Masked

Chapter 2

This morning there was a report of a bank robbery that was stopped by this self-proclaimed "superhero." I've read the comic books and seen the movies and what superheroes do is save people, and I didn't see anyone saving my daughter. Anyway I was interested and as a reporter it was my job to write about this kind of thing so I drove fifteen minutes to the bank. There was a few police cars and policemen blocking the entrance but I told them who I was and was granted access. Two policemen were already interviewing eyewitnesses so I turned and started talking to the bank manager. He was a short man with black balding hair and he was sweating bullets. I approached him slowly.

"Hi my name is Tom Hillard, I'm a reporter for the Daily Documents Newspaper. I'm going to need you to answer a few questions."

He seemed startled by the question, but I gave him a gentle nod and that seemed to calm him down.

"Yes of course," he said, "What do you need?" I asked him to give me a rundown of what happened this morning.

"Yes I suppose you would," he responded, "well what happened was my employees and I were just opening up when this man in a black mask came in and demanded we give him fifty-thousand dollars. We told him that we couldn't do that and that we were going to call the police if he didn't leave immediately." He stopped talking and patted his forehead with a napkin.

"What happened next?" I asked.

"Well he put a gun to my head and demanded we give him the money." Now I could understand why he was so scared, he almost died!

"Did you give him the money?" I asked.

"I had Jackson go and get the money that he wanted when this man in a red suit came through the door. He told the robber to drop the gun and leave. The robber turned around and shot him in the chest only . . ." He stopped.

"Only what?"

"Only the bullet fell to the floor."

Now I knew I really had something! A bulletproof man who stopped a robbery. If only it was believable.

"Continue please." I asked.

"Yes of course. After that the robber tried to make a run for it, but the man in red grabbed him by the back of his coat and pinned him to ground. He told us to carry-on with our business, picked up the man and left. That's everything that happened."

I asked him if he had any evidence of this, and he took me to the back so I could see the surveillance footage. There was the man in red. He had a big yellow M on his chest, with yellow stripes on his arms, legs, and neck. He wore a yellow cowl over his head with black around the eyes. I'll admit he looked like a comic book hero, but did he have the powers? I watched the rest of the tape and what I saw I almost couldn't comprehend. The robber turned around, fired, and the bullet fell to the floor.

I thanked the man for his help, nodded at the officers, and left. On the drive home I couldn't stop thinking about; how could a real life superhero exist? It didn't seem at all possible. When I arrived at my house I went immediately to my room to work on my report. After I finished I went to go tell Sofia about it. She was never into superheroes but I'm sure she would love this.

"Hey Sofia!" I said. "Guess what happened today?"

No answer.

"Daddy went to the bank and there was a real life superhero!"

No answer.

"He looked just like the ones in the movies and he stopped a bullet with his chest!"

Nothing.

"Well Daddy has to go grocery shopping; do you want anything?"

Silence.

"I'll be sure to get Frosted Flakes for you."

Dead quiet.

"Bye Sofia."

I wasn't going to the store, not yet anyway. I was crying too much. I spent the rest of the day in my room, thinking. Thinking about the superhero, about Sofia, and about what I'm going to do.