Gold

Lab Rat

    The Mayor was waiting for me and Leo in his office. We walked in, covered in weapons, and sat down in the chairs by his desk.  “Well, you guys look ready.”

    “Father, we want to be sent out now. We want to destroy the Rebels as soon as possible.” Leo spoke excitedly. You could see in his gemstone green eyes how excited he was to finally make Utopia a real Utopian world. The Mayor grinned at Leo’s eagerness but motioned for us to sit down. 

    “Kira, I have to ask you something. It is very important but you will not like it,” Ward seemed nervous. I tensed as I realized what he was about to ask. “Can we take some blood? We want to remake the serum using your blood and inject Leo with it before we send you two into the Rebel base.”

    Leo jumped up. His eyes flashed with anger. “No! First of all, I don’t want Kira to become a lab rat and second of all, I don't want to be a guinea pig! Kira was injected with the serum and it worked for her but how can we be so sure it will react with me the same way? I am sorry father but there is no way I’m ok with this and will allow this to happen.” 

    “Mayor-” the Mayor interrupted me.

    “Ward.”

    “Ward, I am not too fond of this idea. I have been able to stay off a laboratory table my entire life and I don’t really want to start now. Leo also makes an amazing point, we don’t know how it will react with his system.” I tried to remain calm. I knew in this situation if I wanted anything good to happen I had to play it calmly. 

    “I understand both of your concerns. Kira, we just need to take your blood and then we will leave you alone, I promise you. There will be no elongated experiments on you. Leo, we will take every precaution we can and make sure it will be safe for you, you are my son and I will not allow you to die. This mission is extremely dangerous and I’m not letting you go behind enemy lines without the proper defenses.” Ward made sense. Leo and I looked at each other as if we were making sure the other was okay. At least that's what I was trying to make sure of, and the worry in his eyes told me that he was too. I felt something weird in my stomach when Leo looked at me. It felt sort of like fluttering. I didn’t like it, it made me feel nervous which I rarely feel. I broke the eye contact and turned back to Ward.

    “Fine, I will give you my blood, but I don't want it used on anyone but Leo. If there were a bunch of superhumans running around it won’t bode well for humanity.” I was staring intensely at Ward. Making sure my gold eyes flashed warningly. 

    Leo came and stood next to me, “Let’s go, Kira, I’ll show you to your room.”

    “Leo, are you okay with everything?” Ward asked. 

    “No, but I doubt it matters at this point what I say. So right now I want to take Kira to her room so she can rest before you steal her blood tomorrow.” Leo grabbed my arm and pulled me up out of the chair and into the hallway. 

    We walked in silence. Leo walked ahead of me. His body was tense with anger. The hallways were confusing but Leo didn't seem to hesitate even once. Growing up in such a large confusing place must have been really overwhelming. 

    “So being the Mayor’s son isn’t as glamorous as I thought it would be,” I said, trying to make a conversation. 

    It was so unlike me. Trying to relate to another person. But for some reason, I wanted to relate to Leo. Being around him reminded me of the star crossed lovers book that I r******w I don’t mean to say I think we are star-crossed lovers because that notion is absolutely ridiculous but I think I was growing fond of this boy. He has been through so much but he still goes out every day and tries his hardest to save the world or what’s left of it at least.

    “Not even close to glamorous,” Leo spoke briskly. That annoyed me. He wasn't mad at me, he was mad at his father. So I stopped walking and waited for him to turn around. He finally realized I wasn’t following him anymore and he turned to see why. “Why’d you stop?”

    “You’re mad, I get that, don’t take it out on me though, we have to be on the same page. We’re about to go through this together so we can support one another or ignore one another but I doubt ignoring each other will help anything.” Leo’s eyes softened at the irritation in my voice. He walked up to me and pushed a stray piece of hair behind my ear. 

    “You are cute when you get annoyed, did you ever know that?” Leo smiled. I pushed his hand away from my face and tried to hold back a smile.

    “No, I didn’t. No one really has ever seen me as cute. I’ve been called cruel, merciless but never cute.” I think I prefer being called cruel because when I’m called that I never feel vulnerable. I felt vulnerable when Leo called me cute. 

    “Well there’s a first time for everything,” Leo laughed and grabbed my hand. Then he began walking again but this time he seemed happy. “You’re right, growing up as the Mayor’s son really sucked. First of all, there’s always a target painted on me because I’m his only child, and not only am I in constant danger but there is so much pressure. Pressure to do right by everyone. I don’t care if this mission kills me as long as we go on the mission as soon as possible and Utopia will be safe.”

    “It’s not your job to save the world, that’s your dad’s job.”

    “He can’t do it alone. He’s only one man.”

    “Leo, I know what I am about to say is going to make me a hypocrite but have you ever just taken a night to relax?” I never took a break. All my spare time was either used to practice my sparring skills on just working out in the gymnasium or running the track. But it was so obvious that Leo needed a break. 

    “No, I haven’t. How about we take a night to relax together? I will be back here in an hour and then I’m gonna take you out.” Leo stopped outside a door and opened it. “I’ll see you soon.”