Super Hero Academy

by Simon Archer

  My mother was the only source of warmth that night, and it was all I could do to sink into her embrace. She wrapped me up in a warm blanket and dragged me home without a negative thing to say about it.

  “You’ll have good days too,” she promised.

  I really, really love my mom, and it was then I decided that I wanted to make her proud. My parents and their parents before them were sweet, ordinary souls who never developed their own abilities. To be the first powered in the family was to be buried under very high expectations... but I was ready to prove myself, and thus I trained hard for the next five months to earn the privilege to learn at Valcav.

  Now, I was here, and Nick freaking Gateon was my friend. I couldn’t help but look up to him and the way he handled things so smoothly. He saw a challenge, and he conquered it. I wanted to be like that.

  “Life is crazy,” I said. “I can’t believe any of this is real.”

  “Believe it. You’ve done very well.”

  There was a part of me that nearly denied it. It would probably always be there, but I didn’t have to give in anymore. I thought about what Nick would do and smiled instead. It was okay to be happy, I decided. If he could do it, so could I.

  “I know,” I said confidently. The tone surprised even me, and I chuckled.

  My mother chuckled as well. “You’ve got to bring this Nick guy to dinner sometime. He’s clearly left a mark.”

  “Yeah. Yeah, maybe I will.”

  Chapter 5

  The morning sun poured its rays over the various new students who sat at their desks and waited for class to start. Poor Jack had been assigned a modified, much wider desk to suit his massive brick body, and the Barbur twins had joined him at the back of the room to keep him company.

  Brad, a guy as plain as his name suggested, seemed to be engrossed in some rant about the goings-on with the mental powered students the previous day. I caught the name Kara and scrolled my eyes back to them, but I was met with three different scowls and decided to let it be for now.

  I leaned back in my chair, letting the sun bathe me with a contented sigh. To my left, Andie gently kicked my desk with her shoe. I cracked one eye open to meet her head tipped back and giving the twins a dirty look.

  “Problem?” I asked curiously.

  “He’s saying that Kara cheated yesterday,” Andie seethed as she turned her attention back to me.

  “They said I cheated too,” I pointed out. “No one’s taken it seriously. She’ll be fine.”

  “The rumor still stands, though,” she countered. “I’m just saying, she deserves better. Brad seems like a real douchenozzle.”

  Kara slid into the seat on my left and then noticed Andie’s grumpy expression. In a strange echo, she asked, “Problem?”

  Andie gestured to the crew at the back of the class. I sighed and shook my head in distaste.

  “It’s nothing,” I told Kara. “They’re just upset that we all put them to shame on the score list. It’s not worth the energy.”

  Andie crossed her arms and pouted. I had to admit, I liked the way it pushed out her bottom lip as it glistened in the sunlight. “Still don’t like it.”

  “Welcome to college.” I gestured with a sigh. “It’s like high school, but deadlier.”

  Both girls snorted. Eric joined us a moment later and settled into the seat behind me. He bounced in his chair like a child awaiting Christmas morning. His knee vibrated with frantic energy as he took in the class and then scanned for the missing teacher.

  “Do you know what we’re doing yet?” he asked with that same energy. “I heard it’s a rescue course this semester. We’re gonna save people. I can’t wait.”

  Andie lifted a brow and crossed her arms. I think she was continuing the pout at this point purely because she’d noticed me staring. “How d'you find that out?”

  “I get around,” Eric said as he stretched out his arms and pretending to be a cool cucumber. Unfortunately, his knee continued to bounce, and he couldn’t sit still for two seconds without squirming.

  I chuckled at that. “I’m sure you do.”

  As we all settled down, I thought about what Eric had said. Rescue work. Every good hero struggled with priorities on the battlefield, but it was generally agreed that civilian life ranked highest on the list. I wasn’t sure what was so important about dedicating an entire course to the subject. It seemed simple: if a life was in danger, save that life first above anything else. It wasn’t that complicated, was it?

  Then again, my father had been one of the best, and he’d failed to rescue my mother. Not that I held it against him. Quite the contrary, I understood that sometimes shit just happened. He didn’t, but that was another story altogether.

  I was stirred from my thoughts as Gemma walked through the door and set a folder onto her desk. She was wearing a low-cut beige dress, and her long black hair was tied into a neat ponytail. Her heels were black and professional. It was clear this was not ‘friend’ Gemma, but ‘teacher’ Gemma, and I’d be getting no favors for having some history.

  Despite the supernatural nature of her students, the classroom was a typical one with a large blackboard and chalk set behind the teacher’s desk. Gemma turned and wrote ‘FAVORITE SUPERHEROES’ in big bold letters on the board. Her writing was strong, the letters stiff and precise. Setting the chalk back down, she spun on her heel and clapped her hands once for attention.

  She took a moment to look over the class and lingered on a few faces before speaking. When we met eyes, I smiled. She didn’t smile back, but I could see a glint of satisfaction in her eyes.

  “As many of you know, my hero name is Amazoness,” she began in a strong, clear voice. “You may call me Miss Corcoran. Gemma Corcoran, to be precise. I’ll be your primary instructor here at Valcav for the next few years. I’ve already met with each of you personally and am excited to see where the academy takes you.”

  She let that sink in before continuing. “This semester, you’ll focus on rescues, and you will be attending a rescue class over the next few months. Your primary rescue instructor will be City Master, also known as Lars Shoemaker. If you have any concerns about the class, speak to him.”

  To their credit, even the Barburs had their full attention locked on Gemma as she folded her arms over her stomach.

  “Now. Some of you may wonder why we even have a rescue class, but rescuing a civilian life is never as easy as it sounds. Every villain has an unpredictable nature, and each understands that a hero will not waste their time in pointless combat while an innocent life is on the line. Villains will always try to use your morality against you. They will place you in positions where you may have to choose between loved ones and the fate of an entire city. The greatest names in history are those who understand how to navigate these difficult waters and save as many lives as possible.”

  Her eyes lingered on me for a moment, then she sighed and passed her gaze over the rest of the students once again. “For hundreds of years, heroes have walked among humanity and defended it from the worst evils... but to be powered is not to be a hero. A hero is a title that you earn, and to be powered is what you are. It does not entitle you to anything more than a duty that you may or may not accept in the years to come.”

  I heard a tsk behind me and glanced back to see Brad with his arms crossed, a grumpy line furrowed between his brows. Gemma noticed it as well and gestured for him to speak with her manicured hand.

  “Is there a problem with that, Mr. O’Connor?”

  “Obviously,” Brad sneered. “I’m not sure why it’s my job to handhold a bunch of normies. They’ve got police, don’t they?”

  “Sure.” Gemma nodded as she apparently ignored his blatant disrespect and hostility for the moment. “The police clean the streets and protect it as best they can, but to fight a powered being is like fighting a nuclear weapon. Police have bullets and tear gas. Half of you are immune to them, and the other half can easily find a way around it. Even an untrained powered being is capa
ble of destroying entire city blocks, given enough potential and persistence. It’s not something that ordinary police can defend against which is why there are heroes in the first place.”

  “But why should I care what happens to a bunch of losers?” Brad pressed.

  I rolled my eyes. Andie was right, Brad seemed like an asshole in every sense of the word. “Keep talking like that, and you’ll be dangling damsels off skyscrapers in no time,” I said.

  “Didn’t ask you, Inferno Boy—”

  “Enough,” Gemma interjected with steel in her voice. “Mr. O’Connor, talk out of turn again, and I’ll send you out on your ass. If you need a lesson on why it’s important to save lives, perhaps I should phone your mother and determine the root cause.”

  Brad paled at that. Everyone had something they feared, even an asshole like him. “No, no,” he squeaked. “I’m good. I’ll shut up.”

  Gemma cleared her throat and gestured at the blackboard behind her, where ‘FAVORITE SUPERHEROES’ was still written. “I hope you’ve been considering an answer to this statement. I don’t just want to know who your idol is, I want to know why.”

  She gestured at the back of the room again. “Brad, since you’ve helpfully offered your opinions thus far, I assume you have someone in mind?”

  “Nah, not really.” He shook his head.

  He was going to be obstinate for the rest of the year at this rate. I felt Gemma’s irritation as she ignored him again and then gestured to Brad’s left. “Kristen?”

  At first, Kristen didn’t seem interested in saying anything either, but Gemma waited patiently, in no mood to let her pass by unnoticed. I watched as Kristen straightened her posture, her lips twisted with an uncomfortable grimace.

  “You already know what I’m going to say.” She sighed and twisted her fingers in her lap. She didn’t appreciate the dozen or so eyeballs glancing back at her with curious expressions.

  “That may be so, but it’s as good a place as any to start.” Gemma gestured for her to spit it out.

  Kristen rolled her eyes and glanced at her brother, then sighed. “My dad. Naturally.”

  “Ice Bringer, you mean?” Gemma pressed.

  “Yeah,” Kristen replied a little hesitantly before pushing on. “He’s retired now, but he, uh... he’s always been... you know. A good guy.”

  “He’s mine too,” Matt added as he locked eyes with me again. I was uncomfortable with the way he seemed so determined to hate me every chance he got.

  Gemma noted the tension with a glance but kept right on going with the lesson. “What’s your favorite quality about Ice Bringer, Kristen?”

  “Well, uh... he, uh...” She struggled for an answer that wasn’t ‘because he’s my dad.’

  Matt piped up next to her as he glanced at his sister with some pity. “My dad doesn’t fight anymore, but he did for a lot of years. Took a lot of beatings before he retired. Spent most of his time out in the field... I mean, we only saw him maybe once or twice a week. He sacrificed everything to make sure we were safe.”

  “You admire his persistence, then?” Gemma asked with genuine interest. This was obviously the kinds of things she wanted to hear from us.

  Matt and Kristen both nodded. “My... my mom liked to say that he, uh... he...” Kristen muttered something inaudible, and Gemma lifted a brow.

  “What was that?”

  “She’d say that Dad was the most stubborn man on the planet,” Matt cut in. He reached for his sister’s hand and held on to it. He wasn’t looking at Gemma, though. He was looking at me. “I remember once he fought Lord Inferno for three days straight. Didn’t sleep, didn’t eat, did nothing but hold him back. That was the, uh, the Battle of the Bay some years back.”

  Gemma nodded, turned and addressed the class at large. “Persistence. Stubbornness. Ice Bringer is legendary in this regard. He was the partner to one of the greatest heroes ever known and then opposed that hero for years after Inferno fell into darkness. He’s retired now, as many of you are aware. Word is he’s settled somewhere in the Arctic.”

  Quietly taking notes in the front row, Elianna raised her hand, and Gemma gestured for her to speak. “Ms. Cocoran, why did Ice Bringer retire? He wasn’t that old, was he?”

  “Is,” Matt corrected with no small amount of vehemence.

  “Right.” Elianna blushed. “Is.”

  “The official story is that Ice Bringer suffered an injury,” Gemma said somewhat diplomatic.

  Unfortunately, Matt was in no mood to be. “The truth is that after Nick’s dad killed my mom, the fight sailed right out of him. He turned tail and ran a few years back.”

  The room grew tense with that, and Gemma frowned. “Tragedy marks every powered family, Mr. Barbur. We’re all sorry for your loss.”

  Elianna raised her hand again. “Ms. Cocoran, I don’t understand. Did he flee or did he retire? If he fled, he’s not much of a hero is he?”

  This caused Matt to lurch up out of his chair, and I twisted around, ready to interfere if he got violent. “How dare—”

  “I didn’t mean any offense, I was just—” Elianna pleaded, but Matt kept ranting at the poor girl.

  “My dad’s a hero! He fought so many villains, saved so many lives. There’s a statue of him on the bay, next to all the other greats! They don’t build statues for cowards!”

  “Matt, that’s enough,” Gemma pressed firmly. “She meant nothing by it.”

  Slowly, Matt settled back into his chair. He crossed his arms and pouted like a child. A deeply troubled, angry child, but a child nonetheless.

  Elianna blushed an even deeper shade of crimson. “I’m sorry.”

  “It’s alright, sweetheart,” Gemma soothed before growing serious once more. “Ice Bringer is a hero in our history books, and he will forever be remembered as someone who sacrificed nearly everything to protect this city, as well as the world at large. If anything can be learned from his example, it is that one must be persistent in the fight against evil. It can take many forms and will hurt you in any way that it can, so being prepared to fight at any cost is a good lesson to take home. It’s one that Ice Bringer stood for, and one that he represented to the utmost of his ability.

  She swept her gaze over the class. “I led the conversation toward Ice Bringer first because I was born in Otevale. Ice Bringer saved my family.”

  A hush fell over the students, and once again, Elianna raised her hand. “What happened in Otevale?”

  I rolled my eyes. Everyone knew about Otevale.

  “Lord Inferno seized the entire city,” Gemma explained. “It was the last one to join his empire, and it resisted the hardest. The battle went on for three weeks, and in that span, most of the buildings were destroyed. We still don’t know how many fatalities there were. Ice Bringer was the vanguard that led the attack against Inferno, and later, the rescue efforts. We lost that battle, and eventually, the entire city... but Ice Bringer refused to leave until every single innocent life that could be saved was given a chance. He single-handedly escorted many beyond the border, including my family.”

  “Wow,” Elianna whispered. “He kept fighting, even after the city was gone?”

  “As a hero will do,” Gemma said with utter conviction. “It’s not about wins or losses. It’s about how many you can save.”

  Andie raised her hand. I glanced over and was surprised to see a nervous expression on her face. She cleared her throat. “I’m, uh... I’m gonna get a lot of hate for this, but my favorite is Inferno before the fall.”

  My heart skipped several beats, and I wasn’t sure how to feel about that. Gemma was surprised, and so was Matt, apparently.

  “What?!” he growled. “Why would you favor that psychopath?”

  Andie’s shoulders tensed up the way it had yesterday before every single fight. I was certain that a fist was going to fly across the room if Matt pushed her hard enough.

  “Well, he wasn’t always a psychopath, now was he?” she shot back with fire in her tone. “
He was good once. The best, even. I’m not saying he’s forgivable now, not with what he’s done, but... but that doesn’t mean we should forget all the good he did too.”

  I could see the steel forming in Eric’s spine as he straightened up in his chair. “I agree. Inferno saved Valcav once. You remember, the fight against Laughing Mask? It was chronicled in the Best Heroes edition forty-five—”

  “And he saved my mom,” Andie interrupted, though she smiled at Eric to ease the brunt of it. “If it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t even exist. My mom met my dad in the rescue party.”

  “My grandpa had all those posters,” Eric added.

  Matt growled and shifted in his seat. I caught fangs when he snarled, “He’s a mass murderer! An evil fucking—”

  “Language, Matt,” Gemma warned as a frown formed on her lips.

  “No!” he yelled furiously. “This is stupid! You can pick anyone else on the list, but Inferno isn’t one of them!” Matt crossed his arms, looking ready to explode.

  “Quiet down, Mr. Barbur, or I’ll be forced to send you out of class.” Gemma stared at him until he looked away before turning her attention back to Andie. “Ignore him, Ms. Baker.” She then gestured toward Elianna. “What’s your favorite?”

  “Judgment,” she said. “I, uh... I really like vampires.”

  Everyone else in the class snickered, and the tension immediately eased. I was glad for it, to be honest. Who knew hero history could bring up so much bad blood so quickly?

  Brad rolled his eyes. “He’s not actually a vampire, you moron.”

  “Brad, enough,” Gemma said, clearly done with him. “Act like an adult, or you’ll be leaving along with Mr. Barbur.”

  Brad crossed his arms and glared at his desk, as Matt growled and did the same. Elianna blushed, but Eric piped up in her defense. “To be fair, we don’t actually know if he’s a vampire or not.”

  “Vampires don’t exist,” Brad said.

  “You exist,” Eric countered. “I exist. Why not vampires?”