Chapter 321: Revelations
"Adam, what's wrong?"
"I am, Ms. Pearson."
"...Huh?"
The scratching of Paige's pen abruptly stopped as her eyes focused on Riley. The two were signing papers as the last step to them in becoming official superheroes. But as soon as Paige noticed that Riley… was not even looking at the paper even though he seemed to be signing without any problems, Paige could not help but be curious.
Paige then turned her eyes to where Riley was looking, only to see him looking at where his mother was previously at.
"She'll be fine," Paige then gently placed her hand on Riley's arm, and as soon as she did so, Riley finally moved his head and looked at her hand almost without any delay. His eyebrows became slightly tensed, but he did not really move away as he just looked at Paige.
"Please remove your hand, Ms. Pearson."
"R… right, sorry," Paige stuttered as she quickly returned to signing her papers, "I… I have problems with boundaries."
"I was told I have the same problem, Ms. Pearson," Riley only shook his head as he too continued signing the form, "I thought you were quite different from me since you seem quite friendly, but it would seem people in the spectrum are rarely different."
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"I'm… not really in the spectrum," Paige blinked a couple of times, "...Wait, is ADHD considered– wait… You're on the spectrum, like Riley Ross!?"
"..." Riley looked at Paige for a few seconds, before proceeding to shake his head, "No, I lied."
"..." Paige squinted her eyes as she stared at Riley for a couple of seconds… before just shrugging her shoulders and finishing the form.
"And that's it. The two of you are officially superheroes now. There are a lot of rules that you need to take note of, but you can read and learn them as you go. Just don't cause any troubles…"
And right after they passed the form, the man processing them started talking and telling stories about the previous registrants that had their licenses revoked due to breaking the law. The process of getting a license may be simple, but the process of losing them was even simpler.
Break a single law, even as much as crossing the road improperly, then your license will be suspended and will immediately be sent into review for cancellation. They were, however, more lenient towards those that were Class-A; with Class-S even exempt in some laws.
"We did it," Paige then raised her license card in the air as they returned back to the lobby, "We're heroes, Adam."
"No, Ms. Pearson. We're not."
"What? What do you mean!? We're heroes now!"
"No," Riley shook his head, "A hero saves people. We have not yet saved people."
"...Shit," Paige then lowered her hands as she looked to the ground, "You're right…
…then let's immediately go out there and save some people!"
"W–"
"Follow me, Paragon! Together, we will be known…
…as PP, Paige and Paragon!"
"..."
"Or maybe… Double P? PPendables? P and P?" Paige then suddenly started talking to herself, "...Now that I am thinking about it, it doesn't sound too appealing, doesn't it?"
"PP sounds nice, Paige."
"No, it doesn't," Paige then started shaking her hair, "Doesn't matter. We can think about that later. For now, let's go save some people. Hurry up, Paragon!"
"..." Riley could only really watch as Paige suddenly ran away; glancing at him from time to time to see if he was following her. But as soon as Paige realized that he wasn't, she stopped and started waving at him.
As for Riley, he was busy trying to look for Aerith, only to find she was no longer in the lobby. Riley saw grabbing Aerith's hand earlier… could it be the two were together?
"..." Riley once again scanned the lobby, but as soon as he confirmed that Aerith truly was not there anymore… he shrugged his shoulders and finally followed Paige out of the tower.
As soon as he stepped out of the tower, however, he saw Paige being surrounded by several people; all flashing cameras at her– some handing her business cards. Riley was about to approach, but before he could do so, he suddenly also found himself surrounded by the media.
"We… we're suddenly famous, Paragon. Look… look how many superhero agencies want to meet me," Paige then showed the dozen business cards in her hands. They also tried handing cards to Riley, but he ignored all of them and just walked his way through the crowd; not even stopping for pictures.
Paige seemed to still want to stay but just followed Riley as she saw him leaving.
"W… where do we go?" Paige then said; the tremble of her voice clear for everyone to hear, "There are so many superheroes nowadays, but the people that need saving seem to remain the same for some reason. Do you think the villains are getting more active lately? I read in an article that–"
And before Paige could finish her words, Riley walked away.
"H… Hey! Where are you going!?" A random electric scooter suddenly appeared in front of Paige as she quickly made her way in front of Riley, "I thought we will be sticking to each other for a while!? P and P!"
"I don't remember agreeing on that, Paige."
"You said you liked the name, though," Paige squinted her eyes, "Anyway, it doesn't matter. Where are you going? I'll just tag along…
…I don't really have anywhere to go home to anyway."
"I don't know where I am going, Paige."
"...Are you just going to ignore the last part of my sentence?"
"Yes, Paige," Riley nodded as he started looking around. He was wearing a superhero outfit, but besides some curious glances and a snap here and there– no one really approached him. It would seem Aerith's plan of hiding his identity is working.
"A… anyway, we should leave this street first, it's so crowded. Ack, New York, this place gives me the heebie-jeebies."
Paige then clapped her hands, and as soon as she did so, the electric scooter suddenly… morphed into some sort of jet-ski… a floating jet-ski.
"Come on," Paige then said as she snuggled her buttocks on the seat, "You can't really ride it, but you can just grab onto me and we'll make it look like you are. Technically, you're riding me."
"..."
"Not in that sense, though. Please don't misunderstand. Although maybe along the way as we develop our friendship, we can arrange something to–"
"It's fine, Paige."
"What do you mean it's fine? If we walk, it'll be a while until we–"
And before Paige could finish her words, Riley's feet suddenly left the ground.
"Wait… wait… You can fly!?" Paige screamed, causing everyone that wasn't already staring at them to stare at them, "Why… why didn't you show that earlier? You might have been promoted to A-Class!"
"I didn't need to use it against you, Paige."
"...What? Wait, are you roasting me right now? It's not my fault that my abilities are mostly for show and–"
"It's not for show, Paige. I could think of a hundred different ways on how you can use it to kill people and torture people."
And with those words, Riley flew to the sky.
"W… wait!" Almost leaving Paige behind. But as soon as several rockets started appearing on her back, she was able to quickly follow behind Riley.
"Your ability truly is powerful, Paige."
"What was that!?" Paige could not help but scream as she couldn't even hear her own voice from the violent wind that was threatening to blow away their faces.
"Your ability truly is powerful, Paige," Riley repeated his words as he slowed down; the clouds around them, almost hiding Riley's ivory outfit; if it weren't for his dark eyes, eyebrows, and hair– then he would have definitely completely blended himself with the clouds.
"...It's just okay," Paige also did the same, ditching the rockets on her back, "It's actually quite ironic. If this ability was gifted to another person, then he or she would have definitely maximized it to its fullest potential. But no, it just had to be to a person with a condition like me."
"..."
"That's why when Riley Ross appeared, I somewhat felt empowered, you know," Paige sighed as she looked at the blue horizon, "He has autism, and yet he still had this sense of heroism to the point that he sacrificed his own life just to save other people."
"This… Riley Ross," Riley then let out a whisper as he too, looked towards the horizon, "I feel like the people didn't really understand him."
"That's most likely the case for people like us… Of course, one could argue that he won the gene and family lottery as well. Son of Ms. Phoenix, adopted by Whiteking," Paige once again sighed, "I would probably also turn into a great and kind hero if one of my parents is one of the greats… not to mention he has two."
"W–"
"You know… I was in a mental institute just years ago."
"I didn't really ask, Paige."
"It was hard," Paige seemed to completely ignore Riley's words as she continued to tell her story; her eyes, almost watering as a pair of napkins suddenly appeared in her hands, "My own parents…
…they thought I was crazy."