Me: Hello again, good readers! Just so you know, I love everyone who reads this story. Just saying.
Alfred: Me too!
Disclaimers: I own heta- what? Oh, uhhh... I just got sewed... So, enjoy the story while I deal with this...
Alfred: She doesn't own anything but the idea. -_-'
.::~Alfred~::.
"Ve~! Alfred?" Feliciano asked, mending a tear in Justice's shirt.
"Yea Feliciano?" Alfred responded, munching on a hamburger.
"Why did you want to become a hero, Ve~?" Alfred blinked and pondered.
"I have wondered that as well, Alfred-san… When we met you were already dead set on becoming a superhero." Kiku spoke from behind his laptop. Alfred thought to himself, when did he want to become a hero?
"Well, I'm not really sure… I can't remember a time when I didn't want to be a hero… I was always pretending to be one when I was a kid, and the opportunity presented itself, so here I am." Alfred shrugged; he didn't have much of a better answer.
"Ve~! What kinds of heroes did you pretend to be when you were younger?" Feliciano asked excitedly. Alfred giggled to himself.
"Well, I pretended to be the usual heroes, ya know, the big guys that every kid wanted to be. The first hero I can remember making up myself was Retainer Man." His friends stared at him quizzically.
"R-retainer Man? What kind of a hero is that?" Asked Kiku, just barely suppressing a smile behind his stoic face.
"Well, I had just gotten my retainer, 'cause ya know, I had gotten those damn braces off, and the idea just popped into my head. I even had sidekicks."
"Ve~! Who were your sidekicks?" Feliciano smiled, honestly curious.
"My brother Mattie was Braces Boy, because he had braces, and our dog was Denture Hound, 'cause he was old." Feliciano perked up.
"Ve~? I didn't know you had a brother Alfred~! What is he like~?"
"Mattie? Oh, he's awesome! A little quiet and reserved, but he totally kicks butt at hockey! He even spent a few years up in Canada at a hockey camp. He came back with a Canadian accent." Alfred was beaming at the mention of his younger brother. He loved him a lot, even more than his precious hamburgers.
"I don't remember Matthew-san very well, have I ever met him?" asked Kiku, trying to remember Alfred's brother. Alfred laughed sheepishly,
"Well, he's kind of invisible when he's with me. Not many people notice him." Kiku and Feliciano weren't surprised by this statement; everyone was invisible when compared to the boisterous and flashy American.
"Ve~! What does he look like?"
"Well, we're twins, so people confuse him for me a lot. I don't think he likes when that happens, but he's too sweet to yell at them. If you look close enough, we look different. He has the same color hair as me, only it's longer and a little wavier. Oh, he also has this weird curl that looks like this," Alfred said drawing his brother's curl in the air with his finger, "His eyes are also a little… Purple-ish? He always carries around this stuffed polar bear. He calls it Kumajirou, but he always forgets its name." Alfred continued to ramble about his brother, his friends listening to his description with growing interest.
"Ve~! I want to meet him!"
"I would as well." Alfred smiled, but the smile didn't extend to his eyes, which looked sad and longing.
"I haven't talked to him since I moved… When I left, he was headed for an internship somewhere. I can't remember where…" Alfred sighed. "I've tried to call him, but he's always busy." Kiku patted his friend on the back.
"I'm sure he misses you too, Alfred-san."
"Ve~! Yea! Oh, I finished your shirt Alfred~! Good as new!" Feliciano said, holding up the shirt with a flourish. Alfred grinned.
"You're a miracle worker Feli. Can't very well go around with a ripped shirt, I'd look like Hobo Hero…"
"Was that another one of your heroes Alfred-san?" Kiku asked, trying to be sarcastic.
"… I was five, okay! I thought hobos were cool!" Kiku mentally slapped his forehead. His friend was so strange.
.::~Justice~::.
"… Why are you following me… Again." asked an exasperated Guardian. He and Justice had been roaming around the city, mostly Guardian was running away from Justice, who in turn was trying to chase the winged man.
"I'm making sure you stay out of trouble!" Justice laughed, pulling up beside the winged man.
"And what the hell are you riding?" he asked exasperated. Justice looked down.
"Oh, like it? I call it the Justice Board!" Guardian sighed and flew ahead.
"I call it a glorified hover-board. And what's with everything having the word 'Justice' in the beginning?" Alfred pouted like a small child who was denied entry into a candy store.
"Well, I am called Justicebringer. So, why the hell not? I mean, justice is awesome and my board is awesome. It's only a logical train of thought." Guardian's shoulders slumped, but he continued to pump his wings, propelling him forward over the city, Justice close behind.
"It's better for you if you don't hang around me that much Justice. Trust me." Justice frowned more, riding up closer to Guardian, who kept trying to get away from our hero.
"Why no-" but he was cut off when a bullet grazed past his head, skimming the top of Guardian's wing. He stalled his board and looked down to see two marksmen, aiming straight at our hero and his sort-of companion.
"That's why!" Guardian shouted as more bullets were shot. Guardian began chanting, pulling Justice behind him in a desperate attempt at escape. Alfred turned his foot to the side, clicking a gear into place, causing his red white and blue "Justice Board" to shoot forward. Guardian's chanting got louder as the bullets seemed to hit a force feild around them, protecting them from harm. The louder the chanting, the larger the shield got, and the slower Guardian seemed to fly. Justice stalled and looked back.
"Guardian!" He caught the falling man, who seemed tired, though you couldn't see his face. He was still chanting in some strange language. Justice adjusted him, so Guardian was clinging to his waist as they shot off, away from the almost invisible gunmen.
Once the pair was far away from the shooters, Alfred landed on a roof in a more rural part of the city. He looked over at the heavily breathing angel who had sat down on the ledge, trying to get his breath back.
"What… Was… That…" Alfred gasped out between breaths, he had been scared and was also breathing heavily. Guardian was hunched over, his wings draping over him, as if they were protecting him.
"The reason why no one should be near me." Alfred was about to press the issue further, when he noticed Guardian's wing, the joint was tainted red, he had been hit by one of the bullets.
"Your wing, it's bleeding!" Justice freted, trying to touch the almost pure wing. Guardian flinched and moved away.
"It's fine, it just grazed me, it'll heal quickly, don't touch my wings." He said in a quick breath, Alfred was about to protest, but Guardian took off too quickly. Justice had no chance of catching up to him. Once again, Guardian had left behind more questions than he had answered.
.::~?~::.
"I hope you're coming to me with good news." A voice called out. A door opened to a black room, both figures, the one that had spoken and the one that had entered were shrouded in darkness.
"Well… Not necessarily… The gunmen almost got him, but someone else was with him, he helped him escape." A sigh escaped the first figure's lips.
"We need him here. Dead or alive. The other person doesn't matter. But make sure that you don't fail again… Out of curiosity, who was the man with our target?" the second figure pulled out a piece of paper, sliding it across the desk in the room. An evil smile with white teeth shone in the dim room.
"Well, well, well. I believe that we can make this work to our advantage." The figure continued to smirk evilly, the gears turning in their head. They knew how to catch their target. All they needed was to make sure that he was out of the way.
.::~Alfred~::.
Alfred was still a little shaken up by Justice's encounter with the gunmen, but he pressed on, as a good hero does. Later that night, our hero found himself in the groups new headquarters, a large room filled with equipment and wires, televisions and computers, that Kiku had hidden in his multi-million dollar loft space that spanned almost three floors.
Feliciano fretted as Alfred explained what happened, hovering around him and asking whether he was okay or not every other sentence. Kiku looked calculating, chewing on the new (or lack thereof) information on the mysterious Guardian.
"Ve~! This man seems dangerous, if gunmen are after him!"
"He doesn't seem dangerous… sometimes… and he's helped me out on more than one occasion." Was Alfred's rebuttal. Kiku frowned, diving deeper into his thoughts.
"You okay man?"
"I'm fine Alfred-san… It's just… something doesn't make sense."
"Ve~? What is it?" asked Feliciano, twiddling his thumbs in his lap.
"It's just… you said the gunmen were both facing Justice-san, right?"
"Yea, the question is, why were they shooting at Guardian?" Alfred asked, tapping his chin.
"Well, what if they weren't aiming at him directly?"
"Huh?" Alfred and Feliciano asked in unison.
"What if they were aiming… for Justice-san?"
Me: WHAAAAATTTT? A cliff hanger? Wait, is it? I'm going to call it one. ANYWAY. THE PLOT THICKENS. (/O7O)/ -bricked- I worked hard on this chapter, OHEYLOOKACTUALPLOT. Oh, where have you been my friend?
Alfred: Wait, I GOT FREAKING SHOT AT AND YOU ARN'T EXPLAINING ANYTHING?
Me: No.
Alfred: WHAT ABOUT GUARDIAN? IS HE OKAY?
Me: Dunno. You'll find out later I guess.
Alfred: AND WHERE THE HELL WAS ARTIE? WHO'S THE PEOPLE IN THE DARK? WH-
Me: Will you shut up? It'll all make sense later. Okay, about the Retainer Man bit, that's an actual superhero that my friends and I made up. I was Braces Boy, My friend was Retainer Man, and our other friend was Denture Hound. WE GET BORED EASILY MMMKAY? Eitherway, Thank you for all of the faves, alerts, and reviews. BUT I NEED MOAR. Seriously, reviews make me so happy. NUTHIN LIKE OPENING YOUR MAIL TO FIND ALERTS FOR MY STORY. IT MOTIVATES ME.
Alfred: So, read and Review so she can write more chapters about my AWESOME story!
Me: Thank's for reading, see you in the next installment!
IN THE NEXT VOLUME OF HEROES, VILLAINS, AND EVERYTHING ALONG THE WAY: Who were the mysterious people in the shadows? What did they want? Will anymore light be shead on who Guardian is and why those gunmen were shoting at him? WERE they shooting them? Will ANY romance be added into the next chapter? Will Muffin ever just keep her Author's Notes short and sweet? Why does she keep writing in caps? FIND OUT, NEXT INSTALLMENT!