Sapphire Angel - Superheroine

Chapter 11 - Keeping Secrets

Stanley was waiting for her when she returned to the hotel with her purse in her hands, and her costume safely hidden under her comfortable grey sweatsuit. He didn't look up at her when she entered. Instead, his gaze focused on the television.

"I see you've been busy," he said, nodding at the screen.

Beth scrunched her face in confusion and walked further into the room so she could see the television. She groaned. The reporter she had saved was on screen, talking into the camera and motioning with exaggerated gestures. He stood in the same alley Beth had just left. Ryan Addington was his name, according to words on the bottom of the screen. A woman stood next to him. It was Rita, the woman who had made Beth aware of the trouble in the alley.

"Yes, Matt," Addington said, addressing the news anchor back in the newsroom. "It sounds far-fetched, and we wouldn't have believed it if we hadn't seen it ourselves. But tonight the scene was straight out of a comic book."

Beth rolled her eyes, but said nothing.

"Any word on the man you were interviewing at the time of the attack?" the anchor asked.

"Paramedics took him to the hospital as a precaution, but he seemed to be doing well when he left. We'll be sure to check on him as soon as we can."

"You said there was one other eyewitness of this costumed woman in action, Ryan?" the news anchor asked.

"Yes there was. We don't like to be part of the news, as you know, so for that I will turn to Rita Mitchell, a local woman who witnessed our rescue. Ms. Mitchell, can you tell us what you saw?"

"Yes, yes I can, Ryan," Rita jabbered, speaking so fast she was hard to understand. "I saw y'all in trouble, so I sent her to help you."

"You sent her?"

"Yes I did, Ryan. I knew she was in the area since I met her early tonight, and knew what she could do."

"How do you know her, Rita?"

Rita smiled. "I'm a good luck charm. I was just in the right place at the right time."

Beth rolled her eyes again.

"Tell us what you saw happen."

"After I told her you needed help, she went a runnin'," Rita continued. "She leapt through the air almost like she was flying. It happened fast - kicks, punches, throws. Those guys never stood a chance. Once she took 'em down, she let 'em go so she could check on you."

"Can you describe her for us?"

"She was wearing a stretchy, kinda shiny outfit. Blue on the top, with a short white skirt. Like what those Olympic ice skaters wear, but simpler and not as frilly. Just blue and white. And she is a small thing. No more than five foot five, but you would have never guessed it by the way she threw those two muggers around."

"Do you know her name?"

"Yes. Just like the old guy said when she left. She's Sapphire Angel."

Beth shook her head hard, back and forth. No, no, no! The man had said she was like a sapphire angel, not that she was Sapphire Angel. Rita either heard wrong, or was taking artistic license. Whatever the reason, the genie was out of the bottle now. She could almost hear John's comic books laughing at her with a full belly laugh now. She had a superhero name.

The screen cut away from the reporter and back to the news desk. The anchor, Matt Miller, sat with a news graphic over his shoulder showing a stylized word: Sapphire Angel.

"That's Ryan Addington, News 6's Harrisburg correspondent. Tune in for more about Sapphire Angel on News 6 This Morning, tomorrow at 6 a.m."

As the anchor moved on to other stories, Stanley picked up the remote and turned off the television.