Superheroes Suck

Chapter 45: The Jealous Type (Finale)

 I answered softly, the word barely making their way out of my mouth.

"What?" My mother looked over at me, "What did you say?"

"I don't want to know about my powers. I'm happy as I am, so I'll leave the crime fighting up to you and Murphy." That of course sprung another question into my mind, "Speaking of crime fighting, now that we know Stromer's secret identities, what happened with their father?"

"What did they tell you?" My mother sighed, "Knowing their father, they must have spun some sort of tale."

"Well he skipped your original meeting and said his father was a wise-guy, he made some rude remarks and suddenly you guys had it out for him. Max outed him one day while he was taking his sons for ice cream, and it ruined his life and his career. Max took a swing at him so you arrested him and blamed some crimes on him or something." I explained, "That's all I know."

"Okay," My mother nodded her head, taking in the information, "He did have a smart mouth and I won't deny that we were young and prideful and I can't say we didn't want to take him down a peg. The day in question, the one where Max 'outed' him, I think I know what Stromer was referring to. There had been a string of robberies in the neighborhood and after the last one, we managed to put a tracker of sorts on him.

"It wasn't nearly as precise as the ones we have now," She continued, "You had to be within a certain distance of the target to get any sort of read. We were patrolling like crazy when Max got a hit and he investigated. He saw Eobard Greyson and he realized he was behind the robberies. I'm not going to condone what he did, or the fact that he knew Greyson's identity when he certainly shouldn't have. I also don't agree with him confronting Greyson in front of his kids, but I guess he could have handled it worse.

"Max went up to Greyson, told him he knew who Greyson was and about the robberies but also told him that he wouldn't take him away until he'd dropped the kids at home. I understand he was trying to spare the boys but Greyson flipped and punched Max right then and there. Seeing Greyson get violent, Max had no choice to subdue him and while doing so, he revealed Greyson's identity. I guess word spread through the neighborhood or something. I ended up having to be the one to take the boys home because there was no way Max could let Greyson go at that point.

"I hate how everything went down, the problem with being a hero is you're still human. All these powers don't somehow make you better than anyone, they just make you different. It's certainly the kind of different that allows you to help people but you can't save everyone."

Everything sort of went back to normal after that. Mary was seriously pissed that I was kidnapped and neglected to text her back. I felt bad of course, but I had a lot on my mind at the time. She came around eventually, though the fact that our parents are "seeing each other" is something that she's still a little wary about. She hasn't exactly forgiven me for not telling her about that yet.

It's been three years since the night of the Thompson's party. I'm not a junior, I decided to stay in Belhurst, I'm attending Belhurst City College as a journalism major while working at the Advocate. I'm somewhere between full and part time, but it's enough to put a dent in my tuition while my mother covers the rest. I even have a nice apartment in the middle of downtown that I pay absolutely nothing for.

The Advocate of course had to hire a new Photo Editor for the third time in a year, but Harry's replacement was nice. He also wasn't a villain, as far as I knew, and he was more than happy to sign anything I needed for my work study. He wasn't the talented insider that Trevor Matthews was, nor did he have the down to earth charm Harry had mastered, but he was pretty cool. I learned a lot from his as well.

Penn of course went out of state for school but he made sure I made up for all the time I'd missed while hanging out with a certain snarky rich boy. After everything with Murphy, I hadn't been the best friend and I was aware of that. In my defense, it's a little hard to remain close to your best friend whose romantic endeavors you rejected right before you start dating your other friend. Plus all the superhero and personal drama that I couldn't always divulge to him.

Mary doesn't even know most of it. After what happened in the garden, I sat her down and told her about what happened, without divulging anyone's "secrets." I explained that a pair of brothers wanted revenge for the death of their criminal father, blaming her father and my mother. Mary pretty much filled in the blanks, she figured they blamed her father for arresting their father and my mother was probably the doctor they blamed for not saving him after some sort of accident. I relayed the story to my mother and her father, just so they'd know what to say to her and what she knew.

I did however divulge the truth about Spitfire and I. I told her they wanted to play on his feelings for me to get back at him for all the times he humiliated them. I of course told her I was still very much in love with Murphy and I had told Spitfire that, so we agreed on remaining friends. Mary nearly fainted, grilling me for details about turning how The Spitfire, which I managed to fend off.

Mr. Thompson ended up fixing our house. He told Murphy it was an eyesore, or so Murphy claimed, although I have two theories. Either Mr. Thompson wanted me out of his house or Murphy convinced him to fix it up. Either way, my mom and I had a home.

At least, my mom did. I just had a place to go back to during the holidays. I ended up leaving for school before the house was finished and habitable. I was offered a full ride to several schools but as I mentioned before, I stayed in Belhurst. 

I don't know what my powers are and I don't care. Sometimes I have a moment, and in the blink of an eye I feel a little something, but it goes away just as quick and everything around my springs to life. Murphy thinks I'm crazy for not pursuing it, although I know he understands deep down.

My life is just as I want it to be.

The best part is-

"Seriously, put me down." I shot back, beaming as he set me on my feet.

Right back where we started.

The throngs of reporters behind the police barricade watched in envy as I conversed with the hottest superhero in the state. That's right, Spitfire had only grown in popularity in the past couple of years. He was the face of Super Magazine three months in a row after everything with Harry and his brother. I thought his head couldn't get any bigger, but I did, and I was more than surprised he managed to fly with it.

"So you said something about my ass?" He purred in my ear.

"No, I called you an ass. Big difference," My brows raised as I watched him carefully, "Now I'd better get going, you know better than anyone that my fiance is the jealous type."

~~~~~~~~~

So that's it, Superheroes Suck is over (wow). 

I may write another short, a look at Murphy and Spitfire and the future Mrs. and Mrs. Reine-Hunter (You read that right) and how they are doing a little further in the future. Murphy is an art student by day, hero by night while Nova is taking journalism classes while it's still light and capturing the seedy, Belhurst underbelly under the cover of shadows.

I haven't quite decided yet though. It depends on how inspired I feel and if I have time.