Hearts of Palm.

Mercy's locker was right by Layla's.

And she'd noticed that the little tree hugger had been watching her between every class.

And now it was the end of the day, and it had gotten so bad that Layla wasn't even looking where she was putting her hand, fumbling her books and sending them cascading onto the floor. With an exasperated sigh, she knelt to retrieve them, muttering to herself, and when she rose, Mercy was right there, practically nose to nose with her. Her silver-bullet eyes were quiet and harsh.

"Do you have a staring problem?"

"N-no."

"Oh, so just a problem with me, then?" Layla's mouth went dry. She'd seen what the telekinetic had done to Warren. She'd made Warren Peace bleed. BLEED. Warren Peace, who was, for all intensive purposes, that indestructable older-brother figure that she'd never had. She couldn't tear her eyes away from those two bullets burrowing into her.

"No... N-no, of course not." She swallowed thickly, trying to turn away. She caught sight of a scabbing line on the lower lip oif her aggressor- but hadn't... Warren...?

"Layla!" Will called for her from down the hall, concern on his face, making Mercy look up. Layla looked over at Will, then back.

"Go." Was all that Mercy said. The word was punctuated by the slam of Layla's locker closing all by itself, a smile tilting the telekinetic's mouth. Layla didn't linger, but scurried off to her boyfriend. Mercy stood a moment more, her lips slowly drawing together to purse in annoyance- an expression that caused her busted lip a slight- but noticable- pain. And now someone was watching her. Her eyes narrowed, she turned, expecting to see Warren and wanting nothing more than to punch him square in his stupid (somewhat attractive) nose, but instead a slim boy with jailbird-striped sleeves was there, grinning. "Can I help you?" He gave her a once over which he obviously didn't mind her noticing, and then raised one eyebrow.

"My name's Lash." He introduced himself as if she should have been honored... instead, she rolled her eyes. "I was wondering if you'd like to maybe..."

"... Throw you into a wall, too? Wow, I'd be honored, but I have after-school detention, and if I'm late because of you... I'll be forced to do much worse." She smiled at him cattily, swept her eyes over him just as lewdly as he had her, and turned on her heel.

"You're good!" He called after her, and she couldn't help but smile- just a little. She wasn't bothered for almost the rest of the walk down the quickly-clearing halls until...

"Mercy."

"Warren." She said it far too merrily as he fell in step with her. He'd been leaning back against the wall pretending to read again. But he obviously didn't know how obvious it was that he was really waiting for her. GOD, it just made her want to drop a locker on his stupid (cute, broody, sensitive...) head. She really hated him.

"What did Lash say to you?" Oh Dear God.

"What does it matter?"

"Well, did you hear about that thing with Royal Pain at Homecoming last year?"

"Just the gist of what happened."

"Well, he assisted in that."

"What, saving Sky High?" She asked flatly, playing stupid to get him to shut up and leave her alone but succeeding in just the opposite.

"No- in almost dropping the school on the city."

"Hmm, maybe I shouldn't have told him off then." She flashed a brief smile- and a reminder of what she had done to (and for) him the day before- before entering the detention room and sitting down at a desk, the automatic door sliding shut behind her. He rolled his eyes before following. She had already engrossed herself in writing 'Warren Peace Is A Dick' on the tabletop, signaling to him in a less-than-subtle fashion that their conversation was officially over.

"Hey, Peace." He didn't answer her because he was pretending to read. "Peace!" He looked up, annoyed. "Tah-Dah!"

"What exactly am I looking at, Mercy? Other than a bitchy teenage girl standing on a desk?"

"Funny." She sneered, hiked up the black pleats of her catholic-schoolgirlish skirt and turned. "Whaddaya think of them?"

"Your... um, legs?" Perfect. They were perfect. "O-oh, your shoes." She WAS wearing some pretty cool knee-high buckle-up boots, complete with platform tread. But from the look on her face he could tell that her fickleness in mood was about to leave him high and dry.

"Noooo, my detention tats!" Thats when he noticed the word 'Sky' scrawled above 'Sucks', written on her left thigh.

"Sky sucks?" Mercy rolled her eyes, turned to face him. And he smiled just a bit at the whimsical pen-ink words on her legs. "Sky high sucks ass. Yeah, real mature."

"Almost as mature as your haircut." She simpered, jumping off the desk and giving him the finger before returning to her seat. He sneered at her and went back to reading.


"Mercy, Warren, you may leave for the day." Principal Powers informed the pair- who were the only two in after-school detention, and probably would be for the rest of the semester (because that was how long they had it for.) Mercy slid out of her desk and muttered;

"Another hour and a half of looking at you... Thank God it's over, Peace." Before striding from the white enclosure. He growled, slowly rising.

"She doesn't mean it, Mr. Peace."

"Huh?"

"Mercy Rae is all fire and brimstone, just like you... but you've both got warm hearts, as well." The Principal smiled brightly as Warren groaned at her puns before trudging off to the late bus.

Mercy was already seated in the last seat, which mean he would have to sit in the front, which he hated. It took another twenty minutes for the bus to fill up with the rest of the club members, commitees, and other miscallaneous students that stayed late at Sky High... but then (finally) they were on their way. Warren opened his book (for real this time) and started reading, trying to ignore the loud rabble of the other students on the bus- that is, until he got a funny sinking feeling in his chest and that chatter turned to screams.

They were falling.

They were falling out of the sky.

Even the Bus Driver was screaming- but into the walkie-talkie... something about a booster malfunction, something that couldn't be fixed.

Well, that was it, then.

They were all going to die.

But the sinking feeling faded, as did the chorus of terror- it became a hush of awe as behind him he heard footsteps. A hand upon his shoulder, one that held a cell phone. He turned, looked...

Mercy, Mercy Rae was handing him her phone... and her eyes- which she trained on him for just a beat of his heart- told him to call someone, anyone, because he already knew that she couldn't keep the bus from plummeting for long. Even now, her whole body shook from the tension. He nodded, flipping it open and dialing Will's number, watching Mercy slowly lose her battle against her limits as she lowered the bus as best and as safely as she could. She looked back at him with panicked eyes, only for a moment, before she had to clench them shut against the pain of all this struggle. And he informed Will of the situation quickly as he could without being too vague, snapping the phone shut again... Kids on the bus were whimpering, hyperventilating, praying. All he could do was watch her. And then he couldn't anymore, he couldn't just sit there, and so he unbuckled himself, pushed the bar up, and rose.

"Tell me what I can do."

"N... othing." She grunted. "Tell me your friend... is... on his way." Sweat glowed like dew upon her, her eyebrow was wrinkled, the wound on her lip re-opened and a trickle of blood sliding down her chin.

"Will's on his way."

"Okay." She spat. "Good." The falling of the bus sped up for just a moment as she lost her grip, clenched her teeth and pushed for control, squeals erupted all around them.

"SHUT UP!" He bellowed, and the students did. Mercy looked at him again, drew in a gasping breath. The bus steadied again, silent, and fear settled over everyone inside... It was becoming obvious that the telekinetic's strength was waning; her teeth gritted, her body slowly sinking towards the floor. And it was like there was no breath inside the vehicle, because everyone had their's held. "Tell me what to do, Mercy." He beseeched her. "You took my split lip, you can take my energy can't you? You can take my strength."

"It doesn't... work that way..." Agony, he was sure he heard agony in her voice. And he was pretty much more pissed than he'd ever been in his whole life that there was nothing he could do to save... anyone.

"WARREN!" From outside the bus, a few meters off, Will's voice came. The bus erupted into cheers and whoops and applause as the young Stronghold came shuttling into view. Warren glanced out the window, but then found his attention averted when Mercy collapsed. He lunged foreward to catch her, pulled her into the seat with him as Will guided the bus safely back to land.

"Peace." The redhead said to him, a ragdoll in his arms. "Where's... my phone?" Oh. He grimaced, looked around.

"I think I dropped it."

"You're... a dick." Quicksilver dissolved into gray as her eyes rolled upwards and she came completely undone, still, cold inside his arms.

"Mercy?" He shook her. Nothing. "Mercy!"

Will lowered the bus onto the street and the driver shakily opened the doors. Warren Peace craned his head foreward to listen for breath.

A flood of terrified students erupted from the bus just as Will had landed. He searched them for Warren but he wasn't among the throng. He heard the kids talking, though, about the redheaded telekinetic that had kept them from falling to their doom. And he distinctly heard the word 'dead.'

"Stronghold!" Warren emerged from the bus at last, the limp body of said telekinetic cradled in his arms.

"Warren." Will ran to his friend, peering into the face of the girl he held. "Is she...?"

"She needs to get to a hospital. Now. Or she will be." Was all Warren could say, remembering how last night she'd told him that just a car would have killed her. "Will-?"

"Yeah, yeah, of course. Don't worry, Warren, I'll get her there."