Heroes

Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight

Hedy and I had run into Max, Mitchell, Tim and Kelly and we found ourselves sitting with them at a table at the café once again. I'd looked around and Lana wasn't working. Apparently, it was the one day she had off.

Hedy sat awkwardly, real awkwardly. She remembered the boys and Kelly from when they had been friends with Walden. They had visited her house plenty of times. But of course nobody mentioned the elephant in the room. They didn't seem to want to. And from what I could tell, Hedy was worried for no reason because Kelly was doing everything in her power to make her feel welcome.

"You want something to drink Hedy?" She asked.

"I'm good, thanks," Hedy muttered and returned her attention to the chipped nail polish on her fingernails.

The awkward silence was soon slashed by Avery who came bustling in, her coat still wet with rain, waving a magazine about her face screwed and slightly red.

"Have you seen this?" She raved. "Have you seen this rubbish?!"

We couldn't have seen the rubbish. She was swishing it around so fast it was impossible to do so. Finally she flopped it down on the table with a slap.

Three More Supers Embrace the Dark Side, the heading read.

"Calc, Radar and Total," Avery said her voice snappish and high pitched. "I don't know what the dark side wants with a human calculator, but there you go."

She flipped the magazine over to the back page and continued her rants.

"And this," she huffed. "Don't even get me started on this."

We looked down to see The Urban Myth, adorned in his usual superhero gear holding a box of branded cereal.

Herios, the caption read, start your day like the supers do.

"We're in the middle of chaos, supervillains everywhere and this idiot is eating cereal and getting paid for it!" Avery snarled. "And that's not it, they're putting a billboard up in town. A billboard. Can you believe it? What an arrogant arse!"

"Don't you think you're overreacting a little? Supers have always been like celebrities here," Kelly asked. Mitchell took the magazine and slid it towards himself.

"Herio's," mused Tim reading over Mitchell's shoulder. "Looks yummy to me. UM's a bit dry looking though, ain't he?"

Avery continued as if Tim hadn't said a word.

"My opinion on supers has changed a lot since I've been here," Avery said. "But I still think it's ridiculous how much they get idolised. It's one thing to have fan clubs and another to get paid to put your face on a cereal box. What happened to doing it because it was the right thing to do? What happened to being in it for the good of Bantfell?"

"Just because he's doing a bit on the side doesn't mean he isn't in it for the right reasons," defended Max taking a look for himself. "Heroes work hard. What's wrong with getting a bit of pay for it?"

"A bit of pay?" Avery looked in disbelief. "Most supers role in thousands of pounds just on merchandise."

"How would you know?" Max said easily. "Give the guy a break Avery. It's like, the only perk of being a super, I'm sure."

"The only perk?" Avery's eyebrows shot into her hairline. "You mean aside from expensive costumes, adoring fans, constant praise, and general feeling of a job well done?"