Ari couldn't explain the strange feeling overtaking her, it was as if she were inside a television show.
One moment they were watching Cate and Shetty through a window, and the next they were in one of Godolkins classrooms, as the professor, that she didn't seem to recognize, shut the tv that was playing from the center of the room, off.
"I haven't been to class in years." Dusty said, still standing as the others were about to sit down, distracted once they saw Luke, the walking corpse that had haunted everyone's nightmares.
"Oh my God." Andre looked shocked to see his best friend, or at least his former best friend.
"Hey." Luke talked to the girl next to him, who just so happened to be Cate. "I'm Luke."
"Cate." She shook his hand with a smile, she hadn't received much attention before, so to suddenly be noticed by a guy like Luke, she was flattered.
"You uhh.. you seem pretty smart. Could I cheat off of you?" He asked as if it was just something normal to ask. It wasn't to Ari. She had to work extra hard to get to where she was now, especially after the scandal of the accident.
"You're gonna ride my coattails?" Cate asked, seeming very serious, though that wasn't what Ari got from her now.
"All the way to the top." He admitted, and in some ways Ari wished she could have done that to someone, she wished it was that easy for her. But now she was In the top three ratings and it was to her own accord.
Andre got up quickly, too quickly. Ari was suspicious the moment he got up. "We should leave. I-I can't be here."
"I miss you man." Luke said once Andre got to the door. It sent shivers down Ari's back, and she noticed a look of confusions on the others.
Andre stopped in his tracks.
"I miss you too man. So fucking much." He smiled, glad to talk to his best friend again.
They both started laughing, soft laughs with two different tones.
"But you know what? I don't believe you." Luke stood up with his menacing laugh, a fake laugh, facing Andre with a deep sigh. "You thought I didn't know."
"Know what?" Marie asked, just as curious as the others.
"Andre... What's he talking about?" Jordan muttered, worried about the words that would come out of Luke's mouth.
"What the fuck did you do Andre." Ari scolded her brother under her breath, when she realized how dire the situation was. Luke was frightening in this moment. He was emotionless in a way that it looked like he was out for blood.
The lights went dark and Dusty could've sworn he shit his pants.
The tv screen turned on out of no where, displaying Cate and Andre making out, both showing that they knew it was wrong through their dialogue , but continuing anyways. It sent a rush of disgust through Ari's body, she didn't want to watch this at all, she for one didn't want to see her brother making out with someone it was gross, and secondly she didn't want to know how bad of a person her brother was.
Cheating was listed on Ari's absolute worst things to do. And he had marked that off as a culprit. To make matters completely worse he was supposed to be Lukes best friend.
Everyone else watched while Ari looked away. She was disappointed in her brother to another level.
"How many times?" Luke asked, turning around to look intently into Andres face..
"Are you fucking serious?" Jordan stood up angrily. This wasn't just some one time thing.
"No." Andre placed his hand out towards Jordan, trying to deny.
"Was that real?" they looked incredible;y betrayed.
"She didn't make you do it, did she?" Luke questioned Andre, already knowing the answer, after all this was Cate's head. "You wanted to.. Behind my back."
"I'm- I'm sorry..." Andre tried to apologize but the damage was already done. Luke died not even knowing the truth.
"I thought you were my best friend." Lukes eyes lit up a bright orange, as he was about to unleash a fiery rage.
"Whoah, woah, woah, woah, out of my way, cunts!" Dusty ran through the others, attempting to be the first person out of the room, but he was evaporated into a pulp of goop, by a blast of Lukes fire.
"Oh Jesus." Marie panicked. There was no way back to the real world for Dusty. He was dead.
Lukes eyes turned back to their normal hue, giving the others a chance to try and use their powers, yet they wouldn't work, no matter how hard anyone tried.
Ari attempted to send the ceiling down on Lukes head, Andre tried to use his powers to bring a weapon of some sort, Marie tried to send a blood whip, and Jordan tried to switch, yet they couldn't. something was blocking their powers.
Athena usually seemed powerless amongst all the others, yet she had an advantage as she knew a lot of battle strategy, and somehow her powers were working. She already knew what was going to happen before it actually happened.
"I can't switch." Jordan looked genuinely upset, as they were trapped in their male form, it was like their identity was immediately torn away from them.
"It's going to be okay Jordan. My powers aren't working either, but we'll be fine." Ari placed a comforting hand amongst Jordan's shoulder. She would be there for them no matter what happened.
"It looks like none of our powers are working." Marie tried to make herself, and the others feel better. She believed that this was just because they were in Cates mind, and that they would be fixed once they escaped it.
"I still have mine..." Athena admitted, though she was trying hard to keep it a secret.
No one had the time to react to Athena's words as Luke's eyes lit up again, ready to turn them into ash.
"Ari! Ari! Run!" Andre screamed, as she was the last to make it out.
"Ari!" Jordan had a terrified look on their face, as they sort of nudged her in front of them.
"Go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go!" Andre pushed them all out of the room, whilst Luke seemed to be following them.
"Seriously Andre, You're that guy?" Marie asked once it looked like they were all in the clear.
"What the actual fuck Andre, how could you do that to Luke?" Ari couldn't even look her brother in the eye as she spoke. In this moment she couldn't stand the person he had become.
"What? you guys don't think I feel like a piece of shit? I loved her." Andre was ashamed with his own self, he knew what he had done was bad. And those three words changed Ari's perspective. She knew what it was like to love someone, or at least she thought she did. She always seemed to confuse love for hate.
Before Ari could say something, to let Andre know how she felt, she was interrupted by Luke, and Brink arguing in his office.
"Stop fucking lying to me!" Luke muttered from the other side of the door separating them from Brink's office. It was almost inaudible, so they moved toward the door.
"Hey, you need to calm down." Ari could almost imagine it. Brink behind the wall trying to settle Luke, or at least she would be able to, if she knew anything good about Brink. She stayed away from him, he was just another one of her fathers coworkers, a man she cared nothing about. While others idolized him, she knew the truth. Her father was fake, he would act one way in front of Brink, but say things about him, terrible things in front of Ari and Andre, things she would never repeat as she knew how much Jordan cared about him.
"No! I'm not going to calm down unless you give me some answers."
"Luke, you know what I always tell you."
"No, fuck that, okay? I don't want to hear anymore of your bullshit..."
"Hey!" Jordan said, when someone bumped into them. They looked confused for a moment, before they realized that it was them in their female form, walking to the door to listen in.
"Oh shit." Andre looked shocked, just like the others, except Jordan had a different look on their face, one that Ari almost sensed as fear.
"Do we think Cate's in there?" Marie asked.
"No she couldn't be." Athena finally spoke for the first time since escaping Luke.
"Yea, don't think we forgot what you said." Andre turned towards her with suspicious. There was something more to her having her powers, something he couldn't put his finger on.
"She isn't. This isn't Cate's memory... It's mine." Jordan confessed, they wouldn't be able to hide it anymore, and they feared Ari would soon hate them, again, for the third time, and for real this time.
"How? Jordan, How?" Ari knew that nothing good was about to come from this memory, as she looked at their face, she knew them by now, she knew a look of worry on their face when she saw one.
"How the fuck is it yours?" Andre asked, confused when Luke and Brink were inside the other room.
Almost as if on cue the female Jordan in front of them knocked on the door. "Professor Brink, you okay?"
"I need some help in here!' Brink shouted, grasping their attention and opening the door before them.
"What the fuck did you just do?" Luke yelled, very obviously angry at Brink. "Where's Sam? I want to see him right now."
Brink backed up with his hands up, one holding a syringe.
"What's going on?" Jordan asked, hoping one of them would answer their question.
"He's a fucking liar." Luke hinted towards Brink, before facing him again. "Tell me everything."
"What the hell is going on, Jordan?" Andre asked them.
"It's alright buddy." Brink met eyes with the female version of Luke turning their attention towards a drawer. "It's alright, I'll tell you everything. Easy, take it easy."
"You're so full of shit." Luke said, unaware of what was to come.
"Breathe. Deep breaths." Brink instructed as Lukes eyes lit up in the familiar orange rage. "Deep Breath."
Jordan came up from behind Luke with some type of mask, sending gas strong enough to put Luke to sleep through his lungs. Both forms of Jordan looked scared in this moment. The male form scared of what their friends were going to think and the female version, just as scared for that reason as they were that they had just betrayed one of their best friends.
"I need a response team in here now." Brink said through his phone. They all watched moments later as Lukes body was taken away on a stretcher.
"Jordan." Brink cleared his throat, thinking of what to say. Both Jordans looked back at him. "What do I always say, huh? Being a hero, it's not about the glory. It's about..."
"It's about sacrifice... I know sir, but what the hell kind of sacrifice was that?"
"Well. Luke... Luke needs cutting-edge treatments, put him over the edge. That boy could be Homelander strong. But sometimes... sometimes he has a bad reaction."
"If Luke's getting cutting-edge treatments, I want em' too."
Ari looked upset, but she wasn't surprised. Jordan could be selfish at times, in order to get what they want, a feeling of achievement and approval.
"Always looking out for yourself, huh?" Andre asked in between their words.
"Kid, you got a strong head. You don't need 'em. Tell me do you remember sitting in that chair, a scared shitless freshman who never wanted to switch? And I promised that I would always take good care of you... remember?" Brink seemed nice, after he had just practically put a student to sleep.
Both forms of Jordan nodded.
"Now Jordan. People just don't understand the lows it takes to reach great heights. And so now I want you to promise me, as my new T.A., that you will always protect me... Not a word or this to anyone."
"You're making me your new T.A.?"
"That's how you became Brink's gatekeeper?" Marie looked hurt knowing that the person who rejected them to crimefighting school got into their position by being an untrustworthy friend.
"Of course. Because you've earned it." Brink held onto their shoulders. "Can I trust you?"
"Yes, sir. I'm honored." They smiled, just happy to get a rank up from what they once were.
"Good." Brink hugged their female form.
"So you knew? You knew Golden Boy attacked Brink before." Marie, said with anger.
"I don't know what I knew." Jordan tried defending their self with an immense feeling of regret.
"Looks like you knew a lot." Andre spit out, disgusted with Jordan, like Ari was with him.
"This is coming from you. A cheater." Ari frowned at her brother hypocritical words.
"He drugged our friend." Andre pointed at them.
"They only did it once. At least they have that much going for them."
"He said he was juicing Golden Boy! What would any of you done?" Jordan yelled at Marie and Andre.
"Something, Jordan!" Andre yelled back.
Jordans female from turned around facing the others. "We could have stopped everything right here." They finally faced their self, whose back was once away from them. "... Saved someone, like we always wanted. But instead we're a fucking T.A. Saving our own ass."
"I loved Brink. He was good... Or not. But he was good to us." Their male form cried, making Ari want to hug them, just them, both sides, every side. The tiny bit of anger she held onto for a second disappeared. She understood how they felt, now that she had felt the little bit of power the rankings gave her, The power everyone tried, with no avail, to get rid of.
"He was nice to us. Nice is all it takes for us to let someone get royally fucked?" They looked into their own teary eyes. "You're a coward... And you always will be."
Ari went to them, opening them into her arms, as they just stood there being embraced, still sobbing. This was a new side of Jordan, or really the old side, the one that only Ari ever knew about.