It was Sunday; I liked my days off, but I didn't mind that I had work tomorrow because I loved my job. The only thing I didn't like was getting up early. I went to a shopping centre, since I felt like treating myself. I loved buying clothes and books, especially now that I could get as much as I wanted, no one could tell me what to do.

I went round the different shops, buying things and just browsing. Once, I'd looked round the first floor, I got into a lift to go up to the second floor. A tall, attractive man got in; he had tanned skin, and his black hair was so short, he almost looked bald, and he had a beard.

I pressed the number two at the same time as him and our fingers touched — his was flaming, hot.

“Wow, you're hot… uh, I mean temperature wise… not that you're not attractive, you are… uh sorry.” I laughed and my cheeks felt like they were on fire.

I hated that I could be so awkward at times.

“Thank you.” He chuckled. “You look familiar.”

“Oh, you've maybe seen me on TV, I'm Revive, the newest member of the London Defenders,” I said.

“Ah, that's it. Your powers are really cool.”

“Thanks.”

It was surprising, but cool that so many people were recognising me; I just wouldn't want hundreds of people crowding round me. But, I liked talking to fans. The lift got to the second floor, so I walked out.

“What's the best part about being a hero?” He asked, walking with me.

“I love helping people, as well as having teammates who I've looked up to for years.”

“Well, a lot of people look up to you now. I think everyone feels a lot safer knowing you're out there.”

“I'm glad. I really didn't expect to have so many fans.” I shook my head.

“I think you have lots of fans, I'm certainly one of them.”

“Thank you. Do you want a picture or anything?”

“That would be great, thank you.” He took out his phone.

We took a picture together, and he felt roasting. I'd never felt anyone so warm in my life, it was weird.

“Do you live around here?” I asked.

“Yeah, about a ten to fifteen-minute drive. Although, I'm originally from Mexico, I moved here a few years ago for work,” he replied.

“Oh, that's cool.”

“Are you from around here?”

“No, I'm from Belfast, in Ireland.”

“Ah, that explains your lovely accent.”

“Thanks.” I laughed. “Sorry, what's your name?”

It was funny, you could have a long conversation with someone, and you didn't even know their name.

“Oh sorry, I should've introduced myself, I'm Ignacio.”

“I'm Cara,” I replied.

We went into a bookshop; it was humongous, with books in all genres; this was the kind of place I could spend hours in.

“Oh, do you like reading?” Ignacio asked.

“Yep, I love it.” I smiled.

Watching the superheroes on the news, watching TV and reading books had been my only form of entertainment when I'd been stuck in that apartment. I still loved watching TV and reading books, but I didn't really need to watch superhero news, since I lived through it.

“I enjoy reading as well, what's your favourite genre?”

“I love loads, like fantasy, sci-fi, romance, horror and kids books,” I said.

“That's a lot. I'd say my favourites are sci-fi and horror.”

“They're cool.”

I looked at the different books, and there were many that I'd heard of, along with ones that were new to me. I'd probably buy three books at most, since they were so expensive — I much preferred buying things from charity shops because they were a lot cheaper, and I liked supporting charities.

“What have you bought so far?” Ignacio asked.

“Just some books. Have you bought anything yet?”

“No, I came to buy some books and video games.”

“I haven't played a video game in years, I miss them,” I said.

Randall had been worried that video games would give me bad ideas, like he thought they were too violent or something, so he hadn't allowed me to play them.

“Oh, you should start playing them again.”

“Yeah, I should.”

We shopped for a while; both of us bought some books, then Ignacio got some video games. I was definitely done with shopping — I was tired, and I'd got everything I wanted.

“It was great meeting you, I'm going to go home now, I'm kinda tired from all the shopping,” I said.

“Thanks for shopping with me, I loved it. I'll maybe see you around.”

“I hope so, see you.”

It would be nice to see Ignacio again, it had been fun hanging out with him.

****

The next day, I went into work, and sat in the staff room with the others.

“Since, it's a Monday, I thought we could do something fun.” Pablo smiled.

“What?” Sofia and I asked at the same time, making us laugh.

“We can do competitions for different things, like who can jump the longest distance, who can hold their breath the longest, things like that,” Pablo said.

“Well, it sounds fun, I'm in,” Alex replied.

“Me too.” Sam nodded.

“I'll give it a go, but I don't think I'll be any good at it.” I shook my head.

I would be awful in comparison to the others in physical competitions. I'd probably come last in everything.

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“I'll do it,” Sofia said.

“Cara, just try your best, it'll be fun,” Pablo said.

“I'm sure it will be fun.” I nodded.

“Well, let's get started before we're called out to do something,” Sam said.

We all went to the gym to do the different competitions; it would be interesting to see who won each one.

“For jumping the longest, we'll put an object beside where the person landed,” Pablo said.

“We'll need a run-up,” Alex replied.

“Yeah, we might be better doing it in the hallway, where there's more room,” Sofia said.

“Good idea,” Pablo replied.

We went into the hallway, and Pablo set cones down, showing where we were supposed to run, and a line of them that we had to jump over.

“We should get three jumps each, like they do in the Olympics,” Sam said.

“Sure.” Pablo nodded. “Who wants to go first?”

“Me!” Alex exclaimed.

“Alright, go for it,” he replied.

She went to the start of the running area, then sprinted and jumped over the cones. She went really far, almost to the other end of the hall. Pablo rushed over and put a cone down where she'd landed. They came back. Alex did two more jumps, but only got slightly further ahead than her first jump.

“Can I go next?” I asked.

“Of course.” Pablo smiled.

I'd definitely get nowhere near Alex, her jump was incredible. I got into position and started running as fast as I could, then jumped just before the cones. I landed a few feet from the cones, it looked pretty good to me. Pablo put a cone down beside me. I went back and did my next jump, and got slightly further forward. On my last jump, I got the same as the second one.

“Well done, that was good.” Alex patted my back.

“Thanks, your jumps were unbelievable,” I replied.

“Thank you, I'd say it's because of my strength.”

Pablo went next, he was in the between Alex's cone and mine, but he was a bit closer to Alex's. Then Sofia took her turn, and she jumped a bit further ahead of me. Sam went last, and he landed a bit behind Alex.

“Well, Alex, it looks like you're the winner,” Pablo said.

“Yay, that was fun!” She grinned.

“We can see who can hold their breath for the longest now,” Pablo said.

“I think we'd be better sitting down for this,” I replied.

We'd all be more relaxed if we were sitting down. I might be good at this, since I used to go swimming; I'd once held my breath for a whole 25m length.

“Yep, that'll be better.” Pablo nodded.

We went back to the staff room and sat down.

“I want to go first this time,” Sam said.

“Go ahead,” Pablo replied, then got his phone out to time it. “Three, two, one, go.”

Sam held his breath, and I watched the seconds go by. He let a big gasp of air out at around 43 seconds. Alex went next, and held her breath for about 39 seconds.

“I'll go next,” I said.

Before we started, I took in a few deep breaths, then held it when Pablo said, “go.” I looked at the clock, as I was holding my breath. It was going higher than the others, I wanted to win this. My head started feeling a bit of pressure, and I felt like I needed to breathe, so I let my breath out.

“You got 48 seconds, that was great,” Pablo said.

“Wow.” I smiled.

Sofia went next and knocked it out of the park, she held her breath for 57 seconds.

“Oh my, that was almost a whole minute,” I said.

“I know, I'm so out of breath now.” She sighed.

“I'll go now,” Pablo said.

He held his breath and started the timer. He managed to hold his breath for 51 seconds.

“Oh, I won.” Sofia smiled.

“You did really well,” Sam said.

“Thanks.”

“So, what's our next challenge?” Alex asked.

“We could see how many marshmallows we can fit into our mouths,” Pablo replied.

“Sounds fun.” Alex smiled.

Pablo got some marshmallows from the cupboard.

“I'll go first, since I don't think I'll be very good at it,” I said.

“Just try your best,” Sofia replied.

I put the marshmallows in my mouth, one by one, and managed to get seven in my mouth. I took them out, then ate them one at a time. Otherwise, they would've gone to waste.

Alex went next, she got twelve marshmallows into her mouth. Then Sam went, and got eleven into his mouth. Sofia took her turn, she got eight in. Pablo went last, and managed to fit fifteen into his mouth.

“Wow, you must have a huge mouth.” Alex laughed.

“I only got three more than you.” Pablo chuckled.

“True. Well done,” Alex said.

“What's next?” Sofia asked.

These challenges were very fun, but I was a bit disappointed that I hadn't won any yet.

“We'll see who can balance on one leg for the longest,” Pablo said.

“How many of these challenges are we doing?” I frowned.

They were fun, but I wanted to know exactly how many we'd be doing.

“We'll do them until everyone has won at least one thing,” Pablo replied.

“What if I don't win any of them?”

“I'm sure you'll win something.” Pablo smiled.

“Yeah, even I won one, and I'm not very strong.” Sofia nodded.

“Well, I'll keep trying.”

“That's the spirit. Let's get started with balancing,” Alex said.

“We should spread out so that none of us knock over another person,” Sam said.

“We should also get five seconds to balance ourselves,” Alex replied.

“Alright, get up and pick which leg you're going to stand on,” Pablo said.

I got up, then walked over to the door, I'd hold on to the handle until the five seconds were up. The others spread out around the room.

“The five seconds start now,” Pablo said.

I lifted my right leg because I'd fractured my right ankle years ago, so it was easier for me to balance on my left leg. I held the door handle, while I still could.

“The five seconds are now up, stop holding on,” Pablo said.

I took my hand off the door, and started balancing without aid; it wasn't very difficult for me. Looking around at the others, Alex was wobbly, Sofia seemed steady, as did Sam and Pablo. A few more seconds passed, then Alex put her foot down.

“Dammit!” She shouted.

Sam started to look a bit wobbly, he was the next to go. This was great, I was in the top three, maybe I actually had a chance of winning.

Suddenly, Sofia put her foot down, leaving Pablo and me in the final two.

“Good luck,” Pablo said.

“Thanks, you too.”

Thankfully, I felt like I could stand on my left leg for another hour. It would be great to win this.

A few minutes passed, then Pablo became unbalanced, and put his foot down. I'd won, this was amazing!

“I finally won! Yes!” I exclaimed, while jumping up and down.

“Congratulations.” Sofia smiled.

“Well done, you have great balance,” Pablo said.

“Yeah, I'm jealous.” Alex laughed.

“We can do a funny one now, we'll watch funny videos, and try not to laugh. Whoever laughs last wins,” Pablo said.

“Oh, I'm definitely losing this.” I giggled.

A lot of things made me laugh, especially funny videos. Pablo put on a video of funny laughs. After about twenty seconds, I started laughing, then Alex started laughing. Soon, Sofia was laughing as well. The video was just too funny, I couldn't stop laughing.

Pablo and Sam were left. An even funnier laugh came up, which set Pablo off, making Sam the winner. Since he'd won, Sam let out his laughter; now, we were all laughing hysterically. The video ended, and we all laughed for a few more seconds.

“Wow, that was so funny.” I smiled.

“I know, I was gone soon after you,” Alex said.

“I thought it was hilarious, but I managed to hold in my laughter,” Sam said.

“Now, we've all won one. That was really fun.” Pablo smiled.

“It definitely was.” I nodded.

“Yeah, it's nice that we all did well,” Sofia said.

“It was great, thanks for organising it,” Alex said.

“It's no problem,” Pablo replied.

These competitions had been great fun, and I was glad that I'd won the balancing challenge.

****

After work, Sam was walking me home. I loved getting to spend one-on-one time with my teammates because it meant that we could get to know each other better.

“Did you enjoy those competitions?” Sam asked.

“Yeah, they were fun.” I smiled.

“They were.” He nodded. “I had a great time.”

“Same, even though I did badly in most of them.”

“I thought you were good, and your balance is incredible,” Sam said.

“Thank you.”

It was quite chilly, and the sky was a miserable, dark blue colour. I missed the bright, warm summer nights.

“Did you always want to be a hero?” I asked.

“Yep, ever since I was a kid. I had a friend who was abused by his parents, and I wanted to help people like him,” Sam replied.

“Wow, that's awful. I hate abusive people, especially abusive family members.”

Thankfully, all of my family had been brilliant, I really missed them now.

“Yeah, they're the worst. Family are supposed to protect you.”

“Definitely, I don't know why anyone would want to abuse any kid. Those people should be in jail for the rest of their lives,” I said.

“They should, some people get off way too easily.”

“Yep, it's annoying. Crimes like abuse and rape should be treated as seriously as murder.”

“I completely agree.” Sam nodded.

It was ridiculous that criminals who'd committed atrocious crimes were allowed to walk free after a couple of years.

“At least we're doing our best by catching criminals and villains,” I said.

“Yep, we haven't let any go free, other than the EVIL group.”

The EVIL group were bad, but at least they didn't harm civilians, they just robbed money from places. I'd always thought robbing public places, like banks and shops was the least bad crime because it was only big companies who lost money.

“Even though they call themselves EVIL, they aren't the worst, they just rob places,” I said.

“Yeah, it's not too bad. But, we still need to stop them.”

“Oh, of course.” I nodded.

I wasn't looking forward to dealing with them again because they always got away, and Bloodlust was the scariest villain ever.

“It's a nightmare, we've been trying to catch them for years.” Sam sighed.

“Oh, I know. I'm sure I've seen every time you've faced them.”

“Really?”

“Yep, I used to watch you and the others on the news all the time. It was the only way I could get any joy in my life, since I was inside all the time. I loved watching all of you fighting the villains,” I replied.

“That's why you're such a big fan.” He smiled.

“I certainly am.”

“I hope I haven't disappointed you, they always say never to meet your heroes.”

“Definitely not, you and the others are all super friendly and kind.”

“Thank you.”

We got to my apartment, I was always a bit sad because it meant that I had to leave whoever I'd been walking with.

“Well, I'll see you tomorrow,” Sam said.

“See you tomorrow.”