Chapter Two
The night before the field trip, half an hour before lights out, Officer Davis showed up with an armful of civilian clothes for Blue to try on. Most of the things were too big for the skinny alien boy, but one pair of black slacks fit well enough once Davis had punched an extra hole (well, two holes) in the belt. A green and blue striped sweater was quite acceptable, if just a bit loose. Unfortunately, the only winter jacket that was anywhere near a decent fit had been meant for a girl, but if the ruffle-edged hood was removed along with the garish flower-shaped zipper pull, it didn't look too bad. Its particular shade of bright and somewhat shiny powder blue was perhaps a touch on the girlish side, but the color suited the boy (with the added benefit of making his blue head a little less noticeable). It was certainly far less offensive than the Barbie-doll pink jacket that was the only other possibility. A pair of black athletic shoes were the closest thing to dress shoes in Blue's size, but for an outing where there was likely to be a fair amount of walking, they were more practical. A dark green set of mittens and a matching scarf had also been selected, but the only available winter hat that would fit on Blue's oversized head was a rather strange sickly yellow-green color that clashed hideously with the boy's skin tone and the jacket.
Still, Blue didn't mind. The simple fact that he was being allowed to go on this trip was a reward all its own; being allowed to wear civilian clothing rather than the orange prison jumpsuit was a chance to feel normal that he'd thought he might never experience. That it wasn't perfectly matched and custom tailored like Wayne Scott's clothing didn't really matter. He was getting to leave the prison, without guards (well, not real guards, though Ms Driscoll had a sharper eye for the slightest misstep than the worst of the prison officers), to see a museum dedicated to science, which had always fascinated him. Why should he be upset about something as silly as the color of a hat?
He was even more elated when Officer Davis brought out the last item: a strange-looking shoulder bag that seemed more like a sling or an odd set of suspenders. It was a gift, the officer said, from Mrs. Davis, who had heard her husband's stories about Blue and his fish friend. She had made the thing so the boy could carry Minion to school without risking a drop that might shatter his sphere, in a way that would let Minion see everything with minimal obstruction. It didn't matter that both Blue and Minion knew that it would take much more than a simple fall to even damage Minion's habitat; that both the officer and his wife cared enough to give him the sling was in itself a gift.
After profusely thanking Officer Davis and promising to write a thank-you letter to his wife (whom Blue hadn't known existed), he made an extra effort to be good for the rest of the night. He didn't protest more than once when Davis insisted that he couldn't sleep in his new clothes. He was as obedient as could be about washing his face and brushing his teeth and getting into bed when it was time for lights-out, and though he tossed and turned for a while, exhaustion finally overcame excitement, and he slept, dreaming of what might be the most wonderful day of his life.
It started out well enough. Mornings at the prison started considerably earlier than they did in many ordinary households, with breakfast in the cafeteria at six. Blue didn't need to be ready for school until eight, so he went to breakfast as usual, wearing his everyday jumpsuit rather than risk soiling his new clothes. He chattered happily about his coming trip, and those sitting nearby listened with indulgent interest. Most of the inmates in his unit actually cared about little Blue, in their own ways. A few offered suggestions for how he might make the most of his time outside the pen (many of which were quickly curtailed by scowls from the listening guards), but in general, they genuinely hoped he enjoyed himself.
Though he seemed to do more talking than eating, Blue quickly finished his breakfast, knowing that he wouldn't be allowed to leave the hall until he had eaten everything on his tray. Sometimes, he balked at it, and his refusal to finish meals he didn't like garnered him more disciplinary action than anything save his notes from school, but today, he was happy to do anything if it meant getting to go on the trip. He gobbled away between bouts of enthusiastic chatter, not even aware that he was eating more than usual, as the other inmates kept sneaking extra bits of Blue's favorite things onto his plate, firmly convinced that they could put a little extra meat on the boy's thin frame by "feeding him up."
When he was done, the morning-shift movement officer from his unit, Officer Schultz (who, along with an inmate known as Schwartz the Squeeze, a social worker named Mr. Schmidt, and a Dr. Schneider in the infirmary, were largely responsible for Blue's presumption that sch was always pronounced sh), came to escort him back to his unit before the other prisoners were finished, so that he would have time to wash up and get changed before he was due to leave.
Once Blue had gotten old enough to wash and dress himself, the director of the prison's social workers had insisted that he take his showers alone rather than with the inmates, and the warden had agreed. Not all of the convicts were fond of Blue, and some who were in for child abuse and exploitation wouldn't have thought twice about harming the strange little alien boy. An ounce of prevention was, in this case, worth vastly more than a pound of cure, and if Warden Thurmer wasn't going to let Blue be hurt by supposed do-gooders outside the prison, he certainly wasn't about to risk having him hurt by convicted felons inside it, not on his watch. He had seen to it that anyone with a record that involved crimes against children were moved out of Blue's unit, but he wasn't taking any chances with the others getting sick ideas, either. Minion was always allowed to accompany his master to the showers as well, in part to stand guard and in part to enjoy his own sort of daily "bath," as Blue was diligent about rinsing his friend's globe and refilling it with fresh water as a part of their morning ablutions. Today, he took extra care to make sure that they were both squeaky clean, as scrubbed and polished and presentable as they could possibly be.
Officer Schultz smiled at their laughter and excited babbling as he kept watch outside the door to the showers. When Blue emerged clean and dressed in his new civvies, he checked him over to make sure everything was on straight, and helped him re-tie the laces on his new shoes. He then escorted Blue back to his cell to drop off his prison clothes and collect his outerwear along with Minion's new sling and his signed permission slip.
When Schultz led him to the gate where he would normally board his bus, Blue received another shocking surprise. Instead of the usual prison bus, a car was waiting for him, with the warden himself standing outside the open driver's door, a wry smile on his face.
"Well," he said when both Blue and Minion continued to stare at him, frozen in speechlessness, "it's a short ride, and I figured I could spare a few minutes, just to make sure you get off all right. Ms Driscoll and I had a few... not so friendly words last night, and I don't want her taking it out on you."
Blue hadn't known about that, and was thus immensely grateful for the warden's thoughtfulness. "Thank you, sir," he said, meaning it, as Officer Schultz led him to the front passenger's seat and helped him get belted in — another new experience for Blue, as neither the bus nor even his escape pod had been so equipped. He was a little nervous about it at first, since it didn't feel much better than he imagined it would feel to be handcuffed, but he relaxed when the warden sat down behind the wheel and did the same thing to himself, voluntarily. Blue remembered then that he'd seen the other school kids doing the same thing when they were being taken home by their parents, and decided that this was a rule about traveling in cars. He managed a steady smile for the warden when they started off, his uneasiness melting away with renewed anticipation for the coming day.
It took only a few minutes to reach the little schoolhouse, a distance they could have easily walked, in warmer weather. But the air was chill and the wind brisk, promising either snow or an icy rain later in the day. When they arrived, Thurmer made sure Blue — who, thin as he was, felt winter cold more keenly — had his coat zipped up and his scarf secure around his slender neck, though he snorted at the ugly knitted hat. "Cripes, couldn't they find something better than that?" he muttered, trying to adjust the thing so it wouldn't appear quite so hideous, and failing. "It looks like... Well, never mind what it looks like. It belongs in the garbage, not on someone's head."
Blue flushed self-consciously. "It was the only thing Officer Davis had that'd fit my head," he explained. "He didn't like it, either, but I said it'd be okay 'cause the jacket hood looked too girly and we didn't think I should wear my prison coat."
The warden grunted. "You're right about that, but we don't want to give the prison a bad name, having you run around with that piece of sh— with that ugly thing on your head. Here," he said after fishing around in the pockets of his long black woolen overcoat. He pulled out another knitted hat, this one a ski cap in a cheerful shade of red with a white pompom on top. "One of my daughters made this for me in the crafts class at her school, said I should wear it over the holidays. I think I can let you borrow it for the day if you promise to take good care of it."
Blue's eyes widened to bright green saucers as the warden bent down and deftly removed the offensive cap, replacing it with his own. On an ordinary child, it would have been too big, but with Blue's alien cranium, it was close to a perfect fit. "I promise," the boy managed to say through his shock, one hand reaching up to carefully touch the soft wool, as if to make sure it was real. "Thank you, sir!"
Thurmer straightened, gave Blue a quick look of appraisal, then nodded his approval with a carefully restrained smile. That done, he led the boy to the line of parents and children outside the waiting school bus. Ms Driscoll was standing at the open door, collecting permission slips and passing muster on the kids as they said goodbye to their parents and boarded the bus. As usual, Blue was the last in line, but today, he couldn't mind. He was about to go on his first field trip, and he didn't think that anything existed that could spoil his happy mood.
Ms Driscoll, however, took her best shot at it. When she saw who the last child was, her nose wrinkled with distaste even as she frowned at him. "This will never do...!" she began, focusing entirely on the alien boy, who was holding out his permission slip for her to take.
The warden stepped up behind Blue, settling one hand on the boy's shoulder. "I hope you're not about to say something about Blue not being allowed to go, Ms Driscoll. There're laws against discrimination, and I'm sure you don't want to have your little school shut down because someone reported that you're teaching little kids to be bigots."
Thurmer knew exactly how to push her buttons. The teacher simmered for a moment, then came at the problem from another angle. "You know very well that he's a troublemaker," she retorted, still scowling. "I don't want him spoiling a special day for the other children."
The warden allowed that this was somewhat true. "He does seem to get into a fair bit of trouble, but that doesn't mean he's always the cause." He fixed the woman with an arch look, clearly referring to yesterday's incident with Jennifer Osgood, and Ms Driscoll's misreporting of the facts. "Blue has promised that he'll be on his best behavior, and so long as the other kids do the same, I'm sure there won't be any problems."
One could fairly hear the teacher grinding her teeth, looking for a means to get her way, but Thurmer remained adamant. The way she raked Blue with a critical eye made him want to turn invisible. Her triumphant smirk a moment later did nothing to dispel the feeling. "Very well, he may come — but not the fish."
Blue was horrified, especially since he had included Minion in all his plans for the day, and had never done anything important without his friend. Minion could feel his dismay and wanted to tell him that it would be all right for Blue to go without him, but he had also promised his master never to speak in front of Ms Driscoll after the first time she overheard them talking and accused Blue of throwing his voice to play a nasty trick on her. As far as Minion was concerned, this teacher did more to hurt Blue than anyone in the prison ever had, and he was afraid that if he did speak to her, things would get ugly. He didn't want to take the chance that she would hurt Blue because of him, but at times like this, he wished he was telepathic.
To his immense relief, Warden Thurmer spoke up. "Why not? To be frank, I'd rather he did go along. Blue's always more careful when he has his little friend to look after, and it's not like this is a dog or a cat that can get loose and cause problems." He wasn't about to tell her that in his opinion, Minion was a better caretaker and teacher than she could be in her wildest dreams, but he certainly thought it.
Ms Driscoll made a sour face. "Its name isn't on the permission slip," she said, as if that should close the matter.
But before she could snatch it away, the warden simply took the paper from Blue's hand, pulled a pen from his pocket, added Minion's name in the proper place, and initialed it. "It is now," he said bluntly, handing it back to her.
The teacher glared at Thurmer, then at Minion, and finally at Blue. The boy was beginning to feel as if he'd rather go back to the prison, since he was sure that the next thing Ms Driscoll would find fault with was his clothing, but after she seethed for another moment, she finally surrendered.
"All right," she said, nose in the air and teeth still mostly clenched. "They can come. But if either of them cause any disruptions, I'm holding you responsible, Mr. Thurmer."
The warden was not put off by her attitude. "I wouldn't expect anything else," was his bland reply. He looked down at Blue, patted him on the shoulder, and actually smiled warmly. "Have a good time, son. And do stay out of trouble."
The boy nodded vigorously, relief written large on his expressive face. "I will, sir. Thank you, sir!"
Still smiling, Thurmer gave Blue a little nudge to send him on his way. He watched Ms Driscoll making a face of disgust as the child slipped past her and into the bus, and shook his head. Really, Blue was one of the most polite and eager to please children he had ever known. If this woman couldn't see that, then she really was the most narrow-minded bigot on the face of the earth.
Once inside the bus, Blue cast his eye about, looking for a place to sit where he wouldn't be obviously unwelcome. This particular bus had two rows of double seats on either side of a central aisle that ended in an emergency exit door at the rear. Since the school was small and the bus rather large, there were plenty of empty seats in the back. Blue took a step toward them, only to find his way blocked by Wayne Scott.
As always, Wayne had impeccably fitted expensive clothes, everything about him as perfect as possible. He stood in the aisle, arms crossed, his expression a fair reflection of Ms Driscoll's dismissive attitude. "You know, this is really my field trip," he said smugly. "I don't want any troublemakers coming."
Blue was shocked. Sure, he and Wayne hadn't gotten along since the first day he'd come to school, but the superpowered boy had never spoken to him so harshly before. It irritated Blue, because this time, he hadn't done anything at all. "I thought it was the class's field trip," he countered. "That's what it said on the paper Ms Driscoll gave us."
Wayne snorted. "She was trying to be polite. I asked my parents to do something nice for my friends, and they decided to do this and pay for it. But you're not my friend."
And whose fault is that? Blue wondered sarcastically, though he didn't say it. Wayne had never given him a chance; he claimed he didn't even remember anything about coming to Earth in an escape pod, or smashing into Blue's pod when it got in his way. He was probably telling the truth, since strong as he was, Wayne was also stupid, in Blue's opinion. But he wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of seeing how much what he'd just said had hurt. He was itching to point out that the Scotts weren't really Wayne's parents, but he knew where that would take them, and he'd be kicked off the bus before it even started moving.
Determined not to be the same kind of jerk, Blue ground his teeth, bit back the angry retorts, and said, "I just want to see the Science Museum. I don't want to fight, with you or anybody. Just... let me sit down." When Wayne did not budge, but eyed him with a condescending smirk, Blue's temper started to rise and he wanted to hit him, to wipe that smug look off his face. But he wasn't stupid; he knew that if he tried, he'd only wind up hurting his hand on Wayne's rock of a jaw. Instead, he clenched his fists, and his own jaw, and somehow managed to say, "Please."
In his own mind, the future Metro Man had merely seen to it that the proper rules of etiquette had been enforced. Grinning in self-satisfied triumph, he moved aside and let Blue head to the empty back seats. The smaller boy moved as fast as he could, but it wasn't quick enough to keep him from hearing the mutters of "loser" and "freak" and unkind giggles from the other kids. He headed for the last empty row on the left-hand side of the bus, because it was as far as he could get from his classmates.
"Good for you, sir," Minion whispered to him once they were on their way, and his words could only be heard by Blue over the noise of the bus's engine. "I think he was trying to provoke you so you'd get sent home."
"I know he was," Blue grumbled softly. "He thinks he owns the school, and he doesn't want me here."
"Well, that's not his decision to make. He's a bully, and I'm proud of you for not letting him get his way."
Minion's whispered approval went a long way toward cooling Blue's anger, and relieving his sense of humiliation. He took off his mittens, then slipped his friend's carrier from his shoulder and settled it beside him on the seat, freeing the sphere enough so that he could take some consolation from stroking it with his left hand. Minion couldn't make people like Ms Driscoll and Wayne Scott disappear, but his unconditional support and understanding made it a little easier for Blue to tolerate them.
As soon as the bus was underway, Ms Driscoll asked Wayne to lead the class in singing Christmas songs. Blue slouched a little lower in his seat and pulled the warden's cap more firmly over his ears. He knew most of the songs because they'd been taught them during music time in school, but he never sang them, even though he had an excellent sense of pitch and not a bad voice for his age. He kept silent because the one time he'd tried to join in, one of the other boys had punched him in the arm, very hard, and told him to shut up, because no one wanted to listen to a freaky blue alien singing their songs. Nothing on this planet belonged to him, and the sooner he got that through his big ugly head, the better. It was like that with so many things, Blue had long since stopped counting. If they wanted to follow Wayne in these inane singalongs, they were welcome to it. This was one thing Mr. Goody-Two-Shoes didn't do perfectly — he sang so off-key, it even made Minion's ears hurt — and if he wanted to make a fool of himself, Blue didn't mind at all.
While the other kids went on singing silly songs about supernaturally animated snow monsters and beasts of burden with strange luminous nasal conditions, Blue focused on the world beyond the bus windows, an amazing panoply of light and color and motion that he had never had a chance to see so closely, on anything but a television screen. The roads and buildings and vehicles were all a marvel to him, and he was quite happy to sit by himself, soaking it all in like an eager sponge. Occasionally, he would whisper to Minion about something especially fascinating that caught his eye, his excitement for this adventure of discovery returning.
"Look at that building, Minion!" he exclaimed, needing to struggle to keep his voice down. The bus had headed up an overpass bridge section of the expressway in one of the city's more industrialized areas; the angle gave them an excellent view of a large structure of glass and steel and chrome. The densely cloudy winter day offered little exterior light, but the illumination from within showed the gleam and spark of great machines at work. Blue's big eyes marveled at the sight even as his nimble mind came up with a thousand ideas for what he might use such incredible devices. "Just imagine what we could do with equipment like that...!"
"Are you talking to that stupid fish?" an unpleasantly nasal voice asked, the tone dripping derision.
Blue recognized the voice of Jenny Osgood, and tried to pretend he didn't hear in hopes that she would go away.
She didn't take the hint. "I'm talking to you, Mister Blueberry Head," she sneered. "What's the matter, don't you understand real people? Or can't you talk without lying?"
The accusation stung Blue into abandoning his pretense. He turned and glared at the girl, who was all dressed up in fancy holiday clothing and an angelically fluffy white fur coat and hat that didn't match her unfriendly expression. "I'm not a liar," he said tightly. "And you should go back to your seat. You're not supposed to walk around in moving buses."
She wrinkled her nose, haughtily. "Maybe you aren't, but Ms Driscoll said we could, to talk with our friends, if we wanted to."
"You're not my friend," Blue said, a simple statement of fact. There wasn't a single child in the school who was.
"That's right," Jenny agreed, meanly. "'Cause I never make friends with liars and tattletales!"
"I didn't—!" Blue began.
But the girl interrupted with a scowl as angry as her tone. "Oh yes, you did!" she hissed. "You told somebody I bit you, an' they told Ms Driscoll, an' she told my parents, an' I almost couldn't come today!"
I wish you hadn't! Blue thought, but wasn't stupid enough to say. Instead, he retorted, "You did bite me!"
She was not about take the rap. "You made me do it! You think I'd wanna touch your ugly blue skin if you didn't, with my mouth?" She made it sound like the grossest, most vile thing imaginable.
Blue was taken aback by the way she said it, combined with the look of total disgust on her face. What she was saying was absolutely true, she and all the other kids were completely revolted by the color of his skin, and always made a big deal of it if he so much as accidentally brushed against them. Of course, they would all forget their disgust if they wanted to hit him, but in his moment of surprise, that fact slipped his mind. Jenny didn't give him a chance to recover, leaning forward to snarl in his face.
"My parents won't let me go to a party next week an' said I'm not gettin' the present I really wanted for Christmas, all because of you, you freaky blue monster. So I'm gonna get even with you! Just you wait! I'm gonna think of somethin', and then you'll be sorry you went an' told lies about me!"
As she spun about to flounce away in a dramatic huff, Blue gave in to childish impulse and stuck out his tongue at her. "Stupid liar," he muttered to himself, and turned his back on her, preferring the view of factories and warehouses rushing by outside the window to her ugly face.
Because of that, he didn't see Jenny stop, having heard his soft retort. She turned and was about to spit out a venomous comeback when something she saw out of the corner of one eye gave her a better idea.
Blue, his thoughts wrapped up in watching the outside world and coming up with ways to thwart any promised payback from Jenny before it happened, didn't notice what was going on behind him until he heard the girl's nasty giggle. "You took away somethin' of mine," she said in a taunting sing-song, "so I think I'll just take away somethin' of yours!"
Blue wished the girl would just go away and leave him alone. He turned his head slightly in the direction of her voice, and was just about to decide that he would be better off ignoring her when he saw that she wasn't standing near him, anymore — and worse, Minion was gone, too, along with the carrying sling Mrs. Davis had made for him. He spun about, looked to see where Jenny had taken his friend, and let out a strangled cry of horror.
At the very back of the bus, Jenny was using her shoulder to push up the lever bar that would open the emergency exit, her hands being otherwise occupied with hanging onto the straps of Minion's carrier. Frantic, Blue tried to lunge off the seat to stop her, but the long end of his new scarf had gotten caught in the seam between the back and the bottom of the bench. In the precious seconds it took to yank it off, Jenny had managed to push up the bar. Just as Blue moved to stop her, the door popped open, the bus bumped through a pothole, and both the girl and Minion started to tumble toward the pavement and the moving cars behind them.
Blue didn't stop to think, he just reached out and grabbed the girl by the belt of her coat. He was stronger than one would have thought from his slender and short appearance, and in another second, he had hauled her and Minion back to safety, his own heart pounding like a jackhammer at the near-disaster. While the rest of the class looked back, crowding the aisle and kneeling in their seats to get a better look — thus preventing Wayne the would-be hero from coming to the rescue — Blue took a moment to catch his breath—
—and promptly had it knocked out of him again when Jenny's elbow slammed into his chest. She then kicked him with all her might and used her upper body to shove him away. The back of his legs hit the edge of his empty seat, causing him to stumble and fall to the floor between the two rows. Almost immediately, Blue tried to get up, but had to struggle because of the awkward position. He had just gotten a decent grip on the edge of the bench and was about to pull himself up when Jenny swung Minion's carrier like a sling, once, twice, three times...
"NOOOOOOOO!" Blue screamed, somehow managing to launch himself off the floor in a panicked attempt to stop what he saw coming. But before he could reach the girl, Jenny let go, and Minion went flying, carrier and all. Up he went in a huge, long arc, crashing down onto the outer guard wall of the bridge some car lengths behind the bus. The sphere bounced out of the carrier upon impact, rolled along the wall for a few feet, then slipped from the rail and fell off the bridge, disappearing from sight.
It was at that moment, of course, that Wayne finally showed up, having managed to open a window through which he just barely fit. The instant the back door had popped, the driver had instinctively started to slam on the brakes, and would have, sending Jenny and Blue and Minion flying out into traffic if Wayne hadn't stopped him in the nick of time. The superboy now hovered mid-air at the back of the bus, holding onto the door to follow along with the moving vehicle, since the driver hadn't found a place to stop safely in the constant rush of traffic on the busy crosstown expressway spur, crowded with holiday travelers. Wayne was heroically placing himself between the other children and danger, his free hand held out before him in the classic "stop!" signal. "Please return to your seats," he instructed in his best imitation of authority.
Jenny complied, but not before favoring Blue with a snidely satisfied smirk. Blue was too distraught to even notice. "Minion!" he cried, trying to look past Wayne to where his best friend had fallen. "We have to help him...!"
"Go back to your seat," Wayne repeated sternly. "This door has to be closed..."
"No!" Blue insisted, leaning against the door and sticking one foot between it and its frame to stop the flying fool from shutting it. "You can fly — you have to save him!"
The curl of Wayne's lip spoiled his perfect picture of heroism. He had to choose between shutting the door and crushing Blue's foot, and he didn't like it, especially since he really wanted to do both. "No, I don't," he replied in a tone that made the smaller boy scowl. "It's a waste of time. It's just a silly fish, and it couldn't survive that fall—"
"You don't know that!" Blue yelled, well aware that he had promised not to, but beyond caring. "You don't want to save him because he's my friend, not yours!"
"That's not true!" the flying boy snapped back. "I'm going to be hero, and help people!"
"Then help Minion!"
"That's not people — it's just a stupid fish!"
Blue was furious, and even more frightened for his friend, who was getting farther away by the second. "No, he's not — you're the stupid one! You can help him — and you won't! You don't care 'cause you're not a hero, you're just a big, nasty bully!"
Now, Wayne Scott was probably the most spoiled brat in the Western Hemisphere, but from the day his adoptive parents had recognized his super abilities, his head had been filled with the idea that he would grow up to become a great hero to uphold justice and save the world and be loved by everyone. That he had such powers was all the proof he needed to believe in this lofty destiny — so Blue's accusations that he was uncaring were beginning to make him feel just a little uncomfortable. He was about to reconsider the other boy's plea to save that ridiculous fish when Ms Driscoll called to them in her most no-nonsense voice.
"Wayne, get that door closed this instant! It's putting the other children in danger! And Blue, get back in your seat and stop causing trouble!"
"But Minion...!"
The teacher's expression seethed with derisive anger. "That's enough! I said you and that hideous creature shouldn't've come in the first place, and you've just proved me right! Now sit down!"
Horrified, Blue looked back at Wayne, who shrugged with relief, glad that Ms Driscoll had made the decision for him. "You heard the teacher," he said, as if obeying a decree from on high. "Get back to your—oomph!"
Not about to listen, Blue suddenly threw all his wiry strength again the door Wayne was attempting to close. The sudden movement wrenched the flying boy's arm — not painfully, but nonetheless taking him by surprise. Blue glared back at Ms Driscoll and all the other kids who were cheering for their little hero, then gave Wayne the most awful look the superboy had ever seen on anyone's face. "I hate you!" Blue spat, his voice shrill with more rage and contempt than he had ever felt. "I hate all of you!"
Wayne, not used to being hated, recoiled from him and hesitated for just a moment. Blue seized that brief opportunity, and as quick as a blink, he pushed the door wide and leapt from the moving bus. His reflexes, not as super-swift as Wayne's but much faster than an ordinary human's, allowed him to land on the pavement, ungracefully but also unhurt; he then quickly rolled out of the traffic lane just before he could be hit by an oncoming car. The scream of blaring horns hurt his ears, and drowned out anything he might have heard from the bus, which continued on without him.
If he could have heard it, he wouldn't have liked Ms Driscoll's smug reaction. "Let him go, Wayne. He needs a good lesson in the consequences of bad behavior, and he's finally going get it. Good riddance. Now we can all settle down and really enjoy the day, right, class?"
The chorus of happy agreement from the other kids convinced Wayne that he had done the right thing. Puffing up his pride once more, he dutifully closed the emergency door, then strode back up the aisle to the adulation of his peers and his teacher. Someone called for him to lead them in another song, and he promptly forgot anything that might have been niggling at his conscience.
Back on the shoulder of the highway, an upset but determined young Blue was trying to find a safe place to climb over the bridge's guard wall so that he could get down to the lower street level where Minion had landed. He knew that his friend's sphere was very tough and had survived many impacts that would have shattered even strong glass, but this was a bigger fall than it had ever suffered, at a higher speed. Blue was worried that the globe might have cracked and was losing the water Minion needed to live. If he didn't get to him soon...
He tried not to think about that possibility. He wouldn't accept that Wayne might be right, and that his only real friend might die. It was difficult for him to see over the edge of the wall, especially since it had started to rain, and the lights from passing vehicles and overhead street lamps cast strange glares and shadows on the rain slicked surfaces. Finally, he found a place where the bridge was shored up by a steep embankment, covered with dead grass and weeds.
"Hang on, Minion," he whispered to himself like a mantra as he tried to pull himself up to the top of the damp barrier. "I'm coming. I'll save you." The concrete and metal wall, which came up to Blue's shoulder, hadn't been designed to be climbed over, but he was not about to be stopped. After a few slips and stumbles, made worse by the cold rain, he finally managed to get one leg up onto the top. Encouraged by this success, he quickly pulled his other leg up and over, in a hurry to find Minion as quickly as possible.
But in his haste, he move a little too quickly; he overbalanced. As he felt himself starting to tumble over the wall, Blue saw that the embankment was much higher and steeper than he had thought. Frantic, he tried to find something to hang onto, but all his fingers met with was cold, wet, hard, and too big for small fingers to grip, even strong slender blue ones. Before he had a chance to feel any more panic or fear for himself, he had slipped over the wall, gracelessly, with no hope of controlling his fall.
Down the precipice he tumbled, rolling head over heels and gaining speed until he came to a sudden halt when the back of his head struck something hard and unyielding. For a moment, Blue's vision went bright, as if a thousand lights had burst behind his eyes. Then, the explosion vanished more quickly than it had come, and as his sight and awareness faded to black oblivion, his last thought was a fervent wish:
Please, someone, help Minion!