Surge Squadron: Defective

Chapter Twenty-five: A New Friend

A few cadets glared quietly at Owl Eyes. He and his squad had acquired negative attention because of Talon's aggressiveness.

Owl ignored them as he walked into the track and stopped on Adrenaline's lane, waiting for him to loop around and come to his position.

Soon, Adrenaline rounded the turn and headed straight for Owl Eyes. He gasped and skidded to a stop as he snapped into reality to notice his obstacle. Adrenaline looked at Owl with irritation before speaking, "Could you please get out of my way?"

Owl Eyes shook his head, "No- not until you tell me what's going on. You're upset about something. I want to help you fix whatever happened."

"There's no way to fix what I am facing!" Adrenaline returned in a broken tone, "Isn't there something better for you to do? Please leave me alone." And with that, Adrenaline sped around Owl, continuing to run.

Owl frowned. He wasn't going to leave so easily. He ran in the opposite direction of Adrenaline to intercept him again.

Adrenaline stopped and groaned in frustration, "What is your problem?! Can't you just let me run?!"

Owl recognized that this annoyance was very out of character for him. He bit his lip, "I just want to know one thing... Is this all because of what happened this morning?"

"It's not about what you all did to Sights, but you wouldn't understand why I am really upset!" Adrenaline gritted his teeth.

"Try me. Get whatever is troubling you off your chest. I can listen to you." Owl offered slowly.

"So you can mock me and feed my sadness to Talon? No thanks. I saw what happened with Sights and how he gave his trust and was backstabbed. I am not going to fall for that with you." Adrenaline looked away from Owl Eyes in anger.

Owl huffed and placed his hands on Adrenaline's shoulders, "I didn't like what Talon did. I truly meant my apology back there... Circuit was right... I watched Talon hurt your brother and I did nothing to stop that. Let me show you that I am not like Talon... Let me help you. Please."

Adrenaline looked at Owl's face slowly. He closed his eyes momentarily and sighed with reluctance, "Fine..." He agreed.

"Let's go sit down, okay?" Owl Eyes grinned, removing his hands from Adrenaline's shoulders.

Adrenaline nodded as he walked over to the back wall and sat down since all the benches were occupied.

Owl Eyes followed Adrenaline, sitting next to him, "Now. What's going on?" He asked quietly.

Adrenaline straightened his back against the wall and took a moment to think of how to explain his situation in a way that he thought Owl couldn't decrypt, "Well- one of my brothers is going to leave our squad for an elite program. Everyone wants him to go except me... If he leaves, we won't see him again until we are cleared to leave Tipoca and that will be a long time... This really hurts to say goodbye and I don't want to do it. I shouldn't have to!" He began to sniff, getting emotional again.

Owl looked down thoughtfully. He discerned that the cadet in question was Circuit since his getting a promotion would be no surprise... "Circuit's gonna be leaving you all?"

Adrenaline held his breath in shock that Owl Eyes had easily figured out who he was talking about.

Adrenaline was never good at understanding or creating indirect messages.

He released the breath he held and nodded.

"I'm so sorry... That must be very tough... Cadet..." Owl replied. He tried to make do for not knowing Adrenaline's name.