27 Chapter 27

° Reginald Val Johnson

° A Week Later

Matthew watched in confusion as Madison brandished her new accessory, a pair of half inch thick, smooth golden bands on each wrist. Both sitting by themselves on their lunch breaks.

From the look on Madison's face, she was quite happy with it.

"May I ask?" Matthew asked suddenly, unable to keep his curiosity down.

Madison looked at him and hummed her agreement, "What?"

"Nice bling" Matthew initiated and raised a thumb in approval, earning a proud grin from his best friend "New girlfriend? Or is it a boyfriend this time?"

Madison gave him a stoney look and held her wrist closer to Matthew, "No, and I'm not currently looking. I still have an ongoing relationship with you and your budding superhero career. Why do you ask?"

"Oh, you know. As your best friend, I have to adjust depending on the gender. Guys don't like other guys being close to their girl and girls don't like guys who hang

"This is from Mom, she gave it to me last night. Pretty, isn't it?

Matthew rolled his eyes, but smiled at her words "Really? She actually bought it for you? This from the woman who thinks of jewelry as 'beautified decorative rocks'?"

"No" Madison shook her head after a short laugh "She made it for me. At least that's what she told me, anyway. Said that it would help with the nightmares I've been having recently"

Matthew was suddenly worried "Nightmares? Since when?"

Madison hesitated for a moment before reassuring "About a month or two ago. It acts up sometimes, not always, so no biggie"

Matthew put a hand on hers "Mady. Are you sure you're okay? You don't have to hide it from me"

Madison looked at his hand and to his eyes then smiled warmly, entwining her hands with his.

"I'm okay, Matt. Nothing I can't handle. And they are not dream-like nightmares where I see stuff, I just...hear things" Madison explained, unwilling to bother her friend about it.

Sensing this, Matthew pushed.

"Tell me" Matthew said softly insisted.

She relented "Remember that abandoned underpass we went through in the city? The way our voices echoed back and forth?"

Matthew nodded.

"It's like that but only quieter. Like murmurs" Madison shivering at the thought "It's creepy, but not that scary. Anyway, Mom was right. When I wear these things I don't have them anymore"

Matthew nodded slowly, eyeing the bracelets curiously. Madison saw his look, thinking he was jealous about it, and proceeded to show off some more.

A ring from Madison's phone interrupted their pleasant time.

Madison squinted her eyes at her phone and gasped, "Oh no".

Matthew quirked up, "What is it?"

Madison looked at him and showed him the phone. The alert on her phone told him everything he needed.

***

Matthew flew and headed towards Harlem, where the site of a Jewelry Heist was currently taking place. He inwardly thanked Madison for alerting and covering for him to take care of the situation, appreciating her help.

Matthew arrived at the jewelry store, overlooking the fiery swirls shooting out of glass windows as if a dragon was trapped inside the small store. He quickly intercepted the fire with his body before it could cause further damage.

"Ah shit" a familiar voice cursed and Matthew knew exactly who he was dealing with.

Matthew patted his front in discomfort, the fire didn't harm him or his suit but the heat was unpleasant. Like sunbathing under a blazing sun.

"The name's Eruptor, wasn't it?" Matthew asked loudly "How's the head?"

"I heal quickly, superbrat!" the Eruptor shouted "I ain't going back to hospital arrest cause of you!"

With a thrust of both hands, Eruptor let out an enormous pillar of flames that bathed over Matthew. The heat got to his eyes and was forced to turn away before he covered his face with both arms.

Anger bubbled inside him and quickly burst.

Matthew cussed angrily and, sensing the mind ahead of him stepping away, lurched forward to catch the Eruptor. He caught the man by the chest and struck hard with an open hand, throwing the villain off his feet and through a wall with a worrying thud.

Matthew blinked a few times and straightened his frayed vision before moving in front of the groaning villain by the wall, ripping both mechanical hands before holding the man up by the throat.

Bright red liquid burned through the thick suit the man wore in small amounts, oozing out of his skin like sweat and was similar to the dangerous substance in almost every way. The heat from it alone was enough to make Matthew feel uncomfortable.

"Is that--" Matthew wanted to ask but went quiet when the oozing lava like blood grew dull and Eruptor's front skin began to seal up at a visible pace.

"Holy--you weren't lying, that's a potent healing factor you have there. And you're literally hot-blooded" Matthew said, eyeing the fully healed dark brown skin.

"Fuck...yo--" the Eruptor made only choking noises after Matthew applied slightly more strength to his grip. The Eruptor resorted to punching next, but his fists merely bounced off Matthew's face.

"Fuck! What the hell are you even made of?" the villain complained.

"Alien skin and bones" Matthew chuckled a reply then flew out the store's back alley with the man still in tow and slammed him into the ground.

Pulling him out, Matthew was surprised to find him knocked out. Bits of cement and rebar were spit out of his body in melted chunks as his body healed but he was unconscious. That led Matthew to thinking that the man's healing factor might ironically not include concussions.

"Sorry man, but you know I can't let you rob a jewelry store" Matthew said, suddenly getting the urge to want to understand why the man was doing what he did but held back on a mental probe.

Matthew held the man tightly as he picked out a thick piece of steel to bind him with before he flew out of the way, just in time to see the red and blue lights and blaring sirens of police vehicles approaching the location.

He flew high enough to get a clear view of the approaching police and made sure to monitor the Erupto,  just in case he was simply pretending to be knocked out.

No further incident happened as the arrest was made and the villain was taken into custody.

Matthew turned to leave when he caught sight of a camera flash his way. Looking down, he saw a gathering of people with their phones out. All frantically taking snapshots of his floating form.

Matthew quickly flew away and out of the scene, hoping that no one caught a good picture of his face. All while seriously considering whether or not to add a mask to his overall costume as an extra layer to protect his identity.

***

° Madison's Room

° Evening

Matthew sat on the foot of Madison's with his arms crossed, looking at his friend with a deadpan expression as she laughed at something on her phone.

"Oh my god!" Madison laughed as she swiped at another picture on her feed, much to Matthew's shame.

"Please stop" he begged pitifully.

Her reply was another round of melodic laughter as she showed him a particular photo she was very much amused by.

"205! 205 pictures and out of all that only 4 were clear enough to see anything. And somehow, they're all pictures of your ass!" Madison said, her words jumbled up with her laughter.

Matthew groaned heavily and hung his head in defeat.

"Oh, wow. It's already trending" Madison beamed as she scrolled through "#SuperAss is number 3 right now and climbing!"

"Jesus Christ..." Matthew sighed "Okay, that's enough about--"

Madison's laugh was suddenly cut short as she let out a slightly disgusted groan "Ugh. And the thirsty comments come in"

"...What kind of thirsty comments?" Matthew changed his mind.

Madison, on the other hand, just shrugged "Doesn't matter"

Matthew tried to swipe her phone but Madison was quick.

"They're not even talking about the heist or that Eruptor loser you stopped" Madison rolled her eyes "Just your ass. I don't think it's that impressive, but I guess the internet is weird that way"

Matthew was offended by this "Ouch. That was unnecessarily harsh"

Madison snickered "Please. You're literally invulnerable. It would take much more than a verbal jab for you to feel tickled"

"My feelings aren't invulnerable" Matthew retorted, pretending to pout.

"Ha! That's a stupid weakness. By that logic, I should be able to take you down by replaying Hachiko into your retinas" Madison replied victoriously.

"Woah" Matthew raised both hands "Using the emotional equivalent of a nuclear bomb already. You're quite vicious"

Madison laughed and punched his arm, regretting it slightly a bit later after feeling her knuckles throbbed from the sudden pain.

Matthew shook his head and sat closer to her, taking her hand gently into his.

"Look at what you did. You literally hurt yourself" Matthew lightly caressed her knuckles.

Madison looked at her friend and smiled, slowly patting his head. She was about to say something about him being a good boy when her attention was caught by something in his air.

"Hey, Matt" Madison called.

"Hmm?" Matthew looked up but his head was cocked back forcefully "Hey! What the--"

"Stay still!" Madison raised her voice and pulled his head closer, her twin mounds softly perching on the side of his head.

But despite it, Matthew stayed after hearing her voice. He couldn't see what she was doing and his qattention was admittedly caught by something else.

"Huh. That's...unexpected" Madison said as she lightly pushed his head away.

"What?" Matthew asked.

"There's some weird color patches here" Madison said, patting at a spot between his neck and shoulders "What is that? Were you painting something or what?"

Matthew looked up to Madison's eyes. Seeing her eyes, Matthew knew she was kidding.

"I...need to see this" Matthew said as he stood and flew close to Madison's full-body mirror, taking off his shirt and looking at the spot himself.

There he found what she had meant, and he went still.

Madison watched her friend undress and intended to give a well-timed joke, until she fully registered the full scope and coverage of the 'patches' on his skin.

"What is that?" Madison got a closer for a better look, eyeing the scattered patterns. She got close and began to poke, smell, and did all but lick the patch of skin before she stepped back looking perplexed.

"I got nothing" she said "Maybe your brother played a prank on you and you didn't notice?"

Matthew was too distracted by the sudden appearance of such a large patch that looked to be purple colored birthmarks that he was sure wasn't there before.

Before Matthew could pry into the mystery tattoos/birth marks further, his phone rang and interrupted his musings.

He opened a text from his brother and read briefly then sighed.

"Sorry, Mads. I have to go" Matthew said, putting on his shirt hovering towards her window "A bunch of asteroids are inbound with Chicago and my dad and Mark are already waiting for me"

Madison pouted but nodded "Okay. But we need to figure this out soon"

"Tomorrow then. Have a good night" Matthew said, giving her a peck on her cheek before flying out of her window.

***

° Upper Atmosphere.

All three of them floated comfortably in the air as they watched the gigantic hunks of space rock hurtling through space and directly on their path.

"So" Nolan said, breaking the silence with an excited tone to his voice "Who wants to go first?"

Mark and Matthew looked at each other and silently agreed to settle the matter with a simple game of rock, paper, and scissors. Which Mark won after 2 ties.

Mark flew forwards and grasped onto the largest piece of rock he could see, holding onto it as he attempted to stop it completely while Matthew and Nolan watched from behind, making sure to pulverize the larger break off into smaller bits for the atmosphere to disintegrate.

"Good work, Matthew" Nolan said "Now we wait"

"Wait?" Matthew asked, looking at the large asteroid Mark was trying to push back worriedly "Shouldn't we help Mark--"

"He can handle it" Nolan said "Trust your brother. If he can't handle it then...well, we'll deal with it if it happens"

Matthew stared at his father and nodded reluctantly, turning to watch Mark continue to push back on the asteroid.

It had started slowing down after a while and completely stopped a few meters from where they were, which eased Matthew's worry immensely. Mark sighed heavily in relief as he turned to smile triumphantly at them.

"Nice" Matthew gave him a thumbs up.

Nolan didn't look too impressed but he nodded curtly.

"Now just throw back into space" Nolan instructed.

Mark grunted as he turned back to the asteroid he was holding. He jabbed both hands through it to get a better hold and then spun a few times before letting go of the asteroid as it hurtled back into space.

"How does it feel to save the world? Or at least the country?" Nolan asked with a smirk "By the way, that was a small one"

"That was a small one?" Mark asked, out of breath and with a bit more surprise than he wanted.

"Yeah, you should've seen the asteroid I diverted a few years ago" Nolan said while approximating the size with both arms held wide to his sides "The size of Texas"

Matthew scoffed, remembering the day it happened and could very much say that the asteroid in question was not the size of Texas. It was bigger.

Mark's phone suddenly buzzed an alert, distracting him from the conversation which Nolan did not like. He took one look on his phone and

"Aw, crap. I gotta run, Dad" Mark said urgently.

"Hey, whatever or whoever that is, your training is more important" Nolan instead with a raised eyebrow "Big picture, right?"

"I know, but it's Amber" Mark said, looking to Matthew for support.

"Mark, we talked about this" Nolan said, unconvinced.

"Dad..." Mark groaned.

Matthew sighed as he watched the exchange, glaring at Mark to relay the fact that he will owe him one for the help. Mark nodded immediately and without much thought.

"Dad" Matthew called out "I'd actually like to ask you for a few pointers for the next time I fight, to better get a grip on my strength"

Nolan looked to Matthew, then to Mark, and then back and forth between the two. Figuring out how to train the two while simultaneously making sure they actually learn something.

He relented soon after "This one time, okay?"

"Yes!" Mark celebrated and flew down to the planet without so much as a thank you.

Leaving Matthew behind to come up with something to keep his father busy for the next few hours for training. Luckily for him, the asteroids weren't completely dealt with just yet.

"Ah, good timing" Nolan said, pointing at a particularly larger asteroid in the distance "Now it's your turn"

Matthew bit back a groan and flew to the asteroid.