It’s been five days since Leo learnt that he had super healing. He was no longer restricted to his room and could walk around and attend classes. But he was still bandaged all over though, in order to keep his healing abilities a secret.

Logan came by his house and walked him to school. He had been doing this for Leo for two days now and he tries to support Leo when he’s about to fall. Leo had all of his face covered with bandages, except for his eyes and nostrils. He wasn’t using crutches since the doctor said his back was not in any way damaged, which happened to be extremely shocking to him.

When they got to school, people gave Leo different looks. Looks of fear, anxiety and pity. Some of them were even murmuring about him.

“Who’s that guy covered in bandages? He looks like an Egyptian mummy.” A guy laughed. The person beside him gave him a look of disdain.

“Aren’t always aware of your surroundings?! That’s Leo, the new guy in our school. He got involved in an accident two months ago.” He explained.

“Really? I didn’t know it was him. Poor lad.” The first guy replied as they all watched Leo and Logan walk into the school’s hallway.

“But why’s Logan so close to him? They barely even know each other. Logan doesn’t have anything to do with him. It’s his fault he got crippled in the accident.” Rita, Leo’s classmate and spotlight in the school said. She admires Logan and somehow dislikes Leo for his high ‘intelligence’ and she sees him as someone who’s arrogant… or so she says.

“Don’t talk that way. That’s what we should even do for him. After all, he’s our classmate.” Joan argued. Rita just scoffed and turned away while Joan felt pity for Leo. It was not like Leo really cared about what anyone says about him.

He and Logan were still walking along the hallway and chatting when Leo decided to brief Logan on his discovery.

“I need to show you something Logan,” he said as he dragged him to the bathroom, “Come with me.”

Logan was dumbfounded. ‘What the hell…’ he thought. ‘Could this guy have turned gay?’ Leo dragged him until they entered one of the toilets. He then began to take off his clothes, leaving Logan startled.

“Whoa, slow down Leo. I don’t do that kind of stuff…” Logan protested and covered his eyes, not wanting to see Leo nakedness.

Leo gave him a confused look. “What kind of stuff?” He asked, confused.

Logan pointed at the toilet and gestured about Leo taking off his clothes. This made Leo feel disgusted when he finally understood what Logan meant.

“Eww, dude, I have a girlfriend and I don’t do that.” He said with disdain and continued to remove the bandages on his body.

Logan was still surprised, “Wait, you have a girlfriend? Who’s she?” He began to ask with enthusiasm. Leo became frustrated.

“Her name is Tracy and she’s at Sunshine city. But that’s not the point right now.” He claimed angrily. Logan’s excitement slowly became confusion.

“Then why are we here? And why are you taking off your clothes?” He asked as he looked at Leo’s totally bandaged body. Even if Leo was gay, nobody would want to make out with a barbecue.

“I want to show you something but you gotta promise me that this will be between us.” Leo requested.

Logan gulped hard, not knowing what Leo was about to show him, but he slowly nodded and prepared for the worst. Leo was relieved. He trusted Logan already so it wasn’t a problem to tell him first.

He looked outside and heard the person in the next bathroom stall flush and come out, trying to zip up his trousers. Not hearing anything else, Leo concluded that that was the last person in the bathroom.

Leo shut the door and began to loosen the bandage on his body. Logan was about to protest but stopped suddenly as he saw the unscathed skin underneath the bandage and was shocked.

“What the hell! How is this possible?” He yelled.

“I’m just as surprised as you are.” Leo replied with a low tone. Logan used his hand to feel Leo’s skin.

“How long have you been like this?” he inquired.

“About five days now.”

“What in the world is going on? Are you Wolverine in disguise? If you are, it’s such an honour to meet you…” Logan began to shake Leo’s hand and acted like a diehard fan of Leo. Leo gave Logan an unamused look. ‘You’re the one named Logan[1] not me.’ He thought to himself as he watched Logan display stupidity.

“Shut up dude. This is serious. I’m totally uncomfortable being completely healed but still wrapped up like barbequed fish.”

It was at this moment that they heard the bathroom door circling round its hinges. Another presence had welcomed himself into the bathroom.

The person rushed into one of the stalls and eased himself and the sound of the natural fountain could be heard. Leo and Logan paused and went mute. After a few seconds, the boy finally squeezed out his last drop and he left the bathroom.

“Sighs” They both sighed heavily. They had been holding their breaths during the duration that the guy entered the bathroom and left.

“Okay, so what are you gonna do?” Logan broke the silence.

“I think I’ll go have a meeting with Dr. Cartel about this. I have a feeling he knows what’s happening to me.” Leo replied as he re-bandaged himself.

“Dr. Cartel?! The man responsible for your accident?!” Logan gaped. Leo rolled his eyes.

“Ugh. What’s it with you guys. I was responsible for the accident. Dr. Cartel would’ve been the one bandaged right now. He would’ve been the in hospital. He might probably have died and then his ambitions would have gone into waste. I decided to take the risk for him because I had almost nothing to lose. He had everything to lose and he just made a breakthrough in gene enhancement. If he had died, it could delay the process a few decades longer. Humanity needs him, humanity doesn’t need me. I was the one who insisted on taking the risk, not him. He tried to stop me but I didn’t listen. I should be the one being blamed, not him.” Leo argued. Logan kept quiet as he was shocked with what Leo said.

“What do you mean you have nothing to lose, you have everything to lose. Your friends, your remaining family, don’t tell me you also don’t have ambitions for your own life.” Logan yelled. Leo calmed down and put on a solemn look.

“I’ve already accepted my fate long ago. If I die, I’ll just get to join my parents at the other side.” He said with a smile, but a sad one. Logan closed his eyes and shook his head. He felt annoyed and didn’t want to continue the conversation.

“Just do what you have to do. I don’t care.” He left Leo to his mindset. Leo smiled. He gave him a slight punch on his shoulder and cheered him up.

“C’mon man. At least I’m alive, hale and hearty… and fully healed too.” Leo winked. Logan shook his head in resignation and just sighed. ‘He will never change.’ He thought to himself.

They were about to leave when they heard another guy walk into the bathroom. He entered the bathroom stall that was next to the one Leo and Logan was and he quickly took off his trousers. Both Leo and Logan heard the sound of water splashing, followed by some funny sounds of farts and an extremely awful stench.

Logan frowned and distorted his face. He covered his nose and Leo did the same as they rushed out of the bathroom at the same time thereby falling to the ground. They could hear the guy fart repeatedly and awful stenches kept following. Leo almost threw up in his bandaged mouth but held it in.

The people around the hallway were all surprised as to why Leo and Logan fell out of the bathroom together and were panting heavily. Most of them didn’t bother too much though but some thought that Logan was helping Leo to ease himself because of his condition. This made them feel uncomfortable and they also left too.

Leo and Logan were outside the bathroom, breathing heavily and welcoming the nice and fresh air into their respiratory organs. Leo gave the bathroom stall where the boy was in a last look.

‘That toilet will never be the same again.’ He thought.

************

Leo left the school and bid Logan farewell. Logan wanted to walk with him but he refused and Logan didn’t think too much about it, since he was aware that Leo was fully healed.

Molly had wanted to pick him up but he had convinced her not to, since he felt that he needed the exercise, and besides, he needed to see Dr. Cartel and he didn’t want his aunt to know about it.

He took a taxi to THRL. When he got there, he saw that the place hadn’t changed much. He went in and stopped at the receptionist desk. She was busy with some files so when he got her attention and she saw his face, she was startled.

“Oh my God…” She screamed and asked, still in shock, “Who are you?” Leo looked calmly at her. He was wearing clothes but beneath them were bandages. All she could see was his eyes and hair.

“Hello, I’m here to see Dr. Cartel.” He said. She looked at him with both surprise and suspicion.

“I’m sorry, Dr. Cartel is a very busy man—” she wanted to refuse Leo politely as she was even resisting the urge to send him out but she was interrupted.

“Tell him it’s urgent. Say that it’s Leonardo Anderson that wants to see him. No matter what he’s doing, he’ll definitely let me through.” Leo insisted. He was calm with his speech. He suspected that his sudden fast healing ability had something to do with the canister with lightning in it which he saw inside the lightning current absorber before it exploded. He also felt that Dr. Cartel was the only one who would know about it since they were the only two people who built the machine and he didn’t remember seeing something like that in his machine.

Seeing that Leo was persistent, the receptionist placed the call reluctantly as she gave him a suspicious look. She didn’t want to place the call at all but the way Leo spoke with so much confidence made her suspect that something was definitely off. ‘What does Dr. Cartel have to do with you.’ She thought. Leo wasn’t in the mood to care about her emotions so he didn’t bother looking at her. Instead, he was busy admiring the building and acknowledging the new things inside this technologically advanced tech company and Laboratory.

In the conference room, Dr. Cartel was having a discussion with the board of directors. One of his employees were discussing about some marketing strategy in their vaccine production sector and everyone in the room was staring at the projection on the wall.

Dr. Cartel was listening attentively when his phone began to vibrate in his pocket. He was about to turn off his phone but when he checked the number, he was surprised as to why the receptionist would call him. This lady who was his receptionist was also like his a secretary but more of an assistant to his main secretary.

He answered the phone and was about to dismiss her, “Whoever it is, tell them to wait downstairs.” He said in a low tone after excusing himself from the conference room.

“He says his name is Leonardo Anderson.” The receptionist’s voice sounded from the phone. Dr. Cartel’s eyes suddenly lit up as he was extremely surprised.

“I’m coming downstairs right away.” He said hurriedly as he went back into the conference room and adjourned the meeting.

He rushed downstairs to see him as happiness and surprise was written all over his face. Leo sat on one of the benches nearby and waited for Dr. Cartel. He was very patient and could pretty much wait for him to finish his meeting since his aunt would think he was studying extra time at school. He suddenly spotted Dr. Cartel and he walked hurriedly towards him.

“Leo! You’re back. I wanted to call you but I was forbidden to do so. I can’t believe you actually made it.” De. Cartel said as he gave Leo a hug.

“Good to see you too sir.” Leo returned the gesture.

The receptionist was dumbfounded. She never thought their CEO would be so intimate with him. Not only that, he actually dismissed an important conference meeting because of him. It was then she remembered who Leo was and this made her both confused and surprised. ‘Isn’t he supposed to be dead?’ She asked herself.

“How are you feeling right now?” Dr. Cartel asked. Leo looked around and when he noticed that nobody was listening, he moved closer and whispered in his right ear.

“Actually, that’s what I came here to talk about.” He replied with a calm face. Dr. Cartel immediately understood where Leo was going to and he was actually prepared for this.

“Come with me.” He said with a deep voice and led the way into his personal lab, where both he and Leo built the Lightning current absorber.

It looked like a normal lab and was very spacious. There were different chemical tubes and the three computer monitors on a desk. This place looked like a secret base meant for multipurpose experiments. Robotics building, pharmaceuticals, there was even an MRI machine in the lab. This was Dr. Cartel’s personal laboratory, but some stuffs were actually out there because of Leo. Dr. Cartel had super high hopes for him.

“So, what did you want to talk about?” Dr. Cartel asked as he sat on one of the chairs in the lab.

Leo solemnly took off his shirt and began removing all bandages covering his upper body. Dr. Cartel wasn’t as shocked as Logan was and he watched carefully. When Leo finally took of the bandages wrapping his body, Dr. Cartel’s eyes widened when he saw Leo’s smooth skin.

He ran his hands across Leo’s body and observed it. “You were diagnosed with third degree burns. You’ll have to go through surgery to get back to normal,” He clarified, then looked Leo on the face, “It’s just been a almost three months since the accident and you’ve healed… completely as a matter of fact.”

He sounded a bit surprised but it was somehow within his expectations and Leo’s intuition told him he knew what was going on.

“I should be dead.” He said wearing his shirt on his bare skin, skipping the bandages, “But here I am, hale and hearty.”

“And I have a feeling it has something to do with the capsule I found in one of the hatches and I know that wasn’t supposed to be there…” he said angrily, pointing at the charred lightning absorber. “So I think you owe me an explanation.” He demanded.

Dr. Cartel gave him an helpless stare as Leo glared at him and he sighed. “I guess it can’t be helped.” He said helplessly, “Follow me.” He ordered as he led the way to the private elevator in his office.

[1] Logan is the name of a mutant called Wolverine.