The pounding on the door continued, relentless. "Aisha… Aisha… Aisha… Okay, I'm coming in!"
Aisha's eyes went wide. "No, wait! I'm not wearing any clothes!"
The voice on the other side of the door paused. "You or Exalibar?"
Aisha was visibly shocked. "Wha, How?!"
"I saw his cruiser parked outside the gate when I went out for my morning run."
Damn it, Aisha thought internally.
Exalibar jolted awake, the noise yanking him from a deep sleep. "Wha's happening?" he mumbled, his words slurred.
"Alright, I'm coming in…." the voice declared.
The door swung open to reveal a lean young man with fiery red hair and emerald green eyes that mirrored Aisha's. It was her twin brother, Dylan.
Dylan leaned against the doorframe, a smirk plastered on his face. "Exalibar, bro. Did you really have to slither your way in here you two bit sneaky link?"
Exalibar rubbed the sleep from his eyes, a grin spreading across his face. "Oh yeah? Like you would ever let me just waltz right in here, you son of a—"
The two boys met in the middle of the room, sharing a complex handshake that ended with a solid, familiar dap on the shoulder. Friends from childhood, their bond strong as actual siblings.
Dylan clapped him on the back. "Anyways, what's up, bro? Don't usually find you passed out at my sister's desk."
Exalibar sighed dramatically. "I'm being blackmailed into a hero mission."
Dylan's eyebrows shot up. "The one with the missing kids?"
Exalibar looked surprised. "Yeah. You knew about it?"
"Well, yeah. I am also a hero, you know," Dylan said, just as the ringtone from Exalibar's phone cut through the room.
"Excuse me, I gotta take that." He put the phone to his ear. "Hello?"
Sky's voice, heavily sarcastic, came through the speaker. "Cover for me, he said. I'll be back soon, he said."
"Oh yeah, about that…"
"Explain later! Mom has been calling you for 15 minutes straight, and I can't keep telling her you're still in the shower!"
"Okay, okay! I'll be there in five!" Exalibar hung up and shoved the phone in his pocket. "Guys, excuse me, I gotta run."
"But Exalibar," Aisha protested, "we never finished planning"
"We'll finish planning at the academy We have to round up the team members either way…" He tossed his car keys in a high arc toward Dylan, "Bring my car with you."
Aisha stared, baffled. "And what are you going to use?"
Exalibar just grinned. "Like I said…" Before the words had fully left his mouth, the air wooshed. In a blur of motion, he was out the open window and vanished into the horizon.
He arrived home moments later, crashing directly through his own bedroom window and landing in a heap on his bed. Laying on his side, he gasped for air, utterly exhausted from the immense amount of mana it had taken to mimic his brother's speed for even that short burst.
Sky entered the room, shaking his head. "Took you long enough."
"Not… all of us… are speedsters," Exalibar panted between ragged breaths.
"Yeah, yeah. Now let's go before we never hear the end of Mother's lecture on tardiness."
The boys made their way downstairs. In the kitchen, their mother, Diana, was just finishing cooking. Despite wealth that could hire a legion of top chefs, she preferred to make every meal herself, a testament of normalcy in their lavish lives.
Their father, James, was seated at the head of the table, a physical newspaper held in his hands, a quaint habit in a digital age. He lowered the paper.
"Good morning, sons."
The twins spoke in unison. "Good morning, Father. Good morning, Mother."
"Mornin', boys!" Diana chirped, not turning from the stove. "Anything for breakfast?"
Sky leaned toward Exalibar, whispering, "Asking like she isn't already done cooking enough for a small army."
Exalibar whispered back, "Asking like we actually have a choice in the matter."
Diana turned, her hearing preternaturally sharp. "What was that, boys?"
The twins straightened up immediately. "Nothing!"
"I thought so," she said, a knowing smile playing on her lips as she placed stacks of pancakes and glasses of fresh juice on the table.
James chuckled, folding his newspaper. "So, boys, how was the gala?"
"It was nice, I guess," Sky said, digging into his food. "I don't know why you keep donating even more money on top of being a superhero, Mom."
Diana placed a hand on her hip. "Well, you can never do enough good in the world. Everything we do in life should be for the greater good."
"Spoken like the true Rank 4 hero," Exalibar said, a note of pride in his voice.
"I am actually thinking of joining the hero business," Sky announced casually.
Exalibar nearly choked on his juice. "What? I thought we were going to do engineering together!"
"I don't know, man. I think I can do a lot of good with my speed," Sky replied, his gaze thoughtful.
"That is true," James interjected "But you can also help people in many other ways."
"Your father is right," Diana added, joining them at the table. "You just have to make sure you do it in your own way. Saving the world mustn't be done out of obligation, but out of a genuine love for people. Only then can you be a true hero."
Exalibar fell silent, staring into his glass of juice, his mother's words sinking in.
A true hero, huh, he thought, a familiar, heavy weight settling in his chest. I will never be a hero.