Author's note: Dedicated to the person who made me laugh out loud while reading the comments on the story.

James:

"So your family is..."

"Let's not talk about that issue, please." I replied with a hint of hostility in my voice.

This girl had already pestered me enough through our journey. After our escape, we had boarded a bus with some spare cash I stole from a sleeping guard and then stopped at the very last stop which ended in Maryland. I sadly only had my temps and she did not even have any ID on her besides military ID so we had been stuck walking along the sidewalks and side streets. However, she lost one of her shoes so I stole some tennis shoes from a telephone wire and gave it to her. Was it her size? No. And she never let me forget it...

"What are you thinking about?" she asked, like she really cared about my well-being at all.

"The answer to your question is I have no family. The only ones who ever cared about me are dead and my so called 'parents' sent me to that lousy boarding school to get rid of me and have fun." I uttered a half-truth and then felt bad about it. However, I stopped myself. Why should I regret telling her lies when for all I know she could secretly...be a spy for my parents? Even I scoffed at that idea.

She was too...nice to be a spy. She would probably blow her cover within minutes. Probably didn't know how to keep a secret.

"Everyone has family and a backstory. I mean, how did you get the idea to jump on this train and ride it like we're hobos?" she responded back. The truth of the matter was that I knew I was riding on her coattails, I could not go back to my family and she needed a reason to keep letting me follow her. Already by now, she probably was considering calling the police on me and arresting me for being a stalker.

"I don't. Have family, I mean. And I got the idea from watching an action movie once." I instantly knew this was the wrong response as her brows curled and frustration seeped in her face.

"YOU RISKED OUR LIVES ON A HUNCH!" she screeched until my eardrums bled.

"Sorry. Sorry. How many times can I say I'm sorry?" I repeated to her until she calmed down. Sheesh, how temperamental can a girl be? Not that I had not faced an angry girlfriend before...not. Really? I cannot believe that I lie to myself constantly.

"Do you know what I've been through and now we are hiding in a train in the dark because you said so? Why are you still with me anyway? I thought you would hightail out of that place and ditch me the second we escaped." She commented and I took time to ponder on her last words.

She was right, why did I still follow her? She did not need my help. She probably had family that cared about her a lot. I did not. I had a brother who hated me, a mother who used me and a father that was always working. Maybe it was because I thought that she was the only person I knew with no known connection to AoE.

Yeah, you heard me. I know who the Ambassadors of Evil are because I am the heir to that evil empire and my uncle is the Evil Hand, the leader of the so-called Ambassadors of Evil. That is partly the reason why my life was so messed up at the moment, but she didn't know that.

Back there, when I explained to her why she was in chains, I kinda lied and spoke another half-truth. The lie was that I didn't know much about the AoE. I was afraid if she knew about my association, that she would turn away from me and leave me in the dust. I mean, how can superspeed help you when the person you are with thinks you are with the people who tried to hurt her? Not that I cared about her, it was merely in theory, you know.

She finally spoke after a long time of not making eye contact.

"You're not the only one who's had a tough life." she whispered.

I looked at her incredulity and mocked her posture.

"I have lost a lot of things in my life. My sister, my mom, and I have no idea if the rest of my family is safe from these people, AoE. If you want to still follow me, you have to be honest with me, ok? And no more of this whiny, bad boy stuff, ok?" she said.

"You think I'm a bad boy?" I responded.

"What, the sunglasses doesn't sell it?" she quipped back.

I relented to her sarcastic remark and finally let myself drift off.

As I nodded off, the weirdest thought came to my head.

Maybe she wasn't so bad, after all.