Broken Hero

Chapter 14

The cycle continued for the next week until she was spending most of her time in the office catching up on paperwork. She was starting to wonder if Warfalcon had purposely gotten behind just to get back at her; otherwise, she had no idea how the academy had stayed afloat for so long.

“Holed up in here again?” Warfalcon yawns as he walks in.

She closes the laptop with a click, sending him a playful glare. “Just cleaning up your mess. Seriously, how the hell did you get so far behind?”

“Hey now, I got the important stuff done... mostly.” He pouts back as she groans and stands up.

“I need a walk. I swear if I look at one more spreadsheet, I’ll be seeing them in my dreams.” He laughs as she closes the door behind her, rubbing her eyes. She makes her way outside, stretching as the evening sun hits her skin.

The path takes her past the training grounds where the students were busy training. The academy consists of three groups: students who weren’t ready for full-time hero work, those who had completed training and protected the Island, and the heroes who taught. Right now, it is free time for the students to work on whatever they feel needs to be worked on. A couple of male voices catch her attention.

“Exactly! If you make a fist like this, it’ll be stronger.” It wasn’t necessarily what they said that got her attention, but the way they giggled afterward, like high school boys.

She turns towards the sound, putting a hand on her hip as she takes in the scene. Two young men were talking to a group of female heroes by a training dummy.

She recognizes Anna standing by a blue-haired woman who speaks up, her tone skeptical. “I don’t know. I think the instructors would have said something if it were that easy.”

Anna nods. “Azura’s right. I don’t know if that’s a good idea.”

“The instructors don’t want us taking the easy way, they’ve said so before, remember? Just try it!” One of the boys rolls his eyes as the other snickers.

Anna and Azura look at each other, and Anna shrugs before making a tight fist, her thumb tucked inside instead of on top. Eclipse runs forward as she pulls her hand back to punch the dummy, catching her wrist before it connects. Anna looks at her in confusion as she sighs in relief and turns to look at the boys, who were looking nervous.

“Were you trying to get her to break her hand?” She glared at the boys with her hands on her hips as they gulp.

Anna looks at them, “Wait, seriously?!”

“No! We would never! She's a villain, remember?” The boys gulp, trying to sound confident.

Everyone but Azura murmurs in agreement as Eclipse rolls her eyes.

“I did some research on Stronggirl. She and Warfalcon began this academy. Not to mention it was already explained before that she was undercover.” Azura steps forward, surprising Eclipse.

Anna tilts her head curiously. “Stronggirl?”

“My hero's alias,” Eclipse explains quickly before turning back to the others. “Tucking your thumb inside your fist will make it badly bruised at best, and at worst, it can break. If you don’t believe me, then, by all means, go ahead and try.”

Eclipse shrugs and walks away, leaving them to their training.

“Wait up!” Anna catches up to her, making her stop. “I hadn’t seen you around, so I was starting to wonder if you had left.”

Eclipse looks at her in surprise as she rubs her arm nervously. “Without saying goodbye? Never!” Anna giggles a bit as she smirks, “I’ve been in the office updating the system. Warfalcon was behind on a lot of paperwork.”

“Oh, I see. I’m glad you stuck around at least.” Anna smiles as Eclipse started walking away again. “I wanted to ask you something.”

She turns to look at Anna, who looks anxious as she glances around. “Nobody is listening, go ahead.”

Anna looks a bit relieved as she continues, “Doc told me you can’t lie so... That day... I’m not the one who brought you back, was I?”

Eclipse bites her lip, deciding how much she wants to reveal before sighing and shaking her head. “No, sorry. My biology isn’t compatible with electricity, so restarting my heart that way wouldn’t have worked. Let’s just say the gods sent me back.”

“The gods?” Anna looks even more confused and a little scared.

Eclipse chuckles a bit. “Right. Like Zeus, Hera, Odin, Thor, the Christian god, or any of the others. They’re all real, and they follow the will of the universe to protect Earth. Other planets have their gods as well. Primordial gods, like the Christian god and Nyx, are gods who created the earth and rule over the other gods.”

Anna nods, “I see now! Though I don’t completely understand just yet.”

Eclipse smiles a bit, “That’s alright. Why don’t you head back to your group? I think free time is over.”

Anna smiles, turning and running back as Eclipse continues her walk.