Hero High: Figure In The Flames

by Chara, Mina

  “Good morning,” he said with a yawn.

  “So, you decided to switch from the sofa to the bed?” I asked.

  “What?” he made to sit up, at which point I realized I was directly on top of him. My arms wrapped around him. He fell back down, but didn’t drop his arms.

  “What do you mean?” he replied, “you asked me to.”

  “Asked you to get into bed with me?” I laughed as though the thought was utterly impossible, though I had considered it.

  “Yes, you did, at-“ he glanced at the clock, “-four in the morning. You started tossing and turning, and sat up to tell me you-” he cleared his throat as though there was something he’d rather not say. “-the point is, you asked me to.”

  “Okay.” I said, though I remembered no such thing.

  “You want pancakes for breakfast?” he asked.

  “Can I?” I pushed myself up onto all fours, and climbed off him in a way I hoped wasn’t awkward. He bolted into his bathroom without so much as a word, leaving me on the bed feeling slightly confused.

  For a few hours I’d been able to forget about Coach Flat and what he was doing to Hero High, but now it was time to spring into action, whatever that action was. I certainly wasn’t going to decide before breakfast, not because breakfast was more important than the Captain, but because my mother always told me you need to take care of yourself before you can take care of anyone else, and as the days went by, I was beginning to understand what she meant. I turned to pop my head in the kitchen and catch a glimpse of Ashley making breakfast like he considered it a work of art.

  “Where’s your grandmother?” I asked.

  “Girls brunch,” he told me.

  “By herself? You don’t go with her?”

  “Trust me, I’ve tried,” Ashley said, “but she’s not the kind of woman who wants her grandson following her around ready to catch her.”

  “She was very nice to me, I just wanted to say thank you.”

  “You don’t have to,” said Ashley, who was engrossed in his pancake making. “Just make yourself at home, and I won’t be long with the pancakes.”

  I nodded and looked around the rest of the house. His grandmother kept some fine china and pottery on display. Hanging near the front door was an old, tattered picture of Ang’s showing a much younger version of Ashley’s grandmother with a woman and a man. The woman was clearly her daughter, she shared the same complexion and had long black hair. The man though, wasn’t her son. He was unreasonably tall, wore glasses and had an arm round the young woman. He also had a baby in his arms; could that be Ashley? They were clearly a family.

  What had happened to his father and mother? Why did he live with his grandmother before going to Hero High? I peered at the picture taking in every detail. Something about the man looked very familiar. My brow creased in frustration, there was something I wasn’t getting, I could feel it in my bones. I walked around a bit more, and turned down a narrow corridor.

  Another picture of Ashley’s family sat on a bookcase. The man and woman were older, the man looked less like Ashley and more like- No.

  I looked down. The carpet was worn to the left of the bookcase. Was there something behind it? My hand reached out for the picture frame and tried to pull it closer. It seemed like it was stuck.

  “Friday, breakfast’s ready!” Ashley sang from the kitchen.

  I tugged at the photo and just as I released it something clicked in the wall. The bookcase slowly moved to the side, dragging along the worn carpet. My heart felt heavy with dread.

  “Friday!?”

  I gulped at the sight of the hidden flight of stairs. For a moment I stood still, checked over my shoulder, and leapt down the stairs before he could come looking and stop me. The lights in the room below sprung into life one bulb at a time; in front of me was Dr. Dangerous’ suit, his mask, his gadgets, and lace front blonde wig.

  Walls of gadgets were carefully labeled, the place was like a bunker, with food, water, clothes, and a bed to sleep in. The last of the lights flickered on; the room was a lot bigger than I’d thought, it spanned the whole floor plan of the house. My brain cut out, my muscles locked. The man in the picture was the original Dr. Dangerous. Ashley was the new one.

  I had to get out! I jerked forward, hoping Ashley, or Dr. Dangerous was still happily cooking me breakfast, but it was too late.

  His footsteps on the stairs were like the beat of my own heart. First the team, then the school, and now him. Ashley’s gaze was icy cold, his knuckles white and his fingers wound tight round his spatula. “You just had to look.” I couldn’t breath, I couldn’t think. This couldn’t be Ashley. He shook his head. “I would say curiosity killed the cat, but I always saw you as more of an obnoxiously cute border collie.”

  “You’re his son!” I yelled, “you’re the one that tried to blow the buildings up! You!”

  He pursed his lips, always inching closer. “Friday I can explain, the bomb was never going to go off, if Jake had just shown up on time-” he said waving his spatula around.

  “You’re working with Jake?” I needed time, my mind was whirling, it didn’t make sense.

  “Where else do you think he got his powers? He stole the gold syringe you left under the floorboard.”

  “How did you-” the answer was clear from what he’d already said.

  “Jake knew you had it, he was with you when you found it. Friday please, let’s talk about this!” he said, moving closer.

  “Then who are you working for?” I asked, backing away.

  “Friday-”

  “And on the skyscraper!”

  “You’ve got to understand,” said Ashley, “please, Jake just wanted me to talk to you.”

  “No,” I said, shaking my head, “this can’t be right. You’re working with Jake?”

  He cringed, and then nodded. “Friday, please understand.”

  “No!” I yelled.

  “Are you really telling me you had no idea?” he bit his lower lip, and shook his head like he would regret what he was about to say. “You’ve kissed me twice now, are you really going to tell me you had no idea we were the same?”

  A wave of shame hit me. I thought I’d been steering clear of the bad guy, and simply waiting for the good one. Ashley started towards me slowly as I moved back towards his wall of gadgets. I probably did know, somewhere in the back of my mind, I mean.

  I must have seemed like an idiot, I stood in the rain and told him I wasn’t interested because I had a crush on the other him. Oh God, he must have been laughing at me the whole time. He reached out for me.

  “Please Friday hear me out, my dad was killed by Captain Fantastic.”

  My back hit the pegs holding the gadgets.

  “My mother, and I, we can’t let this go.” The gap between us had closed, his looming form was over me once again, forcing me to realize just how small I was. But still, it didn’t matter, you can’t learn how to fight if you don’t get knocked down, and I’d been knocked down plenty of times before. I could get out of this. Think Friday, think.

  I blinked, stopping everything for a moment. There was a mirror on the opposite wall. If I could figure out where he kept the stunner he’d used on me before, I could get out. I spotted it in the mirror, an inch to my right, and taking a deep breath, I let the world start again.

  I lunged for the stunner, ready to plunge it into his shoulder, but he caught my wrist, the nib of the device just a nanometer from his skin. Our eyes locked, and our jaws clenched in a show of sheer strength. His smug smile had gone, replaced by concentration. I did the best I could to stop him from pushing the gadget away, but my muscles were going to wear out any second. There was no getting round it, as much as I liked to fool myself I couldn’t match his strength. I had to find another way.

  Like the over angry butt-head I was, I stamped on his toes and he flinched just enough for me to push him to the ground and make a run for it.

  “I don’t want to hurt you!” he shouted, “Frid
ay!”

  “Agreed! I don’t want you to hurt me either!” I said bolting up the stairs.

  “The captain killed my dad!” Ashley yelled in an unsteady voice, like he was shouting anything he could think of. “Someone has to pay for my family’s grief! Friday!” He made a grab for the back of my shirt and I avoided his hand as I bounded up the stairs. “The captain has to pay!”

  I turned round at the top as he stomped on up. “He does, you idiot. Every day of his life. Can’t you see it in his eyes?” I stuck to my ground as he slid the bookcase closed.

  “Hell no. You’re just seeing something that’s not there because you’ve got a schoolgirl crush on him!”

  “That’s not true!” I insisted, “It’s there Ashley, I promise you. What exactly do you think punishing the captain is going to solve?”

  For a moment he paused and I expected some speech about revenge. Instead he simply said, “My mother needs peace.” He looked at me like he didn’t have room for anything else, like there just wasn’t enough in him to keep thinking. He was pleading with me to stop, to just let him be.

  “This superpower serum is just going to make things worse!” I told him, “You can’t do these things, please-” he reached out his hand as though to catch something behind me, but it was too late. My body rattled and shook with electricity as I collapsed on the floor. Looking up I saw two heroes with hand guns and behind them, Coach Flat and Jake. The Coach patted Jake in congratulation before stepping closer to brush a strand of hair off my face and look down at me properly.

  “T.G.I.F.”

  My eyes opened on a studio inside the Super Structure, the large windows letting in the setting sun.

  “Oh look, she’s awake,” said Coach Flat.

  “Do you have to keep her tied up, Frank?” my eyes focused on Coach Flat and Veronica Lagar.

  “You know she’s gonna stop us if we let her go,” said the Coach.

  “What happened to “convincing” her?” asked Veronica.

  “Ask Romeo,” the Coach replied and they turned to look down at Ashley, bound, gagged and fully dressed as Dr. Dangerous. My body reacted without a thought; I tried to stand up, only to find I was bound to a metal pillar.

  “What did you do to him?” I demanded.

  Veronica sighed, and crouched down beside me. “Relax, we’re just gonna put on a fight and get Frank here properly accepted as the new principal.”

  “What do you mean a fight?” I asked.

  Jake’s boot pounded the side of my head, then he pulled back my hair making the roots sting with pain. “We’re gonna kill your boyfriend,” he said as he gave my head a painful jerk and wandered back to Coach Flat.

  “Now now, Jakey poo,” started Coach Flat, “we’re not going to kill him, we’re going to enact justice.”

  Only then did I see people shuffling around in the back, their expressions doubtful as they put the set together, piece by piece. Veronica’s look was similarly uncertain, she spent most of her time studying the floor.

  “Where’s the Captain?” I asked.

  “In hospital,” Coach Flat replied, “where he’ll stay until a few weeks from now when he’ll tragically pass away from the severity of his burns.”

  “What could you possibly get out of killing Ashley?” I demanded.

  “Oh so he’s Ashley now? Did he tell you, or did you find out?” the Coach asked.

  “I found out.”

  “Typical. The Captain killed the Doctor, and everyone loved him for it. Killing him made Adam the man he is today; the icon we know as Captain Fantastic. Before that, he was just another superhero.”

  “So what? You’re gonna kill the new Dr. Dangerous and hope for the same result?”

  Veronica stepped forward, her back was straight and her resolve clear.

  “We will get the same result, because we’ll have the same conditions. The Dr. will take you hostage, and then Frank will swoop in and save the day,” she said.

  “You fake piece of shit!” I yelled and the technicians stopped in their tracks.

  “Keep going!” screamed Coach Flat, and they all jerked back into action. I’d never heard Coach Flat sound so determined.

  “What makes you so sure you can beat Ashley in a fight?” I asked and Coach Flat’s eyes went wide. It was something he hadn’t even considered, he always won. He picked up a pen from a stage hand, and looked down at me.

  “You think he can win against me?” he smiled, and the pen in his hand went flat along with the rest of his fingers. Without any warning he thrust forwards, the pen sank into my pillar barely an inch above my head and came straight out the other side taking a five inch long chunk of metal with it.

  I caught my breath, and tried to sit up as best I could. “Baby, I’m the sharpest, flattest, most unkillable man in the world,” said Coach Flat, “there ain’t nobody can beat me in a fight.”

  “You sure about that? Isn’t that what this syringe is about,” I asked, “you being scared of losing?”

  Coach Flat squinted and we held each other’s gaze for a good few moments. “You know what?” he said, “you’re right!” he turned to Jake, “put lover boy in the cozy box we made for him.”

  Jake nodded and ran off while Veronica reached for the Coach’s shoulder. He looked at her hand as though it was burning a hole though the fabric.

  “What are you doing? What box?” she asked. He threw her hand off and took a few steps towards Ashley.

  “I made a back-up plan. Don’t worry, Veronica, I already cleared it with your boss.”

  “What plan? I need to know!” Veronica demanded.

  When he turned, the Coach’s smile seemed larger than was natural. “We’re going to drown him in the river,” he told us, “on live TV.”

  Veronica stumbled back. “No. You can’t do that. It’s too graphic!” her hand clasped her mouth. “The viewers won’t stand for it.”

  “Like I said,” the Coach told her, “your lovely little boss already approved it. Go ahead. Call him.” Veronica pulled out her phone and after only a minute of hushed conversation, her face fell.

  “Told you,” said the Coach, “boys, take her away.”

  I struggled against my restraints, but they were so tight I already had burns. The heroes with hand guns advanced on Veronica, pulling her away like a common criminal.

  “You can’t do this!” she protested, “they’ll hate you! He’s just a boy!”

  The last glimpse I had of Veronica was as she was dragged out the door. A shiver ran down my spine and then I realized something. “They’ll never see you the same way,” I told the Coach, “you can’t be him.”

  Coach Flat frowned and pulled up a chair. “And why’s that Fifth Day Of The Week?”

  “Because you’re a coward. I just realized why he’s special and you’re not and it has nothing to do with Dr. Dangerous. The Captain’s brave. He lost his powers years ago, and he hasn’t changed.” the Coach’s frown deepened, and his gaze grew sharper, as though he was willing me to catch fire. “A cowardly man would have given up,” I continued, “he would have run away the moment he didn’t have the upper hand. But he didn’t. That’s the difference between you and the Captain.”

  “Shut up,” said the Coach.

  “You’re a coward,” I yelled, warming to my subject, “you’ve never had to try! You’re the most deadly man alive, it’s easy for you, you don’t know what it means to be brave! You know you always win, that’s why you’ll never be another Captain: you don’t understand what bravery is!”

  Coach Flat reached down and slapped me hard across the face, before pulling me closer. “The only reason you’re still alive is because I can’t have too many people dying on my first day,” he said as he threw me back and then left while I nursed the blood in my mouth.

  Jake wheeled out a large see-through box with several small, interior cameras. They weren’t just planning to drown Dr Dangerous, they were planning to capture his death in high definition close up. Ashley’s
eyes were fixed on me and nothing else, like I was a song keeping him calm.

  Jake turned to me, slapped the box, and smiled. “This beauty right here, we molded it out of one of the world’s strongest substances,” he said and turned to Ashley, still bound on the floor, “you’ll try, but you can’t kick it, break it, or shatter it.”

  With the help of the black clad thugs, Jake pulled Ashley up and threw him into the box. Ashley struggled the whole way, he refused to make it easy, but it made no difference. They’d just put the top on as Coach Flat swaggered back into the room wearing his old costume, the one he’d worn years back when he was Captain Fantastic’s sidekick. His suit had shorts and a big white star, along with puffy gloves and shoes. The costume was a joke, but that in some ways was the point; he wanted to wear it while he killed someone.

  The Coach took his place under the lights, on the set the stagehands had built, as Ashley, in the transparent box, was rolled up to the window. They were going to drop him from the fourth floor into the river.

  One of the thugs moved behind me and covered my mouth as Kevin the cameraman, the one I’d told to run in the park, counted down for Coach Flat. I could see the hurt in his eyes, as though he blamed all of this on himself. The lights above him spun, and a jingle played.

  “Welcome to our lunch special here at Hero High,” said the Coach, “and do I have a treat for you! As the new acting principal until our beloved Captain returns, I’ve already been hard at work; the evil Dr. Dangerous had been captured at last!”

  The crew behind him clapped shakily as the sign above them flashed ‘applause’. The camera panned over to Ashley as he banged against the box. My eyes watered, and I screamed behind the hand that silenced me. With a push Ashley sailed out the window and splashed into the river below. Every screen in the city focused on the inside of the box where Ashley, still stunned by his impact with the river, struggled against the slow rising water. Coach Flat threw off his cape and pulled me up the pillar I was bound to.