My eyes darted towards the entrance to the living room and back at my friends.
"We have to get to the roof!" I said with urgency.
I immediately scrambled through the fallen furniture in the living room and made my way to the exit, closing in behind me was Jake, moving ever so purposefully.
We turned around to see Ellie standing still at the exact spot she was, fidgeting with fear. The vase she held in her hands trembling as her body shook in rhythm with the trembling earth.
I stared into her eyes and swung my head, giving her "let's go" sign. She stood still.
"Ellie let's go!" Jake yelled.
"I'm not going out there!" She shot back immediately. "Didn't you see what the lady on the news said?! Undead creatures and Tempest Wolf is nowhere to be found!!"
"Ellie, with or without Tempest Wolf we have to do something. We are Heroes!!" I said with my palms wide open to give her a sense of comfort.
"I'm not going out there, doing community service and helping people as an E-class hero is one thing and actively battling undead creatures that wouldn't think twice about eating my head is clearly a suicide mission... I'm not going and that final!"
"For now I'm just a civilian..." She finished and gently reached for her ISA license on her chest, unstuck it and dipped in her pocket.
"Ellie?... " Jake blurted out speechlessly.
I quickly grabbed his arm and pulled him away so as to get his attention.
"Did you bring your super hero gear?!" I asked looking straight into his deep red colored pupils.
"Yes ... Yess I did!!" He responded with a subtle tremor in his voice.
I could tell that he was just as scared as Ellie but he was willing to jump into the battle to save innocent lives, put the lives of the civilians first rather his own. If that's not heroic, I don't know what is.
They were scared, and it would be selfish if me to force them to stay behind especially when the really wanted to make a difference. It reminded me of when I was a measly little teenager called Skateboard Man who always jumped on every opportunity to showcase myself as a hero.
Regardless of my low class, I remained steadfast in proving that heroes are born not made and I was a hero. I saw that in Jake and I wasn't going to quench that fear burning inside him just so that he could be safe.
"We have to get to the roof!!!"
In less than five seconds, we darted out the apartment door and into the lobby. We didn't take the elevator because of obvious reasons, we ran up a couple flight of stairs and bursted out the door that led to the roof.
The sun has disappeared into the shade of the thick dark fog that hovered unnaturally across the sky.
Sounds of the city flew in from every direction. From the loud crying of a baby just under the roof to the distant sound of sirens probably from police cars and ambulances to the screams of people.
It was a mess, and the day was just getting started.
I turned to face Jake, he was already putting on his superhero gear, strapping his beloved boomerangs to his utility and putting on his mask.
I smiled at him. He truly was admirable, an E-class hero rushing, eager to help in a time like this.
"You wanna see me transform?..." I asked, my voice distracting him from his focused mental state of physically preparing himself.
"You bet dude... A hundred percent!" He said with a firm nod.
"How does it work, you just call it and armor comes out from the chest piece and you wear it like a uniform?" He asked.
I chuckled slightly, "That would be funny wouldn't it... "
"So how does it work?"
"Well I usually say the trigger word and then the system responds... "
"System?"
"Initiate!"
Suddenly, my chest glowed with bursting gold light. Jakes mouth dropped as the spectacule unfolded before his eyes.
Golden liquid metal seeped from the Forever Core spreading across my body like an infectious virus, covering it pound for pound.
I closed my eyes, allowing the Forever Armor to take it's place above my skin. Soon after it completely covered my body like a second skin and I was fully materialized in gold up until my chin.
"Amazing..." Jake said, eyes wide with surprise.
Just then, the helmet manifested itself completely shielding my face and introducing my vision to the systems HUD interface.
[Initiation Complete]
Jake's eyes gleamed with excitement as he took a step back, taking in every inch of my golden Forever Armor. He whistled like he was calling over a tall broad, shaking his head in disbelief.
"This is insane, dude! You look like something straight out of a superhero movie!" he exclaimed, circling around me with an eager grin.
I chuckled, flexing my fingers as the armor moved fluidly with my body. "Glad you think so bro. But focus, Jake. We have a city to save."
Although we weren't entirely sure from where to begin our heroic intervention, we knew that we had to start from somewhere. At least try to help the people in danger in path of the undead creatures.
Jake smirked and took a step closer to the edge of the rooftop while looking backwards at me. "You know what would be even cooler?"
I narrowed my eyes as I immediately knew what he had in mind. "Don't say it."
"If I jump off this building and you catch me, you sia dyou can fly right so...."
I groaned, should have known he was going to pull something like this off, back at the diner the previous night, he was especially excited about my rocket boosters. "Jake, don't even think about it..."
"Come on, man! It's the ultimate test of your super speed, reflexes, and hero instincts! If you can't catch me, well…" He spread his arms dramatically. "I die. You wouldn't want that, Reno!"
I contemplated using Flash Step to grab him before he could jump off the edge of the building, but I needed every bit of my stamina and strength to fight the evil unleashed upon Sector D by Gravehowl.
"Jake, stop being ridiculous! This isn't a game!" I took a step toward him, reaching out, but he grinned mischievously and jumped.
"JAKE!" I yelled, my heart pounded in my chest as I watched him plummet with a huge grin plastered across his face.
The wind rushed past his body as he free fell, his laughter trailing behind him into my ears, it would be a one time, funny lesson to not dare people like that, but that wouldn't be nice now would it.
I had no time to hesitate.
"Come out!" I commanded, feeling the armor's system respond instantly.
[Rocket Boosters Activated]
Whirrrrrrrrr!
A whirring, powering up sound.
Golden energy ignited from my back and feet, thrusting me forward as I dove after him. The ground was closing in fast, Jake's arms still outstretched like he was enjoying a rollercoaster drop.
I reached him just before he could hit the pavement, wrapping my arms around his midsection and propelling us us back into the air. The force of the sudden stop made him grunt and momentarily wiped tha crazy grin off his face, but he burst out laughing as we soared above the city.
"Holy crap, that was awesome!" he shouted over the wind. "You actually caught me!"
"You are insane, you know that?" I growled, tightening my grip around him before adjusting our altitude.
Below us, the city was in shambles. Fires raged in the streets, cars were overturned, and the sounds of sirens mixed with the terrified screams of civilians. In the distance, shadowy figures moved unnaturally through the smoke-filled air.
Jake's excitement faded as he looked down at the chaos. "Damn… it's worse than I thought."
I exhaled sharply, scanning the destruction. "Yeah… and it's just the beginning."
We blasted through the sky, watching as darkness crept over the city.