Ethan walks down the hall at school. He thinks back to the talk he had with Mark two days ago, and seeing him still a bit depressed when thinking about the incident makes him wonder. He can't help him now; this is something he will have to deal with on his own. And if he's honest, he wants Mark to do this alone. The path they're both walking is brutal and unforgiving, and if there's no initiative from Mark's side, he won't make it. It has gotten a bit better since he met Samantha Eve Wilkins at school and talked to her. She managed to placate him somewhat. Maybe it was better this way. While Ethan didn't see this as helpful, it wasn't bad for Mark to talk it out with someone else, someone who was more 'down-to-earth'. Another word for weak maybe.
Mark met the Teen Team yesterday and told Ethan all about it. He explained how he finally recognised Atom Eve in school, which Ethan found hilarious as Mark and Eve had a course together for a long time, and he never realised it. Mark also told Ethan about the others. Rex Splode is a human grenade playboy with frat-boy energy. Robot, aptly named since that's what he is. And Dupli-Kate, as the name suggests, makes duplicates of herself, so there's always more of her to go around. From what Ethan saw during the Flaxan invasion, he wasn't impressed with them, especially Atom Eve. She might have the most broken ability one can imagine, subatomic matter manipulation; a step short of omnipotence, since she can't affect biology but uses it to make pink constructs. As Mark told his brother about them, Ethan realised that he might be slowly growing and that he wouldn't be able to push his brother any longer. He had to walk his own path, and so did Ethan.
Ethan makes his way to the aula, where the Principal is about to start with an announcement. Apparently, another student went missing, and yet another bombing happened. It started to get a bit obvious for Ethan's taste. A missing student, followed by a bombing and that two times already. He walks into the room and is waved over by his brother, who reserved a spot for him.
"Ethan, over here," Mark says.
"Sup, bro? How was your day so far?" Ethan asks as they clap their hands.
"It was alright. Oh, uh, by the way, Ethan. This... this is Eve." Mark introduces Eve Wilkins to Ethan.
Ethan looks at the girl and nods his head.
"Nice to meet you, Eve. Ethan."
"I know. We have history together. You wouldn't remember since you usually have your eyes closed or are asleep." Eve says and brushes a strand of her hair behind her ear.
"Huh? Ethan doesn't sleep." Mark says.
"What do you mean? He used to get reprimanded by Mr. Oswald during history until he scored 100% during the exam." Eve says.
"What Mark means is that I don't sleep during class."
"What are you doing then?" she asks.
"Ethan meditates." Mark smiles, as if it was his skill he was talking about.
"Meditation? Why?"
"Our mother is rather strict concerning school. I can't skip school for no reason, and to get through the day, I enter deep meditation and wake up after 45 minutes. That makes it less of a pain for me to endure." Ethan says and gets comfortable in his chair.
"I see... interesting. You know, I feel like I saw you more recently." Eve said, not quite connecting him to the Flaxan Invasion.
"True, I was downtown two days ago."
"You were? When was- ... no, that was you?!" Eve suddenly gets rather emotional and raises her voice. Thankfully, the Principal arrives and starts his announcement.
"Thank you all for coming here this morning. All of you surely know about the rumours going around. We are working with the authorities to provide them with all the information we can to help them locate the missing students. I must stress to you all that this is not a reason to panic. The three missing students, though reported missing on different days, did know each other. It's possible they planned this, and no foul play has occurred. Still, we called this school meeting so the rumours wouldn't overwhelm the truth. You know what we know. Just to be safe, try not to go anywhere alone, and please report anything suspicious to me or any other people you see here beside me.
If we're lucky, the missing students will show up, and everything will return to normal, but until then, keep your eyes and ears open. If any of you have any questions, I'll be in my office in about fifteen minutes and more than likely for the rest of the day. You can all go back to class now. Just go on to fourth period from here. People who are on the first lunch period can go to the cafeteria. The bell will ring in seven minutes; please be where you're supposed to be by then," the Principal says, ending the meeting.
The three make their way out of the aula.
"Everyone's thinking it... and I'm going to be the guy to say it. Whatever happened couldn't have happened to a nicer bunch of guys." Mark says after a moment of walking.
"Hahaha." Ethan laughs, having thought the same thing.
"What?! Mark, that's a pretty mean thing to say! I talked to Todd a few times... I mean, I can't speak for the other two, but he at least seemed nice. I don't see how you can laugh at this, Ethan!"
Both brothers look at each other and then laugh.
"Hahaha" "Hahaha"
"Why are you two laughing?"
"Cause you're a snowflake," Ethan says.
"You're totally clueless! Why do you think Todd Sanders would be nice to you? Off the top of my head.. I think it MAY have something to do with you being an extremely attractive girl." Mark explains.
"You know I'm dating Rex, right?" Eve says, making the moment awkward.
"Whoa, Whoa! That's not where I was going with that at all!" Mark rubs his head.
"Haha, good luck with that, Mark. You'll need it." Ethan says as he walks off to his first lesson, which happens to be Physics.
"What's that supposed to mean?" he hears Eve ask.
Mark grimaces, seeing his brother leave like that. He shakes his head and continues walking towards the cafeteria.
"What did he mean by that, Mark?" Eve asks.
"Honestly, I can't say. Ethan is rather elusive a lot of times. It is hard to know what goes through his mind, other than fighting and training and a few other things."
"That makes sense. He was cruel and merciless to those Flaxans; even when they were already defeated, he killed them. I can't imagine what it's like to live with him."
"You misunderstand my brother, Eve. He isn't ruthless or cruel. There is a fine line between that and being merciless towards alien invaders who killed so many innocents. My brother walks that line."
"Hmm, I can't say I understand that."
"That's alright. You don't have to; that's what makes my brother special. He doesn't judge you for your views, and as long as you respect his own, you won't ever have a problem."
"Is that so?" Eve asks and looks thoughtful.
.
Ethan sits in the physics class and listens to Mr. Hiles talk. The man was behaving strangely for some reason. Ethan never bothered with the teachers since they had their own problems, and if you crossed them, you would trigger their childhood traumas and then have the problem. But today, there was something he couldn't quite place that made Mr. Hilse... nervous in some way. He couldn't find the right word, appeared absent-minded and sometimes lost his train of thought. No one else notices since no one follows the lesson with their full attention, and those who do wouldn't notice such things.
"I'm sure you're all aware that mid-terms are in a few weeks. So I just want to remind you that this upcoming test can either help your bad grade or hurt your good grade. So please... study for this one, okay?" Mr. Hiles says to the class.
His gaze wanders through the class and lands on Ethan.
"Mr. Grayson, I am very happy that you are finally paying attention and not sleeping in my class, but would you at least participate on this rare occasion?" Mr. Hiles asks.
"Mm-hmm."
"Well?"
"Well, what?"
"What do you want to say?" Mr. Hiles asks.
"Nothing."
"You are walking on thin ice here, Mr. Grayson. I am aware that you think you won't need to study since your grades are good, but anything can happen. So, don't let your arrogance cloud your judgment. Do you understand?"
"Not really? Is that a threat?"
"What?"
"It sounds like you are insinuating to lower my grade out of harassment," Ethan says.
"I- I would never. Enough of this! I'd rather you went back to sleep."
"I have a question, Mr. Hiles."
"*Sigh* What is it?" Mr. Hiles asks.
"Are you tired, sir? You seem stressed for some reason." Ethan says.
"You will show me some respect, Mr. Grayson, or we'll see one another in detention later today."
"For some reason, I doubt that."
Mr. Hiles inhales loudly and then looks at the clock.
"Enough for today. Mr. Grayson, you will write an Essay containing 1'000 words on why respect towards your teachers is your duty. If you don't get it for me, I will think about your grade." Mr. Hiles says as he leaves the room.
"Dude, why did you do that?" someone asks him.
"You were about to get away with doing nothing, and you ruined it, man."
Ethan doesn't say anything and just walks out, ignoring everyone else. Ethan was no idiot, on the contrary. He was a genius and a beyond genius regarding the body and reading people. He intentionally provoked Mr. Hiles to see whether he would actually give him detention since it would mean he had to stay longer. Despite provoking his teacher, Mr. Hiles didn't give him detention and instead made him write a long essay. So the question Ethan asked himself now was, why didn't Mr. Hiles want to remain at school longer today?
Ethan walks out of the school and disappears behind a few buildings. After he is out of sight, he suddenly accelerates and shoots into the sky, flying home as fast as possible. He places his things inside his room and then changes his outfit slightly. He picks up the mask he got from Cecil and puts it on. He has already spent the last couple of days getting to know the mask inside out and has removed parts that are responsible for recording video and speech. He also took out the tracker. He plans on improving it in the coming days when he gets the time.
Ethan flies back to the school and hides far in the sky. He keeps an eye out for Mr. Hiles and sees him leave the school building rather hastily. His hunch was right; something was wrong with that man. He follows his Physics teacher back to his house. Mr. Hiles walks up to his house and opens the door. His heart races for reasons he doesn't understand. He feels as if something is about to happen. He can't identify the feeling he has. He throws his coat on the sofa and moves to the door leading to his cellar. He turns the key and opens another door, revealing a dark room filled with unusual equipment. In the middle lies a young man on a table, another student. One that wasn't reported missing yet. Mr. Hiles walks to the table where he has been working and tries to pick up a few tools. They slip from his grasp. He looks at his hands and sees them shaking violently.
Mr. Hiles's gaze moves from his hands forward to a small patch of shadow. He squints his eyes, and slowly, a broad figure emerges from the shadow.
*GASP*
Mr. Hiles falls on his behind and moves backwards, as if he had seen a beast.
"You!"
"Hello, Mr. Hiles. Good to see you again so soon." Ethan's voice is deep and threatening.
"NO! What is... what's happening to me?"
"Your heart races, your breathing is shallow and fast, you sweat like a pig, and your extremities feel cold... that's fear, Mr. Hiles."
Ethan walks forward but stops a few feet in front of the man. Clumsily, Mr. Hiles rips open his shirt, revealing a bomb and presses a few buttons.
[00:05:00]
"So you activated the bomb."
"Ha... ha... I did. And there's nothing you could do about it."
"When I saw it, I thought you might be held hostage by the one who made the bombs, but to think that it was you... I suppose it makes sense."
"Haa... I can't think of a more fitting segue into my confession... you see... it was the constant pestering and belittling from things like what you see before you that caused my son to commit suicide. My son's suicide resulted in my divorce, and my divorce led to me losing my job."
"..." Ethan doesn't say anything and just looks down at the man.
"I'll spare you the boring details. It's not the death of my son I'm avenging... that would be far too cliché. No... It's the destruction of my life that has me seeking revenge. It's the domino effect of pain and sorrow that these monsters create. Children spend too much time at the mall, attending parties, consuming alcohol, and playing sports when they should be studying and doing homework."
"..."
"I turned them all into living bombs, an instrument with which to enact my revenge... my revenge, my crusade to end the pain and sorrow caused by these 'popular' kids. And I can't think of a more appropriate end to my crusade..." Mr. Hiles finishes his monologue.
"I know," Ethan says.
"You... know. What do you know? You know nothing!"
"Why do you think I allowed you to activate the bomb?"
"... why would you do that?" Mr. Hiles asks.
"It is my deep conviction that a man should choose his own destiny. And since that's why you chose, who am I to refuse?"
[00:00:50]
"However, I also choose my destiny," Ethan says, grabs Mr. Hiles, and shoots through the roof and out of the house.
He flies high into the sky, reaching altitudes higher than what planes are to be found. So high that they can see the Earth all at once.
"You will die, but at least you'll die with a nice view. Farewell, Mr. Hiles."
*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMM*
______________________
So, the MC officially meets Eve, and as one might expect, it's not love at first sight. (thankfully) Eve is an idealist and a caring girl who wants to make the world a better place and who tries to find her place in it. Her initial aversion to Ethan killing so 'excessively' in her eyes seems like the natural reaction to me.
Still undecided about FML and the like. Tell me your thoughts.