After five seconds, I arrived in Toronto. As usual, it was busy. Though watching the city for months with a bird's eye view, I noticed that it was indeed busy. There weren't many people in general. No surprise there. After Atlas nearly blew up the city with a nuke last summer and last month, the busiest area in Toronto is being torn apart by an army of evil robots; it's no wonder not many people are here. They're afraid.
They know, despite me being here as well, Kinetic and Scarlet Knight. People died, and worse, were killed. Many fled to other parts of Canada or left the country completely. The only silver lining is that many people have a temporary home thanks to the quick work of Jason. Using hotels or refurbished abandoned buildings to stay for the time being, as they worked on rebuilding. I looked down, seeing countless construction workers in multiple sights.
I spotted one of them. A bearded man with a bald head. Dark skin and wearing those vest things that construction workers wear. He's carrying a bag of concrete over his shoulder. I dropped down and greeted the man.
"Hey, Mack. How's it going?"
He turned to me and smiled. "Hey, little man. It's all good, my back, though?" His smile falters as he rubs his rear where his lower spine would be.
"I'm surprised, this old body hasn't fallen apart." He jests, which made us both laugh.
Mack was a pretty cool construction worker and was one of the team leaders handling the operation. He's a little younger than Gavin, about maybe a couple of years. I'll admit, he kind of looks intimidating. When he goes to work, he always seems pissed off. But actually, he's just locking in, making sure the work is done and his workers safe and sound. I offered to take the bag from him.
Which he gratefully accepts. I took it from him and quickly brought it where it's supposed to go, before zipping back to Mack.
"All right, is there anything I can do, Mack?
He raised a brow. "Are you sure, you're fine little man? Don't get me wrong, the guys and gals here really appreciate your helping us. You speed up the process by months, if not years. But you've been helping out longer than twelve hours? The last time anyone saw you was a few hours ago, and now you're just back here."
Mack's smile turned into a frown, looking at me with the same worried look my folks gave me this morning.
"Are you sure you're not pushing yourself?"
My mouth twitched before a full grin appeared, lightly smacking his arm. "Don't worry about me, gramps. I may be a kid, but with these powers?"
I flexed my arms and struck a manly pose. It was a bit embarrassing, though I'm hoping it'll convince Mack. Unfortunately, he didn't look like he believed me for a single second. He opened his mouth to say something, but I interrupted him.
"Listen, it's okay. I'm fine, this is my job."
"...Brother, I've only been working for five hours, and I already want to step into the upcoming traffic. And you've been working for who knows how long in a day, and all this without getting paid? How do you do it?"
I smile. "It's simply how I operate, Mack."
He gives me a serious look before rolling his eyes. Mack tells me to help him transport steel beams and other important tools to other locations. Not only that, but they also carry heavy stuff for themselves. And to suffice to say, I did. For an hour, I do the stuff they told me. Sometimes, I would get a dirty eye from the occasional police officers walking around and making things all right.
Yeah, despite my good deeds, in the eyes of the law, I'm still a wanted vigilante. In fact, a month ago, once everything was settled, people started rebuilding. A large number of officers and SWAT teams surrounded me, demanding that I get on the ground. I didn't, though, I was too zoned out, carefully handling a large shipment of concrete bags I was holding above my head. Mack and his people stopped them before any shots were fired.
Thankfully, this caused the cops to back off. After all, they don't want to start another incident after a tragic event. So while some police cars would cruise by, watching me. They didn't do anything, aside from watch. A few, even friendly ones, offered me coffee.
Tastes like crap, people like that drink? At least it energized me enough to get through the day. Speaking of, I could use one right now. I grunt as I lift a forklift to transfer to another site. While I was flying on the way there, I felt someone flying beside me.
I turned my head slightly to find Kinetic, yawning as she used her telekinesis to lift several forklifts and other stuff.
"I can't believe you have the energy to wake up after the number of things we did yesterday." She said in a dry and tired tone.
I shrugged. "One of my superpowers is having decent endurance."
She yawns again. "Lucky you."
"I don't know, I'd like to have your telekinesis right about now."
"You can keep it, it's only used to make Megumi fall asleep after all."
Emily twists her neck, which makes a sound of a small crack, making her groan.
"You know I'm surprised. You've been helping me for quite a while now. Are you sure your parents are okay with you doing this kind of stuff?" I asked
She gives me a small smile and a peace sign.
"It's fine. My folks are worried, don't get me wrong, but it's better than staying cooked up inside. Besides, they know working alongside Red Justice means I'm safe because I have a big, strong guy with me…well, minus the big part."
One of my eyebrows twitched. "What about homework or other friends? Surely you have things better to do than this?"
Emily frowned at my question. I nearly clicked my tongue in frustration with myself. Way to go, hero, you're making her uncomfortable! I immediately apologized, but she shook her head.
"No, you're good." Said Emily. "While yes, things are better at school, people aren't making fun of me for looking like a homeless vagrant, I just…don't know. It's hard to relate to other girls my age. I just…want to meet people like me.
"You mean Espers."
Yeah, the mysterious group of people that have telekinesis and can form force fields and have an extra third ability to boot. I'll be honest, I didn't know much about them other than Gavin fought some during his military days. But other than that, I don't know anything about them. I wonder how many of them are out there. Surely, there has to be a society of them or something.
"But I mean, I hang out with an 11-year-old demigod and a Super Soldier who is also a salesman. I guess you're the closest people I have… which is freaky people."
I smirk. "Me. freaky? Nah, sorry, I'm way too charming.
We descended and dropped the stuff. Before we flew again to help with another construction site. Then, after we left, we spotted a hit-and-run event. I was about to move in, however, Emily quickly reacted. She outstretched her arms, and all of a sudden, the hit-and-run vehicle was no longer able to move, despite probably stepping on the gas to max speed.
With a flick of her wrists, she removed the driver from the seat just as I helped out the victim out of their smashed car. Luckily, he wasn't badly hurt aside from the minor scrape to his head. The driver turned out to be drunk and was also frantically screaming out curse words and other racial slurs.
"Nope, there are children involved," I say, flicking his head, while he tanged from Kinetic's invisible grip, which knocked him out.
After that was dealt with, Kinetic and I got surrounded by civilians. All of them wanted our autograph or praised us for stopping the idiot of a driver. I smiled and waved, already used to the attention. Meanwhile, it's funny seeing Kinetic stumble between her words, trying to act mature and mysterious. While sporting a large blush.
I was glad that people were forgetting her past crime, now seeing her as the hero she is. I smiled at a teen boy who asked me to sign his skateboard. While I was happy for Emily. I wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. Their smiles, would they have that same judgmental, hateful expression, if they knew the truth about the attack?
Each autograph signed. Each compliment. Each Hug. It made me want to choke myself. Eventually and thankfully, we left, after all, we still have dozens of construction sites that needed our help.
Really, there were tons. While the rebuilding is more than halfway done, there are still many things to do. I looked down from the sky, watching construction workers sweat or take huge gulps of water before continuing their work.
These guys…they're the real heroes, they don't even have powers like mine. I looked down at my hands. The unpleasant memory of that damned dream flashes across my mind. I wondered if someone other than me had these powers. Would they be better than me?
At that incident, the portal consumed someone else, instead. Would they have better choices than I did? Would they take that stupid thing about the deal I made? I felt a soft hand touch my shoulder. I looked to see Emily. Her visor opened, revealing her glowing, soft blue eyes.
"Feeling guilty again?"
I looked away. "Kind of hard not to."
She releases a sigh. "I know what it's like to feel that way."
"Well, at least when you robbed banks, you didn't kill anyone, and this…is a far larger scale than that." I scoffed, but immediately felt bad for bringing her past up.
Emily didn't look bothered; instead, she looked even more worried.
"...True. But I definitely almost killed myself, I could have if it weren't for you." Emily brings her hand to my chin, forcing me to look at her. "You didn't know what could happen. And you're already doing your best to fix your mistake."
"But-"
"I'm not saying your guilt isn't justified. I mean, a lot of people got hurt by this event, but if you continue to dwell on it. It'll just consume you. Trust me, I've been on that road." She says, finishing her speech, staring at me with a stern expression tinged with empathy and seriousness.
Before I could return with an answer, Emily moved back, her visor slamming shut before descending to continue to help. I just floated there. Thinking about her words. 'Did My Best', huh? Did I really actually do my best to fix my mess?
I mean, I donated five hundred million to hospitals and the temporary shelters. But it didn't feel enough. What if I wasn't enough? I brought both hands to my face and slapped my cheeks with them. Yeouch, a bit dramatic to mentally awaken myself, but it did the trick.
Emily's right. Drowning in guilt is just a waste of time. Lock in, Red Justice. You need to lock in right now. If I want to make this right, I have to do what Gavin and Emily tell me.
To keep going and live with the burden of my mistakes. I have to be better. I have to be a better superhero; it doesn't matter who would be better if they had powers. Unfortunately for everyone, it got me instead. But I needed to be a better hero.
A better Red Justice.
With me, strengthening my resolve. I found the courage to drop back down and help the construction workers clear out the mess I had made for everybody.