Hero by Day

Chapter 17 - Never trust a Suit

"I have no idea where I'm going to be tomorrow, but I accept the fact that tomorrow will come. And I'm going to rise to meet it"

~Diana Prince (Wonder Woman)

The next morning I was working in the Comic Book Shop with tired eyes and maybe a bit of a hangover. I was sure I looked like death on legs, so thank goodness this was a slow day. Not many people had to be graced with seeing me today.

Eric was, as usual, down in the Man Cave playing World of Warcraft. If any super villain alert was spotted, he would send me out into the city and would cover for my shift. But, thankfully, super villain attacks didn't happen as often as you'd think. The only reason us supers got stumped was because we sometimes helped with attacks that were non-super in origin, like bomb threats (which happened a lot more often when you lived in a city like DC) or bank robberies.

The bell at the front door rang, causing me to jump. I was half asleep and feeling horrible, so the sudden alert to customers scared me.

I looked up and saw two women. Both were relatively short, especially the one in the middle wearing the suit. They both had dark skin, but the one in the suit had her hair tied back in a tight bun. She wore a strict expression on her face and looked like that one mean substitute teacher you had in middle school that picked on you.

The second woman, however, had her hair natural and wild. She wore ripped leggings, a tank top advertising one band or another, and a leather jacket that made her almost looked more terrifying than the Suit. She also had on sunglasses, even though it was the middle of the day. And in the light I could've sworn that the second one had two bumps on her head.

(Maybe it was a new hair style)

"Looking for anything specific, ladies?" I asked, staring tentatively at the one in the suit. Suits don't normally visit places like this unless they were FBI searching for leads or lawyers looking for a case.

"Yes," the Suit answered, "An Oliver Storm. My sources say he works here."

Shit.

I knew I wasn't involved in any illegal activity, at least not knowingly, so the suit wasn't here regarding me – she was here for White Lightning. The Feds already came by asking about Daniel in the days after his death, so this woman should have no reason to ask questions unless she knew something more. Like, for instance, the fact that I, Oliver Storm, was White Lightning.

It was much easier for government agencies and corporations to find out the identities of super than it was for your average wack job, so supers had a lot to fear when a Suit walks into your place of business and asks for you.

(The only time I can recall where the average wack job found out the identities of supers instead of an agency or corporation was the Revealing. Meredith Temple released their identities, an average citizen with not-so-average intentions.)

(So, sorry to people like Ian who believe that they can figure out the identity of supers with just a wall of papers and an internet connection.)

I nodded, avoiding their gazes, "Yeah, he's in the back, I'll go get him."

I headed back for the storage room, but instead of going down to the Man Cave to hide or just locking the door and hoping for the best, I took a second door. This door was labeled, 'Exit'.

As soon as I exited the door, I ran. It lead out into an alleyway behind the apartment complex that eventually opened up to a big street with lots of commuters. I could lose whoever these people were in the crowd.