Read Online H.E.R.O. - Horde by Kevin Rau - Free Book Online Page A

"Maybe.  Hi guys, I'm Diva."
    Jim reached out his hand and Diva shook it.  Mike followed his action.
    Jim said, "Whoa, your hand is really hard."
    "Yeah - I'm a brick."
    "Is everything that hard?"
    I snorted, "Nice question to ask a girl, Jim."
    Everyone looked at me strangely and wondered why I thought he asked something.
    I said, "Sorry.  That thought sounded like it was out loud."
    Diva said, "What question?"
    "What everyone wonders about the lady bricks - are you rock hard everywhere?"
    Diva nodded, "Pretty much.  On the other hand, everyone else feels, well, fluffy to me."
    I wondered at her thought that Spartan and Black Tiger didn't feel fluffy though.  She didn't dwell on the thought and I decided not to try to figure out how she knew that.
    I said, "Oh, you distracted them - Diva, this is Jim and Mike.  Guys, this is Diva."
    I led the way into the cafe - it was a slightly out of the way place, so it wasn't horribly busy.  That was what I'd hoped for, so I could avoid my issues with too many mindviews at once overflowing my visual space.
    The groups that were in there stared at Diva, although some wondered about my hair color as well even though I wore normal clothes.
    There were still too many up close, so I pulled Diva's mindview up close to look at the menu through her eyes.  She tended to think similarly to me - we were both so used to eating healthy before our change into supers that we still looked for that type of food first.
    We picked out our selection, I paid and they gave us a number to put at the table.
    I put my hand on Diva's arm and asked, "Hey, would you pick a table near an outer wall please?"
    She stared at me with a confused expression for a moment and then said, "Oh yeah, you have that same thing from the club?"
    "Yep."
    She smiled, put her hand on my back and walked to a table.  We all sat down.
    Diva said, "By the way goldie - you left your clothes at my place the other night."
    Both of the boys stared open mouthed at us for a moment.  They were both thinking the same dirty thoughts.
    I said, "You mean your extra clothes that you're giving me, right?  Not clothes that I took off."
    "Aww, that ruins it."
    "Yeah, well, I heard the reaction, it worked quite well.  So how are your injuries?  Thigh doing good?"
    She showed her left thigh, "Oh, yeah.  See, no more discoloration, it's completely healed.  Same thing with my shoulder and forearm.  The burns are all gone now too."
    "Burns?  When did you get burns?"
    "From the plane's laser thingie, remember?"
    I didn't, but her memory of being shot at by the pirate's smaller ship flashed and I got to see the rapid-fire lasers from her point of view.  I even felt a mild flash of pain in my abdomen as she recalled the pain.
    I said, "Ouch.  I'm glad you healed it up."
    "So how about you - you're conscious, so that's a good thing."
    "Yeah.  I was wiped all of yesterday from it."
    Jim snorted, "Yeah, you were like a zombie as you ate.  I'm not sure you said more than a few words during all of lunch yesterday.  Right, Mike?"
    Mike replied, "Exactly.  We kept asking you questions and you didn't even register that we were there."
    I grimaced, "Sorry guys.  I didn't mean to ignore you.  I honestly don't even remember lunch yesterday."
    Granted, I now knew what I looked like when I was out of it from their mindviews.
    Jim said, "So ... what do you like to do, Diva?"
    "I'm a model as well as a super hero.  Oh!  Speaking of which - my agent called!  I need to get with her this afternoon about a gig!"
    I grinned, "Awesome!  See, becoming a super didn't ruin your modeling career."
    "I'm stoked.  I can't wait to see what type of job she has lined up."
    "I'm really glad for you."
    She said, "Speaking of fashion - why aren't you in your costume?"  She also wondered why I didn’t put on proper makeup and jewelry.
    "I was at school.  I don't wander around in my costume while in class."
    "Oh.  Yeah, that makes sense.  So what do you guys