Whenever I was stressed, I would exercise. Whenever I was bored, I would exercise. Whenever I had nothing better to do, I would exercise. The exercise room had because a place to escape, at least when I was alone inside there. Sometimes one of my other teammates would join and my alone time would be ruined and I wouldn't be able to train as thoroughly or as much as I would have liked to.

Especially when it was Dex who decided to come inside to work. Because we'd both try to exercise but then that'd just end with us making out and no progress taking place. At least with our exercising.

But now, I was all alone in the exercise room and I was finally able to exercise in peace. I was sweating like crazy as I punched at the punching bag, having that be the last thing I did in my workout. I just loved letting all my anger out with every punch.

Once I was finished, I was slightly relieved. My body began to feel sore, and even though I knew I would heal very quickly, it was still an uncomfortable feeling that I was going to have to deal with for at least a little bit.

With my towel around my shoulders, I exited the exercise room and made my way down the hallway toward my room. I was going to take a nice, long shower and then just relax for the rest of the day, since it was a day off from training and work for our team.

When the front door handle started to jiggle, I jumped in surprised. Who would be trying to come inside? Everyone who was supposed to be able to come inside—and Lena, somehow—were given a key. Had someone forgotten theirs?

I made my way to the door slowly as the handle continued to jiggle. I hesitated for a moment, but then decided to open the door, keeping my guard up the entire time in case I was going to have to attack for whatever reason.

I was hoping it'd be one of my teammates you just forgot their key, though that wasn't something that had ever happened before. But when I opened the door, I was definitely not expecting who I saw on the other side.

"Violet!" Nick grinned, making his way inside without even being invited in. "Long time no see!"

"Nick!" I cried, not expecting him to be here at all. "What're you doing here?"

"So this is the Defensive Affairs Unit, huh?" he asked, ignoring my question as he looked around. I didn't even know what I was supposed to say. "It's pretty badass."

"What the—" a new voice now started, and I turned to see that it was Dex who was now standing there before us. He gave me an accusatory look. "What's he doing here?"

"Hey, don't blame me," I snapped, a little annoyed that he'd expect that I had something to do with this. "I'm just as confused as you are right now."

Last time I checked, Nick hadn't ever heard of the DAU and he had no reason to be here. I doubted that he got recruited, but I guess that that was a possibility. But if that was the case, why was he in VAKAD's building and now his own team's?

"Don't be jealous, Dexy," Nick grinned, and Dex's eyebrows furrowed at the nickname. "It's not like I'm here to steal your girl or anything."

Suddenly, arms were wrapping around my waist and I let out a shout of surprise when I saw that they were Nick's, whose arms were stretched out long enough to wrap around my body twice. He pulled me away from Dex and closer to him and I nearly tripped in the process.

I was now pressed up against Nick's body, and I couldn't help but feel uncomfortable. We were friends, sure, but we were definitely not close enough for this.

"Hey—" Dex started angrily, taking a step forward to try to rip Nick's arms off me, but he was cut off by Nick stepping away and pulling me even farther away from Dex.

I swatted at his shoulder, since that was all I could reach since my arms were pinned to my chest by his hug. "First of all," I started, annoyed ever so slightly, "I'm all sweaty and I probably smell awful. Second of all... Actually, there is no second of all. Just let me go."

Nick wagged his eyebrows at me. "Doesn't bother me," he smirked. "Sweaty girls are pretty hot."

"Depends on what makes them sweaty," Dex muttered, but I didn't understand what he meant so I didn't ask him to elaborate.

When the front door opened, I didn't know whether to be relieved or afraid. If it was Hank or Nay, I had no idea how they were going to respond to having a stranger here. If it was any of my teammates, at least they'd most likely break up whatever was going on between Nick and me.

When I saw that it was Lena, I immediately felt relieved. Surely Nick would let go of me if she was here.

"Well," Lena blinked, not looking very surprised by the scene that was taking place before her. "A guy has his hands on Violet and Dex is clearly pissy. What else is new?"

Dex glared at her and took a step away from me, crossing his arms over his chest as if to prove that he was not bothered by this in the slightest, even though he clearly was.

Nick let out a laugh and his arms unwrapped from around me. I could tell that he still liked Lena a lot, and he did not want to give her the wrong idea by being seen with me, even though I was sure that it was obvious who I truly had a preference for.

When I really focused on two people, I could tell what their relationship with each other were and how they felt about each other. It was a power that I was given as an Ender. The only downside, other than the fact that I couldn't tell how people felt toward me, was that if someone was as uncaring as Lena, as dense as Kristie, or as ridiculously smart as Anthony, I couldn't tell how they felt about anybody. It was as if they had some sort of block. It was only when they let their guard down and relaxed that I could tell with people like them.

"So... I'm assuming you brought him here?" I now asked my best friend, who nodded. "Why would you do that?"

Lena shrugged. "I was tired of being the only superhuman I know that hasn't been recruited that knew about this place," she answered simply. "So I decided to tell him all about it. Since he's a superhuman, it's not like it should be a problem or anything."

I wasn't so sure about that. Yeah, Nick was a superhuman just like us, but I didn't know if it was a good idea to tell people that didn't know about the DAU about it, even if they were like us. What if they got angry about not getting recruited, like Lena was? Some people got so angry that they joined Redrum...

When I heard heels clicking down the hall, I felt my nerves jump. I knew exactly who it was, and I wasn't so sure how she'd react to seeing a random stranger inside our courters. We'd never brought anyone in here before; the only person who had ever come inside our small section of the DAU that wasn't in VAKAD or one of our mentors was Lena.

Nay's eyes went wide when she saw the four of us and realized she didn't recognize one of the people standing before her.

"Who is this?" she asked, clearly wary.

"Uh..." I started rather unconfidently, scolding myself for sounding like an idiot. "This is a friend of ours from school."

Considering the only one of us who continued to go to that high school was Lena, it was strange to say that Nick was our friend from there, even if that was actually the truth behind how we met him.

"What is he doing here?" Nay questioned now, clearly growing antsy.

"I brought him," Lena shrugged.
"Lena!" Nay growled at her niece. "You know you can't bring humans here! Where's Hank? Or Anthony?"

I figured that that wasn't exactly the smartest thing to say, because if Nick had been human, how would he have reacted to that sentence? I definitely would have been concerned if someone called me a human as if they weren't one. But, of course, Nick didn't seemed bothered in the slightest, and I knew Nay only said that because she expected either Hank or Anthony to erase his memory.

Lena rolled her eyes, as if thinking that her aunt was acting completely crazy. Which was a bit overdramatic, considering Nick was a superhuman too and therefore did not need his memory erased.

"And why am I being summoned?" my nerdy teammate asked, as if he had heard his name be said and that was why he was entering the room. "I didn't expect to be brought up in any discussion."

"Whoa!" Nick cried at the sight of Anthony, and I didn't blame him. I had the same reaction when I saw my previously smaller friend after he'd gotten back from our few months of separation.

"Nick," Anthony blinked, just as surprised as Dex and I had been. "What're you doing here?"

"You know him?" Nay asked, still just as confused as she had been the entire time. "I thought he was just a human that Lena brought to show off to."

"Hey," her niece snapped, clearly offended as her eyebrows furrowed at her aunt. "First of all, I don't need other things or other people to show off. Second, why would I use the DAU to show off when I'm not even in it?"

Nay said nothing to this, and I could tell she didn't know what she was supposed to think about all of this. I mean, I used to think that Nick was a human as well. There was no difference between humans and superhumans minus our abilities, and those weren't something you could always tell."

"Sorry, I should have introduced myself," Nick began, holding out his hand for Nay to shake. Of course, since he was standing farther away from her, his arm stretched out and this proved that he was, in fact, not a human. "My name is Nick Graves. I'm a friend of Lena's and the others from high school. I'm a superhuman, too."

Nay's eyes went wide, but she was naturally polite so she shook his hand. She seemed relieved that this was not some random human, but still had her guard up in case something went wrong.

She ushered us all inside the meeting room, and I followed even though I wasn't even really apart of any of this, and Anthony and Dex followed. I had no idea where Kristie or Aiden were, but I envied them for not having to be in this conversation.

"So..." Nay started once we were all inside. "Lena told you about the Defensive Affairs Unit."

"Yep," Nick shrugged, as if it was no big deal. When I'd found out about the DAU, I was definitely not as laid-back as he was. It was a little strange. "It's pretty cool, if you ask me."

I had to agree, though I'd grown so used to everything in the DAU that I was starting to grow a little numb to it all, and it no longer amazed me like it used to. I guess that was just how it went for a lot of things.

"So why aren't Lena and I in this?" Nick questioned, and I could see Lena's eye twitch at the mention that she hadn't been recruited. Every time it was brought up, she got very angry. We were starting to get to the point that I wanted people to just stop bringing it up because I hated seeing her so angry.

She crossed her arms over her chest as if that was going to calm her anger down as she said, "Because it's filled with a bunch of favoriting jerks who can't tell their asses from their face—"

"Lena," Nay snapped, cutting her niece off before she could finish.

Lena didn't look apologetic in the slightest. "What? It's true."

"Not every superhuman gets into the DAU," Nay now explained to Nick, ignoring Lena and her angry reaction. "It all depends on who the Director chooses."

"Old geezer," Lena muttered, but we ignored her.

Nick only glanced at Lena before looking back at Nay. "Who's the Director?"

"He's the head of the DAU," Nay explained, shooting Lena a look when she opened her mouth to speak. She immediately shut it, though reluctantly. "He's a powerful and ominous leader that only a few close colleagues have seen before. Instead of dealing with him, his colleagues do outside work for him so he doesn't have to be seen."

"So what happens to the left over superhumans like Lena and me?" Nick continued to ask questions, clearly very interested in everything that he was learning. I never saw him like that at school. "I'm sure there are a ton of us, right?"

"There are." Nay nodded, seeming slightly uncomfortable now. "Mostly, they just continue on with their lives as normal..."

Nick blinked. "Mostly?"

"If you don't get recruited here, you either have the choice to just move on with your life or you can join Redrum," Lena scowled, blurting it out without even thinking twice about it. Nay glared at her and Lena only rolled her eyes.

"Redrum?" Nick didn't seem to know what to say at first. "That's a very... intriguing name."

I gasped. "That's what I said!"

"Violet," Nay snapped, much like she had the first time I'd ever said anything about Redrum's name.

"How old do you gotta be to get recruited?" Nick asked.

"The ages of recruits are usually fifteen to sixteen years old," Nay answered, and this was something I hadn't actually known. "There have been cases where both older and younger superhumans have been recruited as well."

Nick seemed to think for a moment. "So I could join Redrum if I wanted to?" he finally questioned.

None of us said anything, shocked by the question. Anthony and I shared a concerned look, and when I turned toward Dex he clearly didn't care in the slightest. Obviously he was still too peeved at Nick for wrapping his arms around me earlier to care about him going off to join Redrum.

Noticing our serious demeanors, Nick began to laugh. "Ha! Just kidding!"

Clearly we didn't think it was funny, and Nick saw this. He learned quickly that Redrum obviously wasn't something to joke about, at least around us. I was sure Lena would fill him in on why later.

"So, buddy, what happened to you?" Nick now inquired, sensing the tension and changing the subject as he turned toward Anthony. "You're completely different than when I saw you last! You're ripped!"

Anthony rolled his eyes. "That's what a summer of working out gets you, I guess," he shrugged, as if it was no big deal. And to Anthony, it probably was. He never cared about looks and it was clear he still didn't. "I'm surprised you recognized me, though. Violet didn't."

"Hey," I snapped, slightly offended. "I was kind of in shock from kissing someone that I thought was Dex and wasn't really in the right mindset when I saw you the first time!"

"Excuses, excuses," Anthony waved away with a roll of his eyes.

I wanted to continue to defend myself, but I knew there was no point in arguing with Anthony. He was too smart; I didn't think it was even possible to win an argument against him.

"It was the glasses," Nick explained as he pointed to Anthony's glasses. "They're still the exact same as when I saw you last. Still nerdy as ever."

Anthony rolled his eyes again. "Well, my body may have changed, but my eyesight did not."

"Makes sense," Nick nodded.

"I think we all changed a little over the summer," Anthony continued, pausing for a moment as he thought about it. "I changed from being scrawny to muscular. Aiden's a little less of a pain in the ass than he used to be, though I'm pretty sure that's just because he's finally around Kristie again so he's overjoyed. Kristie's a little less dense, but then again I haven't heard her talk very much since we got back—"

"So basically no one's changed but you," I interrupted flatly.

"You didn't let me finish," Anthony tsked, wagging his finger at me. I shut my mouth and let him continue to speak. "A big change from you and Dex is that you're now two horndogs who are acting on their sexual tension and can't keep their hands off each other—"

"Excuse me!" I shouted, not wanting this conversation to be held in front of Nay. "We are not like that at all!"

"Uh huh," Anthony nodded with a roll of his eyes. "You don't think I don't see the make out sessions in the workout room? In the bathroom? In your room? In the—"

"Stop!" I whined, not wanting to hear anything more. "We're just kissing, that's it! Nothing more!"

"Surprisingly," Lena scoffed.

Dex didn't seemed bothered in the slightest that we were talking about this, but my entire face was hot and I felt like I was going to faint. This was so embarrassing! How did he have no reaction to any of this?

"Dex finally grew a pair and made a move?" Nick laughed, and this seemed to annoy Dex greatly. "Finally, man! I thought that'd never happen!"

I didn't dare look at Nay. I had no idea how much she or Hank knew about Dex's and my relationship, but I knew both of them thought relationships while in the DAU were a bad idea. That was why they weren't together in the first place.

"Well, if you don't mind me, I'm going to go shower," I growled, my hands balling into fists. I'd been embarrassed enough for one day and I wanted to take that long, hot shower that I had been looking forward to.

"Want Dex to join you?" Lena called after me as I began to leave the room.

I turned back toward her, ripping my towel off my shoulders and throwing it at her. She shrieked when the sweaty towel his her right in the face.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So, like, I definitely know what's going to happen in this book. It's just getting there that I'm having a problem with.

I also thought this was the fourth chapter and I'm so immensely relieved that it's actually the fifth it's not even funny.

And it's been so long and I'm so out of it that I published this chapter as Defenders (5). Time to go to bed.

I'm annoyed slightly that when I sat down to write this chapter, it took me an hour. An hour. I haven't updated for almost three months because I had no idea what was going to happen in this chapter. Then I got an idea a couple of days ago and finally got time just now and just. Ugh.

I need to write an outline so I know exactly when everything is going to be. I want to get to the exciting, good parts of the story but I need to know when it's time to write them. It's definitely too soon for anything right now. I still have a lot I need to introduce and show before the good stuff can happen.

Please COMMENT, VOTE, and FAN!