ARCHETYPE (Slowburn Superhero Progression)

We left through the foliage-heavy path beyond the forest and returned back to the main road.

"One of my old school friends Arthur Turnhouse lives up that road," I said, pointing to a nearby side-road which was set on a steep hill.

What I said however got no reaction from either Azad or Xandra.

Is something wrong with them? I thought.

We took a right, walking along the right-side pavement together. The soft breath of cars trickled by, mingling with the chill morning breeze.

"I used to come here with my Mum sometimes to collect conkers," I said, pointing to the nearby grass where hundreds of fallen conkers littered the ground. Most were still wrapped in their thick prickly casings. I walked onto the grass and picked up one of the conkers and used my unnaturally tough fingers to pry the tough casing off. This in turn revealed the shiny brown conker beneath.

Azad and Xandra had stopped walking, and were watching me with vacant expressions.

I forced a smile, and said, "Did you ever get strings and put them through the conkers? When I was little we used to have competitions where we'd hit each other's conkers and see who's would be the last to break. Did you do anything like that?"

Again, I received no response except apathetic looks and slight shakes of their heads from Azad and Xandra.

I let the conker drop to the grass and joined them back on the pavement, and then we continued on together without speaking.

"We should get phones," said Azad, after we had walked for another minute and were close to the train lines.

"Just because you want to give those girls your number," said Xandra.

"What's wrong with that?" said Azad.

He then looked at me and said, "There's nothing in The Archetype Project that says we can't date, is there?"

I could tell this line of questioning was only annoying Xandra more.

"No, I guess not," I said, "But maybe dating someone when you're trying to keep your identity a secret is not the best idea."

"I don't think I'd know them long enough for that to be a problem," said Azad.

This comment earned more minutes of silence between all of us. We reached the corner of the main road we were on. Across the street the train barriers were down and flashing, and then a train thundered by. There were about a dozen men and women on their morning commute to work waiting at the barriers. The cafe off to the right of the train lines had just opened.

"Used to get a lot of great sausage rolls there before school in that cafe," I said, with a smile.

And again it seemed like Azad and Xandra really couldn't care less about going down memory lane with me.

Am I forcing it? I wondered.

Until their non-reactions I had assumed they would be interested in little tidbits about my life in Lowems Park. They were my friends after all, weren't they?

No, I thought, Azad's just got girls on his mind, and Xandra's annoyed that those same girls asked for my number too.

We took a right, which meant we were finally on Winchester Road. The first ten minute stretch of walking along Winchester Road was a steady decline until we reached a zebra crossing. All along WInchester Road up to that point and further ahead were back-to-back two-story residential homes. And the main road was glutted with parked cars, leaving just a narrow strip in the middle for the morning commuters to ease their cars along in either direction.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

It was then I saw an unexpected sight.

Up ahead, at the nearby turn-off into a side road which we were going to need to take to eventually reach my childhood home, there was a throng of people moving into the street.

It didn't make sense for them to be commuters because they weren't dressed smartly for either work or school, and most were about our age. And, it made little sense for any of the teenagers to be moving into the side road, which I knew to be Hull Road, because it wasn't in the direction of the train lines or bus stops.

We reached the corner of Hull Road and it started to make sense what we were seeing. About two dozen teenagers were shuffling towards a brick and mortar church.

I considered not going towards the church, because more people always promised the potential for more trouble. The alternative would have been to continue along Winchester road and to take the next right-turn. But curiosity was getting the better of me. I headed towards the church, and Azad and Xandra kept pace with me.

We reached the opposite side of the road, which besides the church was filled with more two-story residential homes. At the end of the street was a dead end, because beyond thick metal fencing was a huge field which I knew was private and maintained by the owners of the nearby gym and sports center.

The teenagers we had seen moving towards the church shuffled up the steps and through the main double-door entrance.

"What's wrong?" said Xandra.

"This isn't normal," I said.

I crossed the street and Azad and Xandra followed.

A black man who looked to be in his early twenties was standing at the bottom of the church steps with a clipboard in hand. He had seen me crossing the road and had a friendly smile on his face as I approached.

"Hey," I said, "What's going on here?"

I probably sounded a little more confrontational than I intended.

The man offered me his hand to shake, which I did.

"My name's Jonathan," he said, "Every day between 7am-to-6pm we offer food, shelter, and activities for anyone who needs a place to go."

"It's a homeless shelter?" I said.

"Not quite," said Jonathan, "We don't have legal permission to house people overnight. We're just responding to the increasing demand for this kind of community outreach."

Jonathan could see the questioning look on my face.

"I mean, because a lot of teenagers have been forced out of their homes, you know?" he said.

"Why?" I said.

Jonathan looked at me as if I had asked a pretty dumb question.

"Because their parents or guardians are afraid they're going to blow up, or turn into monsters like the ones they've seen on TV," said Jonathan.

The weight of this struck me then.

"You mean even teenagers that have Piper Passes?" I said.

"Especially Piper Pass holders," said Jonathan, "Right now anyone holding a pass can't get a job, and most have gotten fired. Because they've got a Piper Pass they're out on the streets. We're just doing what we can here to help them during this messed up time."

Jonathan looked over me, Azad, and Xandra, and I was sure that he noticed the scruffiness of our clothes.

"We've got hot drinks, snacks, and at 9am we'll serve breakfast. It's all free if you want to come in and get warm?" said Jonathan.

"We lost our passes," I said.

I saw a flicker of recognition in Jonathan's eyes. One which asked the obvious question: are these three Mice?

"That's not a problem," said Jonathan, "Everyone's welcome here."

I looked back at Azad and Xandra, who seemed to be waiting for me to come to a decision.

During this time more teenagers, all of whom looked tired and gaunt from sleeping rough on the streets, continued to make their way up the church steps.

Jonathan then extended a hand to Azad and Xandra respectively, making sure to make them feel just as welcome. To Azad and Xandra's credit they made an effort to return Jonathan's warm greeting with their own.

Finally, Jonathan said, "So please, guys, make yourselves at home if you like. I'm sorry to cut this short but I need to welcome other first timers."

"No problem," I said, shaking Jonathan's hand one last time.

A part of me was just in pure admiration at the good Jonathan and those who were part of this community outreach were doing.

Jonathan tactfully moved away, and had quickly found a new arrival to welcome.

"You want to go inside?" said Xandra.

I shrugged, "We could check it out," I said.

"I could eat," said Azad.

"Shocker," said Xandra.

It was then Jonathan's conversation with the new arrival he had just approached caught my attention. During my brief exchange with Azad and Xandra, Jonathan had started what I realised was a somewhat well-rehearsed introduction.

"I've got my Piper Pass," said the new arrival.

The sound of the voice made the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. I turned, and faced Jonathan and the new arrival, and I felt the blood drain from my face.

"Ah, it's okay, man," said Jonathan, "You don't need to show your pass here."

And it was then Jonathan read the name on the Piper Pass.

"...Nathan."