Seltron Super Academy Chapter 11

I woke up, sweaty and gasping from my dreams. They had been bad; I was being hunted down by... someone. Or something? They were strong, and- my alarm clock screeched and brought me to full wakefulness, banishing any memories I could cling onto from my haunted dreams.

The discomfort still stuck with me as the memories faded, though I did my best to shake it away, but still it niggled in the back of my mind, ungraspable yet unavoidable. What had it been? Null or one of the other heroes about to attack me, my cover blown? Perhaps the Miracle Squad? It wouldn’t have been the first time, though it's been ages since I’d had nightmares like that. Usually, they’re about people condemning me for what I’ve done, though. I took a deep breath and calmed myself. Whatever it was, it doesn’t matter, it was just a bad dream.

The bathroom mirror showed me looking exactly as I was feeling: Tired, haggard, and more than a little grouchy. Luckily, shapeshifting solved all those problems and more, removing the bags from under my eyes, brightening my smile, and straightening out my hair (as well as turning it red and longer, just because I could). It did nothing for the mental fatigue, but appearances mattered. It was also only the second day of class, and I didn’t anticipate anything that would be too challenging to me.

Breakfast was great, as usual for Seltron (I made a mental note to find some way to thank the chefs; they were amazing). Seven joined me and Alex, though there wasn’t much conversation until Trevor stumbled in, looking as bad as I felt. He plopped down beside us and grumbled something about how it was ‘too early for this.’ I feel the same way and would love nothing more than to go back to sleep, but I have to put on a good face for our classes.

It was trivial to do well in my math and science classes and the like, even in my current state. They were still boring, but at least the school was really getting into the swing of things. ‘Combat’ class seemed like it would be interesting, at least, not that everyone shared my opinion...

“Why do we have to fight like that? Maybe I want to be a hero that, like, saves kittens from trees or people from natural disasters or whatever,” Stacey complained loudly in the common room. I, Trevor, Alex, and several other students were studying at the time.

Is she really that naive, or is it all an act? I really want to believe the latter, that this is merely Stacey’s convoluted way of trying to get others to lower our guard around her, but I doubt it. The fact that she often wore a cheerleading uniform from her old school and showed little dedication to our new classes makes me think otherwise.

“It’s just another class, right? There are bound to be plenty of annoying classes in school. At least we get to choose our favorite second language for linguistics,” Trevor offered. That had been interesting; Maka Truble had said her power granted her the ability to understand and speak any language, which wouldn’t be odd in and of itself, but she held herself far too confidently - flat out arrogant, really - for me to trust that as her true power. Likely the girl has some trick to a broader power that lets her learn several languages quickly, but I can’t figure out what it might be.

I was brought out of my musings by Stacey complaining some more. “Yeah, but we already have a P.E. class. Like, what do we even need combat class for in the real world?” Her question was echoed by a couple of other students nearby, and I even saw a few boys and girls nodding their heads in agreement. Enough is enough; I have to head this off for their own safety at least.

“Firstly, this is primarily a superhero school, so I don’t know what you thought you were getting yourself into. Secondly,” I raised my voice and looked around at the whole room, “It’s vital that everybody here knows how to protect themselves, for reasons that should be obvious.” Everybody started eyeing me and then each other nervously, silence descending before hushed whispering fills the room.

I rolled my eyes at the dramatics of teenagers. At least it’s better than the whining. I set about my homework before Trevor clears his throat.

“What is it?”

“Yeech, touchy.” Apparently that came out grouchier than I had expected, the nightmare from last night affecting me more than I thought.

“No, no, it’s fine. I just don’t like being interrupted while I’m working.” Very true, I had nearly literally taken an ally’s head off once for interrupting me when I was plotting. But that was a lifetime ago, and life as Camila Einsburgh had taught patience. Very, very forcefully taught me patience, dealing with the world treating me as a child, and then dealing with other, actual children.

“Why? Weren’t you boasting about having perfect grades?”

I pointed my pen at him (it had been a pain finding paper and pens to take notes instead of my tablet, but it was worth it). “Yes, and this is how I stay having perfect grades. Unlike you.”

“Oof, you tell a friend one time about a D you got on a chemistry test...” He chuckled a bit, as did I, the tension loosening around us, even as I could hear a few whispers still of ‘demons’ in the background. “But seriously, how important is, uh, ‘all’ of this Combat class? Cause we were just given an outline of the course, but it looks intense.” Gunther always was an intense person, it obviously applied to any school courses he’d make, just as much as it did to his so-called brand of ‘heroism.’.

“Well, it is an important class, but I get where you’re coming from. This will probably just be a primer on the different fighting styles and weapons... ranged weaponry... explosives...” My voice trailed off as I scrolled through the list myself. For someone without decades of experience, I could see how that would be daunting. “They’ll probably have more specialized classes in the future for us if we want to focus on any of those fields, like guns or martial arts.”

“I can just shut people down; you can turn yourself into any weapon, and Alex...” Trevor gestured over to the girl beside us, who had been listening along and seemed surprised for a moment before flexing a bicep playfully. I noticed that her limbs were actually very thin and not muscular, likely due to the body relying on her supernatural strength and never needing to make any muscle fibers of her own. “See? I’m not sure we need this class that much, especially if we’re not allowed to use our powers.”

“I thought you’d be happy to get a bit more skill fighting, might help if you have to defend your title against me in the future,” I said with a too-toothy grin, causing him to gulp nervously. I was pretty sure they’d have some sort of tournament or fights set up as part of a test in the future; Gunther wouldn’t have made the deal about it he did at the end of the tournament or put the rankings of the whole class on an easily accessed sidebar on their tablets otherwise.

“You might find it handy to learn how to use a weapon, and at the least, part of the basic training we’ll get will probably be about recognizing the dangers of other weapons and the like. Like how to anticipate what madmen with guns might do while blind.” Trevor winced, and his hand subconsciously reached down for his leg. Hmm, looks like there’s a story there. But I really can’t say I care enough to investigate that now.

“The same goes for me, and even if I can make my body into a weapon (though only for some weapons), I still need to train how to use them if I want to be effective with them.” I’m aware that I’m arguing a tad hard in favor of Combat class, but it is necessary. Besides, showing myself as enthusiastic and dedicated to the idea would go a long way to explaining my skills.

“As for Alex... well, there are a lot of cool pins and holds she can learn to subdue someone with minimum damage. Yeah, the rest will be pretty useless, sorry,” I said to the girl in question.

Alexandra just blushed and shook her head. “It’s fine. Don’t really need a weapon to hurt someone with my strength. Honestly, that’s what I’m really hoping I’ll learn: how to take people down without hurting them too much.” She’s back to her usual smiley self. Is our fight still weighing on her mind, or is this just something she’s really wanted for a long time? I wonder how long she’s had her powers for.

Trevor nodded. “I get that; it’s gonna be a huge part of being a hero. I just wish it was more like the comic books, ya know?”

“Like what? Figuring out you have powers one day, putting on a bargain bin costume the next, and then joining the Miracle Squad?” I asked sarcastically. Admittedly, I was in it far more for legitimacy than skill, but the program really did seem to be top tier.

A presence suddenly appeared behind me, wrapping an arm around me in an overly friendly manner. “Don’t be so harsh, Cammie. I can totally empathize with not wanting to deal with the breakneck speed the teachers seem to be pushing us through,” Kadir said. “Like, don’t they know we’re kids? We need to relax a little too.” As he talked, he crowded in further, his arm slowly sliding up my side.

“We get a free day on Saturday, and Sunday’s only a half day. Besides, you’re hardly one to talk; you skipped out on the first day.” A tendril formed out from my side, snaking up his arm, with spikes digging into him lightly. He ripped his arm away and teleported to the opposite side of the table, adjusting his sleeve.

“So not cute. What’s your problem?” Kadir asked, feigning innocence.

“Well, at the moment, it seems to be you,” I shot back, grinning faux-cheerfully. I finally found a weakness to his teleportation: He couldn’t teleport away from something embedded into him.

“Sue a guy for trying to be friendly. Besides, I’m a free spirit; I can’t be held down all the time. Trev gets it, right bud?”

“Uhh...”

“Haha, I’m just messing around. You guys should lighten up. We’ll learn what we learn and deal with what we don’t. Ciao.” Then he was gone, having teleported out of the room.

“There’s something off about that guy. Eh, whatever. It’s getting late; I’m going to head to bed,” I said, standing up and gathering my things. The tiredness and discussion were making it impossible to focus on my schoolwork for the night. Alex and Trevor agreed, with a huge yawn on his part, and left with me.

Trevor frowned, and he leaned in as we walked. “Off like, ‘demon off’ or...?”

I shook my head. “Nah, look at what he was wearing. A tank top and shorts. He’s not trying to hide any mutations or anything. I don’t know, maybe it’s nothing.” I noticed Alex stiffen up at the topic. “Hey Alex, you ok?”

“Ah, yeah, it’s fine. I just... well, I fought a demon once, so I was a bit worried.” Now that was interesting.

“Oh? What happened?”

“Yeah! I want to hear how you kicked a monster’s butt!” Trevor added.

“Ah, well, I’m not even sure it was a demon. It was just this weird old guy in a trench coat and fedora hat. His eyes were red, and he wore a scarf covering the lower half of his face. Said some weird stuff about ‘taking my heart’ and then he lunged at me with something metal, but I think it broke.”

“A Power Ripper?” At Trevor’s confused expression, I explained. “Getting someone’s heart out from their chest isn’t easy, even for people with powers. And while the timing has never been exactly measured, a demon only has a few minutes after death to get their hands on the heart if they want the powers. Some folks don’t have destructive powers, or their powers are too destructive. So some time ago someone had the bright idea to make a metal gauntlet-claw type thing, designed exclusively to rip someone’s heart out while giving the demon’s hand enough contact to steal the power right away.” At the horrified looks on their faces, I quickly added, “Yes, it’s very horrible, I know,” trying to sound as sincere as I could.

“Well, uh, after he tried to kill me,” Alex said, making it very clear she hadn’t fully realized that was what the man had tried to do before. “I, uh, panicked a little and punched him. After I recovered from him grop- trying to murder me—I tried to go after him, but I couldn’t find him.”

“I wonder if he had some sort of invisibility power, or maybe some super speed to get away-”

Alex cut Trevor off. “No, well, maybe he did. But he might have also just walked off. I punched him kinda hard, and he went sailing through the air into a cornfield. I spent a minute panicking, and when I looked around, he was gone.

“Did he ever try to attack you again?”

“Not that I noticed.” Because that was very much a thing with her. That much strength, to not even notice when a demon was targeting you... I shook aside any twinges of jealousy as we entered the dormitory hallway. Alexandra is strong, but she has her own issues, and my power is still incredibly versatile. I’ll make a great hero with just my shapeshifting.

Waving goodbye to the others, I went to my room and got ready for bed early, hoping to make up for my missed rest. But the nightmares returned that night and the night after that. And the night after that. By the time Friday, our first Combat class rolled around, I was feeling terrible, and by the looks of it, so was the rest of the class.