10 – Matthew 4:9
Matthew 4:9
And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.”
Not too much happened for the next two years. His relationship with Momo had gotten a lot closer. He had become her one friend. This had lead to her being a lot brighter though there was definitely a darkness hidden behind that brightness. Although having him around made her happier she was still afraid of being alone and this was a fear he did not curb as it only benefited him by making her more and more dependent on him as he made sure to mix pulling her closer and pushing her away just right to maximise her attachment to him. Her feelings for him at this point were stronger than those for her own parents or anyone else for that matter, though she was still too young to have much a conception of romantic love making it purely platonic at the moment.
He had also done well academically as he had been leading the class since he joined with every test returning a perfect score and his attendance being perfect. He was completely certain at this point that his immune system was also being boosted as he hasn't been sick since he awakened his quirk. The only things his teachers noted was that despite getting a long well with all his classmates there did seem to be some distance between him and the rest with the exception of Momo who was overly close with him. However they couldn't make anything of it since other than this minor nitpick he was an exemplary student who performed flawlessly and never got into any fights with anyone.
Through a combination of his quirk growing and his relentless push to work himself to the bone through sheer dedication he had long surpassed the limits of the human body and could now easily be classed as superhuman in every aspect. He was faster, stronger and more durable than the quirk-less body could ever be and he was so in every aspect. There were likely to be plenty of low-tier pro heroes that were weaker than him. Sure he couldn't hold a candle to the top heroes everyone knew about, but he was only eight years old so comparing himself to those adult heroes that were at or past their prime to himself who hadn't even hit his biggest growth spurts yet which wouldn't come until he hit his teens meant he was well on his way to surpassing them.
He was on his way home from class with Momo. She actually spent as much time at his home these days as she did at her own home as she didn't like being alone at her home with just the help and sometimes her mom there to keep her company leading her to come over to his place more and more over the years. While they were driving they came across a violently burning building. It looked like it had just started and no hero had shown up yet.
"Stop the car, please." he asked the driver politely.
They pulled over by the building.
"Let's take a look at what's going on." he said looking over at Momo before grabbing her hand and walking out of the car to the burning building.
Lots of people were panicking, those that could escape the flat were running for their lives while people gathered outside in horror watching as the fire spread more and more.
"Someone! Anyone! Please save my boy." they suddenly heard a woman shriek. There was a woman being held back from running in to the building. She was a mess with her hair all over the place and tears streaming down her face as she was fighting those holding her.
"Please, I'll do anything! Please save him. Let me go!" she continued to scream.
James looked over and he felt a strange itch at the back of his brain urging him to do something. He felt strange as he had never been the heroic type, so why was this happening? Was he growing a conscience. 'How disgusting.' he thought.
Unable to help his urges though he walked up to the woman who seemed so confused by the little boy coming over she actually managed to calm down for a moment.
"I accept." James said, unsure about why he felt like that.
He turned towards the building and a few of the men tried to stop him.
"N-no. Wait..." the woman tried to say. She might be desperate, but she would never be able to forgive herself if another child died along with her son.
Before they could do anything though his wings burst from his back even forcing those approaching away then suddenly with a violent flap he took off towards the building. Using his sense of smell he was able to tell about where in the building the woman's scent was the strongest. He dashed towards the nearest window and as he was about to hit it he folded his wings to shield himself bursting right through.
Inside the building there was fire everywhere and he could hear the building straining under its own weight as more and more of its support crumbled under the fires. The heat that should have been causing him to pass out in no time was merely a little toasty to him though. His resistance to heat and fire had always seemed to be even higher than others though. This was one of the reasons he felt comfortable entering the building like his instincts were telling him to as he didn't feel exploring this feeling was much of a risk to himself.
He passed through the hallway in the direction the scent was most concentrated ignoring the other doors, even when he heard the cries of other people coming from them as he maintained his focus. Once he passed a certain door and the scent started becoming weaker he immediately turned and kicked in the door he had passed. Paying close attention to the sound he heard some laboured breathing from inside leading him to one of the rooms where he found a young boy unconscious near his desk. He couldn't be older than five or six at the most. Some headphones were dangling from computer. He must have been distracted and by the time he noticed and wanted to escape it was too late.