𝐂𝐡𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐬 | Warren Peace

Chapter 4

"Hello, class!" Mira stopped doodling and looked forward. "Welcome to Hero Support!"

Her teacher shuffled into the classroom as her peers mumbled a half-hearted greeting.

"My name is..." The teacher dipped behind the chalkboard and emerged a second later wearing a red, white, and blue suit, "All American Boy!" He struck a pose. The class just observed silently.

"Uh, of course, nowadays, I just go by Mr. Boy." He said, a lot less enthusiastically than before. "But this year, it's gonna be my privilege to help each of you become the very best hero support you can be.

"Without hero support, there wouldn't be any heroes." Mira raised her brow doubtfully.

"Alright there would probably still be heroes," Mr. Boy admitted, "but they would be very lonely. Lonely heroes indeed." The teacher slowly trailed off.

Zach raised his hand.

"Yes?"

"Uh, yeah, when do we pick out our names and costumes? Because I cal dibs on 'Zach Attack.'" Zach grinned, clearly proud of his word play.

"Well, you don't get to pick." Mr. Boy explained, "On graduation day, you'll be assigned to your hero, and then he or she will decide what you will be called and what you will wear." Mira slouched dejectedly in her seat, feeling less and less encouraged about being a sidekick the more Mr. Boy talked. 

"I think this is mostly done in an attempt to avoid clashing colors. That's why when I was paired with," Mr. Boy walked to the side of the class and pulled down a poster of him standing next to Mr. Stronghold, "the Commander, red, white, and blue it was." Mira's eyes widened. So this man was Mr. Stronghold's previous sidekick. Her father mentioned him once or twice.

"Uh, excuse me," Will said, raising his hand, "I didn't know you worked for the Commander.

"I did work with the Commander," Mr. Boy nodded proudly, "we were a team, Mr..." The teacher flipped through his roster to place a name on Will.

"Mr... Mr. Stronghold." Mr. Boy's eyes widened in realization. "Stronghold... You Steve's son?"

"Yeah." Will nodded.

"And he never mentioned me to you."

"I don't... I don't think so." 

Mira watched Mr. Boy sadly shrug. "Makes sense. That makes perfect sense, because the Commander does not have time to sit around flipping through scrapbooks that I took the time to make for him." 

"No, the Commander's got to be out there saving the world! With your mom. Your mom. She ever mention me?" The teacher asked weakly.

"Uh..." Mr. Boy didn't let Will finish, interrupting his response right when his eyes landed on Mira.

"Aren't you the Enhancer's daughter too? And Nullify?" He asked. Mira nodded slowly, not wanting to anger the man. He was clearly hurt that his old friends had forgotten about him. He opened his mouth to respond when the classroom shook with a boom. 

"Incoming!" Mr. Boy exclaimed, jumping and clinging onto a ceiling vent.

Mira covered her head with her hands as debris fell from the ceiling. Her friends screamed in shock as the lights flickered off. 

"Oh, look. He does glow." Mira opened her eyes to see Zach emitting a soft neon glow from his body, illuminating the dark room.

He smirked at his friends' reactions, "I told you." 

"Greetings." The class looked towards the entrance of the classroom. A man with a large, bald, bulging head and a long white lab coat walked in. 

"Little misfire in the Mad Science Lab." He shined a flashlight around, analyzing the damage. "No need to panic, unless you're a single-cell organism."