The bubble containing Sandra burst upon being touched by Ayako. The Courser dropped with grace, landing into a crouch with ease. Sandra's gaze zeroed in on the last rogue bubbles floating out into the mall, particularly the one that held the man over the sheer drop. Once John caused the security drone to freeze, Sandra shot into the air like a bullet, zooming straight to the man in the bubble. It collapsed upon being impacted by Sandra and she grabbed the man mid-air. She used her momentum to fly to the other side of the mall, landing safely across the gap.
As for the rest of the bubbles, they had been manipulated toward Victor and successfully popped by Benny's quick thinking. It seemed that was it for this particular incident, for at this very moment the source of the destruction was about to be quelled.
Thanks to Wu's powerful Courser abilities, he was able to extract the Courser in the bubble and get him on the ground. As he shook the young man, it was evidently clear that the Courser was unconscious and not going to respond. After a few moments of being outside the protection of the water, the out-of-control powers ended and the water from the nearby fountain splashed back down to the ground, harmless now.
As Tommy was now coming to, Wu decided to call this one in.
Once Wu and his pupils had stopped the Courser at the fountain, the water in the other sections of the mall had stopped rampaging in turn. All teams reported in, learning in short order that not a single civilian was seriously hurt, nor were the animals at the pet store (though it had taken a Courser with an affinity for fish coming in to round the little guys up safely). The Government and more members of the New Guard stepped in to assess what had happened, determining quickly that the one young man, identified only as someone named Brandon, had been the cause for all that had happened. While it was unclear if the man knew he was a Courser, his family had certainly been surprised. The news stories coming out of the incident played it up as a matter of the dangers of when one avoids of proper PEP registration.
As for the students of Arthur Grey's, they were given a week off from any work involving the New Guard as compensation for the unplanned incident. Opinions were mixed on if it had been appropriate for Wu, Sandra, and Jack to let their pupils get involved in the incident, but considering the few amount of Coursers who had been available at the time, the incident had seemed unavoidable in hindsight.
Friday, October 17, 2042
A few days later, activity was in full swing at Arthur Gray's School of Power, for it was none other than the school's autumn festival and students were ushered to participate in the various activities set up around the academy. There were trivia games and information boards designed to get students into the spirit of the season, club stations running activities, probably a few too many carnival games, and food vendors handing out their goods to hungry people. Most of the activities were centered around the school's courtyard, a space enclosed between multiple school buildings and connected to the student garden, where senior students were happily letting others sample some of their fall produce.
All students were free to participate as they pleased, though they needed their ID cards to participate in anything. Th IDs were designed for a variety of purposes, including dorm keys, money holding, password keepers, and interfacing with the technology around the school. Most students found it a little too cold to bother this time of year, holding up inside their dorm rooms instead.
A group of fifteen-year-old boys were chatting amidst the bustle, getting pretty animated over the most minute of subjects. Their conversation turned quickly to roughhousing as one pushed another and provoked the other. The pushed teen's hands started to glow a bright red but he found a large hand gripping his shoulder almost immediately. He turned to find one of the school's security guards, Chris Gill, staring down at him with an intimidating glare. Though the man did not possess any powers of his own, his hulking frame and shaved head was enough to make just about anyone freeze.
"No powers," he said gruffly, releasing the kid's shoulder once he seemed suitably spooked. Chris examined the kid intently, determining that he was probably a first-year. "You are to only use your powers in controlled environments as directed by the faculty. Got that?"
The teen and his friends nodded dumbly, mostly just wanting this guy to leave them alone. Chris watched them as they walked off. Once they had blended into the crowd of students, Chris made sure to report to his fellow security team to keep an eye on them.
For being a school filled with superpowered kids and young adults, there had to be measures in place to ensure the academy did not melt down on a daily basis. Powers were largely prohibited on special days like today and they were certainly not allowed in any of the academic classrooms on any occasion. As powers varied so much, it was largely difficult and rather unfair to pick and choose who had the privilege of using their abilities. The dorms were more free, though they were heavily monitored. It was really only when the students had class time dedicated to their powers or during exams that they could really let loose. Thankfully, Arthur Gray's had Courser faculty on hand who were trained in pacifying students with various kinds of powers in case anything really went wrong.
The school's head, George Alcast, was a powerful telekinetic in his own right, able to read minds and put others to sleep. As a result, there was very, very little that got past him. Every year, the man always began the school year with him addressing the students in the large auditorium, telling them what a privilege it was that they got to attend the academy and how they must work together for a safer, brighter future. It was pretty heavily rumored, especially by the older students, that the man used this opportunity to read everyone's minds at once, or something of that nature.
Tommy, still sore from the injuries he's sustained at the mall a few days prior, mostly stood in the courtyard with his hands in his pockets and looking dully at the other students milling about. He didn't want to get up and move around much, as he knew his body was going to be feeling terrible at lacrosse practice over the weekend. Just about none of what was on offer held much interest for Tommy anyway, though a part of him itched to try the carnival games, considering he was on the competitive side.
And hey, he had to give the school one thing; you really couldn't beat free food.
One student was way ahead of Tommy on the carnival games, however. Ayako, dark haired and blood red eyes, stood flatly at the fishing carnival game. She had some expression on her face that was between blank and irritated, with enough self-awareness to know that she frankly looked a bit ridiculous, just standing there and holding out a fishing pole... trying to fish out plastic fish, and even then, with limited success. She pursed her lips and gave a furrowed brow as she stood by herself, unable to get so much as a nibble. In other words, her otherwise intimidating demeanor was offset by how stupid she felt right now, fishing for fake game.
Some students, like Ayako, felt silly but liked to be a part of the school's community. Some others couldn't stand it. It was days like today that were a bit different for just about everyone.
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