Sara Strong

Chapter 6

Sara stood for a moment frozen in shock. He was just going to walk away?

She felt her face growing hot, her blood boiling under her skin. She didn't care who they were. You didn't just do that.

She stomped toward him. "Where are going?"

He didn't look at her. "I have important things to do. As much as I'd love to deal with you, you aren't the highest on my priority list right now. There's a drug shipment in an hour and I need to be there."

"What do you mean deal with me?" Sara shook her head. "Ok, never mind, I'm sure I don't want to know. But, that sounds dangerous. I can help you."

At that, the vigilante did whirl around. Sara couldn't see his face. But the angle's helmet they made up the fierce image of a bird's beak was enough to intimidate her to take a step back.

"I'm not bringing you anywhere." He spat. "You're a child."

"You can't be much older then me, " she protested. It was hard to tell with the helmet and his bulky armour and boots, but he wasn't much taller than Sara herself and his voice sounded young.

Despite herself, Sara was disappointed. This wasn't how she wanted this meeting to go.

"I know I'm young, " she sighed. "And inexperienced. I get it. I do. But that's why I wanted to you. I never met anyone like me before. I thought maybe I could learn from you. Become better."

The vigilante let out a harsh sound. It took a moment for Sara to realize it was a laugh. She clenched her fists.

"You think that you can become a hero because of your powers?"

Sara held her chin up. "I think that I was given these powers for a reason and it wasn't to sit back and do nothing."

"You have no idea what it means to be a hero. You haven't experienced the pain and suffering. You're a just teenage girl looking for a thrill?"

Sara grit her teeth. "You don't know me."

The eye's of the helmet seemed to be piercing into her soul, just like the animal it was emulating, reading into her life and every silly, ridiculous thought in her head.

"No," he said. "Go home to your home and daddy, I'm sure they're wondering where you are."

This man was good at making her feel like a useless little girl, but, Sara was stubborn enough that she pushed back again his words anyway.

"I don't have the same sort of tragic backstory that's clearly turned you into some type of asshole. But I can do things that no one else can do which means that I have a responsibility..."

This time he didn't even let her finish.

"You want to know what your powers make you? The real difference between you and the vapid cheerleader? It makes you dangerous. It makes you a liability."

"And you aren't dangerous?"

"Not like you."

"You're seriously telling me I can't be a superhero because I'm what, not angsty or edgy enough?" At school she was well liked, you might even say popular. But outside of Gwen, she didn't really have any other close friends. It was hard when you were keeping an awfully big part of yourself a secret. But it had never really bothered her much before now.

Most of her classmates shared a desperate desire for belonging that pushed them to join random clubs or sports teams and hold epic parties and whatever else they had to do to attract friends and discover who they really were and what they wanted. Meanwhile, Sara had always radiated a certainty and assuredness that did attract others, but also stopped her from seeking out the same connections and experiences that drove her classmates. Sara already knew what she wanted to be, even if it didn't fit into her parent's careful plans.

This was a sting of rejection that Sara wasn't totally prepared for and she felt a stab of sympathy for every one of her classmate's rejected party invitations.

"I'm not nearly as a dangerous as you," the vigilante muttered. "Someone with your strength, careless, and doesn't take it seriously. Thinks this is game. The scale of the destruction you could cause."

"Ok," Sara said, officially done with the conversation. "What are your powers then exactly? Because I couldn't really tell and you seem to think that mine is a lot more dangerous and I'm not sure I buy it."

Throughout the short rant, he simply stared at her, silent with the same empty piercing stare that's been levelled at her since they met.

It was a long moment before he spoke. "I don't have any."

There was an even longer pause while Sara tried to process what he had just said while also trying to think of some sort of response.

"What?" It was the only thing she could think of to say.

He didn't answer. Instead, he started to walk away again. This guy thought she was so damn dangerous, and he still wouldn't give her the time of day?
He didn't make sense at all.

"Alright no, " she said storming after him. "Thunderguy, Electricguy. Whatever you're called. This is not happening. You're not just ignoring me."

She grabbed him, her superior strength stopped him from moving and flung him around to face her once again.

Before she could talk his arm went up. She could see now that the electricity was coming from the baton in his hands. Not from the guy himself.

She had a split second of time to regret her recent choices before she was screaming in pain and sent reeling back to her knees.

Her eyes were tightly shut, as though she could somehow block out the pain.

It hurt. She was in pain. She wasn't use to that. Any time before, she could easily shrug anything off. She barely knew what pain was. And she didn't know how to handle it.

She heard the sounds of heavy boots approaching. This was it. Everything her parents warned her about. This man considered her a threat and he was either going to kill her give her to the authorities. Either way, her life would be over.

"That's really impressive. That was enough volts to stop a man's heart."

Sara was still panting on the ground. Not quite able to move yet. "You tried... To kill me." She gritted out.

"Nah, " the asshole said nonchalantly. "From what I saw I figured you could take it."

Sara tried to brace herself for another round of electricity. But it never came.

Instead, she heard the now familiar cadence of his steps as he walked away. She listened as he rounded the corner and then the sounds of a reeving motor cycle engine.

"And it's Thunderbird, not Thunderguy."