The Confidential Files of A Superhero

Alex’s Point of View Onyx Missing in Action? Where is our the San Fransisco Superhero? What has happened to Onyx? Has the illusive Superhero hung up his mask? Is Onyx Dead? Every news channel in the local San Fransisco area had a different theory for what happened at the end of last summer. None of them, of course, were right, but some of the theories surely gave me a good laugh. I’d been watching all of the headlines roll in from behind the safety of a computer monitor, trying to stop myself from becoming increasingly irritated with each one. I wanted to be back out there more than I wanted to breathe, but that wasn’t the deal I’d agreed to this summer. I’d agreed to stay home, to rest, to recover, as I reluctantly handed the reins over to my best friend and my brother. But today, it was finally all going to end. The world would likely never get their answers to where I’d been, or what exactly happened the night of my hospitalization, but I certainly wasn’t hanging up my mask. Tonight was the night. I was finally ready to make my return, and I couldn’t be more excited about it. My eyes flickered down to the tv monitor, a code red had been alarmed through the echo sphere less than 20 minutes ago. Ben and Kyle were handling it, having arrived on the scene in under 5 minutes, but my palms were burning to get out there too. 2 months, 63 days to be exact, since I’d stepped into my super suit. My nerves were alive, I’d been counting down the hours to this very moment for the entire summer. I’d taken the summer off to recover from the events at the end of the school year. I needed the time to rest and recover, but really I’d only done so at the request of Ali and my mother. Everyone was pretty shaken up after my near-death experience. We’d never had a mission gone that sour before, never had a call come that close. My father, on the other hand, had me off for a different reason. He needed my attention focused elsewhere. He wanted me to gather my strength and fully dedicate myself to another problem we’d found ourselves in. Not that taking time off had done me any good. Even today, I’d been standing in the lab for a full hour and not once turned on the light to our little training room. I didn’t want to see her, not today. She’d only get in my head again. I turned my head back to the glass case in front of me. My Onyx suit had been strapped to a mannequin for the summer, just waiting to be worn back into action. I was itching to get back to it. “Hey, you promised,” Ali said accusingly as she stepped into the lab. I turned to look over my shoulder, seeing that perfect angel with his hip c****d to her side and her arms folded over her chest as she stared me down. Her lips pursed with annoyance as she looked briefly over the suit then refocused on me again. “There’s a fire downtown, I could help,” I said, my voice actually coming out a little dreamy as I thought of the news stream I just saw on the radar. No doubt Ben was suffering right now. The fastest way in and out of a fire situation was through flight. 100 hours of training and that boy was still as clumsy as a baby bird. Hell, I think even baby bird on their first flight fly better than he does. “Of course you could,” God, this woman loves me more than anything in the entire world, and I don’t deserve it. I should have told her two months ago what my father was hiding in here. But no, I was an i***t, and afraid, but mostly just an i***t. So now I spent my afternoons down here pretending to do light training exercises and radar work, constantly looking over my shoulder and making sure Ali wouldn’t find out the little secret. Don’t get me wrong, I wanted to tell her so damn badly, but how could I? Last year had been one for the ages, more drama than any high school kid could possible imagine. As I laid in the hospital bed all those months ago, I’d experienced first hand the way the superhero lifestyle had been tearing her apart. She needed a break from the drama, she needed some time just to enjoy her life and focus on herself. So I chose not to tell her, and I tried not to regret it as I watched the woman that I love have the best summer of her life. But still, my doubts crept in. Every big smile she flashed my way, the guilt in my stomach opened itself up and threatened to swallow me whole. What is was telling me was clear, She wouldn’t be smiling at you like that if she knew the truth. Even now, it didn’t stop with her arms wrapped around my shoulders and squeezing me tight from the side. “Ben can handle this. He’s been filling in for you all summer and doing just fine. In fact, ever since you started helping him with his training, I think he’s actually been making some improvements,” She said, her eyes flitting over the computer screens. Sure enough Ben was making his first flight out the burning building with a woman cradled in his arms. That was a big rescue and would surely be all over the news tomorrow. I forced a slight smile. I was happy for my brother for finally becoming a little more confident in his own abilities as a superhero this summer, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t feeling a little envious too. One more hour, I reminded myself, clinging to those words as if they were my only saviour from the tragedy of this perfect summer finally coming to it’s end. “I leave for school in 1 hour, then the suit is yours. That was the deal,” Ali reminded me and I winced. That was the deal I’d agreed to, and I was ashamed to admit that this simultaneously was feeling like the worst and best day of my life. I was getting my superhero lifestyle back. In less than a few hours I’d be out there saving people again. I’d feel alive and useful again, a nice change from my usual feelings of pathetic and disappointing lately. But also, the love of my life was leaving for university today, meaning she’d be spending most nights on the San Fran University campus, a full 25 minute drive away from my comfy bed that she’d been sleeping in for the most of the summer. I know she wanted the full university experience, so of course she had to go, but why did that have to include sleeping there? I couldn’t argue with her though, not when this was what she wanted. Not when I had that pit of guilt in my stomach already telling me what a bad boyfriend I’d been every time I came down to the lab this summer. A long time ago I’d promised Ali that their wouldn’t be any more secrets between us. The last one was supposed to come to it’s end the night she took my mask off, but I’d never expected us to be here either. “Are you ready? Got all your bags packed?” I turned to smile at her, shaking all those negative thoughts out of my mind. With an arm snaked around her waist, I began leading her back out of the lab. I couldn’t bear to spend any more time in this room than absolutely necessary. As for Ali, I never wanted her to so much as step foot in here. Not with her mother’s shadow standing just in the next room. My plan to escape this room was quickly thrown off track though, as my little sister came bounding into the room with an excitement that could rival a kid of Christmas morning. Her eyes beamed as she looked at Ali with the biggest smile I’d ever seen. “Oh good, you two are here! It’s time to get ready!” She said in the cheeriest voice possible. I rolled my eyes at her dramatically, she was far too excited about this. Over the summer, Macey had taken Ali on as her own little project. Like Ben helped me, and then I helped Macey, it had become somewhat of a family tradition for the older sibling to help the younger one adjust to the superhero lifestyle once they grew into their powers. Macey, being the youngest however, never got the opportunity to mentor someone. At least, until Ali came along. Macey had hardly grown into her own powers, but still she was as eager as ever. She bound toward Ali in excitement, wrapping her hands around her and hugging her type. “Today’s the day!” She squealed, and over my sisters shoulder Ali locked eyes with me. “Today’s the day,” she said, but her words didn’t quite reach the same level of excitement. She stared back at me with that hollow gaze, the one that told me that her anxiety was building by the minute. Today was a really big day, for all of us.