Chapter Text
"Don't even think about running from me, Isen. You haven't been answering my calls for the past few days. Care to explain yourself?" Arlo had Isen trapped in his barrier. A glare directed towards the orange and back haired boy.
"SHIT! He does NOT look happy!" Isen had been doing all he could to avoid the king's wrath, he even jumped out a window! How the hell was he supposed to explain that the cripple was actually stronger then the whole school (minus Seraphina of course) and a past history of unexplained violence!? "At this rate Arlo AND John will have my ass!"
"Uh, just no new intel yet." Isen nervously fidgeted with his fingers. "So I didn't want to bother you." He looked off to the side, seemingly afraid of making eye contact.
"I wasn't born yesterday." Arlo crossed his arms. He dismissed Isen's poor attempt of an excuse. "You can analyze the attack pattern of EMBER...But you can't find basic info on one of your classmates? Give me a break." Isen looked like he was sobbing or on the verge of it. "Now tell me what you found. Don't you want this story to be a success?"
Isen had been contemplating whether or not it was worth a story on the front page. It was not, the dangers ahead were not worth it. "I'm dropping the story."
.
.
.
"You what?" Arlo could not believe what he was hearing.
Isen has never disobeyed him before, but he continued. "Right now, I think the best course of action is to wait for Seraphina to get back, and pretend this investigation never happened. He probably has his reasons for hiding his ability anyway. So why provoke him? Everything is fine the way it is." Holy shit he finally stood up to Arlo.
Really, is he serious about this? "He's not in his rightful place." John has to be in place, it's the way of the hierarchy. He can't escape that. It's what's expected, no one can escape.
"Yeah, but who are you to decide that though?-" Isen cut himself off. Crap he didn't mean to say that out loud, promise! Please don't send the fork on him.
Arlo immediately took offense to that and slammed Isen against his barrier. Isen grunted, Arlo's hand around his neck. "Isen. Tell me what you know, why is so important that John's ability be kept a secret?
"Even with my ability activated, I still can't budge his arm!?" Okay, if Isen wasn't feeling panicked before he surely is now! If he tells Arlo then he'll put John on blast but if he doesn't Arlo is gonna send him to the hospital...probably. Well maybe..."Arlo! I'll sent you the files okay? You can look for yourself but please don't tell anyone or we will all be done for."
Arlo let Isen go, he got wanted but it's strange to see Isen freak out over someone like John. The rat seemed more scared of the "cripple" then him. He doubts John's strength but maybe Isen was on to something? "Very well," he dissipates his barrier "you may go Isen, your fear for that cripple is quite strong. I want all the files sent to me as soon as possible."
Isen immediately ran off, no point in sticking around a upset Asslo...
"Achoo!" John was unlocking his door, he sniffled. "Is someone talking about me?" A walk back always calms him down a bit, those kids have been ruthless and he can't even contact Sera! Not to mention the bastard that tried to blow his brains out, God forbid he gets startled.
He finally arrived home, he still felt bad for punching Arlo... maybe he'll take him out to boba the next time they meet? It's only fair.
John washes up and gets on his laptop, he plays Angry Pigs in hopes of braking through the current level he's stuck on with only wood. His school work was left untouched. "No point in doing work that'll get teared up anyways."
His bed is comfortable but not the nightmares that come with it...