Heroes Among Us

Chapter 17: Theodore

They will have forgotten the peace.

They will have forgotten the history.

**********

Theo did not want to be at training that day. He'd rather be anywhere else. Indi made him come, as always. She could never leave well enough alone. He could be hanging out with Blakeley and the rest of the baseball team or he could be on a date with Patience or he could be relaxing alone, for once. There were so many things he'd prefer to be doing, but instead he was forced to sit in the musty old warehouse and work with people he did not like in the least.

Everett had them all join together in the rec room for a weekly meeting to update everyone on what was happening. Everyone sat around on the couches and chairs and even the picnic tables. Everett stood up and cleared his throat.

"So, this week, I want to send everyone on an intelligence gathering mission. It won't be super dangerous, but it's good practice for future missions. I want you guys to help me find a way into the palace and check the king's personal communication systems for any future attempts against us. Make sure he has no plans to draw us out, or to make a task force against us. It's important we stay unknown and safe. Anybody have any ideas on how to get in?"

"I can get us in," Kat announced. "There's a ball coming up soon. I can arrange for you guys to get invites."

"That sounds perfect," Everett said proudly. He turned to face everyone else. "Any questions?"

"We're going to a ball?" Indi asked excitedly as if she couldn't believe it.

"If everything goes right on Kat's end, then yes," Everett replied happily.

Indi giggled excitedly under her breath, but pretty much everyone else seemed deflated. Maddix groaned under her breath and Theo would rather be anywhere else. Kat was entirely stoic, as always, but Alex seemed excited to have them come to the ball.

"Anybody else have announcements?" Everett asked.

Maddix stood up. "I'm going to be working on recreating whatever gave us our powers so we can figure out how it worked. If we can replicate them, we could find new ways to understand our powers and use them further. However, I might need blood samples, so if you are cool with that, stop by the lab sometime. I'll also probably have to run some non-dangerous examinatory tests on you guys too, but don't worry. It probably won't hurt."

Everett grinned. "I can help you. That sounds like fun."

Maddix smiled back. Ugh, they were disgusting. Kat didn't seem very enthusiastic at all about tests being run on her.

"Wait. What do you mean it probably won't hurt? What kind of tests are you going to run?"

"Well," Maddix started, a static electricity filling the air. She was nervous. "We need to discover the nature of the strange markings on everyone, so I might possibly need a skin biopsy."

Kat scowled and crossed her arms.

"A what?" Theo grumbled. He was struggling to keep up with the conversation.

"A biopsy is a tissue sample. She's going to need to cut off a piece of skin," Kat answered, her tone dripping with disgust.

"It's not very painful," Everett offered, trying to keep them from saying no. He stood behind Maddix, towering nearly a whole foot over her. "It could really help research. Don't make up your minds just yet. Think it over. Does anyone else have something to say?"

Indi piped up, a proud smile on her face.

"Theo and I stopped a mugging two days ago. We knocked the guy out, called the police, and left before the police came."