Bull in a chinashop

Cole found himself walking through the familiar halls of Winslow again. Stealing that Clone technique really drew a load off of his mind so he did not mind wasting too much time here. Since he could be in two places at once he was not really wasting time.

As he headed towards his locker a clone of his was heading towards Tammi's motel room to spend time with her. Cole was slightly jealous of his own clone as that guy got to hang out with Tammi while he was stuck studying at this shit hole.

The hive-mind aspect of the technique took away the bite from that thought. He was effectively the one talking and interacting with her for the most part. Still, Cole thought about swapping positions with the clone throughout the day. He was tempted to do it right now but certain things made him decide against it.

Today he noticed a lot more eyes focused on him. That was to be expected considering the position he put himself in. The Empire kids were easy to ignore as they were not really all that hostile. The Empire figured if he did trigger then he was all but theirs by this point.

Cole did not really have the skin tone to join the ABB. Not that he would have joined them even if they implanted a bomb in his head forcing him to comply. Cole would rather blow up and take some of those fuckers with him than comply to Lung. He took a deep breath to get a handle on himself as the blinding rage the Dragon brought up to him was dragged out again.

Ignoring the ABB the Empire knew that the Merchants were also a no for Cole considering their involvement in his Mother's death. So as far as the Empire was concerned they were his only option. Well the PRT was an issue but considering Cole's dad and the villainous nature of his acts they wrote off that route for him as well.

The Empire was clearly wrong as he would rather join the PRT but he could see where they were coming from. The Empire was also not considering the other options in the city. Coil was one that Cole technically had no issues with.

Well, personally that is. Coil was still a murdering rapist who kidnaped a small child to drug and abuse her. Not exactly a person Cole even wanted to speak to let alone work for but the Empire did not know that. The other option in this City was Faultline and they were up Cole's alley.

They had a certain amount of power that would be helpful and they were not that morally outrageous. The only issue Cole had with them was he would be required to go on missions with them and he had no say on what missions they took. That rubbed him the wrong way as he was better off stealing and expanding his energy pool.

That and Faultline might not be recruiting considering their Case 53 leanings.

Either way the Empire watching him was not the issue causing him to stay here instead of hanging out with Tammi. No, that prize belonged to the blatantly hostile gaze of one Sophia Hess. She was staring at him like he was a piece of meat that she needed to beat to get it into the right shape.

It was irritating but she looked at most people like that. His problem was that she was unnervingly focused in on him. For the past five minutes or so her gaze had not left him for a moment.

Cole might have thought this was about him helping Taylor but that was unlikely. Taylor knew when to keep her mouth shut and he was not getting nasty looks from Emma. Emma was also looking at him but it was more interested than the blatant hostility Sophia was outputting.

So this might be about his Empire affiliate status but that would not require this level of focus. So that left the only other option. Sophia was under orders to monitor him. Meaning the PRT was trying to trip up the young traumatized teenager who just went through a trigger event.

Not exactly heroic considering how most Capes Triggered but Cole could see why it was needed. He would even applaud them for their foresight if they were not being annoying. If they were a bit more discrete about it he would still applaud them even if they were invading his privacy. He had ways to circumvent their eyes after all.

The problem here was Sophia was about as subtle as a bull in a china shop. Which was drawing looks from the various factions throughout the school. The real kicker was this was drawing Taylor's attention.

The poor girl looked like her soul left her body as she got sight of Sophia glaring daggers at him. She was paling at the implication of all of this and she was looking between Sophia and Cole with guilt clear on her face. She had this sort of lost expression on her face but that quickly faded. Taylor looked like she was firming her resolve to confront Sophia.

Probably some sort of speech to get the girl to leave him alone. That they could do anything they wanted with her if that meant leaving him alone.

Cole quickly put his things in the locker scribbling something on a piece of paper and tearing it out of his book. He then urgently hurried to class like his life depended on it. He collided with Taylor who was on her way to Sophia 'accidentally'. He slipped the paper in her pocket with a pat to get her to pay attention.

Before she could react Cole left for class trying to not draw too much attention. Cole was good and he was absolutely sure that no one but Taylor knew he put that paper in her pocket but standing near Taylor for too long would ruin what he was doing.

Hopefully, Taylor would read the fucking thing before shouting at Sophia about all that happened. Thankfully it was unlikely that Taylor got the chance to shout at Sophia as said girl was following him closely with a glare on her face.

The note would explain that Sophia's current actions had nothing to do with Taylor so she should just ignore it or things would get worse. Not for him as he had a certain amount of protection. Sophia may be popular but considering her skin tone she did not draw much popularity from the people 'protecting' him.

Emma might have a better shot at targeting him but he was rather important right now so it was unlikely the Empire kids would back down for the hot redhead.

Cole let out a sigh at seeing Sophia suddenly in his class with no explanation. It was a trend that would continue throughout the day. Sophia miraculously transferred to every single class he was a part of. Even the ones she did not have the previous credits to attend.

Seriously he understood that a part of this was supposed to rattle him to get Cole to admit things he otherwise would not but this was a bit much.

Thankfully the clone had to deal with constant glares from the bulldog as Cole swapped with him during classes where dialogue between them was unlikely. So he got to spend some time cuddling Tammi as she relaxed in his embrace. Shooting him shy looks as she huddled in his chest. A content expression on her face as the nerves wracking her for the past couple of days faded like a dream.

He had to swap back when classes ended and he had to switch to another class but Sophia appeared to keep her behavior strictly to monitoring him.

Every once in a while Cole would pass Taylor in the hallway who seemed both relieved and angry about something. She was happy about being left alone today but angry that he safety came at the cost of Cole being harassed. Considering the look in her eyes Cole was starting to think that she no longer believed that Sophia's actions had nothing to do with her.

Cole could only give her a reassuring smile when he was sure no one but her could see. The girl would flush and look away from him but at least the anger she was directing at Sophia calmed down every time he did it.

Then the pattern broke as the final bell rang for the day and everyone was heading out of school. Before he could get to his locker Cole was interrupted from his musings.

"Oie! Diamant! You fucking prick I got some questions for you." Sophia spat out as she walked toward him with a glare that was familiar to him by this point. She all but poked at his chest with her aggression and this was starting to gather a crowd so he played ball.

"Fine Hess, you have been glaring at me all day so ask your questions, and leave me alone," He spoke out with a roll of his eyes. The slightly flippant way Cole handled this offended Sophia as the girl glared at him again with her teeth gritted.

She kept silent for a moment as she gathered her anger into a form.

"I heard you were interested in a little slut that got thrown into Juvie." She spat out with a malicious glint in her eyes. He felt his blood run cold for a moment as her words registered. He balled his fists and glared at her with everything he had.

If they really suspected that Tammi being in prison was his trigger event then they were all but dancing on the trauma he went through. Again this was not a tactic he expected from the PRT but this just might be a Sophia classic.

He wanted to knock that insufferable knowing look on her face but instead, he held back. He cycled the things he could do to her that would not reveal anything. The various powers he now had access to were not that helpful without revealing that yes Cole Diamant is in fact the Cape you are looking for.

He looked over at her with his own malicious glint that could be written off considering the words she picked. He could not even poison her subtly as the PRT was likely to call Pancea over at the first sign of something going wrong here.

Cole was good but the drugs he injected into the mad dog before him would end up clear as day to someone like Pancea.

"You want to rephrase that?"Cole asked with his teeth gritted and his hands bleeding from his nails digging into this palm.

"Oh did I hurt the little Nazi's feeling? Oh, I am so sorry you big baby. Figures a mama's boy like you would be so fucking fragile. Bet that bitch is crying over her son being such a waste of space." Sophia spat out with a glare on her face and that fucking dumb look on her face. Before he even knew what was happening his fist had firmly logged into the fucking mocking smile she wore.

Cole would give her credit as lesser people would have gone down with that punch. He was near peak human considering Kaito's card so a punch from him should hit like a truck even if he threw it rather quickly and without much thought.

Sophia leaned back slightly before turning her head and spitting out some blood from her mouth. She then faced back towards Cole with a blood-soaked smile as she threw her own punch.

Instead of targeting his own insufferable smile, she aimed her fist at the family jewels. She really was a mad dog who did not know the word restraint if it quite literally punched her in the face.

The world around them blurred as Cole punched her over and over again and she did the same. The shouts and jeers from their peers were not as important as beating the shit out of the fucking cunt in front of him.

School was not as boring as he expected but he would rather have the boring shit that deal with this asshole.