The Hero Without A Cool Name

by Stan Hendriks

  “They’re still trying to negotiate with the robbers inside and it looks like they’re not going to rush in, yet. But tell me, have you found a way in? Because I don’t think they are going to wait much longer.”

  “I’m behind the bank as we speak, but there is no door nor is there a window. And I know I have to create a door myself, but I’m not sure if I can change so many bricks at once.”

  “Just focus, man, you can do this! If you can turn more than fifty potatoes in money within ten minutes, then you can change those bricks as well. I believe in you, man, I really do! And, by the way, don’t forget to put on your ski mask.”

  “Ah, yeah, you’re right,” Roy says, as he grabs his blue ski mask out of his pocket and puts it on. “Alright, I’m going in, wish me luck.”

  “You don’t need it, man, you got this! Give those people the hero they need! Show them how awesome you are and leave those robbers speechless!”

  Roy nods and as he focusses on the bricks in front of him, his eyes start to shine bright blue, as do the bricks, and in less than a second, he has created a door! “Awesome! Let’s do this!” Roy says, as he pounds himself on the chest, opens the door, and then enters the bank! He carefully walks through the hallway, past the offices, and then reaches the main entrance of the bank. Carefully, he peeks around the corner and sees three men, and one woman, with ski masks on and heavy machine guns in their hands. They are constantly walking back and forth between the people, about fourteen in total, that are seated on their knees with their hands tied with duct tape. Roy can feel the fear of the hostages and for a moment, he completely forgets how afraid he is himself. All he thinks about is making sure these people can go back to their families safely and that is exactly what he is planning on doing! With one last deep breath of encouragement, he walks towards the robbers and as he spreads his arms, he shouts, “Hey, douchebags! I… uhm… I, the hero with no cool name, yet, has arrived to stop you!”

  The robbers immediately aim their guns at Roy and one of them asks, “Who the fuck are you?!”

  “I told you to check the offices!”

  “I did, I swear!”

  “Well, clearly not good enough since you didn’t see him!”

  “Enough, children! Who the fuck cares about that we missed one of them? Anyway, tell me, you said you are a hero?”

  “That’s right,” Roy replies.

  “So, does that mean you’re going to stop us?” Roy nods and the robbers all start to laugh. “Please, kid, just go down on your knees or else we will shoot your head off. Can someone tape him up, please?!”

  As one of the robbers starts walking towards Roy, Roy focusses on their guns and as his eyes start to shine, the robber immediately backs off and everyone is in shock! But then, their guns start to shine as well and change into cucumbers! “What the fuck is going on?!”

  “What did he do?!”

  “Oh my God, he is a magician!”

  “I told you I was going to stop you guys!” Roy replies. But then, Roy starts to get wobbly on his feet! “No, please, not now!” Roy says, as he then passes out and hits the floor face first!

  About two hours later, Roy slowly opens his eyes and with some grunting, he slowly sits up and realizes that he’s lying on his bed. Henry, who is seated close by him on a chair, immediately gets up and asks, “Hey, easy, easy.”

  “What… what happened? How am I… here?”

  “Julian saved you right before the police came rushing into the bank. I don’t know how he did but thank God he did it. But how are you feeling?”

  “Weird, like I got hit by a truck or something. But tell me, are the people in the bank safe?”

  “Yes, they are, thanks to you.”

  “Thank God,” Roy sighs.

  “No, thank you. You did it, man! You saved all those people and got the robbers arrested! You’re now officially a hero, man!”

  A smile appears on Roy’s face as he replies, “Hell yeah!”

  As Roy and Henry give each other a fist bump, Julian comes in and says, “But you almost got yourself killed in the process. I knew I shouldn’t have let you be a hero, it’s my own fault. My own stupid mistake.”

  “He’s been angry already from the time he brought you back here,” Henry whispers.

  “I… I, thank you, thank you for saving my life. But listen, I saved those people, and everything turned out fine. Well, except for me passing out. I guess I changed too many things at once in a short period of time.”

  “I guess so too, but if it wasn’t for me, the robbers would have taken your life or worse, the police would have got to you and revealed your identity. I know this is mostly my fault and because of that, I have decided that I cannot help you become a hero. At least, not yet. You first need a lot more training. You could have died today and the aftermath of that could have been disastrous.”

  “I understand that you’re worried, and you have every right to be, and, by the way, you’re also right that I need more training, especially to increase my stamina, but this is what I was meant to be. Although I passed out and almost died to save those people, I can’t help but to feel so happy and so alive. For the first time in my life, I have actually accomplished something and did something meaningful. I don’t want to put being a hero on hold, I just can’t. There are a lot more people out there that need to be saved and I can’t just turn my back on them. But I promise you that from now on I will be fully dedicated to my training and I will listen to every word you say.”

  “Now you decide to listen and take your training seriously?” Julian sighs. He then hesitates for a moment and continues, “But alright, I guess this also went wrong since we didn’t come prepared. It came fast and unexpected and we can’t have a situation like this ever again.”

  “That’s right, we can’t let this happen again,” Henry replies.

  “No one asked you to speak, melodramatic soul. But he’s right. Anyway, take some well-deserved rest and at sunrise, we will start training, intensively.”

  “Sure, I will be ready,” Roy replies.

  “Good, well, have a nice night and know that although the outcome turned out differently than expected, I’m proud of what you did tonight,” Julian says, as he then walks out of Roy’s apartment.

  “Wait, did he just say that he’s proud of you or am I losing my mind?”

  “I’m also surprised, but I heard it as well,” Roy chuckles. Roy then gets out of bed and continues, “Anyway, I also need to create a new door.”

  “Yeah, I mean, the curtain surely looks nice, but I guess we have, or you, have seen enough robbers for today.”

  Roy and Henry then walk into the living room and Henry gives Roy a glass of water. Henry then drops down on the couch and right before Roy wants to take a seat as well, his sister comes walking in! “Oh my God, what the hell happened here?! What have you done, Roy?!”

  Roy, with a shocked expression on his face, immediately turns around and replies, “Oh… uhm… hey, sis. How are you? You could have knocked, you know.”

  “Knocked on what door?! And speaking of that, why is there a curtain instead of a door?! Anyone can walk in here now you know!”

  Henry, who can’t keep his eyes of Nathalie, then gets up and as he walks over to her, he sticks out his hand and with an awkward smile, he says, “Henry, nice to meet you. You… you look absolutely gorgeous.”

  “I have a husband, no thanks. Roy, could you get him out of my face?!”

  “Relax, Henry is a good friend of mine.”

  “A drunk as well, I suppose?”

  “I don’t drink. I mean, I do drink, because if I wouldn’t I would die, but I don’t drink alcohol.”

  “Good God,” Nathalie sighs. “Roy, could you please inform me what the hell is going on?! And since when does your apartment looks like this?! Since when can you afford all this stuff?!”

  “Listen… I… I, uhm… I don’t know.”

  “You don’t know?! What the hell is going on?!”

&nbs
p; But right before Roy can reply to that, they hear the news on the television, and the news reporters are talking about the robbery that took place and which got stopped by, what hostages describe, as a magician with a blue ski mask! “Roy, you made it on the news, look!” Henry says. Roy then almost spits out his water and Henry continues, “Wow! I mean, Roy, look… the news! They are talking about the robbery which is so… amazing!” Henry then slightly bows his head down and awkwardly takes a seat on the couch.

  “Hold up, did you two have something to do with that robbery?! Is that how you can afford all of this?! Please don’t tell me it’s true, Roy!”

  “No, it’s not true. I’m not a robber and neither is Henry. I… I just can’t tell you how I got this, not yet. But I promise you that I didn’t steal anything. In fact, lately, everything has been going great with me. And once again, I can’t tell you why, but just know that I’m fine. I no longer drink, and everything is going good, trust me.”

  “Well, it’s kind of hard to trust you after everything that happened, isn’t it?”

  “I know, and I don’t deserve your trust, but I want you to know that everything is going good and you no longer have to worry about me.”

  Nathalie takes another good look around and as she closes her eyes for a brief moment and lets out a sigh, she says, “I… I’m lost for words here, I really am. I don’t know what to say, what to feel, I don’t even know what to think of all this.”

  “I know this must be really weird but—”

  But right before Roy can finish, Julian comes walking back in and as soon as Nathalie sees him, she passes out! Roy quickly catches her and asks, “What are you doing here?”

  “My apologies but I did not think your sister would come here after your last altercation with her at the police station.”

  “Wait… you know about… never mind. This is just… great. It really is.” He then looks over at Henry, who has a confused and at the same time shocked expression on his face, and continues, “Could you give me a hand?”

  Henry nods rapidly and immediately runs over to Roy. He then picks up her legs and Roy asks, “Is everything okay?”

  “This is the most confused I’ve ever been, and I also think I have never fallen so hard in love with someone.”

  “Okay then… anyway, let’s lie her down on my bed.”

  As Roy and Henry then carry Nathalie into Roy’s bedroom and lie her down on the bed, Julian says, “I came back here to see the news, if they had a clear image of you or not, but if I would have known that Nathalie would have been here, I wouldn’t have shown up of course.”

  “I know, it’s not your fault. But I think we do need to talk about this. I mean, I need to let my sister know.”

  “And you need to tell me why she passed out when she saw Mr. Herrick,” Henry says.

  In the meanwhile, in the hotel, Toogaan, who has his shirt off, is meditating on the coffee table in front of the couch. He has a lot of scars all over his muscular upper-body and lower-body and not only that, but it also seems he has some symbols and ancient letters scarred onto his skin. But as he is calmly breathing in and out, Lexi comes in. “Sorry to interrupt you, Toogaan, but there is something you need to see,” Lexi says, as she walks over to him. She then grabs the remote control, turns on the televisions, and puts it on the news channel on which they are still talking about what happened in the bank. Toogaan opens his eyes and attentively watches. But as soon as they show a blurry image of Roy with his blue ski mask on, Lexi presses on the pause button and continues, “Your prey is trying to be a hero, and he seems quite successful. Although, I did hear that he passed out after he changed the guns of the robbers, which must indicate that his powers aren’t even nearly at their full potential yet. Which is good news, I guess. But, once again, my apologies for interrupting, I just thought you wanted to see this.” Lexi then turns around and walks out of the room while Toogaan keeps staring at the image of Roy. And the longer he stares at it, the angrier he seems to get. His breathing gets heavier and heavier, and then, out of nowhere, he gets up and kicks right through the television! “You parasite! You seek love and validation from these people by saving their lives, but little do they know that you are the one who is going to destroy their lives! I’ve waited too long; it is time I honor my ancestors and bring them your head! Toogaan, is going to fulfill his destiny and save this world from the cancer called Roy Tabby!” Toogaan then lets out a deep and raw scream while Lexi, who is waiting behind the door, then walks away with an evil grin on her face!

  Chapter Five An Unexpected Package

  While the sun has barely even risen yet, Roy and Julian are standing in the center of an abandoned factory in between the dirt, rusty and broken machines, and fluffy animals, and as Julian throws a piece of metal at Roy, Roy’s eyes shine bright and right before the piece of metal hits him, he changes into green slime. The slime splashes onto his shirt and as Roy tries to wipe the sticky slime off, he sighs, “Ugh, changing it into slime wasn’t really a clever idea.”

  “Well, I guess it’s better than all those fluffy animals you made. It’s a good thing to sometimes to change things into other things instead of constantly repeating to change it into the same thing. But anyhow, you’re making a lot of progress. I cannot say this enough, but you are far stronger than I or the ones who came before me. You learn fast and it looks like you’re doing it with little effort.”

  “Trust me, it’s not with little effort. I feel like I got the biggest hangover I’ve ever had.”

  Julian chuckles and says, “Alright, let’s take a break.” Julian then changes a large piece of metal into a bench and he and Roy both take a seat on it. They sit there for a while and as Julian stares at Roy, who has his head slightly bowed down, he asks, “Is there something on your mind?”

  “I… yes, there is actually. I just keep thinking about my sister. I don’t think it was right for us to just drop her off at her house without telling her anything. Now she’s going to panic for sure when she wakes up and she might just call the police again and I just can’t be bothered being at the police station again.”

  “I understand, but I’m sure you can also understand that the more people knowing about the powers you possess, the more you become in danger.”

  “I get that my identity has to remain a secret, but she’s my sister. She’s always been there for me when my parents weren’t and I… I just feel like, after everything I’ve put her through, she deserves to know. She needs to know what I can do, and she must know that I’m fine. I no longer want to put her through the same stress I’ve been putting her through for so long. I, I mean, we can trust her, you know, we really can. In fact, I think she might even be able to help us. With the money and power that she has, she could help us out big time.”

  “I find it profoundly difficult to decide whether or not we should trust her and tell her about you, but then again, if you feel that it’s the right thing to do, then I trust you will do the right thing. So, you have my blessing.”

  “Thank you, I really appreciate that.”

  “And I appreciate that you talked to me about this instead of making a decision like this on your own.”

  “I know, I know. I’m sorry, by the way, for how I acted towards you when we first met.”

  “Oh no, I should be the one apologizing. I should have known not to prejudge someone without knowing them first. But, it’s in the past. And if I may be so honest, I’m glad that I had, and still, have, the privilege to be your mentor. Thus far, believe it or not, it has been nothing but a pleasure.”

  A smile appears on Roy’s face, but it also quickly fades away again as Roy asks, “But there also is something else on my mind, something which I completely forgot to ask you about.”

  “And what may that be?”

  “Well, when we had that argument, you told me someone was going to slice my head off with a sword, could you tell me who? And could you also tell me why? I mean, if that person is out there then I think it’
s good for me to know at least what he or she looks like.” Julian takes a deep breath, but right before he can respond, Roy’s phone goes off. Roy picks it up and Henry says, “Roy?! Uhm… I got some bad news and some good news. The bad news is that your sister standing here staring very angry at me as we speak, and the good news is that someone else needs a hero as we speak. So, in other words, you need to come home as soon as possible.”

  “I’m on my way and tell my sister that I will explain everything when I get there,” Roy replies, as he then hangs up.

  “Let me guess, melodramatic soul is panicking again?’

  “Yeah, but with a good reason. My sister is at my apartment and not only that, he told me that someone needs a hero.”

  “Well,” Julian says, as he gets up. “Then let’s get to work.”

  Roy then gets up as well and together they walk back towards Roy’s apartment.

  About fifteen minutes later, Roy opens the front door, which is no longer a curtain, of his apartment and walks in. Nathalie is walking back and forth in the living room while Henry is seated on the couch with a somewhat frightened expression on his face. “Finally, there you are! Care to explain to me what happened yesterday?! And why I all of a sudden woke up in my own bed?! And why the man who abducted you came into your apartment?!”

  “I will, but please, just calm down and listen to me, alright? Can you do that?”

  “Sure!” Nathalie says, as she takes a seat on the couch as well.

  Roy then starts explaining everything that happened to Nathalie. Why Julian kind of abducted him, when he got robbed and first got his powers and what he can do with them, and also about the bank robbery. And not only that, but he also shows Nathalie his powers. After Roy explained everything and showed Nathalie what he can now do, she is left with a shocked and at the same time confused expression on her face. But right before she can say anything, Julian comes walking in. “My apologies, Mrs. Tabby, for drugging you and taking your brother. But I did what I had to do and an intelligent woman like yourself can surely understand why your brother had to keep everything a secret.”