Powered Individuals

Chapter 7 - Lucky Break

I expected Merlin to expel me on the spot, but I guess the fact that I fainted for the third time played a large factor in punishment. After getting stabilized and a couple more hours of rest plus major bandaging on my legs, I was good to go. But the first place I was ordered to report to was Merlin's office. This was gonna be fun.

I stepped into his space and closed the door behind me. I saw that Tristan and Ruby were already there, looking in about the same shape as me. I cleared my throat but Merlin didn't look up from the paper he was writing on.

"I heard you come in, Watts, I don't need a confirmation," he muttered. I felt my ears go red in embarrassment and I stood in awkward silence with the other two for about a minute more before Merlin put away his papers and folded his hands, giving us his full attention.

I couldn't take the silence so I opened my mouth to blame the whole thing on me, but Merlin silenced me with a look.

"I am very disappointed in you two for not alerting me as soon as you saw that Miss Watts was up there with you," Merlin said pointedly at Tristan and Ruby. They hung their heads in shame. "But, if it weren't for Zoe, you two might not have come back at all. And I applaud all of you for working together, even though it was a huge breaking of one of the most important rules here."

Huh, I thought, I guess there are rules in this circus after all.

Merlin sighed and rubbed his eyes. "Although all of you are in giant trouble, I have received many messages from a lot of the attendees here, and I have decided to repeal your original punishments."

We all looked up at the same time and said, "What?"

Merlin chuckled and put on his glasses. "I'm sure that you heard me. You are free from punishment, and I think that you should thank your fellow gifted individuals for this save. That, and the fact that you actually worked together--to some extent--to take down Mr. Reynolds and have him brought back safely. Now go, before I change my mind."

We all muttered thank you's to Merlin and turned to leave when Tristan stopped and turned around in the doorway. "Um, Doctor Merlin? If you don't mind me asking, what was our punishment going to be anyway?"

"Why Tristan," Merlin said, amusement tracing his voice, "do you actually want a consequence for your actions?"

Ruby and I both yelled "NO!" and dragged him through the door, much to Merlin's amusement.

As we walked out of the hallway from Merlin's office, we were met with most of the kids at the agency cheering for us and applauding. I couldn't help but smile at the reaction.

This made me feel good. If being a hero meant that I got this every day, then I would become one in an instant. Kids were patting us on the back and shoving us around. I could see that both Tristan and Ruby weren't enjoying it at all, but I sure as hell was.

After I don't know how many minutes, we eventually got out of the crowd and we parted ways. That was it: no goodbye's, see you later's, or even thanks for helping out. It really kind a bummed me out.

I opened my dorm to see a frazzled looking Winter sitting on her bed. The second she saw me, the poor girl rushed up and engulfed me in a hug.

"I'msosorryfornottellingyouthatIwasgoingtotellMerlinIwasjustscaredthatsomethingbadhadhappenedandIdidn'twantyoutobedeadpleasedon'tbemadIwasjustlookingoutforyouIpromise!" Winter rushed out. Apparently she wasn't just fast at running, but her super speed impacted her speech, too. All I could do was laugh.

"It's fine, Winter. You were just worried, that's all. Any good friend would have the sense to do that," I soothed. Winter nodded on my shoulder and she backed away. Her eyes were a bit red and I knew she was on the verge of tears.

"Okay," she sniffled. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be. You're great," I smiled at her and she smiled back.

I yawned and stretched, indicating to Winter that I was tired. I wearily climbed into bed and she turned off the light.

I dreamt about thorns and wings, but in the end I burned them up.

——

The next morning at breakfast, Winter had beat me to the table. I wanted to sleep in for a bit because I thought that I deserved it after all of the work I did the day before.

I walked into the lunchroom and almost everyone I passed said "Hi" or "Good morning" to me. When I sat next to Winter, more people who passed by greeted me. It felt nice to have people recognize who I was for once; not because I had fried a town, but because I saved a city.

To my surprise, Tristan showed up to breakfast. I didn't know if he regularly showed up, but this time he sat next to me. He didn't say anything, mumbling something about not being a morning person, and I didn't say anything back. The three of us sat in silence-- Winter sometimes coming up with something to say-- and ate our breakfast.

Ruby came in only to tell us that Merlin wanted to see us. At this point, I expected any meeting with the head honcho of AAPI to be bad, but this one wasn't.

Actually, it was so opposite from bad that I thought Merlin had gotten sick or something. Turns out, surprisingly, we did so well taking down Vine together (this coming from the Penna, the race we evidently saved from extinction, so it was probably biased) that he thought it over and decided to form us into a well-oiled machine.

"Beginning this afternoon," Merlin concluded, "you three are to report to Training Room M for further exercises. I will be having Sebastian assist you with your group dynamics."

This earned a groan from Tristan and I questioned him about it once the meeting ended.

"What's your problem with this Sebastian guy?" I asked.

"He's an arsehole that doesn't need any more of an ego boost because you feel claustrophobic just being in the same room, that's what my problem is," Tristan grunted. I was taken aback by his brashness, but it was to be expected because Tristan wasn't the greatest nominee for the Best Attitude award.

"It can't be that bad," I tried to reason. He only shrugged me off and headed down a hallway. This left me with Ruby, and I didn't care how many battles I would share with that girl we were still going to be awkward standing in a five foot radius of each other.

We continued walking to the girls' dorms. After a minute or two, Ruby decided to give me an explanation.

"Tristan and Sebastian don't really have the best background," she explained. "From as far back as I can remember, the two always quarrelled over the smallest things. Merlin knows how bad they are, so I'm a little confused as to why he's making them train together. I suppose it's all in the name of heroes."

We reached the girls' hallway and parted without another word. I entered my room and got prepared for our training session in a few hours.