School was definitely not on my list of things to be a part of, but everyone except me agreed that it was the best way to keep a low profile. That didn't stop me from complaining about it at every chance I got.
The group decided to pick a buddy, which was stupid because it was obvious who they were going to go with, as well as there being an odd number of us, so I was a lone wolf, which I was fine with, nothing better than not having anyone hold you back when you break someone's nose.
The other positive about having no buddy was that I could put weapons on, which everyone else did, even the polearms were folded at their joints to fit in our school bags, which we stole from a bag store, the once and only time I'm going to look at bags.
We all walked into school separate, and each buddy group gave a different last name. I was now going to be known as Jacob Castille for the rest of my time here.
My classes were boring, I was way ahead academically than any of the people at this school, even the rest of The Storm. I simply sat at the back of the class and drew designs for new knives.
When lunch finally came around, I sat at the opposite end of the playground to anyone. A bonehead guy walked up with two cronies behind him, I had done enough scenarios in the C.L.O.U.D to know that this guy was head of the school, time to usurp that position from him.
"What are you doing here kid?" He asked in as few syllables as possible, like the English language hurt him.
"Sitting, you?" If he was going to try to badger me away, he had another thing coming.
"Making sure worthless little maggots like you don't go stirring up trouble." He said way too smugly to be healthy.
"Wow, you can say the word maggot, congratulations," I did the most sarcastic clap possible. "Do you know what idiot is? Oh wait, of course you do, everyone needs to know their profession.
The guy growled at me. "I think it's time to put you and your smart little comments in the ground where they belong."
I was waiting for this moment. "I hope you don't hit me, then again you will probably aim to miss and hit me from bad aim."
He sprung at that, it what would have been a perfect spear tackle, if I hadn't already dived out of the way, making him land face first in the dirt. His cronies could do nothing but look on as I stood, now having the upper hand, and waited for the tank of a person to stand back up, which he did.
He spat grass out his face and full on pelted at me, only to get another mouthful from a sidestep and a trip by me.
The kid was smart enough to not try again, "fight me like a real man would fight, with weapons," he pulled out a Swiss Army knife, thinking that he now had an advantage over me. Which he did.
I wasn't allowed to show my weapons in public, so that meant that the balance of power rested in the hands of the knife in his hands.
Too fast for him to react, I jumped from a standstill, grabbed his wrist, and prized the knife from between his fingers, ending up with me still grabbing onto his wrist, having caught the knife with my left foot.
The boy looked at me bewildered, if his mouth had been much more open, a passenger jet could fly safely through it. He looked from me hanging from his arm, to the knife on my foot, for slightly too long.
With my right arm, I jabbed him below the rib cage with my fingers, sending his muscles into a temporary spasm. At the same time I flicked the knife into my left hand, which was in the process of letting go of his arm, and kicked him in the small of his back with my heel.
If I wanted to hurt him, I would have done so, but as it happened I just wanted to make a warning. The spasm and the kick together, however, resulted in him collapsing, before scrambling to his feet, dusting the dirt off his uniform, and walked off, obviously trying to maintain some sense of pride.
I say back down and stayed there until the end of recess. When the bell rang, I walked inside, ready for more classes. The corridor was a nightmare. There was nowhere to move, all I could do was simply try and walk through groups of people milling in the hallways, making it impossible to pass through.
When I finally reached the end, where my classroom was. I noticed that Katana and Sling were in the same class and, while they tried to hide it, they were alright with it.
I had to keep up appearances, so I walked to the end of the classroom and found that this class was art. Not saying I don't like drawing and art and all that stuff, but I hate being taught it.
Katana sat and drummed his pencil on the table for the entire time, while Sling simply blanked out, which was a habit of her's, where she would get lost in a train of thought for so long that the rest of the world faded away and there was only that one thought. She showed me how to do it once, it was a scary and disturbing experience for me and I have never tried it again.
English came after art, and while the teacher was nice, the work wasn't. I was given my first assignment on day one, asking me to summarize and write an essay on a book by the end of the week, which would have been fine, but for the fact that my word limit was only 800 words, making it insanely hard for me to get my points across in that space.
When school broke for the day, all I wanted to do was go and hide with Adrianus in my room and never come out, but fate didn't let that happen. I was walking towards the rest of the Storm, who could see me, when someone punched the back of my head.
The punch wasn't able to do much, because as soon as my messy hair started to be suppressed, I turned and punched back at my attacker who, unsurprisingly, was the kid from lunch.
His punch drove him straight into my fist, making even more of a scene than first intended. He crumpled from pain, howling on the ground as blood started to trickle from his nose. I turned and ran before anyone could try and stop me.
I caught up to my friends, who had turned, thinking I was coming. They all seemed quite happy with how their first day's went, making me extremely jealous of each and every one of them. They kept up this happiness all the way home, which only made it worse for both myself and for them, as the more happy they felt, the worse I became, ruining the entire mood of their conversations with pessimistic comments that only made people feel bad and did nothing in contribution to anyone. The five minute walk home felt like hours of torture, and I felt terrible for being such a bad friend to the rest of them, but there wasn't much I could do, it was like being stuck in a well with smooth walls, and trying to escape, even though I knew I couldn't, which made it worse every time I failed to climb out of it.
When I got home I went straight upstairs and pulled out my laptop. With Adrianus watching the screen, I started typing my assignment, which I finished a draft of in 10 minutes, with non-stop touch typing. When I was done I looked at the cat thoughtfully, wondering what I was going to do now. I re edited the essay as much as I could, and then went and drew Adrianus, who stayed perfectly still, just like a model for a painter, which in some ways he was. He sat there on my bed, looking like a king of his own domain, his sharp eyes catching the light of the window. When I had finished I showed it to him. He seemed to approve and curled up again, so I pulled the blanket over him and left him to sleep while I went downstairs.
Katana and Rapier were having a sword fight in the weapons room below, while Guisarme and Loch sat with Voulge and their animals while they sharpened their blades with stones. Raven and Sling were chatting, while Sling's frogs played around inside a hamster wheel, with Bec de Corbin's Raven watching over them. Glaive was sitting with his snake Katana's Retriever and Rapier's Macaw, doing homework that appeared to be trigonometry but I couldn't tell from this distance. I wandered over to where he was and looked over his shoulder at it, working out that it was in fact factorization of quadratic trinomials. If Glaive knew I was watching, he gave no indication of it, instead keeping his mind firmly on the task in front of him, one of the many things assassins are trained to do.
I left him, although Katana's dog followed me as I descended into the basement, where the ringing of iron was almost unbearable. Katana and Rapier were sparring off in a mix of fencing, kendo and various martial arts. They appeared to have been doing it ever since they came home, which made me question their sanity, only because they had forgotten to turn on the air conditioning, so the hormone filled area was almost too stifling to bear. When I turned on the air conditioning they both looked at me and gave smiles that wouldn't look out of place on psychopaths, their faces framed in sweat, which seemed to be forming rivers down their faces and seas at their feet.
"Hey Knife, we were just sparring off, you want to join in?" Katana's natural kindness shines through even the greyest and dreariest of clouds.
"Sure, I'd love to." I said, knowing full well if I didn't, I would be teased about it for the rest of my life.
And so began a three way battle, even though I had the upper hand with more than one blade. Most of the time I could relax because they were only attacking each other, but then they turned on me and made me feel like I was being picked on, yet I was still able to fend the two of them off with little more than two of my knives. We fought for only felt like ten seconds, but must have been a lot more than that, as we were called to dinner. I sat down quietly and avoided talking as much as possible, always directing the conversation away from me if it ever veered in the wrong direction.
After dinner I went and edited my essay a little bit more, but couldn't find much more wrong with it, so I came back downstairs to find everyone sitting in front of the empty fireplace. They were all chatting about how wonderful their school life was for them and so I promised myself not to go and ruin their fun, as they definitely were having fun, and lots of it, which is good in a time like this, as it is almost impossible to keep your spirits up when everyday might be your last, when everyday you dream of the deaths you caused, when everyday you fall asleep by counting the amount of people you have killed. I don't have as long a list as everyone else, but I know what it's like, so I make sure not to barge in and ruin it for everyone.
I promised myself that I would be the best friend I could be to these guys, and that would start by enjoying school in every way I could.
The rest of the week was hell for me, every person in the school looked at me like some kind of freak, avoiding me at all costs, avoiding eye contact and staying 5 metres away from me at all times. I was fine with it, I had my own personal space, I didn't have to deal with people trying to be nice to me, I didn't even have to speak to anyone that I met, I could simply walk past without having to so much as bat an eyelid to anyone. My life went downhill from there. I was given five assignments in one day, which included working with a partner to make a dance for physical education, fortunately Voulge, knowing how much people hated me, became my partner while Rapier, perfectly fine with the arrangement, joined another person.
My afternoons were all the same. Homework, sparring, dinner, sparring, bed. Adrianus was the only person who understood me, and I would retell him everything that happened that day, trying to make it sound as cheerful as possible, I could tell I wasn't fooling him or myself, so I always ended up just saying it how it was. Voulge would come in and practice our dance together. We practiced until both of us were either tired or bored or both. Then we would sit and tell each other how life was, but definitely not to the depth I would tell Adrianus. I kept a lot of things that should probably have been said suppressed from the others, I guess that was bad, but I don't need them worrying about me.
The day dawned when we had to present our dance, but this wasn't just in front of our class, this was in front of our entire year. I never get stage fright, after all the peculiar movements you do when in the field, it's impossible to be self-conscious, even so I still felt nervous. The music started and I ran gracefully onto the stage with a steel pole in my hand, which I place standing up and then started my solo part. When the chorus kicked in Voulge came out and put in another pole and joined me in out dance. When we had done about 30 seconds on this dance, we leapt, landing and spinning on the top of the poles, keeping perfect time with one another. Just as we reached the climax of our piece, a gunshot sounded, I instantly dropped behind the pillar and fireman poled my way down. When I reached the bottom I realized it was the kid I beat up on the first day of school, standing in the aisle, grinning like a maniac, pointing the gun at me.
My first instinct was to take shelter, but civilian lives were at risk, which overturned most rules that were normally in place. But before I could do anything, Katana, who had been sitting behind him, grabbed the gun. The kid didn't see it coming and had slow reflexes, two things that aided Katana. He seized the gun before turning it on its master. The kid's shocked face would have been amusing if not for the seriousness of the situation. The entire year sat in silence, staring at what was going down in front of them, which many could hardly believe. Katana stood there, shoulders square and strong, knees slightly bent, if people were experts in this room, the next person to die would be the bully, but many didn't think that Katana was that good, how people underestimate us.
The bully snatched at the gun, but was met with a palm that connected to his lower jaw, making him crumple from pain, out of breath and exhausted already. Katana glowered at him, gun poised, ready to shoot if trouble arose, meanwhile, Rapier had pick pocketed the bully and his friends' pockets, to make sure that there was no immediate threat to Katana. Guisarme, Loch, Sling, Raven and Glaive blocked the exits.the kid got up slowly and walked, hands raised to the stage, where he looked up at me, with a face that was supposed to cripple me internally, but I have had that stare from so many people in the past that I simply was able to stare back at him, making him fall victim to his own strategy.
"I know who you really are," the boy said, barely more than a whisper, just loud enough for me to hear. If he was trying to strike a mark, he failed, I had been trained to deal with psychological attacks, to the point where I had even written a thesis to Harvard on Psychology. He looked dead serious, but after 13 years experience, that meant nothing, for all I knew, he was simply just another smug and arrogant kid that needed to be taught a good lesson in manners, not saying that most of my generation didn't need it. I stood over him, already formulating ten different and unique ways to neutralize him. I leaned in uncomfortably close, but that was just to scare him, not for any other reason, and whispered into his ear, in a tone so not even Katana could hear.
"That's good, I don't know who I am, I was never told, never knew, never remembered. This place is the biggest waste of space with you here, so I suggest you find yourself a very good lawyer into why you pulled a gun at me, no matter who I am. You better hope that I don't have to kill you to keep the peace, because trust me, I have done it before and I'll do it again." My voice turned all my anger into words, flowing like a river from my mouth into his ear, passing all the way to his brain, where no doubt it would realize the hostility and maybe even try to make a move, as moving targets are always more entertaining to hit.
The kid didn't even flinch from what I said, he just continued to stare straight at me, making an uneasy air between us, not that there was much, I squatted awkwardly in front of him. His face was completely blank, like his was resurfacing a memory that had been buried for years that was required, but left no real indication that he actually was paying attention to anything that was happening in the world around him, similar to many of the C.L.O.U.D's testing facilities. He reminded me of someone when up close, but I couldn't pick it, and yet, it seemed to be so close that I could simply touch it. He stared blankly at me, not bothering to do anything but stare, appearing to barely breathe. I followed his eyes and found nothing, so I turned back to him, almost expecting a smug comment or something like that.
"If you know so much about me and my friends then how did you find it out? Is there a giant website explaining each and every one of us in great detail?" I said, expecting to catch his bluff this way, his eyes never left me during this time, which was quite scary, knowing that he wasn't joking.
"I know because I am the son of Espingarda, the man you killed Knife." His eyes flashed with anger, and then seemed to remember there was a gun pressed into the back of his back.
I stared at him, trying to hide my shock, that man had a son? I had never even thought about it. The idea was as disturbing as the fact it was. That's who he looked like, all the fact suddenly clicked together, suddenly all these things came back to me. He watched over us, holding his dad's hand until we were all about six, we assumed he had died or something, and that's what the agents made it sound like. We were all having our conspiracies on who he was until we started getting sent on missions, a year later.
"You are all special, in more ways than you think Knife," He continued, sounding scared, which I knew was not from the gun in his back. He was frightened of something else, something more sinister. "I can tell you, just shelter me, C.L.O.U.D. Are coming, if they know I'm helping you, they will kill my mother and my sister, I can't let that happen." Then suddenly, one of the glass windows blew in and in swept an agent, who shot a well aimed bullet into the kid before disappearing.
The bullet hit him in the leg, but hit an artery and went through the bone, meaning that the kid collapsed instantly, unconscious. Everyone in the room panicked and sprinted through the doors, the only people who remained were The Storm and The fainted kid.
I picked him up and ran him, bridal style, all the way to our home, we laid him of the sofa, where we brought out our first aid kit, which probably outclassed a lot of hospitals, and started to stem the flow of bleeding, which we managed, even so, he had lost a lot of blood, and wouldn't be up for a while, not that he would want to.
He leg was in bad shape, not as bad as Voulge's, but still seriously bad.
We all grouped in the kitchen, a surprisingly large room with a lot of bench space, all with wooden tops. The cupboards were all birch in colour, and had beautifully hand carved designs on each one. Just adding to the beauty of it all. Adrianus joined us, his fur matching the bench with startling resemblance.
We talked about how today went, even with the fight at the end, everyone seemed to have had a pretty good day, which is a good thing to have when you are as busy and agitated as we are.
The entire group sat around the bench, trying to keep our minds off the fact that in the room just across from us was a severely injured person.
"They probably know we are here," Raven said. "I think we should go, at least we will be harder to target on the road."
"That's not a life I'm going to live again, I left that behind me. No, if staying here means fighting, then so be it." Voulge's eyes flashed over us. "I understand that not everyone feels this way, but what I need is a place to stay, not the back of a pickup truck! I will not be bullied by these people just because they think they are better than myself."
"I'm sorry Raven, but Voulge has a point, I'm done with being bullied into running away from these people, we shouldn't be scared of them, they should be scared of us." Glaive was the only person who seemed to get through to Raven at all. "I say we stay and simply fortify this building more than it is." He turned to Katana. "I was thinking about a surface to air missile on the ro-"
Katana quickly quietened him down, and they discussed ideas privately, while the rest of us cleared the plates and did all the house work.
I couldn't sleep that night, I kept tossing and turning about the boy downstairs. I poured through hundreds of names, trying to work out who he is. I reached deep into my subconscious, trying to find it somewhere, but was unable to see anything. Eventually I gave up and simply lay there, looking into the darkness, trying to recognize the shapes in the darkness, but couldn't even do that, which made it quite easy for me tell fall asleep, as I didn't try to do something that I couldn't do. I eventually fell asleep, but at what time is anyone's guess, I didn't dream that night, it was just black which contained for the rest of the night, until I woke up the next morning to yelling from downstairs.