Page 9 of The Not So Super Hero

Bailey shook his head. He pulled off his glasses to wipe some of the dust away, then frowned at the large crack in the glass.

“No, I’m fine, sore I guess,” he sighed.

“All right, but I would still suggest you checkup with a doctor to be safe,” Chris said. “Why don’t you start from the beginning?”

Bailey nodded, then went over what he remembered.

He spoke of meeting Zane in the grocery store, how he ended up on the ground prior to the explosion, then stepping outside to see buildings on fire.

Remembering the flames sent a shiver down Bailey’s spine.

He squirmed and shoved his shaking hands into the pockets of his jeans.

He spoke of Boomer appearing. The attack was a blur, resulting in his recounting of events potentially being out of order.

His heart raced, recalling the attack. In his hometown, there was never an attack on such a level.

There were a few dumbasses that tried to rob a convenience store, but nothing so drastic as what he had gone through.

“The driver!” Bailey suddenly shouted at the memory of a car slamming into Boomer. “Is the driver of that car ok? The one that hit Boomer.”

“Driver?” Chris asked. “Sorry, but we haven’t gotten into the area yet, and no one here claims to have hit Boomer with a car.”

Bailey frowned; his assumption earlier was likely correct, the driver was probably dead. He bit his lip while nodding, keeping his eyes downcast when he felt a twinge of guilt in his chest.

“There’s no need to force yourself to talk about this.

Take your time. It was a crazy ordeal, so it’s understandable why you would need a moment to think it all over,” Chris spoke reassuringly with that same kind smile.

He offered to give Bailey a moment by grabbing him a drink. He gave a thankful nod.

Chris got up to retrieve him some water.

It was during that time that Bailey finally spotted a familiar face; Zane.

He walked out of an interrogation room, only to get stopped by Chris at the water fountain.

From where he sat, Bailey couldn’t hear what they were saying, though the atmosphere hinted to them knowing each other.

Zane stood in a lax position, hands in his pockets.

Chris jabbed him in the chest with his finger, smiling as if he was genuinely pleased to see Zane.

Zane rolled his eyes, then Chris ruffled his hair like a child.

Bailey’s jaw dropped. How well did they know each other for Zane to allow that?

Last time Bailey tried to so much as grab Zane’s wrist, he was swatted away in an instant.

Chris poked Zane, ruffled his hair, then pulled him in for a hug as he patted his back roughly.

After the encounter, Zane waved while heading for the exit. Though Bailey understood why Zane wanted to leave so quickly, he had hoped to speak with him again. Now Bailey owed him even more after what happened. Prior to Zane’s escape, Bailey called to him, “Zane!”

Zane stopped. He pivoted on his heel to spot Bailey, then frowned, placed his headphones over his ears and marched out the door.

Huffing, Bailey sunk into his seat. He wanted to thank Zane, even if he knew it would not happen.

He also wanted to ask if he was ok. It was so hectic that he didn’t get the chance to, although Bailey assumed Zane was fine if he was leaving.

The lack of injury gave Bailey more reason to believe Zane had some kind of mutation.

Not only did he send that thug flying with a single kick, he also blocked Bailey from that explosion.

Bailey wasn’t sure if the heat was from the flames but Zane’s clothes were pretty torn up.

He was likely hit with something, though he didn’t have a scratch or bruise on him.

Healing minor wounds came naturally to mutants, but if Zane was a mutant, why didn’t he use his ability?

Or was it something that couldn’t have helped the situation?

Chris returned with a cup of water that ceased Bailey’s thoughts. He chugged the drink, making Chris chuckle. He sat back down to ask, “Did you know Zane before this?”

“Yeah, he’s the custodian at my dorm.”

Chris nodded, and left his questions about Zane there, though Bailey swore he saw curiosity in Chris’ gaze.

However, he went back to questioning Bailey about the attack.

Bailey provided the details he could remember from something as simple as the sounds he heard prior to the explosion to what Boomer had said.

“Thank you for your cooperation, Bailey,” Chris said afterwards, shaking Bailey’s hand.

“Sorry, I probably wasn’t much help.” Bailey frowned as he got up to follow Chris towards the exit.

“Any information is helpful, Bailey and, if you remember anything,” Chris held out his card. “Give me a call.”

Bailey took the card to slide into his back pocket, then Bailey went to walk out the door. That’s when he remembered one little detail he forgot to share. Bailey spun on his heel. “Detective Walker!”

Chris stood by his desk, raising his head to offer a curious gaze.

“I forgot something, though I may have seen it wrong, but I think there was the letter R burned into one of the buildings.”

“The letter R?” Chris asked. “What do you mean?”

“When we were running, I looked back, and I thought Boomer had written the letter R into one of the buildings.” Bailey felt a little silly.

Panicking and running were not a delightful combination, especially when trying to recall details.

So he shook his head. “Sorry, I probably was seeing things. Forget I said that.”

With that, Bailey said goodbye and walked out the door.

“You are going to be the end of me, Bailey Schaefer!” Amery hollered when Bailey entered his dorm room. She threw himself at him. Though sore, he caught his crying friend.

“Are you okay?” she hiccuped. “We saw the news! Then I tried calling, but you weren’t answering and none of us heard from you. We were so worried!”

“Well, she was worried,” Ryan corrected her, earning him a tear filled glare. “It’s nice seeing you’re alright,” he added.

Bailey chuckled. “Yeah, sorry, Amery. It’s not like I tried to get into trouble. On the plus side, though, my car is fine!”

Bailey looked at Amery as if he expected her to be excited at the news.

He had just found out because the battle between Seraph and Boomer ended.

With town getting cleaned up, Bailey was informed that he’d get his car back sometime tomorrow.

Amery did not receive the same joy Bailey did at that knowledge.

“What’s important and what’s on ‘the plus side’ is that you are ok!” Amery jabbed her finger into his chest, causing Bailey to curse.

“Keep stabbing me with your nail like that and I won’t be ok and that will be your fault,” Bailey explained. Scowling, Amery released him to rub her red eyes.

“Sorry, I really am okay,” he added, pulling her in for a real hug. “Thanks for worrying about me, but it’s fine. Everything is fine, and I will do my best not to let it happen again.”

“You better.”

Amery squeezed Bailey one last time before letting go. Then she dragged him to take a seat on the bed. A plate of brownies rested on the bedside table. She made them earlier to calm her nerves, though Ryan chimed in that she added, “maybe he’ll sense the brownies waiting for him and be okay.”

“So what happened?” Ryan asked, smirking at Bailey’s brownie stuffed face.

“Ryan!” She hissed, spinning on her heel with her hands on her hips. “Don’t go asking something like that right after a terrible thing. Bailey needs time.”

“I’m fine, though,” Bailey interrupted, shrugging. “To be honest, it all happened so fast it’s hard to remember it all. Zane was there, though.”

Amery choked on her brownie. Ryan laughed until she threw a brownie at him. Bailey wasn’t sure why she did that because he caught it and ate it, so that wasn’t much of a punishment.

“Seriously? I bet he hates you after this,” Ryan said around his laughter.

“He hated me before,” Bailey replied, shaking his head. “Anyway, it was so hectic that I’m not even sure if I saw things correctly.”

“What makes you say that?” Amery inquired.

Bailey wasn’t sure if he wanted to tell them or not. He honestly believed his eyes were deceiving him. How the hell could there have been a R carved into a building?

Amery jabbed Bailey in the side with her elbow to show that they were still waiting for his response. He looked at their inquisitive gazes, then sighed, “I keep thinking that I saw the letter R on one of the buildings. I think Boomer actually wrote something, but that’s stupid, isn’t it?”

“Not really,” Ryan replied, sitting a little straighter on his bed. “Maybe the attack was some sort of message, then she literally left a message.”

Amery rolled her eyes, but Bailey gave him props for coming up with a potential reason.

It made some sort of sense because why else did Boomer attack in the middle of the day in a college town?

Sure, she exploded a bank and probably stole the money, but why cause so much damage?

Why not just take the money and go? Why not hit a bigger bank in a more prominent area?

There were so many questions that Bailey wanted answered.

He imagined Detective Walker must have been thinking along those lines, especially when Bailey remembered all the questions he asked.

“What kind of message did she want to leave then?” Amery wondered, looking at the boys. “Revenge?”

“Possibly. I’m pretty sure it was Frostbite and Scorch who caught her in Ringgold a few months ago.

Maybe it was revenge, but either way, I’m sure the cops will be on it.

We’ll likely hear about it on the news in a few days,” Ryan said before grabbing a handful of brownies to shove into his mouth.

Amery shouted, saying that they were for Bailey, who only had three, while Ryan easily stuffed three into his mouth right then.

The two argued over the brownies while Bailey sat on his bed, wondering if revenge was really what Boomer was after.

If that were the case, wouldn’t she have kidnapped someone?

Asked for Frostbite and Scorch who locked her up in the first place?

He didn’t think it made much sense. Then again, most villains made little sense to him.

After a few days passed and news of the attack died off, there was still no word about the R Bailey swore he saw.

In fact, he wasn’t even sure they even showed the remains of the bank that was first bombed.

Then Chris contacted Bailey to inform him they found the vehicle that hit Boomer.

There was nobody inside, and no one who claimed to have done it.

They found the owners of the vehicle safe and sound, but they were some of the first people evacuated during the attack.

Bailey thought he really was seeing things, though an aching twist in his gut tried to say he was missing something. Something big.