Sorry for posting so late at night. This week has been busy. But here it is as promised, chapter eleven.

"Hey mom." I say as I get a text from Iz. She was asking me to come to Flagstaff. She even offered to pay for the plane ticket. It was the seventh of January. Break had been great and I definitely enjoyed using my new set of headphones.

"Yes?"

"I was wondering if it was okay if I left early." The next semester didn't start for another week on the fourteenth.

"Why?"

"I have a friend that's asking me to come over."

"And they are were exactly?"

"In Flagstaff. You remember that clip we saw of that girl singing last week?"

"Yeah. Her voice was amazing, that violin player was incredible too. Didn't you say that you knew them?"

"Yeah. That was Gale, and her father, the violinist. I got a text from Iz inviting me to head down there and hang out with them."

"Well of course you can Rei. But how are you planning on getting down there? We already paid for your ticket back to Denver from here."

"Iz offered to pay for it. And we can always cancel the ticket."

"Well then I don't see why not. But you better find a way to make it up to her. And a way to pay me back for that Denver ticket."

"Yes ma'am." I say as I grab my already almost packed bag.

The next day I was sitting in the airport about to board a flight to Flagstaff. Before I had left I had asked Iz if anyone else was coming. She had gotten responses from Ayden, Alyss, Ryan, and Johnny. She had tried to reach Siku but couldn't. And she sent a text to Valerie but hadn't gotten a response.

When I arrived at the airport after the four hour flight I found a taxi and asked them to go to the address of the hospital. I was soon walking the halls of the cancer treatment center looking for their room, room 243. I turned the corner and saw the room. Before walking in I heard two voices talking. One was Gale's and I assumed the other was her dad's.

"I'm so glad that you've been able to make so many good friends during the school year."

"Thanks dad."

"From what I understand you have a teammate that is supposed to be helping and supporting you. Surely you're friends with who ever it is by now?"

"Well. No not really. I don't know him that well. We usually don't talk much in class and my suit doesn't really need an mechanical work done to it so when it comes to things like engineering I'm fine."

Gale was standing next her father's bed while he was standing looking out the window, the heart monitor hooked up to his arm letting out a quiet rhythm. Iz was sitting in a chair in one of the corners of the room, leaning on one of the arms instead of the back because of her tail. She waved and smiled.

Gale turned around and saw me. "Oh hey Rei. So glad you could come."

The man turned around. "What in the devil?" He said with a smile on his face "What's your quirk." He walked over quickly to me and started to look me over. "I would love to design a suit for you. What's your quirk, something to do with those horns of yours or is it something else?"

"Dad. That was rude and he doesn't like jokes about his horns."

"No it's alright. I knew he meant well. He's not like the kids at school."

"But asking about your quirk is a little rude don't you think dad?"

"Hey sorry." He said as he offered his hand. "Blake Orr, and you are?"

"Rei Koizumi. But what was that whole thing about designing me a suit?"

"That's what I used to do for a living before this whole thing" He gestured to the hospital room and then himself. "happened. I worked as an independent designer for heroes. I didn't really get a lot of praise as most heroes wanted to go to large companies like some of the ones over in Japan. They sure do know how to make 'em over there."

"Who do you think designed my hero suit." Said Gale proudly, pointing to her father. "If he were to get recognized by a company he would get hired right away. His design skills are amazing."

"Eh, my philosophy and method is a little too old for the times. I like to work with the material in my hands or sketch it out on paper rather than some simulated construct on a computer screen."

"Well then the times are just wrong." Said Gale defiantly.

"I'm so glad you came." Said Iz standing up and joining in on the conversation.

"So the arrival of this young man brings up a question, something that I've been meaning to ask. Who exactly does Izabela belong to here. Has she captured the heart of young Rei?"

I felt myself blush a little at that statement while Iz went back to here shy self with more of a hunched posture like when I first met her.

"Or have you taken a liking to her?" He said looking at Gale.

"I already answered that question I haven't found a girlfriend yet I've been too worried about you."

He chuckled a little.

"You asked that knowing you'd get this response didn't you?" Asked Gale, clearly annoyed.

"And so what if I did?" He asked laughing. His laugh was contagious as soon we were all laughing our heads off at the stupid little exchange.

"Who said you guys could have any fun without me?" Said Johnny as he walked in.

Mr. Orr's eyes went straight to Johnny's jet engines. "Hmm." He shot up and walked right over to Johnny and grabbed his left arm and began examining his jet engine.

"I never imagined that I'd meet someone with a quirk quite like this. Very interesting. I'm assuming your current suit it heavily fire proofed?"

"Uh. Yeah, it is." He looked over to me and mouthed 'help'. I simply shrugged my shoulders as Mr. Orr continued his inspection. Unaware of Gale becoming irritated behind him.

"Sorry about all of that. I'm Blake Orr, nice to meet you." He said once he was done after a couple more seconds.

"Johnny, Johnny Chicas-Jimenez." He looked to Gale for an answer as to her dads strange behavior.

"He used to be a hero costume designer." She said, the annoyed look still on her face.

"What do you mean used to. I still do sketches from time to time." He waved his hand to a rather large blacks case hanging in the closet space of the hospital room. "Go ahead take a look."

Johnny went over and grabbed the black case reached his hand towards the zipper.

"I would set up it's stand first."

Behind the large case was a stand that would hold up the case and whatever sketches were inside it.

In a few minutes it was set up and we were flipping through some of the best sketches I had ever seen. They weren't of anyone in particular, just a blank model with the the suit sketched and filled in with color. About midway through a suit caught my eye. It was Gale's hero suit, down to the exact detail, a perfect match for the one she had up at the school. Closer to the rear there were two pages that caught my eye. One of the most familiar suits in North America, the hero suit of Phoenix. The black center with the edges gradually brightening to a deep red, his logo emblazoned on the chest of the suit, a date scrawled next to the design. It was over eleven years old. The other was the erased outline of another suit, the date just barely visible, from what I could tell it was even older than the Phoenix design, at least thirteen years.

"You designed Phoenix's suit?"

"I did. But that was a long time ago. And the design was stolen by another company. By the time I realized the damage had been done and there was no way I could submit the work as a possible design. And trying to sue the company would just lead to court fines I wasn't too keen on paying. So I just kept the design cause I honestly really liked it."

"But what about this page. The suit looks like it was erased, only the faint outline is visible. What happened to it?"

"A hero fell. That's what happened. After I gave her the design, something terrible happened. Something that I could never forget. Those eyes of hers, so black." He shuddered. He looked at me, but his gaze was elsewhere, like he was remembering something. "I'd rather not discuss the events. But afterwards I erased the hero suit, knowing that she would never use it."

I decided not to press the topic further. I continued looking through the different designs. Some of them I recognized as the suits of heroes that had risen into the spotlight a several years ago before Phoenix. One was a redesign of the iconic Batman suit for a hero named Drifter who could teleport through shadows. He had passed his mantle down to his son who was currently working in the D.C area. But the design was one I'd never seen before.

"You redesigned the Batman suit from the comics for Drifter?""Yeah. Even though I knew they'd never be seen. It was fun to draw out."

"So I do have a question" Said Johnny as he leaned against the windowsill. "So Iz. Did he do the same thing when you showed up?"

"In fact he did. Almost got stung too."

"And I probably deserved to." Said Mr. Orr as he sat down on his bed.

"You do." Said Gale, clearly irritated. "You can't just examine everyone you see with a cool quirk."

"Guilty as charged."

"Hello everyone." Said Ryan as he opened the door to the hospital room.

"Hey Ryan." I said looking up from the sketches.

"Welcome to my humble home." Said Blake as he stood up again and began sizing up Ryan. "Hmm, no obvious quirk, nothing that changes appearance anyways." He reached out his hand offered a handshake, which Ryan took.

"Ryan Artus."

"Blake Orr." He said before moving back to his bed and sitting down. "Gale how many more friends are you going to invite. Not that I mind but this hospital room is getting a little cramped." He said as he laughed a little.

"Everyone I messaged is here." Said Gale. "Except three: Valerie isn't here yet and neither are Alyss and Ayden."

At that moment Gale's phone when off with two texts alerts. She pulled out her phone, which was a new top of the line smartphone. Which was unexpected, as last time I saw her she had flip phone.

"They're from Alyss and Ayden. Alyss is on her way, said she just got back from a weekend long ride, whatever that means. And Ayden just pulled up on a bus right now. Does anyone know where Valerie is though? It's not like her to not respond to a text."

"She's probably asleep or watching a movie or something like that." Said Iz from her chair. "She said that she would be visiting family in Italy over the break. She might not have seen the text yet." I say. "The time difference is quite a bit"

"So what do we want to do with the rest of our day?" Asked Mr. Orr about thirty minutes later. "It's only four in the afternoon."

"Maybe we should go out and eat something?" Suggested Johnny.

"Sounds fine to me." Said Ryan as he leaned against a wall.

After a moment the door opened and Ayden walked in.

"Ayden." Said Ryan as he jumped up and went over to greet Ayden. I looked over at Johnny he raised his eyebrows while casting a glance over at Ryan and Ayden. I think Ryan had a crush.

"We were planning on going to get something to eat." I say to fill her in.

"I'm okay with that. I'm hungry after the long flight,"

"I can drive you guys. My car can fit most of us." Said Johnny.

"Wait you have a car?" Asked Ryan, a shocked expression on his face.

"You bet. My dad gave it to me for Christmas. Got my license too." He said with a smug attitude.

"Nice, what kind of car did you get?" I ask.

"An old Buick Riviera that my dad fixed up. It can seat probably five other people besides me in there."

"Sorry to be the voice of reason on all of this." Said Iz, but I don't think we are all going to fit. There are six of us excluding you. And do you know how much of a pain stuffing me into a car the size is going to be." She lifted up her extra arms and tail for emphasis.

"Actually I have an idea." Said Johnny with a mischievous smile.

"Why do I not like that smile?" Said Iz.

--"And this is why I didn't like that smile!" Yelled Iz into my ear through the phone speaker as we drove through the streets of Flagstaff in Johnny's car that we somehow managed to pile into. Johnny was driving with Mr. Orr taking the front seat. The other four of us managed to squeeze into the back seat. I was being shoved against the door with Gale next to me. Ryan was in the middle while Ayden was on the far right side. Iz was in the trunk, and not the happiest person in the world about it.

"So how you holding your up back there?" I ask.

"Well currently I'm holding my phone with my tail while my six other limbs are keeping me stable. Tell Johnny that if he drives any rougher he's dead."

"You said you were holding your phone using your tail? How exactly are you doing that?"

"I wrapped my tail around my phone and put the phone on speaker." Her voice went up a little bit in pitch as we took a turn into the parking lot of a little barbeque places that Mr. Orr knew, with Iz offering to pay.

When we came to a stop and opened the doors we basically spilled out. I walked to the back and got ready to open the trunk. "It's Rei, I'm opening the truck so prepare your eyes and don't sting me."

"Okay give me a second… Okay I'm ready."I popped the truck and Iz stepped out, her sunglasses on.

"Hey Johnny." She called up to the rest of the group already walking up to the restaurant. "You're paying part of the tab for that awful car ride."

"I'm fine with that."

"I just still can't believe that Johnny got a car." I say to Iz.

"Me neither, but in my opinion he should have his license revoked."

"He drives fine, you were just in the trunk."

Once we had sat down at the table and had ordered our food. I had a question for Iz, well everyone really. "So what did you guys do over the break?"

"I went up to my dad's place and snowboarded. It was fun, I beat my dad in a race so that was fun. But other than that not much."

"Who's your father?" Asked Mr. Orr.

"Samuel Clark, but you'd probably know him by the name Stormbreaker."

Gale was drinking and almost did a spit take. She started coughing and when she recovered she asked: "Wait your dad is Stormbreaker?"

"Yeah. I guess I never told you."

"That's crazy."

"Well kinda I guess."

"I just chilled with my siblings and generally made life a struggle for my parents." Said Ryan. "My brother decided it was a good idea to try to redesign the firework glider, but without him on it after what happened last time. Let's just say we almost burned down his house. We went out and bought some fireworks from this store that sells literally everything. My sister and I were working on the metal frame and she dropped a wrench on the concrete floor, which was really loud and caused my brother to shoot fireworks from his fingers, setting the painting he working on, and the general vicinity, on fire."

"That sounds like something I would do." Said Johnny as he munched on a fry. Our food had arrived before Ryan had finished his story. "I just messed around with my siblings all around San Antonio. Had a great time. Even flew around the city and raced my old man and my little sister. The best part, she wants to become a hero just like her big bro."

"So she has the same quirk as you?" I ask pouring barbeque sauce on my brisket sandwich.

"Yeah. Normally we would get in major trouble for using our quirks in public like that. But we have special permits that allow us to fly around. Just like a private pilot's license just for us. I even have a callsign, Quetzalcoatl, while my sisters is Sparrow and my dad has Eagle."

"You went with an Aztec god as your callsign?" Asked Iz as she bit into a rack of ribs.

"Why not. It wasn't taken so I just took it."

"I didn't do much over break either, just kinda hung out at my house with my parents." I flashed Ayden a look that said 'no'. I didn't want to get an praise for handing out cookies. There was no need. All I did was give a gift, I didn't need praise from my friends for it. "Well Iz, what have you been doing?"

"I went to see my parents before heading here. But other than that nothing."

"She's been here since the sixteenth." Said Mr. Orr nonchalantly as he took a drink of his sweet tea.

"Iz why have you been here for two weeks?" I asked her.

"Well. I didn't really have anywhere else to go. My grandparents that are alive would've just scolded me and locked me in the house while my parents drove up to take me home." She began to draw back a little, her voice going timid, back to how she was this summer.

"Well that's fine. I was just wondering why it all." I said not pressing any more. But Ayden did not get the hint to change the topic to literally almost anything else.

"Why didn't you want to spend Christmas with your family?" She asked. "You should've been with them instead of being here."

"Let's just say my relationship with my family isn't the greatest in the world."

"Well why n-" I gave Ayden a look that said 'don't press, this is something she will share when she's ready.'

"Well hey, to each their own." She said chomping down on a pulled pork sandwich.

"Though I have enjoyed my time here hanging out with Gale and Mr. Orr."

"You've given us a good time. This Christmas has been absolutely great." Said Gale. "Things like this," she picked up her phone. "and this." She raised her arms pointing around the restaurant. "I didn't think that we would ever come back here, much less eat anywhere else but the hospital in general. Heck even most of the welfare checks were going to pay for his treatments. So this was a nice treat. Thanks."

"No problem." Said Iz, warming back up after withdrawing a little bit.

"But to say that she had been a pain to wake up in the mornings is an understatement." Said Mr. Orr jokingly.

"It's not my fault that I'm more of a night person." She said defending herself, her voice back quiet and soft. "You try living with a quirk that changes your mannerisms."

Gale's phone went off, she looked down and then looked back up. "Alyss is on her way, she said that she just got on the plane coming from Dallas and won't be here in Phoenix till seven tonight. Then with the bus ride up here she won't be here till at least ten tonight."

"And nothing from Valerie?" Asked Ryan.

"No nothing yet." Said Gale as something caught my eye to my right.

I look over and In Iz's hands is a beautifully crafted, something, an emblem like piece. "What is that?" I ask.

She jumps and gets all flustered. "Oh. Uhm, it's uhh, it's nothing."

"With that reaction it isn't nothing." Said Ayden. "So what is it?"

She sighs and places the emblem on the table, allowing everyone a good look at the piece. It was a gemstone piece made of diamond, ruby, and sapphire in three lines, almost like a flag. An inlay rested in the middle like a coat of arms. Two black scorpions held the center in place.

"Wow. That's beautiful." Said Ryan as he took out his phone for a photo, probably to sketch it later.

"That symbol looks familiar." Said Mr. Orr as he rubbed his chin. "Did it belong to a hero?"

"It did. My grandfather, he was a hero in Croatia before he immigrated to the US. He was known as-"

"The Scorpion of Zagreb." I said finishing her sentence. It wasn't any exaggeration just a simple finisher.

"Yeah. He was a hero. He wore it on his hero suit before retiring. He's also the reason I look like I do. No one in my living family has this quirk, it skips a generation. My dad doesn't have it, and neither does my older sister. But I do."

"And you're amazing because of it." I say. "When you become a hero I think, no I know, that everyone is going to love you. How could people not like you you're a good person. And your quirk is one of the coolest. You'll stand out and become one of the best heroes."

"Thanks Rei. And yeah, he is the reason I want to be a hero. He was always dedicated to helping others and I want to be the same way. I even thinking about how I could incorporate it into my hero suit. But I didn't really want to ask you," She looked at Mr. Orr when she said 'you'. "Because I didn't want to bother you."

"Oh it be everything but a bother. I would love to design your hero suit. We can discuss the details back at the hospital."

"Thanks."

"No problem."

After Iz and Johnny paid for the tab we all piled back into the car.

"Don't drive so rough this time." Said Iz as she climbed into the trunk.

"I won't" siad Johnny with a smirk as he closed the trunk.

I closed the door and lean forward a little. "You better drive smooth otherwise she will sting you."

"Oh I am very aware of this fact." Said Johnny with a shudder. "Just don't tell her that."Soon we were back in the hospital room and lounging about. Johnny had wanted to drive to the airport and pick up Alyss but it was just too far. Iz was talking with Mr. Orr about the design of her hero suit which got me thinking about mine. Were the CO2 tanks really necessary? I made a mental note to empty the tanks of CO2 and fill them with oxygen when I got back. Just because I can breath CO2 if I wanted to doesn't really mean that it needs to be in my suit.

"Hey Rei, you got any idea on where we're all going to sleep?" Asked Ryan. "Cause this hospital room doesn't exactly fit all of us."

This was true, Gale and Iz had been doing fine but with four more people there was simply no way to fit all of us in here.

"I guess we'll have to get a hotel. There should be one close by."

"I heard something about a hotel?" Said Iz walking over to Ryan and I while Mr. Orr was busy working on a sketch.

"Yeah. If we want to stay in Flagstaff we'll need a hotel. This hospital room isn't exactly large enough to fit all of us."

"I figured something like this would happen. I have the money needed to pay for all the nights." She walked over to one of her bags and lifted it up and showed us the contents. Inside was stacks on stacks of hundred dollar bills.

"Holy heck where did you get all of this Iz?" Asked Ryan

"It was my grandfather's. This is my inheritance."

"Well then you shouldn't be using it to pay for our lodging. I'll call my parents and I'll pay for my own room." I say pulling out my phone.

One of her arms reached up and grabbed my hand. "Don't. He was the kind of man who would throw all his money away if it meant helping someone. I want to be the same way, So here." She reached into the bag with her one free arm and pulled out one wad of hundreds and handed it to me. "This should be enough."

"Thanks. Ayden, Johnny, I think it's time we get out of their hair."

"Hmm." Said Ayden was she looked up from Mr. Orr sketching. "Oh okay."

"Yeah, yeah. I'll go warm up the car. Thanks for letting us see you Mr. Orr." Said Johnny as he walked out of the hospital room.

"See you later Mr. Orr." I said as we filed out.

Before I was even a foot outside the door Iz called to me. "Don't forget to tell Alyss about where you are staying."

"I won't."

"See you guys tomorrow."

"Bye Iz."

After leaving the hospital we decided to head to the Doubletree hotel that was about an ten minute drive from the hospital. We got two rooms with the money Iz loaned us. Ryan, Johnny, and I would be staying in one while Ayden and Alyss would be in the other.

This wasn't a bad way to start off the new year. This was different, I had a few ideas as to why Iz decided to invite all of us here before next semester started. But those were questions for another day. I was tired after flying in and then spending all afternoon with everyone. I had a great time but after that I needed to recharge. I could never understand how people like Ayden and Johnny seem to get more energized by being around people.

I set up the pullout bed set it up, promptly took a shower and cleaned up from the day before almost falling into the cot and drifting to sleep.