Calling In A Favour

My mum's sternness broke into an expression of compassion. She was angry, sure, fuming probably. But she also knew that wasn't exactly what I needed from her right now.

"They didn't do anything else, right?" She asked, "I know that being called names isn't fun, of course, but I know what these bullies can be like."

A clear reference to the river. We still hadn't really talked about it, not properly. Of course, they had used my dad's death to mess with me, but I couldn't tell her that. Then I'd have to explain how Micheal was the primary instigator behind everything, and considering she knew how close we used to be as friends I didn't really want to do that.

"So, nothing like what happened before?" She pressed.

I dropped my eyes down to my plate and shook my head. It took me a few moments to find my voice, but when I did I said, "No… That was uh… I don't think they'll ever do anything like that again. Smaller pranks, verbal digs, but nothing on that sort of a scale."

"Good…" My mum said, her voice almost a whisper, "I'm relieved about that, at least."

I knew that she wasn't relieved. She knew that I knew she wasn't relieved. Neither of us pressed the point any further anyway.

People always say that you're meant to feel better after sharing things. After openin up. But I never did.

I always ended up feeling frustrated and angry. It was just a reminder that I couldn't really have a normal conversation with my mum anymore, because there was all this context behind it and things that were better left unsaid.

There was also an absolute ton of guilt.

It couldn't have been easy for my mum, knowing that I was being bullied so badly and that there was nothing that she could really do about it. No more than she'd already done, anyway.

I stabbed at the last piece of chicken on my plate. I didn't want to eat, not really, not after that conversation, but my mum was worrying enough without having to worry about my eating habits as well.

"So, when were you planning to meet your friends?" My mum asked.

I checked the clock ticking away on the far side of the room, and since the conversation had become so awkward I was kind of looking for an escape anyway.

"Uh, I should probably get going now, to be honest. Is that alright? I won't be too long, promise."

"So what is it you're doing tonight, anyway?" She asked, this was a question that I had actually prepared for.

"We're just gonna be chilling out by the river, grab some drinks and some desert probably," I replied as I grabbed both plates and stoof to bring them into the kitchen.

This was the first genuine lie that I had told him, and it weighed down on my conscience heavily.

"Before you go," My mum said, standing up, "Let me give you some cash, for the coffee."

She strode over to her bag, fished out a note, and handed it over to me.

"Mum…" I protested weakly, I couldn't very well tell her that I was well on my way to becoming rich.

"Now now, come on," She said, wrapping me in a hug. "Just have fun, okay?"

I hugged her back and tried to keep that bubble of guilt under control.

"Love you, mum."

"Love you too sweetheart, be safe out there."

I gave her a nod, turned away, grabbed my backpack and left the house.

I took my standard running route down to the river, but instead of heading up to the southbank I turned left and walked the opposite way.

Back when the city hadn't been a burnt-out husk and the world still functioned this side of the riverbank was home to a massive hospital and a bunch of businesses.

The ruins of the hospital still functioned as a medical centre, though its effectiveness had obviously been greatly reduced in comparison to how it no doubt operated beforehand.

Even back then this was not the side of the river that most people would have visited. The other way was where all the fun and the action was. What that meant was, when I had walked past the river placed my mask over my eyes and my gauntlet over my hand, I was

completely alone.

When I had been thinking about covert locations throughout the city this was the one that had immediately come to mind. The abandoned part of the waterway that no one cared about, not unless you were a fisherman or something, and even they had all gone home at this point.

The only thing that you could really see from where I was now was the main headquarters of the PHA, sitting alone in the center of the thames.

If I had been an architect I probably would have called the design of the building brutalist in nature.

It was a large and imposing structure, with lots of hard lines and sharp edges. It spoke of a strong force, a force that would stamp down hard on anything that opposed them. Anyone that did any kind of evil. That was what the PHA was supposed to be, anyway.

"I wasn't sure you were going to show up," A man's voice broke the silence of the night.

I took a deep breath and then turned to face Quasar. "Well, you said that I should call you if I ever thought I needed you," I said to the hero.

He looked… not strange but different to how he had been the first time I had met him.

His lips, the only part of his face I could see, were set in a stern line and his feet were shoulder-width apart, tense, as if ready to run or attack at any moment.

His arms were folded tensely across his chest, and for a moment, his attitude was so dangerous that I wondered if this were even the same man that I had spoken to that first night out.

Well, I'd called him in, so now I had to break in the news.

"Quasar, I need your help."