3.18

“You know who we haven’t heard from in a while? Toastar.” Silas had come back to the group after having had some time off and visiting his parents at The Fortress. Hunter had moved back to the treehouse as well, taking a break from training with Michael.

Jimena had gone out for the day and Gauzelle was sitting in the corner of the room. Stick had gone out to play with Stampy.

“Who’s that?” Gauzelle asked.

“You were with us at the school that time. Weird clunky robot that rapid-fire’s super-hot toast. Was with that other one in the exoskeleton suit.”

“Oh yeah,” Gauzelle laughed. “Really lame huh. I wouldn’t imagine someone that shoots toast would get far.”

“It looks like our old lunch lady has been busy,” Hunter was on his phone and had been reading some articles.

“Doing what?” Silas asked. He was on his phone too but looking up old trading cards. He’d found a good price on an old Steamblast card.

“She’s robbed a few small business stores. Taken a decent sum of money in doing so. She’s evaded capture each time. She’s gotten in a fight with Button Ball, whoever that is, and came out on top.”

“Who?” Silas asked.

“Button Ball.” Hunter tapped on a link on his phone and handed it to Silas to have a look.

“Button Ball. A new hero that has emerged in only the last two weeks. Has a big round suit of buttons. Puts these buttons into their gun, and different things get shot out. The gun looks like some kind of oversized, cartoony thing.” Silas zoomed in on the picture and showed it to Hunter.

“Yeah, kind of like all those guns a lot of those vigilante heroes were using close to thirty years ago.”

“Oh yeah. Back when lots of them wore leather jackets and black suits.” Silas chuckled and reached for his trading card folder on the coffee table. He flipped to a page of some vigilante heroes for Gauzelle and Hunter to see.

The art style used on the cards aimed to reflect the time of when a lot of these heroes emerged. They all looked serious and most wore a grimace expression on their faces. Some had costumes, but most wore street clothes, and sure enough, a lot of them wore leather jackets and trench coats over their costumes.

A lot of them had guns and swords, with some wielding what looked like would be way too many to carry. Quite a few of the men had mullets, and a few of the heroes had cigarettes too.

“Those look like some pretty extreme times,” said Gauzelle. “They all look so serious. They look like they wouldn’t have any friends.”

“Some of them are still operating today. Like Hyper Lock and Blood Blade. Few others too, but quite a few of them have left Athena City altogether. They seem like the type Bulldog would get along with.” Silas looked to Hunter.

“Nah, he’s too vain. He’d want to seem like the only tough one in the group.”

“Who’s that?” Gauzelle asked.

“He’s an old superhero that should retire. He’s my great uncle. He’s full of himself.”

“Oh. It must be nice having family.” Gauzelle went quiet.

“You…don’t have family?” Hunter was hesitant to ask, but it almost seemed like Gauzelle was leaving it open to discuss.

“I don’t know. I don’t think so. I don’t remember much about my past at all. I’ve told Michael a little bit, and he said he’d help me. But we haven’t made much progress with that at all.” There was a hint of emptiness to her voice.

“Oh, sorry,” said Hunter.

“Don’t be, none of its your fault. I’m sure it’ll get figured out eventually.” Gauzelle grabbed the t.v. remote and flicked through for some horror schlock.

Hunter and Silas sat there in silence, unsure of what to do or say. Their friend had so casually opened up about something, and yet they were speechless.

“What have you and Michael figured out so far?” Both Hunter and Silas looked at Gauzelle. She had the remote in her hand and started flicking through the channels.

“That…um…there’s a hospital and mindscapes involved in my life. But that’s all we really know.” She stopped flicking through the channels and put the remote back down.

“It’s okay, you don’t have to talk about it,” said Hunter. Silas nodded in agreement.

“Its just.” Gauzelle could feel the whirlpool of destructive anxiety start to make a mess in the back of her mind.

“Gauzelle, its okay. Do you want to go outside for a walk?” Silas stood as he asked.

“No. I think if I talk about it, it might help.” Gauzelle started to talk really fast, it was difficult to make out what she was saying.

“Gauzelle…” The lights started to flicker and the t.v. turned itself back on. Gauzelle stood and started to scream.

She hit a fever pitch, the t.v. exploded and windows and lightbulbs shattered.

Just then, Jimena ran into the treehouse and was bewildered by what she saw.

“What happened?” Jimena ran over to the other two. She had to yell just to be heard.

“She started to talk about her past and just freaked out. Something’s scaring her,” said Silas.

“Gauzelle. Gauzelle, its okay,” Jimena called out.

“Stop!” An invisible force exploded out and knocked the three of them flying back. Gauzelle continued to scream. She started to thrash about.

“We have to stop her,” said Silas.

Hunter crawled forward. Bits of debris flew over his head, Jimena and Silas were close behind him.

The three of them stood around Gauzelle as she continued to scream. The three of them embraced her and she suddenly stopped.

“You’re okay now. You’re safe,” said Jimena.

“I’m sorry. There was this pain from within. Slicing my very existence. I could feel it ripping me apart.”

Stick walked into the treehouse and assessed the whole situation with confusion and awe.

“What happened here?” Stick asked.

“I’m sorry Stick, it was my fault.”