Chapter 12: High Hopes and Tightropes

Danny didn’t say very much while we sat in the Hub. The voice we heard grunting when we arrived belonged to Kate and I wondered if we’d have to stay here like she does. I figured it wouldn’t be too bad if we did, because it felt kinda like being at your parents workplace, with a few extra steps. Then I remembered the lounge room and I was gonna ask him if he wanted to go but he was staring at the training room like a lost puppy.

“So, what do you think about her?” I broke the silence.

He seemed to think about it for a second, “I… she… where has she been all my life?”

“Here, probably,” I responded half-heartedly. “What about Vanessa?”

“Well it’s not like we’re still a thing, right?” He leaned back on the chair he was sitting on. “I’m sure she wouldn’t care.”

“Right…” I said with as much sarcasm as I could muster.

I took a closer look at the lounge and it seemed to be locked anyway and I didn’t want to get in trouble on my first day, so I asked Frostbite when we could go home.

“You can leave now if you want,” She said dismissively. “Just make sure to come back here early tomorrow, or I guess I’ll take you…. We’ll figure it out.”

And, with that, Daniel and I headed towards the exit. On our way out we saw a map, it was massive and spread out all over the city with old subway tunnels and secret entrances/exits. The Bastion seemed to reach every single crevice of the city and we were right in the middle of it. We both knew the secret we had to keep and Danny, feeling a little more high-spirited, challenged me to a race of who could find all the secret entrances first. I accepted, mostly because it was nice seeing Danny back to his usual self.

We began backtracking to where we had come from, when I saw a face that was familiar. She slowed her stroll when she saw my face, probably wondering where she remembered me from.

“Mrs. Jewel?” I asked with a little uncertainty.

There was just no way Samantha’s mother worked with superheroes in a secret organization everyday and no one knew.

“You’re my daughter’s friend right?” She tapped her feet. “Watson? Wade?”

“It’s William,” I helped her out a little.

“Ah yes, William, that was my next guess,” She nodded. “You used to visit us when you were in kindergarten.”

The memories came back to me faster than I would’ve liked. Samantha and I used to play at her house after school was over, and we would only play what she wanted to. We ended up role-playing a lot of the time. Sometimes she was the princess in the castle and sometimes we were on an adventure in space, but we were always together. Wouldn’t be much fun if we weren’t, I thought to myself.

“Yeah Mrs. Jewel,” I said awkwardly.

We stood there for a while. Danny didn’t say anything and I assumed it was because he was busy but then Mrs. Jewel said something else.

“I know my daughter likes you and I hate to ask you to do this,” She leaned her head sideways. “But I want you to keep me and this place a secret if it ever comes up, alright?”

I didn’t think about it too much because there was something serious behind the smile Mrs. Jewel was giving me. I simply agreed and we parted ways. Hopefully we don’t bump into each other often, I thought as we left the clean, pristine hallways into the old mining facility.

When I got home, I wasn’t very sure what to do with myself. I plopped down in my bed and checked my phone to see a few “good-night” messages from Samantha. After texting her back, I put my phone aside and fell asleep.

At around five in the morning, I woke up to my ringtone going off in my hand. It was Daniel. I answered the phone but was too tired to say anything.

“Uh… hello?” He said. “You there?”

“No, I’m sleeping,” I answered before almost hanging up.

“Wait,” He said with a hint of urgency. “Grac- er.. Frostbite told me to call you and tell you to come down to the parking lot.”

“What?” I rolled over to my left side. “Why?”

“Apparently we’re starting our training today, so get ready and come down.”

He hung up before I could argue with him more. I tried to get up but collapsed and sighed. I stayed still for a minute before mustering the strength to actually get up.

I grabbed my sweatpants a black t-shirt and my sweater from the closet and made a light breakfast for Wendy in case I didn’t get back home before she woke up. Then I made my way downstairs, convincing myself I wasn’t as tired as I was making it seem.

“Thought you were gonna make me wait all day Will,” Frostbite stopped tapping her feet on the ground.

“Good morning to you too,” I rubbed my hands together.

She motioned for us to come closer to her and started speaking in a lower voice.

“So, I know you guys are new to this whole superhero thing and, as a result, your bodies might not be able to use your own powers to their fullest potential.”

Danny and I looked at each other and then nodded at Frostbite.

“Alright so for a couple months you’ll be doing some basic training to get yourselves used to more intense movements and to better suit your fighting styles,” She looked at both of us. “Sounds good?”

We nodded again and she started a light jog out of the parking lot and onto the sidewalk. We followed after her, keeping her pace fairly easily.

“We’re gonna head to the main base where we’ll start a different kind of exercise,” She said, camly. “This should get you warmed up.”

Danny and I didn’t say anything but I knew we were both getting kinda pumped about this thing. It felt almost official in a way, training to become heroes. Before that meteorite fell I thought my life would’ve been much more boring but in a way the meteorite and my powers were allowing me to express myself and help others. Even though I hadn’t really helped anyone just yet, this was the beginning of something amazing.

We crossed an intersection and there was a pretty loud crashing noise that rang out into the morning air. Frostbite stopped us. She seemed to know exactly where the sound came from. I told myself that it was probably because she had been doing superhero stuff since the Great Legendary Heroes disbanded. At the time she was a sidekick but then she went off on her own and started her own legacy.

There was another crash and she started sprinting toward where it came from, taking off her sweater to reveal her superhero outfit under. Naturally, Danny and I followed after, though not as closely as before. She turned the corner of one of the buildings that was on the intersection and started powering up her hands. When we approached we saw a tall, pale lady with sunken cheeks and long brunette hair. She was holding a small gun in one hand and a man’s neck in the other.

My head started pounding and I could hardly find the strength to stand. Seeing a gun in the hands of someone who wasn’t an officer shocked me to my very core. However the lady seemed frozen too, caught red handed by the one and only Frostbite might’ve caught her off guard as much as it did us. It turned into a standoff. Frostbite, Danny and I were all trying to assess the situation and I was trying even harder to suppress my pessimistic thoughts. Frostbite didn’t take her vigilant eyes off of the lady but she whispered something that Danny heard better than I did. Then she started counting down from three… two… one…. Then she shot a frosted beam and Danny dashed forward.

Frostbite yelled my name, “William! Move!”

It was still very early in the morning so basically everywhere functioned as a shadow until the sun rose a little higher. I understood what Frostbite wanted me to do.

I teleported behind the lady and, while she was worrying about the gun that was frozen to her hand, I grabbed the man and teleported into the alleyway behind the building they were standing in front of.

The man had gray-blonde hair and looked like he was in his late 40’s. He sat on the ground trying to catch his breath. The look on his face as he thanked me burned itself into my memory. I saved someone, but the job wasn’t done yet.

I teleported back to Danny and Frostbite, who had successfully taken the gun from the woman and had her pinned on the ground. The gun itself was covered in ice so it wouldn’t be very useful for a while, but the woman started laughing, no, cackling.

In a swift motion, she slipped under both Frostbite and Danny, who had fast enough reflexes to grab her but that’s when we all realized she wasn’t fully human. She had made her arms and legs into multiple thin ropes and flung Danny off of herself. She looked at me and then at Danny and then at Frostbite who’s eyes seemed to be glowing a faint light blue and scoffed.

Danny started getting up from the ground and Frostbite asked me to back her up. Although I didn’t exactly know what she meant by that I ran to her side and ignored the fatigue that was creeping in from using my powers.

The lady spoke up for the first time, “Pardon my manners, I’d neglected to introduce myself.”

Frostbite shot another frosted beam at her face but she turned half of her face into rope and opened a hole that the beam went through and missed.

The other human-half of her face was smiling as she said, “Hi, my name’s Tightrope.”