[BAM!] The stone wall in front of us burst into tiny bits of debris and dust. 

“Woah, y’alls are gettin’ the hang of blowin’ shit up with your spells!” Cyrus expressed loudly. 

Sam and I couldn’t even say thank you, we were just too tired but relieved from our success. 

“Relax man,” Sam said while huffing from catching his breath, “it took us a full two weeks since we started to just match our ratios. Maybe it was someone’s,” stop looking at me Sam, “fault for giving up and getting annoyed early and wanting to do something else.”

“Sam,” I stood up, “Shut the fuck up,” I say while contradictingly extend my hand out so I can help him stand back up. 

“So what’s the ratio?” he asked. 

“One part my water, four-fifth’s part your fire.” 

“So basically sixty percent water forty percent fire, gotcha. Now we just have to match this more effectively in actual battle.” he said in relief while handing me a water bottle. 

I opened the cap, “Thanks and also no, what we have to do is to start melding our magic into more complete shapes and finding more ratios where your fire is dominant rather than my water.” I clarified. 

Sam just nodded while chugging down the water, “pah!” he exclaimed after finishing off the entire bottle in about maybe fifteen seconds, “So,” he faced towards Cyrus, “Are you and Richard working well with each other?” Are you even listening to me Sam!? 

“He’s been meh dude. Richard’s strong at usin’ nature but he fucking sucks at teamin’ up y’know.” Cyrus told us. 

“Where is he now?” I asked. 

“Locker room getting a massage from J-man.” 

I rolled my eyes, “J-man?” 

“Mr. Jeeves,” Cyrus said depressingly, I think he’s sad that the nickname for us didn’t click.

“Shouldn’t he be y’know, teaching someone martial arts?” I asked. 

“He don’ work weekends,” Cyrus explained, “J-man only teaches Mon to Sat n’ then takes Sat n’ Sun off to be a butler.'' Why does he even shorten the days in his sentences? “I get lessons from the man on Fri.” 

“Gotcha. Well either way thanks for making a ton of stone walls for us to practice with.” Sam said while I was looking around the room at seeing a ton of debris and mostly standing walls. Some walls were utterly shattered, some were just chipped or had one side turn black from the flames scorching it. 

“No problemo! Gives me time to practice.” 

“Well if you want more practice, can you make one that’s super thick!” I suggested. 

“On it boss!” Cyrus jokingly saluted and then put his hands to the ground making a spell circle. 

“Why do we want a super thick one?” Sam whispered into my ear. 

“Just try making your fire into a long thin stick, I want to try making a precision point shot.” I said to him in a normal tone instead, “I want your fire to be doing the dominant damage this time.”  

“Where did that come from? We finally found a ratio where we can do equal damage and now you want me to be doing more than you? Also, I don’t see why we need to do that, we have people like Andrew and Sage to do that one for us. Didn’t you see Sage’s arrows yesterday at free practice? We should be focusing on causing overall damage, we need more ship killers than just Xeno and Andrew.” Sam makes… a decent-ish point. Ish, but I want to set it up where he can do well without me. Who knows if I’ll be around all the time… 

“We have Zack don’t we?” I checked with him. How could you forget YOUR best friend? 

“Ah checkmate, you want to outsource the work to people better too. I didn’t name Zack to fall into your trap. Also Zack’s lightning isn’t a guaranteed kill, only if you aim for a specific air vent.” he stated. 

“Listen, I just want you to be better and use your powers dominantly.” 

“Wait,” Sam stopped doing anything for a second, “What do you mean ‘I just want you’? Don’t you want to improve too?” 

“Nevermind that, just forget it.” I wave my hands in front of him, “Cyrus, make that wall!” I hope that covers things up… for now. 

Sam just sighed, “alright.” and he started charging up a fireball, “Wait Sheila, what if we tried to combine spells instead of just freeform magic?” 

“I’m willing to give it a try, which spell would you be using?” I asked him. 

“Probably Flaming Aurora.”
“Which is that one again?” 

“It’s the one that releases a long line of flame whispers that look like y’know. Auroras. The light in the skies up North.” he explained. 

“How would I incorporate my water into that one exactly?” 

“Who knows, let’s just do the same ratio as we have been but you make a water spell and see if it’ll do anything.” 

“Hey guys!” Cyrus called out, “One super thick wall, done!” He gave a thumbs up. 

Sam called out to him, “Thanks, you can step aside now for your own safety!” Cyrus leaped back and scurried away around the perimeter of the gym to our side. 

“Ready?” Sam asked. Idiot- 

“I haven’t even started making my spell yet,” I muttered. 

“Then hurry up then,” he probably jokes. 

I guess I’ll use Geyser Vortex, It took me around thirty seconds to finish it. “On three like usual?” I asked him. 

“I’ll count this time,” he said, “one…” we took our stances, “two…” we extended our spell circles out, “three!” and the two of us released them! 

What happened isn’t what we expected at all! The flames formed their aurora-like shape but the water didn’t make the fire instantly explode and plume out! The water took its vortex shape around the fire cleanly and the fire even made holes in itself for the water to travel easier. 

“It’s like your spells are alive!” Cyrus took notice and then [BOOM!] The spell hit impact with the big wall Cyrus made, shattering it into pieces and debris. 

“That was probably the best one yet.” Sam said. 

“Of course it is, out of the two successful ones, this one blew up more. No shit.” I sarcastically commented. 

“We should try asking Andrew to use his metal to see how our spell would fare against that!” Sam suggested. 

“That’d be great,” Cyrus said from the sidelines, “I’m gettin’ tired over here. I’m gon go grab some water.” he said as he opened the door and left. 

“Hey Sam,” I reached out to him, “is this… fun, at all to you?” I asked. 

“It’s blowing shit up, I can’t see how this practice isn’t fun.” He smiled as he said that, well this practice specifically is fun but about being a wizard-

“No no I meant like, is practicing magic and doing all of this,” I waved my hands around the gym and the labs, “Fun to you?” 

“Does it have to be fun?” he asked. 

“We’re here like at least eight hours a day, even with school coming back we’re still here way late into the hours of the night.” 

“Very true, but again, does it have to be fun?” 

“Some parts I would hope so, this feels like the most mentally taxing job to ever exist.” 

“Yeah. It is. We’re training to become optimized superhumans in an underground lab with the purpose of combating extraterrestrial forces. What about this isn’t strange or mentally taxing?” he put it plainly. 

“You’re right,” I can’t believe he’s right, “I guess I should rephrase, what do you use as morale for you to be a wizard?” 

“To improve myself and to protect others.” 

“But how can you so blindly choose to just protect others. You’re not Superman or anything.”

“I’m not. And I don’t imagine saving EVERY life like it’s some grand goal. I imagine just protecting the lives of my loved ones and the city they live in, the people in this city are included in the city, so in a sense I have a feeling of wanting to protect the entire Earth. Picturing stuff in a small way can end up benefiting large things y’know.”

Wow… I don’t know what to say to that… I’m genuinely speechless, “...” I couldn’t even mutter a single word. 

“You okay? You looking a little flustered.” 

“Huh?” I said on pure instinct. 

“Your cheeks are getting a bit red, did I say something to piss you off?” He looked like he was ready to block a hit from me. I’m not mad or starry-eyed at you, I just don’t know what the fuck to say! 

“... I get it, you don’t have to say anything. Let’s just do some work for outputting maximum power.” Sam just started making another spell circle. 

We kept this for a couple more hours. On our way to the locker rooms we passed by Sage and Adam already dressed in their normal street clothes. 

“Hey,” Sage stopped us, “ya free tonight?” she asked us. 

Sam started, “Uh-”

“Great, you're free!” damn, she barely gave us a second to say no!

I tried to say, “Listen, Sage we’re both tired-” but I was abruptly cut off halfway through saying Sage. 

“Richard wanted to throw himself a ‘welcome to the team’ dinner, I’m texting you guys the address, just come as soon as possible and preferably not wearing your suits.” Adam explained. We never had any of those… and Richard is throwing his own welcome dinner? Eccentric ass. 

“Alright, we’ll go.” I rolled my eyes. 

“Cool! It’s a free dinner, I don’t know why Andrew bypassed it.” Sage expressed. 

“Because he’s a loner,” Sam chuckled a bit. No one laughed. “Sorry, I’ll just go get changed now and then head over to the address you text,” he walked past all of us. 

“I guess I’ll see you guys later,” I excused myself and got changed. 

When I got out I saw Sam waiting for me. He was looking at my hands for a bit, weirdo I wanted to say but didn’t, “...weirdo. Stop staring at my hands.” Okay I said it anyway.

“I’m not staring at your hands,” he said, “You’re not wearing the watch Quinn gave us,” he raised his right hand and flashed the sleek black watch that would compliment our combat suits well, “You never know when you’ll need it.” He reasoned. 

“I thought watches go on your non-dominant hand?” I said to just poke fun at his fashion sense. 

“They do. I use my left hand more.” Oh shit he knew? Didn’t expect that out of him. 

“You’re a leftie? How come I’ve never noticed.” Seriously I see him use his right hand as much as his left.

“I’m not a leftie,” Sam stopped adjusting his watch and dropped his hand and raised his left, “I’m ambidextrous, I just use my left hand more because it makes me feel special.” Weirdo, “just go get it,” he rolled his eyes for once. 

“Fine fine,” I walked back into the locker room just to not upset him. Seriously, It’s not like I’m gonna need it or anything, we’re just going to dinner. I did the little lock on my locker and there it sat. The same model black watch that Sam was wearing. It felt a little heavier than a regular watch. It was like a small maybe three or four pound weight on your hand. Wasn’t enough where it was a challenge to move your arm but enough to notice its existence. I clipped it onto my left hand and stepped back out. 

“Better?” I flashed my left hand in his face at the right angle where the lights reflected off the watch and shined on his face. 

He put his left hand in front of his eyes to block the light, “better. Let’s go now.” The both of us just walked in silence to the elevator. Up the elevator. Out to the streets and into the subway and off the subway, all the way up to the rooftop. It’s a nice twenty minutes of just silence. 

It was at a rooftop restaurant. We went up and noticed that the entire restaurant was empty. We stepped out on the roof and only saw one table set for eleven. 

Richard, Cyrus, Adam and Sage were already sitting there having some drinks, “come join us!” Richard waved his hand at us. 

The two of us just sat down, “why are there eleven seats?” 

“For the nine of us, Xeno and Quinn.” Adam said, “Though Andrew, Xeno and Quinn are out, so it should just be a table of eight.” 

“How did you manage to reserve this entire rooftop?” Sam asked Richard. 

“I’m affluent, and I wouldn’t reserve ONLY the roof. I decided to reserve the entire floor including the kitchen.” he said. 

“Then who's in the kitchen?” I asked. This seems really over the top and unneeded. 

“Trusted chefs who have signed a pact of secrecy to Jeeves and I. All the ingredients and drinks are also purchased from Jeeves’s networks in absolutely every industry that is both directly and indirectly related to the service industry!” Richard sat back and took another sip of what looked like champagne. 

“Is that real champagne?” I asked. Even Sage and Adam were drinking it! 

“No it’s not,” Adam said, “it’s a moc one, just tastes like one but has zero percent alcohol.” 

“Cool.” Sam said. There were already two glasses poured for us when we sat down. I have no idea how they did it but they did. 

“If you need any refills,” Richard grabbed a bottle from behind him, “there is some sitting in ice right here!” he exclaimed, “I just want any of us that show up to have a nice night tonight!” 

Soon after Zack and Will showed up. That’s when the festivities started and Jeeves stated, “the first course will be arriving in approximately thirty-eight seconds.” Zack literally set a timer on his watch and yeah… it was thirty-eight seconds. 

He set down a tiny plate of seafood. Poached shrimp, a sears scallop and a grilled octopus leg with some sauce around it, “I have another appetizer dish just in case there is a guest with a seafood allergy.” Jeeves assured us, “Actually, it might be easier if everyone states their allergens.”

“Peanuts,” Sam raised his hand. 

“Same with him,” I nodded. This is a pretty damn fancy dinner. I noticed. “Have you guys  uh, have y’all ever eaten an octopus tail before?” I asked a bit squeamishly. It looks pretty gross, still has the little suction things on it. 

“Do not fret,” Richard waved his hand, “Grilled octopus is a Tuscan delicacy. Something excitingly delicious from home.” 

“Oh you’re from Italy?” Adam asked. 

“... No,” Richard shook his head no after taking a sip of his drink, “my family dates back to Germanic and Swiss descent. My Father hails from Germanic descent whilst my mother hails from Swiss descent. Though, the entire conglomerate family is largely recognized as German.” he explained to us. 

“Richard, if you’re comfortable with me asking,” Zack then asked, “How much is your family worth?” 

“Oh my, that topic is quite the taboo to be discussed for the Adlehardht Conglomerate,” Jeeves butted in to say, “Might I suggest another topic.” he put his right hand on Richard’s left shoulder, “Master Richard here is quite fascinated with the American schooling system. Might you tell tales of your experiences?” 

“Uhh… sure.” Will said, “but first, what is an ‘Adlehardht Conglomerate’?”

“That is the conglomerate named after Master Richard’s family name: Adlehardht. Now, may you please tell tales of your experiences.”

“Fine,” I exhaled putting down my drink. “Those idiots there: Zack, Sam and Will” I pointed my thumb out from my crossed arms at them, “We all attend Manhattan Tech prep school. It’s in Midtown East district, fifty fourth street.”

“May I ask, what is the specific address?” Richard asked Will. 

“Uhm uhhh,” Will tried to say. He clearly does not know the address… wait, do I know the address? Shit i don’t!

“Fifty-fourth street. Third avenue,” Zack said, “That’s where our school is. Our school focuses on mostly technological skills like specific kinds of Computer science and any kind of Electric engineering. We’re also building our sports program currently which is why Will is attending it.” 

“Hey,” he called out. 

“Are you good at coding, Will?” Zack sarcastically asked him. 

“Not important,” Will shrugged, “What do you want to know Richard?” 

“I have heard in American film and television that your high school system has names for the four individual years of your high school? What are those exactly?” 

“Oh,” Sage perked up, “Freshman are ninth grade, sophomores are tenth grade, juniors are eleventh and seniors are twelfth, the oldest.” 

“And which are we?” Richard asked. 

“We?” I questioned, “Are you the same age as us?” 

“I am currently fifteen years old, and you are?” He asked me. 

I sat back in my chair a little angry because I thought he was younger because of his height, “Also fifteen, close to sixteen,” I lied. 

“BAHAHAH!” he laughed off, “And are all of you in similar states?” he asked while polishing off the rest of his drink. 

“Yeah, we’re all around the same age.” Sam nodded. 

“ANyways,” Sage enunciated the N, “The school that Adam and I attend is called Quardia Arts High School! It’s near the MET art museum.” 

“Oh, one of the true artistic landmarks of New York City!” Richard laughed. 

“Yeah… how did you know that?” Adam asked. 

“On the flight here, I read a travel catalogue of this magnificently gorgeous city!” He shouted enthusiastically while raising his arms out. 

“Why?” I asked. 

“Why?” He raised his eyebrow at me, “BAHAHAH! I’m perplexed, yet infatuated with American culture. What better to experience it than be in the largest metropolitan area this wonderful nation can offer!” 

“If you really want some American culture. You should head out to the midwest where all the farms and country bumpkins are!” Sage joked. Yeah… he should. 

“Bahaha!” He chuckled a bit less loud, “... are your intentions true?” 

“Nah she was jus’ joking.” Adam assured him. 

Right around then, Jeeves came out serving a second dish. Talks like this carried out into the night on and on. Soon before dessert was about to be served. Adam out of nowhere shouted, “EVERYONE! Duck under the table!” 

Everyone did as he said but Will, [FLASH] Ice bellowed from the ground up creating a four-sided wall and roof completely encasing us and the table in ice. 

I said, “what’s happening-” [BANG!] sounded like glass shattering, but I saw nothing pierce through the ice. 

“What was that?” Zack asked frantically. 

“That sound was just something hitting the ice.” Will assured, “Why did you tell us to duck Adam?” he passed on another question. 

“I felt something like we were being watched for a while, literally something across the street, so I focused my hearing in that direction. Then maybe ten seconds ago on the street, I felt something ripping through the air and that’s when I yelled: duck!"

“Doesn’t this seem like a perfectly good time to be using our watches for anyone else?” Sage jokingly asked. 

Zack near instantly said, “Yup!” 

“Wait-” I called out, then another [Bang!], “Agh!” I yelped in between what I was going to say. 

“Another shot and whatever’s shooting at us is going to break through the ice!” Will called out. 

“Sheila, you better spit it out whatever you’re gonna say now!” Sage turned immediately into a more serious tone. 

“How do I use the watch again?” I feel like an idiot to ask that now.

“Double tap with whatever finger you want, then place your thumb on the watch!” Adam said frantically. 

“Can you sense where they are again?” Zack asked Adam. 

He meekly said, “No, that’s not how the spell works.” 

Zack IMMEDIATELY shouted, “Why not!?” 

“I can only sense in one singular direction from the distance they’re at. Otherwise my range is much more limited! And it takes time!” Adam yelled back. 

“JUST USE YOUR WATCHES RIGHT NOW,” Sage howled, having already completed her double tap. 

The rest of us did our double taps differently but all of us held our thumb on the watch. None of them did anything until all of us had it on for at least what felt like a long ass two seconds. Then all of the watches lit up around the rim in our signature colors, “Oh yeah it’s working.” Adam cheered slightly. 

Above each of us a small portal started to form with tiny whispers of each of our own individual colors, “what now?” I asked Adam. 

“Stand still! First time for everyone?” he asked. 

Everyone just nodded but Richard said, “A new experience is always welcome. AND, this will be the first time in donning my suit in real combat.” He pointed out. The portals were a bit larger in diameter than each of ourselves. The portals started to descend. 

Within a couple of seconds, the eight of us were fully suited up! Clothing, belts tightened perfectly, masks clipped on, weapons on the side! Except Richard doesn’t have a weapon yet…

Speaking of Richard, he was in a very-regally designed suit. Colors were black and green. Black suit with green buttons running down the front and even black coattails on the back too!

“This is really cool.” Will said. 

“It only works once,” Adam told us, “if you want to do this again, you have to ask Quinn to refill your watch.” 

“Let’s kick some ass.” Sam stated, “did that sound cool?” 

I just shook my head no. 

“... alright, Will just take down the ice.” 

“On it-” [BANG!] one of the ice walls broke down and the magic bolt shot dissipated into the air. The ice hut started to collapse. Will extended his hands out and the ice stayed in the air, “where is the guy?” he asked. 

Adam said, “hold up, I’m sensing for him right now,” as he knelt down on the ground holding his hand in a way that each finger was touching their corresponding one and no other part of the hands were touching each other. 

“What the hell can we do right now then?” I asked. 

“Let’s just look off the edge.” Sam said. 

“But be careful,” Zack added on, “They might pick us off with just the shots. We need some kind of diversion. 

“I’ll just stay here with my ice. If I see anyone coming at us, I’ll hurl it at them.” Will said. 

“We need to make some cover from shots, Cyrus can you do something about that?” Sam thought up. 

“Gotcha.” he slammed his hands on the ground, “couple of walls coming up!” The roof rumbled a bit and a few walls raised from the rooftop. Will jumped atop the rock walls and held his ice out ready to shoot in any direction.

“Are these rocks being made or pulled up from the ground?” I asked. 

“Not important right now,” Sage stated, “just keep your eyes peeled open.” Damn! She code switches hard when things get going!

“Sage if you want to keep your eyes peeled, do this same sensory spell and help me out!” Adam said while he kept kneeling on the ground.  

“I don’t know all the hand-movements to do it.” She shrugged. 

Adam started with, “I can teach you,” and then immediately changed to yelling, “WILL! SHOTS COMING TOWARDS YOU!” 

“What? Where?” Will moved a sheet of ice right in front of him but [Bang!] “Ah-Hagh!” He grumbled as he fell back onto the regular rooftop.
“Are you injured, my comrade?” Richard extended his hand out for him. 

Will grabbed Richard’s forearm and Richard pulled him up, “Thanks, I don’t feel any pain from the shot,” Will assured, “though this ice protected me hard,” he raised his ice sheet he was holding. 

“My good sir, how did you manage to put on a handle making an astonishingly quick shield?” Richard pointed at Will’s left arm. He was grasping onto a handle-like object that stuck out of the sheet of his ice. 

“I- I don’t know,” he was confused himself, “I just thought ‘I need a shield!’ when I heard what Adam said and this is what came out.” He flipped over the sheet and noticed the perfect bolt sized dent into the ice, it didn’t fully pierce but it got scarily close. 

“Ice tends to generate faster than Earth,” Zack told us, “I conducted a mini study by having both Will and Cyrus generate same sized objects and this latest encounter set in stone my theory: that Ice generates faster than Earth.” Interesting.

“Why the fuck won’t this bitch come out and throw some hands?” Cyrus asked, “This some real bitch stuff y’know.” Then he had to yell, “IF YOU GON’ JUMP US, AT LEAST DO IT BY ATTACKING US HEAD ON!” I don’t think that’s how jumping someone works-

“Cyrus, calm down,” I told him, “How the hell do we beat this guy.” 

“Don’t worry,” I heard Sage say behind me. I turned around and saw a light purple, lavender-like color magic circle on the ground, “Adam taught me the sensory spell so we made a circle on the ground. The both of us are going to find them and y’all can finish the attack!” Sage assured us. 

Adam was concentrating heavily with his eyes closed and through the tiny peak in the center of his long thick hair, you could see a bit of veins showing on his forehead, “just focus Sage and increase the distance of our sensory.” 

“Can you guys hurry it up?” Zack asked while still staring into the unlit rooftops of Brooklyn

 “Shit. Richard you HAD to pick a rooftop restaurant didn’t you?” Will blamed him. 

“In his defense,” Zack is playing devil’s advocate, “If we were in a restaurant that wasn’t on a rooftop. They could’ve just blasted a ton of shots through the windows and we’d be screwed.” I am ninety-nine percent sure that Zack just wanted to disagree with Will! 

“Guys, the location.” Adam took a deep breath, “Directly North. Attack with full force.” 

“Hey!” Sam may’ve joked, “We dish out the plans,” he started chuckling a bit, “Yeah just attack with full force.”

Cyrus immediately slammed his foot down on the ground and a couple of rock walls he made earlier rose up from the ground. 

“Are you actually capable of catapulting these rocks over the entire block?” Richard asked. 

It felt like Cyrus had a long grin across his face, “WE’LL SEE!!!” he yelled and then slid his foot across the ground. The rocks pulled back a little bit like there was an imaginary slingshot in the air then they forcefully shot through the air! Both of the rocks in the air ripped across the block and crashed right on the rooftop, “Did my shit hit!?” He turned to Sage and Adam. 

“No clue, we can’t sense that. The best we can do is to tell where the enemy’s magic is.” Sage told him. 

Will throws some shards of his ice from earlier too. 

“Just keep hammering spells in that direction!” Sam leaped on top of an earth wall and then yelled out to them, “Lemme get in on this.” He started hand-tutting to form his spell circle. At the end he held the circle in front of his mouth and took a deep breath, “I think this one’s called: Majestic Expansion Flames!” he muttered trying to keep as much air as he could in his lungs, and then he exhaled through the circle. Flames started to come out in a long stream through the circle with Sam’s breath pushing the fire across the street. 

Will asked, “What is that possibly gonna do?”- [FWOOOO] The flames hit the rooftop and fanned out WIDE! The fire almost spanned the entire rooftop. 

“It’ll smoke them out!” Sam squatted down and put a thumbs up. The flames roared atop the roof across the street for a while and when they started to dissipate and clear down. 

We saw a pink almost-magenta spell circle turned to a sphere in the center of the flames, “Damn.” Sam remarked, “Welp,” he turned and closed his hand dispelling the flames.   

The spell sphere came back into a large circle, I turned around to Sage and Adam, “Oh… shit-” he said.
Knowing what was coming, Cyrus immediately pulled all of the still-standing rock walls to him and formed a tent around him. 

Adam was making a magic circle as a shield. Sage and Zack stayed behind him. Will made his own ice tent behind where the three were huddling behind the spell circle. 

  All I could do was stare at the magic circle glowing brighter and brighter. Soon I just saw the center of the circle glow super bright and then the light coming towards us. What should I do? What should I DO!? I hesitated and hesitated and then- Sam what’re you doing here- “Gah!” He pushed me off and I landed on the fire escape on the other side from where the spell is coming, “OI! Sa-” [KABOOM!!!] 

The entire top part of the roof explodes and bursts into flames! Through the bright orange and yellow lights of the explosion I could see Sam’s silhouette! His body was blown away from the building and is going to fall to the streets!

What the fuck do I do now!?