Alkalians (35 page)

Cain himself, meanwhile, becoming
rarely seen outside of school hours, tries to resist Matt’s
conquest of the community when he releases information through his
gossipers about two rumors against Matt. The first is that Matt
isn’t naturally a Dark Warrior, and instead he has special drugs
that enhance his abilities. Matt, upon hearing this accusation,
proves it false by bringing his medicine, the drugs in question,
with him into the public, taking a pill, and going out cold to the
surprise of everyone around him.

In response, Cain brings out a second
rumor to try and diminish Matt’s standing. This story is about the
scars on Matt’s neck, which Cain uses as evidence in trying to
prove he was sexually abusing a girl and got scratched when she was
fighting back. He even has some random female student lie about the
story being true, until Sean takes some prize money gathered from
the casino and pays her more than Cain does. As for where the cuts
came from, Matt sticks with the story that he was sparring and got
damaged greatly enough that the scars were leftover.

With the two lies denounced, Matt
finds himself feeling good and content one afternoon in the study
hall with Lyn and her colleagues. Rather than studying, he is
simply hanging out, sitting on one of the couches and having small
talk with Lyn beside him.

Meanwhile, the other women are
dispersed about the room, having their own chats, but one thing
Matt can’t overlook is how Amelia is one of the two closest to him
and Lyn, as she and her buddy are on the couch opposite them. He is
just starting to convince himself that Amelia, appearing oblivious
of him while in her conversation, is flashing him subtle looks when
Lyn says to him, “I have to admit, Matt, I’m surprised and
impressed with how well you’ve done in tarring Cain’s name
throughout the community. I mean, it’s like you’ve got nearly
everybody no longer afraid or loyal to him!”

“
Yeah, I suppose I have,”
he replies humbly. “It surprises me, too!”

The two of them laugh before Lyn says,
“To think, not so long ago you were a shy little man. But now,
you’ve stood tall and proud against a tyrant, and firmly resisted
his reign with the help of friends. Seriously, Matt, I’m very proud
of you and what you’ve done for yourself, as well as the
community.”

“
Thank you, Lyn. But
remember, as you said, I didn’t do it alone. I had help from my
friends, and that includes you!”

“
Haha, true! But hey,
speaking of that, may I ask a favor of you?”

“
A favor, from me? Sure, I
guess. What is it?”

“
Well, seeing how well
you’ve done in trashing Cain’s reputation around here, I was
wondering if you could help me do more than that. I’m sure you’re
aware by now how boss students rule the school, in a way,
right?”

“
Yes, I’m aware. What
about it?”

“
Oh, you know, Matt, it’s
just, it’s just wrong. Leaders in the student community shouldn’t
be ruling over the others through fear or force. They should be
shining examples of inspiration and assistance. That’s why, for
awhile now, I’ve been trying to change the way it works here at the
college. I’ve tried to dispel the gang mentality of the boss
students and their lackeys and make things better for
everyone.”

Sighing, Lyn goes on, “But, I’ll
admit, I haven’t had much progress on my own. So, with your success
in stomping down Cain, the figurehead of the mobster behavior, I
was hoping you could assist me in the cause. You could be the spark
to get the flames of rebellion going, the momentum needed to sweep
away the boss students’ tyranny over the school. What do you think,
Matt? Could you help me make the school a better place?”

“
Hmm. Well, to be honest,
I only took up this campaign against Cain just to keep him from
messing with me or my friends again, and to set an example to
anyone else who would dare bully us. I didn’t really want to cause
more trouble with anyone else.” When Lyn flashes him a begging
look, her pale eyes slightly enchanting him, he thinks about it,
shrugs, and admits, “However, I guess you do make a good point.
Cain can’t be the only one who’s made lives miserable around here
as a boss student, right?”

“
Oh yes, of course! Sure,
he’s the most active one who’s done so, without subtlety, without
shame, but the others have been guilty of it, too. Buster Harmada,
Cynthia Volvaron, and
James
.”

Detecting the way she growls out the
name, Matt asks, “What do you have against him?”

Her icy eyes freezing over
with hate, she says without restraint, “He’s a lying, selfish,
unfeeling, manipulative, and conceited bastard. The only things he
cares about are power, money, and
women
. I was a fool to trust him, to
think he was a friend, those few years ago, but even I was used and
abused by him, only to be betrayed when he threw away whatever we
had for the corrupting taint of being a boss student.”

“
Ah, I see.” Understanding
her a little through his own experience with James recently, he
pats her on the shoulder. “I’m sorry for whatever hardship he gave
you, Lyn.”

“
Thanks, Matt.” Her eyes
softening, she looks back to Matt, again asking, “So, will you and
your friends help me in a revolution against the boss student
regime?”

“
Well, I would have to
talk with them, to see how they feel about it, before…”

Matt’s response, as well as the rest
of the conversations in the room, are cut off by a crisp knocking
on the door, causing him, Lyn, Amelia, and the other women to whirl
their heads to it. One of the girls crosses the room, asks through
the door who it was, listens for the answer, and turns to announce,
“It’s Cynthia Volvaron. She says she comes in peace, that she just
wants to talk.”

The cold flames in Lyn’s eyes,
rekindled at the fact it was one of the boss students at the door,
yet burn warily as she replies, “Let her in.”

While Matt and the others watch, the
subordinate unlocks the door and lets Cynthia, in her flowing red
dress and attended by three other women in blue, green, and yellow
dresses, enter the room. Appearing well composed, with her hand
stroking back some of her hair, she greets Lyn’s company with a
courteous tone. “Good afternoon, ladies. I hope I’m not
interrupting anything important.” Strolling across the room towards
the couches, her rich pink gems meet Lyn’s pale diamonds as she
nods to her, going on, “Thanks for seeing me on such short notice,
Lyn, for which I do apologize, but I feel there’s something you and
I have to discuss.”

Standing to be near level with
Cynthia, face-to-face and a few inches shorter than her, Lyn
remarks with a cool, but cruel, tone, “Oh, really? Whatever could
it be about, I wonder. Have you come on a serious matter, or are
you just here to try giving us fashion advice?”

“
Oh no, no, I have nothing
trivial in mind. This is all about business, which will hopefully
be good between us.” Cynthia then notices Matt on the couch near
them, glancing down and acknowledging him with a nod and smile.
“Ah, I see you are here, as well, Matt. How very convenient! For
you see, I have something to share that you may want to know,
too.”

Standing up to face both Lyn and
Cynthia on either side of him, Matt looks to the taller, tanner,
red-themed one of the two and asks, “Uh, really? What is
it?”

Keeping up her calm, dazzling
impression, Cynthia points to Matt’s neck, tracing her finger
across it, and says, “I know how you got those scars. You got into
a fight with Rose.”

Matt, and the other women around him,
are stunned before he gets out, “How, how do you know
that?”

“
Oh, it’s simple, really.
Irene Goros, my former associate, told me. She was cocky enough to
inform me that she had been working for Cain, that she was spying
on you and Rose while you two fought, and she was going to shoot
Rose if you had defeated her, thereby framing you for harming her
out-of-morph.”

A fist of air smashes into Matt’s
side, his eyes and mouth wide open in shock, before he falls back
to the couch. His mentality is shattered and scattered over how
much more serious, and potentially devastating, the encounter had
been. A rattled Lyn speaks for him, asking, “And why should we
believe your word, Cynthia?”

“
Why? Oh, I can tell you
why.” Her calm demeanor shifts into a boiling rage as she explains,
“I was once Cain’s ally in this whole mess between him and Matt. I
put my reputation on the line by flirting with Sean, to get into
his cabin and dig up any dirt I could against Matt. That plan,
however, backfired. Remember that rumor going around, that I and
Sean did it? Well, it’s true.”

Lyn, Amelia, and their
associates gasp in shock before she goes on. “I found Matt’s
personal prescription of drugs, and thought I could use it to pass
out before I did anything with Sean. Unfortunately, that’s not what
happened. I lost all sense of logic, filled with a sudden, burning
desire for Sean, and then I was literally burning afterwards with a
fever. I put my reputation, and my health, on the line for Cain,
only to find out he’s become so mad he’d threaten other people’s
lives just to get what he wants. I do
not
appreciate that, and I intend to
make him pay for it!”

A moment of stunned silence goes by
before Lyn speaks up, “Wow, I, I understand. Then, are you here
because, you want to switch sides?”

“
Yes, that’s precisely it,
Lyn. That’s the business I had in mind.” Her ire cooling down,
Cynthia proposes, “Seeing as you, Matt, and friends have already
done much against him, I am ready and willing to do more with you
in giving that mad man hell, with my accomplices and I. How does
that sound? Would you let me tag along for the ride, to get my
revenge on him?”

“
Well, uh, uh, yes,
certainly! Although, there is one thing to keep in mind. This thing
we have going, against Cain, will no longer be against him solely.
We’re also out to break down the whole boss student regime over
this school, so that would mean you would have to comply and accept
it, or still be against us. Is that fine with you?”

Raising an eye brow at Lyn’s demand,
Cynthia thinks over it for a moment before confirming with a nod,
“Yeah, that’s fine. I could care less for being a superior over the
other students at the moment. All I want is to burn Cain to the
ground, and I’ll go along with whatever it takes.”

“
Good. It’s settled, then.
You and I, hopefully with support from Matt and his friends, will
continue the campaign against Cain and his reign.” She looks down
to Matt on the couch and asks, “That sound okay with you,
Matt?”

“…
Huh? Oh, yeah, sure,
that’s fine.”

“
Okay.” Seeing how
distressed and unsure Matt is, Lyn turns and suggests, “Shall we
discuss some plans or tactics elsewhere, Cynthia? I don’t think
Matt is in the mood to do so at the moment, so we shouldn’t bother
him with it.”

“
Hmm, yeah, we can do
that. I would say he has a lot to think over, himself. Let’s head
to the library, we can talk more there.”

“
Alright, the library it
is.” She flashes glances to her subordinates, who nod and gather up
while heading for the door to depart. She taps Amelia on the
shoulder when she passes her, saying, “Amelia, why don’t you stay
here with Matt, and make sure he’ll be fine and see him
off?”

“
Oh, yeah, I’ll do that,
Lyn.” Lyn gratefully nods before she and Cynthia rejoin the rest of
the women, leading them all out of the study hall. Once she and
Matt are alone, Amelia takes a moment to head over and lock the
door before returning to him, sitting down beside him and asking,
“You alright, Matt?”

“
I, I don’t know,
Amelia.”

Amelia nods and places a comforting
hand on him. “You want to tell me how you’re feeling?”

Matt doesn’t respond for a moment,
staring off into space beyond the floor beneath him, before he
says, “Can you keep a secret, Amelia?”

“
Of course, Matt. In a
way, you and I already keep a secret. What is it?”

Chuckling a little, Matt then takes a
breath before he lets it out. “When Rose and I got into that fight,
it wasn’t simply a heated argument boiling over to our morphs. We,
we were trying to kill each other. She thought I was a Shadow Core
terrorist, and I thought she was an assassin. My, my defeat and
demorphing cleared our heads, and we’ve reconciled, I hope. But, to
now know that someone else was watching, ready to mortally harm her
if she lost, it, it rattles me even more, that we were still so
close to a fatal fate.”

At first lost for words by Matt’s
chilling confession, Amelia finds some when she quietly says, “I’m,
I’m sorry to hear that, Matt.”

“
This isn’t what I was
expecting, what I was ready for, when I came to college. I was
under the impression this would be a safe place to get to know
people, and yet, one man has tried to ruin me here. What did I do,
to deserve this?
Why
do I deserve this, Amelia?”

“
You don’t deserve this,
Matt.” Patting him compassionately, Amelia goes on, “You did
nothing to deserve this, nor has any other student who has been in
your place. But Cain, well, Cain is a bad apple. He was arrogant
enough with his fortune and his drug-induced powers, and I think
he’s gotten even worse as a senior, being at the top of the food
chain. But to endanger the lives of other students, that’s going
too far, even for him. He might be going mad with this whole boss
student mentality.”