Apologies for the wait.....and the terrible fight scene XP

"Charge!" Jack screamed.

I was frozen in place for a moment as the orange and black robots charged at me and Andre.

I gave a small "Eep!" In surprise when a fist of dark matter punched away the first wave of robots.

Right, Rachel, you're fighting for your life now. Get your head in the game. I slammed my hand against the wall, pressing my palm against the mix of concrete and bricks. It wasn't pure earth, but it would work. A barrier sprung out of the wall, blocking us off from Jack and the robots.

"Come on!" Andre grabbed my hand and pulled me down the hall in the opposite direction. I heard scratching as the robots attempting to break through, and...was that a bomb counting down!?!?

We were too far away before we could find out. Thank goodness the preschoolers were only there for half a day.

"Jack..." I gasped for air and bent over as Andre finally slowed down, judging that we were far enough that we could catch his breath.

"He's my friend, why...why would he attack us?" I asked.

Andre shook his head, placing his hands on his knees for support. "Rachel...Rachel, I don't know, but when I first met Jack, when you introduced him to me, I was getting some bad vibes off of him. I don't mean your normal school-bully bad vibes, I mean seriously bad vibes."

I gave Andre a reproachful look. "When did you become such a hippie?"

He glared back at me. "It's not a hippie thing, one of my powers is empathy."

"Empa-what?" I asked.

"Empathy, it's like telepathy, only you read people's emotions and their souls instead of their thoughts. Jack's soul was incredibly dark."

I stared at Andre in silence for a moment. Then, without warning, a fist of stone flew through the window and punched him across the face.

"THEN WHY THE HECK DIDN'T YOU TELL ME THIS!?" I screamed.

"I didn't think you'd believe me, unless, of course something like this happened."

I sighed, rubbing my eyes. And that's when I noticed he hadn't let go of my hand.

We both heard footsteps running around the corner. Both of us instantly went on the defensive, standing back-to-back and facing the direction the sound was coming from.

Katie, Mar'i, Jai, and Rose came running around the corner.

"You're alright!" Katie screamed. She ran down the hall at full speed and grabbed me in a hug attack.

"What did I tell you girls?" Jai asked, smoothing his hair back and casually throwing his arm around Andre's shoulders. "There's nothing my man Andre can't handle."

He winked at Rose, who turned bright pink against her pale skin and fiddled with the spare extendable bo staff Mar'i appeared to have lent her. I gave Katie a questioning look, and she nodded knowingly.

"Get off me, Jai," Andre insisted, shrugging his shoulders.

"Guys, what happened to you?" Mar'i asked, hands on her hips-- on the utility belt inherited from her father.

I was about to answer, when Andre grabbed my shoulder in an ice-cold grip. We were all silent.

Metal was running-slash-marching towards us from the direction we'd been running from.

I grabbed Katie's hand, and then Rose's.

"Run!" I shouted.

Mar'i's eyes widened as Slade's robots appeared, charging towards us at full force. I'm pretty sure I saw a few that were missing their legs crawling towards us along with their comrades too.

Rose turned to see what was chasing us, and froze in place. "My father..."

Jai grabbed her and ran after the rest of us. Katie carried me with her superspeed, and Mar'i and Andre flew after us.

We ducked into the empty classroom I'd hidden in earlier, and we all collapsed against the desks.

"Um, Rach? What was that?" Katie asked. "It might be the mystery tater tots I had at lunch, but did I just see Natsu leading an army of the same kind of robots we fought last week?"

"It's just you." Her twin said drolly. Katie stuck her tongue out at him.

"No, Katie, it wasn't your imagination. As much as I, ironically, wish it weren't."

Mar'i, Katie, and Jai stared at me in shock.

"Um, excuse me," Rose whispered. We all stared at her. "Natsu is the character from Fairy Tail that Katie and Rachel adore, right?"

Jai walked over to her and rested his arm on her shoulder. "Don't go that way, Ro, you become 'otaku'." He said spookily. I flicked a pebble at his head, messing up his "cool" air and sending him sprawling on the floor.

Rose was still confused, and curved her finger over her chin. "But why would Katie compare Natsu to my father's assistant?"

Father. Slade.

"Wait, Rose, are you saying you know Jack?" I asked.

Rose nodded gravely, almost sneering in disgust. "He trained with me and my father on several occasions. My father sent him instead of me when he wanted to make certain that the mission was not linked back to his company. Jack has absolute loyalty to my father, and will do anything to please him. I believe that now...He is trying to do that by delivering you to my father." She nodded at me.

Katie squeezed my hand tightly, and everyone was so silent you could hear a pin drop.

"But...why me? What would anyone want with me!?" I asked. What could I possibly do for Slade? I was nowhere near as talented or skilled as Mar'i or Katie. I wasn't book smart like Andre and Rose, and I certainly wasn't as popular as "ladies man" Jai.

"Later," Mar'i said. It wasn't unkind, but she sounded stressed. "We need to call our parents, get Arella, Ryan, and the twins. And we need to call the civilians out of here before..."Jack" holds them hostage." I'll admit he needs a better villain name. A name like "Jack" didn't sound as cool as "Doctor Light" or "Control Freak".

"We should call him "Jack Attack"," Jai smirked, crossing his arms and leaning against the teacher's desk in an effort to look cool again.

"Hey, Jai?" Katie asked, rubbing her temples.

"Yeah sis?"

"Do us all a favor and shut up."