"What, you don't mind, do you?" Black Hat asked with that familiar grin that promised bad intentions. It was a wonder no one else seemed to see it.
"N-no, no I don't mind."
"Really? You seem nervoso."
"Don't I always?"
The dark-skinned man chuckled lightly in agreement. It was surprising how someone with such a raspy voice could sound so at ease.
"It's just," Flug said, trying to prolong their walk to the auditorium where his club's presentations would be taking place. It seemed like it was much shorter than it should've been. Were his steps larger? Was one of them speed-walking? "It's j-j-ju-j-just that I want this to g-g-go w-well."
"I for one have the...damn, what's the word in Spanish? Whatever, I have the utmost confidence in your work, Flug."
"Ha, th-thanks."
"Well of course! I wouldn't have anyone but the most capable scientist I could find working under me." He said with a rather rough pat on Flug's shoulder.
As oddly reassuring as Black Hat was trying to be, while greatly appreciated, it wasn't all that helpful. It wasn't that he had a problem with Black Hat coming and watching, it was just that it was one more set of eyes on him. Well, one more eye at least. Flug still couldn't tell if Black Hat wore that monocle as a fashion statement or because he was actually missing an eye or something. If anything, his presence just put more pressure on Flug. He knew the ElecTrap worked, he could attest to it personally, intellectually he knew the same was true for the Stun Gun (It was a unoriginal name but it was the best he could come up with at the last minute), probably. He still wished he could've tested it out on a real living person.
But he wouldn't be using himself again. Not alone at least.
Flug did not like being built up. It just made his potential failure all the more disappointing and nerve-wracking. Like he was letting down the people he cared about. The people who put so much faith in him, who believed in him, who would fund his insane experiments in the interest of bringing about world conquest.
Or, you know, literally anyone else.
Like his fellow club members. He didn't want to look bad in front of them. Or make them look bad because of how bad he screwed up. Or make the Universidad look bad because he was horribly incompetent. Or-
"Well, here we are." Black Hat said, jolting Flug out of his thoughts. He hoped Black Hat hadn't been talking that entire time. He hadn't caught a word of it. For a moment the two men stopped there in front of the large reinforced steel doors.
"Mmmmmhmmmm." Flug mumbled. Oh God he felt sick. Like his stomach was doing somersaults inside a gyroscope. He wondered if he could just leave now. Said he caught the stomach flu or something.
Black Hat slung an arm around him, bringing himself close to Flug's face. Not so close that it couldn't be passed of as a casual friendly gesture, but Flug questioned whether that was all it was. Black Hat had a tendency to be oddly...touchy with him on occasion.
Black Hat was far too close for comfort. His mouth was also FAR TOO CLOSE to the scabs on Flug's collar. To the bite marks that Black Hat himself had left. The thought of it made Flug shiver, like fiery needles going down his spine. Black Hat's breath ghosted along the scabs like he wanted to open them up again.
Ok seriously, they could not do this out in the open like this!
"Flug?"
"Mmm?" Flug squeaked between lips frozen shut.
"Go in there and show me what that soul of yours is worth."
Now that, that managed to calm Flug down a little. Instead of the trite and overused cliches of "Do your best! I believe in you! You can do this!" Black Hat, in his typical straight-forward manner, said simply "Go do it." It made Flug have to focus more on himself than on everyone else around him.
Well, he couldn't very well disobey his "lord and master" now could he?
As Black Hat removed his arm, Flug nodded briskly, opened the double doors, and stepped inside. His boss shadowing him closely.
It seemed like someone else was just finishing up their own demonstration. That was fine, it gave Flug the opportunity to mentally prepare himself for what was to come. It also meant that no one was paying him or Black Hat any attention and they were able to get his inventions from his locker and spectate from the back rows unseen. Flug liked the lack of notice, it gave him much more freedom he felt. He hated having everyone's eyes on him. He hated that feeling of judgement that came from being so noticed. This was going to be horrible.
Luis was just getting the last of his volunteers. His invention was a set of cloaked booby traps. From what Flug could remember, they seamlessly embedded themselves into whatever surface they were placed on, distorted the light so as to appear invisible, and then captured anything that got within a certain proximity to them with the use of their mechanical bindings.
Flug couldn't remember how many Luis had been able to make over the past couple of weeks, but there were three Gifted students currently captured. Two on the floor, and one guy on the adjacent wall. Flug couldn't remember his name but he had some weird sticky-sweat ability. It struck Flug as a bit disgusting but hey, he couldn't say it didn't have his uses.
He had probably tried to climb the walls using his Gift to evade Luis's contraptions. Luis had apparently planned for it. Flug had to wonder though how well he had to know the other guy in order to predict where exactly on the wall he would go. And how far ahead of time had he planted his little mines. He couldn't have done it at any time his subject could've witnessed it, unless they could change position while cloaked.
Flug made a mental note to design something similar, but with barbed wire tendrils instead. Or maybe something similar to piano wire. Something tight and piercing, but not lethal if used correctly. Actually, he might've been muttering to himself a bit, since Black Hat seemed to turn his gaze to Flug instead of the live demo going on in front of them.
Patricia, the cheetah hybrid, was one of Luis's volunteers. She used her impressive speed and reflexes to avoid his capture. She had a few close calls, but ultimately she made it through his mechanical minefield unscathed and managed to tag him, signalling that she was home free.
Along with her was a rabbit hybrid which Flug didn't know very well, Tomas the telekinetic, Stephanie; a girl who's Gift just so happened to be light manipulation, perhaps she could see his traps, Byron; who much like Tomas would just destroy the machine before it could fully entrap him, and few other people who Flug didn't get to see as they'd passed Luis before Flug and Black Hat had arrived. Natalia wasn't among them.
Said speedster was off to the side with the rest of the volunteers; Monica, Eric, Jason, Catarina, Ruby, Rodrigo, and Bianca. It seemed like someone was missing but Flug couldn't really remember who else there was. He was too focused on how it would soon be his turn to present. How was he going to do this? How did he want this structured?
Who was that guy standing with the other professors?
Flug recognized Sr. Arellano, Sr. Guzman, Sra. Calderon, Sr. Trujillo, and Sr. Rios. Who was that other guy? Was he that American professor Flug had heard about?
He had dark hair, so dark it was nearly purple, and the absolute palest skin Flug had ever seen. It was like he was a vampire! Hey, he supposedly had a Gift, maybe his Gift was vampirism. It was far from the most outlandish thing Flug could think of. Although that would raise the question of how he was getting around during the daytime like this. Would he have to carry around an umbrella to protect himself from the sun? Did he need to have a cloak with him at all times? Would a standard hooded sweatshirt work fine?
The man himself was dressed semi-formally, in black slacks and a white button-down shirt that was only just a shade or two darker than his own skin with no tie. He also seemed pretty young. Like, maybe only into his late twenties or early thirties young.
Oh God he caught him staring. He was looking right at him. And giving him a pretty weird look. Was it the scars? Could he even see them from this distance? Just act natural. Natural damn it! What was natural for Flug to do!?
Flug panicked (pretty natural) and averted his gaze, looking back to Luis who was complaining about how Tomas and Byron had destroyed 4 of his mines between them. It did seem kind of like cheating, but then again if the subjects just allowed themselves to be captured there'd be no challenge in it now would there? Victory wasn't as sweet if your opponent held back on you.
He still felt eyes on him however, and flitted his gaze back to the strange pale man to see that he was still looking at him. And giving him a very confused squinty-eyed look.
Oh God what was he looking at?
"Hey," he heard Black Hat say from his right. Black Hat was giving him odd looks too. Oh Jesus what was up today he was on edge enough as it was! "What is it? You had calmed down before."
"Um, n-n-nothing." Flug said. "I just thought that guy was staring at me." He pointed towards the pale man.
Black Hat tilted his head a bit, kind of like a confused dog would. "Wow he is pale. He looks almost sick."
Flug said with a shaky chuckle. "Is he still looking over here?" He didn't dare to turn back and see for himself.
"He is."
"Is he actually looking at me? Or did I imagine it?"
Hey, maybe he was just jittery and just imagined that he was looking at him. Maybe he was looking at someone else who just happened to be in this area. Yeah, why would he be looking at him? Had he never seen a guy with scars before?
Flug was used to getting the odd stare from strangers but this just felt so much more intense. Maybe it was just in his head.
"No, he's definitely looking right here at us." Flug noticed that Black Hat wasn't looking at him while he spoke. He had locked eyes with that mysterious pale weirdo. And he wasn't giving him any friendly looks. "Who is he?" Black Hat asked, with more contempt in his voice than Flug had been expecting. It threw him off, like Black Hat meant to say How dare someone look at you.
"I don't k-kn-know. I heard that we were gonna have a visitor from an American University, m-m-m-maybe that's h-him? I don't know his na-a-ame."
"Hmmph," Black Hat frowned deeper.
The doors swung open, and Flug was at the perfect angle to see the person he'd forgotten about strolling in. As usually, he came in like he was strutting down a runway in the most casual way possible.
Aurelio Cruz.
How had he forgotten that he would be here? He'd been the bane of his self-control for days!
Oh, and some other guy who was also volunteering as well walked in with him. But who cared because Aurelio walked in and that meant that Flug's anxiety on a scale of 1-10 was cranked up to a 28 and yeah he should just go. He was feeling sick and should go home and rest, they could just go on without him.
"Rocinante Flugslys." Sra. Calderon called.
Crap, he missed his window of opportunity. No turning back now. Well technically he could but-
"Break a leg," Black Hat said as Flug numbly crossed over him to get to the front. In front of all these...people. All watching him. Judging him.
You know, maybe it wasn't too late to just collapse on the floor and pretend to pass out. Or fake a seizure. He could probably pull that off.
"Ok, who's going to volunteer for Rocinante's demonstration?" Sr. Trujillo asked.
Natalia and Patricia raised their hands. Flug had asked them in advance if they'd participate for his turn and they'd agreed. Byron, Monica, and Eric also raised their hands, cool. That was fine. Explosions, anti-gravity, and acid spit. If he was fast he could maybe catch one or two of them off guard.
And then...Aurelio raised his hand. With that award-winning smile that could be in a toothpaste commercial. What toothpaste did he use, were those even real teeth?! Why? Just why? Why could he not relax today?
That rabbit hybrid girl raised her hand as well. Apparently her name was Perla. So, 7 people. That was good enough.
Sra. Calderon gave the go ahead for Flug to start, so, taking a deep breathe and ignoring the piercing gaze of the pale man on the sidelines, Flug started explaining his inventions. The Stun Gun was in his right hand while the ElecTrap was clutched in his left along with it's remote. The ElecTrap wasn't primed yet and the Stun Gun was ready to go, so he started with that first
"T-This my my Stun Gun," he said weakly, mumbling "I know it's a d-dumb name but I couldn't think of anything else...um, It fi-fires specialized electrical pu-pulses to p-p-p-paral-paralyze it's target b-b-by-"
He heard someone laugh. He swore he heard someone laugh. Oh no oh God keep it together it's ok it's fine. It doesn't matter they don't matter don't even give it any attention. It's not like back in highschool, he was an adult now and he did not care if someone laughed at him or anything. He wasn't going to let himself be silenced now like he had then.
You can do this just get on with it.
Flug didn't dare look out into the crowd to see who it was, but out of his peripheral vision he could've sworn he saw a few people shooting dirty looks into the stands. Aurelio being one of them. Maybe. He could've just been imagining it. Yeah that was probably it.
"W-whatever, just...just come at me, you'll see w-wha-what it does." Flug said, wanting to get this over with as quickly as possible. He cocked the Stun Gun and mentally prepared himself for what he was about to do.
The professors shrugged and gave the all clear, no one not participating was in the line of fire. On the count of tres the seven of his subjects would book it towards him and he had a gun and a less lethal mine to stop himself from being tagged. Like a game of red light-green light with more of his self-esteem on the line than usual.
He had to be quick about this. If he could time it just right then he could get most if not everyone in just a few seconds. If not, then he'd still get a few of his subjects and he supposed he could live with that. It wouldn't be all he was capable of, because he blew his chance like the failure he was, but it would be something.
Uno…
Flug took a deep breath and planted his feet squarely on the ground. Ok, ok, he could do this. Nothing to it. He could do this. What was that thing that guy in that one anime said?
Don't believe in yourself, believe in the me that believes in you! Or something along those lines.
It was cheesy but damn it was reassuring when it came out of an animated persons mouth. It might've helped that the man spent most of his (admittedly short) screentime shirtless and fought off alien robots with a katana but that was beside the point.
Dos…
Ok ok ok ok ok, right when Sra. Calderon gets to tres he was going for it. If it worked, it worked. If not then fuck it he was just going to get on with it like nothing happened. Maybe he'd get lucky and someone else would trigger the ElecTrap.
But by God he needed to be fast if he wanted this to work. The whole thing would be over in a matter of seconds and he needed to be really freaking precise to get it right because he would not get a second chance to pull it off.
Flug readied his left arm and his got ready to push the button. One shot, a matter of milliseconds, he was as ready as he would ever be, just get on with it.
Tres!
As expected, Natalia immediately gunned down in a straight line towards him. She probably figured that she was so fast she'd just be a blur of motion and that he wouldn't be able to aim his Stun Gun and get a shot at her in time.
Which was true, neither his mind nor body moved fast enough to get a lock on her in such a short amount of time and shoot her before she could dodge. He knew this. Which was why he didn't even bother aiming at her. As soon as the first syllable had been spoken Flug had tossed the ElecTrap in front of him and pushed the button to activate it. Hopefully right into her path, and hopefully she wouldn't really notice what it was or think about what it did.
As luck would have it, one of those things ended up coming true. Natalia did end up running straight into it. Flug was right in predicting that she would go straight for him without even bothering to pretend to dodge his long-ranged attack. But she did notice that he'd placed something there. And guessed that it was mostly likely something to trap her.
Which was fortunate, for Flug at least, because he knew her pattern. She ran headfirst into every situation, not liking to go around obstacles whether they were physical or intangible. For someone whose mind was as fast as her feet, it had to be in order to keep up with her physical self, she didn't really think things through.
So when she noticed something new in her path, rather than adjust her course or step over it, she opted to slow down and see what it was.
Which is hard to do when going at superspeed in sneakers on a polished wood floor.
She simply could not lose enough momentum to avoid the object in front of her. Instead she landed right into it. Her lowered speed also allowed Flug to gauge her path more accurately and just narrowly step out of her way.
Natalia found the strange disk wrapping itself around her with ease and once it began its shocks she immediately fell backwards and skidded right past Flug. The professors and subjects and spectators looked on with surprise. Even Patricia and Perla had frozen mid-step in their tracks.
"That was m-my ElecTrap." Flug said, it a louder and slightly more confident voice than before. "It works exactly like the Stun Gun, but is a little more, um, personal, I guess. Sorry Natalia."
Before anyone could get their bearings back, Flug had already begun shooting off at Byron and Eric respectively. He came to the conclusion that someone who could destroy his ammo was a higher priority target than someone who could dodge it. Eric was caught off guard, he was hit and down for the count before he could even think to unleash his acidic saliva at the compacted bonds coming towards him.
Byron however was a bit quicker, and the second the quote unquote "bullet" made contact with him he quickly blasted it before he was fully immobilized. The resulting debris left quite the smoke cloud, as is usual for explosions, making the other four subjects all the more caught off guard and vulnerable.
Except Patricia and Perla, the hybrids who had the sense to get out of the way when Flug started his onslaught. They escaped the blast radius and avoided the following smoke and debris with their superior speed and agility. Leaving Monica and Aurelio to wade their way out of the dust cloud and fend for themselves.
Monica was an easy target, she was closest to Byron and got caught in the brunt of his explosion. The second Flug saw that coughing face and racking body make its way out into the open he hit her dead on in the chest and she was on the ground still as a statue.
But Flug couldn't focus on Aurelio just yet. As far as Gifts go, so long as Aurelio wasn't within arms reach he wasn't Flug's top priority. There were still Patricia and Perla to deal with, who nimbly avoided his barrage of electronically charged contraptions and were making their way closer and closer darting across the room nimbly with their naturally heightened agility and reflexes.
He realized his problem; he was shooting at where they were, not where they were going to be. And his aim kept dipping to their feet, so as to trip them, even though that little added bonus of entertainment wasn't particularly necessary for their capture. He needed to restructure his attack pattern.
He should've been aiming at their torsos. He knew that. Whenever you shoot at someone, you aim at the torso. It was the largest area on the body, the biggest target which held all vital organs and was not easy to protect without some kind of armor. Armor their feline and rodent halves did not grant them. Tracking them with a precision he'd thought he'd lost along with majority of his sight, he adjusted his aim and fired three rapid shots in succession. First getting Perla, then Patricia as she passed by.
He smiled, it had been a long time since he'd shot anything. Even longer since he'd actually hit his target. Flug was filled with an almost forgotten sense of satisfaction, one that these days he associated more with a completed contraption. But it was so much more than that. It wasn't just merely finishing his vision and bringing it into the world, it was actually holding it in his hands and putting it into practice. Truly accomplishing what he set out to do when he made the thing. It wasn't the same without his own two hands behind the wheel-
-The wheel of the plane the steering wheel of the plane where was it he couldn't feel it anymore it had been right there in his hands he'd only taken his eyes off for a second to look at Julio and when he looked back-
-Flug stumbled a bit, oh wow that was intense. He shook his head to try and re-focus himself. He ran his free hand through his hair, pushing it back from his forehead. He felt a few beads of sweat and wondered where that came from. That had felt so real. Like he had really gone back there for a second.
With five down and two to do, Flug forced himself out of whatever that was and back to the present. He could see Byron and-
And Byron was charging at him. Oh jeez that caught Flug off guard! Byron was a big guy, for a second Flug though he might be back in high school and the linebacker was gunning for him again. So he did what he couldn't do then and shot him.
He hit his target right in the pecs!
But he still kept coming.
Wait, what? He hit him, he could clearly see that he hit him. And it didn't explode, so it wasn't like a repeat of when he got him the first time. Bryon's face contorted a bit so it couldn't have been a dud. He was still feeling it and seemed to be in a bit of pain.
Flug fired again.
And again.
Ok any more and Byron's life might be in danger and that wouldn't look good for Flug so he was kind of at a loss here. It wasn't working. Why was it not working? Why had he not collapsed like everyone else? Why was he still moving and coming straight towards him? What could Flug do to rectify this?
He was honestly afraid of firing the Stun Gun at Byron again. Hell, one shot was enough electricity jolting through a persons synapses as it was! Flug didn't want to risk potentially stopping his heart or something just for this. Save that for later. Wait what was he thinking this was no time for such thoughts!
Byron was closing in however and Flug doubted he'd be able to sidestep him like he had Natalia. He resolved that he would shoot him one last time, risks be damned because he had to try something, but as soon as he had steadied his hand and aimed, Byron fell to the floor and began twitching slightly. Not a particularly good sign, hopefully Flug could wrap this up and deactivate his machine before any lasting damage could be traced back to him.
Flug was so focused on Byron however that he failed to notice the man behind him. The man who maneuvered around Byron's fallen form with the agility of a cat and laid a large well-defined hand on Flug's bare arm before he could even process his presence.
Flug looked up into his green eyes with those little specks of blue he'd seen up close and personal only once or twice before with silent surprise. His mouth may have been agape, but words were slightly out of reach for the moment.
Six out of seven down, not bad. But why did he have to be the one who actually made it through?
Aurelio and Rocinante locked eyes for a moment, one grinning proudly and the other still frozen as if he'd accidentally shot himself with his own weapon, until Sra. Calderon blew the whistle signalling that the demonstration was finished. That seemed to snap Flug out of his trance and turn his head to the professors lined up on the sidelines.
Oh yeah, he should really deactivate the Stun Gun and ElecTrap now. Especially for poor Byron. Poor guy didn't even have a choice but to keep moving despite the immobilizing shocks. Flug quickly pushed the ElecTraps button and switched off the Stun Gun, freeing everyone from the two machines effects.
"Whoa dude!" Natalia said as she appeared next to him in a split second, handing him his machine back. "That was insane!"
"Um, th-thanks?"
"You didn't have to shoot me three times though," Byron chimed in, picking himself off the ground carefully.
"Oh, uh, sorry." Flug said awkwardly. "Sorry about that."
"Oh it's fine hermano." Aurelio said, removing his hand finally. "Byron can take it, can't you Byron?"
He faced Byron with a very underlyingly threatening tone clear in his voice. Byron made sure to back away, which no one could blame him for.
"Yeah, sure. It's cool man. Don't worry about it."
With that settled and everyone picking themselves up and dusting themselves off, Flug broke away from the group and went over to the professors to hear their evaluations.
"Good job, Rocinante." Sr. Trujillo said. "You did well."
"In the future remember to always keep an eye on your subjects." Sr. Rios said. "If you had done that, you'd have done perfectly."
Flug nodded his head, slightly embarrassed. He should've kept an eye on Aurelio. He knew he was here, he knew what he could do. It was a strategy Flug himself was very familiar with, and he knew Aurelio to be fully capable of having human shields/decoys and having done it in the past. How could he have let his guard down around him?
"You seemed a bit distracted, right before Aurelio used Byron as cover." Sra. Calderon said. "What happened?"
"I, uh, I'm not r-really sure myself. I just felt really dizzy all of a su-sudden."
Sr. Arellano chimed in. "You seemed very nervous as well, did you get enough sleep last night Rocinante?"
"Y-yeah," he lied. "I slept pretty well. I guess I w-was just nervous about p-p-p-presen-presenting."
"You did seem to calm down once you got into it." Sr. Guzman said.
"I d-don't know what changed." He said. "It was go-going fine and then I guess I just lost it for a second."
"That's okay." Said a the pale man, with a clear American accent in his spanish. It sounded a bit funny. "You did good, maybe just try and have a little more confidence in yourself."
The other professors nodded. As if his problems all came down to low self-esteem. Flug knew they meant well, and were only trying to help, but it was just a phrase that he'd heard time and time again and the words were basically meaningless to him now. He nodded his head again and acted like he appreciated the kind words.
"Thank you sir." He said politely.
"Oh, Rocinante, this is David Evermore." Sr. Arellano said gesturing to the stranger. "He's visiting from California."
Ah, so he was the American professor he'd heard about. He seemed nice enough. His spanish was fine. Flug shook his hand, he didn't feel cold like you would expect a vampire's to.
And he was giving him a strange look still.
Flug turned away so his right cheek was hidden. It was something he did a lot back when he was still adjusting to life with his new scarred up face. Hiding that part of him like it would just disappear from people's memories. As if "out of sight out of mind" would allow people to look him in the eyes again.
David Evermore looked slightly embarrassed, like he hadn't even realized he was being so obvious. "I'm sorry, it's just-"
"It's ok sir," Flug said, looking at him sideways. "After all these years I'm kind of used to it." He chuckled, trying to defuse the tension, but he still sounded dejected to himself. No one else seemed to be fooled either. Better just go away.
"Thank you all, I'll be sure to keep improving." Flug said as he turned and left. Whatever that guy's issue was, Flug really just wanted to forget him and go on with his day.
Flug looked into the crowd but didn't see Black Hat. You'd think a guy with the complexion of soot and wearing a top hat would stick out more, but Flug couldn't find him anywhere. He scanned the crowd awkwardly, wanting to just find his villainous associate and leave before someone else tried talking to him. Flug really just wanted to go home and relax-
"That was fun Rocinante." Said a voice accompanying a firm grip on his shoulder from behind.
Flug turned and faced Aurelio. Maybe Flug was just so emotionally overloaded at this point that he physically couldn't take anymore, but Aurelio's presence wasn't as intimidating as it usually was. That familiar thumping in his chest as his blood pressure increased didn't feel as intense. That pit in his stomach that the butterflies flew around didn't seem as heavy. There even felt to be less butterflies flying around, imagine that!
"Yeah, that was a great little stunt you pulled." He said flawlessly.
"Who, me?" Aurelio said with mock-innocence. "I only did what anyone else with my Gift would do. You think anyone in the real world would do anything less?"
"Not at all. If you didn't use everything available, it wouldn't be nearly as fun now w-would it?"
Flug walked off to the sidelines. It was so weird just talking to AURELIO FREAKING CRUZ so casually and publicly. He felt like he was on display or something. He swore he was trembling, though his voice was calm. Aurelio followed right behind, seemingly caught off guard that Flug didn't criticise or reprimand his methods.
"So...you don't have a problem with me using Byron like I did?" He asked cautiously. Like he, God among men, cared about Rocinante Flugslys's opinion of him.
"Not really." Flug said with a shrug. "Like when Byron and Tomas used th-their Gifts to avoid getting caught by Luis, all they were doing was using what they had, same as you." Flug leaned against the wall and looked directly at Aurelio.
"I think not using everything you have is the same as holding yourself back. And it's no fun winning if someone's holding back."
Where on earth was this coming from? These were Flug's real thoughts, but why was he telling them? Usually he was nowhere near this open. But he felt...at ease. Still on edge, because of who this was he was speaking to, but he felt a bit more calm in the words he spoke. Internally he was surprised at himself, but his words weren't forced. He didn't feel supernaturally compelled to speak or like he was saying anything wrong.
This was...okay.
Aurelio seemed to think so too, if the half-relieved half-confident smirk on his face was anything to go by. Like he was glad that someone seemed to legitimately agree with him that he could never be in the wrong no matter what underhanded things he did.
Flug was most definitely not going that far, but he found no reason to say so.
"You know what we should do?" Aurelio asked. (We?) "We should celebrate."
Calm was gone. "C-Celebrate?"
"Yes, celebrate! We should celebrate how well everyone has done! ¡Una fiesta! At my place!"
Party? At...at his place? Did Flug pass out and find himself in some crazy dream where he can talk to Aurelio Cruz like it's no big deal and Aurelio invites him to a party at his house? He thought he'd lost the ability to dream, on account of losing the ability to sleep. Was he hallucinating?
Flug tried very nonchalantly to pinch himself. It didn't even really hurt.
"A-are you inviting me to a p-p-party at your house?" Flug asked like what Aurelio just said could have been misinterpreted somehow.
"Of course Rocinante! You and everyone else in the club! Especially given how well you yourself have done today."
Ah, well, that made sense. Of course being invited wasn't something special or anything or Aurelio was thinking of him in particular or anything insane like that. Nope, just a totally normal party with a ton of other people. Yep.
"Unless, of course, you already have plans?" Aurelio motioned to Flug's neck.
Flug felt his face turn red. Oh yeah, Black Hat's little love marks.
WHICH WAS NOT WHAT THEY WERE! NOT AT ALL!
"Oh! Oh no no no I-I don't! I swear! I'm n-not even s-s-seeing anyone!" Flug insisted. "I-I'll be there! For sure!"
"Great!" Aurelio pulled out his cell phone. "Let's trade numbers so I can send you my address."
Flug shakily pulled his own phone out of his pocket, somehow managing to not drop either of the inventions he still held, and they traded phone numbers. This whole thing felt so unreal. Maybe Flug should pinch himself again.
"I'll see you tonight then, Rocinante." Aurelio said as he strutted away. Flug tried not to let his eyes linger too much on his form as he left him behind. He tried not to. He really tried. Really.
He didn't succeed.
Well, he now had Aurelio Cruz's phone number. And he had his. So if they wanted to, they could talk to each other. Pretty much whenever. They could talk. To each other. Whenever one of them wanted. To. Talk.
Was Flug sure he wasn't in some bizarre waking dream?
Well, he'd better go put his inventions back into their lockers. No sense just walking around with them.
In the locker room, Flug noticed a guy who looked like he just got the shit beaten out of him. Both his eyes were bruised and probably going to be swollen shut in a few hours, his lip was bloody and cut, and he was covered in bruises. As he locked eyes with Flug, the guy rushed over. Or as much as he could, he had a mean limp. It didn't look like anything was broken, besides maybe his nose. That still didn't stop Flug from trying to back away. He'd gotten beat up plenty of times by guys who needed to take out their anger on someone weaker than them.
"W-wait," the guy coughed up some blood. "I want, I want to a-apologize."
Huh?
"I'm, I'm s-sorry I laughed at you. At your stutter." The guy said. "I-I'm sorry, ok?"
"Uh, ok? Thank you?" What on earth was going on today?
"So, y-you forgive me, right? Right?" The guy asked desperately. "Right?!"
"Um, sure? I forgive you?"
The guy, apparently the one who'd laughed at him earlier, sighed. "Ok. Good." Then he left, limping his way out of the locker room.
What the fuck?
David Joseph Evermore, D.J. to his friends and family, had always felt as if he had drawn the short stick in life.
He was the youngest of seven children; His oldest brother Jack, the triplets Violet, Europa, and Kathleen (who they all called "Kitten"), the twins Silena and Samuel, and finally he himself.
The Evermore family was not only bountiful, it was "blessed". Gifts ran deep in their bloodline, and it was a rare thing indeed for a family member to not have some sort of ability. Both of D.J.'s parent's were Gifted, all of his siblings were Gifted, and he of course was Gifted as well.
He did not, however, have a flashy power that he could turn into a superhero identity. Not like Jack, who was a very well established hero up in Washington state.
No, D.J.'s Gift was something he dubbed "Soul Sighting".
For his entire life he had seen everyone, including himself, surrounded by a glowing aura. It had actually taken him a few years to understand that they weren't visible to anyone else. It had taken a few years more to understand what the different colored auras meant.
White was what everyone seemed to start out with, as babies and young children were always enveloped in white up to a point, and as they grew up the color would develop as their character did. Your average adult had either a red, blue, or green aura about them. Fitting, as those were the primary colors.
Red meant that person was highly emotional, blue meant that person was more logical in their actions, and green meant they were relaxed and laid back. Naturally, there were many shades of the three, and plentiful dashes of oranges, yellows, violets, and all other colors. It was just that overall, people kept to the three primary colors and their variants. For those curious, his was cyan; a mix of blue and green
The only people who didn't have an aura at all were those without souls, the dead. He had seen them fade away as people died and that was quite the sight indeed.
So imagine D.J.'s surprise to see a person without an aura walking and talking and generally being a living human being.
He was greatly confused. Everyone had an aura. Everyone.
How did this young man not have one?
And who was that next to him with the black aura?
While auras were generally glowing vibrant colors, it wasn't unthinkable for an aura to turn black. Instead of a bright and colorful reflection of the self, it was dark and showed little to no other pigment. Mere remnants of what the persons color might've been at one point. It reminded D.J. of a black hole, something that sucked up all the light rather than shine.
Which was appropriate when considering what it took to blacken ones aura.
As concerning as it was to have someone with such an aura here, D.J. was more concerned with the young man who didn't have any sort of aura to him at all. He was bare, neither bright or dark. D.J. had never seen anyone like that and he was both intrigued and worried.
What could it mean?
Should he tell someone? He didn't know what, if anything, they could actually do. Or what "should" be done. What would he tell his colleagues; Yes, Bruno, you see the problem is that the young man over there doesn't seem to have a soul. I'm not sure what that means or what we can do about it but I'm very concerned.
D.J. didn't want to make needless trouble for either the University staff or it's students. The kid had seemed like he had some social anxiety issues, maybe even body image problems given his thin frame and those scars. D.J. didn't want to add to the kids plate and make him feel like there was something actually wrong with him when there wasn't. He didn't seem dangerous, but D.J. didn't want to risk exacerbating cracks he couldn't see.
Perhaps he should stay in Mexico longer than he intended. And keep an eye on the guy with no color in his life.
Notes:
Yeah, we're fucking back baby. Took long enough, amiright? Trust me, what's coming up next will be WELL worth the wait. There's a college party, and if you remember ch.9 I think you have a pretty good idea of what to expect.
Translations:
nervoso = nervous (Italian)
