A few days later, Lucius was wandering around the Town of Jericho. Why? Well, Xavier and Ajax were supposed to give him a tour, the keyword being supposed to. They bailed; for what reason? He had no idea.
"I swear those two dumbasses," He grumbled, sending multiple middle finger emojis in the group chat he'd made with them, voice dripping with annoyance. Sighing, he put his phone back in his pocket and continued wandering the town. Eventually coming to a stop when he spotted a familiar shock of white hair sitting in a parked car across the road.
Principal Weems sat in the vehicle, chatting animatedly on her phone. Completely unaware of the black-haired girl who had landed only a few feet away after dismounting a fire hydrant of all things. Lucius observed as Wednesday snuck past the unaware principal, so focused on not being caught that she bumped into an older man loading crates of apples into his pickup truck.
Lucius, who'd seen this coming, had made it just in time to catch the crate before it could fully tip over. On instinct, he shot a hand out, laying gently on Wednesday, who began to stumble slightly after the collision. The man snatched his apples back, glaring at the two students.
"Who let you two freaks out of your cages?" He snapped, "Be more careful the next time they let you out for your walks."
Lucius's eyes narrowed slightly before he put on a fake smile, "You know, I'm suddenly very envious of everyone that you've never met. I hope you have the day you deserve."
Wednesday looked the older man over like she was examining a walking corpse, which, to her, he practically was. "Don't worry, he will," she said, turning and walking away briskly, Lucius following close behind.
After a few seconds, Lucius grew bored with the silence, "Sooooo, any particular reason you're dodging Weems, or do you two have some intense secret game of hide and seek going on?"
Wednesday glanced back but kept moving, "If you insist on knowing-"
"Which I do,"
She gave him an annoyed look at his interruption, "I was being forced to attend court-ordered torture sessions."
Lucius gave her a skeptical look, "I find it hard to believe Weems would agree to send one of her precious students to torture sessions."
"I suppose she wouldn't consider mandatory therapy as torture, but that's where she and I differ. I refuse to be subjected to society's view on teenage angst and how it can be fixed. I don't need therapy; it's a waste of time." Wednesday replied.
Lucius blinked, "Riiiggghhhtt..."
_______________
The two entered the Weather Vein Cafe, a local hotspot in Jericho. Making their way to the counter, where the barista was nervously tampering with the espresso machine. A burst of steam obscured their arrival, and when it faded, the barista let out a curse, jerking back in surprise. Lucius observed him closely, feeling something tugging at the back of his mind.
"Geez, you make a habit out of scaring people?" The guy asked, eyeing them weirdly, his gaze lingering on Lucius for a while longer than it should have, something Lucius noticed.
"It's more of a hobby," Wednesday replied dryly, "I need a quad over ice. Tyler," she read his name tag.
The barista, Tyler, looked lost for a moment, something Lucius found amusing. "It's four shots of espresso...over ice," he added helpfully, which seemed to agitate the other teen for some reason.
"I know what a quad is, but in case you haven't realized, our espresso machine is having a seizure. "Tyler replied snarkily before calming down and addressing Wednesday, "All I can offer is drip," he motioned to a coffee pot that a middle-aged man was pouring from
Wednesday managed to look somewhat insulted and uncaring at the same time. "But drip is for people who hate themselves and know their lives hold no real purpose."
The man froze mid pour, looking up at the three teenagers who were all eyeing him, one with sympathy, the other with indifference and pity, and the third was biting his lip and squeezing his eyes shut to keep himself from laughing obnoxiously.
Take a guess who.
The man put down his cup and trudged away with his head down.
"Thanks for that," Tyler said with a sigh.
Wednesday ignored him and eyed the broken machine, "What's wrong with it?"
"It's a temperamental monster that has a mind of its own," Tyler said, then held up an instruction manual, "Plus the instructions are in Italian, a language I don't know."
"Mm, shocking," Lucius remarked, smirking as he leaned on the counter. Meanwhile, Wednesday went to the barista's side, snatching the instructions from him and looking them over before shoving them in Lucius's face.
"Read." She reached for a wrench sitting to the side and began to work on the machine.
Lucius gave her a flat look, one she returned when she realized he was, in fact, not reading. The two stared at each other for a long moment before Lucius sighed and cleared his throat, "Tri-wing screwdriver and 4 millimeter allen wrench."
As he read, he conincidentally missed the very slight curving to Wednesday's lip.
After a few minutes, the machine was fixed, and Wednesday was holding her quad, waiting in a booth for Tyler's shift to end. Lucius sat across from her, bored, examining his nails as he struck up meaningless conversation.
"So, tell me again why you want to, and I quote, escape the clutches of Nevermore again?"
Wednesday placed the cup down and looked at him with a scrutinizing look. "Why do you care?" She questioned
Lucius gave a little smile and straightened, catching her gaze head-on, leaning forward a bit. "Because, despite the little I know about you, you're pretty interesting, Mrs. Addams; you seem very outspoken, if your comment about drip was anything to go off."
"You expected me to subscribe to the social expectations of a submissive woman?"
"Not at all, I was just surprised at the amount of attitude that comes in such a little package." Lucius grinned back.
Before Wednesday could give him a no doubt snarky response, their attention was drawn to three figures that walked up to their table, each smirking in their own uniquely stupid way.
"What do we have here? A duo of nevermore freaks sitting at our table," Goon #3 as Lucius had dubbed him, tapping his healed and buckled shoe
"Spell Duo," Lucius said with a dry expression.
The Goon blinked for a moment before looking to his friends for help. Goon #2 somehow managed to look even dumber than #3, leading Lucius to think the middleman, goon #1, who looked between his two friends with an exasperated eye, was the ring leader.
"Wednesday, growing tired of the idiotic looks being passed around, spoke up.
"Is there a particular reason why you three are dressed like religious zealots?"
"We're pilgrims," Goon #2 corrected snidely
"Tomato, tomato," she responded dryly.
"We work at Pilgrim World," the leader spoke, slamming down a flyer he held in his hand and sliding it to the middle of the table.
Wednesday looked at the flier for a moment, "It takes a special type of idiot to dedicate an entire theme park to mass genocidal zealots."
"It's actually quite impressive, really, you never know just how stupid someone could be until you take the time to think about it," Lucius said, taking a sip from the coffee he'd gotten from...somewhere.
"My dad owns Pilgrim World. Who are you calling stupid?"
"I didn't call him stupid, I called him an idiot," Wednesday stated calmly,
Lucius looked at goon #1 for a moment before smiling, "Your name's Lucas, right?"
Lucas gave them both a glare before Tyler grabbed his shoulder, trying to pull him away, "Leave them alone, guys."
Goon #2 didn't waste anytime, shoving Tyler back with a snarl, "Back off, stay out of this, Galpin."
"Yeah, stay out of this, Galpin," Wednesday echoed, standing up and stepping to Lucas, who was glaring at her. '
"Ooh," Lucius said, leaning forward with his elbows on the table.
Lucus glared at the shorter girl, "You ever been with a normie?" He asked
"Ew. That's such a weird thing to say," Lucius made a background comment.
"I haven't found one that could handle me," Wednesday replied
"OoOoOoh, she basically called y'all pussy." Lucius said, tossing a piece of popcorn into his mouth,
Lucas looked at Lucius in bewilderment, "Do you have like an invent-BOO!"
Wednesday interrupted his statement by flinching at him, causing Lucus to fall on his ass.
Goon #1 made the mistake of reaching out to grab her shoulder in Lucus's defense, only to have her twist his arm and send her knee into his dick.
Lucius, watching this, laughed so hard that coffee came flying from his mouth, landing on goon #2. Who, after gagging and wiping his face clean, glared at Lucius hatefully.
"Ooh," Lucius gave a little chuckle, easily able to read the hostile intent on the idiot's face, "Trust me, that's not a smart idea."
His warning was brushed aside as the Goon leapt into the booth, aiming to tackle Lucius into the wall.
Lucius's eyes flashed with malevolent intent, his claws extended, and before his attacker could register, his arm shot forward in a spear hand, driving through Goon #2's chest like tissue paper, the sound of tearing flesh and crushed ribs causing the entire cafe to go silent.
Goon #2's eyes were blown wide open as blood flowed from his gaping mouth in a mini waterfall, the blood floodinghis punctured lung, flowing out in what seemed to be a never-ending river.
His eyes met the mordidly amused gaze of Lucius Draven before the world went black.
*GASP*
____Goon #2's POV_____
The world came back into focus sharply. His eyes moved frantically, mind reeling with the shock of his apperant death, but looking around...he hadn't moved, his body remained unresponsive as he stood rotted to the same spot he'd been in when the coffee had hit him. He looked around until he met those eyes again, the eyes of the guy who'd killed him, who'd extinguished his life like he was nothing but an ant under a magnifying glass.
His knees gave, and he slid to the floor, unable to look away from the hypnotic gaze of this...this monster.
_____POV END____
The rancid scent of piss caused all the teenagers to pause and scrunch their faces, all eyes turning to the collapsed figure who sat on the floor like a puppet with its strings cut. Lucus and Goon #1 were shocked to see their friend on the ground, in a growing puddle of clear liquid.
Wednesday, watched as the "tough guy' from before sat there in a trance, his face deathly pale, even more so than her own, and his eyes void of any and everything but the one emotion she wished she evoked in every person she came across. Terror
And the sole recipient of the terror? Lucius Draven, who sat calmly in the booth, elbow resting on the table as his palm cradled his cheek. His face was a mask of blankness, but she could clearly read the amusement and vindictive pleasure swimming in his eyes.
"What in the hell is going on in here!?" A voice broke through the now silent cafe.
All heads turned to see Sherif Galpin standing a few feet away, his face set into a stern scowl as his eyes scanned the scene.
His eyes roamed for a while before spotting the kid on the ground, "Eric?!"
He marched over to the teenager, then had to stop before stepping into the liquid on the ground, his face scrunching at the smell, before his head whipped around to his son.
"Tyler, what the hell happened in here!" He demanded an explanation. Tyler rushed to explain the situation to his father, saying that Wednesday was acting in self-defense and admitting he had no idea what had actually happened to Eric,
The Sheriff was watching Eric, Lucius, and Wednesday closely as he explained. He noticed that Eric's blank and fearful gaze never once shifted from the young man sitting in the booth, wearing a variation of the Nevermore uniform.
"You two are Nevermore students?" He asked his two main suspects.
Yes. They are," The voice of Principal Weems interrupted from the entrance.
At the sound of her voice, Wednesday's frown deepened a bit, but she met the principal's gaze nonetheless. Lucius, however, opted to turn his back on the entire situation and act as if he hadn't just turned someone into an unresponsive husk sitting in its own piss.
"Mrs. Addams, Mr. Draven, both of you, outside right this instant." Weems voice left no room for argument. Not even the Sheriff could get a word in after she sent him a scathing yet meaningful look.
Wednesday turned her head up and left the cafe, not sparing a glance behind her at the two boys she'd beaten up who were glaring hatefully at her back.
Lucius stood from the booth and followed behind, but when he passed by Eric, the unresponsive teen, finally moved, well, not really. His eyes widened to the size of dinner plates before he let out a shriek and scrambled to get up and run, only to slip and knock himself unconscious when his head hit the hardwood floor.
"Pfffftt," Lucius could barely keep his laugh in as he passed by the Sheriff, purposefully bumping shoulders with the man. Who, after hearing Wednesday's last name, was glaring at her intensely with a look of prejudice that Lucius knew very well.
"Oh! Sorry, I'm really clumsy sometimes," he said, offering a smile, before moving past the man and outside to where Weems and Wednesday were already in the principal's car.
This won't be a pleasant ride back.
Author Notes: I made a mistake.
And I would like to apologize for the delay in this chapter. No, I WAS NOT GOING TO DROP THE STORY. BUT I was stuck on how to write this. As I said, I don't want Lucius to turn into 'Captain Save a Hoe.' So I still gave Wednesday her fight scene while also showing off some of what Lucius can do. Bonus chapter next release, as an apology and a reward, if you guys can figure out what he did to Eric.
This chapter took so longbecausee I wasn't sure where to go. I knew this was where Tyler and Lucius would meet, but I wasn't sure exactly how I wanted them to interact. And as for the slight changes in Lucius's personality from his more "Figure it out step by step" persona, a LOT can change in four months, especially as his progression goes up. The less the system becomes involved, and the more his powers become a 100% natural part of who he is, including some small changes in mannerisms, the more in tune with his animalistic side he becomes.
I'll see you all in the next chapter. Please read and review. Let me know where I can improve.
I'm also sorry for the excessive use of "goon" in this chapter, lol.