2 minutes before Anri had blown a hole into the ship, Nova and Soren had run into Jason and Loda.
"You've managed to sink to a new low, haven't you, donkey?"
"Stop calling me donkey or I'll rip your tongue out."
Soren grinned at the pissed off teenager. Yeah sure, donkey. I wanna fight but I've got work to do. Hold on for five minutes and then we can settle this once and for all."
"What's going to happen in five minutes?" Loda curiously asked.
"I dunno," Soren answered as he pursed his mouth to blow a loud whistle. If their plan worked, they would win 200 points. Probably. If it failed, he would get into a fight with Jason. It was a win-win scenario for Soren.
______
The redhead put his hands to his ears not a second too early.
BOOM!
Nova sprinted the second she heard the blast. Her feet hit the ground as light as butterflies as she took flight towards the gaping hole in the spaceship. From behind her, Nova could hear Soren shouting to Anri. She could also hear the sound of someone running behind her.
"Nova, stop!" Loda screamed from behind her. "I'll pay you!"
She was only a few metres away from the smoking spaceship. The solid slug had punctured a sizeable hole in the hull and she would have to crawl through it.
"Nova you stupid bitch-" Loda cut himself off as he realised whose daughter he had called a bitch. "Nova! I didn't mean it!"
The young Ainsworth heiress couldn't help but crack a smile at the audacity that silver had. Who was he trying to bribe? She had more money than he had strands of hair on his head.
Ducking into the hole, she began to push her body, headfirst, through the opening. When half her torso had gone in, Nova felt a grip around her ankle.
"I won't let you have it!" Loda screamed at her. He had been humiliated by Anri and now team purple was going to steal his limelight, his points, his seat in the prestigious academy.
Even as the hand furiously squeezed and tugged at her ankle with enough force to leave bruises on her skin, a thread of red hot outrage and anger took Nova's breath away. Loda was taking the opportunity of chaos to feel her up her thigh. And that was unforgivable.
The young woman abandoned her attempt at getting in through the hole. Her ankle was still in Loda's grip but she freed herself by kicking hard and hitting him in the stomach.
"Nova, I-"
His nasty grin was the straw that broke the camel's back.
"You want a fight then I'll give you one," she coldly told him. She could already see Anri's figure approaching them. She regretted that she was useless even in the end. Anri had carried the team so far and they had to rely on him even for the final step.
"I'm sorry, Anri," she told the sorcerer who was closing in on them.
"Can you handle him?" Came his reply. Anri understood why Nova was apologising. It wasn't her fault that silver had chosen to follow her.
"I'm good at putting people in their places," Nova answered. Her aura had changed suddenly and drastically. Where Nova had been quiet and fading into the background like a wallflower, she was now a presence whose outlines sharply demanded the undivided attention of anyone looking her away. She was now a sword that had been taken out of its decorative scabbard.
Anri was impressed by her ability to suppress her aura and direct attention away from herself. It was an important skill to have for someone always being hounded by limelight.
"Then I'll give you some time to put him in his place."
The sorcerer made a show of widening the hole by repeatedly bashing an iron rod against its sides. Surely, the camera could see he wasn't slender enough to push through the hole, right? And Nova was just distracting the enemy while he did his job.
________
"Oh hey," Soren remarked when he came upon the sight of Nova sparring Loda. The redhead had arrived late because Jason had attacked him. The duo had viciously exchanged moves, and ultimately, it was the redhead who emerged victorious. There had been much name-calling and trash-talking, and Soren had won every bout.
"Chill, Nova," Anri told her when he saw the amount of blood pouring out of Loda's nose. "They're watching us."
The young lady was on the verge of unleashing more violence on Loda but Anri's words acted as a restraint on her actions.
"I know about you, Loda," Nova told the teenager who was staring at her like he wanted her life. "Nepotism runs thick in your family's blood, doesn't it?"
Loda spat the blood out of his mouth and leered at her. "Talk shit all you like, Nova. I've touched you and nothing can change that. I hope you feel dirty for the rest of your life, whore."
Anri couldn't understand how the teenager's brain functioned. How he could have the energy and guts to harass Nova even after getting beaten to within an inch of his life.
"Don't," Nova said to Soren who was about to lay down a new round of beating. "Loda, we will settle this in the manner favoured by your family. Let's see how much he likes a court-martial."
Loda scoffed at her. "For what reason? You have no proof of my crimes, miss Nova. Initiating a court-martial against my father will take more than a baseless accusation and the words of your teammates. In fact, they'll see how cruel and vicious you've been to me-"
Nova turned around and walked away from him. There was no sense in using her words to fight with a crook.
"Anri, allow me," she told the sorcerer who was struggling to fit his wide shoulders through the hole. She smiled at the leader of her team who had come off as cold and rude in the beginning. "Whether we get the points or not, I just want to let you know that I couldn't have asked for a better team to join."
Anri remained silent. Exchanging sentimentalities with a beautiful girl was a lost skill he needed to work on.
Nova shook her head and smiled at Anri's awkward expression. He was cute, very cute.
_____
"This is unprecedented," a middle-aged woman said with a sigh. Principal Tori was in her mid-forties but had the face of someone in her thirties and the stunning body of an athletic girl in her twenties. Good genetics and a healthy lifestyle were what she attributed it all to.
"And troublesome," her AI responded. Kara, her AI, stood next to Principal Tori's seat and smiled sunnily despite her words. "They didn't break a single rule, madam Tori. You dont have any grounds to withhold the points from them."
Principal Tori pinched the bridge of her nose as she recalled the members of her faculty who were spectating from the conference room. Some of them were puppets to a few unsavoury characters in the higher ranks of the military, and would no doubt arrive at her chamber to argue against giving them the points. She felt the desire to hurl her data pad at the wall and dive for the bottle of wine that was hidden under her desk.
"We can't afford to lose out on gaining the three young cadets from team purple," she said to the AI. "Anri is the most impressive one out of them all but Nova and Soren have displayed exemplary teamwork and discipline, especially in their dealing with the treachery of Jason. They deserve the two hundred points, Kara."
"I couldn't have said it better, madam! Now prepare yourself for battle. Preceptor Valor is on his way to your chamber right now. He will be here in three minutes."
"Of course, it had to be him," principal Tori grumbled. "Stall the man while I make a call."