The Stupendous Springer

Episode 2: Detour, Chapter 4

As the city of silvers and greys faded into the background, and as the suburb of greens and brick-reds expanded back into the foreground, it was Sophie's conclusion that Canada's version of Mount Olympus was not all it was cracked up to be. Sure, they were impressive with their powers, unusual with their mutations, and Phlex in particular had been . . . interesting, to say the least, but the road on which Nicole took them home felt like the road back to the path Sophie's life was meant to take. The only problem was she had no more idea where that road was going now than she had before.

The trip back was uneventful, other than Holly informing Sophie of the alarmingly high price an outfit like Phlex's would demand. Nicole and Rita had tossed suggestions at the girls on the way back, such as leotards, nylons, even latex, and Sophie considered them honestly, but made no decision on them by the time the family arrived at home (she was fairly positive the latex idea was a "no", however). Time for that later. What next?

The answer to that did not come, either. Of course it did not.

Sophie hung up her coat, hugged her mom and thanked her for taking them, and went to her room. She opened the door. There was her bed, her dresser, her laptop, her current life in a glance. It was a bit disappointing how mundane it felt, but comforting in its familiarity.

Well, all except this, Sophie reminded herself with a side-frown, looking down at her hand. Her blood-pumping, skin-covered, bendy, elastic hand. She curled her fingers into a fist, and then she curled them all the way back the other way, the normal way. This new element of her life was so completely unfamiliar, so fantastical. It stood in contrast, perhaps even protest, against the rest of the contents of the room.

Yup, just a normal life of a music-maker and high-schooler, Sophie thought. One with a rubber band body. No martial arts, no government job, no plan. Time for video games, I guess!

And so Sophie played video games. She played a slasher game where she took the role of a Greek god on a rampage, which helped with the frustration. Next she played a happy game as a very fast purple cat who was very adorable and fluffy, yet wielded the power to slay nightmare creatures, and that calmed her tense nerves. Finally, she played a very time-consuming game based on an external franchise's intellectual property, but parodied it while presenting a myriad of puzzles to solve that both paid homage to and mocked the source material, and this game allowed her mind to think about something else, anything to distract her from her life's uncertain trajectory.

"Sophie," Rita's voice chimed in from behind her.

"Yeah?" She asked, her finger finding the pause button from a bit further away than she expected.

"You missed dinner," Rita told her.

"Oh, whoops," Sophie grunted, noting the sunset out the window to her right. "Was it good?" she asked with a slight laugh.

Rita ignored the deflection. "Girl, what's eating you?"

"Life," Sophie sighed, slumping into the sofa.

"Duh," Rita returned. "Be more specific."

Sophie glanced at her in annoyance. "Just, you know, being a rubber band with no purpose, that's all."

"Oh pshh," Rita snorted dismissively. "You still have the music, you have school, don't give me that. What's really eating you?"

"It's just," Sophie began, "you'd think getting superpowers would open doors, right? I feel like a bunch of them just got closed in my face."

Rita leaned over the back of the sofa. "Life isn't a mansion, Sophie, it's a hallway. There's always more doors. All that happened today was that you found a few that aren't working for you."