Chapter 5 5. Devastation

Clyde returns to his headquarter after having an intense court with the COP. Arriving at the headquarter, Fiesty Five are welcoming him with their unpleasant sights. An awkward situation happens when no one gives him a greeting. Clyde tries not to get pissed off while keep walking into the headquarter. Clyde does not want to say anything to them.

When Clyde is about to come inside his room, Leon intercepts him.

"Clyde, give us all your attributes! Your uniform, hero badge, gun, and all the headquarter keys." Leon commanded.

Clyde tries to be patient. He does not want to make more problems dealing with his friends in Fiesty Five. Or, they might not be considered as friends for Clyde anymore. Clyde nodded without giving any words. He then quickly comes inside his room.

After closing the door, Clyde begins to look around his room. This would be the last time he can be in his room. After this, he is planning to go back to his flat. He wants to take a rest but his mood prevents him from doing it because he doesn't want to get bothered by Fiesty FIve more.

Clyde picks his hero badge and hold it with his right hand.

"Buff Hero ... This nickname is really uncool ... " Clyde grins with a sad face.

He remembers well how he got the badge with his hard work. He was very happy. And now he is going to give it away to Fiesty Five. Maybe they are going to bury it in a storage and then forgotten.

Clyde take a deep breath. He wants to think calmly facing the bad situation he is having right now.

Clyde then begins to take off his uniform. He puts it in a box where he is going to put all his other possessions related to Fiesty Five. After putting all the items he has, he closes the box with a big heart.

Clyde changes into his casual clothes and he begins to clean up his room. He takes the money, clothes, and all of his important belongings with him. He puts them all in a suitcase. After everything is set. He is ready leave.

Clyde comes out from his room and he puts the box on a big table in the meeting room.

"I have put all the attributes related to Fiesty Five here," told Clyde with a sad tone.

"Lucielle, check it out!" Leon commanded.

"Alright." Lucielle responded. She directly walks to the big table and she begins to check the attributes inside the box.

About one minute later, Lucielle finished checking the box.

"Okay. Everything is good." Lucielle confirms. She lifts the box, moves it and puts it inside a locker.

Leon then takes a document. The document contains the statement about Clyde's dismissal.

"Clyde, please sign it." Leon asked while while showing the document to Clyde.

Once again, Clyde's temper is being tested. His hatred towards Leon now is appearing because of Leon's rude action. Clyde tries his best to control his emotion. This is hard.

After taking a deep breath, Clyde takes the document. He does not want to read the statement. All he needs to do is just giving his sign. After a few seconds of pause, he reluctantly signs the document. After that, he gives it back to Leon.

The situation is really awkward. No one from Fiesty Five looks really sad in their face, except Lottie. Lottie seems trying to hide her sadness with her calm face. But Clyde can actually sees through her. Different from other members. Their expressions annoy Clyde so much.

Without wasting more time dealing with Fiesty Five, Clyde begins to walk toward the headquarter exit. Ralph escorts him without saying anything. Carrying his big suitcase, Clyde start to move on.

"I'm sorry if I made a lot of problems in Fiesty Five. Thank you very much for all of this time. Good luck to all of you." Clyde gives his friendly goodbye with a fake smile.

No one from Fiesty Five replies Clyde's goodbye.

Feeling very sad, Clyde begins to run while holding his tears.

Clyde goes back to his flat. He feels very tired after having such a bad day. He lays on the bed while trying not to over think things. He wants to have a nice rest. He does not want his life as a hero to end. He is still hoping that good things would come to him any time soon. He eventually falls asleep.

Somewhere in a city.

Clyde is standing in the middle of a crowd. The crowd of people are running away from a big monster. The big monster looks like a giant ape. The monster are furious and it smashes everything surround it.

"Help! Help!" The screams of people finally makes Clyde aware.

"Buff Hero is here!" said a young man panicking.

"Oh, my god! We're safe!" said an old woman wearing her pajamas.

"Buff Hero! Please save us!" A lady with braided hair pulls Clyde's shirts asking for help.

Clyde is confused. He wants to help the people but what can he do if he is alone. His power is not enough if he uses it on himself. He needs other heroes to fight the monsters.

While Clyde are taking too long thinking about how to deal with the monster, some people are crushed and killed by the monster. They are screaming in pain.

People starts to run faster and the monster begins to chase after them. The monster's direction is going toward where Clyde is standing.

Feeling trembled, Clyde decides to turn around and he is trying to run away. He runs away but unfortunately he steps on a stone and falls on the ground.

The monster does a high jump and it lands right in front of Clyde. The monster growls very loud while raising both hands in the air. It is going to crush Clyde.

Clyde is frightened. He knows that he could not stand up nor run. How come he could not do anything. He is a hero and yet he is pretty weak. He cursed himself for being weak. Why he is born with such a lousy ability. He cannot think more. He looks at the sky and he sees the big hands ready to crush him.

"NOOO!!!" Clyde screams loudly while trying to cover himself with his hands.

As he is about to get crushed, he suddenly opens his eyes and find himself laying on the bed. He is sweating and he is trying to catch his breath.

"Oh, damn ... It was a dream ... " Clyde tries to calm down.

After some time has passed to relax himself, Clyde wakes up and he takes a glass of water. He drinks the water and feels a bit refreshed.

Clyde looks at the window and he finds out that the sky is getting darker.

"All right, I guess I will clean up my room and then have a nice shower," said Clyde with his sleepy face.

After cleaning his room and taking a bath, Clyde wants to buy some snacks for dinner. He decides to go to minimarket.

The evening sky looks gloomy just like Clyde's mood at this moment. He is taking a walk while looking at his phone. There is a news about his dismissal from Fiesty Five. He hopes that the news will not be published more because he is worried that his reputation might be stained.

Some minutes later, Clyde arrives at a minimarket. He walks around to look for food with discount. Well, because he is not working now, he wants to buy cheaper food. He needs to control his daily budget.

"Oh, wow! Really!?" Clyde's attention is distracted suddenly as he sees the discount for beers.

Drinking beers can be a great idea to relieve his stress. So, besides buying some food, he buys some beers too.

Feeling very happy, he then walks to the cashier. While he is walking to the cashier, he stops his movement because he meets someone he knows.

"Lottie!?" Clyde is surprised.

"Oh! Clyde!?" Lottie is surprised too.

"What are you buying?" Clyde asks.

"Oh! I bought cat food. You know, I have cats in my house." Lottie answered.

Silence happened for few seconds until Lottie begins to speak up.

"Um, Clyde... May I talk with you?" Lottie requested.

"Sure ... " Clyde responded. He sounds hesitant.

After paying the items, Clyde and Lottie goes out from the minimarket and walk together. Lottie asks Clyde to follow her to a city park.

Arriving in the city park, both of them are sitting next to each other.

The park is quiet. There are only few people spotted. The moon starts to appear in the dark sky. The breeze feels a bit cold. Awkward situation is happening between them.

"Lottie, are you doing good?" Clyde starts the conversation.

"Well, yeah. I'm fine. What about you?" Lottie asks back.

"I don't think I'm fine right now. But I will try to enjoy my life right now," replied Clyde with a smirk.

"Honestly, I feel sad because you left the team. I feel sorry too because I could not do anything to help you." Lottie's tone sounds so sad.

"It is alright. You can do better without me, right?" Clyde responded.

"No! I don't think I can do better. You are the only who treat me well. You are kind ... unlike them." Lottie's eyes are beginning to shed tears.

"Lottie? What happened!?" Clyde is curious.

"Leon is rude. He likes to command me to push myself hard. If I don't do what he says, he might get angry at me. He can not think about my capability and limit. In the last battle with the robbers, he forced to do hurricane attack but I messed up because I was exhausted." Lottie explains while trying to hold her tears.

Lottie continues, now she is talking about Lucielle and Ralph.

"Lucielle is cynical to me. I don't think she likes me. She is bossy and sometimes cunning. She sometimes treated me like a servant. She likes to order me to do her stuffs when people are not around. And, whenever Leon says something good about me, Lucielle will get jealous and later she will tease me." Lottie tells her experience when she is with Lucielle.

Knowing Lottie is being treated like that, Clyde is furious. He starts to think that some members in Fiesty Five are jerks.

"And the most annoying one is Ralph. Ralph is too kind. He likes to help me to do some tasks and never scold me. It seems like he likes me but it scares me a lot. He is very scary whenever there are only two of us. He likes to get closer to me and starts to tell me his feelings. I senses danger whenever he does that. But, I always run away with my ability to escape from him." Lottie starts to sob.

Clyde suddenly pats Lottie's head. He wants to cheer her up.

"Clyde is different. You treat me like a real teammate. You are like a brother to me. You always take care of me. You never do something bad to me. Your buff skill is very useful. They just don't know how great your skill is! Now that you are gone, I don't know what will happen to me ... " Lottie finally cries out.

"It's alright. Everything's gonna be okay. Don't worry. Please stop crying, will you?" Clyde tries to cheer her up.

After Lottie is satisfied expressing her sadness, she is now feeling better.

Clyde is glad because there is still someone who acknowledges him in a good way. On the other hand, he is worried too if Lottie might get into a trouble and end up like him.

"By the way, why did you join the vote when Leon are trying to kick me from Fiesty Five?" Clyde wants to know Lottie's reason.

"I'm really sorry. Three people already gave them their vote to kick you out. So, it was useless even if I chose not to vote for your dismissal. They might bully me later if they know I was supporting you. I'm really sorry, Clyde ... " Lottie apologizes.

"Okay, I understand." Cyde responded.

"So, Clyde. What are you planning to do now?" Lotties asks. She looks worried.

"I'm not sure. I want to stay working as a hero because it is my dream. But, the news about me right now is not really good. I don't think if I can join a new team of superheroes." Clyde responds pessimistic.

In Megantinum, there is no solo hero. They won't get acknowledged. There should be at least five heroes working as a team to be officially acknowledges by the government. As long as Clyde doesn't have a team of at least five people, he will be considered as commoner.

"Well, I hope you can get something better soon. I will always wish for you luck, Clyde." Lottie stands up. She is trying to encourage Clyde.

"I hope so ... " Clyde responded. He seems doubtful.

"You are a good person. I'm sure people will acknowledge your kindness." Lottie encourages with her bright smile.

"Alright then, I will do my best." Clyde is encouraged.

"Thank you so much for spending your time with me, Clyde. I will do my best too in the team." Lottie raise her right hands. She wants to shake hands with Clyde.

"Thanks for sharing your stories with me. I believe you are a tough girl. Good luck, Lottie!" Clyde reaches Lottie's hands and have a handshake with her.

They look happy because both of them have a reason to keep moving forward. As Clyde parted with Lottie, a light of hope starts to lit up inside his heart.

"See ya, Clyde!" Lottie waves at Clyde.

"See ya!" Clyde replied.