1.5

1.5

Friday morning. I didn't sleep well the night before, even had a dream of that little kidnapping encounter going the other way - my mana had cut out shortly after getting out of the handcuffs and attacking. It ended with me facing five guys with guns, my only armor being my boxers. I shuddered at remembering the feeling of being shot in the dream. Sometimes I really don't like how good my imagination has become.

I put the dream behind me and for a few minutes I seriously considered taking a sick day. I groan and roll out of bed then get on with my morning. Everything was normal for the most part, though a few statements changed such as my father telling me not to be late due to rescuing kittens and my mother commenting I'd never be late if I could -fly-. I think she might be hinting at something.

Luckily the route to school had no damsels stuck in trees nor kittens in distress so I arrived in plenty of time. As has become the norm Taylor greeted me outside, but this time she was giving me an odd look I couldn't quite place. "Hey T" I greeted her. When she wrinkled her nose I raised an eyebrow "What? You ranked up from suspicious individual to acquaintance, you get a nickname now."

Taylor's look changed to questioning, "How did I rank up?" then she blinks and turns the look into a glare, "I'm not suspicious! We cleared that up already. And what do you mean acquaintance!?". She pulls off the indignant look pretty well.

"You haven't asked how my kidnapping went so that got you a point." I kept walking even when she stopped.

She hissed "You kidnapped someone!?"

I thought back to what I said and realized, yes, that could be taken wrong. "Nope, I was the kidnappee, also you lost your point. Back to suspicious for you."

She looks about like she's ready to pull out her hair "You were kidnapped!?" She starts following me again and I can see the heat drain out of her look as she just decides to accept it. "Of course you were kidnapped, what else did I expect. So I'm assuming this new 'Oblivium' guy -magically- showed up and rescued you by putting three of the guys in the hospital?" She seemed a bit upset about that hospital part... wait, three? I thought I had gotten pretty clean hits on most of them.

"I'm going to ignore how you mysteriously know more about my evening than I do for now. What were the injuries?" I looked around the hallway we had stopped in a little before the cafeteria to make sure it was empty. I lowered my voice "'Oblivium' screwed up and hit one guy a bit too hard, probably broke some ribs, what happened to the other two?"

She sighs and says "One had a freaking -hole- in his leg, they found him a few blocks away bleeding out. The other wasn't serious, just a broken finger and some fractures in his hand." She lowered her voice too "What the HELL Will, that guy could have DIED!"

"Woah, woah! Wasn't me. Shadow Stalker showed up after the fight, she said she hunted down the guy that got away. Probably put a bolt in his leg, that crossbow did -not- look friendly. If it wasn't for her showing up I'd have taken the time to find my damn clothes and not have to go streaking through town."

She looked pretty accepting about the Shadow Stalker thing, apparently it happens a lot. I could hear the laughter in her voice, "And why exactly did the big bad kidnappers strip you naked?"

Now that the sensitive topic was done I kept walking towards the cafeteria "I -may- have found a toy gun and convinced them it was tinker tech on accident Sunday afternoon. There also -might- be a rumor running around that Greg started last year about me being a Tinker 1"

We seated ourselves at our normal table, Taylor still looked pretty amused. "So they stripped you naked to make sure you weren't hiding tech in your pants?"

I grumbled "Pretty much. I still have no -idea- how they tracked me down. Pretty sure they payed someone to break into my locker though, the toaster blueprints they had were in there. I just assumed Sophia stepped up her little game at the time."

I thought Taylor looked haunted for a moment but it was gone so fast I could have imagined it. She shakes her head and a bit of humor comes back to her face "You have to get out of your head more. I know you're oblivious but come on. High school kid screws some gang members over and they get a huge amount of flak. They want revenge and to get back in good graces. They figure you're a high schooler, there's no way they could get away with watching Arcadia so they go for the low hanging fruit - Winslow. You've been walking to school recently so them seeing you at the entrance is practically a given. They grab someone that goes to the school, either part of their gang or just some random kid and pay them to break into your locker, find out more about you, where you live etc so they aren't seen following you. Kid brings them blueprints and they think they found themselves a ticket to being rich. I'm stretching it a bit here but ; they can't just grab you off the street in a crowd so they get the kid to get you into detention so you're late getting out - you did have detention after all, though that -could- have been a coincidence."

I nod following along with the story, though I'm a little weirded out that Taylor just came up with a legitimate kidnapping scheme off the cuff. "So... You plan kidnappings often?"

She rolls her eyes "Shut up, you're just jealous."

I think for a few moments "Huh. Taylor, do you think Sophia could have planned this? I mean maybe the guys are part of her gang? Or maybe she threatened them?"

She shakes her head "Nah, too much of a coincidence. Sophia hates you because of what happened Monday, then you keep fighting back in little ways that just add fuel to the fire. She might have -helped- them though, I mean Madison was the one that got you detention right?"

"Eh, I thought their names were Sophia, Emma, Number Three and the cronies." she holds back a laugh and I continue "Besides, you're breaking my mental image of Sophia ruling all the Merchant territory from a porcelain throne." My mind derails as I remember something "Hey, how the hell did you know all that crap about the kidnapping and Oblivium?"

She looks at me like I'm an idiot, which to be fair there are times I can be. "PHO. New capes always make big news. The stuff on the kidnappers was posted under the thread started for Oblivium, Clockblocker posted the name saying it was in Shadow Stalker's report. There were even pictures of the guy sprinting down the sidewalk. No comment on who was kidnapped though, police keep that stuff quiet. You should take a look, there's tons of info." Based on the look she was giving me it wasn't 'should' it was 'you're going to look or I'm going to chain you to a desk later until you do.'

I nod "Yeah, I'll take a look. Only been on there once, but I've heard a lot about it from Greg. Didn't realize it moved so fast though." I sigh and feel a weight lift off my shoulders "I'm just glad I won't have to deal with continued attempts. Now the only violence in my immediate future is Sophia again."

I pull out my notebook and slap it down on the table "Changing topics to fun stuff. I think I've come up with a way for flight to work!" I flip over to the section that details the 'heat' command. Taylor follows along. I point to a section under heat and draw a block around it and to the side I write a new command 'Infusion'. "Heat is the movement of molecules. This part" I point to what I blocked "is where the mana fills an area and influences said molecules."

She nods and finishes for me "So you 'infuse' yourself and now you can influence everything at once. Add enough 'up' force at a constant rate and you counter gravity for as long as you can hold it. It'll have an insanely prohibitive cost for any sort of speed though. Not to mention screwing it up could have you trying to hold up your body by your heart."

I nod "Eh, I'd have to -really- screw up to manage that, but yes, -technically- it's a concern. But I'm excited, now that I know HOW I can't wait to give it a try."

She considers for a moment "What about infusing other people?"

I shake my head "Nah, different auras don't like to mix, and everyone has their own, though typically it's so small it's barely visible. It's why I can 'sense' people but not things."

We discuss a few more ideas then Taylor starts telling me the 'need to know' info on PHO since she seems convinced I'm never actually going to go look this stuff up. I halfway tune her out but nod when appropriate and tune back in when something important seems to come up. Suddenly she stops and tilts her head towards the cafeteria entrance. When I turn around Sophia is across the cafeteria glaring at me. Then she turns and walks to another section ignoring both Taylor and I.

I look back at Taylor. "... I honestly thought I'd be happy when she decided this thing wasn't worth her time. Why do I feel like today is going to be ten times worse than yesterday?" I shudder as a chill goes down my back. Damnit Murphey, why me? "Uh, Taylor oh buddy oh pal, think if I follow you home she won't notice?"

Taylor's gaze turns flat "You are -not- following me home. My dad would kill you."

I shrug "Sophia's going to kill me anyway, what's it matter?"

She shakes her head "No, remember? I'm a 'suspicious individual'."

I sigh "Fine... I'll face my fate all alone" I tossed in a fake sniffle for effect. Sadly our back and forth was interrupted when the bell rang for us to head to class. I get up and start heading towards my first class saying over my shoulder "I'll call you tonight about the meet up. Probably do it tomorrow." Taylor nods and grabs her stuff heading off for her own learning experience.

There was a bright point during lunch, Greg finally climbed out of his hole and forgave me for 'being more popular'. We went over some ideas for enchantments, he suggested I just have the 'batteries' latch onto my core like the shields latch onto them. Sounded dangerous as hell to me but I wrote it down to try later. Another problem is once I let a spell go to run on it's own I don't have control of it - it just does what it's built to.

The rest of the day felt like the calm before the storm. Before my last class I felt a familiar feeling in my aura, I managed to place it as Emma behind me and making a beeline for me. I sidestepped when she tried to run into me, probably trying to get me another detention for physical misconduct or something. When the rules always fall on the side of the popular girl it's a little annoying, can't even touch her or I get in some sort of trouble. I used the benefit of being tall, long legs, to speed up and make it to class. She seemed a little more angry this time than her normal failures, but it did make me feel better, whatever plan they want to enact probably relies on detention and I'm safely in my last class.

As always I practiced with my mana instead of listening to class because being able to fly is so much cooler than history. However, my heart sank when the PA system crackled on and I heard the announcement calling me to the office. When I got out the door I decided this was NOT happening. To the right was the direction of the principal's office. I promptly turned left and left school twenty minutes early.

Out in front of the school building was a black van idling. "That's not ominous at all..." I start walking toward home and building my Force Shield with low power - it may not stop a bullet at this level but it'd have saved me from the taser yesterday. I noticed a guy in the van who was looking right at me. I whisper under my breath "It's fine, I'm just a kid leaving school early, it's surprising so worth watching, he's not a random kidnapper after my brilliant toaster designs." Around that time the man pulled out a phone - still staring at me. Damn. I took off in a dead sprint.

I wasn't sure where I was going, I could go home but that has its own problems. I could head to a crowded part of town, try to lose them if they chase me. Could even try going to the police and report that Sophia's gang is trying to get me. I had a feeling the school would sweep it under the rug but the police would at -least- have to do an investigation right? I mean I was kidnapped for a toaster yesterday so they couldn't just discount it as paranoia. Aaaand the van is following me. I dart into an alley, turn on the next street then turn down another alley, hopefully I lost them for long enough. I look down both sides of the alley to make sure there's no one watching, I even look up to make sure there are no windows open and watching. I'm in luck. I take about a minute to build the framework of my new flight spell as fast as I can but I just hold it in place for now, I brace myself and jump as hard as I can while applying boost and powering up flight causing wisps of foxfire to stream off my skin. The spell is shaky and I can already feel it falling apart, but I do float up to the lip of the building. I use another small boost to push me over the edge and onto the roof just in time as the flight spell flares and dissipates, I let the shield go with it and I fall the few inches to the roof.

I flop onto my back panting. 'Heh, find me up here bastards.'. While I wait for my mana to recover I hear the van drive down the road. "Ugh, this is just getting insane. If I get another kidnapping attempt I might just crack and start throwing Mana Bolts at anything that moves. If I do I promise to myself I will laugh like a madman just to complete the picture."

I stay on the building practicing for about an hour before I decide to start heading home. I check the alley before I drop down with my flight spell only partially canceling gravity. It's much more efficient when I have time to build it. I let the spell dispel itself when I'm a foot from the ground. Almost the same moment I landed my phone started ringing.

I pull out my phone and the call is coming from home... I'm not -that- late, then again parents could be worried what with the fiasco yesterday. I sigh and answer "Hey mom."

"Will, are you alright?" She seems genuinely concerned without need, this could be bad. Oh hell, they couldn't find me so the grabbed my parents. This is just great.

"Mom, if you're in trouble talk about our cat." my heart has sped up and I'm about ready to make good on the promise of laughing like a madman along with the violence that entails.

"Will, I'm fine, the PRT came to your school to talk to you about last night"

I let out my frustration by yelling into the phone "ARGH! Tell them I'm not a tinker, it's a goddamn TOASTER!" I think I'm about to lose it. I blame it on too much stress in one week. I need to just find a hole to crawl into for a month and avoid life for a while.

I hear her take the phone away from her face to pointedly tell someone in the room that Oblivium is a 'goddamn toaster' which causes some spluttering. She lifts the phone back and says "Alright, message conveyed, I expect to see you home in an hour for dinner. Excuse me while I kick out our guests." I just laugh to myself and hang up the phone. I really am losing it. I've never yelled at my mother before. I think she understands why but I'm going to have to do something nice for her.

I take my time getting home to let my heart rate drop to normal levels. I rebuild my weak Force Shield for the bit of comfort it gives me on the way. I had a feeling of being watched for the last hundred yards or so but I blamed it on paranoia - I've had a lot of that recently, though for good reason in my opinion.

I step in the doorway with "Hey mom, dad, I'm home, fully clothed this time!" I can hear mom laugh from the kitchen. I step into the room with them to see dinner just being served. I sit down for dinner and go over my day, the odd behavior of Sophia and the sudden PA request only for the nondescript black van to show up.

My father was annoyed "Don't take this the wrong way Will, but I can't believe they bypassed us entirely by going through the school to have a one on one with a -kid-. That's abusing their status as an authority figure. Most kids won't know they don't have to answer a damn thing. Hell it's probably why they felt okay doing it." He grumbled more about acting like some sort of underground organization and how they practically get away with murder. We all knew he was exaggerating but when he gets like this you just let him burn out.

My mother however was enjoying herself. Based on her story she told the PRT agents I would never lie about something so important so -obviously- Oblivium was a toaster man. They apparently didn't know how to deal with the statement and tried some subtle 'non threats' like 'Oblivium could have mastered Will, he was thrown through a portal, how do you know he's okay? You should let the facilities at the PRT examine him' The general gist was they were trying to talk to me personally, preferably one on one. That whole conversation had apparently been what set dad off.

We all knew the PRT did a good enough job, the city wouldn't still be standing if it didn't. They were just in a shit spot and had no way to clean things up. The gangs and corruption ran too deep, and with so many villain capes and more popping up every day it was a grab bag to what could happen on any given day. It didn't really excuse what they did, but at least it was morally grey and not waving a gun in your face.

Dad took the opportunity to get my attention "Will, I know you're a smart kid, but I just want to make sure you understand. No matter what they say you don't have to say a word to them."

I rolled my eyes "Yeah yeah, I know, they do anything I just ask for my lawyer like in those annoying cop shows you like."

He smiled "Atta boy, just like that."

At that we finished up dinner and I got dish duty. Once done I headed to my room and slipped out my phone. I dialed up Taylor debating on how I wanted to do this. I decided short and sweet. She picked up with a "Hey Will. So what's the plan?"

"Mall coffee shop at ten."

"Vetoed."

"Fugly Bob's"

She hummed for a bit then seemed to have decided "Vetoed"

"Hrm... Abandoned junkyard and a picnic?"

I could hear her roll her eyes "Fugly Bob's at one. Only because I know any places you choose from this point on are just going to be downhill. You really need to learn how to treat a lady."

"Hey, you're the one that made me invite you!"

"And you're the one inviting me, so you get to pay. See you tomorrow!" I could hear her grin as she hung up. I just shook my head. Well at least the kidnapping scare is over.

I sat down to start meditation and practicing my flight spell for the rest of the evening with the occasional parental interruption until it was time to sleep. I had just gotten into bed but my mother apparently decided to try cooking something new around midnight - she's odd like that - because for a moment I tasted smoke. Some must have drifted upstairs. I ignored it and drifted to sleep.