Chapter 7: Shadows

[Somewhere]

A dark room hissed at the stark white displays illuminating it the beating it back the best it could. An aged man's shadow flickered as the screen shuttered to darkness and back to white. The shadow looked at the monitor, analyzing the words that splayed across the screen before writing something. It seemed to be aggravated by the sign of the shadow, launching a clipboard behind the computer. A loud hallow tap bellowed from the clipboard as it clattered against the cold, concrete ground. The shadow groaned, pulling it's hands against his face, rubbing it's eyes, sliding it's glasses up and the pinching its bridge trying to prevent a headache that it knew was coming.

"Project Ubermench…, fucking Nazis may have been brutally demonic, but the United States.. They were no better if they subjected 'him' to so much radical testing. And they barely had anything to show for it, except a pissed off Mia agent, a pissed off government body and more importantly a pissed off Agency." The shadow, looked at the monitor and a small collection of nucleotides flashed in red, causing him to write a couple of things down before he grabbed the mouse, furiously clicking.

'It must be better' The shadow thought.

[Midtown High]

'Let's go in the garden- mmm hm mmm hm hm' Isaac hummed pensively as he rolled through the hallway. He couldn't help but get that vicious ear worm as he played the same tune time and time again, more so even after he had fell asleep. He tried to he make his way to the lunchroom, where his best friend waited patiently for his arrival. He saw the teens spread between two sides as if they were repelled from him like water to Moses, except there was someone that wasn't.

"What is your skateboard doing rolling on the school's hallways, c'mon O'Hara, you are such a good student, don't waste your talents…And come to the Club, the students miss you. We still meet on Tuesdays" An older gentlemen who's limb was misplace looked strictly. The man growled before Isaac even recognized the gentleman as his Professor Conners who's initial growl shifted to a lumbering sigh, evading the slow rolling Isaac as he made the exaggerated attempt of getting off of the board before he just turned right to where the lunchroom led. Isaac posture dropped as he bent his knees, not knowing who was behind the corner. He saw a pair of jeans leaning against the brick wall and skirted out of the way, continuing his journey down the hall where the noise boomed out from. Isaac looked back and saw his cousin as she glanced at him quickly before her eyes jetted away but that only due to the person next to her getting pissed.

'Got damn it, wait- why is Andrew Parker looking at me like that, well his one good eye that he work right. Isn't she currently dating Flash?' Isaac got slightly distracted, causing him to not looking where he was going and that didn't end up well as he bumped into the less worse person he could of.

'Wow' Isaac's vision returned to where he was driving to as he skirted out of the way, striking his foot at his board and grabbing it and turning, stopping his momentum so he wouldn't hit the girl who was in front of him.

"C'mon Isaac, pay attention."

'Sorry Cissy' He winced before he continued walking, entering the lunchroom where he got his slop that the school called a nutritiously balanced lunch and looked for his friend was looked at him with interest. He walked over and as he got close, he gave a small smile as he sat down tossing, the carton on the table as he sighed out, already sighed like he didn't just skip school for the first half of the day.

"How much you make today?" Ernie questioned, She rummaged in her bag, bringing out a lunch container similar to the one she was currently eating. He gratefully accepted and quickly took a bite holding up an open hand before he coughed to get the food he was inhaling out of his lungs. He drink some of his Green Tea Arizona before he smiled, wiping his mouth with on of the napkins he pulled out of the dispenser.

"Jeez, is it me or it's a slow day."

"Yeah, I don't know what happened, usually I get a few new commissions for a couple of the students, especially the jocks but nothing for the past couple of days." He sighed but it was okay, he was decent as saving money as it was but recently his expenditure on food had increased.

Isaac and Ernie talked for awhile, passing the time while they both ate, with Ernie being slightly weirded out by the fact that he still ate the school lunch even after she gave a lunch herself, but knowing his situation she didn't mention it. She did however wonder where the hell he went after school, to which he told her-

"It depends, somedays I just work out and other days I just ride on my board around central park before I do some homework and then go home." His voice held back on the home part as he consciously knew he didn't claim that place that he slept at his home. His home was destroyed and that was okay.

'It has to be' The fact set in but he just had a faint smile as he thoughts faded and Ernie's school trouble fought for their place in his head. She wasn't a terrible student but she did need to study if she wanted to pass. He, not so much, his mom taught him most of the high school material by the time he was 11.

"The joys of being homeschooled. My parents could barely help me do my algebra homework when I was 13." Ernie quipped jealously. He chuckled, remembering that she came to him for help when he started attending middle school, it was when they started to really get close, to bad it took the most important person passing for that too happen.

"So….Isaac."

"Hmm" Isaac looked passively before he gave the lunch tray a toss into the kitchen, and the one Ernie gave to him back to her. She accepted, and continued.

A.N. [Sorry]