AN: Hmmmm originally, this was supposed to be a short, filler-ish chapter but it ended up like this… I dunno why (It's still filler-ish though). The chapter will reveal something that's quite important in the story, more or less. I also made this one a bit comical since the last chapter was too serious. And the next one will be…. Yeah…

So, I'll be mentioning Sky High in this chapter. It's a really nice and cute film. And it didn't hurt that Danielle Panabaker was absolutely gorgeous there~


Chapter 10: Hero Support

Enrique Sanchez's POV (Boy #15)

I woke up at around six in the morning with a bad case of anxiety. There was a bit of excitement in there too, but more or less it was pure anxiety. I mean, who wouldn't feel the nerves take over their body when the first day of high school was about to start? But that wasn't half of the picture. The real reason behind my fretting was the school itself; it was none other than Sky High.


I knew from an early age that I was special. I always felt a strange connection to all those comic books I collected as a child. As if I was destined for greatness as well. My parents always treated me as something special too. They always told me that one day I'd make a difference in the world, make it a better place ; basically the whole shebang that parents tell you to make you feel better. I never really believed those words that much but I can't help thinking of what my life would be like if I turned out to be the President of the United States or maybe a well-renowned movie star when I grow up. But never did I expect my wildest fantasy to come true.

I had these weird tics all throughout my childhood, even up till now, so I was pretty much considered weird by my peers. Some say special to be politically correct but I still knew what they called me behind my back: Weirdo, Freak, Retarded, Nutcase, Oddball, and even Mutant which is something I actually like being called. But as a kid, hearing those words being thrown at you was still one big culture shock. I'd always run into my parents' comforting arms because I know that they'd always make me feel better.

Dad is very big and muscular which always made me wonder before why I was always so flimsy and weak. He has a temper and it always flared up whenever someone said or did anything bad to me. He may be intimidating to most people but I know how kind-hearted and pleasant he truly is. Mom compliments dad perfectly. She's always nice and sweet to everyone but she can get very defensive and well, motherly, whenever I get ridiculed by someone. I remember this one time, when she went to school because a bully kept on wedgie-ing me. She was so aggravated when she made her way to the principal's office that every step she took felt like a miniature earthquake. In short, my parents are both wickedly awesome and I sadly broke that streak of perfection…

My parents took me out of that school and started home schooling me for quite some time. It was fun learning stuff when mom was my teacher. It was never scary, difficult or boring and there wasn't any pressure in being teased for making mistakes. In fact, it felt like the first time I truly enjoyed learning about something. But of course, mom still had her work and mom duties so I always got an early dismissal. And that's when things got interesting.


I had plenty of free time for myself and video games can only get you so far away from boredom. And the television shows were only filled with numerous reruns. Even re-watching the Justice League had somehow lost its touch. I lay down on my bed just gazing at my posters for the millionth time. I wished that, by some weird cosmic power, my posters would come to life and I could see Batman punching the heck out of Joker or Red Tornado blowing away some criminals. Then I felt some weird vibrations. At first, I thought I was having my tics again but I held up my hands and I was perfectly normal. But the shaking kept on continuing. The next logical option was an earthquake so I got up from my bed to reach my mom downstairs. But the moment I stepped on my room's tiled floor, the shaking abruptly stopped. Bewildered wouldn't even describe what I felt at that moment, but I was pretty damn sure that the bed was shaking just a few moments ago. I looked underneath my bed for anything but the bed sheets and comforter were draping down, obscuring the view. I pushed them onto my bed but I was just rewarded with the clutter I stored underneath it. It was just filled with random comic books, some candy bar wrappers, my school's old books and my broken skateboard, all of which were not even close to some sort of bed shaker. I kicked my bed out of frustration but I didn't expect what happened next. The bed shook violently and cracked into two, right on the spot where I kicked it.

"Enrique, what happened to your bed?" My mom asked, appearing out of nowhere.

I explained everything no matter how unbelievable the story may have sounded. I even told her that I just stored all my trash under the bed instead of properly cleaning my room. I was expecting her to get angry at me for disturbing her, and telling silly stories and trashing the bed and a hundred other reasons but all she did was get her cell phone and call my dad. That's when I knew that whatever happened was serious. If dad was coming home earlier from work because of this then I must seriously be in great trouble.


I was sitting by the living room couch with my mom beside me when dad burst into the house. At first, I thought he was going to punch me or something but then he bear hugged me and lifted me out of the couch.

"My boy has super strength Linda! My boy has super strength!" My dad bellowed. I don't know what he was talking about because I was too distracted being squeezed to death by my old man and seeing our front door by the floor, completely unhinged.

"You took down the door again, Mateo! And for your information, Enrique also has seismic manipulation. And he used it first." My mom countered and that just made me more confused than ever.

"Can someone please tell me what's going on?" I asked. "And can you put me down dad? I'm feeling queasy…"

"Sorry, your old man just got a little excited. My boy has super strength!" Dad exclaimed once more.

"Mateo, could you please calm down already? You're more excited than the kid who got his superpowers." Mom replied.

"What? Superpowers?" I stared at my mom like she just grew another head.

"Yes dear, superpowers. You're destined for greatness, remember? Not a lot of kids are born between two hero lines. The only other ones I know are the Strongholds and the demented Peace family, so you're pretty unique, Enrique." She said as she leaned and kissed me on the forehead.

"So… what happened back there in my room, to my bed… that was me?"

"Of course, what else could it be, son? You lightly kicked your bed and it shattered! I remember doing that myself when I was a little tyke."

"And the shaking of you bed, that's you seismic powers. You got it from me." Mom added as she made the house rumble for quite some time, making dad fall down on the floor. "See, Enrique. It's a much better power than punching and kicking stuff."

"Cool! How did we get these powers? Did we get bitten by a radioactive spider or get hit by tons of gamma rays or something? Oooh or are we some secret aliens?" I babbled in glee. I have superpowers! I have the generic super strength just like Superman and I have earthquake abilities just like Avalanche from X-Men Evolution! I'm powerful; way more powerful than the jerks in my old school.

"I know that look Enrique." My mom said sternly. "We can only use our problems whenever it's necessary. 'With great power comes great responsibility', right?"

"But you used your power to show off and knock dad to the ground."

"Yeah, Linda, you're such a show off sometimes." My dad said as he got up from the floor, still quite shaken.

"But you still love me anyway." Mom replied as she kissed dad on the lips.

"Umm… Hello? Your son is still in the room you know… Could you please have your gross adult time later, like much later?"

My mom broke the kiss and even though I say that it grossed me out and all, I actually see my parents as a cute couple. They still act like a teenage couple in their honeymoon stage. And they've been married for almost fifteen years. Mom extended her arms to me and I knew that she wanted a group family hug. I hugged them both and to surprise them, I lifted them up using my newly found powers.

Everything was nice and dandy till my mom told me that I had to go back to school. I was having too much fun with home school and I wasn't too enthusiastic to see my old classmates. If I ever get a surprise wedgie again, I might accidentally use my powers against them. And that would have totally ruined the hero code. But my mom had other plans for my schooling…


And that leads me back to where I am now, fretting over what to wear for my first day of schooling in Sky High.

I was basically all over our house as I got ready for school. Maybe I was just being foolish but I try to take first impressions quite seriously. My mom always told me that first impressions never last, but they always matter. And I took that thought to heart. There's no way I'll settle to being the school loser again especially with my super cool powers.

Mom wished me luck as I walked out of the house and to the nearest bus stop. It's strange that an academy for superheroes still settled for the conventional school bus. I always thought that it would be something much cooler like a teleporter or a wicked space shuttle. The yellow school bus came to a halt precisely in front of me. The bus door slid open and a perky middle aged man, the bus driver, greeted me as I climbed aboard.

"Good morning freshman! I'm Ron Wilson, bus driver! There are still a couple of empty seats out back."He then leaned towards me and whispered something else. "Just don't take the seat beside Warren's, the guy in black. He's kind of a hot head."

I made my way down the aisle and saw an empty seat next to an African American girl in a pastel pink and green dress. She looked normal compared to the other students in the bus which included a guy with white hair who claims to glow as his power and a completely nerdy looking kid with thick glasses and a weird orange sweater vest. I took the seat next to her momentarily forgetting to ask if the seat was taken. I was about to stand up when she spoke.

"It's alright. No one's sitting there." She said softly. A small, demure smile was visible on her face and it made her look cute, or actually, cuter.

Of course, I did the natural cool dude reaction when meeting a cute girl. I completely stared at her and blanked out. Classic.

"Are you okay? Are you reading my mind or something? Oh my gosh, please don't tell me that that's your power?" She said with a slight panic in her tone.

"Oh, no, sorry about -that, just b-blanked out and all." I didn't even notice that I was shaking the chair we were sitting at.

"Oh, so your power is shaking things up? That's cool." I wasn't sure if that was a sincere compliment or that was sarcasm. I chose the former since she didn't look like the sarcastic type.

"Yeah, I also have a slight case of super strength. What's yours?"

She looked uncomfortable but ended up getting something from her backpack, a crumpled piece of paper. The paper started transforming and within seconds, it turned into a chocolate cupcake, complete with icing.

"Yeah, I have a lame power. I'll obviously end up as a sidekick; probably partnered up with a very fat and hungry hero."

"Are you kidding me? That's awesome! You could like solve world hunger or something!" I replied with much enthusiasm. I mean, who wouldn't be fascinated with a person with that kind of powers?

"Thanks, I never thought of it that way. You can have it if you want. It's edible and all but my powers are still pretty much weird."

I took her cupcake and eagerly bit into it. Instead of the sugar rush that I expected, my taste buds were greeted by a weird mixture of saltiness and sourness. My face must have confirmed her thoughts and she let out a sigh.

"I told you my powers were weird. I couldn't even get the proper flavor into the food. Last week, I made a bunch of cookies for my friends but they tasted like hot sauce."

"Hey, it's alright. You'll master your powers soon." I said reassuringly but I still threw her cupcake in my pack's trash bag. "Oh, I almost forgot! My name is Enrique."

"Rachelle Dawson; and you better strap yourself in." She replied as she secured her seatbelt which looked like a mixture of an airplane's and a rollercoaster's.

I was about to ask what for when I felt the bus accelerate abnormally. Then I felt a tugging sensation in my stomach and got plastered to my chair as the bus climbed to the sky.


We arrived in school in one piece, thankfully, and we started our tour of Sky High. It was a normal, generic tour this time. We saw the lecture halls, the mad science lab, the cafeteria and finally the gym where we would get our hero sorting done.

Coach Boomer, who led our tour throughout the school, was also the one in charge of testing our powers and deciding whether we were fit to be a hero or a sidekick. When I heard testing, I thought of an interview of some sort. I wasn't expecting him to throw a car at us and we had to use our powers to stop it or something.

One by one, my classmates showed off their powers. And one by one, Coach Boomer either congratulated them for their awesome hero level powers or screamed at them for having a lame sidekick power. Glow boy just stood there all weird looking and there was one guy who failed to show off any of his powers at all. Rachelle was no better. She just dodged the car and tried to turn it into a cake or something. She almost passed out after she finished turning the side view mirror into a chocolate bar.

My moment finally came and I was dead nervous. I stepped up the podium preparing for my moment of glory. The car fell down from the gym's ceiling and I extended my arms to catch it. My arms were greeted by an intense pain and that pain just kept on travelling throughout my whole body. I crumpled under the weight as every muscle and bone in my body felt like it caught fire. Coach Boomer was booming out the word 'sidekick' as I was about to pass out from the pain. But the nightmare just continued…


I finally woke up, to the real reality. I would have laughed at the crazy Inception moment if I wasn't feeling like shit right now. My mouth was terribly bleeding because of the several teeth that Vincent had dislodged and my body was bruised up from the beating. It hurts likes hell but thank God, none of my bones felt broken. I tried to move my arms to untie my bindings but Vincent had really knotted me firmly. Guess all I could really do now is hang around and wait for my death…

I thought about my dream which turned out to be more of a nightmare. I've been having that same dream ever since I watched Sky High and I just never got over it. It was my only escape from the world who always thought that I was nobody, or even worse, a freak. Maybe if my disorder turned into my dream power then I could have the respect that I rightfully deserved. Maybe I would have been able to join the basketball team and Greg would stop picking on me. Maybe I'd be popular and Ashley would stop harassing me and calling me harsh names. And most importantly, Vincent wouldn't have beaten me up every single time… including now. If I had those powers, that alternate life that I've always dreamed for, then I could easily defeat this Program and shove it down the government's face. Heck, I wouldn't even be enrolled at Northridge if my powers and Sky High did exist.

Then my thoughts drifted to Rachelle, my partner here in this demented game. She has been my friend all throughout high school and I'd be stupid if I never had feelings for her. She's always so kind to everyone and I'm pretty sure that she could have been a popular girl in school if she didn't hang out with me all the time. I always felt like I dragged her down but she kept on insisting that she would never replace me for anyone else. That's another thing I like about her. She was always thinking about others rather than herself. She deserves a better future than any one of us. She doesn't deserve to be included here in the Program. If only I could get down from this tree then I'll find her and protect her and keep her away from death's door. She needs to win this, she deserves it…

I kept on squirming within my bindings but it was no use. It was too tight and I just ended up hurting myself from the struggle. My ribs weren't broken but the bruises still caused a lot of pain. I was thinking of a new tactic to get away from this when I heard a distinct sound near me, the rustling of bushes.

My first instinct told me that it was probably Vincent, back from his little trip so he could finish me off. But a new face greeted me in the semi-darkness. It was Justin Cowan and he was holding a gun. I was ready to pray out my last will and testament but he didn't fire at me. Instead, he went around the tree trunk and I felt the curtains slowly loosening up.

"Are you okay? Who did this to you?" He asked as he finally removed my bindings. I fell back to the ground but he managed to catch me. It was probably easy since he was a pretty big guy and I was as frail as a twig.

"Um ayn. Henks." I mumbled.

I spat out a thick amount of blood from my mouth accompanied by a couple of my teeth. It was mighty painful but it did help me talk better.

"It was Vincent who did this. He's playing. I don't know why he didn't finish me off though." I continued with a bit of a pang in my mouth.

"Well, be thankful that he didn't. At least you're just bruised up, Ashley's already dead right on the school grounds." He replied.

"Yeah I know… I was there when it happened. Allan did it. He's playing too. He's out for revenge, that's for sure. I couldn't stop him…" I felt guilty as I remembered that event. How I failed to stop Allan and save Ashley. I wasn't worthy of being a hero.

"Hey, you probably tried to stop him, right? Don't punish yourself for this. Allan's the one that should feel the remorse." He smiled slightly. It was probably the first time I actually saw him smile and it just felt so out of character. He was always a loner in class that it's hard to take in the comforting side he's showing off right now.

"Sorry if it sounds rude and all, but why are you helping me? I expected you to kill me the moment I saw you holding that gun."

"Yeah, guess that's my fault. I'm not really mister sociable. No one really bothered to talk to me so I just stayed that way. You don't have to trust me. You could walk away right now if you want to. And I promise that I won't shoot you. We already have two people playing the game and I'm not interested to add another one."

He looked sincere enough at what he said so a part of me wanted to trust him. And he did help me down the tree. But I wasn't entirely convinced. He could just be using me as a human shield or something. But I didn't really have much of a choice. He had the gun and I was practically defenseless. I might as well ally with him for the mean time till I find Rachelle. For the mean time, he was the hero and I was his sidekick.

"It's cool, man. I trust you. So, allies?" I said as I extended my hand for a handshake.

He was about to shake my hand when we caught sight of a weird glow from a distance. A billow of black smoke accompanied the eerie, bright glow which could only mean one thing: Fire.

"I think we have to move out. If that fire gets any bigger, it might cause a forest fire. I'm just hoping the government's not sick enough to give someone a flamethrower for a weapon." Vincent said.

I just nodded as we gathered our stuff. Well, at least what was left of mine. Apparently, Vincent had a little looting spree while I was tied up. We slowly moved away from the faint glow created by the fire. I was still pretty beaten up so Justin sort of assisted me as we navigated through the forest.


We walked for quite some time in complete silence. The fire's glow was gone so we luckily avoided a brutal forest fire. We finally reached some sort of clearing so we could rest for a bit. Mainly because my bruises were really giving me problems and my Tourette's was acting up again. We sat side by side as he finally broke the silence.

"Oh yeah, who's your partner? Maybe we can luckily find him or her." He inquired.

"Rachelle. Rachelle Dawson. She left the school after you."

"Yeah… I remember her. She was still pretty shaken up after I left. Hey, maybe we'll see her around. Is she your girlfriend or something?"

I probably blushed because his grin grew bigger and he lightly cackled.

"Stop that. We're just friends and stuff… Anyway, who's yours?"

"Chloe Fitzhugh, the last girl to leave."

"Oh, is she your girlfriend?" I teased back.

"She's not my girlfriend. That would be like a mortal sin or something." He replied as he averted his gaze somewhere else. And that left me thinking. What does he mean by mortal sin anyway?

"Who's Chloe to you then?" I asked out of intrigue.

"It's complicated." He replied in all his mystery. I just kept my glare on him and his façade crumbled. He sighed as he finally replied. And shock wasn't enough to describe what I felt.

"It's complicated because… well… Chloe's my sister."


AN: So sorry for the big delay. Exams, province trips with no internet, org related stress etc.

QOTC: Who do you think has a flamethrower for a weapon? XD Isn't that awesome? I just love playing with perspectives~

Additional QOTC: Has anyone watched Harry Potter 7.2? T.T I freaking cried all throughout the movie…

Hmmmm so I rate this chapter as a 2.3/5 since not a lot of things happened and it really was quite filler-ish. Also, I think I failed in the Chloe is his sister part… I originally planned on revealing that bit on information much later in the story. But since I spared Enrique's life, I needed someone to free him or something. And the only option was Justin. Hopefully my gamble will pay off soon.

Next chapter, we'll see the events that took place before the fire happened. Hopefully I get to update before the moth ends but no promises. I injured my right arm due to wake boarding so I'm struggling to type in the keyboard… (Even right now…) so yeah~

And with that, Percival Jones is out. Peace!