[IC - PG13] Sky High 2: Past & Present [Price & Lady Celeste]

[Lady Celeste]

RATING INFO :: This RP is rated PG-13, and may contain content such as the following:

--> Action/Fantasy Violence
--> Relatively Mild Language
--> Partial Nudity
--> Some Drug/Alcohol Use
--> Crude Humor


http://hollywoodjesus.com/movie/sky_high/sky_high_logo3.jpg
2
http://www.krschannel.com/dark-pyramid.jpg
Past & Present


http://cfile27.uf.tistory.com/image/206382464ED9E9EC0BB654

It's the beginning of a new school year at Sky High: the sophomore year of Will Stronghold, son of legendary heroes The Commander and Jetstream. It's been several months since Will and his friends thwarted the villainous plans of Royal Pain at last year's homecoming, and much has changed in the status quo at Sky High since then. Thanks in no small part to the efforts of the Hero Support students (a.k.a. "Sidekicks") who'd helped to save the school, the earlier favoritism shown to the Hero class as opposed to the Sidekick class has been corrected to provide more equitable treatment for both classes. Some divisions and other issues still exist, as is typical for any high school, but all in all things are starting to look up.

But while Will and company eagerly prepare for the new school year, a new threat is already brewing. Villains from all over the world are gathering in Egypt, summoned by a mysterious benefactor to take part in the grandest evil scheme to date.

A scheme involving the world's very first super villains.


http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4JDuCVcmlo0/UYSXCU8zq4I/AAAAAAAAAis/BrQkuRvPwJo/s1600/thebesnight.png

Long ago, under the reign of Ramesses II, the ancient kingdom of Kemet enjoyed great cultural and economic prosperity, and to this day Ramesses is hailed as one of Kemet's greatest pharaohs. Odji, one of the pharaoh's foremost high priests, was a highly respected figure in the royal court, and enjoyed a close friendship with the royal family that afforded him considerable political influence in the kingdom. As time went on, however, Odji's high status slowly led him to become arrogant and corrupt, and he secretly aligned himself with Apep, the spirit of chaos and darkness, in exchange for the limitless power that they each craved: Odji over the land of Kemet, and Apep over the mortal world. Odji and his mistress, the concubine Neferet, went on to learn the dark arts from Apep, who blessed them with a vast array of dark powers. They became the first super villains, and began preparations to conquer Kemet in Apep's name.

Only Khnumhotep, one of the pharaoh's many sons, suspected Odji and Neferet of plotting against the kingdom, but by then it was too late. Using their new powers and Odji's political influence, Odji and Neferet managed to take over the capital city of Pi-Ramesses in a single night and take most of the royal family hostage, with only Prince Khnumhotep and a small group of loyal citizens managing to flee the city in time. Once in control of the capital, Odji and Neferet kept their end of the bargain and proceeded to spread Apep's influence throughout Kemet, allowing Apep to reign virtually unchallenged in the mortal plane.

While seeking refuge in an abandoned temple, Khnumhotep discovered an ancient set of manuscripts, from which they learned how to unlock hidden powers within ordinary mortals such that would transform them into supernatural beings. Using the information from these texts, Khnumhotep blessed himself and his resistance fighters with incredible powers, and likewise bestowed these same powers on others who joined their fold. Together, they became the first super heroes.

And so, over the course of many great battles, Khnumhotep and his rebellion clashed time and again with the dark forces led by Odji and Neferet, before the war ended with a final one-on-one battle between Odji and Khnumhotep in the palace throne room. Khnumhotep won the duel, ending Odji's reign by driving a sword through the villainous pharaoh's heart, while Neferet fled the city at Odji's request.

But the story did not end there, for with his dying breath, Odji placed one final curse on Khnumhotep:


My death shall one day be undone
within this very room
when he who mixes your blood with mine
shall raise me from my tomb.

Only then did Khnumhotep realize that Neferet had been carrying Odji's child when she fled, but all subsequent efforts to find her proved fruitless. Meanwhile, the newly-reinstated Pharaoh Ramesses II ordered that Odji's body be burned to ash in a desperate attempt to stop his curse from coming to pass, but the body was stolen by Odji's loyalists before it could be destroyed, never to be found since.


http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b2/View_from_Cairo_Tower_31march2007.jpg

In the centuries that followed, the reign of Odji and Neferet gradually faded into nothing more than a distant memory, barely remembered, if at all, by even the most knowledgeable of experts. But one Heroic History teacher at Sky High refuses to forget. Having paid close attention to the recent villain activity in Egypt, he has sensed the imminent fulfillment of Odji's curse and is already doing everything in his power to try to prevent it.

We can only hope that it's not too late.

Username: Lady Celeste
Civilian Name: Zahra "Sarah" Nassar
Nickname(s): "Cat Girl", much to her amusement.
Age: 14
Placement at Sky High: Not Yet Placed
Grade: Freshman
Power(s): Though she doesn't have super-speed in the conventional sense like Speed does, Zahra has inhumanly quick reflexes that make her exceptionally agile. She can also climb on walls and ceilings with ease, and can also communicate with cats, including big cats such as lions, tigers, etc.
Weapon(s): ???
Fighting Style(s): ???
Other Skills: Zahra's powers make her very well-suited for parkour and free running, and she is also good with animals, especially cats.
Favorite Class(es): Heroic History, Gym
Least Favorite Class(es): Math
Civilian Occupation: N/A
http://images.memsaab.com/files/imagecache/940x700/files/2012/89563/summer-bishil-glamour-look-stills.jpg
Personality: Though not really shy per se, Zahra has a tendency to become so absorbed in whatever task is given to her that she subconsciously blocks out all distractions, making it difficult for her to socialize with new people. Despite this, she is very open and friendly with the friends she does have, and is a loyal ally to any good cause.
Backstory: Born into a family of Egyptian immigrants, Zahra has recently been sent to live with her uncle in Maxville so that she can attend Sky High. Not much else is known about her family, mostly because she rarely goes into any specific detail about them, but by all accounts she lived a happy and relatively normal childhood. She's also somewhat more knowledgeable about the current villain activity in Egypt than most, primarily because many of her relatives in Egypt are current or former superheroes.
Other Notes: Zahra has a pet Egyptian Mau kitten named Cheetah (http://www.kimballstock.com/pix/CAT/02/CAT-02-KH0035-01P.JPG), who is rather curious by nature and has a habit of sneaking into Zahra's backpack so she can go with her to school, much to the dismay of some of Zahra's teachers and the amusement of others.

Username: Price
Civilian Name: Jesse Jones
Nickname(s): N/A
Age: 15
Placement at Sky High: Not Yet Placed
Grade: Freshman
Power(s): Prolonged contact with his skin induces comatose and/or death
Weapon(s): N/A
Fighting Style(s): Boxer and Brawler
Other Skills: Poetry, Art, Singing, Plays Guitar

Favorite Class(es): None
Least Favorite Class(es): All of them

Civilian Occupation: N/A

Appearance: Jesse (http://images4.fanpop.com/image/photos/22300000/Logan-Lerman-percy-jackson-and-the-olympians-22331348-500-597.jpg)

Personality: Shy introvert who prefers one on one close relationships rather than being in a group. He is searching for anything good of his powers, and can only see the negative. He feels as though he was born to be bad, born to be a villain.

Backstory: Although most of his history remains hidden, he was born to two "hero" parents. They do not know of his powers, as he has never used them around his parents. In fact, the only time he ever used his powers was by accident when he held a girl's hand in the sixth grade. She was nearly killed, although authorities had no clue as to why. To this day, Jesse has never spoke to her on what happened. In fact, he has avoided her all together. Jesse's parents enrolled him at Sky High, despite his objections, with hopes that he would discover his powers would manifest while at the school.

Other Notes: Jesse SUCKS at talking to people. He also wears long sleeves and gloves at all times for the protection of others. (Sorta like Rogue from the X-Men series)

Username: Lady Celeste
Civilian Name: Tau "Todd" Nassar
Hero Name: His original hero alias most closely translates to "Herald of Amun-Ra" in Egyptian Arabic. Following his relocation to Maxville, this name was americanized to "Sun Herald".
Age: 30
Placement at Sky High: Did Not Attend Sky High
Power(s): Can generate and control light for various effects, ranging from simple torch lights to powerful beams.
Weapon(s): None yet that he has mentioned.
Fighting Style(s): Krav Maga
Class(es) Taught: Heroic History primarily, but he does occasionally assist in other classes as well.
Job at Sky High: Teacher
Other Skills: Tau wasn't made a Heroic History teacher at Sky High for nothing, y'know. ;) By extension, he is also very knowledgeable in various aspects of magic and mythology that most modern heroes and villains would tend to overlook, and is adept at first aid and survival in the wilderness.
Civilian Occupation: Archaeologist
http://i033.radikal.ru/0810/63/a580535673b1.jpg
http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mckawo7YZe1rj9yxuo1_500.jpg
Personality: Content with his relative obscurity in the hero world, Tau has little interest in the spotlight and prefers to be a team player whenever possible, though he can and often does prove to be a strong fighter and a very capable leader when the situation calls for it. As classes at Sky High go, his is definitely not the most exciting or glamorous, but his professional, no-nonsense demeanor in the classroom commands a lot more respect than he is usually given credit for. Tau is a strong believer in the old saying "those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it", and this is reflected in his teaching style.
Backstory: Originally a self-taught hero from Cairo, Tau had no formal heroic training in his early years, instead learning virtually everything he knows either from his civilian career as an archaeologist or from battles with the local criminal element. Though never as famous as the likes of The Commander and Jetstream, Tau grew into a capable hero in his own right as time went on, and by the time he reached adulthood he was able to hold his own against the modern technology used by some villains despite having little more than a basic knowledge of technology himself. He first accepted a job at Sky High just last year, replacing the previous Heroic History teacher upon her retirement.
At first, since Tau was a relative unknown in America, none of the faculty and staff at Sky High really knew what to make of him, and the class he was hired to teach (Heroic History) was not viewed as particularly important to the school curriculum, which was aimed at working toward the future rather than the past. However, during last year's disastrous homecoming, Tau was among the few heroes present brave enough to try to fight Royal Pain directly after The Commander and Jetstream had been pacified; Tau was ultimately pacified himself, but not before managing to give at least a handful of the students enough time to escape, including the very students who would ultimately rescue them all from Royal Pain. Since then, Tau has begun to gain a bit more respect at Sky High, enough so that he has managed to become friends with Coach Boomer, Mr. Medulla, and Mr. Boy since the incident.
This year, Tau has kept a close eye on the recent villain crisis in his native Egypt. Discovering a possible connection between this crisis and the ancient legend of Odji and Neferet, but unable to convince the rest of the faculty of his theory without concrete proof, Tau has now taken to surreptitiously preparing his students, especially his niece Zahra, for what he believes to be the impending resurrection of the evil pharaoh, in hopes that something can be done to stop the First Villains' return to power before it is too late.
Other Notes: Tau has developed a friendly rivalry with Mr. Medulla due to their opposite specialties, with each of them occasionally making good-natured jokes about the other.

Username: Lady Celeste

Civilian Name: Abdul Awwal Mansoor

Hero/Villain Name: N/A

Age: 33

Power(s): None known.

Weapon(s): None known.

Fighting Style(s): None known.

Other Skills: Abdul's past experience as an archaeologist has made him a surprisingly adept investigator in addition to affording him a great deal of knowledge of past cultures, including many details on famous super-beings throughout history. He is also surprisingly skilled at keeping himself off the grid, making him an ideal spy or intermediary.

Civilian Occupation: Archaeologist (formerly)

http://www.movie-list.com/images/actors/Adewale_Akinnuoye-Agbaje.jpg

Hero/Villain Costume: None known.

Personality: Abdul has always been a very private individual, and so few details about his private persona are commonly known. Those closest to him generally say that he would at least try to be friendly to others, although the combined stresses of his job and his personal frustrations ultimately took their toll on him, making him more cynical and withdrawn over time.

Backstory: What little is commonly known of Abdul stems mainly from a scandal in his native Egypt. An employee at the Supreme Council of Antiquities, Abdul was eventually revealed to have exploited his position at the SCA to cover up an ancient artifact smuggling ring. After his illegal activities were exposed by a local superhero, Abdul fled to avoid arrest and has not been seen since.

Other Notes:One of the last artifacts to have been stolen by the smuggling ring Abdul worked for was a set of Old Kingdom era scrolls discovered in a temple dedicated to Ma'at, the spirit of truth and justice. The scrolls remain missing to this day; rumor has it that Abdul sold them to a super villain in retaliation for his public disgrace, but no evidence has been found to prove or disprove this.

[Lady Celeste]

(Mood Setter) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0b45EqCzHrg)
http://www.joblo.com/newsimages1/skyhighsetpics981c.jpg

Tau finished packing his briefcase just as the last download to his flash drive was finishing up, then ejected the drive and slipped it into a small compartment on the inside of the briefcase. Immediately after breakfast, Zahra had excused herself to finish packing and leave food for Cheetah, so Tau immediately took the chance to finish his own preparations for today, including downloading a copy of today's article from Al-Ahram.

*meow*

Looking down, Tau noticed just in time that Cheetah was walking up not too far behind the wheels of his chair.

"Crazy cat..." Tau chided, promptly scooping up the cat just as Zahra entered.

"There you are!" Zahra sighed heavily, approaching them. "Sorry about that, Uncle; Cheetah has a mind of her own sometimes."

"Well for her sake, I hope she doesn't make a habit of it; I might have run her over with the chair if I hadn't seen her just now." Tau commented wryly. "Did you make sure to leave everything she needs?"

"Yes, and everything's packed. I was just about to walk to the bus stop."

"Good, good." Tau nodded. "Now Zahra, before you go, there is one thing I wanted to discuss with you."

"What is it?" Zahra asked, and noticed as her uncle's expression took on a visible seriousness.

"We've already talked about Power Placement yesterday; what it is, what you'll have to do..." Tau began to explain. "I think it would be best if you only showed one power today. That's all the instructor will ask of you."

Zahra nodded, a slight smile working its way onto her face. "Oh, no showing off too much, right?" She asked, with a small laugh. "Fair enough. It's not like they'd let me bring Cheetah in for Power Placement anyway."

"That's true; I forgot about that." Tau said wryly, realizing that Cheetah had just heard that and was probably getting ideas. If that cat decides to sneak around the school grounds... "Anyway, I have a few things to take care of before school starts, but I'll see you later today."

"Okay, so I'll see you then!" Zahra said, exiting the house with a wave.

"Enjoy your first day!" Tau waved back, watching from the window as Zahra made her way to the bus stop. Waiting until she was safely with the other approaching students, Tau then prepared to leave for school himself, just as a breaking news bulletin was being announced on the radio:

"This just in, folks: the Commander and Jetstream have done it again, having just stopped a rampage downtown by a large crocodile-like creature…"

[Price]

Jesse packed his backpack in a quick, haphazard manner. He had dressed himself in a plain black tee shirt, jeans, and his hoodie with the hood turned over. It was a safe choice for blending into the crowd of students for a first day that he had dreaded ever since that he had learned of his enrollment. The story of that Stronghold kid had given his super powered mom hope that he too could be a late bloomer. Stacy looked at her son descending the stairs. She smiled at him wordlessly since his father was at the table drinking coffee. She tended to the dishes as Jesse escaped out the front door. Jesse put on his black leather gloves as soon as he got to the porch. Just before he could descend the three small stairs that led to the sidewalk, he felt the firm, powerful grip of his father.

Jesse turned to see his father, Jack, glaring at him coldly. The man didn’t speak, but Jesse understood him perfectly. “Don’t do anything to embarrass this family, or their will be consequences...” Jack seemed to say with his violent look. After a tight, painful squeeze, Jack released the boy as if to dismiss him to the bus stop. Jesse put in his earbuds and blared his iPod music when he was a safe distance from his father. His mind shifted everywhere from thoughts of the dreaded power placement to concerns of if his mother would be okay without him. Her only power was talking to animals...and that wasn’t exactly a useful power when his father was in one of his moods.

Jesse’s father shot a look at the niece of the great Tau Nassar and the miserable wretch he called his son. It was a death glare from the eyes of a filthy soul. No one in the neighborhood knew just what exactly went on inside the Jones’ house, but rumors were plenty. The wildest and most baseless of which were that Jesse’s father was some war veteran who returned home a broken man who broke the home and everyone inside. That was the excuse for why he had been absent from the home for so long, but that story was false. The truth was far less complicated...Jesse’s father was simply a bad man who would leave for months at a time with no explanation. Still, no one ever asked Jesse about his life...perhaps in part because the gossip was far more desirable than the truth...perhaps because no one truly cared. All that could be said for sure, was that the origins of Jesse’s occasional rough bruises remained a mystery.

Jesse turned to look at his father one last time. Jack’s eyes looked as if they were piercing his and the girl’s soul. Just like that, Jack went back in the house. "Does he know her?" Jesse wondered. He turned to look at the girl who was walking to the bus stop. His eyes were depressingly bashful, as if shunned into silence. His body language suggested that he was at least uncomfortable and at most that he had already counted himself out of being worthy of holding a conversation with the girl. He simply stood in an awkward silence unsure of what to say or do.

[Lady Celeste]

Zahra didn't fail to notice the look that Jack Jones was giving her behind her back. She gave him a friendly wave nonetheless, even though she knew that there would be no point in giving any other kind of reply. Her uncle had spoken very little about Mr. Jones, but had very clearly warned her to be careful around him, and Zahra could see why right away; from what she could tell, at best he was really bad at socializing, and at worst he just plain hated everything he laid eyes on. But that didn't mean she would let him get under her skin, or treat him any differently than she would any other person; if he insisted on giving her nasty looks in spite of that, that was his own fault.

Once Jack Jones went back into the house, Zahra turned her attention to his son Jesse, who was avoiding looking at her, as if he were some lowly peasant standing next to royalty. With a father like that, Zahra could only imagine what Jesse's family life must be like, and part of her almost didn't want to know, but it was very obvious now that he needed a break from all of that, if not a way out altogether.

"Hi. Jesse, right?" Zahra said, giving him a small but genuine smile. "I'm Zahra; my uncle lives next door from you."

Before she could speak any further, however, the bus began to pull up next to the corner. As the bus came to a complete stop, bus driver Ron Wilson opened the door and greeted the gathered students with his standard wide smile.

"Morning." Ron said cheerfully, waiting for the students to climb aboard.


Within a matter of minutes, Sky High itself came into view. Ron happily chattered on about the school, and even called for a round of applause as none other than Will Stronghold flew past the bus with Layla Williams held securely with one arm to prevent her from falling. Ever since last year's disaster of a homecoming, Will and Layla had quickly become the school's favorite power couple, and how could they not be after they and their literally saving the entire school? Zahra couldn't help but join in the applause, having a more personal reason to be grateful for their efforts that year; that had been the same year that her uncle had first started working at Sky High, and he had nearly fallen victim to Royal Pain's demented scheme as a result.

After the bus finally landed and its doors opened, the students inside wandered out, traveling in a loosely-packed group toward the school. Zahra followed suit, bracing herself for her first year at a superhero school.

[Price]

Jesse looked up only just meeting Zahra’s eyes as he studied her with a look of something between doubt and confusion. "Why the hell is she talking to me?" He thought silently as he listened to the girl making small talk. Social interaction was not something that Jesse had ever been particularly good at...in fact, in most cases Jesse was told rather emphatically not to speak. How would his father say it again? Oh yes....sit down and shut the hell up. Small talk was discouraged in his hell of a home, so he never understood the point of it outside of those prison walls. Still, as he thought of all of this...a part of him took her talk as some sort of friendly and kind gesture for which he was grateful. At the very least, it had broken up an uncomfortable silence and at the most, although he didn’t realize it...perhaps this would be an initial step into some sort of actual genuine friendly relationship.

The poor, lost boy had barely noticed the bus pulled at the stop until the all too eager driver greeted the freshmen. Jesse waited for the girl to go first as one part a gentleman's gesture and another part absolute fear of what waited for him on the bus. As his feet carried him forward, he felt like a lamb being lead to the slaughter....his powers unnecessary and terrible, his social skills non existent, and his self esteem destroyed...and now he was on his way to high school to be butchered by his peers. This year was going to be great....he muttered some sort of thanks to the driver, his voice soft and barely audible. He found the farthest seat from human interaction and sat still and quiet. He glanced out the window seeing his father staring from the house window. Jesse saw his father's glaring eyes one last time.

Jesse tore his gaze from the window and looked around for Zahra, the only face that he recognized on the bus. He saw her quite a few rows in front of him. He looked at her peculiarly unsure what to make of the girl. He remembered how much his father hated her uncle. He could recall the drunken curses and racist ramblings that his father would mutter over a joke of a dinner. To be honest, Jesse was never sure why his father hated Zahra’s family so...although Jack had never had trouble making enemies. Right now, he was probably stewing over the fact that Zahra had spoken to his useless son. Jesse tried to bring himself back into reality by turning up his music as he fastened his belt and prepared for the bus ride. He didn’t know to expect a rocket ride...so he simply shut his eyes hoping to lose himself to his music.

Jesse’s face showed nervous anxiety at the very thought of human interaction. His thumbs nervously twiddling as he lowered his hood trying to avoid the gaze of students who were less kind than Zahra. His thoughts went back to her...her kindness...why? What was her motive?


“Jesus Christ!!!!” Jesse found himself yelling as the bus sped past the sign and then rocketed into the air. Like most of the students, Jesse found himself doing his fair share of screaming as he white knuckled the railing and his iPod. After a few seconds, his breath returned to him and he gave in to the adrenaline rush with an excited laugh. The feeling of happiness faded as quickly as it had come when he saw Will. Will Stronghold, the son Jesse's father always wanted. Someone who wasn’t useless....in Jack’s words. Jesse looked at the sophomore hero with a mixture of contempt and envy. He was so sick of hearing about that kid.

Jesse turned his attention away from Will and to the floating superhero school, Sky High. Just looking at it made Jesse feel so out of his depth. "I really, really don’t belong here..." he thought. For a few minutes, he lost himself in his own thoughts and completely missed the bus driver’s ramblings as he followed the crowd in robotically slinging his backpack over his shoulder and exiting the vehicle. He still had his earbuds in as his music played, but it was tuned out as he just stared at the massive structure in front of him. This....this was home away from his hell house for four years....and the very thought petrified him to the point where he couldn’t force himself to move forward. His eyes darted around for a familiar face, but after realizing that he only knew one person in the school and that that person wasn’t even a “friend”...he just put his head down and accepted his role as a needle in a haystack.

With great effort, he forced his anvil feet forward one step at a time. With a big gulp, he headed toward the entrance with the expression of a scared puppy.

[Lady Celeste]

Tau's meeting with Principal Powers was far less fruitful than he might have liked, though he wasn't all that surprised. The villain crisis in Egypt was enough to raise quite a few red flags as it was, but Principal Powers was confident that the recent increase in security after last year's homecoming would be enough to combat any super villain threats to the school, so in the end the best he could convince her to do was to make a few calls to the Egyptian Prime Minister. But if Tau was right about this, he couldn't afford to wait for the whole bureaucratic process before taking some kind of action.

The students had to be prepared, and there may be one way for Tau to accomplish that, but for now he would have to wait. Seeing outside his window as the freshmen were led inside for orientation, Tau left his office and headed downstairs.


Principal Powers' orientation speech flew by fairly quickly for most of the freshmen, consisting of the usual bits about how they would all go through Power Placement soon and how, as the descendants of the world's most legendary superheroes, they would be provided with all the training and education they would need to continue the heroic legacy of those who came before them. Now, perhaps, this may have been a bit more true than before, judging by the recent changes in curriculum for Hero Support students - a.k.a. 'Sidekicks' - to include much more practical training as opposed to things like 'English for Hero Support'. Tau watched as the orientation speech concluded and Principal Powers made her grand exit, her brilliant white comet blazing past Tau as Coach Boomer made a much more stealthy entrance, stepping onto the platform in the center of the gym and rising with it above the students' heads.

"Alright, listen up." The Coach said once the Principal was gone, his tone commanding the students' attention even though he did not use his supersonic voice... yet. "My name is Coach Boomer; you may know me as Sonic Boom, you may not. Here's how Power Placement is gonna work."

Motioning briefly to the mini-stage on which he stood, the coach continued. "You will step up here and show me your power. And yes you will do so in front of the entire class." He said, prompting more than a few groans from some of the students. "I will then determine where you will be assigned: Hero, or Sidekick. Now, every year there are a few students - or, as I like to call them, WHINER-BABIES - who see fit to question and to complain about their placement, so let's get one thing straight. My word is law. My judgment is final. So--."

"What about Will Stronghold?" One freshman said quickly before Coach Boomer could identify who had spoken up, prompting a barely-contained snicker from Tau and hushed laughs from some of the students.

If looks could kill, the entire freshman class would've dropped dead right then and there. "That was an honest mistake; I had no way of knowing Stronghold was a late bloomer!" Coach Boomer sputtered, stiffening his posture and inadvertently amplifying his voice to a slightly lesser extent than his usual sonic booms.

Not all of the freshmen seemed entirely convinced by his explanation, and in fact many of them were still clearly amused at the coach's embarrassment. Quickly becoming frustrated, Boomer activated the steps to let the students climb onto the stage. "Alright, let's get this over with..." He muttered, looking out among the freshmen to choose the first student to be placed.

[Price]

Jesse was already feeling a nervous breakdown coming on as he was herded in for power placement. The booming voice of Coach Boomer did little to settle the misfortunate boy's quaking nerves. The iPod was immediately turned off, earbuds awkwardly forced into tight jean pockets as he stood attentive to the unsettling coach’s rehearsed spiel get derailed by students eager to utilize the error of that Stronghold boy’s placement to pick apart the usually authoritative, intimidating man. Jesse was grateful because the students had unknowingly bought him time to calm himself down. Through slow breaths, he was able to settle down and allow color to return to his frightened pale face.

The boy tried his best to hide in the crowd of students, his hood overturned as he hid his face. Jesse peered into the crowd searching for Zahra, but couldn’t find the girl in the sea of faces around him. That left him in the very familiar position of feeling isolated. Even had he found her, what then? She was a stranger too...worse, she was the niece of that man...that man that his father had come to hate.

’Alright, let’s get this over with...' The boy heard Coach Boomer say. The stalling couldn’t have lasted forever. The boy took a deep breath and prepared for the worst.

[Lady Celeste]

The stairs up to the platform automatically emerged from the side and set up next to the platform as Coach Boomer surveyed the crowd, already concentrating on selecting the first "volunteer" for Power Placement.

"You in the back, get up here."

For a split second, all eyes were on Jesse, as it seemed like Coach Boomer was pointing at him...

"Hey, Goldilocks!" Coach Boomer snapped his fingers. "This is Power Placement, not Power Texting!"

Right next to Jesse, a girl with curly blonde hair looked up from her smartphone. Without another word, Coach Boomer motioned for the girl to step up to the platform, and she quickly pocketed the smartphone and moved to stand next to Coach Boomer. In an instant, the girl's hair began growing at an unnatural rate, becoming so long that it soon crowded over the platform like a swarm of golden snakes. Coach Boomer was unimpressed, but before he could make a witty comment, the long blonde hair piled over itself and continued to spread outward, effectively pushing Coach Boomer off of the platform and momentarily burying him in bunches of thick strands as the hair grew longer still, spreading over the entire gym floor while the other students immediately backed away.

"Enough!" Coach Boomer shouted in his super-sonic voice, still struggling to disentangle himself from the thick curls of hair. Taking the hint, the blonde concentrated again, causing the hair to recede back to a normal length.

Taking a moment to compose himself, Coach Boomer stood up straight and marched back up the platform.

"If I'm ever fighting an evil barber, I'll call you. But in the meantime... Sidekick!"

Tau watched from the doorway as the blonde girl walked back down the steps. She looked understandably disappointed with her placement, but it didn't quite look like a real reaction. Maybe she was at least somewhat satisfied with embarrassing the coach; there was certainly no shortage of students who would love to see him knocked off of his high horse for a change, especially after his mistake with Will Stronghold.

The other Power Placements quickly flew by for the most part:

Force Field Generation - Hero
Turning Into a Tree - Sidekick
Probability Manipulation - Sidekick, though quite a few students in the audience protested
Acid Gas Generation From One's Behind - gross, but still technically worthy of a Hero placement


The list went on and on, until finally Coach Boomer focused his gaze directly on Jesse.

"Alright, you in the back. You've been quiet there long enough; let's go."

[Price]

Jesse watched as one after another student took their place and received their assignment. At first, the boy that he had been chosen to go first. The sheer terror filled his eyes only for his fears to be temporarily suspended when it was revealed that Boomer was actually addressing a girl next to him. Little Rapunzel seemed to lighten everyone’s anxiousness except his, some powers were impressive and some were disgusting, but at least they were powers. With each student chosen, the boy’s heart beat a bit faster and a bit harder; for he knew that with each name that passed, his chances of being chosen increased. He caught himself wishing that he had the power to blend into the wall or disappear altogether, but instead he was about to be forced to endure the shame of displaying his power in front of the freshmen class. What was he supposed to do? Send a student to the hospital? Or worse...the morgue? The very thought of that made the boy sweat. He was fighting, on the verge of a panic attack.

Jesse ’s eyes darted to and fro looking for somewhere, anywhere to hide when his name was called from the gym coach. The moment that he had dreaded so much, since the beginning of the summer when it was ordered by his parents that he was to attend the school, had arrived. "Alright, you in the back. You've been quiet there long enough; let's go." Gulp. The poor boy trembled in horror as the eyes of his soon to be classmates fell on him instantly. Jesse immediately dropped his head to stare down at the floor, his hoodie overturned to cover his rapidly blushing face. He felt way past queasy, as if he were going to get sick any second.

’What do I do? What do I do???’, the boy thought, as the seconds passed by like hours. Finally, he raised his head only slightly and spoke. “I don’t have any powers...” His words were quiet, only barely audible to the coach. Jesse only hoped that there were no lie detectors in the crowd that could call his bluff. The quivering, pathetic fear in his appearance would be enough to fool most, but would Coach Boomer buy it? Jesse closed his eyes and silently prayed that the coach would drop it and simply announce him sidekick then and there; however unlikely an outcome that was.

[Lady Celeste]

"What do you mean you don't have any powers?!" Coach Boomer all but shouted, though he did not use his sonic voice. At least not yet...

"Will Stronghold..." Teased the same voice from earlier, provoking speechless sputters from Boomer and more hushed laughs from the other freshmen.

From the doorway, Tau watched the scene unfold as Coach Boomer nervously laughed with the crowd.

"Very funny, kid. Now come on; we don't have all--."

An aura of light suddenly appeared around Jesse and then abruptly expanded outward, nearly pushing Coach Boomer off of the platform yet again, though this time he braced himself just in time. From among the other students, Zahra raised an eyebrow and looked around for a moment, very briefly catching sight of her uncle just as he smirked to himself and hid from Boomer's line of sight.

Boomer straightened himself back up and eyed Jesse critically for a moment, but then shrugged.

"Good enough for me." Boomer said, beginning to write in his clipboard. "Hero."

[Price]

Jesse felt himself shrink as Coach Boomer began yelling at him, his eyes shutting tight instinctively as the all too familiar scene played out again except it was Boomer this time instead of his father. The misfortunate boy only wished that he could fade back into the crowd. Some students thought he was cracking a Will Armstrong joke...even Boomer thought so. In just a few moments, laughs and jokes would turn to jeers and more yelling. Jesse opened his eyes again, prepared for the worst.

The next few seconds passed by so very quickly. The boy stood dumbfounded at seeing a surge of light scream past him and knock Boomer back several feet. "Good enough for me. Hero.” How the hell? What the hell? As Boomer looked down at his clipboard, Jesse stood wide eyed sputtering stuttered nonsense in shock of what had just happened. He knew that he hadn’t done that, but who had? His head turned, his eyes scanning the room for any clues. In the sea of faces, some jealous of his display and others just excited or nervous for their own placements, he finally found Zahra. Who was she looking at?

Jesse began fighting his way through the crowded walls of freshmen, before finally catching a glimpse of a suspect. He instantly recognized the man...Tau. The smirk on the man’s face confirmed Jesse’s suspicions beyond the shadow of a doubt.The object of his father’s hatred had helped him...but why? What did Tau gain from this? Was Zahra in on it too? The boy looked back and forth before heading for the door trying to sneak out of the gymnasium.

[Lady Celeste]

After Jesse stepped down from the stage, Coach Boomer immediately straightened himself back up.

"And if I hear one more Will Stronghold crack, I'll have you all running extra laps in gym class for a week!" The coach said straight away, prompting the gathered students to stand up straight and fall silent. Satisfied, Boomer returned to business as usual.

Zahra was called up next, and Tau watched closely as she stepped up to the platform. He trusted her to heed his advice and only show one power, but where she would place would depend on which power she chose to show, as well as how much she showed off or downplayed said power. Tau also couldn't help noticing that someone was trying to push through the crowd to leave the gym, but couldn't quite make it out who it was.

"So, what's your--?" Coach Boomer began, but stopped for a moment as he looked past Zahra, noticing a slight shift in the crowd. Zahra turned to face where Coach Boomer was now looking, and recognized Jesse immediately. Before Coach Boomer could recognize Jesse or notice what he was doing, Zahra took a running start straight past Boomer's field of vision and jumped off of the stage. Distracted by the blur of motion, Boomer instinctively turned around just as Zahra clung to one of the rectangular support columns and began to climb up it to the roof, where she climbed her way across the ceiling toward the center of the room and jumped off to land gracefully on the stage once again.

"Wall-crawler, huh? Haven't seen one of those in a while." Boomer smirked fondly, proceeding to write in his clipboard. "Hero."

Tau smiled to himself, having recognized Zahra's distraction immediately. She was a good kid, and the way Boomer so easily fell for such a simple ruse was something Tau would've loved to tease him about later on, if it didn't mean letting slip that Jesse was trying to sneak out early. Tau's smile fell somewhat at that thought. Why was Jesse trying to leave so soon anyway?

Now that Zahra's Power Placement was over, Tau had little reason left to keep watching and hid next to the door, deciding that it might be best to ask Jesse about it if or when he left.

[Price]

Jesse shoved his earbuds back in to escape the chaotic world around him. Nothing made sense to the boy; he could feel his father’s hatred radiating inside of his skin. If that man knew that it was Tau who affected Jesse’s placement....that not only was Jesse too much a failure to be accepted into his own merit was reason enough for his father’s wrath; but that Jack would be indebted to the man whom he despised with all his being...Jesse shivered at the very thought. He turned the volume of his music louder to drown out those terrifying thoughts. For a fleeting second, his eyes locked in on Zahra’s; so she was next for placement then. What was that look...did he catch a faint glimpse of concern on her face? No matter...she could save it. He turned his back after he saw her ability. ’Wallclimber...huh.’ Jesse thought rather indifferently.

Jesse resumed from his moment of pause and continued shoving through the sea of students. He was muttered at and cursed even if he didn’t hear it through the music (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cwx8M_7hcRE) in his ears. Through the tunnel vision, he could make out the exit...just a few more steps and then freedom.

After literally shoving his way through the last pack of students, he was face to face with the double doors. He hadn’t noticed Tau Nassar yet, thinking the man to still be watching Zahra. Jesse opted for the leftmost of the double doors and sprinted hoping to break free from the gymnasium as quickly as possible.

[Lady Celeste]

The bell rang shortly after Zahra's placement, prompting Coach Boomer to temporarily dismiss the other freshmen for lunch. The freshmen, in turn, unwittingly covered Jesse's 'escape' as they filed out of the gym, but not before Tau caught sight of Jesse hurrying out the door, the boy's music playing so loud in his ears that Tau could hear it clearly when Jesse walked past him.

"Jesse." Tau called after Jesse. He was about to place a hand on Jesse's shoulder to stop him, but quickly decided against it. From Jesse's reaction during Power Placement, it was obvious that the boy was scared and needed space, so Tau stood his ground for now, deciding to wait until Jesse was ready to talk about things on his own.

[Price]

Jesse couldn’t hear the voice calling his name above the music blasting through his earbuds, but even if he could have there was no way that he would stop...especially when out of the corner of his eye the boy could see Tau’s figure. The boy rushed through the halls with reckless abandon; nearly speeding over several teachers and students in his wake. The victims, although obviously not pleased, brushed it off as a student being late for class. In reality, the boy could feel his throat constricting, his vision narrowing, and his breathing becoming rapid and so very shallow; all signs of an impending panic attack. As he continued navigating his way through the labyrinth hallways of Sky High, he fought off that panic attack with every fiber of his being.

One more quick turn and he found himself faced with another set of double doors. He pushed through only to find a giant cafeteria in front of him. It was lunch time anyway...and at least there would be ample space to hide from everyone without drawing unwanted attention for his reclusive actions. Jesse snatched a single apple and then found a seat in the very far corner of the cafeteria away hidden behind several plants. The silent, solitary moment allowed Jesse more time to think and focus on the matters at hand.

Jesse's hands clutched the table in a tight grip until his knuckles threatened to break through his fists while the boy shook trying to battle off the panic attack that threatened to swallow his existence. His eyes were slammed shut while he focused on breathing slow and deep breaths, wishing he were anywhere but in the present. Why had Tau covered for him? What was the man’s end game? Had Zahra been in on the plot? What could Tau possibly gain from having Jesse placed in the Hero class? Was this some way to get even with Jesse’s father? And what was behind the feud, anyway? So many questions filled the young boy’s mind. He watched as the first of the freshmen made their way into the cafeteria. Soon, the noise was deafening as rowdy students’ voices echoed off the hollow halls discussing the hot button topic of the day, Power Placement.

‘Father....I made the hero class......’ the boy said silently. He could feel his father’s skeptic reply in his very bones. 'How...?’ Jesse sighed as he dropped his head to the table.

[Lady Celeste]

(One slight time skip coming right up!)

The rest of Power Placement flew by somewhat uneventfully. The last student to be placed was a tan-skinned young boy whose power to cause a blind rage in others swiftly earned him a Sidekick placement, but not before he'd focused specifically on those who had already been placed as Sidekicks, causing them to gang up on Boomer all at once as their dumbfounded fellow students looked on. Needless to say, the boy quickly became one of Boomer's least favorite students, though the boy himself didn't seem to mind.

However, instead of dismissing the freshmen afterward, Boomer had an announcement to make. Flipping past his notes from Power Placement, he cleared his throat and read aloud a pre-written speech from Principal Powers on the next page.

"In light of issues that have recently been brought to this school's attention regarding an unfair bias against the Hero Support class, as well as an unprecedented increase in team breakups, injuries, and fatalities in recent years due to increased team infighting, Sky High is proud to introduce a series of Integrated Courses into the school curriculum effective this semester. These Integrated Courses are open to students from both classes, and are optional for students who have already been enrolled, but all students enrolling this semester or later will be required to take at least one Integrated Course per semester. The first Integrated Course, Integrated Teamwork, must be taken during the student's first semester... well this should be interesting..." Coach Boomer commented idly once the speech had ended.

"It just so happens that Integrated Teamwork meets right here in the school gym, and will be starting right about..."

The bell rang.

"Now. Alright, everybody line up: Heroes on the left, Sidekicks on the right. Your guest instructors will be here any minute now."

[Price]

Lunch passed by just as uneventfully as the rest of Hero Placement. Austin had trickled in unseen by his classmates and blended into the shadows of the walls, careful to avoid Tau and Zahra. He was convinced that they were up to something, although he had no remote idea what that something could possibly be. He did his best to not think about that, as the mere uncertainty would be enough to send him spiraling once again. Even still, there was one question that the boy could not stop from obsessing over. 'Was Tau really as vile and horrible as his father made the man out to be?'

While Boomer was given the pre written speech from Principal Powers herself, Jesse was focusing his attention on two boys standing directly in front of him. They were snickering to each other over crass jokes that they bounced back and forth. It was an ordinary sight for a young teenager, sure, but it stuck out to Jesse at how easy these kids had it. While Jesse was ready to explode at the thought of his curse being revealed to the school, the rest of his freshmen could enjoy their powers...some even enjoyed them too much. They had such a privilege that Jesse coveted so, so much. Jesse was following this train of thought deeper when Coach Boomer finished the speech.

"It just so happens that Integrated Teamwork meets right here in the school gym, and will be starting right about...Now. Alright, everybody line up: Heroes on the left, Sidekicks on the right. Your guest instructors will be here any minute now."
The announcement made Jesse’s eyes widen until they threatened to pop out of their sockets. So much for an end to his anxiety. As the rest of the students began shuffling around him, the boy found himself unable to move. He was paralyzed, like a frozen fixture trapped in this one moment of time to replay forever and ever. Luckily for him, no movement was required for him as the hero line had actually formed on the side where he stood, wrapping itself around him. Jesse did his best to calm his nerves and relax his expression, but it was so much simpler for him to hide beneath the hood of his hoodie. He did so, and as he gradually forced himself to at least look somewhat normal, the boy awaited the next instructions. What fresh hell did Boomer have planned for the group next?

[Lady Celeste]

"Todd! You're here early!"

Mr. Boy beamed excitedly upon seeing Tau by the gym door, and Tau smirked slightly in spite of himself. They had been the two outsiders among the faculty last year, Mr. Boy being the only sidekick teacher while Tau was the obscure foreign hero who didn't quite fit in with the other teachers, so naturally Mr. Boy had been one of Tau's first friends at Sky High.

"My niece starts her freshman year today; I didn't want to miss it." Tau replied, pointing toward Zahra.

"Oh, that's great!" Mr. Boy said, although he became a bit more serious for a moment after that. "Of course, you know I can't condone any favoritism..."

"No, absolutely not." Tau said, reassuring him. "I've already made it clear to her and her parents that she won't receive any special treatment, and I've worked out all the necessary arrangements with Principal Powers."

"Oh, okay then!" Mr. Boy smiled again, visibly relieved, then cleared his throat as Coach Boomer finished reading off of the pre-written announcement. "Shall we?"


After the freshman class had been organized into two straight lines, Tau entered the gym carrying a basic folding screen with the Sky High logo emblazoned on each part, while Mr. Boy followed next to him.

"Good morning," Tau began as he set down the folding screen and opened it with Mr. Boy's help, "and welcome to Integrated Teamwork. My name is Tau Nassar, and I will be today's instructor for the Hero class." The last two words still didn't sound right to him, his hesitation making them sound forced, but Mr. Boy wasted no time covering that little slip-up.

"And my name is..." Mr. Boy paused for dramatic effect and stepped behind the folding screen, emerging to strike a pose in his old costume on the other side.

"...All-American Boy!"

Mr. Boy's display was met with silence and a few awkward stares, so Tau humored him for now.

"Official Hero Support partner to the Commander, in the early days of his superhero career." Tau added, earning a few interested looks toward Mr. Boy and a few hushed whispers of "oh yeah" from some of the students.

"Well..." Mr. Boy trailed off, smiling shyly. "Of course, nowadays, I just go by Mr. Boy. But this year it's going to be my privilege to instruct the Hero Support class in this course, and to help each of you become the very best Hero Support that you can be! Without Hero Support, why, there wouldn't be any heroes!"

So far so good, but then Mr. Boy's attempts to motivate the Hero Support students were beginning to fall flat as he thought over his last statement. "Alright, there probably would be heroes, but--."

"But..." Tau quickly cut in, helping Mr. Boy save face. "...a typical hero's powers and weaknesses tend to be very similar to those of past heroes, making it fairly easy for an enemy to identify their powers and weaknesses and use them against an unprepared hero. For example..."

Taking a few steps back, Tau motioned toward the whole of the gym. "This is a well-lit room: bright overhead lights and plenty of natural sunlight through the windows. Since my powers rely mainly on light, these conditions are perfect for me to use my powers if I need to. But if not as much light is available to me - say if we turned off all the lights and closed all the windows - I would have less to work with, to the point where in some cases I'd barely be able to create a miniature light show."

Seeing that he now had the students' attention, Tau continued. "Since light-based powers are not uncommon among heroes, it wouldn't be too difficult for a competent villain to identify that weakness and use it against me. But that is also where Hero Support tends to have an advantage; since most of their powers are very unusual as far as superpowers go, their strengths and weaknesses are much harder to predict and often even harder to use against them, which can give a so-called 'sidekick' a valuable advantage in situations where they otherwise might be expected to fail. Not only can this make Hero Support work much more heroic than it may seem, but this unpredictability on their part can compensate for a hero's easily-targeted weakness and even save the hero's life."

Many of the students looked surprised, clearly not having thought of that. The Hero Support students all listened excitedly, even though a few of the Hero students were still a bit skeptical. Mr. Boy's confidence level shot through the roof, and it showed in his expression as Tau stepped aside to let him take it from there.

"Alright, so let's get started!" Mr. Boy said cheerfully. "Today we're going to split everyone into teams of two: one Hero and one Hero Support per team. You've all had a chance to see each other's powers in action just now during Power Placement, and I'm sure some of you probably have a partner in mind, or if not then just talk to me or Mr. Nassar and we'll be happy to help you find a partner. Alright?"

Most of the students nodded in reply, and Mr. Boy took that as his cue to wrap things up.

"Alrighty then, everybody pick your partners!"

[Price]

Jesse had his arms folded throughout the entirety of the little presentation with his mind having two separate trains of thought. On one train, the boy took in the information that the two speakers had to share. It was a boring, trivial speech that was clearly aimed at preserving and protecting the steadily dealing egos of the newly appointed sidekicks. Even the term ‘Hero Support’ was a joke. There was a clear and distinct difference in power from heroes to sidekicks, and no alternative word or phrase nor silly speech was going to change that. So what was the point in pretending? Perhaps it was less about protecting the sidekicks and more about keeping the new heroes egos’ in check. That was a more likely reason for this little spiel.

On the other hand, Lake focused his attention on Tau. The man stood on the platform with poise and dignity opposite the clumsy and quirky sidekick, Mr. Boy. Jesse recognized All American Boy instantly from the stories his mother and father used to tell, but Jesse could care less. The man’s quirky eccentrics did not hold Jesse’s interest in the least. Tau on the other hand had Jesse’s full attention. The boy watched the man speak with piqued interest as he watched even the most subtle nuances of the older Nassar. Jesse was obsessing over why the man had helped him during placement, and what his history with Jack was. Finally, the introductory speech was complete and day one could really begin.

The boy watched as students paired up, some quicker than others. Jesse knew that he needed to be very careful who he partnered with so that he could keep his facade going and prevent a major incident. While he took his time finding a partner, prospects were disappearing left and right until only one was left. The last remaining hero was paired with the last remaining sidekick; Jesse was left with Repunzel Girl or whatever it was that she called herself. With a heavy sigh, he walked over and stood next to his new partner.

“....um....hi.....” he said in a very quiet voice leaving it unlear whether he was bashful or just really unenthusiastic about his partner selection.

[Lady Celeste]

"Hi." Rapunzel Girl replied tentatively, unsure what to make of her new partner. An expandable force field didn't sound like it would necessarily compliment super long hair, or vice versa for that matter, and his insecure behavior didn't inspire much confidence.

All around them, other heroes and sidekicks found their own partners, some more satisfied than others. Once everyone was paired up, Mr. Boy proceeded to explain the first obstacle course:

"The key to Integrated Teamwork - or any teamwork, for that matter - is best summarized in one simple concept: there is no 'I' in 'TEAM'." He began. "It's really that simple. When you're working as a team, you have to think like a team, which means no showing off, no ego trips, no calling yourself or anyone else useless, no giving up at the first sign of trouble ... basically, no nothing that might compromise the team. So today, we've put together a challenge for each set of partners, based in part on the 'Save the Citizen' matches you'll see in P.E. later on; you could say this is a kind of practice round for 'Save the Citizen'." Mr. Boy said, with a slight chuckle at the end before he straightened up and pressed a button on a handheld controller, at which point the floor opened up to reveal a new high-tech obstacle course with a wide range of obstacles, as well as automated opponents that proceeded to hide in different areas of the obstacle course. He then stepped aside, letting Tau take it from there.

"Behind us is an obstacle course that you and your partner will have to navigate, one pair at a time." Tau explained. "At the end of the maze is a dummy representing a hostage; your goal is to make your way through the course, deal with any obstacles you may encounter, rescue the hostage, and then make your way out of the course and back here. Coach Boomer will be recording the time it takes each pair to complete the course, but you will be graded not only on time, but also on how well the two of you work as a team. Any questions?"

After he and Mr. Boy answered any questions that came up, Tau concluded by instructing the students to line up next to their respective partners, so that the challenge could begin.


Seconds later, they were off. One by one, each pair rushed into the obstacle course and then emerged some time after, some in better shape than others. From where the others were standing, it was next to impossible to clearly see what was going on, but Zahra could more or less figure out how each pair fared by the time they returned. No one was injured during the assignment, although while many pairs were able to complete the course without any evident problems, there was no shortage of partners who started arguing after they had finished, to the dismay of Tau and Mr. Boy in particular.

Then it was Zahra's turn. She and her partner - a boy who with an unnatural knack for deducing facts after looking at certain people or objects for a period of time - made their way through the obstacles at a steady pace, with Sherlock Boy warning Zahra of each obstacle in advance, while Zahra would sometimes scale the walls and help Sherlock Boy past any obstacles he couldn't get through on his own. The obstacles themselves included foam pits simulating water, beams of light simulating laser gunfire, and a maze of walls and platforms, some of which would move in various patterns. At the end of the course was the hostage-dummy that Tau had mentioned, locked in a cage suspended over a ball pit as more light beams would 'shoot' across the area in a seemingly random pattern with only a few seconds of reaction time prior to each 'shot', while the key to the cage was hidden in one of several small compartments in the walls. Sherlock Boy waited at the entrance to the hostage area, observing the area closely and guiding Zahra through the area, while also deducing the pattern to the light beams so that Zahra could avoid them.

It took some time, but Zahra was able to safely find the key and leap onto the cage. Freeing the hostage-dummy was simple after that, and then she and Sherlock Boy made it back through the course with the hostage, concluding a relatively slow but solid run through the obstacle course. The hostage-dummy was then returned to its cage and the key placed in another randomly-selected compartment, and soon the course was ready for the next pair of students.

[Price]

Jesse stood beside Rapunzel Girl as Mr. Boy and Tau Nassar explained their first order of business, an obstacle course. So a boy with absolutely no usable powers and a girl who could grow her hair were supposed to clear a trial of physical ability, agility, and teamwork with their performance graded against other, more capable heroes and sidekicks. Everything about the assignment seemed to spell failure for Jesse, and that was precisely what motivated him. He didn’t fit in, but why not show up everyone in the room? If for no other reason than to wipe it in their smug hero faces, why not beat them all with the weakest power set? A look of fire and determination lit up his pale features as he smirked over at Rapunzel Girl. He turned his attention back to the speakers, and when the first pair stepped up he looked over at Coach Boomer. ‘I’ll show you…’ he thought. ‘I’ll show all of you.’

Pairs went into the obstacle course, but as individuals. Two by two they filed in brash and overconfident, two by two they filed out bickering with each other and with awful times to show for their efforts. Even the students with abilities far more impressive than his ‘force field’ either failed entirely or posted mediocre times. Jesse didn’t get to see the action inside of the course, but he was still going over scenarios inside of his head. Teamwork would be essential if he and his partner were going to clock a fast time. To that end, the boy turned to look at his partner. “What’s your name?” He asked.

"Sophie. And you?" Rapunzel Girl said, feeling much more comfortable now that her new partner was showing a renewed confidence. With so few of the selected partners actually showing any of the teamwork they were supposed to be showing, this obstacle course was looking more and more intimidating, without them even entering the course yet. They would need whatever confidence they could manage now, and maybe they could talk over a few other things once the school day was over...

"Our turn's coming up next." Sophie said as they waited in the front of the line, the pair before them still running through the course. "You got any strategy in mind, before we start?”

“Jesse...” the boy said in a quiet voice. In one day he had encountered more human interaction than he had in months. He looked over to see Zahra and her detective looking partner emerging confidently from the course. ’Just you watch...'

“We are the ones everyone is expecting to fail; I can see it in their eyes. So let’s surprise them all and get the fastest time! On the surface, our powers won’t be expected to do much in there. Without getting a look on the inside, we can’t really make a solid gameplan just yet, but whatever we face in there just remember to think outside the box."

"Alright, got it." Sophie said, feeling a bit more confident now. As she and Jesse took their positions at the starting line, Coach Boomer asked both of them if they were ready. Once both of them had said yes, he shouted "GO!" with a boom on par with a gunshot, and they were off in an instant.


They entered the course down a narrow pathway, which eventually broke off into progressively smaller steps and platforms at various heights above a foam pit, as well as a network of monkey bars criss-crossing in different directions over a large part of the foam pit where the steps and platforms didn't cover. Up ahead, Sophie could see beams of light passing over the next phase of the course just after the foam pit.

"I could make a swing from the monkey bars." Sophie proposed. "Not sure if I can do that for the steps though.”

Jesse took all of two seconds to examine the course layout before them. “I could make a swing from the monkey bars. Not sure if I can do that for the steps though.” Jesse nodded at Sophie’s observation. He was confident in their ability to work together.

“Good plan, we’ll just have to run and climb the steps then!” Jesse said wasting no time as he led Sophie through the first of the steps. He was deceptively quick and agile as he dashed along practically hopping from place to place. When the pair came to the taller steps that had to be climbed, Jesse got down on a knee and cupped his hands together to give Sophie a boost and allowed her to help pull him up. They were off to a very impressive start when they reached the monkey bars. “Alright, Sophie, show me what you can do,” Jesse said with a confident smirk.

"Right!" Sophie replied, already starting to grow out her hair again as she also made her way up the steps. By the time she reached the last available step, it was long enough that she could twist it to form a more sturdy rope of sorts, and threw it over one of the monkey bars. Once it was over, she let it grow even longer, forming a rope for Jesse to swing over the foam pit with. The hair-rope unraveled slightly once Sophie had thrown it over, but it was within Jesse's reach now, so re-twisting the rope shouldn't be too hard from here, and once they were both across they could worry about the lights up ahead.

Jesse made it across with surprising speed; the pair of misfits were making a great team. Jesse only took a moment to catch his breath and smile over at Sophie before turning his attention to the lasers. The boy took in the entire scene in a matter of moments, a strategy formulating in his mind. The lasers were simulating gunfire and that meant that they would cease to reload. “It’s gunfire! We can use the time it takes for them to reload to run from cover to cover!” He exclaimed to his partner. “What do you think?"

[Lady Celeste]

"Right!" Sophie nodded. Quickly shrinking her hair back down to its original length, she approached the lasers as close as she dared without getting hit, where she waited for them to stop to 'reload' and then immediately sprinted ahead to the next available hiding place, then repeated the process as Jesse proceeded to do the same. The wait between 'reload times' felt longer than it actually was, but soon they were through that part of the course and ready to move on to the next set of obstacles.

Before long, they too had arrived at the hostage area, with the hostage-dummy once again locked in its cage and the key placed in another random location. This time Sophie went first, growing a hair-rope to wrap around one of the chains suspending the cage above the ball pit and, as soon as an opening presented itself, quickly swinging toward the cage and climbing up to the top. Since none of the lasers were aimed at the cage, this gave Sophie a perfect safe zone to look for the key from a safe distance and point it out to Jesse; as soon as he got it, she then threw him another hair-rope to pull him up to the lock, allowing him to open the cage and 'free' the hostage-dummy.

Returning from the course with the hostage-dummy was a bit more time-consuming, due to the additional weight as well as having to avoid 'injury' to the hostage-dummy as much as possible. However, since it was essentially the same set of obstacles, Jesse and Sophie both already had a strategy in place, so making their way back to finish the course proved to be much quicker and easier than going in.


As the last pair finished, the scores were ranked from highest to lowest, and Mr. Boy came forward to announce the results.

"Alright! That was fun, wasn't it?" Mr. Boy asked in his usual chipper tone, eliciting applause and cheers from some partners and dead silence from others.

"Well, the results are in, so let's have a big round of applause for our fastest finishers today... Jesse Jones and Sophie Lang!"

Sophie froze at first, responding with a quiet "What?" as the news hadn't quite sunk in. Soon afterward, as many of the others around her and Jesse - including Zahra and her partner - began a chorus of applause and shouts of 'way to go!' directed at them, the news sank in and she squealed with excitement.

"We got the fastest time?! We did it!" She all but ran up to Jesse, preparing to high-five him as the cheers continued, even as a few of the teams eyed them with visible envy.

[Price]

The results were in, and as his name was read Jesse swelled with adrenaline. He had done it, he had beaten these privileged kids and used no powers to do it. The boy’s reaction was a bold smirk, his gloved hand high fived his teammate. He gave her a reassuring nod, the worst duo of the bunch had won. For this moment, he wasn’t hiding in his skin; he was supremely confident, an electric fire coursing through his veins. “Nice work,” he said to Sophie. His voice was calm and composed, but definitely louder than his normal whisper speaking voice. While Sophie was practically dancing for joy, Jesse remained in place with clenched fists. At this moment, he did something bold.

Jesse’s looked up to find Tau standing next to Boomer at the podium. Everyone else faded away, it was only he and Tau now. Their eyes met, and the boy gave the professor a fiery and fierce glare. 'I don’t know what game you were playing, what angle you were planning, but I don’t need your help. I don’t need your pity.’ The boy thought. If looks could kill, Tau would be a very unsightly corpse. Next, his eyes found Boomer. The coach was a hot headed master of snap judgements. 'Guess you heroes aren’t so special after all...’ the boy thought. As his gaze lingered, so to did his thoughts. If there was a telepath present, they were in for some very obscene language.

Lastly, Jesse found Zahra in the crowd. She looked happy for him, maybe she wasn’t so bad...but then again, maybe she was playing him just like her uncle. He wasn’t certain, and from that uncertainty came mistrust. A few seconds of lingering was all that was left of the boy’s confidence as he retreated back into the bubble of the moment. Sophie was still beside him, so he returned his attention to her. “Now....I wonder what comes next....” he thought out loud. He was already returning to his shell. The adrenaline of victory was wearing off slowly, and he was reminded that there was still a school day ahead. All he wanted was to use the win as a mic drop and leave the school...but then he would have hell to pay.

[Lady Celeste]

The rest of the day flew by for the most part. The semester didn't officially start until next week, so after receiving their class schedules, the freshmen were each introduced to their respective classrooms and teachers, and then that was it.


Later that afternoon, invitations were slipped into several mailboxes in Maxville, mostly to Sky High students, but with the occasional civilian invite as well. Layla Williams' birthday party was coming up in a few weeks, and being an egalitarian at heart, Layla had insisted on inviting just about everyone. Soon everyone at Sky High was talking about the upcoming party: the students because the birthday girl was one-half of the school's newest power couple, and the faculty because The Commander and Jetstream had eagerly volunteered to help fund the event.

Tau and Zahra had also been invited, but Tau was preoccupied with something else at the moment:

"In other news, the crocodile monster that The Commander and Jetstream defeated earlier this morning mysteriously disappeared from police custody earlier this afternoon. The Maxville Police Department had the creature contained within a state-of-the-art supervillain confinement cell, so how the monster could have escaped remains a mystery..."


Meanwhile, Will led the charge as he and several of Layla's friends continued to send party invitations door to door.

Next stop: the Jones' house.

[Price]

Jesse had been home for less than sixty seconds before his parents brought him back into his reality. His mother was being her normal ‘try hard to make the family work’ self by asking all about his day. Jesse replied in vague, one-worded half answers that did little to satisfy her, and instead simply drew a frown and a reluctant retreat. His father Jack just stayed silent, judging the boy with his eyes. He looked cold and calloused before finally speaking. “Get to it,” he said simply. There was no care in the deep bass voice.

“Yes sir,” Jesse replied in a meek, broken tone. He knew the routine. Every day for as long as he remembered the routine had been the same. He did chores in the earliest hours of the morning, school during the day, and rigorous training in the evening and nights. The boy was being worked by his father as if he were a veteran prize fighter with a title belt on the line. It wasn’t uncommon at all to see the boy up at odd hours of the night punching at the heavy bag until his knuckles bled. That is where Jesse was at the moment that Will Stronghold and company arrived at the door. From his basement, he missed the encounter; but he definitely felt the ground shake from where his father had immediately slammed the door on the poor kid.

The rest of the evening passed by pretty normal enough until dinner. The family ate in silence, per usual, before that silence was broken by Jack. The man began his grumbling by pounding his fists on the table and muttering obscenities. Stacy’s weak objections fell upon deaf ears. What happened next was an absolute disaster. Jack’s voice began to raise as he began a long, profanity laced tirade. It wasn’t unusual for the man to raise his voice and yell, but this time was different and more extreme. He was going ballistic. He started on with his hatred for the Strongholds, segwayed into his hatred for the Nassars, carried on a long, long rant of disappointment in having a failure for a son. At that, Stacy attempted to intervene only for everything to get much worse....

The tirade went on for hours. Jesse tried to escape to the basement to train, but that only drew even more ire from his father. Outside of the house, the sound of shouting could be heard. While most of the words were muffled, the Nassar family would be able to hear tidbits of the loud, bombastic vulgarities from the house. Glassware could be heard shattering against the wall as the house shook visibly from the outside. Finally, towards midnight the noise began to die down. The only thing that could be heard was the sound of a car leaving the house, its occupant never looking back, never returning again.

[Lady Celeste]

The Jones family had always had a bit of a reputation in the neighborhood, especially with respect to Jack Jones, so hardly anyone noticed Jack's furious rant at first. Zahra had heard occasional bits and pieces of the fight from her room, but Tau had quickly warned her to stay in the house, having become well acquainted with the constant fighting ever since he'd moved here last year.

But this time, in a matter of hours, the violence escalated beyond anything any of the neighbors could have imagined; glass was being shattered, the house was shaking... within hours, several neighbors were peeking through their windows to see what was going on, and a few of them were taking out their cell phones and calling the police.

Tau also took hold of his phone, but not to call the police; he knew they would be ill-prepared to keep Jack Jones under control if he finally snapped. Instead, with a quick call to Mr. Boy, news of the incident spread in short order among the rest of the faculty at Sky High and many local heroes, and within minutes Tau was assured that help was on the way.

With that done, Tau proceeded to approach the Jones' house, unaware that a very curious Cheetah had snuck out the door just behind him and followed just a few yards away.

The first few knocks and rings of the doorbell went unanswered, all the while the sounds of fighting continued in full force and the first few heroes to respond to the apparent crisis - including the Commander and Jetstream, naturally - began to arrive. But just as Tau was about to break down the door to stop whatever insanity was going on inside, a car suddenly emerged from the garage and drove off.

Whatever had just happened, it clearly wasn't good. Now Tau could only hope that it wasn't about to become even worse.

[Price]

(Mood Setter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JbxlYRPbZg)

Things had occurred on the other side of the door, terrible and dreadful things that Tau Nassar and the other heroes had been too late to stop...and now as they stood outside the door, a new and ghastly horror would present itself. The small pitter patter of footsteps could be heard inching to the door. The pattern of the footfalls indicated that the person coming to answer was staggering and not walking. It was Jesse Jones. His eyes were already dark and swollen, blood trickled from his nose and his lip, his right cheek was puffy. His clothes were ripped and torn as if he had been through a war zone. His whole body seemed to tremble and quake as if the ground was shaking beneath it. His hands stumbled to find the door knob as he turned it and opened the house up to the heroes and the hidden Cheetah.

Jesse leaned himself against the door frame and used it to support his broken body. In addition to the boy's obvious injuries visible to the heroes, they would hear a heavy, raspy crackling of a wheeze that only remotely resembled breathing. The boy looked at the scene before him through his swollen black eyes. “Mmm.....” he started as he looked the group over. The blurry vision made it difficult, but he recognized some of the heroes...and Tau. He might have actually been inclined to talk...but that is when he squinted further and saw them. As if God had not spited him enough for one day, the battered teenager was forced to look upon those damned sanctimonious banes of his existance, The Commander and Jetstream.

He swayed back and forth as he shook from both the pain and now the anger. He looked directly past Tau Nassar making sure that his eye contact was made with the Strongholds, so that everyone would know exactly who he was talking to. Jesse spat thick red blood at his feet on the doorstep before wiping what was left of it away with his left hand. His eyes did not move as he stared the couple down. “You.....” he choked out. It was low and quiet, he need to be louder...stronger. His father was right...he had been to weak....now in all this pain, he needed to find a voice and be louder. He kept his eye contact on them, if any expression was visible on his absolutely battered face, it would be one of enraged hatred.

“You......this is all YOUR FAULT! GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE!!!” Jesse shouted at them, the pain from speech let alone yelling made the outburst all the louder...giving even Coach Boomer a run for his money. The boy shook, trembling as he turned his back on the crowd and retreated into his home without even bothering to shut the door behind him. Each step was a battle for him to not collapse to the floor. How such a young boy could sustain so much damage would no doubt be a mystery of its own. He extended one hand to touch the wall hoping to guide himself down the hallway and out of sight, but his steps were far too slow. A leisurely walking pace would catch him in five strides or less. The house was completely wrecked. Everywhere one looked, broken glass littered the ground and overturned furniture made the place looked as if it were hit by a natural disaster of the worst sorts. Blood stained the walls, furniture, and the floor. The place was hell....and yet Jesse simply stageered through as if it were natural. There was no sign of Jack or Jesse's mother around.

The boy continued to limp away, hoping that the heroes would mind their own business and leave the way they came.

[Lady Celeste]

“You......this is all YOUR FAULT! GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE!!!”

Cheetah's ear twitched as she watched Jesse retreat into his house. The humans gathered in front of the house were like silent statues, and it only made Cheetah more curious.

Curiosity killed the cat, they say. But then again, not too many people knew the rest of the saying.

Curiosity killed the cat... but satisfaction brought it back.

Light, nimble feet navigated the broken glass and bloodstains with ease, Cheetah leaping gracefully over the downed furniture as she made her way toward Jesse. Stopping on top of an overturned cabinet, Cheetah sat in place upon catching sight of Jesse and gave him a gentle meow, trying to get his attention.


Meanwhile, Zahra had also heard Jesse's shout and looked out her window to see what was happening. A handful of local heroes was standing outside; a few of them had been about to rush inside, but Tau stopped them, warning them that Jesse would obviously be afraid if they all stormed in at once.

But afraid of what? Zahra thought she could see Jesse through a broken window, or at least someone who looked vaguely similar. After all the rumors she'd heard about Jack Jones and what few details she could get out of her uncle, she definitely didn't like where this was going. And who was that who had driven off earlier?

This was going to be a long night...

[Price]

Anger welled up inside the boy as he heard the commotion outside his destroyed home. Self righteous heroes threatened to storm his ruined house and try to “fix” things. Naive...all of them. They did this...they caused this....they were his Hell....the Hell he could never live up to. Tears began falling down the boy’s face as he stood in the middle of his living room. A couch had been overturned and thrown against the farside wall, pictures and broken glass littered the floor, and a television filled with baseball sized holes had somehow stayed mounted in place, if only to dangle back and forth and inevitably crash to the floor. The only thing that had survived in this room was a mirror, and even its glass had cracked evenly down the middle.

Jesse could hear Tau holding the heroes back outside, saying that they would only scare him. Scare him? Scare him? They thought he was afraid??? The anger inside was enough to cause Jesse to snap, as he grasped the mirror and threw it as hard as he could. It slammed against the wall and shattered into a million fragments while the boy let out a loud, broken yell. He began quaking, only to have his breakdown interrupted by the sound of a cat meowing at him from behind. He looked back...unsure of what to think. He had seen it before, but he couldn’t quite place where from. His thoughts journeyed back to school...Zahra.....Zahra Nassar.....and her cat.....this was hers.

Jesse looked out of the dislodged window, his eyes finding hers. Zahra was watching him from her room. His gaze didn’t say much....it didn’t beg for pity, it didn’t burn with hate...it just was...totally and wholly vacant. Could she see his brutally bruised and bloodied face? Could she see the tears streaking down his swollen cheeks? He tore his gaze away, as his hand went back to the wall as he attempted to stagger back to his bedroom. Unfortunately, he couldn’t stabilize himself any longer. Jesse collapsed to the floor, he could only wheeze and cough up blood as he was reduced to crawling. There was no way he would give in to the unconsciousness threatening to overtake him. He was too stubborn...too prideful. He could fix himself on his own. He didn’t need any heroes to come in and save him.

“Damn......damn......damn......” he choked out, scooting his back against the wall so that he was sitting upright.

[Lady Celeste]

Cheetah meowed again, slowly climbing down from the cabinet and daring a few more steps forward. One of the humans outside - Mr. Nassar, if Cheetah remembered correctly - began to enter the house first, creating a beam of light to help navigate through the shattered war zone of a mess that had been left behind until he made it to the doorway of the room Jesse was in, but did not take another step closer out of respect for Jesse's need for space.

"Jesse..." Tau began calmly, making sure he had Jesse's attention before continuing. "You can't stay here like this; you need a doctor. You can't even walk on your own." It was stating the obvious, and Tau and Jesse both knew that, but he needed to get through whatever blocks Jesse's pride was putting up if he was to have any chance of getting Jesse safely out before the others entered.

"I can't keep the others outside forever, but I can find somewhere isolated where you won't have to deal with them, until your injuries can be treated." Tau explained further. He could only imagine what had finally driven the Jones family to this point, but now was not the time to dwell on the past. Jesse needed treatment now, and at the moment that was all that truly mattered.

[Price]

Jesse let out a demonically dark laugh before coughing up some more blood. His eyes bore into Tau’s, a look of intense anger. How dare the man follow, had Jesse not been perfectly clear?! 'The army of righteous heroes outside...or King righteous hero right here....’ he thought. Neither option sounded appealing. Even so, as much as he hated to admit it, Tau was right. He was in no position to stay in this house alone, he’d probably bleed out on the floor before sunrise. He was sure that he had several broken bones, including several ribs, plenty of contusions, probably a concussion, and maybe a collapsed lung. In other words, he looked and felt like hell. He definitely needed a doctor, but he’d die before he went to a hospital.

“No....no doctor....no ambulance......no hospital......” he choked out through gritted teeth as the pain sent shockwaves through his body. He grasped at any debris he could get his hand on, which happened to be a glass bottle that was miraculously unbroken. He squeezed at it with all his strength, just desperately gripping anything to alleviate the immense pain even slightly. “No doctor....no ambulance.....no hospital......” He repeated, this time with more conviction in his voice. “I.....just.....just.....need........left.....alon e.....re-....re....rest......” his voice trailed off as he threatened to fall unconscious. Just before he fell, he remembered something very important and his eyes shot open.

“Don’t....touch.......touch....my skin............” He said as if it were gospel, the most important thing Tau would ever hear. He was already wearing so many layers, most of which were torn, and gloves. “No....hos...pital.......” the boy added one final time before he fell to the side, limp and passed out. He looked an awful mess, totally and wholly broken.

[Lady Celeste]

Jesse's final request before passing out surprised Tau. Don't touch his skin? Why did Jesse feel the need to specifically ask that of him? Could it have something to do with his secret power? Tau had suspected that Jesse had some sort of power that he was too ashamed or afraid to reveal during Power Placement; that was the whole reason why Tau had faked a different power for Jesse in the first place, to protect him from the rampant bullying of 'sidekicks' at Sky High until Jesse was ready to reveal his true powers.

Whatever the case, Tau heeded Jesse's warning and carefully picked up the boy, making sure to avoid any risk of coming in contact with Jesse's skin. Slipping quietly out a side door, Tau stopped only to signal to the heroes outside that all was clear, and the police proceeded to enter the house to investigate the damage without further interference. Meanwhile, as the heroes outside began to turn their focus toward Tau and the unconscious Jesse, Tau quickly addressed them, knowing that there was no point in expecting them to stand idly by like Jesse had requested.

"Jesse refuses to go to a hospital, and if what I've just heard is true, they may not be able to help him anyway." Tau explained to them while he was walking back to his own house with Jesse. "Call Nurse Spex; I'll do what I can for him until she arrives. Tell her she must not come in contact with his skin."

"Why not?" Jetstream asked.

"I don't know, but Jesse specifically warned me not to touch his skin, just before he passed out." Tau replied, making his way to the sleeper sofa and pulling it out so that Jesse could be set down on it. "I'll try to apply some first aid, but there's not much else any of us can do until he can be treated by a professional."


The next few hours weighed heavily on everyone. After Nurse Spex was called, the other heroes were reassured that Tau could handle the first aid until help arrived, and were informed in no uncertain terms that their presence in the room might do more harm than good. It didn't take much convincing after that for them to leave the room and instead focus their efforts on working with the police to find Jesse's parents. Tau put on a pair of gloves and, per Nurse Spex's instructions, proceeded to clean and bandage whichever open wounds he could reach, but could not risk moving the boy too much lest he aggravate any broken bones. Zahra, despite her shock at Jesse's condition and her uncle's very clear instructions to stay back, was able to find the first aid kit and some towels to help stop the bleeding, but afterward could do little more than watch.

Nurse Spex arrived in short order with Mr. Medulla in tow, each wearing protective suits per Tau's warning, and Tau stepped aside to let them take it from there. Spex's x-ray vision allowed her to identify any broken bones and other serious injuries - which poor Jesse had no shortage of - while she and Medulla promptly set about tending to each and every one of them with all the skill and efficiency of a first-class team of doctors. Medulla, for his part, used a teleportation device to beam in a set of highly advanced medical tools and gadgets with names Tau didn't bother trying to memorize, with which he proceeded to place casts around any broken limbs and tend to any internal damage with no need for incisions. Jesse would still need some time to heal completely, and Nurse Spex wasted no time filling out a permission slip to excuse Jesse from school until he recovered, but the worst was over for now.

Lastly, with no legal guardian available now - or trusted, for that matter - to look after Jesse, the heroes had to decide who he would stay with during the recovery period. In fact, with Jesse's parents apparently out of the picture, whether or not they would retain legal custody of him was unclear and, as of right now, highly unlikely. But the latter could wait, and Tau volunteered for the former, having the most experience dealing with Jack Jones in the past and thus being the most likely to truly understand what Jesse had just been through.

And so, as everyone else left and the hectic rush of the emergency dissipated, Tau removed Jesse's shoes and replaced any bloodstained sheets on the sleeper sofa before shifting the boy into a comfortable sleeping position, all the while making sure to leave his socks on and otherwise avoid touching his skin.


The next day, Tau woke up early to check on Jesse and start making breakfast, and Zahra woke up not too long after him. Zahra would prepare for the school day as usual, but Tau, per the arrangements he and Principal Powers had agreed on, would stay at home to take care of Jesse and present today's Heroic History lecture to the classroom via live recording on a drone-cam Mr. Medulla had provided. Then, after school was dismissed for the day, Zahra was to return home and provide Jesse with any homework assignments or any other school materials he might need, in order to ensure that he did not fall behind in his schoolwork unless it was absolutely necessary for him to be granted an extension.

[Price]

Jesse remained in a state of deep unconsciousness the entire night, not stirring even slightly; even in the morning as Tau and Zahra woke with the former checking on him, there was no sign that he was any better than the night before. By all accounts the boy looked as still as a corpse if not for the rising and falling of his chest. Anyone seeing the boy would rightly wonder how he had even survived; ironically, the blood caking his body had hid most of the grotesque damage. Now that the full cosmetic extent of his injuries could be seen, Jesse looked even more like he had been caught in a war zone. Then again, there was a case to be made that he actually had.

In his state of forced sleep, the poor boy was having a nightmare of last night’s events. The argument, the abuse, and then.....he snapped...and his father.....his father....the boy was reliving the pain all over again, his mind remembering each strike with perfect detail and recreating the pain as fresh as it was the night before. He could see his mother leave while the strikes continued, until finally he gasped for air but none came. He croaked and croaked out until his vision ran blurry, lungs searing in fire feeling as if his insides might explode at any second until suddenly he snapped out of the nightmare wide awake, but still in the stupor of the nightmare.

As Zahra was packing her book bag just across the room, she would be confronted with a startled Jesse shooting straight up gasping for air. His hands clutched at his throat, his eyes wide with shock, his face paler than a sheet. His eyes shot around the unfamiliar room, his mind not yet processing that he was in a place of safety, he looked across to see Zahra. The look in his eyes was a mixture of danger and fear as he fumbled until he fell to the floor on his hands and knees. The searing pain of his injuries jerked him back into reality as he could not hold back the scream of agony. He began writhing on the floor, spasming as if in a seizure, clearly still in shock from the night before.

“Where the hell is he!? Where the hell am I!? What the hell is going on!?” Jesse shouted just before another wave of pain shot through his body. “Agh!!!!!!!!” he began coughing violently, he expected see blood...but surprisingly none came out. He crashed down to the floor, belly down, his head hanging left so that he could only see Zahra from the legs down, and even then his vision blurred from the intense pain throughout his whole body. His lungs were on fire, shocks of electricity shot down his back and legs, and his head felt as if it would split open at any moment with such a violent intensity that Jesse felt that he could vomit at any moment.

Jesse stayed down, gasping for air once again.

[Lady Celeste]

Zahra's instincts started to kick in as soon as she saw Jesse all but jump up. She was just moments too late to stop Jesse from falling to the floor, but was just about to help him up when a quick warning from Tau in Arabic briefly froze her in her tracks. After that, she paused to find the right places to hold him without touching his skin as she and Tau helped him up.

"Jesse, it's okay; you're safe now." Zahra started to say as Jesse was being set back down on the sleeper sofa. She and her uncle both knew better than to mention Jesse's father after everything the man had done, especially now that Jesse was so clearly agitated.

"It's a long story; I'll explain later." Tau said next, briefly shifting his gaze to Zahra and then back to Jesse to signal why he wasn't saying anything just yet. "For now you need to rest."

All the while, Cheetah stood perched on the third floor of her little play area, her tail occasionally flicking back and forth as she eyed Jesse.

[Price]

The images from the night before began pouring into Jesse’s mind faster than the poor boy could process them. At once, he began feeling a wide array of emotions from anger, sadness, hurt and betrayal, to a rage unbridled and unlike anything he had ever felt before. Still no emotion could match the physical pain that kept him restrained to the sofa. He fell humiliated at needing the Nassars' help just to get up from the floor, grunting and wheezing out objections at every possible moment before collapsing back onto the couch. For a moment he fell silent, not so much to hear Tau speak as much as to take the picture in. He was in their house, the family his father hated and he resented.

“This....is all.....your fault,” the boy said coldly, staring straight at Tau. He did not give a damn about the man’s signal. “My father hates me because of you!” he began coughing, a bit of blood coming from his mouth as he reopened a wound. Cleary the boy was just deflecting. All he had ever known was that he was supposed to become a superhero better than the Nassars’ to gain his father’s approval, and that he was to hate them with every fiber of his being. Now here he was in their home, helpless, and all because Tau did not have the decency to leave well enough alone. “Why couldn’t you have left me last night!? It wasn’t any of your business....” There was another pause as he coughed more blood up.

A hushed silence fell over him before he looked at Tau, then to Zahra, then back to the man again. “What the hell are you up to anyway? What do you think you are trying to pull?” The boy expected some trick, after all...all he had known was trickery. It was inconceivable that Tau could be up to any less. “You have been up to something since the start of school...I know it was you who faked my powers during placement! Who else would it have been?! Now what is your game, you...you.....you arrogant, self-righteous hero bastard!?!” The boy exploded, tears falling down his face as he did his best to hide them with arms. The pain increased in intensity, but now the boy was getting used to the burning, stinging, and screaming of his body’s wounds. The boy’s skin turned a deathly shade of pale; all a part of his power, in an agitated state.

[Lady Celeste]

"Zahra, stand back." Tau said immediately to Zahra upon noticing how pale Jesse's skin was getting. Even with how severely injured Jesse was, Tau knew that that was not normal; it could be a sign of his real powers being triggered, especially now in his agitated state. The accusation that Tau had faked Jesse's powers during Power Placement was a shocker, but at the moment it was not the most pressing concern.

"Is that what your father says about me? That everything I do is all part of a game?" Tau responded calmly. There was no game, but there was also no point in denying Jesse's accusations or explaining himself until he could get Jesse to truly listen first.

"I knew you were not as powerless as you claimed to be during Power Placement, but you yourself confirmed it last night, when you warned me not to touch your skin." Tau began. "I don't know what your real powers are or why you're so afraid of them, and I won't make you tell me if you truly want to keep them secret, but you're right; you deserve to be tested based on your own merits, no more and no less. But you also don't deserve to have that fear hold you back: not for me, not for your father, not for anyone."

With that out of the way, Tau knelt down so that he could look Jesse in the eyes. "If you want, when you're ready, I can explain everything to Principal Powers. None of it was your fault, because you never asked for my help during Power Placement, so the only one who would face any kind of punishment is me. And after tonight, Principal Powers will understand why you would not show your real power, so I can convince her not to test you again until you're ready."

[Price]

Jesse's balled fists shook, his bottom lip quivered, it was sheer will power that was keeping the boy standing. He was nowhere near healed, and yet he seemed to have an almost superhuman tolerance for punishment. Some powers were acquired from years of practice, and not through extraordinary means. "Is that what your father says about me? That everything I do is all part of a game?" The calm tone of the professor only served to anger the boy even more. How dare this man be so casual?! A long silence fell over Jesse so that he did not even respond to Tau. Instead, he allowed the elder Nassar to continue uninterrupted. It didn't take long before he wished that he hadn't. No matter how kind Tau was trying to be, no matter how genuine the man was, Jesse could only see through a lense filled with years of resentment, jealousy, and spite.

The rest of Tau's words were wasted on Jesse, even as the man knelt down to get eye level with the boy. Jesse narrowed his eyes and took a step back. "You know nothing," the boy's said harshly. "I never asked for this....why in the hell did you even bring me here!? I wanted to stay there! I wanted you to leave me alone! Just who do you think you are!?" His skin was paler by the second, close to milky white now. "And I told you! I don't have powers!!! This is not a power, it's a damned curse!" A silence fell over the boy again as he looked down at the ground, then to the ceiling, anything to avoid looking Tau or Zahra in the eye.

"My father says a lot more about you, Nassar..." Jesse said the name with unparelleled venom. "So much more...you and the Stronghold kid.... you have made my life Hell. You did this to me." Jesse motioned at his injuries. "You caused this...and yet you get to play hero..." The boy shook his head. "I can't deal with this..." Jesse turned his back to the Nassars and tried to walk away, but instead he fumbled about drunkenly before almost hitting the floor again. This time he managed to prop himself up with the wall. "Dammit..." he muttered.

[Lady Celeste]

“How did I or the Strongholds do any of this? None of us were even here when any of this happened.” Tau said point-blank, knowing that the only way to get through to Jesse was to make him look past all his father’s hate and see the truth for what it really was. He also didn’t want to press the issue of Jesse’s powers; the fact that Jesse apparently thought of them as a curse told Tau everything he needed to know for the time being, so better to set that topic aside until Jesse was ready to talk about it on his own terms.

Tau also had an idea of what Jesse might have meant by this being his and the Strongholds’ fault, but said nothing for now. Jesse clearly wanted to be left alone, and for now that would be the best course of action; to insist on anything right now would only make him fight back even more, and it would take a great deal of time and patience to undo the damage Jack had clearly done over the years.

“You go on ahead to the bus. I’ll see you later today.” Tau said to Zahra, who by now was almost completely frozen from the shock of it all. Zahra hesitated, her eyes still focused on Jesse for a time, but she wordlessly hugged her uncle goodbye before leaving.

[Price]

Jesse stood, or rather braced, against the wall with a combination of cutting curses sharp on the edge of his tongue, but he showed an uncharacteristic bit of restraint now. It wasn't for Tau or Zahra, it wasn't for decency, it was only because there was no way that Tau could understand nor could his daughter. His head, too, was in searing pain. This was no time for an argument. His eyes connected with Zahra's for the smallest but most magnetic moment. There was no animosity in his hues, no bitterness, no cruelty, just emptiness.

Jesse's eyes darted away in the same instant that Zahra turned to hug Tau. When she left, there was a heavy silence in the air. The battered boy didn't make a move to alleviate any of the awkwardness between him and the elder Nassar. For a while, it seemed that he was going out of his way to avoid being the first of them to speak. At last, though, his voice was heard only just above a whisper. "If...I have...to stay here, I'll need my stuff," he started. His eyes fell to the floor. "My heavy bag...for training...and if it isn't broken, my guitar. I'd like to get it..." This was the first time he had spoken to the man in a voice that wasn't hostile. It was a soft voice with very little emotion, more fitting of a timid puppy than a young man.

"I-I-I don't know...where she is, where she went. I know it's question you would have for me...eventually..." he started. His voice now displaying just a twinge of sadness. "Mom took off after...after the fight started...I don't know where she could have gone to..."

[Lady Celeste]

“Of course.” Tau said in response to Jesse’s request to collect his things. The police and the assembled heroes had already completed their investigation of the ruins of the Jones residence last night, and even if they didn’t, surely there was nothing wrong with that. “Would you like to have them brought over, or would you prefer to get them yourself?” Jesse was clearly in no condition to do any heavy lifting, and to make him go back to that place was definitely not a good idea, but Tau also knew that to patronize or smother Jesse would only serve to ruin whatever semblance of trust they were starting to form and make it impossible for anyone else to help him in the future. Jesse needed his space like everyone else, especially now, and the best Tau could do for him right now was to let him heal himself, at his own pace and on his own terms.

Then the subject shifted to Jesse’s mother. There was already reason to suspect that Mrs. Jones had fled in the midst of her husband’s rampage, but Jesse didn’t know where she could have gone.

“I thought so.” Tau said, nodding. “The others have been looking for her since last night, but it’s up to you whether or not you want to see her again.” He left it at that for now, making no attempt to pass judgment one way or another just yet. Jack had absolutely no chance of retaining custody of Jesse after last night, but although Mrs. Jones’ custody of Jesse was still very much at risk at the moment, no official decision would be made until the matter was investigated thoroughly. Jesse’s own testimony was sure to be a crucial deciding factor in that regard, and he had the right to speak on his own behalf, so it would not be right to pressure him one way or another, especially since Tau didn’t have the full story yet.

[Price]

"Brought over...please," Jesse said simply regarding the mater of collecting his things. Sure he wasn't in shape to go retrieve his stuff, but what he wouldn't admit was that he couldn't stand the thought of going back there to face what had happened last night. He couldn't bear the thought of facing those ghosts just yet. The continued to stare at the floor. The bit of adrenaline that had kicked in when he had startled awake was now rapidly wearing off, leaving the boy to feel just how weak he really was. His vision was beginning to blur over again as he slowly shuffled his feet back to the couch. He practically fell onto the cushions, breathing heavily as if the few yards across the room had actually been a marathon. His hands moved to cradle his stomach as he noticed a particularly sore spot there. Flashbacks played on loop in his mind while he tried to stay calm.

This was never supposed to happen. All his life was on display for the whole community to see. Jesse knew how interconnected the hero world was. It wouldn't be long before last night was the gossip on everyone's lips, both in the high school and beyond. He and his mother had worked so hard to keep the dark part of the Jones' family a secret, to bury it as if it didn't exist. Now it had all blown up, and Jesse felt he alone would be the one to suffer the aftermath while his father and mother disappeared from the lime light.

As Tau spoke of his mother, Jesse bit down on his lip and froze. His choice whether or not he wanted to see her again? This was the first time in a long time that he had had any semblance of power in the situation. He had been powerless all the years he had suffered in silence, and he had been powerless still when he finally snapped. Now he had the power of choice...and yet he still felt pretty pathetic. He merely nodded to Tau, offering no indication of where he was leaning one way or the other. Aside from the physical pain, he wasn't sure how he felt of anything at the moment.

The boy began to settle down, not that his body gave him much choice. He could feel a heavy drowsiness overtaking him. Was this an effect of the injuries that he had sustained? Was that an effect of some medicine that the heroes had doctored him up with? He would normally freak out at the thought of the heroes doing something he considers so invasive of his body, but he could hardly muffle a protest under the intensifying sleepiness. He found himself unable to hold his eyes open, forcing him to give in to sleep. When he finally woke, it would be late in the afternoon with school getting out.

Jesse rose, slower this time, and sighed as he looked around at his surroundings groggily. A frown formed on his fractured face while any hope of this all being some vivid god awful nightmare died away; this was real. The boy noticed that he was alone now, or at least he didn't see Tau hovering over him like before. He very carefully tried to sit up, hissing as he drew in sharp breaths. It still felt like shards of glass were entering his lungs instead of air. "Is anybody...home?" He asked in that timid voice of his.

[Lady Celeste]

“Mrouww...”

Cheetah sat patiently on the floor next to the couch, silently watching Jesse with an occasional flick of her tail. The opening of the front door quickly caught her attention, and she sprinted up to the door just as Zahra entered.

“Hi Cheetah! Miss me?” Zahra set down her backpack to pet Cheetah, who promptly seized the opportunity to leap into her arms. As she got up, however, she quickly saw Jesse.

“Oh, sorry... did I wake you?” She asked, returning to her backpack. Per the arrangement made with Principal Powers, Zahra had been asked to bring him his homework each day, so now was as good a time as any to get it for him.

[Price]

Jesse’s dominant right hand clutched at his abdomen near his ribs as he continued taking labored, painful breaths. He avoided direct eye contact with Zahra, acting as if he were in the presence of Medusa instead of an innocent girl. His free hand began to shake, either from anger, fear, anxiety, or perhaps a combination of them all.

“Oh, sorry... did I wake you?” her voice sounded nice enough, sincere even.

“...no…” came Jesse’s short reply. His voice was barely audible, a mix of shyness and fear. There was no hostility to be detected from it, but the boy’s body language showed obvious signs of tension and discomfort that went beyond being written off as coming from his extensive injuries. Was it because of the events of last night? Was it the unfamiliar surroundings of the Nassar house? Was it Zahra? Even Jesse wasn’t sure what to point at. A small amount of color came to his face, a small red blush from anxiety and embarrassment. It was barely noticeable underneath his rough looking face.

"I've...been awake...don't worry..." he elaborated, just as softly as before. He stayed quiet, unsure of what to say to a Nassar. His entire life he had been drilled on the Nassars', practically brainwashed into seeing them as the enemy. Now his life was upside down and they were the ones trying to help fix it? He had so many mixed emotions, the chief among them being doubt and confusion.

[Lady Celeste]

“Okay.” Zahra smiled and nodded, taking Jesse’s brief explanation at face value for now. No sense bothering him too much over something so minor, especially at a time like this.

“I brought your homework. We could work on it together if you want.” She said, taking out said homework and setting it down on a table next to Jesse, along with a box full of various colorful papers. “And everyone insisted on making get-well cards for you too.”

Jesse was being sheltered as much as possible from the media storm in Maxville and in the superhero community as a whole, but the incident was still fresh in everyone’s minds, and there were several sensitive issues that Jesse was simply in no condition to deal with right now. Jesse’s parents were still at large, and questions still lingered among those who were present regarding Jesse’s strange request that night not to touch his skin, among other things. But Zahra knew better than to bring those up now.

[Price]

Jesse fidgeted in place a bit as the girl came closer to him signalling his discomfort. He watched as Zahra laid the contents on the table. “Get-well cards…? They know…?” His head fell as he gave a faint sigh of disapproval. He knew that the gossip would get out, but it had barely been a day. “Who sends cards to someone they don’t even know anyway…?” He questioned, sounding more confused than angry. As the boy became more agitated, his skin seemed to turn paler, almost milky in color.

“How bad is it…?” He questioned, not caring to elaborate at first. After a moment of pause, he continued. “I mean...this isn’t just gonna blow over...is it?” He seemed to already know the answer. There was no way that Tau or the other heroes were just going to leave him be.

Not wanting to thing any more on just how much people were talking about him, he turned his attention to the school work on the table. He sighed again. It seemed that it just wasn’t meant for him to catch a break. He could barely speak from embarrassment, but finally he managed to get the words out of his timid voice. “I...need you...to read the words to me. Everything on the paper is...blurry…” he looked to Zahra with a face full of shame. He was recovering nicely thanks to the advanced treatment he had received, but his eyes were still pretty puffy and swollen.

[Lady Celeste]

“Alright.” Zahra said, reaching for the pile of homework once again. There was no need to answer Jesse’s earlier questions, especially given how agitated he became at the prospect of being sent get-well cards. And there was certainly no need to explain that the scandal would not ‘blow over’ any time soon. Jesse’s abuse at Jack’s hands had stayed secret for who knows how long, but now that the truth was laid bare for everyone to see, the superhero community could not simply ignore the problem or act like it never happened.

Jesse was the primary victim in all of this, and as such, he would be given every opportunity to heal and recover, however long it may take to undo the damage Jack had done. What would become of Jesse’s mother was still unclear; although she apparently was not actively involved in Jack’s mistreatment of Jesse, her taking off and leaving Jesse behind after what happened certainly didn’t look good in the public eye, and she would have quite a bit of explaining to do if and when she ever returned.

Jack, however, was officially ruined. Superheroes were supposed to save lives, not destroy lives. The investigation into what happened last night was still ongoing, mainly to determine who exactly was to blame and to what extent, but Jack’s shouting in the midst of the violence, coupled with the official statements from Tau and from the Jones family’s other neighbors, proved Jack’s guilt and ultimately sealed his fate. Jack Jones was promptly blacklisted by the superhero community, and he would surely face serious charges if he ever showed his face in Maxville again. Granted, it was not entirely unheard of for blacklisted superheroes to eventually redeem themselves and be reinstated, but it would take a long time and a great deal of effort on Jack’s part for that to be even remotely possible, and even that was assuming Jack would try to redeem himself at all. The alternative seemed far more likely at the moment, that Jack would become an antihero at best or an outright supervillain at worst; hopefully it wouldn’t come to that, but nothing could be taken for granted, and the superhero community would have to be prepared.

But all that was a story for another day. For now, the only thing Jesse needed to worry about was homework.

“Let’s see...” Zahra said, flipping through the assignments. “In Basic Heroism 101 we have a quiz on how to deal with practical hero situations. For Mad Science, Mr. Medulla assigned a short quiz on the difference between rays and beams. And for Heroic History, my uncle said there would be a quiz next week on the world’s first superheroes. Which one would you like to start with?”

[Price]

Jesse sighed, the way Zahra just sidestepped his questions confirmed what he knew but didn’t want to believe. Things would just never be the same. If he had the ability to go back, he would have de-escalated the situation, kept his father content another night, lived to hide another day. At least then he would be in his own house tonight, in his own bed, with his broken but familiar parents. It was miserable and hell, but it was home. He doubted, seriously doubted, that he would feel any degree of comfort or familiarity ever again. Either he would have to fend for himself or worse, these heroes would interfere.

The boy only now realized he had been asked a question. He had zoned out, in a trance-like daze as the thoughts flooded his head. Suddenly feeling embarrassed, a sheepish expression formed on his face. “...sorry…” he only barely managed to whisper. “Basic Heroism...I guess…?” All the subjects at this school seemed so bizarre. The classes were nothing like his old school, where rudimentary math and science were his biggest problems. Now he had to learn all about hero culture? That was something he had fought against for so long. Something that he had no interest in...no desire to become.

“...how do you be a hero if you don’t have any powers?” Jesse asked, at least half honestly. His wasn’t a power, it was a curse.

[Lady Celeste]

“Alright...” Zahra said, proceeding to dig up the Basic Heroism assignment. However, before she could read the first question aloud, Jesse added a little question of his own:

“How do you be a hero if you don’t have any powers?”

Zahra set down the assignment briefly, and looked up to face Jesse. She had heard Jesse’s whole outburst about his real powers being a ‘curse’, and knew better than to press that issue again, but maybe she didn’t necessarily have to.

“There are plenty of superheroes out there who don’t have any powers of their own.” Zahra pointed out. “Most of those heroes use technology to make up for their lack of powers: tech geniuses, the super-rich... or even a little of both.” She said first. “And there are other non-supers who are still heroes in their own way: police, first responders, the military... I know it sounds sappy, but it’s true.” She said with a slight chuckle.

“In fact...” Zahra picked up the assignment again, “most of the questions in this quiz involve working with the authorities and other non-supers. Question 1, for example...” She trailed off as she looked up the first question to read it aloud:

The mayor’s son is getting married today. You, in your civilian identity, have been invited to the wedding, but just as you’re getting ready, you receive an anonymous tip claiming that the bride is actually a double agent hired by your archenemy to kidnap the mayor’s son during the wedding. The wedding is only minutes away; you don’t have enough time to personally verify whether or not the allegations are true. If you disrupt the wedding and the claims prove to be false, your reputation as a hero will be seriously tarnished, and the city as a whole will become more skeptical even if genuine villainous plots are discovered in the future. But if the claims are true and you fail to prevent the kidnapping, the mayor will be forced to surrender control of the city to your archenemy. Fortunately, because the wedding is a high-profile event, you can request help and/or information as needed from the following potential allies who will also be attending the wedding:

The mayor & the mayor’s family
The mayor’s bodyguards
The Chief of Police & several police officers
The city’s finest news reporters & gossip columnists
A playboy billionaire who is secretly a technopath superhero
The Commander & Jetstream

In what order (first to last) do you contact each of your allies for assistance and/or information?
What tasks, if any, do you ask each of your allies to do?
What information, if any, do you ask for from each of them?

HINT :: The mayor and the mayor's family must be protected as much as possible, but without disrupting the wedding unless absolutely necessary. You should also have at least one of your allies help you to determine whether or not the allegations against the bride are true, but you must avoid tarnishing her good name without proof or otherwise creating a public scandal.

[Price]

Jesse listened as Zahra gave him her best ‘you don’t need powers to be a hero’ speech. Maybe she was right, but it seemed that all of Sky High disagreed with her. Every student there had powers, Tau had covered for him at Hero Placements, but how long could he possibly keep that up? Sooner or later someone would catch on to the ruse. Then Jesse would be finished for sure. At least now he didn’t have to face his father when that day came...or his mother. That thought brought more pain than relief prompting the boy to close his eyes for a moment and reclaim himself from his thoughts.

Zahra was already reading the first question. Hypothetical scenario, just the kind of wacky situation that a school board of supers would cook up. Just how likely a situation was this anyway? Then again, this was the same school that had allowed itself to be infiltrated by an old school mega super-villain only a year ago. They probably would be duped into allowing a villain stage a marriage and kidnap the mayor’s son. He rolled his eyes at that. Anyway, what were his options again?

Jesse was talking his thoughts out-loud as he began ordering his answers.

“Okay, okay, let’s see here…” he said quietly. “First I go to fancy playboy techno hero for backup. I set them up for recon and intel gathering…” Jesse began writing the answer onto paper.

“Next I inform the police chief and his force followed up by the mayor’s security detail. They’d be able to keep a closer watch on the bride without any loss of discretion…I ask the police for a profile on the bride, any priors, any red flags in her history, and I ask the security detail if they have noticed any strange behavior from the bride... ”

“Next in line is the mayor and family. They don’t get bothered by me unless it is absolutely necessary, so I won’t speak with them until there is proof…I instruct them to act natural, as if the plot has not been uncovered...”

“Next I give an anonymous tip to the journalists...let them blow the whole plot up without me even lifting a finger.”

“Last is…them,” the vitriol in Jesse’s tone was evident. Just thinking about the Strongholds put him in a foul mood. Anger was etched into his face as he broke a pencil just after writing the last number by their name. He was practically shaking in his resentment. “I’d go after the bride myself before I ask them for help…”

Jesse’s agitation seemed to prompt his skin to turn back to that milky white pale shade from before.

[Lady Celeste]

Zahra had already started taking notes while Jesse was working through the problem on his own terms. His answer was very well thought out and used all of the most logical options the first few 'allies', from the playboy techno hero serving as a recon man to gather intel, to the police, the mayor's security, and then the mayoral family...

...after that, however, was where things started to get a bit shaky. Most notably, the Commander and Jetstream were placed at a distant last with no tasks assigned to them whatsoever, for no apparent reason other than Jesse's own inexplicable hatred of them. Zahra's first instinct was to ask about this, but it soon became clear that Jesse was in no condition to have to answer those questions, his skin becoming unnaturally pale as he broke his pencil while writing.

"Jesse, you okay?" Zahra asked first. "Do you need a break?" Better to give Jesse a chance to settle down before asking him anything that could potentially kill him like this, but it was obvious now that they couldn't dance around this subject for much longer.