Unworthy Hero ~ Chapter 8

Letting that sick feeling fester inside of me the entire period just about made me throw up by the end of it. I even asked Mr. Zimmern/Arcane Bolt to leave half an hour early. He gave me a sympathetic look, nodded, and reminded me to fill him in on suspicious Villain activity on the campus.

I unlocked the door to my dorm and crashed on my bed, deciding that I was going to rest until my evening shift.

Of course, being a Hero meant that such a thing would never happen. My watch buzzed, and I saw two dots pacing back and forth in a small building on the outskirts of town.

Great. I had to face them again.

I stood up slowly and eyed my backpack, which lay on the ground against the kitchen island. I went over to grab it, but I snatched my hand away as soon as I heard the front door being opened.

"Hey, Sarah!" Taylor sang, bursting through the door. "You will not believe the day I had!" She set her bag on the small makeshift dining table in the corner of the room and grabbed her notebook. "I've almost finished my article on Time Turner, and I've got some juicy information!"

"Umm, that's great!" I managed, trying not to pass out in the kitchen. "What does it say?"

Taylor smirked. "You'll have to read the article in the school newspaper in two weeks to find out!" She set down the notebook on her nightstand. "I'm going out with some friends. Wanna come?"

"No," I said quickly. "I'm fine."

"Hmm. Okay, I'll be back after your shift starts. See you, Sarah!"

"See you!" I said. She grabbed her car keys and left the dorms, shutting it softly behind her. I peered at the notebook.

I have to find out what she wrote about me.

Are you nuts? This is her stuff! Her privacy!

It was about me! It was my business, too!

I walked over to grab it, but another vibration from my watch told me I had bigger priorities on my hands. I looked at it once more with longing and took my backpack into the bathroom. I changed into my super suit, again wondering if I should just keep it on under my clothing in the future.

"Maybe next time," I said to myself as I took the bag and left the dorm.

-----

I arrived at an abandoned barn made of old, decaying wood with only a weed-infested dirt road leading to it. It had cracked windows with splintered wood panels barricading them. I walked inside, hoping that the large wooden doors wouldn't creak too much. Unfortunately, they did, and I was greeted with Hung Zhu standing on the other side of it as if he was waiting for me...which he likely was.

"Time Turner!" Hung Zhu exclaimed. "How nice to see you again!"

Electroid seized me from behind by one arm and led me into another room. It looked like one that used to keep barnyard animals; there were numerous wooden fence enclosures lining the walls with a single walkway in the middle.

"Electroid, hold her steady."

Electroid took my other arm and squeezed me as tight as she could. I had only realized what was about to happen when Hung Zhu came closer to me, his hand outstretched.

"Time to get rid of you, once and for all!"

I acted quickly and swung one of my arms with all my might. Electroid's grip on my hand loosened and she tumbled into Hung Zhu, and I saw a shock go into his hand.

I felt a twang of guilt. Did this count as fighting? It didn’t seem like I hurt them...did I?

"Get off of me, Electroid!" Hung Zhu exclaimed, shoving her aside. He marched toward me and pulled something out from behind his back. I tried to back away when I realized what it was. A syringe, with a translucent liquid inside of it. Anti-serum.

Before he plunged the needle into me, I swatted the syringe out of his hand and into the dirt. Without blinking, he tried his next plan.

He hovered his hand over my watch. Before I could react, Electroid came from behind me and held my wrist. His hand lit up with electricity and directed the energy towards my watch, which was absorbing every last bit of it.

"No!" I shrieked as the watch face started to crack. I snatched my hand away with all my strength, but it was too late. The watch was sending live wires everywhere, and gears were popping out by the second. The holographic screen was damaged so badly that it was trying to display a mix between the City Hall and the barn house. Virtual red dots were everywhere on the screen.

"Looks like the Hero doesn't have her powers!" Electroid smirked.

They ran off, but I hardly cared; I was too busy salvaging for leftover parts of my watch strewn on the dirt. Once I got all that I could, I gathered all of it into a piece of cloth I found nearby. I was about to leave when the syringe caught my eye. I quickly grabbed it and hurried out of the building.

When I got inside my supercar, I placed the cloth and needle into a cup holder and started the ignition.

"Hello, Time Turner," Nicholas said indifferently. "Where will you be going today?"

"CHIT campus," I replied.

"Alright. Would you like me to drive?"

I looked at the watch. Well, what was left of it. "Yes."

"Alright."

The steering wheel did a couple test rotations, and the car started to back itself out of the driveway. I rotated my seat and unwrapped the remains of my watch.

Why did I think I would be able to reassemble it by hand? The wires were split, the metal frame was distorted; I would need an expert to fix it. I could do nothing for the rest of the drive but stare at the only way I could harness my powers with disdain.