"You'll come back to me won't you?"
"Ofcourse I will Ma'! I would just die without your cooking!"
"You promise?"
"I promise"
But Sky didn't know that for certain. He wasn't sure if any of them would return.
He had lied to his mother more times than he had ever hoped to and should have been used to the feeling by now. But on this day the feeling of lying to his dear sweet mother was even more sickening than usual. Worse than the time he had lied to her about taking any money from her purse. The feeling was crawling from the depths of his abdomen up to his throat with disgusting speed.
Sky. Quickly stopped packing his bag and rushed to his toilet. He bent over the bowl like he'd been punched in the gut by a gargantuan bully. In this case that bully was reality. His breakfast sprayed into the toilet bowl and hit the water like shit from a running tummy.
"Are you feeling alright Sky?" Even his mother had taken to calling him Sky now. She hadn't called him by his birth name in months. She affectionately called him by this name even though she had not known its origins.
"Yeah,I'm fine," he said wiping his right arm across his mouth,"just a little nervous I guess." He walked back to his bed where the duffle bag he had been packing lay open,his mother looking at him with concerned eyes.
"I want you to take this with you,it was your father's " she said. "I'd been saving it for your birthday,but..." She held a silver Cartier watch in her hand,a little aged but almost in perfect condition. Its glass barely had any scratches in it and its face,a beautiful saphire.
"Ma' you've been watching too many movies," Sky said smiling and closing her palm with the watch in it."I'll be back,I promise. You can give it to me then,as my reward." He smiled again and kissed her forehead.
The duffle bag was packed with all he needed,all that remained was his brown bomber jacket. This jacket was what he was wearing when he had first defied gravity and learnt he could fly. It had become his costume. His uniform. It had developed dark patches and scuffs over the years and recently the newer scuffs had stories behind them. Over the last year he had taken to vigilante acts and superheroism. And that was natural,wasn't it? When you found out you had super powers,you became a superhero. That was the unwritten law. You owed the ordinary populace that much,they were only mere mortals after all. You pursued justice. The kind of justice that sloppy,bribe-taking,fat police men could not deliver. The kind of justice you had to lie to your mum about (and get that sickening feeling when you did).The kind of justice that got him into this mess.
The man in the suit and bowler hat had told him his country needed him,heck his PLANET needed him. He said he was part of an organisation that looked into the activities and welfare of Supers. Sky thought to himself that the suit and bowler hat were a dead give away,he should have known the man represented some kind of secret organisation. And Suits always spoke with a certain authority,in a polite but matter-of-fact kind of tone.
Sky had boarded the plane now,along with the other recruits. Atleast the ones with the stones to take this flight. He was replaying the scene when he'd told his mother that he had been drafted by the army. Just a simple peace keeping mission he'd said. He'd even gotten The Suit to put an official looking stamp on a white envelope for him to show his Ma'. Thank goodness she wasn't the type to read documents and ask too many questions. If she had been,she would have been terribly shocked at the blank pages inside the envelope. And Sky would have been even sicker.
There may be no coming back from this one. Heck,I can almost guarantee none of you will return. So kiss your mothers,fuck your girlfriends good and make the best damn sandwiches you can;because you may never get the chance ever again.
That's what The Suit had said. And what he had said was probably stone cold truth. Wonder Man had fallen after all. Earth's mightiest defender had fallen at the hands of this evil threat The Suit had raged about. This menace was the baddest of the bad and the vilest of the scum that plagued our planet,and he had slain our hero. Wonder Man that beacon of justice that had burnt bright and inspired many had been put out like a cheap match dipped in water. And now this ragtag bunch of under trained and inexperienced Supers was supposed to neutralise this evil.
Sky had only discovered his abilities roughly two years ago. Smoking pot with his friends down at the ledge in the outskirts of Sugar Valley,his neighbourhood;was a regular feature of his day. Him and his gang had been stoned as an adulterous wife in a traditionalist Islamic country,and fooling around at the edge of the ledge. He fell over sideways to what seemed like his bloody demise,until he floated upward like the froth in an ice cold beer,much to the surprise of his mates. He hovered above them but didn't immediately realise what had transpired because he had covered his eyes. The name Sky came naturally.
"We are right above the drop!" The Suit shouted as the pilot steadied the plane."For those of you that can't fly,grab your parachutes and hop on out ladies! I wish you the best,and God speed! For king and country!....Or something like that!" He was trying his best to speak above the drone of the buzzing plane engines.
Well,Sky thought as he reached the door;here goes!
