Not All Heroes Wear Capes (The Pack Fanfiction)

Chapter Nine: Phantom

"Come on, you can hit harder than that!" Jerome shouted, before quickly raising his arms to block the punch aimed right at his face. He stumbled back a bit, before striding forward toward his combatant, a confident smile on his face.

Mitch, who was standing opposite of him, raised his arms to block whatever attack Jerome was going to attempt, his eyes narrowed as he tried to read Jerome's movements to avoid being hit.

In response, Jerome made to punch Mitch's chest, and as expected, Mitch made to block him. At the last second, Jerome pulled his arm back and instead kicked at Mitch's legs, sweeping his friend off of his feet, landing hard on his back.

"Hmph." Mitch scowled, looking displeased with himself. He extended his arm to Jerome, who pulled him back up from the grass. "You cheated."

"No, no, I didn't." Jerome said, trying to stifle a laugh as Mitch brushed the dirt off of his clothes. "And even if I did, you think that any criminals that we fight won't take any possible chance to catch you off guard? You have to be more aware of how they can get the jump on you."

"I have super senses, how can I possibly be more aware? Besides, it's not like you have to worry about it."

"Well I can turn myself into metal, and, therefore, I'm pretty much indestructible and invincible. You, on the other hand, are not. And hey, just be glad I didn't toss you into the pool again."

"I hate you."

"No you don't. Besides, whose idea was it-"

"Alright, alright, I get it!"

Mitch waved off a chuckling Jerome and collapsed into one of the lawn chairs around their pool, Jerome pulling up another chair to join him, both of them utterly exhausted.

After a short bout of silence, Mitch broke out with a huff. "I should've picked up your asteroid instead."

Jerome looked at his friend with a raised eyebrow. He wasn't exactly sure if Mitch had been joking or not, but by the frustrated look on Mitch's face, he guessed it was the latter. "Okay, seriously, Mr. Time Wizard?"

"We're not calling me that-"

"You can literally control time!"

"Not really-"

"Okay so you can't turn time back, but come on! Your powers are badass! Not including the fact that you have those enhanced senses or whatever! So what if I can turn into metal and have a tiny bit of super strength-"

"A tiny bit?!"

"Maybe more than a tiny bit, but come on! What kind of superheroes would we be if we weren't a team?! You slow down time, and I run in to punch all the bad guys in the face... I give you cover while you shoot them with amazing aim that could rival freaking Katniss Everdeen..."

Mitch interrupted him with a small laugh, and when Jerome looked back at his friend, his frown had turned into a small grin, making Jerome crack a smile of his own. But only for a moment, as Mitch let out a long, drawn out sigh. "We need to talk about next week."

Right, next week. Jerome had totally forgotten about it. In a week Mitch and Jerome would be leaving to Canada to hang out with the rest of the Pack at Rob's place for the duration of the whole week...

"...Are you sure that we shouldn't tell them?" Jerome asked Mitch with a frown. He already knew what Mitch was going to say, but he asked anyway, just to make sure.

As he thought, Mitch responded with a simple, "We are not."

What else did I expect? Jerome thought to himself, not bothering to pursue the topic any further.