Picking up my clothes was as easy as just going into the clothing store, and giving them my name. Vicky had already payed for them, so I just had to wait a few minutes while they brought everything out, which was nothing short of a dozen bags full of clothing sized to fit me best. During that time, Evelyn had wandered around the store, checking out various cute looking clothes, including a couple of blouses, some sinfully short skirts and shorts, and some fuzzy coats. She said it was too expensive for her, so she opted out of getting anything.
I had some money that Vicky had given me. I still felt bad about that, and I vowed that I'd pay her back, and buy her some nice gifts once I had money of my own. She insisted I didn't have to, but relented when I insisted that I did. She didn't argue with me, and instead had just smiled at the time.
Once I had all of the bags in hand, I walked out of the store, with a slightly wide eyed Evelyn following close behind me.
"Isn't that all heavy?" She asked me.
"Not really. It's more awkward than anything else." I said, and she just shook her head as we made our way down the street, "Although, I don't know how I'm gonna go in the store with all this shit. I promsied my mom I'd her something."
"I can go inside and get it for you. I want something anyways, and I'll even get that candy you wanted. My treat." She said, and proved her claim moments later by running inside of a local department store station along the way, asking me what I needed for my mom, and coming back out with a couple of bags in hand about 5 minutes later.
"I got you a couple bags of some peanut butter candies, and a soda. That seasoning for you mom is in there." She said, and I smiled at her kindness.
"I appreciate it." I said, as we continued walking forward, "So... where do you live?"
"I go this way too. Once we get to Fillmore street, I'll take a right and head home. I'm starving... although I'm not quite sure what to make yet." She said, and that was the best opportunity I was going to get.
"Do you... want to join me for dinner? My mom is making burritos, and she told me to ask the friend I was with to join us." I said, causing Evelyn to blush furiously, and slowly shake her head.
"N-no no, I don't want to impose." She said, but I tried again.
"Nonsense. You're a nice person, and have treated me well. I don't have a lot of friends, but I'd like to consider you one of them." I said, making her blush even more.
"You... want a friend like me?" She asked, making me look at her with a raised eyebrow.
"Why wouldn't I? Vicky also wants you to come." I said, before muttering, "I think so, anyways."
Her eyes widened, and she stared at me in shock.
"The Glacial Queen wants to have dinner with me??" She asked, and I just sighed a bit, and then grinned.
"That's what I said. They were both pretty insistant. So, what do ya say?" I asked, and she looked pensive for a moment, and then smiled a bit as she nodded.
"O-okay... I didn't have any plans anyways." She said, and I grinned, and gestured forward.
"Great! Well, come on then." I said, and led her down the street, just past the city limits, towards my little suburb.
◇ ◇ ◇
"Here we are. Home sweet home." I said as we stood in front of my home.
Evelyn looked around the neighborhood, before looking at my home.
"It's quiet and peaceful here. Not like the noisy apartment complex I live in. Your home is nice and quaint." She said.
"Yeah. It's nice to be home." I said with a smile.
"You were asleep for a while. At least you were asleep for most of that time." She replied.
"Yeah... asleep."
I wasn't about to tell her that I was actually gone for over a century. I honestly don't think people would even believe me. I think my mom would, and maybe Vicky, but I would probably have to show them everything I could do.
"Come on, let's go inside." I said, and gestured for Evelyn to follow.
I made it to the front door, and fumbled with my keys and all of the shit in my hands until I was able to unlock it and head inside.
"Hey mom, I'm home, and I brought my friend!" I shouted as I kicked off my shoes, and gestured for Evelyn to come inside.
"You can take your shoes off. Living room is to your right. I'm gonna go throw this shit in my room." I said, and quickly ran up the stairs to drop off the bags.
Once that was done, I took my bag in hand with the candy and taco seasoning and went back downstairs to the sounds of Evelyn talking with my mom.
"He didn't tell me it was you, Evie! It's always so good to see you." My mom said.
"You too, Nora. He probably didn't even think about it. He's really nice, but he also seems distant sometimes. It's probably just the after effects of the coma." Evelyn replied.
I stopped to think about that. It made sense, but not in the way they assumed. In Axios, I had to prioritize everything. Training, fighting, surviving, and the like. I also had to choose what I cared about and what I thought was worth my attention. That Doctor Wesker, or whatever, was not worth my attention, for example. That being said, I was in another world for such a long time that I had actually spent more time there than I did here by almost 5 times the length. Still, I was back now, so I'd do my best to improve.
"Hey y'all!" I said as I skipped into the living room.
"Gideon! You failed to tell me that your friend was this sweet thing right here." My mom said, pointing at Evelyn, who began blushing furiously. She really did that a lot. It was kind of cute.
"Sorry. I wasn't really thinking about it. I didn't really want to go back to the hospital again." I said, shrugging and sitting down on the couch.
Evelyn sat next to me, and while she wasn't super close, she wasn't exactly far away either. The way she was sitting actually caused her chest to be pushed out more, and my eyes lingered for a bit longer than they normally would. I blinked and looked away as my mom began talking from a chair opposite of us.
"Did he behave?" She asked Evelyn, and I just winced. Even I knew the answer to that.
"He did... with me, anyways." She replied.
"What do you mean by that?" My mom asked.
"Well... you see, he has a tendency to really frustrate Doctor Weston. I've actually never seen someone irritate him as much as Gideon does." Evelyn answered a bit hesitantly, and I appreciate that at least. She was an honest girl, and I respected that. My actions were my own fault.
"Oh, that's not that bad then." My mom said, making both Evelyn and me look at her in confusion, "That man is such a bore. I swear, no offense to you, but I feel like he doesn't really care about anything other than his salary."
Good god I loved my mama.
Evelyn looked surprised, and then looked over at me, but I just shrugged. What she said made me happy, but I wasn't even expecting that. Evelyn eventually just sighed.
"Well... I don't think he's that bad... but I do see why you both would think that." Evelyn said.
"I've worked with every different type of person in my line of work. From coworkers to customers, I know those types. I could be wrong, but it's just from what I've noticed." My mom said.
"He'd be a good sleep doctor. People would be falling asleep 10 minutes into the appointments." I said, and that made my mom bark a laugh, and I even heard a small snort from Evelyn.
The front door clicked and then opened a second later, and in stepped Victoria, elegant and beautiful like always. She was wearing a low cute pink v neck, and a pair of skin tight blue jeans. She slipped off the fuzzy boots she was wearing, and made her way into the living room. I stood on reflex to meet her, and she responded by wrapping her arms around me and burying her face into my chest.
"Hey you." I said as I rubbed her back.
"Hey." She said with a happy sigh.
Then, she leaned up to my face and gave me a quick kiss on the lips. It lasted less than a second, but it still sent a jolt through my body. I blinked a few times to get the spots out of my eyes.
"Nice." I said, and she just laughed.
Then, she turned and looked over the Evelyn, and her grin was wide and friendly.
"You're Evelyn, the nurse that took such good care of Gideon while we weren't there. He didn't tell me it was you." She said, and then looked at me with a frown.
"I didn't think about it." I admitted.
Her frown turned into a smirk, and I found that I couldn't even begin to understand what she was thinking.
"You didn't lie to me though." She said, giving a wink, before turning back to Evelyn, "We appreciate everything you did for Gideon."
"Yes we do. Thank you dear." My mom replied with a smile.
My mom was very nice, so how she was made sense, but I was really starting to wonder what the hell was up with Vicky. She was being really weird. Looking at the situation, I could see how she might get jealous or even upset with me. I was just trying to be nice to a girl that had taken care of my comatose body in this world for over 2 years. I'd never be disloyal to Vicky, but I also wasn't really great at this sorta thing. Romance was a battlefield I was not equipped for, even with my impressive abilities.
Soon after that, my mom began making dinner while Vicky, Evelyn, and myself all sat in the living room talking. Vicky had asked Evelyn about my day, to which she told her and repeated the same issue that she had spoken with my mom about, but Vicky just laughed up a storm.
"I wish I could have been there." Vicky said through her giggles.
"Does everyone not like him?" Evelyn asked with a sigh.
"Nope." I said, popping a candy into my mouth. God I missed these fucking things.
"So, um..." Evelyn said looking a Vicky, who just grinned.
"Victoria. Please don't call me by my Hero name. We're friends, right?" Vicky said, and Evelyn's eyes buldged and her cheeks flushed.
Even my brows rose. She was being really nice and bubbly right now. She was always enthusiastic, but this was more than that.
"Um... okay. Victoria?" Evelyn asked, and Vicky smiled.
"There you go." She replied.
"What's happening?" Evelyn asked, looking at me. I just shrugged. I didn't fucking know either.
"So, how was Heroing today?" I asked Vicky, and she let out a groan.
"More of the same. Had to sit in on two different meetings about crime rate statistics and about the treatment of civilians by our Heroes. Crime is down about 18% since last year..." She said, but then actually looked a little concerned, "Although I care about the other one more. According to that one, there are a lot of people who feel disrespected and disregarded by some of our Heroes. The Council is not happy, but a few of the Heroes present just scoffed at them. I knew they would... assholes."
"Going on power trips and feeling superior to the normal citizens?" I asked, having seen something similar on Axios plenty of times.
"Exactly. Some of the A-Class, B-Class, and even C-Class heroes have been caught and seen doing things that are unacceptable. We have been cracking down on them pretty hard, but it's harder when it comes to the A-Class heroes..." She said, and then sighed as she ran a hand through her hair, "They're too strong to really punish or relieve from duty. Crime is down, but the numbers of B and A-Class criminals seems to increase every year. And we don't have nearly enough A-Classes."
I had no doubt once I took this test, everything would be fine. Hell, I was probably well above A and well into S-Class. Speaking of...
"Are Wartank and Empress still in the city?" I asked, and Vicky nodded, but it was hesitant.
S-Class Heroes were absurdly rare. So rare in fact that our city only had two of them, but they were a force to be reckoned with. Wartank was a large bear of a man, who was equally as strong as he was resilient. He could topple buildings with a single punch, and he could withstand damage that would destroy the bodies of any other hero. Before I had left, he had yet to be injured during a mission.
Empress was always one of my favorites, besides Vicky, of course. She was not only incredibly powerful, but she was drop dead gorgeous as well. She could alter gravity to herself, other people, and objects. She used it to fly, she used it to send other people flying, and she could drop anyone to their knees before her, hence the name "Empress."
"They are around... but they've both been caught up in hunting a dangerous group of villains. I don't know the details, but apparently this group is full of S-Class Villains that all lead various groups of strong criminal gangs. We believe that's why so many stronger criminals are coming out of the woodworks." She said, and I nodded, as that made sense to me.
"The big fish get told what to do by the bigger fish. Strong people get really dejected when they find out some one is even stronger than them. After that, they're easy to use and manipulate." I said, and Vicky looked at me with a smirk.
"Well aren't you smart? Do a lot of studying in your sleep?" She asked me, and I chuckled.
"I just made a deduction. Seems plausible to me." I said, and Vicky thought about it, and then nodded.
"I was thinking something similar. They've been doing weird things, like trying to kipnap other supers and heroes, and many people have almost disappeared. Hell, someone tried to take on of my girls." Vicky said with a growl, "Thankfully the person who tried didn't realize who it was. He got lit on fire. Keira is a badass, and I can't wait for you to meet her, and the rest of my team."
"I'm sorry to hear that, but I'm glad she's okay. I can't wait to meet your friends." I said with a smile, and the one she gave me back was pretty damn mischievous. What was this girl doing?
"Um... is it okay for me to hear all of this?" Evelyn asked, and Vicky looked at her, and just shrugged.
"Not if you don't say anything. You won't, right sweetheart?" Vicky asked, and her tone of voice wasn't threatening at all, but instead, it was... hella seductive.
"What the hell is this woman?" I wondered, watching as Evelyn nodded furiously, her cheeks flushing and her legs squirming.
"Good." Vicky said, and thank god that was the time my mom decided ro interrupt us.
"FOOD!" She yelled so loud that it made us all jump.
After we caugut our breath for a moment, we all got us, and raced towards the kitchen, and the smell that hit my nose was so wonderful that I actually think I got an erection.
"I'm famished!" Vicky said, as she practically skipped towards the kitchen.
"I... am a bit hungry." Evelyn said, but her quick gate told me that she was more than just a but hungry.
"Well, let's go. Food awaits." I said, feeling my stomach rumble in protest.
And so, the rest of my day was filled with me smashing so many burritos that everyone became concerned. They were big bastards filled with sour cream, lettuce, tomatoes, queso cheeze, avocado, and hot sauce. We didn't talk about anything important after that, we just basked in the food, and the good company. My mom really liked Evelyn, and Vicky looked excited everytime she looked over at her. I had no idea what the hell was going on, but something was telling me that I'd find out soon enough.