two words to you," Ethan pointed out. "How on Earth did you get the impression he wants to kill you?"
"Because I heard this kid saying, at lunchtime, to be careful and steer clear of Dean Lightbody," Ty told his brother. "He killed a kid with his thumb when he was in fifth grade."
"That's just gossip," Bella said, shaking her head disapprovingly. "Don't listen to a word of it."
"I'm just going to keep my distance," Ty said, ending the conversation by walking to the bathroom and shutting the door.
"Okay... besides Hero Training and meeting scary kids, how was your day?" Alison enquired, filling the kettle.
Jack set Rosie down on a chair and leaned against the kitchen counter. "No one likes gamma accidents," he started. "The teachers have powers, the janitor whistles songs from the 70's and Rust never showed up."
"Oh, you must be so disappointed," Alison commiserated, pausing the preparation of hot chocolate to look up at her son, the triplets and Bella with genuine concern.
She was correct: everyone was disappointed.
The teenagers felt downtrodden, defeated and alone. Alison was worried about them. This was their dream and now it was crushing their hopes.
Someone had to say something to lift the spirits. Reflecting on the happenings of the day, though there had been good moments, there truly was not much to be uplifted by.
"Tomorrow is another day," Jack said, trying to sound reassuring.
10
The kids decided it was time to change tactic.
"Today," Jack announced as he and his friends entered the school, walking shoulder to shoulder. "We're making friends. One way or another, by the end of this day, we are going to be liked by someone, anyone."
Ethan, Ty, Caleb and Bella each raised an eyebrow in scepticism.
"And you really think that's going to work?" Ty questioned. "Look around: people look at us the way you look at something your cat drags in and hides under your bed."
The gang very rarely listened to Ty's hysterical exaggerations. However, this time, he was right.
Harsh, cold stares stabbed the gamma accidents from every direction as they looked around. Conversations were interrupted, laughter died and all eyes fell on the five teenagers standing in the middle of the entrance corridor.
"At this rate, the only friend we're ever going to have is Mr Shakes," Ethan whispered, loudly, to his friends and brothers.
The awkward silence ended and the students went back to pretending the gamma accidents didn't exist.
Janie and Sara walked past the gamma accidents. Janie paused to wink and wave, but her sister retained her look of arrogant indifference. She would never apologize to Bella for her behaviour the day before.
"Let's get to class," Caleb said, bouncing through the halls like an out of control bouncy ball.
The morning flew by, and the dreaded lunch hour arrived.
The gamma accidents had no idea how lunchtime would go today, but they suspected it would begin and end the same way as their last.
The five teenagers grabbed trays and joined the shuffling lunch queue.
Jack's father had quite a few photo albums filled with pictures of his days at Hero High. When he was just a young child, Jack would spend hours memorizing the pictures until he had an image of the school for future heroes as clear as day in his mind's eye.
Although there had been a number of renovations, Summer Valley Hero High was exactly as it had been all those years ago.
Hero High was just like any normal school, and that's what the kids liked about it.
And, as the lunch-ladies slapped mounds of unappetizing goo, it was nice to know the food hadn't changed either.
"Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if this is the leftovers from the nineties," Ty whispered to his friends, making them smile.
The lunch-ladies looked down their noses at the students, some of which cowered. No one should have felt offended by these looks, though, as every student since the founding of Hero High had received them.
Moving down the cue and sliding their trays along with them, the gamma accidents came to the first lunch lady.
She scooped a large lump of what was called lasagne on each student's tray, unenthusiastically.
"What power do you have?" cheerful Caleb asked as the lunch lady automatically sloshed the unappetizing mixture on his tray.
He had become obsessed with learning everyone's powers and blurted the question out whenever a captive audience presented itself.
The lunch lady's thick, dark eyebrows, which probably hadn't moved for decades, shot up in shock. Students never spoke to them, ever, with few exceptions.
Totally bewildered, she asked, "Why do you want to know?"
Caleb shrugged, like it was no big deal. "I'm curious by nature."
The lunch-lady, blinking in amazement at the young boy, answered his initial question. "Um... temperature control. I can change the temperature of anything."
Caleb smiled. "That's cool," he replied, earnestly. "I bounce."
The lunch lady nodded, slowly. Caleb started moving down the line. "Enjoy your day!" he cheered.
"Thanks," she said, though Caleb didn't hear it.
Again, the kids tried to join an already occupied table but the teens rudely got up and left, not saying a single word.
Ty sniffed his shirt. "Maybe we stink," he suggested.
"Speak for yourself, I smell like fish-shaped soap," Caleb declared, smugly.
"You know, 'gamma accident' is not a contagious disease," Ethan stated, loudly, hoping to inform his fellow students.
"True, but it is a good way to get a clear table," Bella said, her eyes sparkling with laughter.
"Forget them," Jack said, waving a dismissive hand. "They can think what they like."
"Yeah, we know," Bella admitted. "But it's more fun if you make fun of them behind their backs."
"Grace and tact are some of your more admirable qualities, I see," Ty said, rolling his eyes. He plunged at the food on his plate with his plastic cutlery but found his fork bouncing off so hard, it flew right out his hand. Hysterically, he gestured to the repulsive food on his tray. "Who makes this food? The Rubber and Assorted Bouncy Stuff warehouse?"
Caleb's eyes grew wide. "I should work there," he said.
Bella jerked her thumb in the direction of the lunch-ladies. "Take it up with them," she said to Ty.
"I would, but-" Ty began but was interrupted by an ominous shadow falling across his tray.
He turned around, slowly, to see who the shadow belonged to.
Towering over him was a tall, teenage boy wearing neat jeans and a freshly pressed white shirt with a fresh splat of lasagne smeared across the fabric. In his fist was a plastic fork, the same plastic fork that had bounced off Ty's food.
"Who do you think you are?" the tall teenager demanded. "Do you know who I am?"
"Which one do you want me to answer first?" Ty questioned, unable to resist.
"You must be really upset," Ethan said, trying to defuse the situation, "but my brother didn't mean to-"
"You think you gamma accidents can insult Alexander Delaney Junior, the son of the greatest superhero to ever save Tokyo?" the boy said, outraged.
"He can't be that great if I've never heard of him," Ty said before he could stop himself.
The comment only served to double Alexander's anger.
He lunged at Ty, who instantly shrank to the size of a paperclip. He scrambled along the bench and leapt off, landing perfectly on the linoleum like a gymnast.
To cover further distance, Ty grew to his original size and took off like a rocket, seeing Alexander was pursuing him.
"He must be one of those popular kids Janie told us about," Bella whispered to Jack as the genetic super-powered teenager took off in pursuit of Ty.
"Man, he just thinks he's the bee's knees, doesn't he?" Ethan agreed, struggling with the straw for his juice box.
"Shouldn't we help Ty?" Caleb asked, concerned.
The others shrug
ged, nonchalantly. "Nah, he got himself into this one, he'll have to get himself out," Ethan said, conquering the juice box.
Meanwhile, Ty was running, regretting ever coming to Hero High.
Ty was a fast runner. He didn't have super speed like Jack but he was fast, for a normal person.
"Get back here!" Alexander screamed.
"Ha! What am I, an idiot? Do you really think I'm going to slow down so you can beat me up?" Ty called over his shoulder. He should have kept his mouth shut, but his comebacks couldn't be contained.
Ty had no idea what Alexander's power was, but he at least knew it wasn't speed or else he'd be finished.
He raced up the stairs to the second floor and zigzagged around corners until he was sure he had lost the jerk.
Unsure if it would be safe to head back to the cafeteria, he kept running.
He blindly skidded around a corner and slammed into an unsuspecting student.
Sprawled like a frightened spider, Ty looked up at the solid student still standing like a brick wall.
He nearly passed out when he saw it was none other than Dean Lightbody.
Ty's already pounding heart skipped a couple of beats from sheer fear.
He started screaming, and nothing would get him to stop. He scrambled to his feet, stumbling and falling over thin air.
Like an uncoordinated cartoon character, Ty began running again. Practically falling over his own feet, Ty raced to get far away from his latest pursuer.
He rushed to the boys' bathrooms. Sure Dean would burst in any second, Ty shot into a stall, locked the door, climbed onto the closed toilet lid and shrank to his smallest size.
He hid there, listening to footsteps and doors opening and closing, biding his time.
He had made a huge mistake. Well, actually, he had made two mistakes.
First, he had accidentally angered one of the most popular kids in school.
Second, he ran into the notorious Dean Lightbody.
He had only been going to Hero High for a day and a half, but he had heard all the rumours.
Dean Lightbody, the bully, the criminal, the villain.
Rumour had it he was only ten when he killed a kid... with his thumb. His dad was an infamous villain and his mother was a pro-wrestler. They say he drank poison... for breakfast.
No one could ever say what his power was, though. Nevertheless, Ty knew it had to be something sinister.
He was terrified of the guy. If he found him, here in this toilet cubicle, there was no telling how bad Ty's injuries would be...
He hugged his miniature legs closer. He could just hide here. No one would miss him for a few hours, anyway. He just wanted to remain in his little hiding spot, just until school was over.
11
After Hero Training, they hit the showers. Then the triplets, Jack and Bella returned to the gym, waiting for Rust, whom they knew wouldn't show up on time.
Audrey waited with them, again. The kids were disappointed, but Audrey was irritated and fed up.
Rust didn't want to do this. She knew that. But it was his duty, and she still held a hope, deep down inside her, that the old hero in Rust still understood duty.
Darren the janitor walked into the gym, whistling to a tune playing on his portable radio just like the day before. This had been his lonely routine for the past ten years so he was still shocked to lift his head and see teenagers hanging out on the benches.
"Still a no show?" he asked, leaning on the broom sticking out of the cleaning cart.
"What do you think?" Bella replied, sadly, resting her elbows on her knees and resting her chin in her hands.
Darren studied the gamma accidents. They really weren't like the other students. There was something different about these kids and he could feel it. So, he abandoned his cleaning cart and joined them on the bleachers, something he would never have done with other students.
He pulled a bag of chocolate covered peanuts out the pocket of his cleaning overalls. "Want some? They get stuck in your teeth but the chocolate is worth it."
"Thanks," a glum Caleb said as he reached his hand in the packet and pulled out a handful. "At least something is coming from all this waiting."
Darren examined the faces of the solemn teenagers. He knew full well what disappointment felt like and decided to try and cheer them up.
He balanced a small, chocolate covered peanut on his thumb and flicked the sweet through the air, cheering as it hit the far wall.
"Now you try," he said, grinning and nudging Caleb.
He looked confused. "But that's making a mess," he pointed out. "You'd have to clean it up afterwards."
Darren waved a careless hand. "I'll let the night guy get it."
"I thought you were the n-" Bella began.
"Throw the peanut and make an underpaid janitor happy," Darren interrupted.
For hours, the janitor, the teenagers and even Audrey, occupied themselves with a pointless peanut tossing competition.
The silly competition did the trick, though: it managed to uplift their sagging spirits.
Eventually Rust showed up. Nobody knew exactly how late it was but it had been dark outside for hours. It was so late, the teens had fallen asleep on the benches.
Rust clapped his hands together, loudly, and abruptly woke the snoozing teenagers. He faced the wide-eyed, tired but now alert teens sitting on the bleachers and rubbed his hands. "Okay, where do we begin?"
Audrey, who moments earlier had been dreaming with the others, groggily stormed down the bleachers and grabbed Rust's ear, yanking him behind her as she escorted him out the gym to the corridor for a talking to like none other.
"What do you think you're doing?" she asked him, an edge of pure anger creeping into her sleepy voice.
Rust, rubbing his sore ear, looked confused. "Training. I could have sworn you were there when Urban-"
"Don't swear," Audrey interrupted. "And you are doing nothing. Where have you been? You didn't show up yesterday and today you come late. You need to be here, training these kids. They agreed to this willingly. Don't make them regret what they've decided to leave their town, their homes, and their families for."
"Yeah, well, I didn't choose to come willingly. No one even asked me what I wanted."
"What do you want?" Audrey questioned, glaring over the rim of her glasses and crossing her arms.
Rust opened and closed his mouth, trying to consider his words. "I want... I want to be left alone."
Audrey sighed. "Rust, right now, this isn't about you. It's about these kids. It's about potentially saving the world. It's about change."
Rust didn't say anything more.
"Look," Audrey continued. "Just do this. Get serious and train these kids, help them find the villain and then you can go back to just existing in that run-down apartment in that shabby, downtown excuse for a neighbourhood."
"That's-" Rust tried but failed.
Audrey carried on. "But, let's just leave it today. These kids are bombed. Hero Training didn't go so well for them yesterday. Bella almost got sliced by the blades."
Rust didn't even flinch. This only infuriated Audrey further.
"Listen, bud," she said, dropping what was left of her professional attitude. "You better start caring because-"
Rust held up his hands in surrender. "Alright, tomorrow, I'll get serious and be on time."
Audrey looked him up and down. "You better, or else your life will not be worth living. Remember, we know where you live..."
As promised, Rust showed up on time the next day.
"Okay," he said, as introduction. "Today, I'm going to start training you."
"You were supposed to start training us on Monday," Bella pointed out, flatly.
"Forget that," Rust replied. "A Wednesday is as good as any Monday, if not better.
"I saw your powers demonstrated on Friday," he continued. "But I want to know what your limits are. Hop on down here and show me what you've really got. So... which sucker's going fir
st?"
The kids glanced at each other and pushed unfortunate Ty forward, sending him stumbling to the middle of the gym floor.
"You know I hate that game!" Ty moaned at his friends.
"Go on, I won't bite," Rust said. "Show me what you got."
Ty took a deep breath. He closed his eyes and shrunk as small as he could, until he was only an inch high.
Rust bent down in front of the minuscule teenager. "Impressive. Can you increase your size as well as decrease it?"
Ty expanded to his regular size. "Nope," he replied.
"We'll work on that later," Rust said, waving him away. He addressed the others. "Little known fact about gamma accidents: they have full-potential power the day they are born. Unlike mutants, whose powers can fade or increase as time goes by, gamma accidents have their complete power from day one. They just might need a bit of training to realize their full potential.
"Bella, I know you can glow in the dark, but can you light up in broad daylight?" Rust asked.
Bella shook her head. "It has to be dark enough for cheap, plastic, glow-in-the-dark stars to work before I glow."
He turned to Caleb. "I saw you bounce... can you splat?"
"No, I just bounce."
"Ethan, I saw you turn into a hologram, which enabled you to change your appearance. Can't you turn solid?"
"I've tried: no."
"And Jack... exactly what powers do you have?"
"Flight, speed, X-ray vision, lazer eyes, enhanced senses, strength and above average recovery time."
"So, you're not invincible," Rust stated.
"He broke his arm falling out a tree when he was seven!" Caleb announced, eagerly.
"Right, I have my work cut out for me. You see, you kids have had no previous training with your powers. All the kids here have had education on how to be heroes from young. Training you kids to your full potential is going to take a while, but if you're willing to put in the hours, I'll see if I can't get you up to standard."
The kids shrugged. How hard was this going to be?
12
"I can't feel my arms," Ethan moaned as he flopped down on Rosie's bed.
"You can't stay on my bed," Rosie informed him.
"Forget it," he replied, not even lifting his head to look at the girl. "I'm never moving again!"
"Amen to that!" Bella declared as she sprawled out on the couch.
The other boys found spots on the beds and, for poor Caleb, the floor.
He was so tired, the moment they walked through the door, he just fell forwards onto the rough carpet. Normally, he would have involuntarily bounced back to his feet, but even his bounce was worn out.
"You guys look really beat," Rosie said, pointing out the obvious.
"We've just endured two weeks of pure agony, misery and torture," Ty told her, climbing off the bed to get an ice pack from the freezer.
"You can't begin to understand what we've been through," Caleb said, his face still planted in the carpet, muffling his words.
"What has that Rust done to you?" Alison asked, picking her way through the fallen teenagers to shut the door.
Jack mustered the strength to sit up straight. "He's been training us for, like, five hours at a time."
"We don't get breaks!" Caleb yelled into the carpet.
"And the exercises aren't exactly easy, either," Ethan said.
Alison crossed her arms, tilted her head and sighed as she examined the wreckage. The teenagers sure looked exhausted, and she was fully aware of the hard time the other kids were giving them.
"I can't say it'll be any better tomorrow," Alison said, honestly. "And I can't say you'll learn to