Bolt

22| Where It All Began.

It was a windy and rainy night. Of all the days Caleb and I were to go out and investigate, why did it have to be tonight?

I hugged myself and rubbed the side of my arms. "I should have worn a sweater."

"You mean your ugly red sweater?" Caleb glanced at me and chuckled. "Don't tell me you haven't thrown it away." Before I said anything, he continued, "I know, I know, it's the only sweater you've got. But dude, Riley bought you that sweater. Don't you think it's weird you're still wearing it?"

"I thought we agreed we wouldn't talk about her?"

"We also agreed you'd throw away everything she left behind when you two broke up. Yet, here we are." He gave a slight smile. Smartass.

Caleb had been busting my balls for months now, bugging me to burn everything Riley had bought for me. But I couldn't bring myself to do it. Not because I still had feelings for her. It's that everything I owned, Riley had bought it. And I hadn't found time to go shopping.

"When we're done with this mission, then I'll do as you say. How about that?" I gazed at him. He still had that sarcastic smile of his—the smile that said he knew better than me. I was so glad his powers didn't allow him to see that far into the future. Otherwise, he would have known I had lied.

"We shall see," he said.

"When is Nuhaila coming?" I hadn't met her yet. Apart from super strength and flight, I didn't know what other powers she had. The media had compared her to a young Captain Tombstone in terms of potential. That said a lot.

"Relax, she'll be here soon." He checked his watch. "We arrived early. The mass is still going on, and we can't sneak inside until after it ends."

Right, spying. I hated "spying" because it involved us not doing any physical damage to the bastards. I knew gathering evidence and providing it to the police was the best way forward, but I wanted to take matters into my own hands and eliminate them.

Maybe if the bodies started piling up, the others would confess their crimes.

"How do you know her?" I asked.

"Who?" He looked at me, dumbfounded.

"Nuhaila, who else? How did you two meet?"

"Oh." He scratched his chin. "We worked on a couple of missions together."

"Like?" Caleb had been a hero for two years before I was, but he hated talking about his missions. "At least tell me about one mission." My hero ID card only allowed me to fight crime in Mamba. Caleb, being more experienced than me, had more districts to protect. That was why I needed him on this mission. Dragol was out of my jurisdiction. But with him here, no one would suspect me of any lawbreaking.

He rubbed his face. "It's... complicated." He rested his head on the headrest and gave a long exhale through the nose. "I hate talking about the villains I've fought because they remind me of the innocent people I failed to save."

"Damn, you didn't have to be so dark about it. If you don't want to talk about your missions, then that's fine with me. Just don't ask me about mine too." Caleb punched me on the arm. "What was that for?"

"You're being a big baby right now. You have it easy compared to me, fighting villains like Mr. Underpants, Blue Squirrel, and Yellow Crystal. Honestly, I don't even know why you're on this crusade right now."

"You don't know why?" I stared at him, shocked at his statement.

He cleared his throat. "I mean, I understand. But leave this to me. You don't have clearance to be a hero around here. Nuhaila and I do. We will deal with this fast."