Certified Superhero (Misfits #2)

3: don't put me in charge of superhero names

Important Note: You may have noticed that this is a repost of chapter three. Let me explain why.

I made the executive decision to rewrite chapter four because I hated it, but in order to work in my new idea, I needed to change a few things about this chapter. Feel free to reread this chapter to get the details of those changes, but you will DEFINITELY need to reread chapter 4 when it is posted because there will be major changes.

Enjoy!

"I'm a superhero. I don't need anyone to walk me home," I said over the comm system as Diana tried to disguise yet another yawn. "I know you finished your homework hours ago between druggie number three and dealer number two."

It had been a boring night, more boring than usual. A few small busts and an escort to a safe house. That's why Diana caved so easily to my suggestion.

"It's just that I have an early class tomorrow," she said. "And you know that there's an emergency signal on your watch."

I concentrated on forming a thin bridge of ice between rooftops so I could start my long walk home. "I told you, go to bed. I'll catch you up on any exciting encounters over breakfast."

She hated leaving me alone while I was on patrol, but she signed off with one last reminder to stay safe and I silenced my microphone from my super watch. I didn't mention that I was suspended four stories in the air with only two inches of ice holding me up. I had more important things to do.

Like come up with something clever or at least intelligible to say at my meeting tomorrow.

No ideas were bouncing around in that big brain of mine, so I rambled until I could grasp something better than the idea I had so forcefully shut down earlier in the day. "I propose that we rename every superhero to make them more public friendly. No more Nightwave and Scorch. I could go by Ice Lady and pass out ice cream sandwiches on my patrol. Rory could come out of retirement as Slow-Mo Friend."

Nope. Bad idea. And no wonder I hadn't come up with a cool new hero name. My old title of Queen of the Misfits had to be retired to avoid any connections between the new me who lived in Nova City and the old me who accidentally froze Summersville.

I was nearly to the edge of Stones when I started again."What we need is something that builds trust between us and the lawmakers. The public can think we're unhelpful or too violent or anything else they want because they aren't the ones making the laws."

There it was. The idea.

I continued with more confidence building in my voice, "We should reach out to individual police departments and precincts. They're the ones who need our help. We set guidelines with them and let them know we're on their side. Hopefully, that will trickle up to the people with real government power."

Spurred by my own good ideas, I ice poled down to the street as the buildings grew taller the closer to Queen Plaza that I got. Too tall for me to casually tightrope between.

"A few test groups could start in prime locations. Cities that desperately need our help and happen to have missing agents. I have the data to find those places."

I was too preoccupied imagining how proud Graham would be of my suggestion that I failed to notice the man running full speed toward me until it was too late. I was flat on my back with his weight pinning me down before I could wrap up my speech.

This was not a typical encounter. I waited for him to demand all my money, but he didn't. I looked for the telltale signs of a high--bloodshot eyes, dilated pupils, runny nose, raw lips--but there was no evidence of that. The man's pupils were barely visible, a pinprick in his iris. There was something else too. But I couldn't put my finger on it before the dude aimed a punch at my nose.