I clench my fists as I stare towards the door to combat class. TJ was going to be late if he didn’t show up soon, and I already bribed the teacher to have him paired with me today. He’s the most unbearable, self-important, brash, idiotic, cocky, ignoran-

“Haha! I can’t believe there’s actually combat class, this is going to be crazy fun.” I hear his voice echo out from behind me. I didn’t even realize I’d shut my eyes. I just, I can’t deal with him! I turn around and sneer, his stupid smile and the strange sparkle that’s always flashing in his green eyes. “You’ll be my partner, right Mercury?” He’s so stupid, Mercury is one of the laziest people ever. Mercury would never willingly-

“Sure. But there are sparring matches randomly assigned each day. It’s on the white board.” The tapping of Mercury’s finger against the whiteboard draws TJ’s attention to it. Whatever, I’m going to be allowed to crush his face into the dirt soon.

A hand appearing on my shoulder causes me to jump, and I tsk as I swat it off. “What do you need, Crystal?” I turn my attention to the pale skin and long blonde hair that makes up her face.

She gulps lightly, “Well...Um, you promised me you’d give me some pointers in hand to hand combat today. Are we still doing that? I mean, it’s fine if we don’t. I was just thinking about it…” She murmurs lightly, looking away from me as she talks.

I sigh, it’s hard to stay mad when somebody like her talks to you. “Fine, I guess. But don’t cry for god’s sake.” I can’t stand it when people waste energy on crying. Seriously, if you’re going to cry instead of work you might as well go die.

“Alright class. Settle down, settle down. We’re focusing on combat today, specifically without the use of Emblems.” Mr. Virgo exclaims, clapping his hands and quieting down the buzz of the class. “More well known as martial arts. Of course there are a variety of different subsidiaries, boxing, karate, kung-fu, jiu-jitsu, just to name a few. You’ve all been assigned your own martial art to study, hopefully you’ve been doing so. Jay Jeremy Jones, are you here today?” The teacher asks, a small smirk on my face as TJ stands up.

“Ah! Wait, sir!” He exclaims, dashing up to the Professor and holding out a deck of cards….Why does he do that? “Pick a card please!” I’m going to rip those cards to shreds...That would be really funny. It would be stupid fun as well. It would probably make TJ cry too. A smirk spreads across my face, and I impatiently tap my finger against my arm. I can’t wait.

- - - - - - - -

“Alright everybody, let’s bring it back.” Mr. Virgo calls, clapping his hands again as the heavy breathing of the class subsides. I smile and walk over to the teacher, leaving Crystal back on the sparring mat that we were on. “It’s time for the one on one sparring matches. Check back up on the white board if you’ve forgotten who you’re against. Remember, those of you with the higher rankings in the class get to pick your teammates first.”

“Teammates?” TJ asks, raising his hand as he asks the question, defeating the purpose of raising his hand. He’s legitimately the most ignorant person I’ve ever met. I can barely believe that he’s an evolved.

“Teammates, yes.” I say with an annoyed sigh, crossing my arms and blowing some of my hair out of my face. “We’re all evolved, but that doesn’t mean we’re all equal.” I say while staring coldly at TJ. I’m definitely not equal to him. “Some Emblems are more fit for combat, but a lot aren’t. If your Emblem or ability to use it aren’t fit for combat then you’re put into an underclass of supporters. As a supporter, you will be picked at some point by the actually evolved of us, and help us to complete our missions.” Everybody knows that. I can’t believe he even has to ask about it.

“That’s...kinda mes-” TJ starts his response before clutching his side and wincing. I narrow my eyes. Mercury must’ve hit him or something, which is fair. I wanted to myself, and I’m going to get the chance soon.

“Thank you, Nia. Now, everybody separate into your groups and head to the corresponding sparring mats. Sorry for the longer introduction today, had to make sure we catch up a new kid.” Mr. Virgo announces with a small smirk, the class chuckling at his reference to TJ. I chuckle too, looking over at TJ, which makes me stop chuckling. Because he’s laughing too.

“So stupid.” I murmur quietly, cracking my knuckles and walking over to TJ. He looks completely lost as the class rearranges itself to be properly matched up. He’s not even looking at me, so I punch his gut. “You’re with me. Try your best not to cry.” I say with a smirk, before walking over to the fifth mat.

“Isn’t the proper saying, ‘try not to embarrass yourself’?” He calls after me, a small smile on his face.

“Sure.” I respond, turning around while stretching my arms and watching him carefully. “But I’m going to embarrass you. So it’s a waste of energy for you to try not to get embarrassed,” I add with a smirk. If I can provoke him into attacking me, I’ll destroy him. He’s a rookie after all.

“Haha, alright alright. Remember what happened last time though? There’s no teacher’s aid to bail you out now. Do I just start whenever I want?” He asks with a teasing smile, sticking his tongue out at me.

“....Yeah. Your funeral after all.” I say coldly, watching and waiting for him to try and land a hit on me.

TJ jumps at me and tries to punch me with his left hand, and as it sails through the air I smirk. He’s dumber than I thought. I reach out and tilt my head to the side, the fist falling harmlessly through the air. The arm I’ve extended out grabs his arm and I pull hard, slamming TJ over my shoulder into the ground. I let go and take a step back, watching TJ squirm on the ground in pain.

He stands back up, and attacks me again. He kicks up at me, trying to slam his foot into my jaw. I lean back and grab his foot. "Hey! Let go!" TJ exclaims, awkwardly hopping on one leg while trying to pull himself free. Oh yeah, this is fun. I take a step forwards, lifting TJ's leg higher up and forcing him into an uncomftorable splits. I take another step forward, then dive forward and slam and him into the ground again. His back hits first, and I fold his legs over top of him while slamming into him again. A crack snaps through the air as I feel something snap in his body. When I stand up TJ doesn’t. He groans and puts a hand to his back, “Holy...Shit...That hurt a lot.” He murmurs to himself while his face contorts in pain. He’d get over it. After this, there’s no way he’d stay in our class. He’d be pushed back into the support class. Maybe I’d even pick him, and torment him further.

“Get up. We have another hour to fight.” I murmur, giggling brightly and crouching next to him. “I’d prefer you to fight back, but I can deal with it if you’d prefer to just pass out or die.”

TJ’s eyes open and his face contorts through the pain into a small smile. Why is he smiling at a time like this? What the hell? Whatever, I can still break him. “Just, give me a second.” He says, trying to push himself back onto his feet. He just got his shots a day or two ago. There’s no way he can heal that quickly. He’s the worst. TJ, such a stupid kid. What the fuck gave him the right to smile the way he does? Why the fuck does he get to be so fucking happy when he’s so fucking weak.

I kick his side as he’s trying to stand up. “Shut the fuck up.” I murmur coldly, watching his body collapse after my kick. “This is combat training. I’m not giving you anything.” I say coldly. I walk to him and kick him again, and again, and again. I kick him harder each time, until blood starts to spill out of his mouth with every kick and his body starts convulsing. That’s when I start smiling again. “What's the matter TJ? No more quips?” I ask, pulling my leg even further back and kicking him at full force. This is great. I’ve never been allowed to do this at school before. I should bribe Mr. Virgo more often, maybe I’ll finally put Thomas in his place as well.

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Why am I lying down on the floor? What did he do? “I think you punctured my lungs with my own ribs. Give me a second and I’ll come up with a few more.” TJ wheezes out to me, and with a glare I stare up at him. He’s standing up, with that same unbelievably stupid smile on his face, even though there’s blood falling down either side of his lips and one of his eyes is swollen black and shut. He’s got a hand on his side, supporting himself. Even though he’s standing he seems shaky.

“You….You’re….” I clutch the pad we’re standing on, clenching it up. “I’m going to kill you. We’ve still got almost an hour.” I take a deep breath. I’m trying to calm myself down, and it’s barely working. Why is he smiling? How is he smiling, how can he have any sort of fun in this situation? I’m not having fun, there’s no way I can let this brat have any. I take a step forward and kick sharply at TJ’s head, trying to send him falling back to the ground.

That’s when I realize what he did last time. He didn’t use his Emblem, which was my initial thought. I barely notice him move his foot, but he pulls back the mat to literally shift the ground under me and throw me off balance. My kick goes above his head, and TJ grabs my leg. My eyes widen, “Wh-” He lifts me off the ground and then slams me back down. My vision goes black and I see only stars, accompanied by a loud crack and something shifting in my back. He broke my back. It hurts, a hell of a lot. “FOUL!”

TJ's lying back on the ground, the teacher sitting down on him and holding his left leg up in a pin. Mr. Virgo looks bored, and asks me casually, “What was the foul?” While ignoring TJ under him, who’s writhing in pain. I stay on the ground, letting myself heal from the broken back...It was going to take me at least an hour.

“He broke my back.” I say with a smirk, staring at TJ who’s eyes widen. His smile is completely gone. I should’ve done this earlier, just to show him his place.

“That’s a foul alright. TJ, Nia gets to resume the fight with a pin on you. Now-”

“FOUL!” TJ shouts out, shooting me a glare. “Nia broke my back!” He says, to which the teacher looks about as annoyed as I feel. Several of the nearby students have stopped fighting and are watching us, there’s no way he could get away with such a blatantly unfair move in front of all of them. He might lose his job.

“...Hmm..” Mr. Virgo sighs and then stands up off of TJ’s back. “That's a foul. The fight’s over at any rate if both of you have broken backs. Looking at the state of things it’s a win for Nia. She dealt more damage than TJ, so that means that-”

“Foul.” Mercury says flatly from the mat across ours. The teacher sighs and turns to him, “Nia committed unnecessary violence. Instead of pinning TJ, she kicked him. Check the cameras if you need.” The teacher tsks and looks over at Mercury’s opponent. She’s been frozen in place with a thin layer of ice covering her.

“FOUL!” I shout, “Mercury used his Emblem against his opponent!”

“Be quiet, all of you.” Mr. Virgo says, with his voice teetering on the edge of snapping. He pauses for a second and then sighs, “Look. Nia and TJ will draw, with no further long lasting punishments. Mercury, you can’t win your battle due to your foul. If you win once she’s unfrozen, then it counts as a draw. Now everybody back to business, TJ and Nia’s fight is over. TJ go clean yourself up at the nurse’s office.”

Mercury looks annoyed and walks to his opponent, punching her still frozen face and sending her falling to the ground knocked out. “I won. So I tied. TJ can’t walk, I’ll take him to the nurses.” He explains flatly, before leaning down and helping TJ stand.

TJ smiles brightly and then chuckles weakly. “Thanks Mercury! You’re actually the best.” He’s so pathetic, he can barely walk on his own. He’s basically wrapping himself around Mercury like white on rice.

Mr. Virgo holds his hand to me with an apathetic expression. “I don’t need your help.” I mutter back at him, shoving myself up off the ground only to find my back exploding with sharp pain. It feels like I’m filled with thousands of needles stabbing against my skin. I can’t stay standing, and so I fall back onto the floor. Holy shit...TJ tried to keep fighting after this? He’s a bigger idiot than I thought.

“Nia...If you’re done, do you want to go back to your room?” Crystal asks from above me, holding a hand out with a nervous smile. She has a new bruise over her eye, and that black hair she has is kept up in a ponytail.

“Sure.” I take the hand she holds out to me and stand back up, wincing as I do so. Crystal doesn’t say a word as I lean against her, and we start to walk back towards my room. “...Hey Crystal, have you ever broken your back before?” I ask quietly.

“Yeah...You broke it a few years ago, and when I first evolved I’d get broken bones every week or so.” She says lightly in response to me. That was weird...I’d never gotten my back broken before today. It sucks.

“Oh...Sorry. About that.” I mumble quietly. It feels like I’m the smallest person in the room. I broke Crystal’s back? That’s low, that’s stupid.

==================================

“Dude, I’m fine. Seriously! Stop worrying about it haha!” TJ exclaims from the bed of the nurse's office. His face was smiling brightly, which was so dumb. He’s going to be in the bed for another two hours. His spine was broken, four of his ribs were shattered, his nose was destroyed, his left shoulder was dislocated, right forearm fractured, and he tore his hamstring.

“Let’s say that this is fine,” I start, pointing up to just above my head. “You’re over here.” I finish, patting the floor.

“I heal quick! I told you about the spider didn’t I? It was a black wi-”

“Shut. Up. TJ.” I interject, hanging my head and staring at the smooth floor beneath us. “It doesn’t matter that you heal quickly if you die. You’re already a pain in my neck. Don’t make me come to your funeral too.” I add on, looking up at TJ. He has a soft yet genuine smile on his face at my words, and his green eyes are warm. I can’t put my finger on it but something I said was embarrassing, so I turn away from him in an instant. It’s getting pretty hot in this room…

“Thanks, Mercury.” He says quietly, leaning back in the bed and closing his eyes. “I’ll relax here ok? Head to class. I’ll see you later tonight!” TJ’s pale face wasn’t as chalky white as it was when he first got into the bed, his complexion was way better. He still looks strained though.

“It’s fine. Anatomy is stupid anyways.” I’ve got a bad feeling about leaving TJ alone right now. I’ve never seen anybody just power through a broken spine like that, much less break Nia’s back.

“No, you should get to class Theta.” A hand is firmly placed on my shoulder, and I turn around before having to look distinctly up. His sharp blue eyes and lazy face are unmistakable. “I’ll make sure TJ doesn’t die.”

“Oh...Yeah. You’re right sir.” I mumble quietly, looking down to tear away from him. “I’ll be on my way.” Holy shit, it’s Leonidous. Leonidous White. He’s one of the most influential people in the USEF, he’s carried out over 437 missions to perfection and taken down several governments across the entire globe. Why is he back at the USEF? Isn’t he supposed to be deployed in Norway? Why is he HERE at the school? If he’s here-

“Aww you came to see me? Aren’t you a sweetie Leo! Do you uh...Know the story per say? As to how I arrived at this predicament?” TJ’s flippant attitude doesn’t change in front of Leonidous. His stupid mouth is going to get him killed! I turn around with my eyes wide and reach out, my mouth open and ready to interject into the conversation and apologize on TJ’s behalf.

“I’ve heard a version of the story, but I’m more interested to hear it from you. Nia seems like a pretty biased source.” What? He’s ok with that? “Mercury, head to class. Or should I call in an escort?” Leonidous calls out without turning to look at me, a smirk on his face. TJ flashes me a grin and gives me two thumbs up, which is hard to say no to. It’s fine...Leonidous can handle this. I hesitantly step back and leave TJ, heading to anatomy.

I shove my hands into my pockets and tsk, kicking the wall as I pass by it. It’s so annoying to have TJ here. He’s gotten into a fight with Nia, Thomas has already tried to start a fight, he’s embarrassed me several times, and he might have given me a heart attack. He’s taking so much effort to watch over, he’s taking so much of my energy. I reach the elevator, staring up at the ceiling while I wait for it. TJ’s annoying. He’s on my mind way too much lately. I walk into the elevator. Even though I’m doing all this for TJ...It’s not like I regret any of it “...No way.” I mutter quietly, my eyes widening as a realization hits me. The elevator dings and the doors start closing as I hear TJ’s voice echoing through the hallway. “No fucking way.” I whisper to myself while running my left hand through my hair. The silver door shuts and I see my reflection staring back at me. My nearly white hair and my blue eyes, my slightly pink lips that for some weird reason are quivering. My black t-shirt, white shorts. “I can’t...I can’t be,” I mutter the word quietly and feel butterflies pleading to get out of my stomach. I might be…