Lag 6.2

– o – o – o – o – o – o – o –

Being back in school was, somehow, a thrilling and boring experience simultaenously, Greg mused. After a week of being around just his mom and certain other people, it was honestly a treat to just see other people his age in a pressure-free, non-family environment.

Well, it was.

At least for the first five minutes.

That substitute somehow managed to beat their old teacher when it came to the power of inducing boredom and that was honestly saying something when you considered the old man put himself to sleep at least once or twice.

Although, after giving it some thought, that was probably more because of how old he was than how boring he was…

Either way, class was not a fun time. In fact, it wasn't for the constant rush of energy in his veins keeping both his body and brain in a constant state of readiness, perpetually prepared to burst into action at any moment, the blond might have found himself copying his friend and using the class to catch up on his sleep.

Try as he might, the substitute couldn't have captured Greg's attention in a million years.

The sight of a flood of new faces in the hallway had been interesting for a minute or two, but even then Greg's interest had faded quickly with nothing to actually do as he walked side by side with Sparky.

But this…

Quest Gained

Asserting Dominance

Winslow High has been said to be a mini-Brockton Bay with the way junior members of each gang populate it's halls. With the ABB shattered to pieces, young members of the Empire now consider themselves the real power within these halls. Show them they're wrong.

Objectives

-Make the Empire students back down [ ]

Rewards: 1000 XP, Nerdy Glasses, Increased reputation with former ABB students

Bonus Objective:

-K.O. the highest leveled Empire student [ ]

It took a moment for Greg to realize he was smiling like a madman, his face a tight rictus of excitement as he read the pop-up. A half-instant later, the expression was within normal ranges for a carefree smile, or so he hoped.

Really, it didn't matter.

What did matter was right in front of him.

Excusing himself from a quiet Sparky, Greg walked up to the semi-circle of students surrounding one familiar bottle-blond bastard and his usual posse of juniors standing just a few feet behind him trying to look threatening. Said bastard loomed over a smaller student — a freshman by the looks of him, and Japanese as well — perfect prey for an Empire stooge.

Before the asshole could slam the younger, bespectacled boy up against the lockers one more time, the superhero in disguise felt it was time to announce himself.

"Hey, dickhead, you better drop that kid before I drop your ass!"

The words did their job, catching the attention of said dickhead with ease. The bully slowly turned his head in the direction the voice came from, annoyed confusion crossing his face as he spat out the words, "Who the fuck…"

Greg didn't even have to muscle his way through the semi-circle after he announced himself, the small gaggle of students not tightly gathered enough for him to bother as he strode through with Sparky at his heels, leaving both blond boys and their respective companions staring at each other with vastly different expressions.

The Japanese kid's gaze hurriedly flicked to both boys in front of him, looking the perfect mixture of nervous and more than a little scared as the confrontation played out. The surrounding students just looked on curiously, which Greg thought was more than appropriate, considering… Observe.

Jun "Johnny" Eto Lvl 2

Student

HP: 110/110

Small, fragile and very, very nervous, Jun has spent his first two years at Winslow hiding in the shadows of several larger and stronger ABB wannabes as he focused on his education. Dangerously close to pissing himself.

Small, fragile and very, very nervous, Jun has spent his first two years at Winslow hiding in the shadows of several larger and stronger ABB wannabes as he focused on his education. Dangerously close to pissing himself.

"... wait..." Malcolm Duncan spoke up first, his expression actually becoming more confused than annoyed as he gave his former victim a once-over. "Veder?"

The smile on Greg's face actually faded at that, the boy in the blue hooding mirroring Mal's look of confusion. The hell? "Yeah… it's me. Surprised?"

He raised an eyebrow, head tilting to the right slightly. "No, like, are you actually surprised or like… is it a joke or… what? You blind, man?" Seriously, do I look that different?

"No. Shut up. " The bully shook his head, annoyance flaring back into his tone and looks. Mal narrowed his eyes as he slammed the boy in his grip back up against the wall, eliciting a loud racket from the lockers at his back and a groan from his current prey. "The fuck do you want?"

Alright, then. "... I dunno." Greg paused, the blonde cupping his chin as the expression on his face crept back into a grin. After a moment, he continued with, "I guess it kinda depends on if you want me to shut up orrrr you want me to tell you what I want."

The twitch in Mal's eye didn't go unnoticed by Greg, the sophomore's grin widening even further as he let his taunts work their magic. Deciding to rub it in a bit more, Greg gave a simple shrug and added, "Not for nothing but, I think all that hair dye probably killed a chunk of your brain cells if you can't figure which one it is."

Taunt Lvl Up!

16→17

Magical.

Really, that was the only way to describe how quickly Mal's focus had shifted.

For all the Empire-aligned junior cared, the scrawny bespectacled kid he had been putting the fear of God into no longer existed. Thick fists opened up, dropping Jun on his butt with a pained groan and what might have been a stifled curse from the Japanese student, and Mal turned to face Greg fully.

Greg, however, glanced at the student on the floor. "Stay right there, you're gonna love this. It's gonna be hilarious. Trust me." Met with nothing but a bewildered look from the other kid, the blond winked at him before glancing back up at one angry Malcolm Duncan.

His shoulders squared as if to intimidate, the older boy rounded on a smiling Greg Veder, the boys standing behind him already shouting out words of encouragement for Mal and various insults toward Greg.

"You really think you're funny, don't ya… Veder?" The junior's words were met with a few murmured insults from the lackeys several feet behind him. "You think you can talk shit to me for whatever fucking reason popped into your stupid little head?"

"..." Greg's smile seemed to freeze in place, his teeth making an audible clicking sound as he shut his mouth. After a moment of silence, he nodded quickly. Don't laugh. Don't laugh. The attempts at intimidation were laughable honestly and the blond was pulling on whatever control he had over Gamer's Mind not to burst into hysterical laughter in the middle of all this. Please don't laugh right now.

The dark scowl on Mal's face shifted to a malicious grin, clearly taking Greg's silence for nervousness as he took a few more steps forward. The halls were still loud with students who had no interest in the confrontation still making their way to class, but even then, Greg could still hear the crack of Malcolm Duncan's knuckles above all that, the taller boy clearly itching for a fight. "Got any more shit to say before I kick your retarded ass, Veder?"

Plenty, in fact.

Case in point...

"Mal, I am picking up some real subtle hints that you are a dumb musclehead with more bottles of peroxide in your bathroom than you have brain cells," Greg shot back at the bully without even the slightest hesitation. "However, I'm guessing you still wanna fight?"

The dark scowl returned, Mal's devious grin nowhere to be seen as Greg's taunt hit home for the third time. "I'm gonna kick your shit in, Veder."

I swear to god, this is too easy. "That is disgusting… and unnecessary," Greg patted his left hand with his stomach a few times, snorting as a little bit of laughter slipped out. "I have been surprisingly regular these past few weeks. Not that it's any of your business, really."

Several ewws erupted from their small crowd and the blond sophomore couldn't help but laugh again, both at their reaction and Malcolm's reddening face. I missed this so freakin' much. It'd only be better if Sophia were here too. A moment later, Greg shook his head at that intrusive thought, muttering to himself, "...actually, she'd have lost it by now."

Rolling his eyes at his own thoughts, Greg flicked his gaze back at the taller boy, deciding to end this in the only way he knew how before he was late to class. "Anyway, Mal, good buddy, friendo, I'd love to fight you, but I've recently discovered that violence solves nothing. Long story short, you weren't there but Greg Veder is pretty much a pacifist now."

Malcolm edged forward, arms flexing as he forced his hands into tight fists. "I'll pass a fist through your face."

"Ooh, burn."

Greg didn't bother holding back a snicker at the muttered commentary from Sparky, glancing back at his friend behind him for a single moment.

A split-second later, a set of bright blue eyes flicked back to the taller boy, his mind already aware of exactly what his Danger Sense considered a non-threat. The world slowed in his eyes, Greg's reaction time spurred into sluggish action as the Empire junior swung out a heavy fist toward his face.

He saw it coming, of course. It'd be a shame if he didn't see the amateur punch coming a mile away, given everything he'd been through. Greg just wished he wasn't so disappointed by it.

It wasn't just slow.

It was a painful crawl.

So much so in fact that the shorter teen had more than enough time to lean his upper body to one side, moving from his own perspective with all the speed of a geriatric yoga student. Like Greg had expected, Malcolm overextended himself with the hurried blow, the bully's face gaining a look of familiar shock as his sloppy punch failed to connect.

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He looked at Mal's boggled expression, wondering to himself what he ever found threatening about it. The other boy's muscles, his height, his fists…

What was scary here?

His eyes flicked back to Mal's other arm as another swing came his way, Greg staring at the approaching fist for a full two seconds from his point of view. He felt something inside him rise up as he stared silently at the appendage, Greg suddenly well aware of how fragile and fleshy it was in comparison to his own, a wave of anger pushing him in one direction.

What felt like several seconds later, the blond felt himself shudder internally as he pushed the dark thoughts back down. How about I not do something that crazy on the first day back?

Another confused look, one Greg was intimately becoming familiar with, flooded Mal's expression as Greg calmly slid out of the way of another blow. Something slightly less crazy then.

That look of shocked confusion only increased as he felt skin on skin, a single smooth hand cupping the side of his face.

Greg laughed.

Mal screamed.

The students screamed.

Sparky cursed.

– o – o – o – o – o – o – o –

"Are you aware that school has only been in session for less than three hours?"

The question hung in the air unanswered for several long, silent seconds as the round analog clock on the wall continued to tick loudly. Two of the three occupants glanced at each other, one of them bearing a confused expression and the other looking both simultaneously bored and murderous.

A few more seconds of silent staring got neither of them anywhere and finally, the confused one glanced over at the office's third occupant, looking a bit less confused and more inquisitive as he responded. "Umm, Principal Blackwell, are you asking me or Sp-"

"Yes, Mr. Veder, I am asking you," the stern woman responded with a tired sigh, both hands resting on the desk in front of her. "I am asking you if you are aware that it only took two periods of class before you somehow ended up in my office on the very first day back to school."

The question was entirely rhetorical, Greg was aware of that much, but he couldn't help himself as he replied,"Well, technically, it only took one for me. I was late to school so-"

"Were you?" Another sigh left the scrawny blond woman as she closed her eyes, sounding almost incredulous. "Were you really? An entire hour? On the very first day?"

Greg didn't answer that one, choosing to take the next few moments of silence to ignore Sparky attempting to glare a hole in the side of his head as he stared at his principal curiously. Weird how me and Blackwell used to have the same haircut, isn't it? I mean, the bowl cut worked for me but… Greg clicked his tongue and with a shake of his head noted, yeah, she's not really pulling it off.

"I've just…" Blackwell attempted again, before pausing and shaking her own head. "I'm just stunned because this has to be something of a record. It has to be." The last part was almost whispered to herself, the principal shaking her head again. "It just has to be."

"What is?"

"Fastest detention in the history of Winslow High school."

"Whoa, whoa," Greg's eyes widened slightly as he raised his hands in defense of himself, "I think you might wanna pull back there, Principal B, I don't really think I did anything worth a deten-"

"You dented a locker with a student's head!"

And there it is. Greg nodded sagely at Blackwell's near-screech of a response, calmly ignoring the intensified heat in Sparky's glare once again. "...Again, I don't really think I did anything worth that, you know."

"Excuse me?" The frown on the principal's face deepened at Greg's repeated words, the blond noticing that change. Raising his hands, the talkative boy quickly began to backpedal.

"Whoawhoawhoa, ma'am," he rushed out the words with an awkward chuckle, quickly glancing towards Sparky with a pleading look, silently begging for help. As expected, his friend simply stared back at him with an expression that was somehow equally "bored", yet also "absolutely murderous".

Stifling a snort, Greg forced himself to keep his own expression as serious as he could manage as he faced his frustrated principal. "Okay, maybe I should start over and tell you exactly why things ended up the way they did," he began again.

"Start over? Start over?" Blackwell asked, voice nearing the point of confusion as she stared at the both of them in turn. "Where exactly? At the very beginning of this whole situation?"

"Yes," Greg nodded slowly as he continued speaking, taking her words at first value. "Hello, Principal Blackwell. I'm Greg Veder. This is Axel Ramon," he added, jerking a thumb in the direction of his suddenly wide-eyed friend. "And the two of us are the ones who were not auditioning for a position in the Brockton Bay branch of the Fourth Reich."

His words were simple, tone as blunt as a hammer as he smiled unassumingly at the woman sitting across from him. Part of him couldn't help but feel like it might not have been worth it as Blackwell's eyes lowered behind her glasses.

The principal stared at Greg for a moment, fingers steeped in front of her, before closing her eyes and letting out a long, careful breath through her nostrils. Opening them a few seconds later in an action too lengthy to be called a blink, Blackwell let out a single sentence, voice sounding more tired than it had any right to be.

"This is not worth it."

The two students in front of her let out similar noises of curiosity, Sparky turning to face her in confusion as Greg followed up with a question. "Principal B?"

"There is roughly a month of school left," Blackwell continued, a tired look behind her glasses. "Giving you detention would be pointless, and given the state of the city, I'm not even sure if I'm allowed to keep you after school. So," she paused as she leaned back in her desk chair, "fortunately for the both of you, there will be no direct punishment."

"Really?" Greg found himself asking aloud, "I mean, I did slam a student's head into a locker. I mean, sure, he's a…" the blond raised his hand halfway into the air only to lower it back down after a moment's thought, thinking better of miming a Nazi salute at the moment, "...you know, but I figured I'd be in some kinda trouble."

Blackwell turned those tired eyes firmly on him, her voice gaining a firm edge to it. "Would you like to be?"

"Not even a little."

"Then, please, keep your mouth shut."

The blond responded with a nod and a thumbs up, leaning back in his seat with a relaxed expression. A moment later, his friend leaned forward, exasperation and confusion firmly written on his face.

"Okay, but why am I even here?" Sparky asked, finally making himself heard. "I didn't throw a punch, like, I literally did nothing. It was all him." He punctuated the sentence by pointing a thumb at an innocent-looking Greg, Sparky shooting the blond another glare for added emphasis.

"Loud and extremely vulgar profanity in the halls."

Sparky fell back into his chair, deflating a bit as whatever argument he had was cut down in an instant both by Blackwell's words and her acerbic tone. "...That's… that's fair, I guess."

"There's no guesswork involved, Mr. Ramon," Blackwell answered back. "No matter your opinion on them, Winslow still has rules."

"Not that anyone ever follows them, though," Greg muttered to himself, remembering just how often students had simply left the campus for whatever reason or did so many other things without fear of reprisal.

"Do you have something to add, Mr. Veder?"

"Not that I can think of." Greg replied, rebounding forward in his seat as he beamed at his principle with a smile that was only maybe thirty percent forced. "Can we head back to class now?"

"No."

"But you said…" The blond leaned back, a confused expression on his face as he closed his mouth. A moment later, he opened it again, with the same question on his lips, this time fully formed. "But you said we're not in trouble, though?"

"No."

"But y-"

"No."

The ice in her tone was enough to make Greg shut his mouth again, the teenager blinking as he stared back at her, uncomfortably reminded of some of his mother's worse moods. Jesus, what crawled up her ass and died?

The principal relaxed her hands, laying them flat on her desk as she surveyed both of the students in front of her with a much less tense expression. "What I said was that you two would receive no direct punishment for this instance. Consider yourselves on some level of… let's call it probation for causing such an incident on the first day back to school."

Causing.

Both teens shared a quick glance, similar expressions of annoyance and disbelief playing out across their face, albeit for different reasons. A moment later, they turned back to Blackwell as she focused their attention back on her with a hard rap on her desk.

"But what I meant was..." the principal paused again, gaze re-settling on the blond as if properly looking at him. "No, you're not going back to class."

Greg sighed. "Okay, I'll bite. Why?"

"What do you mean… Wait, excuse me," the principal interjected. Pushing her glasses up, she pinched the bridge of her nose and let out a single, frustrated breath. "I forgot that you were late to school by… an hour, if I'm not mistaken?"

"About that, yeah." The flippant reply didn't seem to do him any favors with the principal from what Greg could tell of the expression on her face, but he couldn't help himself. "Maybe a little more. I know I was late, and I'm really sorry, ma'am, but I just had to make my mommy breakfast in bed. I know it's not a real excuse but with the effort I put into making it perfect, time kinda got away from me."

"...really?"

Greg nodded slowly and did his very best not to make his lips twitch as he responded to Blackwell's single-worded question, the disbelief in her tone audible. "Yes."

The effort in keeping his face somewhat serious tripled as what could only be described as the combination of a dying groan and a drawn-out sigh came from the third person in the room. "My mom does a lot for me. She deserves it, you know."

CHA + 1

Despite himself, Greg smirked. Score.

Principal Blackwell's simply continued to stare at him, the edge still present in her gaze albeit a good bit softer than it was a moment ago. "Well…" she spoke up after a few seconds, "I suppose, given the circumstances… that's understandable. She is a nurse, if I'm correct?"

"She is, yeah."

"So, she would have had to deal with the… events first-hand," Blackwell continued, closing her eyes for a moment. Opening them again, she folded her hands above each other and placed them on her desk. "With that in mind, I can understand why you felt the need to take care of her."

Greg glanced down, his expression stiffening before he replied,"...I-yeah, I… you're right, yeah."

"Anyway, seeing as you missed the announcement this morning, there will be an assembly in about fifteen minutes to…" the principal paused to adjust her glasses, and cleared her throat before continuing on, face a bit more somber, "to honor those of our students and staff who were injured or… lost in the last two weeks."

For the second time, Greg Veder froze. "Wow… that… That sounds like a really good idea."

"It's only proper," Blackwell nodded. "Now, if you two would please head down to the auditorium. I'd like to see you both in the front row by the time I'm on stage."

– o – o – o – o – o – o – o –

As both teens exited out of Winslow's main office area, the hard wooden door closing hard behind them, Greg glanced over to his far more quiet friend and grinned. "... I think that went pretty well. You?"

"I disagree."

Hands gripped tightly into fists at his sides, Sparky glared back at the smiling blond. "You got me in trouble on the first day back, you… you actual asshole." He hissed the last word through gritted teeth, a great deal of venom in his tone.

Are we really doing this right now? Greg snickered to himself at both that thought and Sparky's words as he started walking down the hallway, his friend following on instinct.

"I'd be more careful with that profanity, bro…" he began as Sparky rushed up to his side.

"Oh, you think, brah?"

"Oh, I know, dude," Greg laughed again. "And in related news, you got yourself in trouble, which is kinda unsurprising. Seriously, I don't know why you're so bitter. I should be the one mad at you right now. You implied some unsavory things about my mother in that rant, you big jerk you."

The wink he gave his friend at the end of that sentence was likely a bit too much for the other teen to take calmly, Greg mused to himself. A moment later, he got his confirmation as Sparky let out an actual growl and fully lunged at him.

Snorting in addition to actual belly laughter, Greg casually sidestepped the attempted tackle both for his enjoyment and his friend's health. Quickly pulling on the hood of Sparky's jacket to prevent him from crashing into a locker, the blond righted the angry teenagers and gave him a very light tap on the forehead. "Gotta be quicker than that."

His chuckles died away as he watched Sparky breathe heavily, shock on the other boy's face. Fine, I'll be the big man. Letting out a slight sigh, Greg raised his hands up. "Alright, alright, that was too much. I'm sorry for going too far."

Axel Ramon stared his friend down for a few seconds, expression quickly going from surprise to anger before simmering down to frustration as he realized what had just happened. "I swear to God you weren't this bad before."

Blue eyes narrowed slightly as Greg leaned up against the locker his friend would have smashed into if it hadn't been for his rapid intervention. "I'm not sure what you mean."

"You… how are you not sure? You started-"

"Ended," Greg interjected, sticking his tongue out.

"- a fight." Sparky sent him another heated glare, one that his friend continued to smile at. "You pretty much outed yourself by denting a locker with a dude's head and-"

"I didn't out myself, Sparkplug," Greg cut in again, bringing up his fingers to form air quotes around the three syllables. "This is Winslow. The lockers are mad cheapo, my guy. A hard elbow would make that same dent."

Sparky stayed silent for a few moments, amber eyes glaring daggers at the blond as they both stood still in the vacant halls of Winslow..

Deciding to go for broke, Greg spoke up again. "Besides, it was Big Mal's giant head making the dent. The guy's as dense as fucking iron. Besides, you can't tell me part of you inside wasn't stoked to see him get that sweet KO he's been begging for?"

At those words, His face widened in a smile that might have been a bit too big for his face, before he quickly pulled it back. "Come on, bro, after all the times he's held us both up for money?"

Sparky shook his head. "It doesn't matter what I felt."

"I think it really does."

"It doesn't matter what I felt," Sparky repeated, unclenching his fists finally. "What matters is that if you get outed, I'm your best friend, so I go down with you."

"Down? Down?" Greg let out another laugh, barely restricting his smile this time. "Bud, there's no down for me. The only way is up, and you're my best friend, so you're coming along for that sweet-ass ride."

"... Could you at least stop trying to out yourself, brah?" Sparky asked, speaking up after Greg's laughter finally died away. "As a favor to me, for helping you out, at least."

Bro, really? The smile that the blond teen was wearing quickly shrunk, Greg's face twisting up in confusion. "What? Do you think I'm shouting it from the rooftops?" He flicked his hand over his face, a pair of glasses that would have fit right at home on any stereotypical nerd appearing on the bridge of his nose in a quick flare of blue light. "You think I can Clark Kent this craziness? Huh?"

"You could try."

"Can I really? You think so?" Greg smirked back sardonically, the glasses on his face vanishing in another flash of blue as he stood up straight and stepped towards Sparky, making sure his friend noticed the new height difference. "I grew 3 inches literally overnight a good two weeks ago. My teeth are straighter than they've ever been. No acne anywhere on my face. No scars… anywhere. And the better I get, the more obvious this shit looks. It's just a matter of time."

Almost as if it hurt him to do so, Sparky nodded. "Whatever, I guess. At least try not to be stupid."

"Will try, bro," Greg laughed again as he continued walking down the hallway. "Anyway, gotta go."

Sparky made to go after him, only to pause and frown, glancing the other direction as a sudden realization came over him. "Wait, the hell are you going? The assembly hall's back that way."

"I got an appointment, Sparks," Greg called back, not stopping to do so. "Can't be late."

"You're gonna get us in trouble again!"

"Nah," Greg grinned to himself, "this one's on me."