Superheroes Suck

Chapter 40: Superhero Supervision

The house was a flurry of activity when I woke up the next morning. One of the staff members hired for the event somehow got lost and burst into my room, which a certain overprotective dumbass managed to forget to lock. I mean really, he barely lets me walk around his house alone.

"Sorry ma'am." The man's deep voice forced out before he ducked out of my room. I didn't get a good look at him but he seemed familiar, though I quickly brushed that off and quickly got ready. I reported it to the woman who was overseeing the preparations and she promised to make sure the staff were more aware of the boundaries and what areas they shouldn't be in.

I was lounging in the kitchen, munching on an apple when Murphy joined me. The cooks were weaving around the large space: mixing, baking, cooking and plating all sorts of dishes. Not only did they have to make food for all of the people attended the ball as well as for the brunch Mrs. Thompson was hosting for everyone currently in the house. I even managed to snag one of the pastries for Murphy and a coffee for each of us despite the mayhem.

"Thanks." Murphy took a bite out of the pastry, "Before I forget, do you need me to drive you over to the Hideout after school?"

"No, my mom is picking me up. She said she and Hunter have a few questions for me, since they wiped Stromer's civilian information after his arrest, we're going to go over everything I can remember from him. I'm surprised you and my mom didn't take a look under the mask when you booked him."

"It's a big no-no to remove the villain's mask ourselves, we're supposed to leave that to the cops," Murphy rolled his eyes, "They want to keep crazy, vengeance-fueled revenge quests to a minimum so they seal up the records, we only have what we have before Hunter vouched for us. If it were just me that night, I would have probably peeked but your mother is pretty by the book."

"It would have been way more convenient if one of you knew who he was." I admitted, "But I guess that makes sense, no matter how much it sucks."

"Agreed," Murphy fell flush against the wall as one of the staff rushed past with her arms filled with flowers. "Although this stupid event tonight sucks almost as much. I can't wait to have my parents and all these people are out of my house."

"I mean seriously, some guy burst into my room this morning," I shook my head, "I mean a certain someone forgot to lock my door last night but, with all these random people hired for the night, I'm surprised that's the first time someone has come barrelling in to one of our rooms. Maybe we should put up a rope like they do at a museum to keep people out."

Murphy froze, "I didn't leave your door unlocked."

"Sure you didn't," I muttered to myself but didn't push the issue further.

School once again was pretty standard, nothing too interesting happened.

Harry called me during my lunch period to confirm that I was still going to the ball. Unnecessary, but I figured he was still a little nervous about being the Photo Editor so I put up with his nervousness. He mentioned he would be a little late, which probably explained his call in the first place. This was a big event, his first in his new position and I knew he didn't want to mess it up.

My mother was of course late, as usual. I always thought it was because she was such a busy person but now I'm coming to realize it's actually a trait of hers. Her car came to a screeching halt, throwing her back against the seat as she put it in park. She shot me a sheepishly look as I opened the passenger side door and slid in.

"Hey sweetheart, how was school?" She asked as I buckled into my seat.

"Not a lot to be honest." I admitted, "That's pretty nice, it's far better than when Mr. Thresher was around."

My mother glanced over at me, her eyes slanted as she tried to read me, "Why does that name sound so familiar?"

"Probably because he made my life a living hell and he ended up being fired because of it." I had pretty much pushed everything about Mr. Thresher out of my mind. His replacement, Mr. Tinley, seemed to at least tolerate me so the situation is already light years ahead of where it was. "Enough said. Changing the subject, Murphy told me you were going to be guarding the event tonight."

My mother nodded, "With Spitfire needed elsewhere, I offered my services. What's the point of these powers if I can't keep the people I care about safe..."

Big events like this usually required superhero supervision. A bunch of rich people all in one room is too tempting to turn down. I swear they have to have some sort of lotto or schedule because you never see more than one villain or one group attack at a time, unless there's some sort of temporary partnership.

This event was especially big because Murphy's father was one of the richest men in the area and this was the event of the season. The richest people not just from Belhurst, but all the surrounding cities were coming. We're all aware Stromer likes the drama and he came to the last ball I attended so what would make this one any different.

I was happy my mother would be there. Murphy was stuck playing to his civilian profile so it was nice to know someone who knew me, someone who was in on everything would be watching out. Hunter was one of the cops station at the house as well, though he'd be too busy managing everything to really keep a lookout for us. He had a job after all, and every second he spent helping us came with the knowledge work comes first.

"...Nova," My mother's voice pulled me back to reality, "There's something I want to talk to you about."

"Shoot."

"You know?" My mother laughed, which was pretty jarring given the seriousness she had begun with, "It's nothing, just something stupid that happened with your father. He was being a real headcase when I talked to him this morning, we were supposed to have a meeting with our lawyers and the judge but your father couldn't event deign to show up to the damn thing."

"Well he's an asshole, we're established that."

We returned to the Hideout and spent as much time as we could tracking down leads on Stromer. We called every number, emailed every person, and googled anything that we thought might be relevant and compiled our findings together, separated by who they coincided with.

Most of the numbers we called were off line but I managed to talk to an ex of one of them, who had no idea where he was but did give me some good information on him. Another former workplace got back to me within an hour of my inquiry and told me all about him, thinking I was a potential employer.

I was nearly asleep when my alarm went off. My mother lay over the scattered papers on the table, drooling ever so slightly on one of the files. I think it's safe to say no one will ever let us borrow anything ever again. It took quite a bit of cajoling to rouse my mother, but when I did, she fished out the car keys and told me to drive myself back.

"Are you sure? I could probably get Murphy to drive over for me if you're too tired," I didn't want to leave my mother stranded. Granted, she can fly but I knew for a fact she didn't have her suit because she spilled mustard on it and no one takes a superhero with stains on their costume seriously.

"I'm positive," She dropped her keys into my hand, "I'll just crash here until the event starts and then I'll fly over. Now go and get ready, I can't wait to see how beautiful you are. I'm mad I didn't make it to the Mayor's ball because I imagine you look much better in real life than the photos they took of you and Spitfire."

"I did look much better, trust me. I am still pissed the dress went down with our house. I paid so much for it, way more than I would have if I hadn't been desperate for something and if it hadn't been so beautiful," I sighed, "I miss that dress."

~~~~~~

Happy Super Sunday!

This upload came late (and a little short) because I cut part of it out. There was something I wasn't ready to reveal yet so I removed it for now and wanted to beef it up a little bit.