Other People's Heroes (The Heroes of Siegel City)

by Petit, Blake M.

  “Gotcha,” Hotshot said. He whipped out a gray canister about the size of a aerosol can. “Little care package I borrowed from the Spectacle Six,” he said. “Pleasant dreams.”

  He hit a red switch on the canister and a vacuum kicked in, sucking up the smoke. “No!” I screamed, trying to sound as horrified as possible. “I WILL NOT BE DENIED! I WILL EXACT MY REVENGE!”

  The crappy dialogue taken care of, I dove directly into the stream of smoke. I concentrated all my mass inwards and began to shrink down. Hiding in the smoke, I’d made it down to about an inch of height before I flew into a hidden chamber in the canister. At the bottom were a couple of seats with tiny safety harnesses. I sat down in one and strapped myself in. In the other, Particle was waiting with a grin.

  “Nice finale,” he said.

  “Why thankee, kind sir.”

  We waited in the canister as Hotshot dealt with the cops, repeatedly assuring them that he would be taking “that dangerous revenant Copycat” to a spectral containment facility maintained by V3OL, resident genius of the Spectacle Six. Finally, all the explanation taken care of, they left the police to clean up and took to the air.

  “Hey, can I come out now?” I asked.

  “Of course not!” Hotshot called. “How’s it going to look if people see you flying around Siegel City with me after I’ve caught you?”

  I looked over at Particle, who just nodded. We sat there a few more minutes, experiencing a turbulent flight, before we finally felt a harsh thud.

  “Are we on the roof?” I called. “Can we come out yet?”

  “Not yet!”

  I looked at Particle again. “That felt like a landing to me.”

  He shook his head. “Just some nasty turbulence.”

  “And what was that sound?”

  “What sound?”

  “That dinging sound.”

  “The one that sounded like an elevator door?”

  “Yeah, that one.”

  “Didn’t hear it.”

  I listened a little more. “Now it sounds like he’s walking.”

  “Just your imagination, son.”

  There was another thud and the canister stopped moving entirely. “Okay!” Hotshot called, “come on out!”

  “About time,” I said, unstraping my harness and scrambling out the exit. I leapt into the air and I grew back to full-size, executing a perfect 10-point landing in a kung-fu stance intended to display for Hotshot how incredibly intimidating I could be despite the fact that I looked like a total dork in that pose.

  I did all this.

  In the middle of the lounge.

  Surrounded by Capes and Masks with big smiles on their faces.

  And a cake.

  And a big banner that said, “Congratulations, Copycat!”

  Oh yeah. And they were all yelling, “Surprise!”

  “What the hell is this?” I shouted.

  “Tradition,” Particle said.

  Hotshot grinned. “Whenever someone gets their own character we always have a little celebration at the end of their first campaign.”

  “It was my idea to surprise you,” Annie said, stepping forward and kissing my cheek. “Congratulations, Josh.”

  “Aw... I don’t know what to say.”

  “Try ‘Thank-you’,” Ted said, giving me a hug (with the requirement of pounding me fraternally on the back -- the only way that males are allowed to hug one another unless at least one of them has a fatal disease). I made the rounds, accepting congratulations from Particle, DoubleGum Man, Five-Share, Animan, V3OL, Five-Share, Spectrum, the Arachnid, Fire-Share, Nightshadow, Five-Share, the Justice Giant and Solemna, the Goop, Five-Share, Fourtifier, LifeSpeed, Flux, and Five-Share. There was cake and snacks and Miss Sinistah kissed me on the cheek at least twice more, the second one turning me to jelly and making me wonder where the Gunk was once my head cleared. Not that I was complaining -- the last thing I needed was him pulping my brain.

  Finally I managed to get Annie by herself. “This is so sweet,” I said. “Thank you.”

  “Hey, for the sweetest guy I know.”

  “Cut it out, you’re gonna make me blush.”

  “Yeah?” she said in that teasing voice she used sometimes (particularly, I suspected, when she knew it would drive me the craziest). “Maybe that’s what I’m going for.”

  I couldn’t believe my ears -- nor could I keep the smile from spreading across my face. “Now why would you want to do something like that?”

  “Oh, I don’t know,” she said. “Maybe I’m just starting to see things a little clearer.”

  “Maybe,” I said, suddenly aware of how close our faces were. And that she was slowly closing the gap.

  “Stay away from her, puke!”

  We broke apart and looked towards the door -- along with literally everybody else in the lounge. I chided myself for my foolishness. How could I possibly have only noticed the Gunk’s absence from the party?

  But the crowd was complete now. Dr. Noble was there.

  BIG MISTAKE

  “Well hi there, Todd,” I said. “Somehow it just didn’t seem like a party without you.”

  “Todd, nobody asked you to come here,” Annie said. The wonderful, magical smile she’d worn only seconds ago was gone, and I was seeing red.

  “I’ll go anywhere I damn well please,” he snarled. “Stay away from her, Corwood.”

  “What makes you think you can barge in here and start ordering her around like that?” I asked.

  “Please, Josh, I can handle this,” she insisted.

  “Are you sure?” I asked, pleading with my eyes for her to let me flatten this slug.

  “I’m sure,” she said. “Please, he’s my problem. Let me deal with him.”

  I stared at her for a moment, not wanting to leave her alone with the beast. But she needed to do it. That I understood.

  I looked at Noble. “Hurt her,” I said. “Give me an excuse.”

  Then they stepped out of the lounge. They must have been right outside the door, because I could still hear them talking. I turned and walked away.

  “You’re a strong man, Josh,” Ted said. “I think almost anyone else would have thrown a punch there. You’re calm, you’re reserved--”

  I grabbed the nearest pool cue out of Nightshadow’s hand and broke it over my leg.

  “You’re venting,” Ted continued.

  Nightshadow was about to say something, but after glancing at my face he turned away, grabbed another cue and began chalking it up at a considerable distance from me. In fact, except for Ted and Animan, everyone was pretty much keeping their distance. I think they understood.

  “You know, that lounge equipment didn’t do anything to you,” Animan said as I put my fist through a steel garbage can. I didn’t know whose strength I was using, and I didn’t care. I’d never felt such an urge to commit a violent act in my life.

  “I need to break something worthless!” I shouted, “and Noble’s in the hall!” I picked up a beer bottle and ground it to powder in my hand. Alcohol was running down my sleeve. I didn’t care.

  “How dare he... how dare he take away her smile?” I raised my fist, poised to bring it down on the pool table, when a black-gloved hand wrapped around my wrist.

  “Watch it, pal,” Hotshot said. “I’m kind of partial to this table.”

  “Did you see?” I hissed at him. “Did you see what he does to her? How he makes her feel?”

  “I know, buddy,” Hotshot said. “We all feel the same way about Doc Noble.”

  “The scale of those feelings may vary,” Animan said, twirling the broken pool cue.

  “You have to calm down,” Hotshot said. “In a place like this, with power like yours, anger is more than just self-destructive, it could be catastrophic.”

  “I DON’T CARE!” I shouted. “Why do I have to play the nice guy here? Why can’t I get mad for once? Don’t you think he deserves it?”

  “He deserves to have a volcano dropped on him,” T
ed said, “but that doesn’t mean you can do it.”

  “Somebody has to. Before he hurts her again. Before--”

  “It’s just words, Josh,” Hotshot said. “That’s all he has in him, that’s all he has going for him. But as long as it’s just words, there’s nothing you can do. If she’s going to listen to him, you have to let her.”

  “I KNOW THAT! Why do you think I’m so upset?” I charged the door, pointing towards it and hissing under my breath. “And don’t pretend words don’t hurt, Hotshot. Don’t you even try. But I swear to you, if he does anything else, if he so much as lays a finger on her--”

  “Did you hear that?” Ted asked.

  “WHAT?”

  We fell silent and I was close enough to the door to hear them talking again. And what I heard was Annie’s voice. And what she said was this:

  “Todd, let go. Todd -- Todd, that hurts. Todd--”

  LifeSpeed himself couldn’t have stopped me in time.

  I ripped the door from its hinges on my way through. They had progressed maybe five feet down the hall. Noble had one beefy paw clamped around her arm, the other with a single finger extended in her face. He turned and looked at me and probably would have said something of great import and intelligence if my fist hadn’t chosen that precise moment to impact his face. I felt his nose crunch and blood flowed onto my glove. I don’t think I’ve ever felt anything so satisfying.

  “You libble PUNG!” he hissed through a stream of red. He rocketed his fist at my head but I easily caught the blow, flipping him not just over my back but straight through the wall and into the lounge.

  I jumped through the hole he made, amidst a hail of plaster and dust, and looked around to see where he’d landed. He actually hit the pool table Hotshot had saved a few minutes ago, splitting it in two.

  By now the others were trying to hold me back, although whether it was for Noble’s good or my own I wasn’t sure. Nightshadow was the first to reach me, but I hurled him into the wall using the very techniques he had taught me. I swatted the Arachnid aside and rolled past Flux before Fourtifier, Justice Giant, DoubleGum Man, Merlin Junior and at least half of Five-Share managed to pile onto me, dragging me to a halt. I was still struggling against them. If I had been thinking clearly, I probably could have figured out a way to slip away with some combination of powers or another. That’s an enormous “if.”

  “Josh, calm down!” Hotshot shouted. “Todd, what just happened?”

  “The libble sigo jus’ unloabed on me!” he said, wiping his nose. “He oughtta be pud away!”

  “You piece of filth!” I shouted. “He was hurting her, I saw--”

  “He’s nuds! I woulden’ lay a figger on her!”

  “No?” Annie stepped through the hole in the wall and held out her arm. “What do you call these, Todd?”

  Around her upper arm were a series of deep, finger-shaped red marks. One of them was already beginning to purple. And considering her invulnerability -- how tough she was -- to think of how much pressure he must have applied... I again tried to break free, but the others held me in place. I don’t exactly think all of them wanted to, though.

  “How?” I asked, my voice quivering. “How can someone claim to care about her and then do that? ANSWER ME, NOBLE!”

  “Why do you eben care?” he blurbled.

  “BECAUSE I’M IN LOVE WITH HER, YOU STUPID SON OF A BITCH!”

  Nobody moved.

  Nobody breathed.

  Nobody spoke.

  A tumbleweed rolled by.

  “Get out of here, Todd,” Hotshot finally said. “Get out and go away for a while. I’ll handle this.”

  “Yeah, I’m goin’, I’m --” he was headed for the door when Hotshot caught him on the shoulder and pulled him in very close.

  “Oh, and Todd?” he said sweetly. “Next time, we don’t stop him.”

  Noble ripped his shoulder from Hotshot’s grasp and left, though the door. Before he was gone, though, he made it a point to shoot me an enraged, murderous gaze, which I gladly returned.

  With him gone my blind fury subsided. “You can let me go, I’m all right now,” I gasped. Arms of rock and taffy and flesh relaxed and I was free to move again. Everyone was staring at me -- some in horror, some in admiration, most in simple amazement.

  In Annie’s face, I saw all three.

  “I have to go,” I said to her, and I ran out of the lounge. I ran down the hall and stumbled into the arboretum, the only place I could think of to do what I was about to do without interruption.

  I ran past the alien plants and past the gardens and past Flambeaux’s ruined topiary, which still looked a bit like someone I knew. I ran until I was as close to the center of the arboretum as I could estimate.

  Then I fell to my knees.

  And then I screamed.

  I screamed for a very long time.

  CONFESSIONAL

  By the time I finished screaming I was ready to collapse. My energy was gone, my spirit was empty and every iota of strength I’d had seemed to void itself from my body. I didn’t think I would ever be able to move again. My cheeks were tear-stained and my neck hurt. The worst thing that could possibly have happened was if someone had shown up just then.

  Which is why I was not at all surprised, as I slumped against a tree and buried my face in my lap, to hear footsteps and feel a Rush approaching me.

  “Go away, Ted,” I moaned.

  “It’s not Ted,” Annie said, “it’s me.”

  “I know it’s you. I’m talking to Ted. He’s hiding in those azalea bushes.”

  The bush in question cursed, rustled and moved away.

  “I figure I at least owe you a conversation,” I said to Annie.

  “Yeah, you do,” she said, unable to disguise the quiet, hurt rage in her voice. “Did you mean that?”

  “When somebody is about to assault the city’s best-loved Cape in a maniacal rage you can probably take anything he happens to blurt out as gospel.”

  “Why didn’t you ever tell me?”

  “Oh come on, like you didn’t know. The way I look at you? The way I hang on your every word in the desperate hope that you’ll say anything to make me believe you’re in the same place I am? You haven’t noticed any of this?”

  “Even if I did, Josh, why didn’t you ever say anything? And don’t say you never had the chance, you had a thousand chances these last few months.”

  “I had the chance,” I said, “I didn’t have the right.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “You were with Noble. Maybe it was a stupid, destructive relationship, but I couldn’t be the one to point that out because I didn’t know if I’d be doing it because it was the best for you or because I wanted you for myself. Besides, I realize this places me in the minority these days, but I was raised with a certain set of values that includes ‘don’t steal someone else’s girl.’ Not even a jackass.”

  She came to my tree and knelt next to me. “So you just kept it to yourself, then. How long were you going to leave things bottled up like that, Josh?”

  “As long as it took! What, do you think I liked that? Do you think I liked watching you with him? The way he treated you... the way he made you feel whenever he walked into the room... it’s a sin, Annie.” I rolled to my knees so I could stare directly into her eyes.

  “Get out of here, Ted!”

  “Geez, all right,” said a topiary giraffe with a band director’s hat, which bobbed away.

  “Josh,” she wept. “You don’t even know me, you’re in love with the mask.”

  “Don’t know you? I don’t give a damn about the mask. You’ve never been so beautiful as you were that day in the park. And as for who you are, your name is Annie Harmon. Your mother’s name is Cynthia. You’ve got a brother named Quentin who’s only interested in girls and a brother named Tom who’s only interested in Capes. You’ve got a scar on your knee from a bike accident before your powers kicked in. You always wanted to be a dancer but you did
n’t think you had the legs for it. You think the Smurfs get too preachy sometimes. Tell me some more of what I don’t know.”

  She covered her face and bent over, weeping.

  “How long were you with Todd, Annie?”

  “About... eleven months.”

  “Eleven months? It didn’t take me eleven minutes with you to tell how sweet and amazing and incredible you are. He had eleven months and he still treated you like that? The man’s a bigger idiot than I thought.”

  She stood up, wiping her face. I followed suit. “Stop saying that, Josh, you don’t know what he was like then--”

  “Are you still defending him? What is it going to take, Annie, is he going to have to kill somebody? He doesn’t deserve you. You’re too good for him. And I’m not saying I do deserve you -- God knows I haven’t earned any miracles lately, but let me tell you what I do know. If I had the chance, if you gave me the chance, I would never, never stop trying to make you happy. You’re wonderful, you’re beautiful, you’re funny -- and stop trying to argue that point with me, you are. And you’re everything, everything I could ever want. I’d lose the powers, I’d burn the costume, I’d leave the whole damn city behind if you wanted me to. If it was for you.”

  I don’t know which of us was more stunned that I’d said it, me or her.

  “But I guess that’s not enough, is it?” I asked.