Friend and Foe

Chapter Four

Mum's office was a pile of ash, surrounded by her staff, firefighters and onlookers. I was observing from halfway down the block in a frozen state of shock. One of the firefighters said something to Mum and she rushed forward into the ruins, Dad close on her heels. She kicked at the charcoal remains as she moved, as if she was searching for something. That spurred me into motion.

I was standing in front of her in the blink of an eye. She startled, falling back a step.

"Sorry," I told her in a whisper, "I wasn't here to save this place."

She just gaped at me in a shocked silence. Dad caught up to her then, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

"Its okay," he said despite the tear's in his eyes. "I'm sure you were off saving the world or something."

"Stopping petty thieves actually," I told him, still whispering, hoping that it would distort my voice. I squatted in the soot and ash, sifting through with my fingers. "I'd have rather saved somebody's home over their sound system."

"No," Mum croaked in a tear worn voice, "this was just an office."

"Oh," I found a clump of metal, a melted door handle. "Well, I'm sorry and if there is anything, I can do to help...?"

They shook their heads, Mum bursting into tears again. Dad wrapped his arms around Mum and led her from the destruction.

"Hey? What happened here?"

I jumped at the suddenness of the voice near me. I spun towards Magnet, dropping the door handle and dusting my hands off, on my thighs.

I spread my arms wide, like look around, what do you think? "Fire took down a whole office building. I can't believe that I didn't even know about it. Did you know?"

He shook his head quickly, "Nope."

"I was sleeping whilst this couple was losing their livelihood," I kicked at the ash before stomping off.

"Oh, come on Wisp," Magnet matched my pace, "you can't beat yourself up over this."

"Really?" I snapped at him, "Twelve hours ago we were talking about taking on Mr Hearst without the support of the society. I couldn't even stop and arson attack without them!"

"We were busy helping other people," he said, grabbing my arm to make me stop. He caught my eyes with his. "You can't save everybody."

"Yes, I can. Sleep is for the dead anyway." I looked away from his huge brown, sympathetic eyes.

"You're going to end up killing yourself," he warned.

"I'll be fine," I promised with a smile.

***

I wasn't fine. A week had passed, and Mum and Dad hadn't told me about the fire in that time. Thankfully our house hadn't burnt down. It seemed that Mum, and Dad and I by extension, was copping a lot of bad luck recently.

Whoever the arsonist was, they must have been arrested because no more fires popped up in the city. My and Magnet's surveillance was pretty routine. We both surveyed at night, pacing the city side by side but come day, Magnet would head home, and I would keep up my surveillance. It was easier since Uni was out on a fortnight break and I had skipped out on the trip I had planned with the girls.

I knew I was running myself into the ground. I was running on two-hour naps in the afternoon. I reasoned that nobody could get up to too much trouble in that time, but I was kidding myself. People were still breaking to people's houses, threatening lives, and hatching evil plans.

Mr Hearst was more elusive than ever. That was gnawing on my mind. He must have been getting ready for something big. I wasn't ready for him. I had been for the longest time, but despite my bold claims to Magnet, I wasn't ready to take him on without the rest of the society. I may have hated their rule over us and the sudden abandonment, but I needed them.

I tried to go back to the location I'd known The Hub to be, but it was long abandoned. They had cleaned out after a security breach months before. They had failed to send Magnet and I a change of address. I wondered it the other heroes out there, there were a few, knew where to find The Hub. Unfortunately, I didn't know how to contact them. I was kind of disappointed that we didn't run into them during our patrols.

"Hey," I said to Magnet one night as we strolled along the North Perth Foreshore in the late evening. "Ever wish you paired up with somebody else? Or wish you were flying solo?"

"Well, I can't fly," he told me.

"I'm serious," I groaned at him.

"Yeah nah. Reckon you're the best sidekick anybody could ask for," he said.

"Hey!" I punched him on the arm.

"Weak as piss," he told me, batting my hand away.

Yeah, that would have been the effect of not sleeping for more than two hours each day.