You could hear many odd sounds as well as people talking with each other. The school premises were relatively big, with the schoolyard/basketball/football field fitting around four hundred people–aka the entire student body–and the gym/theater building that was opposite the school fitting about the same number.

“Wait. You have bars around your school?” asked Birgit, sounding almost repulsed by the idea.

It took me a second to remember that this probably seemed very odd to someone outside of Greece. They were there to keep students from leaving during school hours. They weren’t very effective, but they were there.

“Yeah, supposed to keep students in. Don’t worry though. It’s actually quite safe,” I said to her offhandedly.

An alumni was at the school gate. I couldn’t remember his name, or anything about him other than the fact that he, and his group, were still in contact with many of the school’s students.

“Hey, dudes!” he said in a raspy, all too happy voice, while hoping what I was sure wasn’t a regular cigarette. “Ten euros is the entry fee, five if the lady is willing to hang out with me for a while.”

“For fanden da også, Alex, is every guy in there going to be like that?” said Birgit with disgust evident in her voice while I got out the fifty euro note.

“Have you got any change or will we have to fight our way in?” I asked him jokingly. Well, only half jokingly.

With Birgit here, it wouldn’t be that hard to fight our way to Iraklis if the need arose. Granted, there were banners with various slogans–surprisingly contradictory slogans–hung on the bars, meaning I couldn’t see what was going on inside. So the world’s greatest heroes, or even its greatest villains could be guarding him as far as I knew.

“Alexandros Adamos?” asked the man as he narrowed his eyes.

Well, fuck. I knew that there was no chance that I wouldn’t be recognized by people here. Half of the school and their friends and families knew me. Well, knew of me. But I had hoped that I’d be able to get in through the damn door.

I let out a sigh and messed with the seams of my gloves. I needed to think of a way out of this situation without making a fuss. “How about I give you thirty for me. And ten for the lady,” I said defeatedly.

The entrance man got a large grin at my offer, but Birgit cleared her throat loudly before he could say anything. “I know my Greek’s not very good but did you just offer to pay three times the regular fee? And also to pay for me?”

I raised my hands in a surrendering motion. “I invited you, and we’re here on my business,” I said, choosing to only explain the simple question, and not the personal, somewhat complicated, possibly enough to make her double-think associating with me.

“Let’s just say not many people want the tall dude in there. You’ll find out in due time,” smiled the man as he gave me a ten euro bill in return and opened the door.

“But the-”

“Birgit, let it go,” I said to her, hoping that my sheer desperation would be audible and enough to convince her. She huffed and stormed off in the school, but thankfully didn’t bring it up again. I barely heard the man say ‘have fun’ as I rushed in after her.

The ground shook when I entered, and a large cheer pierced my ears. The entrance led to a staircase behind the bleachers and a small alley to the right that barely showed the yard. There was another alley to the left, but that led to the area behind the school and, in events like this, it was mainly used by couples as a make out spot.

The cheer definitely came from the bleachers and–unless I stepped into an alternate dimension–that wasn’t directed toward me.

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They were probably fighting with their powers under the guise of training, since the school turned a blind eye to any damage caused due to training. The more students trained, the higher the chances of them going on to prestigious hero schools, and the better the school’s reputation became.

Birgit was sitting on the stairs, glaring at me. I went next to her with a bit of apprehension, and apologised for what happened out there. She turned around and grabbed me by the shoulders, shaking me slightly.

“You can’t be serious,” she all but screamed to my face. “He just scammed you! You paid thirty euros for something that needed only ten. You must be the single biggest idiot I have ever met.”

I swallowed the lump that had begun to form in my throat as I thought of how to respond.

I couldn’t tell her the whole story. It wasn’t that long–after what happened with Maria, I had cut myself off from everyone, including Iraklis for a little while, and the two things combined really did a number on my reputation and dictated what people thought of me for the past five years.

“Can we just not?” I said quietly. She was currently the only person in my life to not know about all this, and I didn’t want to ruin whatever it was that we had here. I didn’t want her to look at me like my classmates did.

After a couple moments she let me go with an annoyed sigh. “On one condition.”

“Which is?”

“I’ll pay for the gyros.”

“What? But-”

“No buts!” she said quickly. “It’s either this, or I will freeze your head off.”

A moment of tense silence followed that statement, before we both started laughing like mad people. “Alright, alright,” I said between laughs. “You got yourself a deal.”

To be completely honest I needed this. I had been feeling an ever growing tension on my shoulders and this just made it all disappear. Still, I had a reason for being there, and I didn’t plan on leaving the school until I talked with Iraklis.

“So, your friend,” said Birgit after we’d stopped laughing. “A bit shorter than me, curly mid-length hair, green eyes and surprisingly lean?”

“He’ll probably be wearing a bright red, almost pink, jacket with the sleeves rolled up,” I added to her frankly weirdly accurate description of Iraklis.

“Yeah, and nothing else underneath,” she said sarcastically. She got up and motioned me to follow her, and we went up the stairs to stand in the path behind the top of the bleachers. Once we reached the top, she pointed at the schoolyard, where a fight was taking place. I couldn’t quite make out the fighters’ faces, but I was sure I knew them.

Two guys with metallic arms–twin brothers and my classmates–were against a guy from Athens–and someone Iraklis knew from fighting tournaments he was in when we were younger–who had no powers but could take almost anyone through sheer strategic thinking.

In spite of his talent I wouldn’t think it possible for him to win in this scenario. He was a strategist first and foremost, not a fighter. The tournaments, as far as I knew, were to make sure he wouldn’t be helpless out in the field.

But he wasn’t alone. Floating behind him was-it was Iraklis.

He was wearing a pair of jeans and his jacket, with no shirt on. He was holding a bottle of water–he never drank alcohol, he believed the best way to become the best hero he could be was by being and acting as clean as possible–and looking down at his opponents.

“Yeah, that’s him,” I said. The first time I’d seen him in weeks. I clenched my hands as I thought about that, and what we’d have to talk about today.

“Let’s see what he’s got,” said Birgit with an undertone of curiosity. Another man stepped out from the bleachers, yelling ‘fight’ before another thunderous cheer erupted.

Iraklis dashed down at the twin on the right, reaching him like a missile, backhanding him and sending him tumbling down at his brother, who barely managed to dodge him. He wasted no time standing around though–he never did–and he was floating once more, not even a full moment later.

The brother lunged at Iraklis but Iraklis used his superior mobility while in the air to dodge the attack and grab him by the back of his shirt and rise higher and higher, until he got to the complete height of the bleachers and threw him–throwing him right at us?

I was too preoccupied with the battle to dodge, but Birgit was aware enough to grab my arm and yank me out of the way. She also made an ice slide through her feet to catch him in the air and ease his landing.

“A bit of a show-off, isn’t he?” she said with a small smirk on her face. “Care to get rid of that slide, Alex?”

“Sure.” I began removing my glove but froze midway. We were at my school. With all my classmates. I looked down at the bleachers to see everyone staring up at us with more than a few looks of disdain, and even disgust. There were also a few looks of wonder and awe in there, but those were all directed toward Birgit.

“Alex?” Iraklis’ wary voice brought me back to reality. I looked up and saw him floating and staring down at me, his green eyes wide.