[PAST] Back to the Beginning [Kyd]

[Angel]

Ugh, this was looking to be the longest day ever. Like even longer than the day when she decided that she was going to have a Star Trek marathon, and watched every movie. Every. Single. One. It had been the weekend, so she hadn’t missed any classes, and even though she had to scramble to finish her homework later, it had been totally worth it.

But even though that had probably been the longest day ever, this felt even longer. Though she had forgotten about the time when she had pulled two all-nighters in order to study for her finals. That was the longest, with no take-backs. At all.

Angel had been working on her essay for her Politics class for the past two hours, having forgotten about it completely until the last second, and so had skipped breakfast in order to work on it. Something which her stomach was protesting. Ugh. Yawning lightly, she cut a brat in line, bonking him on the head to make him shut up when he protested, and proceeded to get her food, hardly paying attention to the world around her. She seriously needed to get some more sleep. But she had hurt her stomach in training the other day, with a big ugly purple bruise blossoming across it, and so sleeping on her stomach was out. As was sleeping on her back, for obvious reasons, and sleeping on her side didn’t really agree with her. Ugh. It was like the universe was conspiring against her.

Ugh.

Ignoring the fact that she had massively overused that sound today, even within the confines of her own head, Angel plopped down at an empty table, and started to munch on her salad. Thank goodness, it was incredibly nice to have food in her. One never realized how much hunger sucked until they didn’t eat for a bit, in which case they would agree with her. Eating was nice. Eating was fun. Don’t prevent yourself from eating unless you want an unhappy body.

…She really did need more sleep, didn’t she?

Allowing her luminescent yellow eyes to wander, Angel found noise hitting her ears, more-so than usual. Curious, she shifted her body in that direction, and laid eyes on some of the bigger boys, the ones that would grow up and become minions or dumb muscle (true, she probably wouldn’t end up a head honcho or anything like that, but these were like bottom of the totem pole), in a group.

Huh. What were they doing…?

[Elliot Knight]

CLANG!

"Watch where you're walking, Mute!" One of the largest men in the world exclaimed as young Elliot Knight ran in to him. The boy looked down at his food, which was now covering his chest. He sighed silently. Of course it had to be today when he bumped in to the biggest idiot at H.I.V.E. Academy. After all, it just added the cherry topping to his lovely day.

It had started out like any other day should have. Elliot woke up, bathed, pulled on his clothes, and headed out the door. He had some breakfast and then went to his first class of the day: Villain History. It was a fantastic class. Elliot really liked it, until the teacher asked them all to tell him their favorite villain. When they finally got to Elliot he merely shrugged his shoulders, not really wanting to speak and not really having a favorite, but alas, the teacher insisted. This is when Elliot's day started to get rough.

Of course Elliot responded with his favorite villain, Two-Face had always been a pretty good villain. Of course, the way it sounded when he said it, made everyone laugh and that was when the teasing started. Usually, no one asked Elliot questions and the teacher always just assumed that Elliot was the quiet kid in the back of the class. Sadly, this was not one of those days.

The rest of Elliot's classes went a lot like that, especially because most of the kids were in the same classes as he was, which was just fricken peachy.

And now, Elliot was in lunch, getting ready to be teased by this mammoth of a man. He really didn't want to have to deal with it right now, but, today wasn't about to be that simple, was it?

"Aren't you going to speak, Crackle-Throat?" The boy sneered and stood up straighter, making Elliot wonder if he had been injected with steroids when he was a fetus. The mute just shook his head before he turned to go get more food and get some napkins to clean himself up. Sadly, when he turned, he ran straight into Steroid Boy's friend's chest and got food all over him.

Elliot had to resist the smirk that was tugging at his lips before he looked up and noticed that there were about five of them around him.

Well this isn't good, he thought to himself as they closed in around him. His red eyes looked around, wondering who he'd have to take out first. After all, he still had his metal tray...

[Angel]

Angel wasn’t going to leave an issue alone that intrigued her (she wasn’t a cat, after all), and she was rather curious to know what was going on with those massive boys over there, so she abandoned her tray, heading over in that direction. Yes, she was hungry and wanted to eat and all that, but all she had to do was check out what was going on, and then she could head on back. Simple, right?

Course, it didn’t turn out to be, but she wasn’t exactly pleased with that either.

Tapping one of the muscle covered brutes on the shoulder, Angel spoke up as he turned to her, clearly irritated. “What are-” her question got cut short as she spotted the boy in the center, covered with what looked like his food and in a defensive stance. Bullying. Huh.

She was about to dismiss it and simply walk away, as any kid needed to learn how to hold their own here, when she noticed that there were five against one. Five muscle-bound, hulking brutes against one kid that wasn’t too much bigger than her. …Seriously? That was good tactics and all, but against a fellow classmate? “Isn’t this a little, ya know, uneven?” she spoke up, and wasn’t prepared for the way that one of them turned a dark glare on her.

“Do you want to join the mute freak?” he asked, and though now Angel knew why they were bullying him, which was a rather important piece of information, seeing as it made her kind of ticked off towards the bullies in front of her, she shook her head.

“Naw, I’m good. Catch ya later.” With that statement, she stepped off, heading back towards her table… and watching from the corner of her eye when they turned their attention away from her (it was really easy to do that without being obvious, as her eyes were… different from most) and back to the kid. Poor guy. She couldn’t just let them do that, could she?

Nope.

The instant that none of them were watching her, she elongated her wings, back there in a flash as she kicked one in the groin (yep, she couldn’t fight hand-to-hand to save her life, but any self-respecting female could do that), and then smashed him between her wings, flattening him and taking him out for the count. One down, four to go.

“Figured I’d even the odds,” she spoke, luminescent eyes sparkling as she told the boy that statement, before she glanced around at the now-recovering mammoths. They had been startled, of course, but her sudden reappearance, but not so much anymore.

For a moment, she considered throwing in a statement of ‘May the Force be with you’, but figured this spot, right here, wasn’t the best. It just didn’t… flow. Pity.

[Elliot Knight]

To be honest, Elliot had no idea what he was supposed to do now. Well, he had a pretty good idea but he wasn't quite sure what Brother Blood would have to say about it, or his parents if they knew that he had been fighting but to be honest, something told him it was close to a matter of life and death. His red eyes narrowed at the guys as he took a defensive stance and prepared himself for either a serious beatdown, or a laugh and a pat on the shoulder.

Something told him it would be the former.

Then, a soft voice came from behind the men and one of them turned to look at her, clearly not amused in the slightest by her presence. She was about to ask what they were doing when she spotted him. He raised a silent eyebrow at her before she asked that wasn't the fight a bit one-sided.

Why yes, yes it is. How astute of you to notice... Elliot thought with a sigh before one of them turned to her and asked her, quite harshly, if she wanted to join him. Now Elliot was not up for playing games. Anger and irritation flashed behind his eyes. How dare they threaten a female classmate. Sure, him? He was like that nerd in a human high school, but her? One, she was a girl, and two, she was only asking a simple question.

Then, apparently the girl had come to her senses and said that she was good and that she'd catch them later before she walked off. Elliot watched as all five hulking idiots turned towards him. He made a quick assessment of the situation before he nodded to himself. This wasn't going to be easy in the slightest, but he'd do his damn best to kick butt anyway.

Elliot sighed silently and prepared to start fighting when one of them stepped towards him before one of them went down, his face contorted with pain as his hands flew towards his cash and prizes. Elliot cringed slightly before he watched as she smashed him between her wings. Her wings were beautiful...

The red-eyed boy shook his head. He needed to focus, even if she was helping him even the odds. He then looked at the four guys who were around them and the one guy who was trying to recover, although after that, he doubted he'd be up any time soon. Elliot's eyes narrowed slightly as one ran towards him. He held up his tray in defense, as if acting like he was useless at everything as the guy ran towards him and tried to get around the tray. It was then that Elliot created a hole in the tray and punched the guy through it. He stumbled back holding his nose before Elliot threw the tray aside and watched as the guy came back for more.

[Angel]

Alright, sweet, he had that one down. Angel had been worried, for a brief moment, when he got charged, but considering that she was a little preoccupied with trying to avoid the giant hands of one of the brutes, there was nothing that she could've done. Thankfully, he could apparently hold his own.

Though that 'punching through the tray' thing was very cool.

She was just nimbly dodging once more, as her plan was to wear this one down and then nail him, when she was grabbed by the upper arms from behind. Oh yeah, there were two more. Considering that her wings were useless in this situation, Angelique did what any normal person wearing a helmet would do in these circumstances: headbutt him.

Jerking her head back so that the metal of her helmet made heavy contact with his chin, she found herself released by the meathead, who was currently rattling off words that would make the Joker blush. Finding him sufficiently distracted, she whirled around, slamming him between her wings, before, for good measure, doing it again.

Yes, she was a bit of a one-trick pony indoors. But she had this, considering she was just up against idiots. Anyone smarter, and she'd be pancaked already. These dumbbells? They were lucky to be moving underneath their own brain power.

Judging him unable to fight, Angel swept yellow eyes over the mock 'battlefield'. Two to go, right?

[Elliot Knight]

Kyd Wykkyd nodded his head as his apparent partner (for the moment, anyway) headed butted the idiot who was holding her arms back so the other guy could hit her, which angered Kyd. It was at that moment that he decided these last two were his. After watching her slam the hulking moron between her wings twice before he crumpled and fell to the floor...

Elliot closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths.

Focus... After a moment, Elliot's eyes shot open and with a speed and stealth he wasn't quite sure were possible he ran towards them, emotionless as ever. Then, he teleported and appeared between them. As he had originally hoped, both of them swung at him before he ducked and grabbed both their arms. He pulled them towards him and let go of their arms just in time to punch one of them in the face. The other continued to fall.

Sadly, this one was a bit smarter than Elliot wanted and he ended up catching himself. With a sigh, the kid dressed in black brought his foot up and promptly kicked him in the head, knocking him out.

Elliot shook his head and sighed silently before looking around at the idiots around him, save for the one who was currently standing, but holding his bleeding nose. His eyes were watering from the pain, making Elliot smile, but only slightly.

Kyd Wykkyd then looked over at his new friend and nodded in thanks before he picked up his tray and headed to get more food.

[Angel]

Immediately, at the sight of the boy being, well, absolutely awesome, Angel whistled, impressed. Teleporting, smashing one in the face, and then kicking the last in the head? That was something that belonged in a Bond movie, if Bond had superpowers. Seriously, that was one of the more wicked things she had seen from someone in real life who wasn’t a famous superhero/supervillain.

In that instant, she decided she had to get his name, at minimum.

Applauding lightly with a grin, before shrinking her wings (which tingled, honestly, in a weird but nice feeling) and stepping through the downed bullies and stopping by the boy. “That was pretty sweet,” she complimented him with a grin, meaning it. After all, she hadn’t seen anyone who could teleport before, which was a pretty sweet little trick. And that whole thing where he punched through the tray. Still wasn’t quite sure she got that one, especially considering that the tray didn’t have a hole in it. “Nice working with ya, I’m Angel.”

She didn’t ask for his name yet, of course, she wasn’t stupid. He apparently couldn’t talk (or was just really, really quiet), so why would she ask?

Seeing that he was headed to get more food, Angel shot him a smile, falling slightly into step for the moment that it would take to both ask her question, and then get an answer. Just a nod or a shake would suffice. “Wanna come eat with me, once you’ve got your food?” the winged girl asked, hoping for a yes.

He seemed pretty sweet, plus, she hadn’t really made any friends here. Not yet.

[Elliot Knight]

Elliot sighed silently as he went to go get food but was stopped when the girl with the helmet and the wings walked up to him. He turned and looked at her slightly, his face emotionless as usual. She smiled and had said that his moves were sweet. He nodded his head slightly, thanking her silently. Elliot wasn't really one to show emotion or speak unless he was around his parents and it wasn't that he didn't like people, he just wasn't usually one to just start trusting people either. That wasn't in Elliot's programming.

Then the girl said that it was nice working with him and that her name was Angel. Isn't that cute? He asked himself, a bit on the sarcastic side. He couldn't help it. He was feeling a little bitter at that moment and time. To be honest, he actually felt really bitter. Sure, she had helped him, but she had thought about just leaving him there to get the holy hell beaten out of him. That was the last thing he needed. A flashback to how the accident had happened.

The moment Angel stepped forward, Elliot took that as an okay to finally go get his lunch. He was sure there was only five minutes for him to eat anyway. Once in line, he looked at the girl who asked him if he wanted to sit with her after he had gotten his food.

Elliot paused momentarily. Did hewant to sit alone? Or did he want to at least try and make friends? He wasn't sure what he wanted but in the end, after glancing at her he nodded his head slightly before he continued on in the lunch line, grabbing what food he thought was appetizing.

Sadly, there wasn't really a whole lot to choose from. So, he grabbed a tuna sandwich wrapped in plastic, a bag of chips, and a water before heading to the register, money in hand. Thankfully, the lunch woman shook her head and he pocketed his cash before looking around for Angel, not that she would be too hard to find.

[Angel]

Well, he was sort of emotionless, wasn’t he? It seemed that the fact that he couldn’t speak was true, because he just nodded and didn’t say anything, which made… Well, Angel wasn’t sure what to think about that. Wasn’t a big deal, though, she had a notebook and some pens in her bag. He could always use those if he said he would eat with her.

At his nod, Angelique grinned brightly at him. “Awesome!” she cheered, finding this great. For one, she didn’t really like to eat alone, not because it was lonely or anything, no, but usually because it invited the weirdoes to sit at her table, the ones that she would rather curl up in a dark, dank hole and stay there forever. And two, he seemed like a pretty sweet guy, so why not? “I’m just over there.”

With a gesture in the direction of her table, and one last flash of a grin, she was off, stepping lightly, as if on air, back to her spot. After all, her tagging along while he got lunch? Weird. So she plopped herself back down, and proceeded to eat her salad once more, though it was more like picking at it. She kind of wasn’t as hungry, seeing as she was having someone come sit with her and all, and that was something totally different! Fun times!

Angel was still hungry, despite not being as hungry, and she was a fairly quick eater, so by the time that she spotted… the boy, she’d really have to get his name, from the line, she had already started on her soup. Chicken noodle, alas, not chicken and wild rice, but she was good with it. Not a sandwich person.

As soon as she saw him look for her, though (not that she was super hard to miss, she thought), Angelique popped up a hand, waving it until she was positive that he had seen her, before she returned it back to its proper place of helping her eat her soup. Yum.

Ooh, she should probably get her notebook out of her bag, and a pen. Popping open her bag beside her, she dug for it.

[Elliot Knight]

She certainly is a perky little thing, isn't she? Elliot thought to himself as he was picking out food in line. She had cheered and grinned brightly at him after he had told her he would sit with her. It was...strange to him. After all, he didn't really have very many friends...okay, okay so he didn't have any friends, but that was besides the point.

Angel wasn't exactly someone who had known him all of his (or her) life and they weren't best friends or anything so he wasn't sure why she had been so excited. He confused him as he picked out his foods. Nothing was better than tuna, chips, and a water. Mmm...deliciousness...well, to Elliot, anyway.

After getting his food, Elliot turned and looked for Angel. Sure, she had mentioned where she was sitting but it was always different when you were in a different part of the cafeteria. His deep red eyes sliced through the cafeteria trying to find those big, angelic wings, but before he even saw the wings, he saw Angel's arm swinging around in the air. He nodded to her so she could stop that and headed over.

What am I doing? She could be like them...or maybe this is a pity friendship thing. After all, I'm not the coolest or the most attractive so, really, why should she be friends with me? He asked himself as he approached the table.

Once close enough, Elliot sat down across from his new "friend" and set down his tray in front of him. He picked ups his fork and dug in to his food. As per usual, he said nothing since saying things usually hurt him which wasn't something that he really enjoyed. It was then that he noticed her digging around in her book bag. His head tilted to the side as he chewed the tuna fish sandwich bite that he had taken as if asking her what she was doing. After all, it wasn't every day that Elliot sat down at lunch with someone and they rifled through their backpack for things.

Of course, had Elliot known what she was doing, he probably would have been a little more okay with it. After all, she was just being friendly...

[Angel]

Flashing the boy a grin and a cheerful “Hey!” as he sat down, Angel focused on her bag, digging for… Ah, there it was! Pulling out her crimson notebook, the one she used for doodling and writing and plans for world domination, pretty much whatever came into her mind at that moment, and flipping it to a clean page, she plopped it down next to the boy, setting her Star Wars pencil on top of it without a qualm. Did she like her movies? Yes, she did. And if he didn’t like/respect/be okay with that, he was out of there, period.

“There!” she told him, triumphantly grinning. “Can’t carry on a conversation all by lonesome, now, can I?” The thought occurred to her that maybe he was just quiet, of course, something that she had thought earlier, but if he was quiet, he was really quiet, quieter than anyone she had ever met, and he’d probably prefer to use the notebook then, anyway.

Course, he could just not be an often talker, and give her a scathing reply at how his vocal cords could function just fine, thank you very much. Would be an interesting response, for sure, but somehow, the meta-human highly doubted it.

“So, what’s your name?” Angel asked, effectively starting the conversation now that she could be properly answered. She honestly was curious, as she couldn’t just keep calling him ‘boy’, now could she? Of course, she had yet to say it out loud, but it was really getting to be quite the tiresome thing, so a name would be absolutely fabulous.

Agreeing with herself mentally, a weird habit of hers, she tucked into her soup, yellow eyes meeting red for a moment. Huh, they both had those weird, pupil-less eyes… Stuff in common, then! And she hadn’t even learned his name yet!

Hopefully, this was the beginning of a beautiful friendship. That was always how it started out in the movies, and she’d learned to trust that kind of thing (at least the reasonable parts of them).

…Then again, that was the same way that romances and rivalries started out, too…

[Elliot Knight]

Elliot gazed at the girl impassively as she smiled at him and said hello. He nodded to her before watching her closely as she dug through her school bag. He grew curious as she continued to dig around inside before she pulled out a crimson note book.

What in the world? He thought to himself before she opened the notebook to a clean page and set it down next to him before she placed a Star Wars pencil on top. He looked up at her a moment before looking down at the notebook and pencil. His chewing of his sandwich had slowed quite a bit.

Angel then said that she couldn't very well carry on a conversation by herself and Elliot's eyes snapped to hers, his face still emotionless before he looked back at the notebook. No one had ever wanted to talk to him...especially when it came to this place. She was the only person who had ever wanted to talk to him here at H.I.V.E. Academy...and she was the only one who had given him an alternative to speaking...aside from some of his teachers, anyway. Some of them knew of his speaking...problem and usually allowed him to write his answers on the board, right or wrong, Elliot didn't care so long as having participation credit meant class credit.

After a moment, Angel asked what Elliot's name was. He thought a moment before he picked up the Star Wars pencil and wrote down his name in perfect cursive. He had had a few years to make his cursive handwriting almost perfect.

When Elliot pulled his hand away four words were on the paper. The first set of words were his name and the second set of words were his code name, which he had thought of himself... Although he knew he would need to change it one day, he didn't really care. He liked it.

Elliot Knight
Kyd Wykkyd

Elliot gazed up at her a moment before he opened his bag of chips and took another bite of his sandwich. He looked down at his tray and then realize he had forgotten his apple. He shrugged it off before digging in to the bag of chips and waiting for her response.

[Angel]

He seemed surprised, for some reason, at least judging from the way that his eyes snapped so quickly to hers. Was he unused to people going out of their way for him, or something? If everyone acted like those musclebound brutes from earlier, she could understand that, but better not jump to conclusions… For all Angel knew, he could just be surprised by her Star Wars pencil. He could be a Trekkie, instead, or think the whole thing was bogus. The former, she could respect, as she was a Trekkie herself and simply embraced almost all movies and media, but the latter…

Well, that would be the record player screeching to a halt, right there.

Munching Slurping Eating her soup, the girl waited as he scrawled down his name, except he wasn’t scrawling. Nope, he was being all neat and careful and stuff. Her signature was neat, too, as was her handwriting, though she usually wasn’t careful when just writing down something real quick. As soon as he finished and pulled his hand back, her luminescent yellow eyes raked over the words.

Elliot Knight and Kyd Wykkyd, huh?

She smiled at him, aware that she probably looked really weird. “Like the spelling,” Angel informed him, finding it amusing, before she posed a question. “Do you like Kyd or Elliot better?” Personally, she couldn’t choose which fit him better. Kyd was shorter, and seemed more… suitable, but at the same time, it was a normal word, just spelled differently. Elliot… was too long, but was a proper name, and stuff. Interesting choice… Maybe a nickname of some sort?

Leaning back slightly in her seat, Angel offered up her real name. “I’m Angelique Morel, myself,” she told him, which sort of revealed her French heritage. At least, she assumed it was a French heritage, because both of her names were French, but it didn’t really impact her… After all, she had never met her parents and stuff, but oh well. If she was French, she was French. “But I’ve always gone by Angel.”

Even before she became a villain, because of her wings. Certainly a sense of humor and irony with her name, especially considering she was totally not an Angel.

Doing good was for idiots!

[Elliot Knight]

Elliot continued to chomp away on his chips and sandwich and watched as the female across from him looked at his name and code name if she even said an insulting word once during this conversation, he'd stick half of her into the wall and would leave the other half out. Sure, may be a little harsh, but Elliot wasn't going to allow people to constantly make fun of him, especially since he was trying to make a new life for himself here at the Academy.

Then Angel said that she liked the spelling and asked if he liked to be called "Elliot" or "Kyd" more. He shrugged his shoulders. No one had ever asked him that before to be honest seeing as everyone back at his high school for "normal people" always called him "Elliot" or "Knight." It all depended on her preference he supposed. He wouldn't really care one way or the other, after all, why should he?

Elliot then picked up the pencil with a silent sigh and scrawled on the paper effortlessly. Once his hand was pulled away it simply said,

Whatever you want.

After a moment, Angel introduced herself further, allowing him to hear her full name, which he noted was a bit French sounding, but he didn't say anything on the matter... Well...even if he had been able to speak without hurting himself he would probably not have said anything about it anyway. It wasn't like it was a big deal or anything...well...to him.

Angel then said that she had always been called "Angel." Elliot motioned to her wings with his free hand that wasn't holding his tuna fish sandwich before he took another bite. He was silently stating that it was because of her wings, or so he assumed. After all, she didn't seem like too much of an angel if she was here at H.I.V.E. Academy.

[Angel]

A… shrug? That didn’t really answer her question, though Angel supposed it could mean he didn’t care. That was actually the most likely answer, now that she had lit upon it, but having some sort of confirmation would be nice… And then, as if hearing her thoughts, he began writing. Glancing at the words once he had finished, the girl thought it over for a quick moment. Kyd or Elliot or… Ah, that was perfect!

She’d take a third option, then, which was awesome. “’Kay, calling you ‘Elli’,” she informed him, smiling with yellow eyes sparkling, though one couldn’t tell. Would he react badly? Angel thought it fit better than either ‘Kyd’ or ‘Elliot’, mostly because the first was too short, and the second was too long, but if he wanted her to pick something else, she’d go with the former, and call him ‘Kyd’. Seriously, though, she’d much rather prefer Elli, by a longshot. Totally.

And he had said ‘whatever you want’, so she could choose to ignore anything he said to the contrary, if she wanted to.

Deciding that she liked the option, Angel grinned slightly at his motion, grasping at what she thought was his intention (this was harder than she thought it would be, wow), and nodded. “Yeah, wings and all. Certainly don’t have the halo for it.” Despite what she and the people at the orphanage had thought. Golden hair and wings? Heck yes, they had thought that. Been barking up the wrong tree, for sure. One of the reasons she was considering changing her hair.

…Aww, her soup was all gone. Taking a sip of her water, she then started on her cookie, breaking off a small piece to eat. She liked cookies, especially homemade ones, but the cafeteria ones were pretty good, she had to give them that.