Heartbeat (Danny Rand)

Seven

           "I'm looking for finalists for the city-wide athletic achievement contest. I want to see everything you've got in this obstacle course. Don't give me less than 110%"

          "What a creep," I mutter to Danny, who nods his head in agreement. Mr. Yeager, our new substitute gym teacher, calls Flash up to run the obstacle course.

          He finishes quickly, and even though I'm pretty impressed I'm more concerned by the way Mr. Yeager stares him down the whole way through. I'm positive that teachers aren't supposed to stare at their students like that. Almost like he was analyzing his every move.

          More kids go, and I can't help but notice that he stares at everyone creepily but Ava. I guess he's only interested in boys...

           Danny flies through the course - rather attractively might I add - and then it's my turn. I awkwardly step up to the climbing wall, and as soon as I hear the whistle take off running.

          I stumble somewhat awkwardly through the course, but I make it to the end without embarrassing myself too much.

          Physical activity has never really been my strong suit. I've never been very strong, and don't even get me started on running. I'm terrible at running. My lungs always end up burning and my legs give out before I can even reach the track.

          It reassures me to know, though, that even though it's obvious he's faking, Peter still does worse than me. I guess he has to protect his identity or whatever, but the way he's doing it is so overkill that it's almost suspicious.

            "Rand, Thompson, and Osborne. Meet me back here on Saturday for further... testing," Mr. Yeager finally decides, and his words send shivers down my spine. Even though he didn't say anything sinister there was definitely a veiled threat in there somewhere.

           "Ha, you have to go to school on a Saturday!" I stick my tongue out at Danny and he rolls his eyes.

            "What, are you not going to come cheer me on," He replies, and I swear my heart skips a beat. Is he flirting with me? No, right? He can't be... Damn hormones.

           "Well, if you insist, I guess I'll be there. It's not like I have anything better to do," I decide. Before he can say anything else the rest of our little group comes over.

          "I can't believe Harry got chosen and I didn't! That is so unfair!" Ava complains, and I can't help but snicker.

         "Ava, you're the only person in the world who sees going to school on Saturday as a good thing. Besides, did you see the way Mr. Yeager was studying the guys? It was pretty clear that he had no interest in inviting a girl back."

          "That's ridiculous! You know what, I'm going anyways. And you and Peter are coming. End of story." Ava turns on her heel and walks away, leaving Peter and me behind to figure out what to do.

**************************

          "Where in the world is Peter? The fence is electrified and I think the school is locked," Ava complains. I shiver slightly as I see a bug run into the wire and get burnt to a crisp.

          "You know what, I'm just going to call him." She walks a few feet away and pulls out her phone while I keep studying the building. It's obvious that there are people inside since I can see lights on, but the whole electric fence thing is a bit concerning.

           I turn to ask Ava a question and jump back a solid foot.

          "Pete, where the heck did you come from?!" I cry, holding my hand over my heart. I swear he wasn't there a second ago.

          "I just got here, geez Ari. Try to keep up. Now, what do we do about this fence?" He wonders. Suddenly I get an idea.

          "I bet I can disable it from my phone if you give me a couple minutes!"

          "Oh yeah, I forgot that you were good with electronics," Peter states. I will admit, I don't mention the whole hacking thing to my friends very often since it's mostly illegal, but I didn't think he'd completely forget about it...

            "And... done," I grin, pressing one last thing on my phone and hearing the slight hum of the fence disappear.

          "Wow, that was... fast." Peter quickly opens the gate and walks in, Ava following close behind.

          "Hey, Ari, maybe you should stay out here. It might be dangerous and I don't want you to get hurt. Besides, we need someone to be a lookout," Pete offers, but I just roll my eyes. There is no way they are benching me just because they're superheroes and I'm not. Besides, they don't even know that I know that, so really this is just insulting.

          "Yeah, alright. I'll be the lookout while you two go have all the fun." I give him a fake grin which, for some reason, he seems to believe. The two of them enter the school and I follow after them.

          When I walk into the building I have to blink a couple times to adjust my eyesight to the slightly darker room. I cautiously walk through the halls, trying to avoid anything suspicious looking. If the gate was electrified then there's a pretty good chance that the building is going to have some booby traps.

          I keep walking for a couple more minutes until I hear frantic footsteps pounding through the hallway. It sounds like someone being chased. I freeze for a second before the faces of Flash, Harry, and Danny come into view. Behind me, a wall begins to descend from the ceiling. Before it can trap them in Danny shoves Flash and Harry under it.

            "What are you doing?!" He cries, looking at me panicked. "You're going to get yourself hurt!"

             "If I hear that one more time today I'm going to scream!" I shout back and turn towards the man who was chasing the three boys. The hallway behind me is sealed off so my only choice is to stand and fight whoever this creep is.

            I've been in a couple of fights before, but never with a real opponent. Not to mention the fact that none of them have ever ended well.

           Before I can do anything I feel Danny's hand grab my arm and he shoves me backward into the lockers, making me lose my balance and slide down them.

          I watch with a mixture of awe and fear as the two fight. Danny is skilled, but it seems like Mr. Yeager, or whoever this guy really knows exactly what he's going to do before he does it.

           My jaw drops slightly as I see Danny's hand glow with a golden aura, and watch him throw punch after punch, only to have them blocked. I guess he really is Iron Fist, which must mean that his other friends are all superheroes too, even Peter.

          Before I can even think to react the man throws a punch that knocks Danny out. I stifle a scream, unsure if he remembers that I'm here.

           "You're a good kid, but not the one I'm looking for," the man says quietly before walking back down the hallway, probably in search of Harry and Flash.

          As soon as I'm sure he's gone I spring up off the ground and rush over to Danny. I lightly tap his cheek until he groans and opens his eyes.

          He sits up slightly and looks at me with big, round eyes. "Are you alright?" He asks, and I smile slightly.

          "I should be asking you that. You were the one that got hit," I reply, and help pull him to his feet.

          "Thanks. We should go find the others," He decides and grabs my hand, pulling me along with him. Even though I know it's not the time, I can't help but notice the tingly feeling that spreads across my skin and up my arm.

         "What, you're not going to tell me that I should leave?"

          "It's too dangerous for either one of us to split up. There's strength in numbers," He replies, and I smile slightly. Even though I'm annoyed that I can't help, it's still pretty sweet.

          I have to admit though, I'm not sure how these guys do it. Doing the wrong thing is easy, but doing the right thing? I can't think of anything harder.