Bella practically forced the girl washing her hands and the worker cleaning the bathroom to leave. She then checked every stall and locked the door when she was sure no one was inside.

"You need to get a hold of yourself and look at this more objectively," Bella stated. "If your headmaster is telling you to do the same things my headmaster told me to do, there's probably a problem."

"Killing doesn't mean he's not a hero," Jade shot back.

"What if I told you that there was someone who planned on stealing from a bank maybe someday. A police officer went up to that person and tasered him simply so that he could bring in this person and lock him away. No trial, of course, because this person hasn't committed any crimes yet. But, because this person has a heart condition and the police officer has never actually used a taser on a real person before, there's a high chance that the person might die, but the police officer's captain doesn't care about that. The captain wants this person tasered, brought in, and locked up."

"Well obviously that's wrong, but-"

"Your headmaster is the captain. You're the police officer. I'm the possible would-be thief. The taser is your power, which you've never used in that way before, and the heart condition is simply the fact that I'm still human, which means I'll likely die when my body drops below a certain temperature." Bella walked closer to Jade and put her hands on Jade's shoulders. "Your headmaster is villainous, but that doesn't mean you are. It just means that you have to find someone else to look up to."

"You make it sound easy, but it's not. It's all so complicated and if my headmaster is a villain... what if I subconsciously knew and that's why I came here? I mean, I can't become a villain, Bella. It'd break my parents' hearts."

"You're being ridiculous again. You're parents are crazy loving and they'd definitely accept you either way. But here, how about I make you a promise. If you start to do something villainous because of that jerk, I'll make sure to stop you. No matter what. And if he does anything, he'll have me to answer to. No one messes with my best friend."

Jade took a few deep breaths then sighed. "Ok. Fine, I guess. But we still need an actual plan. I don't want to accidentally kill my best friend."

"That's what we all gathered for. No one thinks you're evil just because your headmaster's a snake in sheep's clothing or whatever."

"It's a wolf in-"

"But I like snake better. He's poison, so he's a snake. But he's also pretending to be harmless like a sheep."

"Yeah, but the phrase is a wolf in sheep's clothing because wolves hunt sheep-"

"Mmmmm... I'm gonna stick with snake," Bella said as she went to unlock and open the door. "Coming?"

Jade smiled. "You villains, always making your own rules."

"You heroes, sticking to the rules like its life support," Bella shot back.

When they returned to the table, Quinn gave them both a concerned look while Hades dipped a French fry in his milkshake seemingly unbothered.

"All good?" Hades asked.

"Yeah, crisis averted," Bella sighed as she fell into her seat. "Now, we need a plan."

"You could both quit school and move to another country," Quinn suggested.

"I hope that's a joke," Bella responded dryly.

"Just offering the easiest course of action."

"We aren't running from the law. Heroes and villains have reach beyond country borders. And especially if the headmaster is a villain, running rarely ever helps and when it does it requires a lot of planning and new identities and covering your tracks. So it's a clear and obvious no to your idea. Anyone have an idea that might actually work?"

Bella looked around the table, making eye contact with everyone. There was silence and with every passing second, Jade looked more hopeless.

"That plan to kill your headmaster is looking better by the second," Bella sighed.

"Absolutely no killing," Jade said.

"Well you could always go through with the headmaster's plan," Hades suggested.

"That might be a worse idea than Quinn's," Bella immediately responded.

"Let me finish," Hades sighed. "You could go through with the headmaster's plan. 'Freeze' Bella. She's good enough with her ability that she could, with concentration, form a protective barrier around herself and keep herself in that position while also protecting herself from the cold by keeping the heat from her body from escaping. That way, you could 'freeze' her and it would actually look as if you'd done as you were asked."

"How would that help?" Jade asked. "I'd still bring her in and they'd keep her there."

"That's true, but once you do what the headmaster asked you, you might get more out of him. Maybe you'd get some information about who he is or why he asked you to do this."

"He already said it's because Bella was a threat and-"

"Trust me, that was a lie. I can think of 50 bigger threats than Bella. She's powerful but when she's got morals, a conscience. It'd make more sense if he was asking you to recruit her in order to make her a hero instead. But there are so many future villains with no morals who are only slightly less powerful. They'd be better targets. So you need to find out what his real motivation is."

"But it's because he wants to replace a student at-"

"Then why give a specific person? Why not just any villain at the school?  You need more information.  So follow through with you headmaster's plan and he might trust you enough to tell you more."

"It's actually a pretty good plan," Bella said.  "That way you'll have backup since I'll be in the room with you but conscious and alive. And even if he doesn't outright say 'I am indeed a villain', he might slip up and let something out by mistake.  I say let's go for it."

"I'm not confident enough in my abilities to think I wouldn't still accidentally freeze you."

"Well, that's why I'm also using my abilities. Between the two of us, I'll stay alive. And if I start to feel a little too cold, I'll let you know."

"So, we've got a plan?" Hades asked.

"Almost," Bella responded. "We need a plan for if something goes wrong. Like what if the headmaster doesn't tell Jade anything and takes me to some room where powers don't work."

"Right, an extraction plan," Hades mumbled. "How about we put a sort of tracking device on you?  Or two?  One can be related to a super power and the other can be technology.  That way we can find you. And if you don't come out within 15 minutes of Jade leaving, I'll come in to get you."

"Death could happen in less than 15 minutes, but I'll deal with it."

"Are you really worried about dying?" Hades asked, only half serious.

"Not really," Bella stared with a shrug. "If I was going to die my mom would know and she'd call.  But it doesn't hurt to point out the obvious."

"So... what should I do, then?" Quinn asked.

"Not get in the way," Bella mumbled.

"Actually," Hades started, "you can pose as me and go onto our campus.  Then from there back into the cameras on your campus so we have eyes on these two at all times."

"That's... a lot. I'm not sure I'm good enough to do that.  If it was that easy to hack into Prattlyn's network from Gallimore, people would've done it by now."

"Maybe, but you know your school's system well enough to be able to pull this off, especially with your skill set. And with my face, no one will bother you while you work."

"But why from Gallimore. Why not anywhere else?"

"Because if they find out someone hacked them, it won't be surprising to find out it was a villain from the villain school, but if it came from somewhere else, it'd be more concerning. They'd definitely find out it was you. I'm saving you by having you go onto our campus."

Quinn sighed. "I'd just rather not ever step foot on that campus again if I could avoid it."

"Well you can't and you kind of owe them so stop complaining," Hades challenges. Quinn simply nodded, not daring to say another word. Hades turned to Bella and Jade. "Does that cover everything?"

"I think so," Bella replied. "How do you feel about it, Jade?"

Jade sighed and rested her head in her hands. "I feel extremely anxious. I wish I could battle my headmaster for the chance to defy him."

"But you don't. So since your life sucks more than mine, how do you feel in spite of that?" Bella asked.

"It's the best we've got," Jade said.

"That's not an answer."

"I feel like I'm getting real life experience in being a hero one year early and I'm not ready for it. So, let's do it but also know that I feel like I'm going to puke at any moment."

"Well, that's as good as we're gonna get," Bella said to Quinn and Hades. "And remember, Jade, I've got your back. If he wants to do something to you, he'll have to go through me first. I might have a moral compass, but it gets a little broken when someone attacks someone close to me."

"Yeah, I know and I feel the same."

"Then we just need to find out when," Hades said.

"Tomorrow," Jade responded. Everyone looked at her in surprise. "I want to get this over with. Tomorrow."

"Tomorrow it is," Bella said before taking another sip of her milkshake.

Hades nodded. "Tomorrow it is."