Hero In Love
Chapter 22
Space my ass, Kyle thought to himself as he flew across the Alaskan tundra. Damn, it was cold. Or it would be without his aura on. Something about a giant iceberg that was drifting toward some port. Was it Prudhoe Bay? It had been on the national news, and his mother had caught it late night while trying to fall asleep. She'd dragged him out of bed to "go save those poor people." Several boats had already hit it; that was how the distress signals had been sent.
How was he ever going to leave if there were so many problems? And what about him and Jason? Jason had seemed kind of off lately, ever since that stupid doctor. And then there were the tests the stupid doctor wanted. So, all in all, he didn't think he was going to be leaving the planet anytime soon.
Coming home from the hospital had been strange. It was like home, but it wasn't home. Kyle just wished he'd had time to talk to the other guys. But no; his mom had made him dig into his homework, telling him he could finish it before running off to save the world. That had been a weird conversation.
"Be careful, and remember your manners," she said, straitening Kyle's costume. She'd washed it, and then re-sewn it to look better.
"Yes mom," Kyle had groaned. Why did she have to be like that?
"I just don't want them thinking Kid Rush's mother never taught him any manners," she explained, hugging him. Then Kyle had taken off into the snow filled sky.
So now here he was, flying through a freezing winter night, the stars shining brightly over this part of the world. But there was no moon, so it was rather dark. It was odd how the ambient light from the city tended to make the nighttime less dark. Kyle wondered if he would have to fly very far into space. It was going to be boring unless he found a way to pass the time.
Kyle's thoughts were interrupted when, off in the distance, he thought he saw a flash. A flash? Kyle pushed harder, and came to the northern Alaskan coast. There was the port with a tanker next to a huge iceberg. It was HUGE. The tanker seemed like a toy or something next to it. Above them was a news helicopter; its spotlights angled on the ship, as down below several smaller rescue boats were working.
Swooping down towards the water, Kyle could see men scurrying about on the decks, all working hard.
"HELLO!!" Kyle called out. The men were so busy working they didn't see Kyle's aura across the sky. But at his voice, several looked up, and began shouting joyfully. Whoa. Kyle didn't' think he was that important.
Kyle landed on the deck, where a very large man came up to him. He was dressed in several layers, which made his already large frame even bigger. He had a dark, tight curly beard, and his eyes were sharp.
"How can I help?" Kyle asked, feeling kind of awkward in front of all these men. They were toughened older men, who looked liked they had a lot of experience.
"To tell ya the truth, " the man said, " we need a way to keep the inner hull from breaching. We're carrying some highly toxic chemicals, and we're working on some patchwork down there now. But I don't know if we can keep her," here he patted the side railing, "from breaking. That ice burg is really moving." Great.
" Maybe I can cut through the ice on this side," Kyle murmured to himself, trying to think fast.
"Perhaps. But If ya cut wrong, you'll set the whole boat on fire," the man explained. Shit. Kyle wasn't that good with his energy yet. What if the crack leaked as he cut the ice away? Then suddenly the ship began to rock as a muffled boom went off.
"CAPTAIN!!" a voice yelled. The men, who were watching parted to allow another man, covered in smoke and grime, to pass.
"Spit it out man!" the captain yelled.
"There was a minor crack we didn't notice on the far end," the man huffed. "Holding tank 1 is leaking." The captain's face went white.
"What is it?" Kyle asked, now hovering about 2 feet off the deck. He didn't want to set something off accidentally.
"If anything goes off now, the whole boat will be alight. And, if we don't get the patch job done soon, the boat will sink, the prow going first, and the boat will spill the rest of its chemicals." Shit. That wasn't good. Kyle was pretty sure he could lift the whole boat, but what about the stuff inside?
"Damn it!" Kyle swore. He wasn't good at this. "I can lift the boat. That's not a problem. But it might cause the crack to leak more. And that's bad right?" he asked. Kyle figured he could defer to the captain, who probably knew more about it than he did.
"Aye. That's oil in that first hold. We'd have an environmental catastrophe," he explained. "I'm not big on the technical side, but those chemicals can be very corrosive, so they were sealed in a specially prepared hold." That didn't sound good at all.
"So basically, there is maybe a leak in the second hold, and the first hold HAS a leak?" Kyle summed up.
"Aye." the captain replied.
Kyle shook his head. How the crap was he going to do this? Wait... maybe... "I got it!!" he announced, and launched into the air. Making sure he hovering right, he took aim and let out a concentrated beam of energy, making sure to cut the ice well away from the boat. This way, he could use the piece of ice as a plug until they could get it sealed up.
It seemed to be working as Kyle flew down and began pushing on the iceberg once he thought he'd cut deep enough. The ice began to move apart, the large piece floating away from the smaller. YES!! Kyle cheered as the cut he made widened.
Soon he'd created a rather sizable gap between the boat and the rest of the iceberg. Now all he had to do was get the boat back onto land. Kyle flew back down to the ship. "I'm going to lift the ship up and um... put you down on land. That way the chemicals won't leak into the ocean," Kyle said to the captain.
"Well, if ya think ya can do it." The captain stroked his beard thoughtfully.
"Oh honey," Kyle's mother exclaimed as they watched the Saturday morning news. Kid Rush was all over the TV as they replayed him lifting the boat out of the water. "You didn't get wet did you?" she asked. Kyle sighed. Again with that.
"No mom, I didn't get wet. And thanks for getting me up, or something bad might have happened," Kyle replied, as he watched the interviewer talking to him.
"So Kid Rush, how did you happen upon this in time?" the interviewer asked him after he'd put the ship down. Kyle felt like he held himself well.
"Actually, my mom caught it on the late night news," Kyle watched himself reply. Damn that sounded lame.
"I see," the reporter said, clearly not expecting that answer. Kyle's mom rolled her eyes.
"And what is your answer to the critics who claim this incident could have been avoided by better..." Oh great. Kyle still didn't have a clue to what the man was talking about.
"What's' he talking about mom?" Kyle asked, hoping he'd answered ok.
"Shh!" his mom shushed him.
"Well you know... it was a pretty dark night. I mean there was no moon out. I really couldn't see anything until I saw a flash of the helicopter light," Kyle watched himself respond. " So I mean, maybe it was a bad idea to carry those chemicals together. But at the same time... there were a... other factors involved."
"Not bad honey," his mother congratulated him.
Ring Ring!!
"It's Jason," Kyle and his mother both said at the same time. Then they laughed.
Awesome. Jason sat watching his boyfriend, HIS BOYFRIEND, lifting a tanker, A HUGE TANKER, into the air, water dripping off its sides, and then carrying it to dry land. Or rather frozen wet tundra as they WERE off the coast of Alaska. For some reason the TV reporter had wanted to make that clear.
"Wow," his aunt said. "He'd be quite a catch for you Jason." His aunt laughed as she drank her morning coffee. How little did she know? But at the same time, maybe he wasn't. good enough for Kyle. Kyle was this super hero, and he was just Jason. He couldn't even have sex without getting freaked out about it.
"Yeah. Look, I'm going to call Kyle and see what he thinks," Jason said. He had to keep up like normal. Didn't want anybody wondering why he suddenly didn't' have to call Kyle anymore about new Kid Rush news.
Jason picked up the phone and dialed, then began pacing across the floor.
" Hey Jason," Kyle answered. Kyle knew him too well.
"You see the news?" Jason asked, but it was obvious as he could hear the news in the background, mirroring his own.
"Yeah."
"What did you think?" Jason asked, suddenly at a loss for words.
"What did YOU think?" Kyle countered.
"IT WAS AWESOME!!" Jason replied. " I CAN"T BELIEVE IT. THAT TANKER WAS SO HUGE!!" It was big. It was bigger than the yacht superman picked up in the movie. Of course, that island he pushed into the sky was huge, but still.
"Yeah. Thanks," Kyle said, sounding embarrassed. "You really don't think I sounded dumb?" he asked worriedly.
"Nah. But the part about `My mom saw it on the news,' made me laugh." Jason giggled. He was going to have some fun using that to tease Kyle later. "Oh, so you aren't still tired anymore?" Jason asked, hoping Kyle was feeling better. He didn't want Kyle to faint anymore.
"Yeah. The doctor prescribed me some sort of super vitamin. Speaking of which," Jason heard Kyle call to his mother, and some rustling. Well, it was good to hear that Kyle was doing okay. Jason hoped the future test results would come just as good.
It seemed like Kyle was more in his thoughts than ever now. Would he be okay? Would some one find out his identity? What about this sex thing? Was he still angry about that? Jason felt a worry cramp in his stomach. It seemed like he was getting those a lot lately.
"Oh great. Well, gotta go. I have a ton of homework to catch up on. I'm glad it's the weekend," Kyle said, interrupting Jason's thoughts.
"Oh yeah, sure." There was a pause at the other end.
"Unless you wanna come help me...?" Kyle asked quietly.
He still wanted help?? Sweet.
"You don't have to... I mean you know, if you don't want to."
"No, I do."
Shit. "And now, Roy Sanders, the president of GasNgo.... would like to address the press." Jason watched, amused, as an important looking man got up in front of several cameras and reporters.
"I would personally like to thank Kid Rush for his timely intervention in what could have been a horrible incident." Kyle could feel his face start to blush. Jason, on the other hand, just had a big smile on his face. He should probably get used to it. It wasn't as if this was his first time being publicly thanked on TV.
"For his generosity, we would like to donate half of the money that was saved to a worthy charity. I would like to ask Kid Rush, once he finds the time, to join me at my office here in Fairbanks, Alaska."
What? Donate? Whoa. First time he'd seen that. That was awesome!! Kyle looked over at Jason to see what he thought. He had a thoughtful look on his face.
"What?" Kyle asked.
"Huh?" Jason rolled over to look at his boyfriend.
"You look like you're thinking hard," Kyle explained to the boy on the bed. Jason ran his fingers through his hair.
Kyle turned back to the TV. "If Kid Rush would kindly meet me on the top of our office in Fairbanks, I'd be most happy to discuss the donation." Kyle looked at Jason. Jason looked at Kyle.
"Shit," they both swore at the same time.
Jason watched the TV, wondering who Kyle was going to donate the money to. He hoped Kyle was thinking about it. Maybe he could even divide the money up and put some in one thing, and some somewhere else.
Jason wondered if Kyle knew how big an impact it would have. Whatever Kyle did was sure to be news for at least a day or two. Jason was also sure that politics would become a big issue, whatever he did.
Jason walked up the stairs, wondering what Kyle's mother would think. "Oh, did Kyle take off for something again?" she asked, as he walked into the kitchen. Jason liked Kyle's mom. She was more close and warm than his. Currently, she was bustling around, making some sort of pecan bars for dinner.
"Yeah. The president of that oil company wanted to donate money in his name. Kyle went off to tell them where he wanted the money to go."
"Well, I hope he remembers to be polite," his mother worried. Jason couldn't help but grin. "Could you hand me that bowl there?" Jason grabbed the bowl, feeling happy he could help. His mother had been trying to find a job, and hadn't felt like doing anything like extra cooking for a long time.
"I guess we should watch the news for Kyle," Mrs. Raven finally said, turning on the TV.
Kyle stood with Mr. Sanders in front of a podium, where the press was still standing. Apparently they hadn't expected him to show up quite so fast. They were on top of one of the larger buildings in Fairbanks. It was cold, as Mr. Sanders was dressed very warmly, with a black trench coat over his suit.
"Quite an impressive display." Mr. sanders complimented.
"Thanks," Kyle replied, shaking his hand. But what was he referring too? Saving the tanker, or flying through the air?
"Well, I will just assume you saw my announcement on the TV," he laughed, trying to play to the cameras. Kyle smiled.
"Yes, I thought I would come and let you know my thinking," Kyle replied. Now how was he going to phrase his questions? He didn't want to sound too weird.
"Well, if you'll just give me the name of the charity that you'd like to donate to, we'll go ahead and get the money sent."
"First, how much ARE you donating?" Kyle asked. The president laughed, but Kyle thought he could detect a bit of an edge.
"Fifty percent of what we would have lost on the accident," Mr. Sanders explained. Kyle figured it would be a lot for cleaning up the oil, saving the wildlife, moving the tankers.
"That's a whole lot," Kyle replied. " I mean what with saving the animals, cleaning up the oil, and getting your tanker moved. Plus all the environmental fines." Kyle had been thinking VERY hard about this, as he'd traveled. Kyle could see Mr. Sanders' eyes narrow.
"And I'd like to offer to put your tanker back in the water, once the repairs are done. So that should save you more money as well," Kyle added with a big smile.
"Yes, of course." Mr. Sanders narrowed his eyes again. What was with this guy? Kyle wondered if he was being level with him. By now the press were very quiet, and anxious to hear what Kyle was going to say.
"EXCUSE ME!" several of them began asking, and Mr. Sanders had to interrupt. "We will take questions after Mr. Rush here," Mr. sanders waved a hand at Kyle, "shares with us his plans."
"First, you should take 10 percent of the saved money and re-invest in your, um, safety inspections department. That kind of thing," Kyle began. He figured that would lessen Mr. Sanders wound.
"Of course," Mr. sanders nodded.
"And the other 40 percent?" Hmm. Kyle had wanted to put most of the money into some sort of Gay/Lesbian youth thing, but there were so many other problems.
"You should use 10 percent to help invest in more environmentally safe solutions, I think," Kyle continued, ignoring the cameras going off. Mr. Sanders was now looking more perplexed than anything.
"And, I'm sorry, but I really don't know any charity names besides Red Cross. You can donate 10 percent there, and then the rest can go into one of those feed the children kind of thing," Kyle shrugged.
"Well, that sounds reasonable," Mr. Sanders replied, still smiling for the cameras. Kyle was really starting to feel rather weird, standing there.
"I guess that's about it. Did you have anything else to say, Mr. Sanders?" Kyle asked.
"Well, one more time, I would like to personally thank you for stopping what could have been a horrible incident."
"Your welcome," Kyle replied, nodding to the businessman. Kyle really needed to get his homework done though. "And thank you for donating the money. But I really need to go." The reporters began to shout questions at him, some for him to stay, and some about other things. But Kyle had had enough. So with that he launched himself into the sky.
Jason snuggled backward into his boyfriend, relishing his touch. But it wasn't the same, knowing Kyle was angry about the sex thing. Yes he hid it well, he didn't even seem angry. But Jason knew it was there.
"So, what do you think?" Kyle asked him, massaging his chest. Oh it felt so good. Every moment with Kyle seemed like bliss.
"I think you need to do what this Gaia spirit says." Jason said, wishing that Kyle didn't have to go. But he did. He needed to go into space at least for a long-range recon, if nothing else. But how was he supposed to fight the darkness?
Jason grabbed Kyle's arm and pulled it closer to him, not wanting to let him go. "I want you to stay, but you really do need to go."
"But what if it's just weird crap in my head?" Kyle asked, breathing into Jason's ear. Shivers ran along Jason's forehead and down his back.
"Well, it references your powers pretty much. And those are real..." Jason argued. Wasn't HE supposed to be worried about the voices, and Kyle worried about it being real?
"I guess." Kyle sighed, trailing his fingers across Jason's stomach now. "It's just... I don't know how long I can be away... its cold in space. I can sense it beyond my aura." Kyle explained. " I've been to Mars, Venus.. all of them so foreign. School was right about Venus. it's like a raging inferno of heat and weird plant life." Kyle explained, sounding distant. Jason had never seen Kyle quite like this. even when he was being secretive.
"And Jupiter. It's nothing but swirling dust and wind. Everywhere. it's too easy to lose your direction." Kyle rolled to his back, his hands behind his head. Jason followed the slender teen, rolling over to lay on his chest.
"I don't get what you're trying to say..." Jason finally said as Kyle laid there in silence.
"Space is scary. Strange. Dark. Cold. I haven't seen any well remotely human life in this solar system." Jason was surprised to see Kyle was trying to hold back tears. "I don't want to go," he said, his eyes weeping. "I don't' want to fight; I didn't ask for this…" The tears were coming faster and harder now.
"Oh Kyle." Jason said, hugging him deeply. Jason felt Kyle's arms wrapping around him, then pulling him close. He hadn't even realized how big this must be to Kyle. Something large enough to consume the galaxy?
"You haven't seen what I've seen in my head…the destruction…an entire planet of people wiped out." He cried, puling Kyle even tighter. Is this why he was on edge? This, and not the sex thing?
"You'll find a way. I know you will," Jason whispered. What else could he say? Tell him to stay with him?
"I don't know how!! I don't want to leave. I want to stay. I want to be with you," Kyle cried, pulling Jason's head against his chest. Jason didn't know what to think.
"I know. I want to be with you too…always," Jason said, kissing Kyle's tear stained cheek. "But in the end…if you don't fight…what about earth? I'd get eaten too."
"Don't you think I know that? But this stupid voice…its sense of time is different. I don't know if it's coming now…or in thousands of years. That scene I saw...could have been yesterday…or it could have been eons ago." That was a problem. What if it wasn't coming for so long most of them would be dead?
"Oh," Jason finally replied. "I really don't know what to say."
"Just be here. I just want to be with you. You don't have to say anything," Kyle whispered, pulling him in close. Jason sighed, listening to Kyle's heart beat. Soon the two boys had fallen asleep to the sound of the other's gentle breathing.
Wow. Hope that last scene worked out good for you readers. I had to use depressing music for that. " Total Eclipse of the Heart" was my main inspiration. Yeah yeah, I know its old. So what?