Fan Fiction ❯ A Story of X ❯ For Better or Worse ( Chapter 3 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans, or any other DC character that may show up at some point in time in this story for that matter… In order to make a pie, you must first create the universe…

By the time first period had rolled by, the entire school was aflame with gossip of the incident that had occurred earlier this morning with the mysterious black-clad person. For no reason what-so-ever it seemed, this Red X as he called himself, had shown up at the school and ‘attacked’ several students. No one was hurt too badly, save for Victor who was still incapacitated in the nurse’s office, and he wasn’t even harmed by Red X. It was indirectly his fault, but Garfield was the one who delivered the blow. Actually, the only action that Red X did that could be considered an attack would be the laser beam shot out towards Dick.

Such a traumatic event should have the school take extra precautions and maybe even cancel all classes. But of course, with the school officials being, well, ya know, evil (like they always are!) school went on as scheduled like a normal day as if nothing had happened.

The entire school was already gossiping about the event, blowing the entire story out of proportion. Just like these kids eh? But a certain group of teens knew exactly what had transpired, for they experienced it up close and personal.

The scene was as normal as any other in a school hallway. A group of teens were hanging out by the lockers during passing period between classes. And on this day, their conversation topic was a normal one. Though on any other day before this one, it would have been a little strange. Talking about some guy running around in some Halloween costume terrorizing teenagers isn’t something you hear everyday. (Maybe it is, I don’t know… Watch the news people)

“Dude, who the hell was that guy?” Garfield asked his two friends.

“I do not know, but he was more of a creep than anything else,” Kori answered.

“More like a freak. But the tech that guy was wielding was crazy. I’ve never even see anything that advanced before ever in my life. Well, maybe in cartoons, video games, and movies, but not in real life.”

“I think the most important issue here guys is why this guy was after us in particular, and no one else,” Dick added from his once silent position.

“Ya, Dick’s got a point here. Why us? What did we ever do to him?”

“But, who would want to harm any of us?” Kori asked, as if she really was clueless to the reason. “Have we really angered someone so much that they would do something like this?”

“Well Kori, I can think of one person who would be angry at us, but it is just impossible for it to be him.”

“And… who would that be Dick?” asked the spiky haired imp.

“Him.” With just a nod of his head in one direction, Garfield and Kori turned their attentions to the one Dick was indicating. Kale Riley was down on the ground rummaging through the lower part of his locker. He was either trying to hide something, or find something. From their vantage point from this distance, it was hard to tell.

“Riley?!” Garfield broke down in a fit of laughter right there on the spot. “Dude… you crazy. I mean… sure, he may hate us, but… he is too much of a poon to do anything,” Garfield said with much difficulty through his laughter. “He’s spineless, gutless, weak. Just look at him and compare the two. While Red X may be a little skinny, he has muscles.”

“And you would notice this… how?” Dick asked with an inquisitive tone and a cock of his brow..

“Shut up,” the smaller of the two boys replied quickly. “Anyway, while Red X has a somewhat muscular build,” he paused, daring Dick to say anything, which he didn’t. “Riley over there is lanky as hell. Come on dude, there is no way they are one and the same.”

“He does bring up a very good point Dick.”

“I know he does, and its very rare when he has one,” Dick said with an evil grin.

Garfield obviously didn’t hear the comment made at his expense. “And besides, where would Kale even get that kind of technology? He would have to steal it, and we all know what a goody two shoes he is.”

“Hmm… I guess you’re right.”

“Of course I’m right,” Garfield said while crossing his arms with a look of superiority. “Did you ever have any doubts that I wasn’t?” he added with a somewhat mocking yet serious voice.

“But that still leaves the questions, who is he, and why us?” Dick continued to ponder on the subject. He was really digging deep into this matter

“Dude, let it go for now, I have. Go make out with your girlfriend like usual then get to class.” The black haired boy started to turn a light shade of red from anger at this but Garfield didn’t notice. His attention was elsewhere at the moment.

“I on the other hand have other important business to attend to. It’s a shame Victor is still ‘incapacitated’ cause then he could see me totally score big points with her.”

The ‘her’ to which our little imp here was referring to was Terra Markov. To Garfield, she was the object of his affection, the apple of his eyes, his unattainable angle. Yes, to him she was unattainable… but not for long. This girl was a true beauty to him. She had long, silky smooth blonde hair that was about the same length as Kori’s. She was about the same height as Garfield, and this little shorty was just fine with that. Terra had the biggest and most adorable eyes one could ever see. They were deep blue that one could only find in the most purest of water, captivating even the most selective of males. To Garfield, this girl was going to be his... oh yes... she was going to be his.

“So if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got some shmoozing to do.” He started to advance towards the girl of his dreams. Each step bringing him one step closer to his ultimate goal.

“Shmoozing?” Dick asked to the receding Garfield.

“Ya, you heard me. Shmooooozing baby. Oh ya,” he answered looking back over his shoulder.

“Well, sorry to burst your bubble Gar, but it looks like someone already beat you and moved in on your territory,” Dick called back.

Garfield’s calm and smooth demeanor went rigid at these words and he whipped around to see what his friend had meant. He stopped dead still as all his hopes and dreams to be with Terra were dashed upon the rocky shores of reality.

Standing right next to Terra was a boy that everyone knew about, Orion Weaver. He fit the perfect description of the words ‘pretty boy’ for that, in a sense, was what he was. He had long ebony hair that was pulled back into a pony tail. He wore a tight fitting black shirt that hugged his muscular physique quite nicely. His jeans were of an onyx color and were tattered at the feet. To complete his ‘dark’ appearance, he had a scar running along right below his right eye. He never spoke about how the scar came about, only adding to the mystery surrounding this kid. And as we all know about quiet mysterious boys, this guy was a 'chick magnet'.

He was standing right next to Terra, and as Dick had said, he was making his move. All Garfield could do was stand there slack-jawed in total shock and a little horror as the girl of his dreams was stolen away, right in front of him. He couldn’t tell what was being said, but when Terra started to giggle, he knew it was of nothing positive for his chances. His fears came to reality as Orion leaned down to the girl and planted a firm kiss right on her lips as they embraced in a hug. After a little bit of time, their lips parted. Orion wrapped his arm around Terra’s shoulders and the two walked off down the hallway, leaving Garfield completely devastated.

The heart broken teen just stood there, completely dumbfounded at the events that had just occurred before his very eyes. His fists balled up in anger as the realization that Terra would never be his. He was fuming and he needed a release. He needed to let this anger out. But where, on what? He glanced over to his friends who had a some what somber look on their faces. He couldn’t stand to look at them right then and there and so he turned away, and his eyes fell upon Kale Riley. He was still rummaging through his locker doing God knows what.

‘Where, on what… or who?’ There was no need for rationalization or for sneaky antics. He was angry, and what better way to release that anger then on a certain ‘punching bag’ you had been using for years.

He walked right up behind Kale and just stood there, undetected. Sure, this might not resolve his problem, but he was certain he would feel so much better once he let his anger out. He didn’t care about the consequences, he didn’t care who he hurt. His anger was eating him up and it needed to leave… now.

Garfield reared back and got ready for the big granddaddy of all his kicks. He let his foot fly and it tore though the air. And this time, he didn’t miss his target. His foot plowed right into the rear of Kale and sent his head slamming right into the back of his locker, where a resounding slam and a cry of pain could be heard.

“Well, I feel better,” Garfield smiled smugly and started to walk off.

Kale wasn’t able to get up for a second or two. He was completely caught off guard, not to mention he was now in a serious amount of pain in two places instead of one.

‘DAMN IT! That hurt like a bitch! Ow, just… Ouch! What the hell was he thinking? That really hurt! Man, where is a teacher to witness this heinous crime when ya need one? Seriously, Ouch!’

But as it just so happened, Kale’s wish was not just some wishful fantasy, for a teacher did in fact see this.

“Hey you! What do you think you were doing?” the teacher said as she grabbed hold of Garfield’s shoulder and forcibly turned him around “What you just did was horrible. What could you have possibly been thinking?”

Garfield was too startled to say anything. He just stood there in the teacher’s grasp, utterly speechless.

“Well young man, do you have anything to say for yourself?”

Silence.

“Well then. I want you to report to Mr. Mod’s detention room after school. Do you understand what that means? You have detention. Now, get to class.” With that said, the woman let go of Garfield, and the boy scurried off to his class. Kale was sitting right in front of his open locker during this whole thing.

‘Well, it looks like there is justice in this evil school of ours. Serves him right. I’m just glad I don’t have detention, otherwise I would have to be stuck with that loser longer than I needed to. And that is something I really don’t want.’

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

RIIINNG!

The bell had rung, the students were in their classrooms ready to be bored to death with the seemingly unending teachings of their educators, and the halls were devoid of any signs of movement. Yes, all was quiet in the halls of Jump City High, except for one single individual who was sprinting down the hallway faster than a bat out of Hell.

‘Crap crap craaap!’

Kale was barreling down the halls as fast as he could. He was late yet again for his next class and this was something he could not afford. Sweat was starting to trickle down his forehead as he rounded another corner.

‘Damn school officials. How the hell do they expect me to get from one end of the school on the third floor to the completely opposite end in the gym in only ten minutes? Plus the fact that the halls are severely overcrowded, not to mention I have to stop at my locker to drop my stuff off. Stupid school.’

His chest was heaving rapidly from all the running and he needed to catch his breath, ‘needed’ being the key word here. Kale knew he needed to stop, but he also needed to keep going, otherwise he would be really late, even more so than what he already was. And so he persevered through the rising pain building in his chest and side, running like the wind.

‘God, why don’t I just use the Red X power core belt and simply teleport from one side of the school to the other? I would never be late again. Oh man, that would sweet. Oh, but wait. I know why I don’t take the easy way. Using the belt would give away my identity as Red X, and I would so get my ass kicked by that Dick and his crew. They must really want a piece of me. Well, not me to say, but Red X. They probably want to rip him to shreds. And who could blame them? I did royally humiliate them, which was so much fun might I add.’

Kale was coming up on the final corner that would lead him to his final destination. He was so close to his next class, he just had to get there as quickly as possible. He doubled his pace and sped towards the last corner.

‘Hmm… I wonder if I could just use the belt without the suit. That could be useful knowledge and its something I will have to test out someti-yaaah!’

Unfortunately for our hero, Kale was paying more attention to his thoughts rather than his own well being. Running with reckless abandon. If only he had been paying attention to the way ahead when he rounded the last corner, he would've noticed the janitorial warning of “Caution: Wet Floor.” He slipped on the slippery surface and went straight down on his backside, skidding across the floor. And even more humiliating, this sight was actually quite comical, what with the flailing arms and the abrupt crash landing right into a wall.

‘Ow, that hurt,’ he thought while rubbing his aching head. ‘Stupid janitors. Why don’t they put warnings out to warn ya of wet floors and what not?’ Kale glanced over to where the floor had so offended him and noticed the bright yellow sign with bold red and black lettering.

‘Damn, how the hell did I miss that? Wait, why am I contemplating about this? I gotta get to class!’

Kale picked his pitiful self up from his position on the floor and bolted for the double doors leading to his goal and his next class, gym. He burst through the doors and was greeted with the sight of the last of the students heading into their designated locker rooms.

‘Crap, crap, and double crap, I am really late.’

Kale turned his attention to where his class was positioned in the giant room. There were only two people standing there, Victor Stone and Kale’s very cross looking teacher. Kale slowly trudged his way over to them, staring at his feet with such intensity, you would think that he had some strange infatuation with them.

“Riley, late yet again I see. Why are you late this time?” his teacher, Mr. Atlas asked. Atlas was your typical looking gym teacher, you know, the one that would tone their muscles to insane extremes rather than hitting the books? Though from the looks of it, Kale guessed he did hit books every so often, literally, just to show those evil, evil books who was boss.

“Sorry Mr. Atlas. I kinda got out of my math class late and I kinda slipped on the floor on the way here and I-”

“Excuses excuses” Mr. Atlas interrupted. “Why cant you just be on time like the rest of the students? Is that too much to ask? Even Stone here,” he gestured to the muscular teen, “ is on time, and he just came from the nurse’s office with some sort of, uh… What was it again Stone?”

“Problem, Mr. Atlas. Let’s just leave it at that,” Victor replied. Although Atlas didn’t notice, Kale saw that as Victor answered the teacher, he slowly closed his legs with a slight cringe.

‘Ha! So he is still feeing the hurt of that kick to the groin that fat cat Garfield gave him.’

“Right… problem. Anyway Stone, like I was saying before we were interrupted,’ Atlas glanced over towards Kale and the teen grimaced slightly and back pedaled. “You are excused from today’s activities on account of this little problem of yours. But I want a full recovery soon. We need ya on the playing field for football season.”

“Yes Mr. Atlas,” Victor answered.

“Now as for you Riley,” he looked back to said boy, “I should give you a detention for being late… again. But I’m giving you one last warning. After this, that’s it. No more chances. Got it?”

“Yes, I got it,” Kale responded with a little happiness in his voice.

‘Whew, dodged a detention bullet right there.’

“Okay then. Now go get changed and get ready for class. And Stone,” the teacher added turning towards the teen, “even though you are excused form today’s activities, I don’t want any trouble out of you. You can walk around the gym, do homework, whatever. But no funny stuff. If you do anything remotely stupid, I will give you a detention so fast your head will spin. Ya got me?”

“Yes Mr. Atlas,” Victor replied.

Atlas sighed to himself as he watched the two boys take off towards the lockers. For some strange reason, he had a feeling it was going to be “one of those days.” One of those days where things just cant help but go from bad to worse. What could possibly be next? Atlas didn’t know, but in the pit of his stomach, he could just feel something was going to happen.

Victor decided that even though he still had his aches and pains in a certain area, he was still going to pester Kale to no end. He caught up with the boy and walked beside him with only ill intentions in mind.

“He’s late, he’s late, for a very important date,” Victor repeated jokingly in a musical manner. He was hopping up and down while still being beside his target.

Kale turned towards his harasser with a sour look and just glared at him. “You know what? Just shove it will ya?”

Victor’s lips curled up into an evil sneer as he looked towards Kale and what lay beyond him on the opposite side. Now this was a place where every guy only wishes he could go. The spoiler was the extreme punishment and the sheer amount of slaps he would receive. Yes you guessed it. The girl’s locker room.

“Hehe, if you insist.” And with a quick forceful shove, Kale found himself completely off balance and sailing out of control. He tried to right himself, but he just couldn’t. He fell through the opening of the room and plunged right into a row of lockers, with the back of his head and his butt taking the blunt of the landing.

‘Ow!’ Kale slowly stood up and started to dust himself off. ‘Damn it, how many times am I gonna get hit… or fall… today?’ His thoughts were completely stopped as he stared at the sight before him.

There, right in front of Kale, was the new girl. The dark girl herself, but he saw her in a different light at this moment. Actually, he saw her in something he thought he would never see. And seeing her like this was something he especially wasn't expecting. There this girl was, standing right in front of him, clothed in only her unmentionables.

His eyes traveled up her smooth pale legs, noticing just how perfect they looked. His staring eyes continued upward, catching every little detail as he could. The little black laced silk that hugged her body tightly around the hips made him shiver. The thin straps leading inward towards her lower stomach that dipped down in the center made him gulp. His wandering eyes continued their journey up her waist and skimmed past her flat stomach and slowly to her blossoming chest. The laced black straps and thin obsidian material were completely trivial. Kale plainly couldn't help but stare at this girl's budding cleavage. She was well built for her age, that was for sure. Kale tried to pull his shameful glare off of the girl in front of him but couldn't. Her body was mesmerizing, to the point of breathlessness.

As Kale’s captivated eyes continued to aimlessly stare, a question suddenly popped into his mind. Why did this girl wear such conservative clothes anyway? She had such a nice figure she should be showing it off a little bit more. The baggy clothes completely hid her very feminine curves and to him that was a damn shame. Maybe she wouldn’t be as much as an outsider if she dressed a little differently. He would have liked to see her in a little less concealing attire once and awhile, but then again this 'sight' was more than he could ever ask for.

Kale continued to move his gaze upwards until it fell on the girl’s soft pale face which was framed perfectly by her shoulder length purple hair. She was staring right back at him with a questioning and shocked expression that seemed to ask “What the hell are you doing in here?” The girl’s violet eyes suddenly enlarged with realization and she quickly looked down at her exposed body to see what she was wearing, or what she wasn’t wearing for that matter. Her head snapped back up with a great velocity and her questioning look had transformed into a very cold glare.

Kale back pedaled out of fear, but he couldn’t take his eyes off of her. The glare only intensified. Kale attempted to apologize but the word 'curves' that was being drilled into his mind by his inner consciousness kept interrupting. He just continued to gawk at the half naked girl in front of him, and only succeeded in making this predicament worse.

Every inch of his mind was screaming at him, ‘Avert thine eyes!’ but Kale couldn’t help himself. He knew he should look away, but he just couldn’t. He needed help, help from some outside force because he alone just wasn’t cutting it. For his sake, or his troubles, that outside force was about to make itself known.

“You are a bad man!”

Kale’s eyes were finally torn from the captivating sight and whipped his gaze around to be met with a very angry Kori. She had her clothes held up in front of her attempting to hide her exposed body. Out of nowhere it seemed she started to throw random items such as a hair brush, deodorant, a shoe, and among other things towards the invading boy in a room specified for a girl’s privacy.

“OW OW OW!” Kale covered his head from the incoming projectiles and started to bolt desperately towards the exit.

The girl throwing the objects continued to hurl them relentlessly with reckless abandon shouting such things as “You pervert!” and “Letch!”

Kale finally made his way to the exit way and was met with a snickering Victor.

“What’s the matter Riley? Having some problems with the ladies? Hehe.”

Kale stared at the boy with a glare, but then he just leaned back against the wall and let out a heavy sigh. “Ya know Vic, you may have thought that was torture, but that was far from it. But if you thought it was torture then by all means, be sure to do that sort of ‘torture’ more often please.” The smaller of the two boys gave the other a sarcastic wink and the other scowled.

“Why you little…” Victor was about to reach for Kale, but a strong hand on his shoulder stopped him in his tracks.

“Stone? What’s going on here?” Mr. Atlas asked with ferocity in his voice.

Victor turned to his teacher and merely shrugged. “Nothing Mr. Atlas. We were just-”

“Just pushing Riley here into the girl’s locker room. What were you thinking? Did you think that was funny?”

Victor just stood there with a stupid clueless look on his face. “Uhhh…”

“I said I didn’t want any trouble from you mister. And what do I get?” Atlas asked rhetorically while Victor just continued to stand there. “I get trouble. And you know what that means don’t ya?”

“. . .”

“Detention!”

“Crap.”

“Now go back to your seat and don’t move till I say otherwise.”

As Victor slowly trudged off to where he was ordered to, Mr. Atlas turned back to Kale, who seemed to look completely relaxed, happy even. “Riley. You doing okay? You look a little goofy.”

Kale lowered his gaze from the ceiling and stared at his teacher. “I am doing just fine. Couldn’t be better.” Even though he was aware of it himself, Kale couldn’t get his ear to ear smile off his face.

Atlas just gave him a skewed look. “Well, good to hear that. But don’t get any weird ideas. This time it was an accident, but if I see you trying to go in there again on purpose, your butt is so getting thrown in detention.”

Kale responded with a half hearted nod and Atlas just shrugged it off.

“Oh, and I will try my best to keep the girls from killing you this period. Dodge ball could get a little messy. But after school you are on your own.” Atlas didn’t wait for a response from the boy because he knew he wouldn’t really get one. He turned on his heel and strode away shaking his head.

Kale returned his glazed over stare back towards the ceiling, remembering the few moments of heavenly bliss he had experienced only a few minutes ago. He didn’t even hear his teacher’s last statement. He just stared out into space a million miles away.

‘Wow. Just… wow.’

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Ah, the last period of the day. Is there anything more agonizing than it? Well, ya, there is… but we wont get into that. Anyway, the last period of the day. The time in which a student’s mind is in one of either two places. One, his or her mind could be focused on the studies at hand, listening to the teacher’s lecture trying to do well in the class. The other place a mind could go at this time would be off in another world, contemplating about a countless number of things. Like the freedom of getting the hell out of school, hanging with your friends, or just plain goofing off. Which do you focus on during your last period?

Well boys and girls, its safe to assume that we can honestly say that our minds tend to drift. And that is exactly what was happening to Kale. But his mind was not really focusing on something that he would be doing after school. No, his thoughts were on a different matter.

‘The lace. Black lace. Black silk lace. Lacey lacey lace.’

Oh ya, the lace.

Have you ever seen someone with a really big and goofy grin plastered on their face? You know, one you might get from getting a kiss from the girl or boy of your dreams. Well, that was what Kale had on right now. He was sitting in his desk with his head propped up on his arm, staring out into space. The continuous drivel spilling out of the teacher’s mouth fell on deaf ears as Kale continued to reminisce on today’s earlier events.

“Now students, in Shakespeare’s “Hamlet”, Hamlet is torn between himself, contemplating the decision to either live or commit suicide. “To be or not to be, that is the question. Whether tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or to take arms against a sea of trouble. And by opposing end them. To die, to sleep, no more.” Now, can anyone tell me what events lead up to Hamlet’s inner argument?”

Kale continued to stare. He didn’t hear his teacher’s question for his mind was off in another place miles from here in this classroom.

‘The lace. No, I shouldn’t think about this. I need to pay attention. I gotta concentrate on something else.’ Kale paused, trying to focus on the teacher’s lecture but he couldn’t. His mind began to wander yet again. ‘Skin. All that skin. Wow, I never thought I would ever see that much skin on a girl before.’ His goofy grin grew even more as his thoughts continued in this fashion. Though in retrospect, he really should have been paying attention, no matter how blissful the memories were.

“Can anyone tell me? Mr. Riley, how about you? Can you tell me what lead to Hamlet’s inner argument?” the teacher asked with a little irritancy noticing Kale’s empty stare.

He wasn’t even paying attention.

“Mr. Riley?”

Still no answer, just more staring.

“Mr. Riley!” the teacher yelled as she slammed her palm against Kale’s desk, hoping to snap him out of his daze. Her plan worked as Kale was suddenly shaken from his day dreaming as he jumped in his desk.

“Wha… what?” he asked completely oblivious.

“Can you tell me the answer to the question?” the teacher asked a little exasperated.

“Uh… George Washington?” Kale asked hesitantly.

Suppressed cackles started to manifest around the room as Kale stared nervously at his glaring teacher. After a stern stare from angered eyes it was silent again... for Kale a bit too silent.

The teacher sighed as she returned her stare back to the boy who had obviously not been paying any attention what-so-ever.

“So, the reason why Hamlet was so distraught was because of George Washington?” One could tell from the tone of her voice, the teacher was getting very annoyed. It was the last period of the day, and she did expect some students to be anxious to get out of class and slack off a bit, but this was just ridiculous.

Kale just stared nervously back at his teacher. His face had gone completely red out of total embracement as he was completely frozen, awaiting his fate.

“Kale, is it so much to ask for you to pay attention? Your study habits have never been that great, but they have never slipped like this. I’m sorry, but I am going to have to give you a detention. Maybe that will get your mind back on task.” The teacher walked away from the boy and went back to her teaching.

Kale just sat there. He could feel the many staring eyes that were on him, but he didn’t care. He had gotten a detention. And while that in its self wasn’t that bad, he had gotten them before, it was what, or rather who was waiting for him in detention. Suffering through an hour and half with Garfield Logan and Victor Stone was going to be Hell.

‘Well, this sucks.’

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

“Ello my duckies, and welcome to detention. For the next ‘our and a half, you blimey little snots have the pleasure of spending that time with me, Mr. Mod.”

This cooky little British lad's name was Mr. Mod, or as some of the students called him, Mr. “Mad” Mod. Why they called him this behind his back was for many reasons, but the best one would be that they just thought he was just plain nuts. And who could blame them? All you had to do was take a gander at his attire and you too would call him mad.

The crazy man in question wore a long sleeve button down shirt with the image of the British flag covering every inch of it. And below that, his legs were adorned in white bell bottoms. His eyes were very narrow, being slightly magnified by a pair of mini bifocals. His teeth were that of a stereotypical Brit, being of a yellowish color and very crooked. To top it off, his hair was a crimson red that even rivaled Kori’s.

‘I wonder if anyone has told this guy that the we won the American Revolution. Hmm… must be in denial or something.’ Kale took a look around him to see who else had gotten in trouble to be stuck in detention. Garfield and Victor were a given for obvious reasons. But the surprises never stop coming for his kid... for better or worse. And in this case it was worse. It looks as if Dick had decided to get into some trouble as well, and he wasn’t looking too happy.

‘Oh goody goody. That Dick is here too. What an unexpected surprise. Jeeze, I am just the luckiest person on Earth aren’t I?’ Kale paused on that thought and smiled slightly. ‘Well, I’m kinda lucky.’

He continued to glance around the room and spotted another person sitting in the room, all by his lonesome. It was Eric ‘Fang’ Matthews. The boy wore dark blue jeans with a skin tight ebony T-shirt, and covering the shirt was a leather studded jacket. His auburn hair was slicked back completely like someone from the 80’s. Kale didn’t really know why the boy usually went by the name Fang, but he figured it was just a name to make himself sound tough.

“Ok you miserable lot, its time for roll call.” Mod picked up his clipboard and read the names off one by one.

“Grayson,”

“Here.”

“Logan,”

“Here.”

“Matthews, ”

“Here.”

“Riley,”

“Here.”

“Roth,”

There was no answer.

Mr. Mod looked up from his clipboard and glanced around the room. “Oy, is miss Roth here? Raven Roth?”

‘Roth? Raven Roth? Who is that and why does that name sound so familiar? I know I’ve heard it before… somewhere.’ Kale continued to contemplate but his questions would soon be answered.

Just then, the door to the room opened up and everyone turned to stare at the new arrival to the prison of school that was detention. There standing in the doorway was the new girl.

Mr. Mod stared at the girl who was late to detention then back to his clipboard, readjusting his bifocals. “Acting up in class again I see miss Roth.”

Kale’s mouth dropped at the sight of the girl. ‘That’s Raven Roth? Oh crap, this is gonna be awkward.’

Raven just shrugged indifferently. She walked right past Mod and headed towards a desk. She slung her backpack over the back of the seat and sat down. She slightly turned around to rummage through her backpack and pulled out a very extensive looking book and began to read.

“What kind of rubbish was it this time missy?”

Raven didn’t even answer and continued to read. Mod was a little irritated with this and his eyebrows began to twitch. But he quickly shook it off and continued the roll call.

“Stone,”

“Here.”

& #8220;Right then. Now that all you little buggers are here, here are the rules. There shall be no socializing of any kind what-so-ever. You may study, do your ‘omework, or any other kind of busy work, but no talking. There shall be no rough housin’ either. Do I make myself clear?” His answer came in a few slight nods.

“Right. Well, I have to go to the teacher’s lounge and pick up a few things myself. So I expect you little snots to be on your best behavior.” Mod smiled to himself as he walked towards the door. “I sure do hope those blimey teachers have those biscuits I love so much. Mmm… biscuits,” he silently added as he walked out of the room.

As soon as the door closed behind Mod, the room was alive with activity. Heh, so much for the rules eh? Dick, Garfield, and Victor were talking amongst themselves and it seemed Dick was getting angrier by the second for some reason. Fang was just sitting there with his arms crossed, trying to look as bad ass as possible. Raven was still engrossed in reading her book, and Kale was just sitting there staring at his desk.

‘Heh, she probably hates me. Cant say that I blame her. I mean, I did catch her at a very awkward time. I should apologize though. It was an accident after all, I’m sure she’ll understand.’

Kale slowly turned in his seat to face Raven, and he found her glaring at him with great ferocity. He shrank back a little bit in fear at this. Kale regained what little composure he had left and mouthed the words ‘I’m sorry.’ He was too damn nervous to say it to her straight on and this was all he could do. His apology seemed to have been disregarded like a piece of garbage as Raven just went back to her book.

Kale sighed to himself and turned back to the front of the room, but he was greeted with the sight of Dick and his little gang.

‘Great, what could it be this time?’

“So, I hear you were sneaking peeks at my girlfriend in the girl’s locker room,” Dick said not beating around the bush. He went straight to the matter at hand without the meaningless talk.

Kale’s eyes widened out of shock. This was something he wasn’t expecting. He turned to face Victor who was only snickering with an evil little smirk on his face. Apparently Victor had just happened to neglect to mention anything about him pushing Kale into the locker room, leading to the brief glimpse of Kori, and she was covering herself up anyway. Still, to Dick this wouldn’t even be an issue. Any little thing that could lead to punishing Kale would be fine with Dick, no matter who’s fault it was.

“This does not bode well for you Riley. No one is allowed to see my girl like that. Ya hear me? No one!”

Dick’s anger was rising and Kale feared he was gonna get the snot beat out of him right then and there. He needed a miracle, and a miracle was what he got… more or less. At that moment, the door knob to the room began to wobble and the door began to slowly open up. Kale turned to the door then back to Dick and his crew, only to find them already in their seats, quite as the dead.

‘Wow, they sure move fast.’

As the door opened to its fullest, Mr. Mod returned to the room with a stack of papers tucked under his arm. He also had a cookie sticking out of his mouth held onto by his crooked teeth.

“Hmm, I do love me biscuits.” Mod turned to the group of trouble makers in his class room and stared at them. “I see none of you little snots did anything that broke any of the rules. That’s good to see.” (Coughyeahrightcough)

Kale turned in his seat towards Dick and found him just glaring at him, almost with as much ferocity as Raven had been. When Mod had his back turned to seat himself down with the papers, Dick pointed at Kale as if to say “You’ll pay for what you’ve done.’

‘Great, so now two people want to kill me. Wow, what next?’

“Now, I don’t want any of you whipper snappers acting up while I’m working, ya little miscreants got that?” Mod was only answered with silence and that was just what he wanted.

Kale turned his gaze downward towards his desk top and just stared at it.

‘What am I gonna do to pass the time? I don’t have any homework to do and just sitting here is boring as hell.’ Kale continued to ponder his query until an idea finally hit him. ‘Hey I got the time. I was wondering about this matter earlier today, and what better time than now to think on it? What am I gonna do with the Red X suit?’

Kale sat there in deep thought, trying to think what he could possibly do with his new found power.

‘Well, the first choice that comes to mind would to become a super hero. I mean, that’s every person’s dream isn’t it? To become a hero that everyone looks up to. But, I just don’t know. I mean, I’m not really the hero type of guy. Not everyone likes to play the hero. Then on the opposite end of the spectrum, I could be a super villain. But, I’m not evil. I don’t want to destroy the city or take over the world or some other crazy nonsense like that.’

Kale set his forehead down on the desk in exasperation. He couldn’t for the life of him think of what he wanted to do with himself.

‘Ugh, this is difficult. What do I want for myself? Not anyone else, just me? Wait… just me. Looking out for number one. I never really have had that great of a life, God knows what I’ve been through. Aren’t I entitled to some kind of reparation? I think I deserve it, due to all the crap I have had to endure. So, what can I do with this power that can get me the things I want and not have to worry about taking on the responsibilities of doing something for or watching over others?’

A sly smile started to form across Kale’s lips as an idea struck him.

‘I could become a thief. Not really good, not really evil. I would only be looking out for number one, me. I wouldn’t need to worry about anyone else. The cops could never catch me, what with all the gadgets at my disposal. I could get anything I have ever wanted. Yeah. Red X, the master thief. I think I’m gonna like being me from now on.’Converting /tmp/phpgCQpCs to /dev/stdout