1.7 Bounty Hunters Part 5

“It was interesting,” answers Narszara, “There were only three of us. Myself, Warden and Robyn Hood. The Syndicate had over a score of people and four supers. A Class 2 illusionist, a Class 3 Mind Controller, a Class 3 Acid Shooter and a Class 4 Telekinetic. They needed me to defeat the supers while they bested the normal foes. It was rather fun. Then we went to the Great Lion for a drink. I still did not get any mead much to my disappointment Have you heard about the others yet?”

“No,” I whisper as my stomach plummets.

Are the others in trouble? Did anyone get hurt?

“There were two different fights that were involved in,” explains Narszara, “Vision, Commando, Accelerate and Storm Knight fought a villain known as Gravilord while the rest fought a woman called Gaia’s Vengeance. No one other than the villains was hurt and there was minimal property damage.”

“Excellent,” I says with a sigh of relief.

Nobody back home got hurt other than some supervillains. After my brush with death, I can’t begin to tell you how relieved I am.

“Indeed,” agrees Narszara, “I shall meet you back at our base.”

She cuts the connection. I look at Sam. I called Narszara on a private channel so he didn’t overhear us.

“The rest of the League had their own adventures while we were away,” I tell him.

“What happened?” asks Sam, always eager for an exciting story.

“Narszara helped out a couple of the Defenders against the Baglio Syndicate while James, Skyler, Lucy and Stefan fought Gravilord while the Walters, Charlie and Helen took down Gaia’s Vengeance,” I answer, “I doubt any of them had it as hard as we did.”

“You mean none of us had it as hard as you,” corrects Sam with a frown, “You flow the Star Guardian up there and the only one who knew what he was doing. Then you investigated the second signal after I flew off on my own. You beat Spartan and his people after he attacked you. I figured that much out on my own by the way. I’m not stupid you know. And you held your own against the Machine without any help. Well you didn’t die at least.”

“I almost did,” I mutter quietly and a shiver goes down my back, “And I have help from Darrac and Spartan. That was the only reason I survived.”

A week and a half into my superhero career and I’ve already killed and almost died more than once.

Then again, no one said being a superhero was easy or fun and games. In fact, most of them warned me about this aspect of leading this sort of life.

Not that I would trade the Sentinel armour and the League of Heroes away for anything mind you.

“Do you realise the time?” asks Sam, “My visor says it’s almost nine.”

I groan. Dad is going to kill me for this.

“Don’t worry,” says Janelle suddenly, “I was contacted by Laura Aquiline. She has informed Sentinel’s family that you three were with her today for some defence training.”

Thank goodness for Laura. I’ve forgotten out many times she has gotten me of trouble in private life because of things from superhero life.

“Bring down Vance,” I yell up to the cockpit, “I got to get out of this armour and get home as quick as possible.

It takes a few minutes for us to land. Skyler and James are waiting for us.

“You guys won’t believe...” starts Skyler before her voice trails off as she spots me, “Looks like you had it worse.”

“I know you two and Stefan and Lucy fought Gravilord and the others fought Gaia’s Vengeance,” I reply, “I fought space pirates, Spartan and his people and the Machine. Vance didn’t fight anyone and Sam saved me from the Machine. Also Narszara fought the Baglio Syndicate along a couple of the Defenders.”

“We know about Narszara and the Defenders,” says Sky as she rolls her eyes, “I want to know what put the Sentinel into this shape.”

“The Machine,” I tell her, “Totally had me on the ropes. If it weren’t for Sam or Darrac, I would have died. Oh, let me tell you about Darrac, he’s a Neriarr space pirate.”

“A space pirate,” says Sky, “He doesn’t seem the sort of person respectable supers like us would hang out with. And what’s a Neriarr?”

“A Neriarr what the human sub-breeds created by the Sektain are called and Darrac is a licensed privateer for the Knights Hospitaller,” I reply.

“So maybe he is the sort of person respectable supers like us would hang out with,” concedes Sky, “Still what’s he like?”

“Dangerous and ruthless,” I reply, “Neriarr are the most dangerous and the most numerous type of human supers and Darrac isn’t an exception to that. I think he stands a good chance of defeating the Machine on his own if he didn’t have to worry about anyone else.”

“So when’s the Sentinel armour going to back running at full strength again?” asks James.

“I’m going to start working on it tomorrow,” I tell him, “Now please excuse me, I need to get changed and head home.”

***

“Had a good time at Laura’s?” asks Dad as I enter the house.

“Yeah,” I reply as I take my coat off, “A few lessons I been taught in the past finally got through today.”

“Sounds good,” says Dad, “Next time try to plan ahead. I prefer to be informed ahead of time you know.”

“I’ll remember that Dad,” I tell him, “But this was a bit on the go. And we never meant to be out so late. That just sort of happened.”

“Your mother and I worry for you Daniel,” says Dad, “You staying out this late worries us. I don’t know how we could cope if something happened to you because you were out on your own at the wrong time.”

“I know and don’t worry Dad,” I reassure him as head for the stairs, “Anybody who messes with me will find that they bitten much than they can chew.”

As I head upstairs to my room, I realise how I just avoided telling my dad the truth without actually lying to. Not the mention how much I hate that fact.