Heroes wear Capes

Chapter 22 - Superhero battle clichés

"Have you ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?"

~ The Joker

Xander was much more excited than he should have been.

Okay, he should have been terrified, but it was hard to feel scared when you were in the presence of both members of one of the most famous super rivalries in history.

(It was so cool!)

Like, he knew Artic Frost was a dastardly villain who robbed people, but seeing a super villain in person was a rare event. Despite how often they seemed to attack downtown, being face to face with the likes of someone on par with Artic Frost was something Xander had never experienced before. Though, Xander had to admit that being closer to the villain did make her look more . . . human.

After seeing her face in the news for years painted as a horrendous villain, you'd expect Artic Frost to seem a little more villainous and not so normal. You had to be reminded from time to time that even the worst of people were the same as you, a person.

Also, he had to admit that it was pretty funny to see the two bicker like old friends, even though they were bitter rivals.

Xander vividly remembered a news article recounting an argument the two had at a bank robbery months ago that lasted thirty minutes with neither side firing shots, just arguing on the fundamentals of hero versus villain.

Though, when the pair did get to fighting, it was always brutal.

(Xander was really glad that Wild Fire tended to avoid Oakland, because if he went more often, there may be permanent freezer burn and scorch marks on more of their buildings.)

Xander sped out of the way as both Wild Fire and Artic Frost aimed at each other with ferocity. He wondered if it had ever occurred to them to try different strategies when fighting each other. Obviously the current methods weren't good enough for either to completely destroy the other.

But maybe that was the point.

"Xander! Why are you just standing there? Help!"

Mera's voice in his ear was enough to wake him up from any trance.

"Sorry, I got distracted."

There was a sigh from the other side. "Yeah, and that behavior may get you in real trouble someday. Go and help Ross."

It took Xander a moment to remember that Ross was Wild Fire. When you just learned the identity of one of your heroes, you did a double take when you heard their real name for a few days.

Instead of aiming towards Wild Fire's fight with Artic Frost, Xander decided to focus on getting the civilians out of the way of the fight. The two looked like they had a sort of tunnel vision for each other and would probably barley notice if they tripped over a couple civilians in their quest to absolutely destroy each other.

Xander sped around the busy square, moving people safely out of the radius of the fight. He found that with super speed people felt lighter, meaning he was able to carry most everyone out of the square with no problem in seconds. He found some barriers to set around the square, keeping the civilians from trying to get back in the action. For some reason everyone wanted to get as close as possible to the battling duo for a selfie. Like, is a picture really worth potentially dying?

In fact, as soon as the barrier was set up and the civilians were out of the way, everyone started to take out their phones for a video of the two.