There was a momentary look of surprise that flit across the Headmistress’ face at Jinny’s pronouncement of needing to enroll in the Power Control class, and she would steal a glance at Slade who was smirking at the moment.

But before too much could be gleamed from that interaction, she would answer Jinny’s question. “For many reasons. I like to teach, but what I have to teach is predominately looked down upon in polite society. Because there was no where I fit in when I was younger, so I decided to make one. And because I don’t trust Capes, and I refuse to let them gather more power unchecked.”

“It is all well and good for people to claim those that perform the tasks we teach here as evil, but anyone who has lived long enough in the underworld knows that the world is a lot grayer than that. Something I’m sure that none of the hero’s out there today area aware of.” Kane’s tone wouldn’t change at all while she spoke, but there was a gleam in her eye none the less. Yet for all the honesty, there was a nagging feeling of something being left out. Though whether that is a surprise or not would be up in the air.

Regardless She would give Jinny one final nod. “I look forward to watching your progress Jinayah.” With that said she would turn and begin walking away.

Before she made it far Slade would at last look up from his papers and call out to her. “Expect a call from Wintergreen.” He would say “He wasn’t aware either, but he’s fine to tell.” The headmistress wouldn’t stop, though she would slow down for a moment before resuming her normal gait, but otherwise didn’t respond to what was said.

“She hasn’t changed a bit” He would then say with a huff of amusement before turning to regard Jinny. “If you can steal something from her office, without getting called out, I’ll buy you anything you want. No questions asked.” He still looked softly amused, but he was completely serious about the offer.

“Also, I’m going to be primarily a weapons instructor here. So, you can either drop those classes and we will cover that during your personal lessons or sign up for them and we can cover other things during your personal lessons.” He would offer up. Because while he was equally qualified to teach other skills, his extreme skill with weapons was far and away one of his most well known traits.

After those assertions Slade would go back to his paperwork. It wouldn’t take him much more time to finish it, and even then it was only because of the Headmistress’ arrival that he slowed in the first place.

With the Headmistress gone the smaller murmurings of the other people around them were easier to once again pick out, and seeing as it was mostly other students here many of them were talking about the conversation they had just seen. Curious about Slade, his connection to the headmistress, and about Jinayah.

One of those watching had taken more interest in something else that was said however. Though it would take them a few moments to gather the courage to venture over to the table that Slade and Jinny were using. “How much to get in on those private lessons?” They would ask once they had come over.

The person in question was again female, but much younger and much more distinct then the headmistress. She had vibrant pink hair that she wore short, her eyes were the same shade of pink as her hair but were also slitted like a cats. In addition to that her skin was a pale gray. She was a bit on the taller side and had a rather lithe build from what could be seen and assumedly was only a few years older than Jinny herself. She wore a student uniform as well, and had chosen to go with the skirt and a pair of black leggings.

Slade would give the newcomer only the briefest of glances. “That’s up to her” He would answer by gesturing to Jinny.

The newcomer would shift her attention to Jinny in response and repeat her question. “How much to get in on the private lessons?” It was a bit less steady then the first time she asked. Seemingly more nervous to be asking Jinny then Slade for some reason, or maybe it was because she had to ask it again? Either way it was clear to tell that this girl was trying to keep up a front.

Jinny lifted her eyebrows at her Uncle’s offer. “Really? Anything I want?” A smile spread slowly across her face, and it wasn’t the usual kiddy smile. There was definitely the faintest trace of the sinister in it. “You’ll probably regret that later.” She made a mental note to figure out which was the Headmistress’ office and scope it out as soon as possible.

She too, went back to her paperwork. She was going back and forth on the course schedule, before handing it over to him. She had taken the Stealth and Spying course, Math, Weapons Instruction, English, and Power Control. There was an extra spot left, which she was leaving blank as suggested by Kane. “I want to take weapons classes with everyone else. I think, if we get to sparring, I might have a chance of actually winning a fight someday.” There was a joke in there somewhere, but she was mostly serious. “Besides, I want to see other people’s fighting styles. I’ll probably learn something new with all the potential opponents.”

The murmuring started to get to her again. She started to crack her knuckles, fully prepared to tell off the entire room. The power glow in her eyes started to flare up. But before she could open her mouth, there was a surprise.

Jinny looked the new girl up and down, sizing her up. She had the unfortunate habit of doing that with other kids. It usually put them off. She placed the new girl in the “Unknown” category. The other two currently being “Cool” and “Not Cool”. Narrowing her eyes, she spoke carefully.

“The private lessons are currently private. Meaning, not for sale.” Her gaze was steady, and there was a distinct air of “go away” in her voice. She didn’t know this girl, and obviously couldn’t trust her. Money was not something she really needed at this time in her life. Most of what she wanted (besides the occasional candy bar or model kit) was something she could politely request and have bought for her. Usually. Besides, she was probably a spy for one of the nosy adults.

In an offhand, casually cruel way, she mentioned: “You probably couldn’t keep up, anyway.” It seemed like the matter was closed.

The unknown girl would grimace at the rather blunt assessment of her skills, but if it was because Jinny was correct or simply the way she put it was hard to tell. She stayed there for the moment though her attention still focused on Jinny, and it wouldn’t be hard to notice that this girl was sizing Jinny up herself. She also showed no discomfort at the fact that Jinny had already done the same.

The new girl would spare a glance at Slade, but what she saw, if anything, was impossible to know. Instead she would refocus on Jinny and start talking again. “What about a trade?” She would ask, obviously not taking the hint to leave. “Or a favor?” Because money wasn’t the only thing of value.

Still, regardless of her front and refusal to leave the girl would turn slightly away, preparing to leave, in a hurry if needed. She didn’t break eye contact with Jinny however.

Slade for his part kept his musing to himself, as he did with his chuckles as well. Jinny had nailed it with her final statement. Whoever this young meta was, he could tell she didn’t have the martial training to really keep up. He had to give her props when it came to her courage however. She either didn’t realize who he was, or didn’t care, and still came up to ask a stranger for more training. And even with the hard shut down she was trying another angle.

With one last signature he was done with his paperwork and would lean back into the chair as he watched on. His added attention caused the meta to start fidgeting. Her hands curling up and splaying out slowly with nerves.

He’d catch sight of the barest flicker of pink sparks dancing across her fingertips, and was mostly sure it was being done on accident on the girls part.

Jinny frowned. This girl was not getting the picture. “I don’t think you have anything I want.” She looked on resolutely as she was also sized up. It was a bit of a surprise to her, however. Usually she was the one to do that, not the other way around. She found that she didn’t mind it.

She didn’t miss the tiny flicker of pink, either, and wondered what that was about. The girl was very obviously metahuman, unlike Jinny who could hide it until necessary. What sort of power did she have, exactly? Maybe…

“Tell you what. If you can manage to impress me sometime, I’ll consider it. Not now, but… sometime. ‘Kay?” With that, she stood up.

“Come on, I want to go outside.” That was for Slade. It was very rare that she spoke in that kind of tone to anyone, let alone him, but it seemed she was trying to keep up appearances. After gathering up her paperwork, she headed for the door. Her chin was raised high, and it would be clear to her uncle that she was copying his ‘Move or be run over’ sort of walk.

Once outside, however, and out of range of other people, she slumped and exhaled. “Don’t they know it’s rude to stare?” She scowled, huffing softly. It seemed the morning was wearing her down already. “I didn’t like that. But I’m probably going to have to get used to it, aren’t I?” Sighing, she started walking the grounds in an aimless way.
“Do you think they’ll expect something of me? Like, something extra?” Her nails went to her mouth and she began to chew.

“This is already better than regular school in a lot of ways. But I…” She fidgeted, then voiced her thought. “I really don’t want to disappoint you.”

In the moment after Jinny made her declaration, but before she stood up to leave. There would be a flash of relief on the other girl’s face. But it would be gone quickly, as she readily complied at last with Jinayah’s desire to be left alone, yet not before getting in one last word. “I’ll be sure to catch you around then”

She would be gone before Jinny could say anything else though, turning and walking away quickly. Not worried if it looked like she was fleeing or not.

Slade would acquiesce to Jinny’s demand, mainly because he still found everything going on far too humorous, but could tell that it was weighing on Jinny. The trip outside was a simple one, mainly because people actually got out of Jinny’s way. It was likely more to do with Slade’s reputation, but he him self wasn’t doing much to assist in getting people to scram. Save for an extra glare at the more stubborn gawkers.

He was content to let Jinny to set the pace and destination and wasn’t surprised that they were going away from where the people were. Up till now people were normally keeping their distance from Jinny, not nearly crowding her like they were here.

“Manners aren’t exactly high on the priority list of most people here” Slade would point out in response to her rhetorical question. “And you are going to have to deal with it for a while. Getting used to it however, that’s up to you. So long as you don’t get caught breaking the school rules feel free to make your displeasure known.” That’s not to say Slade didn’t have a preference, self-control being his highest preferred response to this.

“And yes, they are all expecting impressive things of you, and yes, it is my fault. That doesn’t mean you aren’t going to surprise them.” He would go on to say as he took in the surrounding greenery. “You’ve been training for most of your life, if not the entirety of it. And I am not a kind taskmaster.”

“And you have no need to worry about disappointing me. You’ve already shown commendable mettle today in deal with the rabble. As well as good situational awareness to get yourself out of a place that was unsettling you. My lessons are sticking and it shows to me, for now at least. First class with others is going to show everyone.”

“Keep that up and we will have no problems”

Jinny listened to Slade quietly, saying not a word. Then she pulled her hand from her mouth and smiled slightly. “Thank you. That makes me feel better.” She stood up, the happiness back in her eyes now that they weren’t half-surrounded by nosy onlookers.

“Let’s see what else this place has to offer.” She unfolded the school map that they had been given, and looked it over. “It sounds really normal on paper. Gym, classrooms, Oh! Wait, they have a mechanic shop. I’m going. Come on!” Putting the map back in her pocket, she strode down the walkways that crisscrossed the school and all of it’s facilities.

They passed a large, Olympic style pool and a smaller one that looked like it was just for recreation. Both were currently empty. They also passed a closed off building, that upon closer inspection was a gun range. By the time they reached the mechanic shop, a standalone facility with either white smoke or steam pouring out of a small chimney, they had seen a lot of the campus.

Jinny pushed the door open excitedly to see a tech-head’s paradise. Tools of all sorts, blueprints posted on the walls, and plenty of material to work with. “Wow...” Jinny murmured to herself. She had the same feeling when she’d first entered her uncle’s weapons room. A sense of awe… and a desire to get her hands on everything.

However, there was someone else already there, and he seemed to be working on something already. Jinny was surprised, as the school year hadn’t even started yet.

“Um… hello.” She carefully approached the short boy at the work bench and greeted him.

Slade would give a sharp nod as he once again fell in step with Jinny. This time he was focusing his attention more on the school around him. As his niece had a point, it all did seem like a normal school so far. If it wasn’t for meeting the headmistress and that unnamed student from earlier, he would be hard pressed to say it was anything other than a simple school.

But since he was more focused on it now, he could see the subtle hints that it wasn’t the case. The Olympic pool for example had a hidden hatch at the bottom of it that he could see. The gun range was another hint as it wasn’t exactly the most normal, but it could also likely double as an archery range so most people wouldn’t think twice most likely.

Other things were smaller, there was far more security then normal for one, dozens of cameras all expertly hidden. For two there was a few hidden passages, at least that was what Slade assumed them to be. He only noticed one get used, and even that was only barely. A pair of students walked into a small wooded copse for a moment and next chance that Slade could see the area they were gone.

Where these passage lead, he didn’t know, but he was curious.

Finally, they would arrive at the workshop, and it was an impressive looking room. At least at first glance. It was a very well supplied and stocked workshop, that wasn’t in question. It was more that it was all so... pedestrian in Slade’s opinion. Everything here was commercially available. While Slade was pondering that, Jinny would go on to talk to the only other person in the room.

The boy in question was quick to respond “What do you want?” He would ask, with an irritated growl not even looking up from what it was he was working on. “I’m a little bit busy if you couldn’t tell. And if you can’t tell, maybe you want to go get your eyes examined” He was quick to tack on. Even as he remained focused on his work.

The work in question seemed simple enough to gather at a glance. He had a rather sophisticated looking harness spread out in the workshop bench in front of him. It was the fact that the components for the harness took up the entirety of the table that would be the first sticking point. To make things worse, the parts that were open, which was most of them at this point, revealed a vast interconnected network of wires and circuit boards that the boy was currently in to process of either replacing some of the wires, with seemingly identical ones. Or he was resoldering some of the connection points, firming up some connections or simply rerouting them. That he was doing so by hand was a feat on to its own, but none of this stuff looked in any way familiar.

Parts of it could be gathered through context, actuators for what looked to be robotic limbs, ports for power cells and the like. But there was also what looked to be a jet pack, as well as some type of energy cannon laid out as well, but the inner workings of those portions just didn't seem to make sense. Like how all of this was supposed to fit on one harness, for one, especially one sized for the smaller than normal kid as well.

“Sorry.” Jinny muttered, not sorry at all. “I just wanted to see what you were building. Your tech is so gorgeous, and your lines are so neat and tidy.” She looked it over again, frowning delicately. “Though it is kind of messing with my head. How you get all that on your harness there is beyond me. It looks like it’d weigh you down.” This boy was smaller than even Jinny herself, which was, after a thought, excellent. So she wouldn’t be the shortest kid in all the classes.

She stepped around the boy, hands behind her back, simply taking it all in with her sharp eyes. Touching someone else’s things was something she had to work on, on a continued basis. Most of the time she got too excited when she saw new technology. “Is that a jet pack? Awesome. I’m guessing you made that yourself?” She looked up, glee and the faintest traces of jealousy in her eyes.

“I wish I had a jetpack.” This was true. Even though she could fly, she was still having trouble gaining height. So far her record was about 7 feet from the ground.

“I’m Jinny, by the way. What’s your name?”

The kid? His height made one assume so at least, as did his temperament, even if his sharp tongue would leave one to assume older. Regardless he didn’t look up from his work though Jinny could tell that he was very closely monitoring her. But her restraint at not touching his stuff, and her open praise of it seemed to have paid off. As when he next spoke it was much less harsh than it had been.

“Mikron” Would come the tiny person’s off hand reply, revealing that he did have manners even if they were begrudgingly used. “And It all fits because I’ve got a micro space array set into the core regulator.” He would reply with a half hearted gesture towards a central part of his rig. One that didn’t really help narrow down what it was he was gesturing at all. “Weight is taken care of due to the gravitational diffuser” Another gesture though this time it was easier to tell he was motioning towards the jetpack. “Not sure if I got the polarity matrix for the refocusing foil set up properly since they won’t let me into the proper workshop until classes start. So not sure if it works as a jet pack yet. But that is the goal.” He would gripe sneering at the machines in the rest of the room as if they personally were responsible.

“And of course I made this myself.” He would go on, almost insulted that he wouldn’t have made it. “Have you met any of the other blockheads here? None of them can even tell the difference between an ion dispersal engine or a proton wave generator.” He would roll his eyes at the apparent stupidity of the rest of his classmates, but it would either seem like he didn’t know that Jinny was also in that group now or thought her outside of that prior categorization.

Before Jinny and Mikron could keep talking Slade would slip into the conversation. “You built a gravitational diffuser?” He would ask, sounding almost impressed. “How many years into your study here did you accomplish that?”

Mikron’s reaction to that question was more caustic than the seemingly innocent question deserved. As he spun around in the chair to level a glare at Slade. “Please, I built a low grade diffuser in my basement long before I got a scholarship here.” He would spin back around before he could take in Slade’s darkly amused look. It was one Jinny was more accustomed to, as it was one that often came before some of the more brutal days of training.

Still it was notable beyond that as it seemed that for whatever reason Mikron either didn’t recognize or didn’t care about Slade. Which was a refreshing change of pace.

Dismissing Slade the boy would go back to his work. “Why do you want a jetpack by the way?” he would ask Jinny. “Your metagene not give you a way to get airborne?”

Jinny nodded a bit at Mikron’s explanation of his technology. She understood most of the words, but not what they meant when used together. But she sure wasn’t going to mention that. Feeling dumb was deeply unpleasant for her, something she tried to avoid. But to his question about flight, she answered truthfully.

“Well, I can fly.” She said with some pride. The part about not being able to get particularly high was left out. “I just think it’d be nice to have a backup if I can’t or don’t want to use my powers.” She jerked a thumb at Slade. “He says to always have a con- con…” Why did her uncle have to use large words she could not spell. “Contingency plan. Meaning the jetpack is plan B.”

“I’ve built a few things myself. Some small closed loop robots. Drop delivery coin sorters, homebrewed Gantry motosweep with a built in harness. Function over form, nothing pretty like your kit. My favorite one helps me organize.”

She had help with those, because she was not yet old or large enough to operate the proper tools. (Finding a welding kit for children had proven moot, even on the internet.) But the design work and blueprints had been all from her own mind, and she was deeply proud of that. None of the kids at regular school would tolerate her talking about robots for very long, but she felt like this boy might listen. Even if he was older, he was firmly in the ‘very cool’ category so far.

She also didn’t miss the fact that neither she nor Slade was getting stared at in awe or in fear. That was a deep relief, as she was very much over being stared at like she had two heads.

“If they let me in the mechanics class, I hope I see you there.” There was a happy smile on her face now. She seemed to have relaxed completely from her earlier ordeal.

“If you can get your motosweep brought in they will let you in easy.” Mikron would say with an eye roll “The assistant teach is the one in charge of vetting students and he’s got no idea what is actually impressive or not.” He would get back to his work soldering as he kept talking. His attitude was notably more relaxed as well as he wasn’t watching Jinny’s hands as closely as he had been.

“The actual teacher is fantastic though. He actually knows his stuff.” As Mikron finished up his work he would start packing it away as well. Displaying that some parts of it were somehow able to fold into themselves allowing him to stack an incredible amount of stuff into the same space. “Though my favorite had to be when Luthor dropped in as a surprise lecturer. Some of the stuff he was talking about in regards to zero space fields or friction space generators almost went over my head.” He would state with a surprising amount of enthusiasm. “Granted it is mostly theory at this point, but the math all checks out as far as I can tell. It’s just the energy requirements are a freaking nightmare.”

“You get your student pass yet?” He would suddenly ask turning to look at Jinny as he asked.

“No” Slade would interject. “Our paper work is still being processed”

“Well, if one-eye is fine with it I could show you some of the actual school” Mikron would go on to say still hardly paying Slade much mind. Something that was actually starting to annoy the mercenary, though he would refrain from making his displeasure known here and now. There would be plenty of time to do that during class.

“The surface level stuff does get a fair amount of use for the ‘traditional schooling’” the last part was placed in air quotes “But the best stuff is hidden blow.”

“Up to you Jinny.” Slade would say “I’ll come find you when our passes are squared away.” Which was true one way or another really. But it would giver her the chance to go exploring without Slade’s presence looming over her.

Jinny raised her eyebrows at Mikron’s assessment of the mechanics teachers. Maybe once they were settled, she could ask her uncle to go back home and get some of her best work. She desperately wanted in that class. “Good to know – and you’re so lucky to have seen Luthor for real! I’ve only ever seen him on the internet. I guess he’s just as smart as they say.” She did not know what zero space fields, or a friction space generator were, and at this point was too afraid to ask. Research was in order.

When Mikron called Slade “one-eye” Jinny went very slightly pale. Her eyes darted back and forth between the two males. She knew the look of irritation on his face, and it was never a good thing. It meant trouble. That look meant laps around the training yard until her legs fell off. For once in her life, she desperately wished to be telepathic, to convey to her second father not to ruin this for her. Luckily, she didn’t have to. He seemed to have let the comment slide. For now anyway.

She knew he wouldn't be forgetting anytime soon.

“I’d love to go! So far everything is kind of normal. If it wasn’t for all the metahumans, I’d be sort of bored.” She smiled cheerily, and looked up at Slade. “I’ll see you later, okay?” Was this making a friend? Maybe so! Even if he was an older boy, he seemed very cool. Also they spoke the same mechanical language, which was great.

“Where are we going first?”

Slade would nod in Jinny’s direction “I’ll see you at lunch at the latest.” He would say before giving Mikron a quick look. The short look would be all that was needed to memorize the boy, in case he needed to track him down for any reason.

Mikron was still oblivious to what happened, too busy finishing packing away his harness and tools. When he was done, he would slip on the harness before pulling on his school jacket hiding the gear from view rather effectively, and would hop down from the stool he was on. At this point it was easy to see that he was very short, topping out at just over three feet tall. Not that his height slowed him down all that much as he jogged over to one of the far corners of the room, one that was out of sight of the main door.

He would have to jump up to hit a blank part of the wall, but a card reader would slide out of a hidden panel shortly afterwards. Another jump to run his ID through the reader, and one more to punch in a short code and the card reader would slide back into the wall before the wall it’s self would open up to reveal a small elevator. One that was colored a honey yellow.

When they stepped into the elevator a digitized voice would chime out “Welcome, Gizmo. Please state your destination.”

“Gymnasium, Level two” The short boy would say with a smirk. Only for said smirk to turn into a scowl as the digital voice would chime back.

“Can not comply. You’re access is still restri-“

“Overide: MP dash THG. 41 18.” Micron would bark out in annoyance.

There would be a moment of somewhat glitched static, before Mikron’s voice would emit from the speakers, thought it was still notably glitchy sounding. “Getting on with it” and then the doors would close and the elevator would start to descend. “I swear they can’t take a frackin joke.” He would grumble to himself.

It was hard to tell how fast they were moving with the elevator, a dull hum in the background the only real indication as there wasn’t any windows or displays that Jinny could see, but regardless the ride was a short one over all.

When the doors opened again, they opened into a massive room. Easily forty feet high, two hundred wide and at least three hundred long. Just beyond the elevator doors was the only part of the floor that Jinny could see that wasn’t coated in a crash mat to at least some degree. The level of padding seemed to depend on the area, as there was areas for what looked to be everything from simple gymnastics all the way up to trapeze swings.

There was at least a dozen other students in here as well. Some seemed to be simply stretching and warming up, but others had already commandeered some areas and were practicing either aerial maneuvers or other higher altitude things. With at least one person running an obstacle course set up thirty feet high, with the fall into a large pit of foam squares. The obstacle course was notable as well for it seemed to be floating somehow, proving the tech that they had hidden away down here was much more advance than the public had.

The last notable thing seemed to be the color scheme, lots of honey yellow, with accentuating black. Someone seemed to have a sense of humor since the school was called HIVE after all.

Mikron would just start walking over to an unclaimed area, only getting a cursory glance from one of the closer students. “Locker rooms are over there” He would say gesturing towards a set of double door on one side of the room. “Those doors lead into the hallways” He would say pointing at a few sets of double doors on the opposite wall to the locker rooms. “And there are the elevators” He would add gesturing back from where they came where there were four other elevator doors that could be seen.

“Not that we need any of those, but your new here.” Mikron would go on to say as he took of his jacket and threw it off to the side. Once more revealing his harness. “You said you wanted a jetpack right? Want to see if mine works?” He would ask smirking once more.

Jinny waved slightly at her uncle, mouthed ‘thank you’ behind Mikron’s back, and then cheerily turned to face him when he was finished packing. She was extremely curious about why he was so short. Jinny herself was considered small for her age, still not topping 4 feet yet, but this was something different altogether. Though, she wouldn’t ask. Maybe he had been born different, or maybe something had happened. Either way, it was probably none of her concern.

She tipped her head as Mikron jumped and tapped the wall, mentally marking the spot just in case she ever needed it. The hidden panel excited her – finally, solid proof that this school had more than what met the eye. She followed him into the elevator, and giggled faintly as he verbally hacked in. It was easy enough to memorize the numbers he used, though she had a feeling it was his voice using them that was really the trick.

When the elevator opened again, her eyes widened at the sight. So many courses, and half of it was literally hovering in the air. This is what she had come for. She had to calm herself down enough so that she wouldn’t bounce on her feet. That would not be very mature, right? One had to be careful when dealing with older kids. Still, she had to say something. “This is awesome.” Her neck was craned up, to watch the aerial students work the courses. Soon enough, that would be her.

After the very brief tour, she wondered what was next. The answer surprised her. “Yeah, definitely.” She said, her excitement verbally muted. Inside, she was jumping for joy. Of course she wanted to see it work, and of course she was going to watch every second. Despite her cool-girl response, her eyes glittered with joy. “Show me what you got!”

“Perfect!” Mikron would say quickly slipping off the harness and handing it over. Once Jinny was strapped in, something Mikron would help with, he would go on to pull out what looked like a game system a controller from one of the pockets. He would then quickly tap out what seemed to be a code of some kind on it and in response Jinny could feel and hear the gravity diffuser unfold. Oddly enough, or perhaps fittingly, the harness got notably lighter with the emergence of the gravity diffuser.

“Right” Mikron would say handing the controller to Jinny. “Triggers control forward thrust, bumpers are the reverse thrust, and joysticks will orient the pack itself. Left down button resets to neutral, and right down button sets it to stable hover until you hit the thrust again.” He would explain pointing out the controls as he went. “Anything goes wrong. Center button shuts it all down.”

“Got that?” He would check, before stepping back with a grin. “Then take it away.” It would be notable, though not worrying, that he would step even further back before Jinny would take off. There was also a mix of mischievousness and sharp-eyed anticipation on his face as he waited and watched.

Jinny listened to the instructions with full attention. She didn’t want to have to ask questions, having already realized that Mikron’s patience was thin. “Alright, got it.” While she did not have her own video games at home, she did at least understand the controls easily.

Tucking her braid inside the back of her shirt, she took the controller in hand. “This is going to be awesome.” There was glee in her eyes and in her voice, and she missed the look on Mikron’s face as she hit the forward thrust. The jetpack lifted her into the air, and Jin’s grin widened. “Sweet.” Carefully, she took off, quickly lifting herself higher than her powers currently allowed. The view wasn’t breathtaking, exactly. Maybe if they had been outside. Currently all she could see were students and equipment. They seemed rather unbothered by the display, and aside from some upward glances, Jin was not getting much attention.

Jin spurred the jetpack forward, doing a few lazy circles around the training area, just to get a look at things from above. She never tired of flying. It still amazed her to see things from a higher perspective, to see the world from the eye of a bird. “Let’s see what this baby can do!” Her eyes glittered as she started to fly faster. A few twists of the controls made her do a spinning loop, like a biplane pilot showing off. Jin giggled and continued, making a twisting, turning and twirling.

Her flight pattern dropped suddenly, nearly 3 feet in one go. Jinny felt her breakfast nearly make a reappearance. She tried to level herself out, but found herself listing to one side, sinking at an alarming pace. “Uh… that can’t be good.” She clicked at the controls, trying to get higher again. The jetpack did not respond.

“Fuck.”

Picking up speed, Jin was approaching a drop level that would be painful when she hit the ground. “Come on, come on, you stupid machine!” Jin was trying to mitigate the drop speed by pushing upward with her own power, but the weight on her back wasn’t making it easy. The ground approached at an alarming pace. “No, no, no – please don’t let me screw this up!” She absolutely knew that Mikron would not forgive her smashing his project to pieces on the ground.

As the ground approached, students pointed. They quickly abandoned the area that she was to land in. “Get outta the way!” Jinny warned anyway. She shut her eyes and prayed to whatever god would listen, then pressed the lift controls one last time.

The jetpack jerked once then soared upward, finally. She skirted just a few feet short of hitting the ground, and started accelerating upward. Jin let out a shaking breath as she returned to the place where Mikron waited.

As soon as her feet touched the ground, she released the harness and carefully extracted herself. Then she stormed over to Mikron. “What the fuck was that?! You’ve got some major kinks to work out of that thing!”

When Jinny got back to Mikron, almost before it in fact, it would be easy to tell that the pintsized mechanic was holding back laughter. He, like at a few of the other students in the room, had found Jinny’s plight humorous. It was a villain school after all. But Mikron was trying to hold in his laughter, not because he was afraid of Jinny. No, he keeping his laughter to himself because Jinny had earned a bit more respect from him. That is if the glimmer in his eye was to be trusted.

“I did tell you that I hadn’t had a chance to check the alignments” He would say amusement coloring his tone. He would let that linger for a moment before his mirth was more contained. “That said. You did good newbie. Gave myself a concussion first time I tried taking the damn thing for a spin.” He would admit with a shrug. It was better than it exploding in his face like the models before that.

While they were talking Mikron would glance over at the harness before tapping twice on his watch. The harness would suddenly sprout four insectoid like limbs before it started skittering back over its creator, who would start putting the harness back on.

Most of the students would go back to what they were doing. One however made her presence known. “Really Gizmo? Hazing the new students already?” Came the amused question from above. And hovering above the two was a taller dark-skinned teenager. She had light brown almost honey-colored eyes and her black hair was cut short. She was wearing a black and yellow stripped shirt and snug fitting black pants and heeled boots. None of that was the most striking thing about her. That went to the two large insect wings that were growing out of her back, the very same wings that were allowing her to keep afloat above Jinny and Mikron.

“Piss off Bee” Mikron would retort without looking up, though his annoyance was easily noted.

“Now why would I go and do that?” ‘Bee’ would ask as she zipped around the two of them before touching down off a bit to the side. “Not every day that a new student is able to walk away from one of your toys while it’s still in the testing phase without injury.”

“That was one time!” Mikron would snap back “And the jet pack isn’t in the testing phase, it works. As you saw” He would go on to saw crossing his arms. “Crud munching teacher wouldn’t let me use the engineering room to check the alignments.” He would tack on mulishly.

Bee just leveled a look at Mikron, but didn’t push any further. Instead, she would turn her attention to Jinny. “You got guts kid.” She would say with a smile. “Callsign’s Bumblebee, how did Gizmo here convince you to try out his latest model?”

Jinny looked up as she was finally addressed by the older girl named Bumblebee. As soon as she had heard that Mikron had messed with new students before, her mind was set on revenge. She wasn’t even particularly angry – it had been fun until the jetpack had failed. It wasn’t going to be a big ordeal. But it was going to be embarrassing, oh yes.

“Oh, hey. Name’s Jin. I don’t have a callsign yet.” She smiled, trying to focus her attention. “And he didn’t have to do much convincing. I heard jetpack and kinda, ah… really wanted to try it. Didn’t think twice.” She shrugged. “It’s no big deal. Like you said, I’m not hurt or anything.” She offered a placating smile toward Mikron – or Gizmo, as he was being called. “It was a good prank.”

First rule of revenge. The target can’t know about it. For now, she would play nice.

“How long have you both been in this school? I can’t wait to start. I feel like I actually might learn something useful here.” No need to tell them that they could be her very first friends and she was deeply excited about that too. “How’s the food? Is it decent?” It was strange. In recent weeks, she’d wanted to eat everything in sight, and then some. Uncle said she was probably having a growth spurt, but she hadn’t noticed any new inches. Something else was up; she knew it, but she didn’t know what.

“What other secrets does this school have?”

Bee would give Jinny a bemused look at the younger girl’s seeming nonchalance at being Mikron’s latest victim. But otherwise seemed to take it at face value. Mikron, on the other hand, was much less fooled by the friendly front. If his narrowed eyes were anything to go by.

“I’ve been here for two years” She would answer instead. “And the food’s pretty good, assuming you know where to go for it.” Bee would tack on with a sly smirk. “They have a few different cafeteria’s here, though only one of them is on the map.”

“There are a lot of places like that here actually” Gizmo would speak up, eyes still narrowed towards Jinny. “Only teachers are told everything, at least according to the teacher hand book they are.” He would give a shrug as he spoke letting his suspicious gaze fade away. “Not that they explain where those places are in the hand book.”

“That’s true,” Bee would agree. “There are a lot of rumors about some of the hidden rooms, some say there is a firing range hidden somewhere in here where they have rockets for you to test fire for example.” She would go on as she crossed her arms, amusement on her face at the topic at hand. “but no one is going to tell you about them for free.”

“That one’s true” Gizmo would say offhandedly. “Less sure about the private pool one though” he would give another ambivalent shrug, not caring about the reaction he got from Bee about his admittance.

“I’ve been here for just about a year.” He would continue on. “And a lot of the hidden rooms are kept that way either as favors or for personal use. There was a cafe that had gourmet dessert twenty four seven once, but someone leaked it’s location on the local net. They closed it down about a month later as it kept running into supply shortages due to everyone knowing about it.”

“That was a shame.” Bee would commiserate. “Haven't been able to find any good tiramisu since” She would let out a despondent sigh at the loss of a good dessert source. “Still the basic cafeteria isn’t half bad.”

“As for learning here” She would go on “Rumor has it we’ve gotten a few new teachers this year that really know their stuff. And even if that’s just a lot of hot air most of the staff are retired from active work so no worries there.”

“All this talk about food’s got me hungry now” Mikron would say to himself as he glanced at his watch. “Lunch will be served at about ten at the main cafetiera, If you're curious.” He would offer up. Only to give Bee the stink eye a moment later.

To which the other girl would just smirk wider.

“Figures.” He would grumble. “She knows where the teachers eat” He would say as an explanation. “And they get better food supposedly.”

“And that was your worst attempt yet” She would reply a tad bit smug.

“Yeah, but it might save me a bit of time” Gizmo would fire back, to Bee’s confusion. “On that” he would fix Jinny with a notably serious look. “Just don’t touch my tool kit” Which only served to confuse Bee even more.

“Anyway” He would continue on, having said all he felt he needed to on that topic, half turning towards one of the doors “Food? And what classes have you signed up for?”

“Food.” Jinny agreed after listening to Bee and Mikron talk. “I can always eat.” She would let them lead the way to whichever cafeteria they were heading for.

“I’m taking Stealth and Spying, Weapons, Power Control, Algebra because I can’t get into the mechanics course yet, and English, which I hate. I got told to leave some slots open just in case.”

Her head was still spinning with the information that they had divulged. Secret rooms? Maybe she could bug her uncle for some knowledge, and use it to get herself further ahead. Or maybe he’d make her figure it out on her own. Either way was as likely.

“Hey, do either of you know a grey girl with pink hair? I don’t know what her meta power does but it involves some weird pink sparks. She was sort of… I dunno, pushy? Ring any bells?” Jin had no doubt that she’d be running into that girl sooner or later. What she wanted was some dirt to use against her, maybe to make her go away for good.

Not that she would go out seeking the girl. It just felt so strange to have to deal with what Jin thought was an interloper. It had been just her and Uncle for so long, and she wanted to keep it that way at least for the lessons.

Her stomach rumbled then, drawing her attention to her suddenly starving stomach. “So, what classes are you guys taking?”