Hero

Chapter Twelve

I pulled into the parking lot of the POWER group building again after a few hours of being caught in the horrible traffic that clogged Everground.  It was close to five in the afternoon and the sky was starting to get darker as the sun dropped behind the rain clouds.  The lot was nearly full this time and I struggled to find a spot to park, eventually going so far as to ask the attendant at the front if there was a satellite lot.

"Just down the street," he said, glancing up from his phone.  "But you'll want to..."  He stopped and squinted at me, as though he were trying to place my face.  Grabbing a piece of paper from inside his booth, he leaned out into the still pouring weather and held it next to my face.  "Actually, Miss Percival, we have a spot reserved for you.  Pull around to the valet and they'll help you out."

I blinked and pulled up next to the front curb of the valet, where a young girl was waiting in a small but open office to guard herself from the rain.  "Are you here for valet?" she asked as I walked into the hut-like space.

"Yeah," I said.  "The guy at the front said that I was supposed to come here."

"Name?"

I didn't seem to have to use my Hero name around these people.  I didn't think anyone knew that there was a new POWER group member yet.  "Percival."  The girl scanned a list and highlighted something on it.  She stretched out her hand for my keys and gave me a slip of paper with a number on it.

"I'll take it from here, Miss Percival.  Good luck with whatever business you have with Tempus Manum."  She winked at me and flounced off while I stood there shocked.  Oh, I was so going to kill Randi.

"Mina!"  I turned around quickly to see SnowSword walking over to me- although, she was in her intern uniform for the hospital, so I should I say Doctor White...but she didn't really have that personality right now.  She was peppy like SnowSword, not meek like Doctor Whtie.  Either way, whoever she was, she ran under the cover of the hut and hugged me tightly.  "I just heard that you've been called back in!  I'm so excited!  Are you excited?"

"I'm excited, I guess," I said, my voice missing the pep that hers contained.  Mostly, I was pretty nervous.  I didn't know what to expect.  I knew my costume was done and Tempus Manum had said something about formatting my mask, but that was all I knew was going to happen.  I had no clue if I had to go kiss a baby or save the world or fight someone.  I didn't know much about fighting; none of the flash drives I'd downloaded so far had contained much about fighting styles or moves except for the occasional detail.  I'd been in karate for a month when I was nine, after much prodding from Nova, but I'd quit before I'd even learned how to break a board.  If someone grabbed my wrist somewhat loosely, I was ready, though.

"I don't hear your excitement," said SnowSword, letting go of me and furrowing her brow.  "What's wrong?"

I sighed.  "I just...I don't really know what to expect."

She just smiled in response, squealed again, and hugged me even tighter.  "It's so much fun, Mina!  Today is just relaxation and clearing your mind.  It's going to be one of your easier days here at the POWER group building."  SnowSword giggled and leaned closer towards me so she could whisper in my ear.  "Especially because you get to spend the whole time hanging out with Tempus Manum."

It didn't take a rocket scientist to realize exactly what she was talking about.  "That's never going to happen, Snow.  I..."

She clamped her hands over my mouth suddenly.  The smile faded from her lips and her light blue eyes were blazing with angry fire and fight.  "There's a rule that you have to know, Mina," she said in a low voice.  I shivered, and the feeling like someone had poured ice water down my back coursed through my veins.  Her hands were cold and hard as she pressed them over my lips.  "It's rule number one of doing what we do.  Unless we're in that building, completely alone, and I haven't given you a prior message that there's cameras, you can never, ever use that name to address me unless we're in costume.  Do you understand?"  I nodded slowly, my eyes connecting with hers.  She dropped her hand and smiled at me, all ferocity gone in an instant.  "Great!"