Saving a Superhero

1: Normal Bank Trip+Kidnapping

"Look, there's no way she got kidnapped," I mumbled into the receiver as I took shelter in the bank from the oncoming storm. When a leaving patron shot me a weird look I flashed a smile and shrugged. My crazy friends, I tried to say. The poor man just ducked his head and hurried into the rain. And there go my plans for a normal evening.

"Juliet, this is serious! Grace could be in real danger." Rory sounded honestly worried on the other side of the phone. I could almost picture her with real terror in her eyes. That is, I could if I had ever actually seen her. But the gist of it was there in her voice.

With a sigh, I took my place in the snaking line as it moved forward. Cradling my phone between my shoulder and jaw was a challenge, but was necessary for me to dig through my purse for my wallet for my ID and bank card. The line continued to move while Rory rambled about her lack of evidence.

"Call it intuition. Something is wrong."

I brushed past a guy sitting on a bench, filling out forms halfway through the line. He glared up in response and I gave another smile, biting back the comment about being blinded by his shiny bald head. I was getting sick of apologizing for things while catering to Rory's conspiracy theorist side.

"Aurora, I don't have time for this. Let me know if you figure out anything real, but..."

I trailed off only to be cut off by an angry snap about calling her Aurora, even though that was her full name. She kept the chastising short, an unusual move for her. She could obviously sense that if she didn't get to the point fast I was going to hang up.

I was already counting down in my mind as I got to the front of the line.

"Look it's important!"

Five.

"She hasn't answered my calls. And she always answers."

Four.

"Unlike someone else I know."

Three.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to talk about that this time.

Two.

"It's just that Harper and Kennedy already know."

One.

"You would have laughed at the looks on their faces."

And with no more information about the supposed kidnapping of someone I had never actually met and a friendly looking teller ushering me forward I hung up on Rory.

She would call back. I was sure of it. Plus there were at least three voicemails left on my phone that I hadn't gotten to yet that would prove it. There was no shaking her when she tried to hang onto our high school life.

The teller had a pleasant, customer service smile that drew one from me as well. Business as usual. No more thoughts about my dormant superpowers or time as a vigilante hero. That was in the past and now I had to focus on grown-up things. Like bank security.

"Hi, I received a notice in the mail about a security update I needed to sign for?" I slid him my ID while he typed up my information. "It told me to come in today-" I checked my phone for the time. "About a half an hour ago, actually."

"That's no problem." The teller brushed it off as nothing. At least one person in the world was okay with my perpetual tardiness. "I don't recall any notices about a security update, but let's just check your account to make sure everything's in order. You know how corporations are."

I chuckled like I did know. Like I wasn't a broke college student who had never worked for a corporation and would probably never have to in my lifetime if I did half of what I had planned.