Across the street from the bus stop I took to go to school every day there was a poster. Three dramatically-dressed people stood facing the viewer, looking out expectantly over some text at the bottom which read “Superhero Tryouts - Come and join greatness.” The poster was inviting aspiring superheroes to try out to join one of the three superhero teams in the city. If you had superpowers, all you had to do was fill out a form online and you could show up, show your stuff, and see if one of the teams liked you enough to offer you a spot.

From where I sat on the bench waiting for the bus, the distance was far enough that I couldn’t really see much more than a blurry shape or two, but it had been there, taped to the inside of the corner shop window, for as long as I could remember, and I’d passed by often enough that I didn’t need to be close to know what it was. The thing had an “Uncle Sam Wants You” kind of feel to it. It was compelling, faded and obscured as it was from time and dirty glass.

The middle figure on the poster was particularly striking, wearing glowing white armor with a helm that completely hid his face. He was brilliantly resplendent, dwarfing the two others who stood beside him, so that although they were superheroes also, yet they seemed more similar to unpowered individuals while standing next to him.

If I had cared to cross the street and look closer, I could have read the smaller text ascribed below each of the superheroes. Silk, Grapple…

And Archangel. The greatest superhero in the city. Maybe the country, some even argued. I had my doubts about that; Freefall in New York could probably take him in a fight, I figured. But still…the list of people on his level was short. Archangel was strong. Crazy strong. I took out my phone and started reading a book, pointedly not looking at the tiny poster across the street that I could barely see anyways. No, I wasn’t considering trying out to join a team, thank you very much. I just had a thing about superheroes. Especially that superhero.

Just as I was settling into my read, the phone buzzed and a notification popped up on the screen. Now this…this was interesting.

Superhero team The Guardians engaging with at least one armed suspect in the South Downs.

Speak of the devil. And in the South Downs, too. That was just on the other side of the Cross-town Express. Pretty close...and there was a green-line bus just a couple of streets over that headed that direction. If the altercation lasted long enough, just maybe I could head over there and catch a glimpse of the action. Reluctantly I checked the time: school started in ten minutes.

With a frown I swiped the notification away and kept reading my book.

A dog barked.

I glanced up from my phone and saw the owner holding a treat over the dog's open jaws - just out of reach. It was a small dog - a chihuahua. I didn’t own a dog, but it sure looked desperate - panting and whining, it’s whole body tensed and quivering, its round eyes glued to the treat.

I looked at the owner’s face. He was bored. Just waiting for the bus like the rest of us. He gazed lazily down at the dog, his chin resting on a fist propped on his knee, the other hand tantalizingly holding the treat just a little too high.

The dog jumped. The treat jerked higher. The dog whined some more.

My phone buzzed again, and I reluctantly glanced down at the screen.

Confirmed Celestial is on the scene, Archangel and Falcon are en route. Peregrine Middleway in the South Downs. Residents are advised to stay indoors until the incident is resolved.

Archangel.

I exhaled, letting out a long breath. My stomach lurched despite myself. Was this it? Was this my chance?

I sighed, swiping the notification away. Six months. Six months I’d been following this app. Checking notifications, getting my hopes up. Running across the city, hoping to see the superheroes - just to catch a glimpse of them…

You’d think it would be easier to see superheroes in action, chasing down baddies, responding to rescue calls...but Jarvis port was a big city, and even with not one, but three superhero teams running flying around saving cats from trees and socking bank robbers in the nose, I had yet to see any superheroes actually doing superhero stuff in person - at least not anything outside of public events on TV or something. I was tired of the game. I was about ready to delete the app and call it quits.

Beside me the dog jumped up again, but the owner expertly jerked his hand away at the most agonizing moment. He was a freakin’ expert.

The dog whined again. I stared at it. It was getting to me.

“You gonna give it to him?” I asked.

The dog owner didn’t realize I was talking to him at first. “What? Oh, sure.”

He kept dangling the treat and the dog kept waiting and whining.

I felt myself getting annoyed.

The bus finally rolled around the corner. Everyone waiting at the bus stop came to life, and I stood up, stowing my phone and shoulding my backpack. Another day, another missed opportunity.

I found myself looking down the street - in the direction of the green line bus stop that you could almost see if you squinted. As the people around me filed onto the bus, I hesitated. Suppose…suppose I did run to the site of the incident? Would I be late to school? Yeah. Would I probably not get there in time like usual? Yeah.

The dog whined pitifully. I looked over in time to see it leap one more time for the treat. The owner laughed and put the treat away (without ever giving it), standing up to get on the bus himself.

I grit my teeth and felt something shift inside me, and I let out a long breath.

What did I have to lose?

“You coming?”

I started. The bus driver was looking down at me, giving me a grumpy look. I was the last person at the bus stop.

“Uh…no. I’m not.”

He shook his head frustratedly and closed the doors. The bus pulled away from the curb and back into traffic.

I was alone.

“Okay…” I said. “I’m doing this.”

I turned and started jogging the other way.

My backpack bounced against my back with each step as I dashed and darted through the gaps in the morning crowds. I sidestepped around a guy and startled the dog he was walking. Don’t mind me; just heading to see some superheroes. If this panned out, who cared how I looked?

I reached the other bus stop within a couple of minutes, only panting a little. But...there were no people waiting there already - just me. Which probably meant...I jogged over to the notice posted on the sign and sure enough, I’d just missed it. The schedule said the next bus was a quarter-of-an-hour away.

“Crap,” I said.

I did not have time for this. By the time I got to the scene of the superhero incident, everyone would’ve packed up and gone home already. Maybe if I took the subway across Quarry River to get to a different bus line...

Time, time, time. Too much thinking, not enough moving. I couldn’t be re-routing all around the city. I checked the time on my phone, weighed the distance, and broke into a run.

No time to wait for a bus; I had to get there now. My breathing quickly sped up to match the rhythm of my pounding feet. The border of The Downs started on the other side of the Cross-town Expressway, a four-lane highway that cut through central Jarvis Port like a big, slow-moving caterpillar. I had another four blocks to go before I reached it. I gritted my teeth through my panting and dug into the run.

Past bakeries and pizza shops, past school grounds and parks, past taxi lines and piles of public scooters. Jaywalking whenever I could, waiting impatiently at stoplights when I couldn’t.

I reached the Cross-town Express and paused for a second, my hands on my hips, panting, gazing down through the chain link fence at the highway stretched-out below. Rows of cars crawled along at a few miles-per-hour. I’d once heard that it was one of the most-congested highways in the country, and I could believe it. I turned and ran along the fence towards the nearest pedestrian bridge, going faster than the cars below.

Just as I reached the pedestrian bridge a dark streak bolted across the sky overhead, traveling in the same direction I was going. It was another superhero, en route to join the same incident I was intent on reaching. I recognized the white-and-blue costume: Falcon. Archangel’s teammate.

I watched him effortlessly soar over the Cross-town, going at least eighty, and swoop between the buildings on the other side. What I would give to have flying powers. He’d get there in seconds.

I sprinted across the pedestrian bridge. This was still faster than the bus - as long as I ran hard. I reached the other end and kept going, into The Downs. The streets were getting more crowded with walkers, and I had to weave around people more, which slowed me down. I was pretty short, so it was getting hard to see where I was going.

A police car passed, siren wailing and lights flashing. I was getting close. I slowly realized that I was running against the flow; all the other pedestrians were going the other way, headed out, away from the superhero incident. I was the only one headed in.

“Attention! Attention!”

A loudspeaker echoed around the street, coming from somewhere up ahead. It was muffled, coming from behind some building, but it was pretty clear.

“Please evacuate the area! A superhuman incident is in progress. You will be notified when it is safe to return.”

For the first time I wondered if what I was doing might be a little dangerous. This was the closest I’d ever gotten to a live, in-progress superhero incident. I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect. Still - mixed in with my fear was a thrill of excitement. This was it!

The crowds of walkers started to thin; the bulk of evacuees had already emigrated. Just stragglers left.

“Hey, kid!”

Some guy tried to stop me, some bystander worried about a kid running the wrong way.

“Hey, kid, wrong way, yeah?”

He moved to block me, reaching to take my hand. I couldn’t get around him. He seemed pretty friendly, but he was slowing me down.

“No, it’s okay!” I said. “I’ve got to go get my little brother! He’s still back there!”

“Aw, no way!” he said, clearly torn. He looked back, and I think he was actually considering going back himself to look for my little brother for me.

“He’ll be scared,” I said quickly. “He’ll only come if he can hear my voice!”

I tried to dart around him, but he was quick, blocking me out.

“Hey!” I said.

“Sorry, kid,” he said. “You’ll have to find him later. It’s dangerous back there! The superheroes are fighting these guys with guns. Not a good place to be.”

I paused. “You saw it? Where!?”

He was about to answer when the sudden bang of a nearby explosion thumped through the buildings, echoing around the street like thunder. We both flinched, ducking down. You couldn’t not flinch; survival instinct just took over.

“Yeah, I saw it!” the guy said, his voice rising to reach the volume of the explosion we’d just heard. “That’s why I know you gotta get out of here!”

“Wait!” I said as he started herding me back the way I’d come. “Who was there? What superheroes were there?”

“I’m not scared of the superheroes, kid; I’m scared of the guys with guns. Come on!”

This was taking too much time. I made to move around the guy again.

“Hey!”

But when he reached out an arm to block me, I just batted it aside like he was a cardboard cutout and ran past.

“Hey, come back here!” he yelled after me, but I was moving too fast for him to give chase. Sorry, dude. I got places to be.

I settled back into my running rhythm, looking up to check the street signs. The Cross-town Express had marked the edge of the South Downs district, and the street sloped downward; I was heading into the slums. How close was I? That explosion hadn’t been too far away. The altercation was probably just around one of these corners...

A colossal detonation swept through the Earth, like the last one but closer, rattling my bones and jittering all the glass in the buildings near me.

"Whoah…"

I heard a few yells and even a scream coming from up ahead. A couple of guys scrambled out from a street just ahead - Peregrine Middleway. They didn't even look at me as they ran past me; they were obviously terrified.

I didn't let myself think about it. If I did, I'd run the other way. Six months. This was it.

I sprinted forward, towards the source of the sound of all the police sirens, barrelling around the corner, ready for anything…

It could have been a straight-up battle between superheroes and badguys. The stuff you heard about on the news. There could have been explosions and gunfire and yelling and confusion. It could have been a freakin’ warzone.

I must have just missed it.

The place was choked with police cars blocking the street. A couple were even parked on the grass strip between the two directions of traffic. The flashing lights made the whole place look like a wacked-out rave party. I saw one police officer pushing some low-life into the back of a squad car, but...that was it. No active-combat. It was all over.

What about the superheroes? I scanned the crowd of blue uniforms desperately…

...there.

In the center of all the law enforcement stood a woman decked-out in resplendent armor. A tasseled cape was furled over one shoulder, not quite brushing the ground. The other shoulder plating was bare, showing the shield-styled symbol of The Guardians emblazoned on it. And resting on her back, still sparking from recent use, was a great, heavy-looking bow of purest ebony.

“Celestial,” I breathed.

The superhero stood out from all the uniforms, which made her easy to spot. An expression of authority lit her (masked) face, exuding an aura of power that a few stray hairs frazzled by the recent action couldn’t diminish. She looked so regal, maybe even inhuman, standing in the midst of the comparatively dull-colored uniforms. A knight walking among the peasants.

I took a breath and approached the mass of police...

“Hey, get back!”

...but almost immediately one of the officers stopped me - and not in the friendly way. He was gruff and loud and his hands were out and ready to use physical force to keep me contained. He was serious in a way the guy I’d run into on my way here hadn’t been: he was trained, ready, and not in the mood.

I stopped. What now?

“I need to speak to Celestial!” I called.

It was my only option. Celestial was the only superhero I could see. I’d come this far. It was all I had.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

“I said get back!”

I backed up quick, breathing fast. “Please!”

“On what business?”

Um… “Personal.”

“Not good enough. You’re outta here, kid.”

“I...I…”

“Come on, kid.”

What could I do? I backed away, feeling something lurch in my gut. I was watching myself let go...because he wasn’t giving me a choice. Just like that, my run was over.

“There you go,” the officer said, not loosening up for a second. There was no way through. No, no, no...

The hairs of my arm suddenly stood on end.

And then suddenly a brilliant light swept over the street, saturating the scene, coating all the police hats in amber, their uniforms losing their blue hue, overwhelmed by the illumination coming from above.

I looked up, an arm held up to shield against the glare, my skin tingling as if charged with static. I caught my breath in spite of myself, squinting in the brightness.

Another superhero rose into the sky. If Celestial was grand, this man was glorious. A paladin’s armor covered him from head to toe, a heavenly glow brimming from the eye slits in his helm. He rose languidly, his cape billowing perfectly in the breeze, undulating as if underwater. This was a tier-five superhero.

“Archangel…”

The gathered police forces paused their activities. You couldn’t not watch. He gazed down for a moment at all around as if to make sure all was well, then turned to the North and sped off through the air.

He was gone. Just like that. So fast that I felt dumb for coming. I hadn’t had a chance to even get his attention. I couldn’t believe it.

The glow that had turned everything amber faded with his departure, the sudden awe with which the whole street had been overcome dissipating in its wake. The police officer nearest me kind of shook himself as if coming out of a daze.

I looked back to Celestial, barely visible over the heads of all the law enforcement. She was the only one in the crowd who hadn’t really lost it when Archangel appeared.

Was there any point in still trying to talk to her? Better question: did I have any better options?

“Celestial!” I yelled.

I saw her turn, looking for the source of the call. But the police officer who’d been blocking me before heard, too.

“Hey!”

I backed up, making space, looking to Celestial, hoping she’d see me…

“Come on, let’s go!” yelled the police officer, moving towards me.

I turned and ran.

I scrambled around the corner, off the Middleway. Back the way I’d come, towards the Cross-town Express. Trying my best to not start crying.

Darn, darn, darn it! I wanted to punch something. My feet pounded on the concrete extra hard, almost stomping as I ran, aching for something to actually kick. To wait so long...and try so hard...and then not even get close.

I felt so dumb. Like the dog jumping to get a treat. Every time I thought I was finally going to catch it, it was jerked out of reach again.

The Cross-town Express came into sight. I stopped at an abandoned newspaper stand near the pedestrian bridge and sat down right on the pavement with my back against a wall of tabloids. I jammed the heels of my hands into my eyes, trying to keep it in.

Now what? Go back to watching the superhero news, watching for more incidents? Keep trying to catch up to Archangel?

I couldn’t even think about it. I could only breathe. Don’t think. Just breathe.

I sat there for a while, managing for just a minute to just focus on inhaling...and exhaling…

The streets were unnaturally quiet for Jarvis Port. The area was evacuated because of the superhero incident. The traffic of the Cross-town was still loud, of course, but the usual bustle of pedestrians and taxis and stuff was gone from the street I was on. It was...peaceful.

Finally I took my hands from my face, looking around the empty street.

Okay...now what?

“Just get to school,” I mumbled. Don’t think, just move.

I stood and picked up my bag, turning to face the Cross-town, brushing off my pants. I started across the bridge. I could grab a bus from the other side and get to school. For that matter, I could be home in about twenty minutes if the wait at the bus stop wasn’t long. Honestly, that sounded a whole lot better than school and dealing with people. At home I could...do something. Homework. Anything to distract myself, so long as I didn’t have to be around people.

A billboard sat over the bridge so that the northbound cars on the Cross-town Express could see it, but it was also clearly visible to all the foot traffic for a few blocks around it. I hadn’t noticed it on my way in because of the angle, but now, on my way out, it was pretty hard to miss.

The billboard depicted a small figure against an endless, stormy sky, dwarfed by the elements around him. Even though he was little more than a bright silhouette against the dark expanse, his identity was unmistakable; everyone knew him. He flew upwards, his glorious cape billowing behind, his white armor gleaming along its contours. He was regal and glorious, heroic and unknowable, almost godlike.

“Can you get any more pretentious?” I muttered.

I blinked and forced my eyes down to the cement floor of the bridge. The last thing I wanted was to look at a giant picture of Archangel.

You couldn’t really get away from superheroes in a city like Jarvis Port. Along with all the advertisements posted in the subways and buses, and along with all the band posters plastered on walls and scaffolding, there were also superheroes. Sponsored ads promoting milk and cheeseburgers and protein powder; cartoonized logos and caricatures on jackets and sportswear; TV spots and constant appearances on late night talk-shows and exclusive interviews with every conceivable network. They were everywhere. Celebrities as present in the public consciousness as Hollywood actors, but totally apart from the entertainment industry. Some strange mix of popstar and law-enforcement.

And of all the superheroes in the mix, the most ubiquitous, the most inescapable of all of them, his face staring back at me no matter where I turned, was Archangel. The darling of Jarvis Port. Our superhero. His powers were so strong they compared to those wielded by members on the national teams. A tier-five superhero. He could have left Jarvis Port and found higher-profile work somewhere on the national scale - maybe even global. He could have gone anywhere. But he stayed local. And the people of Jarvis Port loved him for it.

Even though I kept my eyes down, the image on the billboard stayed in my mind. Archangel flew upwards, his eyes heavenward, like he was looking ever farther to see the next great thing on the horizon. So inspiring.

The billboard was wrong, though. Archangel didn’t look up when he flew. I’d just seen it back on Peregrine Middleway. He looked down on all of the people stuck on the ground.

He sure didn’t make it easy to talk to him. Look at me, running across town after him like a fangirl…

Man, I hated him.

Running across town hadn’t worked once in the last six months. I’d figured if I just kept at it long enough I’d eventually get a chance to talk to him. So I’d downloaded an app that tracked superhero activity and tried to chase him down. Without success. And after today’s failure…

I paused halfway across the bridge, my throat tightening. I was sad. And hurt. And angry. More like freakin’ furious. Having to look at a billboard of him was the icing on the cake.

I sighed, and my whole body shuddered with it. Bottle it up. Think about it later. Just find a bus and get out of here.

That’s when I heard the yelling.

I recognized the voice. It was that same jerk police officer that had blocked me from getting to Celestial. What good reason could he have for chasing me all this way?

I turned to look.

The police officer was running straight for the bridge on which I stood. But he wasn’t coming for me; he was chasing someone else. This second person was sprinting for all she was worth - and she was fast. Like, unnaturally fast. superhuman fast. She passed the newspaper stand and a dozen magazines and assorted snacks went flying, caught up in her slipstream. I heard a victorious laugh break from her wide, grinning mouth.

I blinked.

I looked down at my feet. I was standing halfway across the bridge over the Cross-town. It was the only crossing for five blocks in either direction. A perfect bottleneck. Of course she was coming this way.

So the good news was that the police officer definitely wasn’t after me. The bad news was that the person he was after was a superhuman, and I was in the way.

My feet pushed off the ground and I started running - but I felt slow - like in one of those nightmares where you’re trying to escape from something and your legs have forgotten how to work.

I glanced behind me. The super-fast lady reached the bridge and started hurtling along it, the force of the impacts from her feet causing the whole structure to shake like a circus ride. I stumbled once, but I pushed back up and kept going.

We reached the end of the bridge at almost the same time. I could hear her pounding footfalls behind me - no, I could feel them, shaking the bridge, getting closer with each heartbeat, falling too fast to be human, the rhythm too quick.

Just as I neared the end of the bridge, someone else appeared.

He dropped down out of the sky from some place beyond my field of view and landed with the force of a truck. The cement cracked at his feet, his superhero costume gleaming and flapping around him. White with deep blue accents.

I swerved and careered around him, stumbling off the bridge and back onto solid ground. An instant later the super-fast lady hit.

I think she’d been going too fast to stop by the time the superhero appeared. She slammed into him at the speed of a car, completely out of control. He could have been made of stone; he didn’t even move, like someone had thrown a bag of feathers at him. The fast lady bounced off of him, crumpling to the ground.

She scrambled to her feet in a flash. Blood dripped from her nose and she held one hand against her like she’d broken a wrist. Just from running into the superhero. The new guy didn’t speak; he just stood there, immovable as a mountain, blocking her escape. She sized up this new opponent for a drawn-out, unsettling moment.

The super-fast lady turned and bolted the other way, back along the bridge. The new superhero watched her go; he wasn’t fast enough to catch her.

The police officer running up from behind gave a shout of alarm. A superhero made of steel might be able to stop a speedster in her tracks, but not he. Still, he planted his feet at his end of the bridge and drew a taser. It looked a small and puny weapon to engage with superheroes. He was a house cat trying to play with tigers.

As it was, by the time he could level the taser at the suspect, it was already too late. She bowled him over, sending him tumbling away like he was made of twigs. More law-enforcement were arriving, but it was all too slow. If the super-fast lady were normal speed, the whole world was molasses. With barely a glance at the approaching uniforms, the super-fast lady took off down the street like a bullet, heading along the Cross-town like a cheetah, and nothing on earth could catch her. Already she’d covered fifty feet - a hundred - half a block -

There was a crack like thunder.

The whole scene flashed with a golden glow as bright as the sun to my eyes. Like a camera flash, the glow lit the super-fast lady at the moment of impact - as well as a streaked line in the air leading to her like space itself had been torn asunder: the trail of the bolt that had struck her. The flash was gone in an instant, leaving an after-image like the brightest LED. I blinked, following the path back to its source. There, far behind all the law enforcement shielding their eyes like moles in the sun, a figure stood way back at the corner of Peregrine Middleway, holding a great, black bow.

I picked myself up from where I’d crashed after getting off the bridge, my eyes on Celestial’s distant form. That had to have been...what...hundreds of feet? Over a thousand? How many feet were in a city block? What was Celestial’s record longest shot? Forget that - this had been a moving target. A stinkin’ fast moving target. A superhuman speedster. At that kind of range?

The super-fast lady didn’t appear to be terribly injured; just stunned. Very stunned. Celestial must have used one of her shocker-bolts.

The police officers belatedly swarmed her and took her into custody. Cuffs on the wrists and ankles made of durapheel. Electrode sealed to the neck that could deliver an incapacitating shock. Superhuman containment measures. Couldn’t take chances.

Celestial walked up behind them, monitoring the scene. She still held her bow in hand. No bolt was knocked, but it wasn’t resting on her back, either. She was still wary. The police flowed around her like water around a rock, giving her plenty of space.

Celestial spared a glance to where Falcon stood on the bridge...and paused as if she’d noticed something unusual.

Falcon stiffened under her gaze. He hadn’t moved an inch since he’d arrived on the scene, when he’d blocked the super-fast lady from escaping. Celestial started towards the bridge, her frown deepening.

“Oh, crap.” I suddenly realized: it was me. She’d seen me.

They said Celestial could spot a fly from the other side of the Black River. Before today, I wasn’t sure I’d believed it, but after seeing her make a shot like that, the stories were starting to sound a lot more credible. In light of this, crouched as I was on the other side of the Cross-town, I decided the oversized flowerpot I was using as cover probably wasn’t doing a very good job of hiding me. Maybe it was time for me to go.

There wasn’t much point in subtlety if Celestial had already seen me. I popped up and jogged away, hoping nobody followed. I paused at the corner of the street, glancing back from behind the brick of the building.

Celestial walked right up to Falcon and stared him in the face. I wished I could see his expression, but from my position I could only see Celestial’s (masked) face, not Falcon’s.

“What are you doing here?” she asked.

I blinked. What kind of a question was that? I’d never thought that superheroes wouldn’t welcome help - especially from a teammate.

“I helped, didn’t I?” Falcon’s response was muffled by the distance, but I could still hear. “A bystander was in danger, so I stepped in. That’s a good thing, isn’t it?”

A bystander. Probably me?

“It’s not a good thing if it compromises Sam.”

“Sam will understand. He would have wanted me to.”

The only part of Celestial’s face that wasn’t covered by her mask was her mouth, which was frowning frustratedly.

“We’ll talk about this later,” she finally said, tersely. “Shouldn’t you be in school right now?”

Falcon turned stiffly and walked away without another word. As he turned away from Celestial (and towards me), I saw that his face was tense and angry. Neither of them were happy.

I belatedly realized Falcon was coming my way. Time to go.

But something made me pause for one moment longer before I left, backing away from the corner of the building, turning and breaking into a jog, putting distance between me and the whole crazy series of events of the morning. It was the first time I’d gotten a good look at Falcon. Before, I’d either been positioned behind him, or, in the case of when he dropped out of nowhere onto the bridge right in front of me, I’d been a little distracted by the super-fast speedster lady chasing me down to pay attention.

Most of his face was covered by a mask, so it was difficult to tell anything, but something about it caught my eye. Like the subconscious parts of my brain had realized or recognized something, but hadn’t deigned to share it yet. Almost as if I recognized him from somewhere...

It didn’t take long to reach a green-line bus stop. I waited impatiently for the next bus to come, thinking the police or Falcon or Celestial might come after me at any moment - although why they would I couldn’t say. When the bus finally arrived I hurried to the back and collapsed into a couple of empty seats.

For a second I just sat there, trying to process it. I’d just seen Celestial and Falcon up close. Really close. I’d heard them talking. I’d seen them in action. I’d even kind of been saved by Falcon. I’d run across a bridge away from a speedster superhuman. I’d seen Celestial make a shot with her bow over a thousand feet. I hadn’t seen it on the news; I’d seen it all with my own eyes.

I settled into my seat, my eyes staring at nothing, unwinding. I wondered if I should feel more overwhelmed than I did. Yes, my heart was still racing, and the adrenaline hadn’t completely left my system yet. But I still felt pretty normal, all things considered. My friends would freak out if they knew. Then the whole school would be jealous. I was pretty sure no other student at Prowley High had gotten that close to a superhero incident.

I shook my head bemusedly at it all, thinking over what I’d been through. I had a lot of questions. Especially about what Falcon and Celestial had been talking about.

Shouldn’t you be in school right now?

That line especially...just how young was Falcon? Was he still in High School or something?

I tried to think of what I knew about the superhero. He hadn’t been around for long. The first time I remembered hearing about him was...a couple of years ago? When I was in Middle School sometime. He’d made kind of a big splash; he was really popular with all the girls. But...if that was two years ago, then he must have been...what, sixteen when he’d joined The Guardians? At the oldest. That was pretty young. In fact...had I even heard of any other superheroes that young?

...I was fifteen. Just a year younger. I looked out the window, wondering.

...And why had Celestial been so...displeased with Falcon? “What are you doing here?” It didn’t make any sense for a superhero to not want help. Maybe there was another incident going on somewhere else at the same time that Falcon was supposed to be taking care of? Or...if I made the assumption that Falcon really was young enough to be in high school, I supposed the authorities would want young superheroes in school during school hours?

Speaking of which...I guiltily checked the time. First period was basically over. And I’d be pretty late to second.

I leaned out into the aisle to see the bus map posted by the doors. I could either get off at Oak Street and go to school, or stay on until Prowley Parkway and just go home.

I should probably go to school, I decided reluctantly.

Still, it was surprising to think that a superhero would be told to stay in school when there were people to save and bad guys to chase. In all the movies, superheroes would drop everything to fly out the window. Business meetings, dates, parties...nothing was more important than saving the day.

But...I supposed if you were a superhero working with a team, everyone worked together to share the load so you could go to a party or something without having to dash out the door in tights and a cape. Besides, with Archangel on the scene, there had been no need for Falcon to show up.

Archangel.

I subconsciously curled up in my seat. I’d managed to forget for a second. My insides plummeted and I wondered again if I could just go home and go to bed. I rested my forehead against the window, letting it jitter and bounce along with the bus. Archangel. Always flying away from me.

No, no...think about Falcon and Celestial instead. Um…

...Who was ‘Sam?’

“It’s not a good thing if it compromises Sam.”

“Sam will understand. He would have wanted me to.”

What was all that supposed to mean? I wondered if Sam was some manager-type person within The Guardians that was a kind of supervisor. Somebody that the superheroes on the team answered to? But then...how could Falcon coming and trying to help with the incident today have potentially compromised Sam? That didn’t make any sense…

...Maybe Falcon was supposed to be protecting this Sam, like a bodyguard or something. And Falcon showing up to help out with the incident meant that Sam was left unguarded and vulnerable. Maybe Sam was some huge Person of Interest, like a key witness in a trial prosecuting gang members in the West Deeps or something. Maybe there had been threats on his life, and Falcon was the only superhero standing between him and assassination.

I frowned. I was getting carried away.

The bus pulled to a stop at Oak Street. I sighed and stood. I’d better go to school. If I went home, I’d have to explain to my parents why I wasn’t in class. I’d rather pretend nothing had happened at all.

I stepped onto the street and started off towards Prowley High, just a couple of blocks from the bus stop, my hands in my pockets. Now what? Just pretend everything was normal. I’d have to figure out what to do next, but for now I could set it aside until I was ready to deal with it. Back to school, back to friends, back to normal life.

But as I walked down the street, one last thought about the whole thing bumped around in my head. It stayed with me as I entered the schoolyard. I told myself it probably meant nothing as I approached the front doors. But it persisted, nagging at the back of my mind like a dog yipping even after its owner had long since put the treats away, interrupting my thoughts as I tried to settle back into the mundane hallways of Prowley High:Why did I feel like Falcon had looked...so...familiar?