For the next two days, Tommy and I drilled the kid on fundamentals, new techniques, and flexible solutions to outmaneuver his pseudo enemy. We even invited Flame Fist Boy to have a practice session with us on the last day, so the kid could get his practice.
One of the matches went like this:
As soon as the gong sounded, Flame Fist Boy hi-fived me. I felt a burning sensation throughout my body until I was able to grasp its power. 'Five minutes,' I told myself.
I stood up on my toes and bent my arms backward with the palms facing away from me. Instantly, I released the fire within me to propel myself at blazing speeds (see what I did there).
When I was only a foot away from the kid, he conjured a humongous flail and smashed it on the ground. The shockwave sent me flying back.
I hit the fence, but I was able to get back up almost immediately. "NEVER USE LARGE-SCALE ATTACKS WHEN YOU'RE AT A DISADVANTAGE!!!" I screamed at him as I propelled myself through the fire coming out of my palms and heels.
I flew at him again, but this time he went head-on. He called forth a giant, thick, ice shield and ran towards me.
I released even more flames to propel me through the air even faster. The heat was getting to me, but I managed to wrap my feet in flames as I obliterated the shield.
I continued to pummel him with dozens of flame-filled kicks while I rotated my body on my hands.
He fell back towards the fence and put up his arms in surrender. I stopped my kick when I was only a few inches away from his head.
I released the superpower and said, "You made three big mistakes. I think you know one of them." He nodded his head in guilt.
***
We prepared him as best as we could. The rest was really up to him. We waved our goodbyes to him as he boarded the bus back to his academy. "I'm gonna miss you guys!" he said.
I didn't say much, but I wished him good luck with his love life. Tommy said a few words too. "Come back anytime, we'll be here,"
He nodded his head through the window as the bus left for wherever it was headed.
***
And, two weeks passed just like that. Yup, that was it. For most people my age, it would be a time for them to stress about reviewing their curriculum for the school, finishing their adored vacations, or realizing that they wasted a whole summer doing nothing except eating, sleeping, and playing video games. But, not me. I was special.
Now, I wasn't a secret billionaire. I promise. If I were a billionaire, I wouldn't dream of hiding it. Instead, Tommy was going to take Cassandra and me to the lake. Yes, to the lake. It doesn't sound exciting because it's a damn lake. But! You have to see the size of the fucking fish! I mean, they're huge! Last year, I was even able to ride on the back of one. That's right. Yo boi was able to go last year too.
I sat in my little closet thinking of what to pack. I mean, what was there to pack? I packed a bunch of food because Tommy only brings his goddamn tea. I didn't need to pack any sunscreen since I can't afford it. I didn't have more than two sets of clothes- three if you add the one I got from the fans a couple of weeks ago. I opened the minifridge to see...nothing. I didn't have enough money to restock any of the items that were in there previously. See, I told you. If I was a billionaire I wouldn't dare hide it. If I were a billionaire, I would hire someone to invent something that could dropkick Tommy all the way to the moon.
'Bathing suit?' The thought crossed my mind. Who was I kidding? Skinny dippings just fine. As long I stayed away from the supers patrolling the area that is.
*Thud* *Thud* A knock came at the door. "Who is it?" I called.
"Who else would know that you lived in a closet?" the voice responded.
"Tommy…" I said, "And this other bitch that I know."
Cassandra flung open the door. "Say that one more time, and I ain't paying you!" I was blinded by her bright red-orange hair as her head leaned into the room.
I chuckled. "Like grandfather, like granddaughter…."
"What?" she asked. She crossed her hands over her chest and stared at me. It looked like she wanted an answer.
"Cassandra, boss, bitch, whatever- why do you think my mini-fridge," I pointed, "over there is empty?"
"'Cause, you're broke!" she said loudly as she pointed out the obvious. I liked the way how Tommy and she don't understand that problems stem from them. However, they want the nuisance to go away without them fixing anything about themselves. I always need to remind myself that I'm working with two narcissists.
"And why is that, boss?' I really let the 'boss' part drip. It was time her little perfect facade got ripped in half.
"...." She stayed silent. I laughed harder. She wasn't talking 'cause she knew that if she did, I wouldn't ever forget this moment.
"Because you don't pay me," I put it simply.
"Oh, whatever! Are you done packing for the trip?" she stied to change the subject. 'Some people just have a stick stuck up their ass, don't they?' I sighed and let the matter drop. 'At least, they're feeding me.'
"Less about me," I stared at her. She was wearing a bikini already. I never really thought about it, but she had all the right curves in all the right places. Her breasts were on the larger side, her waist was toned. 'Snap out of it, Leo!' I scrambled at myself. 'She's supposed to be my sister!'
She seemed conscious of my gazes. She covered herself with her arms and yelled, "You fucking pervert!" I slapped my forehead. 'Wait to go teenage hormones...you fucking suck!'
She ran out the door. I yelled back after her, "I'm not a pervert! I'm a horny sixteen-year-old!"
****
I made my out from the closet and traversed past the lounge area. I ran my finger over the dozens of monitors in the same direction as the exit. I flicked my finger clean of all the dust that I had collected. 'Holy shit! Who's supposed to clean this place?' I thought. "Oh, it was supposed to be me," I muttered. I made it to the checkout counter when I spotted a bunch of little chocolates in a large jar on the counter. "I mean, we are going to be closed...." I made sure that Cass wasn't anywhere outside as I started to dump the contents inside my duffel bag. At about halfway, I realized a more efficient option. I slid the entire jar into the bag and, in one smooth motion, zipped it up. 'No one will notice,' I assured myself.
I stepped outside the automatic, sliding doors and experienced one of the worst feelings in my life. The feeling of getting hit with a fucking heatwave the second you step out of an air-conditioned place. It just makes it feel a hundred- no - a million times worse.
I gathered my one and only duffel bag and walked out to the back of the shop. Cassandra and Tommy (and me) lived here. The hard pavement turned into the soft grass. I could feel the little blades of green tickling me because I was wearing slippers. I walked farther until I reached the backside.
Surprisingly enough, it looked like a normal house with two stories. Although it did look kind of old due to the no maintenance. From what I could tell, Cassandra and Tommy probably lived in the basement while the entire upper part of the house was left to rot. The white exterior didn't even look white anymore; it had a thick layer of grime and dust, creepers growing on it, and deep claw marks on some sites. The windows were broken, the shingles were falling at periodic times, the door....the door wasn't even there. "What in the hell is this?" I said aloud.
"It's going to be where I'll bury you if you don't get in!" Cass yelled from behind me. I turned around to see her pulling out of the driveway, well, whatever was left of it.
Cassandra was now wearing a large t-shirt over everything as she sat in her large SUV. "Is that really necessary?" I asked.
"Absolutely," she replied. I sighed, apologized, and got into the back.
She drove down the block towards her grandfather's tea shop. I feel like these last three years have been me just running back and forth between the esports lounge and the tea shop. It was pretty eye-opening for me to realize this. When we reached the tea shop, Cassandra said, "Yo, Leo the Perv, get Gramps, would you?"
"Alright, Cass the Ass," I replied. She wrinkled her eyebrows, but she remained quiet.
I walked towards the shop only to see that Tommy wasn't in the store. I stepped inside assuming he was down there, but he wasn't. This platform wasn't a duplicate. The air was stale, like it had no life.
"Tommy?!" I shouted. "Cass wants me to pick you up! We're taking her ride!"
"Leo?" called out a whisper. "Leo! Get in here quick!"
Tommy's voice came from the bathroom. I opened the door to see him standing in front of the mirror. The urinals were empty, and nobody seemed to be in the stalls. "Hey, Tommy, what's up?"
"Leo, you know I consider you my grandson, right?"
"Yeah…." I said. I felt uneasy. "Why this now?" This conversation instantly turned uneasy. Tommy never talked about things like this.
"You know I love you and Cassandra very much, right?" He turned on the faucet and washed his already washed hands. He pumped some of the white, foamy soap into his palms and ran them under the water. His hands shivered.
"Tommy, what's happening?" I asked. He was acting way too out of the ordinary. Even for him.
"Right?" he pressed on. He walked over to the paper towel dispenser and waved his hand under it. With a whirr, the dispenser gave him a small piece of brown paper. He wiped his hands with it and threw it into the garbage can with a perfect shot.
"Yeah. But, what's happening?" I asked him again. "Tommy, this isn't like you."
I looked at his face. He was usually jovial, kind, maybe a little stingy, but never serious. He had eyes that held weight. Suddenly, the smell of bleach felt like it was cutting through my nose. Inflaming my sinuses, trachea, and lungs. "Leo, you will do exactly what I say now."
"Tommy, you need to tell me what the hell is happening!" I yelled. I was getting desperate. I mean, why wasn't he talking? Why wasn't he doing anything? The hell was wrong with him?
"You will walk out of this place calmly and enter Cass's SUV," he said in a robotic voice. His eyes were cold and calculating. He was using his power.
"Tommy?" I called out to him. He was standing in front of me, but it felt like he was a million miles away. I felt like I was alone.
"You will see six men entering the shop. They will be wearing different outfits, but they are all affiliated." He didn't mind me. He was lost inside a world of possibilities.
"Stop! Tommy!" I shouted. I wanted to snap him back into reality for a minute. I wanted to know what was happening. I wanted him to tell me that everything was going to be okay.
"Simply say the word 'Pastrami' to Cass, and she'll know what to do." He still ignored me.
"Tommy, are those six guys here for the academy card that we took? Are they here for the underground street fights?" I tried to reason with him. I wanted to believe that whatever he was things or seeing was wrong. Was a mistake, an inaccuracy.
"Whatever you do, do not stop that SUV until you reach the Lake."
"Tommy tell me something!!!" I screamed. I had finally lost it. I needed him to be who he always was: an old, sneaky, man full of avarice.
Tommy slowly walked up to me and placed a hand on my shoulder. "A long time ago, Leo, I was a supervillain."
My eyes widened. I instantly said, "I thought-"
"I'm not that old!" he chuckled. He had seen what I was going to say. "No, I was labeled a supervillain."
"Why?" I asked, a little perplexed.
"Because I chose to do something that I felt was right." His eyes stopped looking so cold. He rubbed his head to numb the side effects. His eyes now looked misty, like he was remembering his past.
"Then, why???" I was beginning to sound desperate. "Aren't we supposed to do the right things?! I know we do illegal things, but they don't cause harm to anyone do they?!"
Tommy hugged me close. So close that I could hear his heart beating. I soaked his shirt in my tears. "Leo, there will come a time when you will be faced with the same choice that I was faced with. At that moment, you can do two things. You can force yourself to believe that you did the right thing for the sake of your nation, or you can do the truly right thing for the sake of humanity. Until then, you won't understand."
"What's gonna happen to you?!" I asked in a complete panic. My tears made my face feel all salty and papery.
"You know what to do, don't you?" he asked me. He didn't answer my question. He squeezed my shoulder.
"What's going to happen to you?" I asked again.
"A simple man like me only wants to protect those he loves." He smiled at me. "Leo, they don't know who you are yet, so you need to go." I looked at him in desperation.
"Are you going to be okay?" I asked one more time. Hoping for something that I could believe in. I needed him to tell me that everything was going to be okay.
"Of course, now go see your sister, will you? Enjoy the lake! Ride those fish like last year!" He gave the happiest smile in the world.
"You'll be coming too right?" I wiped the tears, snot, and sad expression on my face.
"Right behind you!" he promised.
***
I walked out the doors. Six men were waiting outside. I paid them no mind. They all had on different rag-tag clothes mismatched and torn on purpose. I walked all the way to the SUV while the men walked into the store. "Where's Gramps, asshole?" Cass greeted me. I climbed into the shotgun. "Hey! Back seat only for you, you piece of shit!"
I looked at her with teary eyes. Her expression softened. She leans over, and I whisper, "Pastrami."
She jerked her head to the road and hit the accelerator. We went from zero to sixty ninety in less than a minute. She must've tinkered with the engine for this to happen. I tried to explain to her what had happened, but she seemed to be in a zone.
I looked back at the little tea shop, which was getting smaller and smaller as she sped up. I remember all the memories I had in there. All the times I got beat up in the ring, all the times Tommy would make me his tea, all the times he would tell me stories with his little twists. I chuckled. The number of times he tried teaching me how to do math was incredible. He always messed up when he tried to make me understand algebra because he didn't understand how to do it himself.
"Where are you, Tommy?"
*BOOOOOM!!!!* The humble tea shop exploded.