Will couldn’t believe it. A break—an actual break—a whole day off to do whatever they wanted. He had won the ear collection contest by one ear. Having collected nine, Samson and Irish had only gotten eight. Some of the Bloodhounds Mav had gathered had escaped, but by the time they finished, it was time for lunch anyway.
Mav had changed his mind on the prize. Instead of offering a favor, he offered everyone a break for the next day. Will had feigned a genuine desire for the favor, but the majority of them threatened to break him in some way if he didn't get them a day off. He reluctantly agreed, and they all went through the training for the rest of the day with a smile on their faces. Even Mav’s relentless attack on them couldn’t get the smile off their lips. Each of them sorely needed their first break in over 2 months.
Laying in bed awake, William didn’t have to look at a clock to know it was before dawn. 5 a.m. was their normal wake-up call, thanks to the old man. They had started waking up at 5 a.m. without his assistance some time ago. As Will lay there waiting for a his alarm to go off, he considered just rolling over and going back to sleep. That was until Samson rolled over.
“You awake too?” He asked.
“Yep,” Will said. He began to glow a little. As he raised his hand, a weak, iridescent white light leaked out. “What do you want to do with our day off?”
“Get drunk,” Samson admitted without hesitation.
“No,” Santos said. He sat up with a groan. Ryu and Irish sat up as well. They exchanged glances but had nothing to say. They slowly got up off the bed and began their morning routine in between groans.
“Just one day off; that’s all I wanted,” Samson said.
“Might as well start moving,” Ryu said, pushing him toward the bathroom. “Normal people aren't awake for another three hours, anyway."
“Yeah, yeah,” Samson said, and then the five of them were urinating as one, like every morning.
When they got out of the bathroom, Katy was leaving her lone room. “I thought we were taking a break,” she said, eyeing them.
“Might as well workout,” Samson said. “My muscles are itching for action anyway.” She frowned but nodded as she got ready in her own bathroom.
Mav’s bedroom was on the other side of a hallway. The group of guys detoured there but found it empty. “Why do I feel like the break was for him as much as it was for us?” Santos asked.
"Mav, take a break? I doubt it,” Samson scoffed. Will agreed. Two months together, and he was still an impossibly strong monster that they didn’t know anything about. As he discussed his exploits in the world, the students often tried to pry information out of him. Especially his relationship with the Goons. But Mav was tight-lipped about that sort of thing. He never gave names; he simply said this Truder, I fought, or Aqua was in my way.
The old man usually sparred in the morning, but it was their day off, so they relaxed. After an effortless five-mile run around the school to start, they had a refreshing sweat going. The jog quickly turned into a race where they were trying to trip one another and take the lead. They changed up how they ran, as usual. They ran backwards for a half-mile, then transitioned to running on all fours for an additional half-mile. Mav liked to make sure they had variety, and he pushed them to use as many muscles as possible during every exercise. It got pretty bloody near the end, but there were no broken bones.
Will felt a camaraderie between the trainees that he never expected to experience. He knew very little about most of them. Their days spent training, getting beat up, eating, and resting were comfortable in their silence. Still, they were the closest friends he had ever known.
Samson and Irish were always yapping away. They typically poked fun at one another or everyone else. If they felt the retort went too far, they settled it in some form of physical altercation. Katy had a quick wit that often poked fun at the both of them. She made up for it with her ability strength, unafraid of their physical superiority. Able to knock each of them down with her invisible wind; they had learned a while ago not to underestimate her.
Santos played the mother of the group. When fights got too heated, he became the mediator. Fixing their booboos and making sure they didn’t leave angry. Ryu was a strong and silent member. Ryu observed and waited, avoiding excessive conversation, except when interacting with Katy. Since their parents had been friends for years, they shared a strong bond similar to that of Santos and Samson.
That left only William. As the youngest in the group, Light felt like the younger brother of them all. Teased relentlessly, but he still felt appreciated by them. As he gained strength and understanding of his abilities, he didn’t feel like the burden he used to be when he first joined the Arc police training unit.
For years, he had fought against his identity as an Arc. His power had always been a secret. The power to glow, however weak, was never a threat to anyone. Now, he wasn’t so sure. With his speed, he could even catch the muscle-headed Samson off guard. His power was growing daily, and Light enjoyed every moment of using it.
After their run, they lifted weights. This too became a tournament of sorts. The old school had a revamped set of weights and machines. They pushed themselves to their maximum. Challenging one another on this machine or that as they sweated and joked around.
Will expected Mav to show up at some point. But he didn’t. When 8 a.m. arrived and the world was waking up, so they argued about what to do.
“I’ll be seeing my folks,” Katy said as they headed off to shower off the sweat from their run. “It’s been a while now, and they won’t take no for an answer.”
“Same,” Ryu said. “You all better stay out of trouble, though, or Mav won’t be letting us have anymore breaks.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Samson said, hardly paying attention. “What about you guys?”
“I’m open to suggestions,” Irish said. “I’m still new to town.”
“Light?” Samson asked.
“Yeah, I don’t have any plans,” he said. He hadn’t seen his uncle since the test to join up. Light wouldn’t have minded picking his brain to help decide if sticking with this was the right choice. That could wait, for now. Missing out on some fun outside the school with the guys was an opportunity he didn’t want to pass up.
When Will took his turn in the shower, Katy and Ryu had already left. Irish and Samson were arm wrestling on one of the chests of clothes as Santos threw a tennis ball up to the ceiling and caught it. “We ready?” Will asked.
“Just waiting on-” Samson said, but stopped as he faced the door. Will turned to see a woman coming into their room. She was older, most likely in her late 20s. She had long, curly black hair, a wide face, and smile. With dark skin and a dark blue dress on, she was rather beautiful. Will was stunned for a moment as he stared at her. It had been a while since he had seen anyone else inside the school.
As they rushed past him, Samson and Santos broke the silence. The brothers grabbed the girl in a bear hug as they lifted her up. All three of them were laughing as the brothers threw her around like she weighed nothing.
“Put me down!” She ordered loudly but wasn’t too caught off guard by the brothers. With a wide smile on her lips, it took the brothers a while to stop hugging her.
“What the hell are you doing here, Kimmy?” Santos asked.
“Taking care of your laundry,” she said, slapping him on the shoulder. “Jeez, you’ve put on muscle.”
“What about me?” Samson asked.
“You were always all muscle,” she said, looking up into Samson’s eyes. Her gaze moved to Light then Irish. “Who are your friends?”
“Oh, sorry,” Santos said, stepping back. “Kimmy, this is Light, and our buddy, Irish.”
“More of Mav’s recruits, eh?” She asked, nodding at Irish and Light. The simple name was uncommon, and her apparent familiarity with it threw Will off a little. Before he could ask, she continued, “I’m Kimberly Simon.”
“She’s the fancy pants daughter of the mayor,” Samson said. “This old broad has been looking after Santos and I for years.”
“Old broad?” She inquired, slapping his arm once more. The slap was very loud in the small room. “Jeez, you have put on muscle too. What is the old man feeding you? Actually, I know because I make your meals."
“You do?” Santos asked.
“Yep, favor for my old man,” she said. “He didn’t trust anyone else here. They might ask questions. I’ve been doing your laundry and making your meals.”
“What about the Soup Kitchen?” Samson asked.
“I’m not doing this for free,” she said. “Got some nice resources for the Kitchen out of this deal. How I hear it? You lot are about done anyway.”
“What?” Will asked. The room had quieted as everyone’s gazes focused on Kim.
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“Was I not supposed to say anything?” She asked with a frown. “Sorry. The way I hear it, old Mav thinks you’re about ready to do this all on your own.”
“Really?” Samson asked. His chest was swelling a little in pride, but Will could see he was nervous as well.
“Don’t worry about it,” Kim said, putting her hands on the boys shoulders. “Mav has been causing havoc as long as I’ve known him, but he knows his stuff. Just do what he says, and you’ll be fine.”
“How long have ye known him?” Irish asked, stepping closer.
“Years,” she said. “He and my father go way back. But that’s all you’re getting from me. Now go have fun with your day. I heard you got your first break.”
“What? But I want to catch up,” Santos said.
“Too bad, I’m busy cleaning your skid marks,” she said. “Oh right, Mav wanted me to give…” She pulled a black Universal card out of her pocket. “He didn’t say if there was a limit on it. But go have fun, on him.”
Samson hesitated but took the card from her. They exchanged some more pleasantries, but the four of them were soon leaving. “How do you know her?” Will asked as they left the school.
“She runs a soup kitchen. It was close to where we used to hang our heads,” Santos said. He stopped outside the school and looked around. “How are we supposed to get anywhere?”
“More like, where are we going?” Samson asked. He looked at the guys around him, but it was plain to see that no one knew. “Mall?”
“Is that a real thing?” Irish asked. “Americans hang out at the mall?”
"No, we have potato fields where we hang out with everyone, just like in your country," Samson joked.
“They are called pubs.”
“Fine, potato pubs-” Samson said, and he dodged the fist from Irish. They were quickly throwing punches at one another.
“Let’s just take the bus,” Will said as he and Santos walked toward the closest bus stop. Santos had to take the bus most days to his day job of secretly healing people at the hospital, and Will knew his way around because he had chased Ryu all over the city. Samson and Irish followed after them, making fun of one another as they tried to hit each other in the nuts. A normal activity for them, Santos and Will talked about this or that as they waited on the bus.
“I’m surprised you’re not going to your uncles’,” Santos said.
“Eh, he spends most of his time at work. I doubt he would be there,” Will admitted. He was about to ask about Santos' relatives, but remembered that the brothers didn’t like to talk about their mom. Instead, he asked, “So how long have you known, Kim?”
“Years,” Santos said. “When the Goons took over, Samson and I tried to stay away from them. We heard they were rounding up Arcs. We had awoken our abilities by that point.”
“Was your ability always…just feeling pain?”
“Yep,” Santos said. “The range was short at first, and I thought I was going crazy. It wasn’t until Samson admitted his ability that I talked about mine. We were pretty lost back then.”
“I think we all were,” Samson said.
"You Americans," Irish remarked, shaking his head in disagreement. "Ireland was quite upfront about those who had abilities," he said. "The U.K. in general, actually. I believe there were some Arc police units before I left.”
“Really?” Will asked. “I never heard of it.”
“You’re American. I’m sure there is a lot ye haven’ heard.”
“Up yours, leprechaun,” Samson barked as the bus stopped in front of them. “You Brits, always acting like you’re all high and mighty.”
“Brits! Never call me that again,” Irish said.
“What? Ireland, Britain. Same thing, right?” Samson asked.
“Very different,” Irish said, going into a long history lesson for Samson. He brought up all the terrible things the English did to his people in the past. Samson did listen and didn’t call him a Brit, but it did start a whole slew of accusations that Irish was in the Irish Resistance Army. His ability was blowing things up, so it wasn’t too far of a stretch.
The bus was rather quiet in the morning hours. There were no real jobs in their neighborhood, and no one was rushing to get to work. While there were a few children on the bus, the surroundings were largely barren. Will and Santos sat next to one another as Irish continued his history lesson. Once the bus took them to a more populated area, they were pulling the rope for the brake so they could stop somewhere for breakfast. That turned into a pancake eating contest between Irish and Samson, and the duo had to practically be carried out as they got on a new bus.
“What do you want to do after this?” Will questioned Santos. He was merely attempting to initiate a discussion, as the concept had been lingering in his thoughts for some time.
“I thought we were hitting the mall,” Santos said.
“No, I mean this whole training thing,” Will clarified. “Do you really want to stick with this Arc police squad?”
“Maybe,” Santos said, looking out the window as he talked. As they listened, Irish and Samson quieted their groans about their full stomachs. “Samson and I haven’t had it too easy since the war."
“Ha!” Samson laughed. “More like before the war.”
“How’s that?” Will risked asking. He looked back at Samson, who turned away. Santos was the one who answered.
“Our mom wasn’t the most stable person when we were growing up,” Santos said. “We never lived anywhere for more than a year. And Chicago was our latest stop in a long line of new forever homes.” He was still looking out the window as he talked. William listened quietly. He felt like he had reached some threshold of friendship with the brothers to hear the truth he had always wondered about.
"She vanished approximately a week prior to the destruction of the governments," Santos stated. “No explanation, no nothing. Granted, she was known to disappear, but she usually gave us a heads-up."
“She never showed,” Samson said.
Will felt awful for them. Samson was about 2 years older, and Santos was only 1 year older. However, the thought of confronting the chaos alone was unsettling. At least at the beginning, Will had his mom. He ended up losing her, but by that point, he at least had an inkling of how to survive. To survive the worst, Samson and Santos had to face everything blindly.
“Did she ever show up?” Irish asked.
“Never; probably died in a ditch somewhere,” Samson said.
“Yeah,” Santos said with a sad sigh. “After the war, we didn’t make the best decisions. Work was scarce, and we made a few enemies. At that point, Kimmy extended an offer to us. An Arc police unit."
“More like forced us to try out,” Samson said. “Either this or she would stop asking her father to pull strings for us.”
“It pays to have trustworthy friends,” Santos mumbled. “So in answer to your question, I have no idea. I kind of like this whole thing. We get to learn more about our powers. We have a top-notch trainer, and supposedly we get paid for it. Full bellies, busy days, what else could you ask for?”
Will nodded. He didn't want to be an officer, but he didn't really feel that they were police. They were more like outside contractors. They were only called in for special cases that normal people wouldn't be able to handle. A growing part of him said to stick with it. He chose to stay close to those he considered his friends, not for the money. There was something about being with them. It was a sense that he had been missing all of his life without noticing he missed it.
The bus lurched to a halt, and the driver got up. He walked to the middle of the bus and began lowering a handicap ramp. It wasn’t too long until the ramp raised a woman sitting in a wheelchair. She appeared to be homeless, with her shopping bags hanging from the back of her cart. She was overweight and Latino.
Santos got up from beside Will and walked over to her. While helping the driver secure her in place, Will knew he was using his power to try to help her. Santos smiled at her, his hands touching here and there. Having spent enough time around the healing process, Will could practically see the ardor leaving him and moving into the woman. He was trying to ease some of the pain she was feeling.
When Santos sat back down, the woman had a wide smile on her face. Her aches and pains likely went unnoticed as Santos took his place. “Do you enjoy that? The healing?”
Santos nodded with a small smile. “I do,” he admitted.
“I beat them up,” Samson said, wrapping his arm around his brother’s shoulder. “And you fix them.”
“And I blow them up,” Irish added.
“And I…” Will said, his words trailing off as he tried to think of something.
“Hold the flashlight,” Samson said. They chuckled and continued sitting in silence. They did eventually make it to a mall. Irish pretended like he had never been to one before. It seemed Samson had forgotten that Irish had lived in New York for years; of course he knew what a mall was. It was obvious the Irishman was asking such stupid questions just to piss Samson off.
“What’s a clothing store? Oh, in my country, we have tailors. Do you know what that is? Not people named, Taylor mind you. Oh, you do? Good for you. Do they have one of those barbershops I see in your people’s movies? They don’t? Do most black people not have hair like you?”
Each question was met with either a punch or a curse about Irish’s country.
“This is a handicap button. People in wheelchairs use them after they get blown up in your car bombs,” Samson explained. Naturally, this led to an increase in profanity and inane inquiries. Santos and Will had to mediate with each other more than once. It got so bad that all four of them started fighting, and security about kicked them out, but they talked their way out since they were actually buying things.
From new shoes to a smoothie blender, they had bags packed with everything they mildly wanted. The U-Card Kim had given them seemed to have a bottomless amount, so they used as much as they wanted. Unbothered by the looks they got or the fact that they were struggling to carry it all, they continued from one store to another.
Will was having a good time and enjoyed the break. Piling food on trays at the foodcourt, they laughed and told stories. Reminding one another about certain spars with the old man that still made them laugh. Samson shared the story of Santos' initial outburst following Mav's electroshock treatment. Or Mav knocking each of them out and letting the others draw on their faces after a long day.
It was a relaxed moment that Will had forgotten. However, a nervous glance from someone in a particular direction shattered his good mood. When he followed their gaze, Will turned to see a line of Dragoons in the mall. Right at the center of the line was a Goon he recognized. This time it wasn’t Katarina, but the Rhino.