Rain pattered against the windows of the bus as Astrid reached Sky High. Rolling her eyes at the girls panicking about their hair getting wet, she pushed past them all and faced the downpour, not even bothering to put up the hood of her coat. Pushing open the door to the school, she wandered over to her locker where Natalia was waiting. Not a drop of rain had touched Astrid.

"I hate that you can use your intangibility to avoid the rain." Natalia grumbled, ringing out her dripping hair.

"What can I say? I'm blessed." Astrid hummed, putting her books into her locker.

"Are you okay after last night?" Natalia asked, sucking the humour out of their conversation.

Once the tears had stopped flowing and she had pulled herself together, Astrid had FaceTimed her best friend to explain what had happened with her mother. For the next three hours, the girls had complained about both of their parents, the unjust pairing system and anything else they could think of. Eventually the pair had ended the call laughing about the debate they had had over whether a desk chair or a beanbag was best for writing essays. Natalia had argued that the impractical beanbag was best for sitting for extended periods of time, Astrid had stated that Natalia never did work when she was sat in the beanbag.

"Honestly, last night really helped me get some things off my chest." Astrid answered truthfully. "In fact, I'm not even worried about facing Lash today."

"Are you sure? Because we have Gym first and that means you'll have to work with-."

"I'll be fine."

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Coach Boomer perched atop what could only be described as lifeguard's chair as he surveyed the Seniors beneath him.

The arena had been set up for Save The Citizen and whilst all the years were crammed into the Gym together, the first Gym class of the year was explicitly for the Seniors to work together in their pairs for the first time.

"Lash and Astrid, you're up first. Who do you want to be; Heroes or Villains?" Coach Boomer asked.

"Villains." Lash responded.

"I'm shocked." Astrid muttered under her breath, hearing variations of the same thing rippling through the crowd.

For once, Coach Boomer didn't comment on it. In the past, he had made jokes about Lash and Speed continuously being the Villains but he had written it off as them wishing to practice their offensive moves instead of defensive. Now that he knew what they had turned out to be, it no longer amused him. Frowning at her comment, Lash ignored it as Coach Boomer scanned the Seniors for the group they would be pitted against.

"Speed and Natalia." Boomer announced.

Staring at each other wide-eyed, the two girls had never been thrown into the arena together, let alone against each other. Remembering the last time she had been in the arena with Speed, Astrid took a step away from him when he stood too close to her. Especially because the last time she had even seen him, both she and Warren had defeated him and stuffed him into a locker (after morphing two lockers into one).

Starting at opposite ends of the arena, both teams were given two minutes to strategize their plan of action.

"Alright, you keep Speed occupied whilst I take out the girl. I mean, it's easy for you to dodge him, which will only anger him and rage makes him sloppy and unfocused."

"She has a name." Astrid rolled her eyes, not shocked that she was being pitted against Lash's best friend.

"What?"

"The girl has a name. It's Natalia and if you injure her, I will not hesitate to return the favour tenfold."

Gulping at her threat, he wanted to say something to reassure her that he wasn't truly evil but any further interaction between the two of them was cut short when Coach Boomer began counting down. The buzzer sounded and Astrid was left to distract Speed as Lash charged straight for the telepath. Thankfully, Natalia had read what his plan was and had already ducked out of the way of his elongated arms.

Barely taking a step towards him, Speed charged at her instantly. Clearly the two semi-villains had thought along the same lines; take out the weakest link.

Well, Astrid thought, I'll show him who the weakest link is.

Whilst she might have been dubbed a Sidekick, she was far more powerful than him and Lash. Allowing Speed close enough to her that he became cocky, the blonde manipulated her body matter to nothing, grinning when the speedster ran straight through her. Freaking out at the fact that he had just run through a person, the male didn't notice the upcoming wall until he had crashed into it. Taking a moment to gather his bearings, he swayed slightly on her feet.

Feeling victorious, Astrid's reflexes malfunctioned and she barely managed to dodge the furious man barrelling towards her. Lash had been right – Speed didn't take kindly to losing. Apparently humiliation infuriated him because as the students cheered for Astrid, he growled in anger and charged at her with all he had. Anger swirled within her when she realised she didn't have time to move so she braced herself for the impact. Speed ploughed into her and she flew across the arena, smashing into the protective barrier and landing on the floor with a sickening thud.

Torn between the desire to check on his partner or stopping Speed, Lash stared at his options before springing into action. Only once before had he lost Save The Citizen and he hated to do so yet again. Stretching his legs, he landed beside Astrid and lifted her head on to his lap. However, he hated the idea of his Hero Support being hurt more. Blood poured from her head but Lash was unable to locate where she had been cut. Leaning over to check her pulse, Astrid shot up gasping for air, headbutting him straight on the nose.

Narrowing her eyes, Astrid shoved away the man who was groaning in pain and flew to her feet. Fury coursed through her as she watched Speed cockily walk up to the citizen, confident that Lash was preoccupied with an unconscious Astrid. Flickering out of view, Astrid sprinted towards the citizen and caught up with Speed. Using her gift of intangibility, Astrid flickered back into view but reduced her body matter so that the students could watch as she passed through Speed.

Before she could reach for the citizen, she remembered she was supposed to be the Villain so returned to her solid state and watched as Speed crashed into her. Smacking into the floor, Speed groaned in annoyance as the buzzer went off.

"Nice try, asshole but you forgot one little thing. Strongholds are done losing to people like you."

"Speed, Natalia, hit the showers." Coach Boomer yelled. "Astrid and Lash, A+. Not only did you successfully work together to ensure the citizen was turned to mulch, Lash remembered that the safety of his Hero Support was also a priority. Well done, you two."

Smiling up at the Coach, the pair couldn't help the pride that swelled within them. They were polar opposites yet they hadn't failed just yet.

"Can someone get me down, please?" Natalia called down from the pole that Lash had hung her on.

As much as she didn't want to, Astrid couldn't help but laugh.

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"That was so cool." Natalia gushed. "I mean, I knew you were going to do it because I obviously read your mind, you know, because I was working against you but to see you actually do it was so cool. Also, I had to read your mind to see if you were conscious."

Knowing that Natalia felt guilty about reading her mind, Astrid reassured her that it was okay and the whole point of Save The Citizen was to use your powers. Both girls had an unwritten agreement that Natalia was never allowed to read Astrid's thoughts without permission and Astrid couldn't use her invisibility to scare Natalia.

"I have a question." Layla piped up.

"Mm?" Astrid responded, mouth full of burger.

"Were you just faking being unconscious because that was some hit you took. The sound you made when you collided with the barrier..." Layla suppressed a gag as the sound echoed in her head.

"Oh no, I really was unconscious, Big nasty gash on my forehead as well."

"How did you get up then?" Magenta asked.

"No idea. I get my powers from my father and he had the ability to adapt to his environment so maybe with the need to feel safe, my powers are evolving to protect me." Astrid suggested, shrugging her shoulders.

Honestly, she didn't care how she was able to save herself, she was just grateful that she had. Not because it meant she had defeated Speed but because a wound like that could've done some serious damage and she didn't want to deal with the migraine that would've followed.

"Maybe you should talk to Principal Powers about it." Natalia suggested. "If anyone can tell you what's going on, it's her."

Those sat across from Astrid tensed suddenly and she raised a quizzical eyebrow at them. A voice calling out her name from behind her answered her unasked question. Swivelling around in her seat, Astrid came face-to-face with a nervous looking Speed. A few steps away stood Lash, who was attempting to look anywhere but at the table of Sidekicks.

"May I help you?" Astrid asked politely, face impassive.

"I wanted to apologise for how hard I hit you earlier. It's been brought to my attention that it was a tad too hard."

Astrid scoffed. "That's an understatement. You rendered me unconscious and cut my forehead. You're lucky I have healing powers."

"I know and I really am sorry. I also want to congratulate you on winning. It was well deserved."

"I must've hit my head harder than I thought." Astrid mumbled jokingly causing the members of her table to chuckle.

"I'm trying this new thing where I don't act like a prick."

"It's working. What about your friend?" Astrid jerked her chin towards the striped Hero who pretended as if he hadn't been listening to the conversation by acting interested in the skylights.

"He's the one who told me that the best time to apologise was now and in person."

Blinking, Astrid stammered slightly. "Oh. Well, um, thank you for your apology, Speed."

Nodding, he apologised once more for his behaviour before returning to Lash. Both of them hurrying off before the baffled group could regain their senses. Natalia was the first to break the silence.

"What the fuck just happened?"

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Fourth had passed by in silence once more but halfway through fifth, Astrid had finally built up the courage to say something to Lash. Unlike the rest of the pairs, they had been working on their Freeze Ray in complete silence, communicating with a few gestures. Whilst the teacher had praised them on their ability to understand what the other was saying without words, the two teenagers were frustrated with their inability to talk to the other.

"Thank you." Astrid blurted out, louder than intended.

"Par-pardon?" Lash stuttered, dropping the piece of metal in his hand onto his foot. "Ow!"

Without looking at him, Astrid crouched down to retrieve the piece and placed her hand on his foot, Instantaneously, the pain faded.

"Now I should be thanking you."

"I was thanking you for making sure I was okay instead of stopping Speed. I know it could've cost you the game."

"It's just a game. As your Hero, I have to make sure you're safe." Lash stated.

"Not at the risk of a citizen. Your main goal is to defeat you opponent and save the city, etc."

"Screw that. If you're in danger then you're the priority." Lash grumbled.

If Astrid was ever injured or captured, Lash knew that he wouldn't hesitate to save her above anyone or anything else. She would always come first. Touched at the sincerity in his voice, she turned away from him.

"You're still an asshole."

"I know. Astrid, I want you to know-."

Holding up a hand to silence him, she turned her head to see that he was already looking at her. "No. We're not talking about this now."

"You got it, Boss." Lash attempted to grin at her but his heart was doing flips.

They had still talked to each other. It was progress and whilst he knew he didn't deserve it, he hoped it might be a small step to earning her forgiveness.

"Jerk." Astrid shot back, attempting to repress her smile as they fell back into their familiar bickering.

Why was it impossible to stay mad at him at all times?