Freya's POV:

Pat walks over to the whiteboard while the rest of us put our bags down on the table. "Their leader's called Icicle. He's the one responsible for Joey Zarick's death." He starts, pointing to the top picture of the pyramid of Jordan in his ice form.

"And my dad's. But his days are numbered." Courtney cut in, beginning to skillfully twirl the staff in her hands which causes Yolanda to take a step back so she wouldn't get hit. Courtney stops and turns to face us. "The staff and I went after him before, and that's when I barely knew how to use it."

"But you still have a lot to learn. So, let's get started." He said and pushed the whiteboard to the side before he walked over to one of the dummies that had a hockey mask on. "This is Sportsmaster. If there's a better fighter in the world, I've never met them. He first appeared on the scene a few decades ago, battling against Wildcat and Green Lantern--"

"If we wanted a history lesson, we'd ask Beth and her goggles." Courtney interrupted, nodding her head back to Beth.

Pat inhales a breath for a moment until he walked over to the dummy that had a paw over its eye. "Sportsmaster's partner is called Tigress. She's as sadistic as they come, and she uses a crossbow that's lethal--"

"We know. We saw it last week." She spoke up again.

"Okay. Let's talk about some of our, uh, more eccentric opponents." He continued and walked over to the dummy that had a purple hat over the paper bag. "Like the Gambler. Don't let his rotund form and southern-fried charm fool you. He's one of the most cunning and nefarious criminal masterminds in the world." He points to the dummy beside it that had long hair. "The Fiddler. Male, Caucasian--"

"Except he's no longer a white dude, she's Principal Bowin." She interrupted once more.

"We don't know that." Pat corrected and Courtney rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, we do."

"Court, you agreed to let me do the training." He calmly tried to say but she took a step forward as the staff glowed in her hands.

"Well, can we speed this up? Who knows how many people are being hurt because we're not out there right this second." She spoke and since I was starting to get irritated at her interruptions, I took a seat on the stairs.

"If you're not trained to work as a team, you'll be the ones getting hurt." He explained, making sure to lock eyes with us before they were trained back to Courtney. "You have no idea the threat that Solomon Grundy presents if they still control him."

He wasn't wrong about that. Jordan had to lock him in his cage near headquarters.

"My point is, rushing to confront them again is too risky." He finished.

"There are always going to be risks." She says, causing the staff to hum in response. Instantly, she flips over Pat and strikes the staff down at the Sportsmaster dummy. She throws the staff as it knocks down the Fiddler and she backflips to catch her staff.

She throws it again, knocking the head off of the Gambler and it retracts back to her in time to behead the Tigress dummy. Seeing that the bucket dummy was left standing, she lifts her foot high to kick the metal and slashes the wooden case with her staff.

I slowly stand up from my spot with disbelief and I look at the others, seeing their annoyed expressions as well.

Courtney lets out a pant with a smile before she turns to face us. "I'm ready, don't you think?"

I slowly start to clap which gained everyone's attention to me. "Great job, Courtney. I don't know if you noticed," I trail off, taking a step forward to stand next to Pat with an annoyed expression. "but you have four people here that wanted to train and you destroyed all the equipment!"

"Court, this exercise wasn't just for you." Pat scolded as he placed his hands on his hips.

"You could've saved one of those for me to practice on." Yolanda added with her eyes narrowed.

"Me too. I'm a newbie at all of this." Beth crossed her arms with discomfort.

"That was lame." Rick retorted.

"All right, well, let's just call it for today." Pat sighed as he picked up the dented bucket that rolled to his feet. "We'll pick it up again tomorrow, all right?" He spoke as Yolanda, Rick, Beth, and I grab our bags from the table. "You'll do it tomorrow."

As we left the garage, a slight ringing in my ear echoes in my head which causes me to pause in my steps.

"Freya?" Beth worriedly calls which causes Rick and Yolanda to turn back to me. "Everything okay?"

Hearing bits of Courtney's conversation with Pat swirled through my mind and I knew I had to investigate what they were saying. "I think I forgot something in there. I'll be back." I say, putting my bag inside the car before I walk back inside the shop.

I look behind to make sure they weren't following me and press my back against the wall. Thankfully the door was slightly opened enough for me to hear Courtney and Pat's conversation.

"I'm not a novice anymore, Pat." I hear her scoff.

"This isn't only about you. It's about your friends that you put in the line of fire." He said and I peek my head through the crack, seeing that he pointed to the door we left through. "It's about learning to be a team to save this town from whatever the Injustice Society have planned."

"How about you send me on a mission while they train?" Courtney suggested. "Freya can help you! From what Yolanda told me, she almost won against Tigress."

"A mission?" Pat exasperated.

"I can prove that I'm right about Principal Bowin being part of them."

"No. No way." Pat shook his head immediately and I lean away from the door with a brow raised.

Knowing her, since it's the football game tonight she would most likely use this as the chance to go and investigate.

And I have the perfect excuse to go.

.·。.·゜✭·.·✫·゜·。. *✭˚·ﾟ✧*·ﾟ*✭˚·ﾟ✧*·

"Ladies and gentlemen, get to your feet. Your Blue Valley Prairie Dogs are set to kick off!" The announcer's voice rang throughout the loudspeakers in the football field. "Back to receive, number fifteen, Greg Hayes, for the Civic City Atoms!" One of the players in our team catches the ball that was thrown from another player and starts to sprint towards the mid-field.

"Destroy them, Artemis!" My mom shouted next to me which caused me to flinch.

"Up the middle for a fifteen-yard gain by number twenty-two, Jacob Garrison."

My dad pats me on the shoulder. "I'll be back. I think I see a certain Dugan heading to the concession stand." He says and I follow his line of vision, seeing that Pat got up from his spot in the bleachers with Courtney and Mike. "Call me if I miss anything."

I let out a sigh. "Dad, don't--" I try to say but he already went up the stairs to follow him which causes me to shake my head in disbelief. "Oh god."

I look back towards Courtney and see that Mike had stormed off with an annoyed expression but not too long after, Cameron walks up to her seat with a small smile.

"Look!" My mom nudges my side which causes me to look away from Courtney and Cameron. "Pay attention, your sister has the ball!"

I turn back to the field and see her evade each member from the opposite team until she sprints to the end zone, causing the crowd to erupt in cheers. "Touchdown! That was another beautiful play by Blue Valley All-Star, Artemis Crock! The thirty-yard line and we are one point away from a tie game!"

I glance behind me again, seeing the smile beginning to form on Courtney's face as she looked between the field and Cameron.

Interesting.

I turn and tap my mom on the shoulder. "I'm gonna use the bathroom." I lie and she nods before looking back towards the field.

I get up from my spot and adjust my scarf as I walk up the steps towards where they were sitting. "Hey, guys." I greet which causes them to look up to me.

"Freya! Cool, you can talk to Cameron." She said as she stood up from her spot and gestured for me to sit down in her spot. "You guys can bond. I need to do something." She gestures behind her and quickly goes down the steps.

"Uh...what was that all about?" I amusedly question and he lets out a chuckle.

"She's rescheduling a hangout with Cindy."

I furrow my brows in confusion. "A hangout? With Cindy Burman? Is she asking for a death wish?" I repeated and he lets out an amused chuckle. "Okay, why is she canceling?"

"I may have asked her to Homecoming." He nervously scratched the back of his neck. "And she said yes."

"Oh wow, that-that's cool!" I give a small smile.

"Are you and Artemis going?"

I shake my head. "I'm probably gonna stay home."

"Really? I'm surprised you don't want to ask Yolanda." He casually chuckled but I furrow my brows in confusion.

"What? Why would I ask Yolanda?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. I just thought because of the small mural you painted on her locker and with you standing up to Cindy Burman for her, I assumed--"

I shake my head. "Technically, we both painted her locker."

"But who showed up first?" He raised a brow.

"I-I--" I stammer which earns a chuckle from him. "That doesn't mean I like her!"

"I never said you did."

"You--what? What just happened?" I ask, seeing that he was failing to suppress a smile. "We're just friends! I mean, she sometimes gets on my nerves but she's one of the few people in this school that I tolerate." I ramble.

He raised his hands in surrender. "I didn't say anything, but if you do like her, what's stopping you?"

"Did you get bonked in the head or something? I don't like her in that way." I crossed my arms. "And if I did, it wouldn't work out. Especially with what happened in her last relationship."

"You know, my dad said that when you like someone, it's never easy." He gave a small smile and I was about to argue but he raised his finger which caused me to stop. "Hypothetically, in your situation."

"Hypothetically, do you want to get your teeth knocked out?" I threaten with a glare. "Yolanda and I are just friends."

"My dad kind of also went through the trouble of asking my mom out because of some other guy who wanted her too." He continued which caused me to look back at him.

"What did he do?" I ask, trying to imagine Jordan being too shy to ask out some girl. I mean for god's sake, he's in the Injustice Society.

"He killed him." He casually answered which caused my eyes to widen, shocked at the fact he told his son that. "I'm just kidding."

"You're annoying." I start to stand up from my spot but he grabs my arm for me to sit back down. "Cameron."

"Just listen to the rest of the story." He gestured to the seat and I roll my eyes, sitting back down in my spot. "There were times where my parents would eat lunch in the same park at Trafalgar Square in London. She would sketch and he'd just watch her. Eventually, he got the courage to speak with her and she showed him page after page of her drawings of my dad."

"She liked him too?"

He nods. "Yup. She was just waiting for him to approach her."

"And how does this relate to the dance tomorrow?" I inquire, confused as to why he was telling me this.

"I'm saying that maybe if you talked to Yolanda," He emphasized as he elbowed my side. "she's probably just waiting for you to ask her. My dad believes that we were put on this Earth to find love."

I snort. "Doubt it."

"It doesn't hurt to try, you know. Have you ever had a moment so perfect where you knew it would be something you'll remember forever?" He asks as we look back to the football field, seeing that Courtney was in the middle of a conversation with Cindy who was near the cheerleaders. "Watching Courtney give hope to Joey for his magic trick, I'll never forget it. I mean, that's why I asked her to homecoming in the first place. That simple act of kindness made me want to get to know her better."

The pit of my stomach warms at the thought. That surprisingly sounded...nice.

"I mean, I guess I'm starting to notice the smaller things Yolanda does. She'll bite her lower lip when she's nervous or when she wants to keep to herself during lunch." I look down at my hands. "She stubbornly tries to dig into my mind no matter how many times I try to shut her out but somehow, she manages to get me to open up which feels terrifying. Even if it feels too vulnerable, her smile lures me back into this sense of c--"

I stop myself, realizing that I was rambling which caused me to look up to meet Cameron's eyes, seeing the subtle smirk on his face.

"A sense of what?"

I huffed. "Nothing. Look, not that I'm saying I will," I drag my hand over my face in frustration. "but I'll think about it. Going to the dance, I mean."

"Good enough." He smiled before he checked his phone. "I better get going. The only reason I came was to talk to Courtney." He says as he stands up from his spot. "It was nice talking to you, Freya."

I nod with a smile. "You too."