They let me stay in the hospital after agent Debra Smith was through with her interrogation. She'd used a number of tactics throughout the whole thing, mostly trying to get me to seek her approval and stay apologetic. All the things that made for compliant and willing people. Still, I held nothing against her for it, as she was just doing her job the best way she knew how. To me it was fairly transparent, but I saw the need for it. The government had to do everything in their power to keep their supers on a leash and watch them for any signs of instability. The public scrutiny on heroes was ten times what any cop would experience, especially since they were encouraged to drape themselves in the red, white, and blue. If heroes started to be seen as just another arm of the state, military police in spandex, well, then everything might quickly fall apart.

What she didn't realize was how unnecessary it all was. I had every intention of compliance, despite my antics.

Being made to feel like a criminal was upsetting, but the hospital room they'd chosen for me had a huge set of windows overlooking the city. Surely my room number had been leaked to the press, because people had begun to organize outside. A whole crowd of citizens was down in the parking lot, holding up signs that said things like 'thank you' and 'you're the best!'. It was enough to make me forget all my fears and think only of how much I wanted to live up to their expectations.

They saw me as a bystander who dropped into the fight and risked his life with no training and no chance. It was pretty much the truth, too. And, while it didn't make for a good foundational motivation, this was nonetheless the reward that all heroes looked forward to. It was their guilty pleasure.

I found myself chuckling. It's all downhill from here, I thought. You only save the city once in your career if you're lucky. The odds of this kind of adoration ever finding me again were practically null.

That knowledge kept my head from getting too big. No doubt I'd just be caught up in the endless muddy gang fights like everyone else. My power was a good trump card, but at the end of the day, it wasn't too special.

I laid back in my hospital bed and tried to relax. Using my power to stay unnoticed was like a reflex at this point, but I didn't want to set off any alarms if the agency was watching. They'd set police officers on watch outside my room, ostensibly to keep me safe from any lunatics trying to make a name for themselves, but I had no doubt it was partly to make sure I stayed put also. They knew how my power worked, meaning there was likely a camera somewhere out there which would promptly notice if I went for a stroll.

Someday I hoped they would learn to trust me, but I didn't get ahead of myself.

Visions of the bloody pulp that I'd rendered Jayden's head into flashed through my mind. The fact that I had done something like that was still hard to process, and even harder to reconcile with how I thought of myself. Harmless. Useless. Cowardly... Invisible, even.

The people outside sure thought I was something else, though. Brave. Maybe even daring.

I wanted to check my favorite forums so badly right now. The internet had been my sole point of socialization these last three years, and there were a number of people I chatted with regularly. Some of them even knew my situation and would have put two and two together by now.

There was nothing to do at the moment, however, except enjoy the hospital food. It held a strange place of nostalgia for me. I knew objectively that it wasn't as good as what I tended to treat myself to, but something about it was purely comforting. The lemon meringue dessert was my favorite, followed closely by the angel cake. This wasn't my first time having either, but I tried not to ruminate on that.

Suddenly there came a thumping noise at the window. I heard someone groan and curse from beyond the glass, as a pair of hands struggled to keep a hold on the concrete edge outside. Immediately I thought to grab a weapon of some kind before remembering that I now knew how to put the hurt on with my power. My headaches had subsided well enough that I had a few good blasts of pain at my disposal. It was strange to learn of these new usages for my power, but they sure came in handy in times like these.

All of that thinking came to a stop as the person at the window finally completed their pullup. Batman's head came into view just barely, and as the Halloween-costumed hero managed to poke his eyes far enough up to see inside, he disappeared into a teleport.

None other than Stumblebum flashed into my room. He was wheezing from the pushup, but he wasted no time grabbing the chair from beside my bed and walking for the door.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

He wedged it firmly beneath the handle of the hospital room's entrance, locking us both inside with a makeshift blockade. "Checking up on my good friend!" he announced, proudly sitting down in the chair. "I tried to come in through the lobby, but you know those bastards tried to arrest me on sight. Things have sucked since they outlawed rogues."

I nodded and smiled, then spoke using my power. "I'm happy to see you, man."

Stumblebum clasped his heart, "Damn, I've got a soft spot for you, new kid, you know that? The way you went balls to the walls even after I told you that I was about out of juice and couldn't save you if it went wrong; that brought a manly tear to my eye. I'm not even kidding, Adrian. Or should I call you the badass savior of the city, Mister Headcase?"

Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

"Ha. It’s music to my ears. I've decided to stick with it after all," I confirmed. "The name really grew on me."

The police outside my room had realized what was up, and they started banging on the door. "It's alright!" I projected out to them, but it seemed to do nothing to slow them down.

"Ah, they'll go get somebody to bust the door down shortly," Stumblebum remarked. "We've got a good ten minutes before then, at least."

"Just to chat?" I asked.

"Yeah, I mean, I've got an ulterior motive if that’s what you’re asking, but I really did just want to see how you were doing. I watched you walk off when Zephyr left you in the parking lot and I couldn't catch up. I tried my fucking hardest to squeeze out one last teleport, but I just couldn't make it happen. I knew they'd pick you up wherever you passed out and I was worried I wouldn't be able to find you. We're lucky they put you out in the open somewhere I could, actually."

"Huh?"

"I'm here to bust you out, home fly. Isn't that obvious? We'll get you over to my friend's place for a quick check to make sure they didn't put a tracker in ya, then I can drag you back to my hideout. It's not much, but you can sleep on my couch until we can scrape together the funds for you to get your own digs."

"Really? You’d do that?"

"Yeah, it shouldn't take too long. I figure if the police get to do 'asset forfeiture' whenever they beat the shit out of a druggy then so should we, right? It's not a bad way to earn money if you can cover ground, and I can certainly cover ground. You'll be an established rogue in no time."

"That's... an amazing thing for you offer, Stumblebum. I don't know what to say."

"Well, just say yes?" He saw my hesitation in replying, and he chuckled to himself in disbelief. "Unless… You can't be thinking of staying, right? Tell me it ain't so."

I shrugged, hesitantly airing my thoughts. "It's just... I'm kind of tired of hiding, honestly. I don't want to seem ungrateful, and I hope I can be back in the city as soon as possible so we can bust villains together, but I think I want to keep on the good side of the law for now. Just for now."

"Adrian. Headcase. Babe. You don't want to get caught up in the hero business, trust me. Being a rogue is where all the fun is. You don't have to answer to anyone, you make your own schedule, you're not on call, and it's just a better gig all around! Besides, the man won't let us hang out together and play Halo if they put a badge on you. They'll be watching everything you do to make sure you're being a good boy-scout and keeping clean."

"I kind of wanted to have a regular life now, though, and, like, not be a criminal. I'm sure I can fudge the rules a little bit with my power too once the dust settles and they're not afraid I'm insane. It shouldn’t take more than a few months, either."

Stumblebum sighed loudly and slid down in his chair, exasperated. "I get you. I do. I'm only telling you about my angle on this thing. Those people outside your window right now, that's not what you're in for most of the time. Everybody thinks there's glory and money in the hero business, but the one's I've talked to and or fucked all say the same thing. It's hard, thankless work."

"I see people cheering heroes on the street corner wherever they stop. I don't want to go into it for that reason, obviously, but I think you're being overly critical, Stumblebum, because this is the choice you've already made and you have to justify it."

"Hey, man, fair enough! It's not like I don't have skin in this game. If this is what you want, then go for it. I like to walk on the wild side, personally. As supers, we can do things that no one else can. You and I both know that society can never contain us, no matter how much it wants to. It can't keep us in a nine to five and it can't hold us accountable for almost anything we do. We're as free as the warriors on the open steppe, my dude, and I can't see giving that up willingly, but that’s just me. You gotta do you."

"Right. And I completely understand," I said, "but I have to tell you that I've been doing that up until yesterday, and I was like a ghost with nothing to keep me tethered to this world. I think there's probably a balance I could walk where I'm outside society, as you put it, without slipping into becoming a hermit again; I'm just not sure that I could walk that tightrope right now. Running away is like an itch for me, and until I can trust myself to be strong enough to ignore it, I think I need to walk a more... well-tread path. It’s not that I’m even that attached to being a hero, but I know I need to do something with my life. I need to come out of the shadows and commit myself to something I find meaningful. Does that make sense?"

Stumblebum sat up and stroked his chin. "Yeah. It does. We've all got to do our own thing, and you can always come around to seeing it my way later, I guess. That is, unless they put you away somewhere."

I tried to laugh off his paranoia. "They're not going to put me in a hole, Stumblebum. They're just going to assess me."

"I've heard of it happening!" he cautioned me. "I won't be able to save your ass where it's headed, so just know that. Why you'd ever trust these people is beyond me, but I see you think they're gonna want what you've got to offer. Even if that is true and they fast-track you off the Rig, you won't know if it will be back to New Marion to be a hero or god forbid the Eastern Front to be a soldier."

"The Rig?"

"Yeah. What did they tell you, that they were gonna put you in a bootcamp for therapy?"

"That’s basically what they said, yes."

"Heh. That's strike one in my book, then. The Rig isn't therapy camp, man, it's stress-test central. They're gonna try and see if you break before they ever think of putting you in the field."

"Well, I won't break," I said, making sure to smile with confidence. “I’m sure it will be fine.”

Seeing that I was fully decided, Stumblebum simply stood up and approached the bed. He stuck out his hand, and I happily shook it. "I wish you the best of luck, Adrian. I'm sure you'll make it through, and we'll see each other again soon. I know from watching you move that you're way too fucking smart to let yourself get shafted out there, and I’m sure I’m only being an asshole trying to make you doubt yourself. You're a psychic, right? If you've got eyes in the back of your head, you’ll turn out fine in this world. Don’t let anybody tell you otherwise.”

"Thank you. For everything. I’d be dead without your help."

He went over to the window and sat on its edge. Just as the policemen bust in through the door, Stumblebum saluted me and spoke. "Yeah, and don’t you forget it! You're gonna do big things, Headcase. We'll watch your career with interest!"

And with that, he was gone. He vanished into thin air as the officers approached, and the two of them could only grumble in frustration.

"I told you it was fine," I said to them, annoyed that they’d forced us to cut our reunion short.

They didn't reply, instead only eyeing me suspiciously and heading back out of the room. They radioed in the change to the situation, most likely to call off the superhero support they’d had coming. For my part, I merely went on looking out the window and wondering if I did the right thing.