Chapter 02:  Testing(05)

Supreme clenched his jaw. "Yes it's her. I found her like this about 500 km north of here. The guy that did this got away before I could get there. Can I use your device? I need to try getting ahold of my son and his wife to let them know what is going on. They were fortunately running late when this all went down. I just hope they weren't caught in the blast."

Typhoon took off his Rolex, entered the pin and handed it to Supreme. "John wasn't there right?".

Supreme already dialing glanced up."He was but he's alright. He and Mai's grandson are asleep back in the emergency room. They were both shaken up pretty badly but besides a mild concussion and some small burns that Dr. Harvey already healed, they're both ok."

Typhoon nodded, then turned to look at the nurse saying, "Quick lead the way.".

Nurse Price quickly cleared a path. "Active Hero emergency, make a hole people!".

The people in the waiting room all looked with eyes wide open and mouths agape in shock. None of them had ever seen an S+ rank this close since there were only 5 known to the public in the entire country. Yet, here were 2 of them walking into the emergency room of all places carrying another that looked like they had been tossed into a volcano. People started recording immediately.

One could hardly blame them. If nothing else, curiosity would drive a person crazy. I mean how does someone who could laugh off a tactical nuke and easily survive atmospheric reentry get burnt like that?

Some of the people recording suddenly stopped and erased the video. If this gets out whoever leaked the information could get charged with treason. One of the country's most powerful defenders was currently out of commission.

The people that realized this spoke to the people around them. The devices were all quickly put away and the already quiet waiting room became so silent you could hear a pin drop.

A few minutes later 7 more severely burnt people were wheeled into the emergency room by paramedics from multiple hospitals.

Police dressed in full battle armor along with federal agents showed up aided by numerous S and A rank Heroes who helped seal off the crater and interview witnesses.

The next day President Johnson even showed up to the hospital, took a tour of the blast site and gave a speech about redoubling efforts to prevent this sort of thing. He of course wasn't the only politician to make an appearance over the next week or so. The news was plastered with speculation about the horrific event that took place.

Three out of the seven S rank victims didn't survive till they got to the hospital. Supreme's only son and his daughter-in-law who were running late died as well. They had just gotten off the elevator when the blast hit. Conspiracy theories abound and no one took credit for the event. It took Typhoon a week of nonstop work to get the S rank survivors and Bloodwind to the point they were no longer in danger.

Unknown to the general public the higher rank you were the harder it is to heal you. Your body would regenerate as long as you didn't die but it would take time. It would also be useless for a lower ranked healer to attempt to fix your injuries if you were S rank or higher. At most they could use their powers to speed up your recovery slightly.

After they were discharged from the hospital the two boys were being cared for at Supreme's compound by John's nanny, an A rank water controller named Maxine Hoffman. She fortunately had a masters degree in child psychology so they also had a live-in therapist.

This at least kept the two children out of the eyes of the press.

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Supreme compound, Central City, USA, Earth

Friday, January 30th, 0098 PA; 06:00(CST)

"MOMMY!!! DADDY!!! NOOOOOOO!!!", a child-like scream echoed through the corridors of the main house in Supreme's compound.

Mai flew to the door that the scream came from arriving at the same time as Maxine.

They opened the door only to see Kai sitting up in bed breathing heavily while covered in sweat.

Mai quickly flew over to the bed embracing the small child with her only arm while gritting her teeth in pain as tears rolled from her eye. Kai hugged her back while stuttering, "Th… They t… turned to ashes Sáni…". He then sat there holding onto his grandmother crying silently.

Maxine turned and walked down the hallway signaling the guards that everything was alright. Muttering to herself. "It still doesn't make sense… How did he see what happened? He must have really seen it though. He described it in so much detail during our therapy sessions. The poor kid. No child should have to watch what happened to his parents like that."

Without realizing it she had already arrived at John's door. Startled for a moment, she took a deep breath before knocking. After a few seconds she heard a little boy's voice, "I'm up.". She entered the room seeing John already dressed in a pair of blue sweat pants and a green sweater. She smiled and looked at the boy. "Are you ready for breakfast? Don't forget the memorial is today, so you'll have to change into a suit after you eat."

John frowned and looked down at the ground for a moment before whispering to himself, "If I was strong like Grandpa… Mommy and Daddy would still be here. I could beat the bad guy if I was strong." He then walked past her out the door without even responding to her question and headed towards the dining area. Maxine shook her head and followed to make sure he didn't run off.

As Mai, John, Maxine, and Kai ate breakfast at a large round table. The morning news played on a hologram above the table. The news anchors announced the memorial for what was dubbed "The Black Fire Massacre''.

At this point Kai looked at his grandmother. "Sáni, why didn't you save Mom and Dad?". Everyone including the guards at the door went still. For several seconds not a single sound was heard until a tear hit the table in front of Mai.

Mai, still staring at the plate of half eaten food in front of her, whispered "I wasn't strong enough…".

"What Sáni?"

At this point Mai stood up. "I WAS TOO WEAK!!! YOUR MOM, YOUR DAD ALL THOSE PEOPLE, I COULDN'T PROTECT ANY OF THEM!!!" as she slammed her hand through the table then stood silent for a moment. She then flew out of the dining room through the door.

John leaned over to Kai who was currently staring at where the door used to be with a confused look on his face, and whispered

"See Kai, I told you… If we get strong we can stop the bad guys from killing people. Grandpa and your grandma were both too weak to stop it.".

At this point Maxine who had heard every word of what was just said stood up. "Boys, Ms. Nakai needed some quiet time. Do you both remember why we sometimes need quiet time?".

The two boys looked at each other for a moment before Kai hesitantly replied, "So we can do the p word?"

Maxine looked at him. "That's right Kai we all sometimes need quiet time so we can process. Especially when something really sad happens. Do you both remember what process means in this case?"

John replied, "It means to cry or think about stuff so you aren't as sad.".

She smiled looking at her wrist device. "Good. Now we need to hurry up and get ready for the memorial. John, your grandpa will be meeting us there, Mr. Rodgers will help you get ready as usual. Kai, I'm going to go make sure your grandma is ok. Is it ok if Mr. Adams helps you get ready?".

Kai looked toward the door at one of the guards. A man with a gruff face and athletic build, standing 173 cm tall wearing a blue suit that was the uniform of the compound guards, looked at Kai nodding his head.

Kai turned back towards Maxine. "Mr. Adams is nice, he can help me."

"All right we need to be at the front door by 7:30 dressed and ready to go. This means shoes too. Both of you got that?"

"Yes ma'am." both boys replied.