Gene touched his fingers to the bullet holes in his chest. He scratched around one of them absentmindedly as he looked back up at the mugger holding the still-smoking pistol. “Man,” Gene said. “Now I’m gonna have to get a new shirt.”
The mugger turned to run, terrified by what could only be a zombie talking to him, but Gene had already reached out and grabbed the tail of his shirt. As he pulled the thug to the ground, he pulled a taser out of his pocket and fired it at the scrambling mugger. In a few seconds, he was unconscious and sprawled on the pavement, ready for the police to pick him up. Unfortunately, Gene knew that he couldn’t be around for that, and quickly scooped up the wallet and phone taken from the older man who had been standing to the side watching this strange confrontation and handed them to him with a smile. After the man thanked him and Gene had assured the worried pedestrian that he wasn’t hurt, he turned and ran down the alley, turning a corner and disappearing beyond the streetlight’s reach.
After he had made it past a few buildings, he stopped to check on his wounds. They had already completely healed up, just as he expected, but there were still holes surrounded by bloodstains on the front and back of his shirt. He frowned and kept walking until he reached a fire escape and started to climb. When he reached the top, he sat down next to the black-haired girl who already had her legs hanging over the side of the building.
“Jeez, man did you get shot again?” she asked, when Gene had sat down. “You’re going to have to get a new shirt, y’know.”
“Yeah, I know.” Gene said. He smiled in spite of the blood drying on the logo of his shirt. “We really might need to spring for the bulletproof stuff this time, Kat.” She smiled back at him. They both knew that they’d had this conversation before, and they would probably have it again. Being a semi-legal vigilante wasn’t exactly prolific work, besides the occasional bill from grateful old ladies, and buying custom uniforms that were made of anything but ‘100% cotton’ was usually out of the price range.
It was getting late, and the lights of the squad car arriving to pick up the would-be mugger -still spread across the sidewalk- mingled with the deep oranges and yellows of the evening sky to create a purplish wash across the buildings lining the quiet street. The two of them watched in silence as the police picked up the unconscious felon and loaded him into the back seat of the car. Before the sun had fully set, Gene and Kat climbed down the fire escape and started to walk back to campus.
They arrived at the entrance to the Veracruz University campus after about an hour’s walk. It was fully dark outside now, but there wasn’t much reason for two superpowered individuals to be afraid of walking through D.C. after nightfall. And beyond that, there were always some other vigilantes that they were acquainted with who would likely be on patrol in this part of the city.
“Maybe next time, some thief will be kind enough to not bring any guns with him” Gene said, giving Kat a smile. Her powers couldn’t stop her from getting hurt, so she needed to be a little more creative in dangerous situations.
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“Yeah, yeah. Maybe, but I really don’t mind leaving the armed ones to you. Besides, the taser I ordered must’ve gotten lost in the mail, so I think I’ll wait for that advantage before I step in without backup.” She walked a few steps toward her dorm and then spun around quickly to call out to Gene, who was also walking away. “Hey, don’t forget that we’ve got training tomorrow!”
“I won’t!” He shouted back, and turned down the path to his building.
When they had each reached their own dorms, they fell asleep almost immediately. Even though they had powers, balancing fighting criminals and keeping up with schoolwork was still physically exhausting.
Gene’s alarm went off at 6:30, causing him to roll out of his small dorm bed and knock into the bedside table that held his clock. After he had snoozed the alarm, he looked down and saw that he was still wearing the same clothes that he had been in last night- his homemade superhero costume. Glad that Robbie’s still out of town, or there would have been some awkward questions to answer, Gene thought to himself. Robbie, his roommate, often left the campus on the weekends and stayed with his family farther away from the city. That worked out fine for Gene, who usually worked his streets with Kat on Friday and Saturday nights.
Once Gene had showered off the dried blood from the previous night, he put his costume back on, this time with a jacket zipped over it to hide it from anyone who might have been walking around campus that morning. He left his dorm, and walked across campus to wait at the bus stop for Kat, who was probably getting breakfast before that morning’s training like she normally did. She arrived a few minutes later than usual with a baggy gray hoodie hiding her own costume.
“Hey, sorry I’m late- but did you see the news this morning?” When Gene shook his head no, Kat fished around in the big front pocket of her hoodie and pulled out her phone. She typed something into her browser, and sat down on the bus stop bench next to him. A news report from just a few minutes ago started playing, showing a superpowered battle taking place over the rooftops of downtown D.C., a crackling yellow flash striking against a shifting shield of some invisible energy. The yellow object backed up, suspended in the air by chains of lightning reaching out to the lightning rods of nearby buildings. “That’s Dynamo, it’s gotta be! She’s the only hero near here that can pump out that much electricity for so long.” Kat was pointing at the screen excitedly, covering some parts of the battle. “But do you recognize that other guy? It doesn’t look like he’s really attacking, but his shield isn’t letting anything through. I can’t make out any costumes from so far.”
Gene leaned in close to the phone’s screen and traced around the aura surrounding the mystery villain with his finger. “Her lightning is going around his shield and dissipating at the back of it. I don’t think this guy is some kind of psychic or has any absorbing powers, it just looks like he can make a really strong barrier of magnetic energy.” Gene had gotten better at telling exactly what was happening in superpowered fights- an important skill in his line of work, because a quick I.D. of what you’re dealing with could be all that keeps you from getting killed.
The bus had arrived as they were talking, letting the students returning from the night shift off, and letting Gene, Kat and the other students at the stop on. The two of them continued to hover over Kat’s phone and discuss the recorded battle until they reached their stop and got off the bus.
The gym they trained at was only a few buildings down from the bus stop, and it only took them a minute to walk down to it. But, when they reached the gym, all that greeted them was a locked door on a dark building.
“Oh, yeah,” Kat said. “We moved training to tonight. Well, we’ve got twelve hours to kill. Wanna get another breakfast?”