Maybe, just maybe, Tiff had been hasty.
She sat in Homeroom, waiting for the bell to ring, listening to the morning chatter. It was energetic, excited, and full of the obligatory waffle employed by acquaintances when catching up on events after a weekend.
And since most students who attended Setma High were local, including Tiff, a very particular event was on everybody’s lips.
“Yo, did you hear about the gas station that blew up?”
“Dude, it was a corner mart. Get it straight.”
“Yeah bro, if it was a gas station, the entire city would have blown up.”
“Okay, so maybe it wouldn’t be that severe either….”
Fortunately, nobody felt like bothering Tiff for her thoughts…most likely because nobody in her class likely knew where she lived. She listened in slight amusement as they got all the details wrong and slowly blew the story out of proportion.
What started as a simple convenience store robbery (which was close enough to the truth in Tiff’s estimation) quickly spiraled out of control.
By the time class was about to start and all but the perpetual delinquents were late, the story featured at least a dozen full-grade Heroes, about a hundred cops actively engaged in a full-blown shoot-out, and a legitimate Supervillain who had an army of thugs fight everybody off.
Right when the good guys were about to win, the Villains took hostages, and somebody with psionic powers exploded the building, letting them escape in the chaos.
…Tiff was surprised how many valid details somehow made it into an obviously inflated exaggeration. Especially the part about a Supervillain…though she wasn’t going to confirm it for anybody. It suited her just fine that most people seemed to understand that the story was up for grabs for whoever had the biggest imagination.
No, that part of class was fine. It was the sort of early-morning Monday madness Tiff associated with high school. If that was all the day had to throw at her, it would have been glorious.
But then Candice walked in.
Tiff caught the bright blonde ponytail out of the corner of her eye and did a double take.
It wasn’t that the cheerleader was unrecognizable. She still wore the preppy, stylish clothes, had all the correct accessories on display, and she’d used just enough glitter-infused makeup to make Tiff wonder if she ate a messy rainbow for breakfast this morning.
But she had slight bags under her eyes that the makeup couldn’t hide and her eyes were sharp, rather than the calculated mask she usually wore. She also wasn’t wearing anything related to her cheerleader uniform, but that could be for any number of reasons.
Candice’s eyes locked onto Tiff and they narrowed. She set her jaw, hiked her backpack up on one shoulder, and marched to her desk defiantly, all while never removing eye contact.
Tiff wanted to sigh, because she was pretty sure she knew what had Candice’s panties all ruffled, but that just made her think that Candice had a massive wedgie. Judging from how she stomped toward Tiff, trying to make herself seem ominous and threatening, honestly supported the wedgie theory, and Tiff had to fight not to laugh. It would not do to make her friend think she was laughing at her cruelly, even if chances were rather high that Tiff might be demoted to ex-friend.
But when Candice reached her desk, she sat down with an angry huff and said nothing. She stared at Tiff, obviously waiting for Tiff to say something…but Tiff had no idea what she was supposed to say. So they engaged in a warfare-level staring match where Candice rooted through her bag for some bubblegum, popped it in her mouth, and chewed angrily. She blew a large, pink bubble, to the point where it almost blocked their vision…and the bubble popped angrily.
Tiff was impressed. Point: Candice. She didn’t know one could make bubblegum bubbles be angry.
The bell rang and Mr. Hendricks marched in, oblivious to the battle raging in the back of the class. Both Tiff and Candice were forced to look up front and pay attention, lest they earn the teacher’s ire, but if anybody asked, she won. At the very least, the bare minimum, the staring contest was a tie. Tiff would hear no arguments otherwise.
Maybe it was fate to draw out the morning’s tension, as the IPSS lesson today wasn’t a hands-on-demonstration that required partners. Both Tiff and Candice were soon forced to pay more attention to their books than each other, but that didn’t hold true for everyone in the class. Tiff occasionally heard more rumors float around in not-so-hushed whispers, theorizing who the Villain was and where they came from. Somebody theorized he must have come down from LA proper, and then the talk shifted to why a big-time baddie would flee the big city. Maybe he couldn’t hack it? Maybe a new up-and-coming Hero proved to be too much? Or maybe he pulled a really sweet heist and now the law was on him in a real bad way?
Which then begged the question: who was the new Hero? Did somebody from Young Justice get promoted? Or was calling him a “big-time” baddie a little too on the nose? Was Big Time involved?
Tiff checked out.
No way would Big Time ever stoop to tussling with a garden-variety Villain. Oh, Big Time could stop one; hands down, no questions asked. But tussling was the wrong word: a tussle suggested struggle on both sides.
After scolding the class to cut the chatter one too many times, Mr. Hendricks eventually let out a huge sigh and called attention.
“Well, it seems like we aren’t getting anything done today. From what I’m hearing- no, Dan, your whispers are anything but subtle -you’re all focused on the incident that happened over the weekend. Fortunately, that sort of ties in with the purpose of IPSS.”
Mr. Hendricks waggled his hand to show how iffy that was. Even he seemed to be stretching the bounds of believability for the class.
“So let’s talk about…the incident,” he said dramatically, drawing a small, boxy shop on the whiteboard and labeling it, fittingly, SHOP. “First off, don’t believe everything you hear on the news. Actually, let me back up. You should listen to the news. Reading the morning paper is good too…if you’re an ancient sack of bones like me. You whippersnappers these days with your phones,” he mimicked his voice into a scratchy, warbly old person’s and mimed waving a cane at the class. He got some customary laughs and smiled.
“But what you should keep in mind,” he said, drawing several small boxes around the store, “Is that the System offers news stations benefits for reporting certain activities. Sometimes, it might make one story more appealing than another. Other times, it might suggest that viewing the events from a different angle is advantageous. So, just like this classroom, stories can get wildly out of hand if you don’t deal in facts. For some of you, if you’re interested in the life of a [Private Detective] or an [Investigative Journalist], the system might have you seek out the truth, and nothing but the truth. The rest of us have to settle for channel 7.”
“Yo, what’s a channel?”
“Mario, I know you’re not that young. Give me a break here.”
While it didn’t offer any extra insight into what happened at the 24-Heaven, Tiff found the lesson fascinating, if only because she learned that the System seemed as arbitrary to others as it was to her. She listened as the kids threw out various things they’d heard about what actually happened on Saturday and Mr. Hendricks turned Homeroom into an impromptu lesson on organizing and correlating data. Who knew a pseudo-spreadsheet could actually be interesting?
Tiff was at her usual table for lunch, and she was mildly surprised when Candice sat down across from her. The girl gave her one more of this morning’s glares before sighing heavily and starting in on her food.
“So, this is how it’s going to be, is it?” Candice asked conversationally. Tiff tilted her head. She was very confused.
“I…don’t follow?” She asked, looking up. Candice did so too, waving between the two of them.
“I’ve been waiting for you to say something all morning. But you’re acting as if nothing’s happened.”
“I’m…sorry?” Tiff tilted her head the other way. “Are we talking about the thing with the 24-Heaven? Or are we talking about Friday night’s game? Sorry, is this one of those things socially adept people would immediately understand?
“Oh, so you do remember, do you?” Candice gave a lopsided grin.
“I’m not an idiot, you know,” Tiff huffed.
“Obviously not,” Candice said, returning to her lunch. “Though I might call you suicidal.”
Tiff drew her head back.
“Again, just to be clear…what are we talking about?”
“Friday night, duh!” Candice rolled her eyes. She took a bite and pointed her fork at Tiff. “I mean, why would we be talking about that corner store?”
Tiff visibly deflated and Candice narrowed her eyes.
“Wait,” she mumbled. “Do you have something to do with the shop?”
Tiff said nothing, only staring at her tiredly.
“You do, don’t you! I knew something was up with that whole ‘bodyguard’ act!”
“Candice,” Tiff groaned, “Can we stick to one conspiracy theory at a time, please? As for talking about Friday night…I didn’t know what to say. I still don’t know what to say…I mean, you were there. I thought I was helping. It turns out I wasn’t? Am I supposed to apologize for getting between you and Ryan? I will. Candice, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have butted in. It was a private matter, between you and-.”
“Oh my god, Tiff, stop.”
Candice held up her palm to stop Tiff from rambling while she cough-laughed into her elbow and started choking.
“You’re really bad at this whole dealing with people thing, aren’t you?”
“I mean, I’d prefer it if you don’t point it out, but I won’t deny it.”
Candice just stared at her with a slowly deepening grin.
“You’re really something, you know that?” Candice eventually said with a sigh, before seemingly muttering to herself. “This is not how I saw this going….”
Tiff gave her (tentative?) friend the benefit of silence just in case that wasn’t meant for her. Eventually Candice calmed down and looked at Tiff seriously.
“Yes,” she said with a perfectly solemn face, “We’re talking about Friday.”
Tiff opened her mouth, but Candice held up her hand again.
“Let me finish. First, no, I’m not asking you to apologize. Sure, okay, maybe in the moment I might have gotten upset or angry for somebody butting in on a little ‘me time,’ yeah, but looking back, I’m glad you did. I…when it came to Ryan, I wasn’t thinking clearly. I mean, obviously, right? But I didn’t think he was such a d-bag. I’m so over him.”
“So,” Tiff squinted her eyes. “Is…it a good thing I jumped into your conversation? He tried to grab you and he looked angry.”
“No shit he was,” Canice shook her head. “But, like…Tiff. What were you thinking? You’re like…the size of his thigh. Why were you worried about me when you should be worried about you?”
“Simple,” Tiff nodded. “Somebody needed to stand up to him.”
“Tiff,” Candice groaned, “That is the stupidest shit I’ve heard all day. And we share Homeroom with Mario.”
“Maybe,” Tiff agreed. “But that’s how I saw it. He was being a bully. A big, tough, strong guy who uses his size to push others around and get his way. Well, I don’t like it when big guys try to push around little people. If you let people like that walk all over you, that’s exactly what they’ll do.”
“Yeah, but if you stand up, you get bitch slapped.”
“True,” Tiff frowned. “I didn’t expect him to do that. He’s supposed to have ‘a promising career’ or something, right? Why risk it? What if somebody saw? He’d have to be crazy to actually attack another student, right?”
“Not gonna argue with that,” Candice shrugged, “But he did anyway. And I made sure the coach knows all about it. Not sure if they’ll do anything, but I tried.”
Candice sighed, prodded the remaining crumbs on her plate, and pushed the tray to the side.
“Seriously, Tiff,” Candice said, slightly embarrassed but clearly genuine, “Thank you. I don’t know what would have happened if you hadn’t been there…or your bodyguard.”
Tiff didn’t miss the deliberate inflection in Candice’s words. The girl must have sensed some hostility, because she instantly backpedaled.
“Whoa! I mean it! Really! Thank you! But,” she hissed, leaning in close. “Don’t you try to pull any weird shit with me, girl. I don’t know who that monster was, but that ain’t no [Bodyguard]. After what happened, do you really think I wouldn’t look up the Class? [Bodyguards] might have some way to step in and take hits for their clients, but no way do they rip holes in reality and step out of the dank dimension.”
“The what?” Tiff sputtered.
“You heard.” Candice’s cheeks grew rosy as she crossed her arms and turned the other way. “Were you not paying attention? Maybe not, since dick-face was bitch-slapping you, but when that thing stepped through the dimensional tear or whatever, it…stank. You know, that bad-egg smell. People say brimstone is supposed to smell like sulfur…was that a portal to Hell?”
“No,” Tiff laughed. Honestly, she hadn’t noticed the smell. But now that Candice pointed it out, Tiff had to wonder: was that really what the portal smelled like? Or was it merely an amusing coincidence that Victoria had been using a public restroom? Had somebody in a nearby stall been dropping an epic deuce? Tiff had been in more than one public toilet that she refused to use because it stank so bad. Maybe Candice’s comparison to Hell wasn’t so far off.
“Well, whatever it was, I saw it,” Candice leaned in again. Tiff narrowed her eyes.
“Blackmail?” She asked steadily. Candice’s eyes went wide and she shook her head.
“Girl, do you watch too much TV or not enough? No! I’m not blackmailing you!” She laughed. Her mirth quickly simmered as she became serious again.
“But I want in. I know you’re rocking a Class. Everyone else in Homeroom is a Citizen except you. Sometimes I can’t even tell if you’re trying to hide it or not. And I get the feeling, whatever it is…it’s not great. I mean, you don’t like it and you get defensive about it.”
“And what if I’m a [Garbage Man]?” Tiff challenged with a raised brow.
Candice stared at her, dumbfounded, and eventually chuffed out a single laugh.
“Well then you’re set for a great career. Trash dudes make bank.”
Candice knew. Or at least suspected. That much, Tiff could say for certain. Exactly how far down the rabbit hole had she traveled…Tiff couldn’t say. And she wouldn’t let Candice talk about it in the open, either. Fortunately, the cheerleader understood Tiff’s desire for secrecy and granted it. They agreed to meet up after school to…discuss.
Not exactly something Tiff was looking forward to, and honestly, she didn’t know why she agreed. Candice’s secondary excuse was that she wanted to thank Tiff’s parents and sister for helping her out after she passed out. She looked incredibly genuine when she brought it up, so Tiff couldn’t find it in herself to say no. She texted Victoria first to see if they could get a ride (since Tiff was fairly certain Candice had never ridden the bus) and then made sure to let Amy know to expect company.
It was a calculated gamble, one Tiff wasn’t sure was paying off. On one hand, if Tiff had shown up with a friend wanting to come over after school, Amy would have been all over her business. Not in a mean, intrusive way, but Amy was insatiable like that. She would have teased Tiff mercilessly the whole car ride home…which sort of happened anyway, but Tiff was over it.
“Ooooh,” Amy giggled as they climbed inside the Camry. “Imagine what Mom and Dad will say! Tiff’s bringing home a girl!”
“Easy there, tiger,” Victoria smirked. “The folks already met her, ‘member? Hello, Candice. I’m Tori.”
Candice wrinkled her nose slightly at the state of Victoria’s ride, but she otherwise said nothing. As soon as she got a decent look at Victoria, though, she did a double-take.
“You good there?” Victoria frowned. “Need more leg room?”
“Here,” Tiff said helpfully, “Switch with me. I don’t need the leg room and Amy can move her seat up.”
“Only because you’re Tiff’s friend,” Amy stuck her tongue out, earning herself a bop from Victoria.
“Behave,” she sighed.
“Are you the only small person in your family?” Candice muttered to Tiff. “I remember your mom, but it was so surreal, I thought I was dreaming afterward.”
“Dad’s normal,” Tiff shrugged. Though, to be fair, she wasn’t exactly sure what normal was to other people.
Candice seemed to be thinking the same thing, as she gave Tiff a peculiar look, eventually settling for a small shrug.
“Are you sure they won’t mind me visiting?”
“They won’t,” Tiff shook her head. Victoria nodded from the front seat.
“If you’re interested in electronics, Dad’ll talk your ear off. And you remember Mom from last time…she’ll try to feed you until you explode.”
“Unless you ask her to bring out the embarrassing baby photos,” Amy teased, earning herself another swat.
“Sorry to burst your bubble, squirt,” Victoria smirked, “But Tiff’s already taken.”
“Wait,” Amy froze in shock. “She is?!”
“I am?” Tiff muttered.
Candice raised an eyebrow and saw the playful twist of Victoria’s lips.
“Yup,” Victoria grinned. “Does a certain Doctor Waters ring a bell?”
Tiff went slightly pink, while Amy grumbled that it didn’t count because she'd never met the guy, and therefore he didn’t exist. Candice shared a look with Victoria in the mirror and steepled her fingers under her chin.
“Tell me about this…Doctor Waters.”
Tiff groaned. She caught Candice’s playful wink, knowing full well where they both stood in this friendship. If this was the price to pay to break the ice, she’d take it.
The ride wasn’t long, so thankfully they didn’t get a chance to tease Tiff too much, but something peculiar happened the closer they got to home. Candice quieted down as she watched the neighborhood slowly change.
“You alright?” Tiff asked.
“Didn’t know you lived on Southside, that’s all,” Candice said.
“That’s right,” Victoria piped up. “When we brought you home, you were unconscious, and when you woke up, it was already dark. Where do you call home?”
“North of Alhambra Avenue,” Candice said. Tiff nodded. Judging from the Escalade Candice’s dad drove, she imagined them living in a nice neighborhood. Alhambra was the uppitiest crust around without driving into some of the foothills that had actual land.
“Nice place,” Victoria hummed easily. “Gorgeous homes up there.”
“They’re not bad,” Candice said, but she was starting to look a little worried…especially as they passed a large cinderblock wall tagged with graffiti.
“Don’t worry,” Victoria said soothingly, “Most of those are doodles by bored kids with fast bikes. Think marking up a building makes them tough.”
“Is this why you became a [Bodyguard]?” Candice asked.
Victoria slowed down to stop at a traffic light and the car grew tense. She peered into the mirror to catch Tiff’s eye and Amy froze mid-bounce in her seat.
Tiff sighed and shook her head.
“She knows.”
“She knows?!” Amy nearly yelled. Candice’s eyes went wide.
“How much does she know?” Victoria asked grimly.
“Enough,” Tiff said vaguely.
“Is enough too much?” Amy asked.
“I’d say it’s not enough,” Tiff countered.
Candice opened her mouth…and then paused.
“I…thought I knew, but now I’m just confused. What are we talking about?”
Again, Victoria gave Tiff a look in the mirror, to which Tiff nodded firmly. As soon as the light turned green, they started moving again. But instead of going straight back home, they made a quick detour.
“Wait,” Candice gasped with a dawning realization. “This is the corner shop! The one everybody was talking about today! Tiff, I didn’t know you lived so close! You should have spoken up; you could have been an instant celebrity! Wait,” she frowned. “Why isn’t it all busted up? Surely it should be closed down.”
“You told me earlier you wanted ‘in’,” Tiff sighed. “Candice, are you sure you want to go through with this?”
“I mean, right now I’m getting some serious red flags, you feel me? But I’m pretty sure I’m gonna die of curiosity if I don’t figure out what’s going on!”
“Relax,” Victoria laughed. “Nobody’s going to die. Nobody’s even going to get hurt. We’re just stopping off at the corner store.”
“The corner store that should have been blown up,” Candice muttered.
“She’s right,” Tiff agreed. “I thought it would have taken longer to fix. But I guess the System did say it would be done in 8 hours….”
“Wait…!” Candice gasped. “The System tells you how long it takes before broken stores get repaired?! What kind of weird, janky Class is that?!”
Tiff slapped her hand over her face.
“That is not what my Class does,” she groaned.
“Sort of,” Victoria argued.
“It’s the first I’m hearing of this,” Amy pouted with her arms crossed over her chest.
“Well, that’s because you were too busy playing DOOM on the microwave,” Victoria scoffed.
Poor Candice looked supremely confused, so Tiff decided to put her out of her misery.
“You see, Candice, it’s like this…I’m actually a Supervillain.”
Candice turned her wide, bewildered eyes from Victoria in the front seat to Tiff in the back. Against her better judgment, she leaned around the seat to stare at Amy, as if she could make sense of all of this.
“Wow,” Amy blinked. “Just going straight for it, huh?”
“It’s easier to rip the Band-Aid off instead of peeling it slowly,” Tiff said sagely. Victoria sighed and stared into the roof.
Candice once again looked around the car and laughed weakly.
“Is…this some sort of in-joke? I get it, if I were the System, making Tiff a Villain would be jokes. But, uh, can you let me in on it?”
“No joke,” Victoria shook her head. “Tiff? Do the thing.”
Tiff waved her hand, and once again her screen manifested, accompanied by smoke and petals. But along with her Stats page, she also brought up a Quest that had been bothering her all day, ever since Candice first approached her in the morning.
[Quest: Suitably Hench]
Invitations to the Dark Queen’s Court are a private affair, only available to those in the know. Candice knows.
Recruit an advisor.
“I’ve had this all day,” Tiff groaned. “It’s been so annoying. Maybe now the System can leave me alone.”
Victoria gave Tiff and Candice both a sympathetic look, but there was nothing she could do. She’d been at the mercy of the System like this before, and Tiff wondered if Candice had received a Quest to upgrade her Class much like Victoria had.
At the very least, she didn’t seem nearly as shocked as Tiff would have thought. Mostly she seemed filled with a grim determination as she stared at the screens. Eventually, she shook her head and the screens vanished.
“You know,” she sighed, “I had this thing all planned out. I was going to corner you, maybe find you in the library or squirreled away in one of the reading nooks. Then I had this whole spiel about how I thought you’d been acting fishy and were hiding something, and I was going to try and bully you into telling me what it was. I…I just wanted to see if you needed help with something. I know you’re not the most socially savvy, and I thought…maybe it wasn’t Class-related? Maybe I could do something. After what you did for me, I felt like I owed you, and besides, that’s what friends do, right? They help each other. But then, at lunch….”
Candice focused hard and brought out her own System screen. Tiff had seen her summon the screen with varying degrees of success…as far as adding the lightning flair Candice seemed so fond of. Most of the time, she’d manifest a single arcing current or a couple of popping sparks.
Now, a dark storm cloud bloomed to life, coursing with lashing forks of lightning. There was no sound, but Tiff could practically hear the thunder. Then, a single, jagged lightning bolt shot out from the balloon-sized cloud, struck the air several inches below it, and a screen zazzled to life.
[Quest: Dark Pact]
You’ve discovered a hidden secret. What you do with it is up to you.
Seek assistance.
Confront the Dark Queen. (Chosen)
Join the Dark Queen.
Reward: ???
“The first option disappeared at lunch,” Candice said. “I’ve had this Quest ever since Friday night, and I’ve spent so much time trying to figure out what it means. No matter what I did, nothing worked. But as soon as I saw you this morning, it was like the System was telling me something weird was going on. So now…what do we do?”
Candice’s voice was small, and Tiff could tell she was at least a little bit afraid. She wished she could comfort her, but she really didn’t know how. Despite getting outed to the rest of her family, this felt different to Tiff.
“Whatever you want,” Tiff said in a slightly defeated tone. As much as the System wanted her to be a Villain, she wasn’t going to do anything to her friend. “I’m not going to stop you.”
“Even if I want to join?”
Tiff looked up, shocked.
“Why?”
Candice laughed.
“That’s what you ask? I say, why not? Tiff, I’m a Citizen. Technically, that’s supposed to mean I can be ‘anything I want to be,’ or some such nonsense. We all know that quote from the superhero movie: when everybody’s special, no one is. Well, what’s wrong with wanting a peek into the truly interesting side?”
“She’s got you there, Tiff,” Victoria shrugged from up front. “It is interesting. I haven’t had a dull day for weeks.”
Candice nodded eagerly.
“I’ve never heard of a [Dungeon Master] before. Well, like, as a Class. Sure, I understand the concept for video games and books. But…what does it actually do?”
“It lets me upgrade soft serve machines,” Tiff said with finality. Since Victoria pulled into the parking lot, the car was getting hot. “Come. We can discuss the details of your surrender over a sugar cone.”
Author's Note:
Here's a few updated pics of Tiff's dress with the color scheme I envisioned, generously edited by somebody on the discord. Thank you very much, Silver Hawk!