The Cloak Guard

Samuel Tern

Travis arrived in front of Madison's house, only slightly skidding to a stop. As he did, he was tempted to chow down on the gift in hand but he resisted, choosing instead to snack on the M&M packet he had in his pocket. He had to admit, as much as he loved his powers, the constant drain of energy and need for food was starting to weigh on him. But he still wouldn't change it for anything. Well, maybe world peace, but it would have to be that kind of level, not something stupid like full scholarship to university. Like that would help him.

Plus, he could now wash his hands in no time at all. Well, for him it still took the same amount of time but in speed mode, no time passed at all so not one second of time was wasted for him. That was a huge bonus to getting these powers.

The bummer was the electricity. Not that the power itself was a bummer, oh no. That was awesome in every sense. He could even charge his phone now just by holding it. But it seemed when he started firing off electrical bolts, he expended a lot more energy, leaving him feeling drained, tired, and hungry. He hadn't shown it yesterday but after the fight, he'd barely made it home to bed before collapsing after using up so much power. If he wanted this to continue, he'd have to get used to the power so it wouldn't have such a dramatic effect on him anymore.

If he wanted this to continue. That was the question plaguing him at the moment. Cause this was becoming a lot bigger than he thought it would. Honestly, when this started, he just thought it would be a lot of fun. Run around, save some people when he could, and just enjoy his new powers to their limits. He didn't actually think there were supervillains out there. Who would? Technically, yes, he did suddenly get superpowers so it was only natural that others did as well. But, it hadn't really crossed his mind. He thought he could become a superhero in a sense, help out when he could, be there for people when they needed him.

But being an actual superhero who took on villains with dangerous powers? That scared him. Way more than he was willing to admit. He'd read so many superhero stories over the years and one thing had become clear. Superheroes did not live easy lives. In fact, their lives sounded horrible. Constantly facing death, losing loved ones, missing out on the life one wanted. That's why Travis was happy to just use his powers in an easygoing way, not go up against supervillains way more powerful than him. But now it was too late. He'd already done that and had his ass handed to him, nearly dying alongside his friends. He now knew that he wasn't really alone out there. He felt like Harry Potter right now, with Hagrid saying those iconic words that opened up a whole new world. Like he was standing on the edge of something that would absolutely blow his mind and he wasn't sure he'd be able to understand it.

But he wasn't alone. He had Franklin and Madison. Sumin and Gabriela were also now in on it. That made it a little easier. Franklin had accused him of trying to start a superhero team with all of them and while the idea was cool, Travis didn't think that was a good idea. He'd seen how bad they were against the masked man. No, what he wanted was more of a...support group in a sense. They all had gotten their powers so suddenly that none of them knew what to do with them, what any of this meant. Together, well, they could find out as a group. That's what he wanted.

But he also meant what he said to Franklin before leaving. He was going to find the Masked Man. He knew it was stupid and reckless and would probably, almost certainly, get him killed. But if he didn't, well...he actually didn't know what would happen but it didn't seem like it would be good. Whatever that dude was up to had to be bad. And Travis was going to find out what it was. That was why he'd spent the whole day traveling around the city, trying to find any trace of the guy. So far, no luck though he actually wasn't that good at finding things. One time he'd forgotten where he'd put his phone only to realize it had been in his hand the whole time.

Still, zipping out of school and back was exhausting and having nothing to show for it was even more exhausting. He didn't quite know what he would do if he actually found the masked man. Definitely not fight him again considering what had happened. Probably call the police. Yeah, that was a better option. After last night, he knew better.