Chapter 1: Welcome to the New World

With their boss down, that left me wide open for the two goons by the door, both of them turning on me and bringing their guns to bear and firing. On reflex I brought up my arms, and was surprised by the nanites as they quickly expanded and spread out from both of my limbs to form diamond shaped shield, the bullets deforming upon impact and falling to the ground. But that didn't stop the guy behind me resuming fire, and this time I felt as one of the rounds hit my head and.....well, to say it hurt was an understatement. It felt like I got slugged in the back of the head by one strong punch, and it sent me stumbling forward.

sorry. Epidermal thickness is thinnest around the head for easier head turning, not that good at taking headshots.

No shit, I thought as the shield fell back into my arms and I wound up on all fours, with the gunmen advancing on me. Quickly darting to the side I activated my cloak and left them stunned as I vanished, quietly standing up. Okay......guy by the hostages had to go first, so I moved behind him, grabbed his shoulder and spun him around into my fist as it met his jaw, following with a direct kick to the solar plexus. Huh, how did I know that's what it was called?

Uhm.....we may have shared most of our knowledge with you, and human anatomy was one of them

Oh......thanks. His buddies were shocked as, for all intents and purposes their friend was taken down by nothing. Not giving them time to think, I surged forward towards the next one but that made me flicker back into visibility. It didn't help them though as I was already on the next guy, kicking his knee and breaking it from the side before wrenching his gun out of his hands, only to slam the butt of it into his nose. He went down like a sack of bricks, and that left his friend to deal with, as once more I cloaked, getting ready to sneak up on him as he desperately panned his gun around to look for me. That was when my cover was blown, when there was a ringing sound that I recognized as my cellphone, and the tune was.....well, Chris' ringtone Now obviously I wasn't free to answer so I let it go to voicemail, but that meant the guy could tell where I was and turned in my direction, gun firing wildly and rounds hitting me. That was when I screamed in pain, as the rounds broke through my armor and into chest. They didn't go deep, that much I knew through the nanites but fucking hell they were definitely in my pectorals and way too close to my heart for comfort. Dammit Gestalt why didn't the armor work?

When cloaked, armor strength is weakened.

COULD HAVE FUCKING USED THAT INTEL EARLIER DAMMIT!

Jake blasted past the cops, bullets pinging off his armor. Sword thrusting, he cleaved the doors open...oh fuck.
"Stella." He grimaced. His girlfriend. She looked terrified sure.
So he angled the sword and pinned one guy, the changed tactics. He clamped the wolf jaws down on the roof and flipped, and as the roof ripped andnpeel, he stabbed the engine, causing the pinned man to shit his pants.
Planting his feet, the van came to a stop and smoked. The drive was unconcious, the guys in the back deirious.
Sword rretracted, he got Stella and flew to the sidewalk. Setting her down as the cops descended, Jake roared away and headed home.

This power suit rocked.
And damn. Why Stella?

So I stood there, de-cloaked and bleeding as my left hand clutched at my chest, the ass-wipe who shot me chuckling. "Not so tough are ya freak?" he said as he took aim.

A moment, this may itch a little.

And itch it did, as the nanites took hold of the bullets inside me and pushed them out, the rounds emerging from the holes in the armor and clattering to the floor, before the skin visibly started to seal itself up and the nano-epidermis covering the wounds. "Sorry," I said, "but I'm not going to be that easy to kill." He fired again, but this time the bullets just pinged off me, right at the same time the doors burst open and the SWAT team barged in. "Drop the weapon and get down on the ground now!" one of them shouted and I realized they must have been watching through the cameras in the bank and picked the moment to come in. It distracted the last gunmen so I took the chance to move forward, dip into a crouch and sweep his leg out from under him in the same way that Chris did to me earlier, before kicking his gun away. "It's okay officers, I got the badgu--" I tried to say before one of them screamed again "Down on the fucking ground or we will use lethal force." Oh. Shit. "What? Come on guys, I just took these creeps down," I said, but they weren't having any of it, one of them already aiming for my head. "And that is my cue to leave," I muttered, running for the window and jumping through the glass, shattering it as I landed out in the street.

First of all, that all still hurt in case you were wondering: the nanites were still in the process of healing my gunshot wounds, and while they numbed it a little it still hurt like every kind of bitch. Second.....the street wasn't empty. In addition to the first two cop cars, there was already four more and the SWAT truck, with several dozen officers forming a half-circle around the door, all their guns aimed at me. "Attention....vigilante," one of them shouted through a speaker. Heh, I guess since they didn't know who I was (and they were not alone there) vigilante was the best they could think of. "Get down on your knees and put your hands behind your head immediately or we will open fire." Turning in the direction of the voice, I called out "On my knees? Gonna buy me dinner first?" And then they opened fire.

Bullets bounced off my armor, every cop there using the usual pistols.....and then the sniper rounds hit, and while they didn't penetrate they did hurt a lot more, even making me take a step back from the impact. I needed cover, and the closest thing that could work was a car parked nearby, close to the van in fact. Darting towards it, I punched out the driver's side glass and grabbed the frame, dragging it to be between me and the cops on one side of the street. It sorta shocked a few of them, even myself, considering the strength required to move it like that, especially when I flipped it onto its side to block the other rounds. But that left two more angles of incoming bullets, but it bought me some time due to the shock value, and I jumped up towards the building across from the bank, grabbing the windowsill on the second floor and hauling myself up as fast as I could, jumping to the next level before reaching the roof and passing a perched sniper on the way. "Hey dude," I said as I passed by, leaving them sputtering in surprise.

=takes off after urthus and vaults over several fences not losing stride keeping up with him=

how do you feel about about cube steak mashed potatoes and mac and cheese?

Not taking a moment to look back I kept running, even as the sirens picked back up and I had no doubt the cops were going to try and keep contained to the building I was on. They didn't have much of a chance though, as I was already on my way to the next roof. The moment I landed, my phone started ringing again though this time it wasn't Chris' ringtone, it was Amy's. No I didn't have a song picked out for her.......yet. It wasn't that easy really. Neither was it easy trying to answer, since my phone was stuck inside my pocket which was under a layer of nanites. I could always try and stop to dig it out but I wasn't sure how well that could work.

If you'd like we can plug into your phone and create an ear-piece for you.

See now that's good to know, thank you for sharing. Please do it, I thought, and the ringing from my hip stopped......only to be replaced by the ringing on high volume in my ear. "Ahhh fuck!" I yelled as I stopped and slapped my hands over where my ears should have been. Man, but did I hate loud noises. Sure, most people my age were blasting their music on their headphones so loud I could dimly make out the lyrics, but I wasn't one of them.

Sorry, it was like that when we found it.

My fault, should have at least told you......look just set the volume to fifty percent when we're like this from now on. And how do I answer?

Just think of answering.

Oh.....well that was overly simplified. With a thought, I answered the phone and heard Amy's voice in my ear. "James?" she asked. "Yeah, that's me," I responded. "Hey Amy, what's going on?" Before she could respond her voice was replaced by Chris, who I had to guess yanked the phone out of Amy's hand. "WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU JAMES?" she screamed at me, and the term 'woke the dragon' came to mind. "Uh......I just took a walk," I said as I vaulted over an AC unit. "YOU JUMPED OUT THE WINDOW!" she yelled again, only for Amy to (I imagine) wrest the phone from her as her voice came back again. "James look you had us really worried here and we were about to call the cops. Where are you?"

Actually, come to think of it I was pretty close to my old home, or at least the neighborhood. That gave me a pretty good alibi. "I'm......Amy, look tell Chris that I'm back at my old house. I just.....needed to grab a few things is all."

"Are all of those food? Because that's all I really care about, right now." I replied, sliding out of a portal next to Zeru, standing up when I finally came to a stop, brushing myself off of the dust. "After all, someone convinced me to skip food to go spend energy." I teased

=stops as urthus comes out of his portal=

relax we'll get some food and at least you know how your suit reacts to intense heat

"It's not designed to do that, so I'm not really surprised. It was yelling at me the entire time, and for some time afterwards as it cooled off. Just like with most hazardous situations." I replied, giving him a steady look from behind my mask.

"Oh...." Amy said quietly. "Right, I'll tell her. Chris, James is over at his old house right now. He says he needed to pick up some things." I could dimly make out Chris's voice over the other end of the line, and she sounded a lot less angry. "James, Chris says to stay there and we'll come over. Sound good for you?" With no real choice in the matter, I responded "Yeah, I'll be here. Door's unlocked so no need to knock." I heard her laugh a bit and say "Alright Dr. Dre, we'll be there. Just be ready for an ass beating, Chris has that look in her eyes again."

Dear God, the Look, capital L. It was the warning bell Chris gave before something truly profound (and painful) was about to happen by her hands. I had been on the receiving end two times and it was enough to put the fear of......not God, but Chris into me. "Yikes......bring the first aid kit then. See ya guys soon then, bye." Hanging up, I resumed my trek over the rooftops before I reached the neighborhoods again, coming to a stop in my old one. Finding a place to change in private, I walked onto the street and found my house about four doors down. Like I said before, it was a small, slightly cramped building wedged between a bunch of other houses just like it, that Kat and I lived in after we lost our first house when mom died; two floors and a basement with the basement being larger than the other floors and serving as the living room, two rooms and a bathroom on the second floor and the first floor having a small dining area, kitchen and cramped bathroom.

It may have been tiny, but it was home for me. Walking up the tiny pathway up to the door, I noticed something was wrong: the floor-mat was out of place, and some of the bricks in the wall around the door had been removed, left on the ground. I still had my house keys on a chain, so I opened the door to my house.....and found chaos within.

"It's been tested before. I know the specs on it, for most cases."

just saying you never know what might happen cause for all we know we might end up fighting other enhanced beings but either way lets head back and i'll get the food cooking

=starts walking back to the apartment=

The inside of my house was a mess. A wreck actually, with furniture flipped over and gutted, the inside fluff strewn about like guts in a slaughter house (avert your gaze children's furniture) while every cabinet door was open, the contents all over the place. The oven, the dishwasher, hell even the fridge. I ran up the stairs to my room and found the place--to my utter rage--equally ruined, the mattress flipped over and torn open, along with my pillows. My dresser was ruined, every drawer torn out and flipped over, my clothes dumped on the ground. Moving to Kat's room, the place was just as trashed, and I noticed that her computer was missing.

Someone came into my home. They came into my home and trashed everything that was both mine and Kat's. To say I was angry was an understatement, as I slammed my fist into the wall, denting it and it was only then I realized that I couldn't feel in my hand. Looking at the fist, I saw that it was indeed back to being the prosthesis from before. Did you do that Gestalt? I asked.

Affirmative. We believed it would be best for the sake of camouflage.

Well, couldn't argue there. But right now my main concern was that someone broke into my house and trashed everything, even stealing something. Which meant they had come with a purpose beyond vandalism. Hey, just because I was fifteen did not mean I wasn't able to think with some degree of logic.

"The odds of that happening is, i believe the term is, astronomical." I reply, laughing slightly as I walk down the street with my roommate, not caring that I scare and frighten a couple of people now then as we approach them.

"true but in this day and age it wouldn't suprised me" i said as i strechted my arms behing me

"but either way lets head back and get some food shall we?"

Unsure of what else to do at this point, the only thing I figured that could be done.....was to clean up. Oh and call the police I guess. Leaving the house and standing outside by the door, I grabbed my cell-phone from my pocket and called Chris, since she might as well know before she got here. She answered on the first ring, saying "James?"

"Chris," I said, my voice panicked and scared. It's not like I was a good actor or anything, most of that was real. But after a few years living with Kat, let's just say I got decent at overplaying things to fool or convince people, mostly my sister. "Oh my god, someone broke into my house and trashed the place. My furniture's all over the place, Kat's computer is gone.......where are you guys?" I could already hear the sound of running footsteps, sneakers on concrete as Chris broke into a run, and she soon answered "Around the corner now, we're coming to you James. Are you okay?"

"Yeah I'm fine, I was going to call the police," I said, turning around to see Chris and Amy rounding the block at the end of the street, running in my direction. "I see you guys."

"Only if you are cooking."

After I spotted them, I hung up on Chris so I could call the cops. Few minutes later a patrol car came by, and I remembered the officer there, Officer Stallings, the one who talked to me after I was conscious from the.....accident. There wasn't a lot to say though, besides arriving home and finding the house like this. It took all of ten minutes which flew by pretty quick, and now Chris and Amy were helping me to clean up. As we cleaned up, getting furniture back in the right place and throwing out the spoiled food (whoever did this had done it in the month I was in the hospital, leaving the fridge open) the two of them engaged me in conversation, all gripes about my earlier escape abandoned as they sought answers about the vandalism.

Honestly I had no real idea who did this, save a suspicion. Whoever did this stole my sisters computer, and searched places that.....well, a lot of movies would suggest to be hiding places. Adding to that, was what Michael told me about what the investigation turned up. There had been a bomb planted on my sister's car. No one (not even myself) would accuse me of being a genius or anything. But those facts and how they might be related were not lost on me, not when they concerned my sister. Still, it wasn't something I was going to share with Chris or Amy; they were my friends, and if this was as icky as I imagined it to be I didn't want them getting in trouble over it. Especially if I was delusional.

When the house was.....well, bearable and I had packed up the rest of my stuff, we headed for Chris' house since it was already getting late and I started school again tomorrow. Amy lived a bit farther away than us, and no one wanted her out walking at this hour. Sad but true, but the economic decline and war had savaged what safety Brooklyn had attained for itself. She waited at Chris' house for her parents to pick her up, the topic of my house dropped.

"no worries then huh"

Michael was still at work, according to the phone conversation Chris had with him, and wouldn't be back for another hour at least. I went back up to my room, intent on checking something. Like I said, I was smart enough to see connections and I had a nagging feeling the briefcase my sister had left was part of it. So fun fact about the briefcase: it was a Nexus issued security case given to certain employees (yes Kat was among them) for storage and transport of high value materials. Titanium layered, fire retardant coating, and even featuring digital key-pad and lock system, there was no real way to break into one of these things. On the spot anyway. Now, ever since I got back from the hospital, the case sat uselessly in my closet.

That all changed as I had it laid out on my bed, me sitting next to it. The key-pad was still functional (thank you Nexus technology) and activated at my touch. There was a six digit code, and if Kat left it to me (or at least figured I'd get it somehow) then it would be something we both knew, with meaning. So I typed in what I was hoping was the right code.

F...A...M...I...L...Y

The lock opened, and so did the case. It was good to be lucky.....or to know family that well. Either way, the contents  were two things: one, a portable hard-drive, about the size of my hand and a little thinner, along with a note that read "Keep this safe." Taking the hard-drive and looking it over, I saw marked on the back '100 TB.' Whoa......100 terrabytes worth of information was on this. Taking it to my desk, I hooked the drive up to my laptop and plugged in my headphones as a precaution, and immediately my computer began accessing the drive. It was stopped at first though, by two windows. One asked for a security key, and the window was overshadowed by another screen. It looked to be a video recording, judging by the circle and sideways arrow in the center. But what surprised me the most.....was that Kat's face was there.

Summary: Message from James sister:

Whatever mystery was in the hard-drive would have to wait for another day though. Today had gotten me tired, despite the fact it wasn't that late in the evening. Then again, I was hardly a stranger to sleeping early, and already I closed the laptop and hid away the drive, crawling into bed to catch an early rest. Besides, tomorrow I faced something worse than bank robbers or mysterious data files: High School.


--Timeskip: Tuesday, October 3rd--

So my first day back at school since the accident came, and I wasn't feeling too good about it as I neared the corner that would take me around to it. I remembered quite clearly how Amy reacted upon seeing me and my cyborg glory......now magnify that by about several dozen teenagers. I was fucked.

So... Today was to be the first day of school in America, if it had been anything like previous schools it would be the same old place just with an American accent. Great. Oh... Add in being the daughter of a famous actress and a semi-successful lead singer in a band and well, as one could imagine education would be fun. Of course this was largely Lauren's own fault, her mother and her adopted step-father would have preferred her to go to a private school. She'd refused on account that she would lose touch with her fan base. Besides being stuck with a bunch of rich snobs all the time seemed a terrible idea, it was bad enough back home let alone at a school. Despite the war, the movie industry had boomed. What with the numerous war films to be made, her mom had been rather busy.

But enough about that nonsense, now began the drive to her High School, first day there and her mother insisted on her being chauffeured in. This meant travelling in a rather flashy looking car, being driven by a man in a fancy suit with a weird hat. The whole well off, rich kid look did not reach Lauren however, short, slender in black demin shorts with a studded leather belt, black leggings that reached into black combat boots, a grey t-shirt with her band's logo on it, a black leather jacket and a dull grey rucksack with her band's logo on that. It would be hard to miss the thick stencilled letters of GODS OF THUNDER. That and she was famous, people knew her face. All in all it was going to be a fun day...

The car drive seemed to be really long, perhaps it was because she was nervous. Her fellow band mates had ended up in different classes apart from for Music... Which sucked in her eyes, Lauren preferred the company of the band to most people. She knew them all well and they all got on fine. The journey however was over all too quickly, the car pulled in by the curb and Lauren taking a deep breath thanked the driver and opened the door before stepping out and closing it behind her. The car drove off leaving her standing at the school entrance. Seeing as she had no other option Lauren walked forward wondering how long it would take for someone to recognise her while searching the crowd for her friends.

"Do we really need to take the front entrance?" I asked Chris as she Amy and I rounded the corner and headed for the school straight ahead. I noted, oddly enough, an expensive looking car driving away from the drop off area. Maybe we had some new rich kids in the school, but that train of thought was interrupted by Chris who said "You'll face them sooner or later James. Might as well get it over with now. But if it makes you feel better, you can always hold my hand." Raising an eyebrow at her, I cast her a sideways glance. "Don't take it the wrong way, but they'll probably think we're....you know." She snorted out a laugh. "And what kind of friend would I be if I didn't hold my best friend's hand on his first day back to school?" she asked with an almost comical tone to her voice, reaching for my hand. It's not that I feared she had cooties, I got over that at age four. But I was not going to be treated like a little kid, so I darted forward and away from her, turning around to say "Ha ha......thanks but no, I'll be fine from here." And then I turned, and found myself in front of the school, and more than a few students.

So today my outfit was a pair of tan jeans and a red shirt. My leg was hidden but the arm not so much, and a few people looking in my direction spotted me and already began staring, nudging their friends in my direction. A few people called my name, saying stuff like 'welcome back,' 'how are you doing,' and 'hey can I see the new arm?' I was pretty sure some were sneaking pictures, but I did my best not to care. Chris on the other hand.....she made it worse as she and Amy caught up to me.

Taking the lead and clearing the way forward, we brushed past this one girl who was all in black as Chris started saying at the top of her lungs "Alright, move it along people, nothing to see here! Just a man out of the hospital, nothing to see." Then she switched to Spanish..... "Hey perra! Pon esa camara antes de que yo lo empuje hasta yo-" I cut in, cutting her off in the same language. "Está bien, no hay necesidad de que Chris." Yes, I spoke Spanish because I had two very good teachers: Chris and her dad. And I'll let you guess who I learned all the curse words from.

One of the other students seemed to have grasped the attention of most of the students, Lauren looked briefly to see what the fuss was about. But look away after a while before moving on, she was certain that he would not want a stranger's sympathy, even if her heart clenched with it. Still, it was only going to be a matter of time before someone noticed her. As soon as she spoke her accent would stand out and... Well the band stuff would kind of give it away.

Unable to see her friends, she honestly would not have be surprised if they were late Lauren made her way into the school using the paper map she had been given on her previous visit to the school to find her way around. Following the map she made her way to the room for her first class, English. Why not music? That wasn't for a while yet, same for lunch and going home. Lauren hadn't even taken her first lesson here and she already disliked the school. Yet she disliked every school she went to, all of them.

She paused for a moment outside the class perhaps readying herself for the usual nonsense that teachers went through when a new student arrived. As soon as that attention arrived most would know who she was, great not exactly the kind of thing she wanted. Alas, it was the price of being famous and good at what you do.

While Chris and I caused a small scene, I noticed that Amy had hung back behind us a bit as she was staring after the girl we passed, a look of familiarity on her face. Not just hers though, as it was on a few other students, and Amy soon caught up to us and tugged on Chris' sleeve. "Hey, I think I know that girl," she whispered as the other girl disappeared from view. "I think it's Lauren Milan, as in Gods of Thunder Laren Milan." Well that got me and Chris to stop in our tracks. Well, Chris more than me really, since while I knew the band name I wasn't much of a fan.

Chris and Amy on the other hand.......Gods of Thunder was one of their top three bands, and most I knew about GT was that they were a rising star from around four years ago, British group of teens.....and that was about it. Though I had no idea they came to the states or that their lead singer was at my school. Chris and Amy were silently discussing following her, while already a few students were doing exactly that. Guess it was my lucky day today; kids missing limbs was nothing compared to celebrities, and I used that to my advantage, slinking off to class and leaving my friends behind. My first class of the day was.......oh, joy. English with Mr. Buckell.

Mr. Buckell was......well, I suppose a decent teacher, but like I said before the guy had a rod so far up his ass I was sure he could poke someone's eye out when he talked. And I was pretty sure he viewed me as a troublesome slacker who by the grace of whatever god still existed managed to get this far into school. As I got to class, I noticed that a familiar face was standing by the door, the famous Lauren Milan from before. She had the same english class as I did? Oh great.....now Chris and Amy were going to pester me nonstop to sneak an autograph or cozy up to her......fat chance. "Hello," I quietly said to her as I got close. "You have the same class?"

The sound of a voice knocked Lauren out of her quiet thoughts as she readied herself to enter the room. "Oh... Hi yeah English right? I am at the right room?" Her accent was rather painfully obvious and it got more than a few heads turning around. "I'm new here" Lauren explained to him just in case she was in fact at the wrong room. Lauren glanced at his arm and said. "Erm... Sorry about your arm... I'm not sure a stranger's sympathy will help but..." She sighed and stopped speaking before taking a deep breath. "Sorry I'm just... A bit nervous"

She could go on stage easily but new schools where always going to be a challenge whether you happened to be a celebrity or not. She folded the paper map up and shoved it in one of her pockets no doubt she would need it again later. This school already seemed to be confusing, it would be difficult to get around once word got out that she was here. Well... The whole gang was but seemingly in separate classes. Well none of them where in her's. "I' Lauren Milan" She introduced herself offering him a hand shake.

When she made note of my arm, I folded it behind my back and gave a nervous smile. "Sorry, I've had a month to get used to it, can't blame everyone else if it draws some stares on the first day." Extending my left to awkwardly shake her own hand, I responded "James Connor......and I kinda know who you are already, but hi. And welcome to Gallagher High."

She smiled seemingly feeling a bit awkward. "Thanks... I guess most people do kinda hard to blend in when you are known for your singing" Lauren glanced at the door. "Should we go in? Or do we wait outside? It's just that I've been to schools before and the students wait before the..." Lauren stopped herself. "Never mind, it is nice to meet you however James"

"Likewise......though now my friends are going to hound me to ask you for an autograph, so be prepared...." I said, trailing off a bit dramatically. "Anyway, we just go inside. Mr. Buckell's the teacher and head's up, he's a hard ass with a pole wedged up there." Then without further ado, I opened the door and let her go first, following soon after.

Now like I said, Buckell was middle aged guy in his forties, hair already graying from stress though I'm sure I was the cause of it. He waited for the bell to ring, which would have sounded off class officially starting and us being at his mercy. Finding my way to my desk, I set the bag down and waited for the inevitable.

Seeing as the door had been opened for her, Lauren had no choice but to enter the classroom first. It appeared that James had manner, holding the door open for her which would no doubt come to bite him later, with this being High School. Guy talks to girl, girl happens to be famous etc... Blah blah. Lauren took an empty desk, several seats away from James and waited for the lesson to start.

More than a few heads turned to look at her as she sat down, new face, a few recognising the face of a famous singer. Lauren pretended not to notice and could not wait for the lesson to be over so that she could try and find her band.

Soon the bell rang and Buckell stood up from behind his desk, saying "Good morning class." He got a few scattered replies, but not that many and he frowned at the response. "Today we welcome back one of our own, Mr. Connor, from the hospital, along with a new student. Ms. Milan. Care to step up and share a few words with the class?"

Oh crumbs. Lauren seeing as she did not really have much choice in the matter stood up and made her way to the front of the class. "Hi I'm Lauren some of you might know me as the lead singer of Gods' of Thunder and yeah keep an eye out for the rest of the band too we are all here, so look forward to working with you all" She smiled and made her way back to her seat, setting off a chorus of whispers. The entire band here? Several celebrities? Well they would find out sooner or later, might as well tell them now. One thing was painfully obvious, her accent it stuck out like a sore thumb in this place. Still, now was time to work she could worry about the finer details of navigating high school later.

Jake was late. Ridiculously late. But he had a note, and a police escort too.
Since the kidnapping of Stella, and her miraculous save, the cops had been watching her. And while Jake drove the aged '67 Camaro into the parking lot, the police cruisers finally turned off the fucking sirens.
Silently he got out with Stella, and they trudged in towards English. Entering as some new girl was sitting down, the disheveled, tired Jake and Stella just threw their notes signed by five detectives down before heading for their seats.

Libra...Well, Libra was rolling out of bed. It was her off day, so it meant she could go ahead and fuck it all, and sleep.
Of course, her damn sister Seryna had to shake her awake.
"I have news."

Fuck her.

"Thank you for that Ms. Milan, it's nice to know we have a celebrity in the class," Buckell said, though from the tone of his voice it was painfully obvious how much he did not like it. The door opened again and two more students walked in. "Ah Mr. Chase, Ms. Evans.....how nice of you to join us two minutes late. Take your seats; now class today I want you to take out your tablets and open your English Book program. Today we will be reading the story of Beowulf......oh and Mr. Connor, if you would be so kind I must speak with you after class."

Ah fuck.....honestly I wanted to say 'It wasn't me' but knowing Buckell that wouldn't solve shit. So I'd bite the bullet later, and settled for removing my tablet from my bag. Also yes, we used tablets now for educational purposes, since buying and reprinting books was more expensive than renting out school owned tablets or writing software updates for personal tablets. It was pretty useful, since you could carry all your class books and homework on the devices, and they had a system in place for the rented tablets: any damage done to the tablet, be it physical or a virus, was coming out of your wallet. It actually made for some comical moments when people tried avoiding damage, or got theirs damaged.

But I had a personal tablet, so woohoo for me. I didn't get too far into reading the story before I received a message from Chris, she herself having her own tablet and the school not able to stop sharing of messages (didn't help much on tests since they still used written exams and those sheets with the bubbles).

Chris wrote:

So how's Buckell taking your return from the dead?

Chris wrote:

GTFO! You have English with Lauren Milan?

Chris wrote:

You lucky puta. Think I can convince you to get me and Aim's an autograph?

"lets see add some cheese and ham and should be ready" i said as i was making breakfast"

Lauren dug round in her bag and took out a tablet, it was her own personal one, still brand new. Her parents had spared no expense when it came to her education, a fact that could be embarrassing. Particularly in times when people found money to be difficult to come across.
She brought up the programme requested by the teacher but at the same time a chat window popped up from her three friends who it seemed had managed to make it here after all. Lauren closed the window however, electing to reply after the lesson was finished or when their was a break in it. After all the last thing she needed on her first day was to end up on trouble.

Closing the message box, I resumed reading the story of Beowulf. Honestly it seemed rather.....coincidental, that I was reading a story about a hero the day after I decided to play one. Or be one I guess. Still I chalked it up to chance since my ability to believe in matters of fate was on par with my liking of Buckell. This whole thing was odd for me though, reading the story like asked. Normally I'd be playing games or something, maybe doodling. But doing what Buckell told me too? Either I was finally conforming.......or Kat's last conversation with me--when she was alive and not a video recording mind you--had sunk in.

Sighing, I returned to reading the story, content to settle with the mental images my imagination gave me for the book, as the class period wore on. It ended soon enough, and I was on my way out when Buckell spoke up. "Mr. Connors, remember: I wanted to speak to you." Groaning a little, I hung back and let the rest of the class pass me by, before walking over to Buckell's desk. He sat behind much the same way as he did during the meeting between him, me and my sister. "Now Mr. Connor, while I appreciate the fact that this past month has been traumatizing for you, I expect you to remember our last conversation. You still have your paper to complete, and while I was lenient before given your status in the hospital that time is over. You're out and healthy, and that paper is due by the end of next week. If you fail to not only hand it in to me but also fail to earn a passing grade I will drop you from this class. Do I make myself clear?"

Gritting my teeth I stared down the asshole, wondering how the hell he became a teacher. "Crystal," I said. That seemed to be that, and he dismissed me to my next class.

Lauren had decided to wait for James outside the classroom and when he emerged from the class she smiled at him and inquired. "Hey James do you know where the science classes rooms are at?" She was not sure if he was going to be in the same class as her for the next lesson, but she figured he might know where it was. By now it seems everyone knew that she was in the school, the excited murmurers and glances in her direction proved that. So far though few actually seemed to be brave enough to try and talk to her... Except James so she decided to stick with him, who knows the two of them might even become good friends.

"Oh uh....my next class is actually in Math, but I know which rooms you're talking about," I said, rubbing the back of my head awkwardly. It wasn't because of Lauren asking me (which even then was odd since it's me. Not that many people talk to me) but because of the people staring. She was the celebrity and I was.....well, in the school's hierarchy, near the bottom rung of the ladder. By 'social law' she wasn't supposed to talk to me.

Guess she wasn't a sucker for the status quo though, and that made her okay in my books. "Come on, I can show you where you need to go."

"Thanks... I hope I don't make you late or anything" She explained. "I don't want you to get into trouble on my account" Lauren tried her best to ignore the stares though it wasn't easy. After all it wasn't every day that a celebrity went to your school.
"I really appreciate this by the way" Lauren offered him a kind smile. "This school is really confusing the map they gave me makes no real sense"

"Heh, yeah it'll have that affect on new students. I used to be one of them, but there's an app for the tablet that gives you a digital map of the school, even functions like a mini GPS," I said, before shrugging at her first comment. "And don't worry about it, I've got time to spare showing you the way. Besides.....not like I've ever been punctual before today."

"Thanks I will have to download it later" She replied with a nervous smile. "Okay well I don't intend to get you into too much trouble I do not think that is a good thing to do on my first day" Lauren then asked. "I don't suppose you've seen anyone else from the band here? All four of us are I just hope to have seen one of them by now"

"Well, no so far I haven't seen anyone else besides you. Doubt I'd recognize them either since....well, don't take this the wrong way but I'm not a fan of you guys. Nothing personal, just different taste in music really," I said with a small blush as we entered the science wing.

"Oh? Anything I can do to change that?" She teased good naturedly. "Perhaps a signed shirt?" Lauren noticed that they had entered the science wing. "How long did it take you to get used to the school then? Like know how to find your way around?"

"About a day," I responded. "Not that good in my classes, but ask for a guide and I'm your guy." Granted I wasn't sure about her room number, but I was sure she could find it. "And sorry, but the signed shirt won't help much......unless I was one of my friends, then it might."

"Well thank you for being my guide and I am sure that I will be seeing your friends at lunch or break" Lauren replied before spotting her room. "Hey there is it!" She pointed out. "Thanks for getting me here I don't think I would have found it otherwise"

"No problem," I said, slowly starting to walk away. "Anyway I should get going before the bell rings. Good luck in class."

"You too" She called over her shoulder at him before entering the classroom. The loud booming voice of Mike sounded from within the class. "LAUREN! Hey good to see you!"

"Aw, FUCK!" He screamed through gasps and moans of pain. He was thinking right now that he should have never eaten those spicy chicken wings. Or as many of them as he did, for now he was certainly regretting it. His anus felt like it was on fire, and every time something had to come out it hurt even more, and the heat just kept going up. He was rocking back and forth on his porcelain throne trying to get everything out as quickly as possible. He even tried some abdominal movements that help move food through the intestines. None of it helped, it came out when it came out. Though it was a pallid brown, which told Nicholas that he hadn't eaten enough the previous day, and that of the grave mistake he had made for choosing to consume so much spiciness. If ever there was a ring of fire, it would certainly be his anus at this moment. After everything had come out, or he hoped everything had come out, he wiped - and it felt like everything was on fire again. He wiped until it was as clean as he could make it, for with every wipe the heat seemed to increase, and persisted even after he had stopped. By the end of it, he had had a bloody nose and his eyes felt dry. Like the heat from his bowels had taken all the moisture out of the air. Which is part of what makes the spicy sauce spicy. Bonding with air molecules to "unlock" the heat of the spice. It was the same way going down as it was going out. He vowed never again to eat those spicy wings.

Feeling weak, and beaten, he flushed the toilet and washed his hands with soap and water. He had gotten out of bed early because his body had told him to excrete. Now he got into the shower to wash himself off. While he was in the shower he felt something he had hoped he wouldn't: the need to excrete more. On top of that, he had a bloody nose and his lower back started to feel particularly weak. This was shaping up to be a really shitty morning. Pun intended. He dried himself off and sat back on the toilet. His moans of pain now turned to whimpers. At this moment, this was the worst pain he never wanted to experience ever again. Whenever he thought he was done, his body told him otherwise. There was a union of flesh and porcelain that morning, and it was bathed in fire.

The burning sensation persisted even after he left the bathroom. This gave him a bit of a waddle to his walk. He put on some pajama bottoms and sat down on his bed. His hair was still wet, but it was drying. He laid back down, exhausted from the whole ordeal, and drifted off into sleep again. Maybe he should've had milk before he went to bed, to neutralize some of the spice. Oh well.

I just managed to get to my math class as the bell rang, cutting it close. Still, the teacher didn't give me any trouble over it and I sat down at my desk. Unlike English, Math was something I was good at.....sort of. So long as I had a calculator and Amy's help, I was okay. Without it though......well, that was when things became a problem.

Like right now, when I started losing focus and drifting off a bit only for the teacher to call out my name. "Connors!" he snapped, bringing me back to reality. He stood by the board, an equation drawn out. "Think you can solve this equation here without the calculator?" he asked, gesturing at the string of numbers.

((4,263/7)x34)+309x4^2=?

"Uhm....." Well, I was in trouble, or at least I thought I was before Gestalt spoke in my head.

25,650 is the correct answer. Say it.

"25,650?" I said. The teacher blinked a little, running thhe numbers in his head before nodding and saying "Correct, not bad James." Thanks Gestalt.

You are welcome.

I walked over to the door leading to urthu's room before knocking on it "wake up and get some breakfast, don't want it getting cold"