Author's Note

Okay, this one's a shortie, but a summie. Basically... short chapter, but trying to continue the story without too much bloating.

Anyhoo, enjoy!

Minor Setback

Adagio fiddled and struggled with the buckles and straps on her parachute, yanking and tugging on them trying to get loose. After unbuckling herself, she jumped onto the platform of the billboard, finally free from her parachute. Then as carefully as she could, she jumped off from the ledge and onto the sidewalk, keeping a knee out.

"OW!"

Adagio yelped as she hit the ground, and cried out in pain.

"Never... doing that again!" Adagio cried. "Really hard on your knees!"

Sonata got out of her parachute and fell onto the ground, right on her back.

"OW!"

Adagio winced. "Are you okay?"

"I'm still alive! Just falling out of a tree!"

Aria, who had gotten up in the time the supers went to chase down the Beanie Brothers, helped her younger sisters get back up on her feet, and who rejoined Adagio who was struggling to get up.

"Where did they go?" Aria asked.

"Who?"

"The Squad Of Idiots, who do you think!?" Aria barked.

Adagio clinched and rolled her eyes. "They went to go chase down the Beanie Brothers while you were trying to recover. On the street."

"Well, hopefully they stopped the brothers before they could escape."

Adagio felt her pocket buzz and vibrate. Reaching in her pocket, she found her old phone. Flipping it open, she answered the call.

"Hello?" Adagio answered. "Oh, Tombstone! Good to hear you're not dead, how did the chase go?"

Aria and Sonata were quiet, allowing Adagio to answer her call. Their eyes looked at Adagio's excited grin, happy like a little girl receiving a birthday present. But then, her smile began to slowly fade. It dwindled, making the sisters concerned.

"Oh... they got away?"

"What!?" Aria and Sonata barked.

"Shh!" Adagio shushed. "Okay. Well, we can always..." Adagio's face frowned some more. "Oh. So, the entire team's quit, huh?"

She waited.

"Okay. So Tox and Silver are safely on their way to their own homes? ... Okay... No, no, I... I guess there's no reason for you to show up," Adagio said, holding her head frustrated. "No, I understand. Look, you should just... just go back to your old job. I'm sorry I... I'm sorry I wasted your time, and everyone else's. ... Okay. Goodbye."

Adagio hung up, and she sighed, throwing her head back.

"What happened?" Sonata asked.

"Inferno and Blizzard quit, Phantom quit... Tox has basically quit, Silverstream is... I don't even know what Silverstream is doing, but she's pretty much out. And, I guess Tombstone is going back to his job. Everyone's quit."

Aria and Sonata frowned.

"Aww..."

"Shame, I actually liked Phantom... even though he never said a word, or really gave us anything worth knowing about."

Adagio shook her head, waving her hair all around trying to shake it off.

"Look... okay, so everyone's quit, that's fine. It's fine, it'll be fine. Maybe our friends have had better luck today," Adagio commented.

Her phone rang again, this time a call coming from Trixie.

"Hello?" Adagio answered. "Sweetie, hey! Ugh, yes I switched to a flip phone. I don't understand how you girls use those new phones, they're impossible!" Adagio shook her head, but smiled, hearing her girlfriend's voice on the phone. "So, how'd it go? Did you stop them?"

Aria and Sonata waited. And Adagio frowned even more.

"... Oh. Okay. Well, don't worry. I'm sure you girls will get another chance. Just... look, just head back to school, we'll join you very soon. Okay. Thank you."

Adagio hung up on the phone.

"Now what happened?"

Adagio looked her sisters dead in the eye.

"Spitfire and her pack got away."

The news of the failures from yesterday clouded Adagio all throughout her morning. Remembering the team she assembled failing on their first assignment, and then her friends failing to capture Spitfire and her crew. She hoped the next day would be better and she wouldn't have to deal with any more problems. Adagio waited and waited for a call, a sign, anything from the rest of the supers, but she didn't hear, she didn't feel, she didn't get a single call or email from any of them. No one, not a sight, not a sound, not an email.

And most of her morning at school was spent being grumpy and frustrated. Especially hearing the news that Trixie and her friends

"Adagio, you can't still be frustrated, can you?"

"Yes, yes I can."

Adagio opened up her locker, with her sisters and the rest of their friends behind.

"Come on, at least you tried," Lyra said, trying to lift her spirit.

"Yes. First, Spitfire and those Wonderbolts get away again. Second, I failed to keep a new team together. The only other people who had Equestrian Magic. Oh, but Silver... I think I'll miss her most," Adagio sighed.

"Silver?" Vinyl asked.

"Silverstream, that's her name."

"Get this," Aria said, "A 12-year-old with no powers or Equestrian Magic showed up to audition, because she saw the ad, and thought it looked fun."

"At least she was honest!" Sonata said, nodding with enthusiasm.

"And she landed with a parachute safely with no harm whatsoever," Adagio added, slamming her locker shut. "I... girls, I know we promised to get some new heroes but... I failed. Its my fault none of you are taking a vacation--"

"--Adagio?"

Adagio looked up, facing the cute little dork she loved. Her blue hand stroked her cheek, with an adorable smile.

"You tried, that's all that matters. Its okay. I'm sure we can work out a way to handle both at once. After all, part of growing up means learning to multi-task."

Adagio shrugged. "I suppose so."

She turned around, about to walk with them to their next class.

"But I just wish--OOF!"

Adagio bumped into someone and she immediately fell onto the ground.

"Hey, watch where you're going!"

"Sorry, I... Wait a minute."

She looked up at the boy who was on the floor as well, and was in shock. Dark green skin, yellow tank top, gray denim jeans with a small chain lingering around the belt holes, and fingerless gloves. And she recognized the snake-like eyes staring deep into her soul.

"Tox?"

"Well, I'm not some generic thug who wandered in," Tox deadpanned.

"B-B-But... you... what are you doing here?" The eldest siren asked, flabbergasted.

"Well first of all, I'm not here because of the 20+ emails you sent me," Tox remarked, making Adagio blush in embarrassment, "and second, I attend this school. Not that you noticed."

Adagio blanked. "I'm sorry, what?"

"I go to school here!"

Tox got back up on his feet, dusting himself off. Adagio got back up on her own, still confused.

"Well... I'm... I'm surprised, I have to admit. Girls, this is Tox, one of the supers who signed on. Tox, this is--"

"--I know full and well who they are, you don't need to do an introduction sequence," Tox rolled his eyes.

"Geez, someone's in a sour mood, aren't they?" Octavia said, putting her hands on her hips.

"Only because the people who aren't giving me the kerosene I need are being difficult. Lucky I didn't spit in their... well you get it."

Tox grabbed his things, and turned his back on the girls, walking away.

"Wait, Adagio? You said he's a super, right?"

"Yes."

"Just what exactly can he do?" Vinyl asked with some concern.

"He vomits all of the bad food from those fast food places," Aria snarked.

The girls looked at Aria, confused. The siren just groaned.

"He spits acid, to sum it up."

"Oh..." all of them said.

"Gross, but awesome," Amethyst nodded.

Everyone's heads turned down the hallway, watching him leave. Off to the sides they could see a few other CHS students who were walking by. But the minute Tox was seen, they all looked away and walked very quickly. Quite, urgently, to be frank. It was like they were afraid of him. But why? Why did they run away?

But they wouldn't be able to question that, for at that moment, they saw Tox almost keel over like he was about to fall. He had one hand onto the locker, and they listened to him cough and wheeze. Very intensely, actually. But before anyone could do anything to try and ask if he needed help, they watched as he ran to the trashcan that was out in the hall and hacked up into the receptacle. It sounded more like just throwing out spit, accompanied by a minor sound of vomiting.

"Oh..." Tox coughed, backing from the trashcan. Without realizing the girls were watching, he just ran away, off to his next class.

The girls stood in awkward silence, eyes widened with some almost dropped jaws.

"So... Tox is..."

Adagio shook her head, and replied with a blunt tone.

"He's a smoker."