CHAPTER 30

Travis arrived in front of Madison's house, only slightly skidding to a stop. As he did, he was tempted to chow down on the gift in hand but he resisted, choosing instead to snack on the M&M packet he had in his pocket. He had to admit, as much as he loved his powers, the constant drain of energy and need for food was starting to weigh on him. But he still wouldn't change it for anything. Well, maybe world peace, but it would have to be that kind of level, not something stupid like full scholarship to university. Like that would help him.

Plus, he could now wash his hands in no time at all. Well, for him it still took the same amount of time but in speed mode, no time passed at all so not one second of time was wasted for him. That was a huge bonus to getting these powers.

The bummer was the electricity. Not that the power itself was a bummer, oh no. That was awesome in every sense. He could even charge his phone now just by holding it. But it seemed when he started firing off electrical bolts, he expended a lot more energy, leaving him feeling drained, tired, and hungry. He hadn't shown it yesterday but after the fight, he'd barely made it home to bed before collapsing after using up so much power. If he wanted this to continue, he'd have to get used to the power so it wouldn't have such a dramatic effect on him anymore.

If he wanted this to continue. That was the question plaguing him at the moment. Cause this was becoming a lot bigger than he thought it would. Honestly, when this started, he just thought it would be a lot of fun. Run around, save some people when he could, and just enjoy his new powers to their limits. He didn't actually think there were supervillains out there. Who would? Technically, yes, he did suddenly get superpowers so it was only natural that others did as well. But, it hadn't really crossed his mind. He thought he could become a superhero in a sense, help out when he could, be there for people when they needed him.

But being an actual superhero who took on villains with dangerous powers? That scared him. Way more than he was willing to admit. He'd read so many superhero stories over the years and one thing had become clear. Superheroes did not live easy lives. In fact, their lives sounded horrible. Constantly facing death, losing loved ones, missing out on the life one wanted. That's why Travis was happy to just use his powers in an easygoing way, not go up against supervillains way more powerful than him. But now it was too late. He'd already done that and had his ass handed to him, nearly dying alongside his friends. He now knew that he wasn't really alone out there. He felt like Harry Potter right now, with Hagrid saying those iconic words that opened up a whole new world. Like he was standing on the edge of something that would absolutely blow his mind and he wasn't sure he'd be able to understand it.

But he wasn't alone. He had Franklin and Madison. Sumin and Gabriela were also now in on it. That made it a little easier. Franklin had accused him of trying to start a superhero team with all of them and while the idea was cool, Travis didn't think that was a good idea. He'd seen how bad they were against the masked man. No, what he wanted was more of a…support group in a sense. They all had gotten their powers so suddenly that none of them knew what to do with them, what any of this meant. Together, well, they could find out as a group. That's what he wanted.

But he also meant what he said to Franklin before leaving. He was going to find the Masked Man. He knew it was stupid and reckless and would probably, almost certainly, get him killed. But if he didn't, well…he actually didn't know what would happen but it didn't seem like it would be good. Whatever that dude was up to had to be bad. And Travis was going to find out what it was. That was why he'd spent the whole day traveling around the city, trying to find any trace of the guy. So far, no luck though he actually wasn't that good at finding things. One time he'd forgotten where he'd put his phone only to realize it had been in his hand the whole time.

Still, zipping out of school and back was exhausting and having nothing to show for it was even more exhausting. He didn't quite know what he would do if he actually found the masked man. Definitely not fight him again considering what had happened. Probably call the police. Yeah, that was a better option. After last night, he knew better.

Last night. That was why he was here, actually. Outside Madison's house. Franklin had…well, he obviously wasn't ok but it hadn't bothered him as much as Travis thought it would. Even he wasn't as bothered. He had almost died, he felt like he should be scared out of his mind, burying himself under the covers and barricading the door. But he didn't. He was still terrified, but he…he didn't have a true explanation for it. It was just…for most of his life, he'd been scared, too scared to even try, to even do anything. He was just sitting there, waiting for his life to mean something. Now that it had, he didn't feel like anything could stop him. Not even death. It was stupid and sounded suicidal, but that was it for him. He was more than ready for this because he had been waiting for so long.

Madison on the other hand. Travis winced, looking up at her house. Yeah, he wasn't surprised to find out she was taking a sick day. She was not ready for any of this. She didn't even want it, though having a gun pointed at you did tend to spoil the glory of having superpowers.

He'd wanted to check up on her but he hadn't wanted to suddenly rush into her house like a creep. And asking for her parent's approval would only make them wonder why he wasn't in school. So, he had sent her a bunch of texts in the hopes they would make her feel somewhat better. And he had promised to come visit her after school. Well, here he was and it just occurred to him that he was about to walk into a girl's house. A girl he really liked. A girl he had been texting all day, although she hadn't really texted him back. Though that also might be his phone's fault. It had been acting strange all day, suddenly sparking at weird times. And its battery charge kept dropping off suddenly.

"Oh god," he muttered, a whole swarm of butterflies taking off inside his stomach as he prepared to ring the bell. Maybe this hadn't been such a good idea. He wondered if it was too late to cancel. After all, she hadn't actually responded to any of his texts so he doubted she would care. She probably hadn't even seen them. Yeah, he could totally bail. So not a big deal.

He turned, ready to dash off into the distance, when he stopped.

This isn't about you, he told himself. His friend was hurting. It didn't matter if she was girl that he maybe, possibly, sort of, kind of, had a teeny, tiny, crush on. She was suffering. And he, honestly, was partly to blame for that. He had literally carried her there. He hadn't intended for her to get caught up in a supervillain attack, but she had. And he had put her there. He had to make that right. So, it didn't matter if his blood was getting hotter and his breath was coming faster and he felt like he might faint. He was still going in there.

If her parents allowed it. If they didn't then he'd leave. That was the polite thing to do.

Shut up!

He walked up, took a deep breath, and rang the doorbell. As he did, he took a look at her house and nodded appreciatively. It was smaller than his but his dad liked to show off his success in life by getting a bigass house and flaunting it to the neighbors. This one was smaller, just a two-storey, square, wooden box planted in the ground with a soft white paint. There was a small backyard with swings and a children's playset castle. The windows were mostly closed off by curtains with different designs on them, but Travis could see the lights on inside, giving it still a welcoming feel.

It looked lived in. Not some cold, closed off place that put a little distance between it and the other houses, but a nice, homely house. He didn't really know what homely meant but it felt right.

He was so distracted by the house that he jumped when the door suddenly opened and he came face to face with an older man with salt-and-pepper hair, a slight beard, and glasses.

"Yes?" the man questioned, looking at him with what Travis could only describe as disapproval. Which was weird because he hadn't done anything yet.

"Hi!" Travis greeted cheerfully, waving. "I'm Travis. I'm here to see Madison."

The man's look only darkened and Travis had to stop himself from gulping.

"You don't look like a football player to me," the man suddenly said.

"Uh…well that's sort of an odd thing to say to someone but I'll take it. I'm not a football player. I'm more of a…runner, you could say." In the last couple days anyway.

"Hmph," the man folded his arms over his chest, looking down on him. "And what exactly are your intentions with my daughter?"

Ah, so this was the dad. That made a lot of sense and created whole new galaxies of fear within Travis's chest. "W-well, it's quite simple. I just want to see how she is cause I noticed she wasn't in school today and heard she was sick. She's a friend of mine you see and I just wanted to make sure she was fine."

"Hmph," the man repeated, his expression unchanged. Travis was about to apologize for wasting his time and leave while he still had…well, he didn't know what the guy would take but it certainly seemed at the moment like the dad would take something from Travis. But then fate intervened.

"Dad? Who is it?" a hoarse voice asked and Madison walked over.

"Hey!" Travis greeted, grinning widely and waving again. She looked ok. Well, not ok. She always looked amazing to him. But in comparison to how she looked last night, all scared and crying and feeling pretty down, she looked better now. He could actually feel the weight lifting off his chest.

"T-travis?" Madison stuttered, seeing him. "W-what are you doing here?"

"Oh, just making sure you're alright. You weren't in school today so I wanted to check in."

Madison's face instantly flushed red and Travis's concern skyrocketed.

"Well, as you can see, she's fine. So you can be on your way now," her dad said.

"Dad!" Madison complained. "Don't be rude. He's my friend. Just my friend," she added.

Travis felt a slight clench inside when he heard that but he ignored it. It was so not the time for that anyway. "Yeah. Good friends."

Her dad looked him up and down again and his expression seemed to soften slightly. "Alright fine. You want to come in?"

"Really?" Travis asked, surprised.

"R-really?" Madison stuttered, face turning even redder.

"Yeah. You don't bring many, or any, friends over so I'd like to get to know this one."

"Well, consider me honored sir," Travis grinned even wider. "I would love to come in and enjoy your marvelous company."

Her dad gave him another look. "You're a weird one, aren't you?"

"I have been told that, yes."

"Well, that's better than what I thought so I'll take it. Come on in. And take off your shoes."

Travis Stroneman is in my house.

That thought kept running through her mind over and over again.

Why was he here? What was he doing here? And why was her dad letting him come inside?

A boy in her house. She was so glad her mom wasn't here right now. She would not have been able to deal with her mom's expressions and attitude. She was out getting some errands done as well as pick up Todd and Lisa from school.

Madison's day had started out like she would expect after nearly dying the previous night: bad. She had felt so awful and miserable that her parents had agree she could stay home. She had barely managed to conceal what had happened she came home from the warehouse, merely stating that she thought she was coming down with something which was why she looked so awful. Her second round of vomiting had helped sell that idea.

She had spent most of the day in bed, trying to recuperate. Or at least, trying to pretend like nothing was wrong. But it hadn't worked. No matter how much she may have wanted it, she could never go back to a point in her life where she hadn't had a gun pointed at her, ready to end her life. She'd even tried to do some programming, get her mind off things, but even that had felt pointless. What was the point of anything if it could end so suddenly like that? That question itself terrified her.

She had tried sleeping, but all her dreams were filled with masked men laughing and guns going off, leaving her more restless than before. She had no idea what to do now, how she was going to move forward from this. All she wanted really was to just sit in her room and sink into it somehow. Close it off from everything outside. That way, nothing bad could ever happen again. That way, she'd be safe from it all.

Evidently, her parents had had a different idea as after spending most of the day in her room, they'd decided that getting out of it and moving might help her beat the 'sickness.' Madison didn't even have the energy to argue with that so she found herself in her pajamas sitting at the dining room table, stirring her hot cocoa (though it was probably cold now), and not thinking about anything while her dad just sat next to her, idly mumbling about what the world was coming to.

You have no idea, Madison thought dryly.

Then the doorbell had gone off. Madison hadn't thought of it much, just some random visitor, until she'd heard the familiar voice. The voice that somehow got her heart beating a little faster.

Travis?

Yep, it was him. And now he was in her home. With her. While she was in her pajamas. Her old ones no less that had the characters of My Little Pony on them.

It was at this moment that she fully understood the phrase 'die from embarrassment.'

"So how are you?" Travis asked carefully as they sat at the table.

"Fine," she replied quietly, taking a sip from her cocoa in order to hide her flushed face from him. She gagged a little as the cold taste hit her lips. She hated cold chocolate milk. But it was better than looking up right now so she'd take it. "Uh…so how was school today? Anything interesting happen while I was gone?"

God, she was bad at small talk.

"Not really," Travis shrugged before his eyes suddenly widened. "Oh, there is something I need to talk to you about later, but that can wait."

Madison frowned, wondering what that could be about.

"Oh, so hey I've been texting you all day but you haven't responded."

Madison choked on her now cold chocolate, feeling her face get even redder while her dad gave them both suspicious looks. "W-what?"

"Yeah," Travis nodded, like it was no big deal.

"Oh, um…I didn't see them," Madison told him. She had turned off her phone last night and must have forgotten to turn it back on.

"Well that explains why you were so confused why I was here. I told you I wanted to drop by to see how you were doing. Which reminds me." He pulled something out of his pocket and handed it to Madison. She blinked, gasping a little at what it was. A large bag of candy corn. "I remember how much you love them so I figured I'd get you some on my way over."

Madison honestly had no idea how to respond to that. She just reached over and took the bag, looking at it with almost-reverence. Her heart was now beating wildly and she felt all jittery all of a sudden. Why did he make her feel this way? And why was he always doing nice things for her? She didn't understand any of this.

"T-thanks," she mumbled.

"Alright," her dad suddenly said, making her jump a little as she had forgotten he was there. "This is officially becoming too much for me so I'll just go sit in the living room. No funny business, you hear me." He directed this last comment at Travis who blinked and held up his hands defensively.

"No, sir. I promise. I don't even know what funny business is."

"Hmm." Her dad stalked out of the room, leaving the two of them alone.

"Hey, so how are you really doing?" Travis asked in a hush voice as soon as her dad was gone. "I mean, after last night."

"How do you think?"

"Yeah, stupid question, I'm sorry."

Madison almost took another sip of her drink before thinking better and pushing it to the side. "How are you doing?" she asked.

"Better than I thought I would, honestly. But…I did have nightmares and I'm constantly moving today cause I don't want to be still, you know. I don't want to be in one spot in case…"

He didn't finish, but he didn't need to. Madison got it. She almost reached out to take his hand but her brain managed to catch up with her emotions on that one and stopped her just in time.

"Hey, there's something else you need to know," he said, changing the subject and taking her by surprise. "Gabriela and Sumin. They have powers too."

Madison blinked, gaping slightly, before she settled back. That actually made sense in a way. It wouldn't have just been her, Travis, and Franklin. There had to be more. And with what the masked man had said, even more than that. "Ok."

"Sumin apparently saw me today dashing around. Didn't even know that was possible. Will have to work on that," he said, mulling that thought over for a second before turning back to her. "Anyway, they told me they got their powers the same way. Gabriela too. Ball of light coming through the window the other night and…filling them up with whatever it was that gave us these powers."

"Ok," Madison repeated. So there really was a pattern. Five people, given strange abilities the same way. How many others were like that. Seven? Ten? Twenty? A hundred? How many powered people were going to show up now?

"Apparently, Sumin can sort of create anything out of light. You know, like any object or whatever. Just out of light. They showed it to me, it was pretty cool. Reminds me of Green Lantern in a way, except indigo and the Indigo Tribe can't do stuff like that since their power…"

"Travis," Madison interrupted, already used to his mutterings on comic books.

"Right, sorry. Anyway, Gabriela's is different. According to Sumin, she can sort of manipulate some kind of energy. I don't know, I wasn't able to see it. But apparently she did destroy part of the girl's bathroom."

Madison blinked in surprise. "That was her?" She remembered seeing the closed off section of the girl's bathroom yesterday and had heard some of the other girls say there was a giant hole in there. She hadn't fully believed them but now she realized she should have paid more attention. If she had, she would have known there was another super-powered person in the school.

"Yeah, crazy right? So, I managed to get both their numbers and I'm sort of creating a group chat for us all. You know, to talk about what all this means and help each other figure it out. No one wants to do it alone, right?"

Madison didn't answer for a minute, not sure how to respond. She had done most things in her life alone. That was just how she was. An introvert who preferred her computer's company rather than other people's. If she had her way, she would just sit in her room and scour the internet until she found the source of these powers. Of course, if she was already going to have her way then she would just remove these stupid powers and all her other problems altogether. But, Franklin and Travis had helped her. When her powers wouldn't work, when she was stuck and had no idea, what to do, they had been the ones that had helped her gain control. People were complicated and frustrating, she knew that. Especially Travis with his love for all this stuff and his quirky grin that made her heart flop around for reasons she didn't understand. But she couldn't do this alone. She knew that. She hated it, but she knew it. Which was why she was going to agree with him.

She didn't get the chance to as the doorbell suddenly rang.

She almost jumped but contained herself. Who was that? Two unexpected visitors in one day? When did that happen?

Her dad grumbled as he walked past them out of the living room and to the front door. "If this is another one of your boyfriends, I'm going to lose it," he warned.

Madison spluttered, gasping as her face went supernova hot. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Travis's jaw on the floor, looking just as shocked as she did. "D-dad!" she managed.

"I'm just kidding, sort of." He walked to the door and opened it up. "Hello?"

That was all he said as there was a slight pop noise and he staggered before falling to the ground, a red dart sticking out of his neck.

"Dad!" Madison cried, leaping from her chair, Travis right behind her as she ran towards the doorway. They only made a few steps before someone walked through, pointing a gun right at them.

"Unless you want to end up like dear-old dad here," the man gestured, "I'd suggest you stay calm and not do anything rash, ok?"