Chương 10: R&R Ch. 10 — Denial of Assistance

Astra had two problems at her academy, and as the day for their first practical approached, she still did not know how to deal with the greater of the two evils. The lesser being Jasmine, scion of Brynhild. The fact that she was sent here meant one of her trusted staff members was a spy. Spies were common in the training programs. Hell, Astra herself was a spy for Equilibrium. She just happened to also live in their territory.

If Brynhild let one of her direct descendants, which Jasmine certainly was, live here, it meant the mole was deep. Even more, the fact that the only compliment her mentor had to give her was that she was hardworking set off all kinds of alarm bells. In every other subject she was above average when it came to other scions. But in the domain of her unique ability, which she should be better than everyone else at, she was only hardworking? There was something fishy there.

And the fact she wasn't even her biggest problem was aggravating to the nth degree. No, the biggest problem was her teammate Nicholas. His name had crossed the desk with Jasmine's, and she had presumed he would just be a hanger-on to her glory. It was what happened to most teams made before they were even D-Rank. Her opinion had shifted after he had spent a week training relentlessly.

While he had set the training rooms to private, as the head she could still see and watch the transition of having no control to high levels of it for one word was astounding. The fact that his control had been bad in the first place had been odd. The support members for a scion usually at least had some prior experience, but everything she had seen said he didn't have any prior training.

Which led to more questions, but ultimately someone who had the moment click early on how to control the ability to bend reality wasn't going to harm things. Then the young man had to go on and embarrass his tutor in front of everyone. It had been a losing battle for decades to find a domain type willing to teach, and Leo was only here for parole, so she knew he would be less than stellar. But in fifteen minutes, Nicholas had embarrassed the man. And proceeded to ditch all power training classes since.

That set a worrying precedent. Nicholas and Jasmine would make names for themselves. Astra was sure they would D-Rank by this time next year. And while they could burn out or self-destruct between the gulf of D to C like most did, she doubted it. Hardworking was the word that described both of them. But not as much as obsessive. She bet they would hit B, maybe even A, before they stopped. That made them important.

And if it came out that they came from her academy, it would be one of the greatest marks on her career. She had only produced a handful of B-Ranks in total. But it would be a black mark if they did it sloughing. It would say they reached it despite her, not because of her. Even if everyone in the know knew that those who reached beyond D were always going to do it and nothing would stop someone. That didn't matter; the world saw the academies to teach supers, so that's what they saw.

Even if the reason the academies actually existed was to keep young supers safe. Astra watched as Nicholas moved to the private training room he had rented out for the month. There was no competition for that room since everyone else here would be with their tutors. She had another option she could use that would give a more legitimate reason for Nicholas not to go to class, but she didn't want to use it. Leo burst into her office, face hot with anger.

"Astra, you said you would take care of it!" the man-child screeched.

"And you're supposed to be tutoring the kids with domain powers," Astra said, looking at Leo coldly. Pieces of her still remembered him as her friend that had met when they were in the academy program for safekeeping. But he chipped away at that image every day.

"They're having a study hall to practice what they should be working on, but I want to know what you're going to do about the pissant that embarrassed me?" Leo said, spittle nearly flying from his mouth. Only an application of her own control stopped it.

"Nicholas hasn't done anything to warrant expulsion. And let me remind you that he couldn't be expelled anyway."

"So he's going to get away with it? How could someone who wants to go hero be ditching the one class that actually matters, not like the law actually applies to us with useful powers? It would be better to cripple the kid so that he doesn't hurt someone accidentally with his lack of finesse." Astra stood up, her hair and eyes glowing with celestial radiance.

"Leo, you're out of line. Now, are you going to do your job? Or do I need to throw you in jail? Because we are under the banner of The Equilibrium and the law applies." Leo wilted. Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. As he should. He couldn't fight her when they were the same rank. She had four on him. She had long ago given up on reaching the heights a Pinnacle could reach, but the road was long, and she walked as far as she could.

There were few that could stand up to Astra when she put her foot down, and the safety of supers who couldn't even yet fly was where she did. The world flexed as Leo tried to assert his domain in the surrounding space. The thing he had valued so much, what had let him have better authority, was his limited space. Higher than average authority for a domain specialist wasn't high. And her own domain abilities from ranking up crushed his without her needing to think about it. Leo cowered before her.

"You should be grateful that Nicholas doesn't seem to care about you, because with his connections he could have you sentenced to far worse." Astra said, voice low. Leo scoffed.

"So what? You're afraid to act because he's a hanger-on of the Brynhild brat? And here I thought you had a spine, Light of New Cairo." Before she could respond, a powerful presence washed over both of them. It stayed there for a long moment.

"Get out." Astra said as soon as the eyes above were gone. Leo smiled.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm going to go make sure this month's batch of Beyonders are weakened properly." Astra watched him walk away, wondering why one of the pinnacles hadn't done anything. Though she supposed the names were bandied about often enough, they could have just been background noise. She hoped so for both of their sakes. Nobody would be able to withstand the attention of one of them for long. Though her decision was made for her. People were trying to use the kids she protected for some purpose.

She couldn't stop Brynhild, but she could keep them safe from other threats. And Leo would be a threat. Nicholas stood for everything that Leo couldn't accept about himself. The problem was why did Brynhild not care if the hanger-on was being pushed. Trials were for those who wanted to go the distance. In a flash of light, she dematerialized before rematerializing in Nicholas's training room as he stood on the wall.

"Uh, hi?" Nicholas said before walking back to the floor.

"I've come to make you an offer," Astra said, hands clasped behind her back as she surveyed the room. It looked like every training room Nicholas had used. A bunch of loose items of various wait scattered around the room haphazardly. Which they only looked like due to him throwing around his power.

"What kind of offer?" Nicholas asked, moving to the small rest area he had picked out where he kept his bag and water.

"Due to your circumstances, while I'm not a domain type, I thought it was only fitting that I offered my own services to teach you so you can improve." Nicholas raised an eyebrow, looking at her.

"While it's not public knowledge, once you reach C-Rank everyone can mimic domain abilities, though obviously our authority is going to be a stiff breeze compared to yours. Once you're closer in tier to them." Nicholas nodded as if that made sense. Astra supposed it did when it came to super powers.

"No, thank you."

"Wait, what?" Astra asked, not sure she had heard him correctly.

"I don't want private tutoring." Nicholas said before moving back to the center of the room. She could even feel his power building. Was he really just going to go right back to practice as if the conversation was over.

"Can I ask why?"

"Because you don't care about me, nor am I talented enough to warrant special focus from you. You're only offering because of Jasmine. You're worried about us moving to another place to train. But we won't. So you have no reason to do that. Even if the offer stays, the answer's no. Jasmine wants to prove she can do it, and I have no interest in taking the easy way when I can still push myself down my road." Astra stared at him before deciding to go to the most important information.

"You and Jasmine won't transfer even if you get nothing out of this?"

"Nope. Jasmine wants to learn from her tutor. And I'm content learning on my own."

"So she gets a tutor and you don't? That seems terrible for your team."

"I have one. The same as her. But I'm only getting offered special lessons because her name is on my file. Otherwise, you would be offering this to everyone in that class." Astra didn't have a response to that because it was mostly true. The other part was because several were actually like Leo proclaimed and had picked the power so they could make money.

"Do you have anything else?" Nicholas asked, tapping his elbow as he thought.

"Are you sure you want to walk this road? A hero won't get far if they're not willing to ask for help."

"I am willing. I'll get tons of help, but I'm going to earn it, and I'm going to ask for it. So talk to us next week about extra lessons." Nicholas said with a shrug. Next week?

"What do you mean by next week?"

"Tomorrow we're going to participate in the dog and pony show to rack up belief. Jasmine and I are going to be the best of everyone here. Then I might think I warrant special attention." Nicholas said, smiling. That put Astra in a hard spot. It would be better if he was getting training both for him and for her future, but if it was too heavy-handed with the videos they released to the public, that would not end well.

"Why are you so sure? Neither you nor Jasmine are anywhere near the top rated." Nicholas stared at Astra, his eyes hard as his spirit roared in defiance. Young F-Ranks always were so responsive with their spirits. But even compared to normal, there was something about Nicholas's that felt not wild but unrestrained. Astra could recognize the signs now that she was next to him. The way he stood, the way his spirit moved.

And most importantly, the power he had without the control that he then figured out in the span of a month.

"You're not a hanger-on for Jasmine, are you?" Astra asked quietly. It was rare. In the past year, there had only been two others that had come through her academy, but now that she was looking for it, the signs were the same. Someone with absolute belief in themselves, with no idea how much of their world was handouts and rising faster despite that.

"Jasmine asked me to be her partner. The two of us are going to go to the end. If she can't keep up, the team will split. And if I can't keep up, it'll be the same." Nicholas said instead of answering.

"I will send your team a list of things you will gain access to with high enough merits." Astra said, conceding and giving him a nod. The odds of him reaching her level were low. Nails that stuck up got hammered down, but someone who could tell reality they would be superhuman loud enough that reality complied had her respect. Astra vanished in another flash of light. Nicholas stared at the spot for a few seconds before starting his extra practice.

This word he couldn't practice on his own, and it wouldn't do to let everyone know what they could and would be doing. But inside his visualization, he had been pouring in the hours to make the next card as stable as possible. If he was going to pull off Jasmine's harebrained scheme, he couldn't be less than perfect.