We Could Learn a Lesson [CHRIS]

[avia]

Avia flexed her fingers carefully before spinning the dial on her locker. She had been patched up, given detention, but not sent home for the fight she had been in earlier that afternoon. She hadn’t caused it, but that wasn’t why she hadn’t been sent home. They kept her because they were afraid of her. Five very big teenage boys had attacked her. She had said something scathing about one of their girlfriend’s. So the girlfriend sent the five biggest guys in the school to teach her a lesson. Avia had bested them all. She took on all five at once and came out with a few bumps, bruises, and a little bit bloody. The best of them had an arm that was dislocated and a fractured jaw. He was the only one left conscious. The only reason Avia had allowed this was because she overheard him say ‘five against one isn’t fair’. He never attacked her when the others did. He always waited until she had beaten them off and came at her alone. She went easier on him, but she still made her point.

Her whole right hand was bandaged up. The fist she had used to do the most punching had been the limb with the most injury. Her ribs hurt a little, but that was because one of the boys had fallen on her in some pseudo wrestling move they must have seen on the old stock images of days long past. Avia opened her locker with a ‘chunk’ and a soft sigh. She was tired of fighting. She was tired of school. But that she could leave it forever… She checked her image in the mirror fastened to her door and frowned again. Her hair was a mess; she hadn’t fixed it from the fight earlier. One eye was red and damaged. A broken blood vessel. Sweet. It looked eerie. She’d have to lay off the fighting pretty soon if she didn’t want to look like a banshee at her father’s party. That would go over so well.

With yet one more heavy sigh, Avia stuffed her books into her locker and slammed it shut.

[q]

For a change, Chris had actually been on time when he had gotten to the school. He was incredibly pleased with himself. Although he had tried to get there early, being on time was a step up from wheezing his way to wherever it was he was supposed to be. He had charged up before heading off. He had even brought a backpack with some useful bits and pieces, including a bottle of water and a mask. And he had done some jogging. It hadn't been the most reassurring experience, but it had happened. Things were bound only to get better from here.

While he walked through the almost nostalgic corridors, he continued to be very happy with himself. It was a few minutes before he realised that, actually, he didn't know where he was going. His feet had been taking him on the familiar route to the library, and while he had been praising himself and admiring all the old classroom doors, he had somehow managed to not realise. With a mental headslap, he turned around, skimming the lockers as he walked back where he had come from. He was sure he'd recognise the place when he saw it. All he had to do was see it. No need to worry just yet.

An hour later, his attempts not to worry were getting weaker. After Avia had agreed to teach him, being really late would be really, really bad. But then, students started filing out of the classrooms. Well, that couldn't be right. School had already been over for an hour. He checked his watch. With a sigh of relief, he slowed down as the crowd flooded the hallway. He had been early after all. He had read the numbers wrong.

A little later, he spotted her in front of a locker. Making a mental note of where it was, he called out ,"Hey, Avia!" When he got a little closer, he saw how battered she was. "Er." He wasn't quite sure what to say. What he wanted to do was ask her if she'd gotten into another fight with the police, but he didn't think she'd tell him if she had. "I'd forgotten how violent school was," he decided on, looking at the mess of her hair with vague curiosity.

[avia]

She visibly cringed when she heard her name being called. Avia turned abruptly from her locker and held up her fists towards… Chris. Oh. Okay. She dropped them to her sides again casually. So this wasn’t someone heading her way to beat the crap out of her. Well, that was good. The young woman blinked at Chris’ perplexed expression, and then glanced around at everyone who was looking at Chris in confusion. Most of them probably had written him off for dead. This must be his specter. She looked back up to Chris, the whites of her left eye stained blood red, and blinked calmly at his remarks.

“I’d forgotten how violent school was.”

Avia snorted in derision. “School’s not violent, Chris. That’s only where I’m concerned. I said something someone didn’t like, apparently,” she replied cooly, as if this thing happened every day… which, some months, it did. Ah, popularity… How she would like to bring a grenade launcher into the school and exercise a little Natural Selection. Oh, how she would love it. The sounds of their cries, pitiful and weak, as they asked her why echoed in the recesses of her mind. Why?, she would reflect. And then she would burn their ignorance to the cinders. Avia blinked at Chris again, the visions gone. She had remembered why he was there. He wanted to learn to fight. She would never hurt Chris. She could burn the school down her in mind later. For the moment, she needed to teach Chris how to combat Natural Selection.

As she led Chris towards the exit, Avia pushed the girl who had hired five boys to beat her up into her open locker and slammed it shut. Nobody dared fight against her on it in retaliation. They simply waited, and then let the girl out. She was lucky Avia hadn’t broken her nose, to be honest. Her pretty, perfect little nose. “Have you been running?” she asked him, as if she hadn’t just done anything unusual.

[q]

"Oh." It took a lot of willpower not to ask more about what had actually happened. He needed a less direct way of broaching the subject, so that he could at least try to make her think about alternate methods involving less violence. Maybe she hadn't fought back, but he doubted it. Probably a few people had been sent to the hospital, but she would heal and it would happen again. And again. And...

He saw the movement out of the corner of his eye, turned in time to watch some girl getting pushed into a locker. While Avia kept on walking, Chris hesitated before following. He should really help that girl, though it was really impressive that she could fit in a locker in the first place, they were so cramped, but wait, shutting people in lockers was definitely not okay, even if she had been let out...

"Have you been running?"

Stuck between moments, it took another few seconds before Chris replied. "Er. Yes?" He had been glancing back, but when the idiocy of his answer reached the rest of his brain, his gaze snapped forward again. "I mean, yes. I have, actually," he said more definitively. "Have you been picking fights?" The words slipped out, Chris barely aware. They were just part of the long stream of thoughts blazing a trail through his brain. He had already moved on, watching the clouds with some interest.

[avia]

Avia laughed when he asked if she had been picking fights. Not this time. Not that she’d tell him that. “No, actually. Why would I want to pick a fight with five guys who each weigh nearly two-hundred pounds?” she asked and pushed open the doors to the exit. The teacher out on the front steps glanced at her, then quickly shied away. He had tried to break up the fight earlier that day. He’d been swiftly dealt with. Avia hadn’t hurt him, but she had artfully pushed him right back out of the fight without once losing a beat in kicking the tar out of the five guys who had ganged up on her. Cuyler, the only one she had left conscious, was standing some several feet away with his arm in a sling. He looked at the pair of them, met Avia’s eyes, and obviously seemed to understand that she had not sent him to the hospital for a reason. He showed no interest in continuing their fight.

Avia hopped down the stairs and strode away from the school with a decided gait. She wanted to get as far away from that school as possible. “Do you remember school? When did I pick the fights? How often?” she asked him. She was somewhat annoyed that he has asked her a question like that. But given her recent behavior, she didn't exactly blame him, either.

[q]

"I don't remember school that well, actually," he replied. "Most things were irrelevant, and I was distracted." Specifically, by all that superhero stuff. He couldn't really remember when it was that he had found out about them. It felt like forever. But high school was when he really started thinking that he could give the cape-and-mask deal a try. And then there was all that time he had started to spend out of school, working on learning things that he actually found relevant. All the time he had actually spent in the school walls felt like a dream. Too short to have really happened at all. It was all fragmented.

"I do remember that you said things that people didn't like. Even if you didn't throw the first punch, provoking people isn't, well, neutral, exactly. Didn't you say that you 'said something somebody didn't like'?" He said all of this with a vague interest closer to stating an observation, not critical or accusatory. "People are stupid to be provoked in the first place, though. It's not really an impressive comeback to try and beat someone up." He sighed. "I can't imagine you keeping your head down. And I wasn't there, so maybe it was worth it, beating up those, er, five guys." Seeing a fraction of the aftermath, he imagined it had been an impressive fight. He still remembered that one guy with the knife all those days ago. To be in this state, those five guys must be catatonic by now. "Out of curiosity, what did you say?"

[avia]

She sighed as he talked. He was analyzing her now. Well, she supposed it was better than judging her. Or trying to convert her away from her wicked ways. Yeah, right… Avia glanced up at Chris. Contrary to what she had worn the night he had played superhero, she had given up her hard edged outfit for something softer. A fluttery white dress, a nice soft yellow cardigan, and a pair of heels had replaced her leather and denim. Despite the fact that all of this was a bit bloody from fighting, and torn, it was still a lot nicer looking that her Red Hood costume. She was cleaner than the Red Hood. But that was the point. Avia sighed in a huff. “She was bashing Daddy’s police party-thing. I told her we didn’t want her there, anyway, because we didn’t allow cows to attend. Somewhere in there she felt insulted.” She explained shortly.

Her father’s soirees were boring at best, but that didn’t mean other people were allowed to make fun of them. Kyla had said that the party, which her mother, as a receptionist, was attending, was just a mockery. She had, in truth, said that the Commissioner was old and incapable and needed to be replaced. It had been this, more than the stuff about the party, which had set Avia off. But she had held her temper. She wanted to hurt Kyla. Instead, she said something against her weight. Apparently, it would have been a better idea just to hit her. Psychological warfare against girls seemed to be much more effective. Avia was also fairly certain this wasn’t the last time Kyla would try to cause her damage. Although, she might smarten up next time and be a bit more subversive about it. Sending in a pack of boys to beat her up? Really?

She paused at an impasse that she had deliberately led him down and turned to face him. “Shockwave, right?” she asked, just to clarify whether or not she had accurately remembered his superhero name.

[q]

Chris frowned. "She was insulted? I don't understand why. Cows are great. Useful animals, what with the milk and beef and keeping grass in check. All that." He really did think it was strange. There were so many turns of phrase that didn't really seem all that cruel. Yet people still took such words to heart, badly. Got mad, got violent. All that. There were plenty of worse things Avia could have said, things that he had been bracing himself to hear. If anything, it was disappointing. "They're good for conversation, too," he continued. "It's a bit one-sided, but I've heard you get responses. Better than talking to a brick wall. Or was it you saying she couldn't go that got to her? Or was she jealous of you going? Though I'm assuming you are. Would be, even." People were a mystery. He'd take a quantum problem any day. By contrast, quantum was so straightforward. And there was usually a more definitive, more correct kind of answer at the end.

"Yes, Shockwave," he added. "Is that all? Or," he lowered his voice. "Are you going to teach me something stealthy-ish here? Not what I imagined, but is it part of that blending-into-the-crowd thing?"

One thing was very clear. He shouldn't have watched that old action film last night while he was working. Somehow, only the really improbable things seemed to stick.

[avia]

Avia tuned him out when he started talking about cows. He didn’t get it. She hadn’t expected him to, really. The social awkwardness was what got him picked on at school. She didn’t expect that to change.

She did, however, raise an eyebrow to his excitement. Stealthy-ish? She mused. Avia folded her arms tight around her chest and waited for him to build up all of his excitement. He seemed very amped about this endeavor… but he had no idea what he was getting himself into. Because they were between two old buildings with a brick wall at her back and the alleyway to the street at his, they were fairly secluded. She could climb that wall behind her. It was about a hundred feet up, but she could use agility and leg muscles to get up to where she could pull herself over.

Chris would fall on his ass.

“No.” she said simply, dousing all of his daydreams in a thick layer of lost hope. She refused to smile at this, however, and donned the serious, no-bullshit expression Abiba and Elmo wore whenever they took her into training. She wasn’t Avia anymore, and neither was she the Red Hood. She was Chris’ Teacher. He either listened, or he got himself killed. In this way, she became his savior. Avia pointed to her left, his right, where there was a crumbling hole of lost brickwork in the side of the building. She knew all of the best hidey-holes and escape routes in the city. This one was fairly recent. The building was too old, too worn, and probably going to eventually topple. At the moment, the hole opened up in to the basement, which was a good ten foot drop below the street level. From there, they could climb the old elevator shaft, long broken, up to the upper floors. Or they could access the metro beneath through yet another hole in the city. She gave him a look that indicated her intent to make him enter the dark, damp, eerie world beneath the street without any further information about her intentions. He was going to have to do what she wanted without asking question. It wasn’t necessarily a matter of his trust in her, but his ability to follow orders.