But now they were telling me that they would hunt me down if I used my powers again. I understood that; they were scared. Richter hadn’t exactly set a great example for superhumans. But I was trying to help. Trying to stop him, and save everybody. Trying to do exactly what the government couldn't, yet they were painting me as an enemy. Like I was Richter 2.0 or something.
“We'll figure something out,” Mom said, shaking me from my thoughts.
I looked into her eyes, and for some reason, everything seemed to melt away. Mom looked at me with her big eyes, filled with pride. I guess even though she was terrified for me, she still understood why I had to do what I had to do. And she was proud of me for it, and hated to see that I was being punished for doing the right thing.
“Yeah,” I said, and nodded. “We will.”
I looked up to my dad, who was looking at me with the same look Mom had. He returned my nod. “We will.” A sly smile slid across his face, and his expression turned giddy, like a little kid’s. “We will, Tempest.”
I smiled back at him. Despite everything, I had to say that the government had done a pretty good job picking a kick-ass superhuman name for me.
And it wouldn't be long before they'd see Tempest again.
Confident Confessions
Dad was insistent that I not get so caught up in being Tempest that I stopped being Kane Andrews, so when Drew invited me to go to a party, I accepted.
Driving to Macy's apartment, where we were all going to meet up before driving to the party, I was overwhelmed with a feeling of nostalgia. I sat in my car listening to the radio, watching the world drive by. It felt normal, which was something I hadn't felt since before Richter had begun his rampage.
I’d felt frightened and afraid then, not knowing if Richter would somehow end the world at any moment. That feeling had been replaced by a feeling of duty and pride whenever my powers manifested ... which was replaced by a feeling of pain and eventually betrayal by the people I was trying to help.
But now, driving to meet up with my friends before a party, I felt like a normal teenager. A normal human being. I’d forgotten how nice it felt, and I was glad that Dad had insisted I go. I definitely wanted and needed a small break. It wasn’t like I had much of a choice, though. The government had their eye out for me, so lying low for a little bit was my best option. I couldn't stop Richter and the U.S. Government; at least that was the excuse I told myself to keep myself from feeling guilty.
After another twenty minutes of driving and singing along with the radio, I reached Macy's apartment. She buzzed me in, and I rode the elevator to the seventh floor. I forgot about everything when she opened the door and I was once again face-to-face with the woman I was very much in love with.
“Hi,” she said in a small voice. “Come in.” She stepped aside, and I stepped in.
“How are you?” I asked.
“I'm doing well,” she said as she walked out of the foyer. I followed close behind.
“Hey, Kane,” Madeline said from the kitchen, where she was pouring a protein shake into a bottle.
“Hey,” I said. I pointed at the shake. “Going for a run?”
Madeline chuckled. “Stop acting like you're interested in what I'm doing. I know why you're here,” she said with a sly smile and nodded toward Macy.
Macy's face turned almost as red as her hair. She shot Madeline a death glare. “Don't you have a workout to go to?”
Madeline grabbed her shake and walked around the kitchen counter. “Alright, alright!” She gave me a pat on the arm as she walked by. “Good to see you, Kane.” She shot a knowing smile to Macy, and walked out the door.
“Sorry about my sister,” Macy said from her seat on the couch. She fumbled with her hands, nervous.
“Don't be,” I told Macy as I walked behind the couch. I leaned on its back. “She's right,” I said before I could stop myself. I had no idea what I was doing and tried stopping myself before the next words came out. It was like I was on autopilot, though. “The main reason I'm here is to see you, because I think you're amazing.”
Shit.
What did I just do?
“Really?”
I opened my mouth but no words came out. I had to force myself to say something. I couldn't go back now. It was all or nothing. “Really. And I'm, like, ninety-nine percent sure you feel the same way.”
Macy looked up at me, her eyes sparkling as she blushed. “Well, I mean, you're not wrong.” She looked back down at her hands.
I smiled bigger than I ever had before, and that was saying something, all things considered. I felt as if I was floating on air, and my whole body felt warm.
Then I looked down and realized that I actually was floating an inch off the floor. I quickly stopped and fell quietly back to the floor.
“So, you do like me?” I asked.
Macy nodded. “Yeah, I do.”
It took a lot of self-control to not take off flying across the globe. I had no idea why I hadn’t said something sooner. It was so easy. I’d been afraid to, I guess. But now, I had a confidence that I hadn’t had before. Was that considered a superpower? Could I be like, Yes, I have super-strength, speed, hearing, and super-confidence?
“Why didn't you say anything earlier?” I said as I walked around the couch and sat down next to her.
She looked at me with her mouth open, trying to find the words. “I was afraid, I guess?” Her gaze wandered to the ceiling.
“I was afraid, too. But what were you scared of?”
Macy took a moment before responding. When she did, it came out in a flood. “I guess I don't know where everything is headed. I mean, I still don't. We don't know when all this Richter stuff is going to stop, and what kind of place the world will be after that. I don't know if Madeline is going to want us to go back to Indianapolis after this. If she does, I have to go with her. I don't want to leave you or Drew or Michael behind, but I didn't want to have anything tying me down, and make it harder to eventually leave.”
I tried processing what she was telling me. Talk about getting knocked down a couple of notches. I thought I came to the same conclusion she was alluding to, but I wanted to hear it from her. “So, what are you saying?”
Macy thought for a moment and then leaned over and kissed me on the cheek. “That none of that matters anymore.”
My stomach churned with excitement, and heat rushed through my head. I felt a feeling of joy that rivaled what I’d felt when I discovered my powers.
My thoughts were interrupted by a loud buzzing. I turned and looked at the door.
“That must be Drew and Michael. They were riding over here together,” Macy said.
I nodded and stood up from the couch. “Okay, then, we should probably go now.”
Macy giggled. “Yes, Kane, we probably should.”
The two of us exited her apartment and headed for the party.
Party Crashers
The city lights filtered through the windshield as we drove to Eric and Veronica Russell’s house, where the party was being held. Their parents were out of town, which was rare in those days since most people never left due to the whole Richter situation. That meant fewer summertime house parties, so when word got out about Eric and Veronica’s party, it traveled fast.
“Doesn’t Drew have a crush on Veronica?” I asked as I turned the car into the neighborhood the party was being held in. The question was rhetorical, of course. Everybody knew about Drew’s crush on Veronica.
I looked in the rearview mirror and could see Drew glaring at me. “Come on, Kane. Not cool.”
I laughed and shrugged. “You should go for it tonight, bro.”
“Yeah, man. Go for it,” Michael said, agreeing with me.
“See?” I said. “Michael agrees. Do you agree, Macy?” I glanced over at her in the front seat.
“Yeah, of course. You only live once, or some shit.”
“Um, we’re a carpe diem family, thank you,” Drew said, correcting her.
We all laughed as we parked on the side of the road. We climbed out of the car, and I took in the scene.
The house was a large two-story one with Roman pillars holding up the roof covering the large front porch. The neighbors’ houses were a good distance away with a thin veil of trees in between, so hopefully we weren’t going to have to worry about causing them any trouble. People were talking and laughing on the front porch, holding red cups and beer bottles in their hands. I could hear music coming from inside, but it wasn’t turned up loud. From the looks of it, the party was surprisingly tame.
We began walking to the front porch, and I exchanged “hello”s and “how you been?”s with a few people I recognized from school before walking inside and making my way to the kitchen. I pulled a bottle of beer from an ice chest sitting on the counter and twisted the top off. I held it out toward Macy, and she took it.
“Thanks,” she said as she took a swig from the bottle and examined the room.
I grabbed my own and began to drink it, the familiar bitter and earthy taste washing over my taste buds and going down smoothly. I looked around the kitchen as well, and took in how nice it was. The counter tops were made of marble, and all the appliances were stainless steel. Finger foods were spread out on the counters, and people were wandering in, grabbing a handful, and then walking out into the living room where the music was playing, or outside to hang out and talk.
“Hey, Kane,” I heard a familiar voice say from behind me.
I fought the urge to audibly moan as I turned around and saw Brian Turner standing a few feet away, towering over me. “Hi, Brian,” I said, my voice cold.
“Can we talk?” he asked, motioning his head toward the back door.
I thought about it for a moment, then decided that I might want to listen to what Brian had to say. If he remembered anything about our encounter when I had thrown him into a wall, this conversation could go very badly. I didn’t know what I was going to do if Brian remembered and knew who I was.
“Yeah,” I said. “We can talk.”
“Kane,” Michael said, his big hands grabbing my arm. “You need us to come with you?” His eyes moved toward Brian. Michael didn’t have to say a word; the look he was sending him made his feelings clear. If Brian did anything, Michael would make him wish he’d been thrown into a wall by a superhuman again.
“Not this time,” I said. “I’ve got it under control.” Under normal circumstances, I would’ve loved to have some backup there with me. However, if Brian did remember, I couldn’t have Michael and Drew finding out as well. This conversation needed to be held in private.
I followed Brian out the back door, to a spot in the backyard by some trees. We were about thirty feet from the back of the house, and my heart was beating fast. I could see people on the side and back porches chilling out, but none of them were paying attention to Brian and me. I silently prayed that they weren’t able to hear us, because if Brian was about to say what I thought he was about to say, I was going to have to do some damage control, and fast.
“I wanted to say thank you,” Brian blurted out.
Well. That was definitely unexpected. “I-I ... ummm....” I had no idea what to say. The words escaped me.
Brian raised up his hands, gesturing for me to stop talking. “If you hadn’t been walking by at that time and seen me lying there....” Brian’s eyes glazed over. “I don’t know where I’d be. I could be really brain damaged, or worse.”
I think you’re definitely brain damaged, I thought to myself. Either that or I am, and I’m having a hallucination right now.
Brian put his hand on my shoulder, and it felt real. Definitely not a hallucination. “Thank you, Kane. I wouldn’t be who I am today without you.”
I opened my mouth, but I still couldn’t say anything. Finally I found the words. “You’re welcome. Any time.”
Brian smiled and nodded. “Yeah, okay, well, that’s it.” And with that, he walked away.
I stood there totally dumbfounded. Brian Turner had just thanked me for saving his life, even though I was the one who had almost killed him in the first place! I guessed that answered the question about whether or not he remembered what had happened. I still felt bad for pummeling him into a wall, even though I’d just been defending myself. However, I did feel slightly less bad, since it all seemed to have turned out alright in the end. Brian Turner was off my back, and it seemed like he was going to be a better person. Yeah, maybe I’d knocked a few of his memories loose, but at least no one had to worry about Brian Turner knocking a few of their teeth loose ever again.
I walked back to Eric’s house, sipping my beer and chuckling to myself at the craziness of what had happened. When I walked inside, I saw Drew standing in the kitchen eating some finger sandwiches with Veronica, who was giggling profusely at some joke he’d just told. I smiled to myself, feeling happy for Drew. Sorry for Veronica since she had no idea what she was getting herself into, but still, happy for Drew.
I felt someone tap my shoulder, and turned to see it was Macy. My heart fluttered with joy, and I let out a big grin. “How’s the party?”
“Forget that,” she said, punching me in the arm playfully. “What the hell did Brian want with you?”
I laughed. “You’ll never believe me.”
“Try me,” she said, scrunching up her nose, causing a cute crease to appear between her eyebrows.
“Okay, but let’s go somewhere else,” I said.
She wrapped her cold, small hands around mine and began pulling me toward the stairs. “Let’s go up here,” she said.
I followed her up the stairs and down a hallway lined with rooms. She brought me to one at the end and led me inside. It was a bedroom with a full-size bed and a nightstand with family pictures on it. She led me across the room to a sliding glass door and onto a balcony.
“How’d you know this was up here?” I asked, giving her a playfully suspicious look.
“Oh, you know, Eric and I are dating and this is where he takes all his women to seduce them,” she said nonchalantly, which clued me in on the fact that she was joking.
“Ha ha,” I said as I leaned on the balcony railing. A hot summer breeze brushed across my face. I took another sip of beer to try to keep the heat at bay.
“So,” Macy said as she leaned on the railing next to me. “You gotta tell me what Brian wanted.”
I explained what had happened, along with how I couldn’t believe it was happening, and thought that one of us was possibly brain dead.
Once I’d finished telling her, Macy looked at me with the same look of disbelief I imagined I’d had when it was all happening. “Wow,” she said. “I guess whoever beat him up literally knocked some sense into him!”
“Yeah, I agree. I wish they’d done it sooner!”
“No kidding! I could barely stand him after knowing him for only a few weeks. I can only imagine what it must’ve been like dealing with him for years.”
I shrugged. “It wasn’t that bad. More of an annoyance than anything. Still, every once in a while, he’d remind you who’s boss.”
But I’m the boss now, I thought. I guess you could say that Brian Turner was really the first villain I’d defeated. But for some reason, I didn’t think that Richter would be thanking me over a beer any time soon.
“So, Kane,” Macy said as she slid closer to me, to the point where our shoulders were touching.
“So, Macy,” I said as I looked down into her eyes with a smile.
“What are you thinking about?”
Without even thinking, I blurted, “How much I want to kiss you right now.”
Macy bit her lip and held back a smile. She stood on the tips of her toes, and we both closed our eyes.
Our lips touched, and it felt as if electricity was sparking through me. I didn’t get the chance to fully enjoy it, though, as the quick burst of a police siren and the flashing of red and blue lights caused me to open my eyes and then wince at how bright they seemed.
&n
bsp; “Oh, shit,” Macy breathed.
I grabbed her beer bottle from her hand and threw both bottles far away. I got a little carried away, as they went soaring a good thirty yards.
“Wow,” Macy said as she grabbed my bicep. “You have a good arm.”
“I think we have other things to worry about,” I said as I turned and began walking back through the bedroom.
Macy followed close behind as we went down the hallway and down the stairs. I was going to run for the back door once I got downstairs, but some police officers had already made it inside and had everybody rounded up.
“Alright, everybody!” an officer with black scruff and spiky hair shouted. “This party is over. I want everyone to go home. I have some officers standing outside the door with breathalyzers. If you’re too drunk to drive, you will call your parents, tell them where you are and what you’re doing, and have them come pick you up. No exceptions.” The officer found Eric and Victoria in the crowd. He pointed at both of them. “You two aren’t going anywhere. You’re both in big trouble.”
I cursed under my breath and began filing out the door. I breathed into the breathalyzer, which showed that my blood alcohol level was zero. I’d only had a little bit of beer, but I was expecting at least a .01 or .02. But nothing? I had a feeling my health regeneration power had something to do with it.
Macy and I stood outside for a minute until we spotted Drew and Michael. “I’m driving them home,” I told the officer. He let them pass without testing them. Drew stumbled behind Macy and me, but I think he was drunk on love more than anything else. Michael brought up the rear, shuffling slowly, sighing heavily.
We all got in the car and breathed sighs of relief. Michael groaned and Drew let out a whoop.
“This whole night could have gone very badly,” I said, more thinking out loud than anything.
Macy nodded. “For sure.” She turned and looked at me, her face glowing. “But in a way, it was kinda perfect.”
I smirked at her. “Yeah, it was kinda perfect.”
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