Half Hero ⚡️ {Superhero Adventure Scifi}

Chapter 23: I Fart Fireballs

Mac offered me his mammoth, fleece-lined jacket to combat the cold and flicked the lights off to lead me outside The Warf. He plodded up to his truck, a rambler that was so wind-worn and covered in rust it was difficult to make out the original color. When he manually unlocked the passenger side door and yanked it open grudgingly, a bunch of crumpled papers and snack food wrappers fell out onto my sneakers.

"Just, uh, hop on in there," he offered, pointing to the seat.

I climbed up easily, wrinkling my nose at the musty smell inside the cab. The threadbare blanket tucked into the bench seat had the greasy outline of a body behind the steering wheel.

"You're warm enough, right?" He asked, hoisting his body inside.

"Yeah, I'm good."

"Good," he huffed. Despite his gruff exterior and layers of sweaty gabardine, he was giving off a strange undercurrent of nervous energy.  "OK, good."

Mac fitted the key in the ignition and fired up the engine. The entire cab rumbled with the effort it took to accelerate out of the parking lot.

The roads were pitch black, save the beams of the truck's headlights and the reflection from the occasional pair of nocturnal critter eyes. There wasn't a single building or house near the streets, just thick vegetation, and creepy forest.

"Look, I don't know what Arnie promised you, Ella," Mac cleared his throat to address me. "But I don't do that stuff anymore. I burned my bridges on purpose."

"All doctor Rishi said was you would be able to help me," I answered, peeking at him. "Why, what kind of stuff did you used to do?"

"That's not important," he deflected with a grunt.

The road was lined with tree trunks that flashed by as we sped further inland.

"It might be important," I bargained. "Maybe that's why Rishi sent me to you."

"I'm retired," he grumbled with finality. "And you still haven't told me why you're on the run from Hamm."

"Like I said," I folded the oversized arms of his jacket over my chest. "I don't even know how to explain the unexplainably weird crap that has happened to me recently."

"I've seen some weird shit in my day," Mac chortled, eyeing me from over his driving arm. "Try me."

"OK, I'll start from the beginning, I was bitten by a monkey while backpacking in Asia with my boyfriend," I rambled. "So, we went to a hospital to get a shot, you know, because monkeys carry diseases, but then my dickhead boyfriend, now ex-boyfriend, broke up with me right after we got back from the hospital-"

"Spare me the lady angst," Mac snorted. "Cut to the chase."

I fought the urge to stick my tongue out at him for interrupting me with a chauvinistic comment.

"After we broke up," I continued. "I flew home, but the plane...crashed in Taiwan. When I woke up, I was being held captive by Hamm. Doctor Rishi was helping him with these weird experiments because I have, well, because I can...because I have supernatural abilities."

"You don't say?" He scoffed, not at all taken aback.

"Look I know this sounds crazy, but I'm telling the truth," I pleaded. "Doctor Rishi called me a Scion, he said I was some kind of new subspecies."

"Huh," Mac nodded surreptitiously. "Well, color me surprised."

"I feel like you're not taking this seriously."

"Oh, I am definitely not," he chuckled with a grim edge.

"Why would I lie about that?"