Supers And A Psycho

Sometimes, Iris wondered if it was really worth it. Saving people was great and all, but having to keep her partners in check definitely took some of the fun out of it. She would have branched out on her own and left them to flounder without her, except that the last time she'd left them alone, fourteen people died in two days.

'Blow 'em up! Come on, there's a gas tank down there, guns all around, let's do it!'

Iris sighed and rolled her eyes. 'Larry, come on, you know that's not how we do things. And besides, that'll just kill the innocents as well.'

'But it'll be so much fun!' Larry objected, bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet. He never wore shoes. Apparently it made it easier to feel the pulse beneath his feet, whatever that meant. 'C'mon Petal, just this once?'

'I told you to stop calling me that,' Iris growled. Larry had a habit of making up bizarre nicknames for everyone he met. Iris had convinced him to change hers from Hendrix to Petal, but it wasn't much of an improvement. 'We do this peacefully or not at all. Got it?'

Larry pursed his lips in an exaggerated pout. 'Hey Inferno, quit moping and get on my side, will ya?' he said, reaching up and tugging at thin air. Judging by the indignant yelp this produced, it was not actually thin air.

Larry's hand was slapped away as Dante, the third member of their trio, rippled into view rubbing their ear. 'I am not moping,' they said in a deep voice. 'And I still wish you could not see me. It's called invisibility for a reason.'

'Can you guys please focus?! There is a woman down there-' Iris peered down over the edge of the rooftop. The woman was no longer being robbed. 'Great, now we're too late. You guys just let someone walk away with an innocent woman's bag. What kind of crime fighters are you?'

'We are not crime fighters,' Dante said immediately. 'Our goal is to save the city. One theft does not endanger the city.'

'Right!' Larry chimed in. 'But the idiot in charge of it does! We gotta take him out so we can take over and liven this place up!'

Iris felt like sighing again, but determinedly contained it. 'Larry, you can teleport. If you wanted to take him out that badly you'd warp into his office, stab him in the neck and get out before anyone knows you were there. I'm not saying I condone that, but-'

'That's a brilliant idea!' Larry actually hopped on the spot, then started patting his numerous pockets. 'Where's my knife? I know I had my knife somewhere. I always have my knife...'

Dante held up a short silver dagger, letting it dangle between two fingers. It was Larry's knife—they must have picked his pocket when he wasn't looking. It wasn't hard; Larry rarely paid much attention.

Larry leapt for the knife, but Dante twisted away. They tucked it into the inside of their long black coat and faded out of view. Iris wasn't sure why they bothered; it made no difference to Larry, who looked a little like a frog as he kept jumping and grabbing at the air.

Iris left them to it and sat on the edge of the rooftop, dangling her legs over the street below. They'd resolve it sooner or later. Maybe Larry would miss a jump and fly off the rooftop—he'd done it before.

Once, when they had been trying to stop a man jumping from a rooftop, Larry had warped up there before anyone else could get to the stairs. But instead of helping the poor man, he pushed him off the roof. It was only after Iris shouted at him that he'd warped back down to catch the man before he hit the ground. His reflexes were incredible. It was just a matter of getting him to use them well.

Dante, on the other hand, was a thinker. They liked to come up with an elaborate plan before they would lift a finger to help. Their plans were usually ingenious, but they took time, and in the crime fighting business time was rarely on their side.