Sorry for the delay! I got swept up with mathematical stress. To make up for it a little bit, this excerpt is a bit longer than the first chapter. Please enjoy!
'C'mon, Danny. How can you get out of this?' Danny thought, shifting in discomfort as he searched for an excuse. He was saved from an explanation, though, when Mr. Lancer called the students to attention.
"Class," the overweight teacher said loudly, "I have a few announcements to make. Firstly, I would like to congratulate those of you who attended the Honors Convocation last week. Here's hoping you keep it up for the rest of your high school career."
Polite applause bubbled from the back of the room, where most of the nerds and geeks sat. The majority of the A-Listers and their ilk just scoffed or ignored the teacher altogether.
"Second, and more importantly, there has been a change in the esper education laws in the state of Illinois, as I'm sure some of you are already aware."
Now this caught everyone's attention, even that of the non-espers... Well, given the type of school Casper was, the normals and extremely weak espers formed the vast majority of the population. Even so, everyone's attention was now on Mr. Lancer.
The man cleared his throat, "From today onwards it is required that all espers above a level two on the power scale must wear activated power suppressors at all times when on school property. Failure to comply will mean one day of suspension on the first offense, a week on the second offense, and expulsion on the third. To ensure that all students are following this rule, we are to perform an individual ESP scan on each student. This will take place tomorrow morning and should be finished by the end of the day."
At this last point, most of the class was in uproar. Though many of the publicly known espers were the losers who didn't care for reputation, most of the other students and even a few A-listers either secretly had powers or were friends with someone who did.
"This is an invasion of privacy!"
"Espers have rights too!"
"Do you want to get people killed!?"
Similar outbursts were echoed by the majority of the class. Danny, however, stayed silent in his seat at the very back of the class. Sam and Tucker were both too involved in the chaos to notice, but his eyes were glowing an angry green that destroyed his calm expression.
"Quiet!" Mr. Lancer shouted above the noise, and instantly the teenagers silenced themselves to hear what he had to say. It may have been funny under different circumstances, but no one was laughing.
"Yes, I understand where you are all coming from, but please remember that this is the law. There is nothing I or anyone here can do about it. If it makes you feel any better, though, think about it. It is incredibly unlikely that an esper stronger than a level two will have been able to stay hidden for this long. If they have, then their powers are probably easily controlled or even beneficial. The reveal will most likely only help them." Mr. Lancer paused, looking each irate student in the eye before continuing.
"Additionally, not only is it virtually impossible for our school to have a level five or higher in attendance, statistically, but the identities of espers found will not be revealed. It is still up to you, though a log of the number of individuals found at each power level will be released."
Valerie Grey raised her hand, then spoke without waiting to be called on, "Hey, but what about those suppressors? It'll make it obvious who is and isn't an esper higher than level two! How is that supposed to be fair?"
To everyone's surprise, Mr. Lancer was not the one to answer, "Actually, I can take care of that."
The attention of the entire class was drawn to the back of the room. Even Tucker and Sam were undeniably shocked to see Danny standing there, eyes still blazing neon green from where they sat in an uncharacteristically serious visage. The boy stood with his back straight, arms crossed to give him a look of utter defiance.
"First let me say that I don't agree with this way of doing things at all, but if that's what we gotta do then all we can do is obey the law and suppress people's abilities." Danny stated as he made his way to stand beside his homeroom teacher, who was as surprised as everyone else. The boy turned to face the class again before he continued, "There is a way to follow the law without being forced to reveal yourselves, though. The answer lies in these." The boy held up a hand, pointing to one of his silver bracelets with the other.
Dash Baxter guffawed, drawing gazes away from Danny. He smirked, "What does your stupid girly jewelry have to do with anything, Fenturd?"
To further the class' state of astoundment, Danny smirked right back at the bully, "Everything. See, this 'stupid girly jewelry,' as you so eloquently described it, is really an invention I made. Well, sorta. They're a modified version of my parents' anti-esper handcuffs."
Murmurs began to rise in the small crowd, most people either wondering why he would wear such a thing or growing angry at the idea of anti-esper equipment. Danny ignored them completely, and sure enough they were silenced when he spoke again.
"The originals were basically just tasers in the form of powerfully magnetic cuffs. They were simple, yeah, but they were also powerful, cruel, and effective. They also caused the captive extreme pain when activated, and the esper often ended up unconscious." Danny paused for effect, taking in the horrified faces of his peers. He then removed one cuff and held it up as he let his eyes fade back to blue, "I turned it into something better. The only thing that's really left of the original is the casing and some of the basic internal mechanisms. I created a microdevice that will read the power levels of its wearer and sync with their energy signature, meaning only they can use it properly. It then draws on the esper's energy and stores it, getting rid of the excess when it needs to. In the end, it takes the majority of the user's powers away without hurting them at all, and once the core of the microdevice is full you can just hit 'refresh' on the inner border here-" he pointed out the tiny button, "-to empty it while it's not being worn. It's powered by the energy it takes in from the user, so you don't need to worry about running out of charge or anything.
"What I think is the best part of all this is that while it functions as an almost perfect power limiter for anyone below a level seven, it doubles as an accessory. To prove my point with what Dash said before, none of you even realized this was anything other than a normal silver bracelet. So even though some of you might end up wearing them out of necessity, anyone who wants to can use them as regular jewelry, and I'm pretty sure I can make a watch version for guys too. If enough non-espers start wearing them every day, no one will be able to tell who is actually an esper."
The class openly stared at Danny, who was still standing confidently with a serious expression. Then, suddenly, he relaxed and grinned in his usual lopsided fashion.
"Besides, I'll only charge $10 each because I need some cash to make them, and they're free if you're really an esper. If you have any special requests with how you want yours, just ask and I'll see what I can do."
That snapped everyone out of their daze, and instantly several people began to bombard the boy with questions.
"Since when were you smart enough to do something like this!?"
"Do they come in different colors?"
"Why are you wearing them anyway, if you're so weak?"
"Can I have a pair?"
Mr. Lancer stepped in, standing slightly in front of Danny, who let out a quiet sigh of relief. He wasn't used to these kind of interrogations.
"Alright, alright, settle down. We only have a few short moments before it's time to go to your first period classes. I'm sure that whatever questions you have can be asked after school." The teacher reasoned.
Before anyone else could complain, Danny spoke up again, "I know that most of you don't have my contact info, so that won't work. Honestly I'm glad some of you don't..." He shook his head to get back on track, "Anyway, I'm pretty sure detention is being held in here today, so how about we meet here after dismissal?" Danny looked to Mr. Lancer for approval of his plan.
The man nodded, "That's fine with me. I would like to know more about this as well, so I appreciate the fact that you chose my room."
Danny smiled slightly, "It's no problem. Oh, and guys," He turned his attention to the other students, "Feel free to spread the word. I don't want to need to say that again in all of my classes."
With that, the blue-eyed boy briskly walked to his desk and grabbed his belongings, clipping the limiter back onto his wrist just as the bell rang. Sam and Tucker joined him as he made for their first class, World History with Mr. Ferrara. The two were shooting him odd glances, until he smiled and spoke smugly.
"See, I can do things right when I want to."
Sam sputtered, knowing the comment was directed at her. Sure, she joked about his apparent lack of capabilities, but it was just a joke! She found her voice, "How were we supposed to know you even knew what any of your parents' inventions do, let alone how to make your own?"
Danny shrugged, "I dunno, that was meant as a joke anyways. It's not like I wanted to broadcast it. It became necessary, though, when this law was passed." His eyes flashed green briefly, startling his friends slightly. His voice was low, "Damn them, thinking they can just reveal hiding espers against their will! This should show them..."
Tucker blinked away his surprise and spoke, "Hey, dude, calm down. Your plan is awesome, using a smokescreen. Oh, hey! Can I take a look at those limiters and a pair of your parents' cuffs? I wanna check those babies out!"
Danny chuckled, relaxing again, "sure thing, Tuck. I have some of the cuffs on me, but you'll need to wait until I make a second set of limiters. And remember not to let anyone with powers use them on the cuffs, since it will hurt. A lot. Agony."
Tucker gulped, "No powers. Gotcha."
But Sam cut in again, asking the important questions, "But why do you have anti-esper handcuffs with you? Even better, why are you wearing limiters? There's no reason for it!"
Danny elected to ignore the second question as they walked into history class. He did answer the first, though not with a full truth, "I keep the cuffs with me in case a rogue esper shows up and no one else has the equipment to deal with it. I might not be the one to fight, but not everyone who can is as prepared as Phantom."
Sam accepted the answer but gestured to the thin bands of silver around his own wrists as they took their seats. Danny sighed. It looked like he wouldn't be allowed to get away with anything today.
"I wear limiters for pretty much the same reason. If a friendly or neutrally aligned esper is having trouble with their abilities, I can just lend them the limiters until we can find a better solution. Just because it's not synced to them doesn't mean they're completely ineffective. Besides, these aren't even on. If I were to turn them on while I'm wearing them, they would have almost no effect."
"Because of your power levels?" Tucker inquired.
"Yup." Danny nodded. He was fine with letting them assume he meant his levels were too low, instead of the fact that they were so high that he would still be at least a level six with them on.
Suddenly, a complication he hadn't thought of before presented itself. There was going to be an individual scanning tomorrow. Everyone knew he had limiters, so he probably wouldn't be allowed to use them. Even if he was, the scan would reveal him as being above a level five, which was, as Mr. Lancer had put it, a statistical impossibility.
And Danny wasn't a technopath of any kind, as far as he knew. He couldn't fool the machinery.
But, he remembered, Tucker was. Though it would still mean revealing himself to at least one person, it was better than doing so to everyone. After all, he didn't doubt that his parents would be notified. Danny didn't particularly like the idea of dying at the hands of his mother and father.
"Hey, Tuck," he whispered, getting the other boy's attention. Tucker raised an eyebrow in question until Danny continued, "You and I need to have a very serious talk today. Either before dismissal or after that meeting would be great."
Tucker nodded, "Sure. How about during lunch? Sam has that vegan protest thing so she won't be there today."
Danny smiled at his friend, "That should be fine, tha-"
"Daniel, and uh, what's your first name Mr. Foley?" Mr. Pette called out. The man had a ton of life experience, but that didn't mean he was good with names. In fact, that might be why he wasn't, now that Danny thought about it.
"Tucker, sir."
"Well then, Tucker, do you and Daniel have something to share with the class?"
Danny shook his head, "No, sir. Sorry about that, I was just asking Tucker if we could talk about something later. Actually, it was about that new esper education law. We were planning to research and see if people are returning to old laws or if this is completely new." The lie worked like a charm. The elderly teacher's face brightened, and he straightened slightly.
"Oh? In that case, I can give you a hand. Actually, there was a similar but less reasonable law in effect until 67 years ago, making it so no esper of any level could even attend school. Of course, they didn't have any reliable scanning equipment back then, so it became something of a witch hunt. Nowhere near as violent as Salem, naturally, but same principle."
Danny slipped out his notebook and jotted things down as Mr. Ferrara enthusiastically ranted. Hey, if he was going to be given this kind of information, he might as well know it later.
Okay, I know Danny is sort of OOC here, but I think that the reasoning helps a bit.
Word Count: 2466
Please tell me what you think so far, and feel free to send me your opinions on what will happen next! Other than that, thanks for reading and have a nice day/evening!