The Black Out

[Cadence Calloway]

Cadence squinted her amber eyes, and she swore she saw something in Etienne's bag. Etienne covered the bag with a hand though, and even if she had seen something, at this point she wouldn't be able to see it now. She closed her hand, thus snuffing the flame she had been holding. Wisps of smoke curled up into the darkness, just outside the lamp light. She knelt down and picked up her books, clutching them close to her chest. Others entered the commons as she edged closer to the group around Etienne's lantern.

She nervously tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "I've...never really been all that good at math..."

And that was putting it mildly. She usually had to work her butt off to keep a passing grade in any of her math classes. She'd planned to do her own math sets after she'd finished her other assignments...but if others were going to work on them too...

"Maybe we could work them out together?" she asked timidly.

[Zach Long]

"Dammit, I hate the dark."

"Speak for yourself..."

"Enough, can't you see he's scared?"

"Dammit, both of you, shut up! I don't need this...where are the lights?"

"I can help with that if you'd LET me."

"Fine."

Zach closed his eyes for a second, shaking his head. When he opened them again, both of his hands were glowing brightly. It was almost blinding, but he didn't mind. Slowly, he made his way to a door and opened it, hearing a few people talking with each other. There was a faint light ("A lantern...really? Holy crap...") and a group of kids huddled around it. Zach smiled and waved a glowing hand.

"Hi there! Who's fault was it this time?"

[Lily Shen]

Glancing up from her sketchbook, Lily waved to Zach, then pointed a finger at Trev.

"Ask him," she said with a slight smirk.

[Toshiko Rikuo]

"Everything's out. The whole school." Tosh walked up to the group, stumbling a little in the darkness as she adjusted her glasses. Next to her a pint-sized robot clanked forward. "I can't pick up anything. No wi-fi, servers are out, all the cameras."

She surveyed the group around her before closing her eyes a moment. "Mr. Herrera is calling the power company on his cell right now. They don't know a thing either."

She shrugged. "Maybe the Clockwork hit a substation or something."

[Lorne Hazlewood]

Lorne sat with the group making jokes and growing accustomed to their fake camp out.

*skitter*

Lorne's ears perked up.

*skitter*skitter*

"Did you guys hear that?"

Just then a shadow ran across the front window.

[Epic Scale]

"....no. No I didn't. Because that's totally what happens in horror movies and I'm far too awesome to die screaming."

Trev reached out with his mind and re-checked the flow of magma beneath the school, just in case. He didn't want to break floors or anything, but if a zombie horde or one of those alien facehuggers came after him he was going to defend himself.

Probably, he admitted to himself, while screaming.

[Arthur Rawlings]

"Easy enough to figure who should go check it out." Arthur stood on his chair and addressed the assembly, "Who here recently lost their virginity? First, congratulations, and second, nice knowing you."

[Lorne Hazlewood]

Lorne walked quietly toward the window to try to get a better look. He kept low to the ground almost crawling to the window to look out. It didn't occur to him how silly he looked, only that he didn't want whatever was out there to see him.

He peeked up over the edge of the window. The courtyard outside was empty. Lorne sighed a little in relief. He stood up and turned around to face the rest of the students. "It's OK guys I was just seeing th-"

Just then a mass of fur and wings smashed up against the window behind him with a loud thud. Lorne screamed a high pitched squeal before diving to the ground. The thing's leathery wings beat against the window a few more times before it collected itself and flew off.

Lorne scampered across the floor on his hands and knees and ducked under a table.

Some one screamed out, "What the hell was that?!?"

Another student yelled, "Was it a bat?"

Another still yelled out, "A bat? A bat that ate a horse, maybe. That thing was huge!"

[Cadence Calloway]

Cadence let out a startled scream as something crashed into the window. Her body heated up, and had her control slipped, she probably would've ignited right there and then. She set her books aside and took a couple steps back. As quickly as the creature had come, scaring the living daylights out of those in the commons, it took off. Her heart hammered away in her chest, and it took a moment or two before she could get it to slow a little. At first, she almost suggested that they call someone to take care of the monster problem. She even started to reach for her communicator to get in touch with some of the older heroes she knew from the House of Heroes. But, she stopped herself. Here she was, in a room full of people her own age, and they all had abilities of some sort.

"Maybe...maybe we should check things out?" she said cautiously, looking to the other students. Honestly, the words felt wierd coming from her, but if it really was dangerous, it wasn't like they could all just...wait for some big name hero to drop by...

[Seth Molokhya]

Seth agreed with Candace,

"Guys, she's right. May--" he yelled out to stop the yells and screams so he could talk, "MAYBE, we should check this thing out. I mean come on, how do we know we aren't scaring it? Or what if it was," he gulped, showing admittance that he was a little afraid, "running from something else? Bigger, and worse? So, I think we need volunteers. I--," he took a deep breath, "I'll be the first..."