ARKEN

Superhero

Curtis was glad his mother didn't question it when he walked in, although he didn't wonder why. Despite the fact she was trying to keep it a secret, he knew she was divorcing his father. Bud Walker hadn't been at the house in five weeks, and Curtis was confident at this point he was not ever going to come back. It had been building for a while, but the onset of divorce proceedings was more sudden than Curtis would have imagined.

Wendy came over Sunday night for dinner and it was nice to have her there to forget about what was going on around his house. Afterwards, before she went home, they briefly headed up to his room. She took his costume out of her backpack, repaired like nothing had ever even happened to it, although he suspected this was a brand-new mask, as it had been in terrible shape. If it was, it didn't look like it. He thanked her with a passionate kiss before walking her to the door where her mother was just arriving to pick her up.

"I'll see you at school tomorrow."

"Yeah, see you." Curtis shut the door. He wandered into the kitchen and found his mother at the table working on divorce paperwork. Despite how cruel Bud could be, it was still hard for her to make it real with the paperwork, but she did it for Curtis. He returned to his room and went to bed early.

Curtis walked into school the next day and to his morning class. As the teacher droned on about what they would be doing for the week, Curtis was not paying attention. He was staring out the window, thinking about other things. He thought about his life over the last weeks. He made a promise to himself that after he defeated Kleyman, he would take the time to be there for his mother during this time, he would take the time to love Wendy.

Curtis went to his next class and sat down near the window. Still, he stared out, not paying the lesson any mind. After almost forty minutes, he perked up. A group of about four men dressed entirely in black were stealthily approaching the building. As Curtis looked more intently, he noticed they were holding guns. Oh no.

Curtis stood and walked over to the teacher's desk, hanging his head and drooping his eyes. "Mr. Wallace, may I please be excused to the bathroom...I think...I think I might throw up."

"Go, go." Mr. Wallace wasn't going to argue and get vomit on his floor. The moment Curtis stepped out into the empty hall, he ran to the nearest bathroom and entered a stall. He dug into his backpack and pulled out his gray hoodie and silver jacket. He put the mask on and pulled the hood up over it.

Curtis left the bathroom and watched the hallway carefully. Second period ends in twenty minutes, I've got stop these guys before they have a crowd of targets to shoot at. Curtis moved quickly to cut off the group of four. He was in the main building, and the armed men had been sneaking across the small 'U' shaped road that led from NA Street to the middle of the campus.

Curtis approached the nearest door and stepped outside. They were heading for the secondary building. Curtis sprinted across the road and pressed himself against the wall, waiting for them to come around the corner.

When the first one did, he wasn't expecting Curtis to grab his weapon, force it down and shove his head into the wall. The other three pointed their guns, Curtis jumped at two of them, smacking their heads together. The fourth went to pull the trigger, but Curtis punched them, however a single shot still went off.

Curtis was concerned, but then he realized it was better that way. Likely more than a few heard it, and the school would go into lockdown, keeping everyone in their rooms and out of the hallways. With the four assailants down, Curtis grabbed the first one and pulled their mask off. "What?"

The unconscious man had his mouth taped over. It was only then that Curtis noticed the camera affixed to his chest. He knew who was watching. Kleyman, it was him. This was the only explanation for the oddity. He's using the cameras so he can see what they see and control them without having to be with them.