Heroes at Heart

Four: Max Owens

My mother nearly cried when I told her what I was going to do. She was both proud and upset, but she couldn't change my mind. Family comes first. And to save my family, I had to defeat a super villain.

In explaining it to her, however, I had left out the part about the reward. If mom knew I was only doing this for the money, she would never let me try it out. My mother liked to put on a facade that our family was always doing well, regardless of if we were or not. But Clare and I saw right through it.

I had actually considered not telling her about the job at all, but I needed someone to drive me to city hall for the meeting I had scheduled with Nora this morning. Besides, as my comic books have shown, secret identities rarely stay a secret.

"So that's what I'm going to do," I finished. "Is... is that okay?" There was a moment of silence before mom finally spoke.

"Alright," she said as she grabbed her keys from off the counter. "If you're sure this is what you want to do, then I'll support you. But so help me god, Max, if you come home with even a scratch on your body, that's it. I'm not letting you risk everything for this. If you can't stop him, someone else will. Okay?" She waited for my nod in response, before heading upstairs to see if Clare wanted to join us. A few minutes later, we were on our way to city hall.
________________________________

The three of us stood outside the door labeled "Meeting Room C".

"Okay, Clare and I will be back afterwards to pick you up. How long do you think this will take?"

"Probably an hour or so," I said. I actually wasn't sure, but I assumed they would need to teach me about Vinicus before they sent me out to fight him.

"Okay, I love you. Stay safe," mom said, as she and Clare walked down the hallway.

I turned toward the door, took a deep breath, and knocked.

The door swung open, revealing several city council members who were seated around an oblong table. And at the head was none other than the mayor of Murkbourne herself,  Nora Cotreau.

Nora looked to be at least sixty, with straight grey hair and cold blue eyes. Her glasses were perched on the end of her nose, and she looked as if she were ready to yell at any one of us within a moment's notice. She was a petite woman, yet she seemed to take up more of the table than anyone else.

"Owens," she said firmly. "Have a seat." It was more of a command than an offer.

I walked towards the only empty seat. The people on either side were clearly taking up more than their allotted space, but they didn't look like they were going to be moving anytime soon. I ended up having to squeeze myself in between them. Once I was finally situated, Nora began to talk.

"I assume you have accepted the city's offer to either defeat or capture Vinicus Cauldwell?"

"Yes ma'am," I said, and nodded politely.

"And your powers consist of flight and aquatic respiration, correct?"

I paused for a moment, trying to remember what "respiration" meant. I knew it was a vocabulary word from bio last year, but I had already forgotten everything from school within the first month of summer. By the time I figured it out, the meeting room had been in a state of awkward silence for about a minute. Why couldn't she just have said 'breathing underwater'?

"Yes." I finally responded.

"Well?" Nora said expectantly. "Would you care to demonstrate?"

"Um... okay." I tensed my hands and formed them into fists, which caused me to rise a few feet off the ground. I had practiced this a lot after I realized I could use it to cheat on the pull-up test in PE.

From all around me there were murmurs of approval. I slowly floated downward, glancing at the admiring faces. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all.

The people talked quietly amongst themselves for a moment, until Nora spoke. The room went silent the second she opened her mouth. "I take it you've had these powers for quite some time?"

I nodded.

"Alright," she said, as she got up from the table. "I have seen enough. No additional training will be necessary."

Was she serious? She couldn't be serious. They want me to go out there with only the knowledge I have, and fight a man more than ten years older than me?

"Ma'am, I mean no disrespect, but I don't know how to fight. I can fly to wherever he lives, but after that..." I trailed off.

Nora paused halfway through grabbing her purse. "You will meet with Cauldwell tomorrow. Top floor of the skyscraper on the corner of 26th and Elm. Seven o'clock sharp. And don't be late."

"But Madame Mayor-"

"Oh figure it out, you have superpowers for god's sake."

One by one, the adults filed out of the room, with Nora leading them all down the hallway. I glanced at the clock above the door. It had only been five minutes.
________________________________

"Max?" My mom called. "How long have you been sitting on those steps?"

I squinted up at her, before using my hand to block the sun from my eyes.

"Oh, not very long," I said, and smiled. "I just got out a bit ago."

If mom had doubted my response at all, she didn't show it. I walked over to the car, and sat down in the front seat.

"How was it?" Clare asked.

"Good!" I responded, a bit too cheerily. "I... um... I've got my first job tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" My mom repeated. "Max, look, if they're gonna make you do stuff like this-"

"It's fine," I said. "Really. I'm excited!"

Mom looked at me for awhile, before finally starting the car.

"Well... as long as you're happy," she said.

"Don't worry, mom. I'll be fine."

But the smile on my face couldn't stop the worries from running through my mind.