ic The Eagle Flies Alone (IC) [open]

[Ari]

"O hound of Kali's pack/so flew, so sandaled..." Leroy murmured sadly, his golden eyes reflecting the scatter of dimmer golden light that banished the object of so much affection. 

 

The grief was gone in an instant, the slender boy bowing his head to Mrs. Hancock and stepping over to Benicio's side, giving the other boy a comforting squeeze around the shoulders. When he had his attention, he smiled widely.

 

"Take heart, good Ben! Such beasts are rare. Àjàṣorò, you and I will find them after class, or I am a Serpent!" Patting him heartily on the back, the prince of another world hurried to join up with Eira, tossing a "Your pardon for the crystals, Mrs. H! I will cleanse the halls of them right afterward!" over his shoulder as he walked rapidly across the roo.

 

Tapping her on the shoulder as he slid gracefully onto a neighboring desk, Leroy said delightedly "Night! Did you see? Such a creature!" He shook his head, beaming, "It is so easy to forget that such specialized breeds suffer most of their lives! The golden wolves of my eldest sister are VAST, yet none could call them huggable!"

 

Dropping onto the actual chair with a sigh, the boy retrieved his school supplies from somewhere within his flowing robe, setting the bulls and unicorns to prancing as he set up.

[RocketLord]

Pan frowned at the accusation. "Borrowed, not jacked. Well, took him for a walk, at least. Just did a friend a favor. Sir Woofington is back home. now." He shot that out quickly in the moment Ms. Hancock was between him and Ben, then looked up at her with, well, mischief in his eyes. 

 

Not exactly a rare thing to see there. "I am quite sure she will, Miss Hancock, but I thought we were supposed to learn to be heroes, here? How could I, as a hero, let down a friend in need, that just needed their dog taken for a short walk? How could I know that Sir Woofington would have such power?" He pleaded his case, perhaps doing it well, even if he would probably end up back at the headmistress' office anyway.

[Avenger Assembled]

Eira didn't say anything to Leroy, just smiled at him in a way that showed her perfectly white teeth, drumming on her desk with her pen. She seemed to light up as Pan entered, shooting him a quick wave as he came in escorted by Ms. Hancock, who'd given him a definite "Later for you" look as she walked him inside the classroom. 

 

Being a morning class that most students aren't very interested in, Civics attendance is usually right down to the wire. And so it is today, with people jumping through the doors at the last minute, gabbing about friends, family, politics, and the very interesting topic of Pan's big dog that was just out there, what the heck! But eventually the bell rings and everyone's in their seats. 

 

First there's the Pledge, which a majority of students do because a majority of them are products of the American public school system and because Ms. Hancock leads the class in doing it, even though mostly nobody really cares if you do. After that come the morning announcements, broadcast both by speaker and sub-titled screen for the benefit of Claremont's students who may be disabled.  

 

"Today is February 17, 2020." That's the usual voice, over a panning shot of the campus taken by a flying student a couple of years ago. Then there's another voice that comes on, one that isn't immediately familiar in this context. "Please stand by for an announcement from the headmistress." 

 

Then the camera cuts to the familiar image of Callie Summers, sitting behind her desk and making eyecontact with the camera. She folds her hands, gives the camera a serious look, and begins to sing over subtitles,  as _guitar music_ begins playing behind her and her voice drops into a low, guttural register... 

 

"Students:

 

When I was born, the seed was sown
I will not obey, my life is my own
Battle those, who wish to enslave me
Expose the lies, that enrage me..." 

 

And then suddenly, the announcements stop as abruptly as they began, the screen goes back. And in her morning civics class, Eira Katastroff throws back her head and laughs a single "Ha-ha!" 

 

[Amelia]

Octoman

 

Ben Wang was indeed "a bit of a flake and drama queen"...in other words, he was a teenager.

 

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"Borrowed, not jacked. Well, took him for a walk, at least. Just did a friend a favor. Sir Woofington is back home. now."

 

Ben was deflated, almost mumbling. "Dog-sitting, not dog-napping. Right. Doin' a buddy a solid. Gotcha. My bad. Next time you see him, I guess...give him one behind the ears from me." He glared at Ms. Hancock as he hoisted his pack back over his shoulder. "I dunno how Geckoman stuck around here for four DAYS, nevermind four years" he grumbled as he departed for class.

 

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"Take heart, good Ben!"

 

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“Maybe we go to a shelter after school and find you an Octodog of your very own?"

 

"Don't have room for a dog. Tiny apartment, remember?" He threw his hands up. "Look, Guys, I'm fine. Just got, like, caught up in the moment. Moment's passed. Forget about it. I'm good."

 

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"Students:

 

When I was born, the seed was sown
I will not obey, my life is my own
Battle those, who wish to enslave me
Expose the lies, that enrage me..."

 

Ben squinted quizzically at the screen. He couldn't hear the music, and he didn't recognize the lyrics, so at first, it was just gibberish to him. Then he discreetly slid his smartphone out from the "pocket" he'd created from the folds of his own flesh and ran a web search for the words. When he realized it was a rock song, he started laughing. "HAH! NICE. Rock on, Grandma! Someone slip something into her coffee this morning? Or did she finally get the surgery to take the stick out?"

 

Edited February 23, 2020 by Grumblefloof

[Ari]

"Wonderful! Rousing!" Leroy applauded openly, smiling so wide his own teeth shone and his scars nearly disappeared, "Our Headmistress must gnash her own chains in silence, but no reason not to give us a nudge about breaking our own, eh Eira?"

 

At Benicio's remarks, the boy frowned a moment, then quickly scribbled something onto a sheet of paper, folding it into a small paper sphere and tossing it onto his schoolmate's desk. On it were the words 'Her father had the stick. But I had forgotten about it entirely!'

 

That vital mission complete, Leroy settled back into politely waiting for business to resume. Judy had been talking recently about the benefits of being a mostly quiet, supportive presence, and this was an ideal chance to train for that.

[RocketLord]

Pan of course looked absolutely surprised when the headmistress started singing, then, a half second after the other students let their applause of the act known, he joined in, eagerly clapping his hands while letting out a short laugh.

 

"That is simply brilliant! I had an inkling the headmistress could growl, but not like this! Brilliant!"

 

He was eager in his applause, but not really out of character, no. He made sure of that.

[Tiffany Korta]

White Lioness

It was pretty obvious the Àjàṣorò at least that the whole thing was fake, apart from the obvious Summers whole body language was just wrong. It didn’t take a detective to figure out that the whole cute floofy incidence was some kind of distraction.

 

“Yes because I can just see the headmistress doing something like this, otherwise innocent people could get in a whole lot of trouble.” she crossed her arms and scowled, she couldn’t prove anything but it was irksome.

 

“I’m going to class, and for the record you can always get one of those tiny dogs for tiny places.”

[Avenger Assembled]

There was quite a commotion in the classroom. A few students seemed to agree that this was some sort of new strategy to 'reach the kids' on behalf of the Headmistress, but the general consensus was that the school had been hacked - and by a supervillain! Names like the Tranquility Tyrant, Silver Banshee, and the Maestro were thrown around, along with Doc Otaku and the Freebooter (though most people thought the latter had retired.) In her seat, Eira squirmed like there were spiders in her jeans, looking around at everyone with her face increasingly set in a frown. 

 

Finally, she stood up just as Ms. Hancock was trying to bring the room to order and declared - "It was me." Eira's voice, perhaps a trifle amplified out her pale throat, cut through the noise. "_I_ hacked the system, and _I_ uploaded the altered files." She looked around at everyone, her eyes wide, and said, her accent thickening a touch, "It is no more than our right! They cannot silence us any longer!" The hubbub got louder at this, some students out of their desks and staring at her, others looking on in what might have been admiration. "We are the best!" 

 

"Miss Katastroff!" said Ms. Hancock, cutting through the noise as she appeared in front of Eira's desk - and yes, by God, the guesses were right because she had clearly teleported from behind her desk to in front of Eira's. "Report to the headmistress's office immediately." 

 

Eira glared up at Ms. Hancock before rising to her feet and striding her way towards the door. As she opened the door, she turned and raised her hands in the "horns" symbol, sticking her newly-pierced tongue through them and called "An-arch-y!" 

[Darksider42]

Though the mass of fur was close to crushing her, the world felt a little sadder with the gargantuan dog vanishing from the scene. " Sure you'll find.." She trailed off as soon as Ben explained once again the home situation. The teleporter eventually just shrugged and with everyone dispersing she turned around and started heading for class. Along with remembering she did not have English this morning and vanishing back to her locker.

Even with teleportation powers, Max was the last person to arrive to class. She claimed one of the desks in the back and dumped her books on the hard wood surface. She did not bother getting up for the pledge. There was not stirrings of patriotism in her. Her mind started to wander as bordom already starting to settle over her mind.

The growling headmistress though. That got her attention and some low suppressed giggles from her. But a few seconds in she frowned. It sounded like Arch Enemy from her own phone. "OK, who is in charge of the world and why are they *@&*ing with me?" She wondered out loud. Then the mastermind announced what they have done. 

"Nice" She said with a smile and a lazy clap. She did briefly wonder if Eira could read minds.

[Ari]

"Hold it right there!" Leroy's silken voice cut through the hubbub like one of his glass knives. Rising imperiously from his seat he marched across the classrom, stopping beside Eira to firmly link his arm with hers. Looking down at Mrs. Hancock with the same faint start of confusion that she always saw in his eyes when he looked at anyone shorter than him, he declared "If you must detain Night, then you must detain me as well...her co-conspirator!"

 

"I pushed Night to this, Instructor! She will lie to protect me, yet as a member of Orange Squad I must shoulder her burdens!"

 

Standing tall and strong, the Dragon Prince inclined his head "If you must,  Instructor, take us away!"

[Shofet]

Mia had not been expecting this at all. Yesterday had been something of a change for her, making peace with Eira, and she thought she was starting to understand her. It turns out, she really wasn't. Not that she objected, this was pretty cool, all things considered. Then, Eira shouted the magic words. Anarchy. Now, Mia was obliged to come in.

 

"Anarchy!" 

 

There was a brief set of sparkling, and then her hoodie had an A in a circle on it. She stood, and fist-pumped towards Eira. This was definitely going to get her in trouble, but honestly, who cared at this point? She'd gone a while without a reprimand anyway.

[RocketLord]

Pan couldn't help himself. He fell forward on the table and laughed, burying his face in his arms. Anarchy around them. Yells about anarchy, at the very least. Total chaos, students rising up, Leroy standing up and declaring himself a co-conspirator. 

 

This was too good. "Ah, Leroy." He shook his head. He had seen that movie before. 

 

This was just too good.

[Tiffany Korta]

White Lioness

It had been a long day and Àjàṣorò was tired after a busy week, otherwise she was sure that she would have just let this pass, it was just your standard school prank after all. But after, she suspected not, being played she wasn’t in the mood to let this all just pass by unchallenged.

 

“You call that Anarchy? It’s just babies first prank, even if it was technically brilliant. And you couldn’t even do that right, you let word get around and a bit of a legend build up before you reveal your involvement.”

she’d kept her voice fairly level though being so annoyed traces of her true accent slipped in to her speech.

 

“If you want to see true Anarchy I’ll happily take you to places where the government has no power and the populous are controlled over the barrel of the gun. You know the places where real heroes can go and make a difference!”

[Amelia]

Octoman

 

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"Miss Katastroff!" said Ms. Hancock, cutting through the noise as she appeared in front of Eira's desk - and yes, by God, the guesses were right because she had clearly teleported from behind her desk to in front of Eira's. "Report to the headmistress's office immediately." Eira glared up at Ms. Hancock before rising to her feet and striding her way towards the door. As she opened the door, she turned and raised her hands in the "horns" symbol, sticking her newly-pierced tongue through them and called "An-arch-y!"

 

"YEAH!" Ben stood up out of his seat, raised a pair of horns of his own, and started chanting. "Mess with the best and die like the rest! AN-ARCH-Y! AN-ARCH-Y!" Before Ms. Hancock had a chance to react, he started walking toward the door on his own initiative, still chanting, horns raised, following Eira out into the hall. "Yeah, yeah, Grandma Summers office, I'm goin'. AN-ARCH-Y!"

 

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"Hold it right there!" Leroy's silken voice cut through the hubbub like one of his glass knives. "If you must detain Night, then you must detain me as well...her co-conspirator! I pushed Night to this, Instructor! She will lie to protect me, yet as a member of Orange Squad I must shoulder her burdens! If you must,  Instructor, take us away!

 

Ben slapped Leroy on the back and fist-bumped him on his way out. "Prince Akheem, with the LOYALTY. MAD RESPECT."

 

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"Anarchy!" There was a brief set of sparkling, and then Mia's hoodie had an A in a circle on it. She stood, and fist-pumped towards Eira.

 

Ben smiled and nodded at Mia, fist-bumping her with one hand, while his other hand pointed at his own eyes, then at hers, then at his own again.

 

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“If you want to see true Anarchy I’ll happily take you to places where the government has no power and the populous are controlled over the barrel of the gun."

 

Ben pointed twin finger-guns and a cocky grin at Àjàṣorò. "Dude, we're already IN New Jersey."

 

Once he was out in the hall, he ran to catch up to Eira. "Yo, Chica, RIGHTEOUS hack you pulled off there! Didn't know you were a fellow keyboard-warrior."

 

[Avenger Assembled]

Ms. Hancock moved efficiently and directed all of her trouble-making students out of the classroom and towards the headmistress's office - which meant that soon Eira, Leroy, Àjàṣorò, Ben, and Mia were out the doors and on their way towards their fateful meeting with Callie Summers. Eira had looked at Leroy with her eyes narrowed and her cheeks flushed red, rolled her eyes at Aja, and kept the company of her fellow travelers Ben and Mia as they walked through the halls. 

 

"It was trivially easy," she said dismissively. "A matter of replacing the program that ran the auxiliary systems with one of my own craftsmanship." She smiled, showing those pure white teeth. "What's your rig?" she asked Ben. While they talked, she shot a look at Mia - and extended a hand her way. Her grip was as warm as a human being's. 

[Ari]

Strolling along a respectful step behind Mia, Leroy hummed a marching tune to himself, face stern and defiant but with a giddiness in his step and a tugging at his lips that very much undermined the effect. As they passed the crystalline remnants of his ill-timed efforts to capture the ILD(Inadvisably Large Dog), he tapped a smaller, rectangular chunk against them, causing the swirling, arcing diamond to vanish with the dark-lit depths. Fissures in the floor, walls and ceiling, however, failed to dematerialize in the same way.

 

"Ah, more time with good Basil," Leroy smiled, "well, he has been desirous of replacing this wood for some years. It will be a pleasure to help him. Sometimes I quite envy his chosen path, he builds and mends and cleanses, and harms none but the wicked. No matter how small the flaw is to us, to him it is worth every effort to expunge."

 

Something sent a cloud over his face, "I am rather surprised at Àjàsoró. Such logic has done grievous harm to the causes of the oppressed, especially feminism. One of the reasons mother left these shadowlands, actually. Somehow, something was always more important."

[Darksider42]

Max watched silently as everyone got their marching orders to Principle Summer's office. Empty desks and murmuring students surrounded her. The excitement was already started to drain away from the room as authority started to press down and crush the waves made by Eira's prank.

"Wow, She really had to send half the class away?" She said to no one in particular before slumping back on her desk. She wondered if Ms. Hancock had control freak tendencies or if the school had a worse rebellious streak than her.

Edited February 27, 2020 by Darksider42

[Avenger Assembled]

"And as for you," Eira hissed at Aja in a voice like molten quicksilver, "you see what happened! The moment you stepped out of line, they kicked you like a disobedient cat." She jabbed the finger of her free hand in the White Lioness's direction as they walked towards the headmistress's office, her voice a low whisper as she glared at her with flat blue eyes. "Or will you tell me you deserve to be punished for defending their system too loudly?" 

[Shofet]

Mia took Eira's hand, squeezing it gently. The turnaround in their relationship had been dramatic, alright. That also meant she felt a responsibility to play peacemaker here, rather than taking a side against Eira by default. Amazing how things could change so fast. More than that, she needed to clarify some political illiteracy she had just heard, otherwise the mom in her heart would scream at her.

 

"So, like,  to explain, political anarchy is different than what you're describing. Actual anarchy is a political system that argues for a horizontal society - no one above anyone else. It means "without leaders", not "without government." Y'know? The definition you are using was pushed in the early 20th century by imperialist powers to delegitimize anti-capitalist and anti-colonialist groups."

 

"I'm explaining it bad. My mom would do better. But warlords aren't anarchy by default. So, you know. They're arch. They're power." She looked at Aja, smiling like she really didn't want to be yelled at.

Edited February 28, 2020 by Shofet

[Ari]

As another black rainbow of mystery matter vanished, Leroy turned from it to shoot Mia a puzzled look. "Yet...power is what we are attempting to obtain, right leader? Are not supers valued by what fewer barriers lie between you and the object of your will? One of the richest and one of the most beloved supers of our time reign over a multinational corporation and a planet, do they not?"

 

A sudden look of horror passed over his face and he waved his hands placatingly. "Not that I doubt you, of course! This is merely difficult for me to understand! Pay no mind!"

 

His scars red, the Dragon Prince made the rest of the walk in embarrassed, downcast silence.

[Tiffany Korta]

White Lioness

Àjàṣorò had walked in silence not really wanting to cause any more problems, she’d said her piece and accepted her punishment, but the others seemed to want to continue the discussion. She’d felt no malice towards the others and exchanging ideas wouldn’t hurt, even if she didn’t expect anyone to come around to her way of thinking.

 

“I am aware of the difference between the concepts of anarchic ideals of government and a breakdown of orders into chaos. But in my experience the former rarely survives longs and falls into the later. And a chaotic act won’t cause a government to just suddenly spring into creations.”

 

“And to be part of a system means you accept the punishments along with it rewards, unless the system deserves overthrowing. I know because that's how I spend my weekends! Maybe some of you should tag along and see what real anarchy looks like.”

[Amelia]

Octoman

 

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"What's your rig?"

 

"Octo-core Ryzen Seven, seventeen-hundred X, sixty-four gigs RAM, four terabyte hard drive, solid state all the way. Not where I'd like it to be, but I guess it could be worse. It's been enough to poke my nose in some places that thought they were nose-proof. My laptop's, like, EMBARASSINGLY ANCIENT, but I can't afford both, and upgrading the tower's more bang for the buck, y'know? Once I got into programming I got my whole family to basically stop giving me gifts that weren't Fry's gift cards. They're all civvies, y'know, normies, Muggles, they wouldn't know HDD from solid-state, so it's just easier that way. Plus, that way Mamá and Tatay don't have to make time to actually go shopping. Bar mitzvah cash was a big boost, even though they made me put like half of it into bonds. Parents, am I right?"

 

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"Wow, She really had to send half the class away?"

 

"What can I say? Old Lady is MAD insecure. Grownups get like that when you call their bluff. Soon as you're like 'And what're you gonna do?' they start freakin' out."

 

Ben walked up the wall and then onto the ceiling as the students made their way down the halls. He was a bit overwhelmed by the political discussion the other students were having, especially since he wasn't good enough to read so many lips at once, so he kept missing phrases. His greatest contribution was weakly interjecting at one point "Y'know, information, like, wants to be free, and stuff!"

 

[RocketLord]

Pan shrugged to Max at her desk, as his own little bout of laughter died out. Half the class was gone, Ms. Hancock seemed absolutely livid. "Perhaps they were right in their protest?" He shot a challenging glance up at Ms. Hancock. "Is that how an ethics teacher should handle dissent, Ms. Hancock? By oppression, by silencing the voices that dare to speak up?" Oh, the challenge in his eyes was, if possible, even more obvious now. His words cut through the point, even from his slouched position at his desk, leaned forward with his head resting on his arms. The others, Eira and her little group, might have been content to walk out, to follow these rules, but he had other plans, it seemed. Start a little discussion, maybe. Well, maybe. Or maybe he was just pushing the teacher's buttons.

 

"Come now, Ms. Hancock. Tell me, what should we do when someone has another opinion, when someone wishes to express themselves? What is the ethical thing to do? Should we follow your example and silence those that we disagree with, without discussion, without any kind of chance to explain themselves or their position? Is that ethical?"

[Avenger Assembled]

The respective offenders entered the headmistress's office one by one, waiting in a small lobby that had (much to Eira's disgust) some sort of Faraday cage built into the walls that even blocked cell reception. Once inside, Summers interrogated them about how they had hacked the system (and if their denials of doing so were sincere), what they knew about what had happened, and exactly what had happened in their civics class. 

 

Eira was in there the longest - and but it was, if anything, the quietest. When they were all done (Eira going last), they were all called into Summers' office for a speech that might have been surprising under other circumstances. A week of detention, that was standard enough stuff, and it sounded like Eira had something special going on. But the rest - "It's clear that you all are dissatisfied, willing to risk punishment to express your dissatisfaction, and in need of a productive way to pass the time. So with that in mind, I'm assigning all of you to take over the morning announcements, effective the day after tomorrow. The audio-visual club at Claremont has been neglected for too long." 

 

There was a buzz from outside, and over the intercom came the secretary's voice. "Ms. Summers? Mr. Barrie is here to discuss-" 

 

"Later," said Summers, looking back at the new AV Club crew.