"Speedy-ass high school kids," Thomas mumbled as he looked for Axel and Connor. The stab wound wasn't too bad, he felt it hit the rib cage, but it stung every time he took a step.

Gunfire.

His body hit the ground in a panic. Laying on the ground and breathing against dirt Is not how he expected to spend his Saturday. Getting dropped off at work by his wife, then getting shot at by helicopter doodads—that's what he's been calling the airships—and cracking three spines. He's starting to wish he'd stayed at the school working instead of checking out all the commotion.

My students...

Alert senses grew as he caught up to the downed airship and spotted the dead body. After contemplating it, he ignored the body since it wasn't his student. Then, he found a huddled trio in a discussion.

"Connor, Axel, is that you?" He knew it was them. He didn't want to startle them.

The three looked over.

"Principal!"

"Mr. Bailey," Stephanie said.

He lifted his hand to lean against the airship but leaned against a nearby tree instead. "You mind telling me what's going on, Stephanie?"

"We were just discussing whether to go back for you or Teresa. We were thinking you as Joules is probably with her."

"That's not what I meant."

"Can I tell you on the way to school?"

Oh no, Mr. Bailey thought. He didn't want any more problems. "Is there anywhere else we can go?"

"That's our designated meeting place, and I can get us out if we get there within some time."

Thomas pinched the root of his nose. "Damn it, Miss Saunders. Fine. But what about the body on the other side of the ship?"

"He's dead."

"Yeah, no shit. Who killed him?"

"I did."

His eyes nearly exploded out of his skull. "What?"

Connor hopped between them. "Guys, I'm pretty sure the fire is spreading, we can't stay here, or we'll suffocate."

The principal looked upset as if he was going to grab the airship and toss it at Stephanie. The boy is right. "Fine. We'll get to the school, get what you need, and get out. And Connor."

Thomas Bailey looked at his student. It was uncanny how he grew up to be just like Michael, his best friend.

"Yes?" Connor said.

"Just be careful. And Axel, get your shit together. Watch over him until this thing blows over."

"I already saved his life today."

"Who cares? You might have to do it again."

Stephanie looked over at him. "What do you mean by that? Axel needing to watch over him?"

"Whatever those ships are, I doubt they'll be the only ones after him or you." He grabbed his phone and showed it to her after a few swipes.

"Well, that's just great," Stephanie said.

Axel tried to get a peek, but Thomas quickly put the phone away. "What is it?"

"Don't worry about it," Thomas said.

"I'd know too if I had my phone," Axel said.

"It'll only up all our anxiety if you two knew."

Leaves and branches cracked nearby, and Stephanie readied her gun.

"Yo!" A petite silhouette waved its hand through the smoke. "It's me, Teresa." And a gray wolf came running from her side and straight to Connor. The rifle hung comfortably over her back. "We have to go before they figure out I came straight back. An airship is tailing us."

"Yeah, we know," Connor was happy to see Teresa and that Joules was fine. He gave Joules a big hug and whispered an apology into her ear. Stephanie quickly retrieved her Aeon Switch from Joules—not without a few pets on the head—and placed the necklace back onto her neck.

Thomas snapped his hand toward the rifle behind Teresa, and she begrudgingly handed it over to him.

"You're on your feet," Stephanie and the others observed as her suit changed from a colorful array of purples to a metallic gray.

Teresa hopped a few times. "Out of juice."

Stephanie smiled. "Glad you're okay."

"Enough," Thomas Bailey said. "School, now."

***

Their visibility was about a football field's width, and there was no way to tell if the coast was clear from the tree line.

"I guess we have to risk it," Teresa said. "An airship doesn't sound too close."

Axel ignored her and took the first step into the open, and the rest of the group followed. Joules hurried ahead, and Connor followed, along with Teresa.

Purposefully lagging behind the group, Stephanie stopped Thomas from passing her and asked. "Is that news everywhere?"

"Connor's face is on every site, every app," he said.

"It's dirty of them," Stephanie said. "I'll take care of it."

He grabbed her by the arm and pulled her right to his face. "You better. I can't. If I could, this would have been over by now. Whatever it is that you're doing. Finish it." Powerful couldn't even define his grip. It hurt a lot. As she nodded yes, he let go. "Good."

They made it across, and Thomas unlocked the doors. Stephanie and Teresa ran for the physics room. Connor, Thomas, Axel, and Joules kept pace.

"You can weld with this," Stephanie tossed her a tool. "Connor, clear that table and put these resistors in a pile."

"USBC cord?" Teresa said.

"Second drawer on the right in my desk."

Teresa kicked off her heel and plugged it in it, and with the tool to weld, she carefully started piecing together a ripped part of her suit, mostly around her lower back.

Nanotech, this is what Stephanie was talking about. He just realized her suit and the inner portion of the Aeon Switch are the same substance. The nanotech of her suit started absorbing the welded material immediately, and the thin layer beneath it kept her from getting burned. As the heat was taken in and turned into energy, little purple bursts appeared around the weld marks, repairing. Meanwhile, Stephanie ripped off a cord from an unplugged lamp and began pulling apart the wires.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

These two are like the Terminator, Connor was in awe of how they could just work, and nothing slowed them down. Unstoppable.

Clank.

Thomas straightened up. "What was that?"

Everyone looked at each other confused.

"I heard something."

"I didn't hear—"

"Quiet." As Thomas took in his surroundings, he quickly raised his gun. "The glass window, it's broken."

He raised a finger to his mouth to signal everyone to be quiet. He went to the storage room where they kept the science kits and beacons. With his gun ready, he opened the door.

A pile of teens tumbled out. Neville, Christian, and Olivya groaned as they got off the floor.

"Christ," Thomas said, but he had a feeling as students knocked shit over all the time. "I nearly about killed you."

"I told you it sounded like them," Olivya stood up by pushing herself off Christian and Neville, who cushioned her fall.

Neville groaned. "Better safe than sorry."

"Holy shit, the principal has a gun," Christian said.

He lowered the rifle, "Quiet, all of you."

The three out-of-loop students moused into the science room, like the obedient students they are when Thomas is around. Olivya spotted Axel but didn't say anything. It was awkward for her to be in a room with Connor and her ex.

"Hey, glad you all made it," Axel said.

Thomas and the girls rolled their eyes as they got back to work.

"What's going on?" Olivya stood next to Connor, wondering what he was so focused on.

"Just..." Connor didn't take his eyes off Teresa and Stephanie working, "do as you're told."

Stephanie took off the Aeon Switch, placed it in the middle of the cleared-off table, rearranged the resistors, and plugged the broken cord back in. She sparked the wires together a few times and carefully placed them on two different spots on the Aeon Switch. It instantly shined, at first at random, and sparks shot out. Colors inside spun, like stars traveling on a rainbow. Teresa was surprised to see the effect looked similar to her suit.

"This is gonna take awhile," Stephanie said. "My station at home is a lot faster."

Connor looked at the Aeon Switch. "How is it charging?"

"Just place any wires with electricity on them, and they'll adapt. A friend from Portugal invented the tech. Heat works as well."

"Why does Teresa need a USBC cord, then?"

"I can't take the suit off without power, and it might electrocute me with that method."

Connor nodded. I knew that.

Everyone that wasn't Stephanie, Connor, or Teresa stood in awe.

Connor turned and saw a weird look on Axel. He didn't have his usual cocky look. "You alright?" Connor said to Axel.

"Yeah." Axel kept his focus on the gold necklace in a fixated fascination.

"Principal," Olivya noticed a bloodstain on his shirt. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine."

She leaned in to get a closer look. "May I borrow your keys?"

"Oh, this had better be good," he said.

"For the nurse's office, it's right around the corner."

Thomas had an Oh kind of look and handed them to her with the correct key picked out, and she quickly hustled down the hallway with the keys dangling. Thomas stood and swung the rifle carefully around to his front. Without even looking at it, he removed the clip, cleared the chamber, and put the safety on.

Neville approached Teresa as it looked like she finished working—indecipherable work to him—on her suit. "Like, what's going on?" he said.

"I'm reconnecting a few things. The gravitons need to circle around, or my flights will end real quick." She grabbed the top of her foot, almost like a yoga pose, placed the charged heel back into place, and instantly began floating. Neville jumped back as she sat crossed-legged in the air and hovered towards Stephanie. "You should look into gravitons. They're much easier to charge than neutrinos."

"Yeah yeah," Stephanie sat on a stool. "We should probably hit up a vending machi—"

"What the hell is this?" Neville nearly screamed. "You're flying, and there were missiles and floating water. What is this? Iron man?"

"Yeah, Iron Man," Christian tried to chime in.

Teresa didn't turn her head as she looked at the Aeon Switch. "Iron Man had to use combustible material to gain lift. Ancient tech."

"I mean, dude, what is going on?"

"No one owes you an explanation, Neville," Stephanie didn't look him in the eyes either. The two scientists remained focused.

He was taken aback by that. The room remained quiet for a moment, aside from the hum of the Aeon Switch.

"Whoa," Olivya said as she returned with her hands full. "I'll ask later why she's flying. Sit down, principal Bailey."

After using some hand sanitizer, she nodded to Thomas to lift. He lifted the bloody portion of his shirt and twisted his body to face the wound toward her. Nothing going on seemed to bother him, the floating Teresa, the airships, his wound, the fire. Even the rubbing alcohol Olivya used to clean his injury didn't cause him to flinch.

"Is this safe?" Thomas said.

"Needle and thread, we gotta stop the bleeding. It's going to hurt."

"I mean, is it sterilized?"

She looped the thread into the needle. "Of course."

And she poked the first hole into him. He remained still and didn't make a single noise. Olivya bandaged him, finished, and tied and cut the thread.

"Damn," Axel said. "Tough guy."

Thomas ignored him. "Thank you, Olivya. Impressive." That was the first time he used the word impressive, which Connor and the two scientists both realized.

"Mom's a doctor. Go to urgent care when you can."

"Alright, whatever," Neville said. "No one owes anyone an explanation, but anything to help with the confusion."

Teresa said to Neville, "Would you believe me if I said Stephanie and I are the world's smartest people ever?"

"Nope."

"Lifting the reservoir, the airships using anti-gravity tech, this suit I'm wearing. All testaments to how great I am."

"No, it isn't."

Stephanie stifled a laugh.

"Even seeing it with your own eyes, you're not convinced?"

"Maybe I'm dreaming?"

"We need to focus," Stephanie grew tired of the nonsensical conversation as Connor's, and her's freedom was on the line. "Axel, Neville, Christian, and Olivya, leave now."

"But what about those things out there?" Christian said.

"They don't care about you. Go home, the four of you."

"We're staying," Neville said.

"Neville," the principal said.

"What?" Neville got perturbed and twisted his waist with his hands up with a what am I doing wrong look.

He looked Neville dead in the eyes. "The next time you open your mouth, it better be important."

"But—"

"Not another word!"

The room got quiet, aside from the Aeon Switch charging up.

The principal tucked in his bloody shirt, nodded thanks to Olivya, and turned to Stephanie, "With all due respect, Miss Saunders, I think they make a point. I will force them to leave if things settle down or the fire comes any closer."

She thought about it. "Fine, but they can't stay here," Stephanie said. "Just you, Teresa, and Connor... And, of course, Joules." The dog to trotted over to Stephanie. She wanted something positive nearby, so she started petting her.

"The library," the principal said. "I was in there earlier, so it should be unlocked."

"Whatever," Neville walked by Connor, "stay safe."

Connor appreciated that, and he nodded as Neville left the room. Axel also played along and followed the banished students to the library. It was awkward, almost like in the movie The Breakfast Club when they scattered around the desks in the open area of the library.

Christian lifted his phone around. "Finally, internet."

"Really?" Olivya asked. Not even a moment ago, they didn't have any in the physics rooms. "They must've fixed it."

They kept checking and couldn't get any phone reception, not since they ran off the path and straight for the school. Olivya reached for hers, and a flurry of text messages from her parents and family bombarded the screen. She began checking them and assuring them she was okay and at school.

"You might want to let your family know you're okay," Olivya said.

It was like flipping a switch for them all. And as Olivya kept going through her messages, her family kept asking if she knew Connor.

"He's the boy who usually sits next to you?"

"Do you know him, Connor?"

"Did you go on a hike with him earlier?"

She seemed confused with all the talk about Connor. She dismissed those questions and began browsing, checking her feeds and other messages, mostly trying to find local news about what was happening in Blue Ashe. She saw a headline. A headline with Connor's face front and center.

"Holy shit, guys!" Olivya jumped out of her chair.

Christian turned, startled. "What is it?"

"What?" Neville said.

"Check any news site now."

Axel kept quiet as he leaned over to look over Neville's shoulder. Holy... Wishing he kept his phone when Teresa told him to toss it into the water, he grabbed Neville's phone.

"Hey!"

"I know a better phone number to call," Axel said. "Just let me find it in my email real quick."

"We're sharing."

Olivya and Christian came over and leaned into Axel. "Yes, we are," Oliya said.

"Sure," Axel said.