Oh, We Can Be Heroes

Chapter One

Tommy had never felt more like an idiot than he did sitting in front of his new handler.

He knew he was a smart kid, and knew how talented he was at the whole 'surviving' thing. So how in the hell did he get caught? He'd survived away from the system four years previously, and all of it was down the drain because of some nosy north side bitch with a savior complex.

"So, Tommy, it says here that you are sixteen?" Mrs. Puffy asks, looking up at him.

"That's correct, Pufferfish." Puffy smiled at that, and shook her head.

"You are quite the joker, aren't you Tommy? It says on here you were a flight risk. You like your games?" Tommy felt smug, and straightened his shoulders to portray so.

"No shit, I was a flight risk. I've been out of the system for four years. I'm not a risk, I've already flown. Look, Puffy, let's cut the shit. No matter where you send me, I am going to leave and we will have to go through this process at least a dozen more times until I'm 18. I know I'm charming, but you will be sick of me after a while. So why don't you just let me go? I did fine on my own for four years."

The last house he was in was to say the least, unpleasant. At the age of twelve, he decided he'd rather attempt to live on the streets than the hell that was the group home, and left. Was it easy? No, it was the hardest thing he'd ever done in his life. But, he had his highs and lows. Tommy had the firm belief that he could have amazing luck, but following it would always be hell. For the last year, he'd been able to acquire an apartment and job, whilst independently continuing his studies, and it was good. His luck was on top of the world. But of course, the high had to end and his crash had hit. The apartment had its pipes burst, the job fired him, and that led no time to study. That all occured in the span of the last two weeks, right in the heart of winter.

That was how he was found sleeping in a tent by a woman, who called the police. Which led to here.

Puffy smiled, "If were going to cut the bullshit, I'll cut it. Tommy, you've spent four years relying on yourself for the basics. You know how important a job is, yes?" He nodded in response. "Good, so you understand that nobdoy gets in the way of you being paid. You, Tommy, are my job. It is my job to get you into a home, and for you not to leave again. I am not going to let a smartass 16 year old boy try to boss me around and risk my family's income. Now why don't you just relax and comply?" At the last sentence, Puffy made direct eye contact with him, and he felt a wave of emotion threaten to take over him.

What the fuck?

He furrowed his eyebrows, and Puffy raised hers in shock. She grabbed his hand, and made eye contact with him again.

"Just comply, Tommy. Take a load off, man." This time, the wave didn't allow Tommy to swim away, and it drowned out all of his other feelings. His body relaxed, causing him to fall back into his chair. "I think you have potential, Tommy. I know just the guy, he's an old friend. You're not flying away on my watch, kid." All he did was nod, and shift his eyesight onto the rest of the room.

A part of him was screaming at him to fight Puffy on her words, to be offended and enraged she talked to him like that. It continued to grow, but every time he made eye contact with the adult, it died. He had no will to question it.

"Hey, Phil, it's Cara! I'm great, thanks for asking. I actually have an inquiry for you. I'm still working in the foster system, and I have a kid I think you would really help. He's just a flashlight waiting to shine." Tommy couldn't seem to focus on what the man was responding with in the phone or the weird ass metaphor the woman had spoken. All he did was bask in the relaxation he hadn't felt since he was younger.

Cara looked at Tommy to see if he wanted to talk to Phil (he would talk to him, she would make sure of it) but was met with the child nodding off. She smiled, and responded to Phil.

"He's a good kid, Phil. He's just tired, and needs a hug or something. Can you take him sometime this week?" She twirled the pen around, whilst making sure Tommy's emotions stayed nothing but peaceful.

"Would you like to drive him here today? I would offer to go to you, but I have an inkling he isn't the best emotionally. I can literally hear your focus through your voice, Cara. Can he really fight it that well?"

"Almost as well as Techno could, yeah. I'll be there in the next hour or two. See you then." The man said a short goodbye, and Cara returned to a room of silence. She grabbed the teenagers hand and continued the flow of relaxation, but woke him up. "Tommy, hey, you fell asleep for a little bit there. I do have some news though, and you can decide if it's good or bad. A friend of mine, Phil, is going to foster you. Sound like a plan?"

"Yeah, yeah. Sounds like a plan. When is he coming?" His voice was soft, an opposite to his usually loud tone.

"We're actually going to go to him. His house is like an hour away from here. So, let's get everything together and get going before rush hour, yeah?"

Tommy nodded and blinked. Suddenly, he was in Puffys car, the woman driving down some road in the middle of nowhere. "What the fuck? How-Where are we?"

Puffy kept her eyes on the road, "Language, Tommy. We're driving to Phil's house, like we have been for the last half hour. Why are you surprised?" He stared at the woman, and the relaxation he felt was dwindling.

"We were just in your office, how are we here now? You're fucking with me, right?" She laughed while turning into an intersection.

"No, I'm not messing with you. We've been talking about dogs for the last half hour. You were telling me about the breed you like. What are they called? The English-"

"English Greyhound." He answered, eyes brightening slightly. "I guess I just wasn't really paying attention, huh. Why were we talking about dogs?"

The truth was that Puffy didn't have to push the positive emotions on Tommy. He was naturally becoming more relaxed with her, so she ended her grip and let him come back. During their drive, she had learned two things about him.

He had ADHD (she knew that from his file, but feigned shock), but never had the chance to be medicated for it, just diagnosed. He loved animals, specifically dogs and aquatic creatures.

"I told you that Phil has a couple pets, including a dog, and you got excited and told me about Greyhounds. He may have one, I don't know the breed of his dogs. That led into you trying to guess the breed. Maybe you just got too excited and spaced out?" He agreed, she wouldn't know about the Greyhounds unless he told her.

"Animals are my hyperfixation, or at least that's what the book I read said. They're really cool to learn about, and help me when I get overwhelmed. Where does this guy even live?" He had previously read a book about being neurodivergent, and that's where he came across the term. He didn't fully understand it, but he knew his liking for animals was too 'obsessive' to not be at least considered a hyperfixation.

"He lives in more of a rural area. Smaller town, kind of like Cint from the Marvel movies. He's a teacher for the school there. You'll like him, he loves animals too."

"Maybe he'll have superpowers, like the Avengers. That would be my luck," He joked. Cara had to hold back her laughter at how ironic that joke would be in the upcoming weeks.

"Maybe he will, who knows. Well, we're about 20ish minutes away, so feel free to take a nap or something. Actually, if you like nature we're coming up on an awesome forest. It's really pretty with the snow."

For the rest of the car wide, Tommy watched the surrounding pass by, without question just why he felt so comfortable with a woman he had only met a couple hours previously.

The wildlife they had passed were much for interesting to think about.