Academy for Heroes-In-Training

OOC: (Augh. Really sorry about the insanely late post, as you can see I try to fit it into the plot. I’ll be regular now. Really. (maybe ) >_<)

Gratian:

Gratian peered out of the bush he was hiding in. It was dark now, the moon obscured by clouds, so it might be safe to go and scope out the building. It was a training facility for heroes, but you could never be too careful.

He darted across the lawn and crouched next to the brick wall of the building. It smelled like chemicals. Cautiously, he stood up and looked through the nearest window. It was dark, but he could see some turquoise creature and an almost ghostly girl sleeping. ...And what was that? There was some sort of glowing stone on the nightstand, softly emitting light. In any case, he couldn’t go into an occupied room, but the stone might be something to investigate once he was in.

One by one, he looked through the other windows, all of which were locked, occupied, or most often, both. He was getting nowhere. Maybe I’ll just go in, he thought dejectedly, starting to walk towards the front of the building, but pausing when he realized that every other brick on the wall jutted out about an inch. After a moment’s thought, he held onto a brick in each hand and began levering himself up the wall. A light rain started to fall from the clouds.

As he climbed the third floor, and started having second thoughts, the rain began to fall more forcefully.

Reaching the sixth floor of the building, Gratian felt something sticky on his palm and realized it was blood. Distracted by this, and despite many previous efforts not to do so, he looked down and was immediately dizzied. Clutching his body closer to the masonry, he felt as if the entire building was falling towards the ground. At this height he was almost sure to die if he fell.

With a tremendous effort, he looked up and saw that he was only one story away from the top of the building. The brick was as slippery as brick could get from water, and his hands were bleeding more now.

Gratian hauled himself up, thinking about nothing but just one brick after the other, the gritty stone pushing into his hands, and suddenly there was a sharp line of pain against one of his hands. He started, but maintained a terrified grip on the wall. Looking up, he saw that he had cut himself on the gutter.

With almost the last of his strength, he reached over onto the flat solid surface of the roof, pulled himself up, and collapsed.

---

Gratian woke up, slowly. He was lying in a bed, with bandaging on his hands and a few other parts of his body. There was morning light streaming in through a window. Someone came in.

“Hi!” she said, cheerfully.

Gratian was not in the mood to talk.

“Um,” he said, and started attempting to get out of bed.

The woman prevented Gratian from doing so by standing by the side he was attempting to get out by, and smiled.

“Heh, you’re not going to be able to leave here until we’ve stitched you up and gotten you into shape. It’s a shame that healing kid isn’t properly trained yet, but he’d probably end up give you an extra nose, haha!”

She regarded him with more curiosity.

“What exactly were you doing, climbing up to the roof like that in the middle of a rainstorm? Some student reported seeing someone climbing past their window, otherwise you’d still just be lying there.”

Gratian moaned, lay down, and tried to go back to sleep. He heard her walk out and shut the door behind her. He opened his eyes briefly to look around once more- yep, his bow and quiver were nowhere to be seen. Great. He closed his eyes again and didn’t open them this time.

Rummaged around my pocket, felt my fingers grasp the pocketknife and cigarettes.

Not today, Self. Today's a day to look your best.

Finally, my skin touched the plastic canister. Found it.

I scooped out the can and sprayed some breath freshener into my mouth, running my tongue over every tooth to make sure there existed nothing but perfection on my person. It was perfect. It had to be. Today...today was the day I....

There was this girl. I had seen her in the first day, during the schoolwide reception, and from the moment my eyes had rested on her, I knew she had to be mine.

A myriad of thoughts echoed between my ears, bouncing around the fabric of my brain, as I slouched down the halls of the Academy for Heroes-In-Training. The walls were ornate, ancient. This was a place of tradition, a place that I did not belong and would never have gone had it not been for my overly concerned parents. Distraught at the fact that I hated a life of heroism, they had shuttled me off to this barren place, bereft of all that sustained me - booze and chicks. I probably could haggle my way into getting one of them from the brewery, and I was sure that as I entered my class, I could grab the second one easily.

Yes! I entered the classroom five minutes late and paused. The entire room had been blown up; shards of wall stuck to the ground like missiles shot down from heaven, and students were wandering aimlessly, sheep without a leader. And standing off to the side, waiting as the hordes of students evacuated from the room...yes. It was that pretty girl again, whatshername. She was talking to some guys whom I didn't know. They didn't look cool. And they were stealing her right in front of my eyes.

I cleared my throat, turning to the tall one with the blond hair. He still had a dazed look in his eye, presumably because he might have been the one who caused this explosion. That didn't interest me. Only the girl did.

"Hi loser, how do you do?
Why are you here? Shouldn't you be in a zoo?"

"What do you want?" he asked brusquely, pulling out clearly what he thought was an annoyed face but ended up looking like one of the boys I always bullied.

"Just ignore him," the girl said. She glanced at me quickly and looked back to that nerd whom she was talking to. Infuriated, I leaned closer.

"Self Explanatory?" The teacher cried. "You're late!"

"Yes indeed, that is my name
I always rhyme; that's my game," I muttered without even looking at him and shoved me way so I stood directly next to the girl.

"As you can see, we've had a...meltdown. A malfunction. Count your blessings that you chose today to be late; I'll mark you down later."

I ignored the teacher, my eyes concentrated on the girl. She turned from me and focused on the two dweebs as they talked. It was too much. I grabbed his collar and pushed him aside, then growled at the other one - Zeke, as I'd heard from some others the first day here.

"Get lost!" I hissed and both boys clenched a fist, staring back at me. For a moment, and just a moment, my body went into emergency mode - blood flaring inside of me and knuckles beginning to tighten.

Then it was over. The teacher coughed conspicuously behind us.

"Jen Preacher? You, Zeke, Nick, Self, stop. We have a slightly larger problem to deal with here beyond squabbling children, if you haven't noticed." So that was her name. Jen. It was kind of a pretty name.

Nick nudged Zeke and both slowly turned around so they wouldn't be in my face, probably to keep themselves in control. I smirked and turned to the girl, considering rhyming but discarding the idea. She didn't look like much of a poetry person.

She stared at me viciously and based on past encounters with girls, I knew that the only reason I didn't have a smart retort slapping me across the face at this point was because the teacher still had a watchful eye on this corner of the room; I guess his teacher-mode had gone into full alert as he saw students about to fight Instead, Jen looked at me coolly for a moment and averted her eyes to the front of the room.

I was undeterred. Nobody stood up to Self Explanatory like that! I decided to rhyme again:

"So what are you doing talking to that boy?
I can be just as mysterious, just as coy.
Seriously, look at him; he's such a nerd;
talking to him instead of me is absurd!"

I waited, and then I thought I saw a twitch in the corners of her mouth. She was about to reply!

GAle: Nick and Jen just blew up the classroom.

Jennifer Preacher

OOC: the plan is to meet Aet in the hospital ward

And, uh, who did he think he was again? My jaw ticked as I considered his words. Rhymes. Who spoke in rhymes? Him, obviously. Why would anyone speak in rhymes? It takes ages to put together anything. When I finally had a roughed up rhyme in my head, I made sure I kept my eyes on the front wall of the classroom when I replied.

"Maybe I just have brains in my head,
and would rather talk with people the same
far more than some loser lead-head
who thinks being nice is totally lame. "

So what if it wasn't as smooth as his rhyme? I wasn't about to be intimidated by some whats-his-face moss-eater who thought he could just come in and interrupt a conversation with insults. I looked around and saw Zeke and Nick standing off a ways and glancing at us. "Excuse me," I said, shouldering my way passed jerk-face, AKA Self Explanatory. Self Explanatory. Yeah, he was pretty self explanatory alright. Who named their-- never mind. Cool name, though, I'd admit that.

What a jerk.

The alarm was still going off, and right before I opened my moth to talk to Zeke, several people in white uniforms came into the room.

"Ah. About time." the professor said, running a hand through his now-wild hair. "I've kept the students in for you, though none of them look to be growing sudden beards... Anyway, they're yours."

Nick and I exchanged a look when the white-dressed people started motioning students out in a single file line.

"One row please, all to the hospital ward. Single file, dears, yes, that's right. Hospital ward, children, hospital ward."

Somehow I wasn't surprised when Self cut in right behind me and in front of Zeke. I let out a breath and raised my eyebrow, even though he couldn't see it.

By some genius of design, the hospital ward was just down the hall of this class room. Hmm. That said quite a lot, I thought, without really saying anything at all.

Kumo watched Zeke streak away into the smoke-filled building and swore. She put down her practice sword- much lighter then she was used to- and made sure her own was loose in its bindings before following.
"Kumo!"
She stopped. The teacher caught up with her, red in the face. "Where do you think you are going?"
"To find my friend."
"I don't think so, that's the magical ward." His face grew suspicious. "Damn magicians. Anyway, anything could have happened in there."
Kumo shrugged, and turned away.
"Get back here or it'll be detention!"
Kumo kept walking, ignoring the swearing behind her.

Inside the building, the smoke had cleared somewhat. She stopped outside the destroyed classroom, servaying the damage. No-one was here, now. Kumo bit her lip- where were they? As loathe as she was to admit it, she didn't make friends so easily, and she was worried about her sole friend here.
Clenching her fist around her hilt, she stopped a member of staff.
"Where are they?"
"Where are who, dear?" She was that round, vacant type that believed anyone more then two years younger then her were her children. Kumo's jaw clenched.
"The students who were here."
"In the hospital ward, at the end of the hall."
"Thankyou."
"I don't think you can vis-"
Kumo strode away, ignoring the woman, who clutched the hem of her blouse anxiously. The hall was short, and there was another member of staff standing by the door.
"Sorry, kid, no visitors."
"Is Zeke in there?"
"I don't know."
Kumo let her arm lift slightly, showing a few inches of blade.
"Then let me go look."
"I really can't-"
"Let me go look."

Nick


"What is that?" I asked as we heard yelling at the door.

"Hey is that...Yep, that's Kumo," Zeke stated.

"Is that bad, or good?" I asked.

"Depends," Zeke answered.

"On?" Jen asked.

"Weather the guys let her in or not," Zeke said, solemnly and happily.

"Put that weapon down!" called a guard from the door.

"Make it a bad situation," Zeke said.

"I'll get it," I said before slowing time. Around me people went around in slow motion; I could not go past slow-motion yet. Quickly I made it to the door, opened it, and took an angry Kumo and dragged her in quickly. When I got back to my group I stopped time and dropped her.

"I'll tell you one..." She looked around confused. "Where am I? What happened?"

"This is Nick. He slowed time and snuck you in. Before you killed someone," Zeke said.

I smiled and waved.

She was still a bit off, and mad, but was able to calm her self down enough to not kill everyone.

I looked away for a second, and saw Self a little back. She was one hot gal, why did she want Jen? Yeah she was pretty, but she was a she.

"Hey Jen. Do you know why that girl is flirting with you?" I asked.

"Who?" She asked.

"The girl from before. Who rhymed?"

"What girl? That was a guy," Jen stated.

"I don't think she is a he. Have you seen her?" I said confused.

"Yeah, and he looked all guy."

"No way. She is all women," I stated now.

"We must be talking about different people," I said after an awkward silence.

"Yes," Jen agreed.

That moment Self came up.

"I'm talking about her," I said.

"That's who I'm talking about.

Self came right about. Jen was about to say something but closed he mouth. I tried to speak, but my mouth dried. Quickly I gulped some water, and looked up.

"What are you?" I asked.

"What does that mean?" Self asked

"I mean. I see you as a hot girl, please don't slap me," She didn't. "But Jen sees you as a guy. How does that work? I mean yeah we have powers. But no one has ever had something like that, from what I know. And my mom runs an archive for every super hero and villain there is."

Self waited a long time before speaking.

I was steamed.

Man, was I steamed. That girl - Jen? - had completely rejected me and threw my own poem back in my face. Well, no matter. I always had my way in the end; well, this was no different.

As for the dolt Nick talking to me, there was a sure-fire method to getting rid of him. I leaned closer, watching his face flush red in nervousness as my lips neared his.

"Hey Tiger, come talk to me in the evening - my place,
Don't worry about my roommate, I can always make space.
Hey, I think you're pretty, and you'll make a cute little pet;
So let's have a talk later - I'll tell you my secret,"

I whispered into his ear.

He was so enthralled that by the time I made my way past him, he hadn't moved from the spot. I felt a little guilty; of course, I wouldn't tell him my secret or even meet up with him, because doing so would destroy the covert reason I was here in the first place. But it was a nice feeling to string boys like him along.

Now, for sweet Jen. I could see her beautiful face, flaming red hair, half-turned from me as she talked to those uncool dweebs. It boiled my blood. Who was she to reject me? Who was she to -

A shadow blocked my path. Oh God, the teacher.

"Self Explanatory!" He barked. "A day into class and you're late and getting into fights with students. Outside, now!"

"What?" I grumbled, trying to look past him so I could see where in the nurse's healing center Jen was. But the man was persistent; I felt a heavy hand on my shoulder that steered me forcibly toward the entrance of the hall.

"Wait outside, Explanatory," he said darkly eyes flashing into mine with a threatening aura about them that meant business. "We're going to have a talk to make sure this doesn't happen; let me take care of my students who were harmed in the explosion first. You wait."

As I slouched off toward the bench in the hall to wait for what I knew would be a mindless lecture, I began formulating a plan. I had been watching a few of the other kids during my short time in "class". Some were scared, some were looking for a leader. Well, it was time to go around, make connections, and give them one. It was time to get a gang formed again, just like last time...

No, forget about last time, my subconscious hissed into my mind as I sat on the cold bench. You won't be making the same mistakes again.

A gang of followers, reputation as a hot girl or guy, and a future girlfriend at my side (Jen, of course)...things couldn't possibly be more optimistic.

Nick

"You better not go there. She is just going to stand you up. And if she doesn't, well do you really want to be with him...or her?" Jen asked.

"Don't worry. I know faces. And shims, yeah I’ll call shim that, was lying," I said.

"Good. Now let's see about leaving this place," Zeke said.

"Okay. I can sneak us all out in slow motion," I grabbed Kumo's arm, and slowed time. picked her up like a mannequin, and headed to the door. I did the same with Jen, when I came to Zeke I said. "They will see you and make a chase. It's better this way," he nodded, and I did the same.

"Hey. I can walk you know," Zeke said and I saw he was moving in my arms. Everyone else was in slow motion though.

"Wow. Never seen that before. Trying going fast," I said. Zeke looked and began to run, but as a normal person would. "Hmm. I heard this could happen. Speedsters can stay normal in freezers zones, but not be speedsters in it. Because they’re always moving to stay in it."

"Weird. But cool. Now come," Zeke said and we left the room. Last minute I saw a boy, he looked uncomfortable. I grabbed the boy too, he looked around ten.