The final bell rang and the students hurriedly packed their bags and made out class. Excel once out of class waited by the hallway on his phone, searching for information on Captain Solaro. Apparently he was some kind of great hero the entire world looked up to, super strong, fast, and extremely power, he at a time was seen as the greatest beckon of hope to the world but all that changed when…
"Hey Bluey", a voice snapped him out of his train of thought as he read the article.
Excel then looked up and saw Alana beside him.
"Hey, you don't with Calculon", Excel spoke upon seeing Alana.
Calculon was a special class for only smartest of students which the school basically threatened her to join with suspensions due to her frequently skipping classes and mostly sleeping through the classes she did attend. Thanks to that big brain of hers grads didn't really suffer due to inactiveness during classes, however the school still felt it was necessary for her to join the Calculon, hoping it would lead to her being more proactive in academics much to Alana's annoyance, who though finding what they taught during the class which ranged from advanced physics, calculus, mathematics, slightly more engaging than the plain basic stuff they taught during normal classes, she still found the class pretty boring and basic.
"Nah, the teachers said I could leave class early if I could solve a quantum theoretic equation?" said Alana.
"A quantum what?" asked Excel with a confused look on his face.
"Quantum theoretic equation, it's basically an equation numerical integers that when quantified could be…" Excel cut her off just as he felt his head begin to spin from her explanation by saying, "Sorry I asked".
"Any I solved it, and was allowed to leave early. Now wanna get out here and head to Mcbites", asked Alana.
Excel upon hearing what Alana said, just flashed a smile at her before saying, "Sure"
A few minutes late, the pair found them at a fast food restaurant not too far from their school called Mcbites, and Excel proceeded to order everything on the menu before proceeding to stuff his mouth hole with food. Mcbites was here Alana and Excel usually hung out after school since her dad would always come late to pick up Alana and Daniela trusted Excel enough to be able to come home safely on his, and thanks to her hectic hero schedule, he could afford coming home a little late and hang out with Alana while she waited for her dad to come pick her up.
Alana, while Excel was busy stuffing himself, was busy jotting something down on her note book.
"No", she muttered out of frustration before ripping out the page she was writing on, crumpling it up and tossing it away.
"You know if keep tearing up pages like that you won't have much of a book to right on", said Excel after swallowing a massive burger.
"What is that anyway, some kind of special assignment from your Calculon class?" asked Excel.
Alana then let out a tired sigh before slumping on her seat.
"I wish", she spoke before grabbing some fries on the table, her expression tired and frustrated.
"Then what is it?" asked Excel.
"Something that could change the world", she spoke as she tossed some of the fries in to her mouth.
"Save the world? Don't we have heroes for that?" asked Excel.
"Yeah, but they aren't really effective. Sure throw a few crooks in jail but after a day a could more will be on streets again wreaking havoc and the supposed heroes have got out and stop them again, in a pointless and idiotic cycle", said Alana.
Excel upon hearing Alana paused and took a moment to contemplate her words, he then recalled what she said during history and how criticized their teacher and basically left him stumped and unable to give a reply.
"What you said during history about the teacher not painting a clear. What exactly did you mean by that?" asked Excel.
Alana then let out a tired sigh before saying, "You wouldn't get it's far too complicated".
"Come on Alana, I know I not the sharpest tool in the shed but I'm not a total idiot", said Excel.
"Debatable", Alana scoffed causing Excel to simply sigh before saying, "Come on, just tell me already. You can even dumb it down to a level an idiot like me could understand".
Alana then let out a tired sigh before saying, "Sure, why not, though I doubt you'd be able to understand even if I did dumb it down, considering dense you are".
"Hey", Excel retorted at her words, slightly offended by her.
"Heroes and villain, individual with immense power far surpasses anything the ordinary man could ever dream of doing. Their stronger than us, faster, and far more powerful. We idolized one and fear the other, why do you think we do?" asked Alana as she tossed in some more fries in to her mouth.
"Well, heroes protect us while villains threaten to harm us", said Excel, wondering where exactly she was going with this.
"That's an oversimplification of the truth. In reality the reason people adore heroes so is the very reason why both heroes and villains exist, selfishness", Excel's eyes widened in shock upon hearing Alana's words.
"Everything we do, every action we take, whether consciously or subconsciously taken due to an innate sense of selfishness. People adore heroes because of their selfish desire to feel safe and protected, heroes protect them because of their own selfish desire to be loved and adored by the people, and villains, their kind of selfishness is the most primal of all, they want, be it money, lust for power or the desired to be feared. And everything they do, no matter how vile or human, is simply a means to an selfish end, just like every other person", said Alana.
"That…no...that isn't right", Excel spoke failing to accept her words.
"Heroes aren't selfish, they risk their lives each and every day, over and over again just to save us, not because of some selfish desire to be adored and loved but because they want to", said Excel.
Alana upon hearing was Excel said just smiled and nodded her head before saying, "Yeah, I knew you wouldn't get".
She then let out a breath before saying, "You know there is nothing inherently wrong with being selfish. We humans as a species are basically born selfish, heck the entirety of life itself, from the animal, to trees, even microbes are all driven by the single sole selfish desire to live, and they do either through unity or competition. Selfishness is a crucial part of survival for all walks of life, including man".
"However the problem", she continued. "Lies in the simple fact that even though our selfish desire's ultimate goal is survival but survival means different things to different people. For some it's the preservation of their bloodline, so they do everything their power to protect their children from an perceive danger. For others it's themselves, protect and defend yourself above all else, that's the motto they live, even if it means stealing, terrorizing, or ending a life, as long as you keep yourself safe, you would have survived. And for a few it's to find a place for yourself in society, a job you do well and exceed in, to be useful in the eyes of everyone, to have value"
Excel looked at Alana with a troubled expression of both shock and confusion as he struggled to understand her words especial when they entailed a believe that everybody, inherently is selfish, especially when he knew a hero who was more than willing to put her life on the line if it meant saving a single soul. Daniele…speed star saves people, not because of some selfish desire of hers, not to reserve and form of praise or recognition, she didn't because she… Speed Star is who I am…was a hero.
"Anyway, thanks to these selfish desires of ours we tend to look past the bigger picture. Seeing only our individual selves instead of us as a whole", said Alana.
"Whether they be regular people or demihumans, hero, villain, at the end of the we're all just people on this floating blue rock in cosmos trying our absolute best to survive and yet it this primal selfish desire to survive that will inevitable doom us all", Alana spoke, her words dark, grim, and heavy, deep disturbing Excel and made him glace at her with fear and concern in his eyes.
"What do you mean by doom us?" asked Excel, his words laced with hints of fear.
"It's inevitable, we're constantly in a battle amongst ourselves, be it demihuman and man, man and man, demihumans and demihuman. We all just can't seem to get along, we too different, with different views on what it means to survive, which is why our will never know. Villain will still terrorize the streets and heroes will try to take them down, and their clashing will more often than result in causalities of the ordinary people who are powerless to protect themselves", said Alana as she glanced down to her note book.
Excel then upon hearing her words, couldn't but bow his head as he contemplated her words.
"We're all stuck in a vicious, never ending cycle where villain wreak havoc and heroes swoop in to save the day, with the aftermath being ordinary their trying often getting hurt during the battle. But we have to let the cycle continue", Alana then grabbed hold of her note book.
"If I could just figure this out I might be able to…", Alana gritted her teeth as an image her woman and boy slightly older flashed in her mind.
*Drip*
"Alana, are you okay?" Excel's voice seem to have snapped her out of the memories of the past that plagued her mind.
She then felt a small tear droplet trickling down her cheeks. She no time in wiping the tear away before saying, "Yeah, fine".
"You sure?" Excel questioned with a look of worry and concern etched on his face.
"Yeah", Alana spoke bowed her head, looking down at the note book on her hand before shifting her glance to Excel, seeing the worried and frightened look in his eyes, realized that she might said a bit too much.
"Can you just forget I said anything", said Alana.
"Alana, what's wrong?" Excel questioned as glanced at her, his eyes willed with fear and worry for the only friend he had.
"It's nothing, just me droning on about nonsense you wouldn't get", she spoke with a smile that was clearly forced but Excel not wanting to push or force but he would be lying if he said her words didn't rattle him and scare him a little. Looking at her and the note book she kept so close to her side, Excel could help but worry, recalling those words he saw when briefly glanced at the note's contains. 'Project Assimilation', those ominous words ringing at the back of his mind along with Alana's words troubled Excel.
She had always been different of the kids her age and even though they had gotten close during the passing years, he would lying if he said he said he understood her. From her tendency to avoid classes, jotting frantically on that note book of her to her words which carried a heavy ominous air around her, Excel just couldn't figure her out which both intrigued him towards her but also scared him a little as he wondered just what exactly was going through her head.
Alana's phone then began buzzing snapping Excel out his thoughts. Alana then picked her phone and glanced at it to see who it was.
"It's my dad, he must have finally arrived", she spoke before answering the call.
"I'm at Mcbites", she spoke, her tone somewhat cold before ending the call and putting away her phone.
"Well we have been 10 to 5 minutes before he gets here", said Alana.
"Oh", was all Excel could say. The air between them had turned stiff and awkward with both Excel and Alana not entirely sure what to say, and just sat from across each other on the table while they waited for her dad to arrive.
"So…how's Daniela", Alana broke the awkward after about a minute of deadpan silence.
"She's…*an image of Daniela arrive him with several injuries, tired with soars all over her body, flashed in his mind*, fine but she's been working a bit too hard lately", said Excel.
"Really", Alana spoke, the heavy air lighten up around them.
"Yeah, *sigh* she comes home late more often and is always tired and exhausted", said Excel spoke, his face sinking with sadness as he thought about Daniela and just how much she had been pushing herself just to save the day as speed star.
The crooks and super villains have gotten a lot tough over the years and it has been easy for Daniela deal with over the years with being a lot of close calls with Daniela having to barely manage to make it home, in a bloody mess, her body cover in hundreds of soars and wounds, barely able to stand on her own two feet. Seeing her in that state almost single day, Excel couldn't help but worry about her, fearing that one day one super villain might manage to get the best of her and…
"Excel are you okay?" Alana spoke, noticing that Excel was lost in his thoughts.
"Yeah, I'm fine" Excel spoke with weak a voice that made it clear to Alana that really wasn't fine.
Alana then flashed him a look that made it abundantly clear that she knew something was up and he better spill it.
Excel then let out a tired sigh before saying, "I get that she has to work and a lot of people count on her but…"
Flashes of his time with Daniela began racing through his mind, from the moment he first saw and she embraced him in H.O.P.E to her taking him in.
"…she's done a lot for me and I don't want to see her get hurt or worse…", tears hung at the very edge of Excel eyes as images of his home in Kinerix and family both of which he lost, and how didn't want to ever have to endure the pain of lost again, he didn't want to enduring the pain losing family, he couldn't bare it, not again.
Excel was snapped out of his thoughts by Alana snapping her fingers in front him.
"Hey, earth to Excel", she spoke while snapping her fingers in front of him.
"You okay", she spoke, her turned soft with hints of worry and concern behind her words.
"Yeah", Excel wiped away the stagnant tears on his eyes.
"Fine", said Excel, trying his best to act as though he was alright but the sad and tired expression on his face gave it all away.
Alana then out a tired sigh before saying, "Adults are idiots".
Excel eyes widened in shock upon hearing her what Alana said.
"And the funny thing is, they think we kids are the dumb ones. They work and they work, investing all the time and attention in to their work, immersing and losing themselves in it oblivious to the fact that we're right by the concern watching them as keep pushing themselves. They doing this for us or we too young to understand. They treat us like idiots, we can't see their hurt or pain, and expect us to just take them by their word when then say that their alright. It's just so frustrating", Alana spoke, her voice heavy a pain and frustration that mirrored what Excel felt every time he watched Daniela risk her life on the news or come home bloodied, covered in soars and wounds.
"*Sigh* but at the end of the day you're just a kid and they're the adults, they know best after all and all you can do is bare it and try your best to help alleviated some of the burden's weighing on them", Alana spoke, her tune soft and tired as looked down at her note book.
Then as if on cue a car pulled up by Mcbites.
Alana and Excel then turned to see the car through the window.
"Looks like my rides", Alana said with a slight smile on her face.
"Yeah", Excel spoke with a halfhearted smile, a bit sad that it was time for them to go their separate ways.
The two then settled their bill and Alana went off, entering the car, with Excel waving her off as he watched her leave.
Once she was gone, her words lingered on his mind.
"Everything we do, every action we take, whether consciously or subconsciously taken due to an innate sense of selfishness…"