Dedicated to Cute-o-Poop for spamming the comments on the last chapter with love ❤
__
Juniper was tired. Another day had been spent putting out Flame's fire, and honestly, she was getting tired of it. Not the actual putting out the fire part, because that was her job. What she didn't like was how she always knew when and where to be to put out the fire. Every Monday, like clockwork, the police got an anonymous tip detailing the location, day, and general time the next fire would be set. The police would always pass the message along to June, who had to be there to make sure they got the flames under control before anybody died.
The only person who could be giving the tips was Flame herself, and that fact often drove June insane. Why would the town's most notorious Villain warn them when she was going to commit crimes? She seemed truly evil to the public, and clearly that's what she wanted, but she had never once set a fire that she hadn't previously told them about. She burned property, and often ended up injuring people, but nobody had ever died at her hands. She beat up any Hero who got close enough to stop her, and shot flames at any officers who tried to cuff her, but she never went far enough to end somebody's life.
Still, she was the town's best villain, and June considered herself lucky for it. At least she wasn't dealing with a crazy murderer. She wasn't sure her water would be any use against someone who had absolutely no morals or compassion.
The police never released the information about the anonymous tips to the public, and they advised June not to, either. In their eyes, if the town's worst villain was seen to be going soft, someone else would step up to take her place, and they would surely be worse.
But still, it made June wonder. Why was Flame doing evil things if not to kill? Why bother getting the title of villain if you're not even bad? It made no sense.
Not much was known about Flame. She was young, probably close to Juniper's age. She had dark hair. Green eyes. She always wore gloves, but they had the palm's cut out of them to let the fire out. On the rare occasion that she was caught on camera without flames in her hand, you could see how badly she was scarred.
Once, after getting her first look at it, Juniper had Googled 'Flame Everton villain scarred hands' and spent the better part of the next hour looking at grainy screenshots of zoomed in news reports. The burns looked fresh in every single picture, never getting a chance to heal over before Flame was burning them all over again. Pink, leathery scars in place of what must have once been soft skin. June couldn't help but imagine what they felt like.
The only repercussion of using June's power was getting wrinkly fingers. She didn't think she'd continue to use her abilities if they injured her like Flame's did, didn't think she'd be able to. Every time she saw a video of Flame making fire, June cringed, wondering how badly it must hurt, but she never looked to be in pain.
June's costume was meant purely for protection, but Flame's looked more like it was meant to hide her. With her gloves on, the only skin you could see was the lower third of her face. June had her chin, lips, and the tip of her nose committed to memory. Everything other than that, except for her eyes, was completely covered. Her costume even went all the way up her neck.
It made sense that a villain wouldn't want her identity to be known, of course, but June got the feeling it was about more than that. On hot days, June would roll her sleeves up, but Flame never even did that. Maybe she was immune to heat since she produced so much of it. Or maybe she was just scared to be seen.
This fire happened on Friday, which meant June had the weekend until the next anonymous tip was phoned in. Of course, there would be more petty crimes she had to deal with, or maybe a water shortage in a nearby town, but she wouldn't have to worry about Flame until the next week.
Sometimes, June would show up to the given location early to try to get a glimpse of Flame and stop her before she could start, but she was always too late. Flame was always one step ahead. It was almost as if she knew exactly when June would show up and got there ten minutes before her.
On her way home, when June glimpsed a camera in an alley she often walked through, she wondered if maybe that wasn't so far off.
YOU ARE READING
Hopelessly Heroic (Rewritten)
Teen Fiction"Then do it." June challenged, watching Flame's eyebrows shoot up. "I don't think you're as tough as you want everyone to think. You want to hurt me? Do it." The fire in her hand grew, and June watched it with bated breath. She was inviting the town...
