FIVE: The Nice One

FIVE: The Nice One

five years later

s cold as tits, Jeremy Levi muttered, rubbing his bare biceps with his hands as he stared out at the snow falling over the Ls tracks. Alden, man, stop looking so warm. Youve got a sweater and a coat. Its not fair!

His pale lips were almost as gray as the sky overhead, and his breath came out in frosty white puffs of fog.

Agree to stupid dares, win stupid prizes. Alden leaned against a railing while they waited for the train. Its twenty-something degrees. Did you seriously think you were stronger than frostbite?

I th-thought itd be ok-kay. The chatter in Jeremys teeth was probably only half drama. Theyd left his place fifteen minutes ago, and Jeremy was wearing flip-flops, shorts, and a sleeveless white tee with a picture of a dancing traffic cone on it.

Are tits particularly cold? Boe, the third member of their friend group, asked. He sounded amused. And since when do we use that metaphor anyway? Its a weird one.

Boe looked shy and nerdy with his horn-rims, grandmotherly scarf, and horrible bowl haircut. But he had a nasty grin on his face as he took in the other boys suffering.

Ill loan you my scarf, Remy, he cooed. Just beg.

N-no, you bastard! Youre gonna give me that ten bucks when this is over. And then Im gonna shove it up your

Its a reference to witches. Alden stuffed his hands into the pockets of his jeans as the train approached the platform.

W-what?

The saying. Its about witches, I think. Some superstition from a long time ago, maybe

Ha! Jeremy exhaled another cloud of fog. Bet those Salem goons wouldve had heart attacks if they could see us all now. Were on our way to alien school, you have a snack for a demon in your messenger bag, and Bos got a Bedlam Beldam poster taped to the wall over his bed.

Hes not really a demon, said Alden, stepping into the least-crowded car. Hes justa weird-looking extra-dimensional being who has to do community service for all eternity.

Because he murdered

Attempted to murder.

Thats better?

Would you rather have someone attempt to murder you or succeed?

I bought that poster when I was eight, Bo interrupted, turning his nose up at Jeremy. Everyone loves Bedlam Beldam when theyre eight.

Yeah, but youre sixteen now, bro. Thats a long time to stare at a superhero whose whole thing is talking to cats and wearing pointy hats.

They took their seats, and while his friends argued about the merits of witch-themed heroes, Alden pulled out his phone. He did it almost without thinking about it.

I shouldnt do this again. Itll only make me gloomy for the rest of the morning.

But he didnt put the phone up. Instead, he tapped on the gleaming silver sigil that had appeared after he called Hannah for the first time.

It looked like an app, but it definitely wasnt. The thing was impossible to delete and appeared on any phone Alden heldincluding a vintage rotary dial hed once encountered at a neighbors house.

It was kind of creepy, but at least he wasnt alone. Anyone who had permission to call a superhero through the System apparently had the same bizarre perk. He held the phone to his ear.

Play last three voicemails, he muttered.

For a moment, there was nothing but silence, and Alden stared at his own distorted reflection in the metal pole beside his seat. He looked a lot like his fathergreen eyes, hair hovering between true brown and auburn, average height for his age. His freckles had mostly disappeared for now, but theyd be back in summer.

A familiar, bright voice interrupted his inspection.

The situation must have been getting out of hand. Skiff couldnt risk letting someone with a tunneling skill run wild with so many buildings around. He had to hold the guy down and force water into his lungs.

He needed a sidekick.

Hannah could have done it.

Well, that was a bad example. Hannah would have been a perfect matchup for the tunneler. She could have stuffed him into her magic bubble, and there wouldnt have been any need for another hero on the scene at all.

But there were tons of ways even a weak sidekick could have helped the superhero out with a case like this one. A buff that boosted Skiffs speed would have let him win the chase before it left his home turf on the lake. Anyone with a ranged attack would have been useful.

But sidekicks had gone out of fashion in the nineties. Before then, it was normal for an S-rank or A-rank superhumanthe usual superhero ranksto work with an entourage of weak assistants. Teams were all the rage. But that had been a bad decade for villain activity, and people had started calling sidekicks bucket kicks because theydied. A lot.

For a while, sidekicks had a twelve percent survival rate in superhuman-on-superhuman battles.

It wasnt like they were supposed to be in those battles in the first place. They were supposed to be evacuating civilians and running coms and things like that. But villains didnt adhere to the rules of fair play, and targeting the squishy friends of the more dangerous hero was a pretty good psychological tactic.

So sidekicks were out. No city wanted the bloodstains on their image. Weak superhumans stayed on the island or, if they were lucky enough to be good at something flashy, worked in entertainment.

And there were just a few active superheroes these days who, like Hannah, deliberately chose skills that would be better for support than outright combat.

It was a dangerous choice, to take abilities that wouldnt be as good in a one-on-one fight. But Hannah had been so passionate about it. Battlefield support was supposed to be a multiplier for another hero, shed told Alden. A second fiddle that played like an entire orchestra.

Two heroes fighting side by side is great, shed said. But if one of those heroes is specced to complement the otherits like adding an exponent. You get something way more than the sum of its parts.

Suddenly, a flip-flop nudged Aldens shin. His thoughts scattered, and he looked up

Hey, man, this is our stop, Jeremy nodded toward the doors. Whats up with you? You were totally out of it.

Sorry. Just thinking about that essay assignment we got in lit class.

Ugh, why am I hanging out with you nerds? Jeremy complained. We go to school five days a week already, and now the two of you have got me going to more school on the weekends.

Boe clapped him on the shoulder. Honestly, neither one of us thought youd actually apply to consulate classes when we suggested it. You could be doing anything right now, but youre here. I dont know whether I should be touched by your fidelity or saddened by your total lack of other friends.

Its true, Alden agreed, grabbing his bag and standing. Youre way needier than we realized. At this rate, youll end up an honors student against your will.

Jeremy looked appalled. Alden, you demon-feeding jerk! How dare you!? Youre supposed to be the nice one.

I am? Alden asked, genuinely surprised. I mean, I guess Im not as mean as Boe

Youre just not trying hard enough, Boe said sincerely as they took the stairs down to street level.

Shut up, you two! Im the funny one. Boes the mean one. Aldens the nice one.

I didnt know you had us all labeled. Can we call me scathing instead of mean?

What makes me nice? Most people who knew Alden would probably describe him as reserved. He thought his social skills were adequate when he called on them, but he wasnt an extrovert. He was overly comfortable doing his own thing, and he made friends mostly by happenstance.

Boe had attached himself to Alden in middle school, probably because Alden was the only member of their class he hadnt offended by the end of the first month. And Jeremy had somehow landed in their orbit as a freshman, when hed realized he wasnt enough of a jock to be one of the jocksin high school.

Im glad Im nice, but I dont really think of myself that way

Its the whole superhero thing! Jeremy said, rubbing his arms furiously as they walked. You act all sensible, and you have a multipage college plan as a sophomore. But you still really want to be that guy in spandex that rescues kitty cats from trees. LikeI dunno. Its sweet, man.

Alden winced.

Boe cackled. Oh my god, Alden, your expression! Then, a confused look crossed his face. Maybe we should call Jeremy the insightful one?I didnt see that coming.N0v3lRealm was the platform where this chapter was initially revealed on N0v3l.B1n.