“Seriously, kid… You aren’t gonna die on me, right? I hit you pretty hard back there.” Wyland muttered. They looked about as uninterested in the conversation as someone playing a game on their phone could be. Liam didn’t mind. Better that than the look Ezekiel was currently giving him. Liam clenched his teeth as his hand grabbed his other.

“I'm…I’m fine… Just give me a second.I just need to… Gah!”

His bone snapped back into place, the one that had been dislocated from his finger. He’d been taught how to do by his mother but he never really thought he’d had a chance to use it until now. Especially in this goody-two-shoes city. He grinned as the finger no longer got stuck in place whenever he tried to move it, the relief almost enough to circumvent the groan of disgust from the kid next to him.

The kid looked sick; honestly, Liam couldn’t expect anything different. He was also feeling a bit skeeved out after how deformed his body had become, and along with the bruise on his chest was in the shape of a massive, purple streak that went directly toward his stomach…

Well, he was just surprised he was alive.

The bruise spread like a web into his abdomen, and was so insane even Liam wondered how he was still standing. There must have been more to the Ego mutation than just his arms and legs, because otherwise, Liam was sure he wouldn’t have been able to handle it. He had taken off his shirt to see an even bigger mess a few minutes ago, but it had already healed to the point where he could breathe again with little difficulty.

Wyland seemed to notice this. He bent forward and put his phone in his pocket, standing up. “Well, ain’t no sense in keeping you like this. We got Healing enhancement supers on standby, and if that doesn’t float your boat we could always ask Emily to-”

“Where are the supers.”

Wyland was caught off by his interruption, crossing his arms. “Why so nervous? Don’t wanna talk to her?”Damnit, his posture shifter, and Liam wished he had not been so obvious. and Liam thought he had to explain. “I… I’m not on good terms with the girl.” His fingers slowly formed back into place, barely fast enough for him to see it happening if he focused intently. He’d rather do this than look Wyland in the eye.The teacher had been a dominant figure in his classroom, to make trouble for them made Liam… uncomfortable.

“Girl trouble, huh?”

…Hm. Liam didn’t enjoy how they said that.

“...Yeah. The Leonard kid had told them I was a pathetic loner. He said I was desperate for friends, so the girl tried to be nice.” He gritted his teeth as he remembered the words. “I’m not calling you pathetic! I just thought you needed some company!”

…Damnit!

He had thought Wyland would have understood his side, the two seemed to have a similiar amount of pride, after all. Surprisingly, all the teacher did was laugh. They fell back onto the bench and slapped his sore back, and Liam hissed in pain. “HAH! That does sound like you, huh? I remember in the beggining you kept trying to join groups and everyone thought you were forming gangs! Hahaha! Remember how losers kept trying to ‘join’ and you stopped coming to school for a week?”

Liam froze, and his mind went numb. He had sworn to keep those memories locked away. Kids who were small and weak kept coming to him in the middle of school, asking him if they could join his group. He had thought little of it and just called them off, but then he heard the rumours…

That you had to beat him in a fight to get to join.

He had holed up in his house out of fear when he heard that, and only when the school forced him to go did he actually come back to school. The relief he felt when not only no one asked him for a fight, but that people stopped asking altogether… it was as if it had never happened. He had remembered those thoughts now, from the teacher he had thought had no idea of the situation…

When the hell had Wyland been so perceptive?

He turned to Ezekiel with dead eyes, and the kid immediately got the message. “I-I-I’m Gonna G-Gah!?” They bit their tongue in fear as they bolted away from the disaster scene, not once looking back. Wyland just kept laughing. “The kid was smart, but I didn’t think he had a heart! They’re really trying to look out for you, huh?” Liam turned red with embarrasment, which was a rare feat considering his cold skin. How the hell did this teacher know so much?

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

It couldn’t be…

“Teacher… Did you warn Wyland to not come to school after yesterday?” Wyland stopped laughing at the question, turning to Liam with a raised eyebrow. “…No? Why would I do tha- Hey, wait… What the hell does that mean, kid? You aren’t gonna try to hunt the kid down or something? I already told you what happens in this district when you do that.” Their tone seemed casual but he could see their wrists flex. They were ready. Liam didn’t respond to any of it, staying calm even with a headache coming on.

“Whatever. I wasn’t gonna hurt the kid. I just wanted some idea of what happened. Where are the healers?”

Wyland scoffed, waving at a general direction near the entrance of the training area. There was a small red cross in the front, something Liam sort of understood meant medicine. “Medic area is over there. Keep what happened secret, just you and me kid, alright? Ah, and you better not be lying about leonard, kid. You just saw what I can do. Go on.” Liam stood, and walked, or rather limped, to the medic area. He stopped when he finally reached his fallen clone, and tried picking them up as well.

To very poor results.

He tried a few more times before giving up and looking at the other two clones, still watching the whole scene unfold. “Hey, you useless bastards! Get over here and help us!” They flinched and rushed towards to help, wrapping one arm each arounf the crippled Ego clone to carry them with ease. The poor bastard hadn’t bothered moving since the fight ended, their legs having become almost useless. Wyland hadn’t been kidding when they said they would hurt the clone, because under the shorts were some of the ghastliest bruised he’d ever seen on someone.

The fact their face held no emotion as Liam helped them walk made the situation feel better, at least. The three made it to the medic room before Liam, and he watched from the outside as the clones threw the Ego onto one of the beds. The voices inside started shouting at the reckless movement, and Liam couldn’t help but grin as he entered. The smile was wiped off his face as he saw the people inside, though. The medics, or rather, one medic and one girl, turned to him and his little group in shock. Emily was there, as well as the nurse who had put him to sleep with hypnosis a while back.

“Quadruplets!? My gosh! How have I never heard of you four before?”

It was as if there was a higher power out there trying to make his life hell.

___________________________________________________________________

Emily was… conflicted.

A half hour had passed, yet she still watched Liam closely as her glowing green hands were on his ruined legs. The boy, who she now knew was a ‘clone’ of the original, barely even flinched. Her energy was able to pump into them with an almost insane mana, much more than she had felt done even with Lidia. It almost made her feel like they were close, like the clone didn’t mind her at all because he could trust her, and could take her energy wonderfully because of it…

It also gave her some hope to satiate her curiousity.

She looked further down the clone’s legs, unable to look away from the feet. They had take their shoes off to help the process, and the appearance was… interesting. It was like they had been made to look like dinosaur claws, angled slightly further down than normal when resting as if to look ready for jumping at any time. It was even stranger to see them a normal skin color, as if that was how they’d always been since the beggining. “Hey! What did I say about messing with the clone!” She heard Liam shout from the other side of the room.

She let out a small eep as the boy chastized her with an angry tone, she had gotten too close to the clone’s feet by accident, fascinated by the way they looked.

He crossed his arms and pouted, only loosening that expression when the nurse had come back with a small plastic cup with a couple pills and a glass of water. “Take these, honey… I don’t understand why you wouldn’t just want to be healed by the girl but these’ll heal you up nicely.” Liam seemed shock, and downed the pills immediately, much to the two’s surprise. He swallowed them dry and coughed, before speaking. “I thought pills were just meant to kill the pain. You’re telling me they can help?”

The nurse smiled, putting a hand on the boy’s head. Emily flinched when she saw that. “Of course, sweetie. Just make sure to get some rest while they do the work. Come on, lay down.” Liam seemed to scowl at the nurse’s use of her power, and took the water out of the nurse’s hand, only then deciding it’d be best to drink. “I can sleep on my own, lady. Just ask first.” He muttered. Emily amusedly watched as Liam begrudgingly pulled himself back onto the bed to rest. The boy was stubborn, but at least he knew where his lines were drawn.

To the point where she couldn’t tell if Leonard had been really telling the truth.

After that, the medic scene was comfortable, almost warm, actually.

Until the crazy teacher came bursting in.

Her eyes were bloodshot, and it looked as if she hadn’t slept in days. “Is the Liam boy in here! Wyland didn’t want to tell me where the kid was but some of the students pointed me to this- ah.” Emily and the nurse, as well as all the Liams, except Ironically the original, looked at her.

“...Well, that solves one problem.” She said with a grin.