Colin's posts

That was a massive red flag for the teacher. They knew that wasn't good in the slightest.

"Oh..." they mumbled.

They gently had her look at them, and saw her face was flushed. They put their wrist to her forehead, and recoiled slightly.

"You're burning up!" they exclaimed.

They then brought out their walkie-talkie, and pinged the medic they had at the school.

"Eastern quadrant. Jordan McCormick appears to be VERY sick. Please come here IMMEDIATELY." they said, before turning back to Jordan.

"How long have you been feeling like this?" they asked.

After about 30 seconds of her sitting there, one of the supervising teachers made their way over to her.

"Ms McCormick, the bell went off." they said.

"Time to go inside." they told her.

When Jordan didn't say anything... or didn't even respond, they looked a little irritated, but then noticed something seemed off.

"....Jordan?" they then addressed her.

"Are you all right?"

"Oh." Darrell replied.

"Okay then." he said, going back to his milkshake.

"...huh." Jaden muttered.

"Was easier than I thought." he mumbled to Desiree.

"There anything that needs to be done to that old phone?" he asked her.

"Any repair work or tinkering or anything?"

Darrell immediately looked elated with the idea, and Jaden pondered it for a moment.

"Hmmm." he mumbled.

"I have to admit, you have a good point." he said.

"It might be a very good idea." he went on, before noticing his son was about to burst from excitement.

"....calm down." he muttered.

"This isn't a phone for fun-times and such." he stressed.

"We're NOT buying you the top-end, couple-thousand dollar phone." he finished.

Darrell was now stunned to hear that.

"Wh... what...?" he asked.

"R-really?" he asked further.

"Really." Jaden confirmed.

"Suffice to say, your mother does NOT have a good history with him." he continued.

"But... but if he's so bad...?" Darrell started to ask.

"Why did he save you?" Jaden finished.

"That... is a very good question, son." he admitted.

Darrell looked genuinely shocked.

"Uncle!?" he exclaimed.

"We have an uncle?" he asked, referring to himself and Jordan.

"You do." Jaden confirmed.

"Wait, why did you hope we'd never meet him?" Darrell then asked Desiree.

"He was grumpy and stuff, but... he saved me." he reasoned.

She went to the den, and saw Darrell, Jordan, and Jaden sitting on the couch, with the two kids drinking milkshakes.

"Welcome back." Jaden said to her.

"Hi, Mom!" Darrell greeted her.

"...hey, Mom?" he then said further.

"...who was that man that saved me?" he asked her.

Jaden was silent, and just facepalmed, when he realised what he had said.

"Ugh." he grunted.

"Anyway, Darrell, want to go and watch some TV?" he asked his son.

"Sure." Darrell replied.

"Go on and find something to watch, then." he told him.

"Ask your sister if she wants to join you." he added.

Darrell then left, and Jaden sighed, before going to make the milkshakes.

"...I thought we could avoid this kind of thing." he mumbled.

"Guess we have no peace."

"Darrell will heal just fine." Jaden responded.

"Will take a bit, but he'll heal." he said.

"Darell didn't even peep while Mom was healing his wrists." he then went on.

"So I'm making him his fave milkshake." he continued.

"Want me to make Jordan's as well?" he asked.

"And the cuffs should be taken to Mom. She'll have them dealt with properly." he finished.

Nico returned the hug and watched her go, before sighing.

"Damn it, Marcus." he cursed.

"If only you could get it through your thick skull." he said, shaking his head.

Meanwhile, Jaden and Darrell appeared back at their home, and Jaden set him down.

He grabbed his cell phone and texted Desiree.

Where you at? We need to talk about those cuffs. he sent to her.

"Thirsty?" he asked Darrell.

The boy nodded in response.

"Because you were so good while grandma bandaged you up, I'll make your favourite; a peanut butter and chocolate milkshake." Jaden told him. This seemed to brighten Darrell's mood instantly, and noticeably.

"I guess he's still fighting with himself." Nico responded.

"It's clear that he's a person with reason and compassion." he went on. "But his mother's teachings, her belittling, her abuse... her everything... that person's been buried and suppressed." he continued.

"Seems with her death, he's finally learning who he is." he sighed.

"But also seems like he's not liking it... but knows he shouldn't..." he continued.

"He's a very conflicted individual." he muttered.

"He could really use some guidance, but I don't think he'd accept it from anyone."

Jaden nodded in response, and grabbed Darrell.

"Thank you." he said to her.

"Thanks, grandma." Darrell said as well.

They then said their goodbyes, and then disappeared into a portal, with Sydney hearing Nico's voice as it closed.

"Well." he muttered.

"Looks like McCormick's son is finally coming around." he commented.

"That's one SLIM piece of good that came out of this." he said further.

Jaden nodded and immediately took out his phone.

After some searching and calculating on it, he sent her the coordinates that she had asked for.

"There you go." he said.

"Oh, and because Jordan doesn't have any mana yet, she was able to get the cuffs off of Darrell." he then told her.

"She has them right now, but we'll make sure they get sent to you... or the Triad... or wherever they should go." he continued.

"Admittedly, I'm not sure where they need to be taken to." he added at the end.

"Good." Jaden replied.

"...I hope this was an isolated incident." he said.

"I don't want my family to live in constant fear, and with paranoia." he mumbled.

"It's okay..." Darrell interjected.

"I... I think I understand." he went on.

"I just need to get stronger to be able to protect myself and Jordan, right?" he asked, showing amazing maturity for his age... albeit a bit simplistic.