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Making her way towards the library, Minako fired off an answering text.



Most of the rooms appeared to be empty, so she had her pick of them. They were rather sparse rooms, small and occupied only by a single table with four chairs and outlets for computers, plus a large electronic projector screen dominating one wall. Taking her seat, she sent another text.



Amy was snapped out of her plotting by the sound of her phone. She glanced down at it, looking slightly surprised to get a place so quickly. For a second, she considered putting it off until later, but she figured scheming could wait for a little while. Something, something, friendships were important. Besides, she had until the tournament to figure that stuff out.

She started on her way down towards the study rooms, glancing at the second message on her way. It definitely wasn’t busy, from what she could tell. Apparently the people at the superpower school had more exciting things to do than hang about at the library. Who’d have thought it?

Upon reaching the door to Room C, Amy pushed it open slowly, a slight smile appearing on her face when she caught sight of Minako. ”So, what’s up? You know, other than the whole tournament thing. It sounded like you had a few things to talk about.” she said, a little concern in her eyes as she took a seat across from the other girl.

Minako’s face lit up when Amy arrived, and she hurried from her seat to quickly embrace the other girl. ”I’m glad you came, we didn’t really have a chance to talk before the meeting.” As she held her, Minako briefly froze. It was faint, very faint, but she could detect a trace of roses in her hair. She swallowed, lingering slightly longer than she had meant to, and pulled away, taking her seat. ”And… yes. There is… something I need to confess to you, and apologize for.” She bit her lip nervously, fingers clutching at the hem of her skirt.

Amy didn’t really pay much attention to Minako’s hug lingering - she figured the girl was just happy to see her or something. It was a relief to be able to just talk after the stress of the morning. After Minako spoke, though, she leaned forward, hoping to gauge what was wrong. Seeing that she looked pretty nervous, Amy tried to lighten the mood a little. ”What’s wrong? You don’t need me to hide a body or something, do you? I think I’ve already met my quota for this week.” she smiled, trying to reassure Minako in her own way.

For a moment, Minako’s only response was a blank look, then a small smile broke across her face. She was joking, of course. ”No, although I’ll be sure to keep you in mind if it ever comes up.” Taking a deep breath, she forged ahead. ”It would be best to start at the beginning. You know what my powers, yes? The truth is, I haven’t always been able to do that. My powers appeared rather late, only two years ago. Before that, everyone believed that I was like my parents and sister; without powers. So, the plan was that I would go to a university in Japan, taking business classes so that I could properly enter our family’s business, and eventually take over from my father.”

She explained the incidents that began occurring during her self-defense classes, about the strange sensation she experienced every time she made eye contact with someone whenever her bodyguard Takeshi wasn’t near. ”After the same thing happened against my sensei, that is, my teacher, he recommended that I attend Mayweather when I graduated high school, so that I could learn how to properly control my powers. My parents agreed, and my father and I made a sort of… deal. He would allow me to operate with relative autonomy during my time here, and in exchange, I would send him monthly reports on my progress. How I was doing in classes, what sort of people I was meeting, what I thought of them.” Minako paused, looking across at her friend. ”Um, sorry, are you, following so far?”

After taking a second to try and absorb the information, Amy nodded. ”I think so. I got all of the history stuff, anyhow. What you’re saying is you’re basically stuck telling your dad all about everything that happens here, am I right?” she shrugged. She’d heard worse, although it seemed like Minako had more to say, so Amy wasn’t relieved quite yet. ”I hope you said nice things about me in this report of yours,” she said, hoping that the worst part was over. ”You know, my shining personality, good looks… All the usual stuff.” she said optimistically.

Minako smiled ruefully. ”It was...difficult, but I managed to gloss over some of your more detrimental qualities. You are exceedingly sarcastic, for one.” She was getting used to her friend’s unusual sense of humor. ”In truth, you, Kayla, Eliana and Gianna have been very good to me since I arrived, and I think my father was glad that I had become friends with someone who had similar powers to Takeshi. Which is why I feel the need to apologize for his actions.” Her face fell slightly. ”Particularly because I know he never will.”

Amy decided that it was probably not the time to crack any more jokes, and instead just sighed. Giving Minako a sympathetic look, she decided it was best to get it over with. ”Listen, whatever it is, I won’t blame you for it. It doesn’t sound like you had too much choice about this anyway. Just tell me, and I’ll deal with whatever it is, okay?” she spoke sincerely, seeming honestly sympathetic towards the other girl.

A small, grateful smile crossed Minako’s face. ”Your words are kind, Amy, but the actions of my family reflect on me, just as my actions reflect on them. I come from a very different culture than you do.” She took a deep breath again. ”I sent my father my first report the day after we met, because…” she paused for a moment, ”a lot happened in a short period of time. What I recently found out, is that after he received it, my father had background checks done on everyone I mentioned.” Minako hesitantly looked across at Amy, coming close but not quite reaching her eyes. ”Which includes you.”

Amy’s eyes widened. For a moment, she was taken aback, even though she’d sort of seen where this was going. She just hadn’t really wanted to think about it. Looking a little unbalanced by the revelation, she spoke to Minako again.”Um, right. O-okay. Mind if I ask how much detail these checks went into? And, if you had to guess, are they going to dig any deeper?” If it came to it, there were things she’d rather explain for herself, instead of having it come to light through some kind of report.

”Based on the results he sent me last night, no, I do not think he will dig any further than he already has. But,” Minako looked down at the table, ”My father achieved the position he has by always being one step ahead of everyone else, and he maintains that advantage by knowing more than everyone else. To that end, he is very… thorough. He wants me to make “informed decisions” about the people I choose to associate with.” She hesitantly raised her eyes. ”So, if what you are asking is this, yes, I… know what happened to you.”

Going pale as a ghost, Amy found herself a little lost for words for a few seconds. ”And you… I mean, I-” she took a deep breath. She couldn’t change the fact that Minako knew about the incident, but she wanted to know what story she’d been told. ”Well, what do you know about what happened? What was in the report, exactly?” she asked, clearly worried. The official version of events left out a few important details - namely, the events surrounding the attacker’s “suicide”. She needed to figure out what Minako knew.

Minako pulled her laptop out of her backpack. ”Here. I will not show you all of the reports, just as I promise not to show them yours, but, you should see it.” Searching through her files, she opened the one labelled “Amy Stevenson”, and spun her laptop around.



Amy’s eyes widened with shock as she read over the file. Not so much her own, she already knew that stuff, and her dad’s issues weren’t a secret, but the stuff about her mum was shocking. She’d have to call her more often. Wasn’t much else she could do from the UK. The most important thing, though, was that nowhere in the file was the real version of events stated.

Her heart hammering in her chest, tears threatening to reveal themselves, Minako bit her lip again. ”Amy… I know it doesn’t change the fact that it happened, but please believe me when I say that I had no idea he was going to do this. Not until he sent me the results last night!” Her voice trembled. ”And… I understand if you…don’t want to be friends anymore.”

Amy slowly stood up, walking over to Minako and pulling her tightly into a hug. ”I told you it wasn’t your fault, didn’t I? I know that, it’s just...” she said, her voice quavering slightly. As much as she was trying to stay calm about this, it was obvious she wasn’t keeping it together too well.

A storm of conflicting emotions was forming inside Amy. On the one hand, she was relieved, and glad that Minako didn’t know the whole truth, but she felt… guilty. Minako had been so honest with her, and here she was, relieved that she could keep secrets from her friend. After thinking it over for a few seconds, she resolved herself, making what was quite possibly a rash decision.

”The file’s wrong.” she said, releasing Minako from the hug with a look on her face somewhere between fear, anxiety and anger - the last one being directed at herself both for being too much of a coward to consider keeping the truth hidden, and for being enough of an impulsive idiot to actually tell her.

Minako blinked. Of all the things that she had been expecting Amy to say, that had not even remotely been on the list. ”Oh.” Immediately, she flushed slightly, berating herself for allowing such a simplistic response to slip out. ”I mean! You don’t have to tell me anything, Amy. This was an invasion of your privacy, I shouldn’t have gotten this information to begin with.”

”You’re right, you shouldn’t have. But you did, and this is how I’m dealing with it. I’d rather you had the whole truth instead of jumping to conclusions by yourself. Besides, it’s not too difficult to figure out from the files.” taking a deep breath, Amy forced herself to keep speaking. ”I should tell you that I didn’t know I had powers when it happened. The guy shattered the windows, started to… anyway, I lashed out. And he fell.”

Finally, she made eye contact with Minako. ”It wasn’t a suicide. I didn’t mean it, and hell knows that the bastard deserved it, but make no mistake, I killed him.” she spoke quietly, holding back tears. This was unfair of her, she knew it was unfair expecting Minako to just listen to that, but she couldn’t - she couldn’t stay silent. She was too weak to do that. ”I’m sorry. I shouldn’t-” she started to talk but went quiet, not trusting herself to say anything else.

To say that Minako was surprised would be an understatement. She was dumb-founded, and for a moment couldn’t think of anything to say. So instead, she simply stood up and wordless returned the embrace that Amy had given. ”Shhh. It’s okay.”

”I’m sorry.” Amy said quietly, accepting the girl’s hug gratefully. She was confused, but just glad that Minako didn’t seem to be blaming her for what had happened. ”We’re both a bit of a mess, aren’t we?” she looked at Minako, the slightest hint of her normal smile creeping back into her voice.

Minako simply smiled back. ”Never apologize for defending yourself. I would have done the same had I been in similar circumstances,” she answered with a firm voice. ”Besides, if you can forgive me for invading your privacy, then I think I can forgive you for not doing anything wrong when you were in danger.”

The relief almost sent her into a fit of giggles, managing to stop herself at the last second. Compared to her earlier conflict, the knowledge that Minako didn’t blame her for anything was a great feeling. Her mind was so focused on her giddiness that it took her thoughts off of her field, allowing Minako’s powers to work as normal. Not realizing this, she locked eyes with the other girl, intending to thank her.

When she saw Amy’s eyes seeking her own, Minako didn’t react, expecting that her friend was maintaining her power. So it was something of a surprise when a deep rush of warmth flooded through her, weakening her knees and sending a faint flush to her cheeks. ”Ah, um…”

Amy was taken by surprise herself, having assumed that her field was active. Upon making eye contact, Minako’s eyes seemed to almost pulse with light, rhythmically. It was… mesmerizing. Amy knew, on some level, that she could look away, but she didn’t want to. Something about it just made it impossible to resist looking at that pulse. It made her feel good, on some level, to keep on staring into the other girl’s eyes.

She felt a shiver run up her spine, feeling almost electric, and a slight tingling sensation in her hands and feet that was almost like mild pins and needles. For some reason, she felt weak, and vulnerable, as though someone could see everything about her. The things she loved, and hated, and feared, the core of who she was. It was as though Minako was looking at all of the things that made her her. The whole experience was definitely strange, but not in any way unpleasant. If anything, she’d say it was absorbing.

She’d figured out what was going on pretty much as soon as she’d locked eyes with Minako, but for some reason that wasn’t even clear to Amy herself, she didn’t extend the field right away. Perhaps because, unlike the first time, she trusted Minako. Or maybe she was just enjoying it. More likely, it was a combination of several different things.

From the moment they locked eyes, Minako became reminded of two things: first, exactly how close she was to her friend, and second, how very pretty Amy’s eyes were. The result was that her heart was now very desperately trying to bludgeon its way out of her chest, and after lingering for a couple seconds, she tore herself away. I-I-I’m sorry, I wasn’t… I thought you were still… I didn’t mean to do that,” she stammered, looking everywhere but at her friend.

Amy looked a little flustered herself, both from the experience and Minako’s reaction. That was… Different. Honestly, she’d kind of liked it, all things considered. She was a little confused about why the girl felt she had to apologise, though. Trying to reassure Minako, but slightly oblivious to the actual problem, she gestured for Minako to calm down. ”It’s fine! I could have stopped it if I’d wanted to, couldn’t I?”

Hesitating, Minako bit her lip, then gave a slight nod. ”I… yes, I suppose you could have. It’s just…” Her thighs together as the warmth concentrated in her core. ”I should have better control, and more respect for others than to let it happen,” she finished lamely.

Amy finally managed to pick up on Minako’s body language, and looked a little flustered at the situation. Although, she’d have been a liar if she’d said she minded all that much. It did make her wonder though, whether it was just part of her power, or had anything to do with Amy herself.

Normally she’d just let the girl be, but at this point Amy was curious. With a smile at Minako, she met her eyes again, although she’d extended the field this time to avoid a repeat performance. ”You know, I wouldn’t mind doing that again sometime.” she said, her voice ever-so-slightly lower than before. She intentionally left it a little open to interpretation, watching to see Minako’s reaction.

Minako swallowed hard and looked away, reddening further. She could guess what Amy was referring to by “that”. ”Amy… please… don’t go there. I can’t… do… that,” she said, her voicing clearly conveying her distress.

Eyes widening, Amy looked a little panicked. ”No, it’s cool. I get it, I’ll stop. That wasn’t fair. The field stays up,” she said, feeling sort of guilty. At the same time, though, she hadn’t expected such an intense reaction. If anything, she’d figured Minako would just get a little nervous or something. ”Power-free zone, okay?”

For a moment, Minako was silent, her expression deeply troubled as her fingers plucked at her skirt. ”Amy… promise me that you will never repeat what I am about to tell you.”

With a nod, Amy replied, her voice steady and expression sincere, ”I can keep a secret. Of course I promise.” Trying not to make things any more awkward, Amy spoke gently but didn’t say much more than she had to.

”You are… a very attractive girl, Amy. And it isn’t that I don’t want to use my powers. That is the entire point of my coming to Mayweather. It is just… I feel things that I shouldn’t, that I can’t.” Minako nervously looked at Amy. ”And if certain people, my family in particular, were to find out about it, it would make my life very… difficult.”

”Okay, so that’s the situation, huh?” Amy nodded to herself, pursing her lips. ”In that case, I won’t push anything. Promise.” After a few seconds of quiet, she pulled out her phone and glanced at the screen. ”We’ve been here a while, huh? Time flies.” she laughed, changing the subject with a slightly forced smile.

Sighing, Minako smiled gratefully. ”Thank you. I would actually like to talk about the tournament itself, unless there is somewhere you need to be?”

Giving Minako a more genuine smile, Amy just laughed lightly at the suggestion. ”Minako, am I ever busy? Go ahead.”

Once again taking her seat at the table, Minako gestured for Amy to join her. ”Right now, there are three things to address: the first two are knowledge and practice. It seems to me that our best chance of getting far in the tournament is knowing what the others can do, in terms of powers, general combat skills, and personality. Once we know that, then we can start figuring out potential weaknesses and advantages that we can use.” Taking back her laptop, Minako began setting up her own files. ”Because I’ve only arrived here recently, I don’t know very much about the other students participating, which was partially why I was hoping we could work together.”

Amy sat down, listening to Minako. ”I’m not the best person to ask. I try to avoid most of these people as much as possible, so I could only tell you about some of the more showy types.” she thought for a moment. ”Honestly, asking people will only get you so far. I don’t think there’s very many people in this school who know each other’s weaknesses unless they train together a ton.” she paused.

Minako nodded. ”I wasn’t expecting it to be easy, and I doubt that our competitors will be very forthcoming. But, weaknesses can be determined from strengths. No one is perfect. I already have an idea, but I’m open to anything you could suggest? This is as much for your benefit as mine.”

”Ideally, you want a source that you know is correct. Even if we get everyone to show off their powers in front of us, there’s no guarantee that we have any idea how they work. The only place I can think of would be the school database, but their security’s pretty much impossible to crack.” she laughed. ”Trust me, I’ve tried. If we could get a hold of their passwords or something, though, and find a computer where we can access the files, we’re golden. Thing is, I don’t think the two of us could pull that one off by ourselves.” she knew it wasn’t a perfect plan, but she didn’t have much else. ”What’s your idea?”

A sly smile crossed Minako’s face. ”You’re not wrong… perhaps my idea could help with that as well. I don’t know if she’ll help, but I was going to talk to Gianna, see what she knows. She’s been here longer than any of us, and she seems like the sociable type, so if anyone could have or get information, I suspect she would. And she might know someone who could get us into the database.” It will just be a matter of convincing her to help... she mused to herself.

Amy grinned. ”I guess if anyone knows, she’s probably a good place to start. Be careful she doesn’t rope you into anything, though. I’m not saying she will, but it’s always a possibility. As for me… I could ask around to try and find out more about the school’s security systems. I spend most of my time on my laptop anyway, so I can pass it off as just being curious.” she smiled, looking a little devious.

”Another avenue of inquiry is the arena itself. What it can do, how it works, what sort of things we might expect. Someone who’s good with technology could help with that too. Kayla might be able to help here, if her parents were involved in its creation.” Minako pursed her lips, her fingers tapping on the table. ”Anything else you can think of?”

Amy shook her head. ”Not much else until we get the information. Although, while we can, I say we try and get as many people on our side as possible. The more people want us to win, the more likely they are to watch our backs, or turn a blind eye to what we’re doing.”

Minako nodded. ”True. Gianna might help with that as well. We’ll see. It won’t be the first time I’ve negotiated with people.” Her eyes flicked to Amy. ”The second thing is practice. Have you taken any sort of self-defense or combat classes?”

With a small sigh, Amy replied. ”No, not unarmed. If I get a weapon, though, I’m able to use it properly. It’s a minor power, but I’m able to use any kind of tool at a high level. Hand-to-hand? I never really had a reason to learn. You?”

”I’ve taken martial arts classes since I was little, and I have some training in firearms. My father believes that an individual is their own last line of defense, and so should be able to protect themselves, not just to rely on others to do so.” Minako opened another file on her laptop. ”I suspect it will be a similar case with Kayla and Eliana. We should set up a time, outside of classes, where we can train with each other, both with and without powers. What we can do is all well and good, but we should give ourselves as many advantages as possible.”

Nodding, Amy agreed. ”You’re right. There’s no point doing all this preparation if we can’t fight properly when we have to. Besides, I have been slacking a bit. What sort of time suits you, then? Mornings? Evenings?”

”I do a basic routine in the morning, I’d be happy to teach all of you. What about you?”

”Depends how early you mean by mornings. As long as I get a decent sleep, that’s fine by me. It’s probably the best time if we don’t want people to watch us train, though. More people tend to practise after class, from what I can tell.”

”Then that works perfectly. I’ll see what Kayla and Eliana can do.” Minako sighed, her expression growing heavy. ”Which brings us to the third thing.”

”Third thing? What would that be, exactly?” Amy asked, her feet unconsciously tapping against the floor in nervousness.

Looking at her friend forlornly, Minako took a deep breath. ”There is a very good chance, almost guaranteed I would say, that at some point we will have to fight each other. Even if all goes well, and we all make it through the initial rounds, there is only one person who can be the final winner.”

”Oh. Yeah, that. You’re right, only one person wins, but what are we discussing about this exactly? I’m lost.” she said, with a puzzled look at Minako. ”Don’t get me wrong, it sucks, but those are the rules.”

Minako nodded. ”I know. I just want to make certain that, if we are forced to fight one another, that we will still be friends afterwards.” She smiled coyly. ”And to let you know that, I will not be holding anything back. Anything less would be an insult.”

Amy laughed. ”I agree completely. What happens in the arena stays there. We wouldn’t want there to be any hard feelings once I’m champion, after all.” she teased, smiling brightly. ”I won’t be holding back either, there’s no need to worry about that.”

Smiling almost kindly, Minako reached across the table and took Amy’s hands in her own. ”Oh, Amy. Don’t worry.” She patted her hands. ”We’ll cure you of your delusions eventually. One way or another, I always get what I want.” Eyes shining happily as she grinned, Minako sat back in her chair. ”Truthfully, I’m not concerned about who wins the tournament, as long as that brat Sylvia Vargas loses.” Her expression soured slightly.

”Eventually isn’t very specific, you know. Besides, I prefer to think of it as youthful optimism, thank you very much.” her eyes narrowed slightly as she continued. ”As for her, I think we can make sure she goes out. If she even makes it to the final eight in the first place. She strikes me as the kind of stroppy little princess that’s never had anyone stand up to her. I doubt someone like that could beat either of us in a fight.”

”It is more than that.” Minako’s expression became very severe and cold. ”You heard what she said when she arrived. It is unacceptable for someone to speak to a teacher in such a manner. Furthermore, I will not allow insults like that to my family to go unanswered. I have no interest in her outside of the tournament, she’s not worth the energy spent. But I will relish the chance to demonstrate to her what happens when you cross someone who actually works towards their goals. I’m not picky about who does it, as long as it happens.”

Thinking back to the events of the morning, Amy listened to Minako’s tirade, before raising her hand slightly to point something out. ”Correct me if I’m wrong, Minako, but she never said anything about your family. Or you, for that matter.” Amy figured that she was just remembering things wrong, but was still understandably confused. It was pretty fresh in her mind, after all.

Minako took a deep breath. Sylvia was not worth getting so worked up over. ”Amy, what do you define “family” to be?”

”I don’t know. Just like, my mum and dad and everyone, I guess. Why?” Amy honestly never really thought about it. She wasn’t sure what Minako was getting at, to be honest.

”Most people, I think would have the same answer as you. I think that family should be the people you can trust, who will stay by your side no matter what happens. I can’t choose who I am related to, but I can choose who my friends are. I do not see a meaningful distinction.”

”I see. What you were saying makes more sense now, I guess. I don’t completely get it, but I see where you’re coming from. I think. I get why you’re so angry about what she said, anyway, if that’s how you see things. We can make sure she doesn’t win, anyway.”

Smiling widely, Minako moved to stand beside Amy. ”That does include you, Amy. If there is anything you need, simply ask, and you have my word that I will do my best to help you.”

”Likewise. I think I’ll get going, though. See you later, Minako.”

The two girls hugged good-bye, and as Amy left Minako let out a breath while she sat down. One down, two to go.

Ananya remembered it all: the fever, the pain, the hallucinations. Everything. Granted, she was only about eight when it had happened to her, but no one forgets that sort of pain so easily. It had taken over every fibre of her being, and lasted for much longer than it should've. The amount of times she'd accidentally shifted to her Nag state in midst of her pain was much more than she'd shifted her entire life. Her skin burned and froze all at the same time, and it was the sort of agony Ananya would never wish on her enemies.

Well maybe some, but what was besides the point.

Adarsh for the past week and a half had been writhing on his bed in cold sweat. Ananya remembered the weeks following up to it. The signs, the symptoms, and she recognised it in Adarsh — it was finally time for his Sabhya. But unlike her Sabhya where she had an experienced Nag guide her through the ordeal, Adarsh was all alone except for a just as clueless sister and human father. Ananya, as soon as she realised, decided to stay back. There was no way the young nagin could leave her brother in pain while she enjoyed her time at Mayweather. What sort of sister would that make her?

Instead, she tried helping Adarsh the same way their mother had helped her many moons ago. It wasn't as effective, Ananya knew that very well. But what could the young Nag do? She couldn't see him suffer, Adarsh was her little baby brother. At some points during the week she found herself even wishing that her brother wasn't a nag just so he wouldn't have to deal with the pain.

So he could be a normal teenager. But what would wishing do? Adarsh was now on the way to being considered a naga and Ananya could feel the swell of pride in her amidst the concern for her younger brother. The Sabhya only happened once, and once the pain was done, Adarsh would feel great.


Maybe unnecessarily long Sabhyas came with being a Sharma. Ananya didn't know whether this was true; maybe she and her brother were just anomalies compared to the rest of the Nags, or maybe each Nag suffered through over two weeks worth of pain as part of their nature as a magical snake-human hybrid. Her mother never told her how long her Sabhya had lasted for, so this was all based on Ananya's assumption.

"Arey, jaldi karo na! Daard ho raha hai, dídi!"

Her brother was curled up into a ball in his bed, blankets tossed off the side of the bed with sweat covering his dark skin as he shivered. Ananya nodded, taking the scrunched up towel and dipping it into the herbal mix for the x-th time that evening. Wringing out the excess - and wincing at the strong smell of disinfectant mixed in with the other ingredients - Ananya pressed the cold, damp towel against his side. Adarsh sighed as the coolness numbed his aching side, momentarily making him forget about the pain.

"Mani jaldi ara ha hai. Fikar mat karo."

"Fikar mai kaise mat karo? You didn't warn me it would hurt this bad when you told me it was time for my Sabhya."

Adarsh's shaky voice was accusatory, and all Ananya could do was wince. Maybe she did leave out that one crucial part when she sat Adarsh down almost a month ago to explain what was going to happen to him. To be fair, the young nagin didn't want to scare Adarsh, even if he was a (self-proclaimed) strong boy man. Even Elliot was stood there, leaning against the door frame while (trying to) discreetly chew on his nails from the anxiety. There was little Ananya could do to comfort him when she herself could barely handle seeing her baby brother in so much pain.

"It'll all get better soon, it's almost out anyway. Give it another day."

Ananya rubbed Adarsh's thick hair softly, humming under her breath. It was a song their mother liked to sing, using the soft, gentle melody to lull the once tiny Nags to sleep back in India. The habit stuck, and Ananya would find herself humming - even singing along to it sometimes - along to the song whenever she needed that little extra comfort.


"So now what? You're leaving because of some tournament thing you originally weren't even supposed to be a part of?"

Adarsh's Sabhya had ended three days ago, and the teen was finally able to walk around the house without looking like a typical zombie from The Walking Dead series. Ananya pulled her suitcase from out of her father's car trunk, letting the heavy case slam onto the trolley carelessly as her brother stood beside her, covered up in three blankets and a fluffy ski hat (which Ananya was almost certain was actually hers). Elliot shut the car door, reaching over to his son to give him something to hold onto as Ananya just shrugged in response to his question. Ananya, dressed in a light pink suit, pulled out her phone from the tote bag she was carrying.

"It's not like I have much choice in the matter. I'll ask Mrs. Lovelace when I arrive whether it's absolutely necessary to participate, but to do that I have no choice but to go visit her in Mayweather."

Ananya noticed a little frown on Adarsh's face, and she let out a soft sigh. She dropped her tote on top of the suitcase before reaching forward to pull her younger brother into a gentle hug, careful not to press into his side and aggravate the still sore wound. "You'll be fine. I'm just a phone call away. And I'll visit whenever I can. Just say the word, okay?" Ananya assured him, Adarsh's arms curling around his short sister's body. Ananya and Adarsh let out a surprised squeak as their father joined in the hug, pulling the two children into his chest with his hands patting their head.

"Oh come on, I can take care of you too. I'm not that bad."

Both Ananya and Adarsh let out a snort, and the soft patting turned into a harsh tap. The snort turned into laughter between the three, the family bonding for a little while longer. Before long, Ananya pulled away from the hug, giving both her father and Adarsh a kiss to their cheeks before smiling and waving as she pushed the trolley with her suitcase towards the airport entrance.


Boy was Ananya exhausted. The young nagin was ready to just collapse into her bed and sleep for the next couple weeks. After doing all nighters for the past few weeks, with barely enough resting time in between because of Adarsh's Sabhya, it wasn't a surprise that as soon as Ananya took her seat on the plane, she was asleep immediately. Thankfully, it was a dreamless sleep and the girl was able to gather as much of her energy as she could before having to meet Mrs Lovelace about the mix-up. All Ananya had received was an email with little warning yesterday morning, and by that night she already had her plane tickets and suitcase packed, ready for the year ahead of her.

And when Ananya finally reached Mayweather, the girl found herself just a bit excited. Maybe this was finally the time for Ananya to test her abilities against the other heroic students of Mayweather despite the chances of her butt getting whooped was quite high. After hurrying along the now familiar corridors of Mayweather, she couldn't help but notice there was an abundance of faces she didn't recognise - not everybody could be a new freshman, right? Ananya made a note of it to ask Mrs Lovelace about it later, but as of for now, her priority was making it there without crashing into a body in the crowded hallway.

Finally arriving, Ananya stood outside the door, taking a deep breath before raising her fist to knock on the door in front of her, and when she heard the her beckoning her inside, Ananya slowly opened the door, peeking inside before fully stepping into Mrs Lovelace's office. "You wanted to see me?" Ananya asked. In the office, along with Mrs Lovelace were two other people, two she didn't recognise at all. She gave them a nervous smile, before hiding her hands behind her back so she could play with her fingers.

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Keats was not a busy man. He'd gone for a jog around the school to stretch his legs after the meeting, psyching himself up to get started with his training. Getting himself in the right place mentally, so he could kick some major ass when the time came. There wasn't any point practising his moves if his thoughts weren't ready to keep up with the fighting. So, maybe surprisingly, the first thing on Keats' training agenda was to get his thoughts in order. After his jog, he figured he'd just head to his room and relax.

Or at least, that was the plan before life got in the way. Always happened at this school. He'd noticed that someone was texting him while he was jogging, but didn't want to throw himself off by stopping. He was just getting back to the dorm building when he heard the intercom, the sound of his own name bringing him to a halt just in front of the doors. Looking at himself, Keats figured he wasn't really dressed for a meeting, but why bother changing? It wasn't like he cared about being respectful to the fucking wardens.

As far as Keats was concerned, Leon Fulton and the rest of his them were just self-important assholes on a power trip. He couldn't care less what they had to say to him, but decided not to push his luck in case someone whose opinion actually mattered decided to get in on whatever the meeting was about. Keats had a few ideas about why he and Luke were being called in, but he didn't want to go jumping to conclusions.

Speaking of Luke... He checked his phone, noting the two texts. The first one was kind of unexpected. He couldn't think of anything that Luke would need to talk to him about off the top of his head. The second one, now that he could get on board with. Nothing better than a night at Delirium to take your mind off everything. He replied as he was walking over to the warden's office.



He sent the text, pocketing his phone. Hopefully the talk wasn't about anything too heavy, but if it was then he wanted to get it over with before they headed out. Didn't want anything to be screwing up the mood. Besides, if they had the conversation there, it was completely possible that they wouldn't remember it the next morning. Keats didn't like repeating himself.

Deliberately taking his time about it, he made his way to the Campus Safety Building, carrying himself with his head held high. Whatever they confronted him with, Keats planned to own it. He always did, after all. Not like there was too much competition around here. If they were planning to come down on him hard, well, Keats was gonna take it with a smile.

Arriving in the lobby, Keats didn't bother ringing the bell. What did they expect him to do? 'Please Mr. Warden, could you let me come in and get a lecture?'

Nah, he could live without that. If they wanted him to listen, they'd have to respect him. Step one in respecting him meant not forcing him to prance about and treat them like staff. Keats didn't respect the Wardens, and if anything thought they were kind of pathetic. Talk about sucking up to authority. Not to mention, for all their 'enforcement of the rules' crap, it wasn't like they ever changed anything.

So instead of being civil about it, Keats slammed his fist down on the counter, making a much louder noise than the bell probably would. "You gonna talk to me, or just sit around with your heads up your asses like normal?" he growled once he'd gotten their attention. "This'd better be quick. I got better things to do than hang around here."

Once he'd made it quite clear to everyone present that he was there waiting for his meeting, Keats stalked over to the other side of the room, leaning against the wall and scowling at any Warden that came into his line of sight. Now that he was here, he just wanted to get it over with.

“Mr. Masterson. Take a seat.” Leon waved a hand to the seat that Gianna had recently vacated. The raven haired and strangely pale man was something of an anomaly to the Chief, someone that he rarely ever had to interact with, which was probably a good thing for Elijah. That meant that he was, at the very least, a civil person that security didn’t need to keep an eye on.

”You’re not one that I usually have to worry about, Elijah. Not like Lucas and Keats out there, anyway. I was extremely worried about this incident that happened between you and Gianna last week though, and that’s part of the reason you’re in my office right now.” Leon went back to the monitors behind him. The cameras only caught what was happening in the halls and other public areas, not what happened within the personal domains of the students or the bathrooms. Firing up the video that he had show Gia earlier, Leon watched it again with silent interest. Although the Warden now knew the reasoning behind Elijah’s actions, the scene was still a disturbing one to behold. Letting it sink in, he folded his hands on his desk and leaned in, staring eye to eye with the man on the other side of the desk. While he studied him, he realized that Elijah was blind, and he might not have even seen the video being played. A sudden dawning of guilt hit him. “Shit. I forgot you couldn’t see. I’m so sorry about that.”

Elijah rounded the chair and took his seat, folding his arms over. His back was straight, posture perfect as he listened to what the Chief Warden had to say, and watched as he turned around to play something for Elijah to ‘watch’. Sitting in complete silence, the pyromancer had to wonder just how long it was going to take for the other male to realize his lack of sight. When it did finally dawn on Leon, Elijah simply held up his hand, ”Just get to the point Warden, why am I here?” Elijah already knew why when Leon mentioned his incident with Gianna last week, but he might as well have his crimes read off to him.

Clearing his throat awkwardly, Leon sat up straight in his chair, tapping a small rhythm out with his finger while he pondered how to proceed. “Well, I was going to show you the video evidence, but…” Elijah’s lack of sight certainly threw a monkey wrench at that problem. ”Anyway, you’re here because of what could have been interpreted as sexual harassment or worse against Ms. Gianna Daniels. The video showed a crying Gianna coming out of the bathroom with you in tail. Not exactly footage that works in your favor. On top of that, it’s pretty certain that you destroyed some of the stalls in the women’s bathroom.” Leon gave his reasonings and wondered how this all seemed to the blind man. It seemed farfetched that a man that was seemingly as docile as Elijah could do this, but maybe he just didn’t know the guy.

Elijah tapped his finger against his arm as he listened to Leon patiently. He explained the crimes against him, and yes it was true that he did destroy the stalls in total anger, but the sexual harassment? It could be ‘interpreted’ Leon said, which means that when he spoke with Gianna, she didn’t use that interpretation against him. This was at least somewhat of a relief, but that did make him wonder what Gianna even said to the Warden. ”Yes, I was in the bathroom with Gianna, no it wasn’t sexual harassment, and how certain are you that it was me who destroyed the stalls, or are we simply making assumptions?” He kept his tone as neutral as always, consistent and serious.

”Ms. Daniels informed me of your… crush… on her. She said that you asked her out while she was in there. Not exactly romantic, if you ask me.” Leon started. Why Elijah even entered the women’s bathroom was beyond him, though with him being blind and all, the Chief chalked it up to him simply not knowing where he was. The scene probably played out that he was in the bathroom, heard Gianna come in, and then he realized he wasn’t in the right restroom. However, since she was already in there and they were alone, Leon presumed that Elijah just went ahead and asked her out then and there. It seemed like the logical turn of events, anyway. “Unfortunately, it sounds like she denied your advances. And look, I get it. Getting rejected sucks. I can only imagine what you must have been feeling. So I think it’s extremely likely you took out your frustrations on the stalls.” There was sympathy in Leon’s voice, trying to understand everything that went on.

”Is that what she told you?” A slight tinge of annoyance in his tone. Though she didn’t exactly blow the sexual harassment out of the water, this wasn’t exactly the ideal lie that he wanted to hear. This being said, he played along with Gia’s game. Sighing deeply, he let emotion seep into his voice to play the actor’s role, ”Yes, it’s true. I’ve pined for Gianna ever since I met her and her boyfriend years ago. I’ve only heard stories of her beauty, but I’ve ‘seen’ more than that in her. I can’t deny that I felt jealousy for my friend Vincent for being with her, but I held back and ever since he passed on...I waited, but I just couldn’t any longer. I found an opportunity, I took a chance, I was rejected, her love for him is still strong and even though he’s gone, she couldn’t see herself being with me.” He laid it on, not too thick, but convincing enough that if Gia could get away with such a lie, then he could follow suit. ”I’d never lay a hand on Gianna, but as for the stalls, no, they did not see my wrath. Again, it sounds like you’re making assumptions.” His tone fell back to neutral.

”Look, let’s forget about the stalls. At worst, I’ll say it was a crime of passion. You’re not going to get punished for it regardless, unless the Headmasters really want to. I don’t really get to decide what happens to who anyway, although I can strongly suggest a course of action to them.” he explained to the blind man. Leon understood how he felt, and he was certainly glad Elijah had opened up to him about this. ”Think of me as both a counselor and a security guard. I’m here to talk to people about what they’ve done wrong, or otherwise, and to understand what’s happened. Essentially, I resolve all manner of issues, while the Headmasters deal out the real punishments. I have a little authority, but not much.” The Wardens had always been seen as sort of the campus police, and it was kind of true but perhaps people thought they had more authority than they actually did. They were basically the Headmasters’ bitches and glorified interns to the real security officers.

”Anyway, the only thing I want to do with you is give you an exercise in… dealing with the ladies. Man to man. I don’t want another repeat of this whole ‘let’s ask them out in the bathroom’ scenario. That’s bad form.” Leon went on, getting to this man’s “punishment” as per Gianna’s request. ”So… I think the best way to do this is with a little bit of roleplaying. I’m going to pretend that I’m a girl of your liking. Don’t think too hard about this, just do what comes naturally to you.” This was going to be an awkward experience, to say the least, but he was going to do whatever it took to get Elijah straight on what was proper and what was not when it came to asking girls out.

He listened to everything the man said involving the Warden’s authority and how they dished out punishments, or rather the headmasters dished out punishments. He was silent the whole way through, that is until Leon decided to bring up his idea on roleplaying and asking girls out on ‘dates’. He sat there, still silent, processing what had just been said to this. He simply stated, ”You can’t be serious…” As far as Elijah was concerned, based on everything Leon had said, he was free to leave, why he decided to go the extra mile was beyond him. ”You’ve listed my crimes, you aren’t going to punish me for them, I believe our business is concluded.” Elijah went to stand up and head for the door.

”Wait. You’ve got an appointment with the Headmasters tomorrow at 8am, if they decide to go forth with any punishments. If not, you’ll receive an email. You’ll more than likely receive an email though.” he called out to the leaving man. He wasn’t going to stop Elijah from leaving, and internally he was glad he didn’t have to act. Otherwise, he might have given a god awful caricature of a woman. “But seriously, come to me if you have girl issues.” he added.

He paused at the door turning to face Leon again, pausing slightly, ”I think I’ll live without your tutelage, thanks.” Then he exited, closing the door behind him. Walking out into the lobby area he ended up finding both Lucas and Keats waiting. ”I believe you two are next…”

Cara entered the room to the Mrs. Lovelace's office, not exactly sure what to expect from the professor. Maybe some tights, certainly a cape. She was afterall, a superhero. Why couldn't the villain academy just not burn down. It would have made everything so much easier. Instead, Cara was rather disappointed by a normal office with a boring lady sitting in a chair. Throwing herself into one of the chairs across from Mrs. Lovelace, she threw a leg over the side and waited for the meeting to begin.

Glancing around at the other members of the room she noticed a super rasta reggae man, and an uptight indian woman. Immediately Cara was inclined towards the reggae dude. Besides the fact that he seemed super chill, he probably had some good weed seeing as he looked baked even now. Still Cara didn't say a word. Uncharacteristically for her sure, but she was a woman on a mission. She didn't intend to stay long, she had places to be, people to kill. It wasn't until a man, or maybe a woman she couldn't really tell at first, popped into the room that Cara really sat up to pay attention.

Holy shit. She stared at him openly for a solid minute. Was he a... like her? A large grin started to spread across her face, as she realized the new entry to the room was a teleporter. Giggling, she clasped her hands together, "I like this guy!" Bouncing closer to the edge of her seat she eagerly looked on, waiting to hear what he would say next.

Mrs. Lovelace, or Cecilia, and Mr. Cringe continued to banter back and forth, leaving Cara speechless. Who was this guy? In a way he was like her. In the crazy way, he certainly didn't get her good looks, but he was on a whole nother level. Just minutes into the room she could already feel the tension he brought up with Cecilia.

Cara was gazing so intently at Mr. Cringe that she almost missed Cecilia switching the conversation to her. Snapping her, somehow gaping, jaw shut she turned and tried to pay attention. The tournament sounded promising. She wasn't concerned with passing some stupid 'SCAR' screening. But... the darker side of Cara twisted and shouted from her stomach. Eli was still out there and growing stronger. Trying to shake her head of the thoughts she reasoned he could wait a few more months. It had after all, been years since they'd seen each other. Somedays it made her feel like giving up. Usually beating up someone fixed that feeling though.

While Cara was deep in her thoughts she didn't realize the rest of the meeting pass by. Blinking at the sound of her name, Cara stood up, cover gone for a moment. Quickly reinstating her facade, Cara grinned like the devil and flashed out of the room back into the hall. Time to find her room, meet her roommate. Put the fear of Cara into her. Or maybe meet that Leon, he sounded like villain. Maybe he turned into a blood-thirsty lion, that would be sooooo cool. Clapping her hands she proceeded to skip down the hallway merrily.

What does it mean to be a friend? A best friend? A lover? Mitch sat on the half wall of Mayweather Old West's roof. He stared down at the students on campus walking around and enjoying their days. His expression was withdrawn as he held onto his phone in worried anticipation. After the dance committee meeting, he made sure he ditched Samantha to find Milo, wherever he may be. His boyfriend decided to return late from vacation and his texts have been little to few. Surprisingly, Mitch recieved more contact from Eliana than Milo during this long week. Ever since his kind Asian went back home, he's been acting different.

There was something he wasn't telling him and it annoyed Mitch to no end. Even when he caught the innocent boy carrying a small duffel bag and saying goodbye to his parents by his dorm, there was something... different with the way he held himself. He smiled, but it was weak, he waved, but it was half-assed, and he stared, but it only lasted seconds. All Mitch was able to get out of him was, "I'll see you tonight!" before he was off and out of his grasp. Their embrace felt like he was miles away, as if Mitch was stranded on an island while Milo sailed away on the vast azure sea to a destination unknown. The Headmaster's son wasn't an idiot. If anything, Milo was probably thinking they would never work and that it was time to break things off. They hadn't even been dating for more than a week and he was already doubting him! That's how these things went. He was fully prepared to be left alone tonight with a dinner for two. He was a guy with commitment issues yet he felt like he was the one whooped. Feeling his phone vibrate, Mitch glanced down and saw an urgent text from Lucas. I wonder if he knows

As of lately, Mitch didn't understand his actions. There were just some things he needed to protect and he felt obligated to take risks that were beyond him. It didn't help that he felt like a gun was being pointed to his head. Regardless of where he stood, he needed to keep on persevering. If that meant he had to turn friends into enemies, then so be it. Walking to the stump, without texting Lucas back, he mentally prepared himself to put on his facade. The sound of leaves crunching could be heard in the forest. Focus, time, and skill were necessities when it came to fooling others as well as he did. If anyone could tell he was slightly off, it would be Eliana. She's known him since he was a grade schooler, which meant she has seen most of his faces. His main one being the son of Headmaster Danford, who has no worries! Someone who laughs at the face of death and plays childish games with his classmates. Yeah, that's the Mitch people knew and loved.

Getting to their spot first, he helped himself to some liquor and prepared Lucas with his own bottle. Dropping to the ground, he leaned against the stomp and stared at the falling leaves from the nearby trees and the gentle breeze cooly moving the branches. Autumn was nice, until everything died. Whatever Lucas wanted to talk about, Mitch was expecting the worst. How did he feel? He didn't know... perhaps exhausted, but that wasn't going to stop him from smiling. Who knows? Maybe Lucas needed someone to confide in but... he doubted that. When was the last time they did this? It's been awhile. Mitch has been so focused on pursuing Milo that he may have neglected his friendship with someone he considers a brother. Well, that same man tormented the kid he adored and he felt stuck in this odd situation where he ended up doing absolutely nothing.

You're just a coward. He thought to himself, while taking a long gulp of bitter alcohol. The bottle was held with a tight grip, as he waited.

Lucas was getting more and more mentally exhausted with every step. On his way towards his friend, he started to realize more and more that the conversation could take an ugly turn. He didn’t want more stuff to be piled on him. Not today. But the prospect of losing a valued friend did make him afraid. It kept gnawing at him. Whatever he’d learn, he wouldn’t like it. Eventually, the tree stump came in his field of view. With Mitch already sitting against it, sipping on a bottle. He got closer, opened his mouth, and then realized that talking wasn’t the first thing he wanted. Drinking was. He just grabbed the bottle and took two big gulps. Before collapsing on the ground and shuffling his ass against a nearby tree. Looking at Mitch. There was a certain doneness in his eyes. No frustration, or anger, or hate. Just being done and tired. He kept quiet for a long time. First trying to find the right words, then realizing there were no right words and finally just gathering the courage to get this very painfully conversation started. Just to add a bit to it, he took another sip and opened his mouth. Only to realize he still didn’t know what to say. He let out a deep sigh and put his head against the trunk, looking straight up at the leaves. No, he couldn’t start the conversation this way. “It’s been a long time since we last did this, you know?” Even in his tone, there was a certain toxic mixture of melancholy and nostalgia. The good old times felt so much better.

Tapping his nail on the bottle, Mitch nodded, "Yeah, I know." He felt it in the air. The creeping questions waiting to be unleashed, the weariness that emitted from the both of them, and the evident distance between the two, who use to spend nearly every day wrecking havoc together on campus. Distance could either make a bond stronger, or cause it to dwindle, along with the feelings they once shared. Lucas had his own worries now, may it be assisting Gianna in this trivial war or driving Eliana insane, but most importantly, growing stronger as a villain. Mitch was no exception. His concerns were kept locked up, though. There were some things better left unsaid.

After taking another sip of the burning liquid, he chuckled (obviously trying to make light of their situation but still pushing the conversation toward its inevitable fate), "You've been a busy man, Lucas." Turning his head to look at his old comrade, observing his tired eyes, his physique that just wanted to give out, "Is it worth it?" he kept things ambiguous in hopes that Lucas would come to his own conclusions of what Mitch wanted to hear.

Was it? Was it all really worth it? Back on Delphina, the real Delphina, him, Mitch, Gianna and the whole gang were on the top of the food chain. They could do everything and if they were smart enough, got away with it too. When they got caught, the punishments were often lenient. And then someone took vengeance and the ball went rolling again. To Lucas, that was a fun game. Because that’s all what it was. A game. Now it no longer felt like a game. It no longer felt like it was fun. “No. No, it’s not worth it.” He took another sip. The fighting, the bullshit he had to stick up with, the emotions and the straight up drain on his energy. It was all getting so much. “But… I guess it’s an investment. An investment of time. Now it’s not worth it, maybe in a month or two I’ll look back and think it was. Or I don’t, and then I’ve wasted half a year.” The prospect was less than amusing.

Finally, he had drank enough to feel his talk-muscles relax. “So… Why didn’t you tell me? About you and Lovelace?” he didn’t have the energy to be mad. He didn’t have the energy to sound sad. He just sounded inquiring. As if he was asking how Mitch’s bike was or something. It came over casual, but deep inside Lucas felt his heart screaming in the incomprehensible language of feelings.

To Mitch's surprise, Lucas brought up Eliana and not his Delphina Times' post. His eyebrows perked, as he glanced over at his friend and thought: I wonder who told him. He had a feeling it was a villain, who was playing his own game in this war. It was always a villain. Someone who could easily see what happens, from the shadows... his stomach curled with the thought of a certain someone, but deep down, he doubted it was that person. There was someone else, but thinking of who the perpetrator was felt useless right now. Before he answered, he made sure he had another good gulp of alcohol. Letting the buzz fill his mind, he hinted at his disapproval of Lucas' feud with his childhood friend, "No offense, Luke, but going up to you and being like 'Hey! I've known this girl for ages!' isn't as easy as it seems, especially since you and her got a lot of... tension." Mitch never was one who liked confrontations. His fighting style would be similiar to Gianna's but perhaps a bit more subtle since many people trusted him. Gianna's goals were obvious, especially to those she cared about. While Mitch seemed to do things for a good laugh or to cause shit to hit the fan, like when he made Sam gain anger for Gianna at the party - causing her to full on attack her (or try, at least). Granted, Sam made it hell of an easy task to mind control her. She was probably one of the easier people to manipulate because of how self absorbed she can be. Mitch came across as a villain who made messes for the sake of messes. "I can't pick sides, not when it comes to you two."

There was only truth in his words, he cared about both of them. Eliana knows way more about him than he'd like and he helped her through some rough times, while Lucas was someone he connected well with and for the most part, they understood each other. Or at least, they did. Things change. People change. Perhaps Mitch wasn't as great of a friend as he use to be. After all, he did use both of them on the Delphina Times possibly slandering Lucas' reputation, more so than Eliana's (since all he used for her was her family and her name). Mitch could use the excuse that: I did it for Milo. Stop bullying him. But that wasn't the case. If Mitch wanted to stop Lucas from bullying, he would use other methods (mind controller, hello!). Unfortunately, Lucas was as stubborn as they came, so telling him that he had doting affection for a kid that Luke loved to beat up was out of the question. Cross-school relationships were already frowned upon. Add homosexuality and close connection to BOTH his friends (Eliana and Lucas) that was just... bad. Does this mean Mitch didn't care about Milo enough to protect him or...? God, I don't even know myself. He knew as long as Eliana was alive, she would jump in front of Lucas' attacks aimed toward the innocent Asian. Whether she was too late or on time was a different story. If Mitch did the same, Lucas would probably cut him out of his life in an instant. The situation was complicated and his actions have been all over the place ever since the fire...

“I’m not asking you to take a side. I’d be kind of an asshole friend if I did? Wouldn’t I?” Lucas seemed calm, but inside so much was raging like a fire. One he desperately tried to extinguish. Even now he took another sip. Feeling his mind and cares seep out of him. He looked at the bottle. Fuck. At this rate, I’ll end up with alcoholism. His gaze lingered far too long on the amber substance in the bottle. “I could say a lot, you know? I could tell you she’s a bitch who… No. I hate her. God I hate her so much.” He dropped the amber filter and looked at Mitch directly. “I haven’t felt such a burning feeling since…” Amandine. He tried to swallow the thought. But recently the name alone felt like rubbing salt in a raw, half-healed wound. A painful reminder of a past he had forgotten for over 2 years. But what he felt for her. Their passion, their fire. They were the couple everyone envied and everyone hated. Amandine had this strange desire to constantly prove that her relationship was better than that of her friends. So she showed her affection for Lucas whenever she could. And Lucas was glad to return in kind. It felt as if it was the only comparison that could hold its ground with the pure hatred he felt for Eliana. Everything else he ever felt just paled with it.

“I’m not asking you to choose sides. I just wished… I just wished you told me. I just wished that you trusted me enough to tell me.” He felt a strange weight getting lifted from his heart, but simultaneously he felt an intense wave of sadness going over him. He heard his words and knew they were the right ones. But he couldn’t help but feel as if he was looking at their bridge with a match in his hands. He didn’t want to lose Mitch but at the same time, he knew he would never be able to stop going after Eliana.

The sadness of his friend did reach Mitch. Their conversation was turning out a lot heavier than he expected, but... Mitch was curious about some things himself. If Lucas had asked if he knew Eliana, he wouldn't have lied, it just never came up in conversation. They both have been busy with their own matters and Mitch wasn't going to bring something up that made his friend this angry, "Can I ask you something?" He placed his bottle down on the grass and clasped his hands together, resting them on his knees. "Why...why do you hate her so much? Is it because she's the one girl who doesn't put up with your shit, or is there more behind it?" As much as he wanted to understand his friend, when it came to Eliana, he couldn't. She was such a genuine girl (even if she didn't believe that herself) and he felt sorry for her. The cards that were dealt to her in her life were pretty terrible and yet she still finds a reason to walk around and continue about her business. She still finds reasons to live. "I'll tell you a bit about us, if you just answer that for me. I'm not one to give empty sorries. It's a bit too late for that, don't you think? So, I'll give you what you want. You want to know more about her, yes?"

Lucas wanted to take another sip. In fact, he hated the question so much that the glass nearly touched his lips. But he pulled it back when he realized that he had absolutely no right answer for the question. In fact, he didn’t have a wrong one either. Sure, he disliked going up against him. But she definitely wasn’t the first one. The fact that she managed to drop him once sure made her unique in a strange way. But even then, Mitch’s question did make him realize how trivial the annoyance of that felt compared to this unreasonable hatred. Again, only one thought came to his mind: Amandine. And the unreasonable affection they had for one another. The unexplainable attraction they had. Like magnets they just pulled towards another. Even on their first-day meeting, that was clear. But now it was on a whole opposite spectrum. He hated Eliana and couldn’t stop it. With every thought, he felt more and more defeated.

He didn’t really have to answer. The diary was still comfortably in his fake ceiling. Ready to be scanned and digitalized so he’d have a copy forever. Whatever he wanted to know about Eliana was in there. He only had to open it up. But looking at Mitch, he knew that was unfair. Was it to prove himself to his friend? Or to make a statement. Lucas didn’t know. But still, he decided to answer. Because he trusted Mitch: “I don’t know. Really, I don’t know why I hate her. She’s not the first to go up against me like that. She’ll definitely won’t be the last and…. It’s not like a bit of resistance should be a big thing. But… I-I don’t know.” Why was his mind continuing to compare Amandine and Eliana? He couldn’t stop thinking about the sheer inability to understand either situation. “I haven’t felt this way… ever… before.” He stammered. Hoping to sound convincing while anyone who knew Lucas knew it wasn’t. It was a lie to hide the truth. To repress the memories and scars. He took a deep breath. Enough with the question. He wouldn’t let it burn him up even more, so he decided to put the ball back in Mitch’s yard: “Your turn. Tell me whatever I should know.”

Mitch didn't inquire further. It was evident that this topic made Lucas struggle. Love and hate, what was the difference? Mitch didn't understand his infactuation for Milo, but he knew he cared about the kid, a lot. Love and hate were on the same coin, just a different side. Sometimes there was no need for an explanation. All one can say when it came to these extreme emotions is they couldn't stop. They couldn't stop thinking about this one person. "I've known Ellie since she was... six, I think. First grade. When you're that young, you're too innocent to gain ill feelings towards someone. I mean, sure, you can bully a kid, but the reasoning is simple. If someone asked a kid why they hated someone so much, they'd say: I just do. She stole my crayons. Kids are simple." Stretching his legs out, Mitch grabbed his drink and took a light sip before continuing, "You know, if her father didn't decide to raise his children in New York and I didn't get the chance to meet Eliana until now, I would probably be more of her nemesis than you. Two people that fuck with people's minds? Yeah, a recipe for disaster. Plus, it doesn't help that she and I always had a competitive relationship when it came to grades and gaining more influence over teachers." Twirling the bottle in his hand, he sighed, "And yet, I can't hate her like you do. I know too much. I've seen too much to hate her."

Lucas could only nod, and whisper to himself: “The butterfly effect.” The literal explanation was that a single gust from a butterfly’s wings could start a hurricane. Under the exact right conditions. Lucas sometimes thought about it in a different way, and so did many others. It was the idea that a single, small decision has an incredible effect on someone. A single threat from a parent could make a friendship that would last a lifetime happen. A single leap of faith could have forged the strongest bonds in existence. He often thought about it when a series of decisions had to pass for something to happen. If he wasn’t friends with Jef he would have never heard of his story. If Jef wouldn’t have gone to the party, Lucas wouldn’t have heard of it. If he didn’t feel to roofie a drink, nothing would have happened. If he hadn’t chosen Jenna, Lucas wouldn’t have heard a thing about it. Finally, if he hadn’t stumbled upon Eliana that faithful night, their entire war wouldn’t have begun. Yet it all came together in an event that had a chance of 1% or less to happen. But here he was.

“Her powers unleashed. The kid that got sent to the hospital for a week. Is that why you can’t hate her?” Lucas asked, not reallythinking about it. Only to realize seconds later that the only way he could have known that was through Brenna or the diary. And Brenna wasn’t often in the mood to tell about her past. Did Mitch know about the diary? Lucas definitely hoped not.

"Are you talking about her middle school or grade school incident?" Mitch had no idea how much Lucas knew of Eliana's past, but somehow he found out more than most would have cared to know.

Grade school? The same thing happened in middle school!? It would seem as if Brenna still kept some secrets to her. He couldn’t blame her, it was Brenna. But the idea that most of his close friends seemingly didn’t trust him began to irk him. With a sigh he answered: “Middle school.” The diary would have to be read again.

Silence surrounded them for a moment, as if Mitch was contemplating how to talk about Eliana's past. Was it even his place to tell her nemisis these things? It wasn't that he didn't trust Lucas... these things were just... kind of heavy. "To understand what happened in middle school, you need to know her as a child." He felt a sinking feeling with the thought of what he knew. He had to finish his bottle of alcohol and open up another one just to talk about this. "A power like her's comes with a price. Not everyone has it as easy... some powers are fucking scary." His gaze started drifting from the present, getting lost in the past as he thought about all those moments he found Eliana on the verge of tears. How many times did he find her hiding from people... or from herself? "I don't know if this is my place to tell you but Eliana suffers from what doctors call parasomnia or nightmare disorder. Now add girls pulling her hair down a hall, breaking some of her most treasured gifts from her father, grabbing her drink and pouring it on top of her..." He dropped his bottle and covered his face, "Fuck. I'm such a terrible friend." The guilt inside of him was building up (not only from this but from what he had done to Lucas on the Delphina Times), he couldn't do anything for her besides hug and tell her everything was going to be okay. Why didn't he do anything for her? "I could have calmed her down. I could have stopped her from making a bunch of girls transfer... and Lyla, oh god. Lyla tried to help her."

Under normal circumstances, Lucas may actually have told Mitch to go easy on the booze. But considering the subjects, he felt as if the stump may not hold enough alcohol to keep them both running. The very air began to feel loaded and thick. When Mitch told him about the bullying Eliana went through, Lucas couldn’t help but feel a stab. He did those things. He was the person who made sure those things happened to the right people. He tried to defend himself in his mind, and it worked to a point. He didn’t bully just to bully. He bullied to stay high up. To be the best. To be the strongest. That was what he and Amandine were. The best. In everything. The sweetest couple, the strongest fighters and the greatest people to have ever walked the school. You don’t stay that way by just being nice. But, as much as he defended himself, there were points where he made mistakes. Eliana only defended her sister and her friends. She never threatened to kick him off his throne.

Mitch started out telling it comprehensible enough. But soon descended into just vague sentences and names. “Mitch. Mitch! Don’t go what if on me, okay? Whatever happened… Whatever happened to this Lyla, it’s not your fault. Okay?” His friend was getting more and more distraught. Lucas didn’t know how Mitch saw him now, after all the stuff that happened and after all he did to Eliana. But in Lucas’ book Mitch was still a friend. And friends supported each other.

Pulling himself back to reality, he locked his dark gaze with Lucas. What Lucas did to Eliana wasn't nearly as bad as what she did to herself. She was her own worst enemy. "Yeah I know." was all he could let out before deciding if he should continue or not. The point of this conversation was to lead to the middle school incident, not talk about how Eliana was possibly the main reason why Lyla turned into what she is known for today: The Oracle. She has no idea what her powers have done. He wasn't even sure if it was entirely her fault that Lyla was never the same after that day. "Sorry... I had a moment." Picking the bottle back up and brushing the dirt off of it, Mitch sighed, "I don't know much about the middle school incident besides the kid's name and what he did. We were in different classes and I started hanging out with guys like you." He didn't mean that last part to come off as offensive, it just meant he started connecting more with the 'tough' guys. He didn't know how he should feel with Lucas bullying Eliana on a daily basis, but over the years, Eliana has gotten stronger. Mitch knew she could take care of herself. She always has.

Shrugging at the thought that him and Eliana were two different types of people (a jock and a nerd), he started to swirl the liquid inside the bottle while staring deep into the hole, "River McCoy. Everyone knew he was into Ellie, maybe besides Ellie herself. You know how she is, too busy reading books to notice her surroundings. I never thought he'd be the type to actually try... to have his way with her. If I'm not mistaken, there was this girl that helped her out. I can't remember her name for the life of me." Middle school was when Eliana and Mitch started drifting apart, sure they were childhood friends, but they didn't need to spend every waking moment with each other. Both of them had their own problems to worry about. "Just know, after River was hospitlized for a week, he never came back to school. Actually, I'm pretty sure he went missing. That's as far as I know."

Lucas couldn’t help to think about the Oracle. The girl Eliana had screwed over too. It would seem that the little nerdy girl made quite a few casualties. But one always had to pose the question: was this because of herself, her surroundings or her own power? Or the toxic mixture of all three. He looked at his own fists, observing the small scars. For the longest time, his mother had trained him to use the Solar Force. The pure kinetic and harmless radioactive energy in the form of light was a well-known phenomenon to Lucas. He knew its limits, its abilities and just how far he could push it. For a moment he tried to understand Eliana. To not have a grasp on your own power. How could he imagine such a thing? He had always been in control. Actual control. Not the fearful suppression so many thought they could call control. He actually understood his powers.

Or did he? Ever since she had dropped him in that hallway, he wasn’t so sure. The Darkstar was something different altogether. Apparently sentient, or so he thought. Little documentation exists of the superpower. It all came down to one thing: it was notoriously unpredictable. Was that how Eliana felt? As if her powers were unpredictable? Or did she just assume they were inherently evil and had to be tamed? So many people had so many philosophies behind super powers.

Wait, why was he wondering what Eliana felt? He shook it from his thoughts and looked up at Mitch, taking a very small sip of a liquid that for some reason didn’t taste as good anymore. “You’re not the first one to tell me such a story.” He said calmly. “I’ve heard one before. Actually, I heard two different people tell me just how dangerous she is.” He looked at the ground. “I’m… I wish I could stop… You know. But I can’t. Like, even now I thought about taking a step back from her. When even you tell me something’s dangerous, I know I should back off. But I can’t… Fucking hell, why can’t I?” the last parts he murmured more to himself than said it to Mitch.

Mitch couldn't answer that for him. Whether it was to prove something to himself or because he enjoyed the attention he got from her, that was something Lucas had to figure out. This conversation did make Mitch realize what he needed to do. He didn't want to pick sides but as long as those two kept their feud, he needed to take a step back. There were things he needed to take care of that he didn't want either of them to be involved in. He had given Lucas what he wanted and with that he needed to close the curtain.

Standing up, leaving his bottle on the floor, he made his way to Lucas and offered his hand, "She probably doesn't understand why she hates you either." He gave his friend a genuine smile and then sighed, "I think you both know what I need to do." He knew this would hurt both Lucas and Eliana but he needed to do this, more so for himself than them, "You both are important to me and because of that, I need to step aside. It also doesn't help that we're in the middle of a war. We're going to do what we have to do. No reason in explaining ourselves."

Lucas eyed his friend with an expression of both amazement but understanding. Of course, Mitch would have to back out. He couldn’t choose, but to Lucas, it was a stupid choice. He chooses to burn both bridges. It’s not easy to step out of someone’s life and then, after they went through hell and back, to enter it again. Especially when you know what they will be going through. It gives the other side a sense of abandonment. But when he mentioned the war, Lucas shot up. “Let’s make something clear here and now.” He said dead serious.

“The war has nothing to do with Eliana.” He started, with a fire in his eyes. But this was different, he knew why he was fighting it. Even if it wasn’t worth it, he knew why he was doing it. It was logical and understandable. “I don’t want this war either, you know! But suddenly the roaches seem far too courageous. Some asshole actually tried to destroy my reputation by putting up some made up story about me and Mrs. Lovelace. Man, if I find out who did… bones will break.” He said the last part with such calm certainty, just to make sure it didn’t come over jokingly. He really was going to hurt the person who did it. “Besides, it’s not like I even chose the fucking war. We had no choice. Delphina was forced. The hell Samantha thought would happen when she threw a heroes only party? That we, the guys who will actively fiddle with the laws, just obey because Mother Mayweather tells us? If anything she should be thanking Gianna and me. We made that party worthwhile. But no, bitch had to attack Gia.” He almost spat when he said the last sentence. But all his words were made of pure poison. “She can’t win, though. She doesn’t get it yet, but she can’t. Because we’re not even playing the same game.” There was something wicked about Lucas now. “Either she can sit back helplessly and see how we tear down everything around her. Or she can stoop down to our level but be revealed as the false hero she actually is.”

Mitch wanted to tell him to shut the fuck up, that he had no idea of the bigger picture, but that would give away too much. Lucas needed to stay in the dark. It would be far too dangerous if he knew more than he should, at least for now. He wanted to say no one was going to win. There were so many words his tongue was holding back. His stomach felt nauseous that he was part of this terrible game and that he had to hurt his friends for their own protection, but he couldn't say anything. One of the most powerful mind controllers in school was cornered to a wall and all he could do was watch this mess he's assisting on making, in nervewrecking anxiety. Instead, he went up to his friend and placed his right hand on his shoulder, "You're right. She can't win." Another ambiguous phrase for Lucas to interpret as his own, "... You'll definitely be a major player in this war, that's for sure."

Without any mental preparation, he looked at his friend with genuine care, something that read: farewell. Without further adieu, Mitch used his powers on Lucas, "From this day on, we won't be friends until the conflict is resolved. I need you, Lucas, to watch over Eliana. At random times of the day you'll feel a strong urge to see what she is up to. An urge that will be incredibly hard to fight. Follow that urge. When I snap my finger, you will not remember anything I just told you but you will still carry out my demands." He didn't take any breaks. One extra second and Lucas would realize he was being mind controlled by him. With a snap of his fingers, he released his friend from his mental hold and brought his hand back to his side. "So... this is goodbye, Lucas." He didn't know what else to say. After this roller coaster of emotions, he just wanted to leave.

For a moment Lucas watched Mitch going. Losing a friend like that, no losing a friend in any way, hurts. But how else could it have gone? The pain, however, felt errely numb. He guessed that the emotional onslaught on him of the past few hours had finally taken its toll. Dullness had taken him over, probably in combination with the unwinding feel of alcohol. It was for the better though. At a certain point it was better to simply feel numb and go on. Taking a deep sigh, he turned away from Mitch. On the road back he let his mind wander. What was Eliana doing now?

---

---

Click

The door to Brenna's dorm shut, and she turned to face this boy who'd nearly stolen her heart. Is it really stealing if you wanted someone to have it? she asked herself silently, her face a mask of melancholy and thought. Looking up into James' face, she bit her lip. He made her nervous. So, so, so nervous. She shook her head. It's just like ripping off a band-aid she thought, taking a deep breath.

"I think we need to end this," James said, before Brenna could even open up her mouth. Her breath left her. Her eyes grew wide with shock. "Wha-what?" she managed to eke out of her trembling lips. Was this real? He was leaving her? Her? "Brenna, it's not you. You're perfect, it's just...it's Gia. This whole thing has gotten too out of hand. It's too much for me, and I can't stand by you while you go down this path," James said, his voice trembling slightly.

Brenna backed up from him, more out of instinct than reason. She couldn't be near him right now, and her brain knew this. Her breathing was becoming more rapid as her brain processed the things he said, as her eyes began to well up with tears. "You can't do this," she whispered, her breath turning to a cloud of mist that hung in front of her face as the room grew steadily colder, so much so that James, not prepared for a flash freeze was shivering.

"You can't do this!" she shouted this time, her scream sending James stepping back this time. Her hand curled into a fist and slammed down on her desk, tears streaming down her face, her sobs growing louder. "You're just like the rest of them! You're a coward! Gia is fighting prejudice! We're fighting the judgement they've been heaping onto us since day one! And you're too afraid to change things! You bastard!" Her voice broke on the last scream, and everything she'd been trying to hold back came flooding forth, and she collapsed in a mess of tears and sobs.

"Brenna, wait," but Brenna cut him off. Once more he began, trying to speak over the spiraling mess that was Brenna Lancaster. "Gia isn't fighting any prejudice! What she did to Avalon and Will at that party was wrong! And she's going to drag you down to her level!" "Get out! Get out! Get out, get out, get out!" Brenna shrieked, and James fled the room.

Brenna wasn't sure how long she sat there, but it was long enough for her tears to dry, leaving her eyes red and swollen. She sniffled as she looked at herself in the mirror. She was a mess. Why though? She had only been flirting with James for a month or so. They hadn't even been dating. But you'd wanted to she thought. That was it. She hadn't been close with anyone in so long, hadn't entertained the idea of a boyfriend, of someone to hold in so long. And she'd let the thought infect her, make her wake. Well, she wouldn't make that mistake again. From now on, she'd be the Snow Queen they all knew her to be. She'd be as cold as ice.

Cara was wandering through the halls of the campus, just for the sake of exploring. It was a habit of hers to find every nook and cranny when she came somewhere new. Eli has engraved that into her. He figured if she knew her surroundings it would give her the advantage she needed over metahumans. As much as she hated him, he wasn’t wrong. And in a place like Mayweather, she needed every advantage she could get over the other metas.

After making a quick pit stop at her room to throw her bags, Cara began to walk down the corridor of rooms. Cara froze in place the second she heard voices coming from inside one of the rooms. Pressing herself against the wall, she looked to her left and saw an open door, with two girls sitting inside. At least one was a girl, besides a crooked nose she seemed normal enough. For the other it was a little harder to tell. She was completely bald with glowing fissures streaking through her skull. Fucking gross. Still Cara didn’t make a sound, this was the perfect opportunity to get info.

“-hear about Lucas and Eliana?” Crooked nose.

Fissure face laughed, “I can’t even tell with those two. They totally are in love with each other, but they show it soooo weird.”

“In love? No-” Waving the nose job needy girl off, fissure face interrupted.

“Oh come on, haven’t you seen the Delphina Times?” So they were Delphina villains, huh. “It’s all there. Lucas literally talking to like every one of Eliana’s family can’t be a coincidence. They must be one of those love-hate relationships.”

Crooked rolled her eyes, “If you’d let me finish, I was about to say that Eliana is totally fucking Eli-” Cara immediately tuned out of the rest of the conversation. Everything seemed to go grey and silent around her. Eli was here… Waiting for her, teasing her. It was just like the bastard. Clenching her fist, Cara teleported into the room directly in front of Crooked. The girl startled back in surprise at the sudden woman in her room. “What the fuck did you just say? Where’s Eli?” Cara’s hand shot out to the girl’s throat.

Fear evident in her eyes. The girl started babbling, “I-I don’t know. Please don’t hurt me.” Some villain. Rolling her eyes, Cara tossed her to the side and turned for fissure face, only to see her missing. In her place was a large glowing crystal. “Fuck!” Cara started striding out of the room when she heard Crooked stutter out, “W-who are you?”

Laughing, Cara teleported back in front of her, causing her to flinch in fear once again. Staring at her closely for a moment, as if studying her, Cara replied, “I’m the bloody Reaper, and I’m here to collect my dues.” She gave the girl a smile as crooked as her nose. Leaning in real close, Cara licked the side of her cheek. Crooked stiffened, shaking at the crazy girl in her room.

Cara disappeared without another word. She hadn’t seen most of the Academy, but luckily she didn’t have to search long for the person she was looking for. The pale sunglass guy that first showed her to the Mrs. Lovelace. It wasn’t a great lead, but right now he was the only one in this place she knew. Teleporting next to him she threw an arm around her shoulder. “Listen, glasses, I need your help with something.”

Elijah’s conversation with Lucas and Keats was rather short lived as he made his way out the building and Leon ushered those two into his office. He walked along the pathway, and gave ponder to the events that had just previously transpired. Gianna literally had him around a noose, she could have blown the rape whistle, or hell even told Leon of what really transpired and how she defended herself from their confrontation. Yet instead she told the man that he had confessed and professed his love to her...that was a slightly sickening thought, yet completely unlike her and yet….it was like her old self. Before his mind could wander any further a sudden weight was placed on his body, nothing too heavy, just something that literally wasn’t there before. A voice spoke to him and his head turned as he inclined on the sudden new presence.

Teleporters weren’t a rare occurrence at this school, but to have one suddenly beside him, made him not so much uneasy as cautious. His head tilted and his eyebrow raised as he tried to identify the woman next to him, ”Have we met before?” He browsed his memory, finally recognizing the swirling and cruel aura beside him, ”Ah...yes, the one I escorted to the professor’s office.” Why had she come to him? Perhaps because he was the first person she interacted with? Their interaction was brief, but he supposed it was notable, it wasn’t like everyone on campus was wearing archaic robes from another realm. ”To what do I owe this...chance encounter?”

Cara cocked her head to the side watching him. Sticking out her bottom lip in a slight pout she asked, “Is that any way to speak to the most beautiful girl you’ve ever seen?” She had no way of knowing that the man in front of her was blind, and had no idea what she looked like. Cara’s mood changed from disappointed to cheerful and bubbly in the blink of an eye. “Cara’s the name, Shady! Cara Reaper.” Holding her hand out to shake, Cara delightedly grinned, tongue running across her widely exposed teeth.

”If only I could see, then maybe I would appreciate such beauty,” what a narcissus, even if Elijah could ‘see’ he could at least tell plenty enough from the aura this woman exuded; quite distasteful. ”I’ll ask again Ms. Reaper, more bluntly this time, what do you want from me?” His voice was rather stern,and though he noted her hand’s extension, the gesture was not reciprocated. He was not one to be bothered with petty introductions and requests, if there was something someone wanted, they’d better spit it out, not that he’d do anything in retribution, he just hated being annoyed.

Cara rolled her eyes over dramatically. She made a face, sticking out her tongue before asking rather rudely, “Does being blind always make you this cranky?” Dropping her hand to her side Cara grew serious. “I’m looking for a man, okay. His name’s Eli, and you’re going to tell me everything you know about him.” Cara rested a hand firmly on Shady’s shirt, ready to grab him and teleport at a moment's notice. If he needed any persuading, Cara knew a place about 20,000 feet up.

Eli? Few people knew his nickname, even fewer called him by it, but when her attitude came off as threatening, Elijah countered. ”And if you were any the wiser then you would let go, lest you get burnt.” he grabbed the hand that touched him, a forceful grab, an intimidating and knowing kind of touch that refused to let go, just as she refused to let go of him as the temperature began to rise. Why did she want to know of him, or perhaps it was another Eli she was referring of? Regardless he was curious, ”Fine, I shall show you of Eli, but if you refuse to let go, you’ll certainly turn to cinder. So would you rather have information? Or a Barbeque?” the young pyromancer informed in a rather intimidating tone. Somehow he figured this wouldn’t faze her, but at the same time, he was the only one who knew of ‘Eli’, why else would she come to him?

Cara stared deep into the man’s sunglasses. Seconds passed without a word, not even a movement. The air around the two of them felt tense. Slowly a the grin reappeared on Cara’s face. She started to laugh hard. Grabbing her sides, Cara slide to the ground. Wiping a tear away from her eye she said, “ I love barbeque. Rain Check though, I just ate.” Throwing out her hand to see if he would help her up she added, “well, no time to dilly dally. Let’s go hon.”

This girl was...unusual, first she makes threats, then laughs in the face of retaliation. He tried to key her aura, but it was wild and changing, though one thing stood out the most, instability. This being said, the girl wasn’t going to do anything to him, not unless she wanted answers, so he took her extended hand and lifted her up. ”Fine then, what do you wish to know of Eli? Where he lives? What he does? His purpose on campus?” Whatever the reason, he had questions for her and what her interest in him was

Cara graciously took the hand up and started playing with her hair. Looking very innocent as she twirled it between her fingers she gazed at him. “What do I want..? I want to know where Eli is so I can put a bullet between- Sorry, that was rude of me.” Giggling she said, “You know how we villians get.” Walking a few steps ahead of him, she turned and called over her shoulder. “Come on, might as well give me a tour while we talk. Really is no need to be rude.”

She wanted him dead? Again this raised the question as to whether or not she really meant him, or some other Eli. She didn’t have to say she was a villain, it was already clear as day, unpredictability, coupled with instability and perhaps a touch of insanity; she was the epitome of a dangerous villain. His brow narrowed at her request though, ”Really?” he asked unimpressed, ”You’re going to come to the one blind student on campus and ask me to show you around?” He paused for a moment, it’s not like he didn’t know his way around the school, even if he had only been here a couple of months. However, if she was expecting something quite grandiose, she’d be sorely disappointed, still he wanted some answers and he’d probe for them in conversation. ”Very well,” he started moving, ”Let us walk then, but we’ll start with the building behind me, those are The Warden offices, think of them as super powered hall monitors, they have authority and can use it, to an extent. Are they respected? That’s a whole other story, though unfortunately they have a pretty direct line to the school headmasters, and their office is jointed to the actual campus security office.”

Cara clapped her hands in delight as he agreed to show her around. Waiting for him to catch up she linked arms with him and skipped along side. Cara glanced back at the first building he pointed out. Hall monitors, what a bunch of pricks. “How do you know where everything is, if you’re blind? Are you like a bat with sonar? Can I call you batman?” She grinned, looking up at him happily, joking around.

They walked along the path and he didn't resist her when she linked arms with him. Upon her question though he looked towards her, ”It's complicated to explain, simply know that while I may not see, I 'see’ things that others do not. Call it sonar or whatever you wish, it doesn't matter.”

Cara quickly grew bored when Sunglasses tried to explain, “Yeah, yeah whatever batman. Back to Eli. You know where to find him, right? Can we just skip to that part?”

Hm, straight to the point then? ”Perhaps, perhaps not. As a villain you should well know that knowledge is power, and one favor calls for another. I’m giving you a tour, I’m helping you find Eli, but first I want to know why? What has he done that makes you wish to kill him?” They passed by the control room and he continued speaking, ”That rather large building is the control room, that’s where we just were. It's essentially a proving grounds, a place to train and hone your skills as well. There are multiple rooms, all with different simulations and levels of difficulty, some of those levels can be crippling to both the body and mind. The large room we were all just in earlier is for large scale battles and where the tournament is going to be held. I assume that since you spoke with the professor you are participating? I didn’t see you when all of us were together.”

Oh my god. “You heroes are all the same!” Cara’s head rolled up to the sky, like rolling her eyes wasn’t enough anymore to convey her emotion. “Blah blah why do you wanna kill him. Blah blah be the bigger person. You wanna talk favors fine, but I’ve been here for all of 30 minutes and you really think I’m going to give up my life story?” Cara faced away from him so he couldn’t see, or batsense, her smile drop momentarily. Turning back to him, the smile returned to its proper place she splayed her arms, showing off the dozens are scars laced across them. At the end of each wrist, much clearer scars showed themselves, evidence of cuffs. “He did give me these though. Lots of these lovelies, all over.” Reaching up to the neck of her shirt she grabbed at the collar and pulled it down slightly, “You wanna see the others?”

”Don't delude yourself, no true hero would threaten another's life,” he briefly recalled, wishing he had made good on his promise earlier, ”but as I’ve said, knowledge is power, power even villains like you or I could utilize,” Elijah looked over to find the young woman’s aura suddenly...damper, before it picked right back up again. She explained her story and the scars across her body were much more prominent now, even the ones not so visible to him, ”So you are filled with suffering then...and you seek redemption for the crimes committed against you?” it was a tale told once before, by many others long ago, yet this sealed that she was not looking for him. ”I guarantee you will not find peace in Eli’s death, and suffering will only continue to follow in your wake, but do as you will for that is the villain’s creed, is it not?” Their walk took them towards the campus housing, at least building East, ”Old East, one of the two campus dormitories, it's co-ed, just like its sister building on the west side, you’ll find that regardless of which building, both dormitories hold students of Delphina and Mayweather, though my room is in the west building.”

Glancing in the direction of the west dormitories Cara said, “Well well batman, already trying to woe me to your room? Well it won’t work! I am a woman of dignity.” Unable to keep up the lie, she burst out laughing before wondering another thing about her strange tour guide. “Do you always talk like a 5th century knight?” Cara marched around Eli, using her best impression of his voice to imitate him, “I guarantee you will not find peace. I say, knowledge is power, if my name isn’t…” Cara paused. Turning her head to face him she asked, “What’d you say your name was?”

If Elijah could roll his eyes, he would, ‘please…’ he thought. That’s when the real question came out after a rather unimpressionable mockery, ”I didn’t,” he slowly strode past her, ”And yet I’m sorry to inform you that I’m not the Eli you’re looking for.” he mentioned this a few good feet away from her before turning to face her, ”Truthfully, most would call me Elijah. As for the Eli you seek, I know nothing of him, though for the scars he caused you, it does not surprise me you seek him.” The truth was out, she wasn’t after him, but considering he did lead her on, he did expect some form of retaliation, though she was unpredictable and could potentially do nothing. Either way, he’d be prepared.

Paused halfway through her playful march, Cara mood changed drastically. One moment she was a couple feet away practically dancing, the next she was standing an inch away from Eli quivering with tension and rage. “What kind of fucking game do you think this is Eli? This another one of your tricks, your lessons?” Cara never took her eyes off of his face, watching him like she wasn’t sure whether to run or attack. Teleporting back away, Cara reappeared crouching with her head between her hands, “You were here the whole time weren’t you, Eli. Hiding, like a coward. Who disguised you, huh, that bitch Alexis?” She completely ignored the words about not being the same Eli she was after.

Teleporting to a standing position, Cara pointed a finger straight at Eli, “Don’t you- don’t you fucking say a word! Just-” In the heat of the moment she didn’t even know what to say. It had always been something she would figure out when the time came, but now that she was faced with her(supposed) adversary she couldn’t even find the words to talk. So why bother. Breaking out into a sprint, Cara dove nearly 10 feet away, teleporting right into Eli’s stomach. The second the two collided she teleported again, onto a tower she remembered seeing on the tour. “Come the fuck on then, stop running and lets finish this.” She teleported again appearing moments later with a golf club in hand.

This was an unexpected turn of events, suddenly he was teleported to a tower, after a random and rather explosive breakdown; she had a weapon, but he was prepared to fight. Dodging and weaving, he avoided any blows that were directed towards him. Her blows could have killed any normal person, but he was far from it, and eventually her swing had slowed enough for his hand to shoot out and grab at the weapon she wielded and melting its metallic form in their hands. It may have burned her, but hopefully that would stop her from performing any more idiotic feats. ”Listen to me!” his voice was stern and commandingl, ”I understand you are in great pain, but I am not the enemy you seek. Trust in me, and if you seek guidance I shall help you, your past is burdened, but your future could be bright.” his hands gripped tightly on her shoulders, rendering any sudden movement as he tried to calm the young woman. She was strong, but unpredictable, Elijah had to be prepared for whatever moves she made, and he repeated again, ”I am not your enemy, but if you would like, I can become your ally….”

Just like the old days, when they spared together. Until the club melted in her hands. Yelping in pain, Cara lept back staring at the deep red marks seared into both palms. What the hell. Eli couldn’t melt stuff, only cut. He was telling the truth. This imposter in front of her wasn’t the one she was looking for. He grabbed her by the shoulder roughly, holding her in place. Cara’s head dipped towards her shoes as she spoke. “I work alone.” The words came out of her mouth at barely a whisper. Before he had a chance to respond she grabbed his hand and bit down hard. Her mouth filled with blood, dribbling down the corner of her mouth. Pulling back from him, mouth stained red she teleported away leaving him stuck on the roof of the tower she had just brought him to. “I’m always alone.” Though she was certain he couldn’t hear her from across campus, she continued to talk. Maybe it was to try and reassure herself, though it didn’t do much good.

Elijah, though expecting the unexpected, was unable to predict such a powerful bite. Though he held his tongue as the pain flowed through him, the young woman teleported away and he was left atop the campus tower; alone. He was very high up, and he could have jumped down at anytime, but he needed time, time to think. There was another soul in need of guidance and though he was no hero, he was determined to help the estranged woman, perhaps find her some peace. The crimson liquid dripped from his body as water from a stalactite, clenching his fist, his hand began to sear the wound, the blood bubbling and boiling. Soon enough the wound blistered into a cauterized scar and he seated himself atop the tower in a meditative pose, pondering over the events that transpired. His mind wandered to Cara’s final words before she left, and he thought to himself, ’If you were truly alone, then why did you come to me?’

---

---

"Nico! Niccolo! oh and Jimmy. My boy!" A short, 17 year old boy with his brown hair sleeked back, a black classy as fuck suit (with a gray button up) and polished shoes, gave the bald bouncer with tats and a deadly amber stare a fist bump, while simply nodding at the other bouncer who wasn't Italian (Reference picture). He wore large red skull candy headphones with a cord that led to his pant's pocket, blaring out Bang Bang by Nancy Sinatra and surprisingly not holding his camera since it's the second night he's been in town and he heard friends were going to be here. Can't always carry his life around, you know? (He's dying internally). Before any of them could respond, the squirrel brained kid grinned, "I heard Vince's babe is hosting a par-tah tonight. So you know, I had to come. Is there people I should keep a special 'eye' on?" His eyebrows moved up and down giving off that: maybe I'll find a bodacious lady to have pop with. Knowing the young Hart would prefer hearing an answer from Nico than Jimmy, the non-Italian kept quiet while Nico with an unsettling quiet and husky voice muttered, "Lovelace girls, Virgil."

"Oh damn! Gia be makin' friends with them? Movin' up in the world. Now I'm definitely down with being up in this club." He raised his fist in the air like the dork that he was, feeling achieved with his sudden decision to live in New York with his uncle. "Send them to the Wolf's Den. Alleyway-access. I wants to meet them personally." The Italian upbringing could definitely be heard in Virgil Hart's voice.

His light brown orbs met with Jimmy, who answered with a laid back and chill voice, "And if they have other's with them?"

"If they got boobs, send them too! The guys can wait in line like the rest of 'em." Both men nodded before Virgil dismissed himself and rather than walk through the grand entrance, he went to the alleyway and used a key card to enter through the side, disappearing from moonlit night.

_{(Keeping his words short. You'll see more of Virgil soon <3)}

"Is this really a good idea Ava?" Will asked, as he shivered against the frosty night air of New York City. Avalon turned to him, cocked her head, and smirked. "Of course! They crashed our party, so we're going to crash theirs. Not to mention, Eliana Lovelace is going to be here, and it's your job to be her friend. Get in close to her, and then strike, bring her to our side." Avalon kept her voice hushed as they shuffled through the line. Will was shivering, despite the layers he was wearing, but Avalon was standing strong, refusing to show that she was cold at all. She was stepping into the cave of wolves. Weakness was not an option.

Will nodded in agreement. He couldn't not agree. His best friend and his sort of kinda girlfriend were leading the charge against Delphina. Of course he'd be there helping anyway he could. It just so happened that he was much more convincing than Avalon the Warmonger, and so, he'd been placed in charge of recruitment. By any means necessary. If that meant befriending Lovelace and turning her to Sam's side, then so be it. It was sleazy, but who cared? It needed to be done. Right?

Their silence was interrupted as they reached the front of the line, and the bouncer motioned for them to enter, his face conveying the same emotion as a brick wall. The music was deafening and the heat was constricting. This was not Will's scene. But Avalon's grin said it surely was hers. She turned to her friend and nodded to him. "Call me if you run into trouble. Look out for Lovelace or her friends, and I'll look around for Gia and her cronies, try and keep them from working your magic. Good luck. Oh and hold this." With that said, Avalon disappeared on the dance floor, handing off her purse to Will and searching for her targets in a sea of people, with the occasional break to dance with a sweaty guy.

Will on the other hand, bit his nails nervously and moved to the bar, where he sat down and ordered a drink, flashing a fake at the bartender, who didn't seem especially concerned. As he drank he chuckled at the irony of a hero using a fake ID to drink illegally. He sat at the bar and looked out across the bar, keeping an eye trained on the entrance through the cherry tunnel, just in case his marks came through. If they did, he'd be ready.

And as if God was having a laugh at him, the moment he turns his head, Eliana Lovelace is standing at the bar, looking as if she'd been there longer than he had. What in the hell?. Ignoring the way she seemed to just appear, he moved closer to her and took a seat at her side. He wouldn't let Avalon down. And he definitely wouldn't let Sam down. It was go time. Hopefully it didn't all go to hell. "Eliana Lovelace. Here to drink away the stress of the tournament? Because if so, feel free to join me," he said with a smooth grin and a charming laugh.

---

---

---

Lucas Farweight felt home as anyone ever could in New York City. Manhattan was and will be forever the place to be for him. At the epicenter of its greatness were many things. Among it, was Delirium. The club that received legendary status from him. He rarely visited but was received with open arms and the ability to cut the line like some celebrity. That alone was a reason to enter to have a party there. But it was only the beginning, the sound, the people, the drinks. You could smell the sins in every room. From lust to greed to sloth. Everything was peaceful but no-one was at peace. This was a place of demons and nobody could claim to be a victim once they pass the threshold.

So when Lucas was passing the waiting line he was literally skipping a step. He came alone, not caring to meet up with his friends first. They’d find him, or he would be found. Tonight, like any night in Delirium would be a night of not caring. A night of no trouble. For once, he refused his current situation to have a hold over him. With all worries left at Mayweather, he arrived at the two big bouncers of Delirium. Lucas had no idea if Nico or Jimmy had any superpowers. He never saw them use anything. So far, that never was required. Only once did he see them throw a guy out. Until then he never thought the saying could be applied literally. But Nico and Jimmy gave the guy some free flying lessons, right before he hit the street face first. The two were stone-faced, but Lucas counted them among his acquaintances. “Jimmy! Nico! How are my two favorite gorillas?” They just grumped at him. Probably disliking the comparison. Lucas believed it was a good one, but he only said it to tease. He outstretched his hand, shaking both the bouncers’. “So, anything special already lined up for tonight?” Lucas asked curiously. Nico and Jimmy looked at each other. Clearly doubting if they should speak. Lucas assumed that Gianna had something lined up. Maybe a karaoke like on her birthday last year. He actually couldn’t remember what he sang exactly but he’d swear the entire room was laughing or clapping. He’d kill to relive that night, but then again, he’d kill to relive any night at Delirium.

But it never starts out the way it ends. That was the power of Delirium. Gianna’s birthday party didn’t start as a karaoke. But it sure as hell ended like one. At Delirium, you don’t know what’s going to happen. After every shady spot, there is a surprise. From every shadowy corner, something could jump you. So as the bouncers were doubtfully looking at each other, Lucas decided to cut in: “You know what, just don’t tell me. It is Delirium after all. No plan survives first contact. Now, I’m going to guess I’m on the list, right? Could I go in?” the last part was asked respectfully. Despite being an asshole sometimes, Lucas knew what respect was and to who to give it. Jimmy nodded without even checking the list, and Nico opened up the small rope-gate to let him in.

Much to the annoyance of the line. Whom were nearly all male. “C’mon man! You can’t do that! I’m on the list too!” the one in front of the line said. Lucas perched his ears and made a 90° turn on his heel. He marched straight at the guy and asked: “If you’re on the list, you would be inside already.” He said it with a nice smile, but it was clear that nothing about those words were meant to comfort. “Hey man, I’m on the list, okay? Leopold –euhm- Turner. Yeah.” The kid, about 19, wasn’t particularly convincing. With questioning eyes, he looked at the kid. “Leopold… Turner.” He repeated, looking at Nico. Who just shook his head. Lucas turned back to the kid waiting. “I actually know Leo.” He saw the kid suddenly getting anxious. “Yeah, yeah I do. Big fellow. About 35 with a kid now I think. Yeah, yeah, I remember. You know he once knocked a guy unconscious because he was flirting with his wife. Well, he bought her a drink really. Didn’t slip anything in it even. Good old Leo would have slipped it. But yeah, no. The kid had to wink. Next thing he was on the floor. Blood running from his nose. Judging from the angle, I’d say it was broken. He was lucky, actually. Leo hit him with his left.” He made the story on the fly, really. There was no doubt this kid just grabbed a semi-important name from the internet and tried to wave it around at bars, hoping to get in. But right now he looked positively terrified. “You know.” Lucas grabbed the kid by the front of his shirt and pulled him closer. “If I see Leo, I’ll tell him some punk ass kid tried to impersonate him. I want to see what a right hook does to someone’s face.” The kid wrestled himself free but only because Lucas let him. He and his jock buddies started moving back in the line, trying to get away. While Lucas waved them goodbye with a wicked grin. Until Nico literally held open the door, letting the blue flashing lights and the loud music out. While saying: “Mr. Farweight. Please.” It wasn’t a request. The bouncers probably didn’t like it either that someone was raising hell at the lines. With a nod, he went to the entrance. Feeling the wave of heat, music, and smell as he passed the doors. Yes, tonight would be a night he’d never forget.

---

Here the Wardens were, all 6 of them, standing around in the flickering lights and the hot atmosphere of Delirium, due to the fact that the word about Delphina’s little party somehow got out to Mayweather students. Under normal circumstances, Leon would have stayed the hell away from anything like this, but the tensions between the two student bodies were too much to ignore. Who knew what might happen? Yes, the club had its own security and they were totally capable of handling it themselves. However, there needed to be a set of eyes and ears to ensure a correct testimony got to the Headmasters should anything happen tonight. No more of this he said, she said bullshit. Leon was going to witness everything for himself.

The Chief Warden didn’t even bother to go incognito for this event. Letting his presence be known would speak a message by itself, namely that mischief wasn’t going to be tolerated. The tall man hovered above the dance floor on a platform, his hands, adorned with black fingerless gloves, laced around the guard rail that protected him from toppling down into the hopping masses below. He wasn’t dressed in anything particularly spectacular, just a black, graphic t-shirt and a pair of jeans. There was no need to be flashy, after all. Nothing of intrigue had happened since they’d been here, yet Leon felt as though that were soon to change. Behind him, Jay and Sabrina made small talk on a black couch, though it was mostly the cat girl exclaiming about her new boyfriend. ”He’s like… so sweet to me! It’s kind of weird though. He makes me dress up in dresses that are way too small for me.” Sabrina… Such a naive woman. What kind of freak she’d managed to round up this time, Leon could only guess. Jay attempted to say something, but he was immediately shut down by her jumping into a non-sequitur outburst about muffins. Suddenly, the Chief wished he hadn’t sent Kayla with Valentin to keep an eye on the ground level. There was only so much Sabrina one could handle in a day. At least their newest member would be in safe hands… Leon didn’t know the specifics of it, all he knew was that their mysterious Valentin had close connections to the family that ran Delirium. Well, the entirety of the underworld, really. Nobody would mess around with him or his “escort” lest they end up on the wrong end of a smoking barrel. Or worse.

Forgetting the chatter behind him, his dark eyes were peeled on the crowd below, but the only thing going on was dancing and conversing. Nothing out of the ordinary, thankfully. The absence of action was, unfortunately, a boring experience, and he solemnly wished he could leave here without worry. Part of him envied the hellions below, reveling in their wanton bliss. They had no care, no worries at all. Even people Leon never would have guessed in a million years were here for reasons unbeknownst to him, such as the usually secluded Eliana. Their minds were fixated solely on indulging in on their own desires, no more, no less. The sights made him think: How long had it been since he had actually let go of inhibitions? A better question was: had he ever done that before? No, Leon didn’t suppose he had. He was always concentrating on the task at hand and working towards an ultimate goal, that which was to provide a better lifestyle for his family. There was never any time to rest. Even today, he had been working since the start of the school day and now when he was supposed to be “off”, he was still on the prowl. Honestly, this reflection made him realize how exhausted he was. Alas, such was the life he chose.

Suddenly, the lights dimmed and the music came to a temporary close. A suspicious looking, well dressed gentleman took center stage. Leon had no idea who he was nor did he particularly care, but he took note of every word he spoke. Favored guest? Recurring performances? Gianna Daniels?! Had the Warden been drinking anything, he would’ve spit it out at the revelation. There was shock and awe written all over his face as the club’s screens flickered to life, painting the picture of a circle of hell. There their scantily clad star was, dangling on a pole above a crowd. Concern for the poor girl welled up in his chest. He immediately assumed she was stripping for the crowd and working as an exotic dancer for the Harts. Had she really fallen this low since her boyfriend’s death? Part of him wanted to drop down and rescue her from this prison, but he was smarter than that. That would ultimately be a death knell for him if he stole away the Hart’s prized dancer… Forced to watch, he cringed at the start of Evanescence’s Bring Me to Life. Nothing beginning with that terrible song could result in any good.

At the conclusion of Gianna’s performance, Leon’s lips were slightly agape, as if he were astounded by what he had seen. There had been no shedding of clothes, no actual dirty dancing; this performance was an artistic medium that bled of raw emotion. He wasn’t great at interpreting dance or the meaning behind it, but whatever that was, Gia was a master of it. In fact, after her show, he felt, well, ecstatic now. It was as if all his burdens had been lifted off of his shoulders and tossed away, a sensation that urged him to celebrate the fleeting glory of the present. The sound of lustful moaning behind him told him that he wasn’t the only one that got that vibe. Curiously, he turned and beheld the sight of Sabrina riding a pantsless Jay like a bucking bronco. ”What the fuck?!” Leon’s words of surprise were lost in the music and the man quickly scurried away from his companions' frantic tryst. One moment, Sabrina had been talking about her new boyfriend and muffins, and now she was screwing Jay. They weren’t even drunk! The girl made no sense to him, but he wasn’t about to intervene in their rendezvous. They could deal with the consequences of their actions tomorrow on their own accord.

On the bottom floor, the Chief was surrounded on all sides by dancing bodies. He simply wanted to find Kayla and Valentin and assess the situation, but… there was a gnawing feeling that beckoned for him to join the masses. Why bother with work when he could relax for once? There wasn’t anything to worry about. Everything would be fine. He should leave all his stress behind and go get a drink or two. A silent clash between his responsibility as a Warden and the prospect of hedonism erupted. "Fuck it." he whispered to himself. In the end, his feet carried him over to a nearby bar. His true objective was lost in whatever comforting sensation Gianna’s performance had wrought, and the next thing he knew, he had already had two shots of whiskey. Money was practically falling out of his pockets as he took another two shots. By the time Leon was out of cash, the world was a lucid vortex of bright color and loud music. But mostly, his stern visage was now beaming brightly at everything around him.

Into the deep, the Warden went, moving his body to the beat with every step. He was on top of the world, and there wasn’t much that could improve his mood at the moment. Well, save for a beautiful woman in his arms. Someone like… Amelia.

---

It's been more than a week since Carmen has left Mayweather and the entire school itself. At that time, when she left, she had her own moments of self-doubt, doubting whether or not that she may complete the school, and whether or not she can stay sane around all of these pendejos that roam the so-called "schools". After 10 days of chilling out, playing video games and smoking dope (and some studying here and there), she finally decided to return to a life that she was most familiar with, the life of crime. Well, petty and most often non-violent crime anyway, it seems as if Mayweather rubbed off on her in the brief month she spent there. Swift robberies, proper car theft, and with hints of embezzlement, Carmen and her crew almost had the whole taco salad of illegitimate cash, without an innocent soul harmed or taken. She was tempted to rob a Wall Street banker at gunpoint, but she decided against it... there were children around too.

Cut to today, in the suburbs of NYC. Both Carmen and Kevante just got done picking up food from a taco truck on a nearby street corner. The two haven't had anything to eat in the longest amount of time, and it took forever for them to actually get their food. It was well worth it in the end, though, those tacos and burritos knocked Taco Hell right out of the park!

"Taco Trucks on Every Corner?" Carmen laughed as she munched on her burrito, walking back to her beloved Cobra with her BFF Kevante. Carmen was wearing a leather N7 jacket with her shoulder-holstered P99 underneath, and a pair of black jeans that hugged her form. At the moment, she was recalling when one of the 'latinos for trump' was justifying Trump's xenophobia by saying that there will be 'taco trucks on every corner' if nothing is done. "Was that asshole high? Dios mío!"

"Hey, I think that's a good thing if you ask me!" Kevante replied, eating his taco up like a pro (and by that I mean spilling sauce all over his grey shirt). His blue jeans were just as messy, though his work boots were safe... for now. "Who doesn't want this kind of food on every corner? This is better than Taco Hell!"

"Yeah... I agree with ya... but seriously..." She chuckled, walking to her Cobra, which still had its top up.

Soon enough, after a lot of munching, crunching and taco sauce being splattered everywhere, the two finished up their meal and cleaned themselves off, Kevante leaving stains all over his shirt and jeans. Unlocking her beauty with her remote starter, both Carmen and Kevante entered the vehicle, with Kevante in the passenger seat and Carmen in the driver's seat. After buckling up, Carmen spoke again.

"You wanna know something that really bothers me?" Carmen asked.

Kevante looked up from his smartphone. "What?" He asked, putting his Android away.

"These... videogames, the ones that take place in the US or whatever. Particularly Zombie games and such. I've noticed that in these games, AK-variants are really prolific in the world." Carmen looked to Kevante with a bewildered look on her face. "Do you know how hard it is to get an AK around here, especially one that actually looks and feels like an AK, rather than a cheap overpriced American-made knockoff?"

Kevante simply stared at her. After a short pause, he spoke. "You seriously need to go back to Mayweather."

Carmen groaned at the thought of that. To go back to Mayweather, to her the idea in of itself was a waste of time. She didn't like the idea going back, being hated by both the heroes and the villains. She didn't feel like she belonged there, and she never thought that she ever will. "No, I'm not going back that... cesspool of... weirdness!" Carmen said. "I don't feel like I belong there anyway..."

"Yes you do." Kevante said. "Well... I think you do, anyway. You've actually... become a much better person after you've been there... and you've actually been a very big help to me." He explained. "You actually pulled my ass out of the fire more times than I care to remember. I owe that to you, and Mayweather."

Carmen sighed and shook her head... that comment was just a little offensive. Carmen was better than that, she didn't need a stupid Hero School to make her save her friends when they are in need. She never was the type that would leave anyone behind, and she never will be, no matter the situation. "Kev... don't say that man..." She said softly. "... that was all on my own volition. Mayweather has nothing to do with that. And we're friends... that's what we're supposed to do. No one left behind... no one left forgotten."

Kevin looked ahead. "Yeah... I guess you're right. But still... go to Mayweather. This is free education. Do you know how expensive college is nowadays? With Bernie out of the scene now... that dream of free college ain't gonna come true, fam! You got a good enough hand to play, I'd hate to see you fold."

Carmen looked ahead, staring off into the street. She thought about it. The political scene isn't looking too good, both of the candidates scare her to death. A crazy racist or a corrupt warmonger? Yeah. No. It would take eons for Marijuana to be legal now, and it would take even longer for College to be free... in a society where that is a necessity, and where it is priced as a luxury. Carmen agreed at that point, she knew that she shouldn't squander this opportunity. "Yeah... you're right. Maybe I'll go back... but I need to think about it first. But before we do all of that... I have someone to see over at Delirium."

Kevante looked to Carmen in disbelief. "Delirium?" He asked. "That place is the biggest Villain Bar you can ever find here in NYC! It's for high-ballers only. What the hell you on... makin' you wanna go there?"

"This person contacted me by my full name... formally too." Carmen explained. "He says that he's well aware of my abilities... and that he has a proposition for me." She explained. She too had doubts about this, the person who contacted her contacted her by mail, and by text, both of them without a return address. It looked shady as hell, but she wasn't one to turn down opportunities either.

"How could you be sure to trust him like that?"

Carmen brandished her P99, which was holstered underneath one of her jacket flaps. "That's why I'm bringing this in." She said, straightening her jacket back out. "I know what I'm doing. Don't worry about a thing, I got this."

And with that, the keys were turned. The Cobra woke up, and was brought to life once again. The upgraded gauges sprung to life, and the radio was back on, blasting heavy bass, a blast from the past. With a quick shift in gears, the Cobra roared and peeled out from the parallel parking area... speeding down towards Delirium.

Two silhouettes made their way up an ominous set of stairs. The tall, dark haired Valentine guided his blonde companion, the newest Warden, to a place no man worth his skin ought to go, yet there was no fear set in those dark eyes of his. There was no emotion to him at all. He strode forth with purpose though. Not so long ago, Leon had left him in charge of showing the fresh meat how things were done. They were to be on the lookout for any trouble that might occur on the ground floor or any of the side passages within the club, but Valentin had other plans. Devious ones, in fact. There was a drastic change in scenery as they climbed the stairs. Where ground level was a decadent display of colors and sounds, the further up they went, the less decoration they saw. Everything seemed to deteriorate into a foreboding atmosphere, one that evoked a sense of dread and fear. By the time they had reached the end of the steps, there was no color, just dimly lit cement on both sides of them. A large, black door impeded their progress forward, adorned with a sign that warned them to turn back for nothing good awaited those who entered. However, on the other side, distant screams of pain could be heard. Something was definitely happening back there.

Valentin knew very well what horrors lay behind that door, but he showed no hint of it. What could pass as a concerned expression flashed onto his visage, and warily, he turned to Kayla. “It sounds like someone is in trouble… I think we ought to help them.” he whispered to her. “Prepare yourself, Kayla. There could be anything behind this door.” At least he gave her some kind of warning, but truly, there was no amount of preparation one could do once they glimpsed into the Maw. Slowly, he edged forward and put his hand to the lock. A purplish haze came forth and siphoned into the keyhole, and not a second later, the door was unlocked. The stealthy Subterfuge swiftly entered into the torture chamber, beckoning for his comrade to follow him.

Inside, a blood trail immediately greeted them. The crimson streaks went further down the chamber before they tapered off at another door at the opposite end. The concrete walls, adorned with heavy chains, showed evidence of violence: the remnants of blood splatters, chips missing from heavy swings of a blunt object, and even bullet holes. There were even torture devices in plain sight, some of them quite medieval in design. A rack, a wooden horse, and even a guillotine were the most notable of the horrible contraptions inside. It was quite obvious that no amount of partying went down here; this was a place where the Harts punished those that did them wrong. It was a familiar landscape to Valentin, one that he had seen on multiple occasions. He actually had his own personal key, but he had chosen to betray Kayla’s sense of trust. “By God…”

Kayla was...wary… Ever since Leon had requested that she meet with him at 8 for their training, she was ecstatic. A possible one on one with a man she absolutely admired and wanted, yet she was disappointed that he brought along the rest of his crew for a mission of utmost importance he had said. She sighed, knowing it couldn’t be helped, if there was trouble the Wardens would be there and since she was a Warden now, she’d be in the thick of it too. Still she believed that Leon would be by her side to train her, yet she was put under the charge of Valentin, his second in command. Not a bad deal by any shot, but still not the man she thought she’d be with tonight.

Although Kayla had heard of the place they were going to, she’d never actually been there before. That being said, she selected to use the same dress she would have worn at the rooftop party, had that of course not been so short lived. So here she was, in a lacy white dress, showing off more skin than she was normally comfortable with, and due to the color in complete contrast to the environment she was in. She and Valentin had been assigned to scope the ground floor, but it seemed he had other plans in mind as he began to climb the stairs, higher and higher until...Kayla felt a very foreboding feeling in the pit of her stomach. They reached some kind of door at the end of a long hallway, she could hear sounds from the other side...terrible sounds… Valentin gave her some assurance, they were Wardens after all, this was the kind of stuff she knew she’d eventually have to deal with, so why not now?

She clutched at her bracelet tightly, ready to summon her mech at a moment’s notice. Valentin had picked the lock using his powers and as soon as the door opened, the young girl’s face paled and her hands went to her mouth. What she saw was something someone would see in a horror movie, blood splatters, torture devices, markings in the wall; this was absolutely horrible. Valentin summed it up well in just two words, and the screams came again, ”Valentin...this is horrible, we can’t just let that poor girl suffer in here, we have to help her.” Kayla’s eyes were pleading, naive of whatever true intentions the Warden had for her.

The mysterious man had to give Kayla some credit. She was quite courageous for someone with no powers. Unfortunately, her bravery amounted to nothing when faced with treachery. Valentin let her speak her peace, but as soon as she stopped talking, a wave of his hand summoned forth black, eldritch tentacles that sprung from the ceiling and wrenched her hands apart. He let out a chuckle before he turned and faced his captive, another set of dark limbs summoned to hold her ankles as he did so. “The only poor girl in this building is you, my dear Kayla.” His words were spat out in mocking manner, a coy smirk splayed upon his dark face. “There’s been a change of plans for tonight. I won’t have the Wardens mucking around with Delphina’s party. The Mayweathers and my peers might end up fighting, and I do hope so, but we won’t be there to intervene.” he informed her. The robed Valentin stepped up to his captive until his face was just inches from hers. “No, tonight is going to be a festive night. For you, for me… For everyone.”

Suddenly entangled and trapped, Kayla’s eyes shot open wide with fear, ”W-What?!” Shock, fear, disbelief, these were the things Kayla felt, and as Valentin spoke his peace and drew himself closer to the shorter girl, anger suddenly entered the equation. ”Y-you bastard!” She whipped her head forward; hard. Smashing her skull right into the Warden’s face, ”How dare you! How dare you call yourself a Warden! You’re not going to get away with this!” She was angry, but she was scared, and all that was on her mind right now was Leon and how she desperately wanted, no, needed him to be here right now.

Pain split into Valentin’s skull as the unpredictable blonde smashed her head right into his own. Gritting his teeth and absolutely seething, he backhanded the insolent, little prat in a momentary fit of rage. “I see why they selected to you to be part of our family…” He stepped back a good foot, not daring to let her have another go at him. Holding a palm to his forehead, he could feel a small splotch of blood. How long had it been since anyone had been able to harm him? It felt like an eternity. His dark orbs loomed over her and he silently debated on what to do with the new addition to the Wardens. Obviously, there was no way she was going to go along with any of his demands. “I had hoped you would see it my way, Kayla. That we might have been able to come to some arrangement. Unfortunately, I don’t see that as a possible route.” Valentin’s tone was one of false sympathy. From beneath his black garb, he produced a syringe filled with a olive green liquid. Whatever substance lay dormant within couldn’t be anything good. “I want you to have a good time though. I won’t have any harm come to our precious Kayla. So, consider this my gift to you… My little initiation rite.” The warlock circled around the tiny blonde and approached her behind. Roughly, one of his cold hands gripped her hair and jerked her head back before he sank the syringe into the delicate flesh of her neck. ”This is an experimental drug. A sort of lust draft. You’ll lose all of you inhibitions and do deeds you normally wouldn’t. There’s no telling what the side effects might be… The only one I’m sure of is that you won’t remember tonight.” he whispered into her ear as the contents of the syringe began to course through her veins.

Kayla’s head whipped to the side as she received the backhand, but her head straightened back, her hair a little frazzled and her cheek stinging red. Her anger helped to dull the pain, but she was nonetheless still hurting from it. She was confused though, why would a Warden want the Wardens to not intervene it just didn’t make any sense. But when Valentin produced the vial, the anger suddenly subsided and fear took over as her eyes widened once again. She struggled in vain against her captor and as he circled around her, gripping her hair tight, Kayla let out a small yelp and felt a sharp pain in her neck. As Valentin spoke his words were already starting to fade out, ’Leon...please...help.’ the tiny blonde thought as a whole new world was suddenly unfolding before her. What was once fear and anger suddenly became...very, very hot, her body felt like it was on fire and her pupils dilated as the drug flowed through her veins. Her breathing became heavy and her body felt weak, her breaths came in pants, pleading and wanting, what was happening to her?

”You, like Leon, will fall to me. He wants to settle the war with peace. I won’t let that be the case though. One way or another, Delphina will swallow Mayweather whole. You and all of your peers will bow to us.” Valentin exclaimed his ideals to the fading girl, knowing fully well she would remember nothing of this. Pride welled in his bosom, a haughty arrogance that resonated in his very being. Satisfied with the work he had done tonight, he grabbed the woman by back of her dress and skirted her back downstairs. With no more business to conclude, the enigma that was Valentin Apostol vanished into the elite chambers above.

She felt her body moving, where was it going? Oh god it was so hot, she couldn’t believe the heat she was feeling and the huge amount of it that was welling up in between her legs. Suddenly she found herself in a throng of people, people she didn’t recognize, but it seemed like everyone was on her, touching her, feeling her, dancing with her. Every little motion sent shivers up her spine, pleasure she had never once felt before, God she just...just, wanted somebody, anybody. Leon...Leon was on her mind, where was Leon? She wanted him, Leon, Leon, Leon. Somehow she made her way through the crowds and slammed chest first into someone, looking up a lustrous smile graced her lips, ”Leon~”

The intoxicated Leon felt the presence of another collide straight into him, nearly tipping him over. At the sight of the golden locks of hair, his heart fluttered, guessing it might be the enchanting form of Amelia. As his skewed vision locked onto the face, he made out the prominent features of Kayla instead. Normally, he wouldn’t see a “coworker” as someone he could be with, but the alcohol in his system threw that out of the door. After all, she was just as gorgeous as Amelia. ”Kayla!” he slurred out before taking her hands and dancing in a silly manner with her. He didn’t seem to notice the change in her demeanor, nor did he wonder where Valentin had gone off to. Like everyone else in the club, he was living in the moment.

Oh my, he was dancing with her, but this wasn’t the dancing she had in mind, no, this was a club, and the bass was dropping real, real low. She twisted her body so that her backside was right up against him. Despite her small stature in comparison to his tall and toned one, she wanted him to feel every inch of her, just as much as she wanted to feel every inch of him. Her booty swayed to the music, and her hands reached up and behind to graze his skin and feel every fiber of muscle beneath his shirt. Eventually her hand traveled to his and pulled it down so it was right on her waist, his touch making her gasp in delight. She had wanted this for so long and tonight she was going to have him all to herself, what more could she want?

Leon was absolutely flabbergasted by the extremely sensual performance Kayla was giving him. The grin on his face stretched out further and his eyes went wide like a little boy in a candy store. Excitement pulsed with every beat of his heart, and the club was getting exceedingly hot. If this kept up, there was no telling where he and the newly instated Warden would end up. “God damn, girl, you’re on fire!” he exclaimed, following her lead in this erotic moment. There was no use in fighting the current, he just went with the flow! She was too damn hot to let go off.



A party at Delirium...that spelt a lot of trouble, especially both Gianna and Samantha’s troupe were involved. Getting down from that tower earlier wasn’t difficult and Cara was nowhere to be found afterwards, though considering her power, that wasn’t surprising. It didn’t take long for word to reach his ear of the events at Delirium and it seemed an anonymous tip went out to the Mayweathers that Delphina students were hosting it. Normally such things wouldn’t interest him, but considering the state of disarray both schools were in, he had a personal interest and somewhere along the line, Eliana was involved. Having someone of that stature, in a place of that reputation, where both sides were recruiting, was literally a recipe for disaster and Elijah had every intention of keeping the young Lovelace out of harm’s way, along with collecting any information he could. This came the tricky part.

Despite being a loner in his own right, he was easily recognizable, his clothing made that fairly easy to begin with and it wasn’t like he had a normal wardrobe. No, if he was to infiltrate the club unnoticed, he’d have to go...incognito; to do so, he’d have to rely on the arcane. Rifling through his stuff he happened upon the magical item that would help him in his endeavor. A scroll, very rare and very ancient, a gift from his father only to be used in emergencies or times of great need; this to Elijah was a time of great need. Unfurling the papyrus the ancient arcane etchings glowed in his vision and he began reciting the incantation laden upon the scrollwork. The tongue was unrecognizable, an ancient language belonging to beings long forgotten, on a plane residing far beyond this one. The script began to glow and as it was finished, the scroll burst into flames, the fire encircling Elijah’s body and transforming his form; to say it was painful would be an understatement.



Has one ever experienced their form changing? Their flesh and bone reshaping itself into the visage of another? Such a feat was not easy, and it took all of his will to not cry out in agony, but when the process was complete, Elijah was on the floor, sweating and panting. Achingly he picked himself up and stepped forward to look at the mirror, he still could not see, but as he reached up for his eye, it was not closed; a fortunate side effect of the scroll. He knew he looked different, he certainly felt different, his form was still tall and lanky, but his face was different and his hair color changed, if he assumed correctly. The hair he stole from another student certainly told that story well enough, one he knew wouldn’t attend such a party due to illness, some Delphina illusionist if he remembered correctly; his clothes would do nicely as well. Shedding himself of his robe he donned the other student’s clothing, just a simple white t-shirt with jeans, something that would at least help him blend into the crowd.

Elijah knew where to go, he’d been there only once before on business and once again, he found himself there on business. The bouncers wouldn’t let him in, not in his current form, so he’d have to sneak in and blend, very well. The rooftop was always an option, it lead straight through a torture chamber that only the bold dared to enter and anyone caught sneaking in that way, had a one way trip to the guillotine. He’d been lucky the first time and once again lucky as he snuck his way through, quiet as a church mouse, a shadow in a dark valley, to put it mildly. Surprisingly the door that lead to the bottom floor was already unlocked, a fortunate coincidence as Elijah slipped down the steps and blended in with the crowd. There were quite a number of people here, lots of auras to survey, though they all conveyed a similar emotion, lust and want. The waves of emotion he saw were almost overwhelming, but he’d have to block it out along with the bass, the music was blaringly loud and he was glad to not have the sight to deal with whatever else happened here. He’d have some difficulty, but if he could help it, he had to get his ‘eyes’ on Sam and Gianna’s group, along with Eliana to make sure no harm would befall her.

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Who even was this guy? Entering the office with a swagger and a sharp tongue caused Ananya to frown in her seat. Was this the way he showed respect to his elders? She nodded at Cecilia, thankful to have a chance to think about her participation in the tournament - of course Ananya already knew she was going to join, but who to pick as her first opponents was a challenge on it's own. Maybe that really disrespectful manchild that would insist making it harder for Mrs Lovelace to inform the newer participants of their upcoming tasks.

She needed something, anything that would help her decide. Especially with the sudden influx of Delphina students from the fire (yeah, she'd heard about that once she arrived in her dorm room) to explain the new faces, she didn't want to just stick with battling against Mayweather students. Why not use this as an opportunity to see where she's slacking in her training - and what better way to test this out than fighting villains?

And that was when she'd heard whispers - something about a party to probably celebrate a birthday - I mean, why else would someone spend so much money to host a party if it weren't for a birthday? That anonymous Facebook account that posted the details on the Mayweather group was definitely helpful. She didn't know what exactly the person meant by returning the favour, but she could only assume she missed out a lot that past two months between the two sets of students.

Let's change that, shall we?

Ananya took the challenge. And so here she was; alone in New York in front of Delirium night club, shivering and cursing her choice of wear in the cold night. The line was long and filled with obviously underaged teenagers -not that she was any different: she was still a year younger than what the bar owners wanted, according to what she'd read up online - but still better than that seventeen year old boy with wide eyes and a hopeful look on his face. But that raises different problems: how the hell was she supposed to get inside herself?!

“Is she with you, sir?” It was Jimmy. Not Nico, who was still holding the door for Lucas. He looked at the bouncer confused until the big man gave a nod towards a strange girl. She had a hint of Indian in her face, but didn’t look full blood to him. The poor girl seemed to be a little confused as she looked around in the line. She’d get in soon enough with her beauty alone. Even though Lucas judged her to be still shy of 21. Usually Lucas would have left her outside, not caring for who she was. But there was something mystical about her, as if there was more about her that met the eye. Well, it was a night of not knowing what to happen and to take all the chances, so why not take a leap of fate?

He cut through the line like a man revered. People moved aside for his self-confident stare, but even more because most had seen him both talk to the bouncers like friends do and scare away the first in the line. He quickly arrived at Ananya and asked: “Now tell me, what does a beautiful lady like you do all alone in a line for Delirium?” His tone was a mixture of arrogance, inquiry and just a bit genuine. Enough to blunt any sarcastic edge.

When Ananya looked away from the line of underaged boys towards the voice that spoke, she was surprised to see that it was the same guy that scared the living crap outta the other kid -- Leopold something. Now, she was nowhere near close enough to figure out what was said between the two, but she knew it was enough to send that kid and his buddies running in fear of him. That was more than enough to cause her to be guarded against the arrogant man.

"I heard there was a party for Gia, if you know her?" She tried sounding as if she knew the villain well enough to have any sort of business at a club filled with villains she'd never even heard of - let alone met.

Lucas was surprised for a second. Was she Delphina, Mayweather or an outsider? He hadn’t seen her ever in his life and the school had started for some time now, so Mayweather or Delphina seemed impossible. Gianna certainly knew a lot of people, but she wasn’t invited. If she was, she’d also know that she could cut the line and enter with the mere mention of that name here. So here was a girl that knew of the name Gia, but not good enough to know what power that name held in a place like here. She was also alone, in New York City. Not the safest of places to wander alone. So she was definitely an outsider. But not one that knew Gianna well enough.

“Oh yeah. I know Gia. Very good friend actually. You got an invite too?” he prodded, checking if she knew more. Gia rarely sent actual invitations. You just knew when things would go down in Delirium and you showed up. Making plans for a place like this was impossible to do. But Lucas wanted to test if the strange girl knew that. If she did, then she’d visit Delirium before when Gianna was here. If she didn’t, then she learned about Gianna’s existence somewhere else. What the senior getting internet famous now too?

Oh that was not good. Out of all the people she could run into, why did it have to be someone that could see through her lies? Ananya wasn't sure whether she would get away with admitting that she was a Mayweather student trying to crash a Delphina party, so the truth was out. She thought for a moment about her lie. She didn't know Gianna enough, only that it was her party and she was - for the lack of a better word - the queen bee of Delphina. Do queen bees pass invitations? Probably, right? They wouldn't want just anyone getting into their parties.

So swallowing down her anxiety, Ananya responded. "Of course, didn't you?" Was she pushing it? "She doesn't want just anyone strolling in, if you know what I mean?" Maybe hinting that she was a Delphina student to a villain was not the best idea, but she was already in this mess. What's the worst that could happen?

Lucas could pull the game for so long as he wanted, that much was clear to him. This poor girl had no idea she was digging her own grave. Then again, Lucas had to admire the fact that she was willing to bluff her way through it. Not that she was successful, though. If anything, Lucas could “punish” her too for abusing a name like he did with good old “Leopold”. But then again, why scare away the girls? The more the merrier and definitely in a club. Besides with her exotic appearance she’d get plenty of drinks. That means plenty of extra drinks paid for. Beauty is always good for business.

“No, actually.” Lucas grinned. “If I know one thing about Gianna, then it is that she loves getting to know strangers. But you got an invitation, you say? Strange, I didn’t.” he pulled his phone, slowly and pulled Gianna from his contacts. He showed the small screen at the Indian girl and then turned it back to him. “You got 15 seconds to say who you are and why you’re here. Or I’m calling Gianna and see if she knows who ever the hell you’ll claim you are.” His voice was completely serious, though inside he was snickering like hell. Would he call Gianna? Of course, he would. And she’d just tell him to let the girl in so she could introduce herself. If she confessed about being some imposter she’d get in too. But his tone certainly didn’t convey that message. It was far more intimidating. Telling the girl that either she’d tell the truth or be thrown to the wolves, despite still being in line. This was a part of Lucas he liked the most sometimes. His intimidating side.

Shit.

Luck really had a way of screwing with her, one way or another. Ananya didn't just shoot herself in the foot twice by name dropping the birthday girl, but she pretty much threw herself into a hungry lion's cage wearing nothing but Lady Gaga's meat dress. It was not good. There was no way she could keep claiming she was a Delphina student, especially since the man in front of her was already suspicious - and if Ananya wanted to leave the lion's cage alive, she had to tell the truth.

"Alright, fine. I'm a Mayweather student. I had to miss the first month back because of... reasons... but what's wrong with trying to get to know my new classmates?" That was at least partially honest, there was no way she'd let anyone know that she wanted to scope out potential opponents for the tournament. Now all Ananya could do was pray to Shiva that the man in front of her was going to let her go with little problems.

“Ah, that wasn’t so hard now was it.” He said, feeling the sweet victory. Now it was his turn. He put back his phone and came to stand next to her. Putting his closest, left arm around her to rest on her hip he started leading her through the crowd, which parted like the red sea. Jimmy opened up the rope gate to let them both through. All the while Lucas was saying: “You know, a beautiful girl like you could easily get in most clubs here. Believe me, owners don’t care. Beauty brings business. Also, flaunting the name Gianna like that will either open doors or make sure you just got on the wrong side of someone. Don’t worry, it just opened a door for you.” His tone was relaxed and cheery, and his timing perfect. Because right when he said that Nico opened up Delirium’s door for them.

“Let me be the first to welcome you to paradise. Delirium!” He announced with his right hand, keeping his left on her hip. He dragged her on to the nearby bar and coat room. Where he released his hand from her hip, handed his own coat and ordered two white martini’s to start the night with. He took one for himself and shoved the other one to the girl. “So tell me, who are you? I mean you name, and such stuff.” He smiled while asking, and then took a sip of his drink. Indicating it was her turn to talk, but his entire intimidating nature was gone. Instead, now he was curious of who this exotic beauty really was.

Now this isn't what she'd expected. Maybe a little satisfaction from his end for getting what he wanted, maybe a little gloating - but to be guided into the club despite lying to his face? Definitely not what she thought would happen. Maybe her luck wasn't too bad... yet. He was still an intimidating guy, and one look from him sent terrified shivers down her spine. If this was Gia's friend... she could only imagine how scary the Delphina queen bee would be.

Maybe her luck would last long enough for her to get out of the club without being noticed by the birthday girl? Ananya handed her thin coat before leaning against the bar as Lucas pushed the glass towards her. "Oh I don't--" Oh what the hell, she'd made it through inside, she could celebrate with one drink. She took the glass and sipped, nose wrinkling slightly. "I'm Ananya. Or... er, Naagin. Have you even heard of me? Probably not since I'm not much of a hero but," Anya shrugged, before taking another small sip. "And who are you? I can't keep calling you 'that intimidating guy' in my head."

“As we are sharing our aliases-“ he inched closer to her ear, brushing away some of her hair. He whispered: “They call me Twilight.” Now the name Twilight wasn’t meant anything special. But there was a certain power in an alias to Lucas. Maybe in years to come he’d become a legend? The name Twilight would suddenly mean so much, while so few knew his real name. It was a thought just to entertain because he had no idea how anything in his future would go. Not that it matter. “Intimidating guy, eh? I like that. Maybe I should keep my real name a secret?” he said with a playful smile. After which he took a quick sip. “I’m Lucas. Farweight. Though, you’re Mayweather right? You’ll probably get to know me as Gia’s puppy.” The nickname clearly didn’t hurt him but did give off the feel that there was a story there.

“So you’re here to meet new people, eh? As a Mayweather?” He looked at the top liquor shelf for a second, deciding what to grab next. “You know, for a Mayweather you’re really in the wrong place. No offense, I’m happy you’re here. Half your ‘classmates’ wouldn’t even dare cross that door.” He said, turning on the barstool towards the entrance. “You really think this is the place where you get to know your classmates?” Obviously, it wasn’t. The main crowd was clearly older than 22. The only people you’d ever get to know was Gianna’s people. So did she want to get to know Gianna? Or was she really as naïve as she said she was?

"Twilight, as in the sparkly Vampire Twilight?" Anya couldn't help but laugh. It may not be the case, but that was the first thought that came into the Nag's head when she heard him. Anya took another sip, her mind trying to figure out what his ability was without having to ask and seem too nosey or suspicious. Anyway, it wasn't like her alias was any better; in fact it was the least creative thing someone could come up with. She was a naagin, with the same alias - it wouldn't really take long for someone to figure out what she could do if they knew her language.

"I wouldn't really peg you for a puppy type, maybe more of a... I don't know? Tiger? Something dangerous, but I guess Gia's tiger doesn't have as much of a ring to it." Ananya figeted with the hem of her dress as he brought up Mayweather again, before answering. "Maybe I don't want to meet only other Mayweather students. If I wanted to, I would've stuck to the library. I think... the Mayweather students that would try to come to a villain's club on a special night for the queen of Delphina... I think those people are a lot more interesting." At least, if they're brave enough to try to crash a villain's party, surely they'll be potentially skilled opponents.

Lucas never liked the comparison with vampirism. That stuff was for girly-girls who had nothing to do but fantasize constantly about their future boyfriend. Those into the whole vampire thing struck him as incredibly teensy. Like teen girl trying to be a little edgy. It always failed. Still, the difference was a jab he disliked. With all seriousness, he turned back towards the girl. “You like to piss off people you shouldn’t, don’t you?” After that, he just turned back to the bar to take another sip of his drink while listening what else she got to say.

And what she said struck him as particularly odd. Him, a tiger? That was the first time a Mayweather actually dared to talk like that to him. Many talked behind his back, but none would even say a word to his face. But this girl, she talked with him without any prejudice. With an entertained but confused face he turned at the Indian girl. Her comment about the library actually earned her a chuckle from the villain. And he nodded in confirmation about her crashing the night. He knew Mayweather wouldn’t let it pass without incident. But at least now he had confirmation that they were up to something.

“Are you sure you’re Mayweather?” he asked, as he finished his drink. “I mean if anything, you’d fit right in with Delphina.” He said with a chuckle. Before ordering two shots of tequila. “You know, anyone trying to crash this party has a death wish. Even I wouldn’t want to ruin a party at one of Hart’s places.” He exclaimed, as the shot glasses arrived. He forced the salt shaker in one of Ananya’s free hands, saying: “This is Delirium. No way you stay sober here for longer than 30 minutes. C’mon, you go first.”

Anya finished her drink, pushing the glass away from her and raising her arms up in a mock-surrender gesture. "I meant no harm, just... it was the first thing I thought." Ananya kept forgetting that the man she was talking to was a villain, a student from Delphina- she needed to be a lot more careful with her words lest she trigger something bad and the last thing Ananya wanted tonight was to make enemies out of people that were more powerful than her.

But this was proving to be a helpful experience: Lucas seemed the type of man to be annoyed easily - given that he didn't take her Twilight comment lightly. Or maybe she'd hit the spot luckily, she didn't know. Ananya figured the only way to find out was to carry on the chit chat. Ananya's eyes opened wide as Lucas ordered another two shots of tequila, protests forming at the back of her throat. "Oh, god no I can't. I'm a lightweight, plus I'm pretty sure is against my faith." Her hand curled around the salt shaker, contemplating.

If she drank some more, Ananya figured he'd be willing to sit around long enough for her to figure things out about him. But on the other hand, she truly was a lightweight - hell, that martini already got the Nag buzzed. "I guess I can't plead innocence? I had no malicious intent, just... curiosity." She looked at the salt shaker and drink again, before finally giving in. "Just this one time." She muttered before applying salt to the back of her hand, licking it and quickly taking the shot of tequila - all with a winced expression on her face.

Lucas wasn’t often one to mock faith. He himself wasn’t much of a believer, but he knew just how powerful a belief could be. Then again, they were in Delirium. The temple of sin. Whatever you did here no god could hold against you. The place was worse than Las Vegas. “C’mon. You’re telling me you don’t really want to try it? You’re in Delirium! Do what you want, drink what you want! This place is exactly what Lucifer had in mind when he gave humans free will!” Lucas exclaimed. Maybe naming the devil wasn’t such a good idea, then again she was in the devil’s club. She had to drink.

And to Lucas’ triumph she did. He cheered as she threw back the shot. But apparently forgot the lemon slice. When the wincing on her face was gone and she looked at him he couldn’t help but laugh. “I’m-I’m so sorry it’s just. You’re the first person I’ve met who forgot the lemon. Here, lemme show you.” He took the salt shaker from her hand, put some on his hand, licked it, threw back the shot as if it was water and put the lemon slice in his mouth. With a straight face, he looked at her, with just a millimeter or two of yellow lemon slice keeping his lips apart. Eventually, he took it out, spit out a pit and showed her how he literally consumed all the flesh inside. With a smile, he told her: “See? You have to eat the lemon. All of it. C’mon, do it again!” He wouldn’t give her much time to say no as he already ordered 2 extra shots and gave her the salt shaker back. The bartender was surprisingly fast with the new shots, and Lucas gave Ananya her second glass, making clear that he wouldn’t take no for an answer.

How much worse could it get? She'd already had one martini, and now a shot. She'd already sinned in God's eye, so why not just throw it to the wind? It was all in the name of research anyway, surely He would understand - though Ananya was certain that her mother was shaking her head up in heaven - how could the daughter of a bartender forget the lemon!?

Ananya made a face at Lucas as he showed her how a shot was supposed to be done - the lemon included before he ordered one more. She could already feel the effects of the alcohol in her system, but she was still a couple shots away from being out of her mind. "Cut me some slack, I've never had shots before." Still cringing slightly at the taste, Ananya took the salt shaker from Lucas before putting some more on the back of her hand. "Just know I'll be upset if the lemon doesn't make the shot taste any better." And with that, Ananya mimicked what Lucas had done: licked the salt, downed the shot before putting the slice of lemon into her mouth, spitting the citrus out moments later with another wince and a groaned "it didn't." while rubbing her lips, as if the taste would go away with those actions.

"I hope you're happy," she groaned again. "That was god awful, why would you willingly take that and not make a face!?"

Lucas, in a slight buzz, held his own second shot glass aloft to examine it. It has been so long ago since when he took his first shot of Tequila. In fact, he was only 17. It was a wild night, he could remember that much. They didn’t even have lemon. But he definitely shared the salt with someone. They licked it off another’s hands. It was then that he realized with whom he shared, and his eyes went big for a moment. Way too fast he grabbed the salt, licked some off his hand, threw back the glass, draining it like an actually shot, and bit the lemon. Successfully washing down the bad memory. However, his face did wince from the sourness of the lemon.

“Oh god, that was far sourer than I thought it would be.” He said as his face relaxed and he spat out the lemon. “Honestly, I have no clue?” he followed up while laughing. “Guess you get used to it. Though, sometimes it takes you by surprise.” He looked at the shot standing before him. Tequila was a good start, but this was clearly a girl’s first bar time. Well, no reason not to make it memorable. Or completely forgotten. Depending on how far he could get her. “You know what you should try? Ricard.” Again, he didn’t leave her much choice. As he ordered it immediately from the bartender. Though she looked a bit busy, so they still had some time before her shot arrived. No way Lucas would pour that down. The only time he ever did it was with Gianna, and back then he too got tricked into it. “It has –euhm- a unique taste. Trust me, it’s really special!” he assured the Indian girl. As the bartender, in the distance was preparing the shot. It was served simple, in a glass. Lucas pushed it toward Ananya while saying: “C’mon, all in one.”

Ricard... it sounded vaguely familiar, but it wasn't something she was aware of all that much (again, probably causing her mother to shake her head in heaven). She gave the glass a wary look, then at Lucas with narrowed eyes. "And why aren't you drinking it, mister Tiger?" She was already not thinking about her words as much as she normally does, and this could only end in a disasterous night filled with regrets.

Taking the glass in hand, she sighed heavily. "If I have no choice, then I suppose it's bottoms up..." In an act she would later regret, Ananya brought the glass up to her lips, her nose wrinkled as she downed the drink as quickly as she could, the licorice taste filling her mouth causing the Nag to push the glass back down onto the counter as she gagged. "I'm never trusting you again, I've never tasted something more vile!"

Lucas couldn’t do anything but laugh as she downed the glass. She actually did it, and that would just be the start of it all. Still, the boy nearly fell off his barstool laughing. “Oh god. Oh god, I… Okay no, I’m not entirely sorry. Well, I’d give you a sweeter cocktail but as you said, you no longer trust me. Still, I’m going to order one.” He said with a smile, as he ordered a Sex on the Beach. The soft cocktail he strangely enough liked very much. Though he was smart enough to ask for 2 straws. And a glass of water, which he passed towards Ananya.

“Here, drink this. You’ll feel better.” He said as he started drinking from his own cocktail. “So tell me, where are you from?” The question was genuine. The booze was just intended to loosen everyone involved up a little. Right now he honestly wanted nothing more than to get to know the strange, Indian girl. The fact that she only just arrived at Mayweather without any of the prejudice earned her a lot of brownie points with Lucas, something she may learn to be a very valuable thing. If she chooses not to believe every gossip thrown around at Mayweather.

Ananya took the glass of water gratefully, drinking the cool beverage with a soft sigh. She set the glass back onto the counter, rubbing the side of her neck and grumbling under her breath. "I am willing... to bet my left kidney that that drink was revenge for Twilight." Ananya said slowly after finishing her glass of water. There was no way she was going to drink that cocktail and leave the party with enough of a mind to remember things the next day.

Her mother really would be proud...

"India, really. Left after... well.. after my mother... died... yeah..." Ananya used air-quotes around died, before shaking her head. "Killed, actually. Not a verryy nice man." Ananya's words were slurred a little bit, but not enough to sound incomprehensible. "Didja know, she was a bartender when she met my dad? Yeah, look at me now ma." Ananya then raised the empty glass of water in the air, laughing at herself. Ananya had no chance of getting information about potential opponents anymore. There was no way. She was already so... out of it, and it barely took her a martini and two shots.

“Well… you did sort of earn it.” He chuckled, as he took a sip from his cocktail. “You can taste if you want, you know.” He offered her the second, unused straw. The cocktail was very much the opposite of revenge for him. It tasted nice and soft and wasn’t even that heavy. Then again, as she slurred her words Lucas realized she might be far further down the line that he thought he would be. When he heard about the dead of her mother, Lucas felt rather bad. So far he was blessed in that area. With no deaths in the family yet, Lucas was spared that pain, for now. Though deep inside, he knew it would happen someday. Probably a day he was least prepared for. Though when Ananya raised her empty glass he joined in, laughing.

And then he turned with a surprised face towards the Indian girl. “Your mom was a bartender!? No! You never drank a shot of Tequila! How is that possible!? And you just… she never told you about Ricard?” Lucas couldn’t help but be amazed. The girl was full of surprises. “Hell yeah your mom would be proud!” he said, full with excitement. “Look at you, sharing drinks with a stranger.” Lucas was clearly having fun. “Who would have thought that would ever happen in your life!?” He didn’t even know the girl, but she definitely looked like the kind that wouldn’t be doing any of the stuff she was doing now under normal circumstances.

With the raised toast in one hand, Ananya took the offered straw with the other. "Doesn't seem like a bad idea anymore, but this better taste good." Pointing the straw at him like a weapon, Ananya then slipped it into the glass before taking a hesitant sip, sighing when the drink wasn't as bad as she'd expected. Normally Ananya would feel like utter shit after talking about her mother, but here she was drunkenly raising a toast for her. This was definitely not how Ananya thought the night would go, and at this rate, Ananya was not going to remember a single moment of it.

Ananya laughed as the occupation of her late mother excited Lucas. She didn't know why it was funny, but she was drunk! Everything is funny to a drunk. "She served drinks to strangers, and here I am on the other side! But- oh! We gotta keep this hush hush from papa, okay? His drinking days are over and he would be sad if he knew this-" Ananya waved her finger around, pointing at herself then at the drink between her and Lucas, before continuing, "-was happening."

Ananya then frowned at the song that was playing. This wouldn't do at all, it was too... boring. She couldn't tell what exactly was playing, but it didn't matter to the drunk. Instead, Ananya stood up from her barstool, wobbling for a moment before grabbing hold of the edge of the bartop for support, laughing all the while. "Whoops- need to be careful!" After making sure she wasn't going to collapse, Ananya set off towards the DJ, stumbling through the small crowd to reach DJ Predator.



If Ananya was going to dance, it was going to be to one of her favourite songs. It took little convincing, a bat of eyelashes here and some giggling there, but soon the drunk snake finally convinced the DJ to play her song. With the thumping beat filling the room, Ananya turned in her place to face Lucas, still grinning widely. "Care to dance with me, mister Tiger?" She asked as she stepped towards him.

Lucas was taken pretty off guard when the girl suddenly jumped up from the barstool. As a reaction he got off too, keeping his hands near her in case he would need to catch her. When it was clear that she’d go off towards somewhere Lucas was pretty much forced to down his cocktail. Luckily it was easy to drink entirely. After that, he quickly went after Ananya who didn’t get too far yet. Again he kept his hands around the small of her back, ready to catch her should it be needed. Eventually, she crawled up the DJ platform. A place Lucas preferred not to be seen on.

Whatever she asked, she got it. And once she did she made her way back to Lucas, telling him to join in. Lucas looked confused at the DJ, trying to understand what kind of song was playing. Then he heard the Hindi. “I.. I don’t know this song!” he exclaimed with some fake, playful panic at Ananya. But then again, he was at Delirium. “Know what? What the hell! Lead the way, Anya!”

Arrey ladki beautiful, kar gayi chull!