Junior Hero Blues

by J. K. Pendragon

  I didn’t think it was presumptuous at all. He’d described me better than I’d ever been able to describe myself. Plus, he thought I was gorgeous? It was lucky I didn’t explode from ego right there. “It’s true though. No one’s ever said it like that before, but you’re right. Things will get better. I’ll make them better.”

  The sun glowed orange on the horizon, blinding me, and I squinted and reached up to pull my shade down at the same time as Rick did. Our hands touched. My heart started to beat all fast. It was very cliché. And then Rick slid his hand down my arm and touched the side of my face.

  I was terrified. I was terrified he’d look into my eyes and see them glowing blue behind the contacts. I was terrified he’d press himself up against me and I’d lose control of everything. And I was terrified he’d move away, and apologize, and offer to drive me home. That was the last thing I wanted.

  “Um.” Rick turned away for a second, and I didn’t realize how intense his gaze had been until he did. Then he locked eyes with me again, and it was even stronger. “Do you want to make out?”

  “I-I might not be very good at it,” I stuttered, swallowing. “I haven’t done it much.”

  “I don’t mind.” Rick was looking at my mouth, and he swallowed too. “I want to kiss you. And this is the perfect spot for it: there’s a view and—”

  “Yeah, you brought me here on purpose, didn’t you?”

  Rick shrugged. “Maybe.”

  I reached my hand up to touch him. His neck, and then down over his shoulders and along his arm. He was so warm and strong. “Yeah, okay. You start.”

  So then he kissed me. And it was really, really nice. Better than that weird, anonymous kissing I’d done before. Turned out kissing was way better when you actually knew and liked the person. Well, for me, anyway. I really hadn’t had that much experience, so it was plenty sloppy and awkward, especially considering we were in a vehicle. That is, until Rick leaned over to grab me and pull me onto his lap.

  Seriously! I was straddling a guy, in his SUV, with a freaking sunset behind me, and making out with him, like all desperate and stuff. I couldn’t even believe it. Not that I was thinking about that at the time. Or anything. Mostly I was thinking about how his mouth tasted, and how our bodies were all pressed together, and how his hands were totally roaming, like down my back and over my butt . . .

  And then his hands went under my shirt, and he started sliding them up my back. For a moment I didn’t care, because it felt so good on my bare skin, and like I said, I really wasn’t thinking at that moment. But then I remembered my markings, and Captain Justice telling me when I first started at the League: “The fewer people who know the better. You never know how someone will react.” And really, thinking of Captain Justice while kissing Rick was more than enough to make me feel all squicky and weird. And the little logical Javier in my head who was probably feeling a bit ignored through all of this was like: You know, you’ve only been dating this guy for like three days. Are you gonna reveal your identity to all your three-day boyfriends? You whore.

  Apparently Logical-Javier was a jerky slut-shamer. Who knew?

  So I stopped, made sure to pull my shirt back down, and sort of moved away. And then of course I bumped into the steering wheel with my butt and set off the horn, which made us both jump like a foot in the air. And then I saw the hurt, guilty expression on Rick’s face.

  “Oh no!” I stammered. “It’s okay, that was okay!”

  “It wasn’t. I should have asked.”

  “I didn’t mind it, really!” I didn’t know how to explain without telling him the truth. “I liked it, it’s just—”

  “You want to—”

  “I wanna wait.”

  “I understand.”

  “No.” I sat back on the seat. “It’s not for the reasons you think. I mean it’s not like I haven’t—”

  “Because if you haven’t, it’s okay—”

  “I have! It’s just I need time . . .”

  “For sure, I understand.”

  “. . . before I can open up.”

  “Oh.”

  “Not like that!” I covered my face with my hands. “I mean, also like that, but . . . ugh.” My face was burning, and my body was all angry with me, and I was all hot and desperate for air. “Maybe we should go for a walk.”

  “Good idea.” Rick pulled his keys out of the ignition and opened the door, and I practically tumbled out the other side. “You want to take the path?”

  “Yeah, that sounds good.” I took some deep breaths, trying to bring my heart rate down before meeting Rick on the other side of the SUV.

  So we went for a walk down the forest path, where we could see the city through the gaps in the trees, until the sun had set completely and the sky was black except for the few stars and the pinkish glow of the lights. A few moths fluttered around us, and bats flew overhead. Rick touched my waist and we stopped. He tugged me close and kissed me again, me up on my tiptoes to reach him, my arms around his neck.

  I felt safe, excited, and like Rick was right: things were going to get better. But, of course, they had to get more complicated first. They always do.

  The next night, during dinner, I got a call from Captain Justice. My parents were always super big on the whole dinner is a sit down together time thing, especially since my mom worked evenings four nights a week, but they’d gotten a bit more lax about it since I’d gotten my job at the “pizza place.” I almost didn’t answer the phone, but my mom said it was okay. I think they liked that I was bringing in a bit of extra money, even though I mostly spent it all on myself.

  I rushed into my room, half a slice of pita bread in my mouth, and shut the door before answering. “Hello?”

  “Blue! Hello, are you alone?”

  “Captain Justice?” I said around a mouthful of bread. “What’s up? I’m having dinner.”

  “I’m sorry to pull you away. I’m afraid there’s been an unfortunate development. Do you remember Fritz Schneider, the man from the office you rescued the other day?”

  “Yeah.” I finished chewing and swallowed. “Is he all right?”

  “We don’t know. We’d put him with a guardian because we suspected the Organization might attempt to kidnap him in order to gain access to the safe they stole.”

  “Couldn’t they just, like, break it open?”

  “It’s rigged to self-destruct if tampered with,” said Captain Justice. “I’m sure you’ve deduced by now that it contains valuable computer files.”

  “I did kind of, yeah. So, what, they managed to kidnap him?”

  “Unfortunately, yes. Fortunately, we also placed a tracking chip in the safe itself, so we know where they might be holding him. It’s vital that we recover the files before they are accessed, and of course, Mr. Schneider himself.”

  “Of course. So why are you telling me? You want me to do it?”

  “Not exactly,” said Captain Justice. “It’s a very crucial mission, but we don’t want to risk starting an all-out war with the Organization, so I’ve decided to send one of my best stealth agents in. Her name is the Raven. She’s excellent at reconnaissance, has a tremendous amount of fieldwork under her belt, but I’ve instructed her to pull out the moment things go south, and I have great confidence in her ability to do so safely.”

  I’d heard of the Raven. She was supposed to have fought in . . . um, a war. I can’t remember which one—so sue me—and then defected to America, where she joined the League. There really wasn’t much info about her besides that.

  “I thought this might be a good opportunity for you,” continued Captain Justice, like he was just talking about some boring work experience. “We often send Junior Heroes alongside Senior ones on missions. Besides that, you are one of the very few people who has experience with these particular offenders, which can often prove very useful.” When I didn’t say anything for a moment, he went on. “Of course, there is a level of danger involved, so you can always refuse. Your status as a Juni
or Hero and a minor allows that.”

  Part of me did want to say no way and go back to dinner. But on the other hand, Captain Justice had a good point, that I knew more about the baddies than anyone else, courtesy of having had the crap beaten out of me by them a couple of times. And I kind of wanted the chance to punch Jimmy Black in his big smug face. And, well, experience was good, right? If I ever wanted to be a proper Hero instead of just a Junior one, I’d have to start carrying out some more dangerous missions. “All right. When do you want me?”

  “Tonight, if possible.”

  The Raven was terrifying. I’d seen her around the League before, but we’d never actually met. I’d kind of avoided her, honestly, mostly because I was afraid she’d crush me. She was like six feet of ripped muscles and sharp black feathery costume and buzzed silver hair. She was old too, like probably fifty, but I had no doubt she could beat the crap out of me. Apparently she had psychic powers (like the kind where you can move stuff around with your mind) and she could fly and summon, like, glowing energy or something. And she was not happy about me coming with her.

  “You implied this was a rescue mission,” she said angrily to Captain Justice. Her accent could cut metal, I swear. “In and out. Now you want me to recover this safe also, and I will probably end up rescuing this boy along with Schneider.”

  “Blue can hold his own.” Obviously Captain Justice had a lot more confidence in me than I did. “He’ll be an asset.” He didn’t say anything about the safe.

  “I do not work with partners.” The Raven glared at me past the sharp angles of her black mask. “You will do exactly as I say, understand?”

  “Yes, ma’am,” I squeaked. “What’s the plan?”

  “The safe, and likely Schneider also,” said Captain Justice with a quick glance at the Raven, “are located in a forty-story office building in the business sector.” The Raven turned her sharp eyes away from me, which was a huge relief. We were in one of the League briefing rooms. It was all sleek and silvery with a big blue screen where a digital outline of the building was displayed. “You will be able to track the safe within five feet, but unfortunately the tracker doesn’t include altitude, so we have no idea which floor it’s on. You may need to search each floor. If you are attacked, or in any way compromised, you will withdraw immediately. We do not need another hostage on our hands. The Organization already has too many.”

  “Sir.” The Raven shifted her weight from one foot to the other. “Is our primary objective the safe, or the hostage?”

  “Ideally, you will be able to retrieve both.”

  “Yes. But primarily.”

  Captain Justice sighed and put his hands on his hips. “I can’t make that decision for you. But you know the consequences if we don’t retrieve that data.”

  “This is a bad idea,” said the Raven. “It would be safer to remove the chips.”

  Captain Justice didn’t say anything, and the Raven tsked and swept away. “Come, Blue Spark. Let’s get ready.”

  The business sector was where all those tall, shiny buildings I’d mentioned were. I’d never really been near them because they give off a really strong no poor people vibe that I’m more than happy to obey. I consoled myself with thinking that no one knew Blue Spark was secretly a poor-as-dirt high schooler. I could go home to my penthouse every night, for all they knew.

  The Raven could probably tell though. Not that she necessarily cared. Those are just the kind of things I think about to distract myself when I’m forty stories in the air and clinging to the back of a levitating Senior Hero.

  The wind was cold and harsh this high up, whipping my hair around and freezing my ears. Below us, the streets and cars looked like a glowing miniature. I’m sure it was beautiful, but I felt like throwing up. I couldn’t help imagining myself back home, warm in bed, with the sounds of the city muted and nonthreatening. Instead I was hanging by absolutely nothing, about a million feet up, and it was all I could do to keep from screaming.

  I mean, don’t get me wrong, part of me was excited too. But I was excited in a sort of anxious way. I wanted this to be over so that I could look back on it happily, instead of it happening right now, when I was absolutely terrified.

  The Raven whipped out her little tablet and tapped it a few times. “The building’s security system is disabled. We shouldn’t have a problem getting in.”

  We moved closer, her gliding gracefully through the air, and me clinging to her back like some weird, terrified monkey. The building was huge up close, a big expanse of gleaming glass in every direction. The Raven put her hand on a pane and went to grab something in her belt. Then she stopped, turning her head to look at me. “Can you break this?”

  “Uh, yeah.” I shifted so I was higher up on her back and reached over her shoulder, placing my hand against the window and shooting a high-pitched sonic wave into the glass, shattering it inward.

  “Excellent. Thank you.”

  We floated in, and I had to stop myself from falling to the floor and hugging the solid ground. The Raven alighted softly, the shattered glass crunching under her boots as she pulled out her tablet again, tapping away while sweeping the room with her dark eyes.

  “Right. The scanner says the safe is in this location.” She walked into an empty corner and stopped. “But obviously there is nothing here. We will go down.”

  “Okay,” I replied. “How—”

  “Hello,” said a man’s voice, and I nearly jumped out of my skin. The voice had an English accent, and it was tinny, like it was coming through a speaker, even though I couldn’t see one anywhere. I couldn’t tell which direction it was coming from at all; it was almost like he was speaking inside my skull. “I’m afraid you are trespassing on private property.”

  “I recognize this voice,” said the Raven quietly to me. “His name is Williams, Organization head.” Then she spoke up. “We are looking for Fritz Schneider. We believe he is being held here against his will.”

  “I’m afraid,” said the voice again, “that you are trespassing on private property. We apologize for this inconvenience.”

  “What inconvenience?” I asked, although I was pretty sure I didn’t really want to know.

  There was a clicking noise, and before either of us could react, solid metal bars shot down all around us, trapping us. The Raven put her tablet in her belt and took a step toward them, reaching out . . .

  Crack! There was a flash of red light, and she was thrown backward, red electricity sizzling through the air around her.

  “Raven!” I ran to where she’d landed on her back, her head having narrowly missed impact with a desk. “Oh my god, are you okay?”

  “Fine,” she said, her teeth gritted. “I have no use for you if you are going to panic.”

  “I’m not panicking!” I insisted, although, okay, I was a bit. I mean, Captain Justice had just thrown us in here willy-nilly, without much of a plan at all, and here we were trapped, and who knew what the Organization was going to do with us? Of course I was a little scared. “I’ll be fine.”

  “Good.” The Raven lifted her arm suddenly, and the ceiling above us crumbled and gave way. In what felt like less than a second, the Raven’s arms were around me, and she was rushing up through the dust and debris, through a tear in plate metal, and into a large ventilation shaft. My feet barely touched the floor before she said, “Run.”

  I ran. Our feet pounded and echoed on the metal as we raced down the narrow shafts, dark but for the dim illumination through the occasional grate. I lost all track of where we were, but ahead of me, the Raven had pulled out her tablet, a little map on it glowing in the darkness.

  Finally we stopped, and I doubled over to breathe. Okay, maybe I did need to spend a bit more time at the League gym.

  “Are we lost?” I asked, and the Raven gave me an annoyed look.

  “No. But we’re moving away from the location of the safe. We need to go down.”

  “But,” I panted, “shouldn’t we get out of here?”


  “What? Why?”

  “Because—” gasp, heave “—the Organization, they know we’re here. They trapped us.”

  The Raven tsked. “Please. No one traps me. When I am ready to leave, we will do so.”

  I straightened up and managed a little smile at her in the darkness. “You weren’t scared back there?”

  “The only thing I am afraid of right now is you panicking like a little rabbit and putting us both in danger.” She tapped her tablet. “Panicking is the fastest way to doom yourself. If you stay calm, and rational, you can escape ninety-nine percent of hopeless situations. You understand?”

  “Yeah.” I nodded. I could do that. Right? “So what now?”

  I gave a little yelp as the ground gave out from underneath us. I dropped a couple of inches, before bouncing back up and hopping in place. The Raven was floating in place too, seeming unfazed.

  “Trapdoor,” she said. “What is the easiest way to get into a prison?”

  “You want to let them capture us?” It made sense, of course. But it was also terrifying. Not in the least because it meant we would have to fall to what could potentially be our doom. “And then we escape?”

  “Exactly. Now, drop.”

  I did so, despite every atom in my body screaming at me not to. It was like all of my worst nightmares were finally realized. My gut churning, the wind whistling past my ears. For a second, I was back in that lightning storm, falling off an electrical wire to what I was sure was my death, with blue lightning cracking around me.

  There was a burst of air from under us, slowing us down and buffeting me hard in the face, and then, finally, a light appeared. The Raven managed to catch herself before she hit the ground, but of course I landed with all the grace of a drunk bag of rocks. When I picked myself up, everything was bright and disturbingly . . . pastel.

  For a moment I thought I must have hit my head. Like, surely this was some sort of weird, concussion-fueled hallucination. We were in what looked like an old lady’s living room. Seriously, like floral-patterned furniture, bad pink carpet, kitschy Bible paintings on the wall. It was awful. And weird.