The heavy reinforced doors of the West Corp Academy cafeteria swung open, and for a moment, the bustling roar of three hundred teenagers went silent. Maya stood in the doorway, clutching her tray so hard her knuckles were white.
"Look, it’s the Blackout Queen," someone snickered from a nearby table.
"Hey Maya! My phone’s at 10 percent, can you give it a 'heroic' charge?"
Maya didn't look up. She kept her gaze fixed on her shoes, navigating toward the farthest, dimmest corner of the hall. The "Orientation Disaster" had been trending on the school’s internal social network for three hours. The video—shot by someone’s illegal eye-implant—showed her standing on stage like a frozen statue right before the lights blew out.
She sat down at an empty table, staring at her mystery meat and mashed potatoes. She was officially the school misfit. The "Guardians" didn't want her because she was a liability, and the "Sentinels" were intimidated by her last name.
Crunch.
Maya blinked. A small, orange-and-white fox was sitting on the edge of her table, chewing contentedly on a corner of her dinner roll.
"Um... hi?" Maya whispered.
The fox looked up, its amber eyes twinkling with a strange intelligence. With a soft poof of shifting air, the animal vanished. In its place sat a girl with messy blonde pigtails and a crooked grin, wearing the grey-and-green "Sentinel" vest.
"Terrible roll," the girl said, wiping crumbs from her mouth. "Way too much yeast. I’m Hana. Hana Jones."
Maya pulled her hair over her face. "You shouldn't sit here. You’ll get the 'disappointment' germs."
"Eh, I’ve got a strong immune system," Hana shrugged, leaning back. "Besides, I’m a Sentinel. Most of the 'elite' kids think we’re just the cleaning crew anyway. I’m training to be an animal doctor. My UMA shift lets me talk to the patients—makes it way easier to find out where it hurts when you can just ask the dog."
Maya found herself smiling, just a tiny bit. "That sounds... actually useful. Better than blowing out the power grid."
"Power grids can be fixed," Hana said, her voice turning surprisingly serious. "Being a jerk is a permanent condition. Speaking of which..."
Hana’s eyes darted behind Maya. The air in the cafeteria suddenly grew cold—a localized drop in temperature that meant only one thing.
Kaelen Frost.
Kaelen was a sophomore in the Enforcement Division, a boy whose ego was as cold as the ice he could manifest at will. He and his two goons stopped at Maya's table, Kaelen leaning over to frost the edges of Maya's water glass just to show off.
"So, Rose," Kaelen sneered, his voice loud enough to draw a crowd. "I was thinking. My dad works for the Government Oversight committee. He was really excited to see the 'New Cybergirl' today. He left feeling like he should ask for a tax refund."
Maya’s heart rate spiked. Her collar device began its frantic thump-thump. "I... I just had a surge. It won't happen again."
"A surge?" Kaelen laughed, leaning in closer. "You're riding your mom's coattails, Maya. You’ve got the name, you’ve got the tech, but you’ve got zero heart. You’re just a regular human hiding in a hero’s skin. Why don't you do us all a favor and transfer to a regular school before you actually hurt someone?"
He flicked his wrist, and a small shard of ice shot toward Maya’s tray, shattering her glass and soaking her lunch in freezing water.
Maya didn't fight back. She didn't summon the purple light. She just sat there, her head down, her shoulders shaking.
"Leave her alone, Kaelen!" Hana snapped, shifting her hands into claws.
"Stay out of it, Zoo-girl," Kaelen dismissed her, turning back to the room. "See? No spark. No spirit. Just a shadow."
He walked away, his group laughing. Maya sat in the puddle of ice water, the silence of the cafeteria feeling heavier than the darkness she had created on stage. She felt Hana’s hand on her shoulder.
"Come on," Hana whispered. "We're leaving. I know a place where the air doesn't smell like ego and bad cologne."
Maya stood up, her uniform damp and cold, but as she followed Hana out, she realized she wasn't just running away from the cafeteria. For the first time in her life, she was walking toward someone who didn't care about the name "Cybergirl" at all.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM8S3I3gEp0
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