It was finally Friday; I couldn't wait to sleep in tomorrow, since work was very tiring, especially when I had to heal people. Almost as soon as I got into work, we were called out to deal with a protest that had become violent — horrible racist people had been going mad about immigrants and had started attacking people who weren't white. I hated racist people, they were some of the worst humans.

  “I'd love to ship off all the racists to a deserted island,” I said and my fists and teeth were clenched.

  “Yeah, anyone like that should be separated from people. I'd send all the racists, homophobes, misogynists and all those kinds of people to that island,” Alex replied.

  “Life would be much easier if it was like that.” Sofia nodded.

  After flying for a few minutes, we got to the chaotic protest. Many people were shouting, holding up the Union Jack, and some were burning the flags of other countries. There were a few people attacking poor, innocent black and Asian people, who just happened to be in the area. It was horrific, these people were hateful assholes.

  “Just stop them attacking, it's very chaotic, so do what you can,” Pablo said.

  They all rushed off, pulling the racist monsters away from anyone being attacked. I went over to a man who had brown skin, he had black wavy hair and looked young, around my age. His face was very bloody, he looked awful. The young man was on his back on the ground, so I knelt beside him and checked what condition he was in. I sensed a concussion and a broken rib, but he'd recover, he didn't need to be healed.

  “You're going to be okay, it's over now,” I said.

  “Don't let them come near me!” He exclaimed, fear was in his eyes.

  “My teammates are here, and they're dealing with those horrible people. You're safe now,” I replied.

  There were still loads of racists around, it would probably be a good idea to get this guy, along with other victims out of the area.

  “Let's get out of here,” I said.

  “Yeah, we need to get out of here.”

  I held my hand out and he took it, so I helped him to his feet. There was a sharp pain in my head, and I felt incredibly dizzy. I turned round and there was a young, white guy with ginger hair glaring at me. There was a baseball bat in his hand, that must've been what hit me. Rage boiled inside me, he'd just hurt me and had likely attacked innocent people. I swung at his face and managed to punch his nose, which hurt my hand a bit.

  “You foreign loving bitch!” He yelled and tried to hit me with the bat, but he stopped midair.

  I looked around, then saw Sam nearby protecting me from the psycho.

  “Let's go quickly,” I said.

  “Are you okay?” The man asked. He was hunched over and breathless, the poor guy.

  “Yeah, don't worry about me.”

  My head was still sore, but the dizziness was gone; hopefully I'd be fully healed soon. I took the man's hand and rushed away from all the chaos. Along the way, I helped a black woman and a Hispanic man get out of the area.

  “You should all be safe here,” I said.

  “Thank you for all your help,” the woman replied.

  “Oh, you're welcome, I'm glad I could help.”

  Since they were all safe, I went back to the scene. The despicable racists were finally being arrested because the police had shown up, which was great. The crowd was dispersing, but Sam, Pablo, Sofia and Alex weren't letting the criminals get away. I continued helping victims get away from the area. It took a while, but eventually, all the criminals had been arrested.

  We went back to work; I was tired from all the stress and anger, caused by those monstrous racists.

  “I wish I could beat up all those people, they were so horrible!” I shouted.

  “I know, it was awful. Although, I broke some of their bones, which was satisfying.” Alex smiled.

  “It was really scary to see, that could've been me.” Sophia sighed.

  “I know the feeling.” Pablo nodded.

  “I just don't understand how people can be so hateful. Do they not realise that immigrants are incredibly valuable? There are so many immigrants in important jobs, like hospital staff, heroes and cleaners. They also bring their culture. It just really pisses me off! I'm all for immigration, the more, the better I say!” I exclaimed.

  “I completely agree, those people are infuriating,” Sam replied.

  “Yeah, most of us on the team wouldn't even be here if those people were in charge,” Sofia said.

  “Sam and Cara would be the only ones on the team if that was the case,” Pablo said.

  “Well, unless they were super racist and backwards, and only wanted English people on the team,” I replied.

  Thankfully, no one had been rude to me about me being Irish, but I'd heard stories of Irish people in England being told to go back to their country, or being called terrorists.

  “Then it would only be me,” Sam said.

  “I'm glad it's not like that. There wouldn't be as many heroes here, and we'd all be split up,” Alex responded.

  “Oh, it would be awful, I'd still be miserable in Mexico,” Pablo said.

  We'd barely had any time to process the last emergency when the alarm went off again. “There has been a report of domestic violence,” Pauline said, then told us the address.

  We sometimes had to go out and deal with cases like these when there were no major crimes to deal with because we got there quicker than the police.

  We rushed to the house as quickly as we could, and Pablo knocked frantically on the door. After a minute, a white man with short black hair opened the door; he looked young and attractive, but looks could definitely be deceiving.

  “Can I help you?” He asked.

  “There's been a report of domestic violence, can we come in?” Pablo asked.

  “Not gonna happen. Unless you have a warrant.” He smiled.

  Unfortunately, we didn't have a warrant because we were called out too quickly.

  “You know, I think I just heard someone screaming inside,” Pablo said.

  I hadn't heard anything, but he did have super hearing, so he probably heard something that we didn't.

  “You liar!” The man shouted pointing at Pablo.

  “I have super hearing, I know what I heard.” Pablo smiled.

  “Fuck you! You're not getting in!”

  “Yes we are,” Alex replied and she moved the man aside with ease.

  “Uh, should I come in?” I asked.

  “Yeah, there might be someone inside who needs to be healed,” Pablo replied.

  We all walked inside and the house was dimly lit, with few windows to let light in. It was musty inside, with black spots on the beige walls. This house was absolutely miserable, no one would want to live here.

  I followed Sam, since I didn't want to be on my own in this creepy house with the aggressive man around.

  “Do you think we'll find anything?” I asked.

  “I think we might, that guy really didn't want us coming into his house,” Sam replied.

  “Yeah, it seemed suspicious.” I nodded.

  We went into the living room, but I couldn't see anything out of the ordinary. I really hoped that we'd find the poor man or woman who was the victim of domestic violence; I'd hate it if they were here but we didn't find them.

  “I don't see anything unusual in this room,” Sam said.

  “Neither do I.”

  We moved on, then went into the kitchen. I looked around and saw grey marks on the floor by the fridge — when I'd seen those kinds of marks in movies, there had always been a hidden door behind it. Maybe that was the way down to the basement where the person was being kept. It reminded me of how Randall always confined me to the apartment, but at least I hadn't been kept underground.

  “I think we need to move that fridge, it looks like it's been moved multiple times before,” I said.

  “Good spotting,” Sam replied, then used his powers to move it.

  I was right, there was a door behind it; I walked over and tried to open it, but it was locked.

  “It's locked.”

  “I'll get it, stand back.”

  I took a step back, then Sam ripped the door off, making my eyes widen — if there was no one behind the door, he could get in trouble, all of us could. I wanted someone to be down there so that we wouldn't get in trouble, but I also wanted no one to be down there because the thought of people being trapped down there was horrendous. There were steps leading downwards into darkness, it was very creepy.

  “Uh, you can go first,” I said.

  “Why? Are you scared?” Sam chuckled.

  “Uh, yeah, kinda. Who knows what we'll find down there.”

  “Don't worry, I won't let anything happen to you,” Sam said, holding his hand out, so I took it and we descended the steps together.

  We got to the bottom and it was completely dark, I couldn't see a thing.

  “I wish one of us had powers where we could create light, it'd be really useful right now.” I sighed.

  “It's okay, all of us have light up suits in case we're ever in the dark. You just say give me light,” Sam said, making his suit light up, like a torch.

  “That's really cool.” I smiled.

  We continued on down the narrow hallway, then we came to a larger room and the sight was horrific. There were four women chained to the wall; this was clearly much more than just domestic violence.

  “Oh my God,” I said.

  “Help!” They exclaimed.

  “Don't worry, we're going to get you out of here,” I replied.

  Sam seemed to be frozen, he wasn't moving or blinking.

  “We need to save them,” I said, but he didn't react at all. “Hey, are you okay?”

  Sam's breathing had changed, he was taking in deep breaths, as if he was stressed, I'd never seen him like this. It was worrying.

  “It's okay, I'm here for you. We can deal with this later, whatever's going on, but right now, we need to get these women out of here,” I said.

  Sam took in another deep breath, then straightened and his breathing returned to normal.

  “Let's get these girls out of here.” He smiled.

  It was really odd, Sam seemed to be freaking out a minute ago, but now he was fine. Surely, I couldn't have helped him get over it that quickly.

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  Sam pulled the chains from the wall, then got them off the women. They were in their underwear and had a strong odour, it was unthinkable what they'd been through.

  “Thank you!”

  “Let's get out of here and tell the others,” I said.

  “Come on, hurry now ladies, I don't want you getting left down here,” Sam said.

  He was definitely acting differently, but maybe it was because he'd been triggered by something down here. He hadn't seemed scared when we'd been going down, it was only when he'd seen the women chained up.

  We went upstairs with the women and led them out of the house and into the daylight; they all shielded their eyes. All of them looked underweight, with their bones sticking out, I felt so sorry for them, that monster must've starved them.

  “I'll stay with these lovely ladies, you go and tell the others that we've found them,” Sam said.

  “Uh, what about that man? I'm worried that he might hurt me.”

  I likely wouldn't be able to defend myself against that man, especially when he'd already managed to kidnap four women.

  “You'll be fine, the others are in there. Don't be a scaredy-cat.”

  He was probably right, but I didn't like the tone of his voice, it sounded rude, as if he thought I was a baby. When he'd talked about me being scared earlier, he'd meant it in a friendly, joking way, but he certainly didn't this time.

  “Alright, I'll go in and get them.” I went back into the house, hoping I wouldn't run into the creep.

  I found Alex and Sofia upstairs in the man's smelly, dark bedroom.

  “Hey, we found women chained up in this creep's basement,” I said.

  “No, that's awful!” Alex exclaimed.

  “I know.” I nodded.

  “Yeah, that's even worse than what we were called out here for,” Sofia said.

  “We just need to find Pablo, arrest that guy, then get out of here,” I said.

  I didn't want to spend one more minute here, this place was disgusting, and it was frightening that the man had kept these women here for an extended period of time.

  “We'll make sure you get out of here safely, then get Pablo and that vile creature,” Alex said.

  “Thanks, I hate this house.”

  “Same,” Sofia replied.

  They walked me to the front door, then I went and stood with Sam and the four disheveled women.

  “Is everything alright with you?” I looked at Sam.

  “Yeah, sorry, I panicked a bit down there, I'm fine now.”

  “Are you sure? You seemed a bit different after you panicked.”

  “I guess it was just the stress of the situation. I can't say I've dealt with anything so haunting before. I'm sorry if I was rude or anything,” Sam replied.

  “Uh, it's okay, I was just worried about you.”

  “I'm fine now, really.” He smiled.

  Sam did seem to be back to his normal self, but the whole thing had been weird; I'd talk to Pablo about it when I got the chance, maybe he'd know more about it.

  A woman with short, light-brown hair walked over to us, she had a stern look on her face and looked middle-aged. “Since you so-called heroes are here, I need help with a problem.” She seemed rude, not the kind of person I'd want to help.

  “What can we do for you?” Sam asked.

  “There's a young woman who keeps parking on the street, she doesn't live here and shouldn't be allowed to park here.” She rolled her eyes.

  “Alright, show us the car you're referring to,” Sam replied.

  We followed her over to a small car that was parked half on the road and half on the pavement; it looked fine to me.

  “I don't see any problem with it.” I shook my head.

  “Oh, but she's parked so badly, and I can't get my car out.”

  “The car isn't blocking any driveways.” Sam frowned.

  A woman around my height and age walked over and unlocked the car that the older woman was complaining about. She had long blonde hair and was wearing glasses.

  “There she is!” The woman pointed at her. “I already told you not to park here.” She glared at the poor woman.

  “I told you, it's fine, this is my friend's house that I'm parked outside, I have permission.”

  “You need to learn how to park in their driveway.”

  “I'm not the best at parking.” The young one giggled nervously.

  The driveway looked a bit narrow, and there were loads of cars parked around it, so I could see why she was parked where she was.

  “Look, there's nothing wrong with the way she's parked, you're just going to have to learn to drive better,” Sam said, making me laugh.

  That woman definitely deserved the insult, she seemed like a moody bitch.

  “Thank you, I've been parking here for two months with no complaints.”

  “You heroes are good for nothing. I'm going to phone the police,” she said.

  “Uh, for what?” I frowned.

  No one had broken any laws, so I couldn't see how she could call the police. They had more urgent things to deal with than a stupid dispute that the woman was wrong about.

  “For parking there.”

  “But she's not illegally parked and has permission from her friends. In fact, you'd probably get in trouble for wasting police time.” Sam smiled.

  The woman glared at us, then stormed off.

  “Oh my, thank you so much for dealing with that. She's been harassing me for the past week. She literally followed me to complain about my car, then complained to my boss about it.”

  “Jesus, that's crazy.” I shook my head. “She clearly has nothing better to do and is a bitter woman.”

  “Definitely, what a weirdo.” Sam nodded.

  “Anyway, thanks for dealing with that, it's so cool to meet you both.” She smiled.

  “Oh, do you want a picture or anything?” Sam asked.

  “That would be great!” She got her phone out of her bag.

  We both took a few pictures with her, then she got in her car and drove off. It was unbelievable that a woman would complain about something so minor and that she would threaten to call the police. There really were a lot of awful people in the world.

  Since we'd dealt with that weirdo complaining, we went back to the house, and the police had finally arrived, then they put the criminal in the back of the car. Sirens were wailing noisily, and ambulances arrived for the women.

  “Now that that's all dealt with, let's get back to the building,” Pablo said.

  “Oh, I really hope we get a break!” I exclaimed.

  We'd dealt with two heavy crimes back to back, I could really do with a relaxing break.

  “I hope we do too,” Alex replied.

  “Yeah, I'm sure we could all use one.” Sam nodded.

  Sam flew us back to the building and we all went to the staff room.

  “So, did you actually hear someone screaming or did you make that up?” I frowned, while looking at Pablo.

  “I just made it up. But no one would know that I was lying, they couldn't prove it.” Pablo smiled.

  “Wow, that's really smart. It's just as well you lied and got us inside,” I replied.

  “Definitely, waiting on a warrant would take too long, that guy could've moved the woman in the time it would take,” Sofia said.

  “That's why I always pretend I heard something, just in case.”

  “Well, anyway, I think if someone didn't have anything to hide, they'd just let heroes or police into their house,” I said.

  “That's true.” Sam nodded.

  I remembered that I still needed to talk to Pablo about what had happened to Sam in the basement.

  “Oh, Pablo, could I talk to you for a minute?” I asked.

  “Yeah, sure.” He nodded.

  We both got up and left the room. I didn't really want to talk to him in the hallway in case Sam heard us.

  “Is there somewhere more private we could go?” I asked.

  Hopefully, he wouldn't think I was flirting with him; Pablo was very attractive and kind, and I'd date him, but I definitely couldn't make the first move. It would be awkward if he rejected me or thought I was flirting, since he was my boss and we had to work together.

  “We can go to my office,” Pablo replied.

  “Oh, I'd forgotten you had one.” I laughed.

  I'd never seen Pablo in his office, he was always with us.

  “Eh, I don't really use it unless I have to meet with someone, or something.”

  I followed Pablo to his large office; it looked comfortable, there was a black sofa, two red chairs in front of his desk, and a black desk chair. We sat in the two red chairs.

  “So, what did you want to talk about?” Pablo asked.

  “It's about Sam, that's why I asked to go somewhere private, I didn't want him overhearing us.”

  “Did he do something to make you feel uncomfortable?” Pablo asked.

  “Uh, not really. When we were on that call, he froze when we were in the basement. It surprised me because I was the one who'd been scared about going down there. He was fine until we saw those women chained up. Has anything like this happened before?” I frowned.

  “No, not that I can remember.” Pablo shook his head.

  “Then, within a few seconds, he was back to normal, as if nothing had happened. It was really weird.” I shook my head. “But, he wasn't actually fully normal… he was talking differently, he didn't seem as nice as usual. Like, he talked about leaving the women down there if they didn't hurry, then he called me a scaredy-cat for not wanting to go back into the house with that creepy man in there.”

  “Thanks for telling me, I'll talk to him about it,” Pablo replied.

  “Just so you know, Sam did apologise and said it was because he'd never dealt with anything like that before.”

  “Maybe, he was very stressed. Stuff like that can mess with your head.”

  “Yeah, maybe.” I nodded.

  “Are you okay after everything?”

  “Yeah, it was just a lot to deal with.” I sighed. “The things we've been dealing with today have been stressful, especially seeing those women trapped down there. I know they've had it a lot worse than me, but it brought back memories of being trapped in my old apartment with Randall.”

  Even though Randall was dead, I still hated him for keeping me inside for many years. Those years had been the worst of my life, and I hated being reminded of them.

  “I'm sorry, I'm here for you if you ever need to talk about anything. Today has been hard on me as well, you're not alone.” Pablo leaned closer and hugged me, which made me feel a bit better.

  “Thank you.” I smiled.

  We went back to the staff room and joined the others.

  “Is everything okay?” Sofia asked.

  “Yeah, I'm feeling better now.” I nodded.

  “I can't believe all the messed up shit we've had to deal with today,” Alex said.

  “I know, it's awful.” I nodded.

  “Yeah, I've been thinking that we should have a drink at my house after work,” Sam said.

  “Yes! Great way to start the weekend!” Alex grinned.

  “Sounds good,” I said.

  “I'll come too,” Sofia replied.

  “Looks like we're all going, then.” Pablo smiled.

  ****

  After work, all of us went to Sam's humongous house. He'd shown me around the many different rooms, since I'd never been to his house before; I loved his house, it was very fancy and had everything. There were six bedrooms, four bathrooms, three living rooms, a gaming room, a cinema room, an indoor pool, two libraries and many more rooms. His house was incredible. I loved my apartment, but it would be even better to live in this house.

  We all sat in the living room, I was on the blue sofa in between Sam and Alex. Pablo and Sofia were in yellow chairs on either side of the sofa. There was a large TV in front of us and a coffee table. All of us were drinking alcohol, which was just what we needed after a stressful day at work.

  “I can't believe you live here, it's amazing,” I said.

  “Thank you. The job helped me save up to buy it.” Sam smiled.

  “I hope I get to live in a house like this someday,” I replied.

  “Yeah, it would be a dream.” Sofia nodded.

  “Well, until you save up enough money, you can both come here anytime, apart from weekends,” Sam said.

  “I'm actually surprised that you invited us tonight, it's nearly the weekend.” I frowned.

  It was weird that Sam was so against seeing anyone over the weekend, he said it was because he spent time with family, but it seemed extreme to ban contact with friends.

  “I know, but it's not quite Saturday yet. I'm free on Friday nights,” Sam said.

  “Well, it's nice to hang out on a Friday evening.” Alex smiled.

  “It's certainly a nice change,” Pablo replied.

  “It is.” I nodded.

  “We definitely needed this after the day we had. Those racist assholes were a nightmare to deal with, I hated that. Then that creep had kidnapped those women… we really dealt with a lot today.” Sofia sighed.

  “Yeah, I'd much rather deal with robbers or muggers, they're much less unsettling,” I replied.

  Even dealing with villains was less mentally draining because they usually targeted everyone, not specific groups, and they rarely kidnapped ordinary people.

  “Cara and I also had to deal with some weird woman,” Sam said.

  “What are you talking about?” Pablo frowned.

  I'd forgotten that we hadn't told the others about the woman.

  Sam told everyone about the woman complaining about the person being parked at their friend's house.

  “I don't know about parking laws over here, so I don't know if it was illegal, but that woman certainly overreacted,” Alex said.

  “I'm pretty sure her parking was legal,” I replied.

  “It was.” Sam nodded. “There were no double yellow lines or other signs about not parking there. The car wasn't blocking the pavement or road, so it was fine.”

  “I can't believe you told that woman to learn how to drive.” Alex laughed.

  “In fairness, that woman also told the other one to learn how to park,” I replied.

  “Yeah, just giving her a taste of her own medicine.” Sam smiled.

  “You just need to be careful, she sounds like the sort of person who'd want revenge,” Pablo said.

  “She does seem like the type to go mad online about us,” I replied.

  “Oh, I really hope she doesn't do that,” Sofia said.

  “I think we'd be okay, she's one person. I've met a few people who are fans, I'd say they'd outweigh her negativity,” I replied.

  It seemed like the only people who didn't like heroes were villains and criminals, along with a few citizens, who were obviously idiots.

  “You're probably right, I've met many fans,” Pablo said.

  “That's true.” Sofia nodded. “We have more fans than haters from what I've seen.”

  ****

  We'd all been drinking for a few hours, and I felt much more relaxed and giddy than earlier.

  “I swear, all of you are so attractive, it actually distracts me at work sometimes.” I laughed.

  “I didn't realise I distracted you.” Pablo chuckled.

  “Pablo, you're so caring and a great leader.” I went over and hugged him, then sat back on the sofa.

  “Thank you. I won't lie, you distract me too sometimes,” Pablo said.

  “Oh really?” I giggled and Pablo nodded.

  “And Sam, you're so thoughtful and handsome, it's no wonder you're one of the most popular heroes.” I hugged him.

  “Thanks, but you're so beautiful and caring, I bet you could take that spot from me.”

  “Thanks, but that's impossible.”

  “Oh, is it my turn next?” Alex smiled.

  “Of course, your strength is incredibly sexy and you're lovely.” I gave her a hug.

  “Aww, thanks, you're so sweet and pretty, I just want to help you all the time. You're small and cute, I'm tempted to carry you everywhere.” Alex laughed.

  “I wouldn't object to that, I love your big strong arms.” I smiled. “Don't worry Sofia, I haven't forgotten about you.”

  “Oh, good.”

  “You're gorgeous and I love how similar we are, it's nice to not be the only one who's scared of a lot of things.”

  “Thank you. You're beautiful and so friendly, I love having you on our team.” She smiled.

  “I mean, I really can't believe all of you are single. Whoever gets the honour of dating yous will be extremely lucky,” I said.

  I'd love to date all of them, they were all so kind and good-looking, they were just amazing. It would be a dream come true to date any of them, but that was probably just a dream that would never come true.

  “Whoever gets to date you will be lucky as well,” Sam replied.

  “Thank you.”

  “So, if you had to date one of us, who would you pick?” Alex asked.

  “All.” I smiled.

  It would be wonderful date all of them, but that would never happen.

  “That's cheating, you have to pick one.” She laughed.

  “I refuse to pick.” I shook my head.

  “Aww, come on, pick one.” Sam nudged me.

  “She already did, she picked all of us.” Pablo smiled.

  “Yeah, she could just date all of us,” Sofia said.

  “Thank you!” I exclaimed.

  It was way too hard to pick which one of them I'd want to date because they were all brilliant; I Iiked all of them equally.

  “Alright, fine, you can date all of us.” Alex laughed.

  “Yay.” I smiled.

  “Everyone would be so jealous of you.” Sam chuckled.

  “Definitely.” Sofia nodded.

  “Oh, it'll just have to be a secret then,” I replied.

  We talked and had a good laugh, time had flown by, it was 1am already. I was exhausted, I needed to go to sleep.

  “Can we have a sleepover?” I asked. “I really can't be bothered going home, I want to sleep.”

  “I'm sorry, I'd love for you to stay, but you have to go home. My family are coming over tomorrow and I don't want them finding all of you here hungover, it wouldn't look good. They can be quite judgemental.” Sam sighed.

  “Aww, please. I won't even be hungover tomorrow, or not for long because my body will heal quickly. I could even sneak out of your house,” I said.

  “Sorry, I just can't risk it. I don't want them insulting any of you,” Sam replied.

  I couldn't understand how Sam's family could be rude when he was so kind and caring, it didn't make any sense.

  “Cara, I'll carry you home. You can sleep on the way, I'll make sure you get home safely,” Alex said.

  “Are you sober enough for that?” Sofia asked.

  “Yeah, don't worry.” Alex nodded.

  “It'll be fine, Alex is very strong and seems sober to me,” Pablo said.

  “Then let's go,” I said.

  I trusted Alex, and even if she was drunk, she'd still be stronger than me.

  “I think we should all be going, it's very late,” Pablo said.

  “Yeah, I'm actually really tired.” Sofia yawned.

  I left with everyone, and Alex carried me, I was comfortable and closed my eyes. It felt like no time passed at all, when I felt myself being set on my bed.

  “Thank you taking me home.” I mumbled, almost asleep.

  “You're welcome, sweet dreams.” Alex hugged me, then tucked me in and left, closing the door behind her.

  The night had been great, I'd loved hanging out with everyone. I just wished that I really could date all of them.