“For the last time Samuel, I said no! I’m not allowing my two kids to go off with some stranger I don’t know and put themselves in danger because of some childish dream,” my mum said, her voice raised in threat. “Its not just some “childish dream” mum, the world is getting a massive influx of teenagers capable of extraordinary things and this is a chance to make sure that those teens are seen in a good light. That’s not even mentioning all the lives we would save. I can’t keep hiding mum, you know I can’t”. We’d been having this conversation for over an hour with the same arguments being tossed to and fro and no progress being made. I kind of got her point, even with all the superhero excitement, going off with a guy I didn’t know would be foolish no matter how much Aaron thought it was safe. What annoyed me though was the fact that she didn’t even agree to setting up a meeting with the Aaron’s informant. She said she didn’t trust him enough and that he could have some mind control powers that he’d use to try to enslave us or something. My mother surprised me sometimes. An idea suddenly came to me, something that would still be difficult to get her to approve but much easier than this. “I just thought of something mum, what if we form a team by ourselves,” I said, a little nervous. ”What do you mean?” She asked, skeptical. “I mean the reason you don’t want us to go is because you don’t trust this guy, right?” “Yes it is,” she answered, still not getting my point. “Well, we don’t need to go with him. I bet there will be people with super powers doing all sorts of nasty things round the country soon and I’m also sure that the government is very ill equipped to deal with a crisis on this scale. They’d probably love some help. So we’ll help them, go around solving the problems they can’t solve. Its not going to be easy and it will be messy, I know that mum. But I cant just sit doing nothing. I can still hear them sometimes,” I told her, my voice breaking at the end. “Hear who?” She asked, her thoughtful expression turning into one of worry. “Those men that day. I can hear them sometimes in my thoughts, sometimes in my dreams and sometimes I hear others like them in real life, the screams of the girls they harass. It hurts to hear their screams. I feel like if I can do something about them then maybe the ones I hear in my head will stop. Maybe I’ll stop wondering what would have happened if I didn’t make it that day.” I was close to tears by now. I looked up to see my mum watching me. She always did that, always watched me whenever I had a breakdown and always let me finish talking before wrapping me in a hug and just keeping me in her arms. Today though, she seemed to decide that it was time to change tactics. “Do you really believe that Samuel? Do you believe that if you go around stopping those men that the voices would stop?,” She said with an expression I couldn’t understand, like she was preparing herself for something and arguing against it at the same time. “I believe it would, but even if it doesn’t, its worth a shot.” I answered. “Then you know that if you go down this path then you’ll see a lot of things I don’t want you to see. That you will see people much worse than those men and that you’ll not be able to stop them from hurting people sometimes. That you’ll see a lot of death, the worst of human behaviour,” she warned, her expression strangely calm as she talked. I’d always known that going superhero wasn’t as fun as it seemed. Sure I’d seen comics where it seemed fun and cool and the times I saved people out of the blue made it seem like that and made me want to believe that it was all fun and games. But I knew it wasn’t true. I knew that from the moment I saved Sophie from those men. Knew that there would be a lot of blood and danger in what I was going to do. Mum’s words only made that seem even more real. It didn’t matter though. “I know mum. I’ve thought about it a lot before I made this decision. Sophie and Aaron have too.” “As much as I want to say no and stop you from doing this, I will not. So if you believe this will help you then you have my blessing,” the sadness and resignation on her face when she spoke almost shattered my resolve. Almost . “Thanks mum,” I replied and it was all I could say without crying, the breakdowns had a way of making me more emotional than I usually was. “But,” she said her expression steeling. “While I can’t control what Aaron and Sophie decide to do, I definitely am not letting you let my daughter do this. Evie is out of the question,” she said in a tone that promised pain if disobeyed. Good thing I wasn’t planning to disobey. ”Okay mum. Can she at least work with Aaron to check what she can do,” I asked knowing Evie would be devastated if she wasn’t even allowed to check what she was capable of after all the excitement earlier. “Well, she could do that. But promise me Aaron, no going around saving people for her. She’s too young for that,” she said, almost pleading this time. “Okay mum, I promise.” She sighed, a heavy sound that made her seem old and I couldn’t resist. I wrapped my arms around her and tried not to cry. Still way too emotional. “You’re big enough to take this path Sam. And I have approved it so when you go out and start, you make sure you do a good job and as much as possible, try not to kill anyone. It won’t do you good,” ”okay mum, thanks,” I said, still enjoying her embrace. “ Okay then, I assume you want to go see your friends now . Make sure Sophie’s parents are aware of what she plans to do. I’ll be praying for you,” she said finally releasing me from her embrace. “Okay mum, I’ll be going then,” I replied less enthusiastic than I originally was but in a good enough mood to have hope for the future.

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“Hey Aaron,” I said to the phone. “My mum said yes. I’m going to get Sophie first. Be at your house in a few,” I finished, releasing the record button and sending the voice note to Aaron. My conversation with my mum gave me new found courage to try something. I’d flown many times before but always flown very high in the sky so people wouldn’t see me. Always landed in areas totally devoid of people and never really flown with anyone before except Evie after a few weeks of begging. Today though, for the first time in a long time, possibly forever, I was throwing caution to the wind. Was it a bad idea, maybe. Was it irrational, yes. But teenagers had never been known for their rationality and I needed to let go. I decided to prank Sophie. Our houses were not exactly far from each, just a few kilometres away. I facetimed her so shed know I was still at home. “Hey Sophie,” I greeted. “Oh, hey Sam. Did your mum allow you?” she asked anxiously. “Yes, she did but there have been a few changes to the plan.” I stated. “Like what?” she asked impatiently. “I’ll tell you when I get to your house.” I said, waiting for her to take the bait. “Well, you’d better start coming then,” she commanded. “Look behind you,” I said and took off. The feeling of flight has always been liberating. Feeling myself accelerating from zero to the speed of sound in an instant (take that, cheetah). I still had to fly over all the buildings so I didn’t break anything but it wouldn’t have mattered if I didn’t have to because I was flying faster than the human mind could comprehend. In the space it took for Sophie to process what I’d said, turn and look out her window, I was there hovering in the air in front of the window. She turned to look at the window and I relished her widened eyes for a moment. She got over the surprise quickly though. “ Ok that was fast. So what did you say your mum made you change?” she said while opening her windows so I could come in. I didn’t come in though, I brought her out of her room and carried her princess style. She rolled her eyes. “Put me down, Sam,” she ordered. “ No can do. I’m flying us to Aaron’s lab.” “Okay then, will you say what happened when we get there?” she asked, her tone patient this time, like she’s talking to an impatient child. Not bothering to answer her, I balance her carefully in my arms, positioning myself in a way that most of the wind pressure would be on me and then I moved again, relishing the feeling of the world slowing around me and of the wind against me. Sophie didn’t have time to blink before we were at Aaron’s lab where he was already waiting for us. “ So how did it go, Sam. What did your mum say,” Sophie asked again. “She said that she’ll allow me to go superhero but only if its just the three of us. She doesn’t trust your informant, Aaron.” I told them. “Well that was expected. This country could use the help,” Aaron said half to himself “You expected this?” I asked, a bit surprised. “Well of course I did. There’s no way your mum would’ve just let you go with a stranger. I also predicted we’d end up forming a team too. I already told Jason that we would act as his partners in Africa. Both independent groups acting as allies united by a singular cause. The co-operation will also do well for the reputation of warped teenagers around the world,” Aaron concluded. “Okay then, seems like you’ve already thought this through. So we have the beginning of our team and a goal to look forward to with partners,” I observed. “Yes we do. I already have an outline of what our strategy will be so the only things left are the little things like names and what we’ll wear. I’m sure you guys will figure those out along the way,” Aaron was obviously trying to include us in forming the team which was why he didn’t already have everything ready by now. I appreciated the effort even if the result could have been better. “I don’t think we need to worry about that Aaron, I’m pretty sure Sophie already knows what she wants us to wear and as for the name, who says we need one. We don’t need a name, we’ll get one when its time,” I finished, feeling proud of myself for those profound words.