Chapter 78: 71.2 Politics, Powers, Progress (2 of 2)

Jay waited on the school rooftop. The rainfall had stopped earlier. But it was picking up again.

The time for Wednesday’s meeting had arrived. Everyone was waiting for Jay. But tonight’s fun couldn’t start without one of the best guest appearances anyone could have. 

Through the darkening skies and rain, Jay spotted a streak of purple rocketing toward Central High. Moments later, Kleo landed on her master’s shoulder.

“Welcome to school,” Jay said.

“Do we learn to backstab and spin lies to reign at the peak of hierarchy?” Kleo asked with a lopsided grin.

Jay blinked. “Depends. Sometimes, I guess. But that’s not our thing tonight. We’re here for the magic.”

“Someone’s gonna get blasted,” Kleo said as if it was a no-brainer.

Jay moved to the building’s edge before turning earth’s gravity sideways for him and Kleo. He walked down the wall and knocked on the window to the fifth-floor meeting room.

Dennis opened up and let Jay jump in. With a casual flex of his Skills, Jay dropped inside like he was in low gravity, his hair and clothing fluttering slowly.

He tilted the Earth’s gravity gradually and transitioned into a smooth walk to complete his entrance. Kleo stayed on his shoulder throughout just peachy fine.

“I believe Rick and Tim were betting you'll get thrown out,” Mike said dryly, “not for you to float inside.”

“What can I say?” Jay shrugged. “I defy logic.”

“And I don’t poop!” Kleo cheered, waving from Jay’s shoulder.

The Champions had a small eruption of glee and wonder from getting to see Kleo again under calmer conditions. Hailey reached out. After Jay's permission, she picked up Kleo and settled her on one palm while most of the girls cooed over her.

Lilith cooed, too. But Lilith was cooing for the sake of science, which made Kleo clingy to either Hailey, Brit, or even Macy.

Kleo wound up getting swallowed in Macy's cleavage. Mostly everyone erupted into a roar of laughter from that. Even Frank cracked a grin.

Jay smiled, knowing this meeting was going to go great.

***

Jay gawked, feeling mortified. He was looking out into another rainy night through the man-sized hole in the wall. Down below, Rick was laying on his back amid some rubble after falling five stories.

He wasn’t moving.

Then he sat up and vomited an obscene amount of blood. He spat the last bit aside and looked up.

“Okay, I get it! Betting you’ll get thrown out was a bad idea!” Rick laughed like a loon, his voice reaching far across the wet and darkened school.

Jay shook his head as everything became a storm of arguments behind him. It was mostly between Mike and Hailey, the [Mages].

After some introductions to overall System stuff, Affinities, Skills, Talents, and Titles, the extra powers came up next: incantation and spellcraft. And lo and behold the ideas the [Mages] had cooked up from Jay being able to use an incantation.

He could probably use a spell, too.

One thing had led to the next.

Hailey had dug up a simple Mana Bolt ritual

Jay and Kleo had read it together.

Instead of using a stencil, Kleo had used her [Mana Weaver] Talent to shape the runes and lines in front of her master. Things had gotten weird from there. She couldn’t draw the ritual circle for Mana Bolt. It had come out as something different. Unknown. Only Jay could read it since the [Mages] hadn’t the knowledge.

And Rick had offered to be a test dummy. And the Champions had downed a couple of drinks–some more than others to get past their Resilience even when limited. And Jay had figured if Rick was game to get test-dummied by new magic, things would end all right. Their [Mediums] had plenty of healing powers between them, so why wouldn't Jay test it?

It sounded fun to Jay at the time. And the Champions hadn’t done much overt magic in a while–and Lilith had been chomping at the bit and telling Jay to do it. Just do it. Just do it! She had been louder than Mike’s worrying concerns about the insufficient environment. Hailey had shushed Mike since she wanted to be cool with Kleo.

Kleo had egged her master to show everyone their gravity magic through spellcraft.

“Bolting G,” Jay had cast, igniting the runic circle Kleo etched into the air prior.

For a split instance, the entire room’s gravity had contracted into a shiny purple bead. Not only had the ritual pulled everyone lacking decent Poise toward the duo, but it also suspended gravity for those affected like astronauts in space.

Until the little purple bead had shot forward and collided with Rick. The Poise-lacking Champions had returned to normal gravity and dropped. And a new exit had been made.

Jay kept staring out of the wound in the school building before looking at a System notification.

Gravity Mastery leveled from 1 to 3!

Yeah, Kleo’s new passive Skill would improve gravity powers, including learned gravity spells. Even if the Skill wasn’t up to snuff with its low level, its boosting nature plus Jay’s higher level, Attribute advantages, and Kleo’s [Faerie] magic potency would’ve created a destructive scenario like this.

“So, this is where the school arc gets more interesting,” Frank said softly, sounding like the coolest person in the room. “Luckrun’s downward spiral to evil begins with the destruction of school property. Forcing the transfer student to stop him.”

“Please don't start spinning narratives all of a sudden when I'm in the wrong. I didn’t think it’d be that strong,” Jay said shakily.

Frank leaned over the edge and looked down. Custodians and CWG agents ran over to Rick as he brushed himself off and kept laughing like a maniac.

The Dragon [Fighter] glanced at Kleo’s giggling form. The mischievous [Faerie] was very pleased.

“Did you know this would happen?” Frank asked Kleo.

“Maybe!” Kleo cheered. “But this is the most fun I’ve had in days. Let’s blast more people through the walls. You’re up next, Frank!”

The [Fighter] thrust out a kick to knock Jay into the open air. Jay’s spatial-g mapped out the moment Frank had started to kick and gave Jay the heads up to dodge by a scant inch.

Kleo used [Sling Assist] on Frank’s kicking leg as an object in flight and swung him a couple of feet forward. That was all the [Faerie] needed to watch Frank suffer like he was Wiley E. Coyote going off a cliff.

“Damn you–” Thud! “Luckrun!”

“That was Kleo, not me!”

“I’m blaming you!”

“Why, Kleo, why?” Jay moaned into his hands.

“I told you,” Kleo said. “I have devilish tendencies.”

“But that was Frank!”

“And Frank played himself. He tried to out-cliff a gravity duo. That cannot go unpunished, Master.”

Jay thought about it. His [Faerie] had a point. Frank really had played himself.

“Now we’re two for two for fall wins!” Kleo turned to the other Champions. Her eyes shone purple with miscreant ideas. “Anyone else wants to play on the cliff with us?”

Atlas, this could mark the end of bets or threats of Jay getting thrown around. Kleo’s creepy malice added that last touch of dominant energy that Jay occasionally exuded on his own.

He was nice.

While Kleo wasn’t.

But he was her master.

And she happily served Jay.

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Together, they seemed overwhelming.

“Dude,” Dennis said with wide-eyed amazement. “You really are overpowered. Like really, really overpowered.”

“Yup,” Jay said, watching Rick help Frank up to his feet. Brit went below and healed them in front of agents and civilians. “And I’m probably gonna get more ridiculously overpowered. It’s kind of scary.”

“Master Jay? Monster Jay! Master Jay? Monster Jay!” Kleo cackled, kicking her legs from Jay’s shoulder.

Whether it came from Jay or Kleo didn’t matter as the truth of their words rippled across the room. Out of everyone, the Divine Four’s emotional gravity seemed the most distraught toward Jay’s power status–especially Casey. Lilith was the happiest for him–which Jay clearly heard through her evil laughter. Agent Cabana had called Jay Highest Champion for a reason, after all.

Eventually, all the shock and theatrics calmed down. Frank, Rick, and Brit rejoined them. Without making too much of a fuss, the Champions moved to another staff room and completely ignored the problem with the hole in the wall.

They gave the new room the double magic treatment for silence and security and kept rocking and rolling from there. It took them until dawn the next day before they finished going over everything plus ideas for leveling Skills, enhancing personal power synergies, working out what Champions could complement each other in different ways regardless of teams, and more.

It was ridiculously fun, geeky, and had all thirteen crawlers engaged. Somewhere along the way, they stopped being the Childhood Trio, the Divine Four, the Junker Twins, Superjock, Band Lead, Spook, and a dungeon monster. They became the pure central essence of their Pantheon. They became the Champions of YoAnna first and foremost.

The last thing was Hailey making a list of all the significant powers and tricks paired with short descriptions for everyone to read and reread. Once she burned it, that signified the end of this meeting.

And the start of a new school day five minutes before their first block of Thursday classes.

Kleo flew back to the motel.

Jay, Dennis, Rick, and Tim got some sleep in the back library, only to wake up when they had to check in for math and science classes. It wasn’t much, but those bean bag chairs did wonders.

Jay shared the spot on an encrypted group chat Lilith had set up. The rest of the Champions arrived at the back library when lunch came around. All twelve snoozed together like having a school slumber party.

“Jay,” Mike called quietly.

“Yeah?” Jay replied without opening his eyes.

“Who do you think is covering us for the wall?”

Lilith grumbled in her sleep between them. It sounded like she was unhappy for some reason. Jay reached over and combed through her hair, calming her down.

Then he answered Mike’s question while barely conscious. “Some sad but reliable adult.”

***

Derek rubbed his temples. He was sitting across the desk from the principal ranting over the destruction of school property.

Derek had once been a double-major in psychology and communication with a thing for surfs and beers on the weekends. He joined up with the FBI when one of his friends had OD’d on some bad stuff, and no justice was to be found for the family.

To Derek’s surprise, he had done pretty decent work getting crooks to fess up by being cool with them. He had done better work with witnesses. He was a patient and calm man, mainly. People liked that vibe. They liked it so much that the MPC had recruited him directly.

A year and some change later, Derek wondered if he would have been better off refusing the MPC job. The money was amazing. The Night of Knives was not fun. And dealing with a self-important and pompous man was no bueno, no good.

The principal’s argument boiled down to expelling the Junker Twins, Spook, and Rooftop Weirdo (even the principal used their nicknames primarily, a phenomenon that was mainly witnessed here in this school and in small pockets around the city). The principal argued all of the kids were dangerous, but he disliked those four especially.

Apparently, Junior Agent Stronghold had given the principal a dirty look. Which was enough to set off the man. The principal would eagerly expel a student with a significant disability. That was risking some PR damage, but Derek kept that to himself.

Derek agreed on some level that the Champions shouldn’t be so casual with their powers while hanging around the school.

But his MPC bosses wanted the Champions undisturbed in their school environment. The CWG was grossly interested in Champion shenanigans to get more info off them. Especially outside of their enchanted blackout rooms.

Tuesday’s magical brainstorm with Jay’s powers whetted the CWG’s appetite. The hearsay about Champion powers plus one Champion getting blasted through a wall and into a five-story fall that he walked off was making rounds within the CWG and three-letter agency communities.

It was a mess.

And through it all, Derek could see how dangerous the Champions could be. How scary it was to have innocent and normal children around them. And how everyone’s lives at Central High were in the hands of moody magical teenagers with a violent streak.

Too bad that was mostly happening since Central High opened its gates three years ago. They’d been in the hands of a moody teenage goddess from the start. Thankfully, she didn't have a violent streak. After being informed of the enormity of the situation and sworn into secrecy, the principal's concerns failed to measure up to the ginormous powers backing the Champions.

“If we expel any of the Champions,” Derek said, “Miss Sainte-Rhythm stops donating to the school.”

Derek didn’t know that for sure. But he sounded damn confident. It was enough to poke the wind out of the principal. Made it easier for Derek to convince the principal that the CWG would cover the damage–they were technically in charge of the Champions after all. At the moment. 

Derek also ensured the CWG would give the principal a little extra, too. The principal was all smiles after that.

With that business finished, Derek toured around the giant fancy public school. He stopped to admire the verdant landscaping, lion emblems, the spirited students, and sleek color palettes of white, gold, and black. His journey led him to the Champions throwing a slumber party in the far back library near the fields and biology projects.

Derek shook his head and started to turn away. He was just a man that should commit to the background work. The kids wouldn’t have to worry about much other than fighting monsters and assassins while the adults did the boring stuff and got no recognition.

“Yo, Derek,” a joky voice called from behind him.

Derek froze. He turned and saw Jay peering through the crack between the library’s front doors.

It was beyond creepy. Derek still hadn’t a clue how sharp Jay’s senses could be. Apparently, Derek hadn’t been discreet enough.

“Who’s watching over Mom?” Jay asked, his voice a razor-thin line between humor and gravity.

“The CWG girl you said was cool. Amanda something. She’s there. Kleo, too.” Derek paled a little as Jay’s different-colored eyes glowed intensely. 

Then they dimmed as if Derek had been saved from getting a chest filled with a gravity laser beam. Nothing in Jay’s quickly updating dossier had mentioned that, but you could never know. One of these kids was bound to have freaking laser vision, and that was the wrong kid you wanted glaring at you.

“Checks out,” Jay said. He tilted his head, leering through the crack like a deranged Oompa Loompa. “Wanna join in for a nap? Gotta spare bean bag.”

“I probably shouldn’t, brah. I’m not a student and–”

“C’mon,” Jay insisted, his voice empowered by something that was hard to resist. Maybe more of that gravity magic. “You were doing adult stuff, right?”

“Yeah, you can say that.”

“Then take a load off. You deserve it.”

Derek had lots of reasons to decline. He hadn’t really registered as a visitor at the office, for example. And he was interrupting the surveillance conducted by the CWG.

But resisting a Champion wasn’t a good idea.

He still felt spooked from when Emily yanked a ghost out into the open with frozen phantom chains. He could still feel that bitter ghoulish cold and hear the wails in the gusting air on a Monday morning.

Ironically, he’d prefer that to his depressive thoughts toward Caroline’s betrayal and death. Still, the principle stood. The Champions were above Derek, and he’d best play along to get along.

“Well, I am a little wiped,” Derek said with a sigh.

A minute later, Derek found himself staring up at a beautifully painted ceiling filled with unicorns, rockets, and monsters. The bean bag was one of the comfiest he’d experienced in a while.

Jay was back to sleep even though Derek figured the kid could still keep track of things while he wasn’t fully conscious. A few of the Champions cracked their eyes open, regarded Derek, recognized Jay’s attitude toward him, and closed their eyes. It was like being brought into a pride of lions and hoping the lion who invited you had enough rep to keep the other lions from eating you.

Derek struggled to rest amid a powerful and killer group like this.

The holy bad girl–Brit–flicked her hand lazily at Derek without fully waking. Like waving away a buzzing fly. Derek would’ve felt bad for being a nuisance if it wasn’t for the sudden calming tide that swept over him.

Derek’s tension lowered. He felt at peace. Like laying back on the beach. Blue skies. Lapping waves and salty breezes. Nothing to do but snooze.

Y’know what?

These kids were–YAWN–all right.

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