Vivian
October 30, 2007. 12:32 p.m. Lodged into the side of a building. Stomach hurts like a bitch… got some nasty welts and some burn marks all over me. If I didn’t shrink those missiles upon impact, that would’ve been bad… real bad… Think my hands are broken, but I can keep going.
I try to pull myself off the building, but cut my hand on a broken car and fall back down. Damn… ow… I’m glad I got my tetanus shot… but geez… everything hurts… and maintaining this size is starting to get to me… Doesn’t matter how many ships I suplex or shrink down, there’s always more coming down from the sky… Damnit… Damnit… Damnit... I… cannot… fall here… Metal Gear Solid 4 isn’t out yet.
I take a deep breath and push myself up using only my legs. “C’mon you cheeky bastards!” I blitz towards the remaining ships and see another volley of missiles coming my way. Damn. I could dodge those, but they’d probably hit someone else. I manage to pick up half of a broken ship off the ground and use it as a shield. Hot shrapnel flies outward and the shock causes the shield to fall from my fingers, but the volley’s taken care of. I kick the dropped ship piece at the ship that shot the missiles at me. I miss, but I manage to take down some stray flying aliens.
Okay… okay… lungs hurt… lungs really, really hurt… Never thought I’d say this… but I could really use you right about now, Doc… No matter, I just need to grab that ship and teach it a lesson. Violently. Smiles may fail, songs may fall upon deaf ears, but violence is the only universal language. I dodge some more fire from the ship, grab the damn thing, and start shrinking it down to nothingness.
“!@#%LKGKL#$BFSLFKQ!” Some annoying, awful voice screeches out from the ship. Nearly makes my ears blow up, but I shrink it into oblivion before it can continue.
Unfortunately, that seemed to draw the attention from every other ship in the area. Any other ship that was deploying soldiers or firing at satellites has stopped and turned all their attention towards me. Some begin charging lasers. Others start deploying more troops. Others begin firing salvos of missiles right at me. Okay… okay… this is bad, but I can manage. Definitely going for the laser first. I have an idea.
A.D.
October 30, 2007. 12:36 p.m. Millennium Park.
As soon as Vivian grew big, our job got made piss easy. Nearly each and everything alien related got aggro’d to Vivian. Even the ones shooting at us. “WOOO! YEAH! GO VIVIAN! TEAR! IT! UP!”
God! The lariats! Using the ship as a shield! The jukes! It’s so smoking, sexy, and stylish! I don’t even care if she can hear me, I’m going to keep cheering her on.
“Sssh! A.D.!” Janelle shushes me. “What are you doing?!”
“Uh… Being the hype man? She’s got this covered! Look, she’s about to blast all the aliens down with one of their own lasers. Everything’s fine.”
“Is she going to destroy that fallen ship by the Bean?” Janelle points behind me to a broken down ship far in the distance.
I turn around and look at the ship. “Huh. Don’t think so. It looks dead. Why would she?”
bzzzzrrttttt. The mouth of the ship opens up and begins to glow bright white.
“OH.” My legs start booking it. “YEAH WE SHOULD DO SOMETHING ABOUT THAT!”
“THANK YOU!” Janelle yells, thrusts her hands behind her, and propels herself past me with fire blasts.
“YOU COULD DO THAT ALL ALONG?!”
“I DIDN’T HAVE TO TILL NOW! NOW SHUT UP AND FOCUS ON GETTING TO THE SHIP!”
Will
October 30, 2007. 12:37 p.m. Outskirts of Millennium Park.
I’m freeing people from rubble with Sejong and Oso then delivering them to Doc. Well, that’s not entirely fair. There’s a bunch of other local heroes and people helping out too. Community projects always bring a tear to my eye.
Sejong gets distracted and looks at the giant Vivian. “Whoa… Hey, Will? Shouldn’t we be helping her somehow?”
“What can we do?” I cut a car in half and free a man out from under it. “I can’t do anything from this range and you don’t really seem to be a big fan of combat.”
“I mean… that is fair… I just feel like I should be doing more.”
“You’re doing plenty.” I glance over and see Vivian take hold of a glowing alien ship. “She’s got this on lock-down. Just focus on helping the people here. That’s where you’re needed right now.”
“Fair enough.” Sejong sighs and helps escort an elderly lady over to Doc.
“Yo, Billybilly.” Oso points out over somewhere. “You wanna do something about that?”
“Bout what?” I look over to where he’s pointing and see a fallen ship by the Bean glowing brightly. “Oh no!” I drop what I’m doing and immediately start booking it towards the ship. “OSO! If things go bad, can you put in a word with Doc?!”
“Totally!” Oso shouts back.
Sejong starts running beside me. “I’m going too! I’m not letting you deal with this alone!”
“Just don’t slow me down!”
After about a minute of sprinting, we make it to the Bean and even manage to meet up with A.D. and Janelle. Wow… the ship is way larger up close. It’s about three times as long and twice as thick as the skyscrapers around here. Luckily, we met at what seems to be the mouth of the cannon.
“Yo, Will!” A.D. asks before firing a volley of fireballs at the ship. “You’re here for the same reason, right?”
“Absolutely!” I unroll my whip and get cracking. “You guys stay back. I can handle this.” I can’t enter near the mouth of the cannon… it’s far too hot. I run around to the side of the ship that isn’t red hot from the cannon charging and begin swinging my whip in every direction I can manage. I need to be careful and fast. If I slice the wrong thing or get too close to the right thing, I could end up burnt to a crisp. I slice through pipes, wires, entire rooms, and even some surviving aircraft staff. I slice through wall after wall, hallway after hallway, pipe after pipe, but nothing! The ship keeps getting hotter and the glow from the cannon continues to glow brighter through the holes in the ship. I need to find the control panel now!
I slice through three more walls and two more hallways and see what looks like the command center. It’s got the chairs, the handrails, and looks right off the set of a tv show. An injured Tsukijin is standing at a control console amidst the corpses of her fallen comrades. She appear to be observing the battlefield and configuring some knobs and levers. After she pulls a lever, the laser grows significantly brighter. “Lord forgive me.” I throw my whip out, cleave the Tsukijin in half, and rush over to the control console. “COME ON! STOP!” I try to pull the lever back down, but it’s no use. Either it's stuck or locked through some biosignature bs. “DARNIT! FINE!” I begin manically thrashing and slicing everywhere on the blasted control panel. “COME ON! COME ON! STOP! I’M BEGGING YOU! PLEASE GOD LET IT STOP!”
BAZOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM
Light blinds me. A shockwave blasts me off my feet and slams me against the wall. The sound of heat slicing through the atmosphere and boiling flesh violates my ears. Yet another teammate falls before me.
I’m still not strong enough. It always ends up like this.
Janelle
October 30th, 2007. 12:40 p.m. I am standing outside the fallen ship with A.D. and Sejong. Will should be back by now… but the laser’s still charging. In fact, it’s gotten exponentially larger. It’s bulging out the mouth of the cannon now. A.D. and Sejong scurry backwards yelling about the heat, but I just stand in place and let its warmth wash over me. It seems Will failed… no matter. I cast off my jacket and reveal my suit. I rub my hands together and walk in front of the mouth of the cannon. I can absorb this. I have to.
“PHOENIX!” Sejong yells at me. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! GET OUT OF THERE!”
“NO!” I take a deep breath and start letting my fire seep out. “DON’T BELITTLE ME! I CAN HANDLE THIS!” Little by little, I can feel my body temperature drop. 97 degrees… 96 degrees… 95 degrees… Hurry up. I need to be stone cold if I’m going to absorb this.
“A.D.!” Sejong calls out. “Help me get Janelle out of the way!”
“On it!” A.D. immediately turns around and begins dashing back towards me.
“Stop!” I throw out a wall of fire between me and them, letting my body temperature drop even faster. “I can do this! You’re just going to hurt yourselves!”
“Janelle!” Sejong walks around the fire while A.D. dashes right through it with a jump kick. I do not understand how he did so, but he is flashing yellow. I assume he’s using his Tech.
“I said stay back!” I feel blue fire seep out of my back and singe the grass around my feet. 50 degrees… My teeth are starting to chatter… but I can take this. I have to. I’ll be warm again in no time. “I’m the only one who can help Vivian right now!”
“No you aren’t, you idiot!” A.D. drop kicks me and knocks me off my feet and into Sejong’s arms. “You’re just going to get yourself killed!”
“NO I WON’T!” I stomp my foot and encase my body in fire. “I CAN HELP! LET ME HELP FOR ONCE!” I throw a punch and a kick at A.D.
“AAAAHAAAHAWAH!” Sejong lets go, runs away, and rolls around on concrete crying uncontrollably to try and extinguish my flames.
“Now is not the time.” A.D. shakes his head, parries my punch and kick, and becomes surrounded in a blue aura. “Please forgive me.”
“A.D. I will hurt yo-”
Before I could react, A.D. had pivoted around me, wrapped his arms around my waist, suplexed me, flipped us around, and suplexed me three more times out of the cannon’s way. My head is spinning. My body is shaking. I’m throwing as much fire as I can to get him off me, but he’s not flinching. In fact, his grip is only getting tighter. The back of my head feels soft… my vision is blurry.
A.D. throws me about twenty feet into the air, jumps after me, and catches my still on-fire body. He wraps his hands around my calves and presses the back of my neck against his right shoulder. I’m flipped upside down and my arms can’t reach him. Once again, I am helpless.
Before I can yell or protest any further, we begin our descent.
“LEGACY! KINNIKU! BUSTAAAAAAA!” A.D. yells out as he collides with the earth. My neck, back, and groin feel like they just got hit with a sledgehammer. After cheering and shaking my limp body, A.D. spins me around and throws me even further from the cannon.
My body rolls around on the ground, setting the nearby grass ablaze before settling in place. The fire around my body retreats inward as my skin begins to turn blue. I reach out with my hand and the blue fire around the ship begins to slink towards me.
BAZOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM
I watch the laser pierce the sky and curse my very existence.
Vivian
October 30th, 2007. 12:42 p.m. I blitz towards one of the ships charging up, but take a bunch of fire from some flying aliens on the way. It sucks, but it could be worse. Imagine a bunch of tiny, tiny needles poking into your arms, legs, and stomach repeatedly. It’s uncomfortable, but if anything gets inside or if the wounds get blown open, that’s going to be bad. I manage to slap some troops down and continue onward. Duck under some missiles, but one hits me on the shoulder. “AAAAAAGH!!!” I fall to my knee and grasp my shoulder. Hot blood streams down my hand and deluges down onto the park. “I’M GOING TO KILL EVERY LAST ONE OF YOU!” I spring off the ground, lariat a platoon of dumbass flying soldiers. I even hear their guts explode and see their bodies tear in half from the impact. Good. Goooood…
Once I got close enough to the ship charging the laser, the missiles following me turn around and fly into the sky. Huh… Guess their ships repel their missiles. Good to know. I’m face to face with the ship. I’m gazing into its laser cannon… It’s hot. I can feel my eyebrows burning off just looking into it. It’s beautiful. Almost like a second sun. If I wait any longer, it’s going to fire right at me. Jackpot. I grab the thing, spin it around, grasp it tight, and aim it at another ship. “EAT THIS!”
BAZOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM
My words are cut off by the glorious, euphoric sound of a laser beam piercing through alien ships, alien platoons, and missile volleys. Time to spin around, around, and around. One by one, these stupid things go down and explode. Yes. Yes. YES! This is what I’ve been looking for! When every last ship I see has been blown out of the sky and when my arms are numb from recoil, I shrink the ship down to the size of a poodle, drop it, and stomp it into the ground. There’s no more ships and only a few alien stragglers.
Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.
Hah… Hah… Hah… That was good. Real good. Time to shrink back down a-
BAZOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM
A hard, hot, unfathomable pain crashes across my back, but only for an instant. I collapse to my knees, then fall face next to a small forested area. It’s a miracle that even a single tree is still standing. I want to describe what my back feels like, but… my mind’s getting a bit foggy. It feels like something’s missing, but I can’t tell what. I can feel a pool of blood growing under me and some wind brushing against my ribcage. It should hurt way more, but it doesn’t. I think that’s the endorphins kicking in... I hear when you’re dying, your body does everything it can to alleviate the pain. Feels good… real good...
I grab a handful of grass and grow it nice and tall. Taller than anything else I’ve ever grown. I shrink back down to my normal size and lie face down on the pavement in a pond of my own blood. Everything tastes, smells, feels, sounds, and looks like red hot iron. And yet… there’s just enough strength in my legs to flip myself around and look up at the sky. Never seen such a beautiful, dull, cloudy sky. My eyelids are getting real heavy…
click click click
Someone’s walking towards me. My head tilts to see who it is… I can barely see, but I can tell it’s Doc. “Oh…”
“Ssh… Sssh…” Doc kneels down and runs her hand through my hair. “Don’t talk, my child. You’ve done more than enough. I will save what I can…”
I don’t know what to say. I don’t know if I can even say anything. I just nod and close my eyes.
I feel Doc lay her hand over my left eye and cheek. I do not know what she is doing, but I do feel better… though that could just be the endorphins. I hear dying is painless. Time to see if that’s true.
Whatever happens, happens. I’ve done what I can…
That was totally worth it...
Suzy
October 30th, 2007. 1:58 p.m. My office. I must have drank a gallon of coffee since the attack started. Goddamnit. What’s taking the Alumni so long?! C’mon… Viv’s down and disappeared. None of my students are answering their phones. What the hell is going on there?! Someone answer me goddamnit! ANYONE!
I stomp my heel into the carpet and nearly cleave my desk in two.
Cameron slinks down from the ceiling and pats my head.
“Cameron. Not. Now.”
Cameron sneaks in one more pat before disappearing back into the ceiling.
ring ring ring ring
My office phone begins to ring. With one wave of my hand, I levitate the phone to my ear. “This better be important.”
“U-um… ma’am. Eight students just burst into the student hospital. They say they’re Team Lovers and Team Familia.”
“Let them check in!” I yell into the phone.
“B-but shouldn’t they be in Chicago right now?”
“DID I STUTTER!?”
“I-I just wanted to make sure they weren’t imposters like last time…”
“That’s fair.” I sigh. “SHUT UP AND HELP THEM. NOW.”
“ YES MA’AM! I MUST GIVE YOU A STATUS REPORT FIRST! Miraculously, only two are injured. No deaths either. One is suffering heavy bruising, sprained limbs, some slipped disks, and some tenderness, but they look like they’ve already been healed. The other one is…. well, I’ll just let you see for yourself. They’re gathered up in Room 503. One of our doctors is doing a little diagnostic on them right now.”
“503. Got it. I’ll be right there.” I hang up the phone and finally see a legion of technicolor suited heroes fly into the demolished city. Within seconds, they disperse and start deleting debris, reconstructing the broken buildings, and regrowing the demolished trees and singed grass. I’m sure the city will look just fine in a few hours… I just hope my students are safe.
I sprint down to the student hospital, pass the front desk, and book it up the stairs. Elevator’s too slow. I shoulder check the door to the fifth floor open and see the two teams sitting sullenly at the outside of room 503. It’s the idiots I know and appreciate. Angela and Josh look clean as a whistle. Yuko is looking at the floor silently. Sejong looks empty. A.D. and Janelle are standing and yelling at each other while Will is trying to push them apart.
I fix my hair, adjust my sweater, and approach the group. “Janelle.”
She doesn’t hear me.
A.D. notices me, shuts up, and straightens his back.
“WHAT?!” Janelle yells as sparks fly off her shoulders. “Got nothing to say to that, Abdullah?!”
“Janelle.” I smile.
“Headmaster!” the sparks recede into her shoulders as she turns around to face me. “H-hello.”
“You really should be quiet in these hallways. There’s lots of students trying to sleep.” I look to A.D. then back to her. “What are you two fighting about?”
“I was trying to save Vivian, but A.D. had to suplex me an-”
“Oh, look at the time.” I look at my watchless wrist, “I don’t care.” and walk past Janelle into room 503. I shut the door behind me and look at the hospital bed. Vivian’s lying in there with a cloth over her face. There’s a doctor in the corner washing their hands.
“Please, ma’am.” the doctor says without looking at me. “I told you, please just wait five minut-” She turns to face me. “Oh! Headmaster! What are you doing here?!”
“I’m here to check up on my student. Is that an issue?”
“Not at all, ma’am. I’m glad you’re here. I just didn’t expect you to arrive so quickly.”
“Yeah, yeah. What’s the damage? She gonna be okay? Why’s that cloth on her?”
“Oh, it just has some aloe on it. Helps with the burns.”
“The what?” I pull up on the cloth to reveal Vivian’s face. There’s enormous patches of dark red scar tissue from the top of her left shoulder to past her left eye. They look rough and painful, even borderline scaly at some points. Yet despite that, she looks completely at peace. “What’s the diagnosis? Aside from the scar, she looks fine. She’s even breathing regularly.”
“Well…” the doctor grimaces and rolls Vivian over onto her stomach, revealing a horribly scarred and burnt back. There’s even a crater of scorched flesh smack dab in the middle of her back. “Did you see her take that laser blast on television?”
“I did.” I grimace as well. “Yeah… that… hoo boy. Yeah, that’ll do it. Does she have any other injuries?”
“Well, no, but she should.”
“What do you mean?”
“She has bruising and the obvious scars. She looks like she should still be bleeding out from somewhere, but there’s no open wounds. Heck, even her left eye seems undamaged despite all the scars around it. I don’t know what to say. It looks like she did a month of healing in a matter of minutes.”
“God. Damnit. Not this again.” I pinch the bridge of my nose.
“Again?”
“Hold up.” I go to the door, open it, and poke my head out. “Will. Was Doc at Chicago?”
“Yes.” Will nods. “She saved Vivian.”
“Goddamnit.” I close the door and go back to the doctor. “Well, we know how she got healed. That Doc bitch just happened to be in Chicago.”
“Isn’t that a good thing? She did save three of your students.”
“Three?”
“Doc healed Janelle as well. Apparently she looked like a bruised banana before Doc helped heal her.”
“Ah. Well, we’ll see if that’s a good thing… Make sure everyone is scheduled for a psych evaluation. I need to make sure everyone’s really okay.”
“Will do, ma’am.” The doctor continues poking and prodding Vivian.
“Anything else I should know about Vivian?”
“She is alive. Conscious too. She’s just going to be in and out of it for a while. I’m honestly shocked her body didn’t die from shock before Doc treated her.”
“I’m not.” I shake my head. “Viv’s a fighter.”
“Anything else you need to know?”
“Yeah… Doc treated Will and he doesn’t have any scar tissue or any signs of injury… and I’ve seen Doc heal scar tissue while she was here.”
“You’re wondering why she didn’t heal Vivian’s scars?”
“Of course. Doesn’t that seem just a bit off to you?”
“It does.” The doctor claps her hands together. “But we’ll worry about that later. For now, let’s just be happy you don’t have to write a condolence letter to her parents.”
“You’re right.” I sigh and stretch my arms. “How long do you think she’ll be out?”
“Hard to say.” The doctor shakes her head. “She was squirming and crying in pain when they got here, so I had to put her under some stuff to quiet her down. Doc may be able to heal injuries, but it seems she can’t heal pain; whether it be physical or mental.”
“Got it…” I run my hand through Vivian’s hair. “Well, keep me posted alright?”
“Of course, ma’am. I’ll have a report on all her vitals done before nightfall.”
“Take as much time as you need.”
Angela
October 30th, 2007. 4:35 p.m. Headmaster’s office. Josh, me, and Tits McGee are trapped in Headmaster’s office. It kinda smells and feels like the principal’s office of my elementary school. Only stankier. Yuko won’t quit looking at the floor. I don’t like it. I’ve never seen her like this. Josh looks as stylish as ever. I must look like a jackass trying to get this kernel out of my teeth. It’s really deep. Like… so deep, dude.
“So.” Headmaster pops some coffee beans into her mouth and chews them like bubble gum. “You three seem pretty clean and dandy. What’s up?”
“We booked it immediately.” I shrug.
Josh kicks my shin under the desk. “What she means to say is we tried our best to fight off the bunny bitches, but a laser cut a building in half and we were standing right under it. It was either book it or get crushed.”
“Fair enough.” Headmaster smiles. “I’m glad all of you are okay. One question though. Angela, did you even try to hack into the Legion ships?”
“I don’t know how those ships work.” I shake my head. “I know how appliances, earth computers, and telecommunications work, but I know nothing about Tsukijin tech. It’d be like jumping into the ocean without ever learning to swim.”
“Fair enough.” Headmaster nods. “Yuko. Do you have anything you would like to report? Were you with Angela and Josh when they left?”
Yuko keeps looking at the ground.
“Yuko.” I nudge her shoulder.
“Huh?” Yuko shakes her head and looks up at Headmaster. “Yeah… I was with them. My voice was shot after helping Vivian chase down the corgi.”
“The corgi?” Headmaster asks.
“Long story.” I wave my hand. “Sejong would know more than I would.”
Headmaster looks dumbfounded, but falls into a tired laugh. “And I thought I’d seen it all. Alright. Bring in the next batch. You guys should get emails sent to your university accounts in a day or two. Keep an eye out for them. They’ll have psych evaluation appointment information.”
“What?!” I jump from my seat and accidentally bang my knee against the table. “Fu- What the hell do I need a psych evaluation for?”
“Angela, relax.” Headmaster points at me and thrusts my ass back into my seat. “Everyone’s getting one. Law got changed. It’s standard procedure to give students a psych evaluation after missions like this.”
“Since when do you care about the law?” Josh laughs.
“Al Capone got caught on tax evasion. I don’t want to take any unnecessary chances.”
“Fair enough…” Yuko sighs. “Can we go now?”
“Absolutely.” Headmaster nods and chucks some cards at us. “We have a mental health center on campus. Don’t be afraid to go there if you or anyone else starts acting dangerous.”
Yuko stares at the card blankly, closes her eyes, and carefully stuffs it into her shirt.
Josh slides it into his thick wallet. “I appreciate it. Thank you, Headmaster.”
“Thanks, but no thanks.” I get out of my seat and head for the door.
“Angela.” Josh and Headmaster groan in unison as I shut the door.
Sejong
October 30th, 2007. 4:42 p.m. Headmaster’s office. After getting some first aid at the hospital, Janelle, A.D., Will, and I are sitting in front of Headmaster. Despite having an empty stomach, I still feel like I want to vomit… Will is sitting silently between A.D. and Janelle with his arms crossed. All of us look like garbage. Thanks to Doc, we’re free of injuries… but we still look abused and filthy as all hell. Janelle’s walking with a limp and some disgruntled noises, but she can still walk without assistance. Oh, also she can’t tilt her neck a certain angle without screaming. I guess A.D. banged up her groin and thigh muscles with that buster pretty badly… Guess cellular regeneration can’t help those too much. Despite the bruising and limp, she still looks better than Vivian did after the sparring match… Boy am I glad A.D. insists on going non-lethal. Will looks better than the rest of us. No visible injuries, but he is covered head to toe in Tsukijin blood, dust, debris, dirt, and sweat. He smells so bad and looks so… dour. But it’s a different dour. Janelle looks like she wants to melt into the floor. Will looks like a blank canvas. No matter what goes on, no hues or texture dare stay on. I like to think I look okay, but that’s only because I can just disguise myself. I can’t disguise the pain though… Janelle burned my hands pretty bad back there… Headmaster is also looking at us with her arms crossed. She looks unamused. Is she expecting someone to talk first? Is she mad at us? Please. Someone just say something. If I open my mouth, I will blow whatever remaining chunks I have.
Headmaster finally breaks the silence and raises one finger. “Are we going to be civil or do I need to call your parents?”
Janelle responds. “I will when A.D. ap-”
Headmaster curls her finger and Janelle’s mouth ceases to make sound. She looks like she’s yelling. Her arms are moving and everything, but no sound is coming out.
“What about you three?” Headmaster looks towards us.
I nod fervently while changing my appearance to be more feminine. Maybe she’ll go easier on me if I’m a girl.
Meanwhile, A.D. and Will nod slowly.
“Good.” Headmaster cracks her knuckles, smiles, and falls back in her seat. “So, you four stayed behind. Why?”
“Because people needed to be helped.” Will says without hesitation.
“How noble.” Headmaster still sounds as patronizing as ever. “What about you, A.D.?”
“Because that’s what heroes do.” A.D. puts his hands on his hips as a pale smile forces its way across his lips. “Heroes only exist in times of crisis.” he recites.
“Good, good.” Headmaster nods. “What about you, Sejong?”
“Me?” my hand wraps around my knee. “I… I don’t know. I honestly regret staying…”
“That’s okay. What matters most is that you are all alive. I cannot stress that enough.” she turns to Janelle. “Are you ready to be an adult?”
Janelle rolls her eyes, folds her arms, and nods.
“Very good.” Headmaster points to Janelle. “Why did you stay?”
“Because I wanted to be useful. For once.” Janelle exhales through her nose.
“Is being useful worth your life?”
“Maybe.”
“Alright.” Headmaster claps her hands and smiles. “All of you look like garbage. A.D. and Will, you two take showers and eat some good food. Janelle and Sejong, go back to the hospital. Did you forget to report something?”
“No. Not at all.” I wave my hands.
Headmaster’s eyes focus on me like lasers. “Where’d you get those burns?”
My eyes flicker to Janelle then back to Headmaster. My hands slowly sink and return to my lap. “Tsukijin fire…”
“I did-”
Headmaster interrupts Janelle. “I don’t care. I don’t care who started it, just don’t make me end it. Go to the hospital. Get better. Play nice. Most importantly, any personal crap you got stays home. I don’t care what complexes or problems you have, throw them in the trash. Your lives aren’t worth that. Got it?”
“Yes, ma’am.” The four of us return to the hospital and get ourselves properly checked out and patched up.