Hero High: Figure In The Flames

by Chara, Mina

  Dr. Dangerous stood in the shadows right in front of me. I took steady and slow breaths, just like Ashley had told me. My chest no longer hurt, the anxiety was less, even though his eyes bored into me. My back was against a marble fountain, the blasts of lightning only looked like flashing light bulbs behind the frosted glass.

  “It’s nice to get this time, for just the two of us alone.”

  I tried to leap forwards and rip the smile from his face, but he simply grabbed me, and pulled me against him.

  “Don’t be like that,” he said, his words were teasing and carefree.

  “Who are you?” I asked, “you’re not Dr. Dangerous,” I told him pushing against his chest like before.

  “I am Dr. Dangerous, new and improved. And so are you, Captain.”

  For once, I had no clue what he meant, “What are you talking about?”

  He leaned towards me, cutting off the cold wind that rustled through the flora. “I’m the Dr, you’re the captain. 2.0.”

  “I’m nothing like the captain. I’m just, me. And besides, the captain already has a mentee.”

  “That doesn’t matter, Friday.” I pushed against him again and he gave me a little more room, but not enough to get away. The trees above us waved their leaves, and the thunder boomed from far away. Only the occasional lightning strike lit up the room, and showed me the edges of his face.

  “What do you know about a gold syringe,” I asked. His lips tightened, but he said nothing. He knew of them, but perhaps not about them. “You know what I’m talking about.”

  “I’m afraid I don’t,” he said.

  “So you’re in on it then? Whatever this is.”

  He suppressed a growl, like he really didn’t want me to continue.

  “If I found that syringe near the burning building, chances are it was The Figure’s. So then I find a regular super hero using one. Okay fine, that’s one thing, but you know about them?”

  He shook his head. “Stop, Friday.”

  “No. You were watching The Figure. You know him. Was it The Figure you were waiting for in the hotel?”

  “Friday,” he said in warning.

  “Tell me what’s going on!” I yelled.

  “Why do you insist on being a superhero?”

  I took a breath, trying to decide if I should speak, and eventually let my voice out in a gentle whisper. “Because I want to be good.”

  “Who says you can’t be good if you help me?” he cooed.

  “What? What do you mean?”

  “Join me, my boss, and my colleagues. One way or another we’re taking over the city, the only decision you have to make is what side you’re on.”

  “So you do know what I’m talking about,” I said.

  “What side are you on?” he asked again.

  “Not yours,” I told him.

  “Why not? I could say you’d make a better villain, but you wouldn’t. Not really.”

  “No,” I said, and it was true, if he’d known the truth. He looked at me startled, perhaps he hadn’t expected my answer. The lines around his mouth softened.

  “What you’ve got,” he whispered, “is self loathing, but I don’t know why.”

  “Because I could be a better person. No, I will be a better person.”

  “You feel like you’re not worth very much?”

  “Everyone feels like that.”

  “You’d jump in front of a train for someone wouldn’t you?”

  “I’d try,” I answered without thinking, like it was a knee jerk reaction.

  “If I gave you a choice between your life, and someone else's, what would you do?” he asked.

  “I’d sacrifice myself, obviously.” I felt it was true, I wanted it to be true.

  He laughed gently, as though I’d told him a cheesy joke, then he pulled me closer with one arm and used the other to run a finger through my hair. The frosted glass wall grew colder in the chill of the storm and my body curled into him instinctively.

  I hoped I would sacrifice myself, it was my job. Sure my sister, father, all his employees wouldn’t have the same kind of money if I died, but sacrificing myself was what I’d signed up for.

  “Friday, you’re not making any sense. You’re a superhero, think of all the other people you could save if you were still alive. You might as well be killing hundreds just to save one.”

  “That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard,” I told him. “I’m not the only superhero. If I die someone else takes my place. Those lives will still be saved.”

  I said it like it was debate, like I could win. His eyes scanned me up and down and settled on my face while I tried to ignore the temptation to hold him, settle there, stop fighting.

  “You really would give up your life for someone else?” he spoke softly, searching my eyes for the echo of a lie.

  “Of course I would. I want to help,” my voice was pleading, hoping, that maybe he’d agree. My bones were shaking from the cold as I tried to ignore the shivers of warmth his body sent through me. “I want to be useful, and if that means giving up my life, I’ll do it.”

  A whisper of a wistful smile grew on his face. “You really mean that don’t you?” he asked trailing his finger across the back of my neck.

  “Of course I do.” My voice came out in a whisper, my chest was heaving.

  He leaned closer and the warmth of his hands sent a chill right through me. I must have looked like a deer in the headlights, I had no idea what to do. “I mean, I just, I want-” I cleared my throat to keep speaking, but he drew closer as I spoke. Everything in me pounded with his proximity. “I want to be good.”

  The edge of his lips twitched upwards as I spoke and right then and there, like I was his next breath, he kissed me. The thunder roared as my chest rose in surprise. I’d only ever kissed Jake, and that had been a peck when we were kids. This was completely different. His fingers were warm and gentle on the back of my neck, but his breath was hot and avid. I tried to stay still, but couldn’t help myself; my head tilted back, I wanted to touch his hair, feel the heat of his skin beneath my fingers.

  As the thought crossed my mind I felt stupid, but when he tipped my chin and tasted more of me, my mind went blank and I kissed him back. His lips teased me into a sigh and he smiled into it, as though he’d won something from me. I snapped right back and as his lower lip slipped between mine, I bit it, hard. He flinched, grinding his teeth as he released me, then his lips pulled up into that dangerous smile again as the shock of the bite wore off.

  “Your lips are all swollen,” he told me, as though it was proof I’d really done what I’d done. I was too embarrassed, too ashamed, so I let him have the last word. “You can still join me, Friday.”

  “Never gonna happen.” I spun him round, shoved him into the fountain and ran for what I thought was the door. I was in the middle of a courtyard, there were maps on posts describing the garden.

  “Friday!”

  I kept running, nearly colliding with the nearest map as I looked for an exit. The top right-hand corner said, ‘Hero High’. I was in the Super Structure, these were the gardens. He caught my look as the realization hit me. One moment he was there, the next he was gone. I saw short flashes of him walking out the door, like he was in a room with a single light, flickering on and off, and then nothing.

  I kept running along the paths, and into the halls of Hero High. I rushed outside into the storm and found the captain’s bus pulling up to the school. I didn’t wait for permission, I just dashed through the door and found the Captain resting, his head on his wife’s lap. The last time I’d seen her was their televised wedding.They hadn’t noticed me, they were wrapped up in each other. Adam’s eyes were closed, as if focusing on his wife’s touch. His wife, Katherine, wasn’t what I’d remembered, her suit was impeccably tailored but her hair was a mess, like she’d run all the way.

  “I don’t know what to do, Kate,” said the captain, his voice breaking.

  She hummed above him as his eyes kni
t tight, fighting tears and I backed out quietly, resting my head on the pole outside.

  ✰✰✰

  “The captain was crying?” I ask, inching forward.

  “I stood outside the bus, trying to figure out why, and realized it was the Dr,” Friday tells me as she nods and leans back.

  I cover my mouth, as if holding back a breath.

  “The Dr’s ghost, or his son, whatever you wanted to call the new Dr. Dangerous, it was killing the captain.” Friday takes a deep breath, and then another long sip. “I’d never seen him so, human.”

  ✰✰✰

  I shook my head, and took a step back. “Captain!” I yelled before running in, like I should have.

  The captain was already moving forwards when I stepped in. “Friday!” Captain Fantastic, every inch the hero, wrapped me in a hug. It was the first time I’d seen him in uniform. Had he been meaning to come for me? Had everyone been looking for me? “Are you all right, Friday?” he asked. His eyes were sick with worry as he kneeled to grip my face in calloused hands.

  “I’m fine, Adam,” I replied, brushing it off and hoping he’d no idea what I’d just done. His name just slipped out. I’d run to him, because now I had questions, serious ones.

  Katherine, put a hand on his shoulder as she tip toed up to kiss her husband, she wasn’t too tall herself. She stepped outside as a 427 AC Cobra pulled up, and the man driving it, opened the door for her. “Don’t be late for dinner, Adam.” She warned as she closed the door.

  “I won’t.” The Captain waved his wife goodbye, and then directed me to climb to the upper deck where it was just the two of us.

  “What aren’t you telling me?” I asked.

  “What?” He looked at me in feigned surprise, so I asked him again.

  “What aren’t you telling me, Adam?”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “That’s not Dr. Dangerous and you know it. Dr. Dangerous is dead. If I’m ever going to be a hero you need to trust me. Tell me!” He hung his head and I regretted the words just as soon as they came out of my mouth. “Or maybe, am I over stepping my bounds?”

  He shook his head, and sat up properly, “No, you’re not over stepping your bounds.”

  “Then tell me.”

  He patted the seat next to him, and I sat down refusing to take my eyes off his. “Do you know why I started the hero program?”

  “No.”

  “Because, in the eighties, I knew a super villain called Dr. Dangerous. I was only a kid at the time.”

  “What happened?”

  “He went too far, or I thought he did, and people, the public I mean, they called for an end to him. People spent months convincing me to Kill him.”

  ✰✰✰

  “What happened?” I ask.

  “Between Captain Fantastic and The Dr.?”

  I nod.

  “The captain hadn’t decided to kill him, he just knew he had to do something. The Dr. and the captain met each other at the river bank and the Dr. ripped into him, so…” her body shakes as she sucks in a breath.

  “Why?” I ask. “What did Captain Fantastic do that made The Dr. hate him so much?” Friday nods slowly at the floor, and then looks up, determined to say what she has to. “He let the Dr’s parents die. The Captain had a choice, his parents, or the Dr’s. Back in those days, the Dr. And the captain were close, the Dr. was the captain’s tech guy, he made all his gadgets.”

  She takes another quick breath and I use the opportunity to ask a question. “Why did he have to choose?”

  “An old super villain, from the war, he’d infiltrated Icon City, trying to ruin The International Heroes Group’s credibility. The captain and the Dr, they were both very young, the villain engineered a situation where Captain Fantastic had to choose who to save. He chose his own parents and the Dr’s parents died.”

  “And that was what made The Dr.?”

  She nods. “The Dr’s first real act of villainy was the highway collapse of ’84.”

  “He didn’t mean for there to be a school bus?” I finished for her.

  “No. The road was new, it hadn’t been opened. All he wanted was to lure the captain out. The school bus was never meant to be there. That was what made the Dr. a villain.”

  “But still, the captain killed him?”

  “The Dr. wouldn’t stop fighting, saying one of them needed to die. In the end they were both injured but Captain Fantastic received better care. The Dr. died of his injuries, in hospital, a few days later.”

  ✰✰✰

  “And?” I asked, sitting forwards.

  “I did. I killed, I, I killed him, and I’ve never regretted anything more in my entire life.” his voice broke as he sped through the sentence, as though saying it faster would make it hurt less.

  “So, why The Hero Channel?” I whispered.

  “I wanted to raise you kids right, I wanted to put you somewhere where you were safe, surrounded by other people like you. I didn’t want people treating you like gods, or trying to make you believe everything was up to you to fix. Remember that.”

  “I will.”

  “I didn’t want you to be strangers to the cameras or the fans, or the media, I wanted you to be so used to it, it wouldn’t affect you or your decisions.”

  “You’re trying to acclimatize us so we can adjust before we become superheroes?”

  “Exactly.”

  “You still haven’t answered my question.”

  Adam sighed, and swallowed. He looked me right in the eyes, and pushed through the pain of what he’d done. “Before I killed him, he said, “Where will he go, what will he be?” He was talking about his son. I considered adopting him, but, I didn’t know how to find him.”

  “So, you think-”

  “I don’t think, I know. This Dr. Dangerous, is his son.”

  “I’m afraid you won, Ms. Fitz. Who would you like to have dinner with from the Championship Power League team?”

  “Grey London,” I answered in a rush. Despite not quite finishing the treasure hunt, Lisa and I still had the highest points, and had just squeaked in a victory. The man with the clipboard nodded and left. I texted Lisa and Jake to make the date and told them who we were eating with. Lisa replied quickly with an apology, she was busy with something at her kid’s school. I asked her what, and she simply replied. ‘Baking’. I shrugged and ran to get changed for the dinner. Aya was about to recommend a suit when Veronica, finger in ear, marched through my bedroom door, pulled out the set of clothes marked ‘eight’, dumped them on my bed and left without saying a word.

  “I don’t think you can say no to that,” said Aya, looking over at me.

  I sighed. I’d been hoping for flats, just in case I needed to move fast. But if Grey London did freak out at the syringe, I’d have to take care of it in a dress and heels. I’d manage if I had to.

  With Jake beside me, I stepped out into the street. The syringe was in the bag on my shoulder. I wasn’t sure what to do with it; present it to her? Ask her what it was? That was all I could think of. We stepped onto a Hero High bus, and arrived at a restaurant not too far from the center of town called the Verde Foglia Café. A producer trudged over, and tapped his watch at Grey London.

  “Does that mean there’s a time limit?” I asked sitting down.

  “There’s always a time limit,” Grey London replied as Jake took his seat beside me.

  My legs bobbed under the table with anticipation and nerves, what would she say? Would it turn out all of this was normal? Had I found something everyone knew about except me? Did the syringe actually have nothing to do with The Figure?

  “So, you’re Lisa’s mentee?” Grey London asked.

  “Yes, yes! That’s right, she couldn’t be here, something about school.”

  Grey London nodded and our food arrived. My hand reached down, my fingers grazing the syringe. “Lisa’s great, you couldn’t have asked for a better mentor.” Should I just slam it on the table and d
emand answers?

  “Except for you, right?” Jake added with a laugh.

  I’d have to do it some time, I had to stop procrastinating, I needed to push myself. “Exactly!” she replied with a swish of her fork.

  “What is this, and what are you doing with it?” I said and threw the syringe on the table where it collided with a fork. Grey London’s eyes went wide and Jake nearly choked on his chicken. “I won’t tell anyone I swear,” I said, leaning forward. “I just need to know what this is, why you have one, and why The Figure In The Flames has one,” I whispered.

  Grey London’s eyes darted round the room, fixing on me for a moment and then on Jake, as though she were worried about bystanders. “Like I said, there’s always a time limit,” she hissed, her eyes going back to Jake as he took a long drink.

  “What do you mean? What does that mean?”

  “I can’t tell you! Who do you think you are anyway? You’re just some random first year,” she growled.

  “I’m a superhero in training,” I told her, “and I demand to know what’s going on.”

  She started wiping her palms off on her thighs, just like she did in the stadium.

  “Shut up, shut, up! You’re going to ruin this for me!” Heads turned and she raised her hand in reply. Once the other diners settled down she got up from her chair, and started walking. I pushed my seat aside, and ran after her.

  “Where do you think you’re going?” I whispered. “We’re not done here.”

  “Oh yes we are.” The moment we were out in the hall, she spun me round and pulled me into a dark corner. “Let this go, kid, the syringe ain’t bad,” she said, her eyes wide, checking the corner.

  “Then why are you so scared?” I asked.

  Her head turned, as though she’d only just now realized she was terrified. “You have to go, he’ll kill you,” she said, tripping over her words as they rushed out of her mouth.

  “Who? Who’ll kill me?”

  “I can’t tell you, he’ll find you, kid. So shut-“

  A black figure appeared behind her, thrust her back, and then both were gone. I turned, checked every corner, nook and cranny, but she was gone. The Dr. had taken her.