Vanessa seemed very excited over something. That kind of scared me a little, to be honest.

“What are you staring at?” she snapped as she walked by my desk in one of the two classes I had with her. I blinked at her and didn’t look away.

“What are you so happy about?” I had to ask, since it was a little unsettling that she was smiling so much. I almost only ever saw her with a scowl. Since I knew she didn’t want to actually be friends with me, she stopped trying to be nice. It actually didn’t really bother me all that much.

“In case you somehow haven’t heard,” she began snippily, and I had to stop myself from rolling my eyes at her. I really couldn’t believe that she hated me so much just because I was close friends with Dex. “There’s a rally tomorrow. Don’t you listen?”

I could only give her a strange look. “Why are you so excited over a… rally?”

Vanessa continued to scowl at me as if I was the stupidest person on the planet, and I kind of felt like I was, since I had absolutely no idea what a rally was.

“Because,” she continued now slowly, as if I was a child, “dance always performs at the rallies, and I like to show off my talent as much as I possibly can.”

I continued to just stare at her, still not really understanding a single word she was saying. She then grew tired of this conversation and continued on her way to her seat. I didn’t stop her.

What had she even been talking about? What was a rally? I mean, I knew what the word meant, but I didn’t know how that had anything to do with school.

Later that day at lunch as I sat with my friends, my teammates, I asked them this question.

“So… Vanessa was talking about a rally this morning,” I blinked, feeling a little embarrassed about not knowing what it was when everyone else seemed to. “What’s a rally?”

Dex looked at me like he couldn’t believe what I was saying. “You really were locked in your room for five years, weren’t you?”

I didn’t see why that had to be brought up. “Yeah, but why is that important?”

“You probably shouldn’t ask questions like that around humans,” Anthony informed me now, and I was still annoyed with the fact that none of them were telling me what a rally was. “Unless you want them knowing you spent five years locked inside your bedroom.”

That was not something I wanted humans to know, that was for sure. It would have been weird, right? I didn’t want anyone thinking I was strange, and I knew spending five years in my room was definitely strange.

I figured that I’d have to restrain myself from a lot of questions. If I didn’t understand something, I’d just have to wait to ask my teammates what it meant if they weren’t around.

“A rally is kind of like a celebration, or a party,” Anthony explained to me, but I still didn’t really understand. “Kind of. They pile the whole school together into the gym and we’re supposed to scream and cheer and play games… I was never into it.”

Aiden rolled his eyes. “I wonder why.”

“They’re too loud,” Dex complained with a shake of his head. “That’s why I hate them. Except the cheerleaders and dancers in revealing outfits usually make up for it.”

I remembered what Vanessa said about dancing earlier. She was obviously going to be a part of it, dancing in revealing clothing for all to see. Including Dex. I felt my stomach turn.

Lena shook her head. “You’re a pig.”

Dex shrugged. “I like girls. Sue me.”

“You don’t like girls. You like—”

“Anyway,” Dex continued quickly, cutting Lena off. She only rolled her eyes at him and went back to her food. “Rallies are stupid. Girls are hot. I’m looking forward to that.”

Lena continued to smirk. “You know who’s hot? V—”

“Damn it, Lena.”

She now finally left him alone, and he seemed relieved. Dex now glanced at me, but I was too fixated on my lunch to look back up at him.

After school, since Tom and I had our last class period together, he decided to walk me to the place where my teammates and I met so we could go back to the DAU. I felt like Dex might have had a problem with that, but I didn’t even care at this point. I was still a little ticked at him for the fight we had gotten in the last time he had seen Tom and I together only a few days before, but I tried not to think about that.

I was surprised when I saw none of my teammates were there. Sometimes I was the first one to get there, but I had been running a little let after class, so I was sure at least Dex would have been  bthere. But my friends were nowhere to be found.

“They didn’t leave without you, did they?” Tom asked, glancing down at the time on his phone. “We’re not that late, are we?”

To be completely honest, I didn’t even know. If I had somehow taken too long, would they have left without me? How would I have even gotten home if they left?

I could fly. But I felt like it would be a little unsettling for people to see me soaring through the air, so I knew that option wasn’t possible.

Where were they? They wouldn’t have just left me! I was sure Hank and Nay would have lectured them if they did. So where did they go?

I didn’t know if I should have felt angry or worried. I’d feel angry if they left me, but worried if something had happened to them. I hated not knowing what was going on. Why hadn’t any of them called me?

When my phone started buzzing in my pocket, I nearly jumped, causing Tom to look at me in a way that asked me if I was okay. I gave him a nervous smile and pulled my phone out to see that Nay was calling me, and for some reason I felt like this was not the first time she tried to get a hold of me.

“Sorry,” I apologized, smiling sheepishly at Tom. “I have to take this.”

Tom nodded, seeming like this didn’t bother him in the slightest, and I stepped away and answered the call before it could go to voicemail.

“Hello?” I greeted, unsure of my own voice. Why was Nay even calling me in the first place?

“Finally, you picked up,” she sighed, and I felt a little bad for making her wait for who knows how long. “Violet, this is urgent. I’ve already gotten in contact with your other teammates.”

I bit down on my lip. She expected me to be with them, but I wasn’t. I was with Tom instead.

“What’s wrong?” I questioned, almost afraid of what she was going to tell me. Were Malicius and Lynx off causing trouble somewhere? Had they both already left the school?

“There’s a robbery at a jewelry store a few blocks away,” she informed me, and I couldn’t help but make a face. Couldn’t the cops handle that? “Two men are holding hostages. Since you’re so close, we want you five to try to get inside and stop them before he can hurt anyone.”

“The five of us?” I questioned now, looking around to see my friends were still not at the meeting place, but Tom was instead. “Where are they, anyway? They’re not where we usually meet.”

Nay didn’t miss a beat. “I’m sure they’re already at the jewelry store,” she informed me, and I let out a sigh of relief. That made sense and made me feel a whole lot better. “Try and get over there as soon as possible, okay? I’ll send you the coordinates so you know which way to go.”

I nodded even though she couldn’t see me. “Okay.”

I now turned back toward Tom, almost forgetting that he had been waiting for me. I immediately felt bad for ditching him after he had walked me all the way here.

“I have to go,” I told him, a frown adorning my face. “It’s kind of an… emergency.”

Well, not kind of…

Tom nodded, understanding completely. “Of course, go ahead. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

I smiled at him, turning away and looking down at my phone to see that Nay had already sent me the coordinates to the jewelry store I had to go to.

Before I could get very far, however, Tom called out, “Hey, Violet?”

I turned back toward him in surprise. “Yeah?”

“Let’s hang out sometime, okay?” he smiled now, and I suddenly felt my face heat up. I probably looked like a ripe tomato or something.

I couldn’t help but smile back at him and nod. “Okay.”

Turning away again, I now began to make my way down the front steps of the school and down the street to where the jewelry store was. The closer I got to it, the more policemen and cop cars I saw.

I was stopped by one before I could get very close to the store. “Sorry, miss, but no one is allowed through here.”

I kind of just stared at him for a moment, forgetting for a slight second that he was human, so he didn’t know about my powers. “I’m looking for my friends,” was all I said to him, and it wasn’t exactly a lie.

The cop shook his head. “I’m sorry, but for all we know right now, they may be hostages inside the jewelry store, and there isn’t much you can do about that.”

I stopped myself from making a face. Wanna bet?

Dex’s power would have been really useful right now. If I could turn invisible, I’d be able to get by them without a problem.

Suddenly, I saw a bird swooping through the air, suddenly coming to a stop right by my head. The cop stared at it for a moment, but I didn’t panic, because the bird was a type of red I’d never seen before. A red that was the color of Kristie’s hair.

“Oh, okay,” I excused stupidly to the cop, taking a step back away from him. “Just make sure they get out safe, okay?”

And I took off, following Kristie as she flapped her wings and flew to wherever our other teammates were.

I followed after her around the buildings, avoiding the cops successfully. I was now behind the jewelry store and Kristie, still a bird, chirped happily that I was finally there.

She now flew up, and I followed after her. We were now on the roof, my other three teammates waiting. Aiden didn’t seem very happy with the fact that I was late.

“Where’ve you been?” he asked me, even though I didn’t think it was the proper time for this question.

I shrugged anyway. “I got held up after school.”

Aiden rolled his eyes. “By the teacher, or Tom?”

Remembering the last thing Tom had said to me before I left, my face turned red again. All my teammates noticed. Dex’s eyebrows furrowed.

“Ooh!” Kristie squealed. “That’s so cute!”

“Yeah, yeah.” I scratched the back of my head and looked away from my teammates. “Whatever. How are we even going to get inside when there are cops all over the place?

Aiden looked like he was thinking, but then only shrugged. “The only thing we can do is smash through and hope that won’t make the robbers do anything.”

I just stared at him for a moment. That really didn’t seem like it was a good idea, but it really was the only way we could get inside. None of us could phase through walls or anything, and I was sure Dex was strong enough to smash through…

I thought about the hostages that were inside. We had no idea how many of them there were. But no matter, they were still living people with families and I could not let any of them get hurt.

Dex punched down, and the concrete of the ceiling broke and collapsed down inside the building. We all looked down to see we had broken into the back room of the jewelry store, where one of the gunmen had been. The debris of the ceiling had come crashing down on top of him, and he was now unconscious, his gun at his side on the floor.

“Well,” Dex blinked, not seeming to have expected something like this to happen. “That was comparatively easier.”

We dropped down to the floor just as a voice shouted out, “What the hell?” from the front room. We froze, and I shut my eyes, praying that we wouldn’t hear gunshots.

There was nothing but footsteps. Footsteps coming right toward us. I didn’t know what to do now that we were inside. The man had a gun. Yes, we had powers, but were any of us immune to getting shot? Anthony was, if he could get out of the way quickly enough.

The man kicked the door open, pointing the gun right at us. He then looked at his unconscious partner, and then at the hole in the roof. The look on his face almost made me laugh, but then he shoved the gun even closer to Dex’s chest. “Who the hell are you guys?”

Dex shrugged. “Just high school kids.”

He suddenly kicked his foot up, hitting the gun right out of the man’s hands before he could fire it. It clattered to the floor, and I practically dove and slid for it. I could have used my powers, but I felt like that would have taken too long, so I did the first thing that came to my mind. I grabbed onto the gun, but the robber was not about to give up.

He grabbed my hair, pulling me away from the gun and throwing me onto the floor. Without a second thought, I kicked him right in the jaw and he went flying back into the main room, where the hostages were. There were only three of them, luckily.

The man wouldn’t let go of the gun as my teammates and I made our way to the other room. The hostages looked terrified. I didn’t blame them.

Aiden’s hands suddenly engulfed in flames. One of the hostages screamed. “I say we burn him,” he suggested, a mischievous look in his eye.

I gave him a look. “No. We’re not burning him.”

He glared at me before putting out his hands and crossing his arms over his chest. I stared at the gunman as he forced himself to his feet, the gun still in his hands. What were we going to do now? If we charged at him, he’d definitely shoot us.

I looked at Anthony, who seemed to be trying to think of something to do as well. He had super speed, but we all knew that rushing toward him would not have been the best idea. Especially when he was as angry as he was now.

“Maybe we shouldn’t poke the bear, yeah?” Anthony asked me, as if reading my mind.

I shrugged. He was right.

Letting out a long breath, I took a step toward the gunman as he raised his gun at us. Sensing my movement, he aimed it right at me. I felt my blood run cold as I looked down the barrel of the gun. It was a little chilling.

“Violet,” Dex hissed, not so far behind me. “Stop. Moving.”

I didn’t listen to him. I took another small step toward the gunman, who steadied the gun even more on me. I let out a long breath again.

“Put the gun down,” I ordered, my voice steady even though I felt like shaking. “You don’t have to do this.”

The gunman was shaking slightly as he said, “Yes, I do.”

When he pulled the trigger, Kristie screamed. The hostages screamed. Anthony gasped, Aiden took a step back in shock, and Dex moved closer to try to push me out of the way—maybe even block it—and shouted, “Violet!”

But he was too late.

I felt the impact. It hit me right on the forehead. But the feeling I felt was not something I expected. I hadn’t ever been shot before, obviously, but I knew the sensation was not supposed to feel nice. It was supposed to hurt, like something was ripping through your body, but that wasn’t what I felt.

The bullet hit my forehead, and then pinged right off as if he had actually shot a BB gun at me and a tiny pellet had hit my head. It was like I had been flicked on the forehead.

The gunman stared at me in shock. My teammates and the hostages stared at me in shock. All I could do was stand there, just as shocked as the rest of them were.

The gunman took a step back, away from me. “What… what the hell are you?”

I looked down at the bullet that had dropped to the floor, my eyes wide. “I don’t even know.”

Suddenly, Dex appeared next to the gunman and smashed his fist into the side of his head, knocking him out almost immediately. I hadn’t even noticed he had turned invisible because I was too busy staring at the bullet. The gunman crumpled to the floor, and the hostages sighed in relief. The two women were crying.

I now turned toward the rest of my teammates, gesturing toward the hostages. I was glad that there weren’t very many of them, and I didn’t even look as my teammates knocked them unconscious.

“Someone has to call Hank,” Aiden sighed once he knocked out one of the three hostages. “He’s got to erase their memories before they wake up.”

“Already on it,” a new voice now said, and Hank suddenly dropped from the hole in the ceiling of the back room and was starting with the first unconscious gunman we had knocked out when we had first broken in. “Good job, you guys.”

My teammates were happy with the praise, but I couldn’t stop staring at the bullet on the floor. The bullet that had hit me. The bullet that had ricocheted right off my forehead.

“Violet!” Kristie called out to me now, snapping me out of my trance. “Are you okay?”

Letting out a shaky breath, I nodded at her. “Yeah, Kristie, I’m fine,” I assured her, even though I wasn’t so sure if that was the complete truth or not.

“How did you even do that?” she questioned now, her gaze moving slowly to the bullet at our feet. “Was it your powers? Did you deflect it?”

I swallowed. “Maybe.” I really didn’t know what I was supposed to say. “But, like… I felt it. I felt it hit me.”

Hank was by my side now, he had finished erasing the memories of all the unconscious people around us, his brow furrowed in confusion. “What are you talking about?” he questioned.

“Um, I…” was all I was able to choke out, since I didn’t really know how I was supposed to explain what had just happened when I didn’t even know exactly just happened. “Uh… aren’t there cops out there? Shouldn’t we go tell them that everything’s okay now?”

Hank didn’t seem to like that I was dodging his question, but he knew that I was right as the hostages began to stir back into consciousness behind us. Our mentor now turned toward all of us and said, “Act like you’re a hostage while we leave, okay?”

My teammates did as he said, but I hung back as they made their way out the front door to face the many policemen I was sure were outside. It took me a moment to realize that Dex had stayed back as well, but he wasn’t looking at me. He was looking at all the jewelry around us.

“This would look nice on you,” he smirked suddenly, holding up the necklace to my neck. I felt my face heat up as I looked away from him. “Maybe you could wear it.”

I didn’t even have to look at the tag to know that there was no way I’d ever be able to afford something like that. “You think I’d ever be able to actually buy that thing?”

Something glimmered in his eyes. “We could always just take it.”

I shot him a look. “Dex, put it down.”

He grinned, shrugging as he did as I said. “It was just a suggestion.”

“We’re the ones that are supposed to stop people from stealing, not the ones who do the stealing,” I reminded him, in case he had somehow forgotten. I then looked at the beautiful diamond necklace. “I’ll never be able to wear something like that.”

I turned away now and went out the door where our teammates had exited out of. Dex followed right after me.

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

Defenders was uploaded today a year ago! That's so crazy.

Tom and Violet's ship name is Vom because I actually like it, not counting it reminding me of vomit, but whatever. Violet and Dex's is Vex, obviously, and I guess Dex and Vanessa's should be Danessa so it doesn't get confused with Vex.

Please COMMENT, VOTE, and FAN!