Log:The Substitute Teacher

2020/05/25 	 Lizzy Ryosei Heather Rhiannon Linda Arthur Aevus

1

It's the period just before lunch, and our young heroes find themselves in their science class. The bell rings for the class to start, but there's no sign of the teacher as of yet.

Love it or hate it, having someone in class who, despite being a minor, has paparazzi trying to catch pictures of her doing things in ways that they could twist how they want... despite the gray area of legal mumbo jumbo... but either way, Heather finds herself in class.. waiting patiently. She -chose- to come back to CHHS this semester because she wanted her entire High School career to be at one school.

Sitting in the middle of the class, she finds herself gossiping a bit with a couple of her girlfriends, but other than that, she's not really a class troublemaker. Nope.

Ryosei is just moving to sit down and start going through his homework. Science is almost as tricky as civics if you don't have the brain for it. And unfortunately, Ryosei's from an entirely different culture as of two years ago. Getting a lot of ideas to work out right is definitely a bit of a trick. Not to mention he's still having to check to make sure he's not writing out in Japanese still. He normally sits roughly middle of the class, too. Mostly to keep any bullies in check subtely. Secretly. Mostly.

Rhiannon walks along the hallway of the school, her class schedule (for what it's worth at this time of year) in hand, following the signs posted on the walls to guide her to the classroom she's supposed to be in right now. She carries no books or other such 'school supplies' with herself, just the admittance and schedule paperwork in her hand. Seeing water fountains and restrooms, she detours from following the signs to stop for a few swallows of water before going back to tracking down the classroom... and finds herself in front of the closed door of the room.

Morrigan Erikson sits in the back, not socializing as usual. She's got her chin resting on her palm. She has black hair in a pixie cut that's on the long side up top, messily pomemaded, blue eyes, and is reasonably pretty. She's one of those types that doesn't wear makeup at all. She's wearing a longsleeve gray tunic, the sleeves a bit long, and black leggings, and black athletic shoes. She's a quiet one, but she sneers as she sees a photographer trying to get a shot through the window. She reaches out and tugs on the blind's, shutting them.

The class starts to devolve into chatter. 5 minutes past, and still no teacher.

The door is still closed for Rhiannon. She sees a young man in his early to mid twenties dressed rather eccentrically turning the corner at a run. He skids to a stop just past her as he seems to realize something. He spins around and looks at Rhiannon, then at the door number, then back to her. "Oh, right. Come along, inside, inside!" Arthur tries to corral Rhiannon into the room rather urgently, seeming scattered and distracted.

Glancing to one side, Heather notices the blinds closing and just barely catches sight of the camera lens. She grins impishly and turns her head to look over her shoulder towards Morrigan. When she sees the girl near the control strings, she fires off a little salute of thanks before leaning back in her seat and turning her head to look forward. Like she'd do anything to embarrass herself -in class- after all. If they wanted dirt on her, they'd do it at Friday night parties where she is known to dance like a maniac.

The ebony-skinned girl nods and steps back and out of the way for the man. "Uhm, lead the way, sir!", she says, not wanting to be ushered in all in a hurry that way. She even (oops?) drops her paperwork, and it was probably clear that that was done on purpose, and then crouches to pick it up so as to follow the hectic teacher into the room, instead of leading him in.

Arthur watches as papers go everywhere. He looks left and right in the hallway, looking pressed for time. He tries to hastily help Rhiannon along, thinking to himself. o O (Was that our fault?) "Here, let's me help you, Miss...?"

Ryosei looks up from his homework, then over at the blinds. He shakes his head, looking to Heather. Leaning forward a bit, he catches sight of the teacher, and peers a little. "That's not... huh..." He leans back down, then shrugs before going back to looking over his homework. He's not one of the real chattery types usually.

Morrigan gives a casual shrug of acknowledgement at Heather's salute. She's lost her view of the window, so instead she resumes just staring at the blinds, her mind elsewhere.

"I'm Rhiannon Mandrapilias. I'm transferring in from up the coast", the girl says as she collects some, and then receives the rest of her papers as she gets to her feet. She's dressed in snug-fitting jeans and a white, mostly-sleeveless, top that leaves her midriff bare. She's probably breaking school dress code, but this late in the year, it seems no one bothered to make an issue of it. That done, she gestures to the door. "After you", she says to the teacher.

Arthur straightens up and seems to just notice Rhiannon's outfit. Dress code seems a bit open here, but he's not about to enforce it or look too long. He steps inside and holds the door open for Rhiannon. "Ah, a new student? Good, good. Take any seat that's free."

Morrigan fidgets with her pen, twirling it deftly while switching between fingers. She glances briefly to the new girl.

"New student in the last few days of the year?" Heather whispers a bit too loud to herself. She shrugs, "Well, not a lot of time to make friends for the summer. That sucks for her." She shakes her head in sympathy and shoves a foot against an empty chair near her, as if to draw attention to it. At least she can be friendly at the last moment, right?

Ryosei looks considerate, since it's a brand new student. And well... he definitely knows what that feels like. He looks over at Heather, nodding at what she said. Then he sighs as he waits to see what their substitute teacher does. Internally, he's got a bad feeling about this. But at least he's keeping a good look on his face of being a bit curious.

Rhiannon struts her way into the room, rolling her eyes a bit as soon as the teacher won't see her do it. She passes by the teacher's desk to drop off the 'new student' form that's supposed to go to the teacher that period, and then looks over into the rest of the room... clearly looking for a place to sit. She sees a couple of open seats: one at the very front of class, and one at the back. As just about any high schooler would do, she immediately dismisses the front-row seat and heads for the back of the room, pulling a little back backpack off her back as she goes to hang off the back of her seat... but she's stopped when a chair in the middle of the room is pushed out to get her attention. "Thanks", she says, and takes that mid-room desk, instead.

Arthur is standing in the room by the door, waiting on Rhiannon. But as she puts the slip on the desk, he leans back pretty far to peer down the hallway both ways uneasily, like he's expecting something, and then quickly straightens up while closing the door. He turns the lock on the door and heads to the task. "Hello, students. I'm afraid Mr. Myers is out sick today. I'm you substitute teacher, doc...Mr. Aevus," he forces a smile as he heads to the front of the teacher desk and picks up the dropped off form and looks it over. "I'd like to welcome Ms. Mandrapilias to our classroom."

Morrigan sits up a bit at the door being locked.

Ryosei's eyes narrow a little at the locking door. He looks uncomfortable about that, then looks to see if anyone else caught it as well.

Lifting a hand, Heather waits to be called on. Of course, the door being locked is against fire codes and really a 'bad thing(tm)' so, she is handling it in her own polite way, by asking to be called on before making an issue of it.

"Yes?" Mr. Aevus calls on Heather as he tosses the New Student form over his shoulder. It catches the air and drifts lazily, miraculously landing on Mr. Myer's inbox.

"Sir. Don't the fire codes require that the doors leading towards building exits remain locked?" asks Heather. She oughta know, her daddy is a firefighter in Colonial Bay. Or at least, she acts like she knows. She could be totally wrong, but sounds confident. In other words, she's asking, not telling.

"Yeessss....?" Arthur answers uncertainly and goes along with it. "Under most circumstances."

Ryosei sighs, looking at Arthur carefully. He puts his book down and looks at Heather, then to Arthur again. He raises his hand next, just a bit casually.

The, quite literally, new girl in school who just showed up today, stays in her seat and quiet. She leans back and just... hangs out, pretty much. She doesn't have textbooks or a notebook or anything with herself other than the little black backpack currently hanging off the back of her chair. She does pull her cellphone off the clip at her waist, bringing it up in front of herself.

Lizzy waves at Rhiannon.

Arthur takes a breath to say something, then sees another hand. "Yes?" he asks Ryosei.

Ryosei smiles, "What circumstance made you lock the door, teach?" Observant students, aren't they?

Morrigan relaxes a bit after the door is locked, but she's looking around. Mostly up at the various vents in the ceiling.

"Only one I can think of is like.. active shooter on site." offers Heather without waiting for permission anymore. But she shrugs and leans back in her seat. It's known that she's a metahuman who may or may not be unable to die. She just.. waits to hear what the situation really is. "Or is there something else you're not telling the rest of us?" She asks of the teacher now.

Lizzy whispers to Ryosei, "Where's the regular teacher?"

Ryosei shakes his head at Lizzy, then pauses, and motions to a set of beads he has on his wrist before motioning as subtely as he can at Arthur.

Rhiannon blinks her eyes and looks away from her phone's screen at the words 'active shooter'. She glances about the room, then sits forward and turns to collect her backpack... and put it back on her back, without ever putting down her phone, of course.

Too observant. Arthur smiles reassuring. "Oh, nothing in particular. There's certainly nothing dangerous to worry about lurking in the hallways," he says rather quickly, then sits down on the teacher's desk, lifts his legs enough to do a spin and hop off on the other side so he can step up to the board. "Now, where were you all? Let's see, how about the process of alpha decay as it relates to spontaneous nuclear fission?" he asks as he starts writing out advanced nuclear physics formulas on the board that may as well be greek to the students. Assuming they couldn't speak greek or were descended from greek gods.

Lizzy's descended from a lot of people, from several continents, but no greek gods she's aware of. The formula on the board, and what Arthur is saying, make no sense whatsoever to her.

Ryosei looks confused, then looks to Lizzy and shrugs, then pulls a piece of paper before writing on it and passing it to her. He's starting to look at the exits now, too, and definitely looking for anything odd outside the door or the windows.

Arthur doesn't seem to be aware of the note passing going on behind his back as he goes about writing formulas. Very long formulas that are taking up a significant portion of the board.

Lizzy says, "Um, sir? Isn't Alpha Beta one of the fraternities at the University? The one with all the (ugh) jocks?"

Lizzy looks at the note then raises an eyebrow at Ryosei.

Arthur starts to slow at Lizzy's question as his eyes focus on some part of the formula that sparks a memory. Lead shielding coming down and being just slow enough to not get out of the lab before radioactive gas began flooding the room, melting skin and painfully changing his physiology. Arthur suddenly drops the dry erase marker he was writing with.

Arthur thinks. o O (What...what WAS that? Was that from Dorian...?)

Lizzy scribbles on the back of the note and passes it back to Ryosei.

"What...what does this have to do with fraternities? This is just scientific formulas," Arthur tries to get his thoughts back into the present, picking up the marker. "You should stay away from those fraternities. Guys only want one thing, young lady."

Lizzy says, "You mentioned Alpha and that's the only one I can think of."

Quietly suspicious, Heather just... watches quietly. She inclines her head as she studies the teacher's behavior. She's not an analyst, but she is someone who has done a lot of... acting, bluffing, modeling. Perhaps that behavior is off? Dropping the marker makes her eyes narrow, but for now she says nothing.

Morrigan's brow furrows and she looks around.

Ryosei raises an eyebrow as he looks at the note. Then he looks to Lizzy. He hums, then looks around again. He seems to consider before he comments, "Uh... sir... we weren't on whatever that is." He glances at Lizzy, then writes something on the note again and passes it back, hopefully without being noticed.

Lizzy thinks. o O (Rats?)

Lizzy reads the note and nods.

"Oh! Alpha decay. It's a highly asymmetrical fission because the four particles which make up the alpha particle are especially tightly bound to each other, making production of this nucleus in fission particularly likely," Arthur answers easily--almost absently--as he looks at the marker. He blinks a few times, stowing away that awful memory, then looks up to the class.

Rhiannon, still quiet, can't help but notice the note-passing and tension in the room. Taking a moment to stash her phone in her backpack, instead of hanging it on her hip like it was before, she glances about the room. After a bit, she leans towards Heather (because she's the one who kicked out the chair for her), and whispers, "The fuck's goin' on?"

Arthur looks perplexed. "You weren't? Well, what were you on?" he asks. Arthur has a mental conversation with his component parts. o O (Nuclear physics. What were we thinking? Or more specifically, what were you thinking, Dorian? I know that didn't come from me or Porter.)

Lizzy says, "He's right, sir. We were discussing the roll of aeronautics in the Civil War."

Ryosei looks at Lizzy, as if asking 'Really?' before he looks to see if the teacher even bought it.

Glancing over to Rhiannon, Heather merely shrugs. She doesn't know. But then glancing to Lizzy, she lifts her brows. That one caught her off guard too. But then she shrugs and says to Rhiannon, "Hell if I know." before looking forward once more, "Yes sir. This seems a bit.. involved for something to discuss just before the end of the year, doesn't it?"

Arthur purses his lips and narrows his eyes faintly. "Really, young lady, I think you need to hit the history books a bit harder."

"I suppose so," Arthur sees Heather's point. He looks towards the locked door briefly, then back to the class. "Perhaps a lab experiment then. Yes, I know just the thing. Chemistry!"

Lizzy says, "You mean they _didn't_ use balloons for aerial reconnaisance?"

Still in a whisper, the new girl says (only mostly to Heather), "... -so- glad I don' hafta worry about my grades...", and puts an elbow on her desk and her chin in that hand.

"Thought that was World War One." remarks Heather towards Lizzy. "But seriously teach. You're a sub. Why are you trying to make up new lesson plans? We have what, seven days of school left? Are you -sure- that as a /sub/, you won't just like... let us coast? That'd be chill." she says towards the Sub. After all, most subs get a lot less discipline out of their students. "Also, should I text the principal to let him know that we're locked in?"

"They did, and if you want to student the physics of hot air balloons, we can cover that," Arthur says as he steps over to the cupboard with all the chemicals for lab experiments. "But if you want to know about their role in the war, that's a topic for your history teacher."

Ryosei, meanwhile, frowns. He looks thoughtful, and perhaps trying to pick up on something. Considering a bit, he listens as he puts his book down, watching the teacher carefully. The thought of texting the principal has Ryosei actually looking at Heather, "You have the principal on speed dial?" He asks.

Arthur smiles. "It certainly would be chill, but I wouldn't be doing my job if I let you coast through life." The way Copycat coasts with most things. He sets out a bowl, a jar of a white powder, a spoon, and two dropper bottles. He scans the room and points to...Ryosei! "You! Why don't you come up here to demo this experiment? Instead of passing notes in class."

A bunch of students look Ryosei's way at the mention of note passing.

Ryosei looks a bit embarassed to be caught on that, then shrugs, "Sure. No harm in it." He moves to head up to the front.

"You don't?" bluffs Heather. Sure, this is a -total- lie. "I mean, when I came back to school here after the photo shoot and all of that stupidity... he gave me his cell number and said... and I quote.." her voice deepens in a bad imitation of the principal's. "You let me know if there's anything you need. I'm your Princi-Pal after all."

And she shrugs, looking to the teacher, "So teach. Want me to tell him you said hi?"

Lizzy isn't sure she likes the look of that white powder and spoon...

Arthur lines the bowl with aluminum foil. "Sure, but no phone use during class, miss." He steps aside and motions for Ryosei to take over. "Now, add three spoonfuls of the potassium permanganate into the bowl, and form a small well on the top."

Ryosei raises an eyebrow, looking at the white powder, then at Arthur. "Uh, sir, just what is this supposed to do? And what do you mean a small well on the top?"

Rhiannon shifts a bit in her seat, still glancing about the room every so often... and back to remaining silent. She -does- dig her phone back out of her pack, though, to start taking video of what's going on... aiming it at the experiment being performed at the front of the classroom.

"Science!" Arthur answers on what it's supposed to do. Hopefully this distracts the kids enough. "You know, a well. A little dip like a volcano? It's for the glycerol," he points to the dropper. "Oh, and don't get any on your skin."

"Sure. I won't touch my phone." says Heather with a sweet smile. She lifts her left wrist to her face and says, "Quinn. Please text the principal. Text to read. Help. We are locked in science class." Then she lowers her wrist with her high tech Q-watch on her wrist.

Ryosei just stares at Arthur, "Woah, hold up. At least tell me what this is going to do before hand. I seriously don't want to mess with it unless I know what it will do, teach."

Lizzy thinks. o O (Didn't we do this back in 6th grade?)

"No texting, either. Really! Poor, poor Mr. Myers," Arthur says, but there's a bit too mournful a note to his voice as his eyes cast down in respect for a moment. Then he looks up again to keep an eye on Ryosei. "When you add the glycerol on top, I want you to step back. The mixture of the two will begin a chain reaction that will create fire. Now hurry along, and be careful," he says, looking past Ryosei and towards the door again.

Leaning back towards Heather, and pulling her phone in closer so that her voice will be caught in the recording, she whispers, "...over excited sub, much?" Then she actually looks at Heather... and her eyes widen a bit. "Holy shit!", she says, definitely NOT whispering now. Reflexively, she turns her camera to have the video capture the classmate she -just- recognized as a supermodel.

The Princi-Pal texts back: How did that happen? Which classroom are you in? I'll send the janitor to get you out.

Making a little moue with her lips, Heather lifts a finger and gives the 'shh' gesture to Rhiannon, "Next time, not so loud, eh"

And then she looks to her wrist and shrugs, "Room two zero seven." she says to her phone. "The whole class is in here and the sub locked the door." she says softly, calmly with a shrug.

A few students now look back at Rhiannon. "Language," Arthur says in a friendly reminder.

Lizzy looks up at the vents to see if she can spot anything moving.

Ryosei seems to consider as he looks at Arthur, then nods as he moves to make the experiment as directed. Then just in case, he moves towards the class side of things away from the door. Something's not right to him, and he is at least making sure to be on the class side before he adds the part that will make things flammable.

"20 drops exactly please," Arthur instructs as he steps around the desk to the door-side.

"Sorry! I just sorta realized who she is!", Rhiannon says, before turning to look away from Heather, and stopping her phone from recording more.

Everyone hears some slow, heavy footsteps somewhere out in the hallway on the approach.

"Look. Mister Sub sir, if anyone should be making things catch fire in the classroom, it should be me." offers Heather as she stands up. "Liability would work best if I was the one at risk." She grins and starts walking forward, "After all, I signed waivers before coming back to class."

Ryosei pauses for a moment, then shrugs as he looks at Arthur, "She could probably survive it, too?"

Rhiannon tenses and looks over at the classroom door. Her brow furrows a bit, and she looks up at Heather as the other girl gets to her feet... and quickly reaches up a hand to grab at the model's arm. "Hey... you hear that?", she asks.

Arthur sighs a bit as he looks towards the door. "I may as well do the demonstration," he picks up the glycerol bottle and the bowl with the piled chemicals and starts walking towards the door with a bit of impatience. "Now usually, I would say only 20 drops, but...well, I need a bit more umph!" He squeezes the bottle of glycerol into the well in the bowl. It starts to smoke as he sets the glycerol on the whiteboard lip. "Now, the reaction of these two chemicals will heat up and spontaneously combust into flame. Which is relevant to the hot air balloons, which used heated air to take flight," he explains as white smoke pours out of the bowl. Three feet flames suddenly burst up from the bowl.

Arthur smiles and unlocks the door, then puts a hand on the handle. "Now students, if you'd all please quickly evacuate the classroom and run down the hall. Remember your fire drills and go to your assigned safe meeting spots outside," he says rather quickly and urgently before turning the knob and rushing out into the hall abruptly.

Ryosei stares at that one. He moves to get out of the way of the incoming panic. Yep. Way out of the way. Namely by getting out the door behind the teacher and holding said door as he yells out, "FIRE! EVERYONE OUT!" Yeah, like that'll work. But at least he'll get to see who or what is coming down the hallway, right?

Seeing all of that going on, Heather says to Rhiannon, "Do me a favor and help everyone get out." And that said, she trots forward and reaches out to snatch the burning bowl out of Arthur's hands... and then steps back a half pace. "Fire is not a toy. What -are- you trying to teach us?" she asks as she turns it over and shoves the bowl against the floor, holding it down with her hands in hopes of smothering the flame.

Rhiannon gets to her feet and goes over to where Heather is. "I'll hold it down...", she says. Then, at the almost certain rejection of her offer she looks Heather right in the eyes and says, "Trust me!", as she puts her hands down on the bowl. "Get everyone out, okay?"

Ryosei, seeing the door open, apparently decides to channel a bit of jock. He moves to head out the door past Arthur and go for the exit as one of the first of the class to evacuate. He says to the two, "Argue over who's holding the bowl of flames down later? Teach did say to get out of the classroom, so might be a good idea either way." He heads that way himself, glancing to both sides to see what was making the heavy foot falls.

Arthur looks aghast as Heather takes the bowl as he's about to charge out. "What? No! I ...needed that," he sighs as Heather smothers it. "You really are being quite a bother, young lady," he says as he rolls up his sleeves, then wraps his scarf again to make sure the long rainbow stripped thing won't trip him up. "I'll just have to think of another way. Now please, everyone evacuate the room," he says as he steps out into the middle of the hallway. He looks towards the direction of the heavy footfalls. Ryosei can hear they sound too close for comfort, but he doesn't see anything. Arthur suggests, "I recommend evacuating that way." He points the direction opposite of the footfalls, and starts walking towards the approaching sound.

Most of the students start to grab their bags and hurry out at Rhinnon and Ryosei's suggestions. They start hurrying down the hallway, away from Arthur.

Morrigan is oddly calm as everyone else scrambles, packing her stuff unhurriedly.

The bowl stops smoking and is easily smothered, having a short burn time, anyway.

Lizzy leaves the classroom with the others, then drops out of the crowd when she can and with a muttered "e pluribus unum," becomes Union.

Fire smothered, Heather surges to her feet, "Come on, let's go!" she yells, trying to lead the students to safety. You know, heroic stuff!

Some of the scattered students follow Heather as she leads them. Morrigan gets up slowly, one-shoulders her backpack, and walks calmy behind the rest, looking a bit amused by the turn of events.

Rhiannon holds the bowl down until she's sure the fire's out. Then, still crouched down, she crawls over behind the teacher's desk and out of everyone else's view... and vanishes.

Ryosei leads the other students, making sure they go the right way away from the footfalls before he ducks into a side hall. Making sure there's no cameras, he discovers one thing. Apparently schools are not made for swinging around large pointed objects so well as he accidently carves up a ceiling in his transformation. The small crash can be attributed to his arrival at least as Riptide as he hurries back towards where he saw Arthur last head.

As Union heads back toward the classroom, she calls to the students, "Please exit the building in an orderly manner, and go to your assigned evacuation locations."

The heavy footfalls and very close, then stop. The hallways is empty of any other students beyond the ones from the science class, though most are finally around a corner and safe. Arthur walks a few more steps forward, arms outstretched as of to shield the fleeing students, unaware there are heroes among them. "There you are, you beauty. I guess you found the trail I left you. Just scraps, really, but now you've found the main course," he says cryptically. He raises a hand that glows golden with energy that charges up....

...and then suddenly fizzles up. "Well. That's never happened befor--RRRK!" Arthur comments as suddenly he's hefted up off the ground by something invisible. Arthur's hands grab at something invisible as his throat gets crushed. Waved around like a chew toy, Arthur is slammed into the lockers on one side of the hall, then the other, leaving heavy indents in each, before he's finally slammed down on the ground on his back. He loses consciousness with a groan from the invisible assailant's attack.

 Union says, "So find something to make it visible!"

 Riptide says, "I can see it. And... yeah, it's big. Uh... oh, shoot. That's what he was doing! The sprinklers!"

 Riptide says, "Well, not see. You know what I mean."

Riptide stares at what he's apparently seeing. He comments, "Well, that explains why we didn't see nothing... hey, big and ugly! Over here!"

Union runs up to where she saw Arthur picked up, trying to sense just where the critter is, and punch it

 Riptide says, "Hey, Union? It's uh... quite big."

 Union says, "Good. Makes it harder to miss."

Riptide is watching carefully. This is harder than it looks. Then he suddenly moves quickly, and tries to get in front of Union and whatever is holding Arthur, bringing his arms up as he tries to block something.

 Riptide says, "This is harder than it looks. You okay?"

 Union says, "...Wha'...?"

Riptide calls down the hallway, "Someone hit the sprinklers!"

 Riptide says, "Sorry, I was too late."

Something heavy and big strikes Union.

Narrowing her eyes, Heather hesitated just a moment as things began going crazy. "Okay. So... I made a mistake." she mutters as she takes a step forward and leaps upwards to reach and try to grab her hands onto one of the fire-code mandated sprinkler system nozzles in the ceiling. "What do you think I was doing?" she asks as she gets up there.

Union falls down.

CRACK! SPLOOOSH! The sprinkler head is busted and sprays water everywhere. It's on a system of sprinklers, so all the sprinklers in the hallway go off. The raining water shows the outline of a giant bipedal being with digitigrade legs, no tail, and a bulky body.

The water comes down and reveals the target. Suddenly, a black woman dressed in black and yellow appears out of thin air, and drops about a foot to the floor, where her feet crunch into the tiles -- leaving about a one-centimeter deep impression where each foot fell. Reaching out, she tries to grab hold of the invisible... thing.

The black/yellow-clad woman grabs hold of the thing from behind and slightly to the side, squeezing at it as she wraps her arms around it. She's clearly trying to pull it away from the fallen teacher -- but it's stronger than it looks. Good thing she's stronger than she looks, too!

The arms of the creature are pulled against its sides, but it still has Arthur by the throat. With its arms getting pinned, Arthur is lifted up a bit, but is still fully unconscious.

Prior to the sprinklers going off, Linda's super hearing alerted her to the sound of metal crashing. It's like someone getting smashed into a locker by a jock, only way stronger. No one else seems to pick up on it. Seconds later, the sprinklers go off, and her teacher starts leading the class out. "This is not a drill! Evacuate to the safe zone in an orderly fashion and partner up!"

Linda hurried tells the teacher, "I hear a disturbance. I'd better go and see what is the cause and if my assistance is needed, Mr Johns." Without waiting for an answer she's up and away heading for the source of the sound.

The invisible bipedal creature is held by Olympia, the water raining down revealing its outline to the teens. She can feel both tough hide and metal plating in areas. But the invisible being also has a hold of Arthur by the throat. It makes a deep inhalation sound.

Olympia hears the thing starting to draw breath while 'aiming' at Arthur. Releasing her hold with one hand, she quickly gives the thing a quick uppercut-like jab, knocking its jaw upwards, spoiling whatever it was trying to do! In the process, however, she ends up having to let go with her other hand, too.

Linda flies in and takes in as much of the situation as she can. An invisible water-outlines bipedal thing being blocked from getting a what looks to be a teacher by a female student. She rushes up to the attacker, or the attacker as she reads the situation, and attempts to grapple it.

Linda manages to pull the hand away from the teacher's neck. "What's going on in here?" she asjs the people in general.

"I dunno! It's trying to eat him or something?!", replies Olympia as she catches her balance after having been in close with... whatever it is.

Arthur drops down onto the wet tile floor with a small splash, sprawled on his back.

"Invisidick there was trying to kill Mister Faker here." says Heather as she recovers from her leaping rip down of the sprinklers. "Also, hi Linda! Awesome to see you!" That said, she lunges forward, throwing herself a bit off balance in an effort to slug 'Invisi-dude" right in the schozz.

A heavy, meaty blow is struck on the creature. It shakes its head aggressively and shorts hot air at Heather, with lungs strong enough to cause her hair to flutter.

Union rolls to her feet, shaking away the ringing in her ears. She charges back into the fray, trying to knock one of the creature's legs out from under him.

Linda spares a glance to the others, "Hi Union, Heather, All, Good to see you."

Union says, "Glad you could join us, GG!"

The leg is knocked back and the creature falls forward, crashing down onto its hands and knees. Even prone like this, it's bigger than the teens.

The creature turns its head towards Arthur and makes that deep inhalation sound again.

Olympia sees the critter doing that 'inhale' thing, again... and leans back to kick it in the bottom of its jaw, snapping its mouth closed and spoiling it's attack yet again. "It keeps, like, trying to breathe him in or something!", she says.

"So, you are saying he sucks." offers Heather with a smirk.

"... and not in a good way!", Olympia counters.

Linda nods to Olympia, "So not a good guy. Got it. Someone should get the teacher away. I'll try to hold it here." She keeps holding, and this time adds a little squeeze.

Riptide comments, "He's not a teacher."

"Save now. Debate titles later." suggests Heather.

Riptide shakes his head, "My question is what is it?"

"The bad guy?!", says Olympia.

The creature manages to shift itself enough that Linda can't get the squeezing leverage she needs.

Union moves in punches it in the side.

THUD! A solid blow, but this creature is beefy.

Riptide shakes his head, "Well, whatever it is I can at least say it's not magic for once... we might actually need to call Starguard or someone who can tell us what it is once we get it to stop trying to kill the guy."

The beast finally tries to overpower its way out of Linda's grip.

The creature's brute strength fails it as it slips on the water while trying to get its leg under itself to break out.

Scrambling back to her feet, Heather steps back as the bruisers go ape crazy on the big invisible thing. She glances to Arthur and nods to herself. "I'll help Mister Fake Teacher here." she says, "You guys keep givin' that guy the People's Elbow." she says before turning and reaching to scoop Arthur up in her arms and carrying him away, at least around a corner or some such.

Arthur isn't able to resist--nor would he.

Olympia sees Heather getting Arthur away... and that the thing's still held down by Linda. Clenching her hands together into one fist (Kirk-Fu style!), she steps towards the critter, lifting her hands into the air -- clearly winding up to hit it as hard as she can!

Riptide moves up finally, after at least puzzling how best to hit the guy. And leaps up a bit to do so. Almost to the ceiling before he brings his fist downwards at the creature's head from up top.

The Invisible Creature's head gets smashed down, and its chin hits the floor. It has a short, broad maw that snaps shut. It's still struggling though, its tail lashing about.

Union sees the thing try to get its leg under it, so she snap-kicks it in the knee.

Riptide whistles a bit after punching it. He shakes his hand as he looks to Linda to make sure she's got a good hold on it. "We need a better place to fight this thing. We keep going all out, we're going to wreck the school..." He pauses, then looks around, "Not that that's a bad thing."

Olympia's fists comes down after Riptide's dart in and out, landing in a VERY solid-sounding collision of hands to head. The impact makes the floor shake and the water in the immediate area splash away from the point of impact!

Just as the creature lifts up its head, its had gets smashed down again, causing spiderweb cracks in the tile to spread out, leaving a sizable indentation in the floor and concrete foundation below. The one-two follow up finally knocks out the giant creature as it goes slack with a rumbling sigh.

The barrel-shaped chest still rises and falls slowly.

Around the corner, Heather wipes soaking wet blonde hair out of her face after setting Arthur down. She checks for a pulse and tries to rouse the guy, "Hey, are you alright?" she asks.

Riptide shakes his fist a bit, checking to make sure he didn't injure himself before he moves over to Union, "You okay?" He asks her as he looks at the creature carefully. "... and anyone got any idea how we keep this thing in sight and not moving?"

"Okay", says Olympia as she takes a step back away from it as it goes still. "Now what do we do with it?" She shakes her head, too, trying to use the motion to clear some of the water that's dripping down the front of her goggles.

Linda hesitantly prods the beast. "Thanks. That thing was strong. Not sure I could have held it for much longer."

Arthur is very obviously breathing and suddenly sits up just as Heather's about to check his pulse. His hair is soaked and clinging to his face, and his clothes are drenched. "I'm sure we can just talk about! ....this?" He starts off alert, then trails off, confused as he looks around.

Union says, "I'll be fine." She looks at Heather, "So what do we do now?"

Arthur winces and doubles over a bit as he gets over the initial surprise. "Ow," he puts a hand to his left shoulder.

Riptide looks over at Arthur, "So, care to come clean what this is about?" He says simply. "We know you're a ro--" He pauses, then face palms. "... great, their slang is rubbing off on me." He looks over at Arthur again, "We know you're a hero. What is this thing, why's it in the school, and do we have to go after any overgrown bug queens because it's poking around?"

Linda puts in a call to Starguard over her very own Starguard Gamma communicator. "I've called Starguard. They ought to know what to do."]

Olympia looks about to each person as they talk. When Linda talks about the call to Starguard, she takes another step backwards, toward mangled wall of lockers.

Inclining her head, Heather says to Arthur, "You're fine. Big invisible guy is down." She lifts her brows, "Now, you wanna come clean about just what the hell was going on?"

Riptide looks to Olympia. "Where do you think you're going?"

Arthur looks up at Riptide as he cradles his shoulder. With a bit of luck, it starts to feel better. As does his ribs. And his throat. "Ro?" he asks in puzzlement. "And no, this isn't one of those bugs. The Queen has yet to resurface since the incident at the underwater observatoy," he says he starts to slowly stand up.

Starguard alerts Linda that they're sending a team over for containment and investigation.

"Well... if Starguard's coming to take care of the whatsit, do y'all need -me- here anymore?", the as-yet-unnamed negro metahuman woman in the black and yellow costume replies. She (Olympia) gestures at Linda as she speaks.

Union says, "I think introductions may be in order. I'm Union, and the big guy is Riptide. You've probably seen Golden Girl on the news..."

Riptide glances to Union and Linda, then nods before he looks to Olympia, "I'm going to go out on a limb a bit. You're new?"

Linda smiles, "Allergic to uniforms?" she asks curiously. "Thanks for helping. Don't be a stranger, okay."

"I call myself Olympia", replies the black woman after a bit of a pause in which she ponders what to say. Looking over at Linda, she adds, "I was wondering why you looked familiar... I -have- seen you on the news."

Arthur steps over to peek around the corner. "You all managed to knock out a Paugurian? Impressive!"

Linda nods to Olympia, "Golden Girl. Or Linda to my friends. Pleased to meet you."

Getting up from her crouch where she had been keeping Arthur mostly reclined, Heather follows and says, "You're evading. What was all of that? Start at the beginning, and pretend we are all idiots in need of educating about it." A pause, "We know you're not a teacher. But that's all we know."

Union nods. "I remember you from Best of the Best."

Arthur is very distracted by this fact for a moment before answering Heather, "Nothing to worry about now. But I was trying to get one of the lagging students out of the hallway when I stepped into you classroom." He turns around finally to Heather. "And you were very observant, but also rather pushy. Really, taking away the flaming bowl I was going to use to reveal the creature."

"Would've been awesome if we had any idea you were using a dangerous bowl of flaming chemicals to -save- us." responds Heather as she comes around the corner, drenched. "Hey guys. This is ..." She looks back, "And what -is- your name?" She asks Arthur.

Union says, "So why are you, and it, here?"

Olympia nods to Linda. "I can't give my name. It's just a good thing I was in the area and noticed what was going on. She then looks over as Arthur and Heather start coming back around the corner. "Okay... maybe Starguard should pick -him- up, too, if he knows what this thing is?", she suggests. "He's probably why it was here in the first place, right? It kept going after him even when we started beating on it and all", she says to add to Union's question as she lifts a hand to point at the 'fake' teacher.

Riptide shakes his head, "He's actually a hero." He points at Arthur. "And not all of us can give names. Uh, with a name like Olympia, they're going to assume probably you're a demigod or the like. Or someone is, I think."

"And cause a panic in the students? I had no idea there were metahuman students here. Why aren't you at Markham's?" Arthur answers Heather. As she tries to introduce him, he straightens out his coat and tie, then sweeps his wet brown hair back. "Dr. Arthur Aevus. I'm familiar with a few of you already. Though you may not be familiar with me yet. If that's the case, a pleasure meeting you for your first time," he flashes a warm smile to the teenagers. He holds up a finger. "Actually, I was seeking it out and tracked it to the school. THEN it started chasing me. It was starving, poor thing."

Riptide sighs, then looks at Arthur, "You do check HeroNet, right? I've put up a few posts there." He rolls his eyes. "So... is this thing dangerous or what? And what is a Paugurian?"

"You know this guy?" Heather asks of Riptide incredulously. "Why didn't you say something when he came into the classroom?" A pause, "If you didn't know him, then how can you assume he's on the up and up?" She is getting frustrated and upset here as she whirls to face Arthur, "Who is Markham?"

Linda listens to the Heather-Arthur conversation as she moves over to Union. "Hi. I was talking to one of the other teen team. They really seem to have their stuff together. Are we going to have a team too?"

Olympia opens her mouth as if to reply to Riptide, but then Arthur starts talking and she clams back up... though she does step off to the side a little, when she realizes she's getting a LOT of water dripping down on top of her -- she's trying to not stand where she's totally getting 'rained' on, mostly.

Riptide shrugs, "Blow secret ID?" He says to Heather. "Not all of us are public."

Union raises an eyebrow, "Classroom?"

"Right, so there was no way you could have at least let it slip that..." oh skip it." Heather shakes her head, "Some of us weren't given a choice about going public either. So, you were tracking this creature... who was trying to eat you apparently. I'd say nothing went quite as planned, eh?" That said, she turns to look at Olympia, "Nice suit!" she exclaims with a grin, "Thanks for the help. I'm gonna go out of here and get a bite. Come with me?" she asks.

Union says to Linda, "I'd like that, but things seem to keep getting in the way. Maybe I'm just not a good enough organizer/motivator/whatever."

"I've been off-dimension attending to a school of the sciences," Arthur comments to Riptide's question about HeroNet. "Have I missed anything important?"

"Yes, a superhero Wikipedia anyone can get an account on. Nobody could -ever- post misinformation there. That'd NEVER happen eh?" asks Heather.

"Dangerous? Yes. Especially when hungry. It's a...well, I suppose you'd think it was reptilian if you could see it," Arthur explains as he walks over to the outlined wet shape. "They feed off of a very specific energy," he says as he starts to pat around its form, searching for something as he listens keenly. "Oh, so you were one of the students in the classroom, Riptide? My, I wonder who," he smiles to himself, since his ethnicity narrows that quite a bit. "You should listen to lab safety instructions better.

"Uhm...", Olympia voices, clearly not sure she should go anywhere with anyone and starting to hear people talk like they're trying to figure out who's who... and then she just vanishes. The water that was rolling down her suit just falls to splash into and join the water already on the floor, as if it wasn't rolling down a human body at all just an eyeblink ago.

Riptide rolls his eyes, face palming. "A bit... Bayside and CHHS both have meta teens... I think Phantom's group goes there, maybe." He sighs and looks to Union and Linda, "Far as organizing, I'm not sure how we can do that one. I think they have something else going on, though." He glares at Arthur, "Don't start, old timer." He doesn't look happy about that one. He pauses, staring at where Olympia was. Then he shakes his head, "Okay, that's a nice trick."

"I... literally did not see that coming." mutters Heather as she shakes her head, water splatting off of her hair as she turns to walk away. She's fed up, frustrated and hungry.

Linda laughs, "Didn't see it going either, Heather."

Organized marching footsteps come down the hall as agents of Starguard arrive. Just as Arthur says. "Ah ha! Got it!" The pushes something and click...VVRRRooorororooom. The cloaking technology deactivates, revealing the large reptilian creature that vaguely resembles a giant lizard or crocodile, but with extra nostrils, pointed spined ears, and high tech armor chestplate, bracers, and vambraces.

Riptide looks a bit annoyed at that one, then looks over at the others, then stares at the thing. He looks to Union and Linda, "I am never watching Predator again."

"Old? Well, yes. Ageless, but not old," Arthur retorts playfully to Riptide. "Don't drown this group if you can help it," he nods to the other teens.

Frustrated with everything here, Heather steps out of the school. She stops to wring water out of her hair, "Damn, gonna need extra conditioner later." she mutters before she turns to approach the location the class was heading for to meet up. "All okay folks!" she announces.

Arthur takes a breath as he also answers, "Markham...as in Lord Markham's School for Talented Children? I mean, it's quite a ways from here. England, I believe. But it would be suited for teens of your talents."

Sometime later, right about as Heather's getting there, Rhiannon catches up with her class -- guided by a teacher from a different part of the school. "Thanks", she says to the woman. "I kinda got separated... and today was my first day, so I didn't know where my class was supposed to meet up during a drill."

 Riptide says, "... oh shoot... I just realized I didn't tell you about a side project."

The Starguard agents are armed and ready, but safeties are on. "What's going on here?" they asks, looking for the one who called them in.

Riptide looks to Union and Linda, then points at Linda. "She did." He looks to Union.

Linda steps forward, "I made the call but I'm not sure what's behind all this." She points to Arthur, "I think he's the person to ask."

The agents step over to Arthur. "Alright, step off that thing. We have a few questions."

Arthur smiles welcomingly. "Of course, gentleman," he says as he hops off and walks over to them to discuss matters.

As Arthur explains some things, he pulls out a small wallet looking type and flips it open to show the Starguard agents. They salute him and after a few more words, go to secure the alien and get it out of the school safely.