I sat completely silent next to Cass. Her robotic driving continued all the way up to the bridge which repeated the countryside from Greenfield. On the way, I noticed several reporters racing through streets in the opposite direction. Superheroes summoned rain near and in the location of the tea shop. Or what was left of it.
The rain was pouring. Each drop that hit the windshield stayed a little longer than it was welcomed before gravity dragged it down. When I opened the window, a hot and humid wind rushed through. The smell of petrichor entered my nostrils, calming me down. The whole world felt really, really silent. There were the periodical cars that blare their horns, the cheerful chirping of the song birds, and almost nonexistent sound of the wind. But, to me, the world was a very quiet place. I couldn't understand what had just happened. I mean, Tommy's dead and Cassandra...well, she's doing her own thing. But, other than that, I didn't know.
We finally reached the bridge. It was the last stretch between our lake house and the city. I looked out the window to see the humongous river washing the boulders as it flowed through the land. There was lush vegetation- mostly giant trees- hiding the forest floors. Few people were still on the boats since it was raining, but last year almost everyone was cruising along the river. The sky matched the color of the river. A sad, static grey color. The color that caught my eye was the yellow rain jackets, which the passengers of the boats were wearing.
There were heroes zooming through the sky, making sure everyone was okay. Some of them redirected the river's current to make the boats dock early. I could see the small figures arguing about the decision.
Cass suddenly started to blink. "Leo, we're here."
"Cass!" I shouted. "Tommy….he ble-"
"I know. Grab your bags, we'll be there soon."
"Cass?" I said silently. I didn't refuse what she told me to do. I grabbed her bags and placed mine on my lap. She crossed the bridge and took the first turn towards her right. We were greeted by a little ranch house sitting on a large hill. She drove up the green hill, which had neatly cut grass. She parked the SUV in the garage and stepped out of the vehicle. I followed her. "Cass! Do you know what happened back there?!" I yelled at her.
She didn't answer as she placed the key in the doorknob and entered the house. I ran in after her. I locked the door behind me. "Cass?" I called out. 'Where is she?'
I dropped the bags by the door. The interior was a dark-brown floor. The walls were white, and there was no staircase. The ceiling was low too. "Cass?" I yelled.
*Creak* I heard a small noise. I walked into the house. I passed the narrow hallway, which led me to the kitchen. It was a small kitchen. There was a fridge, a couple cabinets, a pantry, and a decent sized stove. I looked behind me to see the living room. A couch, a TV, a light on the ceiling. I grabbed the remote off of the coffee table and switched on the TV.
"Did you know that the amount of testosterone in men decreases with every generation! That means that you've got a fifth less than your father! A fourth less than your grandfather and a whopping one-third less than your great grandfather!"
*Click* I changed the channel.
"Are you having a hard time pleasing your woman?! Is she craving your *BEEP*, but you can't give it to her?! Then try our ne-"
*Click*
"Our product will help you grow your balls for better results in bed!"
"What the fuck is wrong with the TV!!!" I screamed. I threw the remote on the ground with a *Bang!*
*Click* "Reports of multiple bodies inside this tea shop in Greenfield have shocked the citizens of Altross as a nation. Our reporter will be taking over live from the scene," announced a woman in her suit.
The camera panned over to a man wearing a blue suit surrounded by the rubbles of the tea shop. People began to form a crowd around the scene. "Yes, Lauren, as you can see here the bodies have been burned beyond recognition," he said as the camera panned at seven bodies covered in white sheets. "There seemed to have been a bomb that went off here earlier this morning, and by the looks of it: Greenfield will have another financial crisis on their hands. Not only did the tea shop explode, but the impact had a domino effect on the rest of the buildings on the same street." The camera showed the world multiple buildings reduced to rubble. "Thankfully, our heroes were here to save all of the citizens inside and outside the buildings. Out of almost three hundred, only five were injured. The investigation is still happening on the explosion, Lauren, as the authorities are taking measures to keep everyone safe." The reporter stopped talking and the screen went back to the women.
"Well, thank you for being out there today, Ralph," she said. She looked at me and said, "Well, there you have it folks. We'll be covering this incident live, but we'll be back after this short, commercial break!" The screen showed her giving the world a fake smile.
"What would you give to have your sexual drive back? Well, you're in lu-"
"Fuck off!" I screamed. I threw a small vase at the TV. *Crash*
I collapsed on the couch. 'What is happening?' I heard footsteps coming out of the basement. "Cass?" I call out to her.
Instead of responding, she walked over to me. She took a seat beside me, and said, "Leo…"
I clap my hands together loudly to make her stop. "Cass?" I whisper to her, "What the fuck is 'pastrami'?"
She looked me in the eye and said nothing. "Leo-"
"No!" I said sternly. "Tell me what hell 'pastrami' is! And don't tell me it's a food that got you driving here at 60 an hour on the main road!"
Cassandra looked at her lap. I know she was sad, I mean, she lost her grandpa, but I was sad too. "It's a code word,' she said quietly.
"Well, obviously!" I replied, "But what is it for?"
"It is, well, was a plan to keep you safe in case anything like this were to happen. Which it did."
I stared at her without saying anything. She looked at me as if she wanted an answer. "Let me get this straight," I said, "You knew about this the whole time?"
She nodded her head and said, "We just didn't want to scare you, so we didn't tell you…"
"Do I not look scared now?!" I fumed. I cooled down when I realized that they were just trying to protect me. Well, Tommy did protect me, in the end. "Wait, so did You also know that Tommy was a supervillain?"
"He wasn't a villain!" she yelled. I scooted back a little. "He fought for what was right when everyone else was too scared to do it."
"What was he fighting for?" I asked.
Instead of giving me a direct answer, Cass said, "I can't tell you that."
"So, you don't know?"
"No, I can't tell you."
"So, who do I ask?"
She slammed a card down on the coffee table. "It's not something that I can tell you or someone else for that matter. You have to see it for yourself."
I picked up the shiny, silver card. "An academy card?" I asked.
"You have two choices as of now," she explained. "Either you decide not to go to the academy and live out the rest of your life in peace, or you go to the academy."
"What do I do once I get into the academy?" It was obvious that she wanted me to say 'yes to the latter, but I wanted to know what I was getting myself into.
"You need to become a Reserve Hero," she said in a cool voice. She was looking at the shard of glass spilled all over the ground next to the TV.
"Isn't that insanely hard?! Like, don't you need top one percent of grades for that?!" I said in surprise. Becoming a Citizen's Hero itself is hard, but to become a Reserve?
Cassandra smiled for the first time. "And, I can help you with that! I am a genius after all!"
"You're willing to teach me?" I asked. Even if she did teach me, there would be no way in which I would be able to compete with the rest of those kids at the academy. Their lives were literally revolving around their scores.
"Better," she said.
I looked at her incredulously. "Cheat?" She nodded her head. It was ridiculous to even think about, but I placed some trust in her skills. However, there's always the other problem: "What about the combat part?"
She shrugged her shoulders. "You're smart enough to figure that out, right?"
"Maybe…" I sighed. I remembered the final fight between the kid and me. He was able to absorb so much knowledge in just two days and then implement it almost perfectly. How would it even be possible for me to do that? Sure, I was excellent at hand-to-hand combat, but my superpower was kind of weak, and I would always stand at a disadvantage. And, it wasn't like I could be super smart in order to make up for that. That was Cassandra's area of expertise. There was a moment of silence.
"It's your choice," she said nonchalantly.
"I mean, would Tommy want me to do it?" I looked outside the windows. There, I saw a peaceful meadow. The grass was swaying with the wind, the trees were harboring animals at their roots, and the sun was giving them a divine light. 'Did Tommy see something wrong with all of this?' I looked at her with sincerity and said, "I'll do it."
"Great," she said as she picked at her nails, "You'll be joining the academy as a first-year student next week."
"Just like that?" I asked. "Don't they check all the background information and stuff? Like, how would you even hack into a card like that?"
"Just like that," she repeated. She concentrated on the TV in the corner of the room; the small pieces of shattered glass floated up to the TV and reassembled themselves to make the screen. They were being held together by the force of gravity, so they made for a shaky screen.
I swooped towards the ground and scooped up the remote. *Click* "Would you like to try some of grandma's co-" *Click* I turned towards Cass. "Do you have any good Tommy stories?" She hugged her pillow close to her chest and nodded her head.
She turned to look at me as she asked, "What about you? Tell me something about you."
I could see her bottom lip quivering. She missed her grandpa, but she wanted to act tough. Cassandra's parents died out at sea when she was six, so she was close to Tommy. He raised her, he helped her, he took her in and loved her. He gave his heart to her; when he wasn't being prick, she would describe his love as being enough to fill one-point-even oceans. I still don't get what that means to this day. I laughed at her question and said, "What is there to know about me?" When she didn't say anything, I asked, "What do you want to know about me?"
She raised her legs onto the coffee table so that she was leaning back on the sofa. "Well...what about you? What happened to your parents?"
"Both of them are dead. When I was ten, so six years ago. Tommy took me in six years ago, and I saw you the day you returned home from high school graduation. I think Tommy made me fight in that ring when I was thirteen. The first day I stepped into that ring, I got six different fractures and a broken nose. That was the day I understood why organized fights were illegal." Cass laughed. "You think that's funny?"
"No!" she squealed. She kept laughing though. "It's just...it's just...that reminds me of him."
"Yeah," I said. "Me too."