The line of text running across the screen at the bottom of the news channel asked if the hero, Jared Ugo would save the day.

“You’re a hero now, huh?” Mom chuckled weakly and rubbed her temples, trying to reduce the stress. She looked at the unconscious people bound with rope and contemplated what to do in her head.

“If you have to think this much about it, you may as well let him make the decision,” dad suggested. Although, they both knew what decision I’d make. Mom’s face contorted whilst I put the headgear and goggles in place.

“I want to have lunch somewhere nice. So be back before one!” she commanded. With their permission, I flew off to the scene. Even I, who seemed the most willing to go, had doubts about continuing these insane stunts, so I figured I’d come to a compromise. Did I want to help those in need? Of course. But getting tied up even more after being publicly labelled as Cennet’s associate was not a good look. My best bet was to just lay low.

So, when I got to the scene, I inspected everything from the safety of another building, idling by as firemen and police flooded the building; I left them to their jobs. Nothing changed for near half an hour and I had no idea why.

I heard shrill cries from the crowd gathered below; the TK with its enhanced zoom reported that someone was falling. My body jerked forward without my permission and I was freefalling as well until Grav gave me some control. I beelined for the victim, flying downwards with her so as to minimise stoppage force. I held her with both arms and even as we stopped falling, she still remained unconscious. Immediately after, the other dangling people began falling. Before I could ask myself “how?” they were already close to me. I froze, my mind ripping itself apart trying to think about what to do. My two arms were already at use holding someone, but four more people falling simultaneously? What a ludicrous situation. Yet, I had to risk it.

I lowered Grav’s output to near nothing so I could gain falling momentum, then grabbed another woman with the assumption that they would be lighter than their three male counterparts. My TK followed my movements and clutched two of the men by their midsections. Their arms and legs dangled. With our arms full, I had no idea how we were going to rescue the last feller. Thankfully, the faller surely had an inkling of what to do. As he neared us, he grabbed onto my shoulders, shifting our collective centre of gravity and making me lose balance. Expecting impact with Halogen Towers glass wall behind me, I loosened my hold on both women and caught them by their ankles instead, lifting them up in front of me with all the strength and adrenaline I could use. Something like that would be deemed impossible for someone without Vasc and White coursing through their veins.

We made impact, and the man cushioned everything. In that limited timeframe, I couldn’t think of a way to save him from crashing onto the wall of the building. I could only hope he wasn’t hurt badly. With two women hanging upside-down, I slowly descended onto the trampoline some firefighters brought out and gently placed the women onto it. Once my trembling arms were relieved of them, the man who clutched onto me like a vice grip finally let go. The TK, not having to worry about tiring out, did his job with much more grace than I could ever hope to have.

The overwhelming cheers of onlookers snatched my attention away from the approaching police officers. I waved a little to appease the crowd, until I noticed the TK’s cannons locking onto something. When I turned around, what I would see were the cops’ guns all converging their targets on me. The TK, with my thoughts, immediately rescinded its cannons and flew back home. They were unable to do anything about it. For me, I raised my arms in surrender, turned around, and kneeled as the officers ordered. Cameras captured the entire scene from simple smartphones to professional equipment utilised by the press. Although, I had to admit, being arrested wasn’t a good look. The booing crowds certainly didn’t approve of it either.

Sorry mom. I knew I wouldn’t make it home in time for lunch.

So, I was detained and questioned by a random cop I’d never seen. After I refused to answer their questions, I was placed in a holding cell. Looking at the outside free world behind bars was a perspective I never thought I’d see. I was completely helpless as they took every piece of equipment I had. Before that though, I made sure my TK absolutely locked my phone down with several layers of security remotely. I could only hope they didn’t tamper with my gear, but I also disabled all of it prior to the arrest. Thankfully, I’d gotten chance to remove the manual switches so that all my gear would respond only to commands from the headgear, except for the shielders. I wanted no one getting a hold of that technology, for it was one I wished to totally hand over to Anna.

A couple hours later, someone opened the cell and I was escorted back home. My phone and gear were only given back to me after reaching home. I was mighty confuddled, but chose not to ask any questions; at that point I didn’t even care to know. Stepping out of the car, a house arrest device was tied to my ankle. They kept showing me documents that warranted all of these procedures, but even then, I couldn’t care. It was all so stupid that I was beginning to think the protective authorities wanted citizens’ lives to be at risk. Ugh, no matter.

Mom rushed outside in tears, but not father. He was proud of me for doing what I did in that situation. Mom was more worried about Grav running out of power mid-flight or something; anything that could see harm done to me, she rued. “Sorry about that,” I patted her back after she hugged me. “You ate already, right?”

“You promised you’d be back before one. And what did you do instead? Get arrested!”

“So, you didn’t eat…” I sighed somewhat defeatedly.

It was a bit irritating to be subject to a lockdown such as this, but my parents were back so I was satisfied for the moment. At least, that’s what I kept telling myself, but in truth, a big part of my life was wrestled away from me in the blink of an eye and I still had nightmares about it. Theresa. She was everything to me when I needed to be told that everything would be okay. She got me through school every single day despite my reluctance to go to a place so devious. She kept my sanity intact just enough, just enough for pieces of me to cling onto mom and seek refuge. Cennet took her away from me, and for that, I simply couldn’t find it in my heart to lay the urge of murder to rest.

But, for the period of my three-month house arrest, I would simply relax with my moms and dad and find solace in sketching up new ideas. In times like those, I couldn’t help but wonder how far I’d have gotten if Cennet didn’t start this whole fire under me. Then again, I’d probably never have admitted I was Ban.

I’d had a few visitors from time to time and before I knew it, a couple weeks had gone by. I shunned any forms of media, only being kept somewhat up to date on Cennet’s bizarre and uncontained homicide spree via the Andinos, Hana and Backslash, and from time to time, Esther Serrette. It seemed like Cennet was in no mood to play games, and so over seventeen murders were reported. Most of them being family and friends of the education minister, Charlene Jefferson, and the minister of defence, Michael Asher. Things were going bad outside, but for me, not so much.

In the blink of an eye, the party I’d asked Anna for was underway. But there were many more people than I bargained for. It became a welcome-back party for my parents, so all her friends, relatives, and more than half of UGO employees were present. We had to hire bartenders and DJs; luckily Mr Andino decided not to let Cindy tag along. Sadly, not too many of dad’s friends came along due to the half-day worth of driving to get to us.

More and more guests poured in as it got darker and eventually, the VIP arrived. I had to sneak her through the back because her security would not have it any other way. “Sorry,” I eventually entered my room with a bottle of whisky and two glasses, “no one expected it to be this big. Did you have doubts about coming?” I asked while pouring the liquor.

“I did,” she said, crossing her legs in those skin-tight jeans, “but seeing you pour two glasses made me glad I didn’t turn around.”

I chuckled and brought over her glass, “You didn’t think I’d let you drink alone, did you?”

“I hoped not,” she said, a mischievous snicker escaping her as she stood up from my bed. “Cheers.”

“Cheers,” I replied, and we clonked the glasses together. “Hmm, tonight, you look…”

“Stunning? Beautiful?” She replied in anticipation.

I took her hand and pulled her away from the bed a bit. “While you are stunning and beautiful, those aren’t the words I’d use right now. You’re, more…” I pondered, circling her and engraving her image in my mind.

“Tempting?” She guessed again, and quite accurately at that.

“Exactly. You’re tempting me.”

“To do?” she stared inquisitively.

I traced lightly along the middle of her back with my fingers, then wrested her glass from her, “Pour you another drink.”

She cackled, “Now who’s tempting who?”

“I guess I am being a bit bad. Wonder who I got it from…” A finger was placed gently on my chin, my face one of a scholar in thought.

She chuckled, taking her glass back, “Incorrigible,” she muttered. I walked past her and took a seat on the bed, prompting her to do the same. “How is house arrest?”

“Hmm,” I exhaled and leaned back, propping myself up with one arm, “really, it’s been amazing. I’m just enjoying it and making the most of my parents being back. What about you?” I took a sip, mentally noting this drink to be my last. “How’s work been treating you?”

“Jared, you know, sometimes I ask myself just how old you really are. Shouldn’t you be more impetuous? I’d expect a teen to think about something stupid like revenge and be angry that the police put him under house arrest.”

Just as the glass was encroaching my lips, I stopped, processed what she said for a second and continued to sip the alcohol. It really wasn’t to my liking, the alcohol nor my current situation. “To be honest with you, Rosa, those are the first things that cross my mind. I’m still a child through and through. If I didn’t make being calm a habit, I probably wouldn’t have stopped at Cennet’s son.” I peered down at the swirling rust in my glass. “You still didn’t tell me what’s going on with you…”

“Decisions here, decisions there. The usual. Jared,” she placed a hand on my cheek gently and I couldn’t help but cast my gaze upon her. “After this all blows over, what will you do?”

Hmm, what to do, huh? My mind meandered, looking back at my shrink visits. “I’ll take a year to study, then take exams. After that, I’ll just return to the same year I stopped going.”

“Why return if you’ve gotten all your passes?”

“At some point, I want to return to being my age.”

She placed a hand to her mouth, “I guess that means no more love for the home secretary, huh?”

With a smile, I put my glass on a nearby dresser and returned to the bed, snaking my arms around her from the back, “That’s never going to stop,” I said calmly in her ear and my lips caressed the nape of her neck.

An hour or so later, she left. I hit the showers and freshened, seeing the night through ‘til its end. In the morning, I’d learn that Rosa was either very appreciative to her partners, or tired of Cennet having his way with the security services of the nation. A couple officers came by and deactivated the clunky house arrest anklet. Anna – still my legal guardian – signed off what she had to and I was suddenly free after three weeks instead of the agreed-upon three months. Truthfully, I began to suspect that it was Rosa who got me out of the holding cell, but also the one who made the house arrest happen. It was too coincidental that she would choose to lift my ban on the outside world only after seeing me last night. Still, I wouldn’t be mad at her.

Finally, I flew to my lab, childishly excited to revisit old designs and make new ones. The sun’s warmth and wind’s caress gave me goosebumps. My lab near the pier waited patiently for me, although a little dusty from its inactivity. I sat on my chair in the little office and spun around in it. After a quick inspection of the apparatus and machinery, I laid my plans out. I worked all day into night on quite the project called EXO, short for exoskeleton. It was a rather simple thing that caused a lot of headaches working the kinks out of it. But when finished, it would allow me to equip a flimsy metal acting something like chest armour from a medieval knight. It covered my entire torso.

The EXO, in essence, was a shielder. It emitted the same UGO energy waves that protected me so many times. It started as just a vest made of a strong canvas-reminiscent material. Covering the outside of the vest would be very flexible metal sheets that was cut out to fit the vest perfectly. Most of it was stuck with glue and the edges were meshed together after heating the metal and somewhat stitching it together with the vest. The power core and circuitry were all stuck to the front of the vest. After, I tasked the smithies to make the frame and exhaust for a jetpack that would fit me after measuring the EXO. In three days, I received the first draft of the jetpack and hooked it up with boosters the same size of those on the TK’s back. My thoughts were that the EXO’s shield would protect me from the burn of the boosters. But of course, I gravely miscalculated. My back wasn’t the problem, because the jetpack would be right there anyway. My legs were the problem, because the boosters beneath the frame of the jetpack would toast them instead. It was time to revisit the entire design and extend special clothing like the vest to my legs.

During the days of working with EXO – which kept encapsulating more and more of my body as I continued its design – news of Cennet’s tasteless killings and forceful pushing of his proposal kept filling my ears. I kept ignoring it, but it was almost like the curse of David Cennet was meant to follow me around no matter how many times I stuck my head in the sand. Serrette had tried convincing me multiple times to at least come into the TEO headquarters to help them. Hana and Jack would visit my lab from time to time if they weren’t too busy covering multiple stories of elaborate ways to kill people written by the mad ex-coat. They too questioned time and time again–off the books at least–if I wasn’t going to fight Cennet. I said no, to all of them. Even those of Localhost questioned me, because it seemed to the country that I was losing my grip on what they thought was important to me. I began to doubt what the hell it was I wanted. Was the general consensus of what Jared Ugo stood for translate to peace and safety for all? Was I the average Joe’s saviour? I inquired of myself after a couple weeks of shaking my head at questions like, ‘Won’t you save people?’, and ‘If you don’t do it, who will?’. Was I the people’s hero? I just didn’t want anymore of my family to die. I was desperate. That was the truth. Although, I had to admit that if I put myself in other families’ shoes, I could understand thoroughly the exsanguinating pain of loss they had to endure.

On an evening a month after my release from house arrest, I went home and found Marissa there. She patted the couch she was sitting on for me to join her. “Hey, did you hear?” She was a bit excited. My eyebrows went up and I shrugged.

“Hear what?” I used her legs as a pillow and laid down on the couch, my brain reeling from dealing with EXO yet another day.

“Dude,” she said, pinching my cheeks, “looks like some rumours spread and people think the police banned you from interfering with their work.” She beamed and hung her face over mine, her hair falling onto my forehead, “People don’t like that apparently.” She showed me some videos of people protesting at police stations, TEO branches, even Michael Asher’s residence. Of course, the parliament hall itself was no exception. “There were over fifty deaths last week alone.”

I grew a bit annoyed, almost saying ‘so what?’ out loud. It bothered me. It bothered me tremendously. I wasn’t sure if it was the pressure others put on me to become the hero that they saw me as or to simply rid my consciousness of the guilt that the sin of dormancy inflicted. My heart wheezed. Over fifty people in one week? “Hey, since the parliament thing, how many people died?”

She tapped her phone a few times, “Uh, do you actually want to know?”

I sat up and nodded, not blinking as I waited for her answer.

“Three twenty-seven.”

My memories of when my parents died all flashed before my mind, up to the turmoil that their funerals inflicted, up to the struggle that was coping with it. The random blackouts, the shrink visits, the lawyer visits, the faltering presence of mind, the messed-up time-dilation. Something stirred inside of me. It wasn’t heroism, no. It was vomit, literally. I puked on the floor remembering all those horrible feelings. In a confusing way, I laughed nervously.

“Shit,” I thought back on the days of being beaten up by Jonathan, “how did I go from that,” then thought of myself bruised as a kid, “to national hero?” I muttered. While working on the almost completed EXO, I thought I could ignore the suffering of others that Cennet inflicted all because I rammed a pencil into his son’s throat. Was one death really worth all this? What the fuck is he thinking? Three hundred and twenty-seven people? What the fuck, man?! My hand gripped the rug. “I can’t ignore it after all. Still…” Even if I wanted to jump into the fray with every fibre of my being, I was getting the finalised version of the jetpack tomorrow. I had to ignore it.