Superhuman [Book 1]

6 || Hero

➟ ly
┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄

I rolled my eyes as Tommy left, just generally ticked with the whole situation. I threw the first punch, but it was dignified. She threw the first insult. I was sitting in the small wooden chair next to the desk by the beds, and Jack was sitting on the bottom bunk, glaring at me. "Who pissed in your cereal?" I said, and she removed her gaze.

That girl was an enigma, and not the good type. She rubbed me the wrong way, always following Super around. She was like a lost puppy, for Pete's sake. I ran a hand through my hair, before the door was shoved open, threatening to fall off of his hinges. Nia stood in the doorway, her face seeming worried. "Nia, what's wrong?" Jack asked, bolting up.

"It's Zane. He's missing."

That's how I found myself racing down the long corridors of the school with two girls I could barely stand, looking for a boy I used to call my friend. Zane had always meant a lot to me, but when disaster struck on my family, I needed a way to make money, to save the people I loved. And I did find a way, in the end. But it nearly cost my life. And by cutting Zane out, it saved his.

"Try the office, it's where I always go when I'm worried." Jack called out.

"He's not you, Jack! He doesn't like the things you do, he's not as lame. Try looking outside, and look for a full metal man. He freezes in place when he gets to emotional, cause the metal hardens or something, so he couldn't have gotten far."

"Whatever." I heard Jack murmur, as I pushed through the doors of the lobby. Sure enough, there he stood, his body an odd composition of rusted copper and Titanium. The Titanium part of him was steadily breathing, but the rusted copper stood still as... well, stone.

"Zane, Zane. What's wrong?" Nia asked, worry rich in her voice.

"Well, he's kinda angry, but mostly sad. I'm gonna guess that he's almost as tired of this place as I am." I retorted, turning to face Zane. None of his skin showed underneath the metal exoskeleton he accidentally assembled around himself. His mouth and nose were titanium, but his eyes were coated the color of the Statue of Liberty.

"Well, miss know-it-all, I think you're wrong. Who would ever want to leave this place? It offers safety for those like us, and a place to stay when we can't go anywhere else. And I mean, come on. There's free food. Who doesn't love free food?" Jack said, seemingly trying to add a sense of humor to the situation. I glared at her, and she held her hands up, backing away partially.

"Ly... I hate it here." Zane said, his titanium coated lips moving, and his eyes frozen still.

"Yeah, I know. Alright, come on. Just like when we were little. Take deep breaths." I said, trying to calm him down. Zane had had a rough childhood, and he used to get like this a lot when we were younger.

When I was lucky, he was partially titanium, or even full. During those phases, which acted up when he was mad, he could move around as he pleased. But the rusted copper was his own worst nightmare. Whenever he broke down, got immensely sad, or hated even some part of his existence, it kicked in, no longer allowing him to move. There was only one time where the copper completely coated his body, and it was when he found out that his parents had died. That was the day we met, actually.

I was only four or five, and my little brother was still a toddler, I was allowed to walk up and down the street. "No further," I remember my mom saying, "or the big, scary cars will get to you!" That conversation had ended in a tickle fight. Anyways, I was walking down the street when I saw a statue of a boy, coated in completely in metal. I thought it was weird, but, as I usually do, I kept walking. When I turned around to head back home, I couldn't help but glance back at the boy. He stood in my neighbor's front yard, and looked distraught, as if tears were welled up in his eyes, and that's what was causing the copper to rust.