This is not about you!

"This is outrageous behavior! There will be consequences for this Diamant!" Blackwell shouted into his face as Cole sat down in the chair with a bruised and slightly swollen face. Sophia was seated next to him in a state similar to himself. She on the other hand was not getting the run down from the corrupt principle.

Not that Cole expected that considering the things happening behind the scenes here. 

Any problem involving Sophia would always lead to being the fault of the other party. Cole knew that so he should never have gotten heated up and punched that fucking cunt but well….she certainly had a way with words. A way with her fists as well considering the state she left him in. Years of fighting crime and having systematic training really shaped people.

Cole gritted his teeth as Blackwell continued her rant. No, Sophia did not have a way with words she just knew enough about him to target the few landmines he had. Tammi and his mother were topics he wanted no one touching but she came rushing at him with both of them.

He was led by his nose because he could not get a handle on himself but at least he did not reveal too much in that fight. Sure he proved that he could get hit and hit back just as hard but he did not pull off anything superhuman.

Ironically his blind rage was a positive in that fight. He did not spend time weaving and dancing out of the way of Sophia's fists. Instead, he spent the entire time trying to hit her smug face. Admittedly that led to him having to deal with the pain that followed but Cole was more than used to pain by this point.

Kaito did not exactly live a stable life and while he was not a fist fighter he had been shot and ran through enough explosions to toughen up. Hell, Ran beat him enough times that a regular if skilled teenage girl was not going to shake him up.

You would think with a lifetime of daring chases Kaito would be able to dominate in a fight but the guy was just not a fighter. He did not really have it in him to focus on violence like that. He preferred to be the dashing rouge.

Really Ran was a girl who could knock down walls with her fists so Sophia brutal attacks were not anything too concerning. Even if she was far less honorable with her targets.

"Ms. Blackwell, Sophia Guardian is here now." The speaker on the desk rang out and Cole let out a sigh. Of course, the PRT handler would arrive this quickly.

Blackwell dragged Sophia and him to her office after the fight got a bit too public and heated. Sophia rolled her eyes at her so-called guardian being here but she had a smug look in her eyes as she sat in her chair. Blackwell told the secretary on the other side of the door to send the handler in.

The door opened and a stern-faced woman walked in with a relaxed gait. She took one look at Sophia and shrugged off her injuries not exactly something a guardian would do. She also gave a once over to Cole and her gaze held just a bit more interest.

"Great, I apologize for the state that your ward is in Ms. Geller. I assure you that this hoodlum will be punished severely." Blackwell spoke out with a flattering tone. Ms. Geller just gave her a languid nod and stood over Sophia while keeping an eye on me.

Blackwell shifted her attention from her to Cole to get back to ripping him a new one.

"Mr. Diamant your behaviour is absolutely unacceptable. We have called your father in and he will soon pick you up and escort you out of the premises. From now on you are expelled from this institution." Blackwell spat out with a glare on her face.

Cole winced at her calling his father in but not because he expected the man to be upset. No, if he found out that Cole got into a fight with a black girl he probably would be ecstatic. He might even pat Cole on the back and go on a speech about how proud he was of him. Although his reaction was the most mild one in the room.

Sophia sprung up from her chair with an energy that belayed her panic. It was only Ms. Geller's steady hand on her shoulder that got her back into her chair. Said woman had a frown on her face as she looked over at Blackwell but she had a better handle on herself.

"That's not necessary. Kids get into fights all the time, there is no need to punish the kid so harshly." Geller spoke out with a frown on her face. Blackwell stopped her tirade for a moment and looked confused about the outcome happening.

"Just throw the prick into detention for the rest of the year or something." Sophia shot out quickly with a small wince on her face. 

Which had Cole looking at them with a glint in his eyes. Sophia's provoking him was probably not in the game plan that Piggot would lead with. No, her getting into this fight was definitely something she pulled off on her own. So if he got expelled that would be on her shoulders and Piggot was not someone who forgave mistake from Capes.

Getting him expelled was not a massive transgression in most cases but it would be terrible here. Kicking him out of this school would remove a point in which they could monitor him. Being expelled would make sure that he could not get into Acadia without being suspicious of what was going on so that was crossed out as well. Knowing Cole's father he was likely to place Cole in a place that the Empire had a tighter hold on to learn.

Winslow certainly had Empire members but this was not a place where the top brass went. The only reason Cole stuck around here was because of his own choice. So getting the choice taken away from him would get his father on cloud nine.

The expulsion was a bit harsh considering this was the first black mark on his file and how violent the rest of the students were but Cole had touched Blackwell's golden goose. So her trying to go hard on this made a certain amount of sense.

Honestly, he had no clue why Sophia did what she did. He did not really want to spend time thinking over the actions of the hair-trigger psychopath but maybe he should.

"No, Blackwell is right. Violence is never the answer and I should have never resorted to it. I will take my punishment." Cole spoke out firmly waiting for them to continue squabbling about this. Sophia really irritated him earlier so rattling her was one of the only joys he could have here. Cole doubted it would come to expulsion but he was prepared for it.

It was not like he really needed an education. Not with the power at his finger tips and the state of this world. So being expelled and having this on his record was not really all that concerning. He had reasons for sticking around here but he could probably dance around them. Still, like he said he doubted it would come to that.

Blackwell looked like she was not sure how to handle this and the frown on Geller's face widened. Sophia looked like she swallowed a lemon so at least Cole had that going for him.

Before anything else could be said his father was escorted into the room. The man had a frown on his face but as soon as he caught sight of Sophia the frown lessened immensely. He then stood behind Cole with a glint in his eyes that had Cole sighing.

"Heard about what my boy did on the phone. I understand the need to expel him so I'll take him out of your hands now." His father spoke out gruffly while pulling Cole to his feet. His father was not exactly happy about Cole attending Winslow but he accepted it as he tended to let most things slide with Cole.

 There was a look of panic spreading in Sophia's eyes and she looked seconds away from doing something but sadly Blackwell seemed to recover.

"That is no longer necessary Mr. Diamant. Ms. Hess and her guardian have pleaded for leniency for your son. Expulsion is no longer on the table but su." Blackwell started to smooth things out but when she got to that last bit Ms. Geller coughed loudly. His father looked over at the coughing woman with a frown. While that was happening Sophia was looking at Blackwell with laser focus trying to get her to understand something.

Cole wanted to laugh at the byplay going on. Blackwell was probably going to talk about suspension but that would not work with the PRT's plan either. So Sophia and her handler were trying to get Blackwell to play ball. Honestly, this whole situation stunk so much that he wondered how they thought they were getting away with it. Maybe they simply did not care that much about hiding their intentions. Or maybe her handler and Sophia were just that incompetent at playing this particular game.

Sadly while Blackwell was not the sharpest person even she could get the undertones being played. Especially since they were so goddamn obvious.

"Your son will have to attend detention until the end of this term." Blackwell shifted her words with a frown flashing across her face but she decided to roll with whatever the PRT wanted.

Cole went to open his mouth to say something but he was met with two sets of glares. One from Sophia and one from Blackwell. Sophia's handler kept her glare away but she frowned some more. Seeing that Cole backed down for now. Fucking with them was fine but he did not really want to leave Winslow.

Cole may have changed the script with his presence and his actions but Taylor was still likely to trigger. Being near her when she did it would lead to a massive power boost. Tammi's shard being stolen gave him a nice pool of energy but she was not exactly an important character in this world. So the weight behind the theft of her shard was not that explosive but Taylor was different.

Not only was she the leading role in this world but the Shard she was connected to was important to the network. So the amount of energy he would get for stealing that Shard was really fucking tempting.

If he had a bit more cursed energy Cole would dedicate a clone to following her around so he would have a one hundred percent chance at stealing her Shard.

"Is that so." His father shot out with a frown before he let out a sigh of his own. Cole's Father really did not want to keep Cole around here but he would let this continue if only because of his boy's wants.

After that, everyone was able to sort out Cole's punishment. He had to attend detentions for the rest of the term, which would really tear into his free time, but that would give him a good alibi, and his Clones were the ones going to suffer through it. 

Well a part of him would still have to deal with it considering the Hive Mind situation going on but at least the clones could sleep the dentenstions away.

While everyone was leaving the office Sophia was watching him like a hawk but one frown from his father stopped that as Geller put her hand on her shoulder and squeezed. They did not want to risk him taking Cole out of this school after all. Sophia had already crossed a line here but it was excusable for now.

School was over so he was prepared to drive home with his father and swap with the Clone with Tammi for the rest of the day but something else caught his eye. Cole let out a sigh at seeing a fidgeting teen watching the office door. 

"You finally coming to your senses and leaving this dump?" His father asked as he watched Cole pause his walking. Cole rolled his eyes.

"No, probably going to spend a long time here Dad. You head home I got something to take care of." Cole shot out as he walked towards the back of the school while motioning for Taylor to follow him with his eyes. Cole's father frowned but just walked towards his car, the man may not like it but he would comply with what Cole was planning for now.

It was a short walk towards the dumpsters where he first interacted with Taylor. He turned around and as expected the twitchy teen did in fact follow him. As soon as Cole turned around the nervous expression on her face faded and anger started to burn inside of her at the sight of Cole's current state.

Cole went to say something but Taylor actually beat him to it. She marched towards Cole with an energy he did not expect from her. Before he knew it she was in his face pulling the collar of his shirt with her limited strength. Her face was both bright red and furious.

"You need to stay out of this." Taylor spat out with her arms trembling as she held onto his shirt. She was radiating that anger directly at him which was confusing but Cole kind of got what she was doing. She was angry at the situation and she wanted to protect the one person who looked like they gave a damn about her.

So she was going to try her best to push him away. So Cole gently took her hand off of his collar. The girl was not exactly a body builder and Cole was enhanced so he had an easy time of it. The trembling in her arm faded as he grasped her and lowered her hand. Her face was flustered but raring to throw more words at him.

"That not going to work you know," Cole spoke seriously as he looked over at her. For a brief moment, Taylor's little act broke apart as she was not sure what he was on about. He could see the raw emotions that were hiding behind the anger that was masking everything else.

Before him was just a vulnerable girl who was worried and fearful of the future that would come to pass.

"Trying to make me hate you and push me away is not going to end up like you think. I get it you see me and Sophia beating each other with everything we have and your head spins. So you are trying to get some semblance of control here even if it means taking all the pain for yourself." Cole spoke out hitting the root of the issue. The nervous tremble coming from Taylor told him he had hit the mark and the anger coming from her faded replaced with dejection.

"This is my problem." She mumbled out as she refused to look at him. Cole let out a sigh at having to deal with her mess of emotions but knowing Taylor she would throw gasoline on the fire that was burning right now trying to get her way.

Cole ran his fingers through his hair and let out a sigh. He then titled Taylor's face so she had no choice but to look at him. Her eyes were wide and baffled and her face was nearly bright red but he needed her to see the sincerity of all of this.

"I get it Taylor but what's happening between me and Sophia has literally nothing to do with you. Even if I did not help you that day she would have still done this. She is just annoying like that. I know that's not really all that convincing but if this was about what I did that day then Emma would be leading the charge. You know that Sophia is a mad dog but Emma is the one that has an obsession with you." Cole spoke out with all the sincerity he could offer.

She had a sort of dazed look in her eyes and the red on her face continued to build but his words seemed to strike true. As the hint of confusion and doubt emerged on her face.

She knew the dynamic between Sophia and Emma and if this really was about her Emma would be spiraling. Before she could think anymore she appeared to reach a boiling point as she ripped his hand off of her face and took a step back still bright red.

"Okay, I get it!" She shouted out with confusion and embarrassment radiating off of her. She took one last look at Cole before bolting away like a startled rabbit.

Cole watched as she ran away with a small frown on his face. He was not really sure if she really understood or if she was just running because her embarrassment overrode everything else. That girl can be rather stubborn about things after all.

He was not sure why he was trying to get her to back off so hard. He already did his good deed of the year by saving her flute. If she got into her head that this was all about her and dragged their focus back onto her then that would lead to things going back to how he needed them. But instead of letting that come, he was trying his best to change things.

Cole bit his lip and started to walk home. He supposed that he was just not the kind of person who would let something let this come to pass. To have someone else sacrifice themselves in a misguided attempt to protect him. 

The school was quickly becoming the largest issue in his life. Fighting people who could punch through walls and were nearly invulnerable? Piece of cake but ask him to deal with a traumatized teenager and he suddenly had no clue how to act.

He pushed this to the back of his mind for now. Stealing Taylor's flue taught him that the value of the item was not the only weight to the energy he got. If she stole items that had an impact on the story he would also gain a large amount of energy.

The question is what should he target now?