Super Powereds: Year 2 (26 page)

“You didn’t knock me out,” Michael called, his muddled mind finally forming words.

“I know. Why would I bother? It isn’t as if you can do anything.”

Those words, and the truth behind them, savaged Michael more than any of Vince’s attacks. Britney could see the devastation in her teammate’s face even as Vince walked toward her. It was strange; given what she’d just seen she should be afraid. After all, he still had to incapacitate her. The fear wouldn’t come; whether it was because she just didn’t see Vince being unnecessarily mean or because she was just too drained to conjure any more emotions, it wasn’t there. As it turned out, there was no need for it anyway.

“Attention all students!” Dean Blaine’s voice seemed to echo from all around them, broadcasting from the sky itself. “The match between Teams One and Four has reached its end. Alice Adair of Team One has taken Team Four’s flag. Staff will be coming through for healing and extraction momentarily.”

48.

“How are you feeling?” Professor Pendleton asked.

“I’ve got one of the best healers in the school on my team; she patched me up right away,” Nick reminded him. The two were in an infirmary office going over a post battle check-up. Healers or not, it would be irresponsible not to check a student’s mental and physical health after any combat situation. The professors handled this task not because of any extensive medical knowledge but because they knew all too well the tell-tale signs of a student hiding something that might be wearing on them. Such was not the case today, as Nick was in rather high spirits.

“Still, electricity can have some lingering effects. Tasing yourself was pretty dangerous.”

“Not like it’s my first time on the shit end of an electrical charge. Besides, you only call something dangerous if it fails. When it succeeds, it’s called ‘innovative.’”

Professor Pendleton suppressed a sigh. He wondered if he’d been this foolhardy and brash in his youth. Had any of his own instructors been present, they would have happily informed him that this young man in sunglasses had nothing on him in the way of moronic stunts. As it was, Professor Pendleton merely continued with the exam.

“I suppose it was rather creative. I guess no one would have expected you to get the better of Gilbert in a one on one match.”

“Yeah; in fairness, even I was only giving myself fifty percent odds.”

“Yet you went ahead with such an uncertain strategy. Why?”

“Because I’ll take fifty percent over zero,” Nick said simply.

“There was another option. You could have let Mary handle both of them,” Professor Pendleton pointed out.

“Gilbert’s power makes him difficult for her to deal with. We fought him last year and found that out firsthand. If he’d been distracting enough, Terrance might have gotten in a fluke shot.”

“Why, Nick, you almost sound as though you were concerned about her.”

“I was. Mary is our strongest member; if she got taken out it could have spelled a lot of trouble.”

“A rather cold, if accurate, sentiment. At any rate, it’s hard to argue tactics with the one who triumphed,” Professor Pendleton said. He pulled out a folder from his briefcase and set in Nick’s lap. “You’re free to go. Consider this a parting gift. It’s a summation of what happened with each member of your team during the match. Normally it would go to the captain, but since you’re here and I have it, you can pass it along.”

“I guess handing these out is standard?”

“Only to the teams themselves. If you want to know about the others, you’ll have to rely on gossip and hearsay like everyone else,” Professor Pendleton said, his words half statement and half challenge.

“So we don’t get to know anything about the other teams’ match then?”

“Only their completion time. Yours, by the way, was forty-four minutes and thirteen seconds,” Professor Pendleton told him. “As for the other match, Team Two defeated Team Three in just a hair under ten.”

“That’s actually better than I’d hoped,” Nick said, his face void of the surprise one might have expected.

“You do understand that they devastated the other team in a fourth of the time it took you to win, right?”

“Sure, but look at what they were working with. Taking ten minutes to win tells me they don’t have a strong enough team dynamic or tactician,” Nick surmised, rising to his feet.

“Just out of curiosity, what do you base that conclusion on?”

“The fact that if I’d run their team, they could have won the match in five.”

Professor Pendleton started to chide him then thought better of it. Nick was many things: irritating, condescending, emotionally distant, all that had been made very obvious. He wasn’t overly prideful, however. The boy seemed to look at himself with an almost clinical detachment when evaluating his personal capabilities. From everything Professor Pendleton had seen, if Nick thought he could do something, he usually had several good reasons for it.

“You should be less concerned with how to manage them and more concerned with how to defeat them.”

“Oh, come on, you and I both know those are one and the same,” Nick replied, heading for the door. “Thanks for the file. I’ll be sure Mary gets it.”

Professor Pendleton suppressed a smile. Say what you would about the kid, he kept things interesting.

“Nice to see you’re taking this job at least somewhat seriously.” Professor Pendleton’s smile evaporated as he heard the voice from the doorway. He turned around merely to indicate he heard it; there was no need to verify its source. He knew that voice very, very well.

“Hello there, Professor Hill. All done checking on students?” Professor Pendleton asked stiffly.

“Professor Hill? Really, Sean, it is bad enough you avoid me at every turn, now you want to stick with formalities. I’m beginning to feel a bit hurt,” Professor Hill replied.

“My apologies, Blake. I suppose I just don’t think we have all that much to talk about.”

“I think we could talk about plenty. Why on earth you’ve come here, for example.”

“Dean Blaine requested I fill the vacant position, one that opened up because you allowed a pair of traitors to live under your nose for years,” Professor Pendleton snapped, his rigid tone caving to his impatience.

“So we replace traitors with a criminal. The Lander HCP is really moving up in the world.”

“If you have a problem with my employment, bring it up with the dean. Otherwise, we’re done here,” Professor Pendleton said, striding through the doorway. Professor Hill grabbed his arm before he could make it all the way past.

“Let go of me, Blake. You don’t want to do this.”

“We aren’t kids anymore, Sean, and I’ve gotten a lot stronger while you’ve been rotting in jail. Still, you’re right, I don’t want to do it. I just want to make you aware that I know the real reason you came to Lander.”

Professor Pendleton barked out a harsh laugh. “Congratulations, you figured out the world’s easiest puzzle. Of course she’s why I’m here. What of it?”

“Just letting you know to watch yourself. That one’s path has already been decided. Any attempts at interference will not be well-received.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it,” Professor Pendleton lied. “Though given your track record with such things, maybe I should.”

Professor Hill released Professor Pendleton’s arm and lowered his voice. “What happened was a tragedy; I’ll never disagree with you there. Placing blame doesn’t help anyone.”

“It might not, but it sure as hell helps me wake up in the morning,” Professor Pendleton said fiercely, quickly walking away before his emotions could get the better of him.

49.

“I’d just like to start by saying that everyone did an amazing job,” Mary began, standing in front of her team as they lounged in the Melbrook common room. “I was listening to the team’s thoughts throughout the match and you all were great about staying with the plan and thinking ahead.”

“Even Roy toed the line,” Hershel agreed. The more muscular brother had opted not to attend the debrief meeting. Hershel suspected he was pouting at only getting one fight throughout the whole ordeal.

“He did indeed. In fact, it’s thanks to him and Alice that we got the flag, so an extra kudos to them both,” Mary continued.

Alice blushed as the room gently clapped for her and the absent warrior. It had been more luck than skill that she’d noticed a piece of fabric flapping in an artificial breeze; still, she was glad she’d finally contributed something to the team.

“Now then, because we only improve by learning from our mistakes and successes, Nick had a few things he wanted to address before we officially start celebrating our win,” Mary said, sitting down.

“Thank you, Captain,” Nick said with a flourishing bow. “First things first, I’d like to show you all a little motivation tool I’ve put together.” He reached behind the couch and produced a rectangular black wooden frame. Within it were seven playing cards, each with the corresponding team member’s name beneath it.

“Oh goody, the ‘we suck’ analogy has been framed,” Alice said.

“Not exactly. You remember how I said I would update this as my data changed? Well, in light of today’s match, I have a couple of alterations to make.” Nick laid the frame on the couch and popped off the back. With surprising dexterity, he slipped away two of the cards and slid two more into their places. He refastened the back and held the frame up once more, turning it out for the room to see.

“I’m a queen now?” Vince asked uncertainly.

“I’d say adding electricity to your ranged arsenal more than qualifies you for that,” Nick replied. “Incidentally, why is it you didn’t mention that little development to any of us?”

“I don’t know. I mean, Professor Fletcher really put in a lot of work helping me learn it and it took a good while. I guess bringing it up felt like bragging,” Vince replied uncertainly.

“For reference, telling the people who coordinated strategies for the entire team that you have a new skill is very much not bragging: it is merely reporting information,” Nick assured him.

“So, Vince I get, but why is Camille now an ace?” Alex asked. “Wouldn’t that mean she had combat abilities?”

“Indeed she does,” Nick confirmed. His eyes happened over to the small girl, who at present looked as if she might faint. Had the file Professor Pendleton provided not included her explanation to Vince about her victory, Nick might have taken her reaction merely as embarrassment at the attention. As it was, he knew she was hiding her real power from Vince for some reason. Nick didn’t know why yet, but he would very soon. Until then, he saw no benefit in upsetting one of his new heavy hitters.

“It seems Camille has quite a martial arts background she neglected to mention to us. Given how well she held her own today, I felt the card change was appropriate,” Nick explained, taking an odd pleasure in watching the relief and shock wash over Camille’s face.

“That is awesome,” Hershel said. “You have to tell us about your fight.”

“I... um... I...” Camille stuttered weakly.

“She would never be so bold as to interrupt me during an official address,” Nick swooped in. “To continue, while we certainly had a lot of success today, I want to bring a very key piece of information to light. We damn near lost this match.”

“What do you mean? I thought everyone won their fights except Alex, who got double teamed,” Alice said, adding the last part in a bid to spare Alex’s ego.

“We did. We came out ahead in nearly every combat situation, but if it hadn’t been for a severe fuck-up on their team’s part, I doubt we’d be celebrating right now.”

“It’s true,” Vince agreed. “Britney was invisible when she and Michael came and attacked us. If he hadn’t gotten careless and frozen her arm, we wouldn’t have known she was there. Even with that, if he’d frozen Camille instead of his teammate, I’m not sure I could have kept her from getting to the flag in time.”

“Precisely. I’m not saying this to point fingers or make anyone feel bad. You all did exactly what you were supposed to do. I just want to you to be aware of the importance of keeping abreast of the enemy’s tactics. Britney’s plan removed a big part of our telepathic advantage, giving up combat losses to keep us occupied, and putting their faith in her securing the flag before we noticed she was there. It was risky as hell and it very nearly worked. We definitely earned this win, but by no means was it the blowout it might seem to be at a glance. Don’t get overconfident, and don’t underestimate our opponents. After this little upset, I don’t expect them to be underestimating us.”

“Wow, way to be a bummer,” Alice said as silence descended.

“My apologies,” Nick said with a fast grin. “Learning from both victory and failure is the only shot we have to make it through this thing.”

“So what do we need to do?” Alex asked, his voice more eager than he meant it to be. Being the only one who lost today had left a bad taste in his mouth. He felt himself hungering to train and improve, never to be caught in such a humiliating defeat again.

“For tonight, we relax,” Nick told him. “In the coming weeks we’ll come up with some new training, but that’s in the coming weeks. Today, we kicked ass, and I think we earned a night to take it easy. Maybe we’ll even celebrate more enthusiastically this weekend. That’s all up to you guys. As it stands, we’re winners, and I think we should bask in the glow of being on top for a change.”

The sentiment, even if not verbally articulated, was definitely exuberantly echoed throughout the room.

* * *

“I want to thank you for bringing this to our attention, Miss Ferguson,” Dean Blaine said gently. “I know it can’t have been easy.”

“After what happened today it would have been a lot harder to try and sleep at night if I hadn’t told you,” Britney replied. Her eyes had grown moist during their talk, however her voice had remained steady through the entire duration. Britney knew this had to be done, if it made her feel like a snitch or like she was betraying an unspoken allegiance to her fellow students, that was irrelevant. This was the right thing to do.

Dean Blaine regarded her with a new measure of respect. Fighting clear cut bad guys was easy to get behind, mentally and morally. When the world was black and white you never had to worry about feeling conflicted. In situations like this, in contrast, where there were ample easier ways out, Britney had still taken the right path even though it would weaken her team. As an educator he wasn’t supposed to play favorites with his students, yet all the same he found himself earnestly glad that someone like this was placing so well in all of her exams.