This Emptiness Leaves Me Room To Grow (Takuma)

Today Andrew agreed to meet up with Anna Moran to discuss more about what happened for another press conference. This wasn't going to be a Q&A. This was going was going to be a declaration of war in a sense. On top of that he had been tipped off about a human traffic ring that was being run out of what was fronting as a motorcycle "club". He wasn't much in the mood to deal with press but Anna insisted. Fine. He owed her about 3000 favors anyways. The weather was calm. A slight overcast, and a breeze that moved the branches ever so slightly. Andrew was fully dressed in his Patriot costume, less the mask. He made his way over to the podium Anna had set up as he saw her pointing and directing what he presumed to be interns.

"Hi, handsome!" she shrieked giving him a hug.
"Good morning Anna, look I don't want to come across cold. That wasn't a pun. However I have a huge lead I have to chase down after this speech to the public."
"Well can you at least take me up on that wine soon."
"We can catch up like the old college days once I'm certain there's a world left to reminisce about. I promise, my friend." as he turned
"Am I in the friendzone? Does he even know when a woman is interested in him?" She shook her head laughing as he walked up the stairs with a serious look.

The crowd was larger than last time. Suppose when you come back from the dead and immediately have an assassination attempt on you it would interest the general public.  He was going to keep this brief and to the point. No pictures. No autographs. Just what he has to say and leave. God forbid The Saved show up seeing it live on TV he wanted it cleared out quickly.

"Good morning everyone." he looked down the hard camera. "A few days ago I sat a few blocks away and was attacked along side my fellow citizens."
He gulped in sadness. "This was something that as someone who swore to protect you all to my best of my ability cannot let happen. There is a Cult you've all been seeing. A storm is coming. The past few das have been hectic. From my press conference you saw in LA Deluge and myself will be reforming a new hero group. Halo. We will be combatting this threat with our full and entire force and focus. This will not happen and go unpunished. The people in charge will answer. They will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. I am not a police officer. I will however hand deliver them to NYPD." The crowd clapped and cheered.

"I will not be taking any questions. However in the days to come you will be seeing my answers through action. Thank you all. I love you all. Stay safe." He put his mask on and turned away from the microphone back down the steps, behind a curtain.

Anna looked at him and hugged him. "I'm sorry you never get a chance to rest."
"I'll rest when the mission is finished." he responded looking off in the distance.
The cameras certainly got him. That speech would be making news. More importantly Deity would see it. Goood Morning America.
"Andrew I worry about you."
"I'm literally as durable as someone can be."
"You've gone through hell. I just want to see you like back in the old days." A tear coming to her eyes as she stepped back.
"I miss them too. I had... I had a lot more then. I have to track down some pretty heinous things today though so I'm going to slip out the back."
"Please, call me soon?"
He through up a thumbs up as he walked with his head down.
"Dammit, Andrew"

As he turned down a back ally he saw a guy struggling to light a joint.
"I.. I'm..."
"Don't worry about it. Just keep it away from kids. There are bigger fish to fry. Stay safe." He snapped the man's joint lighting.
"I have a prescription. I moved here from Boston after I beat cancer. Thanks Patriot.
He stopped for a moment and nodded. Only to continue. Still keeping his head down in thought for a moment. As he came to a clearing he saw another ally way he could take to get to where he needed. There was someone staring at him. Younger fellow. "Did uh, were you watching that Good Morning America?"

Sniiiiiffff…  *Ack!*

A quick gloved hand with the middle and pointer finger torn off the rather cheap and gross leather gloves pinched the end of the grubby figure’s nose. Stumbling back a step they swung there head to the left, facing a long alleyway into the back of a street, finally releasing his nose which turned a little red, he almost already inflicted himself with a nosebleed, should have been more careful.

Takuma turned back to look at the mess that was this dumpster, he heard sometimes people liked to toss half-eaten meals out back. He found himself two egg sandwichs, one that had sweet ham and the other dark and burnt bacon, the ham one he presumed was only out here MAYBE a good six to eight minutes, arriving maybe three minutes when it was dropped off, fresh off the grill it would have had a single bite, the customer expecting something more satisfactory to there tastes demanded another item on the menu.
This ham was almost cold due to how it was cold, no good.

The bacon one was almost pristine, other than the burned product within the sandwich, it likely meant they handed this to a customer expecting them to eat it. Angered by the fact that they would hand this trash, a commotion started, and in frustration as it got heated the plate broke.
That explained what nicked his glove, causing it to tear.

Takuma went and sat not even 10 feet from where the dumpster was, he walked back and forth until he found a spot that hummed with energy, he could see through the inside of this wall, he could see the screen playing within this small diner and he was capable of gathering what was going on. His target was making a public appearance after a good amount of quiet, regarding some task he had.

Takuma pulled his bag from his back, setting the heavy thing down he exhaled loudly, hands dropping to his knees he crouched down in a slow and mechanical manner. Opening the bag, inside it was perfectly and neatly folded clothing and supplies within the green cloth-like material. He grabbed and pulled out a small stove, setting it heavily on the ground he also pulled out a large knife in pristine condition and a small aluminum tray, he started the stove and began warming it up well working on cutting off the parts that grossed him out on the sandwiches, as even homeless ‘metahumanish’ people had standards, or more so Takuma was intolerably picky for somebody with little choice in the manner.

Sandwiches appropriately warmed and cleaned, Takuma began eating away at them as he started gathering more info from the television on the other side of the brick wall. Gathering as much as he could it was more difficult than he anticipated, never relying on this ability that much beforehand he found this task to be dreadfully frustrating to him trying to interpret the signals he was gathering. From what little bit his ability could detect, Patriot was starting up a new organization, and what caught Takuma to shut off access to that point was the awkward ending, a small zip in his brain and that was the end of that transmission, now to get in place. Takuma began packing up his now cooled little stove and plate a quick wipe with a paper towel and tossing that into the trash, he planned to properly clean it when he had the time to do that.

Scraping his shoes on the ground he waited, left to right foot with bits of gravel and broken things running underneath, a dirty white tank top and his blue jeans, a missing left sock as once again he couldn’t find it well getting prepared this morning. When the subject approached, Takuma picked up some movement, starting to walk directly toward him, trying to get a read with his abilities to feel for what he heard of this man’s incredible pyrokinetic powers. Takuma was straight to the point, almost sounding unamused by the fact Patriot asked if he saw the announcement thing that morning. He didn’t allow the fact that one, this man could nigh-instantly destroy every essence of him, and two, that he was one of the most famous heroes globally, get in the way of what came first and foremost.
The gathering of information.

“I’m going to take a gamble and assume the guy in the ‘slims’ in front of me is the same guy I saw on television a bit ago. Yes, yes I saw it, sounds like serious stuff.”

Takuma would try to walk with the man if he was still moving, if he stopped then Takuma would approach about 4 feet before stopping and swinging up and down with sway on the tips of his toes to his heels, held his arms behind his back, and continued with the ramblings of the alien mind.

“So what’s with the hero name? And the costume? I wanna know, what’s it mean?”

Who was this kid? He spoke like he never met a hero. That's ok. He seemed pure of intent and Andrew wasn't one to try and push anyone away from the side of the angels. The kid seemed like he was going to follow him so Andrew created a seat of ice, and slouched down where he once stood.

"Yea. That guy was me. There is a lot of serious going on lately. Too much for anyone to handle. That's why I have the best team around me. Now, don't take that for me thinking because they're my team they're better than others." Andrew looked at the sky. "They're the only family I got left, and honestly I'm lucky to have the honor of calling myself their leader."

The kid didn't seem to stand still. "The hero name? I'm The Patriot. Andrew Pettiglio. I used to be The Phoenix. I needed to become a new symbol. One more hopeful. One more universal. One to believe in. The costume is both tactical and frankly part of the symbol. The bad guys see the star with red, white, and blue. They probably know they're in trouble." He smiled at the kid.

"It means I believe in a better tomorrow. It means I believe we all have hope for a better tomorrow. It mean's I'm going to fight for that better tomorrow to make sure when the sun comes up tomorrow, well then someone has a chance."He looked down and smiled once more.

"So what's your name friend?" Andrew asked extending a hand out for a handshake. a gentle look across his face. "What brings you to these back ways?"

Takuma saw the manifestation of a frozen chair in front of him, the quick absorption of heat in the area generating a frozen structure lead him to become somewhat blinded, Qualm not expecting the rapid change was blinded a moment, a white flash spanning all of Takuma’s senses. Ears ringed, everything was blurry, and it all smelled like ice and cold biting away at his nostrils. Takuma’s nose flared and he wiped his face with his forearm, blinking and staring at the chair.

Takuma reached out to touch the chair, whether it was for him or not, his hand gripping the upper corner and squeezing. No effect, other than it’s freezing temperatures, fingers chilling to the bone as he continued, utilizing multiple conscious acts to focus on ignoring the pain well the others observed every aspect they could from the dying flesh of his left hand. He released seconds later, shaking his hand in the air before continuing to watch the hero, arms folding behind his back once again.

To Takuma’s incredibly literal mind, a lot of what Patriot was saying made little to no sense to him. Takuma was unable to hold in his critical nature, and immediately pointed out some flaws of speech, which Patriot would have been completely justified to counter interrupt.

“If it’s too much for anyone to handle we would have already lost. I don’t believe that is the case yet, maybe within some other level of comprehension but from what I know there hardly is a point past return, other than black holes. Nobody can escape black holes. And leader...”

Takuma hopped on his left foot, lightly brushing his right foot on Patriots ankle and going back with two long hops, dropping both legs and finally standing still. He already has taken in Patriots posture, slouching down.

“You should stand up straight, I should have to look up to you, not down.”

His foot slowly started to tap, assuming Patriot made it to the hero name part he would let him continue, his foot slowly stopped tapping as his attention was being drawn in by the well-known hero. Takuma stared and paused, looking down finally he offhandedly mentioned what was on his mind.

“I would like to wear muted colors, no need to stand out. I’m going to just have people know who I am and they can decide if they should be afraid or not. Tomorrow is cool though, I can agree with that.”

When Patriot asked for his name and a handshake, Takuma looked him dead in the eyes and went for the handshake, his fingers not being direct at first, tracing the palm of his hand in a rapid mechanical movement before gripping his hand with what little strength he had.

“My name is Takuma and I want to be a superhero, I think. So thought I would ask one question. Like do you immediately get to know what's right or wrong? Who gets to decide that?”

For a moment the hero watched as Takuma reached out and touched his construct. Absent mindedly folding hid hands and placing them on his lap. Cracking his neck left and right.
Andrew couldn't help but grin. He enjoyed the kid's curiosity.
"It's a figure of speech, bud. Think of it like somedays it feels like there's more going on than any one person can shoulder. That's why it's important to stick together. Unite." He smiled as he spoke looking the kid in the eye.

"Look up at me?" The Patriot raised the construct higher before letting it vanish into thin air.
"I'm not sure why you want to look up at me but hey, I'm happy to comply."

The heroes stature tall and broad. Strong and confident. An aura of kindness and certainty radiating off of him.

"Already thinking about colors? I remember way back when I first started out I thought for hours on end what colors I would pick. It's not about people knowing you and deciding weather to fear you or not though." He paused and scratched the back of his head and chuckled, his eyes closing for a moment.

"It's more like... They know who you are and what you stand for and enough people gather together under a common banner. Eventually the 'bad guys' so to speak won't have anyone to bother. It's about building trust and understanding. Letting everyday mom's and dad's. Friends. Teachers. Grocery store clerks. They all need to know you have their back. If you can do that. You're halfway there."

Andrew shook Takuma's hand before being a bit confused by the manner in which he conducted a handshake but let it go to be polite.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Takuma. You want to be a superhero, you think? Well I do like hearing that over people wanting to rule the world."

The last part the tricky answer.
"I don't think anyone ever truly knows for certain if they're right. I think we do our best to follow our guts and morals and hopefully at the end of the day no one gets hurt and a few more get saved. I've had my share of mistakes. You grow from them. You learn from them. If you're lucky enough you meet some other like minded heroes and learn from each other. If in your heart you think you're doing the right thing, and no one is getting hurt. I think you're on the right path, Takuma."

Andrew smiled once more and waited for whatever the young man had to say. This kid reminded him of an old friend.