Superhero

Chapter 89

Since Jake said he would be a little later than usual, Addison decided to take a walk to the nearby bank to withdraw some cash. Though it was night, the bank was just as crowded as usual, being the main branch of Spring Valley.
Just as she stepped into the bank, Addison spotted a familiar person waiting in line at one of the ATMs. One that was known to wear a prized leather jacket.
"Jeff!" Addison called as she ran to him. He turned to her in surprise. "What are you doing here?"
Jeff just gestured towards his surroundings. "Waiting in line for the ATM? Addie, seriously..."
Addison chuckled. "Sorry... but yeah. Jake's a little late today and I need some cash so here I am."
"So the two of you're like dating, right?" Jeff smirked.
"No... he just drops by to buy some Itchy-Buns and picks me up while he's at it," Addison frowned. "We're not dating."
Jeff nodded understandingly. "I see, I see."
The line slowly moved forward as a woman stepped out, tucking crisp notes into her purse as she left the bank.
"By the way, how's Superhero?" Addison asked. Jeff looked confused for a second before realising who she was referring to. He grinned and unzipped his jacket slightly, revealing a dark grey ball of fluff clinging to the fabric of his shirt. "Aww! How cute!"
Jeff grinned, his dimple appearing. "I know, he's adorable, isn't he?"
Addison chuckled. "You're bringing him wherever you're going?"
"Nah, I just didn't wanna leave him unprotected at home," Jeff reasoned. "Besides, he's still really small, a very tiny puppa. I bring him wherever I go."
Addison looked at him in surprise. "Everywhere you go?"
Jeff nodded as if that was normal. "Yeah. Everywhere I go."
"Even school?"
"It's the weekend, didn't have class yesterday and today."
"What you gonna do tomorrow, then?"
"I think I'll set up some food and milk for him," Jeff shrugged. "By the way thanks for that container of puppy food. I need to go get some more later."
"There's some at the shop, I think," Addison shrugged. "We can drop by there, it isn't far off."
Jeff quickly shook his head. "No thanks! It's that Latina girl's shift, right?"
"Fio?" Addison chuckled. "She's Spanish, Jeff, not a Latina. But yeah, she's in now."
"No thanks," Jeff said again with a shudder.
"Come on, she already has a boyfriend," Addison snorted. "It's Jordan, remember? And he might even be the Superhero. No way she's losing him, right?"
Jeff frowned for a moment and nodded in agreement. "Yeah, that makes sense."
Everything was peaceful in the bank, save the soft chatter among the crowd.
"FREEZE!" A voice suddenly boomed.
Everyone turned to see and saw a group of three masked men standing at the doorway.
"Oh my gosh, is this a robbery?" Addison gasped when one of them pulled something out. "Oh no! He's got a gun!"
Jeff snorted. "That looks like a toy I used to have as a child. Jerry has it now, I think."
"Who's Jerry?" Addison asked, confused.
"Jeremy, my brother Jeremy," Jeff reminded.
"Oh, Jeremy Clarkson," Addison smirked. She turned back to the armed man and realised that the gun really was very small. "Oh yeah, that really is tiny..."
Jeff chuckled and stepped forward, holding his hands up to mean peace. "Relax, everybody. That gun's a phony! See how small it is?"
Without warning, the man pointed the gun at the ceiling and shot one of the lights, causing glistening shards of glass to rain down. Everyone gasped, backing away from the masked men in fear.
Even Jeff looked panicked. "Okay, that gun is real, everybody panic!"
Addison was more worried for him being the closest to the gunman. "Jeff! Get over here!"
Jeff didn't listen. Instead, he leapt in front of everyone in the bank and stretched his arms out. "If you wanna rob anyone, you have to get through me first!"
"Jeff!" Addison desperately called again. "Please, get over here!"
The gunman let out a chuckle as he raised his gun at Jeff. There was a click when he pulled the hammer with his thumb. "I'm warning you, I'm not afraid of eliminating you."
Jeff firmly stood his ground. "Go on, then."
"Jeff! Please!" Addison screamed again. "What if he shoots Superhero instead?"
Jeff's eyes widened for a moment. He slowly raised his arms in surrender.
"Too late," the thug laughed, his thumb pressing against the trigger.
Time seemed to stop as a bullet flew. Jeff tightly closed his eyes, his hands clasped onto the puppy clinging under his coat.
But... nothing happened. The bullet was fired, but he wasn't hit. Jeff slowly opened his eyes to see a man wearing a turban crouched in front of him with his legs wide apart.
"Oh my god, you leapt in front of me!" Jeff gasped before helping the man up. "You took the bullet for me?"
The Indian man examined himself with shaking hands. "I'm... okay! I didn't get shot too! Hah! The bullet must've bounced off my body!"
The criminal grunted and pointed his gun at the turban-clad man this time. The Indian man growled and leapt onto him, tackling him to the ground.
"Who do you think you are, coming in here to steal our hard-earned money," the man twisted the criminal's arm behind him, causing him to yell. "You better leave if you know what's best for you!"
The other criminals started attacking him but stopped upon smelling smoke.
"Dude, something's on fire!" One of the criminals pointed out.
To everyone's surprise, the smoke seemed to radiate from the Indian man's turban. By the time he even realised, the turban burst into flames, causing the Indian man to scream in shock.
"The bullet must've landed in his turban!" Someone remarked.
The criminals took the chance to flee, leaving the poor turban-clad man helplessly ran around trying to put out his burning turban. Everyone just watched while Jeff grabbed the nearest fire extinguisher and blasted it at the man's head, coating his face and shoulders with white snow-like substance.
"My... my turban..." the Indian gasped. "My hair!"
He frantically felt his head, pulling at whatever was left of his hair. Apparently, little of his hair was burnt since the layers of his turban provided a sort of protection to his hair, leaving it mostly unscathed.
"It's not completely fine, but there's still some left?" The man said, pulling the strands of his hair. "Well... at least I managed to save someone's life."
"No, sir, you saved two lives," Addison added, coming forward. "This guy has a puppy."
"Puppy?" The man repeated in surprise.
Jeff chuckled and carefully took the dog out of his coat. "His name is Superhero."
"Aww!" The Indian guy swooned. "Loosing some of my hair was worth it, then!"
The police suddenly arrived to address the situation. Someone was quick enough to contact the police and get the men arrested. A few policemen decided to check on everyone to make sure no one was hurt during the robbery.
"Is everyone okay?" Officer Lincoln asked, his eyes scanning the crowd for an answer. His eyes eventually, landed on the Indian man, who was still smothered with the white substance. "Did something happen to you, sir? Are you hurt?"
"No, but I guess I lost some hair," the man said, pointing at the ends of his hair. "That guy shot me in the turban and it caught on fire."
"Caught on fire? What do you even put in your hair?" Lincoln asked in surprise.
"Coconut oil, sometimes olive oil," the man frowned slightly. "Ghee? I think I accidentally rubbed some ghee into my hair when having dinner earlier..."
"That explains it," Lincoln shook his head. "You're not hurt, right?"
"No, sir."
"Great," Lincoln nodded and walked out of the bank.
But not giving Addison a knowing glance.

"Darn, does he suspect me or something?" Addison asked as she walked alongside Jeff back to the convenience store.
"Uh, why would you think that?" Jeff unzipped his coat slightly to let Superhero peek his furry head out.
"He's the one that interrogated me after the first time Superhero crashed in the shop. I'm sure he thinks I'm covering something for him."
Jeff frowned. "Do they know about the other incidents?"
Addison shook her head. "I don't think so. They didn't come to the shop too, right?"
"They didn't," Jeff shook his head. "I sometimes watch the daily footage when there aren't any customers. I didn't spot anything else outside my shift."
"That's good," Addison heaved a sigh of relief. "For some reason, we seemed to be somehow personally intertwined with the Superhero."
Jeff smirked. "Not me, you. The only Superhero I'm intertwined with is this one." He pointed at the puppy peeking out from his jacket.
Addison chuckled. "Yeah..."
She opened the convenience store door and went in, Jeff right behind her.