[ WP ] Your parents are the lamest , most boring parents ever . One day you accidentally find a secret room in your house ; within it are relics and souvenirs of all the supervillains they 've defeated .

`` Make sure you tidy up after you're done eating Tom, I do n't want to come back to a sink full of dishes.'' Dad picked up his keys from the coffee table, wrapping a scarf around his neck with his other hand. 
 
 `` We'll be back by nine, but I hate driving on that road in the dark,'' Dad sighed to himself as he put on his shoes. 
 
 `` Oh relax Harry, it'll be fine, if needs be we'll drive the longer way round and go through town.'' Mum walked in, buttoning up her jacket. She turned to me, her mouth was smiling but her eyes stayed serious, `` Make sure you do something productive Tom, do n't just sit around. Have you looked at any more universities to apply to yet?'' 
 
 I shrugged my shoulders, glancing down at my phone, waiting until they left so I could get two hours of fun. `` Do n't just shrug, do something. You've got a phone and a laptop, use them for something useful. Mr.Gates' son just got an interview at Durham, you're just as smart as he is.'' I was n't. 
 
 I waved as they drove away, the mid-size BMW saloon purring softly as Dad used his typical light touch. Finally, alone time. 
 My parents, Harry and Elaine Walker, are honest to god the most boring people on the face of this planet. There is nothing remarkable about them. They grew up normal, went to normal school, normal university, met a normal way, got married, had two kids, naturally an older girl and a younger boy. 
 We live in a quiet village full of identikit families, identical mock tudor four bedroom houses with a garage and a modest garden. 
 We buy normal food, go on holiday for a week once a year to somewhere in Spain or the South of France, hang out with other families for brunch on a Sunday where the Dads talk about their work and Mums talk about curtains. 
 
 I walked towards the kitchen, I could still smell the pasta Mum had made, my stomach rumbled as I remembered I had n't eaten after rugby training. I skipped a little over the cold tiles, when I felt one of them wobble beneath my toes. Dad would flip if he saw it, we only got the kitchen redone a year ago. 
 I leaned down to see if I could slide it back into place, when a flash of metal underneath caught my eye. I lifted the tile, underneath was a small metal hatch, revealing a red button when I flipped it open. 
 
 I shook my head, making sure the hunger was n't making me imagine things, but it was still there. I ran my finger across the button, trying to think of what it could be. Some sort of emergency switch in case of a fire? An old feature left by a previous owner? Or... fuck it. I pressed the button. The rack of shelves to my left slid smoothly to one side, revealing a space in the wall with a ladder running down into the cellar. Only we did n't have a cellar. 
 I clambered down one rung at a time, trying to make out details in the darkness, until eventually I felt my foot land on a thick carpet. The lights came on. 
 
 The walls were lined with glass trophy cabinets, full to the brim with pictures, medals, strange artefacts. I walked up to a cabinet containing a golden shield, a picture of my Mum next to it, a newspaper clipping from 1986 about a mystery hero stopping a train from derailing. I moved to the next case, a chunk of the Berlin wall was lying there with some graffiti scrawled on it, a crude drawing of a flying man with the word `` hero'' underneath. My heart was racing, what was all of this? 
 More cabinets, more artefacts, more newspaper stories, more pictures of my parents. One of my Mum mid-punch from a CCTV screen grab, one of Dad throwing a flaming plane engine away from a runway. 
 
 `` Tom, you were n't supposed to see this.'' My heart skipped a beat, I turned to see Dad standing there. 
 
 `` What the fuck is all this?'' 
 
 `` Do n't swear,'' he took off his glasses, hooking them onto the collar of his jumper. `` This is, this is a past life. Me and your mother, well we met doing something rather, odd.'' 
 
 `` Odd?'' 
 
 `` Foiling a coup in El Salvador, the government could n't send the army, so they asked us to go and use our skills. Special skills, some have even dubbed them superpowers.'' He walked into the room, gesturing for me to sit down on the sofa in the middle. `` Tom, have you ever wondered why you're so good at rugby?''
