Joey sat near the Top, where he'd promised to meet Lightning. He checked his phone again, making sure for what must have been the hundredth time that morning. Sure enough, she'd said she could meet him for training today.
After that, they'd head for the Legion meeting. And his day off would disappear just like that.
Joey mentally ran through his work schedule. His shifts were from 6:00 a.m. until 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday. Five days again this week. And Saturday would have him working until 2:30. Could he keep this up and his role in the Legion?
He was exhausted already. After supper, he'd do a couple things before collapsing into bed by 8:00 and getting up at 5:00 the next morning.
"Hey, Jumper." Joey startled as Lightning looked him over. He hadn't seen her approach.
"H-hi." He shoved his phone back in his pocket and took a couple breaths to calm down.
"You okay?"
"Just tired." She leaned against the wall and stared at him for a while. He glanced away, not sure what she wanted.
"Something you wanna talk about? I can even just listen to you vent. How's your new job treating you?"
"It's...a lot. I have to get up at five every morning and I'm working five days a week. I mean, this is what other people do so I should have no trouble with it, but I'm just..." Joey crouched down and sighed.
"Want to skip training today? If you're worn out, pushing yourself too hard will just cause more injuries."
"No, I can...or..." Joey didn't know how to respond.
"Look, starting a new routine is rough for the first while. Eventually you'll get used to it and you'll be able to go back to doing other things again. Nobody's paying you to be in the Legion, so go ahead and earn money. You need it to live. I'm still coasting by on savings and EI, but I'd like to find other work soon enough."
"Something with the military?"
"I mean...It'd be nice, but I don't think that's in the cards for me. I'll probably aim for bartending or something. Something that'll pay the bills so I can do more of this." Lightning let out a sort of laugh. "Who would have thought an upright military officer like me would end up as a vigilante? Yeesh. Life really changes in a blink on you."
"You're still trying to help out, though." Joey glanced up at her. Lightning chuckled and sat next to him.
"What do you say we hang out until it's time for the Legion meeting? I'll grab coffees for us if you wait here."
"Could I get a lemonade instead?"
"No worries. One coffee, one lemonade. Anything else?"
"How much do I owe you?"
"This one's on me, kiddo." Lightning ruffled his hair - or hood - and was gone in a few seconds with her Miracle. Joey grinned under his mask. She really was a good friend to have.
Joey finally made it to the Legion meeting place, heaving from running the whole way. Lightning had proposed a race, and she had beaten him soundly. While he sat and waited for his lungs to recover, Lightning handed him a bottle of water.
"You okay bud? You look like you're about to collapse."
"How...can...you...tell?" He was wearing a mask after all.
"Body language. You're on your butt, for one. For another, your chest is heaving like it's trying to get as much oxygen through you as possible. And you kind of look like you're about to fall on your back. Need a leg to lean on?"
"I'm...I'm good." Joey lifted his mask slightly to take a drink of the water. It felt good going down.
"What were you two up to?" Prime asked, looking the two of them over.
"We started having morning training sessions," Lightning replied. "After that, we decided to race here. Jumper can go up and down really quickly, but running across the city like this is more my thing. If we had to get to the Top as fast as possible, Jumper would win. As much as that irks me." She grinned and gave Joey a good-natured shove in the shoulder.
"I'm not...good for much else," Joey gasped. He took another swig of the water.
"Where do you have your training sessions?" Prime asked. "I might be interested in joining in."
"Usually near the Top. Not sure when the next one will be, but I can get your cell number and text you the details if you don't mind my having it."
"Sure." Prime fiddled with his phone for a bit, then handed it to Lightning so she could punch in her number. He sent her a text, and a small beep a second later confirmed that Lightning had received it.
"Looks good. I'll let you know. We were doing Mondays, but I'm not sure if Jumper can continue with those."
"I can let you know," Joey replied. "But I don't really know my work schedule more than a week in advance at a time."
"Aren't they supposed to tell you two weeks early?"
"Maybe? But my workplace is kind of a mess. I think? Or maybe this is normal. I have no idea."
"My work schedule was always set months in advance," Prime said. "I'd pretty much know everything for the year by January. Excluding shuffles that had to be made when someone got sick or injured."
"What - " Joey started to ask, before cutting himself off. If he asked personal questions, he'd have to answer them too. "Sorry. I shouldn't ask."
"I have no problem talking about it. I was a pro wrestler until they forced me to retire for being old."
Joey looked Prime up and down, trying to process that. He did not look old enough to retire. He had no grey hairs, and didn't really have any wrinkles either. At least based on what he could see. The costume made it a bit harder to tell.
"That's rough, man," Lightning said.
"Wait, but you don't look that old even. And you can definitely beat up people. The first time we met you, you saved my neck."
"Sports figures tend to retire pretty early," Lightning replied.
"Yup. Thirty-four years old and they decided I was too old. Just because my muscles were starting to weaken a tiny bit."
Joey stared at him, trying to reconcile that information.
"But hey, now thanks to my Miracle I don't have to worry about that crap. That purple god of yours saved me from a lifetime of slowly deteriorating from my peak. I guess this is partly my way of repaying them. Another part is this is seriously cool work."
"Sorry for the wait!" Achilles interrupted their conversation by bounding in, his cape billowing behind him. "Achilles the Invincible is here!"
"And the Ultimate Light Mater is here!" A boy jumped out from behind Achilles. And Joey had to do a double take.
Light Master? Wasn't that the underage kid who'd joined their first meeting? Why was he back here? But he didn't have time to ask - everyone else, even Lightning, acted as if they'd almost expected him to be here.
"Prime the Forever Young is here!"
"Lightning. Also Jumper." Lightning jabbed a finger in Joey's direction.
"Lightning the Quick! And Jumper the Nimble. You two really need to get your epithets memorized," Achilles said, taking charge of the meeting.
"Lightning the Quick and Jumper the Nimble reporting for whatever," Lightning said, her voice perhaps more monotone than before.
"Close enough! Now, we have some very exciting developments to discuss today." Achilles spun around, making his cape billow again as he started pacing with his hands folded behind his back.
"First off, I don't think we've met," Prime said, reaching to shake Light Master's hand. "I'm Prime. New addition to the Legion."
"I'm Light Master. Due to unfortunate circumstances I've had to take a break, but I have returned to the Legion!"
"Perfect! And I hope we continue to gather even more members," Achilles said. "But first off, we're moving our meeting. We have a more suitable location for it now."
"A different alley?" Lightning asked sarcastically.
"Nope! We have a base!" Light Master said, grinning broadly. "Come on, we'll show you."
A base? Joey followed Achilles and Light Master hesitantly, wondering what kind of base they could have possibly gotten for the Legion.
