Shining Heroes

Chapter 108

I walked out of the room and silently walked back to the room they had been holding me in previously.

I couldn't say for sure, but I think the man was trying to talk to me as I walked.

I hated that I lied to mood, but she was more right than I wanted her to know right now. I do blame myself for her getting this hurt because I didn't get to her sooner, but I was also worried about how the backlash of what I did is going to affect her.

After a while of being lost in my thoughts, Starlight came into the room I was in and grabbed my attention.

"Give me your hands." He ordered as he crouched in front of me.

"Why?"

"Girl, what do you think?" He showed a teasing smile. "It's my job to heal people. I'm a doctor first and a hero second."

"You'll get in trouble." I softly spoke.

"That's for me to deal with." He said as he carefully grabbed my hands. "You may be legally an adult, but you're still a kid. You shouldn't be taking on so much pain just to do what is right."

"You know it comes with the job."

"That is true, but that's why it's my job to heal heroes." As he spoke, I could feel all of my pain fade away. "You have every right to do the job you want, but you also have the right to not be treated like a tool."

I stared at his hands as they radiated a soft golden glow. While I no longer felt any pain, he was still using his powers on me.

"You can break a tool and replace it, but a person, especially a good person, can't be replaced." As he spoke, he made me think of what I imagined a father should be like. "Both of you seem to struggle with that."

I couldn't help but just stare at him as he carefully placed my hands in my lap and looked I into my eyes. When he stood up, I found a neatly folded piece of paper in my hand.

"If you ever find yourself in this situation again, go there, and you'll get help no matter what." He smiled at me before he stood up and walked over to the door. "I believe you have a chance to make this world a great place. I expect to see it."

Shortly after he left the room, I began to hear arguing in the hall through the door. After the arguing subsided, my favorite blue-haired girl walked through the door, and I could tell she was irritated.

"We can go now." She said, sounding rather cold.

I knew when I handed her the phone, she would find out everything I'd done, but I didn't expect her to be this upset.

"Have you been healed?" She asked while looking at the bandages I hadn't removed yet.

"Yes, I guess Starlight underestimated..."

"I know the truth, Shining." She said while cutting me off.

"We'll talk about it later. I have a meeting I need to get to about what you did today." She sighed.

She guided me to a different level of the building we were in, and it looked like an entire gym facility.

"Stay here until I come to get you, please. I don't know how long this is going to take."

"Why here?"

"The only options in this building that you have access to are the medical floor, containment, or here. I figured you would prefer it here. The man at the counter should be able to help you get whatever you need."

She gently squeezed my hand before she ran off to wherever her meeting was and left me alone to explore the gym.

There were a few other heroes and people I didn't recognize working out on various machines or training in simulation training rooms.

It seemed that the further back I went the fewer people there were and the more rooms that appeared to be rarely ever used.

That was when I came across an empty dance studio that looked like it hasn't been used for a while. When I tried to open the door I found it was locked.

The studio piqued my interest more than anything else in the gym, so followed Mood's advice and went to the man at the counter.

"Excuse me."

"What can I help you with?" He said with an almost too-good customer service smile.

"There is a room I'd like to check out but it's locked."  I gestured my hand in the direction of the room. "I was wondering if I could check the room out."

"Of course, give me a moment to grab the keys and you can show me which room you would like to see." 

He quietly walked away from the counter into a room close by and walked out with a key ring that had probably a dozen keys.

"The older rooms are the only rooms that have keys still, and if they don't get used much they normally get locked, so people don't break anything in them." He casually explained while gesturing for me to show him which room I wanted to see.

"That makes sense I guess," I said after I stopped in front of the dance studio door.

"Do you plan on practicing your powers in there?" He asked nervously after he realized which room we were outside of.

"No. I use to do ballet."

"Ok, please be sure that you don't use your powers in there. You'll have to pay for any damages you cause if you do." He quickly explained as he unlocked the door.

"I just wanted to look for now. I might decide to come back and use the studio later on."

"I can have someone clean the room up for you if you decide to use the room." He seemed less nervous now. "I can have it cleaned up for you by tomorrow."

I slowly walked around the room as he spoke and examined the room.

"You said this studio doesn't get used often?"

"No one has used this room since I started working here." He seemed to be watching me. "People normally prefer the more advanced equipment and rooms for training, unless they are sparing no one comes back this far very often."

"You said you can have it cleaned up by tomorrow?"

"Yes. Just give us a time frame and we can make sure it's unlocked and ready for you."