Joyce Knightly February 29th,20XX

Aaron wrapped me into a tight hug and didn’t let go as soon as I got back into the car. His head was sweaty from how much he’d moved around on this unusually sunny day, and his breath was haggard as he panted into my shoulder.

Just like he’d done for me before, I wrapped him as tightly as I could and softly stroked his hair. I didn’t know what had happened in there but going by the injuries on the kids and the criminal’s severe state, I could take a few guesses.

The police had filed into the school as soon as they’d hacked the gates open and had quickly taken all the injured to the hospital. They were working hard on sending everyone else home, but the paparazzi kept getting in their way.

That much couldn’t be helped. The school had too many kids that would eventually grow up to be influential figures in the industry. This incident had endangered too many of them for this to blow over.

Archer had been in the worst condition, followed closely by Tillo. Kaja and Eva weren’t physically hurt, but they had shared the same blank expression on their faces and held each other in place of their usual partners.

They hadn’t allowed me to get into the ambulance with them since it was too full, so I planned to follow behind them in the car. I’d thought Aaron would come with me, but he would be better suited going home in the state he was in.

It looked like Anatha would have a lot of work to do when we got back home. I briefly wondered if I should try employing another therapist but eventually dismissed the idea. I was already playing a dangerous game by having so many people know about the underground building and the kids.

Aaron’s body was limp as he leaned into me and his entire body weight weighed me down. It was uncomfortable, but I didn’t know what else to do for him than to keep holding him up.

“Joyce you have to go after the kids. Just… send me home. I’ll be better soon, and you need to go to the kids.”

He struggled to get up, but I tightened my grasp around him and forced him back into my embrace. I’d already called for another car, so I knew I would have to let him go soon, but it didn’t have to be now.

“Don’t be ridiculous. We can talk about what happened now or later. But we are going to talk about it.”

While I wasn’t weak, Aaron spent a lot more time training than I did. Even without his powers, he was slightly larger and more used to using his body than I was. It wouldn’t have been a problem if he really wanted to pull away from me, so his silent resignation showed me he didn’t want me to let him go.

“I messed up, Joy. I messed up a lot.”

His voice cracked as he confessed to me, and I could hear the absolute guilt in his tone. I didn’t know what happened, and until he told me, I wouldn’t.

I was entirely in the dark about what had happened, but judging by his words and the state they had wheeled the criminal out of the building in, nothing good had happened in that building.

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The criminal had deactivated all the cameras in the building during the attack, so I wasn’t too worried about damage control on the public side, but I would still send in a representative to confiscate half an hour’s worth of camera files. It would cost me a lot to convince the chief to ‘misplace’ them, but it was better than leaving any hole unplugged.

“What happened, love?”

“I totally lost control. Totally, completely, absolutely; If Archer and Kaja hadn’t tried so hard to stop me, I think I would have killed that scumbag.”

His tone was still heavy, and his voice still cracked on every few words, but I could tell that he was serious. He wasn’t one to say such heavy things without meaning them.

I tried to collect myself and spoke carefully. While I wanted to be as much help as possible, I recognized he was in a delicate state right now. Any wrong word from me might be what hurts him the most.

Damn it. This was why I’d bought out a therapist.

“Calm down, love…. You did a number on him, that’s for sure, but he’s still alive. You don’t have any blood on your hands.”

He slightly pushed away from me and brought his eyes up to meet mine in an effortful manner.

“No, Joyce, you aren’t listening to me. I-“

He gagged on his own words as the adrenaline wound down even further. As an athlete, he was usually more aware of his body’s condition than others and as such a reckless person, he was more than familiar with the sensation of adrenaline powering his body through ridiculous incidents.

I grabbed a bottle of water from the side and put the opening into his mouth.

“Here, drink something first…. And like I said, we’ll talk about it properly, but you need to recover right now. Whatever might have happened or almost happened, the facts are that the kids are okay, save for some surface scratches, and the criminal is still alive.”

From the wound I’d seen, it was unlikely that he would ever walk again, but that was hardly the worst tragedy that could have come out of the situation.

“Aaron. You’re a hero. No matter how things went or what could have happened. You still threw yourself into a dangerous situation and rescued everyone. That’s all you need to think about for now.”

He scrambled for words to say in response but eventually gave up and completely let himself go. His body crumpled into itself, and his eyes fluttered closed as he fell asleep.

The school to the dorms was a twenty-minute drive; the hospital from the dorms was half an hour away. It looked like I would be a bit late to see them, but I couldn’t leave Aaron like this.

I remembered watching all the superhero movies and comics I could get my hands on when I was younger. At the time, I’d been so envious of the side characters for getting to know and help the heroes on their journeys, but now that I was actually here, dealing with the aftermath of everything, I realized just how stupid I’d been.

This event was comparatively low impact when put against the ridiculous, reality-defying battles those heroes had fought. In fact, if things hadn’t been so hazardous, no one should have gotten hurt at all.

On a rational level, I could see all of this, and I could even make up better plans that could have avoided everything. I could have coordinated everyone better or had Aaron unlock the gates and told the kids to use their powers to escape the man. There were so many options that were so clear to me in hindsight, and the feeling was bitter.

I gently wrestled my phone from my pocket and called Annora, my secretary that hadn’t contacted me once despite having suddenly run out of the office a few hours ago.

“Ms. Knightly? Were you out?”

I didn’t have the patience to deal with her awful work ethic right now.

“Annora, I need you to get to the hospital at the address I’m about to send you. Bring all the kid’s documents and make sure they get the best treatment possible. If anything happens to them because you were even a second tardy, I’ll hold you personally responsible.”

I hung up the phone before she could ask any more questions that made me angry and texted her the hospital’s address.

“Set the destination to Home. Use the shortest but smoothest road possible.”

Haaa.

Today was another long day.