9 The Incentive For Secrecy

Stumbling over my own feet, I left the schoolyard through the main gate. Even though the period was cancelled, it was silent outside. I assumed the wounded and their friends went to the infirmary, but as for the others, I had no idea. Stuff like this only happens once or twice in your high school career, they said.

"And this is already the second one I saw this year."

Out of breath, I ran onto the Van Leeuwen field and headed towards that one tree. They were indeed there. Autumn and Simon were sitting beneath it, discussing something on Simon's laptop. I arrived running, and tired.

"What's all the huffing and puffing for?"

"Yeah, good day to you too, Autumn. Now tell me-"

"Ah-"

"Why didn't you do anything? You- you could've-"

"Larissa."

I fell to the ground and sat down a little further to the right of them. I had to catch my breath first.

"Even if I could use my powers, I probably wouldn't have won."

"Could? Probably? What do you even mean with those?"

There was no response, and he went silent for a moment. A long moment, before speaking up again.

"You cry too much, Larissa."

"Huh?"

I hadn't even noticed. Tears had welled up in my eyes again. I wiped them away, but they came back immediately.

"If I wanted to fight him, I would've had to leave the classroom to change. It would've been odd if I casually left the classroom and Thundergirl came to fight him a few seconds later. The pieces would be put together easily."

"And what if Floran didn't come?"

Still sobbing and out of breath, I could hardly talk. It was embarrassing, and I tried to hide my teary eyes from them, but it was almost impossible.

"I knew he was in the building, but if he wasn't, well, we couldn't have done anything but wait. We could've tried to talk him out of it, though I doubt anyone would've done as good as Floran."

"Why would we have to wait? You could've… done something."

Autumn looked up at the sky as if he saw something in front of him. There was nothing but a small cloud, which was blocking the sunlight right at that moment. The tears stopped flowing, and I rubbed my hands in my reddened eyes to wipe the last of them away.

"Stormasticy is my biggest weakness, I'd say."

I was startled by his statement and turned my eyes to him. He had a slight smile, while he let his eyes gaze off into the distance. Once the cloud had moved, he evaded his eyes from the bright sunlight and turned them to me.

"Though, I could take someone like him on, someone who uses their Stormasticy in such an unoriginal, bland way. It's… more of a mental weakness."

"Autumn."

Simon spoke up and Autumn turned around. Simon was looking next to his laptop, to the ground. I could see that from the lack of focus in his eyes.

"That's enough, for now. Don't push yourself."

"Ah, I know. I'm fine, don't worry. For some reason, telling her was-"

Autumn stopped in the middle of his sentence and paused.

"Nevermind."

There was no reason not to ask what he was talking about, but I still didn't. His mind had a presence of despair or hatred, one which he did not want to talk about. It was an odd feeling, one that I couldn't express with words.

"I didn't know Floran was in the double digits, he has gone up since the last time I checked on him."

Simon spoke up about Floran to change the topic.

"Rank 97 out of all registered."

"How many were there again?"

"About 500. There are some Vanquishers too, but it has never been certain how many of them there are."

"If it weren't for them I could've been higher in the ranks. They always take our jobs."

"Because you're popular."

"Yeah, yeah."

I have never seen a Vanquisher before in my life. They steal contracts from teams and most often complete them before the team has even started.

"Nearing the single digits is quite a feat you know, be proud of yourself."

I knew about Autumn's rank, though I don't remember where I learned about it. His quick turn and bewildered look told me everything.

"How do you know about my rank?"

Simon also looked up.

"It shouldn't be public."

"I- well, uh-"

I locked up, but it did make me remember where I saw it. The badge was in his room, on his desk. I caught a glimpse of it while checking out his costume. But, I couldn't say it. Their intense gazes were too frightening. Their suspicion emanated from their eyes and face.

"It's... not that big of a deal. But I do need to know how you found out about it. I never made it public."

The soft-spoken words calmed me down a little. The aura of suspicion around them went away together with their intense gaze. It turned into an aura of curiosity.

"I saw your badge in your room. With the number 14 on it."

"Oh."

Autumn grinned, snickered, and eventually laughed raucously.

"Okay, so it's my own fault. Well, just keep it a secret, okay? I know you can."

"But, if I may ask."

"Hm? No need for 'may'."

"Why don't you want it to be public? And who knows about it?"

"Well, only my team knows about it, and the OPQ of course."

Simon closed his laptop and put it in his bag before he took over Autumn.

"When you rank is made public, Disruptors will know what to expect of you. About two-thirds of the people with these powers will go down the wrong path, just like Guster from today. He knew about Floran and his rank and thought he could take that on. Luckily he couldn't, but imagine if it was a stronger Disrupter who attacked, one that could defeat him."

I understood, but it was a little too much for me to take in all at once. Autumn and Simon both stood up. I turned on my phone and noticed the break period hadn't even started yet.

"Where are we going?"

Autumn checked his phone. He put his bag on the ground again, next to me, and sat down.

"Right here."

He took out a water bottle from his bag. Simon sat down again as well and took out some grapes from his bag.

"We're not going anywhere, this is a fine spot."

They moved out of the shadow of the tree and sat down in the sun with me. The break period started with the sound of the buzzer, and soon after, the Van Leeuwen Field was flooded with other students.

"To be honest, I forgot we had a break right now."

We sat around in silence for a while, until the end of the break almost arrived. There was one more thing I wanted to ask, but I thought of it too late.

"Autumn."

"What is it?"

"How often is it that a Disruptor gets recruited by a Peacebringer?"

"Where did that come from?"

The buzzer went off, and Autumn and Simon stood up. I followed them, and after packing our bags, we walked back to the school building.

"Well, I have heard about it before, but it doesn't happen often. It's against the rules of the OPQ and the police, so Teams who invite Disruptors are on the same level as Vanquishers. Why did you ask?"

"Oh, I was just curious. The thought came after our conversation."

I knew lying wasn't the best option, but we had too little time to talk about what happened between Floran and Guster. After realizing Floran's recruitment of Guster was considered illegal, the memory stuck with me. If the school and the students knew about it, his reputation would change for the worse.

It felt as if his secret was bound to be spilt, sometime in the future.