3 A Meeting with Fate

"And remember class, please get home before curfew."

Alan yawned as his teacher dismissed his last class. He used to try to keep up with the material but now, that effort was gone. All he could focus on was his new powers. How he could make them stronger, what effects they could have, hidden future abilities, all these thoughts were going through his head as he walked out the school entrance. But he was so distracted that he didn't notice the girl at the gate.

"Hey, Volt."

Alan was instantly woken from his stupor and made eye contact with the girl who said those dangerous words. It was a girl about one-two years younger than him, she was really pretty and was smiling warmly. Alan was instantly suspicious and tried his best to calm his racing heart. He glanced around quickly before turning to the girl.

"Who are you and what do you know?"

"Relax. I'm just like you. I'm Leah, but please call me Nyx."

"From the bank?"

"Oh, I see you're well informed then."

"How do you know where I go to school at?"

"My uncle works for the police, I just borrowed some of his resources. It turns out it's not that hard to find people when you know what to look for." Nyx shrugged as she casually recalled her actions.

"What the? Never mind, what do you want?" Alan was shocked that this girl managed to find him so fast. It had only been some days since he saw that video.

"I've come to greet a fellow survivor."

"No, I'm not joining your little superhero squad. Go away." Alan shook his head as he was already turning his body to walk away.

"Then, we're in agreement."

"Hm? What do you mean? I thought you trying to recruit me."

"It's not that simple. Excalibur is obsessed with gathering the uh special survivors together. Not all of us want to keep order in the city but what can you do if a group of them shows up to convince you?"

"You don't want to follow him?"

"Well, don't you want the option to choose?"

"So, you need me to back you up in challenging his belief?"

"More or less."

"Fine, if it'll get him off my back."

"Great! We have two more people to get. We aren't going to be enough."

With that, Alan or rather, Volt left with Nyx to go gather more people who would hopefully think like them.

"Richmond High?" Volt asked skeptically as they approached the school.

"Yep, this guy was a little harder to find. I think he only transformed once and that was the night of the incident. But I managed to pull his face from a camera after he changed back."

Volt was both amazed and a little scared of Nyx at the same time. She was able to quickly track people and she possessed a Warframe, who knows what else she was capable of. As a result, Volt made a small mental note to tread carefully with her and to stay on her good side.

Rather than lead him in to the school like he thought, Nyx lead them to the sports fields behind the school. There were currently three fields, a football field, a soccer field, and a track field. They went towards the football field and sat down when they reached the bleachers.

"So, who's our hero?"

"Frost or Patrick if you prefer, is the linebacker over there. He's a sophomore and trying to get a starting position on the team next year. His mother past away ten years ago and he lives with his father and two siblings."

"Don't tell me you looked at his internet history as well."

"Well—"

"Never mind."

They watched the practice with rapt attention for a few minutes but neither of them really knew what was happening. It seemed like Frost was supposed to be on defense and was performing it decently from what they could tell. They started to chat about other things as they waited for Frost's practice to be over.

"So, Leah, please tell me more about yourself. Since you seem to know so much about me."

"Well, what do you want to know?"

"School?"

"Edison."

"I see." Volt was able to glimpse her life just from her school. Edison Prep was a school mainly for rich and/or highly intelligent people in the wealthier part of their city. It was privately funded and they were way better off than Richmond or Volt's school, which were both public schools. So, it wasn't too far to assume that Nyx was really high on the societal totem pole.

"Family?"

"Brother who also goes to Edison and my mom and dad."

"Okay, how about um how did you end up there that night?"

Nyx smiled and looked at Volt, their eyes met for a second before she turned back to the field.

"Nothing much, I was just hanging out there. How about you?"

"I was at the pier, cause you know, I got rejected by a girl and I needed some space." Volt sped through the second part of his sentence quickly which got a reaction from Nyx.

"Hahaha, wow. I'm sorry this was what you ended up with, especially after that."

"At least one of my dreams will come true, I get to be a "hero of justice"." Volt sighed as he agreed with Nyx's sad view on his situation.

"Well, I also like watching funny dog videos online. They're so loyal and I like them more than cats, our old one liked to rip the furniture too much." Nyx said as she tried to move them to other topics.

Nyx and Volt talked more and more about general things happening as they continued to socialize. Volt was already set on not joining Excalibur and so he didn't ask Nyx about the others. For now, he was able to enjoy her company as Alan with Leah and not Volt with Nyx.

The sun finally started to set when Frost's practice finally ended. They decided to wait at the entrance for Frost while the team headed to the locker room.