Junior Hero Blues

by J. K. Pendragon

  “Rick!” I shouted after him as he walked away, but I couldn’t bring myself to get up and follow him, and not just because my stomach hurt whenever I got up and down. I was afraid he’d start saying hurtful things again. Part of me just wanted to give up on him, and leave him to the Organization, since he was so damn stubborn about it.

  After all, what was the use of saving someone who didn’t want to be saved?

  “Hey.” Kendall returned, jogging back up to the picnic table. A set of keys was jingling in her hands. “I borrowed a jeep. You wanna go to the lake?”

  “Um. What?” I tore my eyes from Rick’s retreating form and stared at her. “Right now?” I had class, of course, and my parents would be upset, and, and . . . “Yeah, kind of.”

  It was a beautiful day. We drove out to the lake with the top of the jeep down, and then hiked over to a secluded beach. My stomach hurt from the exertion, but not as much as I’d expected it to, and when I finally lay on the beach, it hardly hurt at all. The water was calm and sparkling in the sunlight, and I pulled my shirt off so that I could sparkle too.

  “Think if you go swimming you’ll get superpowers?” I asked Kendall, who was stripping to her sports bra and shorts too.

  She snorted and sat down beside me. “I hope not. Let me look at your injury.” I lifted my arm so she could examine my stomach. The skin was slightly shiny, with a small, blue-tinged scar, but otherwise it had healed fine.

  “On the other hand,” she said, “if it gave me abs like you, it might be worth it.”

  “Oh yeah.” I shielded my eyes from the sun. “Totally worth it.”

  “So this Vanessa chick,” said Kendall, settling onto the sand next to me. “Is she pretty?”

  “Yeah,” I said. “And straight.”

  “How do you know?”

  “I don’t, I guess. She could be bi, but I know she had a boyfriend.”

  “Yeah, look how well that turned out.”

  I swatted at her. “You’re horrible!”

  “I’m just saying. Men are weak.”

  “Oh my god, Kendall,” I sputtered, laughing so hard my stomach ached, although that might have been my injury. “You’re seriously awful!”

  “Yeah, but you agree with me.”

  “I’m not swearing off men just yet,” I said with a sigh.

  Kendall glanced over at me. “Now, you guys have officially been broken up longer than you were together.”

  “Yeah.”

  “And you’re still into him.”

  I rolled over, letting the sun warm my back, staring down at the most-likely-irradiated sand. “I’m angry. I really liked him. Even you really liked him.” I grabbed a handful of sand and let it filter out between my clenched fingers. “The Organization took him away from me before I could ever have him.”

  “Yeah,” said Kendall, “but he’s not yours.”

  “I want him to be.”

  Kendall sighed and got up. “Come on, let’s go swimming. See if I can get me some superpowers.”

  We swam for hours, and by the time we got back to the city, it was getting dark. I climbed the stairs up to my apartment slowly, and tried to get past my parents like nothing had happened. Of course they were both sitting in the living room waiting for me.

  “Where were you?” My mom got up and stood between me and the hallway. “The school called and said you weren’t in your afternoon classes.”

  “I went to the lake with Kendall.”

  She raised her eyebrows at me. “Am I supposed to believe that?”

  “It’s the truth. Why would I lie? I mean . . .” I flinched. “I know I’ve been, like, lying about a lot of stuff lately, but—”

  “You can’t just skip school, Javier. What about college?”

  “It’s fine. I can miss a day every now and then.”

  “Javier.” My dad got up and came to stand next to my mom. “What were you doing? Was it dangerous?”

  “No!” I said, almost yelling. “We just went to the lake. I was having a bad day, and this is just making it worse.”

  “You can’t blame us for being suspicious,” said my mom. “How can we know you’re telling the truth?”

  “Because I told you the truth!” I shouted. “What do you want from me?”

  They just stared at me.

  “You don’t even know,” I said. “There’s nothing I can do, is there? You just hate me now.”

  “We don’t hate you, Javier,” said my father, exasperated.

  “Whatever.” I shoved past them, slamming my door all dramatically. Okay, I know I was being stupid, but they were being stupid. I smashed my fist against the door one more time for good measure, and felt bad when it shook the whole wall. I didn’t want to scare them. And I knew they must be scared for me. But what did they want me to do?

  I pulled my shirt off, staring at the glowing lines on my body. They didn’t get it. I’d still been doing my best to avoid letting them see me as any different, keeping my contacts in and only wearing long sleeves around them. Even though they knew now, I still felt like I was hiding from them, avoiding their judgment because I knew they didn’t approve. I hated it.

  I flopped down on the bed and pulled out my phone. I wanted to text Rick more than anything. But I didn’t even know what I’d say. He probably had his own problems with his family anyway.

  My parents are being awful. I typed the text out and stared at it.

  I hit Send on impulse and swore at myself under my breath. What the hell was I thinking?

  But of course I lay there staring at the phone, my heart racing, waiting for an answer. I nearly jumped out of my skin when the phone vibrated.

  Why, what are they doing?

  My fingers flew over the buttons before I could stop myself. They’re acting like they can’t trust me. Even though I told them the truth. They’re just acting like they don’t trust me as usual and denying everything AND treating me like an awful human being at the same time.

  I sent it and flopped my head down on the bed. Why was I doing this? Why not text Kendall, or anyone else at all?

  My phone vibrated again. My dad did the EXACT same thing when I came out to him.

  Really?

  Yup. It was all “You’re just confused, it’s a phase, oh, that’s my son Rick he’s super straight” but also, like, he’d get mad when I went anywhere by myself, and he’d act like I had some sort of disease.

  My heart clenched up. U never told me about that.

  It’s not important. I don’t let my dad’s opinion of me define me.

  Ya, but. I don’t know. I’m sorry I never asked. I meant 2.

  Well, too late now, isn’t it.

  I guess so. I sniffed and put the phone down. He didn’t text back.

  When my mom called me for dinner, I got up and put on a thin T-shirt, and turned off my contacts. I went out to eat and watched as they deliberately avoided looking me in the eyes. I felt a sort of hollowness inside myself that I was worried would fill up with anger. Luckily it didn’t, just simmered down to sadness and aching, until I was lying in bed reading Rick’s texts over and over again, and wishing desperately that he’d text me again.

  Kendall was right. I was hopeless.

  I ran into Jimmy Black a few days later.

  It was completely a coincidence too. I was on patrol, and I got a notification that a break-in was happening at a gun store down the street.

  A gun store. I know, safe right?

  Jimmy’s a terrible thief by the way. He just freaking walks into places in broad daylight and takes whatever he wants. For someone who’s supposed to be really valuable to the Organization, he sure doesn’t act like it.

  So when I got there, the place was, like, deserted. Oh, the civilians were there, but I guess they’d been allowed to leave, because they were all huddled across the street gawking.

  “Is there anyone still in there?” I asked a guy wearing a leather vest and a camouflage hat. How did I know he worked there, you ask? Lucky
guess.

  “He took the manager to the back,” said camo dude. “We keep the good stuff in there. He’s a big, mean-looking guy.”

  “Who, the manager or the thief?”

  I didn’t wait for him to answer. I ran inside, snuck up next to the door to the back, and peeked through.

  I recognized Jimmy and sucked a bunch of air through my teeth. He was holding a guy, who I assumed was the manager, with his left arm cranked behind his back at an angle that would only take a slight tug to break, and waiting while the man tried to open the safe with one shaking hand.

  “You’re sure the good stuff’s in there?” Jimmy’s voice was cruel and mocking. “You’re not just jerking my chain.” He tightened his grip a little, and the manager cried out. “Hurry up.”

  “He’s obviously left-handed,” I said loudly. “He’d probably be faster at it if you weren’t breaking his good arm.”

  Jimmy hissed and threw the guy up against the metal safe, turning to face me. “Oh, it’s Christmas.”

  “Feliz Navidad. What are you up to, Jimmy?”

  “Nothing that warrants the League’s interest, trust me.” Jimmy grabbed the manager, who had been trying to dash away. “Open it.” He glanced at me. “March your little ass out of here, Blue.”

  “Oh, so you’re not robbing this place?”

  “What’s it look like? Piss off.”

  The manager finally finished entering the combination, and the door popped open. Jimmy dragged the manager in front of him like a human shield, and backed in. “I need all the nuclear and restricted equipment you’ve got,” he growled to him. “I know you’re not supposed to have it here anyway, so why don’t I take it off your hands?”

  I stepped into the room slowly, giving the safe a wide berth, but moving so that I could still see Jimmy inside. The manager handed him two briefcases and a bag, which he hoisted over his shoulder. Then he grabbed the manager again and moved forward, with the guy still in front of him. “Come near me and I break his arm. You know I will.”

  “The Organization’ll do a lot worse with those weapons if I let you get away,” I replied. “Won’t they?”

  The manager nodded, and Jimmy smacked him on the side of the head. “What, you wanna die?”

  “I’ll go to jail now anyway,” said the manager in a defeated tone.

  “Well, you should have thought of that before you started selling illegal weapons on the black market,” said Jimmy snarkily, and he shoved the guy at me full force.

  I did stop to catch him. Maybe I didn’t spend as much time as I should have making sure he was all right, but, you know. Judgment call. I raced after Jimmy, hoping that being weighed down by weapons would make him slower. I tackled him just as we got outside, which was fantastic. Like using blunt force to knock over a telephone pole. My body is not made for such rough interactions.

  As we hit the ground, I heard sirens, and like three police cars showed up, screeching to a halt in front of us. Jimmy growled and threw me off him, but I managed to snag the handle of the big black duffel bag as I went. It split open, sending an impressive array of what I assumed were very illegal weapons everywhere. Jimmy glanced at the police cars, snarled, and hurtled the duffel bag at my middle.

  I bent double as it hit me, and nearly fell over. Instead, I tossed it aside and ran after him, jumping over the frozen traffic and denting a car hood. Damn, he was fast. He rounded a corner, and I screeched after him, barely catching him as he burst through a back door. I reached it, admittedly a little out of breath (maybe I should take up football), and went through, ending up in an empty hallway.

  “Jimmy!” I yelled, a bit of desperation in my voice. If I could find him, if I could subdue him, then maybe I could get him back to the League. Then they could work on breaking the brainwashing. If they didn’t just agree to trade him again.

  There was a noise like something falling over, and muffled swearing from behind a door. I darted forward, opening the door to reveal Jimmy hiding in a broom closet.

  He tried to barrel past me, but I was ready, using my sound waves to throw him back against the shelving. “What, you thought I wouldn’t find you here?”

  “Screw off, I left the guns.”

  “You’re more valuable than guns.”

  Jimmy snorted angrily. “Oh, don’t start. If you even think the word brainwashing, I swear I will stab myself.”

  “You’re not getting away.” I tapped my wrist to signal for backup and stepped closer to him, anticipating his movements. I hadn’t been this close to him in a long time, not since before . . . and damn it if he didn’t look good in that skintight black suit. I was being stupid, imagining that he was staring at me with anything besides loathing. If I kissed him, would it break the brainwashing?

  A flash of red light burned into my retinas. While I wasn’t paying attention, he’d whipped a laser pointer out of his belt and aimed it at the floor, spinning it around him in a circle. I lunged forward, but he was already gone, fallen through a brand-new hole in the floor.

  I smashed into the shelving, fell heavily down through the hole, and rolled just in time to avoid the waterfall of cleaning supplies that tumbled after me. My roll was terminated by a sleek red sports car, and its alarm started blaring as I crashed into the door. I shook my head clear in time to see Rick disappearing around the corner of the parking garage.

  I got up and ran after him with my hands clutched to my stomach. The garage opened onto the street. If Jimmy got up there, he’d probably be able to get away before I could catch him. Then my watch beeped, letting me know that backup had arrived, just as a shadow passed over the entrance to the garage.

  I made it out onto the street just in time to see several things. The League jet had descended between the buildings and had parked on the street, and across from it were several shiny black vehicles. Jimmy was booking it toward a black jeep, and the ramp on the League jet was coming down to reveal Captain Justice. I pointed toward Jimmy, and Captain Justice must have seen the desperation on my face, because he nodded as if he’d decided something, and then time went all funny.

  I blinked, and we were on the ramp of the League jet. Me, Captain Justice, and Jimmy Black, his hands in restraints and clipped to the wall of the jet.

  “What the hell did you do?” Jimmy shouted.

  “What did you do?” I asked Captain Justice.

  “Well, I do have superpowers, you know,” said Captain Justice. “It’s dangerous to use them too often—”

  “Paulo!”

  We all turned as the door to one of the black cars opened and a man stepped out. He looked completely ordinary—just some white middle-aged guy in a suit—but something about him creeped me out, even from all the way across the gap. Maybe it was the way Captain Justice bristled. The man took a few steps forward, so that he was standing in between the line of cars and the jet. I recognized him as Williams, the man on the television back at the Organization headquarters. A few Organization members followed him, and Captain Justice signaled for several League members to move forward too.

  Williams spread his hands. “You have something of ours.”

  “He’s not yours,” said Captain Justice, and Jimmy growled.

  “I’m afraid he is,” said Williams. “Jimmy Black is one of our greatest assets, and if you take him from us again, I’m afraid we’ll have no choice but to retaliate. Can your public image handle that, Captain?”

  Captain Justice gritted his teeth. “This is an eighteen-year-old boy. Who you have brainwashed. You’ve infringed upon his human rights.”

  “If he didn’t want to be with us,” said Williams, “he wouldn’t be.”

  “Javier.” Rick suddenly sounded lost and scared. I ran to him.

  “Rick. It’s okay, you’re safe, you’re with me.”

  “I . . .”

  Williams took another step forward, his henchmen following him. The heroes in front of us tensed, ready to fight. “Why don’t we let Jimmy decide? After all, he has the ri
ght to choose.”

  Captain Justice looked at me. At Rick. “I can’t risk another battle.”

  “No!” I yelled, and turned back to Rick. “Rick, please.”

  Rick met my eyes, and for a moment he seemed terrified. Then something caught his attention, and he turned. I followed his gaze and watched as the car door opened again, and a little old lady in a flowered dress and a tan windbreaker stepped out gingerly.

  “Rick!” I tried to shake him. “Don’t look at her!”

  But Rick was staring, his eyes wide and his body limp.

  “Rick!” called the old lady sweetly. “Come back, Rick. You belong with us.”

  “No!” I reached for Rick’s shoulders and kissed him hard, desperately hoping to shock him out of it. He bit my lip, and the sudden pain made me jerk away from him.

  “Get off,” he snarled. “Let me go.” He glared past me, up at Captain Justice. “You hear me? Let me go! I don’t want to go with you.”

  “Well,” said Williams. He was standing near us now, only the line of heroes between us. “You heard him.”

  “No,” I said. “Please, Captain, don’t let them take him.”

  “I’m sorry, Blue.”

  “No!” I could feel myself getting all gross and snotty, my eyes blurring up and my nose doing that awful runny thing when you’re crying suddenly. I tried to drag him off Rick as he undid the shackles, but I was as weak as a baby, my hands shaking. “You can’t do this!”

  Captain Justice let Rick go and gave him a push downward. The old lady was hobbling forward and met him halfway, reaching up to smooth his hair out of his face and lead him to the car. He didn’t even look back.

  I sort of realized that Captain Justice’s arms were around me then, and tried to shove him away. We both fell to the ground. “Leave me alone, you bastard, what kind of goddamn League of Liberty are you?”

  “Blue . . .”

  “No, shut up.” I pulled my mask off, pressing the heels of my hands into my eyes. “Leave me alone, I don’t want this.”

  Captain Justice tried to put his hand on my shoulder again, but I swatted him away. I heard him stand and turn toward the front of the jet. “Take us back to headquarters.”