As Opposed to Friends

Wildfire

I logged onto E.F.G., and groaned. There was a fire that had just started burning in Midtown. Suspected villain-Wildfire. She was a TERROR. Barely older than me-just 17, yet one of the worst villains in Aurath. I immediately clicked yes on the pop-up box, and ran to my backyard and into a garden shed.

 My mom thought that it was my "hangout space" but it was actually my HQ. I brushed my fingertips against the doorframe as I walked in, my DNA activating the HQ mode. I quickly changed into my superhero outfit- a grey dress, mask, and gloves. I knew it was a bit of a cliche for a girl superhero to wear a dress, but I actually liked it. AND I wear shorts underneath.

 I walked outside behind the shed, bent down, and shot into the air. Flight's one of my powers, except it's not normal flight. I can manipulate the air to carry me, and it can be really useful. I live in uptown, so it was a very short time until I was at the fire site. 

There were crowds of people surrounding it from a safe distance, and I could see firetrucks arriving in the distance. The fire hadn't spread yet, which was good. Staying in the air, I waved my hands, and clouds flew towards me. Moving safely above them, I pulled my hand into a fist, and water immediately began pouring out of the cloud, quickly dousing most of the fire. I landed on the ground. Immediately, a woman ran towards me. "E-excuse me, but, my daughter's under there!" she said desperately. I looked towards where she was pointing, and saw that a part of the side of the building had collapsed. "It hasn't been too long, but she was on the second floor when it fell!" 

I didn't answer, already sprinting towards the pile of debris. I scooped up some air with my hands, and the first layer of wreckage lifted up to reveal a girl lying underneath it. Keeping the debris in the air, I ran towards the girl, scooped her up, and carried her towards her mother. She stirred as she was handed over, and when she opened her eyes, I recognized her as one of Maggie's friends. 

"I think she's going to be ok," I murmured to the mom as she looks her daughter all over. I glanced up to find dozens of eyes staring at me over the cameras of cellphones. I saw an ambulance and a police truck pulling up around the corner, and went over to inspect the building before the police could block me out. 

Contrary to popular belief, villains don't do things for no reason. They do them for 7 reasons. Love, hate, fear, revenge, greed, boredom, and desperation. And I needed to figure out why. The police, while good at puzzling out regular cases, were pretty much trash at figuring out the motives of supervillains.

 The building was 3 stories, with the bottom (formerly) what appeared to be a small art store/gallery, and the top 2 floors residential. I pressed a small button on the inside of my wrist which activated an air filter to my mask, and pushed the door open. 

The bottom floor was almost completely untouched, with only small burn marks on the stairs and lots of smoke damage. I hoped the woman had insurance, because most of the art was severely damaged. 

I slowly climbed the stairs, putting a blanket of air on top of each one just in case it fell out from under me. In the first room, a living room, there were pictures of the mom, a dad, the girl-who's name I now remembered was Kiara-and a boy around 17 years old. I vaguely recognized him from around the halls of my high school. Suddenly, a thought dawned on me. 

I fairly ran down the stairs and outside, and straight to the mother, who was watching, distraught, as her daughter was lifted into the ambulance. "Excuse me, ma'am, but this is very important. Do you have a son?" I inquired as she turned to look at me.

 "Why, yes, I do," she responded, looking surprised. "How did you know that? Actually, never mind. He was spending the afternoon at a friends house, and...why do you ask?"

 I remembered this woman. She had picked up Kiara from our house many times. She had a very lovely, well-spoken manner. I took a breath. "Well, I have another question. Did he ever bring a girl over to the house?"

 "Well, yes, now that you speak of it. Her name is Willa. She has the most beautiful red hair...the last time she came over was about two weeks ago. Now that think about it, I believe they might have broken up." 

I nodded slowly, and said, "All right, I believe I understand what happened. I'll email you." And then I bent down and rocketed into the sky.