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Samantha yelped out of shock when her hood was grabbed again, and she was easily yanked from the floor and tossed back into the chair. What strength this woman must have, to be able to pull off such a feat so easily... Samantha was by no means heavy, but to be able to toss a nearly-grown human with a single hand was a feat in itself.

These thoughts were the furthest from Samantha's mind, however, as she writhe in pain, cradled in the chair's arms. Through it, she opened an eye to see Anei towering over poor Heidi. "Sh... shut up!" She grunted, trying to right herself in the chair. "She's not a dog! Heidi, I'm sorry--" It was horrifically ironic now, realizing that was exactly how she had been teasing her less than an hour ago. Samantha could only hope that Heidi knew she didn't think like they did.

She froze at the sight of the sedatives. Why on earth would she be taking something like that? Unless... she was trying to control her powers! She was trying to -help-...

As Anei began to berate her, Samantha lost it. She summoned up what strength she had after the jarring landing and lunged herself at the teacher, grappling arms attempting to wrap around her waist and at least knock her down.

"DON'T YOU TREAT HER LIKE THAT!"

Meeting Anei's body with her shoulder felt like tackling a brick wall. Samantha struggled to gain footing on the woman, but before she could grip her, her arms were pulled to either side and she was dragged away. "Heidi, it's okay, don't worry, alright?" She pleaded, even as Tabitha stepped in front of her. "W-We'll get out of this, I prom--"

The first blow winded her, knocking the air out of her lungs. She gasped, coughing and doubled over, held up only by Farona and Karine's grasp. Just as she managed to right upself, the second blow came, then another, then another... Samantha lost count, her senses giving way as agony overrode her mind. Her body went limp in the student's arms.

Samantha coughed again, spitting up blood. As it hit the floor, the splatter began to sizzle and smoke. At the same time, where ever Farona and Karine touched the skin of her arms, would start to burn. Samantha looked up at Tabitha, an intense hatred gleaming in her eyes. She gasped for a breath, and spat another mixture of saliva and blood onto her clothes.

"Let.. me... go...."

"Hope you rot... b***h~" Samantha smiled grimly, her own blood staining her teeth a bit. She noticed Heidi transforming in the background. Good, that meant she'd finally found her fighting spirit. Samantha did her best to block the pain out of her mind, and waited for Heidi to pounce...

While Heidi had them distracted, Samantha tried to wrest herself free the duo's grasp. She kicked out at Farona's leg in an attempt to knock her down. If this succeeded, she would reach out to grab Karine's shirt by the collar with her now free hand and pull her towards her, headbutting her.

She then turned towards Tabitha, expecting to see the student flattened under a mass of flesh and fur... and saw Anei holding her there, and Heidi apparently frozen. She wasn't certain what had taken place, and so she tentatively reached a hand out to the beast.

"H... Heidi? What's wrong? Heidi, c'mon, we have them... please move!" She tried to encourage her to move, to act. Her rage turned to worry, and the strength of her powers waned.

"Stop it, don't hurt her!" Samantha pleaded once more, feeling like nothing more than a cheerleader on the sidelines. "Her claws are way bigger than those dinner knives, you b***h!" While true, Anei seemed much quicker and much more agile than Heidi's bulky mass, especially in such tight quarters with little room for the beast to move around in. She was at a major disadvantage. Worse yet, there was something about the way the teacher carried herself, her quick movements... it reminded Samantha terribly of Seijin, and sent a cold chill down her spine.

"... Heidi..." Samantha's voice was low. She knew Farona was right. It was likely that if Heidi continued, she's suffer fatal wounds at the hands of their teacher, despite her alleged innocence. "Heidi, stop... Don't get hurt! Please!" She hung her head. The situation was hopeless. "Please... stop it..."

Samantha glared deeply at Tabitha, after she had pulled at Heidi's fur so roughly. Had she not been surrounded again and sorely out gunned, she'd have taken another shot at her for it.

The bloodied cloth being thrust to her snapped her away from her momentary bout of rage, and brought her back to the real situation. She was being given an out... Hell, she was being mocked with freedom. To run as a coward, with her tail between her legs... That analogy left a bitter taste in her mouth. She wrung the cloth tightly between both hands, her glare now fixed on Anei. She knew, there was absolutely no way she could take her on, let alone with the other three students, and survive, not even if she had mastered whatever damnable powers those ******** cards gave her. They were the cause behind this, everything, after all.

Samantha took a few degraded, but forced strides past Anei, but not before pausing to look at Heidi. Her heart broke. She wanted to say something to her, anything, but could think of nothing. There were no words for the situation. She could only hope that Heidi, her friend, knew that she would be back for her.

She bolted from the room, trampling the tools she had dropped earlier, and back down the hallway, as fast as her legs and beaten body could carry her. As she ran, tears formed in her eyes, angry, helpless, and guilty. This was all her fault. She knew it. It was her fault that Heidi had gotten kidnapped tonight, because she'd been careless and chose to take things into her own hands, and as such, she must now take responsibility for it.

"It's all your fault!" She repeated in her mind, to herself, over and over as she ran the last leg of her journey back to her dorm. She shouldered the door open, ignoring the physical pain, and only collapsed when she was well into the living room, the television still blaring its brainless blather.

Samantha stayed there on her hands and knees, and cried. She cried and wept and sobbed until she couldn't cry anymore. And that was when her phone buzzed.


"Samantha, how are you and Heidi doing? Mo and I will be stopping by shortly.

-K."

Yuuka smiled and nodded, returning her partner's kiss fully. "See you soon! I will check on Samantha, she's the only one that didn't respond to my message..."

With that, the teacher turned and entered the school.

---

Samantha had moved by now, sitting against the old and beaten couch and leaning against one of the arm rests. She was curled up, knees nearly pressed to her chest, and she could only stare at the message on her phone's screen. How on Earth would she be able to tell the teacher what happened? That Heidi's capture was thanks to her recklessness in wanting to search Kaninus' classroom, let alone the very fact that she had tried to break in to it? She wanted so desperately to find someplace to hide and forget the world, and it was then that the young teacher found herself standing at Samantha's open door.

"Samantha?" Yuuka asked, stepping into the dorm. "Your door is wide open, and why are you on the floor? Is everything alright?" The teen, in turn, hid her face in her knees, letting her phone drop to the floor. "... Samantha?"

Yuuka walked over to the student and sat beside her, after moving the phone to the side. She looked over to the snowy-headed child and smiled, and spoke to her in a soothing voice. "Samantha, what's wrong? Where is Heidi?" Samantha was silent. "...Did you two fight? Are you hurt?"
"...Gone..."
"I'm sorry?"
"H-Heidi... she's... gone... They t.. took her!" Samantha let out a sob, her body shaking where she sat. Yuuka slowly put an arm around her, holding her close. "There there, it's alright dear. I need you to tell me what happened; who took her?" After taking a moment to collect herself, Samantha recounted the tale of the evening's events.

"... I see. That is very troublesome; Heidi will be in danger if we cannot rescue her quickly. I spoke with Seijin - Ms. Kazuko - about Anei, and she has warned me to be careful of her. I see now just how dangerous she is." Samantha nodded idly, worn and hurting now, the blows to her stomach finally beginning to ache.

"We'll wait for Mo to arrive, then figure out our next move, alright?"

"Kidnapped," Yuuka said plainly, shedding all blame from the subject. She didn't want Samantha to feel any worse.

"It seems Seijin was right... Anei is in league with some of the students we'd been surveying. By Samantha's account, they have forced Heidi back into servitude... and, she may be wounded." Samantha cringed. "At the moment, they outnumber us two to one, and that's only counting the students. This woman, Anei... her power has yet to be measured. Mo... we need to be careful. For the student's sake... for Heidi's."

Yuuka paused, thinking for a moment. "I believe... we should focus on locating Heidi once more. She is the mask they hide behind, after all. Think about it; Heidi is the only one so far who has been allowed to be openly violent; the others act simply as bullies and orchestrators, working their power and magics behind the scene. If we take away that veil, then they themselves will have to sully their hands... and be much more careful, lest they alert the world of their power." Yuuka chuckled to herself, patting Samantha's shoulder. "So far, this war is small scale... imagine if law enforcement or government or military were to get involved? Power is sought by greed, and power misunderstood is feared."

"... We'd all be killed, o-or hunted..." Samantha added, sinking into her shoulders. "We're freaks, mutants, like one of those super hero comics..."