Superhero and Supervillain

Chapter 4

"I can't believe you Len!" Rin said as she bandaged her brother's arm. "This is the third time in a row you've gotten hurt doing that 'superhero' thing!"

"Rin, I could have handled them..." Len grumbled. "How was I supposed to know Senior Kishimoto was so tough?"

"ARGH!" Rin groaned. "YOU NEVER LISTEN! I don't know HOW many times I've had to patch you up when your 'superheroing' went wrong."

"Rin..." Len protested.

Rin ignored him. "Do you remember when you tried to save that child from a burning building? You had to go to the HOSPITAL! You could've DIED!"

"Rin, please" said Len, in a vain attempt to calm down his sister.

"NO! I just can't stand it when you go out like that and freak me out! I only went along with it because I thought you would grow out of it..." Rin began to tear up.

"Rin, it's not my fault," said Len. "These people just won't take me seriously. I know I'm a superhero, but they just think I'm playing pretend." He sighed. "If I could just do something really heroic, like save people from burning buildings or stop a bank robbery or defeat a supervillain, they'd finally see who I really am!"

Rin sat in silence. "I guess I can't stop you..." Stupid, she thought.

That night Len stayed awake. He had gone to bed in his superhero costume. When his mother asked him why he had done it, he said he wanted to dream of being a superhero. As if all I could do is dream, Len thought.

When Rin had gone to bed, Len tiptoed over to the window and tried the latch. After fiddling with it for a while, he managed to slide open the window.

Now comes the tricky part. Len slowly put his foot down onto his roof, being careful not to slip; he wasn't that stupid. When his foot took hold of the tile, he slowly lowered his other foot, keeping it steady. His foot touched the tile. Shivering, Len gripped the window pane, slowly releasing his grip on the sill. Yes! He was out! Now how to get down...

Slowly Len inched his way onto a flat part of the roof. A nearby tree extended its branches to the side of it, the question is, would it be enough to hold Len's weight?

Len's footsteps creaked as he stepped onto the branch, holding out his arms as if he were on a balance beam.

Don't look down, he thought. Just keep going.

Out of the corner of his eye, Len saw a shadow.

The sight made Len lose his balance, and he toppled over, ending up dangling helplessly from the tree branch.

From somewhere, a voice laughed. Len looked down to see the shadow from before looking up at him on the branch. In the shadow of the street lamps, Len couldn't make out the other's face, only their voice, their taunting, mocking voice.

"This is too funny," the voice said. "Do you think you are a bird?"

Something about the voice was oddly familiar, but Len crossed his arms and replied. "No, I'm not a bird, nor am I a plane. I'm Super Len!"

The voice only replied with more laughter. "Super Len? How utterly adorable. I can sense your ambition from a mile away"

"It is NOT adorable!" Len shouted. "I'm a superhero for real! And what are you doing out here in the middle of the night?"

"Me? I'm out on business. My job, you know. A better question would be, what are you doing up so late, Super Wren?"

Now he (he assumed the voice was male) was making fun of him? This was getting annoying. "Stop joking around! Who are you anyway?"

"Who am I?" Another laugh. "I've been asked that question more times than I can count. The truth is, I don't have anything that I can call a name. I am a Dream-Eating Monochrome Baku, you see."

"A what what what-the-what?" Len was confused. "I don't understand anything you're saying, shadow guy."

"It's Baku, not 'shadow guy'. By the way, it seems like you're stuck up there, hmm, Super Wren?"

This "Baku" guy was getting really annoying. Stop calling me Wren! Len thought. Instead he asked "Well then, Mr. Baku, mind getting me down from here?"

"But of course," said the shadow boy. "Let me help you down". He pulled out a long object (a cane?) and gave the branch a sharp whack. Len plummeted to the ground.

Spitting out a mouthful of grass, Len glared at the stranger. "What was THAT for?"

The stranger was bent over laughing. "Oh, you humans...so naive..."

Now that he was closer, Len could see the stranger more clearly, and looked up angrily at...himself?

What the...

It seemed almost impossible, but Len was looking into the eyes of an almost perfect clone of himself, with a few differences. The other "Len" was wearing a yellow striped vest and tailcoat, a black hat (was that a top hat? A fedora? He had no idea), and purple diamond-patterned socks Len wouldn't be caught dead in. His skin was oddly pale, as if he'd never seen daylight. His ears grew to a point. And his eyes...Len shivered when he saw them. His eyes were completely grey. They didn't even sparkle in the moonlight, yet they had a mischievous shine that made Len think he was up to no good. Any superhero worth his cape would see that he was not to be trusted.

"Ha...I can't hold it anymore...it was so funny..." "Baku" stopped to catch his breath. "To think that you actually thought I was going to help you... You're so trusting, it's ridiculous"

"It's not funny!" Len said.

"Baku" snickered. "Well, thank you very much. I wasn't having good luck tonight, but you provided me with some much-needed entertainment. I'll be seeing you, Super Wren"

Still chuckling, the other boy left, spinning his cane (so that was a cane!). Len was glad to see him go. Anyone who would wander around in the middle of the night in strange clothes has to be out of their mind... Len looked at himself. Oh wait a minute.

But still, Len's wandering had a purpose! That "Baku" boy was just being mean....wait a second...

Strange clothes.

Strange way of speaking.

Odd name.

Deliberately teasing and making fun of him.

Noticeably different from other people.

Len smacked his forehead. Of course! How could I have been so stupid!

That shadow "Len" was a supervillain.

(Super Wren....pffffft....)