1.22

Stick had been called away on a secret assignment and the teens were unsure what to do with themselves.

Michael insisted that they return to school, to regain some normalcy in their lives. Unsure on what to do with Gauzelle, Jimena came up with the idea of using her as a bandage on her arm.

Hunter had found it extremely difficult to concentrate on any of his lessons, his other life had taken over too much. His mind and heart were somewhere else.

It was during a distracted episode that Hunter was set upon by Jake and his gang in the hallways.

Hunter failed to notice them when they approached him head on.

“Hey there dipweed,” Jake taunted.

“Oh hey Jake. What’s going on?” Hunter asked.

“Did you just casually talk to me?” Anger seeped into Jake’s voice.

“Yeah. Why?”

“We aren’t equals, you and me.” Jake’s face started to contort in rage. Hunter was baffled at how easily his old friend flipped a switch. So much anger from nowhere.

“All right, sorry.” Hunter shrugged his shoulders and tried to push passed the crew.

“Oh no you don’t,” Jake nodded at his cronies. They grabbed Hunter by his shoulders and opened a locker door.

“Hey, what do you think you’re doing?” Hunter looked around and saw his teammates standing in the hallway. Silas had been the one to call out.

“Looks like the rest of the party showed up boys.” They jeered and stood out in a line. They all failed to notice the bandage unravel from behind Jimena’s back and slide along the floor.

“What’s your problem Jake? Picking on everyone for no reason at all. Feeding your ego?” Jimena called out.

“Its fine,” Hunter replied.

“No its not. We’re sick of them. So are you and most of the school,” said Silas.

A small crowd had gathered through the hall. Some stood in the doorways of classrooms along the way and Hunter was certain he could see some teachers looking in as well.

“Oh yeah? And what’re you gonna do about it?” Jake asked.

“Time someone put you in your place,” said Jimena. Hunter shook his head ever so slightly. He didn’t want this to happen this way. Not in front of so many people. If they caused this much of an upset, there’d be too much focus on them. He wanted to keep things the way they were.

The crowds were murmuring to each other. Most agreed with Silas and Jimena.

Hunter noticed Michael was in the background, pretending to be scrubbing an empty trophy case.

“Stop,” Hunter called out. Both sides looked at him. Hunter started to feel nervous, he had no idea beyond his interruption.

An explosion boomed outside, and everyone’s attention switched to the window. With nobody looking at him, Hunter slipped away from Jake and signalled his teammates to follow him. He had noticed Michael had disappeared too.

On the streets outside, cars had been upturned and a few windows had been decimated. In the middle of the street was a person in an exoskeleton power suit. Pieces of machinery surrounded the arms and legs and they wore a black helmet.

Hunter and his team were suited up and outside within moments.

“This is starting to become a little regular,” said Silas.

“Its what you wanted,” said Jimena.

“Oi, what do you want?” Gauzelle called out.

“I hate this school. I want to destroy it.” The voice was projected loudly through the helmet.

“Are they serious. Is that even a good enough reason?” Gauzelle asked.

“Wait till we tell you about Toastar,” Silas laughed.

“What’s your name?” Jimena called.

“Crusher. Prepare to be crushed.”

Crusher ran for the school and Hunter and his teammates ran toward Crusher.

“Four against one, that’s not really fair. Mind if I join in?” a familiar clunky voice echoed through the street.

“Really?” Hunter said to himself as he watched Toastar jump down from a nearby building. The clunky robot slammed down on the road with a loud crack. Cracks spread across the road.

“Who’s that?” Gauzelle asked.

“That’s Toastar, mentioned her before. Cranky old lunch lady who shoots burning hot toast at you,” Silas answered.

“Really?” Gauzelle asked, amusement in her voice.

“Yeah. Jimena rescued us last time we ran into her.” Silas inflated himself and kicked hard. He rocketed straight for Toastar and collided with her. They flew together in a heap.

“I’m Crusher, I don’t need help.” Crusher came in swinging at Hunter. He could hear the machinery buzzing and humming behind the powered-up punch. Hunter immediately dropped to the ground. He rolled away as a foot came crashing down, cracking the road.

“This one looks sup strong,” said Gauzelle. She uncoiled one of her arms and wrapped it around the helmet.

Jimena fired her balls of slime into the chest of Crusher to little effect.

“Silas,” Hunter called.

“Yeah, coming.” With Toastar now on the ground, her armour dented and powered down, Silas came rocketing toward Crusher.

With little effort, Crusher ripped Gauzelle’s grip off them and turned to be greeted with Silas slamming into their head. Crusher snapped back and fell over.

“Get the helmet off,” Hunter instructed. Gauzelle fed her bandage under the helmet and ripped it off.

Hunter recognised who it was and was shocked. It was Lena, Jake’s older sister. She had been too much trouble for the school to handle for so long that they expelled her before she was able to graduate.

Having spent a short stint in prison, she had recently been released but nobody had seen or heard from her. Not even her own family.

“Lena!” Hunter watched as Jake ran to his sister’s side. Lena got herself back up and looked her brother in the eyes.

“Join me,” she said.

“What?” Jake stuttered.

“Come with me. There’s many more people out there that need to be taught a lesson.”

“You’re not going anywhere,” Hunter called out. Lena looked at him inquisitively. A spike of panic ran through Hunter. Did she recognise him?

“Try and stop me.” Lena put her helmet back on and used her exoskeleton suit to stampede down the street with great speed.

“Where have you been?” Jake said quietly to himself.