Chapter 18

Arc 1

6 Months Later - Sunstone City

"6 months in. In 6 months, The Blur has changed the world for the better. I feel safer in this world than I ever have before. I feel that he's the hero that we needed not just as a hero but as the person to guide us in life. He's the answer to so many questions. The answer to are there others out in the world that are extraordinary. I believe he's beginning. The genesis if you will. The genesis to a new age. The genesis to the age of heroes. But as more heroes arise, we have to think there are more threats that arise. Maybe even threats that have always been here just never noticed."

"And make sure you include just how dreamy you think he is." Cedric said as he walked into the living room of his home holding two cups of coffee. Kala rolled her eyes at him as he handed her a cup of joe and chuckled.

"For the record, I never said he was cute." She responded as she took a sip of her drink.

"But you never said he wasn't. And I see you looking at his picture sometimes. You give him that look you give when you see Michael B. Jordan shirtless in Creed."

"You mean your twin?" She joked making him roll his eyes this time in response.

"For the last time, I do not look like Michael B. Jordan."

"Yes, you do."

"Okay, If I look him so much, how come you don't look at me the way you look at him?" He said, taking a sip of his coffee after earning a slight glare from his best friend. It was an honest question. How come she didn't look at him the way she looked at other men? Was there ever a chance for him to escape the friendzone? It flattered him that she looked at The Blur like that but as Cedric Harvey, he wanted to be looked at in that light.

"Because you're you, you're my best friend." The answer she gave kinda hurt him a bit. But it was an answer he was expecting honestly. Was it the one he wanted? No, but it was the one he expected. The heroes don't get the girl.

"Were you expecting a different answer?" He shook his head as he took a sip of his coffee while she looked at him.

"How's Madison?" She asked him, making him raise a brow as he looked at her. Instead of answering, he simply stared at her with a look of confusion on his face.

"What?" She questioned.

"Why did you say her name like that?"

"Like what?"

"The same way you say Becky Cooper." Cedric mocked Kala making her look up at him and roll her eyes. Becky was a girl that Cedric dated in high school for a few months and coincidentally Kala didn't like her. It wasn't a rare thing for Kala to not like his girlfriends, it was just something she did. Did he know why? No. Did he want to know why? Yes, but it was something that he wasn't gonna try to pry out of her.

"I did not."

"You did. And I guess, she knew we were speaking about her. I gotta take this." He said as he picked up his phone to see her calling.

"Hey, babe." He answered as he walked out of the front door to the porch while she watched him walk away. She let out a deep exhale as he closed the door. Just then Cedric's mother, Kimberly walked down the steps currently dressed for work.

"Morning Kala."

"Morning Mrs. Harvey."

"Did he leave already?"

"No, ma'am. He's outside talking to his girlfriend."

"Oh okay." Kimberly responded as she walked into the kitchen to get herself a cup of coffee. She turned to look at the door to see if he was gonna walk through the door but he didn't, giving her a chance to talk.

"Hey, Mrs. Harvey." Kala said getting up from her seat and running into the kitchen.

"Yes?"

"Have you met his girlfriend yet?"

"No, I haven't. But he seems really serious about her." She said taking a sip of her coffee. Kala nodded along as she looked down at the floor. Kimberly saw this and let out a light chuckled as she shook her head.

"Why are you asking?"

"Just curious."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, do you think there's another reason I'm asking?"

"I don't know. I just know that you and him are very close friends. You guys have known each other for a long time. Maybe there's something there." Kala nervously chuckled and shook her head no.

"No, there is nothing there. Trust me on that, we're just best friends."

"Okay." Kimberly said giving Kala's hand a gentle squeeze with a smile on her face. Just before Kala could say anything to respond, Cedric walked through the door followed by a guest. Kala turned to look at the door slightly hoping that it was his girlfriend but instead it was just there friend, Natalia walking in.

"Look who I found outside." Cedric said he closed the door behind him. Natalia turned her head and rolled her eyes as Cedric chuckled.

"You guys ready? We gotta get there by 8:30 and it's currently 8:12." She said looking down at her watch.

"Alright let me go change my shirt. I still gotta look good as an intern." Cedric said as he ran up the steps while Natalia and Kala watched as he walked away.

"Thanks again for getting Cedric that gig. He was running out of things to fix around here." Kimberly said as she put on her suit jacket that was previously laying over the couch.

"Oh no, it's fine Mrs. Harvey. We love having him there, he's like a big lovable teddy bear." Natalia said making Kimberly chuckle.

"I know for a fact that Sigman loves having him there." Kala said.

"Yeah, you know 'Harvey, I see a lot of myself in you'." Natalia said mocking her boss making both Kala and Kimberly laugh.

"What's funny?" Cedric asked as he came walking down the stairs with a white v-neck in hand. Kala turned her head and exhaled as she saw her best friend shirtless once again. Growingg up, it was something the saw often which was bit weird for most people. Most people don't really see their bestfriends shirtless but between those two, they didn't mind. But it was something about seeing him shirtless recently that had garnered a different reaction than before.

The crazy thing, Natalia was even looking at Cedric and that was something that never really happened.

Kimberly saw this and cleared her throat making both women quickly look away looking around the room trying to play off their stares as they had blushes on their faces.

"New rule, every time you come down those steps, I expect you to have a shirt on." Kimberly said as Cedric continued down the steps putting his shirt on. Cedric rolled his eyes and walked to the closet grabbing a sweater out of the closet behind the front door.

"Don't roll your eyes at me, you may be grown but I will still whoop your ass." Kimberly said walking out of the house as Kala and Natalia giggled hearing his mother scold him like she did plenty of times when he was younger.

"Let's go before she starts cursing even more." Cedric said as everyone walked out of the house with him following close behind to close and lock the door.

(!)-(!)-(!)-(!)

Maverick Tower

Miles Maverick stood in his office looking out of the window at the city. The city he felt like he owned. For the longest, he had paid the dues from both the streets and the business world and he finally felt that he was close. He felt that he was close to his goal. Domination. Domination of the city, first. And then, the world. Sunstone City was ready. They were ready to feel the wrath of The Monarchy. He turned to look at the painting of his father. He smiled and chuckled as he took a look at the picture.

His father was the reason for everything. That evil bastard had the biggest impact on Miles, ironically.

"I guess a thank you is in order." He said looking at the portrait on his wall. And it was true. His father was part of the reason he drove to be the king.

"In just a few short days, I will reign supreme over this city and this world. And Adam, well Adam's going to help me rule this world with an iron fist." Miles said as he turned his head and looked out of his window over the city.

"And their hero will fall at my hands." Miles said as he clenched his fist looking out at the city.

(!)-(!)-(!)-(!)

Sunstone City Herald

"Harvey!" The name rang out around the office as the Editor-In-Chief, Leonard Sigman was standing at the copy machine looking at it with a confused frown.

"Harvey!" The name rang out once more but this time it got the owner of the name running towards him.

"Sir?" Cedric responded being as respectful as he could.

"The printers out and I can't get it to work. Can you work that special little magic or whatever that you do?"

"Yes, Mr. Sigman." It wasn't out of the ordinary for Cedric to fix a printer or some type of machinery in the office. Oddly enough, he felt like that was the only reason he really worked in the office. That and of course to help Kala and Natalia on their articles occasionally. It was almost like he was paid just to be a repairman and just hang out with his friends.

Cedric tapped a few buttons on the keypad before he peeked over his shoulder to see if anyone was looking before he placed his hand on the side and sent out a pulse of energy making the printer make a weird nose before starting to print out several pages of writing. He stepped looking proudly at his work until he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned his head seeing his boss tanding next to him.

"You know Harvey, I'm so glad I decided to hire you." Sigman smiled making Cedric chuckle as he shook his head.

"Well, boss I remember us annoying you until you hired him." Kala said walking up next to Cedric.

"That is also true. Always remember kid, you got some good friends." Sigman pointed to Kala, making her smile.

"Yeah, I do. Speaking of, where's Natalia, she's been awfully quiet."

"She actually left about an hour ago to go catch a plane. She's going to see her grandmother in El Paso."

"Dang, I wish could've told her to say Hola to her abuelita for me."

"I'm 100% sure that her grandmother has no idea who you are."

"True but still." Kala rolled her eyes before turning and walking away with Cedric following behind her.

"You wanna head out for lunch?"

"I can't. I got a lunch date with Madison."

"Okay, tonight you wanna go checkout that new movie in the theater, Travel to the Abyss." Cedric sighed and looked down at the ground placing a hand on the back of his neck. He bit his lip as his head rose up and he looked at Kala.

"I can't. I got this date with Madison tonight. We're checking out this new steakhouse downtown. Apparently it's supposed to be this really expensive 5 star steakhouse."

"Oh." She said with disappointment in her words.

"But hey I'm free tomorrow. It'll be Funday Friday just like old times." He said with a smile hoping to relieve some of the disappointment in her tone.

"Okay, that'll work. I'm gonna go ahead and head out for lunch." She said walking past not even offering to look up and smile at him or give him some type of response, making him sigh once again as he stood in the office watching her walk away. His attention was cut as he heard a loud ringing sound. He recognized it as the distress signal he gave his mother if she ever needed him. He turned his head looking in the direction of the signal. He surveyed around the office and saw people stepping out of the elevator meaning it was empty. He quickly walked over to the elevator and pressed the button causing the door to close. As the doors closed and the elevator began to move down, his suit materialized out of his BioMatrix. His eyes glowed blue as an aura of blue energy formed around his body before he floated up in the out of the elevator as it continued on it's descent.

Cedric smirked as he then flew through the elevator shaft reaching the top and flying through one of the open vents. He paused momentarily in the air looking for the direction of the noise before bolting out in that direction with one thing on his mind: save his mother!

A/N: Well, aren't you guys lucky two updates in one day one with Legacy and one with Charge. One thing I need to figure out and where to have good stopping points but soon Arc 1 will be ending and I can definitely tell you Arc 2 will be better than Arc 1.