CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
TIGER TELLS A STORY
Tiger sat in the front of the cafeteria, which now smelled less of food and more like a clinic, and they attended to the kids who needed their wounds redressed, all while completely lost in thought. Now that Daedalus and Dante were leaving the team, they were at a serious disadvantage, and the last thing they needed was to give the enemy an edge.
They thought about their fight a few hours before, against Kai, and how they’d been embarrassed by him, and how it would’ve gone so much smoother had any of the Dangs been there, but they hadn’t, and it was up to them and Wombat, but they failed…miserably. They’d tried their best to hide it and put on a brave, worry-free persona but it was eating away at them on the inside.
Maybe they made the wrong choices? Maybe, if they’d been smarter, they could’ve avoided anyone getting kidnapped at all. Maybe if they’d been stronger.
The entire scene kept replaying in her mind; From the twins noticing the threats first – which was their job – to them leaving Caden alone with Anna and the rest of the kids and then finally getting knocked out in battle…
Any confidence they had in themselves before that, was depleted seriously, replacing itself with anxiety.
And now, two of their heaviest hitters were walking away. Just as things were starting to heat up…
That did not help their anxiety at all.
“…and that’s why I had to remove the bandages in the first place.” The kid they were currently attending to was saying. They recognized him from the orphanage. His name was Liam.
They scanned him, trying to remember when they’d first provided his treatment. He had a few scratches on his face but nothing serious enough to warrant attention. They then scanned his outstretched arm, where the actual injury was.
A piece of one of the orphanage walls had fallen onto his arm and taken a piece of his dark skin with it, leaving an area of exposed flesh.
“Hm? Oh, yeah. Okay.” Tiger responded, feeling guilty for not having heard anything he’d said.
Liam stared at them as they reapplied another bandage to their arm.
“Make sure this one stays on, okay?” They said, after they were done, “Or else, the next time you come back, I’m gluing it to your arm.”
Liam’s eyes widened in fear, and he muttered a quick thanks before scurrying off.
Tiger smirked to themself, proud of their joke.
They scanned around the room and, for the first time, realized how drab the atmosphere was. It had been busier before, when they and the other staff members had been running around attending to each injured kid, but now that the commotion had died down, and everyone had realized the severity of the situation, it was quiet.
Some of the kids had huddled up and were comforting each other, telling them everything would be okay and that they would be okay. Others had isolated themselves. The staff that had been lively and active a couple of hours ago, helping with the kids, had cordoned off a section for themselves and had all gone to sleep.
Tiger couldn’t blame them. They themself were exhausted, but they were more used to sleepless nights than the average person.
Woe to those who live the life of a superhero.
One of the kids that had been sitting alone caught their attention. They had a bandage wrapped around their head and had stayed huddled up in a corner sulking. He had his arms wrapped around his legs and his head buried in them. Tiger walked over to him.
“Heya buddy, how’s it going?”
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He looked up at them, smiled weakly, and tucked his head back into his arms. Tiger sunk down beside him.
“You okay?” they asked.
The kid mumbled something.
“Henry, right?”
Henry nodded, his head still down.
“Hey Henry, wanna see something cool?”
Henry’s head came up again, curious.
“Watch this.”
They reached into their pocket and brought out a sheet of paper and began tearing it up into little pieces. They then tossed the pieces up in the air, outstretching their hand and gently gathering the wind in their palm.
The tiny pieces of paper caught on the wind and followed it around, mimicking Tiger as they began waving their hands through the air.
The paper confetti soared through the air, guided by Tiger, creating a show. Other kids began to notice what was happening and they became interested too. Some began to tear out paper of their own and toss it up in the air, which Tiger caught and added to the bunch.
The younger kids, distracted from the somber atmosphere, made exercise by chasing the pieces of paper around the room.
Gradually, spirits were lifting.
They turned to Henry, whose grumpy expression had now been replaced with a look of amazement.
“You really know how to use your powers.” He said, trying to make his voice heard over the squeals of the little kids running around chasing the flying confetti. Tiger worried that the adults sleeping in the back of the room would be disturbed, but a quick glance in their direction and they saw that they hadn’t even noticed.
That’s how tired they were.
“It’s all about practice. I’ve been doing this since I was a kid and, in my experience, there’s never nothing new to learn.”
Henry sighed and the somber look returned to his face. “I wish I had powers. Then I’d be able to protect the orphanage too and stop bad things from happening to Anna.”
His voice had been loud enough that a few of the kids around them had also heard and Tiger watched as the cheerful atmosphere that she’d been working hard to produce, died down gradually. Were they all thinking the same thing?
“Guys…” They started, but they didn’t know what to say. It hadn’t even occurred to them that the kids could’ve been feeling the same guilt they were. The guilt of not being strong enough to protect the ones that you love.
Each of these kids watched helplessly as a stranger invaded their home and threw Anna through a wall, and cowered in fear of being next. That kind of experience wasn’t meant for little kids, and it must gave been eating them up on the inside this whole time.
Their thoughts were disrupted by someone tugging on their shirt.
They looked and it was another one of the kids from the orphanage. Ella. She held up the stuffed bunny that she’d been holding.
“Mr. Hops is scared.”
Tiger stared blankly for a moment, before realizing she was referring to the bunny in her arms. They put on the warmest smile they could muster.
“Why’s he scared?” They said, indulgently.
Ella spoke and her tiny voice was barely louder than a whisper, “He’s scared of the bad man coming back.”
Caden.
With a wave of their hand, the flying confetti gathered in the middle of the room and flew straight into the bin. “How about this, let’s tell Mr. Hops a story. Do you like stories, Emma?”
Emma nodded.
“Well then, I have a good one for you.”
The children that had been running around with the paper gathered around her too, looking for new entertainment after their previous one had thrown itself into the bin.
“Once upon a time,” Tiger started, “there was a group of people, but these people weren’t regular people, no. They were special.”
“How were they special?” Ella asked.
“Well, Ella, you see, these people were special because each of them had superpowers.”
“Like you?”
“Yes,” Tiger chuckled, “like me.” they continued, “These people came together to protect the world from dangerous men and monsters that would want to harm the innocent boys and girls that lived on the planet. That’s you guys.”
A murmur passed around the kids and Tiger felt the atmosphere start to lighten as smiles spread across the faces of the children around her.
“At first, they fought each other, but then they realized that they should be fighting together. And then, a monster appeared. A darkness monster, with scary spikes on his body and with very scary eyes. His goal was to make everywhere as scary as he was.
Ella gripped on to Mr. Hops tighter, and the rest of the kids mirrored her, scared.
“But this group of heroes did not let him. They joined their powers together and blasted him off the planet, saving the day. Everyone celebrated.”
An air of relief settled around them.
“Then another day, two bad guys brought one thousand goblins with them and they attacked a school full of children and in the process, they hurt their schoolteacher and escaped.”
Some of the kids shifted uncomfortably, being forced to relive the events of this afternoon. Tiger quickly moved on.
“Then the heroes arrived on the scene, used their magic powers to heal the schoolteacher and defeated all one thousand goblins. The heroes then went to the bad guys’ lair and a big fight ensued. The heroes fought bravely…but the bad guys were winning the fight.”
“Oh no…” Ella said.
“But then the heroes remembered something very important.”
“What’s that?”
“They remembered that as long as they fought together, they could never lose. That’s how strong their power of friendship was. So, the heroes fought the two bad guys and threw them both into space. They beat the big bad bullies.”
The children cheered.
“Remember kids, as long as we all stick together, everything’s going to be just fine, okay?”
As long as we all stick together.