirty minutes to solve these problems, and then…" He paused for a moment to pinch the bridge of his nose, "We'll… Uhm… Start today's quiz… yes, that's it." He sighed as quietly as he could, taking his seat at his desk at the front of the room.

A pair of dark grey eyes fell upon the date as she wrote it down.

November 18th

'Two days left…' She twirled a strand of her black, curly gently around her finger. She glanced to the teacher, he looked so tired. He looked preoccupied with papers in front of him, so she took that as her chance. She quickly glanced down as she brought her phone out of the pocket of her uniform blazer enough so to see the screen.

She had three missed calls.

'With what's coming, it's probably him… Okay…' She let a short exhale and started on the work assigned to her.

"Aww, are you sure you don't want to come with us?"

"C'mon! It'll be way better than hanging around school!"

Ariana chuckled sheepishly. Her friends were quite persistent in their attempts to get her to come to the movies. AS much as she wanted to, she had other things to do. She shook her head, "Sorry, still no," Her two friends were saddened by this, "There are a few people I need to talk to… We'll meet up later, kay?"

One of them sighed, "All right, but you're missing out," The other nodded in agreement.

"I'm sure, later Penny, Blake," She waved to her friends as they walked away. They left the room, leaving her with the select few that chose to stick around for reason or another instead of going back to their dorms. She took in a deep breath of fresh air when one of the students opened a window, and sighed. A smile spread across her face. Everything was going to be all right, she knew it…

She started for the door when a student she was passing nearly fell. She moved quickly, and she managed to catch him. He grabbed her arm rather tightly, and it didn't seem like it was for support. His head snapped up, and he looked up at her with wide, almost frightened eyes. He braced himself, and stood on his own when he quickly stepped back.

Ariana raised her hands quickly trying to show that she didn't mean him any harm, "Calm down! It's me Freddy, Ariana…" That didn't seem to calm him down any. He was a pale skinned young man with average length black hair, swept to the side in to a fringe that covered one of his eyes.

"Ariana…" He spoke quietly. His eyes glanced around, "You… Class president… Righr… Right, Ariana Masters," He spoke more to himself than to her.

"Yeah…" Was all she could think to say at the moment, "Are you all right? You fell over…" Freddy quickly nodded without a word. His shoulders slumped, and he seemed antsy. He scratched his cheek and glanced rapidly around the room.

"Freddy?" Ariana asked.

"Coffee…" He murmured. He grabbed his satchel, and haphazardly slung it over his shoulder, nearly hitting a unaware student behind him, "I just need more coffee… Coffee…" He repeated 'Coffee' twice more. Ariana reached out to place a hand on her shoulder, but he quickly jerked away and started at a very brisk pace out the door.

"… What a strange guy," she murmured to herself.

"That was Freddy wasn't it?" Ariana jumped slightly feeling something tap against her ankle. She looked over her shoulder, and a smile spread across her face.

"Annie!" Ariana exclaimed happily. The girl, Ariana's age with shoulder length dark brown hair, and black sunglasses covering her eyes, smiled back. Ariana wrapped her arms around her vision impaired friend. Annie, letting out a laugh, hugged her back. It was brief though.

Ariana pulled away, "I'm glad that you're back! How was visiting your uncle? Did you have fun? What kind of things did you do?" A smirk curled on Annie's lips, and Ariana suddenly stopped. She chuckled sheepishly, "I was rambling again wasn't I?" she asked, and her friend answered her with a silent nod, "Sorry about that… So, how was visiting your uncle?"

"Ah, I don't want to bore you with that stuff… So, was that Freddy, the boy you were talking to?" She asked, raising her cane and tapping it against the boy's desk.

Ariana nodded, "Yes… Hey, how did you know? He hardly talks," Annie tapped her nose in response.

"He smells like coffee," She commented, "Everyday it's slightly different, but he always has that distinctive coffee smell… and I remember his voice!" Annie quickly added.

"I think I woke him up… He sure does sleep a lot… Or at least I think he's sleeping?" Ariana mused, scratching her chin in thought. Annie frowned for a brief second before her smile returned.

"That's too bad; his grades won't last if that keeps up… Is there any chance you know which way he was going?" Annie asked. Ariana opened her mouth to speak, but Annie spoke up before her, "Your phone," and just then her cellphone vibrated in her pocket. Annie stilled smiled, and tapped her cane against the ground, "Superhuman hearing! Useful… That's probably important."

Ariana took it out of her pocket, no fear of it being taken since school was over for the day. It certainly was important.

"Yeah… Sorry Annie, but I've got to go."

Her blind friend nodded, "No problem. Later, Ariana."

"Later!" And with that the brunette jogged away. Annie's head tilted down, and she tapped her cane against the floor twice.

"Follow the coffee trail…" She tapped her cane against the floor as she walked.

Ariana sat a foot or two from the edge of a building, a tall one at that. She didn't want the people to see her and be alarmed, though in times like these… Would they have been? She brought out her cellphone and called the last number to call her, but she hadn't been able to answer before.

She patiently waited, or at least she tried to be patient, finally there was that distinct click, and a male voice came from receiving end, "The Soldier, Civilian, the Martyr, the Victim…"

"The Prophet, the Liar, the Honest," She replied, "The Leader, the Pariah, the Victor, the Messiah. We all have our roles."

"Good, it's you." He replied, his tone noticeably lighter than before, but still serious, "Having to worry about someone hacking a secure line… I swear…" The man sighed, and Ariana smiled sadly, "Well, I assume you already know what we're going to be discussing?"

"It's nice to hear from you too, Chief Briar," Ariana said, going off topic for a moment, "I'm glad that you learned that song so well."

"It says volumes in a few lyrics… It's true in a way," He replied, "There's no avoiding the subject, Ariana, you know that…"

"I do… Johnny Rancid and the crew he is bringing with them… Has there been any word from other precincts?" She asked him

"There has… The have been three incidents in three cities as they make their way towards Bay Bridge… and Jump City," Chief Briar told her. She could hear the shuffling of papers, "It's a mess… I've been working with all of the top dogs I can in order to keep this out of the news."

"Why?" Ariana asked, "Shouldn't the people know about Rancid?"

"Sometimes blissful ignorance is safer than knowing what is to come. If the people knew about Rancid, and the trouble he has caused already then panic has the potential to spread like wildfire, and from panic comes riots and from riots… Well, those are never good…" He cleared his throat before continuing. "For now, we have two days, and I'd rather my officers deal with the crime running rampant now than deal with both that and scared rioters, who can't keep their wits about them," She heard him sigh again, and her smile turned in to a small frown, "The day before Rancid arrives I plan to make some news public, and issue a curfew, that should keep people safe if he manages to break past the officers I'll place on the bridge."

"And he will, won't he… You can feel it?"

The chief was silent. Ariana waited for his reply, but all she heard was his breathing, "Chief?"

"… Yes, I do foresee him getting through, and in to Jump City," He said. Ariana didn't like his tone… He almost sounded defeated. He was police chief; he couldn't afford to be this way…

"Reports from officers who were actually conscious to answer questions…" Ariana winced, "Say that Johnny led a mass of bikers, several of whom surrounded two military style transport vehicles. Big ones…" Chief Briar added gravely, "He's got something big up his sleeves; Hex, two somethings, and I don't like that one bit."

Ariana shook her head, though he couldn't see her. She leaned back the palm of her free hand, and looked up at the clear sky, "Neither do I."

"Johnny's gang spread out across the city to cause mayhem, destroying street lights, cars… There were casualties unfortunately…" He quickly changed the subject, "Johnny's crew spread across the city, and with no clear point of exit to focus on, the police force was spread too far, and too thin to really do anything about… He did this all three cities, and even when they broke down Johnny's plan, there was still nothing they could do…"

"Is there any chance he could arrive before he said he would…? He might try to do that, and then we could be in the same boat. The Jump City police force can't put all their time toward stopping Johnny, while it would be good to get rid of him before he does any damage… That would leave everyone else, all of the people, defenseless against all the other criminals."

"I know… We don't have enough bodies to throw at Johnny, not with the number he has now, and especially if he manages to spread them across Jump City," Chief Briar stated, "But no, at the rate they're travelling, and from the reports I read of where they were at the time of the message, from that point it would be three days to reach Bay Bridge, going around the long way would take much longer."

"He could try for a surprise attack," Ariana said.

"Johnny's smart now, smart enough to command his biker gang through those cities, and have only a small handful be captured, but he isn't smart enough for a surprise attack, that much we know."

Ariana was the one to be silent this time, "Even with your help… Bringing Johnny and his crew down won't be easy, and depending on the kind of hardware he's got hidden in those trucks, that only adds to the difficulty and danger… I almost don't want you to be involved in this, Ariana."

Her eyes widened, and she quickly hopped on to her feet, "Hold on!" She quickly placed her head over her mouth, having shouted a bit loudly. She glanced at the edge of the building and quickly scurried to the center, "We have one thing those cities didn't!" She exclaimed more quietly this time, a smile on her face, "A choke point!"

"… Bay Bridge!" the Chief replied, "I thought of it, but… Still, the numbers may be the same, but the power might be against us, I don't want to risk my officer's lives. Don't forget about the trucks," He said sternly.

"Leave it to me, I'll be there with them and we'll see just what Johnny Rancid has up his sleeves!"

"Ariana, that's a school day, you know it. Your academy is very strict about this sort of thing."

"My mind is made up," and with that she hung up. She looked at the sky with fire in her eyes. She had just hung up on the chief of police, she was definitely going to be paying for that later…

Elsewhere...

"… She hung up on me," The chief said to himself, placing his office phone in its cradle, "That girl… When she sets her mind to something, she doesn't let it go," He smiled to himself and picked up the photo on his desk. He had his wife smiling from ear to ear with Ariana, and their two younger children hanging off of her.

"Jump City is in for a fight… Johnny Rancid better not have made plans for a victory party early."

Ariana whistled a jolly tune to herself as she walked along. She was given strange looks. People were scared, Johnny Rancid was coming, and yet here was this girl, happy as could be, so much so that she was whistling of all things. She didn't care about the looks. She had a brighter future to look forward to…

'We can beat him… Even if he does get past the bridge, there are other heroes out there, I can feel them…'

She stopped, her ears perked up and she looked around. Someone was crying. It sounded like a child… She saw that she was near the park, so she decided to investigate. A quick jog later, and she saw who it was: a young boy.

"Hey there…" She crouched in front of him, and he looked up at her with tear-filled eyes, "What's wrong?"

He sniffled, and he pointed up towards the sky, "My balloon… It went away – Waaaahhh!" The tears came back stronger than ever, "And I can't find my mommy!"

Ariana looked up towards the sky, and then looked down at him with a friendly smile, "… Well, I'm sure she'll be back any minute now, but… What's your favorite color?" she asked him. The boy gave her a confused look, but she urged him on, "C'mon! You must have a color you, really, really like, right?"

He nodded, "Blue."

"Okay, close your eyes and hold out your hand…" The boy slowly nodded and did just as she asked. Ariana pulled a loose string from her sweater and tied it around his wrist. She first glanced around, and seeing as there was no one around, she held it for a moment, she closed her eyes, and the string was slowly pulled taut, "Okay!"

The boy opened his eyes, and he followed the string upward, and what he saw brought a wide smile to his face, "Wow! My balloon!" A blue rubber balloon was at the end of the string, "How did you do that?"

Ariana winked, "It's a secret," She put her finger to her lips, "So don't tell anyone, promise?"

The boy nodded vigorously, "Promise!"

"Aaron!" A woman shouted, "Aaron, sweety, I found you!" A woman ran up to them and embraced the boy, and he through his arms around her in turn.

"Mommy!"

"I thought I told you not to wander off like that, you had me worried sick!" She pulled away for a moment to look him sternly in the eyes, but seeing the tear streaks on his cheeks, she couldn't stay upset forever, not after she had found her son, 'Oh, I'm just glad you're all right?"

"I'm fine, mommy," He said, "This nice girl found me, an -" The boy turned around, but there was no one there, "Huh?"

"Aaron? What nice girl?" Now the mother was worried again.

"She was here… I turned around and…" He titled his head in confusion, "She's gone."

Ending Author's Notes…

Two Days. That's how long until Rancid arrives…

I apologize again for how long this took me to update, and I hope you all are still with me. Without much to say, until next time everyone.