Oh, We Can Be Heroes

Chapter Two

Phil's home was a large house, surrounded by nature and had lots of pets.

"Man, Pufferfish, you weren't lying when you said it was like Clint's house in the movies. That's why you moved me here, then? I can't run, the closest city is like 26 minutes away!" He got out of the car and grabbed his backpack, slamming the car door.

"Took you long enough to find out. I told you, you're not running on me, kid. Also, why 26 minutes? Just round to 30." She grabbed his paperwork, and closed her door also.

He shrugged, "I don't know, 26 just felt right. Gotta be accurate, right? I do like his animals though, I've never seen a chicken in real life before. Did you know the color of their egg depends on the color of their earlobes? If it's red they lay brown eggs, and if it's white they lay white eggs." Tommy looked at Puffy with the same sparkle he did when talking about the Greyhounds.

She smiled, "No I didn't, that's very interesting. You must have a ton of those little facts, right?" He nodded, embarrassment radiating off of him. She nipped it at the bud and cleared it. "I find it very cool, you should talk to Phil about it. Look, he's on the poarch." His demeanor changed completely, Puffy felt dizzy with how fast his mood changed. The relative calmness he had been feeling with no influence was now pure annoyance and distaste. She tried to calm it, and was only minorly successful.

Yeah, he definitely has abilities, she thought.

They approached a smiling Phil in silence. Tommy was stoic and cold, until he made eye contact with Phil's dog.

His dog was an English Greyhound. 

The pure excitement that burst through Tommy forced a genuine smile onto Cara's face. "Phil Watson, meet Tommy Crenshaw. Everything you need to know is in the file. Are you okay with me leaving, Tommy? I know it's fast, but I really want to skip rush hour."

Tommys fingers were curling and uncurling, and he wasn't close to attentive to the conversation. "Is that an English Greyhound?" He looked at Phil, and back to the dog at the mans feet.

"You know dog breeds?" Tommy nodded, causing Phil to smile at the boy again. "Yeah, a friend told me to get him about a month ago. His name is Henry. There's also a golden retriever, a saint bernard, and an Irish Wolfhound." Another wave of excitement hit Cara, and Tommy clapped, then started snapping his fingers at his sides.

"That's so cool, big man. Did you know Irish Wolfhounds date back to Ancient Rome times? They found a consul talking about the dog in a letter from 391 AD. Cool right?"

Phil laughed, and nodded his head. "I never knew that, that is really cool. You can go sit on the porch swing if you'd like, all the dogs run over so they can get scratches." He pointed Tommy over to the swing, and the boy practically bolted over there.

"He really likes dogs, doesn't he?" Cara laughed, agreeing with Phil.

"He told me all about the Greyhound on the ride over. I told him about my Terrier and he got excited, I was able to stop pushing the emotions on him. He had ADHD, and according to him he's hyper fixated on animals. Told me a fun fact about chickens whilst we were walking. I figured you'd be better at all of that, since everything with Techno."

"Ahh, okay. I didn't want to assume, but he was stimming when he saw the dog and I was going to ask. How is he on the whole battery front?" Cara looked to the boy (who was now surrounded by all of the dogs and looked as peaceful as he did while he was in her office) then back to Phil.

"Matched up to Techno, could probably even beat him if he tried. Once he's under, he's under, but if it wasn't for Henry he would've been awful. Speaking of Henry, what little birdie told you to get a Greyhound?"