Claire POV
"John! Look out!" I yell, shoving John out of the way. "Impudent girl. I'll show you your place." Keon snarls, closing the gap between us.
Seraphina POV
"Look at the cripple! Look how she squirms!" The crowd calls out, laughing. "I'm not the weak one." I hear John's voice say. "John?" I whisper. "If they need to attack other people to feel better about themselves, then screw them! It may hurt, but I'm glad I have no ability. Because of that, I get to see just how worthless their opinions are! Praising those more powerful than them and stomping on those weaker… They're pathetic. They're weak. They're the worthless ones. Not me." John's voice continues. That's right. Their opinions don't matter. I'm stronger than they could ever know. I don't need their two-faced support. I say to myself, standing up. "Ooh, what's the cripple gonna do? Does she think she can fight us?" They taunt. "No." I say. "I know I can't fight you. So I won't. I don't need you to approve of me." I say, walking away from them.
Suddenly, I find myself back in Keon's office, seeing Keon storming across the floor to attack Claire. No you don't. I say to myself, swiping his legs with my own, causing him to fall. When he gets back up, Claire and I both run at him, unleashing a storm of kicks and punches until he's backed up against the wall.
"How do we get them out of this?" I ask dangerously. "You can't." He says, after which he starts cackling. After a minute or two, Claire elbows him in the face, smashing his head into the wall and knocking him unconscious. "What? He was getting annoying." She says. Just then, we hear a collective groan of relief from behind us.
"Nice of you all to join us." I say jokingly. "Where's Keon?" Luke asks. "Right here." Claire says, gesturing. "Okay. Now, we should probably go help Vaughn and the rest of his team with the other members." John says, leading the way.
3rd POV
As it turns out, attacking a group from two sides makes them incredibly easy to defeat. Just a half-hour later, we've defeated the rest of EMBER, and Vaughn and the rest of his group were setting up shop, looking for anything that would prove to the public that the Authorities were untrustworthy.
"Thank you, students." Vaughn says, bloodied and bruised from the battle. "The real reward was getting our friend back." Seraphina says, holding onto John. "Yeah….. I'm really sorry about that. I had no control over anything I did. It's like…. It's like I was sleepwalking." John says, rubbing the back of his head. "Relax, we managed to beat you." Luke says, lightly punching him on the arm. "As if. I kicked your collective ass in that fight. Granted, it was mainly due to the booster they had me take, but I still beat you all in a physical fight with no abilities all thanks to my skill." John retorts. "Alright, calm down. Let's just take a moment to appreciate the fact that we're all alive." Isen says, waving his hands.
"Anyways." Vaughn continues. "My team and I will take it from here. You're going back to Wellston. I appreciate the help, but your studies are what's going to get you into the future." He says as the group teleports back to Wellston.
"Well, that was certainly an adventure." Luke says when they get back to Wellston. "One that I never hope to replicate." John says. "That's for damn sure." Isen agrees. "At least we're alive." Arlo says, trying to cheer everyone up. "Buddy, I see what you're trying to do, and I say this with all due love and respect, but your pep talks suck." Blyke says, turning to Arlo.
"At least I'm trying." Arlo counters. "I think we've had enough fighting for one day." Adrion breaks in, diffusing the situation before it got out of hand. "Agreed. Remi, how are you taking this?" Seraphina asks. "This is the best day ever! We just took down the organization that killed my brother! I couldn't be happier!" She says. "Excellent. Now that that's settled, I say we get some rest. We've got school in the morning, after all." John says.
"Man, how'd our priorities change so quickly? Just a few hours ago, we were fighting against an organization with the power to wipe out high tiers. Now, we're going to school, worrying about grades and tests." Blyke says. "It is certainly funny to think about." John agrees. "I mean, we were just in the middle of a life-and-death situation, and now our biggest stressor is the history essay next week." Luke says. "Man, we have an essay to do!?" Isen exclaims, horrified.
They chat for a while before going their separate ways, all wondering what was going to happen now.