Top Ten rushed to their fallen friend, tossing Tsoo out of the way like candy wrappers. They surrounded the red-skinned man, their voices flowing over each other.
"Is he all right?"
"Let’s get out of here!"
"What happened?"
"Somebody grab him!"
Elendil reached down and grabbed Tropic’s arm and headed for the hole in the roof, the limp body of the fire blaster trailing smoke from the wounds in his chest. The rest of Top Ten were directly behind them, providing cover, shielding the fleeing pair.
They raced through the night sky for nearly a mile, making sure they weren’t being followed, when Elendil finally landed. He lowered his injured friend to the ground and Tropic fell to his knees, then bent forward until he rested on his elbows in the clean green grass.
The remainder of the team landed near them and WillowWind rushed forward, shoving the Tablet into Buttercup’s hands. "Is he all right?", she asked urgently, the concern evident on her face.
Tropic was already up on one knee. "Yes," he replied through deep breaths, "I’m good." He rose unsteadily to his feet and his voice gained a bit more strength. "See?", he turned to Willow, "Good as new." The smoke and fire from his chest were gone and only five small scorched holes in his uniform remained. The hot red skin beneath showed not a mark.
WillowWind smiled in relief and was about to put a hand on his shoulder when Johnny Cognito angrily stepped up to Tropic, practically shoving the fire blaster back.
"What’s the matter with you?", Johnny cried out.
"What? I don’t…," Tropic asked in confusion.
"You didn’t think I saw them?", Johnny waved his arms about, clearly upset. "And that’s the second time today you’ve done this!", he went on, remembering the encounter with the demon in Perez Park. "Are you trying to get yourself killed?!"
"No, I…"
"Or maybe you’re just trying to be the big hero?! Is that it?!? Or maybe you’re just showing off for the ladies!", Cognito shouted looking over to WillowWind.
"That’s enough, Johnny!", Willow said firmly.
But Johnny kept going. "No, no it’s not! If he keeps doing this either he’s gonna get killed or one of us is! And I wanna know why!" He looked back at Tropic and took another step closer so he was almost in the blaster’s face. "So, why?! Why are you doing it!! Why?!"
"You want to know why?", Tropic growled.
"Yeah! Yeah, I do!", Johnny yelled back.
"SO YOU DON’T HAVE TO!", Tropic shouted back. "Because I can!" He looked around at his teammates. "Do you have any idea how old I am? Do you?! As near as I can figure I’m 3,461 years old! I don’t even have blood in my veins anymore! When you get hurt and zone to the hospital, I don’t need to! I…I may even be immortal…I don’t know! So that’s why I do it! So you won’t…so I’m not…" Tropic stopped speaking and looked at the ground around him, then he turned his head away from them and looked down his right arm to the earth.
An awkward silence followed. The heroes looked at each other then to their friend but he wouldn’t look up at them. Finally Temptations spoke softly. "So we won’t what, Tropic? So you’re not what?"
But the fiery hero wouldn’t answer. He continued to look away, embarrassed or perhaps ashamed of his outburst.
Buttercup walked up to the man and stared at him briefly. She dipped her head to look at his face but he tried to turn away even more. She sighed at last and said, "So we won’t leave you. So you’re not alone." She saw him stiffen a bit and try to turn even more into himself. "That’s it, isn’t it?" Buttercup shook her head. "What’s your life been like, Tropic? All these years…you go somewhere, find friends, maybe fall in love…then watch them all die and move on to somewhere else and do it all over again…"
"Don’t you pity me," Tropic whispered.
"Pity?", WillowWind asked incredulously. She came up to Tropic and hugged him tightly, kissing him on the cheek. She pulled away, pecking him lightly on the lips, then held him at arms length. "No, no pity. Because you’re an idiot."
"What?", Tropic blurted, his brow furrowed in confusion.
"You heard me. You’re an idiot. We can never leave you. You’ll never be alone. You know why?" Tropic shook his head. Willow placed one hand on the red-skinned man‘s shoulder and the other absently on her stomach. "Because we’re family," Willow said with conviction.
"Family?", Tropic asked, his lips curled in a small smile.
"Yup," she said brightly, "even Captain Insane-O over there," she pointed with her thumb over her shoulder to Johnny Cognito.
"Hey!", Johnny said with mock outrage.
Willow grinned again. "So, no more taking the big hits, right?"
"Ok," Tropic nodded slowly.
WillowWind turned around and looked at her friends. "I live a couple blocks from here. Let’s go to my place, I’ll make some coffee and we can figure out what this crazy rock says." The team all murmured in agreement and she started to lead the way but turned at the last moment. "And some of you, you know who you are, may need to take a shower because…well…you stink!" And with that she leapt into the air followed by the laughter of her teammates.
Tropic watched them go then launched himself into the cool night sky, following them with a new word on his lips:
"Family."
Up Next:
How much is that monster in the window?