Professor Mora was talking about the aerodynamics of Arx's wings when Cleo almost blacked out. She managed to stay upright, but the image that flashed behind her eyes was anything but good.
Why couldn't she foresee things before they became a problem?
She subtly pulled her phone out of her pocket held it under her desk to shoot Courtney a quick text.
Chaos alert - gear up
Hopefully that would be enough for Courtney to get the message. Cleo shifted her focus, half paying attention to Professor Mora's lecture and the other half of her attention switching between the current Team Chaos nonsense and Courtney.
It was two agonizing minutes before Courtney checked her phone and saw the text. She frowned at it, then seemed to suddenly get it. Seconds later, she was at her room, closing the door to change into her superhero costume.
Good. Two minutes wasn't a bad response time.
Cleo scribbled down some equations as her clairvoyance moved to Team Chaos. Today it was just Cold Snap, so hopefully Courtney could handle it on her own. The main issue would be getting Courtney close enough to Cold Snap that she could do something.
Well, if Cleo focused, it shouldn't be too bad. Unlike Ferry, she didn't have to touch someone to transport them.
Really, what had that weird Miracle Giver been thinking? Ferry's power was basically just a lesser version of Cleo's wasn't it? And on top of that, Cleo had the clairvoyance as well. Though that did beg the question of how Ferry knew where she was going when she jumped.
Not that it mattered much. Courtney was dressed and ready to go, walking through the hallway calling for her. Naturally, Cleo opened a portal in front of her that would deposit her in an alleyway a short ways away from Cold Snap. Couldn't risk anyone tripping through the portal into the Underwing after all. Odin would kill her for sure.
A shiver ran through Cleo as she reminded herself that that 'killing' would be literal.
No. Focus, Cleo.
Courtney stepped out of the alley and glanced around. The noise was coming from her left, so she ran towards the commotion.
Cold Snap was laughing, her hands around the neck of a poor older man. He looked unconscious, probably from the ice crawling across his throat. Cleo clutched her stylus tighter, looking for a pulse on him.
None that she could see. She desperately hoped she was wrong.
Courtney called out to Cold Snap, demanding that she let the man go. Cold Snap just laughed and poured more ice into him. She said he would be her ice statue.
Not if Cleo could help it. She cracked open a portal underneath Cold Snap and let her fall a few feet, hoping the shock would get her to let go of her prisoner.
It worked. Cold Snap sputtered and let out a few choice curse words, her grip loosening. That was all Courtney needed to separate the two. As the man fell forward, Cleo made another portal to dump him in the emergency room. If there was anything to be done for him, the doctors would manage it. If not, it was better than letting Cold Snap continue to punish his body.
With a quick tap on her tablet, Cleo switched to her textbook and highlighter as Professor Mora wrote a page number on the board. Now they were on to reading about how the first airplanes were invented a million years ago.
Okay, not a million years, but they'd been around for a long time.
Either way, if it was just a textbook reading, Cleo didn't need to pay as much attention. She could reread the chapter as many times as necessary when Team Chaos wasn't running amok.
In the time she'd been distracted, Courtney had gotten a bit of frostbite from tangling with Cold Snap. Wait, no, Cold Snap was clinging to Courtney's wrists for dear life, ranting about what a lovely statue Lightning would make when she was frozen solid.
Nope. Not on Cleo's watch. The moment Lightning managed to wrestle out of one of Cold Snap's hands, Cleo made a pair of portals, one under each of them. Hopefully when they fell through...
Yep. Courtney landed a few paces away, catching herself with ease. Cold Snap, meanwhile, took a bit of a harder tumble. Not enough to be fatal, but enough to leave a bruise or two if you weren't Joey. The force of the fall had separated their hands as well, though they both seemed a bit disorientated.
At least Courtney had some distance. Now she should be able to use her superspeed to charge in and knock out Cold Snap.
Wait. Trouble. Bystanders were staying a healthy distance away, yes, but some of them were livestreaming Lightning VS Cold Snap. Which meant...
Yep. There was Ferry, reaching to reclaim Cold Snap.
Cleo frowned in concentration, sending Ferry to the other end of the city. The Subways too, at that. Hopefully it took her a minute to get out of that.
She remembered what Odin had said about killing Ferry, but Cleo couldn't quite bring herself to do it. Not yet. Not while they had other options.
By the time her focus returned to Courtney and Cold Snap, the fight was over. People applauded as Lightning heaved Cold Snap's unconscious body over her shoulder, looking around for any sign of Ferry or other members of Team Chaos.
Based on Cleo's visions, she had about thirty seconds.
They ticked by slowly. Too slowly. Courtney pulled out her phone to call the military. By the time she'd dialed and someone had picked up, Ferry was back with Paris. Poison gas spewed from his hands as he ran for Courtney.
Cleo opened another portal under him, dumping him on top of Ferry. The last time she'd worked so hard with her powers...was it when she was helping Joey save Courtney's roommate?
Her head felt fuzzy, and the professor's words went in one ear and out the other. Making a portal where she could see it was easy. Keeping a clairvoyance eye on both ends, though, strained her mind. And, on top of that, she was trying to keep up with school.
She didn't realize her hands were shaking until someone pointed out the incessant tapping sound of her stylus against her tablet. Was it the professor or one of her classmates?
Didn't matter. She had to help Courtney.
Paris's poison was spreading. Courtney looked at a bit of a loss, so Cleo opened a portal next to her that would go straight to military HQ. She ducked through it, figured out where she was, handed off Cold Snap and ran back to Paris.
If things went on like this, could they get him too?
The poison swirled around the air, sending the bystanders even farther away. Courtney took a breath and lunged for Paris, but Ferry was still right next to him. They teleported behind Courtney, so Cleo opened up a portal to help her catch up.
Paris swung for Courtney as she emerged.
She blocked, and then Ferry moved them elsewhere.
Cleo made a new portal.
The cycle continued until she could barely see straight.
Somehow, she made it long enough for Paris to call it quits. The video footage was already being poured over by analysts and the masses alike.
Tomorrow the headlines would read "New Hero Emerges! Who is the Faceless Portal Master?"
"Cleo!"
The shout and a clap in front of her face pulled Cleo back to her present. She vaguely heard Courtney thanking her, a whisper only her clairvoyance could pick up.
Wait. Kelly was standing in front of her, ready to clap again.
"What?" Cleo could barely hear her own voice. Her head was pounding from so much portal nonsense.
"Class is over. It's been lunchtime for five whole minutes and you still look like you're pretending to take notes."
"Oh." Feeling like she was in a dream, Cleo put her stuff away and stood while Kelly looked at her anxiously.
"Are you okay?"
"I'm fine. Sorry." The look on Kelly's face said she wasn't convinced.
"Cleo, are you sure nothing happened? You looked really distracted. At this rate, I'm worried about your grades."
Ha. How in the big blue sky was Cleo supposed to explain that she'd actually been off having a virtual superhero battle? No, she wasn't about to spill those beans.
"I'm fine. Just tired, I guess." Cleo forced a smile, hoping Kelly bought it. In truth, she was exhausted.
"Fine," Kelly said with a sigh. "If you need to take the afternoon off, I'll send you the notes from the lectures this evening."
Cleo blinked at her for a while, then smiled.
"Then I might take you up on that. Thanks."
"Just make sure you rest up so you feel better tomorrow, yeah?" Kelly said, smiling slightly.
Cleo nodded. A quick glance through the future said that the Legion would handle tomorrow's chaos just fine without her.
For now, though, she needed a nap.
