The Confidential Files of A Superhero

Onyx: Four

Alex’s Point of View

Soundtrack: Hope by NF

There were more bank robberies in the city of San Francisco than the police wanted to admit to the public, and I was almost giddy with excitement to see that that was going to be my first call back to service. For the past few years, I’d responded to every single one of them as one of their best defences. Until recently, when I decided to take a break from being a superhero and the last bank robbery had been attended only by my clumsy brother. I could just imagine the look of relief on his face right now when he saw the acknowledgement through the echosphere that I was going to be responding to the call and he got to stay home for once this summer. I actually chuckled to myself a little, Kyle eyeing me curiously as the two of us jogged back out to the jeep.

I didn’t bother buckling my seat belt as the two of us jumped into the jeep and began searching for the perfect back road or abandoned building to hide ourselves. We could definitely get down town faster using our super powers but first we had to get out of sight. It was the number one rule to keep our identities a secret, one I’d really been playing with fire around for the last year. Now that I was back though, it was time to smarten up.

I pulled over at the first abandoned building we came across. Kyle had already put on his super suit while we were driving and with a nod in my direction, he was hopping out of the vehicle and heading downtown to the backroads robbery. Meanwhile, I was diving into the backseat to get changed myself, which I was ashamed to admit was taking an embarrassingly long time. I was feeling way too much like my brother right now, clumsy as I jammed each of my legs into the pants and found the spandex fabric clinging to my skin in all the right places. By the time I had the full suit on, I knew I had to fly at top speed to make it to the site of the robbery before I had to be embarrassed about how late I’d be arriving after Kyle. I still couldn’t help but notice just how itchy my suit was though, doing my best to ignore it as I took off into the skyline.

I made it to the bank in record time, feeling a rush of pride come over me in knowing that I might have taken a summer off, but I certainly hadn’t lost my skill. I could practically hear the applause echo through the air as I whooshed in front of the bank building and gave the police and crowd a show of the silver stripes on my suit. It was a little show-boaty, but I’d been waiting far too long for this moment. I wanted this city to know that I was back, and I was ready to work my butt of to protect every single one of them.

“Where are you? Status?” I called through the intercom to Kyle, eagerly awaiting his response as I flew back up to the roof and began looking for an alternative entrance. Thankfully, I’d done this a hundred time before and I knew that the branch manager almost always left the rooftop entrance open. Sure enough, I reached for it’s handle and smiled to myself when it clicked open with ease. Just like that, I was slipping my way inside totally unnoticed.

“The bank robbers are at the vault, two of them. They have one hostage with them. An employee, a young woman who’s opening the safe for them as we speak. A weapon in each of their hands and by the looks of it there’s another strapped to one of their belt buckles. There’s a third robber guarding the main lobby, also appears to have two weapons. Several hostages in this room, innocent bystanders it appears and maybe two employees. It’s going to take some time to get all of these people out of here. Banks busier than we’ve seen in a while,” Kyle explained quickly and I had to control myself from smiling. This was a real situation here, one that was dangerous, but I almost felt excited to know that my first mission back was a big one. My heart pounded in my chest and I knew my adrenaline was building. My heart was saying, bring it on.

It felt so good to fall back into our usual routine. The first to arrive on the scene was always the scout. They found a good place to oversee everything, to figure out the situation and begin to come up with a plan of action. Then when their back up showed up, they’d give a brief overview of all the knowledge they’d gathered, and the two of us would launch into action.

“What‘s the plan? I’ll head to the main safe and you get the hostages out?” I replied quickly, rushing my way down the staircase until I’d finally landed on the main floor. I’d been in this bank many times before so I knew that straight out this door would bring me into the main lobby, but if I turned down this hallway and headed to the next door down, I’d come out unnoticed by the washrooms and have a straight and clear pathway to the safe.

I turned without waiting for Kyle’s response and began heading towards the safe. “I can help with the safe, those men sound more dangerous. Blaze, think you can take out the one guy in the main room?” Another voice sounded through the intercom between us and caught me off guard. I halted briefly in my tracks knowing that voice was one that I knew very well, but what in the worlds was he doing here?

I was just reaching the second door way when suddenly the owner of that very voice came crashing down the staircase as well. He was loud and quite possible giving our location up right then and there as he leapt from the bottom step and hopped over to me. My brother Ben was standing in front of me, looking just as nervous as ever as he entered the field with us.

“What are you doing here?” The words came out harsh as if I were snapping at him and I instantly regretted it. Ben didn’t seem fazed though. We all knew too well that it was easy to lose yourself in the adrenaline of the moment.

“It’s your first day back. Dad was worried and wanted you to have the extra support here,” he returned quickly. I returned with a look of confusion, knowing damn well I usually didn’t have any back up at all. Kyle was already here, why did Ben also need to be here as well? Seeing the look of confusion come across my face, my brother quickly added, “you know, just in case,” but that didn’t make it anymore clear. Ben hated coming out here, the fact that he had shown up today and appeared so calm right now was only making this situation more confusing. There was no time to dive deeper into it though, so I forced myself to push it to the back of my mind and refocus on the situation at hand.

“First man’s out but I think he might have had the chance to alert his buddies that we’re here. Sorry guys, but they’re gonna be working fast to get out of here so you’d better get moving,” Kyle said to his and I was immediately focused on getting to that vault and quickly as possible. There was a woman in danger, and if those men were in a hurry to get out of here, then that would only encourage them to be even more reckless with her life right now.

“Whatever, let’s go,” I said to my brother and without another word, the two of us were moving at top speed toward the bank vault. We reached the door in no time, with no concern this time for our noise level as we crashed through the doorway. Just as Kyle had said, there were two men in the room, one holding the bag and ready to collect the cash while the other had his gun pressed to the back of the woman’s head. She tried to turn in our direction, wondering if her saviours had finally come. Her blonde hair concealed her face as a the man yelled and quickly she turned back to the keypad lock in front of her. I heard the bullet click into the chamber of his wedding and my heart felt locked in my chest. She looks like Ali. The thought rang through my mind so quickly and i had to shake my head a little to clear it away. It wasn’t Ali, I had just left her at school. I knew that with absolute certainty, but still I saw he face flash through my mind. That very night, all those months ago, when she looked back at me completely stricken with fear. It was only moments before the Monazite had struck my chest. That moment of terror was months ago, but in this very moment it felt like it was happening all over again. My breath came short and sharp as Ben took his first step forwards.

“Let her go,” he commanded the attention of the room and that alone was enough to snap me out of whatever had come over me. Commanding the room? That was my job. I was the confident one here, the leader. My brother could barely hold his own in a fight, why was i letting him take charge for me right now? The doubt lingered in my mind, as much as I tried to ignore it. Because you haven’t taken charge. He’s here, just in case.

I shook it off once more, stepping forwards next to him. “Open the safe,” the man with his gun raised commanded the woman and she let out a shaky sob.

“I’m trying,” she cried out but her shaking hand fumbling over the key pad and it quickly beeped red in denial. It was possible she was entering the wrong code on purpose, wanting to protect the banks money or even just her own job, but nothing was worth risking her life over. I only wished she could see that. But then again, it was also quite possible that with the fun pressed to the back of her skull, she couldn’t think clearly either.

The two men exchanged a look, one that made the alarm bells sound in my head. I launched myself forwards, just a second too late as one man wrapped his arm around the woman and they all dove to the side. The wall of the safe bursting up in a cloud of smoke and flames at the last possible second.

A loud bang echoed through the room, the explosion making the wall of the bank violently tremble under the pressure. My head instantly pounded in response, the insides of my ears feeling as if they were rattling just as hard as these walls. I fell to the ground, crouching down as I covered my ears and tried to recover myself. I couldn’t ignore that pounding heart in my chest now though, the way it was slamming violently against my rib cage in a way it had never done before.