Honesty Under the Stars

He takes them all home one by one until eventually Wolf is the last one left. He lands softly in front of her house door as Wolf climbs down off of his back. Wolf's door suddenly opens as Jackal rushes out.

Jackal "Wolf! Are you okay?? I saw the attack on TV, I hope you're not hurt!"

She says while hugging her daughter tightly.

Wolf "No ma, I'm fine."

She says softly with a smile before turning to Southpaw.

Wolf "Southpaw was there to save us since.. I couldn't beat him."

She trails off with a disappointed look. Jackal gives her a look before rubbing her head.

Jackal "Don't be so hard on yourself. You're just a teenage girl, you shouldn't even be fighting villains at all. Now go get cleaned up, I'll make dinner in a few."

She kisses her daughter on the head as Wolf heads inside. Jackal watches her walk inside as Southpaw stands behind her. His face showing slight nervousness.

Southpaw "Uh.. Ms. Anderson?"

Jackal "Hm?"

She softly turns and looks at him.

Southpaw "Today, your daughter showed great skill and promise for being a fantastic hero."

Jackal "I'm sure she did."

Southpaw sweats a bit.

Southpaw "I did offer her a spot in my academy along with her friends."

A vein pops on her head at his words.

Jackal "Don't suppose you thought about asking their parents first?"

Anger easily read on her face despite her smile and warm look. Southpaw sweats nervously some more.

Southpaw "Well, an official offering will come soon. I just thought I'd tell you beforehand because-"

Jackal "Your academy is very far away, isn't it? Filled with students and agents with incredible powers, putting my baby in more unnecessary danger."

Southpaw "I can assure you, our teachers and agents are quite capable of protecting the students from any harm and ensuring the missions given to them are of their skill level. Honestly, there's nowhere more safe than the ASA!"

He says with a nervous smile as another vein pops on Jackal's head.

Jackal "Are you saying my daughter isn't safe here at home?"

Southpaw gets a nervously shocked look.

Southpaw "No! Not at all, I was just-"

Jackal "Goodbye, Southpaw."

She says softly before stepping into the house and closing the door on him. Southpaw stands there for a moment before sighing and rubbing the back of his head.

Southpaw "Well, that went better than last time."

He says softly before turning around and jumping away. Jackal closes the door and lowers her head for a moment before turning and leaning against the door letting out a defeated sigh.

Jackal "And with an offer directly from Southpaw… She'd get in for sure."

She speaks softly with a light smile on her face as she looks up, worry and concern on her face. 

That night, a man in glasses and holding a briefcase rushes out of a building as a larger man follows behind him. Gunshots are fired at them but the large man forms cement from the ground and onto his arm forming a shield to deflect the bullets. 

Guard "Go! Up this way!"

He commands as the other man runs. They eventually make it out of the alley and into a small wooded area. They rush through the leaves hearing the shouting behind them until eventually the man holding the briefcase trips and tumbles out of the bushes and into a park area. He winces in pain for a moment before the bodyguard catches up to him and shushes him. They listen in silence for a moment as the other people following them shouts.

Voice 1 "Where did they go?!"

Voice 2 "Let's regroup. We've gotta find that briefcase!"

The voices trail off as they run away. The man sighs in relief as they both stand up. As they do, the bodyguard tenses up a bit when he notices Wolf standing behind them a bit away. They turn and look at her with fear on their faces.

Man "W-who's that?.."

Guard "Don't know but stay behind me."

He says as Wolf just stares at them. 

Guard "What do you want, kid?"

Wolf doesn't respond and just stares at them. The bodyguard sweats a bit as he starts to form cement from the ground around his body and approaches her.

Guard "Look, whoever you are, you're creeping us out. This is gonna hurt but don't take it personally."

He says, lifting his cemented fist above his head before swinging it down at Wolf. She doesn't dodge or defend but simply takes the hit to her face. She leans a bit from the impact but doesn't budge. The guard is surprised as Wolf slowly looks at him. He grits his teeth before hitting her across the face again in the opposite direction. This time blood flies from her mouth but she doesn't move an inch and only looks at the man again. The guard then continues to strike her a few more times as the other man watches in confusion and anxiety. Wolf then catches the guard's fist, stopping him as blood drips from her face and mouth. She looks at him before pulling her arm back and driving it straight into his stomach, crushing the cement coating on his body. The cement drops to the ground as the bodyguard slowly falls to his knees, Wolf still holding onto his wrist. The other man looks shocked and scared as Wolf looks at him. 

Wolf "Go."

She says coldly as the man turns and runs away without hesitation given the chance. Wolf looks at the bodyguard before picking him up and setting him down in a more proper pose, leaning against a bench.

Killian "What are you doing?"

Hearing his voice and realizing he's standing behind her a bit away, she pauses before continuing to adjust the man and standing up.

Wolf "Nunya."

 Killian looks confused.

Killian "What?"

Wolf "Nunya business."

She says without looking at him before turning away and walking. Killian looks irritated.

Killian "It kinda is when I just watched my friend stand there and get beaten up. You're bleeding."

Wolf "I'll be fine."

Killian "Right. Going out and getting hurt is all fine as long as you're getting paid for it."

Wolf stops and looks at him with a slightly irritated look.

Wolf "I'm not getting paid."

Killian stops as Wolf's tone softens a bit.

Wolf "I told Saika I'd stop so, this isn't a job."

Killian "And you always listen when anyone tells you to do something."

He says sarcastically as Wolf gets irritated and continues walking. Killian follows as they walk on the damp grass under the light of the stars and moon.

Killian "Wolf, do you know why I wasn't surprised when you told me what you've been doing? Because I knew."

Wolf "Congrats, you're a genius."

Killian "I'm concerned. One day you stopped opening up to us. You stopped wanting to train, you stopped being.. you. Then you started getting hurt again and again so I stalked you. Learned why my friend was getting hurt and behold, she's off getting paid to commit crime."

Wolf "I choose the jobs. I only took ones that weren't wrong."

Killian "Crime is crime Wolf. It doesn't matter who it is or what you're doing, you're hurting people and getting paid for it."

Wolf stops and turns to him with an angry look.

Wolf "Jeez dude, why the fuck are you on my ass right now? Just leave me alone, it doesn't matter."

Killian "Leave you alone? Like you wanted me to do earlier? So you could die over, over pride? Arrogance?"

Wolf "It's not pride!"

Killian "So it's arrogance."

Wolf "No dude! Why're you being such an asshole to me right now?!"

Killian "Earlier today we all almost got killed and if we didn't stand together, we would've been. Despite your best efforts, we stood together and held out against the villain."

Wolf "Still lost."

Killian gets frustrated.

Killian "There it is again, that pride. It doesn't matter if we won or lost, at least we'd be together yet more and more often, you push us away! You keep pushing and pushing yourself to do everything alone and keep us away and I'm sick of it."

Wolf looks upset but doesn't respond.

Killian "You may not realize how much I care about you but I will not let you do this alone, whatever this is."

Wolf "This is nothing."

Killian "Coming out every night you fail, every night something doesn't go the way you planned and getting hurt, intentionally, is far from nothing in my book."

Wolf looks away, upset at his observation.

Killian "You punish yourself relentlessly over nothing. You make mistakes, so what? This isn't the way you get through it. I don't know what happened to make you think you need to do this alone but whatever is going on, I am not leaving until you tell me-"

Wolf "Nothing is going on!"

She shouts at him, catching him off guard.

Wolf "I don't know why you keep insisting something is! I don't know why Phoenix keeps insisting about the future! I don't know why but I can do this on my own!"

She shouts as she stares at him, tears glossing her eyes. They look at each other for a moment in silence before Killian speaks.

Killian "You used to be so open with us. When we were kids, you'd tell us everything. What you ate that morning, what you were feeling, what you were doing, everything. But now.. now you're just shutting us out."

Wolf looks away, upset.

Killian "Insistent that you've got this, you can handle it, it doesn't matter. Why? You don't have to be alone, we're friends. We're here to help each other, that's what we do. Let us help you."

Wolf grunts and grabs her head, crouching down.

Wolf "I just… I don't know…"

She says softly as Killian looks at her softly. 

Wolf "I don't know what I'm doing with my life.. All I know is what matters to me and I can't lose that. Yet everyday this feeling inside of me grows making me feel like I'm going to lose everything…"

Killian's look shifts to be more understanding.

Wolf "Maybe if I'm strong enough, maybe if I do enough, I won't have to lose anything…"

Killian crouches down in front of her and puts his hand on her shoulder. 

Killian "Wolfy, losing is a part of life. No matter how strong we are, we will lose things. Sometimes things we never want to lose. But the real strength comes from how we bounce back from that loss."

Wolf looks at him with a soft look.

Killian "Things are looking like they're about to get a little crazy so maybe just… go with the flow. See where life takes you. Don't worry so much about the future or the past. Live in the moment. If things seem alright, don't worry about what you did or will do, just smile."

He gives her a smile causing her to smile a bit back, despite fighting the urge. She blushes some before pushing his face away.

Wolf "You and your stupid, infectious smile."

Killian giggles.

Killian "So I'm told."

He stands up and offers a hand to Wolf.

Killian "Come on, apparently, despite our lack of smarts, we managed to land ourselves in the coolest school in the world."

Wolf takes his hand and stands up.

Killian "And we're gonna make some fine ass heroes!"

Wolf "Speak for yourself. I'm rather smart."

Killian looks at her with a blank look.

Killian "Come on, you know."

Wolf "What do you mean??"

She asks, stunned by his lack of support. Soon, they make their ways back home and the night comes to an end.