OT 2010-2015

Sapphire shook her head. “Sorry. I suppose that I have been spending too much time around Melissa and Monkeywrench, because I expected you to repeat yourself.”

That made Amy laugh. “Those two are rather predictable that way.”

Amy shifted the backpack that held all of the gear she’d brought with her for the arena. It was lighter than when she’d gone in since she’d used up so much of her ammunition, but as tired as she was, it felt heavier.

She looked ahead, thinking about how much further it was to Hawthorne. It had only been a few minutes since Amy and Sapphire had said goodbye to the others and started towards their cottage, so they had much further to go than she would have preferred at that moment.

“If only I was in my exemplar mode,” Amy muttered with a sigh.

Just then, Amy noticed something from the corner of her eye. She turned and looked, seeing that someone seemed to be following them from a distance, though she couldn’t tell who it was. They were wearing a hoodie that helped to hide their face.

Amy was immediately suspicious, but she also felt a growing curiosity about this person. Who was this person following them and why? She wanted answers, and the only way to get them was to ask.

“What’s going on?” Sapphire asked. “Where are you going?”

“I just need to find something out,” Amy said as she walked towards the suspicious person. However, that person abruptly turned and began walking towards the nearest entrance to the tunnels. “You’re not getting away from me that easily.”

Amy began walking faster, determined to catch up to her target. She wanted answers. She NEEDED answers, and she was going to get them.

“What’s wrong?” Sapphire demanded.

“Someone was following us,” Amy answered as she hurried down the steps into the tunnels. “And I’m going to find out why.”

Sapphire hesitated a moment before attempting to follow, only to suddenly trip and fall flat on her face. She let out a grunt of annoyance, realizing that there was something wrong with this…with the whole situation. There was something wrong with the way that Amy was acting, and there was also something off with the way she’d suddenly lost her balance. It was as if…

“As if I suddenly got heavier for a moment,” Sapphire hissed suspiciously. “Right when I was off balance…” She narrowed her eyes and looked around. “Gravmax.”

When Sapphire didn’t see anyone, she continued to follow after Amy, wondering if she might have been wrong about her suspicion. However, that doubt faded when she was halfway down the stairs and suddenly felt herself become far too heavy again, just as she was taking a step. Off balance from the sudden shift in gravity, she tumbled down the steps.

“Gravmax,” Sapphire called out as she quickly scrambled back to her feet.

Gravity was back to normal, and if she didn’t know better, she might have just thought it was coincidence, that she’d just lost her balance for a moment. However, as an exemplar, she didn’t lose her balance that easily, and certainly not twice in rapid succession. She’d felt Gravmax’s power before, and that was exactly what this was, though it seemed he was using it in short bursts rather than just slamming her with gravity like he normally would have.

Sapphire saw someone down the tunnel, and thought it could have been Gravmax, she couldn’t tell for sure. The figure disappeared around a corner before she had a chance to get a better look. Then Sapphire looked around and realized that there was one other missing person.

“Where is Amy?”

Bethany Farrow paused and looked back down the tunnel in the direction that she’d just come from. She wanted to make sure that Roulette was still following her.

“I don’t want to lose her,” Bethany muttered to herself, knowing that she also had to make sure that Roulette never actually caught her either. At least not until they were in place.

With that, Bethany stretched out her empathic powers, projecting a sense of nearly overwhelming curiosity at her target. It hadn’t taken much to make Roulette so curious that she ignored all common sense and followed Bethany into the tunnels without backup.

Between her empathic ability luring Roulette into the trap and Gravmax slowing down anyone who tried coming after them... Their plan was sure to work.

“Curiosity killed the cat.” Bethany said with a giggle. “Or at least, it will soon enough.”

Bethany smirked, thinking about how everyone in that school underestimated her, mockingly calling her Drama Queen as if she wasn’t capable of being subtle or using finesse. Well, she’d show them all, starting with that purple-haired pain in her rear.

Sapphire ran back the way she and Amy had just come, looking for any of their other friends. They’d all separated to head in different directions, but it hadn’t been very long.

To Sapphire’s relief, she saw that Melissa and Darqueheart were still making their way back to Whitman, and they were taking their time about it. If they’d gone any faster, she would have found them too late.

“Amy needs help,” Sapphire blurted out as soon as she reached her friends. “Amy went into the tunnels…and she was acting strangely.”

“Strangely, how?” Darqueheart asked, looking vaguely confused.

“She said that she saw someone following us,” Sapphire started to explain.

Melissa immediately demanded, “Was it the stalker club? They’re always following me, especially Geist…”

Sapphire gave her a flat look. “No, I do not believe this was the Cadet Corps. Gravmax stopped me when I tried to follow.”

“Gravmax?” Darqueheart repeated, her expression turning hard. “So, Exquisite and her people are messing with us again.”

“Probably,” Sapphire agreed. “I didn’t actually see Gravmax, but I recognized his power. He hit me with it when I tried following Amy into the tunnels.”

Darqueheart grimaced and suggested, “We should get everyone…”

However, Melissa cut in, “I don’t think we have the time for that.” She looked back the way Sapphire had come, then explained, “If she’s in trouble, then she might need help NOW.”

“Good point,” Darqueheart agreed, looking to Sapphire. “Then lead on.”

Amy hurried down the tunnel, trying to catch up with the mysterious figure. She had to know who that was. She had to know why they were following her. She had to know what was around that next corner.

Something was wrong. Amy knew that something was wrong, but all she could focus on was finding the answers to these questions.

Then she abruptly stopped, wanting to know what was down that hallway but holding herself back. It was hard, a lot harder than it should have been.

“This is like a devisor fugue,” she whispered in realization. It was like when she got so caught up in building a devise that she lost track of everything else. “This isn’t normal…”

Amy reached to the bracer on her forearm, the mode shifter devise. She didn’t like using it. It was dangerous to use since it could cause her to go into a burnout, but at the moment, it might be exactly what she needed.

“Please give me psychic mode,” Amy muttered as she activated the devise. If she could get her package deal psychic mode, then he might have the power she needed to fight this off. “Time to spin the wheel…”

She felt a surge of pain rush through her body as the devise triggered the shift to her next mode. When the pain faded, she staggered for a moment, knowing that the shift had worked…but not quite as she’d hoped.

“Damn,” Amy cursed, feeling trace amounts of essence starting to build. She was a mage, not a psychic. Then she paused again and smiled, “But that does seem to have broken whatever that was…”

Amy looked around the tunnel, no longer feeling that obsessive curiosity. She was still curious, but more than that, she was angry. Now that she was thinking straight, it was obvious that this was some kind of an attack on her.

“Talk about deja-vu,” she muttered, looking around the tunnels again, this time expecting someone to jump out and attack her.

This whole situation reminded Amy of a previous one, one where another group of students had come after her and her friends in these tunnels. Exquisite and her group had used the tunnels before, and Amy had no doubt that they were behind this as well.

“Come on out, Drama Queen,” Amy called out, knowing of only one person who could cause that kind of obsessive curiosity and who would also have reason to mess with her.

Amy reached into her backpack and pulled out her needle gun and her last couple coil gun rounds. These would have to do for now since she was low on ammunition after that arena match.

Once Amy was ready, she continued forward, down the tunnel she’d previously been racing down. However, this time she went slowly and cautiously, expecting a trap but being ready for it. She had barely gone any further when she saw what seemed to be the intended destination.

Up ahead, there was an intersection of funnels where the ground dipped quite heavily. The whole intersection was flooded with at least a couple feet of water. But what really caught her attention were the three people standing in front of this pool.

“She was right behind me,” Drama told Exquisite while Kraken just stood back, looking bored. “She should have been here already…”

“What I want to know,” Kraken commented, “is where are Iron and Starbright. I thought they were supposed to be here too.”

“Iron was supposed to be here, with us,” Exquisite explained. “Starbright was supposed to stay back with Gravmax and keep anyone else from following.”

“We don’t need everyone to just take out one cripple,” Drama said in an exasperated tone. “I lead her here and you take care of her. Simple enough.”

“Then we make sure she gets too much water,” Kraken agreed impatiently. “It looks like she got lost in the tunnels, had a burnout, and then drowned. Simple. I know the plan.”

Amy bit back a gasp of surprise, not wanting to give herself away. However, it wasn’t easy as she was shocked at the realization that they weren’t just trying to beat her…they were trying to kill her.

For several seconds, Amy was tempted to open fire and hit them with everything she had. But then, she realized that one against three would not be in her favor, especially not when one of those three was Kraken. As a high-level exemplar, he’d be able to shrug off anything she threw at him.

Just as Amy was about to turn around and head back, Drama exclaimed, “THERE SHE IS!”

“This is where I lost Amy,” Sapphire explained with a guilty wince. “She’s in trouble and I couldn’t help…”

“You tried to help,” Darqueheart reminded her. “And you’re helping now.”

“Yeah,” Melissa added emphatically. “Not your fault that Gravmax got in the way.” Then she looked to Darqueheart and added. “Now, do your tracking spell thing…”

Darqueheart rolled her eyes since she’d explained this before. “It isn’t a tracking spell. It’s more like…radar. I can use the shadows to map out the tunnels nearby…”

“Okay,” Melissa responded with a roll of her own eyes. “Then do that.”

There was yet another exasperated eye roll as Darqueheart muttered the spell and made several gestures with her fingers. Then she started off into space for half a minute before nodding.

“I’ve got a vague map of the nearby area,” she explained before apologetically adding, “It works better where there are more shadows and not very good in the light…so its kind of splotchy and blurred in places.”

Sapphire nodded impatiently. “But does it show you where Amy is?”

“No,” Darqueheart reluctantly admitted, letting out a sigh. Then she perked up a moment later. “But there is someone standing around down that tunnel…” She pointed down one of the tunnels. “And I think it might be Gravmax.”

Sapphire gave an evil smile at that, revealing her fangs. “Then I suggest that we go ask him where Amy went.”

“I second it,” Melissa exclaimed.

The three girls hurried down the tunnel while Darqueheart directed them where to go. It didn’t take long to reach their destination, where they saw Gravmax leaning up against a tunnel wall. As soon as he saw them, he stood up straight and glared at them.

“What did you do with Amy?” Melissa demanded.

Gravmax just smirked. “Who?”

Sapphire hissed and started moving towards him again, deciding that he was going to tell her what they did with Amy…or else. She hissed at him, making sure to reveal her fangs in a threatening manner. A lot of students seemed to be intimidated by that kind of thing.

“Watch it,” Darqueheart warned.

Suddenly, everything became unbearably heavy and Sapphire dropped to her knees. She struggled against the increased gravity, though she knew it wouldn’t do a lot of good. Gravmax’ power was too strong for her to completely break free of.

“Damn,” Darqueheart exclaimed, pressed completely flat on the ground and struggling even more.

This reminded Sapphire that while she was an exemplar and had extra strength to help her, neither of her friends had that. This gravity was hitting both of them even worse than it was her. But then, Sapphire realized that she didn’t see Melissa.

Gravmax abruptly let out a howl of pain that quickly became high pitched, right before he grabbed his crotch and dropped to the knees. A moment later, Melissa appeared behind him, pulling back the foot that she’d just used to kick him between the legs. And without a word, she shoved her stun gun right into his neck, earning another shriek before he spasmed and went silent and motionless.

“Take that,” Melissa snarled furiously before looking up at her friends. “These jerks keep ambushing us in these tunnels and I’m sick of it.”

“Me too,” Sapphire agreed as she got back to her feet. She looked over at Darqueheart who was also getting back up now that Gravmax was no longer using his powers, though she was slower about doing so. “But unfortunately, I don’t think Gravmax is in any condition to answer our questions.”

“And I think he peed himself,” Melissa said with a look of disgust as she backed away. “Ewwwww.”

“Don’t worry,” Darqueheart told them with a determined grimace. “My shadow map found a small group of people…and I think one of them is Amy.”

Amy opened fire with her needle gun, knowing that it was completely useless against Kraken and that wouldn’t be very effective against Exquisite either. Drama was the only one of the three who wasn’t an exemplar, which was why Amy focused the spray of flechettes at her.

Without waiting to see if she’d actually hit her target, Amy threw one of her two remaining bomblets and it exploded into a thick cloud of smoke. The smoke screen wouldn’t last long, so she turned and ran back down the tunnel.

“GET HER!” Exquisite yelled.

A blast of energy hit Amy from behind and a surge of pain burned through her entire nervous system. She screamed from Exquisite’s attack and collapsed.

“Lucky shot,” Drama said. “I couldn’t even see her through the smoke…”

Amy looked back and saw all three of her attackers emerging from the smoke. Drama was limping badly while one of her arms seemed to hang lifelessly from her shoulder. Several flechettes stuck out from that arm and from one leg, proving that Amy had managed to hit her. And with Sapphire’s venom coating the needles, Drama was obviously feeling their numbing effect. Not that it would do much good.

“She isn’t burning out,” Kraken observed.

“Not yet,” Exquisite responded with a cruel smirk. “I’ll just have to hit her again…repeatedly if necessary…until she goes into a burnout.”

“Then I toss her in the water,” Kraken nodded. “And give her a bit more for good measure.”

Amy cursed as she scrambled back to her feet, or at least as she tried to. Exquisite blasted her again, resulting in another surge of excruciating pain while her body spasmed helplessly.

Suddenly, the dark corners of the tunnel darkened further and began to spread out like spilled ink. Amy saw this and immediately realized what was happening. A faint smile formed, though she tried to keep her opponents from seeing it.

Black tendrils abruptly rose from the inky shadows and began wrapping around Amy’s opponents. At the same time, she felt someone helping her to her feet, though she didn’t see who.

“Come on,” Melissa urgently exclaimed in her ear. “We’ve got to go while they’re distracted.”

“Yeah,” Amy agreed, staggering away as quickly as she could with a body that felt like it was made of rubber.

Amy grabbed her last bomblet and threw it right at Kraken since he looked like he was about to blast her with water. It hit him in the chest and exploded into a napalm spray that immediately burst into flames that clung to his chest.

Kraken yelped in surprise and staggered back, blasting himself with a wave of water to put out the flames. The flames, as well as his antics with them, drew Exquisite and Drama’s attention, creating even more of a distraction.

The large exemplar snarled in anger and threw out his hands, firing off a blast of ice chunks that shot down the tunnel like a shotgun blast. Melissa let out a yelp as a chunk narrowly missed her, returning to visibility as she did so.

“I wish Alyss was here to deal with Kraken,” Melissa announced.

“Me too,” Amy agreed, glancing back nervously.

“Careful,” Exquisite warned Kraken. “It has to look like an accident…not an attack.”

“Too late for that,” Drama pointed out. “We need to cut our losses…”

Exquisite charged forward, firing several blasts of her energy. Melissa teleported away while Amy dove to the ground to avoid being hit again.

Sapphire burst out of a patch of darkness and slammed into Exquisite from the side, sending the other girl flying into a wall. Then, Sapphire followed that up by spitting out a spray of venom that made Exquisite cover her face to avoid being splattered there.

“We need to go,” Darqueheart said as she stepped out of a dark patch and helped Amy back to her feet again. “I don’t want to fight Kraken down here…”

“You’ll pay for that,” Exquisite exclaimed, firing another pain blast and hitting Sapphire, who promptly dropped to the ground. “All of you will.”

“Come on,” Drama tried urging Exquisite, who seemed too angry to listen to her. “It didn’t work, so lets go…”

Just then a voice yelled, “SECURITY. “EVERYONE FREEZE.”

Amy looked back and saw four people in campus security uniforms emerging from one of the side tunnels. She recognized one of them, an attractive blonde woman, as Samantha Everheart. And though she didn’t know the three who were with Everheart, Amy was sure that she’d seen them around campus.

“I can’t believe we got lost in the tunnels,” one of the unidentified security officers muttered in annoyance.

“Shhh,” one of the others told him.

“Everyone, stand down,” Everheart ordered, clearly not talking to the men who were with her.

Exquisite snapped around and immediately fired another of her pain blasts, hitting one of the security officers, who immediately dropped to the ground with a howl of pain. As soon as she attacked, Kraken followed her example by sending a wave of water at the security officers, knocking all of them but Everheart off their feet.

Everheart raised her weapon, something that Amy immediately recognized as a devisor energy rifle, very similar in design to many of the ones in her mom’s armory. It fired a blast of energy that hit Kraken in the chest. He stood there for a brief moment before his expression went blank and he dropped to the ground. Everheart immediately followed this up with a second shot at Exquisite, who collapsed the same way her teammate had a moment earlier.

“Devisor stun blast,” one of the security officers commented rather smugly. “It can even drop some bricks.”

“Did you see that?” Melissa gasped.

“No,” Darqueheart responded with a sarcastic snort. “I completely missed it.”

Everheart stepped forward, her weapon still raised. “When I order you to stand down,” she announced in a firm tone, “you stand down.”

Drama’s hands shot up over her head in clear surrender.

Crystal Hall, Thursday late morning, Dec 20th, 2007

“I wish I could have been there,” Chris said, feeling guilty for not being able to help when his friends were in trouble. “I would have…”

“I know you would have come, if we’d had time to get you,” Darqueheart told him, glancing to the others for support. “We just didn’t have time.”

“Yeah,” Melissa agreed with a nod. “I wish we could have had you guys there too…”

“Things were a little…close,” Amy admitted with a shake of her head. “If it hadn’t been for you…” She looked to Darqueheart, Sapphire, and Melissa, “I would have been in deep trouble.”

“And if it hadn’t been for security showing up when they did,” Darqueheart added with a deep scowl. This was clearly a grudging admission. “If security didn’t show up, we all would have been in trouble.”

“You can say that again,” Sapphire said with a sigh.

“If security didn’t show up, we all would have been in trouble,” Melissa and Monkeywrench both exclaimed at the same time. Then they glared at each other and simultaneously said, “JINX.”

Alyss chuckled and gestured over her shoulder. “Jinx is sitting over there somewhere.”

Chris snorted at that. “I didn’t realize I’d joined a comedy troupe.”

Amy chuckled in response. “We’re called Shenanigans…so you should expect some.”

“Very true,” Darqueheart added with a wry smile. “Maybe we should have called ourselves Team Badass instead.”

“That would have been awesome,” Melissa said with a broad grin.

“You know,” Alyss said, her expression serious. “I was thinking after last night, we should do one of those situation reviews…like what Bardue did with us after our arena match yesterday.”

“That’s a good idea,” Darqueheart agreed.

“There are a lot of things we can improve,” Amy admitted. “Both in preparation for future matches…and in case of real trouble.”

“The kind that keeps finding us all,” Sapphire mused. “The Imp called us a bunch of trouble magnets, and last night just seems to prove that.”

Amy nodded. “We talked about this a bit with Bardue and the Imp, but I think I need to improve my weapons a bit more… Or at least, keep more rounds on me.”

“My bananarang isn’t the game changer I’d hoped,” Monkeywrench admitted. “I should practice with it…and get more weapons. I already knew that I need to improve my repertoire for a real fight. I’m thinking, that for the next arena match…I should use my Poo Launcher. I can change out the load…maybe make it into a glue gun or something.”

“No exploding barrel to throw?” Alyss asked him with a chuckle.

Monkeywrench grinned. “Not a bad idea.”

“Steel toed boots,” Melissa blurted out. “So, I can kick harder.”

“And maybe some better weapons,” Chris suggested for her. “That stun gun was pretty cool, but maybe something a little easier to deal with…”

Monkeywrench quickly suggested, “Maybe embed it into a glove, so all you have to do is touch someone to stun them.”

Melissa’s eyes went wide. “Zappy gloves…” She grinned in anticipation. “That would be so cool…” Then she added, “And Imp has been trying to teach me how to use throwing spikes so I can get a bit more range too…”

“And I was thinking about asking Nacht for some advice,” Darqueheart said. “Maybe even some tutoring. She’s probably the best erebeal mage on campus.”

“Good idea,” Sapphire told her with a nod of approval.

“What we really need,” Chris suggested thoughtfully, “is radios…”

“That would be awesome,” Melissa exclaimed. “Then we can listen to cool music while we fight, and maybe get our own soundtracks…”

“Not that kind of radio, you nitwit,” Darqueheart told her, though it was more of a gentle teasing than the sharp insults she once would have given.

“Good idea,” Amy said with a thoughtful look. “If we had radios, we’d be able to split up and coordinate better in the arena…”

“And call for help when we need it,” Sapphire added, clearly referring to the night before.

Chris nodded, though he was slightly annoyed that they’d taken the words out of his mouth before he could explain his thoughts. Still, he was glad that they were taking his suggestion seriously.

“We do have two devisors,” Chris pointed out, looking to Amy and then Monkeywrench. “Maybe you guys could make something…”

“Good idea,” Alyss said with the others nodded agreement.

“My specialty is chemistry and chemical dispersal,” Monkeywrench reminded them. “Radios aren’t really in my wheelhouse.” Then he looked to Amy. “But Amy specializes in electromagnetic fields, so this should be right up your alley.”

“True,” Amy reluctantly admitted, though she didn’t look happy about that. “But I’m only a part time devisor. Do you have any idea how long it would take for me to come up with something good, much less make a bunch of radios?”

“And she already needs to work on her gear,” Sapphire added in Amy’s defense.

“I can ask around the labs,” Monkeywrench suggested with a thoughtful look. “There are a few people around who work with radios, so I’m sure I can get one of them to make something for us.” He hesitated a moment before adding, “But it won’t be free.”

“Nothing ever is,” Darqueheart snorted.

“Now then,” Amy said, trying to get back on subject. “What else can we do to prepare for Team Tactics…and for whatever else Exquisite’s people try next?”

Chris stepped out of the Crystal Hall cafeteria, thinking about the conversation that he and his friends had just had. For all of lunch and then some, they’d talked about how they could improve.

There was absolutely no doubt that he could up his own game even more, though he was still unsure of exactly how. Adding holdouts might work, and so would paying more attention to Sensei Ito in BMA. He’d learned a lot in that class already, even if it had taken him awhile before he’d been able to put any of it into practice.

Of course, most of Chris’ improvements had come about because of his lessons with the Imp. She might have been a supervillain…and a particularly crazy one at that, but she really knew what she was talking about when it came to using his powers. Maybe she could help him learn even more new tricks.

“I don’t want to be left behind again,” he muttered with a shake of his head.

Chris paused and looked over to Darqueheart, who’d left the cafeteria at the same time he had. After a moment, he moved closer to her, trying to gather his nerve for what he wanted to say.

“Darqueheart,” he started to say to get her attention, before saying, “Colleen.”

That immediately got her attention. “Yes?” she asked just a little nervously.

“I had a real good time the other day,” Chris told her. “I was hoping we could do it again.”

Darqueheart…Colleen gave him a self-conscious smile. “Me too,” she responded while her devil tail swished back and forth behind her. “How about…tonight?”

Chris grinned back. “That would be awesome.”

Colleen stared at him for a moment, smiling as she did so. Then she abruptly leaned in and gave him a kiss on the cheek, surprising Chris completely.

“Then I’ll see you tonight,” Colleen told him before she hurried off, practically skipping as she did so.

Chris reached up and felt his cheek where she’d kissed him, giving a nervous yet dreamy smile as he did so. “I can’t wait.”

Thursday afternoon, Dec 20th, 2007

Traci looked around the room where Denouement was meeting, or at least, those who were available. There were two notable absences.

“Exquisite and Kraken are still being held by security,” Gravmax announced, “and it doesn’t look like they’re going to be released anytime soon.”

“I’m lucky they let me out,” Drama said with a look of disgust. “Those two idiots attacked security. I didn’t fight them, but they still kept me locked up overnight.”

Traci nodded at that. “Attacking security was a pretty bad idea.”

Of course, the whole situation had been one major bad idea, though she didn’t say that aloud. Instead, she and Iron shared a quick glance.

From what Traci knew, Exquisite and Kraken were both in some serious trouble, but not nearly as serious as they should have been. Security didn’t have any proof about the attempted murder, and the story that everyone else in Denouement was sticking with, was that they were just trying to prank a fellow student. The only real evidence security had, were Traci and Iron’s words…which apparently weren’t enough.

However, Exquisite and Kraken had both attacked the security officers, and the school was taking that pretty seriously. From what she’d heard, there was talk of serious detention as well as possible expulsion.

“I can’t believe Exquisite is blaming me for that,” Drama said with an angry sneer. “She told security that the reason that she and Kraken attacked them…was that because I made her.”

“She’s throwing you under the bus to save herself,” Iron pointed out grimly. “Not a surprise. We’ve all seen the way she operates. She’d turn on any of us the moment it helped her.”

“I can’t argue with that,” Gravmax admitted. Then he glared at Iron and Traci. “And where were you two? If you two had been there, then we might have finished this off before security ever arrived. Before those Shenanigan idiots got there.”

“Yeah,” Drama added. “This could have been a success.”

“Iron and I were on our way,” Traci lied, “but security detained us. We couldn’t even warn you that they were on their way.”

“Yeah,” Iron agreed, giving Traci a knowing look. “They already knew about what was going on…or at least had some kind of suspicion.”

“All those security cameras,” Traci added with a nod. “They’re all over this damn school.”

Drama abruptly stood up and announced, “Well, I’m done with Exquisite. I’m already facing detention, and with her telling them that I’m behind it all…” Anger flashed over her face and for a moment, Traci suddenly felt angry as well. But then Drama pulled her power back. “I might even get expelled.”

“I’m out too,” Traci said. “This alliance isn’t working the way Exquisite promised us, and as this proves…we can’t trust her. None of us can.”

“She’ll throw us all under the bus,” Iron agreed. “I’m out too.”

Gravmax stared at him, then let out a sigh. “You’re right. This was supposed to be our big chance…but instead we keep getting humiliated.”

With that, all four of them began heading for the door. There was no need to say anymore because they all knew that Denouement was over.

The Village, Thursday evening, Dec 20th, 2007

The Imp sat at a table in the Flying Blue Squirrel pub, having a drink and a small bite to eat while going over her lesson plans for the winter term. She already knew which classes she was going to be teaching, but she still needed to figure out exactly what she was going to teach over the term and in what order. Some classes were easier than others.

“How to crack a bank vault might be a little too advanced,” she mused to herself as she reluctantly crossed off one of the items on her list.

A moment later, she noticed Elizabeth Carson coming through the door, which wasn’t an uncommon sight. However, the fact that Carson was walking straight towards her table definitely caught her attention.

“Christine,” Carson greeted her, indicating that this was casual rather than official business. “Do you mind if I have a seat?”

“Not at all,” Imp responded, closing her folder and moving it aside to make more room for the other woman. “So, what’s up?”

Carson sat down and got comfortable before saying, “I received an unexpected phone call today.”

“Oh?” Imp responded curiously, waiting for Carson to expand on that.

“I was contacted by an old acquaintance whom I haven’t spoken to in years,” Carson explained. “And he was calling to confirm that you actually work at the school.”

Imp frowned as she considered all the reasons that someone might ask Carson about her, and most of them weren’t good. “Anyone I know?”

Carson looked Imp straight in the eye as she calmly answered, “Doctor Miracle.”

The former villainess tensed a little at that name, but simply responded with another, “Oh?”

“He said that you recently performed a task for him,” Carson continued, still looking calm and casual though her eyes were fixed on the Imp with the same intensity that they had on countless students before. “Something about recovering some stolen property, though he didn’t clarify any further, other than to say that he was grateful to you for doing so.”

For several seconds, Imp just stared back at Carson, wondering how much the other woman knew and how much she should admit to. But then, she let out a sigh, seeing where this conversation was going to go…where it needed to go.

“His power item,” Imp admitted with a scowl. Normally, she wouldn’t divulge details about a job that she’d been hired to pull, but Doctor Miracle had contacted Carson first, and he had already given the basics. “His magic scepter. He called in an old favor, from before he retired, and asked me to get his scepter back for him.”

Carson’s eyes widened at that, and for the first time, she actually looked surprised. “He lost that years ago…” She shook her head slightly. “You have no idea what that means for him…”

The Imp shook her head. “Actually, I do.” She gave a wry smile. “He explained it to me.”

“I’m pleased to hear that he has it back,” Carson said a few seconds later. “But I must admit, what I’m really curious about now is…how in the world did YOU end up owing a favor to HIM.”

“That,” the Imp responded with a deep scowl, “is a story that requires a bit more privacy, and something a lot stronger to drink than this.” She gestured to the glass of beer on the table.

Carson stared intently at the Imp for several long seconds, then she abruptly turned and called out to the bartender, “Bring us two glasses from my reserved bottle.”

The bartender pulled out a bottle from behind the counter and poured that into two tumblers. Without a word, he brought them over and set the glasses down on the table.

As soon as the bartender had left, Carson said, “Devisor grade scotch.” Then she made a show of pulling a devise from her pocket and setting it down on the table. The Imp immediately recognized the privacy field generator, which was guaranteed to keep anyone from listening in on their conversation, or even reading their lips. “Now, about that story.”

The Imp took a sip from her glass and felt it burn going down. Devisor grade meant that it could get her drunk, regardless of her regeneration. She nodded appreciatively and set the glass back down, though she didn’t release it right away. Instead, she swirled the contents a little while she organized her thoughts.

“A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away,” the Imp began, then added, “About fifteen years ago, in New York…I had a bit of a thing going on with a hero…” She sneered as she said the word ‘hero’. “It was the usual thing. I pull a job, he tries to stop me, we banter a bit, then I escape. We did the usual dance a few times.”

“I’m familiar with your banter,” Carson interjected wryly, a reminder that she and the Imp had once met under similar circumstances.

“Yeah,” Imp agreed with a grin. “The usual. Well, anyway…this guy took it personally. He had a real temper…and he held a grudge. And one day, he sees his opportunity and jumps me.”

The Imp passed at that, scowling deeply. There was no sign of her usual mirth. Instead, there was an old and deep-seated anger, a sharp bitterness that Carson had rarely seen from the woman. That alone gave the headmistress a good idea about the identity of this ‘hero’ the Imp was talking about.

“I wasn’t pulling a job or anything of the kind,” the Imp explained, her voice catching a little as she did so. “I could almost understand it if that had been the case, since you assume certain risks with the job. But I was actually on…vacation. I was taking time away from my usual career, and was a bit lost in thought so didn’t see him coming…”

At this point, the Imp took a drink from her scotch and then just stared into the glass for several long seconds. She was so tense that Carson wondered if the Imp might accidentally break the glass.

“He beat me mercilessly,” the Imp finally continued. “Probably broke at least half the bones in my body. And then, once he was done…” She looked up and met Carson’s eyes. “And then, whether to finish me off…or because he thought he already had and just wanted to get rid of the body…he threw me into the river.”

“T Rex,” Carson quietly said the hero’s name. “That was Roland Williams, wasn’t it?”

The Imp nodded at that, not surprised that Carson had figured out that part. After all, Carson definitely knew about the grudge the two of them had, if not the full story behind it.

“Yeah,” the Imp agreed with a sigh. “Barney.” Then she shook her head and added, “Doctor Miracle was the one who pulled me out of the river and healed me. He was the one who saved my life.”

Carson nodded faintly. “Hence, the favor.”

“Hence, the favor,” Imp agreed.

She paused at that, knowing that she could stop the story right there and Carson would be satisfied. However, there was more that needed to be said. There was more that she had to tell Carson, and if she didn’t do it right then, she might never do so.

“There’s more,” Imp said a few seconds later. “More to the favor…and to my feud with Barney.” She took a deep breath, then added, “At the time…I was pregnant.”

Carson’s eyes shot even wider than before, and this time, there was a flash of rage that didn’t quite make it to the rest of her face. “I see,” she said, her voice carefully controlled though she gave Imp a look of intense sympathy. “Now, I can understand your issue with Williams.” She shook her head. “Louis told me that you blamed him for losing your child, but I had no idea…”

The Imp shook her head. “No… My baby…” She took a deep breath to steady herself. “My baby survived.” Carson gave another look of surprise, but she continued. “Doctor Miracle was able to save my baby, and THAT was why I gave him the favor…”

“Then,” Carson started thoughtfully.

“I gave birth to a healthy baby boy,” Imp told her with a faint smile, though it quickly turned sad. “But after what happened…I knew that I couldn’t keep him. My life was too dangerous. I had too many enemies and there was too much risk of him being killed…” She let out a sigh, then quietly explained, “So, I gave him up for adoption, knowing that I’d never see him again. The best thing I could do for him was to get out of his life and give him a chance at a normal life. A safe life.”

“That couldn’t have been easy,” Carson said with a sympathetic look.

“You have no idea,” the Imp muttered. Then, she took a deep breath and abruptly said, “You have a daughter, here at Whateley. I heard that she died and then came back…”

Carson hesitated for a moment. “Yes. Losing Shelly was one of the most difficult experiences of my life. The fact that she came back was… Well, for lack of a better word…a miracle.”

“That’s exactly how I feel,” Imp quietly said. Then in a clearer voice, she explained, “I recently discovered something… I didn’t go looking for it. It just landed right in my lap, and if I didn’t know better, I’d swear a mangler was involved.”

“What are you talking about?” Carson asked with a suspicious look.

“My son,” the Imp told her with a strange expression, one that seemed stunned and delighted at the same time. “The baby I gave up and never thought I’d see again… I found out that he’s HERE…at Whateley.” She paused at that to take a sip of scotch. “And he’s one of my students.”

Carson just stared at her, once again surprised. She took a sip from her own drink before asking, “Who?”

“Aegis,” the Imp answered with a wry smile. “The same kid you asked me to tutor.” She shook her head. “Turns out, there’s a reason our powers are so similar.”

“That’s…,” Carson started, only to pause and shake her head. “No wonder you’d suspect mangler involvement.”

The Imp stared down into her glass. “He doesn’t know…and I have no intention of telling him.”

For several seconds, the two women just stared at each other in a moment of shared understanding. Then as one, they both picked up their glasses and downed the remaining contents in a single gulp each.

The End

Read 900 times Last modified on Monday, 16 December 2024 23:03

Published in Canon: Original Timeline

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