Junior Hero Blues

by J. K. Pendragon

  “How are they taking it?”

  He made a face that was almost a smile. “Well, his father had some choice things to say to me of the homophobic variety, but his mother and sister are just glad he’s all right. His cat didn’t seem too concerned either way.”

  I actually laughed. “Does his dad think we’re, like, the League of Gay or what?”

  “Well, that was apparently a serious concern when I first ran for the position of Captain Justice. I’ll stop by to check on you in a while.” He winked at me and then stood up and walked off, leaving me gaping after him.

  I pulled out my phone, and searched captain justice gay because I’m mature like that.

  Dr. Paulo Flores, said the first result, also known as Captain Justice and previously Dr. Universe was married to Dr. Anna Ingles for eight years, and has been linked romantically with several male superheroes and other various key figures since and before then. Despite this, he has never publicly confirmed nor denied rumors of bisexuality, claiming that he wishes to keep his personal life private.

  I couldn’t believe his superhero name was “Dr. Universe.” I would never, ever have given up that name.

  Someone else came by to check on me later, with an apology from Captain Justice. Apparently he had to go oversee another meeting. And then I just sat there. I didn’t need to be alone, really. Kendall could have come and waited with me, or my parents, or anyone. But I kind of selfishly wanted to be alone. When Rick got out, I wanted him all to myself. The last thing I wanted was for someone to show up and take him away from me.

  Of course, that was exactly what happened.

  When the elevator finally arrived, I stood, shoving my phone into my pocket and clenching my fists so hard that my nails dug into them. But instead of Rick, the doors slid open to reveal my parents, along with Rick’s mom, and a tall beefy man with black hair and a strong nose that I assumed was Rick’s dad.

  I swear I almost threw up.

  “Oh, Javier,” said my mom in English. “We are just talking with Rick’s parents.”

  “Mm-hmm.” Rick’s dad gave me a bona fide death glare. “How is he doing?”

  “I don’t know.” My voice was wobbly. “I’m waiting for him to get out of treatment.”

  “I don’t understand what they’re doing with him.” His mom seemed really scared. “It doesn’t sound safe, or ethical.”

  “I don’t . . .” I said. “I mean, they had to—”

  “Don’t worry about it, Javier,” said my dad.

  “I don’t know who makes the decisions around here,” said Rick’s dad, and there was sweat trickling down his forehead. “But it seems like you were somehow involved.” He took a step toward me. “And—”

  “Excuse me.” My mom moved between us. “I said to please not talk that way.”

  “Talk what way?” I felt incredibly uncomfortable.

  “It’s nothing.” Rick’s mom looked at her husband. “Right?”

  “It certainly is something,” said his dad angrily, “and just because these people don’t want to take responsibility for their son’s actions—”

  Luckily at that moment the elevator dinged, and we all turned to stare as it opened to reveal Chelsea looking exhausted, and Rick behind her. He had an arm wrapped around himself, and was staring at the floor.

  “Rick,” I said softly. His eyes flicked up to me, all bloodshot and red rimmed.

  “Javier.” His voice was hoarse. And then whatever he was going to say was cut off by his mom.

  “Rick!” she gasped, running forward, and he let her hug him, looking relieved.

  “Mom,” he said. “You’re here.”

  “Yes.” She reached up to touch his face gently. “And Dad.”

  “Oh,” said Rick, and he glanced at me as his dad embraced him awkwardly.

  Rick was totally trying to get to me, but his dad was doing a fabulous job of getting in the way and making it look like a coincidence.

  “We should get you to bed,” he said, with a lot of false bravado, considering he’d been sweating and freaking out a minute ago. “Right, Miss . . .”

  “Chelsea,” said Chelsea dryly, and I could tell that she knew exactly what was going on. At least someone did. “Yes, it’s probably best for him to rest.”

  “Right,” said Rick’s dad, and then they steered him away, and there was literally nothing I could do except watch them take him into the elevator and away from me.

  I swear to god, I almost punched the wall. If my parents hadn’t been there, I probably would have. Instead I collapsed back down onto the bench. My dad sat next to me while my mom stood and stared angrily at the elevator doors.

  “Well,” said my father. “Interesting family.”

  “It’s not their fault.” I sighed. “They were worried about Rick.”

  “Exactly,” said my mom. “They should be worried about the danger their son is in, not that he is dating a boy. Ay, some people.” She gave the elevator a nasty look and turned away.

  “We can’t all have great parents.” I swallowed a lump in my throat. “I really wanted to see him though.”

  “I know, cariño,” said my dad. “You will.”

  I knew that I would see him eventually, but that just didn’t seem good enough.

  I was being selfish, but I couldn’t help it. It seemed as if I’d been working for this for so long. To be alone with Rick, not even for any dirty reason. Just to kiss him, and talk with him, and make him feel comfortable. And now I couldn’t even do that. And it was killing me.

  “Our absolute number one priority is the Hounds,” said Captain Justice.

  We’d gathered together in his office for another private meeting. Part of me felt kind of special that I kept getting invited to all these important meetings, but I also felt awkward about it, and like I wanted to just go back to being a regular Junior Hero that wasn’t involved with Hounds or the Organization.

  Captain Justice paced in front of his desk. “The Hounds are the reason the Organization is so confident, and they are the reason their numbers are so large. We absolutely must capture or otherwise remove them from the Organization’s employ.”

  “So what do you suggest?” said the Wolfhound grumpily from his usual spot taking up half the couch. “We storm their HQ again? Do we even know where they relocated to?”

  “We do,” said Captain Justice. “Miss Min was kind enough to supply us with that particular information. But the situation is undoubtedly delicate. Right now we have an uneasy truce with the Organization, and minimizing civilian casualties must remain of the utmost importance.”

  “Rick was a civilian until the Organization kidnapped him and did tests on him,” I said bitterly, wishing that the Raven was here to back me up. She was still gone, I guess visiting her long-lost brother. I kind of felt like this was important enough for her to be here though.

  “A fair point,” said the captain. “We know that both Rick Rykov and Vanessa Larsen were victims of this. Who knows how many other civilians they’ve ‘recruited’ in this way, or for how long they’ve been doing it.”

  “The question,” said Lady Deathquake, “isn’t whether or not we should launch an attack on the Organization, but whether or not we have the resources to do so.”

  They’d been talking about this all morning, and it was frankly pretty boring after a while. I still hadn’t gotten to go see Rick. I hadn’t heard anything from him, or his family, and when I’d gone to see Captain Justice about it, he’d just told me not to worry about it, and that there was a meeting he needed me present for. I was missing school today too, which was not great because Rick and I had been scheduled to present the oral part of our assignment today. I’d spoken to the teacher and gotten it switched to tomorrow, but I figured I’d probably have to do it by myself since Rick was apparently under family-enforced house arrest. He was probably snuggling with his cat right now instead of me. I didn’t even like cats.

  “We need to make a stand,” said one of the othe
r Heroes. “Our Junior Heroes shouldn’t have to be afraid of the Organization kidnapping them or their families.”

  “Jimmy Black isn’t one of our Junior Heroes,” said the Wolfhound.

  “He came to us for help,” said Captain Justice. “What the Organization did to him was inexcusable. If we let them have him back, we’re no better than them.”

  “But if we choose to go to war against them,” said Lady Deathquake. “Will we win again?”

  Captain Justice didn’t think it was safe for me, Kendall, or Rick to go to school the next day. He showed up at my room that morning while I was getting ready to leave, and tried to convince me that he could just talk to my teacher and ask her to give me an exception on the project because of extenuating circumstances or whatever.

  “Yeah,” I said, hoisting my backpack over my shoulders. “No. I do not need Captain Justice waltzing into my school to make excuses for my absences. Anyway, it’s not like I’m a civilian. I can take care of myself.”

  He didn’t look satisfied. “Javier, there’s a lot going on right now. Everyone will understand if you don’t feel like going to school. Your parents aren’t going to work.”

  “Can I see Rick?”

  “His parents don’t want him seeing anyone,” said Captain Justice.

  “You mean they don’t want him seeing me.”

  “You understand that it’s all I can do to keep them from up and leaving with him right now,” he said patiently, and I sighed.

  “Yeah, I know. But I really do need to do this presentation.” At least I could help Rick get into college, even if I couldn’t see him. “If anything happens, I promise I’ll run away instead of getting into a fight.” I gave him my biggest glow-y blue eyes. “Please?”

  They must have worked, because he gave in, but he still insisted on driving me to school in his shiny black car, which wasn’t conspicuous at all. And he told me he’d be back to pick me up after, so everyone was probably going to think I was involved with the mafia or whatever.

  Anyway, I did my presentation no problem. I talked about the history of the city, and the League and the Organization, and what Captain Justice had said about how the League tried their hardest to do the right thing. I think it was a pretty good presentation. I even made a few cheesy jokes. No one laughed. I was pretty sure if Rick had been there, he would have laughed. That didn’t make me feel better, though.

  Then, while I was sitting there listening to my classmates rehash every single historical point in Liberty City’s existence over and over, my phone vibrated in my pocket. I glanced at the teacher, who was watching the presentation, and pulled it out under my desk. It was a text from a number I didn’t recognize.

  Javier. Its Rick. Help. Don’t text back.

  I stood up, my chair screeching, and rushed out of the classroom, my heart pounding. A couple of seconds later, another text arrived. Raven. Hounds got her. She has vanessa. threatened my family i had to go with her.

  I called Captain Justice, my hands shaking.

  “Blue? I’m afraid I’m in a meeting right now.”

  “It’s Rick! I think he’s been kidnapped!”

  There was a long pause, and a shuffling noise. “That’s not possible, unless he’s left the League.”

  “It’s the Raven. The Hounds got to her. I don’t know how. Maybe . . .” Her brother. Miss Min had mentioned that the Hound had brought over a protégé from Europe. Could that possibly have been . . .?

  More shuffling noises, and I realized that it was the captain running when I heard loud footsteps and a door opening. Then he swore, which would have been funny if it weren’t for the circumstances. “This is definitely Ivana’s handiwork. Goddamn it.”

  “Is his family all right?” I asked urgently, and he didn’t answer for a few seconds—in which I had a mini–heart attack.

  “Yes,” he said finally. “They’re alive. She wasn’t gentle though. No sign of Rick.”

  I swore too, really loudly, and a teacher passing by gave me a grumpy look. “They can’t get him back!” My voice went all stupid, like I was crying. “Please, you have to do something.”

  “Javier,” said Captain Justice calmly. “I need you back here at the League right away, do you understand? Do you want me to send someone to pick you up?”

  “No.” I swallowed hard several times. “I’ll be right there.”

  I didn’t even bother to tell anyone where I was going. I left the school at a run and hid in an alley, quickly changing into my costume so that I could run to the League. I made it to the building in record time, and Kendall met me in the lobby.

  “Captain Justice is on the roof,” she said. “He wants you to meet him there.”

  “What’s happening?” I asked as we ran to the elevator together.

  “I don’t know, exactly.” She shook her head. “I think they’re planning to attack the Organization though.”

  “I just want Rick to be all right,” I said, my fists clenched.

  “I know,” she said cautiously. “But I want you to be all right, Javier. And so do your parents. Remember that, okay?”

  “Yeah.” My heart was pounding. “I’ll be careful.”

  We emerged on the top floor in a huge hangar, the ceiling open to the sky, where no less than five League jets were buzzing with people getting them ready to fly. Captain Justice was standing next to one, and he waved me over when he saw me.

  “What’s going on?” I jogged up to him. The ball of worry in the pit of my stomach made running feel weird.

  “The investigation of the Organization headquarters finished early this morning.” He reached out to grab a utility belt from someone and clipped it around his waist. He was wearing a much more modern suit than his regular retro spandex one, and he looked all business and kind of sexy. Ew, sorry. “Our sources confirmed that Rick Rykov and Vanessa Larsen have been captured by the Organization, and the council voted unanimously for an immediate strike on their headquarters. We’ve called for a civilian evacuation. As soon as it’s completed, we will begin the strike.”

  “Okay,” I actually sounded pretty calm considering I’d just been told we were, like, basically going to war. “Do we know anything about Rick?”

  “He managed to grab his sister’s cell phone before he was taken,” said Captain Justice. “Luckily it had geo-tracking enabled. We tracked it to the Organization before the transmission was cut off. Likely they discovered he had it and destroyed it.”

  I tried not to think about what they must have done with Rick when they found out about the tracker. And how badly had Ivana been brainwashed? “How long until the evacuation is done?”

  “An hour. But we’re heading there now.” The ramp to the jet behind Captain Justice opened, and he stepped up into it, gesturing me to follow. Lady Deathquake was waiting inside, along with several other heroes that I didn’t know very well personally, but I recognized as being pretty darn famous. “We want to make sure they don’t try to remove their prisoners to a secure location before we can get to them.”

  Flying in the jet was terrifying. Last time I’d been in it I hadn’t really been paying attention, the time before that I’d been comatose from being stabbed, and the only time I’d flown in a regular plane was on the way to America, which I didn’t remember much of. There were a lot of loud, worrying noises, and I couldn’t help but remember that the floor was basically just a piece of metal with the sky underneath. Then we went into the cockpit, with its big windows looking out over the city, and I almost puked.

  Not that it wasn’t beautiful, seeing the hangar disappear under us, and then the city sprawling away beneath us as we flew. From what I could tell, we were heading toward the business sector again, but quite a ways south from where the original building had been.

  “That’s it.” Captain Justice pointed to a tall, squat building with a big silver spire on the roof. As we got closer, I could see that there was a helicopter sitting on the roof, with men in black surrounding it.


  “Get close,” Captain Justice called to the pilot. “Stay out of firing range, and open the doors. Blue, Deathquake, with me.”

  We both followed him down into the belly of the jet, and the sides opened up, buffeting us in the face with wind and giving us a view of the roof. I could see the figures there moving, and then the door on the rooftop opened, and the Raven, Rick, Vanessa, and the old lady Hound all came out, flanked by men in black suits. There was also a smaller guy standing close to the Raven, who I bet was the second Hound, her brother. The Raven had Rick’s arms locked behind his back, and one of the men in black was holding Vanessa while the other held a phone up to her.

  Lady Deathquake put a hand up to her ear. “Sir. They’re pressuring her to confess that she came of her own accord, so that you’ll call off the attack.”

  “Get Williams on the line,” said Captain Justice. “Tell him that it won’t happen, regardless of what they do to her.”

  The man holding the phone to Vanessa’s ear lifted a gun and pointed it at Rick.

  “No!” I lunged forward, but Captain Justice put a hand on my shoulder.

  “They have guns, it’s not safe.”

  I turned to argue with him, and that’s when I heard the shots. I felt like all the air had left my lungs, but when I looked, the two gunmen were on the ground, and Vanessa was staring down at them.

  The Hound started screaming—I could hear her screechy voice all the way from the jet—and she pointed at Vanessa. The other Hound grabbed Vanessa’s arms, and dragged them behind her back, and then Rick managed to pull away from the Raven long enough to hit her. They started fighting while the Hounds dragged Vanessa toward the helicopter. Then Rick took a kick to the gut, and the Raven slung him over her shoulder and ran toward the helicopter just as the blades started turning.

  I had to look away as it started to rise, because the hot midday sun was directly behind the helicopter and it almost blinded me. “Get closer,” Captain Justice was ordering the pilot. “Don’t let them get airborne.”

  “Any closer and we’ll be in firing range,” said Lady Deathquake.