Chapter 40: Chapter 40: Childhood Crush

"Do I have something on my face?" Lucky says, smirking at Travis from behind a newspaper.

Travis snaps his head away, trying not to turn red. He didn't mean to stare, but she just looks so familiar….

"I'm sorry, but have we met before?" Travis ask.

"I was wondering when you'd get around to that."

Travis and Lucky are stationed on lookout for their first Hero Project real-world Mission, sitting outside a bodega near Manhattan's 42nd street. Getting to be in New York would be much more exciting if he weren't forced to stay on this corner, dressed in civilian clothes over his costumes to appear anonymous.

"You're lucky I'm not offended you forgot me," Lucky says, traces of her Southern accent slipping through. She is about to go on, but instead glances up at a pigeon sitting on a nearby power line. Travis both know those are actually camera orbs, disguised for the occasion.

"It's fine," Travis says, looking over Lucky's maskless face. "Neither of us are doing the secret identity thing, right?"

Lucky nods, looking distracted. Which is understandable, since GG suddenly chirps in the earpiece connecting Travis to the producers and the judges in Mission Control.

"Dumplings, do remember not to make eye contact with or refer to our pigeonish friends," GG says. "Many thanks."

Travis look to Lucky and she grins. "Looks like we're already getting ourselves in trouble."

Smiling back, his heart skips a beat. Something about Lucky is so damn charming….

"Anyway, remember the Hero Tryouts?"

The moment Lucky says this, Travis mind flashes to his sleep away camp, which was for kids who wanted to be heroes when they grew up. He went there every summer before his parents were imprisoned.

But that's not the only thing that pops into his mind—immediately, he remembers Hero Tryouts was the place where he met the biggest crush of his childhood Sam.

Samantha Smith. He was head over heels for Sam from the moment he saw her. Athletic, funny, smart, and friendly, she was the coolest kid at camp, despite having to be there on full scholarship (Sam's single mother couldn't afford to send her, the oldest of six kids, to the ritzy camp).

Even though Sam wasn't one of the rich kids like the rest of them, it seems she was still friends with everyone. She just had a personality that transcended all of the adolescent social nonsense.

It probably didn't hurt that she was very, very cute—Travis remembered lying in his bunk for weeks, trying to figure out a way to hang out with Sam alone.

And then it happened out of nowhere, Sam asked him to the end-of-summer dance as her date. She was the first girl to ever ask him out like that. There was just something about Sam—she was so sure of herself.

That dance with Sam was one of the best nights of his life…especially since it ended with his very first kiss.

But it was later that same year that his parents were sent to The Devoid. Once he moved to the Eastern Fringes, Grandma couldn't afford to send him back to Hero Tryouts. So that summer was the last time he ever saw Sam…

Until now.

"Sam?" Travis blurt out.

"Hey, aren't we supposed to be staying incognito here?" Lucky says. "But it's good to see you again too, Travis."

He can hardly believe it, Sam looks exactly like she used to—though now she wears a tight red costume, showing off a very grown-up body. He should have recognized her earlier, but there's a lot from his lost life that just became too painful to dwell on, after a while.

But now it makes total sense why he were so drawn to Lucky. And why he finds her so attractive.

"I didn't think I'd see you again," Travis says, keeping his voice down.

"I have to admit, I've been following your story," Lucky says. "I wanted to reach out, but I…never knew quite what to say. I know what it must have been like for you. And there really isn't anything to say, is there?"

Travis watches as Lucky's face falls and he remembers that her birth mother died while having her. Lucky was raised by her second mom, who was married to her birth mother. Still, Lucky knows exactly what it's like to lose a parent.

Him and Lucky make eye contact. And he feels warm inside, like somehow despite all the years apart, Sam has been his best friend forever.

"Holy Moly! that's Gravitate!" a pedestrian shouts, pointing Travis out to her friend.

"And you're Lucky, from The Hero Project! Oh my god, are you filming now? We're the hugest fans!"

The two women suddenly run up to him and Lucky, shaking with excitement.

"The Hero Project is my favorite show and—"

"What's Black Magic like? Is—"

"I have to call my—"

"What are you doing in the city?"

As women ramble over each other, Travis turn to Lucky. And she looks absolutely stunned.

He has gotten used to the occasional fan recognizing him by now, but he can tell this is brand new for Lucky. She just blinks, totally overwhelmed.

"Remove yourselves now, you've been compromised." Travis hears Rebellion's voice come through his earpiece from Mission Control. Knowing Lucky has heard this too, he stand up.

"I'm afraid we have to—"

Before he can finish, a group of teenagers emerge from a nearby subway exit. One of them notices the commotion and immediately recognizes him.

"Hey, they're on The Hero Project!"

The next thing he knows, a crowd begins to form around him, growing larger as people stream out of the busy rush-hour subway.

"—autograph—"

"—so hot—"

"What does it—"

He can't quite grasp what's happening as the crowd swarms him. He has been sequestered for the week after making the Final 14, so this is his first time out in public since the show aired.

Which makes this completely insane—just how famous is he now?

"Lucia's gonna kill me." Travis says, putting a hand on his head.

"Get out of there, now!" Rebellion shouts through his earpiece. He look over at Lucky and she just smiles from ear to ear, completely dumbstruck by the strangers fawning over her.

"Sorry folks, duty calls," Travis announced as he grab Lucky and pull her close. Once he has a tight grip, he lift off the ground and climb through the air. As he hovers above the crowd, he can feel Lucky's warm body pressed against his own, her breath on his neck. It sends a wave of chills through him.

"Couldn't you have just used your gravity Powers to lift me?" Lucky says as they take off across the street.

Travis blush, but that thought quickly fades as an explosion booms through the air from several blocks away. He feels Lucky tense and his nerves light up.

"Get to the target point, now!" Rebellion screams in his ear. "We are a go!"

(Let's do a rundown quickly before they make it to this situation.)

Travis sits strapped into his chair in The Hero Project Transport (which is one of the finest luxury hoverjets money can buy), trying his best to fight the nausea rumbling through your stomach. He closed his eyes and swallow hard as the judges continue their debrief.

"Our joint-agency intelligence suggests that NewOrder next attack will be focused on one of Manhattan's major underground tunnels," DaHChip explains.

"So for your first Hero Project real-world Mission, we're deploying you in two Teams to prevent the NewOrder attack," Rebellion says. "Remember, The American Protectors will be a confederation of solo heroes working together as a team to face big threats—so this is the model we're using for today's Mission."

Travis looks at the panel of judges (displayed holographically from the Mission Control room at The Hero Project HQ) and is in awe that he's part of such an important operation. After the NewOrder bridge attack last week, The NewOrder was marked as one of the highest national security threats.

As horrible HC commuter train attacks were, they were fairly run-of-the-mill for a major Powered city. These attacks in no way hinted at the level of power or planning necessary for his NYC attack—the authorities are still working to figure out how Phobus pulled off a terrorist strike of that magnitude.(And for those who don't know who Phobus is, he's the leader of the NewOrder)

To save face and demonstrate exactly why a team like The American Protectors is necessary, the Government tasked the Finalists of The Hero Project with stopping this threat—a (hopefully) very public solution to the problem. And one that Travis can tell has Rexford practically salivating—he couldn't have cooked up a bigger or better set of Missions for his fledgling show if he tried.

"We hope you've all studied the files on The NewOrder in preparation for this strike," Rebellion says and he has to resist the urge to laugh, because he makes it sound like he had a choice. GG hovered over Travis shoulder for an hour last night while he forced him to review the files on The NewOrder three times.

It took Travis several minutes to get over that fact that Smyther appears to be alive and well. Technically it was Veta who was responsible for his near-death experience, but he doubt a criminal like Smyther is sophisticated enough to differentiate. He now ranks at the top of Travis most dangerous enemies list, for sure…especially since he has decided to move beyond petty crime and take on a terrorist agenda.

"How will eliminations work?" Asrid interrupts from across the Transport.

"Hold on," a producer says from near the cockpit. "We hit a bump. Asrid, can you repeat that for sound?"

"Sure," Asrid says, clearing his throat. "How will eliminations work?"

"Your Leaderboard scores have been reset and we judges will be calculating a brand new Leaderboard score throughout this Mission," Rexford begins. "Your scores will factor heavily into the elimination, as you can see by reviewing the official Elimination Rules, which have been uploaded to your H-Chips."

Travis takes a second to read the Elimination Rules page quickly, knowing it has also been stored in his H-Chip's Show Stats screen if he ever need a refresher.

comment 0 comment

Vote

SEND GIFT

Load failed, please RETRY