We were of people supposedly just and bold,

Expected to do right without asking why.

And with pride, we were daily told,

"Welcome to Sky High."

Set in ß Sky High (ø)

...xXx...

Most of the time, people would ignore the blatant bullying and harrassment occurring in the corridors. It was an unspoken rule that the powerful stood above the lowers, that they had the unacknowledged but very present ability to do what they liked to the other students because no one could stop them; even most of the instructors turned a blind eye in fear of turning them into villains and those who did not turn a blind eye were either taught to or too oblivious to notice, let alone stop it. It didn't matter if it was a freshman tripping a senior or a girl ually touching a boy; unless you had the power, you could let them do as they liked or suffer the consequences.

And even on the first day of school, the freshmen intuitively noted this. 

Which was why two months later - after the pattern was set and it was certain to be another year without change - no one blinked twice when for the third time that day, a boy was slammed against the lockers. 

"Hey Bambi," the leader of the trio sneered, leaning slightly as if looking down on the male. "All we asked for were some measly pictures of the new transfers and you couldn't even do that?" 

"Look, Jongin, I tried bu-"

"I don't need your excuses," the dark-skinned boy snapped, punching the metal of the locker inches from the shorter's head. "I wanted pictures. You of all people should understand why they are so important for the school newsletter. You used to be our photographer."

"But I'm not anymore so lay off Jongin," 'Bambi' retorted, glaring boldly at the male. 

"See Luhan, that mouth is why you got kicked out," Jongin growled, grabbing him by the collar. 

"I happen to think he has a lovely mouth," a voice interrupted, tone polite but clearly meant to interrupt. They turned in unison, eyes trailing downward until they met hers. The interloper, female, was short and seemed to have no remarkable features except her eyes, her gaze steady and clear - pressuring, they noted - in spite of her predicament. 

"And who do you think you are?" one of the boys questioned, turning his nose in the air. 

"Just your average pedestrian," she answered simply, the words with practice and an easy gait that made it a statement rather than a cliche. 

"Move along," Jongin scoffed, noting the color of her student I.D. hanging from the lanyard around her neck - white. "You don't want to get involved, Sidekick."

Her eyes stayed on the male, the grip on her book steady.

"I apologize but I don't think you have any authority to tell me otherwise," she replied, tilting her head slightly as if in thought before adding, "Especially since what you're doing isn't all that heroic."

"You're the latest but don't think you're the first to complain," Jongin declared with a sneer. He turned to the other two males. "Sehun, Baekhyun, her to the back of the no-longer-existing line."

"If you want her, you'll have to go through me," another voice warned, another female who was taller - eye-level with the males easily - and much more memorable because her hair was literally on fire. 

"And who are you?" Sehun snorted, eyeing her with mild annoyance. 

"I'm the one who's going to kick your asses if you keep up with that attitude," the taller female declared, rolling her eyes. "I also happen to love basketball and barbecues. So who wants to be the meat I'll be grilling?"

"Excuse me bu-"

The shrill bell cut Baekhyun off, the two groups matching eyes. 

"We'll continue this later," Jongin grumbled, slamming Luhan against the lockers one last time before releasing him. 

"Only if you can properly finish it," the taller girl grumbled as the boys walked away before turning to Luhan. "And you, you shouldn't let them push you around like that."

"Are you okay?" the shorter asked, holding out a hand. "I'm sorry about Soojung. What she really means is that you probably have a strong power so you shouldn't let them demean you."

Luhan looked between the two before sighing and grabbbing the offered hand. 

"You're going to regret that," he warned before being pulled to his feet, almost tripping when he underestimated the girl's strength. 

"No," the shorter corrected, giving him an amused half-smile and releasing his hand. "I don't think I will."

He gave them one final glance before rushing to his class, the end of their conversation audible as they walked apart. 

"Sooyeon, you're utterly ridiculous sometimes," the taller complained. "Why'd you bother sticking your neck out like that?"

"If I didn't, you definitely would have Soojung," the shorter replied, sounding almost scolding. 

"Still," Soojung insisted before he rounded the corner. 

-oOo-

Gossip spread quickly in high school and with superpowers such as enhanced hearing, rumors simply spread more quickly and more accurately in Sky High. 

There were six transfers, all female.

Two, Soojung with her fire hair and another named Jinju with a literal li'l rain cloud following her ("His name is Bi."), were the two halves of Storm; and yes, that Storm - the one who had the highest success rate with diverting natural disasters and who stopped that robot invasion in Pakistan two months ago.

Of the remaining four, three - Miyoung, Dari, and Hyelim with teleportation, telekinesis, and telepathy respectively - were Orion, the ones with the highest number of successfully stopped minor crimes in history and have only had one casualty in all of their years of crime-fighting (and everyone knew that it was on their first mission ever). 

The final one was the only sidekick amidst heroes. Her name was Sooyeon and unlike the others, she wasn't all that remarkable except, everyone seemed to agree, two things: her eyes, which were direct and without pretense, and her attitude, which unlike other attitudes was always calm, logical, and yet completely against the norm. 

All six of them, in fact, demanded and gave equal treatment to everyone - sidekicks, heroes, and normals alike. They were the talk of the school, plastered across the school newsletters, and smack dab right in the middle of everything.

Which was why - people muttered - it was odd that for people at the center of, well, everything, it was ironic that their favorite lunch table was at the edge of the school, only a road's width away from a devastatingly deadly drop to death. 

"It's amusing that they think that they're quiet," Jinju stated, taking a bite of her pasta. Bi was hovering behind her patiently. "I mean, the only way they'd be louder is if they got that guy with the sonic voice to scream it."

"Maybe they just don't care that we know," Miyoung suggested, chewing on a french fry covered in pink sauce that appeared in her hand from Dari's plate. "It's not like it'd change anything. Either we'd confirm, which would make them happy, or deny, which would make us seem like liars saving our own reputation. End of story." 

"Half of their rumors are just about who we're screwing, if at all, while the other half is fan-person-ing over our 'heroic accomplishments.' I can't tell if I should punch them or thank them," Soojung snorted, biting into her sandwich. Her hair was a subdued cascade of embers at the moment, nothing like the bonfire it had been likened to on the first day.

"Nothing worse than running out of things to talk about," Hyelim commented lightly, earning laughter from the group. She had music blasting from a pair of headphones, the bass audible throughout the group, but her voice was soft unlike most people who spoke louder when they could not hear.

"Looks like everyone'll be quite happy in this school then," Dari agreed dryly, flicking her finger upward and eating the fry that followed. "And Miyoung, stop with the mayo-ketchup mixture. You know I dislike mayo." 

"I don't even put in that much mayo," Miyoung protested, rolling her eyes. "Soojung puts in like triple what I do." 

"Hey. Don't knock it 'til you try it," Soojung defended, snatching a fry and dipping it in the pink mayo-ketchup mixture with defiance. "Besides, just because you don't like it doesn't mean we can't eat it."

"I wonder when they'll stop with the prejudice," Hyelim broke in, eyes darting to the silent one of the group. 

"Hopefully soon but not likely," Jinju complained, sighing. "They still judge Bi who's just a rain cloud for crying out loud. It's not like he's actually sentient."

"You treat him like he is," Dari pointed out, glancing to the ketchup-mayo mix with distaste and dipping a french fry in the mustard in defiance. 

"That's besides the point," Jinju waved off, rolling her eyes. "Just because some people are weaker-"

A cellphone going off interrupted her train of thought. 

"That's ours," Miyoung stated, holding up a hand to her face in silent apology before answering it. "Yes?...Oh Lieutenant Cho!"

Miyoung blushed and Dari and Hyelim exchanged glances before Dari plucked the phone from her grasp. 

"Hey!" Miyoung complained.

"This is Mintaka of Orion. Spit it out. You need us on the ground?" Dari questioned, standing already. Hyelim was quickly cleaning up their messes, Miyoung pouting but following her example. "Uh-huh. Alright. We'll be right down."

She hung up, tossing the phone at Miyoung who made a face.

"There's a doozy of a case on the ground - a serial shooting down on Ninth then Eighth. The criminal is already on Seventh and causing havoc," Dari informed, quickly packing up the last of their things. She looked up at the other three. "Sorry for bailing."

"But duty calls," Sooyeon completed with a half-smile. She picked up their bags, all tidied now. "Go serve some justice."

"As always," Miyoung answered, the three immediately picking up the pace and heading out, giving one last over-the-shoulder glance before jumping off the edge of the school. 

There were expected cries from inside the school, words unintelligible but meaning clear. 

"They're such idiots," Jinju insulted, sighing. "Can't they remember that Miyoung can teleport them and that Dari can telekinize - and yes that's a word now Soojung, shut up - them safely?"

"Don't know. Their brain cells are pretty broken gossipping," Sooyeon pointed out, turning to them just as the bell rang. She waited until it was over. "Let's go. Don't want to be late for class."

-oOo-

It was near laughable, Sooyeon had declared once - and only once - in the very beginning before they began at Sky High on that anniversary date, that people sorted their powers into 'heroes' vs. 'sidekicks.' 

The girls had, despite their silence, obviously looked curious enough because she continued, eyes still looking at them as they always did - unflinching and honest.

It was laughable, she explained - no longer 'near' but a simple 'is' - with bitter humor, because in the endless war, it should have been obvious to divide people into 'allies' vs. 'enemies' instead.

She had never mentioned her bitterness again, never voiced her disagreements about the school that they had chosen to enter, but they were reminded in the little things, the way her eyes would flash or lips turn upward just slightly with that rough edge. And in a way, though they never really forgot, in another way, they did up until the headlines of the school newspaper - which was invasive and uncontrolled but actually accurate and wildly popular - blared the message across the school. 

Sixth Sidekick Protests School Policies

The article itself was mostly speculative but logical and, the transfers muttered between themselves, accurate enough. 

Which was why, only an hour later, when she was called into the Principal's Office, no one was surprised. The fact that she was not punished was, however, shocking except to the other five females. 

"Threatening?" Jinju asked lightly, keeping her tone flippant as she tapped away on her cell phone. 

"No," Sooyeon answered directly, no room for misinterpretation. "We discussed school policies."

"And that was it," Soojung surmised.

"And that was it," Sooyeon confirmed.

"She was threatened," Hyelim interrupted, frowning. "But she threatened back about-Hey! That's not fair! I was looking at that memory."

"I'm not sharing that memory. Besides, if life were to suddenly get fair, I doubt it would happen in high school," Sooyeon retorted firmly, Hyelim grumbling lowly but not arguing. "The last thing we need now is another incident though. No threatening the Newspaper Club."

She eyed Soojung and Jinju in particular.

"I haven't done anything," Soojung complained.

"Yet," Dari pointed out smugly.

"I haven't done anything yet," Soojung amended honestly, putting her hands up. "Besides, not enough time this lunch period. It's just about over."

The bell rang as if accentuating her statement. 

Sooyeon gave the group a suspicious look before rushing off to her next class - farthest from their eating area and in the opposite direction of all the hero classes. 

They watched her go, exchanging glances that held the same amount of shared plotting before a familiar voice interrupted their planning.

"Storm and Orion, right?" Luhan questioned, another male behind him. "Do you mind helping us with a...project?"

...xXx...

Author's Note: The true reason I wrote this was because I misinterpreted the previous request from duixing (the chapter before or after this depending on which order I release it) on what she meant by "Sky" school and I was thinking the movie that this is obviously based off of. My mistake. It led to this though so...

Note: Following this note are character notes I created to help write this (and will help me if I decide to write future continuations of this). This is, of course, an AU so some of the powers will be switched around or modified to better suit my purposes even within EXO. Note that all of the notes below show their status at the beginning of the story. The section below is a key.

Category : 
Name (Superhero vs. Sidekick || Downgrade vs. Upgrade)
Superhero Identity
Power 
Love Interest

• Background/Important Information