Truth Covered In Security

In the second building, the two brothers stood silent. They were separated by a cloud of dust, neither visible to the other.

“Now it’s time to get serious!” Kai shouted.

Taro stepped back. His brother’s enthusiasm surprised him.

“This is it. I can finally show Taro the ability I’ve been working on in my room.” Kai thought.

The day after their last mission:

Akilah and Kai were the last compound residents left in the lobby. Everyone else had gone to their rooms. Their minds were both racing too fast to go to bed.

Kai was too energetic to go to sleep. His mind was racing from the fight with Ocho, every thought filled with ways he could have destroyed the Deputy.

Akilah’s thoughts were filled with inadequacy. She thought of all the times she could’ve helped, which were far in between. Her mind began to spiral. A pit grew in her chest.

“Hey, babe.” Kai turned to Akilah.

“I’m not your babe!” Akilah exclaimed.

“Oh, sorry.” Kai put his hands up. “Anyways, how do you think I could make lightning, like that one superhero Chase likes?” Kai asked. He had been thinking about the movie Chase was watching on the plane to Japan.

“I need to get a new ability. This last mission showed it. I guess me and Taro can’t rely on raw speed and strength.” Kai thought.

“Well, it would be easier if your Mode was lightning like Bloom, but you’ve only got speed.” Akilah thought out loud.

Kai grew disheartened.

Akilah noticed his demeanor change. She saw how he looked away, but she was more focused on his leg. It was bouncing up and down nervously at superhuman speeds. The gesture gave her an idea.
“You know how a balloon rubbing against hair creates static electricity?” Akilah asked.

“...Yeah?” Kai grew confused at the random question.

“Well, you can do the same thing with air. Maybe, if you move your hand fast enough, and channel Spirit into it to enhance it, you can make an electric attack.” Akilah placed her hand on her chin, trying to verify the hypothesis in her mind.

“Thanks! You’re the best, babe!” Kai jumped in for a hug.
“Stop with that!” Akilah was caught between Kai’s arms, a flustered yet angry look on her face.

Present day:

Kai pulled thick motorcycle gloves out of his pocket. He put them on as he took a deep breath.

His right hand rushed back and forth, becoming a blur of black.

“What’s he doing?” Taro asked himself.

To his surprise, Taro saw a ball of light coming from inside the cloud of dust. The ball’s sides were rough, cracking every which way in small strikes of lightning.

The ball began to rush towards Taro.

The boy paused for a moment, stunned.

Taro put his fists up in defense.

The ball of lightning shot upwards. As he emerged from the top of the cloud of dust, Taro’s eyes widened.

Kai shot downwards towards his brother, holding a ball of lightning in his right glove.

“Shit!” Taro exclaimed, jumping backwards to avoid the attack. He tumbled onto the floor a few feet away.

Boom

Kai’s lightning hit the ground, barely missing his brother.

The attack crackled and popped into nothing.

Kai rotated his right arm while he held his shoulder.

“What the hell?!” Taro stood up, throwing his arms up in confused frustration.

“Are you forfeiting?!” Kai asked in return. He began to shake his right hand at hyperspeed. It still took a couple seconds to charge up, but a ball of lightning reappeared in the palm of his hand.

Taro’s brows furrowed at the sound of forfeit.

“Nope!” Taro cracked his knuckles, awaiting Kai’s approach.

“Still… I never thought he’d learn a new ability. We’ve always won on raw speed and strength.” Taro thought.

Kai sped towards him at super speed, holding his ball of lightning. He threw a left hook with his lightning ball, aiming for his brother’s shoulder.

Taro ducked. He could feel a small static shock as the lightning passed over him.

The boy went for an uppercut.
Taro landed the punch, hitting Kai square in the bottom of his jaw.

Kai flew across the court. He landed in the middle of the giant room, kicking up onto his feet.

“You might have a new ability, but I still know how you attack.” Taro thought. He grinned to himself as he decided who would win this spar in his head.

Kai noticed his brother’s grin. He gritted his teeth as he swung both of his arms outwards.

His hands began to shake violently, balls of lightning manifesting in both of them.

Taro’s eyes widened before he regained his composure. He shook his arms, channeling Spirit into his fists.

“Winner takes it all.” Taro muttered.

Both of the brothers charged.

Taro swung first, barely missing Kai’s face.

Kai recovered quickly. He went for a strike to the gut with both hands of lightning.

Taro dodged to the side. He felt his muscles twitch at the tiny currents of electricity as the lightning ball passed by his abdomen.

“Gotcha!” Taro exclaimed. He swung a kick towards Kai’s back.

Kai noticed just in time. He ducked, moving his ball of lightning towards his brother’s side to leave no time to react.

The ball of lightning struck Taro. He felt electricity surge through his body. His muscles spasmed as he lost his footing, falling onto the ground. It hurt like hell.

After a few seconds, the electric current faded. Taro stood up, turning to his brother to see a proud grin covering his face.

“What the hell was that?!” Taro asked.

“Don’t worry! I made sure I didn’t charge it up too much. I didn’t want you to actually get hurt!” Kai chuckled innocently. He didn’t know how much those words enraged Taro.

“That wasn’t his strongest?! What has he been up to?!” Taro thought. He felt the weight of inadequacy crash onto his shoulders. He gritted his teeth so hard his jaw ached with furious pain. He hated this. All of it.

Creak

The ceiling and walls that made up the building surrounding them began to creak. The brothers looked at each other with confusion.

Suddenly, a low snap was heard from above.

“What’s going-” Kai was interrupted.

“Watch out!” Taro pushed his brother out of the way, leaving just enough time for him to jump backwards.

A steel beam that had supported the ceiling crashed into the wood below. It crushed the spot they’d been standing seconds earlier.

The two of them froze, listening to the creaking in fear of another falling beam.

After a few more terrifying seconds, the creaking stopped.

The two brothers sighed in relief.

“That’s… That’s probably why nobody uses this place.” Taro said.

Kai began to chuckle, slowly turning into a fit of laughter. Taro joined in on the laughter as well. The two boys cackled uncontrollably at their situation.

Creak

The brothers froze, listening for another noise.

“Taro! Kai!” Alex’s voice came from the door, which creaked as she opened it.

Taro and Kai froze, this time with something else to fear.

Bloom appeared behind them in a rush of wind.

“Hi! What are you two doing here?” Bloom smiled, trying to hide her frustration with the two teens.

“Um-” Taro was interrupted.

Alex grabbed both of them by the back of the collar, lifting them both into the air as she walked towards the door.

“How about some extra chores to fill out your guys’ day?” Alex snapped at the brothers.

“It was all his idea!” Kai pointed to Taro.

“What?!” Taro exclaimed.

Jason jogged over to the second building entrance just in time to see Alex dragging the two boys out.

“Oh, good. It’s just those two.” Jason chuckled.

“I’m sorry about these two, Jason.” Bloom walked behind Alex.

“It’s all good. I forgot to tell them that this building isn’t structurally sound.” Jason wiped his sweaty forehead.

“Still, you guys are gonna help fix that floor. Got it?!” Alex asked the boys.

“Yeah…” The two brothers whined.

In Hendrix’s room:

“Perfect!” Chase smiled at his mask. He had thought out loud for the last hour, finally circling back to keeping the mask the same as Hendrix had originally designed.

Hendrix sighed in relief, putting his sewing needle down on his desk.

A knock came from the door.

“Come in.” Hendrix said.

Molly walked in with a stack of papers.

“Hey, Hendrix! Have you seen Jason- Wait, what are those?!” Molly rushed over to Hendrix’s desk, where Hendrix and Chase’s masks laid.

“They're our hero masks!” Chase stuck his fists to his side in a superhero pose.

“You did great, Hendrix!” Molly laid her hands on Hendrix’s shoulders as she looked over him.

He blushed, keeping his focus on the masks in front of him.

“You guys should come up with names for your abilities! It’d be like a supermove!” Molly joked. She chuckled at the thought of it. Hendrix smirked at the joke.

“You’re a genius!” Chase exclaimed. Hendrix and Molly blinked at him in confusion.

“Where’s the whiteboard!” Chase sprinted out of the room.

“Oh, god.” Hendrix dragged his hand down his face as he stood up, making his way out of the room, “See you later, Molly. He’ll probably drag me along for this one.” Hendrix waved goodbye. He jogged in an attempt to catch up to Chase.

“Wait-” Molly stopped herself. A mischievous grin spread across her face.

“This is perfect! Time to snoop around his room and find something that’ll make him blush!” Molly thought to herself.

As she began to look around Hendrix’s room, she replayed the fantasy in her head.

“Oh? What’s this? I won’t tell, if you take me on a date!” Molly’s imaginary self said.

“Oh, what’s this?!” Molly picked up a black book with a blank cover. She began to thumb through the pages with no hesitation.

It was a sketchbook. Molly got excited as she thumbed through it.

“Hendrix is really good at drawing! These are amazing!” Molly thought.

She saw drawings of everyone in the compound. Chase, Vida, Slim, and everyone else. She stopped at a drawing of her. She began to chuckle while she blushed.

She turned the page, expecting to see another drawing of her. What she saw instead was a mysterious man.

His black hair was disheveled. He wore a cloak riddled with black bird feathers, and his face was covered by a blank white mask, the only feature being holes for his eyes.

The most distinguishable feature, though, was his piercing yellow eyes. It was the only thing Hendrix had colored throughout the whole sketchbook.

Molly turned the page. It was another drawing of him. Then another, and another.

The girl began to get worried. Every drawing of this figure ran chills down her spine.

“Who is this guy? I’ll have to ask Hendrix.” Molly muttered to herself. She put the book in her satchel as she walked out of the room.