#here is this

…almost two years ago…

Rosehill University is the ultimate training ground for the next generation of Supers, and Felix, against all odds, has found himself amidst the students here. He sits in the cafeteria, hunched over the table in a fruitless attempt to make himself as small and unnoticeable as possible. His ranking here is, frankly, quite pathetic. He can only really use his size-changing ability to shift up to ten or fifteen feet tall, this makes his ability one of the worst in the entire school. He knows he can get bigger than that, he’s done it once before, he’s just struggling to get consistent results. For almost a full year now, that's what it's been, "struggling to get consistent results." That’s all.

“Hey Short-stack, I heard the mundanes are really looking forward to utilizing your ability. They need people that can reach those top shelves in grocery stores,” Beckett huffs a cruel laugh as he swipes an apple from Felix’s plate.

“Just ignore him, man,” the super sitting next to him, Jeremey Beauregard, mutters under his breath.

“I’ve been getting better,” Felix grumbles loudly.

This happens far too often, someone, usually Beckett, picking on him for his ability. He shouldn't have to hide in the bathroom to eat. He shouldn't have to cower through the halls, it's bullshit. He thought this kind of drama stopped after high school, he was wrong.

Thankfully, Jeremey has stuck with him the past several months. His ability comes in handy when you're just trying to avoid a fight. The upper level supers love to spar and fight, always challenging one another to secure their place in the hierarchy at the school. Challenges like that are common, healthy, and even encouraged for developing supers. The faculty usually just prefers for challenges to happen in the sanctioned zones, but it doesn't always shake out like that. Honestly, for as many times as Felix has been sent to the infirmary, it seems like the faculty really don't care about most of the finer details.

Supers fight to prove their worth, and according to his current track record, Felix is not worth much. Now, why someone as strong as Beckett feels the need to pester him of all people...? He doesn't really have an answer for that.

“It isn’t worth it,” Jeremey says again with a small shake of his head.

“Improvement is the whole point of coming to—” Felix begins.

“You really think you belong here?” Beckett cuts in. “Really? Even Jeremey has a more exciting ability than you do,” at the mention of his name, Jeremey raises an eyebrow but sticks to his own advice and ignores the insult for the both of them. “You’ve got nothing. You’re nothing. All you’re doing is hurting the reputation of the school by being here.”

Felix stands quickly, his chair scraping back against the floor, “That’s not true.” He raises his chin to look Beckett in the eyes, pretending not to hear Jeremey’s disappointed sigh.

“Do you want to prove it?” Beckett asks in a low taunt, standing a full head taller than Felix, for now. He’s one of the strongest supers in the school. Fighting him would almost certainly mean a trip to the infirmary… again. But Felix can’t help it, this desire to prove himself is too strong. He needs this. He knows his ability can be really cool. He knows it. He just needs it to work for once. He squares his shoulders, staring Beckett down, refusing to back down from his challenge.

The air around them grows still and quiet as the others in the cafeteria can sense the growing tension, heads start turning their way.

“What are you gonna do then? Stand on your tip toes?” Beckett jeers loudly, ready to give a good show, some of the onlookers chuckle. Felix, pushed past his boiling point, throws the first punch. Beckett doges easily, and returns the blow, landing a solid hit right to Felix’s gut. Felix stumbles backwards, Beckett wastes no time advancing, activating his ability as he strides forward. His face set in a smug grin, knowing there’s no way he’ll lose. He flicks his hand, using his ability to send a spray of molten sparks to Felix’s feet. Felix jumps back and is met with more laughter.  “You should really invest in some dance lessons, you’re not very good at this,” He says, tossing more fire to the ground in front of him, just toying with him.

“Come on, do something about it,” Beckett calls, sounding bored. “If you’re going to act like a mundane, maybe you should just transfer to a mundane school.” Beckett says before lunging forward. Felix is barely able to doge his flaming fist. Felix hears the laughter from the crowd. He grits his teeth and shifts, growing taller than Beckett. “Okay, now, have you considered trying out for our basketball team?” With a wave of his hand, he sends another spray of fire out towards Felix. It connects with his arm, brushing up against the bottom of his chin. He winces at the burn and he quickly slaps the flame out as it begins to catch on his sleeve. The growing crowd is getting louder now, laughing at him, mocking him alongside Beckett.

“Shut up!” He shouts, and something breaks inside of him. His blood roars in his ears, his face red from embarrassment, part of his sleeve still smoldering from Beckett’s last attack. Without thinking about it, without trying to force it, he grows. He grows fast, and he grows huge. In an instant, he’s bigger than he’s ever been before. Part of him aches from the rapid growth, but most of him doesn’t care. He doesn’t even think. “Is this what you wanted?” He shouts, dropping to his knees and reaching forward, he slaps Beckett down against the floor with his hand.

The crowd isn’t laughing anymore, they cover their ears to brace against the sound of his voice. He looks down at the super pinned beneath his palm. He looks like a little doll now, but there’s no fear in his eyes.

“Alright,” he grunts, straining under the weight of Felix’s hand, “Now you might be worth fighting.” Beckett’s lip curls into a predatory smile. He activates his full ability, both of his arms igniting to a vibrant inferno from fingertip to shoulder. Felix jolts, jerking his hand away quickly. He knows he just needs to act fast. He gasps against the sharp bite of flame in his hands as he reaches down and swipes Beckett up into the air, he slams him down with enough force to stun him. Then he balls his blistering hand into a fist and strikes down, pounding him into the ground again, and again and again.

Until his fist is blocked. It hits the air above Beckett with a hollow ‘thunk.’ He pauses long enough to see the iridescent glint of a barrier.

Jeremey. His head snaps away from Beckett, searching for his friend.

“He’s had enough, dude,” Jeremey says warily, having backed away from their table.

“You’re defending him?” He asks incredulously.

“You’ve already won! You don’t need to kill him,” Jeremey returns, holding his hands out like he’s trying to calm some kind of wild animal.

“Who’s fucking side are you on? You didn’t use a barrier when he was trying to set me on fire.”

“It’s not about sides, I just—”

“Drop your barrier,” Felix says. Done listening, he's ready to settle this. He turns his gaze back to Beckett, scowling down at him as he starts to push himself up on unsteady limbs.

“No.” Jeremey asserts firmly.

Felix scoffs, He thought they were friends, but it turns out he’s just like the rest of them. Beckett was right, he probably only liked hanging out with Felix so that he could feel better about his own ability. Now that Felix is actually strong, he doesn’t want to help him out anymore? It has to be jealousy.

Felix balls his hand into a fist, and smashes down against Jeremey’s pathetic little barrier. After three hits, he sees Jeremey stumble under the strain of bracing against his attacks, and the barrier begins to splinter. One more punch and the barrier shatters completely, Jeremey drops to a knee, breathing heavily. He tries to throw up another shield, but it flickers weakly.

“Hey. Is there a problem?” A new voice breaks through, giving Felix pause. Marshall Beauregard pushes through the crowd, looking from Beckett and Felix, over to his brother, Jeremey. The commotion building up between the gathered students is stopped instantly. Marshall is considered to be THE top dog at their school right now. Unlike Beckett, he isn’t antagonistic. In fact, he rarely uses his abilities at all. Felix looks him over, a new challenge sparking in his eyes.

“How about we all power down, and maybe just try to talk this one out?” Marshall says calmly.

If he can beat Beckett and Marshall, both in one go, he’d rocket up the ranks at the school. No one would ever say he doesn’t belong here. He’d run this school.   

He knows he can take him.

Felix reaches out to grab him up in a fist, But Marshall is faster. Vines burst from the floor. Wrapping over Felix’s hand, they thread between his fingers and tether him down to the ground. Before he can pull away, the vines layer thicker and thicker over his hand, and up over his wrist. The mass of plants constricts, growing tighter around his hand, solidifying with a thick bark over the top. Felix attempts to pull away, and thorns pierce into his skin. The poison barbs make his veins feel like they’re on fire.

Not like this.

Felix grits his teeth and focuses. Moving quickly, he grows smaller, just enough to give himself some room. He rips his hand free and explodes larger, even larger than before. The vines burst under the strain, sending out a shower of bark. He mauls his hand in the process, but he’s free now. He’s never been able to pull off any sort of dexterous size shifting before now, but he doesn’t have time to be impressed with himself.

Despite his hands burning from both Beckett’s fire and the poisonous thorns, he slaps his palm down on Marshall’s standing form. Once again, Marshall moves with a surprising amount of speed. He encases himself in a sharp cocoon. As Felix slams his hand down, Marshall’s defense pierces fully through the palm of his hand. He cries out as the bud opens into a massive flower, and out steps Marshall, entirely unscathed.

Felix rips the bloom from his hand, unimpaling his hand from the thick stalk. His hand oozes from its gaping wound. If he took the time to observe it, he could peer straight through his hand. He notes that both Marshall and Beckett had really good close range defense, it’s important that he touches them as little as possible when he’s attacking. He can’t take many more injuries if Marshall is going to spear entirely through him like that.

His stomach twists at the sight of the viscera, but the pain only makes his rage burn hotter.

“Do you yield?” Marshall asks simply.

Felix, breathing heavily, squints down at Marshall. He maintains his composure alright, but that was a lot of power he just exerted. He’s used to growing vines, sure. But against Felix, at this size, his plants rival the size of trees. His vines are more like branches. He has to be tired. It's a gamble, but Felix needs this victory. He can't give up.

He allows his shoulders to slump, as if resigning, but as Marshall’s guard drops at his sign of submission, he lashes out again. Feinting in one direction, tossing a cafeteria table his way. Then, acting quickly he reaches out with his other hand, this time he successfully snags him by the leg. Before he has a chance to retaliate, Felix flips his opponent up into the air and flings him down to the ground. The arc of his descent is swift and entirely unforgiving as he crashes into the ground. Marshall's attempt to conjure more vines to break his fall was rendered mostly unsuccessful, he hit the ground hard, certainly much harder than he would have liked. Without allowing him any more time to get his bearings, Felix’s fist comes smashing down after him. Felix watches as he tries to shamble back onto his feet, his vines forming a thorny barricade around him. But his plants are growing much slower than they were at the start. He was right, Marshall is running out of stamina. A wicked grin spreads across Felix’s face. This fight just turned in his favor.

Using his bloodied hand, he rips the vines from the ground, as simple as uprooting some weeds. Tossing them aside, he comes crashing down into Marshall again, grounding him into the floor and shattering the tile beneath him. Again, and again, and again. Until the rage coursing through him burns out, Until Marshall's mangled form is left twitching in a shallow crater.

Until he feels a sharp sting hits the side of his neck, followed by several more near his shoulder.

Felix turns his head sharply, searching for his next opponent. Instead, he sees a group of security officers lowering their weapons. They tranquilized him, he realizes with a start. He feels his limbs rapidly growing heavy. He sits back on his heels, noticing for the first time how silent the cafeteria is. His breathing grows deeper, and his vision becomes hazy. As his eyes sweep across the crowd, no one dares to meet his gaze. His head is swimming now, he wavers, his ability shutting down, taking his whole body with it.

As he shrinks back to normal, feeling his consciousness slip into darkness, his last thought is spent marveling at how he just managed to take down two of the school’s strongest supers, back-to-back.