Jon Laverick
[November 25th]
"Street Patrol." Tate muttered with his mouth inside a glass of orange juice. Unlike the other students around him look so cheerful or happy. "More like 'Let's walk about in the rain for three hours'."
It was the dawn of the third. Outside the city of Scarow was still as dreary and as a grey as it had been the day before, although at least it was not raining yet. Jon yawned with his mouth wide open, a slice of toast hanging in half from his lower jaw.
"What are you disappointed about?" He asked the twins, who were sat at the opposite side of the table. "You got to do some hero work, didn't you?"
Tate and Mitchell Anderson turned their harrowed gazes upon him. "When they said we would be walking the streets looking for crime, I was expecting us to actually find some crime to stop." Tate stated, dissatisfied. "There wasn't a bloody peep, not one. Not so much as a suspicious shadow."
"That must happen quite often." Aaren reasoned. "Heroes aren't fighting crime every hour of every day. If they were we'd have a serious problem with crime. Of course they'll have slow days."
"I thought it was pretty great." Freya said without sarcasm. "We got to see a bit of the city and experience what patrolling is like."
"It would have been better if it hadn't rained the whole time." Jon agreed. "But regardless, we seemed to get something out of it. Now we know the streets around the hostel. We won't get lost so easily."
"The fact that we hung around the hostel is probably why nothing interesting happened." Tate argued. "Criminals are hardly going to come this close to the wall, to a place where several heroes have gathered to train around forty students."
"They wouldn't know that we are here." Aaren told him. "The Academy hasn't made this trip public for that very reason."
"All more reason why we should have encountered a few crims." Tate groaned.
"Stop winging already." Payton said. "You're like a damn baby, crying about everything."
"Shut your pie hole!" Tate snapped back.
"Witty." Payton remarked in turn. "Your insults are getting better, or at least less vulgar."
"Shove it." Tate kicked the table leg, making the plates and glasses shake and spill. Each of the students had to grab their food and drink to avoid losing it.
"Are you done?" Aaren asked in annoyance, holding her fruit bowl and glass of water to her chest and off the shaking table.
Tate grumbled something rude under his breath and leaned on the table, stopping it from shaking.
"Maybe today we'll do something more exciting." Mitchell said optimistically.
"I think we're doing some sort of social thing for most of the day." Freya said factually.
Tate groaned louder. That was the worst thing he could have been told. He buried his head into his arms.
"Jared and Maisie still aren't down yet." Payton said after a few seconds. There were a few empty chairs at their table. Jason had chosen not to sit with them today, as he had gone back to his usual trio.
"What are they doing up there?" Freya asked.
"I think Maisie wanted to talk to him about something in private." Jon said.
"Ooh!" Payton winked impishly. "Perhaps they're finally going to confess to each other."
They looked at him.
"What? Jared and Maisie?" Jon was surprised by the suggestion.
"Don't tell me you haven't thought that." Payton continued. "Come on. They spend all their time together. He clearly has a thing for her, and she hasn't done anything to say that she isn't interested. There's something going on there. Perhaps Jared got tired of saying nothing and he's trying to confess his love or something romantic like that. Perhaps they're even..." He whistles swiftly "...sealing the deal!
"At eight fifteen in the morning?" Freya reasoned, very much doubting that last part.
Aaren snickered. Now they were all looking at her.
"It's an entertaining theory..." She told Payton, trying not to laugh, "...but that's absolutely not what they're doing."
"You know this how?" Payton asked her suspiciously. "You peeped on them, didn't you!"
"Maisie isn't attracted to Jared." Aaren told them directly. "She's not interested in boys."
The moth boy nodded in cunning realisation. "Oh, I see!" He declared. "She prefers oyster to sausage!"
"Dude, not at the breakfast table!" Freya retorted with a cheeky grin.
Jo's brow furrowed. "Oyster?" He repeated, bewildered by the comparison. "What part is the shell supposed to be?"
No one was brave enough to try and explain. They were also too busy trying not to laugh at him.
"I meant that Maisie doesn't feel that attraction." Aaren continued, looking rather pink after that short digression. "Jared told me that she doesn't seem to understand what that feeling is. She has no desire to... well, to put it in Payton terminology, bump uglies, with men or other women." She glanced around awkwardly. "Jared thinks that she might be asexual."
The group sat in silence for some time after that statement. It was heavy information to suddenly drop on the breakfast table.
"Asexual." Freya said in surprised.
"Makes sense." Tate said, nodding perceptively. "I mean, she is a bit strange."
They turned to him once more.
"Actually, that explains why she never reciprocated my advances." He realised. "Well, its unfortunate but what can you do? She'll just have to live knowing she'll never be able to have me."
The staring grew harsher.
"Tate, what do you think Asexuality is?" Jon asked him with real concern for his understanding of the world.
Tate blinked back at him. "It's when a person is born without genitals." He said with the bluntness of a lead pipe.
"No!" Jon shouted, disgusted by what he had just heard. "No it isn't! It's when a person has no sexual desires of any kind. Good grief!"
Tate leaned back on his seat, his head shrinking into his shirt collar. "Alright, keep your pants on, mister encyclopaedia. You're making a scene."
Jon looked around. He had spoken a little too loudly, and now the rest of the students, Junior and Senior, were staring at him in confused surprise. He sat back into his chair and tried not to meet their gazes.
"Poor Jared." Freya murmured. "I mean no disrespect to Maisie. If that's how she is then that's how she is, no changing it. But it must really hurt him if he feels that way for her."
Aaren looked at her, and then looked away in thought. This seemed to be on her mind as well, but Jon wasn't sure why. He knew that Aaren and Jared also had a rather close relationship, but was she close enough to him for this situation to bother her too?
"I always thought you two would have made a better couple anyway." Payton declared suddenly.
Aaren, who was the one being addressed by the statement, looked up, unsure who he was referring to. When she realised, she suddenly turned a light shade of pink and almost choked on her drink.
"No." She declared defiantly. "Me and Jared... God no. What makes you think that either of us would ever...?" She trailed off as the choking got more severe, and she had to strike herself upon the back a few times.
"You're always spending time together." Freya said in agreement. "It's hard not to think that there's something going on between you two."
"So I'm friends with a boy." Aaren said with a questioning shrug. "What's wrong with that? I can be friends with a boy if I want to."
"Very close friends." Payton continued with a wry, roguish grin. "What do you do during your private training sessions anyway? Hip Thrusts?"
"Shut up now." Aaren said quietly, hiding her embarrassed expression. Being the centre of attention for a discussion such as this was obviously not something she wanted.
"You wish you had lessons like that." Tate said to Payton, attempting to mock someone now that he was recovering from being shouted at.
Payton's attention was quickly snapped across to the twins. "At least I have a chance of making that happen. Most girls in our class want nothing to do with you two, and for good reason."
Jon noticed Aaren relax, sighing with relief. The attention had been taken off her for the moment. She was probably hoping that they would forget all about this conversation.
"We don't say any of this to either of them." She said as Payton and Tate's insult match quietened down. "He told me all this in private. I shouldn't have said anything about it. Please, please don't repeat this!"
The other five nodded, though each of them did so with a separate level of honestly. Jon could be trusted to keep quiet, and while Freya liked to talk she knew that repeating this would hurt them both. Payton was less trustworthy. He and Jared liked to joke around and laugh at things, so there was a good chance he might accidentally spill it out without thinking. Tate and Mitchell could not be trusted. The moment they got the chance they would probably start mocking Jared about it, or they would pass this information across to George Asher or Jason Jones. Jon could tell that Aaren regretted letting them hear this news the most. If you gave the Andersons a spark of fire they would soon burn down a forest.
It was fortunate that they had ended the conversation there, as only a few moments later Jared entered the dining hall. Maisie followed after him, looking shyly around at the room packed with trainee heroes. She had her arms wrapped around her stomach, as she usually did when she was nervous or uncertain. Jon had picked up on that quite quickly. People had repetitive habits when it came to dealing with stress, and that seemed to be hers.
"You're finally awake." Payton said with a greeting nod, as Jared sat down between Aaren and Jon.
"I wasn't asleep." He told them "I had... something I had to deal with."
Jon saw Payton wink at him from the corner of his eye. He very much doubted that Jared was implying that.
Maisie took the seat next to Freya, who considerately moved her wheelchair slightly to the right so that she could fit in.
"Did we miss anything important?" Jared asked his friends as he took a large bite out of a polished red apple.
"We haven't been told to hurry up yet." Jon said. "Though we'll probably be setting of for today's activities soon, so you might want to eat quickly."
"What are we supposed to be doing today, anyway?" Jared inquired.
"I think we've got those hero interviews today." Payton told him. Instantly excitement was sparked around the table.
"I forgot about that!" Tate bellowed in sharp exhilaration. "That's gonna be so cool."
"We'll really get to meet actual heroes?" Maisie asked, both amazed and anxious.
"We already have." Jon reminded her with a less enthusiastic tone. "Several of them are teaching us."
Maisie hid her face in humiliation of being corrected.
"Yeah, but they aren't especially exciting heroes anyway." Tate argued back. "I mean, who really wants to watch Mr. Yorke or Mr. Morse fight criminals. They're not especially flashy or explosive when it comes to conflict. Maybe Mr. Jensen would be quite cool to watch, if you paid him enough."
"They're in the top twenty-five list." Freya said.
Tate flexed his brows in doubt. "Because they're efficient, sure, but not because they're cool."
"They could probably be flashy and cool if they wanted to." Aaren said.
"Their Quirks don't really suit it though." Payton said in agreement with the Anderson Twins. "Throwing feather darts and manipulating metal are cool and all, but neither of them can create explosions that level multi-storey buildings or fire laser beams the width of a watermelon."
"You would've loved fighting our target in the CAE." Jared told him with an equally excited grin.
"I doubt they'll have gotten any large name heroes to show up though." Jon continued. "Most big name heroes will be busy, and the lesser known ones might not be as interesting."
"No way of knowing that till we meet them." Aaren reasoned.
"And anyway, they've already confirmed Supermassive will be there." Tate stated, pumping his fists eagerly.
"Yeah!" Payton agreed with a massive grin. "He should have some awesome stories to tell us. Hopefully they won't be ones told in the comics either."
"Isn't he supposed to be your uncle?" Mitchell said.
"Yes, he is." Jon said with a deflective sigh. He did not want to start this conversation again. He had already been through it so many times.
He had been dreading that one of them would mention this, and of course it was one of the Andersons. He hated how this news always made people gasp, as if it was something astounding. The moment they knew that he was related to the number two hero in the country they all began asking him prying questions, most of which he didn't actually know the answer to. Jared experienced a similar situation of people trying to pry into his personal life, though for some reason that happened much less often to him. Perhaps it was because, apart from having the same hair and eyes, he didn't seem very much like the Progenitor at all. He didn't have a Quirk, which made the comparison a lot trickier to see, but he also had a very different personality. As far as Jon could tell the Progenitor had never displayed any side of his personal life beyond his work as a hero. Most people didn't even know that he had children, although it was often assumed that he did. Meeting Jared had confirmed that. He seemed to be extremely cryptic and impersonal, almost as if he wasn't human. According to Jared he was not so different at home, though on occasions he attempted to play the caring father. Jared always talked about this as if it was purely bad, but from Jon's perspective he actually had one big advantage over other hero offspring. Most people either didn't realise or quickly forgot just who he was related to, and because of that he could avoid a lot of the prying and questioning that other hero offspring endured. Jon had no such luck. Once people knew that his uncle was the famous Supermassive they would never stop seeing the similarities.
"He must have told you some interesting stories." Freya said.
"Not really. I don't see him very often." That was sadly true, though the big reason for this was that, being the Number 2 Hero of Great Britain, Supermassive was a very busy man. There were times where he went for days without rest or sleep, fighting criminal organisations and toppling syndicates all across Europe. He was only in the country forty percent of the time. He wasn't sure what strings their teachers had pulled to bring him in for something so menial, but they must have been enticing. "He doesn't like to gloat anyway."
"Wasn't he in France recently?" Aaren asked. "I remembered hearing about in on the news. He was assisting their heroes in catching a group of human traffickers."
"Must've been easy if he's back so soon." Jared said. "Think we'll get to see his Quirk in action?"
"Perhaps." Jon told him in emotionless monotone. "If you asked him nicely."
"Good morning, everyone!" declared the booming voice of the eastern European hero with the microphone and portable speaker. All ears thudded with the sound of his attention grabbing voice. Dubstep twisted the volume dial of his speaker, and then spoke again. "Didn't mean to make your ears bleed there. Sorry about that."
Beside him entered Ravenhead, with his head feathers preened and tidied neatly. Even the small area of downy fuzz at the base of his beak was straightened and flattened. Rather than his usual scruffy plumage he looked quite well kept today. It must have taken ages to do all of that. It couldn't have been like combing hair. Feathers are simply too large to arrange in a single stroke.
"Go ahead, Nico." The raven teacher said to his colleague.
Dubstep chuckled awkwardly, and raised his microphone up to his lips again. "Alright, listen up." He declared in his more youthfully in tune voice. "Today ve have a very special event prepared for you all. As ve mentioned on Monday, several heroes have agreed to come in and speak vith you all about their experiences. Today you vill get the chance to ask them vhatever questions you have, provided they are about their hero vork."
There was a unanimous cheer of appreciation and excitement from the class. It seemed everyone was eager to take part in this experience. Even though Jon was annoyed by how much everyone talked about his uncle, he couldn't lie about being excited to speak with professional heroes. This was a chance most people would kill for. Some people probably had.
"Obviously you're all excited..." Dubstep continued, sharing his own type of enthusiasm with them. "...but I do have to remind you all that these people are very vell trained and respected individuals. Please treat them vith the respect they deserve, so no unnecessary insults, mockery or flash photography. They have agreed to take pictures with you if you vant, though they vill only do one vith each student for the sake of time. This might feel a bit intimidating for some of you, but remember that they vere all in the place that you are now at one point."
"Be ready to leave in five minutes, and make sure you bring something to write notes on, take photos with or anything you want autographed." Ravenhead finished.
"We'd better get ready then." Jon said, rising from his seat. "Eat up, you two, or you'll be late."
Jared and Maisie both nodded and began devouring their breakfast with large bites and mouthfuls. The rest of the students were also rising from their seats.
"Mind if I dip my sausage in your egg?" Tate asked Payton as he left his seat. A long, curving, brown piece of cooked pork hung between his fingers.
Payton looked at it, then at the twins. "Only if you buy me a drink first."
It didn't take very long for classes Junior and Senior to gather in the entrance of the hostel. Several cleaners had to squeeze through the crowd to get to the dining hall. Their teachers were already there waiting for them, with the exception of Silver Streak and Madam Broadhurst, who both appeared to be absent. As usually it was Ravenhead managing the students and teachers while the headmistress was not there. He seemed surprisingly good at it, though the more vocal and rowdy students caused him some trouble, but they caused trouble for the other teachers too.
Jon found himself squashed at the back of the crowding students between Jared and Maisie, having been the slowest to leave the dining hall.
"Where were you two?" He asked them, now that the opportunity for a quick private conversation was present.
"Just talking about some personal stuff." Jared told him quickly.
"Okay." Jon said, respectful yet still inquisitive.
Jared didn't look comfortable about telling him, which was unusual for him. There were times where he didn't tell his friends stuff, which realistically made sense because most people don't want to share every detail of their lives with everyone they know. He wasn't usually so awkward and uncomfortable about it though. As much as Jon doubted it, perhaps what the others had been joking about was actually true.
The Maisie spoke up, and took Jon by surprise. "We were discussing gadgets I'm making for him." She said with a shocking burst of self-confidence. "I had an idea for something to help him capture criminals without needing to hurt them."
Jon and Jared were surprised by how confident she sounded. Jon had never seen her speak with such excitement or pride before. She had always seemed so nervous and antisocial till then. Jared appeared to be surprised for a different reason.
"Wow." Said Jon. "What sort of a gadget where you thinking of making?"
Maisie grinned shyly, starting to feel a little more nervous now that another person was paying attention to her. "A Netting Gun." She stated, clasping her hands in front of her chest. "Jared didn't like how the stun gun I made him hurt people, so I'm making him a netting get so that he doesn't have to."
"Don't net guns already exist though?" Jon asked, pretty certain that he had seen policemen carrying such tools before.
Maisie's smile was already fading. Clearly she thought she had come up with something original. Jared answered for her.
"We're going to make a compact one." He explained. "Something small enough to fit in a pocket and light enough to carry easily."
"I see." Jon nodded. "Well, that sounds really interesting. You might struggle to find the parts while we're here, however."
"We're going to start it when we get back to Galafrei." Jared said. "Maisie will put it together while I get her the parts she needs. We might need to rely on the men at her forge, but that's yet to be decided."
"Maisie worked at a forge?" Jon said, baffled.
"They helped me rebuild my Stun Gun." She told him shyly.
"She goes there for professional assistance." Jared explained. "It's safest that way."
He said that as if Maisie had no understanding of professional metalwork safety requirement. If that was the case how had she managed to put any sort of gadgets or tools together without blinding her eyes or burning her fingers off?
"Okay everyone, eyes forward!" Ravenhead declared.
Sixty nine eyes turned to look at him.
"The bus will be pulling up in front of the hostel in a minute. Remember to board in a single line, no pushing or shoving. You do not need to sit at the back to be cool or safe, so don't cause a hazard for other students by shunting your way to those seats. Once we're all on-board we will embark for Grand Heracles Hall, where we will meet with Madam Broadhurst who is currently with today's guests."
"Finally we're going." Jared muttered, shuffling his feet. His excitement, along with everyone else's, still confused Jon. "I wonder if Supermassive is as cool in real life as he is in his comics."
"Probably not." Jon said in a dull voice. "Most famous people aren't"
The students of Broadhurst Heroism Academy began to board the bus. Jon was forced to sit at the front, so that his heavy feet didn't weigh down the back of the vehicle. He was used to this. In most vehicles he had to sit at the front for the same reason. It didn't bother him too much. It did mean that he was sat away from most of his friends though. The only other people sat nearby where the teachers, the driver and Freya Westergaard, the only other student with reason to be sat at the front of all public transport.
"Okay!" Ravenhead declared. "Off we go then."
The vehicle kicked into life, reversed out of the carpark, and set off through Scarow, following the narrow, weathered roads.
They drove for a few minutes, shaking and lurching over speedbumps and around sharp corners. Jon sat with his head in his lap, looking at the floor.
"You don't seem very excited." Freya said to his right.
He looked at her. "Forgive my lack of enthusiasm..." he said with a mocking tilt of the head, "...but I've already met the number 2 hero of Great Britain before. It's a little tough to get so excited about meeting a distant family member."
"He's your uncle." Freya said.
"Well done for remembering." Jon said. "I thought you and the others had forgot that. Actually I wish you would forget."
"Don't be so grumpy with them." Freya told him sympathetically. "You might not be excited to meet him but they are. You know him as family, so you're bound to be less eager. They don't have that bond. Let them be excited about it. Perhaps it'll make you feel better because they won't ask you about him so much."
"You have no idea how annoying it is, being related to a famous hero." He told her a little rudely. "People always ask me about him as if I know everything. What's he like? Where does he live? How can I meet him? Does he do autographs? Even if I try to answer one of these questions they have another five prepared for me. I doubt meeting him will change that. They'll probably just start asking me if I could help them meet him again."
Freya shrugged. "I may not have experienced that sort of thing myself, but I get that it's a pain in the ass." She said. "Have you tried just telling them that you can't answer their questions?"
"I don't think it gets through to them." Jon explained. "I like Jared and Payton and the others – though I don't like Tate or Mitchell much – but it's all they ever talk to me about. I feel sometimes like I don't have much in common with them.
"You know what the answer to that is?" Freya told him with an optimistic smile. "Find something that you do have in common with them."
Jon looked at her, feeling that she was mocking him. "You think I don't try that? It's not so easy when all they talk to me about is my damn uncle."
"I can think of something we all have in common." Freya said, still smiling with that shining positivity. "You all want to become heroes. You must have a reason for that, so use that as a way to change their view of you. If you don't want to be seen as Supermassive's nephew then show them that you are more than that. Every one of us is at this academy because we couldn't meet the standards of other places."
Jon shrugged back at her. He doubted that it would work. That wouldn't make them forget that he was related to Supermassive. As much as Jared was rarely acknowledged as the Progenitor's son, no one had exactly forgotten that fact. They still bothered him with questions or insults every now and then. But most of the students didn't have such a great infatuation with Progenitor Wreath as they did with Supermassive.
"You know how I got people to stop noticing my wheelchair?" Freya continued after Jon didn't respond. Jon looked back at her, and shrugged, not knowing the answer. "I stopped bringing attention to it." She explained simplistically. "When people mentioned it I treated it as if it wasn't important. When people mocked and insulted me I laughed it off and moved on. Over time they just stopped caring. Then I started working on utilizing my upper body strength, and after that people barely noticed that I couldn't walk. It was no longer the thing that defined me."
Jon nodded impressed. He was glad that she had managed to achieve that, but still he felt their situations were different.
"You just need to find the think you want people to know you for." She added as a final point. "I'd suggest focusing on your feet. They may hinder your movement but they also back a powerful punch – or rather, kick. Show the others that move you used on the Crusher and they'll quickly start associating you with that instead."
Jon had forgotten about that moment. He had been running on adrenaline at the time, and afterwards much of it had been blacked out o his memory. He remembered the crater that was left behind afterwards very well, and he remembered what he had planned to do before creating it. In truth it was very different to his Uncle's style of fighting, so if the others were to see it in action they might start to forget his relation to Supermassive. "Yeah." He said, feeling a little more empowered and encouraged. "I'll try that." He turned and gave her a grateful smile. "Thanks, Freya."
"No worries." She said. "Anything for a pal."
The bus reached its destination shortly after setting off. It was not heading for the gate today, but instead went further into the city, to a large concrete building nearby the wall at the western corner of the Tivoly District. They reached it after only five minutes of driving. Like the gymnasium it had the flag of the Hero Movement flailing upon the roof, catching the rising winter winds.
The bus came to a stop outside within the large carpark at the building's front, at the edge of the pavement outside the entrance. Through the window they could see Madam waiting for them, her pink dress neat and tidy and her arms clasped behind her back. The teachers were the first to exit the vehicle, and behind them followed their excited students. Jon found himself being shoved out of the vehicle at the front of the crowd, barely able to resist the force they placed upon his back. If not for his overweight metal feet he would have fallen flat on his face.
"Howdy y'all!" The well-dressed middle aged woman announced, exaggerating her American accent unnecessarily. "I trust you all got enough sleep last night. You'll need that rest if you want to get the most out of this weeklong trip. As you've already been told, today you will be meeting several professional heroes currently working in Great Britain. Some of them you may already know, while others you may not. They will be answering your questions and offering you advice, but more importantly than that, they will be helping you understand what it is that is needed of a professional hero."
"It might get a bit crowded in there." Jon said to Freya, looking up at the building in front of them. It wasn't especially large or wide, and only had two storeys. Were any of the rooms inside big enough to fit a class of thirty four, especially when some of their students were rather – for lack of a better word - big?
"I just hope they have a lift." Freya told him, smiling slightly.
"They're all waiting for us inside." Madam continued, taking a step back into the doorway of the building. The glass doors slid open like magic the moment her feet landed on the sensor pad. "If you could all follow me."
The two classes of Junior and Senior entered into the building, squeezing through the wide doorway as a large body of compressed students. Their teachers followed behind them, with Madam at the very front, driving the herd of trainee heroes. The interior of the building was nothing special to those Jon had already seen in Scarow, or back home in Galafrei. The same front desk layout, the same blue coloured walls, the same ceiling lights. He suspected that the same architect had designed each of these buildings, which was entirely possible.
"Beyond here..." Madam announced, stopping in front of two large red doors after leading them down a corridor to the left of the entrance, "...is the hall where you will be meeting our guests." She placed a hand upon the left door. "I'm sure your teachers have already explained this, but while in the presence of our guests you must be well behaved and polite. As they themselves will explain, they have done a lot for this country during their careers and they deserve to be treated with respect. Anyone who decided they are incapable of behaving appropriately will be asked to step outside and will not be allowed back in until the end of the session."
Both of the classes had their suspicions of who would most likely act this way. For class Junior it was obviously the Anderson twins, but it surprised Jon that the senior students all seemed to glance at Adam Parrish. To be fare it was very easy to stare at him. His large clay body filled the corridor, and his round head was pressed awkwardly into the roof. While he couldn't do much to argue against the point, Tate and Mitchell were responding to their staring by staring back with their own style of judgement.
A hand arose from the crowd, and Madam pointed to it. Lavender lowered her arm.
"Is there anything we aren't allowed to ask them?" She asked.
Madam thought for a few seconds before responding to her. "I would recommend keeping your questions focused on their hero careers." She explained. "Don't ask them about their personal lives too much unless it's relevant. Other than that, I'd say most questions are okay. They'll probably tell you if there's a subject they would rather not speak about, but I don't think any of them are likely to do that."
Lavender seemed satisfied with that, and she stepped back into the crowd, disappearing amongst the other girls.
"If that's everything," Madam declared, performing a full one-hundred-and-eighty degree turn on her pink stiletto heels. "Let's go inside and meet our guests.
She flung the doors upon with her pink gloved hands. They clattered against the walls with a reverberating metal ring. She stepped through the doorway, into the harsh light beyond, and the students followed suit.
As Jon's eyes adjusted to the harsh white hanging lights that illuminated the large room, he saw the state of the hall. It was a large rectangular room with little decoration other than red curtains beside the large windows on the left and right walls, a few paintings and photographs of individuals hanging almost at ceiling level, and at the furthest end of the room a large wooden stage at least a metre above the floor. There were seven tables set out in front of that stage, each with one chair on the stage's side and several on the audience's side.
Finally his eyes noticed the seven figures stood waiting upon the wooden stage. They had turned to look at the doorway, no doubt startled or alerted by Madam's aggressive entrance. Some of them had been chatting, while others had been stood separate to the rest. Upon seeing the students enter they stopped whatever they had been doing and lined up at the front of the stage in relaxed yet practised stances.
Jon didn't recognise most of the heroes stood upon that stage, but he did recognise one of them. So they had managed to get him to show up after all. At the far right side of the line-up stood Supermassive. He looked just as Jon had remembered seeing him last, except this time he was wearing his hero costume and not his everyday clothing. The last time he had seen his uncle was at a family barbeque nine months ago. He had let stubble grow upon his chin back then. Now he was clean shaven, as he was expected to be. His square chin rubbed the collar of his orange spandex suit, almost touching the black spiral printed onto the centre of his torso. His dark brown hair was neatly combed and waxed with a left parting across the top of his skull. Over his eyes he wore a black plastic eye mask, though through it Jon could still recognise his light brown eyes.
He could already tell that the others were excited to see him there. Jared had practically squealed like a pre-pubescent girl who had just seen her favourite boy band walk onto stage. It made Jon feel so awkward, so embarrassed. They shouldn't be doing that. He was as human as they were. What was so amazing about meeting Supermassive? He remembered what Freya had said to him on the bus ride over, and out of respect for his friends and the desire to keep them as his friends he tried to refrain from showing that distaste.
"All of you take a seat." Madam instructed, leaving the students as she approached the stage by herself. It took her a bit of effort to climb up onto the metre high structure, as her short legs couldn't quite reach up onto them. For one awkward second the class was given a full view of what hid underneath her long pink skirt. Jon would be having nightmares about that for years. Eventually she was up onto the stage and continuing her speech. "Quickly now, all of you sit down, then we can start."
Jon sat with his usual group of friends, with Jared, Payton and the Andersons to his left and Freya, Maisie and Aaren to his right. The boys were stomping their feet eagerly, far to childishly for people who wanted to become super heroes. It wasn't just them excited about seeing several highly ranked heroes stood in front of them. Across the room Jon could see Rylie Taylor's tail flicking and curling around the legs of her chair. It only did that when she was excited. A couple of the other girls were chatting and pointing at one of the younger male heroes on the stage, apparently they found him attractive. Even George, Jason and Philip were apparently impressed by some of the speakers. Jon was starting to feel more and more like he was an outcast in this environment. He felt that their excitement was unwarranted, yet he was starting to suspect that it was him who was odd in this scenario.
"Welcome everyone..." Madam began, her thin heels sliding on the polished wooden floor of the stage. She almost stumbled before she could even start speaking. "...I want to start with a big thank you to our guests for come here today. Before we begin chatting away you should give the students a short introduction, so that they know who you are."
Here Madam was talking to the heroes behind her. She stepped aside so that the audience could see them properly without her shadow in their way. As she bowed out, she extended an arm to suggest that one of them step forwards. Nobody moved for a few seconds. Then Supermassive started to chuckle.
"I guess I'll go first then." He decided, and stepped forwards.
The moment he took that step the audience erupted into ferocious clapping. Jon was the only person not clapping so hard. It felt awkward for him to celebrate seeing a family member in this way. No one else in his family celebrated him like this. If hi and Jared's experiences were anything to go by, it seemed that being related to a famous hero made a person more unimpressed and judgemental off them. Supermassive had barely had a chance to speak yet, but doing so would have been difficult thanks to the deafening clapping that echoed throughout the room. He continued to chuckle, and awkwardly scratched the back of his head.
"Morning everyone." Supermassive said.
His voice was so warm, so friendly. That was probably what people liked most about him. It wasn't just his large stature and muscular body. He always seemed to be such a relaxed and kind-hearted man. Even in his personal life he behaved that way. It was rather strange though. Jon had never seen him get angry or lose his temper. He'd never even seen him tell someone off. People were attracted to warm personalities. That was evident right now, watching his friends clap and cheer for a family member he was not especially close to.
"First off, I want to say a big, big thank you to Ms Broadhurst for arranging this event, and for getting in touch with me and asking me to make an appearance here today."
Madam gave a flattered laugh from the side of the stage. It sounded painfully fake.
"My name is Supermassive, I doubt you've ever heard of me before." The number two hero continued. This got a laugh from the audience of students. "I've been working as a hero for twenty years now, in Great Britain, Ireland and Europe. I started training when I was sixteen and after four years of study and hard work I finally earned my license. That's not to say I was that great of a student, though. You can ask my teachers all about that."
Another series of laughs. Oddly enough it seemed the teachers were the ones laughing most this time.
"I started in a place very much like the one you are in now." Supermassive said. "So believe me, I understand the struggle that comes with striving to be the best you can, even when everyone else thinks you can't do it."
He paused for a moment, glancing at Madam Broadhurst. Though she was doing nothing to suggest there was an issue, he suddenly seemed pressed for time.
"I've probably said more than I needed to." He declared moments later. "I'll just add that it's great to see all of you today, and I look forward to talking to all of you in a few minutes."
He stepped backwards into the line, leaving the front of the stage empty once again. The other heroes looked over at him, a mixture of emotions on the visible faces. Some were uninterested, while a few others seemed to be annoyed.
Another one of them stepped up to the front of the stage. He was a stick thin, pale man, with a pair of oval, rimless glasses sat high up the ridge of his nose. Unlike the other heroes he seemed much more nervous to be stood before only forty people.
"Morning." He said with an awkward stumble. "My name is Regen, and I'm the Number Five hero in Great Britain."
That took Jon by surprise. He had heard the name Regen mentioned before, but he had never actually seen the man. He hadn't expected the number five hero in the country to be so... nervous.
"You might have heard of me..." Regen continued, "But chances are you don't know me very well. Unlike my colleagues here with me today I don't especially enjoy standing in the limelight. I work as a Recovery Hero, helping rescue individuals stuck in all sorts of scenarios. Usually I support other heroes in rescuing and healing civilians during terror attacks, as well as providing medical support to any heroes who need it. In fact I've been doing this for so long that I was recently given the title of Greatest Recovery Hero in the country."
While there was applause for the uncomfortable man, it wasn't anywhere near as much as Supermassive had received. The awkward hero didn't seem too bothered by that however. Now that his piece was said he stepped away and joined the line up once more.
A hero at the other end of the line shrugged impatiently. "I guess we're doing this by ranking then." He declared, and brazenly stomped to the front of the stage. In terms of looks he seemed quite plain, dressed in a leather jacket and grey jeans. The only unusual piece of dress wear was the black eyepatch over his right eye.
"Morning, all of you wannabe heroes!" The one eyed man shouted so loud that his voice made the windows shudder. "I'm the number sixteen hero of Great Britain. I go by the name Blindsight. You might've seen me on the news more recently, the up and coming newbie with a lot of talent. I must admit, I wasn't expecting to get so far so quickly, but you too can manage it with hard work and perseverance." He pointed at the crowd in a faux act of encouragement. While the audience clapped for him it was rather evident that they weren't too impressed by his self-important attitude.
After him came the remaining four heroes. While none of the others acted so pompously, they weren't necessarily much better. The hero who followed after him was an elderly man known as Gemsey, who was apparently one of the oldest still employed heroes in Great Britain. He had several multi-coloured crystal clusters sprouting from various areas of his body. He told them that at one point he had been in the top five ranking, but in his old age he had lost appeal with the public and was now only the Number Twenty Hero in Great Britain. After him came the only female hero in the line-up, a French woman named Rêveuse. She had explained that her name was taken from the French word for Dreamer. She was the Number Thirty-Four Hero in Great Britain, although apparently she was barely known in her home country.
There were two others after her, though Jon found them to be less interesting. One was a man made entirely of charcoal, with a body so thin and small that it could barely be seen. This was not the most eye catching detail however, as around his body was a continuous blazing fire that formed a humanoid shape. This charcoal man seemed to be seated at the centre of that fire apparition, like some bizarre kind of fantasy monster. Appropriately he had the name Guy Fawkes, and he was the Number Forty Five Hero in Great Britain. The other man was an Italian individual, with a curving moustache and strands of brown hair hanging down his face. He called himself Baroque, and he was the Number Fifty Two Hero in Great Britain.
It seemed that this quick introduction was supposed to gain interest from the students, and to some extent it had, but Jon felt it had also turned the crowd away from the more brash speakers. He certainly didn't feel like hearing Blindsight speak after his brash declaration. He was interested in some of the others however, and he felt that hearing more about them would be worthwhile.
"So, here's the plan." Madam interrupted at the final speaker's introduction ended. He had barely stopped speaking before her shrill voice cut through his light yet blatant Italian accent. "For the next couple of hours we're going to split you up into seven groups. Each group will be talking with one of our guests for fifteen minutes before we switch you around to another guest. This will repeat every fifteen minutes until everyone has gotten a chance to talk to each of our guests." She began counting heads with a pointing finger, and then realised that they couldn't create equal numbered groups out of their thirty four students. "If there is a guest you are really eager to speak to, please go stand by their table now, we will sort everyone else remaining into groups."
Quickly madam came to realise the problem with this request. A large number of students, far too many for one group, wanted to speak to Supermassive straight away. At least half of Class Junior had swarmed his table, which unfortunately was at the middle of the room. This meant that the nearby tables were swarmed because of this. Eventually the teachers resolved this situation by splitting that group of students in half and letting one half speak to Supermassive first. The other half would instead be speaking to the guest at the neighbouring table on the left, which happened to be Blindsight's.
The guests had already taken their seats on the opposite side of each table, faxing students where were either there out of interest or a lack of choice. Jon had made a decision on who to speak to first without needing prompting from the teachers. He had joined the group at the table to the right of Supermassive. The guest speaker sat there was the hero he had been most curious about.
"Right then. You can all go ahead and get started now." Madam stated.
Immediately the room filled with chatter echoing of the thick walls. The sheer volume of voices made it tough to hear anything any of the speakers were saying, and even the naturally loud ones had to shout at some points.
Regen sat rigidly and uncomfortably upon his chair, keenly aware of the five pairs of eyes looking back at him. Jon Laverick owned one of those pairs.
"Okay then, what should I begin with?" The hero pondered with a small squeak in his voice. "I suppose I should ask if any of you have any questions."
One of them did. Freya raised her arm, and Regen nodded at her. "What does your Quirk do?" She asked.
He seemed surprised by the question. "Well, I honestly thought everyone knew about my Quirk by now." He said, trying to sound humble. "As the name suggests, it repairs anything which I touch. This can apply to living organisms, objects, buildings, clothing, tools... anything at all, I can fix it."
"Can it mend my legs?" Freya asked, with a tone that suggested she was mocking him.
He blinked awkwardly. "Were you born that way?" He asked cautiously.
"This is because of my Quirk." She told him.
"Then no." Regen explained. "My Quirk restores things to their natural, original state. It can't restore something that was made broken."
He had probably realised that he was walking on eggshells, and decided to end that explanation there. While Freya didn't seem upset or angry, Jon had noticed that her hands were clenched rather tightly around her wheel rims.
"Any other questions?" Regen asked, wanting to move quickly on.
"What made you want to become a hero?" Lavender asked.
"Well, when I started out it was with the hope that I could save lives." Regen explained. "Since most other heroes focus on fighting the villains, I decided to focus on saving any victims caught up in their actions. My Quirk wasn't suited for combat anyway, so I instead worked towards helping rather than protecting. Since starting my career I've managed to rescue over five hundred people, so I'd say I managed to achieve that goal."
The questions went on like this for a while, with Regen answering them as he saw fit. Some of them were about his hero career, others about him personally, and not all of them had interesting answers. One of those questions had been "What is your real name?", which had been asked by Vikki Brail.
"Oscar Owens." The hero told her. "Double O, my dad used to call me."
Jon felt that he ought to ask questions himself, but the others had already asked most of what he had wanted to know. He wondered why he was feeling so out of it. He had been in a bad mood all day. His friends' behaviour that morning had set him off, but now he wasn't even sure what bothered him. He tried to do as Freya had suggested, but it wasn't easy. What had seemed so easy to apply back then was much tougher a few minutes later.
"Okay, switch around!" Madam called. The first fifteen minutes were up. The seven groups of students stood up from their seats and moved across to the next table. The process went from right to left, so the group at the far left table had to walk all the way across the room to reach the far right. There was a joke about politics in there somewhere, but Jon couldn't see it.
The next hero his small group got to speak to was Baroque, who was not especially interesting. He didn't have much to say, even for the larger questions he was posed. The most Jon had learned about him by the end of their fifteen minutes was that he had been born in Florence, Tuscany, his real name was Cesare – pronounced Cheh-za-reh – Adesso, his Quirk was called Sensory Distortion; which had the effect of altering a person's perception of the world for a short time, and his hero name had come from a childhood friend who had once described his quirks effect as 'like living inside a Baroque painting'. Beyond that he was not especially interesting. Unlike Regen he had been more confident in speaking with a crowd of students, but unlike Regen his work as a hero just didn't interest Jon as much.
The classes moved around again, and next in line was the French woman. She was ultimately much more interesting that Baroque, and surprisingly more interesting to talk to than Regen. She had a very warm and friendly smile, and her strong yet somehow relaxing accent helped to extenuate her other noticeably foreign features.
The first question was the obvious one. "What does your hero name mean?" Freya asked.
The woman smiled warmly at her. "Well, it is French, as you probably guessed." She began. Her attitude seemed to suggest that she knew how most British people looked at the French. It appeared se found that stereotype to be rather funny, even though she wasn't following herself. "Rêveuse means dreamer in a feminine context. In a masculine context, you use rêveur." She explained. "For example, you would use it in zhe phrase 'c'est une rêveuse'. Zhat means 'She is a dreamer'."
"How did you get that name?" Elijah asked. He was the only Senior student in their small group.
"Well, like most heroes, it comes from my Quirk." Rêveuse continued. "I can induce a dream state upon a sleeping person, allowing me to see zheir dreams, alter zhem and connect other dreamers telepathically. I call it my Mind Pool."
Jon was now suddenly very interested. He hadn't imagined her Quirk was that unusual or that complexly interesting. She had seemed like a simple yet friendly French woman from afar. Her Quirk sounded like it had a lot of interesting uses. Perhaps not in combat, but in other ways.
"How does that come in useful?" Jon now asked. Unlike the last two heroes, who's Quirks were self-explanatory, hers was rather enigmatic.
"Well, since I work as a support hero, I don't often need to face combat directly." She explained. "My Quirk is most certainly not suited for it. I can only use it while a target is asleep, and I cannot use it to hurt them. It does allow me to see what goes on in zheir mind however, as zheir dreams re-enact zhose thoughts and feelings. Through that I can either calm zhem, persuade zhem or learn information from zhem. With other heroes it can help zhem relax, while with villains and criminals it's been useful in making zhem turn zhemselves in without a fight."
Jon found himself growing more and more curious about the idea. He decided to ask a rather unusual question.
"Could... you use it on me?"
The hero looked at him, as did the other students in his group. In truth he wasn't sure why he had asked her that. His curiosity had driven him to understand it further. Perhaps subconsciously he had hoped that using such a Quirk on him might have helped him get over his current annoyances.
"No." The hero said, not reluctantly, not unkindly, not disrespectfully. It was stated as a matter of fact. "You need to be asleep for it to work, and I don't really want to... how do you say...?" She struggled to find the right words. "...put you to sleep." She finished a second later.
While those words had a different meaning in English, Jon understood what she was trying to say. She didn't want to knock him out first in order to use her quirk on him. That was a valid reason, he supposed. There were multiple ways a person could knock another person unconscious, and none of them were advised. Some of them weren't guaranteed to work, others could cause physical harm to the target's body or even death if performed wrong. Even tranquilizers were unadvised, certainly if they weren't adjusted for safe human use. There was also the issue of usually being unable to wake them back up again straight after. But perhaps there was an individual with a quirk that solved this matter. If there was, it appeared that they weren't here today.
"But, if you do want to go through with some dream therapy, I work at a spa in Neworth. I could arrange an appointment to put you through a short dream trip."
The offer came out of nowhere, but it intrigued Jon. Having his dreams analysed would be interested. He didn't dream often, but having someone look into his head and point out the thoughts that were hurting him might help solve his current annoyance.
The groups switched around again. Jon had managed to get the address of Rêveuse's spa before moving on. He would go there and seek her help if he felt he needed it.
After her, Jon's group had to make the walk from the far left of the classroom to the far right. The next hero they sat down with was Guy Fawkes. He was the least interesting out of all the heroes there, which was ironic considering his entire body – except for the charcoal centre – was made out of fire. His real name was not Guy Fawkes, which was a slight disappointment. It was actually Guy Hawkins, close but not quite the same name. Part of what made his so uninteresting was his lack of anything to say. He had a voice, even though he didn't have a mouth or lips or any visible vocal chords. His disembodied voice crackled like fire, but said very little. He didn't have an interesting reason for being a hero, or a unique life, or a dramatic and emotional backstory. Even being near him wasn't interesting. Jon had assumed that sitting so close to sentient fire would at least be hot, but there was barley any alteration in temperature. Apparently the hero was currently controlling and nullifying the effect of his flames so that they didn't burn anyone at that moment. Who would have thought that someone with a Quirk like Fire Manifestation would be so uninteresting?
Next, moving left to the next set of seats, was the veteran hero Gerard Ramsey, more commonly known as Gemsey. Jon had been a little curious to hear what he had to say, especially since he had the longest career out of every hero in the room, even his uncle. Surely he would have some interesting stories to tell. It turned out that he did, though not quite in the way Jon had been expecting. His time as a hero appeared bizarrely unexciting and – for lack of a better description – easy. What was interesting, however, were the number of public and charity events he had done over the years. Jon had already known about a few of these, but he hadn't realised just how many the hero had managed and appeared at. He'd even had a TV show for a while, Gem'll Fix It, where he'd worked alongside children and young adults to spread awareness of various diseases, disasters, crimes, substances and villains who were at large at the time. That all sounded fascinating on the surface, but Gemsey never went into much detail about. In fact he seemed to ignore the questions that were about behind the scenes, or his reasons for doing such work.
"Well it was a laugh at first." He said eventually, revealing the most he was prepared to say. "We weren't sure whether people would enjoy watching a TV show which was run and managed by a hero, but it turned out they did, in fact it was the biggest selling point. I suppose I was the first Showman Hero in that respect. We would get all sorts coming in to talk about the dilemmas of the world, and the guests would have a great time. There were lines of people each filming day wanting to get a seat beside me." He started laughing under his breath.
"Did bringing attention to the world's problems help?" Lavender asked.
"Oh yes." Said Gemsey. "It helped a lot. Because of me we managed to beat Red Spots and Pollo Fever. We also helped catch several wanted criminals who were in hiding. If I hadn't spoken about them they would still be rampant through our society."
Jon felt that was a little self-congratulatory of him. Someone else would have probably done that job as well, even if it took them longer.
"I used to watch your show when I was a kid." Elijah told him.
"Oh, did ya?" Gemsey said with a pleased grin. "Well, tell ya what... since you lot've been so interesting to talk to, why don't I leave you with a parting gift."
Jon wasn't sure what he was about to offer, or even why he felt the need to do so. None of the other heroes had done such a thing. The veteran hero gripped one of the multi-coloured crystals growing out of his wrist and pulled it free with a slight crack. It fell apart into five small pieces. He held out his hand, and offered one to each of them.
"Good luck crystals." He explained. "Keep them on your person and you'll always have my luck with ya."
Jon very much doubted that was true. Gemsey's Quirk simply allowed him to grow mineral deposits on his body, it didn't provide a person with good luck. The gesture was kind all the same, and Jon took one of the crystals from him. Elijah, Lavender, Vikki and Freya took the remaining three for themselves.
"Thank you." Lavender said, turning the small rainbow crystal between her fingers.
"Always a pleasure to help such young and... hopeful kids." Gemsey stated. The pause he had taken made Jon feel a shiver in his spine. Something about it worried him. In the back of his mind he was questioning what the man had been going to say. There was also something in his eyes. His stare was unnerving as well. His smile hid it well, but his eyes were glaring at them... like an own targeting a mouse.
Jon hid his relief as the groups switched tables again. He was glad to be away from the man. Though he hadn't done anything directly to concern him, that look he had seen in the heroes eyes had made him feel very uncomfortable. There were only two tables left now, and they had finally reached the one where Blindsight sat.
His attitude was no different now to the one he had while introducing himself. The man was very sure of himself, though he was only five years older than Jon and his classmates. His pirate getup seemed to magnify this. The eyepatch was especially appropriate, though Jon would soon learn why he was wearing it.
"Why did you pick your Hero Name?" Freya asked him. "What does Blindsight even mean, anyway?" Her rudeness was a retaliation to his. He had accidentally kicked her wheelchair from under the table and pushed her back a few centimetres. He didn't even apologize for that.
"I picked it because it's a catchy name." The hero told them simply. "I took the words blind and sight and put them together to create blindsight. It's a sort of contradictory name, and I like that. It also sounds a bit like hindsight. It's relevant to my Quirk, too."
"Isn't your Quirk that laser eyes one?" Elijah inquired, also not responding to the hero with as much respect as he was supposed to. The hero had done little so far to earn it.
"It is." The hero responded, starting to pick up on their attitude. "I can fire laser beams out of my eyes." In order to demonstrate, his uncovered eye began to glow bright red, then white. It didn't fire a laser, but Jon felt that if the hero hadn't restrained himself it would have. "I can fire lasers from both my eyes, but if I do both at the same time they're weak. If I cover one of my eyes, however, the other one can fire a full beam with ease." He pulled at the cloth strapped over his right eye. "That's why I ware this you see."
Beyond that Blindsight had little to say. His careen was not yet long enough to have any real interest to it, though the fact that he was already the number sixteen hero ought to suggest he was a uniquely talented individual. His attitude wasn't helping this either. By the end of their fifteen minutes Jon hoped he would never meet this man again. The most he had learned about him was what his quirk did, his real name – Andrew King – and a couple of stories about his misbehaviour at school. That was it. Though he was at least a bit more interesting to talk to than Guy Fawkes and Baroque, Jon had no plan to go back and hear more about how he used to prank the other trainee heroes at his academy.
Finally his group had come to the last table, the one which he had been dreading. He was left sitting face to face with his uncle... the famous and beloved Supermassive.
While Jon didn't have anything he especially wanted to ask or know, the other members of his group did, and through them he was able to learned things that he already knew about the hero.
"Why are you called Supermassive?" Vikki asked eagerly.
His uncle gave them a large, warm smile, his muscles bulging through his tight spandex suit. "Well, let me answer that with another question." He said "Do any of you know anything about black holes?"
The five of them shook their heads.
"Well, when I was a child I used to be fascinated with space." The hero continued. "I had a telescope which I would use to look out at the universe above us, and entire shelves of books on astronomy and space sciences. I had this dream of spotting something no one else had ever found before." He paused, smiling at the memories he was recalling. "When I was five my Quirk first began to manifest. At the same time I managed to find something I had never expected. While staring through my Telescope I spotted a distant speck within a far of galaxy... a dark space at its centre. I later learned what it was... a black hole." The hero adjusted his seat, leaning forward on the desk. "Once I knew what it was I began researching it further. I learned what black holes were, about how they had such a strong gravitational pull that not even light or time could escape them. The more I read, the more they fascinated me. And then I learned about the biggest kind of black holes known to man... Supermassive black holes."
"So that's where your name comes from?" Lavender said with interest?
"I suppose it was a lucky chance that my Quirk worked so well with that title." The hero continued. "You'll probably already know about it, but if you don't, my Gravity Increase Quirk allows me to increase the gravitational pull upon anything I touch. With it I can weight down and crush anything and anyone... just like a black hole. Since supermassive black holes are the biggest, when I decided to become a hero I knew instantly that I wanted to be known by that name. I wanted to weigh down all the criminals in the world and crush them under the righteous weight of justice."
Jon rolled his eyes. He had heard that statement from his uncle before. It was practically his catchphrase. 'Crush them under the weight of justice'. That was all well and good in concept, but justice could hardly be handed out to a criminal who had been crushed to death. Though Jon would give his uncle credit for knowing that. A Quirk like his could easily cause severe injury to a person, yet he had never heard of any incidents where this had happened. Supermassive was careful with his ability, using it only to disable a target as much as was needed. Years of training had taught him what limits he had to reach before he started to cause them harm.
"How did you make it to being the Number Two hero?" Freya asked him.
"Lots of perseverance, practice and work." Supermassive told her. "You have to be dedicated to stopping crime and helping people, otherwise you'll never make it that far.
"Did you ever think you would become so famous?" Vikki asked.
Supermassive chuckled. "Not really. It just sort of happened. I never hungered fame, I just wanted to help people. Fame came with that, I suppose."
Next came a question that Jon hadn't been expecting.
"Do you think you'll be the next Number One hero in Great Britain?" Elijah inquired curiously.
At first Supermassive was taken aback, but quickly he recovered his usual optimistic and cheerful grin. "Well, I won't act like I'm aiming to achieve that..." He told them humbly, "...but if a day comes where the Progenitor cannot or will not keep fighting, I will take up that mantle with pride."
This seemed to inspire the group. It didn't inspire Jon though. It annoyed him further. His friends would only be more loud about their admiration for him if he ever became the number one hero.
Their time was up shortly after, and all of the groups had now been to each table once.
"Okay everyone, thank you for behaving today. We'll be heading back to the hostel in a few minutes. Please gather everything you brought with you and make your way back down to the bus." Madan declared over the many chatting voices.
Jon had been about to join up with his friends, when a hand stopped him.
"Come with me for a moment." Supermassive said.
Jon didn't argue, though he was surprised that his uncle wanted to speak to him. They walked to the other side of the room and stood near a far corner, out of range from the curious eavesdroppers. Jon could see that Jared and Payton were jealous of him, and that only annoyed him more.
Once separated from the rest of the class, Supermassive let go of Jon, and his usual optimistic smile faded to a look of concern. "You don't seem very happy." He said to his nephew. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine." Jon said with disinterest.
"Are you sure?" Supermassive pressured. "You didn't say much during our meeting. It's not like you to not get involved."
Jon was surprised that his uncle had any impression of the sort of person he was. They so rarely saw each other. He shrugged dismissively. "I didn't have anything to say."
"You couldn't even say high?" His uncle attempted to give him an encouraging smile, but it didn't work. Jon wasn't meeting his gaze, turning his eyes away. In doing so he saw his classmates glancing in their direction, watching him jealously. He tried to ignore them. Supermassive however came to a quick realisation. "I see." He said, smirking and shaking his head. "Your friends are bothering you?"
Jon didn't directly respond to him, but the expression that quickly crossed his face said more than any words could. Supermassive's question had been confirmed correct.
"What's the problem? Are they jealous that I'm your uncle?"
"Sort of." Jon admitted, realising that he couldn't avoid this conversation anymore. The biggest issue with explaining the problem was that Jon wasn't completely sure what the problem was. It embarrassed him to open up about it to the person at the centre of that issue.
"All they ever talk to me about is you." Jon told him finally. "It's like they hardly even realise that I'm not you.
His uncle patted him on the shoulder. "Ah, so it's the classic relative syndrome." He said, shaking his head. "I get it now. Nothing you can do about it, I'm afraid. You can't stop them from being curious about it. The best you can do is be yourself, and they'll start seeing you as a different person to me."
"I've tried that." Jon said. "It's hard. At first it seemed I could talk to them without the subject being brought up, but the more of them that learned about it the less they cared about anything else."
Supermassive thought about that for a bit. "Well, if the issue is that they're more interested in me than they are in you, perhaps you should do something to create that interest."
"My friend Freya suggested that."
"Then it must be good advice." His uncle said. "Look, Jonny, they're your friends for a reason. You must have something in common, so work with that. Don't worry about them being fanboys and girls. Even if they aren't paying much attention to you right now, if you continue being there for them they will eventually see what you're capable off." He chuckled. "Hell, you're taking the same path I did, walking the same road. You're a part of my family. You'll do something to astound them someday. Then they'll start noticing you."
Jon shrugged. It wasn't quite the advice he wanted, but there wasn't much else he could do. "Thanks, Uncle Ash." He muttered.
"Don't mention it, buddy." Supermassive ruffled his hair. "How's your mum, by the way?"
"She's well. Dad too." Jon said.
They awkwardly stood together. After a few seconds the hero let go off his nephew and clapped his hands together. "Right then. I'd best be going. My time here is up." He pointed a finger at Jon's chest. "You take care of yourself." He declared proudly. "And keep working hard. I want to see you become the next upcoming hero! Don't disappoint me, Jonny."
"I won't." Jon responded weakly.
He returned back to the class, re-joining with his friends who were still watching him.
"You lucky bastard." Payton said as he returned to them. "Getting a private conversation with Supermassive himself."
"What did he say to you?" Jared asked.
Jon shrugged nonchalantly. "Nothing. He just wanted to say hi, and wish me luck. Family stuff."
"I envy you, man." Payton said with a jealous smile. "Having him as your uncle must be so cool. I bet he gave you some inspirational advice, didn't he?"
Jon glanced back. His uncle was now leaving the building, along with the other heroes. Before walking through the red doors he turned and nodded at his nephew. Jon found himself smiling back.
"Yeah..." He said, "...I suppose he did."
So this chapter was really tricky for me to write. I haven't been in the best mood for a while now, and because of it writing for this story has become really challenging. It doesn't help that Jon isn't really my favourite character to write for. I'll have to do something to change that in the future. Also, because it's Christmas I've been feeling a need to rush my work more, the year's about to end and I want to get something out before it does, that sort of mentality. Because of that I feel that I've rushed this chapter quite a lot. It ended up being much longer that I wanted, so sorry about that. I might take a break until the new year, but I don't really want to leave this as the last chapter till then, so I'm going to try and get out another one before then.
So yeah, sorry if this chapter is a mess. I'll try and do better in the next one.
Also, I want to thank my readers who have been supporting me while I wrote this chapter. It was really challenging for me and you seriously helped out. I probably would have given up on it if not for you.