Andrew Lakes looked away from the screen and glanced at the clock. It was three minutes away from noon.

“Okay! We’re done for today. See y’all tomorrow,” the teacher announced, as she began to pack up her markers and papers. “Copy whatever you feel like, and then please send someone to wipe the board. Thanks.”

Andrew cheered within his head. They were lucky today. Every minute mattered around this time. The faster he was, the shorter the queues would be in the canteen.

“Penny, you wanna go?” he said to the ginger-haired girl to his left.

Her hand moved quickly, jotting down the information on the whiteboard into her notes. “Sorry, don’t wait for me. I gotta copy this and ask Ms Holland about the Southern Blotting thingy.”

Andrew nodded and walked two columns to the right, where another friend of his was at. This friend notably had a long black fringe, which he never really bothered to cut. He had the idea that he’d wait till his hair got really long before going to the barber, to make his five dollars worth it. And today, he had a ridiculous purple bruise on his face, courtesy of his fellow Karate Club sparring partner who hit too hard by accident during their training yesterday.

“Hey, you go ahead first. Save me a seat,” Melvin said, before resuming his debate with some other classmates about why Chemistry was worse than Biology.

Andrew sighed, and looked around for one last notable friend. Su-Jin was in a corner of the classroom, chatting happily with his own group of friends. Andrew decided to leave them be, but Su-Jin noticed his presence.

“Andrew! You’re going for the SOUL thing, right? Friday?” he asked.

Andrew gave an excited nod. “SOUL Labs, yeah. Can’t wait.”

“Claudia and Jeffrey kinda wanna go. Can they still sign up now?”

“Uh... I think all the slots would’ve been booked by now. When I went to put my name on the list, there were only three spaces left, and that was last Thursday.”

“Aw shucks, never mind. Then only you and Melvin are the ones from our class, I think. Well, see you around.”

Andrew left for the canteen alone, although he passed a few of his other classmates who were, like him, wanting to beat the queue. Their interactions were usually nothing more than brief greetings and smiles, maintaining just the status quo of acquaintances.

It made him lonely.

...

Words and images scrolled through his phone screen. His fingers swiped rapidly. Andrew was reading all there was about SOUL Labs. The field trip was in another three days.

In truth, he was not even close to being a geek about science. Only those top scorers could possibly be obsessed with the concepts of cell transport, momentum, and qualitative analysis. He was a typical student, studying for the sake of studying, but he admitted that some concepts taught in school were still cool.

He was on the field trip for the monsters. The wild things that SOUL’s scientists had cooked up in their labs. The things they made with needles, microscopes, chemicals, and years of research and development.

He noticed, in the window, the reflection of his father approaching him. “What’s up, Dad?”

“Hey, Andrew. Those things from SOUL?” David asked.

“Yep. Just three more days, and I’ll get to see them in person,” Andrew responded. “Oh yeah, heard you ran up against the Cottonmouths the other day, and the Skydra was there.”

The Skydra was the very first individual with a secret identity who fought against crime, effectively making him a vigilante, although he soon became a legalised hero working with the government.

“Yeah. Well, believe me, it’s not the first time I’ve seen the Skydra with my own eyes, and his suit is still as impressive. Although, that is the only cool thing about him.”

“The police don’t really like him, right? I saw an article of the Police Captain calling him out or something.”

David nodded, confirming the event. “The Skydra is termed as a hero, but he doesn’t really give the people hope, he’s not a symbol of good and selflessness, or whatever a hero’s supposed to be associated with.” David paused to take a breath. “He’s more of an authorised vigilante. Captain Yamada can’t do anything about all that. But yeah, her reasons for disliking the Skydra are more than justified. He only targets the Cottonmouths now, and doesn’t seem to hold back on the collateral damage.”

“Sometimes I wonder if it’s even possible for a superhero to have the Police Captain or a police detective as an ally, like in the movies.”

David smiled. “Those stories are fictional, but I think it might be possible in real life too. We just need to wait for the day a real hero shows up in Karabone City. I mean, there have been a few reports of people with superpowers popping up across the country over the past few years. Eventually one of them will use it for good, rather than to rob banks and tear towns apart.”

“When the day comes, huh.”

...

The next morning, David Lakes entered the 7th Precinct, bringing with him cups of coffee and muffins. It was eight in the morning, the time that he routinely turned up for work every day except for Sundays.

He passed by some other colleagues walking about, most of which were simply friendly acquaintances, giving one another respectful nods and smiles. He passed by the Captain’s office, noting that Captain Yamada was discussing matters with a pair of officers.

He turned to the right, swinging open a door, which led to an office. In one corner, Valeria and Frank were seated in their desks, facing each other. They were partners. And his own desk was opposite of Harrison’s, both of which were a metre away from theirs.

They greeted one another, and David handed out their breakfast, which they all received with thanks. But David noticed that Harrison was not in a good state, looking as bad as the time he pulled an all-nighter working on some cases. His eyebrows were furrowed, his face in a frown, his eyes looking dead, not even bothering to inhale the aroma of the coffee like he usually would.

“I’d ask if you’re okay, but you look like you fell into the dump,” David said, taking a quiet sip of his piping hot coffee, inhaling and exhaling rapidly to cool down the hot liquid that was hurting the insides of his mouth. “How were the past few days of leave?”

Harrison gave a long, dreadful sigh, shaking his head. His face almost looked like it had aged a couple of years. “I took the leave cuz, well, I didn’t feel like coming to work.”

Valeria rolled her chair over and put a reassuring hand on his hunched back, her eyes still filled with concern. “What happened?”

“We’ve seen plenty of civilians die at the hands of petty criminals. I’ve always felt a bit sad, you know. And I know, we were trained back in the police academy, to be emotionally stronger, stuff like that,” Harrison said, pausing to sip on his coffee. “But what happened that night hit differently. Well, you guys missed it.”

“You mean Saturday night? What did we miss?” Frank asked, putting down his muffin.

“You know how the Skydra was fighting the Cottonmouths that night? At the construction site? They managed to damage the structure enough for the metal girders to collapse. A small kid, probably no older than your daughter,” Harrison said, “she ran out of the building next door. Probably wanted to see what was happening.”

Harrison paused, his eyes glistening slightly, as he took a slow, deep breath. “I shouted at the Skydra, told him to grab the girders. But he seemed to care only about the Cottonmouths.”

Frank and Valeria could already guess what happened next, as Harrison began to tremble and breathe harder.

His fist was clenched tightly, and it shook furiously. “The girl was crushed. She died for nothing. The Skydra could’ve held onto the girders, and she’d be alive now.”

The others, too, were trained to be mentally prepared for witnessing the loss of life. Even so, they still felt sorry for the child and understood the emotions that Harrison was feeling.

“That kid was so young. Almost her entire life went unlived, because the Skydra didn’t care,” Harrison spat. The more he thought about what had happened, the more enmity he felt towards the robotic ‘superhero’. “Yet the government declares him as a legally-operating superhero. All he does is go after the Cottonmouths from time to time, as well as being a partner in the bodyguard suit thing. To me, he’s no hero.”

Frank cleared his throat as he opened his mouth to speak. “I’m sorry, man. What happened to the girl, it’s tragic. But so are the fates of all other innocents caught in the crossfire of crime.”

Valeria nodded in agreement. “Sadly, deaths of innocents are inevitable. But what we can do is to do our jobs to the best of our ability. To strive to keep criminals off the streets and behind bars.”

“And we will continue to do that. But that’s not enough,” Harrison stated plainly. “The Cottonmouths are too mysterious, and the Skydra doesn’t care about the people in the danger zone. We may be able to handle the Cottonmouth grunts, but we’ve never bagged any of their specialists. And we know almost nothing about them aside from the places they strike. We need someone strong on our side. Someone who’s good, who cares about the people, not like the Skydra.”

“I do think it’s possible that one day, someone with special abilities will pop up who’s not going to be a criminal,” David responded. “But in the meantime, we’re the only thing standing for the people against crime. Which is why you need to focus on the present, on our job, to protect the people of Karabone City. You can be the good one, the one who cares about the people. There are other children that call this place their home, and we need to keep it safe for them.”

Harrison nodded. David was right. The girl’s death will become his drive to be the best detective he could be.