Heroes Collide

Small Talk

(BACK IN THE PRESENT)

Natalie stared out the window of the barren wasteland as Cason drove. They had been a little shaken by the raiders and were both holding out on talking until they were sure they weren't being followed. Natalie turned to look out the back window. "I think the coast is clear now."

Cason glanced at his rearview mirror, "Yeah. Me too."

Natalie chuckled, "See! Well, it only took three tries in one hour!"

Cason grinned, "Elena and the others are good, but they'd get too bored if they had to chase us for longer than thirty minutes. Either that of they ran out of gas."

Natalie chuckled, "Here's hoping, right?" She looked over at the dog in the driver seat. "Cason..."

Cason took in a sharp breath. "I had a feeling that more questions would arise... Go ahead and take aim Superlady."

"Those raiders... How do they know you?"

Cason bit his lip and looked in his rearview mirror again as if he thought mentioning them three times would release some Candyman-like effect and they'd be right behind them. "We have a bit of history... I used to ride with them... Me and my brother Benji."

"And that girlfriend the leader talked about? Mikayla?"

"Don't forget about Jarrod. My first boyfriend. Both of them were part of the crew with us. Though Jarrod and I didn't get together till after the accident..." He shot Natalie an annoyed glance. "And Elena Salazar is not even close to the leader of the crew. No matter how hard she tries to be."

"And the others?"

"Well, I actually really like the others... All very sweet people. But that's all I know about them... Except for Alli. Alli and I go way back. Before we even got here, we were friends online."

Natalie smiled, "Most of you guys seemed friendly during our skirmish."

Cason smiled, "It's a family. None of us would hurt each other... I'd still take a bullet for any of those girls, and Alli and Razor." Cason nudged, "Okay, so enough about me for now. Tell me about you! What was your life before meeting me?"

"Oh, everything was sunshine and rainbows!" She dodged a playful swat from Cason with a chuckle. "I really don't remember much from before. I remember one of my friends murdered a bunch of my other friends and mentors. I am pretty sure I saved the world or something." She squinted a little. "I vaguely remember aliens."

"What a coincidence! Didn't you say that you were an alien?"

"I am part alien, yes." Natalie crossed her arms. "They came to earth to steal bodies or some gross thing like that."

"Body Snatchers?"

Natalie glanced over at Cason. "What?"

"You know! Like in that old Don Siegel movie!"

"Oh! No, not like that at all! It was more like they were just stealing people and using them to fuel a giant death machine."

"How did you stop it?" Cason looked over at her, before turning his eyes back to the road.

"I don't remember the exact details... But I know it had something to do with lasers..."

"So you stopped it then?"

"I'd imagine so!" Natalie chuckled. "If I had not, we probably wouldn't be having this conversation."

"You ever have a fight with another superhero? I love superhero fights!"

"Superhero fights in movies are so overrated... But yeah. It was only a friendly skirmish though..."

"Sure..." Cason grinned. "Give me those juicy deets. What was the fight over?"

"Sam and I were fighting over the last box of donuts..."

Cason chuckles, "Did they have red, white, and blue sprinkles?"

"Nope. Maple bacon."

Cason winced. "Oh! That is definitely not worth the fight. Was it lasers and fists?"

"Lasers and claws." Natalie chuckled, "Jeremy didn't talk to us for a month because we literally destroyed his mom's living room."

"Oh my gosh! I did something similar with my brother in his gay friends' apartment while fighting over a bottle of Dr. Pupper!" Cason coughed. "I mean Dr. Pepper!"

"Did you just make a dog pun?"

"Yeah... " Cason's demeanor slowly began to change and his lips curled down into a bit of a frown, and he let out another cough "Benji used to make those all the time... Before..." He froze and the truck slowly rolled to a stop.

Natalie looked over at Cason whose paws were clenching the steering wheel. "Cason? Are you okay?"

Cason snapped out of whatever was going on and just glanced at her. "No..." He let out a series of loud and painful coughs. "No, I am not." He pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket and coughed into it a few more times.

Natalie gently put a hand on his shoulder and he turned to her, his arm flailing but his handkerchief was still in front of his mouth. "Neemml..."

"Wh-What?" Natalie gently pushed his arm down so she could hear him better and saw a small smear of blood on his upper lip.

"I-I need the syringe..." He gestured to the back seat. "The red box..."

Natalie got out of the car and opened the door in the back and she unlatched the red box and took out the syringe.

"There's a... " Cason let out a few more coughs. "... vial of blue stuff... It's not medicine but it'll clear up the coughing..."

Natalie took the vial and filled the syringe and walked over to the driver's side and gave the needle to Cason. He gently inserted the needle into his arm and injected the serum into his arm. "Stupid hemoptysis..." He closed his eyes and leaned back as he let out a few more coughs, blood starting to drip from his mouth. He looked weakly up at Natalie. "C-Can you drive the rest of the way... I don't think I have the energy..." He let out another cough, though this one didn't sound as painful.

Natalie nodded and picked the dog up, and she carried him to the passenger side. She helped him buckle up and lean his chair back so he could get some rest. Cason watched her. "You know... I think we could be good friends..." He reached for her hand and squeezed it. "I haven't had one of those for a while..." He closed his eyes and let the medicine do its work, just resting.

Natalie gently shut the door and went to the driver's side and got in. "Okay... So which way do I drive?"

"Straight..." Cason mumbled, "It might be easier for you seeing as how I am a bicycle."

"You mean bisexual?"

"I know what I said, Amalie." Cason playfully whacked her shoulder. The dog was clearly a bit delirious. So she decided to just let him rest and turned the engine over.