Scout!

" All right, class that's enough for today. You can get washed up and have the rest of the day off." Hank told the class.

Having run through another successful day of training the students from Avengers Academy were given the rest of the day to enjoy themselves.

Orion quickly left the training room and made his way to the showers.

" Dude, welcome back. Glad to see you're doing better." Mettle spoke.

Orion turned to the boy and nodded.

" Thanks, but do you think we can talk after we aren't both naked? I don't mind, but it's still a little... Weird." Orion told the boy.

Mettle looked down at his bare privates and turned a slightly darker shade of red.

" HAHAHAHA!" Orion laughed at Mettle's sudden burst of embarrassment and continued to wash himself.

After a nice relaxing shower, Orion returned to his room. It seemed that Mettle was still a little embarrassed from earlier.

" Ah, what a day. Now then what do we read today? Maybe some more Shakespeare? Or how about a little action-packed story. Siegfried the dragon slayer? The story of king Arthur?" Orion reached up and started going back and forth between the books until he finally stopped on one. " Siegfried it is." Orion picked up the book from his shelf and the sat down on his bed. But stopped when he looked out the window.

" You know it's a beautiful day. Maybe I'll read outside today." Orion stopped and considered the thought, getting up and looking out the window to further convince himself. " Yeah, I'll do that." Orion grabbed his book and walked out of the mansion. Taking his time to take in the view of the new school. It was much more vibrant than the last, considering that the last one was stuck inside a pocket dimension.

" This place feels so much more.... Alive... Than the last mansion. I like it." Orion spoke. He walked up to a tree and spotted one of his newest teammates, Laura Kinney, was also reading outside.

" Hey, Laura!" Orion called out to the girl.

Laura looked up from her book and nodded at the boy.

" Hello." Laura replied.

It didn't seem like she was surprised to see him there. Most likely due to her keen sense of smell.

" Mind if I join you?" Orion asked the girl.

Laura nodded and Orion hopped onto the same Branch that Laura had been laying on. sitting by her side and opening his book up.

After a few minutes of quite reading, Laura surprisingly took the initiative to start a conversation.

" What are you reading?" Laura asked.

Orion looked up at the girl surprised. She was quiet. Quieter than he was at first and she didn't really seek out much human interaction. Something he himself could relate too. So, having her speak to him first was a bit of a surprise for the boy.

" Oh, I'm reading the story of Siegfried, the great dragon slayer. One of Stranges many books he kept locked up in his library. It's a really good book. What are you reading?" Orion asked.

" Oh, Uhm. It's a book about... I'm trying to learn how to be normal." Laura replied.

Orion smirked and nodded.

" I know how you feel. I'm still learning how to be normal again myself." Orion told the girl.

" What do you mean?" Laura asked.

" Well, I was... a bit destructive when I was younger. And it turns out that after all these years, I was only ever what someone else wanted me to be. So, I'm still trying to find myself." Orion explained.

" I know how that feels. Trust me I do. It is like trying to go against what you have been trained to do all your life." Laura spoke.

" And it's so hard. Nothing makes sense sometimes and it feels like you're trying to be something you're not." Orion spoke.

" Like you're being forced to be the person everyone else wants you to be." They both spoke at the same time. Their eyes meeting for the first time since they met. A feeling of kinship between them. Both having somewhat similar backgrounds and yet both so drastically different.

" You know, Laura you were pretty awesome today. You're an amazing fighter. You're quick. You strike fast and hard. And your ferocity is astonishing. You're quite the graceful fighter." Orion told the girl.

" You're pretty good yourself. You're quick and strong. And you never stay on one target for too long. A good trait to use in a battle against multiple foes. You're an adequate teammate." Laura replied.

Laura and Orion both smiled at each other, each enjoying the company of the other. Something that surprised Laura.

Though this good moment would be ruined by the arrival of two ever so loud classmates of theirs.

" LAURA! ORION!" The two teens turned their attention down below them to see that Hazmat and Mettle had snuck up on them.

" What is it, Jenny?" Orion asked.

" Come on, Jenny." Mettle groaned. He seemed to be slightly annoyed by the girl's actions and wanted to be somewhere, anywhere else.

" Tell him, Laura. Tell him what you told me." Jenny asked. " He's been all shook-up cause he killed some Nazis to save civilians. He thinks he's going to turn into some kind of psycho killer. Tell him." Jenny asked. She seemed desperate to help Ken.

Laura nodded and jumped down from the branch along with Orion.

" There are few subjects on which I consider myself an expert. Killing is one." Laura stated. She walked to Ken and looked him in his sad eyes. " Taking a life to save innocents is a world apart from taking the life of innocents. I have done both. One I would do today, without hesitation. The other, I constantly struggle to ensure I will never do again." Laura explained to the boy.

" See? I told you. The Yoda of killers has spoken. So, chill." Jenny told the boy.

" What about... I mean, when I killed those guys, I felt... Kind of a rush." Ken told Laura.

" Of course. Adrenalin. It's powerful. Some people even become addicted to it. It does not mean you enjoy killing. When you recall the events, how do you feel?" Laura asked.

" I feel... Like i wanna hurl." Ken replied. He looked down at his red hands and looked like he was sick. Upset even.

" Okay. Okay. This isn't therapy. we've got papers to write. Come on, Ken." Jenny suddenly started pulling Ken away from the two.

" Sure, Uh. Thanks Laura... I mean it." Ken told the girl.

" You are welcome. We may continue anytime you wish." Laura told the boy.

Orion and Laura watched as Jenny and Ken walked away, with Jenny uttering something about a hussy as she did.

Orion and Laura both looked at each other in confusion and simply shrugged their shoulders.

" That was nice of you. To help Ken like that. He's a big guy. Strong too. But he's a softy. He doesn't really like violence all that much. So, I can only imagine how he's feeling." Orion told the girl.

" It was no problem at all." Laura replied.

There was an awkward silence now between the two. Their previous mood ruined by the good natured yet awkward ending of their last conversation.

" So, do you wanna maybe go to the training room together? You know, get the feel how we both fight more?" Orion asked the girl.

" Sure." Laura replied.

" Alright, let's go."

Orion and Laura both walked together into the academy's virtual reality training room. Taking their time to enjoy something they're both good at.