Big Iron Part 1

Perspective Shift: Steven

Steven turned on his television to watch the morning announcements. On the screen, Clara said, "Today we have a very special announcement. We have been given 5 million dollars by a student who won the lottery. His name is Seven Trecidecim. Here's what he had to say about it." The screen then cut to a clip of Seven. "Uh well...I won? Hehe." The screen cut back to Clara. "Well students, that's all there is for today. Remember. Survive, Overdapt...um, Survive…" The screen then went to the informational video.

Period 3, Advanced English

Steven and Seven walked into class and started talking about the morning announcement. Seven asked Steven, "So, what kind of food do you think the school will buy?" Steven thought about it, and said "Hmm. I don't know." Ivy walked into class and went up to Seven. She told him, "You said you could help me find my chain, right? Can you meet me after school to help?" Seven nodded his head, and looked at Steven. "Steven, do you want to come help us?" Steven said, "Sure." Ivy thanked them, "Thanks. I have this girl named Iris Ingrene coming along to help us." Seven then said, "Oh, we're friends with her. We have a friend named Marty Morpho, he'll probably come if we're all going too."

Period 4, Journalism

Steven and Seven walked into the class, and Ivy walked in behind them. "Oh, you have this class for your period too?" Steven asked. Ivy nodded. Iris and Marty then walked in, and class started. Steven told Marty about the plan. "Oh, I actually have to meet up with Spencer at the library today. I could look around there for the chain if you'd like." Ivy said, "Okay, that's alright. Me, Iris, Seven, and Steven can come with me to look around the dorm." Steven then said, "Actually, I'll go with Marty. If Spencer wants to help us, then that will split it into an even 3-3." Ivy replied, "Alright then, well that all sounds good."

Afterschool

Steven went over to the library's entrance, where he met with Marty. "Sup Steven," Marty greeted him. "Spencer is inside, he says he doesn't want to be in the heat." Steven asked Marty, "Why didn't you go inside with him?" Marty answered, "Ah well I didn't want to leave you wandering here wondering where we were. Hehe...we should probably get inside though, it is kind of hot." Steven held his hand out to feel the heat. "Not really…" he mumbled under his breath. "Hey Steven," Marty said in a hostile tone, "maybe you aren't hot, but there are individuals wearing clothing that makes them hot. Like for example…" He snickered, "ME! Wearing this sleek leather jacket. Ooo! Did I show you this already?" He turned around to show the butterfly design on the back of his jacket. "Lookey lookey! A giant ass blue butterfly. Ain't that cool?" "If it's so cool, then how are you hot," Steven remarked. "Oh-Well...you see…" Marty stuttered. "ANYWAY," he changed the topic, "Spencer is waiting for us, so let's get inside." They headed inside the library, and saw Spencer eyeing some books in the manga section. "Hey Marty. Hey Steven. Look around these bookshelves, I'm looking for a manga called 'Big Football Plus!' Someone told me it's around here, but I can't find it." Then, a girl who was on the other side of the bookshelf went around it and approached them. It was the orange haired girl with the boater hat that was in Steven's 3rd period. She had two hands behind her back. "Big Football Plus? It's right there." She then pointed towards a line of books that was near Spencer's foot. Spencer bent down to them, and began digging through the books. "Damn, did someone take the first volume?" The girl chuckled, "Of course, that would be me." Spencer then turned to her, and she tossed the first volume to him from one of her hands. "Thanks," Spencer thanked her. Spencer opened the book and started sifting through the pages, mumbling to himself "Oh I forgot you read these from the right, how forgetful of me…" Steven asked the girl, "Weren't you gonna read that?" The girl smiled, "I was hoping you would ask that." She then revealed what was in her other hand, which was a soccer ball with a large "W.W." on it. Marty then pointed at Spencer, and said "Oh, you're into so-football? My friend Spencer here, that's like his life." The girl shook her head. "Look at page 36 of the manga." Spencer flipped to page 36, as Steven and Marty watched over his shoulders. On page 36 there was a panel of a soccer player holding the same soccer ball that the girl was. "You're like a fan of this or something?" The girl shook her head once again. "Perhaps a better example would make you understand. She then went to another bookshelf, grabbed a book, and went back to the three. She held it up, "This is a book named," She turned the book around to see its name. "Robin Hood! Yes yes, Robin Hood. Now as you can see," She opened her hands, "I'm not holding anything. But yet…" She opened the book, and something started forming on her hat. It was glowing gold, and began materializing into something. It was another hat, and began to be more clearly visible. It was Robin Hood's hat. "Victoria Vellum is my name, Teen Spirit is my signature. I know you must be astounded by what just happened, yeah?" She then bowed as if she just finished performing in a play. The three boys stood there, and Marty started clapping. Steven stopped him, and asked Victoria, "Nice performance, and thanks for the book, but do you have any actual reason for being here? We came with a purpose and-" But she interrupted him, "That purpose being manga? I shouldn't lie, I look down on those who only come to the garden for something as childish as manga." Steven corrected her, "First of all, we did not come here for manga." Spencer mumbled under his breath, "Speak for yourself…" Steven ignored him, and continued, "We came to solve a thievery. Second of all, I don't mean to be rude but this is the library not the garden." Victoria quietly giggled to herself. "Of course, the library." She held her hand up. "I am one that believes in the true nature of this place. This is not a library, it is a garden of literature." She pulled out a large animal encyclopedia from her book bag, and Robin Hood's hat was still somehow balancing on her head. She opened the book, and from behind her a plethora of animals appeared. They ranged from all kinds of life. Birds, fish, mammals...it must have been hundreds that appeared. "I firmly believe that this library is perhaps the greatest garden in the history of mankind. With this signature, Teen Spirit, I aim to make my belief a reality." She closed the book, and all the animals disappeared. Marty started clapping again, but rather than stopping him Steven joined him. Spencer did as well. Victoria asked Steven, "So you said you had a thievery problem? I don't want to point fingers, but…" She pointed a finger at a student with a beanie who was heading towards the door. "That there is a well-known thief around these parts. Better get him before he leaves." Steven realized that it was the same person from his 3rd period class that tried to steal from Seven. As the thief opened the door and exited the library, the three boys ran after him. Victoria followed them, but didn't run. As they caught up with the student, Steven said "Hello, a minute of your time please." The student turned around, and had a scowled expression. "What the hell do you want, and make it quick damnit," he growled. Steven asked him, "A friend of ours had lost a chain, and we wanted to know if you knew anything about it." The student had a smirk, "Maybe I do. I'll tell you this much, I don't have it. I may be able to tell you its whereabouts for some cash…" Spencer replied, "That shouldn't be a problem. After all, I do come from a we-" Marty stopped Spencer, and turned him around to whisper to him. In a tone too low for anyone except Spencer to hear, he said "You were gonna say you're from a well-off family, right? I know how guys like these operate, they wanna hear how much money you have first and then they'll name their price. Now listen…" He then whispered a plan to Spencer. "Alright Spencer?" He said, not whispering anymore. "Ok," Spencer replied. They both turned back to the guy. "My friend Spencer here only has 10 dollars on him right now, so-" But then Spencer interrupted him. "What do you mean, I told you I have 30 dollars on me right now." Marty snapped his fingers, "Damnit Spencer, you absolute idiot! You were supposed to pretend like you had 10 dollars." The beanie student rubbed his chin. "If y'all got 30, I'll take 20 ehehe…" Spencer sighed, and gave him a $20 bill. The student snickered, "So, y'all wanna know about that chain, eh? I stole it for this guy, he had a gun on his hip and a cowboy hat. He met me behind the dorm building on the night of Monday. Told me all I needed to know about the chain and the girl with it, never told me his name. Stupid ass. I couldn't get in touch with him till last night when I found him waiting at the same place. That's where I gave it to him, and was paid with a benjamin. He asked if I knew how to smith, and told him no. My best bet is that he wants to forge that chain to something else, and I know a guy who does that kind of stuff. His name's-" But before he could continue, Marty interrupted him, "Filip Forge, right? He did this design at the back of my jacket," He then turned around and pointed at the back of his jacket. "Well, that's all I have. Here's my phone number," The student passed a paper with his number on it. "Better not do any dumb shit with it." The student started scuttling away, but Steven stopped him and asked, "What's your name?" The student turned back, "Garlic Garlic." He then ran off. Marty then gave a wink to Spencer. "The plan worked perfectly," he exclaimed. "Yeah, I thought he'd catch on that I had way more than 30," Spencer replied. Steven then noticed that Victoria was still with them. He asked her "Uh...why are you still here again?" She answered, "To be honest, I have nothing else to do. So, you guys don't mind if I perhaps...follow?" Steven sighed, and said "I guess not." Steven was about to say something to Spencer, but all of a sudden Victoria screamed. "AIIIEEEEE!" she fell on the ground. She was screaming and crawling away from a lizard that was on the ground. Steven asked, "You're scared of lizards?" Victoria didn't answer, but told the three, "FORGET ABOUT THAT CHAIN, I'M GOING BACK TO THE GARDEN!" She then ran back into the library. Cato then approached the group. "Hello, Steven," He said. "I just got done talking to your friends...Seven and Iris, I think their names were. Anyway, I just wanted to ask you if you were planning on joining any clubs." Steven replied, "I haven't looked into any yet," and then turned to Marty, "You know where that Filip guy is?" Marty nodded. "Room uhh A-102. He's set it up like a workshop there, with opening and closing times and everything." Steven asked, "What is the closing time, anyway?" Marty replied, "4 pm." Steven asked, "What time is it right now?" Cato looked at his watch, and said, "3:59." The four all looked at each other, and began to dash to the room. Spencer used Like A Record to run faster, Marty was close but wasn't able to catch up to him, Steven was running right behind Marty, and Cato was lagging behind...a lot.

Perspective Shift: Seven

A few minutes earlier

Seven met up with Iris and Ivy in the dorm building's first floor. "Hey guys," Seven said. Ivy greeted him, "Hey Seven. I wanted to look around the dorms since it's where I would expect most students to leave their stuff around." She then looked at Iris. "You can look into student's rooms with your signature, right? I can use Welcome To The Jungle to make vines go through the space under student's doors to feel around the room. Since it might take a while, I say me and you check opposite sides of the dorm hallways." Seven was hearing all of this, and asked, "What should I do?" Ivy responded, "What is your signature?" Seven answered, "Wonderwall. It gives me increased luck." Ivy pondered on the signature. "Isn't that kind of a weak signature?" Seven smugly replied, "Well it beat you, didn't it?" Ivy clenched her fist and looked away. She whispered "...Damn bastard," before taking a deep breath and putting on a serious face. "Anyway, you can just hang around and be our lucky charm I guess." They then went up to the second floor of the building. They were moving slowly through the hallways. Ivy walked on the right side of the hallways, with her vines feeling up the inside of the rooms. Iris walked on the left side of the hallway, making sure not to fall as she was looking in the inside of the rooms with Slide Zone. And Seven, not being able to do much, was playing a game on his phone. They walked for a good couple of minutes without finding anything. Then, all of a sudden, Ivy told them "Stop guys!" Iris and Seven both looked intently at the room she stopped at. She pointed at the room, and said "This is Cyana's room. You probably don't know her Seven, she's one of my friends. I just want to talk to her for a bit." Iris asked Ivy, "Isn't she still mad at me?" "Probably, but I'm sure she'll get over it." Ivy knocked on the door, and Cyana opened it. Instead of looking at Ivy, her eyes went straight to Iris. "Why are you here…" She asked Iris. Iris sighed, "I was helping Ivy with something." Cyana sighed heavily, and asked Ivy, "Why are you here?" Ivy told her, "I just wanted to see how you were doing. Is it alright if we come inside?" Cyana quickly answered, "No!" and almost slammed the door. "Actually, I would enjoy some company, Ivy…" Ivy walked in the room, with Seven following. Iris looked at Cyana who was holding the door open for her. Iris then entered the room, and Cyana closed the door behind her. Cyana put on a forced smile. As Ivy sat in a chair, Cyana asked, "Would any of you like tea?" They all said "Yes," and Cyana began preparing some tea in front of them. Iris watched as Cyana dug her hands through her hair. She then put some drops of poison in a red cup, and began giving them out to the three. "Here you go Ivy," she gave Ivy a yellow cup. "I don't know who you are, but I guess I should treat you as well," she gave Seven a green cup. Her smile then dissipated as she looked at Iris. "I hope you enjoy." She then began to tip the cup over. Iris took the cup from her hand before any of the tea could spill out. "My my," Iris quipped, "Maybe you haven't fully recovered from the beating I gave you the other day." Cyana then ran to the kitchen, and ran back to charge at Iris with a knife. Ivy had stopped her with vines, and told her "Please calm down." Cyana got mad, and said "I'm leaving!" She then stormed out of the room in anger. She didn't open the door, and from the footsteps it had been clear that she went far. Seven asked the two girls, "So...who's gonna close the door." The silence answered his question. "Guess that'd be me." He walked up to the door, and was about to close it before he was interrupted by a hand on his shoulder. When he turned around, he saw that it was Cato. "Oh, hey Cato," Seven said to him. Cato asked him "Hey. Do you know where Steven is?" Seven answered, "Yeah, he should be at the library." Cato thanked Seven, and was about to be on his way to the library before he smelled an aroma. He sniffed the smell. He questioned Seven, "You guys are making tea?" Seven nodded. Cato asked "May I please come inside for some tea?" Seven replied "I don't see why not." Cato then entered the room, and Seven closed the door behind him. Cato introduced himself to Ivy, and Ivy did the same. She then fixed up some tea for him. When she finished, they all began informing Cato of the situation with the chain and Cyana's fight with Iris. Cato had given them some advice on their search. "There's a guy named Moby who spends most of his time sitting in the middle of the dorm building's first floor. He would have probably seen someone with that." When they were done chatting, Cato stood up. "Thanks for the tea, Ivy. I really should get going now. It's…" He checked his watch, "3:54. I hope Steven is still at the library." As Cato opened the door, Cyana was standing outside, who was about to open the door to get inside. "Who are you to be inside of my dorm room?" She then leaned with her back onto the side of the doorway. "Get the hell out!" Cato nodded his head, "I suppose you have a right to be mad, but can you move somewhere else? I can't leave if you're obstructing my way out by being on the doorway." Cyana pouted. Cato shrugged his shoulders, and tried making his way through the doorway. However, Cato's arm had bumped into Cyana's breast. Cyana's face went red from anger. She yelled at him, "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TOUCHING MY BOOBS FOR? LEAVE ME ALONE YOU DAMN PURPLE HAIRED BASTARD SON OF BITCH!" Cato sighed, and tried to reason with her, "I'm sorry, but that wouldn't have happened if you just moved out of the way. I don't have time to waste with a trivial matter like this." He then turned. Cyana threatened him, "NEXT TIME YOU DO SOMETHING SLEAZY LIKE THAT, YOU SHOULD EXPECT TO DIE. YOU DAMN BASTARD, I SHOULD JUST KILL YOU RIGHT NOW! LITTLE PURPLED HAIRED SHIT-STAIN, TO THINK I LIVE IN THE SAME WORLD AS A LOW LIFE LIKE YOU! GO TO HELL, I WISH I NEVER EVEN-" But Cato, trying to be nice, had snapped. He turned back, and his face was filled with rage. He growled, "YOU THINK I WANTED TO DO THAT ON PURPOSE? YOU'RE FUCKING DELUSIONAL IF YOU THINK ANYONE WOULD EVER WANT TO TOUCH A SKANK ASS BITCH LIKE YOU! YOU EVER THINK YOUR DAMN BOYFRIEND CHEATED ON YOU FOR A REASON? YOU THINK YOU SCARE ME? YOU THINK YOU FUCKING SCARE ME? YOU ARE AS PATHETIC AS A FUCKING SLUG! DO US ALL A FAVOR, AND SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Cyana started whimpering, and Cato took deep breaths. He checked his watch, and left to the library without a word. Ivy got mad at him. "HEY, I DON'T CARE WHO YOU ARE, BUT YOU CAN'T-" but stopped once she realized he couldn't hear her. Or, perhaps he heard but didn't care? Ivy apologized, "I'm sorry Cyana." Cyana burst out into tears. Iris shook her head, and thought in her head "That girl is like a damn child…" Seven shook his head, looking away as if he didn't see what happened. Ivy cleared her throat. "Iris, Seven, we should be heading to the building's first floor." She then began heading to the stairway, and the two followed. They saw Moby sitting there, with headphones in his ears and a blue outline accompanying him. Ivy asked Moby, "Hello...are you alive?" The blue line dissipated. "Yeah man! Listening to some music. Ever heard of The Beach Boys?" Iris held her finger out and said "Actu-" but was interrupted when Ivy shook her head, "No. Anyway, have you seen this chain?" She then brought up a picture of herself on her phone, and zoomed in on the chain on her waist. Moby inspected the photo. "As a matter of fact, I have. It was this morning, a guy in a cowboy suit had it. He even came up to me and asked me a question. He'd asked if I knew where a Filip Forge guy was. Somehow, I did. It was a strange series of events, one that I most certainly will not explain, but I had gotten to know Filip as a friend from it all. It must've been two or three years ago now, but-" He was interrupted by Ivy, "I don't know a good way to ask this, but can you please just get to the point? Like, can we get more information on this Filip Forge guy?" Moby responded, "Oh, right. Filip does smithery and other stuff. He's got a whole business, where he meets people in room A-102 and does stuff for them, but he mostly smiths metal. That's probably what he did with your chain. He's probably there right now." Ivy quickly turned to Seven and Iris. "You guys hear that? We're a step closer to getting the damn chain." She turned back to Moby. "Thanks, we're off now." She turned back to Seven and Iris once again, "Follow me, and try to keep up." She then began running out of the dorm building and towards the A building. Iris and Seven, with no other choice, followed her.

Perspective Shift: Steven

When Spencer, Steven, Marty, and Cato made it to the A building door, they met with Ivy, Iris, and Seven. They exchanged no words, as they were both still rushing to the room. Ivy, who was the first one to reach the door, slammed it open. All of the students were shoulder to shoulder at the door opening. They were exhausted from the running, and all yelled inside the room "WHERE IS THE CHAIN?!" Inside the room was a lone student with large goggles that hid his eyes, and cleanly cut blue hair. This was Filip Forge. "Well what a hello that was," he jested. On the ground there were a bunch of C shaped marks of dirt on the ground. Ivy walked up to him with a scowl. "Listen, you'd better give me that chain back before you do anything to it!" Filip sighed, "I've already smithed it. But tell me, why do you want that chain so bad?" Ivy explained to Filip, "It was apparently stolen by some cowboy guy. And I hear that he went to you!" Filip hesitated, "I know who you're talking about. And he stole it from you? I guess I'll help you all then. His name's Nicholas Nift Bull. He dresses and acts like a cowboy ripped straight from the 1800s. I didn't really mind since either way I'm gonna get paid for my services, but if he stole it's a different story." Filip pointed to the ground. "You see those hoof marks. He's made quite a mess, which makes me even less inclined to help him. Anyway, those are hoof marks. He came here on horseback. If you follow those markings you can probably catch up to him." Ivy looked at the other students, who were all trying to catch their breath. "Come on guys, we've gotta get that son of a bitch and give him a taste of revenge for my chain." Ivy started making her way outside of the room, but Filip stopped her. "You probably shouldn't go to him in the state you're in. His signature...I don't know what it is. However, you shouldn't go in without a plan. He'll be coming tomorrow at 4:30 pm to pay me, if that helps you guys." Ivy reasoned, "I guess that makes sense. Alright guys, what is our plan?" Iris thought aloud, "Well, we don't know much about him, but we can definitely use the fact against him." Cato added, "Perhaps we can ambush him in this room. An enclosed space like this wouldn't be bad to trap him in." Filip remembered, "Oh, by the way Ivy. Your chain, he only used one of the links. That means that apart from that one link, he should still have the chain. However, he did tell me that he would come back during the weekend to get the rest of the chain forged." Ivy smiled a bit, "So that means I can have my chain back..." "Okay, perhaps I can use Lose Yourself to sneak up on him, a butterfly is pretty hard to see after all," Marty suggested. Seven pointed out, "Well how hard is something to see when it's a bright blue color?" "...good point," Marty agreed. Steven stopped all conversation of the plan, "Okay, before we continue talking about how we're gonna catch this guy, lemme write it down on a piece of paper so we can all properly understand this." Steven pulled out a piece of paper from a notebook and titled it "The Plan To Catch The Thief" Steven then asked everyone, "Alright, what are some ideas you guys have?" Iris answered, "Well, we know we're gonna do an ambush." Then, on the paper, letters started going onto it. This was much like how it was on the School Almanac. "So this must be Eclipse…" Steven thought in his head. The letters wrote "Currently an ambush" Seven had countered the idea of an ambush, "Wait, is an ambush really the best plan of action? I mean, for any normal situation it'd be great, but we need to think of signatures. We don't know if this guy's signature is something that works better with all of us in one area, like Pumped Up Kicks or Toxic." The words on the page began to change. "That's true," Cato agreed. They all brainstormed ideas of the plan, until they came up with a final one. When they were finished, and the plan was fully laid out on the piece of paper, they exchanged phone numbers and left to their rooms. However, Cato followed Steven to his room. "Steven, I'd like to try something out with your signature, if you don't mind." "Sure," they went inside of Stevens' room. Cato searched through Steven's cupboards, "You don't have very much here." He then found a red cup. Cato handed the cup to Steven, and gave him a marker. "On this cup, write something along the lines of 'Cup Records.' I hope you know where I'm going with this." Steven disappointed Cato, "I...I don't." Cato shook his head, "Whatever, just write on the cup." Steven wrote on the cup, "Cup Records." Then, Cato took the cup. He poured water inside of the cup from the sink. "A cup is different from a book or a piece of paper. There's no conventional place for someone to write on it. So, where would you write in a cup?" Steven shrugged. "Exactly," Cato looked into the cup, "Come look at this." Steven walked over and looked into the cup. Letters forming the word "Water" were floating in the water. Steven was shocked, and Cato smiled. "I was right about my prediction," Cato smirked. Cato walked up to the wall, and threw the water on the wall. The letters had made a small impact on the wall. Steven was too late to stop him, and the floor got a little wet. But he sighed, and decided to let it go. "Another prediction I was right about," Cato said. "Now, let me see that gun of yours."