Hero High: Figure In The Flames

by Chara, Mina

  “You go ahead Aya, I have to go to the bathroom,” I said and watched David and Aya move to one of the booths reserved for Hero High students. I turned down the hallway looking for a sign as the very last of the crowd shuffled their way to their seats. Most of the super athletes would be in the stadium by now, so I could use the time to search for Grey London’s bag. The only problem was, I wasn’t sure where to go. I wandered down the hall, only to see Grey London waiting for something, rubbing her hands on her thighs like she was moments away from a blind date. I hid behind a pillar, the tension surrounding her was too much to ignore. She should be changing right now, what was so important she couldn’t be on the field? I stayed there, waiting and no more than a minute later someone walked up and handed her something wrapped in plastic. I couldn’t see who it was, the other person wore a hood, but I saw Grey London take something, quickly wapping it in her jacket and handing the man in the hood some money. He pushed it away and shook his head. Was Grey London using drugs? I tip toed forwards. Or was that a syringe? I had to know.

  “Friday?” said Jake pulling me back by the hand, “where are you going?”

  “I think one of the heroes is on drugs, look,” I pulled Jake round the corner, but Grey London had gone. Which one was her dressing room?

  “What? What are you talking about? You’ve been watching too many telenovelas,” he said yanking me back into the hall.

  “Jake slow down, I can’t move that fast in these shoes,” I told him. He was moving along far too quickly, but he didn’t listen so I tried to pull back and stop him and lost my balance on my heel. Two hands caught me from behind, strong and precise, unmistakably Ashley’s.

  He set me back on my feet, held me there for a few seconds to make sure I could keep my balance, stepped round me, and held out his arm to help me up the stairs. Ashley was another of the few men wearing a suit. After seeing him at Ang’s, the contrast was stark, and it definitely worked for him. For the first time, I felt a little nervous around Ashley Ang. Maybe it was my dress, or his suit, but being around him sent butterflies through me. For the first time, I thought he was handsome, still strange looking, but just for a moment, I thought he looked striking. Jake took my other arm, a little too forcefully, and Ashley rolled his eyes at him. I pushed away from both of them, and walked up the stairs myself. Aya held the door to the booth open, and closed it behind us. I could find proof later.

  “Ashley! You changed your mind?” Aya asked.

  “My Nana didn’t want me to miss out.”

  The booth was littered with snacks and flat screen TV’s that showed the field and the commentators, but I didn’t care. I hadn’t imagined it, I’d seen a member of the team taking something from someone. Maybe I was paranoid and all they were exchanging was a newly sized ring, and the person had simply been too kind to accept money? Yeah, that was it. Jake sat me down next to Aya, and left to get popcorn. The game stopped and started three times until half time was called and Jean-Claude Nakata came running onto the field. A few of the other kids got up and walked out to talk to the athletes during half time, or get something else to eat and drink.

  “Friday, I was gonna go backstage and see if I could get an autograph for my sister, want to come?” Aya asked and I nodded, maybe I could sneak a glance at Grey London’s bag, or whatever she’d had wrapped in plastic.

  Aya knocked on a door in a sea of people exchanging logo printed cups and towels, looking at trading cards, and meeting their heroes. The door swung open to a large broad shouldered man in the middle eating some cookies out of care package he’d received from a fan. “Hi, I’m Aya Asimov a-“

  “Oh my God! I know who you are!” The large man took her hand and shook it vigorously, his hand making hers look dainty. He beamed at her like a kid.

  “Oh, well thank you,” said Aya with a smile. “I was wondering if you could sign this for my sister?”

  “Of course!” Clearly surprised at how well things had gone, she handed him a kids jersey, and he set it against the wall to sign it.

  I saw Grey London move though the crowd and into her own dressing room. Instinct told me to follow her and forget about Aya. Over the crowd of excited fans no one could hear me as I pushed open the door to her dressing room ever so slightly, and peered in just as she pushed something against her arm, and sighed with relief. She was in the bathroom in seconds, breaking out in a cold sweat, so I moved in to get a better look. My gaze slid over the syringe, it was gold just like the one I’d found in the alley way. Something told me it wasn’t allowed by the game rules. I was about to scoop it up, and take it as proof, but the handle on the bathroom door moved and I knew I didn’t have time. Just as Gray London came back in, I hid in her closet, nearly tripping over my shoes. Could I just announce she was cheating? Could I chase her down? I peered through the key hole. She put the gold syringe away in her bag, I heard the turn of a knob, and the door closing behind her. I rushed out of the closet, opened her bag and as my hand reached the bottom I felt something long and smooth and pulled it out. Her syringe was the same as the one I’d found before. What did it mean? Did she have more? It wasn’t normal, I would have known. I fumbled around for somewhere to stash it, and realized I was wearing a short dress, without even a bag so I wrapped the syringe in pastry paper I found on a tray in the hall and returned to the booth, starting to wonder; just how far did all this go?

  My alarm rang, I crossed off another day on the calendar, wiped the dust out of my eyes and stumbled into the kitchen. I needed to talk to the captain, I needed to tell him what I’d seen, but I hadn’t seen him in a while. My other options were confronting Grey London, or telling Lisa. Both seemed doable.

  I’d signed up for a variety show, where the prize was dinner with a member of the championship Power League team. It was something, but I still didn’t know what this had to do with The Figure, or why this new Dr. Dangerous was watching him. Did they work together? Were they even linked to the gold syringe? I sighed, and tried not to worry. I’d have answers that night, if I could win that dinner.

  I’d been living in the gold team’s dorm for a while and it was very different from mine. The blue dorm had been homey, with its warm, exposed brick and small cosy bedrooms, but the gold dorm was extravagant. The sofa was low, comfortable but expensive. At first I couldn’t even find the TV until I saw it come down from the ceiling. The table wasn’t round, it wasn’t part of the kitchen; instead they had a dining room, formal and elegant with a long wooden table to match.

  My new bedroom was a square, my bed a large double, draped in gossamer. Even when my family’s fortune had been at its height, I’d never had anything like this, everything in my home had been about efficiency, and maximizing space. At home my bedroom had a single bed that sat on a box platform, a computer next to the window, and a desk where I could sketch. It was fine, it did the job. But this was the kind of room where you’d wake up at night and wonder where the serial killer was hiding. In the walk in closet? In the other walk in closet? In the powder room perhaps? I liked to see into all the corners, and I liked my bed up against the wall.

  I had an hour to wake up and get to Lisa for our appearance on Super Variety Hour. Apparently it was a mentor, mentee special. Ashley shoved a half eaten bar of chocolate into my hands as he cooked, and grunted some advice about remembering to eat.

  “Aya?” She spun around from the living room sofa, ears open.

  “You’re up! Ready for the special? I can’t wait, it’s my third time!” she said, her legs waving in the air.

  “Yeah, actually, since you’ve done this before, can you help me? I have a closet with stuff I’m supposed to wear, and-”

  “I’m there!” Aya jogged into my room, and threw open my closet. It was filled with the outfits picked out for me by the team’s stylist. I yawned in the doorway as she sifted through the clothes, pulled back, and rubbed her chin. “They haven’t given you a lot that’s loose.” She pulled out the paper I’d received on the first day, and skim
med it. “Oh, I see, it’s tailored to your body type. Okay, so…” She read through it instantly, nodding as though taking notes. Once that was done she started pulling out some different things, but eventually returned to the clothes labelled seven and shoved one of those thousand dollar trench coats into my arms. It’s collar was like a mountain of fabric, and the sleeves were etched in leather. It was the sort of jacket that had it’s own presence and made you feel important just to wear it. “The jackets best for you, it’ll make you feel more covered.” She nodded at it all, and left to let me change. She was right, the jacket was a barrier between me and the rest of the world. The front of my phone danced with light; I flipped it open as I shoved the bar of chocolate in my mouth to wake me up, and sent a text to Jake to wake him up.

  After what happened the first time I went out with Lisa, I decided to be ready for the worst. I picked up my backpack, and stumbled out the door with a simple goodbye to Aya, David and Ashley, and flipped open my phone again as I waited for the elevator. I dialed Jake as fast as I could. It took him a few rings, but he answered as though he’d been deep asleep.

  “What, what is it?”

  “I’m doing the variety show with Lisa today, you need to be ready.”

  “Oh, yeah. Whatever.”

  “Whatever? What does that me-”

  He hung up before I could finish; he’d never been so rude to me before but I shrugged it off, got in the elevator and got off at the bottom floor before plodding out across the early morning plaza bathed in the grey pinks of the rain sputtering sky. Even early in the morning there were people eating by the fountain, they didn’t think they needed umbrellas, but judging by the big solid grey cloud coming our way, they were going to get wet soon.

  The two buildings didn’t have much distance between them, there was just enough space for a small park with a couple of benches, and a tall, dramatic fountain. As I walked into the part of the building reserved for real heroes I was struck by the lighting; dim, but somehow expensive, like the lobby of an exclusive hotel. I’d seen it before on the day of the party, but hadn’t seen the room for all the people. The elevators were a bit different, all glass rather than gold. This wasn’t a place for the cameras, the building for real heroes was much more business casual. If the two buildings had been people, my building would have been a flamboyant, lovable drag queen, while the other was a sexy but conservatively dressed business woman. One wasn’t better than the other; they were simply too different to compare.

  I hit the button for the offices that sat at the same level as the Hero High garden no one ever went to. Even then I had no idea what the gardens really looked like. I stood in the elevator all by myself. Clearly not many superheroes came to work on Saturdays. The office floor was a lot more crisp and white, like the offices of a fashion magazine, they even had a receptionist to match. I leaned over her white desk and she covered the receiver on her ear piece.

  “Can I help you?”

  “I’m looking for Lisa Kisaragi.”

  The woman shook her head at me as though I’d spoken gibberish.

  “I mean, Sense.”

  “Take a right, then a left, you’ll find her in the door at the end.”

  “Thank you.”

  She waved me away down the hall without even so much as looking. Slowly and carefully, I read the name on each door, all names of superheroes, their handlers, support heroes. Some had customized their doors with different fonts, gold etchings, bright colors, but one was just a sheet of gold, like, it looked like real gold. The knob was gold, the door was gold, the name plate was gold, the name etched into the plate, also gold. The plate said Disco, a hero known for the full face mask he never took off, and the rumor that disco played constantly in his helmet. I never believed that rumor until then, but I could have sworn I heard the pounding sound of a disco track playing inside. My best guess was The Bee Gees. I was tempted to turn the handle, but decided against it.

  When eventually I came to the door at the end of the hall, I noticed it read ‘Barney’ while underneath, in smaller letters, it said Sense. I sighed and swung the door open.

  “Are you serious?” Lisa demanded, glaring directly towards her partner.

  “Well you can just forget about the picture then!” said Barney cracking a wolflike smile, as he slid a head shot of himself down what looked like Lisa’s desk. “It’s okay to admit you’re a fan.”

  “I am not one of your fans!”

  “Then what about the interview? ‘I’d like my son to grow to be like him someday’ That’s what you said, right?”

  “They told me to say that!” Lisa told him, “you’re not old enough to-“

  “I’m barely younger than you,” said Barney, interrupting, “I mean we’re closer to being a couple than-”

  Lisa slammed her hand down on the desk, and stood up, not quite meeting his height. “It’s for my daughter, she’s the fan! Please sign the damn thing.”

  Silence hung for a moment as Barney looked the picture up and down. “Really? I’d think you wouldn’t bother, we’ve been arguing about this for ten minutes.”

  “I told my kid I’d get her a signed picture, so that’s what I’m going to do! Now are you going to sign it or not?” Lisa growled as Barney flashed her a closed mouth smile that would have made anyone else’s heart skip a beat.

  “Stop shouting and I’ll think about it,” he said, as Lisa bared her teeth. “Alright, alright. I was just kidding. I’ll sign it.” He leaned over, picked up a pen and Lisa relaxed.

  “Lisa?” I called, deciding now was the best time to announce myself.

  “Kid. I was wondering when you’d get here. How much of that did you hear?”

  “I think I walked in on, ‘are you serious’.” I threw up my hands to enhance my impression.

  “Oh jeez.” Lisa reached up to rub her face as though she’d made a grave mistake. Barney finished his autograph off with a flourish, and handed it to Lisa before turning to me.

  “Nothing to worry about, Momma Bear’s just trying to do her job.”

  “Shut up, Baxter,” Lisa said, snatching the picture and stuffing it into her weathered handbag. It really looked like she needed a new one. One she could rely on, but Lisa wasn’t the type to spend money on things like that. As Barney sat back down at the desk that stood directly opposite Lisa’s, I noticed she had on a white suit. She moved towards me, and pulled me into a hug.

  “You okay kiddo?”

  “Sure, but what are you wearing?”

  “What do you think? They’re giving me a super skeleton like Baxter over there, and this is what goes under it.”

  It was a skin tight white suit, with impeccably tailored red panels as opposed to Barney’s green. It was nice, it fitted her beautifully without seeming to cling like a wet suit, it was just well fitted with reinforced shoulders, elbows and knees. Her shoes though were her usual firetruck red sneakers. She faced the mirrors and fiddled with the collar.

  “I like it,” I told her, “it’s very nice.”

  “I just got it back from the seamstress, she said I could wear it out today.”

  “So you’re using a super skeleton today?” I asked.

  “Not today, we’ve got a game show to do. Although I have been getting training from Baxter for a few weeks now.”

  “My name is Barney.”

  Lisa shrugged him off and smiled at her reflection in the mirror. Before Barney she would have never have had a suit this nice. At least he was raising her profile. She’d have her very own Super Skeleton now, she’d be on even footing with superheroes laden with gadgets, able to lift things too heavy for most, run faster, and be safer.

  I opened my mouth to try and say something to him, but stopped as I turned round, trying to figure out what Barney was looking at. For a moment I was confused, what was he looking at so low down, maybe something on Lisa’s desk, a hole in the wall? Did he really not have anything better to do than stare into space? Then I realized he was eyeballing Lisa’
s ass.

  I had to slap a hand over my mouth to hold back the giggles, but I was laughing on the inside. Barney sat there for a good five minutes appraising Lisa and her new, well tailored suit. I wasn’t going to tell on him, not just yet anyway.

  “Are we ready to go?” I asked, “we’re supposed to be on set in ten minutes.”

  “Really? I’m sorry kid. Let’s boogie.” Lisa straightened her collar once more, nodded to her reflection, and led me out without so much as a word to Barney. It took everything in me not to tell her. I just wanted to see the look on her face, but I held it back and saved it for another time.

  I yawned as Lisa and I wandered onto the set. This floor of the building had no walls to speak of, it was just a huge open space, but in the middle of that space was a well lit yellow background with five desks and buzzers. I’d seen this room so many times on the Hero Channel, I’d never thought of it as a set, but of course it was. Carey Fry sat in one of those tall chairs you see on movie sets. He was skimming the cue cards he always carried and he rolled his eyes as Veronica wagged her finger at him.

  A man with a headset grabbed us, and plonked us down in the chairs next to Carey. He didn’t seem to notice, he was too focused on his lines. A woman came round and looked me up and down, just the same as on my first day.

  “How much makeup do you usually wear?” she asked leaning down.

  “Not much.”

  “I can tell. Don’t worry hon, I won’t slap too much on you.” She smiled sweetly to me, a much nicer reception than I’d had last time.

  “Thank you.”

  “Sure thing, hon.” The woman covered up what red blotches I had, and declared me done. As I got up, Lisa was still being done over. Her makeup was a lot thicker, in moments I noticed her laugh lines had disappeared entirely, leaving her looking like a magazine cover. It should be what every woman wants, but it looked strange on her, unreal. Disturbing even. She looked like she was made of plastic. Lisa blew a stray strand of hair out of her face, and looked as me as though she knew exactly what I was thinking. She didn’t like it either.