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Please...before that busty harpy attacks me again.

*Lisa is making a beeline towards them.*

" Heh! Don't worry about her.. Just hold on tight.."

Grabs Chris and starts running towards Barry's lab....at hypersonic speeds.

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Teddy peeked under the table at him, shrugged, and stole a french fry.

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Teddy Altman

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Stops in front of a door.

"Okay we're at Professor Allen's door.. I'm not going in but you can."

Before Iris could leave Barry stepped out..

"Oh hello Iris.. or should I say Bart."
"Epp.. You knew?"
"I figured it out. We are going to have to get you back into the girls dorms.. I can't have you mascarading as a boy."
" But... my dad."
" I think it's time we let the cat out of the bag..."

Barry looks at Chris..

" You.. look different."

Billy scrambles out from under the table and smooths his hair, then has a seat as if he were saying 'I meant to do that'.

"So.... you know, I'm glad we finally got to go out, just the two of us."

Billy smiles as a blush tints his earlobes.

"I think Jennifer will be glad too. She said I was starting to work her nerves talking about you all the time instead of working on my spells."

Robert, who'd been just as stunned at Dani at how fast everything to resolve itself, adding further evidence that this was one bizarre school. However, he looked at Dani as she sighed, reaching over to pat her on the back comfortingly but pulled back as she turned to him, coughing a little

"Well, yes, it does seem like that, doesn't it...but at least we tried...counts for something...somewhat..."

They continued to walk in awkward silence until Dani asked Robert out...well, asked him to go see a movie.

"Uh...o-of course. I mean, after all that's happened, something as normal as seeing a film would be good...going to one with you would be great..."

He chuckled, cheeks still coloring a little

"What did you have in mind to see?"

He asked with a weak smile, his glasses fogging a bit over.

Detention.

Wooooo.

It was really only a matter of time till someone noticed that Hartley was skipping classes again. He had figured that during the clustermess of whateverthehellwasgoingon, no one would notice one student absence.

Professor Prince noticed, though. Not much got past her.

And so, Hartley sat back in detention, under the watchful eye of Ms. Darkholme. He was pretty sure that Digger and Evan had gotten detention too, but they were serving it during different periods. As a result, Hartley was serving his time alone.

Hartley looked at Ms. Darkholme and put his pencil down.

"Ms. Darkholme?"

"Yes, dear?"

"Can you explain to me something?"

"Of course."

"What the HELL is going on?"

Ms. Darkholme sighed.

"Isn't that the question on everyone's mind."

"I'm not one of the big hero students, ma'am. I have NO idea what's been going on for the last week or so. There's this announcement that Maxwell Lord is the new Headmaster, then everyone's getting poked with guns by armed guards, then rumors are flying that Lord's having a fling with a student, and that he's in two places at once, and then...."

Raven smiled.

"And then, nothing. Correct?"

"Yeah, it's like everyone is pretending everything is back to normal, but I have no idea if that's what actually happened! Is Checkmate in charge? Where did Max Lord go? Am I in trouble for missing classes if I was avoiding being shot?"

"You are right, things have been a mess lately. This is what happens when you have incompetence at the higher levels of the faculty. To answer your question: No. Checkmate does not control Hero High. As per a rule in the original Hero High Charter drafted by it's first principal in 1938, Hero High cannot be controlled by any outside force. It was originally drafted to keep the US Government from taking over, and in the years since then, has kept Hero High out of the hands of many organizations that may take advantage of a school full of superpowered teenagers."

Hartley nodded.

"I guess that clears that up. But what about Max Lord?"

"He has gone underground, and no one knows where he is. His time here at the school wasn't long, but I and others suspect he was able to put his plans into place...whatever those plans are."

"You mean, you don't think we've heard the last of Max Lord?"

Raven shook her head.

"No, I do not. I believe that he was not interested in an actual takeover of the school, but was only interested in certain students."

Hartley shivered. He hoped he wasn't one of those 'certain students.'

"What are the teachers doing then, to protect us from Checkmate and Max Lord?"

"From now on, we are going to be keeping a closer eye on all of the students." She replied, tenting her fingers and looking directly at Hartley. "Each teacher has been assigned a portion of the student body to look after, using their own talents. Of course, you and the rest of my dear Rogues are my responsibility. If I or any of the teachers suspect something is wrong with one of the students, we will alert the entire faculty."

"That's...." Going to ruin my nightly plans. "Great. Just great."

The bell rang, and Hartley stood up.

"Thanks for clearing all that up, Ms. Darkholme."

"Of course, Hartley. You don't need to worry about Maxwell Lord for the time being."

He walked out of the room, missing seeing Ms. Darkholme's eyes briefly flash red.

"You have other things to worry about, Hero High..."