ONE HUNDRED NINETY-TWO: Flashes IV

192

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Ninety minutes ago…

“Thank you for coming,” Torsten Klein said, running a hand over his short, salt-and-pepper hair. The expression on his face was wry as he addressed the small group of current and former superheroes who had assembled in a classroom in the MagiPhysical Education building. “I’m sorry to put you all in desks like you’re students. The meeting room upstairs was booked.”

“I’m only offended you’ve bought new desks,” said a woman whose long, deep brown hair spilled down the back of an old gray sweatshirt. Her dark eyes were lively, and she smiled as she took in the classroom. “We used to sit at tables that had so many names and hero mottos carved into the top that it was impossible to take a paper exam without your pencil stabbing through.”

“I remember those tables,” Torsten said. “Not fondly, but I do remember them. It’s good to see you, Hale. Did your husband change his mind about coming today?”

“No. He’s making sure the vending machines are still high quality. He’ll be right back. We can get started without him.”

“I’m here!” A man entered the room and tossed Hale a bottled tea from the stash of snacks and drinks in his arms. He sat down in the desk beside her. “We haven’t started gossiping about the kids yet, have we?”

“Not yet,” Torsten replied. “I think we’re all at least familiar with each other, except maybe Aparna? Do you know our other volunteers?”

He was looking at a woman with shoulder-length gray hair who sat near the classroom window. Sunlight glinted off a pair of earrings she wore that looked like pieces of jagged glass.

“I know those two.” She waved a hand toward the couple. “Hale, are you still letting Zhang Jianwei trouble you?”

“Every day,” Hale said, shaking her head.

“What about the trouble she gives me, Mrs. Sethi? She’s twice as difficult as I’ve ever been!”

“Then I only need to introduce you to Melanie.” Torsten nodded toward the woman sitting in a corner desk, typing on a tablet she’d brought with her. “Melanie Carisson is a Shaper of Sky currently working under the name Galecourse. Most of the time, she’s back and forth between Los Angeles and Tianjin as part of a sister city hero swap. Her husband trades between Tianjin and London. Their daughter, Vandy, is a Sky Shaper in our new class here.

“And, Melanie, this is Aparna Sethi. She’s an Adjuster who was active in the ’90’s and early 2000’s all over southeast Asia. Now she’s retired—”

“Retired temporarily,” Aparna corrected. “Only until this collection of grandchildren find their footing. Then I will be back to show the young people what I have learned.”

Torsten’s lips quirked upward. “Retired temporarily from hero work. She teaches at Naya Din, but her grandson Ignacio joined us here at Celena North.”

The two women nodded at each other.

“We do appreciate all of you being here today,” Torsten said. “Some of our faculty members have been neglecting their own personal situations to keep the school running smoothly for the students in the aftermath of recent events. I know they’re all grateful to have time off thanks to your generosity.”

“I’m excited to see what the class is like,” said Haoyu’s father. “You’ve got several kids here who I watched grow up alongside our son. It will be a treat to get a look at what they’re up to now that they’ve got their powers.”

“I think you’ll find them very green and a little clumsy with themselves,” said Torsten. “But overall, we’re pleased with the early signs of their progress. Now, one of our newer faculty members put together the class roster for your review. For some reason, he thought it would be amusing if all of the students were presented on wanted posters.”

The board behind him switched on, showing the entire class with each member’s photograph framed by an Old West-style wanted poster. The Zhang-Demirs and Aparna Sethi laughed.

“Maybe it is a little amusing,” Klein conceded. “Anyway, I’ll run you through the ones with more standard superpowers first, and then we’ll talk about the ones who are a bit more difficult to work with. First, the Agility Brutes—”

“Starting with your own subclass?” Hale shook her head. “Terrible.”

“I’m starting with Agility because it starts with ‘A’.”

“Adjuster starts with ‘A’,” said Aparna. “Is this how you do things at Celena North? The poor children.”

“I’m starting with Brutes because they have more common abilities. And I’m starting with Agility because of the ‘A’. So here on the projection behind me we have Febri—”

Febri’s poster expanded, and his photograph turned into a video clip of him in class.

“He has the same skill as you.”

“I see how it is.”

“Shameless favoritism.”

“You’re all worse than the students!” Torsten said. “Pay attention to Febri. He’s one of three Agility Brutes and our only S-rank Agi. Very sharp with Instant Corners, though with the skill at level one…”

They went through the Agility Brutes quickly and soon came to the speedsters in the class.

“Our S-rank is Finlay. Like most Speed Brutes starting out, he’s almost entirely foundation point focused with the System still withholding active-use skills. However, he does have an unusually high-ranked spell impression for a beginner. I doubt he’ll find an opportunity to use it in this class, since he hasn’t been casting it so far. But Surface Extension is in his repertoire.

“Next, we have Winston. He’s…a hard-working young man, who isn’t always working hard in the direction I’d prefer. He applies impressive amounts of energy to his personal passions. Possibly to his own detriment. As you can see from this clip, he—”

******

present

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“Don’t let the haters get you down, Win-Win. Remember, you have faithful fans who will follow you anywhere. I’m one of them. And when someone asks you who you think you are to be telling lies revealing truths about their favorite new Avowed, let your victory over those favorites be your answer!”

Star emoji. Kiss emoji. Pompoms. Kiss. Star. — Feather’sFavoriteNYC

The comment had over a thousand upvotes, so Feather’sFavoriteNYC would be getting the autographed photo. And for the first time, Winston would be confessing to his fans that during periods of struggle, he kept special comments like these on his interface to pump him up throughout the day.

Feather’sFavorite gets it, he thought, putting on his sunglasses with the practiced snapping gesture he’d mastered for the camera. I get it. One day, everyone will get it. So now…let’s get it done!

Heroes didn’t sit on the sidelines playing with rope while classmates were in trouble. And who else was going to want to team up with Olive and Sanjay after they’d seen them flopping around like dying fish in a tornado?

There was this stupid misconception going around because of Alden, Jeffy, Everly, and that dickheaded haggis-eater Finlay, that Winston Heelfeather was a jerk. They were all in on it together. Except for Jeffy…Winston was sure Jeffy was only being used as a puppet by Everly, Max, and maybe even Konstantin.

Feather’sFavoriteNYC had asked in her fourth highest rated comment this week why everyone liked Kon so much when he sucked for an S, and that was a valid question. Why did people like him so much? What if he was a master social manipulator, and Winston was only just now realizing it?

CNH was no joke. Everyone knew the training was hard, but the crazy games these other Avowed played on the way to the top? Nobody had prepared him for classmates so desperate to one-up him that they’d bring another person’s grilling grandparents into it.

Psychos.

Winston scooped up Olive before she could even thank him, and ran for the starting line. Saving her. Like. A. Hero.

Olive’s all right.

His fans wouldn’t go nuts over her rescue. She wasn’t popular. Her social media account was all games she liked and pictures from middle school. But a hero didn’t only pay attention to the popular class members. That was something a real jerk would do.

I’m going to make you famous today, Olive. You’re welcome. I’ll take care of you and Sanjay and Søren and one other struggling person who usually gets no attention.

Glory. Fame. Every gym class was another chance. He would show them the way.

The wind hit just before he made it, but Winston was a Speed Brute. In some languages, instead of speedsters, they were called travelers. And what kind of traveler would be stopped by a little wind?

A lot of wind.

“Don’t be afraid, Olive!” She was wrapping her arms around his neck and tucking her face into his chest, which was so much better than when he’d first picked her up and she’d flapped around like a kidnapping victim instead of someone who was being saved. This footage would actually be useable now if she was fine with it.

As he pushed for the line, Winston hunched over her protectively and fought the wind, roaring his defiance of Galecourse, the haters, and people who used their Scottish accents for insinuating untrue things about their roommates.

Olive’s weight might have helped keep his feet on the floor a little bit, too. He’d give her credit for that when he talked about this moment.

“Aaaah!” he screamed as he crossed through the barrier, trying to make sure it was a good, deep scream and not the understandably nervous one he’d made when Alden had tried to hit him with an alien general’s nonagon.

Olive was still holding onto his neck. Her plain brown eyes were kind of far apart, like an Artonan’s. It was an okay look for a girl in Winston’s opinion. Lots of actresses had that.

“Are you all right?” he asked.

“Yes?” Olive said uncertainly. “Thank you.”

This is a moment, Winston realized. Like the All Aglow Agency talks about.

His parents had hired them to boost him and prep him before he left America.

They weren’t great, he realized now. Anesidora was a different level. That was why he’d been having more trouble than he should have been. Had they prepped him for Rabbits with wildly outsized ambitions and creepy Artonan connections? Or girls who’d been training to be snow princesses since they were ten, who could just swoop in and steal fourteen point three percent of your fans with an Aqua Brute and a few Arfdogs? Or S-ranks that made alien cannibal parrot songs smash hits?

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it’s taken without the author’s consent. Report it.

No. But they taught me about moments. Those are real. This is one of them…or it could be, if I seize it.

Winston set Olive down and whipped off his own sweatband. She froze as he put it on her forehead and angled the words so that the nearest drone could have a clear shot of the “Need a Heeling?” stitched on it.

“Sorry it’s not pink,” he said, smiling at her. “But wear it until we find yours together on the battlefield.”

******

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Despite Alden being a hold-up with his preparations, their team was about to be the second to officially start the challenge. They’d be right behind a very competitive looking team that Max had put together in a blink. He was joined by Finlay, Jeffy, Astrid, and Lucille in what had to be close to an ideal situation for him.