Nightfall

Chapter 18: Weaponized

When we got back to the dorm we fell onto the beds and stared at each other quietly for several seconds. Anya was still ferociously mad, but Drake just looked concerned.

"Okay," I started, "So what the hell was that all about?"

Drake looked at Anya, but finding her still out of reality, took it upon himself to explain. "So a day after you had your little episode and everyone in the school felt the gravity well, these three people showed up in front of the dorm. All three of them had facial tattoos and looked mean, just like animals. You met two of them today, Eva and Adam. The third guy is like a mountain and looks just as nasty, but he doesn't really talk, he just sits, so I don't remember what his name was. Anyway, they sat out in the hall for an entire day until Anya went out there to ask them what they were doing. They told her they wouldn't move till they talked to both of us together, so she went and got me and they introduced themselves. They're the number three squad in the academy, and they were trying to make us their allies. It sounded great at first, but the problem was, they reeked of evil intentions. No matter what they said, Anya and I just knew they meant trouble."

"Yeah, I don't blame you for feeling that way." I mumbled. After all, they definitely did not seem like first class people.

"Anyway, after we told them to suck a dick they got mad and attacked us. Eva sat out, so it was just two on two, but they were seriously tough. The big dude is a kinetic like you, but the other guy is a water type, and they destroyed us. It really wasn't too much of a fight honestly, we just basically rolled over and got beaten down. I didn't get any major injuries from it, but they broke one of Anya's arms. And when they'd had their fill, they just walked off and said we were weak."

He rolled up his shirt as he said this and revealed a series of colorful bruises on his torso. "Anya was a lot worse so we got a guy from another team to heal her. But he exhausted his energy on her, so I never got healed."

Hot rage welled up inside me when the thought of both of them laying in the hall, beaten up, crossed my mind. I balled my fists. "What the hell?!" I hissed.

Anya spoke up, "Don't do anything Stone. We told the school and they're monitoring them, they said the first one of us to start an in school fight would be expelled."

"Yeah but I can't just let them beat up my friends like that!" I snapped.

Anya's demeanor rapidly changed after I said that, and tears welled up in her eyes. Drake, on the other hand, looked at me quizzically.

"We're friends now?" he asked skeptically.

For a second I wondered if he was seriously asking that question, but a small grin betrayed his true intentions. Thankfully though, his well-timed comment broke the tension in the room and made Anya and I relax a little bit.

"Shut up, I was really talking about Anya; but I guess I'll throw you in there just to be nice!" I chuckled as I said this, prompting relieved laughs from the other two. "So it looks like we're going to have to keep out of their way for the time being. I'd rather just break a few jaws, but I can't risk getting all of us expelled."

Then, acknowledging there was nothing more to be done, I turned to a happier subject. "Well you guys excited to get this ball rolling?"

They both nodded, "Yeah, but it looks like we're already making a few enemies. So we're really going to have to turn up the heat on our teamwork." Drake said

"I agree." Anya started. "Stone and I have worked a little on our teamwork, but since your tagging along now I guess we need to go back to the drawing board. Everyone has a place in a team, and we should figure out who will do what."