Don't Call Me A Hero

Chapter 14

“Alex,” Charlie said, his voice echoing through the small, dark space we were in. It had been a bumpy ride and I could guarantee that we were no longer in the building. I was bruised and definitely bleeding somewhere from being slammed against him. 

 I didn’t mind though, my glasses seemed still intact. 

“Yes?” I asked, trying to keep the pain out of my voice. 

“You’re hurt,” he stated.

“I’ll survive,” I assured him as I slowly released the shadows. We ended up in a parking lot somewhere behind the radio station as I couldn’t see it from where we sat. There was a hole in the side of the building directly in front of us where we had to have been blasted through. I could see smoke stretching into the blue sky and groaned as Charlie pulled me to my feet.

“Did that kill him?” he asked softly. 

“Don’t think so,” I answered, “he has to be a level 73 super.”

“He’ll just form back,” Charlie nodded solemnly.

“Hopefully.”

“We need to get out of here,” he said as we turned to leave. Sirens were heading toward the fire just as we started down the sidewalk. Luckily, neither of us looked like we had just come from an explosion except maybe the gash on my cheek. I watched as two fire trucks sped past us and I looked up to see some caped heroes flying toward it. 

Right, we were on the good side of town. Obviously heroes would get involved.

“I don’t get it,” I said after a brief silence.

“Don’t get what?”

“He was waiting for us,” I explained, “he knew we were coming.”

“No,” Charlie stopped, “not us.”

“Me,” I nodded slowly, “he was only after me. Why?” 

“You and Arthur were a lot closer than the rest of us.”

“Something I regret greatly,” I muttered as I quickened the pace toward the station. 

We were halfway there when a large SUV pulled up beside us. Charlie stopped and yanked me behind him as he turned to face the two men that climbed out. I glared at the back of Charlie’s head. 

“Thanks and all,” I muttered, “but I can protect myself!”

“Don’t care,” Charlie whispered back with a smile. I opened my mouth to argue but Charlie's shoulders relaxed and he stepped forward to greet the two men. 

"This is Alex," Charlie gestured toward me, "and, Alex, these guys are the ones that are supposed to be protecting me and Maria."

"A job you're making very difficult," one of them said with a huff. 

"We need to get to the university," he said, "give us a ride?"

"Why do you need to go to the university?"

"We're meeting friends there," Charlie said with a shrug, "you can either take us or we'll go without you."

"Get in."

I made sure to sit forward to avoid getting blood on their clean leather seats. Charlie kept looking over at me with worried eyes but I ignored him. I glanced down at my hands. The bandages were dirty and blotched with red from my torn stitches. I hadn’t felt the pain before but I was definitely feeling it now.

“You good?” he asked after a while.

“Fine.”

“Alex-”

“I’ll be fine,” I said through gritted teeth. I sighed in relief as we turned onto the main road of the university. Charlie directed them to the library and I jumped out almost before the vehicle stopped. Charli jumped out after me, following closely as I hurried toward the library doors. An arm stopped me from bursting through the doors and I let out a wild burst shadow, throwing back whoever had decided to grab me. I spun around and gasped. 

Peter was laying a good fifteen feet away from me.

“Peter,” I muttered as I hurried toward him. Charlie made it to him first and was helping him to his feet by the time I made it over to him.

“I’m so sorry,” I said, my voice shaking slightly as I grabbed his shoulders and looked him up and down to make sure I hadn’t injured him.

“I’m fine,” he said, brushing my hands off him, “what about you? What happened to you?”

“Pedro is a henchman of Arthur’s,” Charlie answered, “we’ll explain everything but I think you should take a look at his hands.”

“Also, my face,” I said, gesturing to the gash on my cheek. Peter grabbed my wrist and looked back there himself and let out a heavy sigh.

“Damn it, Alex,” he said, “can’t you give your body a break?”

I let him pull me away toward the dorm building. I stumbled alone as I thought back on the day’s events. Pedro, Arthur, everything. I had been dreaming of finally living a mostly normal life and, instead, I got stuck with a mess.

“Go sit down in your room,” Peter ordered, “I’m going to go grab medical supplies from mine.”

I nodded and pulled open the door to my dorm room. Owen was sitting at the small desk on his side of the room, typing away almost furiously at the laptop. He didn’t even notice me as I sat down on my bed. 

“Okay,” Peter said as he entered, causing Owen to jump and slam his laptop closed. He looked back and forth between me and Peter with crazy eyes before he seemed to calm down. He stood up and muttered something about fresh air before hurrying out of the room.

“What did I do?” Peter asked as he sat down beside me and pulled one of my hands toward him.

“No idea,” I shrugged and winced as he worked on the stitches in my hand, “so, tell me, what happened?”

“The radio station was abandoned,” I told him, keeping my head turned the other way to avoid seeing him work, “we thought maybe some leftover tapes were still in the building. We went in and found the guy we were looking for. The guy was waiting for me.”

“Just you?” Peter asked as he wrapped fresh bandages over my hand.

“Just me,” I told him as I gave him my other hand, “he wasn’t interested in Charlie at all.”  

“So, you can’t be going out anymore,” Peter said.

“What?” 

“I mean it,” he shook his head, “Arthur has a special interest in you. We can’t let him, have you. You’re staying here with me or Tom. You are not to leave the building.”

“What about class?”

“I’ll talk to all of your professors,” he shrugged as his hand brushed across my cut cheek. He let out a huff and grabbed a small bottle of alcohol to clean it. I winced as he poured it over my wound.

“This isn’t fair,” I muttered, noting how pathetic I sounded.

“I know,” Peter sighed, “it isn’t, however, I got to keep you safe. This isn’t just about my job, Alex. You’re like a little brother to me. If you get hurt-”

“Fine, I’ll stay in,” I muttered, rolling my eyes as he let out a chuckle. He had always been there for me at the compound even when he didn’t need to be. I hadn’t realized he cared so much.

“Thank you,” he nodded, “I’m also going to look into getting you a room by yourself. I know you trust Owen but I don’t want him overhearing something he shouldn’t.”

“Of course,” I nodded and tried to figure out why I felt disappointed. I barely knew Owen. 

But I wanted to…

“Okay,” he nodded as he bandaged my ch  eek, “get some rest, okay? You’ve had a rough few days.”

I nodded as I watched him leave. I flopped down onto my back and glared at the ceiling above me. I could feel my body slowly shutting off. I could faintly hear the door opening as sleep overcame me.

When I came to, the room was nearly pitch black and all I could hear was Owen’s soft snores from the other side of the room. I closed my eyes and tried to fall back asleep but a feeling of unease kept me awake. I had woken up for a reason. What was it?

I scanned my eyes over the dark space and gasped when I noticed the corner. There was a figure of a man standing there, waiting. I didn’t know what he was waiting for and I didn’t care. I pushed myself off the bed and conjured up a bright energy ball in my right fist. 

“Arthur?” I asked as I glared at the man dressed in the same getup as last time. Of course, it was far more creepy in this setting. 

“Oh,” he sang, his voice distorted, “one would think you’d be happier to see your dead best friend.”

“You really think we’d still be friends after what you did, Arthur,” I snapped. I could see Owen stirring in his bed and I hated that he was being brought into my mess. I sighed angrily as I continued, “after what you put me through?”

“I made your life better,” he argued, “look at what you can do now.”

“I never wanted this,” I spat, “neither did Amanda, Maria, or Charlie. We were your friends, Arthur.”

“Friends?” he hummed softly as if that word was strange to him, “friends. Friends don’t matter now, Alex. Don’t you see? Something big is coming and we need you for that.”

“No, thank you,” I retorted, “I really don’t want anything to do with you and whatever you have going on.” 

“Oh, come on,” he shook his hand and he disappeared from view. I took a deep breath and hardened the shadows around me. I felt him appear behind me and I spread the shadows out, launching him into the wall. I spun toward him as he crumbled into my bed. I still had the energy ball casting light on him but he didn’t move to get up. Instead, he continued speaking, “it’ll be just like old times! I’ll lead and you’ll do exactly what I say. Don’t you remember?”

“Alex?” I heard Owen’s tired voice behind me. 

“Get out of here, Owen,” I ordered him as Arthur started getting up. I kept my eyes forward as I moved my body between Arthur and Owen. Arthur tilted his head as he noticed it and I waited for some horrid retort. 

“Silly, Alex,” Arthur sang, “you always fall for those that will betray you.”

“Who…” Owen asked and trailed off just as Arthur disappeared. I waited for a moment as I surveyed the room, feeling with the shadows instead of using my eyes. I didn’t answer Owen until I was content the room was empty besides the two of us. 

“The less you know the better,” I told him as I glanced back at him. I instantly turned my head back around and cursed the blush that was already coating my cheeks. He hadn’t gone to bed wearing much. 

Stop it, Alex, I thought as I tried to keep my thoughts clean. 

“You always fall for those that will betray you.”

  I shook the thought out of my head and headed for the door. The door opened before I could reach it and Peter stumbled in with his pistol raised. His dark hair was wild atop his head and he was wearing nothing but polka dotted boxers. The kind you see in cartoons that used to run only on Sundays. 

“Why is there a dent in your wall?” he demanded.

“I had an old friend come visit,” I answered.

“Wasn’t me this time,” Owen spoke up from behind me. Peter nodded as he let out a groan. I frowned at the human sized dent right above my bed. Shards of wood and drywall coated my bed. I made no move to clear it as there was no way I would be able to sleep anymore tonight.

 “Everyone okay?” Peter asked.

“I’m fine,” I answered.

“I slept through all of it,” Owen told him.