No High Like Sky High (TatlTails and OrionFinis)

TatlTails

TatlTails

They Can't Order Me To Stop Dreaming
Madi hated group projects. She hated talking to people, or attempting what she considered talking to people. She hated the Hero/Sidekick educational dichotomy that this school saddled everyone with, sticking her in a position of authority she really didn't deserve while sticking her genuinely terrifying older brother in a lesser education. And most of all, she hated the thought of being assigned a sidekick of her own.

But that was what was happening today. It was the first day of junior year, which meant that the Hero and Sidekick classes were going to be assigned away into duos that supposedly would complement each other. It was supposed to be the start of preparing for real field work, building up experience with working in teams. Another thing Madi hated. She didn't know what to expect from any of this, or which outcome would be worse: Having a sidekick who took the lead, or being forced to do it herself.

The assembly hall was full of students, people she'd avoided and embarrassed herself in front of for two years so far. Now one person would get a front-row seat to the worst of the worst. Her name was called far too quickly for her liking, and as she forced her shaking legs onto the podium, she glanced over the borderline anonymous crowd one last time before resigning herself to just wait for the verdict.

"Madeline Black." The teacher announced boredly, reading off of a clipboard with eyes that might as well be rolling with how little he seemed to care. "You will be paired with... Timaeus Silverhart."
 
Timaeus looked up, his amethyst eyes nervously fixing on Madeline as she stood at the podium. His legs did not want to even attempt the very idea of walking as he forced himself to stand and make his way over to her.

He could feel the white hot stares on his back as he walked and couldn't help but remember his demonstration two years earlier. He could swear there was murmuring amongst the crowd but he could not be sure. He did not want to drag somebody down with his lackluster power but then again there was a method to the madness.

Maybe her power is something that can benefit from a walking battery... He thought to himself as he reached the spot next to Madeline.
 
Oh.

Madi had thought she'd already accepted her fate, that she'd understood what having a sidekick would entail no matter how much she dreaded it. But seeing an actual human person respond to the name called, and walk up to stand next to her... That was what it took for it to hit her. She was in charge of this guy. He was almost a foot taller than her, and looked way more capable in a fight, and she was in charge of him.

She'd seen this guy around, Timaeus, though she'd never properly met him. He wasn't one of those straight-to-villain bully types, which was frankly all she could hope for in a sidekick, but other than that she knew nothing about him. That was probably going to change, whether she wanted it to or not.

Well if she was going to work with him, a good first impression was important... Which meant, of course, that her voice decided to fail her entirely. It never worked perfectly, she'd had her stammer as long as she could remember, but it was only in paralyzing moments like these when she couldn't even get out a word. So after a mortifying moment of trying and failing to say something to her new sidekick, she shut her mouth and settled for offering a handshake. She hoped the smile she'd attempted to give him didn't look too pathetic, because it felt pathetic.
 
He could see that she wanted to say something but maybe could not muster the words. Probably new partner jitters he thought as he reached for her hand. He could feel his nerves rising and with it a flush came to his face.

He had seen Madeline around but could not remember for the life of him what her power was. She had always seemed the quiet type but he couldn't be too certain, again he had only seen her in passing.

"I am Timaeus...It looks like we will be working together." He said with a gently confidence that was nothing what he felt on the inside. His eyes were the only thing that betrayed his sense of worry in all of this. His hand grasped hers lightly and shook.
 
Madi managed to give Timaeus a nod as she shook his hand, at least managing to seem like she wasn't deaf as well as mute. The handshake only lasted about a second, though, since the teacher interrupted the gesture with a gripe of "Alright, lovebirds. Get off the stage, we got a lot more kids on the list."

Madi's face burned at the jab, though she did as she was told. A teacher of all people acting so immature, didn't he know how mortifying comments like that could be?! Especially to high schoolers, for god's sake! She didn't even notice herself dragging Timaeus off the stage by his still-held hand, her grip surprisingly strong (though not supernaturally so) and only getting tighter as a smattering of giggles from the audience reached her ears.
 
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If there had not been color in his cheeks to begin with, they were certainly flushed now. He nearly tumbled down the stairs as she pulled him her way. He could hear the small chorus of giggles as they made there way to the back of the gym.

He attempted a fib that he did not fully believe "I wouldn't pay it any real attention. They'll just find something else to laugh about before the end of the class..." and as if on queue there was a stir of laughter as a hero was paired with what looked like a cross between a dingo and a teenager.

He leaned his back against the wall and crossed his arms. What was he supposed to say, what was he supposed to do? He was her sidekick so she called the shots. After what felt like an eternity of silence to him, he decided to break the ice officially. "So... I am going to sound completely rude when I ask this Madeline...but what was your power exactly?"
 
Madi didn't believe Timaeus' bullshit any more than he did, and was still full enough of rage to give him one of her most potent sarcastic deadpan-glare/eyebrow-raise combos. Really? This was a high school, what was he expecti-

And then the crowd decided to laugh at someone else's misfortune, and subsequently try to prove Timaeus right. Hopefully he was, because she doubted people would actually forget the subject of romance...

The awkward moment of silence was enough for Madi to try and calm her nerves, and it was apparently enough for her new sidekick to speak up again. At least he was trying to be nice, which was a better first impression than she'd probably given him. Let's just hope her voice didn't crap out on her again...

"T-telek-kinesis." She managed to tell the guy, her voice like a glitchy recording of a pleasant breeze. Well, the stuttering could have been worse. It had been worse. "A-an' I can b-borrow wh-whatever you got. Mayb-be. ...Wh-what d-do you got?"
 
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He almost did not notice the stutter, her voice was soft and gentle enough that he could almost overlook it. The class was slowly pairing off one by one and discussing their new found partnerships. Soon they would be given assignments and he wanted to make sure that he and Madi would be able to function together. After all he remembered, it was the job of the sidekick to make sure the hero could do their job.

His voice was almost a low rumble, somber almost "That's an interesting combination." He admitted with a small smile. "I am a walking battery... I can absorb energy. Right now I can only absorb massive amounts of kinetic and electrical energies." He said as he started to look at his feet. "It's really a useless power but I think I get why they paired us." He was fidgetting a little as he put his thoughts together. "You see if you can borrow powers it means you should be able to sap energy from my stores, meaning I could essentially recharge you... I am... I am your walking power pack."
 
Madi probably replied to that with the worst possible reaction she could have chosen, despite it being complete instinct: She let out an indignant scoff.

Timaeus' powers actually sounded really cool! They seemed much more useful than most of the shapeshifters' abilities (including Heroes) and a bunch of other stuff she'd seen in kids who got put in Sidekick. Yeah it did probably mean he'd mostly be an energy source if he was paired with her, she'd found that conclusion to be pretty logical, but being reduced to nothing more than a walking battery? By himself, no less?! It was bullshit! There was no reason for someone as generally decent as this guy to think of himself so lowly, not because of some bullshit system that put a loser like her above him!

"N-no." She told him, flat out. She wasn't going to accept having a sidekick if he was just going to feel like a sidekick! "You're m-more'n th-that, I'm s-sure you are. We j-just gotta f-find something f-for you."
 
His own instinct kicked in at that point and he just smirked. It was his overconfident shield. As he smirked he just simply shook his head from side to side waiting for a jab that he was all to familiar with. It had been the same story since his power first manifested. Everyone thought that he could also dish out what he took but it did not work that way. He just absorbed.

As his mind attempted to come up with any number of snappy comebacks for what she might have to say to follow that scoff, it was derailed by her soft yet firm stammer. Find something for me?. He figured that she would be the typical hero, no use for a support except to make herself look better. They all did it so why would she be different? The other half of his mind balked at this thought. I know nothing about her, that's unfair to Madi...

"Well if you see something there let's try to find it." He replied with a tipping nod. His next words were cut short by the teacher "All right Heroes and Sidekicks, time for practical application! Let's see how well you can work on the fly. I'll be picking teams at random and they will demonstrate their current ability to work as a team so we can see what needs work." Timaeus just knew they would be first but let loose a audible sigh when he chose another pair.
 
Madi returned Timaeus' nod with as much determination as she had, trying to keep looking strong while her insides melted with relief. She'd almost ruined their entire partnership with one noise. It took her too long to realize it, but for a moment there had been some genuine hurt in Timaeus' eyes. Thank goodness he'd liked what she actually had to say...

Sadly, all her strength and relief completely abandoned her when the teacher called out for the first test of the year. 'Practical Applications', her foot. More like "Good luck trying to survive our Death Gauntlets, teenage children!" She swore this school was just trying to kill them all at every turn, for someone else's amusement. Or maybe they were trying to cull the population to avoid villainous uprisings. Either way, she was pretty damn sure she was going to get either herself or this near-stranger killed.

At least they weren't first, but that just left more time for panicking. Why the hell did anyone put her in Hero class?! She sucked as a leader, her brother was way better at it than her!

...Then what would he do here? Is the question the rational side of her decided to ask next. The answer didn't come very long after.

"L-let's w-watch." Madi suggested to her new sidekick, not even trying to sound heroic or leaderlike. She didn't feel like either, and the last thing she needed was false expectations. "S-see what the t-test is. Th-then we c-can figure s-something out."
 
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He placed his hand on her shoulder reassuringly. He felt deep down that she was just as nervous as he was, if not more. He hoped that the gesture was ok and not an invasion of her space. He gulped as he watched the first pair advance forward.

The 'Practical Application' it turned out was some sort of robot. It looked like and was built like a heavy weight boxer. It bounced from foot to foot and made a jabbing motion towards the two teens and then with a mechanical sneer it said "Show me 'ya moves..."

The display that the first team showed heart but they were definitely set up for failure from the start. While their powers (The Hero having Ice and the Sidekick able to produce sticky globs of some descript) looked as if they would flow together, the duo did not communicate well. The robot stood over the Hero with its mechanical sneer as the Teacher called it off. "Gotta do better than that class." He said.

"I see... Looks like we have work together in battle from jump..." Timaeus said as the next group was called up. He placed a finger to his lips as he tried to think of what they could do. He began to mutter to himself but nothing really descernable could be heard. After a moment or two he looked at Madi and possibly had an idea. It all depended on how well her borrow worked.
 
Madi had some kindling of an idea as well, depending on how well Timaeus was with absorbing electricity. He'd mentioned it, but she'd also never seen powers like his in action. She ended up glancing at him the same moment he glanced at her, which felt awkward enough for her to justify her face going red again.

The hand on her shoulder had been just as awkward, but she had been too busy snapping out of her panic attack to not appreciate it. And then she'd been taking her own advice and watching the fight, and the gears in her head had started turning, and... Yeah, there were more important things to worry about than social awkwardness.

"E-ever f-fought a robot b-before?" She dared to ask him, her voice hushed in the crowd. If they started talking strategy now, maybe they would have time to survive the fight later...
 
Their eyes met and his cheeks matched hers for a moment before his face shifted to a serious form. "Not really anything outside of the occasional video game... This is something new all together... I'm not going to lie, I don't know what to do... Sorry." He said as watched the next group of victims taking on the bot.

He wondered how best to describe his power. Sure it was pretty simple to say I absorb energy, but there was more to it than that. He had to be careful because there were limits to how much and how strong. As he chewed his words he decided to just large forward and explain as best he could.

"OK so at this moment I can only absorb energy, I cannot expend it in any form unless you count that enough means I don't need to eat for a little while." He started as he just looked straight forward, watching the match before them. "There is a limit to how much I can take at one time. Right now that's pegged at about 300 AH... Amp-Hours... That's equal to 48 volts or 4 car batteries." He paused for a moment to wince as the Hero of the current group took a nasty punch to the gut. "Anything...Anything over that and I pass out from and overload. I can also absorb small amounts of kinetic energy and that also as the bonus of making me somewhat of a shock absorber as long as the blow isn't too much... I haven't tested for an upper limit on that one yet." He said as be began to feel like he was rambling on, trying desperately to calm his nerves by still talking. "SO...." He said with deep breath looking into her eyes. "I say we test that upper limit, I'll run interference while you..." He paused realizing he didn't know how well her telekinesis was.
 
Madi's eyes stayed on the bot as Timaeus spoke, but she gave little nods of acknowledgement throughout his explanation to show she was listening. This was all good information, she could work with it. Combined with the info she was getting on the robot's pattterns, she was actually putting some sort of a plan into place. In fact, if they could pull it off, it just might work!

She looked back at her sidekick when she felt his eyes on her, then broke eye contact again so she wouldn't freeze up before she told him "I c-can hold the b-bot i-in place, b-but not f-for long... I-if you d-don't mind r-running b-back and f-forth a lot, you c-could drain him, ch-charge me, rep-peat. I-it'll have to g-go down ev-ventually, right?"
 
"That sounds like a plan to me... We will have to get some of the wiring exposed though." He said as he thought through how their plan would go down. It actually might work or at the bare minimum show that they were able to work together.

A thought occurred just as the second group finished up."Madi... We need to test if you can charge off me... Give me your hand please." He asked softly. It would be hell he thought if they got out there and found that she could only borrow his ability and not the energy stored within him.
 
Madi was relieved to hear Timaeus approved of her plan. It was barely a plan, and it had a lot of holes, but if they could both at least agree on something then that was kind of a good start for their teamwork. That was what seemed to be the biggest grading factor here, which usually would be a huge issue for her, but perhaps her luck was finally starting to turn.

Wait crap don't say that, she didn't wanna jinx it.

That thought was accompanied by Timaeus' request for her to take his hand. Welp, there went her confidence in not being socially awkward for once. They did need to test the ability, though, since it was the lynchpin of the whole plan. If their powers weren't as compatible as everyone theorized, they would be in a heap of trouble for the next two years...

Besides, she'd already taken his hand once today, and that had been about as awkward as it could get. What could possibly be the harm in doing it again?

So she took his hand if it was offered to her, then closed her eyes and tried to get a feel for the power under his skin. There was energy somewhere, she just had to find it and see what she could do with it...
 
He was admittedly nervous as he took her hand. Should he lace their fingers would that help? He did not know what to do so he just grasped her hand and waited. Would there be a sensation? Would he know that they were sharing power? There were so many unknowns to doing this but it had to be done if they were going to be with one another for the next two years.

Her hand was soft and that was slightly distracting. His mind was possibly drawn away from the gym at that moment but it was harshly brought back to reality when he heard "Alright lovebirds...You're next!" beckon them from the other side of the gym. Timaeus gulped hard and subconsciously gripped her hand tighter. No time now to wonder if it had worked, all that mattered was making sure that his Hero was ready for battle. "Madi... I don't know if that worked at all but we're up and we are going to do this..." He said reaching deep for a confidence he knew was more lie than truth.

The bot watched them and made it's own move forward. It watched them and used it's various scanners to adjust from the last team to this one. It stood with bravado that could have only been coded into a machine. "Show me ya moves chump." the pixelated voice sneered and with that they began.
 
Madi's examination was cut short by the teacher's voice cutting through the gym. She jolted out of her concentration with a terrified squeak, and unconsciously responded to Timaeus' squeeze of her hand with a squeeze of her own. She could already feel her voice freezing up on her, so all she could respond to the pep talk with was a terrified nod. She'd felt something from him, but whether or not it was what they needed, only the real test would tell...

She walked up to the arena featuring the obnoxious-yet-terrifying robot, legs shaking just as badly as they had earlier, then swallowed her fear and pried her hand off her sidekick's. They had a plan, it was time to use it. It would be fine, it would work. They would be OK. She gave him a second nod, which would hopefully be his cue to start moving, then held her hands up to the bot.

In moments, a barely-visible greyish sheen appeared around the robot, trapping it in place. Madi was visibly straining to keep the bot in place, but she managed to also tear off a plate in one of its legs. Hopefully that would be exposed enough for Timaeus to get at the wiring, because she couldn't afford to do any more than that. The bot was really strong, it was already fighting to break free of her shield.
 
Timeaus held her hand until she pried their grip apart. He thought that he felt a pull from somewhere deep within himself while their hands have been clasped. Now it was time for them to put their plan to the test.

He knew the signal when he saw it and made his move when he saw that it was struggling under her grip. However he was on the bot in moments, his hand clasped the exposed wires and he could feel the hum of power that was coursing through the bot. All he had to do now was draw it out. The wires did not tear as he thought and with only a moment of hesitation he pulled at them move and then moved to bite down on the wires. He had never used his mouth to draw power but the rush was invigorating.

There were noises coming from the crowd and it was after he realized that were noises of concern did he look up. The bot had broken an arm free and was about to strike down on him. He pulled back not wanting to pull any kinetic energy yet, espically not knowing how much he would be able to take. He rushed away from the fray and back behind Madi. "Madi are you ok?" He asked taking her hand again "I think I pulled a nice chunk out of it but that thing is a powehouse...literally. I won't be able to drain it dry..." He panted as he tried to focus on his will on giving her as much of his energy.
 
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