Violet Eyes

11: Just Like School

"I wouldn't say genius." Danny said quietly before putting a spoonful of chili in his mouth.

"Oh stop it, you modest fuck." Rhys said with a hearty laugh. He turned to Nate quickly, "So, what can you do anyway?" Rhys said with enthusiasm, Danny and Drake both looked up from their meal.

Nate gulped, "Uhh...Telepathy, and I can...control people, only for a few seconds though. I haven't been able to make it last longer than that." Nate spoke quietly, still not exactly sure if he can trust these guys.

"Woah, that's cool! So you can listen in on people AND control them?" Nate looked surprised when that energetic comment came from Danny, who seemed to be quiet before. Danny coughed and looked down, almost like he was embarrassed for blurting that out.

Drake chuckled, "He's right though, that is pretty cool." He said without looking up from his food.

"Well, what about you guys? What can you do?" Nate asked while looking between the three of them.

"Well," Rhys spoke first, "I'm basically a cat dude, I have all the speed, agility and reflexes of a hardened alley cat, and when I get pissed enough I can grow claws and sharpened teeth as well. Unfortunately, I don't get the awesome hearing that comes with a cat, but I DO have night vision." Rhys finished and shoveled some chili into his mouth. Nate stared at Rhys, that was WAY cooler than him...why and how was this guy only C class?

"As you can see, my ability is similar except I have traits of a venomous snake, I can spit poison and I seem to be immune to most known poisons. I can also harden my skin to be more scaly to give myself some armor. Oh, and I can do this," Drake finished and opened his mouth. Nate watched as long, thin fangs slowly stretched out from behind his top and bottom rows of teeth. Nate leaned back slightly before Drake sucked his teeth back in. "Don't worry, they don't care if we use our abilities, it's only when we try to kill each other that they do something." Drake waved his hand. Nate noticed his prison number, 598-A.

"Uh huh...okay, and what about you?" Nate gestured to Danny.

"Right, well I'm the world's first human supercomputer." He stated triumphantly. Nate chuckled, "So...you're a savant?" He asked.

Danny chuckled and pushed his glasses up, "No, I mean that I can touch the world's most complicated electronic lock and tell you the combination in a few seconds. I can run through thousands upon millions of code and combinations within moments." Danny leaned back in his chair with confidence in his movements. Nate could now see his jumpsuit, 589-A, this kid was only one rank beneath him, like Drake.

"So, what exactly does this class ranking mean?" Nate asked, hoping to finally get some answers.

"Well, the higher the class, the more dangerous you are. I'd have to say that you were put in S because you have the power to read minds AND control people, which makes you extremely dangerous to people trying to keep you captive." Danny said as he looked at the table, deep in thought. Nate tuned out slightly and looked out the window to his right, it had started raining outside. He stared at the red brick wall outside of the window, knowing that Nyx was somewhere on the other side of it. He wondered what Class she was assigned, considering what she did to the roadblock he assumed it was up there.

"Hey Nate!" Rhys' voice broke Nate out of his thoughts. He jolted his attention back to the table, "huh? What?"

"You know the deal with this place right?" Rhys asked him.

"It's a prison where they lock up people because they have powers?" Nate responded with slight anger in his voice.

"Almost, but not really. It's basically a hotel where the occupants are never allowed to leave. If you're here for a while, they start to get all lax and they'll let you hang out without a collar." Rhys said as he put more chili into his mouth.

"Wait, what do you mean IF you're here for a while?" Nate asked with his eyes slightly wider. The three guys exchanged looks before Danny spoke.

"Well, this place isn't run by the government. This place is run and funded by the world's wealthiest people, and they make us fight against each other once or twice a month for their sick entertainment. Usually, the host calls it before things go too far, but sometimes...people don't make it." Danny rubbed the back of his neck.

"What? Holy shit, that's insane! They're making the girls do this too?" Nate had a horrified look plastered on his face.

"Ha! ESPECIALLY the girls, apparently the crowd loves watching empowered girls fight as much as they love it when they're drunk in a bar fighting over a dumb guy with a goatee." Rhys said openly, like he didn't care who was listening. Rhys' expression suddenly changed when he noticed that Nate looked shaken. "Woah dude, come on you'll get used to it. They give you some weapons to use if you don't have combat specific powers." He placed a hand on Nate's shoulder.

"No it's not that...it's just that, I know a girl over there, and I'm worried about her. She was never really the fighting type, but I'm sure she would kick ass if she needed to." Nate spoke quietly.

"What does she look like and what can she do? If we go up against her in the arena, we swear to go non-lethal, right guys?" Rhys looked to the other two while nodding, they both nodded back.

"Well...she has long black hair, she's kind of pale too. She has a slender figure and is just a little bit shorter than me." Nate smiled slightly as he pictured her in his head. "She has the most enchanting blue eyes."

"Hmmm, so you're in love with her, aren't you?" Danny said flatly.

Nate choked on his water, "What the hell makes you say that?" He practically shouted as Rhys laughed loudly.

"Oh come on dude, no one describes a girl's eyes as "enchanting" without having a thing for her." Drake smirked while talking to Nate, "But get to the good stuff! What's her ability?" Drake finished.

Nate sighed deeply, clearly needing to sort some stuff out in his head. "Telekinesis." He said quietly.

There was a collective "woah" from the three other guys at the table.

"That's AWESOME." Rhys spat out in amazement, "You said you know her, was it from before you guys were brought here?"

"Yeah, we went to school together and have been best friends for a long time. I knew about my ability long before her, I was actually there when she discovered she had it. We were jumped by these assholes and she saved my life, but she killed the guy. The knife just flew out of his hand and into his throat. After that these pipes fell from a crane above us, we were in a construction zone in our school that's probably good to know. Anyway, she used her power and accidentally saved all of us from being crushed." Nate continued sharing his and Nyx's story with his new friends, all the way up to being betrayed, beaten and arrested. It wasn't until later that afternoon that Nate was finally able to make it back to his room to be alone.

He flopped down onto his bed with an exasperated sigh and stared at the ceiling. Danny's words still played over and over in his mind, So you're in love with her, aren't you?
So you're in love with her, aren't you?
So you're in love with her, aren't you?
So you're in love with-

Nate quickly brought his hands up to his face and placed his palms over his eyes and groaned.

"Fuck."