Overtime

twenty-one ✧ || damaged

"15 minutes until detonation." Fury voice crackled through the crew's watches, snapping into the thickening air of impending explosion.

"Where's everyone headed?" Snow asked, darting through hallway after hallway. Chaos dashed at his side as they stuck their heads into any doorway that budged and slamming open the ones that didn't.

"Rogue and I are headed for the upper floors." Ace called, followed by a short grunt, clearly launching himself up a fresh flight.

"Fury and I got the basements and boiler rooms." Blackwind claimed, the clanging of his metal hand against the device scratching through the speakers. "We're checking every piece of machinery down here, so we'll be pretty occupied."

"Ace and I are each covering a solid floor of classrooms." Rogue chimed in, his desperate panting not deterring the sounds of doors swinging and feet slapping in the background of their call. "We're checking every locker."

Chaos gasped, her legs squealing to a halt. The sound, the illuminated squeaking of rubber on tile, snagged the blonde's attention. "Lockers," she breathed. "Nobody checked the gym."

The two shared a moment of panicked tension, their gazes melding within one another, before the brunette threw herself in the opposing direction. She threw her blade out at her side, ready to slice through anyone or anything who stood in her way.

Snow barely hesitated, abandoning whatever his plan was after a second of contemplation to dart after her. If she was right, if nobody had checked there, there was a damn good chance she was throwing herself head-first into something she couldn't handle alone.

In a matter of moments, she was before the gym doors, brutally throwing her scythe against the middle to snap it open. She didn't wait for the male behind her — frankly, she wasn't aware he was on her tail — and threw herself inside. A quick scan of the place warranted nothing, and so her attention was thrown to the wooden stands stacked on the left of the room. She heard the door swing open the moment she slipped underneath, snapping the flashlight on her watch on to scan the area. "Check the boy's locker rooms!" She called, flipping around to check the other set of stands. "I'll check the girls once I'm done here."

"On it," the sound of his footsteps resonated before the words even left his lips.

Just as she emerged from her space, the brunette watched the wooden door click shut, then pushed herself directly into the girl's room.

It was eerie as she remembered pushing her way through the corridor leading to it. The last time she had wandered the hall when she was considered an equal to many, if not all of her classmates. But upon entering, the thick smell of gym attire smacking her senses, she was brought back to the cruel reality that her belief was false. She wasn't ever seen as an equal, and her old locker screamed that.

All along the metal door sat the handwriting of various owners, each scrawled word more vicious than the last.

Monster, freak, rat, creep, witch, hag.

"Aubrey, do you need backup?" Her watch crackled to life, but her gaze remained fixated on the sight before her. Her watch was met with silence.

"Where are you guys?" Rogue questioned, the frantic panting resonating in the background of the call. Hesitantly, Chaos drew closer.

"In the gym." Snow quipped, his breathing suddenly more fierce. "We're okay. Just checking the change rooms. I'm going to see if Aub's okay."

There was a moment of calm before it crackled back to life, Blackwind's voice seeping through. "Be safe. Radio if you need us."