─────⊰ ✧.*✦*.✧ ⊱─────
𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐘𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐀𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐈𝐂 academy hadn't been as terrible as Lorelei had expected it to be. Aside from Chase watching her like a hawk, it had been rather pleasant. Even the classes were useful at times and kept her occupied enough to devise a new plan.
Now that Chase's eyes were following her everywhere she went, she used her time wisely to get to know Bree better. It turned out that Bree loved to talk about boys, Sebastian in particular. It came as a true surprise when Bree actually began talking about subjects that weren't Sebastian.
Lorelei and Bree shared an interest in combat and both thoroughly enjoyed sparring against each other. No bionics, no magic, just plain old swinging with the fists and kicking with the legs. Lorelei thought that Bree was a fierce warrior and the sparring helped with figuring out her weak spots. One glaring weak spot was the back of her knees.
The two girls walked into the training area, with Bree not being able to stop talking about Sebastian, to spar against the other. However, the whole area was filled to the brim with students sitting and standing in circles. It resembled the likes of an arena fight with its loud shouting and aggressive cheering.
They weaseled their way through the crowd until they saw Adam and Bob—another bionic student with super strength—walking in circles, dressed in sumo attire.
'What are they doing?' Bree gaped in embarrassment of her older brother and hid her face behind her hands.
'Can't you see? It's bionic super strength sumo wrestling!' Leo cheered on besides them.
Lorelei chuckled and crossed her arms, her weight shifting onto her right leg to give her ankle some rest. 'Obviously. What else could it have been?' she replied and waited in anticipation for the match to start.
Leo blew on his whistle to let the games begin and Adam and Bob crashed into each other. They roughly tried to toss the other onto the ground, but the air within the sumo costumes made it difficult to reach the other. Lorelei couldn't contain her laughter at the sheer sight of Adam and Bob in the costumes. Adam's usually toned body was hidden underneath a light layer as only his head peeped out above it.
They tumbled each other across the area, hitting some other students in the process, but nobody seemed to care really. But, as Lorelei had predicted in her head, the student had yet to become the master as Adam's super strength was superior to Bob's.
As Bob lay on the ground, unable to get up in the costume he was wearing, Adam took a few steps back. 'Sumo bomb!' he shouted over the rest of the noise and ran. He jumped on top of Bob, whose suit popped underneath the massive impact. Adam slowly sank towards the ground, the happy grin on his face fading. 'Bob, you're deflating,' he said disappointed and shook his head.
'I am?! Where?!' Bob asked, panic ensuing over him as he frantically checked his body.
'Alright, that's enough everyone. Nothing to see here anymore, just two guys deflating,' Leo announced and motioned for the students to leave the crowded training area.
Adam jumped around to try and get closer to the zipper on his back, which couldn't be less successful to be fair. Lorelei helped him unzip his suit, even though she'd wanted to see him try for a little longer. She did it more or less for Bree who at times seemed to not be able to stand her brothers.
Chase entered the room when it had emptied of nearly all the students. 'Adam, Bree, Leo, we have a visitor,' he said and paused to look at Adam taking off his sumo costume and Bob still searching for the place he was deflating from. 'I don't even want to know.'
Lorelei motioned for Adam and Leo to follow their siblings and nodded over to Bob. 'I'll help him out,' she said. She struggled to get Bob back onto his feet since he was still panicking over deflating.
'What if I vanish into nothing?' he asked her and shrieked a little at the thought of it.
'Bob,' Lorelei began and unzipped his suit. 'You're not deflating. Your suit was.'
'That's not what Adam said,' he argued.
Lorelei sighed and pretended to put stitches into his back. She worked quite hard on her pretend wound sealing and even put bandages to secure the invisible wound. 'There. You're all fixed now, no more deflating,' she said and pretended to rub the sweat off of her forehead.
Bob let out a long breath of relief and waved his hand in front of his face. 'That was a close one,' he said. 'Thank you, Lorelei.'
'Don't even mention it,' she reassured him.
She watched Bob skip out of the training area and glanced through the doorframe past him to a man and a dog. The man had spiked hair that reached up as high as the length of half his face and resembled Donald Davenport in many ways. It made sense of course, since Douglas was Donald's brother after all. He had a joyous embrace with Adam, Bree, Chase and Leo and introduced him to his dog named Otis.
Lorelei hadn't heard Douglas' voice in a long time. When her father and Douglas began working together, Lorelei had been put into isolation. Krane had told her it was for her own safety, as he had no idea what twisted things Douglas would do to her once he found out about her existence. She'd snuck through the vents and used secret passages throughout the house just to get a glimpse of the man who'd caused her to live in hiding even more than she already had to.
Compared to Krane, he'd always sounded so chipper. The two would often argue and it seemed like nothing could ever please Krane, no matter what Douglas did. In the silence of the unknown, Lorelei would watch them through the tiniest creaks of the house.
She didn't care for Douglas. He'd taken her time with her father away from her. She was stuck in the depths of their lair, waiting—longing even—for a mission. It didn't matter to her that she'd have to hurt others, she would get to smell the fresh air instead of the muskiness that usually stung her nose. She would see other people, speak to them.
However, most importantly, she would see her father. She'd watch the glimmer of hope and trust in his eyes as he told her all the information she needed to have. And each time she'd returned from her missions successfully, she'd gone to him. She'd held her breath as he took his time to react, but he never said the words she wanted to hear. Most of the time, he didn't say anything at all. He'd take what he thought belonged to him and nod in approval, before leaving her in the darkness again.
One day, she'd snuck into the air vents as she always would and noticed that it wasn't just Douglas and Krane anymore. Douglas had brought home a dog, even though Krane had disapproved of the decision.
It was another day many months later that Douglas never returned to the home, but she didn't know why and she wasn't told either. They'd parted ways and it was clear to Lorelei that they hadn't done so on the best of terms. Douglas had left Otis and it came as a surprise to Lorelei when Krane had decided to take the dog with them to their new home.
Whenever Krane left—which was more often than he allowed Lorelei to go on missions—Lorelei remained trapped at home, but not alone this time. She took care of Otis as she'd seen Douglas do. She fed him, let him run around the yard, played with his favorite toys, gave him peanut butter snacks when he'd done something extraordinary.
Lorelei was trembling on her legs, her chest quivering with sobs she was pushing down. The sight of her father's disappointed face taunted her mind as she let out a shaky breath.
'Lorelei? Is everything alright?' Bree asked and walked over to her. Her brows stood in a concerned frown, her arms slowly opening the closer she got to Lorelei.
'I'm just afraid of dogs,' Lorelei said with a sniff and rubbed her nose with the back of her hand. 'Don't worry about it.'
As Bree was still approaching her, Otis seemed to recognise Lorelei's voice and came sprinting towards her. Lorelei fell onto her knees and allowed herself to be buried underneath the dog, which excitedly licked her face.
Chase crossed his arms in front of his chest and cocked his head. 'You don't seem all that scared of Otis,' he said and narrowed his eyes. He had to look away to sneeze twice, something he'd started doing ever since Douglas and Otis had arrived at the Academy.
'Isn't part of being a hero overcoming your fears?' Lorelei scoffed and sat up as Otis licked away the tears that were rolling down her cheeks.
'I'm not buying your stupid lies anymore,' Chase argued.
'I don't care what you think, Chase,' Lorelei hissed.
'You should,' Chase scowled and stood face to face with her. They bore their eyes onto each other, looking for what was hidden behind. The glimpse of the untold. 'Everyone else might still believe in your little act, but I know better.'
Lorelei struggled not to let her emotions get ahead of her and enlight her eyes in a green fury that would ruin everything she'd worked for. 'You really think you know everything there is to know,' she said as her sobs made her shoulders shake. 'But you know nothing about me. . . Nothing at all!'
She stormed off and found the closest spot she could find to crash onto the ground and cry her heart out. She allowed her sadness to wash over her and her mind to play her life with her father in front of her eyes. Her sorrow mixed with her rage, her tears streaming over her heated cheeks.
Chase knew nothing. He had no idea about the weeks she'd cried and screamed until her throat wouldn't let her speak anymore or the nights she spent trying to comprehend what this world meant without her father. She'd been alone so much throughout her life, but she'd never felt this alone ever.
His mission had failed and now that he was gone, she wanted to make him proud. She wanted to finish what he'd started. She didn't care anymore whether she too would die in her quest.
'Lorelei?'
She glanced up to see Sebastian taking a seat next to her on the ground. It still sounded off whenever someone called out her name. In all her life before the academy, only her father had ever said her name out loud to her.
'What's wrong?' he asked her and wrapped his arm around her shoulders.
Lorelei froze and sucked in her breath to try and form a sentence. She didn't know why others seemed to be so prone to hug. 'Chase,' she muttered and wrapped her own arms around her knees.
Sebastian nodded and warmly rubbed her arm to comfort her when she began to tense up. 'Don't take him too seriously,' he told her. 'He sometimes talks without thinking. Or well, always. Much like Adam.'
Lorelei heard Bree and Chase bicker back and forth not far from them. Bree was forcing Chase to apologize to Lorelei, but Chase refused since he thought he wasn't in the wrong. She bit on the inside of her cheek as her mind started to think of ways he might back off for now. 'I know I shouldn't,' she replied with a light chuckle, if it could be called that. 'I just—A few weeks ago, Chase gave me a private lesson after I didn't show up to class that day.'
She could tell Sebastian became intrigued by her story, wanting to know what she was going to say next. Or rather, whether or not she would say what he thought she was going to say. He, too, had noticed Chase's eyes on her.
'I—,' she started, but had to stop when she didn't know how to proceed. She wanted to convince Sebastian she liked Chase and that him doubting her really hurt her feelings, but she was at a loss when she had no idea how to describe having a crush on someone. How could she describe a feeling she'd never felt before?
'You can tell me everything, Lorelei. I won't tell a soul,' Sebastian promised when he thought she hesitated for that reason. She listened to the sincerity in his voice with a soft smile. He most definitely meant it.
As she was about to speak again, two sneezes interrupted her. She glared to the spot where it had come from, the sheer sight of Chase's face lighting a new fury. 'Nevermind,' she gritted through her teeth and stormed off again.
Her eyes seared in anger, her hands squeezed into fists until they nearly turned white. She was going to take revenge and it was happening today. If she were to burn in her father's death, she was going to take everyone else with her. . .
─────⊰ ✧.*✦*.✧ ⊱─────