Chapter 10: Entering The Bastion

Usually losing at air hockey would’ve pissed me off for the entire week because of how much I hated losing but seeing Samantha so happy reminded me of why I liked playing it in the first place. The close matches Danny and I used to have and when either of us just barely won always made me feel like I did something more than I thought I was capable of doing, or maybe I was overthinking it. Danny and I didn’t go to the arcade anymore because school and other stuff were always getting in the way and after a while we just didn’t bother going again.

“I still can’t believe I won that,” Samantha sat beside me on the bus.

“Yeah, I let you have that one,” My ego flared a bit. “Maybe I’ll take you a little more seriously next time.”

“Ha!” She smirked at me. “You’re just salty, Will.”

“Eh, whatever,” I said because I’d run out of comebacks.

We sat for a while, waiting for the bus to start moving, and she pulled out her earphones and handed them to me. I was expecting jazz music when she passed it to me but something a little more subtle was playing. It sounded a little bit like jazz but with slower, more methodical trap drums in the background creating a chill, consistent tempo for the music itself. It was bliss. I asked her what it was and she responded with “lo-fi.”

“Why didn’t you let me hear this stuff earlier?” I pointed at the earphones.

“I only started listening to it recently,” She giggled. “I love it.”

The ride went on and this time around we felt a lot more comfortable. She held my hand tightly and pointed out some places we hadn’t talked about on the first ride.

“That library is actually over a hundred years old,” She said as-a-matter-of-factly. “And that massive factory over there is where a lot of the steel gets refined.”

“Interesting,” I said because I had no idea what else to say.

“Oh, oh, and that’s one of the headquarters they use for the mining and quarrying that used to happen a lot back in the day,” She smiled.

“Uhuh,” I responded half-heartedly.

“And that’s where my mom used to work before she got promoted,” She leaned over me to point at a tall office building.

“Hey Sam?” I said.

“Yeah?” She sat back down.

I looked at her for a solid ten seconds, “You’re a nerd.”

She looked back at me for a while, “Yeah….”

*************

We said our good-byes again, after I walked her home, and she told me that she really enjoyed herself. The sun was setting again and I stopped on the bridge to look at it for a few minutes before heading home and going to bed.

I let my mind wander off into the what-if’s and could-be’s so I didn’t feel the air getting gradually colder around me.

A familiar voice cleared her throat, “Having fun?”

I turned around with a start and Frost stood there like a human air conditioner.

“Hey Frostbite,” I tried not to stutter. “You, uh, you’re here?”

“Yep, I came to pick you up,” She clasped her hands together. “Didn’t want to interrupt your date though.”

I hadn’t known she was so considerate.

“Right, now you gotta come with me,” She started to sound like a teacher again.

She started walking away.

“Where are we going?” I followed after her.

“To get Daniel,” She picked up her pace.

”And after that?”

“We’re headed to the Bastion,” She said. “You’ll know it when you see it.”

We arrived at my apartment and the sky gradually became darker. Subsequently, I looked up and couldn’t help but admire the stars and the coolness of the breeze that was rushing through my hair. Danny was keeping Wendy occupied for me while I was gone so I was already expecting him to be there. Frostbite told him the same thing she told me about “the Bastion” and Danny asked me what we were going to do about Wendy.

“Can she stay with your parents?” I asked as my last resort.

“Sure, but,” He scratched his head before looking at me again. “They’ll ask questions.”

“You think we could call it a sleep-over?” I responded.

“It might work,” He seemed to like the idea.

“Let’s hope it does then,” I sighed.

I started heading over towards Wendy’s room when Frostbite stopped me.

“I haven’t seen anyone this cautious about what we’re doing here,” She said, putting her chilly hand on my shoulder. “I can respect someone who’d go out of their way to protect the ones they love. Don’t forget why you want to be a hero, William.”

She walked outside and waited at the balcony. I continued to Wendy’s room, thinking about what she said. Why do I want to be a hero? Daniel was the one who suggested it so I just went along with him but what did it mean for me? Why did I want to become a hero?

I put the thoughts to the back of my head and knocked on Wendy’s door. She opened it and immediately asked me how my date went. I rubbed her hair and told her it went great and that I thought Sam really liked me. Wendy’s subconscious smile had almost become a staple in my life, especially whenever I got sad. I told her about the sleep-over she would be having with Danica and she was ecstatic about it. I figured that it wouldn’t hurt me to wait for her to finish packing so I could close the door to the apartment and eventually, we cleared out.

Frostbite started explaining what the Bastion was.

“Well, basically,” She took a breath. “It’s a central hub where superheroes, the police, several factions of the military and the government work together to keep this place safe from terrorists, supervillains, aliens, the like.”

“Wait did you say ali-” Danny started to say but she continued.

“Since this meteorite fell we’ve been a little…” She paused. “Understaffed.”

“So, you need help?” I tried to piece everything together.

“Are we really ignoring the whole aliens thing?” Danny said with a hint of excitement mixed with nervousness in his voice.

“We do need help, though the higher-ups don’t want to admit it,” She answered me. “The meteorites that fell caused a number of… anomalies to pop up.”

I took a little bit to think about it, “Like the two weird people at the police station?”

“Exactly,” She said with a sigh. “I’ve spent a lot of time fighting people like that over the past month or so and more of them keep coming out of the wood-work.”

“And that’s where we come in?” Danny seemed to get over the alien thing.

“Yep,” She looked back at us for a second before stopping.

We were at the abandoned mining facility that Sam was talking about on the bus. Up close, it looked dirty and ruined. I remembered some protests that happened a while back about knocking it down to build more housing and other more useful things to help progression in the city or something like that. Frostbite opened the door and dust began to swirl around in the dark, empty building. There were mounds of dirt everywhere and the place seemed as if it wasn’t touched by anyone for years.

“You’re joking right?” Danny coughed. “This is the Bastion?”

Frostbite scoffed and continued on in silence. I shrugged at Danny and we followed her to the back of the building. She opened a door that led to the massive, old quarry at the back of the building. We started climbing down the rusty metal stairs that spiraled downward into the dark abyss. When we reached the very bottom the ground felt hard and cold and a little unsteady at first but eventually I got used to standing again. Frostbite helped me walk over to one of the “walls” made of dirt and stone and leaned me against it because I suddenly found it hard to breathe. She whispered something to the wall and placed her hand on it. The air felt colder, but it wasn’t coming from Frostbite this time. I noticed the wall slowly opening, like an elevator door.

Danny and I stared down the clean, white and blue hallway in awe. Seeing the contrast of this pristine area to the run-down abandoned look of the mining facility helped me realize how much trust she was putting into us by even bringing us here in the first place. Frostbite walked into the doorway, gesturing for us to follow.

“Welcome to the Bastion, boys,” She gave us a smile.