Chapter 10
They had built Vanguard City to show the limitless potential of mankind.
Sitting on the ledge of the Ward’s tallest building, I understood the sentiment.
Even while chaos ran rampant on the streets below, from here, I only saw man’s determination to carve out a moment in history for themselves.
It was unfortunate we also had a limitless ability for destruction.
A nearly full moon hung high in the sky, casting an eerie cool light across the city. Despite the ethereal glow, it didn’t hide the blood coating my hands. There were splashes of crimson that still shimmered from the wetness.
From up here, the streets were quiet. I should quit, call it a night, and head home.
Turning my hand into a fist, the blood pulled at the hair.
I wanted more. The man attempting to rob a young woman received a matching pair of broken arms. The customer wielding a gun at the gas station would need a dentist after they wired his jaw shut. It had been an eventful night.
Touching the hole in yet another t-shirt, I thought about inching from the ledge.
None of their punches hurt, neither did the gunshot, despite my flinching.
If I dropped off an eight-story building, would I land without a scratch?
If I was lucky, I’d land the classic pose, dropping to one knee with the pavement cracking underneath my weight.
What I wanted right now was to find Smoke. Smashing bandits was great fun, but it didn’t stop the man who threatened Aiden. Just thinking about his words, my pulse quickened and I swear I could feel the fire in my veins.
“You’re not going to jump, are you?”
In the corner of my vision, a young woman stood on the ledge. The signature purple costume gave away Hellcat. I couldn’t help but note how quietly she moved. I’d have to put a collar with a bell on her. It couldn’t be a coincidence that she found me hiding here.
“How did you find me?” The wind whipped through her ponytail, but she didn’t turn to face me. Sliding hands into her pockets like a regular schmo, I couldn't believe she had been out saving the city this evening.
“Did you track me down?”
She grabbed a seat nearby, legs hanging over the ledge.
A second later, she pulled off her black gloves, setting them to the side.
The zipper from her collar slid down and she fanned herself.
Despite getting comfortable, she didn’t touch her mask.
She might be willing to get cozy, but Hellcat didn’t trust me, not yet.
Thankfully, my suit shared the sentiment and maintained the cowl.
“I turned on a police scanner. Would you believe some idiot was going around beating the snot out of crooks? Instead of paying attention to where he was. Witnesses recorded him slugging a teenager.”
“He had a knife.”
Pulling out her phone, she flipped through the screens. Holding it up to my face, she put the video on display. “Supervillain beats teenager.” I scoffed. They didn’t have a clue what really happened. The kid was lucky I hadn’t pulverized every bone in his hand.
“You’re a rookie.” She tucked the phone away. “We all start somewhere. But you’re not making things easy for yourself.”
“Since when is that a superhero’s job?” The words sounded childish the moment I spoke them. I complained about the hero-worshipping titans running around and their lack of conscience. I should at least attempt to be better than them.
“Dial down the brutality. I’ve seen the video. You’re obviously working through something, but the city isn’t your shrink’s office.”
“It gets results.”
A villain had triggered an alarm in a nearby bank. While I appreciated Hellcat stopping by to give me a lecture, I had more work to do. Without a word, I pushed off. The whoosh of the air was almost unbearable. I let my limbs relax, preparing for the pavement.
“Booyah!” Down on one knee, the cracks rippled outward. I froze. I expected pain, a broken bone, or at least a dull ache cascading through my body. Nothing. Standing, I flexed the suit, stretching around my biceps. Power rippled along my skin, and I had to admit—I liked it.
The bank alarms rang. With the number of incidents taking place throughout the city, it could be hours before the cops reacted.
Thankfully it was after operating hours and the streets were mostly clear.
With the rise of villains in the city, people had gone into hiding when the sun set.
They hoped waiting out another night of terror would cause a peaceful sunrise.
The robber didn’t bother to wear a mask.
Without heroes, the villains claimed the streets, no longer caring about the consequences of their actions.
He must be my age, a slender man with enough face scruff that he’d be attractive if not for committing a felony.
It’d be a quick save, slap him around, toss the money back in the bank and I’d add another notch to my belt.
Bang.
The first reaction of an amateur crook seemed to be shoot and ask questions later. I tried catching the bullet out of the air, scoring extra-cool points but it struck my chest. It signed the death warrant of another t-shirt, but the suit underneath absorbed the impact.
Speed. I wasn’t as fast as the Zipper, not by a long shot, but a guy my size typically relied on brute strength. He fired twice. Why do they always shoot after seeing the first one did nothing? If you can’t stop a man with one bullet, twenty more aren’t going to make a difference.
Shoulder down, I hit the man in the torso, launching him into the glass doors of the bank. They cracked under his weight. If he was like the rest, the next stage of this fight would be him begging for me to let him go. It was like they all read the same playbook.
“I’m going to kill you.”
Oh, that was a new twist to the evening. False bravado, I hadn’t seen that one yet.
“Are you?” As he peeled himself from the glass, he balled his hands into fists. Seriously, I’d need to ask Griffin about this. If bullets didn’t stop me, did he think his fists would fare any better? His reaction was almost ridiculous.
I let him get the first punch, landing it squarely against my stomach. There’s no point in giving him hope that this would end any other way. Wrapping my hand around his throat, I lifted him into the air.
“Kill you,” —he struggled to spit out the words— “then your family.”
Smoke had made the same threat. The supervillain’s words carried more weight than a desperate street thug. But it gave away how quickly they’d turn to violence to get what they wanted.
The thug started to speak when I slammed him against the glass. Holding him off his feet, I could easily snap his neck and put an end to his miserable existence. I held his life in my hands, and with no effort, I could ensure he’d never commit another crime.
“He has a family.”
Hellcat had gotten to the street faster than I expected. I don’t know why she cared if the man had a family. What should it matter? He was a criminal that needed to be put down.
“You’re making it up.”
“His lanyard.” She moved closer, pointing to the strip of white coming out of his jean pockets. Written in bold red letters: Vanguard Middle School.
“They’d be better off.” My fingers tightened. “They don’t need scum for a father.”
“Life is precious. All life is precious.” She moved closer; her feet barely made a sound on the pavement. “You don’t get to decide who lives and dies. You’re not the judge, jury, and executioner.”
I had said those exact words a dozen times as I trained new paramedics. Whether the patient owned a million-dollar business or had been the one to plow his truck through a stoplight, they were the same. The man’s body twitched and I pulled my hand away. He coughed, sucking in air.
We don’t get to decide.
The guilt did more damage than the bullet. I scolded the superheroes for their lack of ethics, their constant need to put themselves above others. It had only been a day, and already I had turned into one of the egomaniacs.
The man scurried to his feet, running down the street, eyeing over his shoulder.
“Well,” she started, “good job not killing him. But you didn’t need to let a criminal get away.”
Staring at my hands, I ran through the night, recounting the number of times I knocked the sense out of a criminal. I wanted to blame my anger, that it clouded my judgment, but it was more juvenile. Prometheus had entrusted me with a little power, and I abused it. Now came the anger.
“I’m just like them,” I whispered.
“Welcome to the club.” Hellcat patted me on the shoulder. “We all get caught up in the beginning. It’s a rush.”
“I could have killed him.”
“Sure,” she said, “but you didn’t. It’s a start.”
A lick of flame rolled up my arm, igniting the sleeve of my t-shirt, burning the cotton.
The fingers of the suit glowed, a first for the evening.
I knew I could summon fire, or I thought I could, but despite my attempts, it hadn’t come when I demanded it.
Of course it appeared when I questioned my heart.
“Look…” Hellcat moved between me and the crushed doors. “You’re the only powered person in the city. You might not be the hero we wanted, but you’re all we’ve got.”
“I’m not a hero.” After nearly killing a middle school teacher, nothing about me felt heroic.
“Heroes aren’t born,” she said. “Get that comic crap out of your head. They’re made. Do you think I woke up kicking ass and taking names?”
“Kind of,” I mumbled.
“Well, yeah.” Humble wasn’t a word in Hellcat’s dictionary. “But I lost my fair share of fights too. I was about to hang up my mask when a man offered to train me.”
“You’re offering to train me?”
“I drew the short straw at the vigilante meeting,” she laughed. “I’ve been here before. So how about you take that pity party, clean up, and we find a more productive way for you to use that anger?”
In the ambulance, if I walked away from a call feeling I didn’t do everything I could, I beat myself up for it.
I’d read, ask questions, and the moment I had the chance, I’d prove I could be better.
One day with powers and it was as if I had forgotten myself.
I might be masked, but underneath the nifty alien costume, I was still Xander.
I nodded.
“Okay,” she said. “First, I need a name. There is no way in hell I’m calling you Blaze. I have an image to uphold.”
If I didn’t know better, I’d assume the woman behind the mask took pep talk tips from Lei. Yet again, the women in my life were going to whip my ass into shape.