We Are Heroes

Meanwhile...

In the heart of a forest, two men were trekking through the dense woods in the dead of night. The treetops covered most of the moon that was in the clear, dark sky, only letting the moonlight seep in between their leaves. Strange sounds of animals echoed through the air occasionally as a soft breeze rippled through the plants. The ground was made of pure earth, covered with dead leaves and twigs; with that, the sounds of one of the men's footsteps cracked through the silence of the night. The other man's footsteps weren't heard because he wasn't even walking--he was on his wheelchair, a hovering wheelchair.

It was Poncho on the wheelchair. He was wearing all black to blend in with the scenery, but the glowing orange designs on his wheelchair would've given him away anyways. On his lap was a metallic box: The Machine of the World.

The man walking beside him was wearing a black trench coat along with black pants and a navy blue sweater vest. He also was wearing a brown fedora hat, one he always wore outside.

"Are you sure that the best option is the hide the machine?" Poncho started tentatively as he clutched the quite massive box against him. "Why can't we just destroy it...? It'd definitely take lots of weight off from our shoulders."

"Better to hide it then to destroy it and wreck havoc," the man replied in a sophisticated tone. "You should already know the consequences of having the machine destroyed." He slowly turned his head to look down at him; his facial features were hard to distinguish due to the shadow his hat casted over his face. "No one knows where the power would go once its barrier has been broken down."

"But is this the best hiding place for it?" he questioned more. He turned to look ahead of him with wide eyes. "I mean, we're in the Augusta Blue Forest, home of the monsters that the Forskares have created with their experiments!" He snapped his head to look up at his companion. "Nel, are you sure you know what you're doing?!"

"Yes, Brent," the man, Nel, replied sternly with a hit of irritation. "I know exactly what I'm doing." He letted out a sharp breath. "There's a basement hidden nearby here, one that seems to be abandoned for quite some time. It's underground and concealed, so no one will be able to find it, not even the monsters."

"How were you able to find it then?" he muttered under his breath with furrowed eyebrows.

Nel halted in his strolling; Poncho stopped gliding. "I have my ways." He then walked in front of Poncho, crossing over to his left side.

To Poncho's left was a rather large bush that was sort of rectangular in shape. He then pushed it away from him, revealing a wooden trapdoor installed in the ground.

Poncho's eyes flew wide open at the sight of the door. "Wow."

Nel then squatted down and hooked his finger in the metal loop attached to the board. He pulled it upward, opening the trapdoor; he then placed both hands underneath it and thrusted it away from him, letting the board slam against the ground on the other side. He quickly stood up and loomed down, seeing what the trapdoor was hiding.

There was a square-shaped hole that showed the top of a staircase that led into pitch darkness. With the moonlight, they were able to see red stains brushed on the steps.

"You know, I can't go in there," Poncho said from behind him, staring down at the opening with huge eyes.

Nel looked behind his shoulder, facing him. "That's why I'm going in there." He fully faced him and began walking toward him. "Apparently, the basement is not handicap-friendly." He stopped with him facing in front of him; he extended both hands out toward him. "The machine..., please?"

With a sigh, Poncho grasped onto the machine with both hands, lifted it off from him, and gave it over to him.

Nel managed to hold the machine between his arm and side of his body; he reached out his free hand toward Poncho. "The key as well?"

Reluctantly, he pulled the key out from his pocket and dropped it onto the palm of Nel's opened hand.

Nel made his hand into a fist and dropped it to his side. "Thank you. Now, I'll be right back--this won't take long." He then turned around and began walking his way toward the hole.

"Now, you know not to unlock it, right?" Poncho shouted from behind him. "I don't want my cousin to be the one all types of specials would go against because of his unlimited powers."

Poncho's cousin stopped going down the stairs of the hole and turned to his left to face him; half of his body was underneath the ground, so his position looked odd. "I don't want supernatural abilities--I want revenge." He then swiftly turned away and continued stepping downward; a few seconds later, he was completely underground.

Poncho waited in the quite frigid atmosphere, gazing around his surroundings, fearing the worse: a monster attack. But luckily, Nel was quick and in moments later, he reappeared back to the surface of the earth, empty-handed.

"There." Nel leaned over to the flatten board, grabbed ahold of it, and swung it over; the board landed back in its place, covering the opening of the basement. He pushed the bush back over the trapdoor, then straightened up and turned to his cousin. "Easy, right?" he asked as he strolled over to him.

He nodded his head slowly "Yes..., let's hope it stays in there now."

"Oh, it'll without a doubt stay in there unless someone's watching us, which I suppose is not true..." Nel warily gazed around him, looking for any onlookers in the dark. "No." He landed his eyes back at the man in the hovering wheelchair. "Let us go now before anyone sees us here. All that we have just done must be kept in secret." He then turned around and began walking down the against the route they took to get to their destination.

With a sigh, Poncho turned his floating wheelchair around and followed Nel, leaving the Machine and the Key of the World hidden underneath the forest.

But little do they know that those two, potent objects will soon rise to the surface again.

To be continued...