Page 22 of The Not So Super Hero

W inter vacation moved swiftly, recharging Bailey’s social meter.

There was hardly a day he spent at home, either going out with friends or spending time with his parents.

Though today was a rare occurrence where he found himself alone on the couch munching on popcorn in the middle of the afternoon.

Both his parents were at work. He didn’t have plans until the evening, so he spent his free time watching shows.

It reminded him of Zane, who he hadn’t heard from since break started, which was understandable.

He didn’t have Zane’s number. After a quick online search, he didn’t find any social media either.

Bailey wasn’t all that shocked. It had social in the word. Of course, Zane avoided it.

It made Bailey sad, nonetheless. Then he felt stupid for being sad and so tried his best not to think of Zane’s stupid face.

Bailey settled on watching some comedians to distract him.

Later that evening, Bailey prepared to see his friends.

It didn’t take too long to get dressed and to fix the mess he called hair.

Once styled properly, Bailey was ready to leave.

Prior to reaching the steps, he hesitated in front of a room that hadn’t been lived in for years yet remained looking the same longer than any other.

It didn’t matter how long it had been or how many times Bailey passed her room.

He stopped every time. He pressed his fingers against the cool white wood and apologized even if she had heard it a thousand times.

Nothing had changed in years. The papers tacked on the door of scribbled drawings remained.

The tiara that hung from a tack with a pink ribbon tied around the knob alongside a princess plaque.

Sometimes Bailey fixed the tiara or wiped away dust. If a picture fell, he put it back up, but he never stepped inside.

Never even peered within or bothered to touch the knob.

Not even when his mom entered to clean, or when his dad walked in to simply remember.

Bailey couldn’t face it. Couldn’t face her, so he always left after a moment of hesitation.

Bailey descended the stairs, informing his parents that he’d be leaving, but the TV caught his attention.

Yet another sad piece of news; the villain known as Bright stood atop chaos and destruction that overtook an entire city.

The news showed him from above. Bright hopped from one strange glowing tentacle to the next.

The tentacles shot up from every direction, toppling over skyscrapers and tossing cars.

Dust and debris rose into the sky. Within seconds, the tentacles encased the town like a hard outer shell.

The cries of victims echoed from the distance. Bright’s laughter echoed over them.

Bailey and his parents listened in terrified silence.

“Another villain attack has taken place in downtown Dilliner today. That makes three attacks in three separate locations just within the last month. All from well-known villains who have remained unseen for years. Bright, who was believed to have been taken down during the days of Rebirth, has reappeared. As of right now, it is unknown how many victims there are, as our communication with those involved has been very limited.”

The camera zoomed in to catch Bright in action. She was barely visible within the clouds. A second later, another tentacle erupted from the debris with Bright riding it like a wave.

“Rebirth? I thought the government got rid of those sick bastards for good?” Emilia spat.

“They did. This is just some sick bastard taking advantage of their own powers. The news is hyping it up more for views. Rebirth was falling long before it was gone,” Leroy argued, taking the remote from Emilia to change the channel.

It didn’t matter because the image of destruction Bright caused remained imprinted on the back of Bailey’s eyelids.

“But you’ve been watching the news. It’s getting worse and worse! We haven’t had so many large-scale villain attacks in years,” Emilia countered. “It’s been six years since the official downfall of Rebirth, but who’s to say they haven’t rallied some villains together to start it back up?”

“If they did, it would be nothing like the real thing. There’s nothing to worry about. Rebirth is gone and will remain that way.”

Bailey wasn’t as confident as his father. In fact, his gut argued angrily against it, twisting at the mere mention of Rebirth, the once well-known villain organization with one thing in mind; world domination, destruction, and chaos. They strived for death, and they were good at it.

The abrupt halt of mutant rights happened because of them. More and more villains appeared and shook the world, causing only more distrust and hate towards mutants. Rebirth set the world back. They enjoyed every minute of it. Rebirth’s prime was the worst years for mutants imaginable.

Bailey had vague memories of them, seeing as they were far more active during his youth.

After their fall, no one heard anything from them.

MRS, or the Mutant Reform Society, had been appearing a lot more too, a part of the government with very open views about the need to eradicate mutants entirely.

Any attack by a mutant and they were there shouting their desire for a cure to mutations.

Of course, they loved all the Rebirth talk.

They used it to remind people of the years of fighting that mutants caused and how much easier and better life would be without them.

“I’m going to head out,” Bailey said.

“Ok, sweetie, have fun and be careful,” Emilia said. Bailey leaned over to give both his parents a quick kiss on the cheek before grabbing his keys and heading out the door.

During Bailey’s drive to the bowling alley, all he could think about was the news.

Seeing Bright with that wicked smile of hers that seemed to tear right through him continued to remind him of Boomer.

The chaos, the destruction, everything happening on TV that people did their best to ignore was getting worse and worse.

Attacks were bigger, more frequent, and heroes were getting pushed to the edge with work.

From what Bailey heard, Scorch and Frostbite were out for a while, getting pretty badly injured in their last fight.

If they were around, the attack Bright did wouldn’t have been nearly as catastrophic.

A troubling sensation gnawed at Bailey’s stomach.

Hopefully, it was all a coincidence and the villain attacks would lessen.

However, in the back of Bailey’s mind, he felt that was not going to be the case and the world was in for one hell of a battle.

Sadly, Bailey could not escape the solemn discussion of villains because not long after he arrived at the bowling alley did his friends bring it up.

“Did you see the news?”

“Dilliner was basically destroyed!”

“I heard Rebirth is back.”

“No way, Rebirth has been dead for, like, years. They learned their lessons not to fuck with heroes.”

Bailey sat quietly at the table, watching his friends argue whether the news was right. He got up to bowl, then sat back down. It wasn’t until probably thirty minutes into their session that Bailey’s silence was finally picked up on.

“What do you think, Bailey?” Christina asked from across the table with a curious look in her eye.

Bailey shrugged. “I hope the news is wrong.”

“Well, yeah, but do you honestly think Rebirth is back? It’s been pretty crazy lately,”

Jarrett scoffed beside her and jumped in with a stern voice, “And by lately, you mean these past few weeks. We can’t jump to conclusions just because there’s been a rise in villain attacks.

If it remains this way, then sure, but as of right now, people are just trying to have something to talk about. ”

People loved stirring up drama. Bailey’s father also felt the same, and it appeared a few others did as well.

By the pursing of Christina’s lips, she either agreed or saw where he was coming from.

Either way, the conversation continued forward from there, his friends changing the topic shortly after.

However, even after the topic was changed, Bailey couldn’t help but think of Rebirth.

It was hard not to because there seemed to be something there at the back of his mind that he couldn’t quite put his finger on.

The longer Bailey thought of it, the closer the answer became, then something clicked; Boomer.

The R etched onto that building. Could that have had something to do with Rebirth?

Boomer may have spelled it out to leave a sort of message or warning?

A shiver wracked his spine. How long Rebirth had been slowly reforming?

How long were they dropping messages? And did the government know?

The reason Boomer’s attack wasn’t shown on the news was that because they learned it was Rebirth?

The public would likely go nuts if it was proven to all be true, so had they been hiding it?

Bailey felt like some nut job trying to put together a conspiracy theory.

Perhaps he was overreacting, simply putting things together because he didn’t have all the clues. Boomer was never associated with Rebirth to begin with, so maybe it was something completely different.

Thankfully, his nerves calmed when his week ended with no more trouble on the news. It was time to return to campus, which he did after his mom squeezed the life out of him.

After another long drive, Bailey returned to his dorm on time and groaned miserably at the realization that he had to pack everything back in.

Bailey thought Ryan would help, but the bastard was already out with friends.

With his luck, he was going to have to take the stairs because the elevator magically blew up and he’d fall down to break his neck.