Let's Save the World

Anne leaned against the concrete wall of the superhero headquarters. With a snap of her fingers, a small flame came to life on the tip of her pointer finger. She used that flame to light the cigarette hanging from her lips. Another snap, and the fire went out. 

That first drag of the cigarette was like a drowning man’s first gasp of air. Anne pulled the smoke into her body like it was the answer to all her problems, and for one beautiful moment the burn in her lungs was enough to block out the rest of the world. 

She sighed and rested her head against the wall behind her. A moment of peace. That’s what she needed. 

The click of the door latch echoed through the alley. A young man stepped out. He was slender but with a layer of wiry muscle, newly acquired. All sidekicks were required to work out with their supers, and Jason never missed a session. The changes in his body were a point of pride for him, though he was still dwarfed by his super. 

“Hey, Wick-an. Are you okay? I saw you run out and I just wanted to check on you.” 

The young woman turned her head without lifting it from the concrete. The brim of her witch’s hat was crunched against the wall, but she didn’t seem to notice. She breathed out slowly, letting smoke trickle from her lips. 

“Just call me Anne, Jason.” 

He winced. “But when we’re in uniform—”

“You really want me to call you Jelly Bean? Really?” Her eyebrows rose. Jason’s power wasn’t bad, exactly, and in the right context it could probably even be useful. As his body absorbed moisture, he took on the the properties of a jellyfish, his skin stretching into a diaphanous membrane. It was possible he also gained the regenerative properties of a jellyfish, but that aspect hadn’t been tested yet. 

Not the worst power, but Anne wrinkled her nose at the codename Jelly Bean. Half the sidekicks’ names were on the verge of bullying, in her opinion. 

Not that anyone cared about her opinion. 

“You have a great name,” Jason said. His bright green eyes were filled with endless optimism. He was a perfect sidekick, a born cheerleader. “Wick-an is clever. Your super must have put a lot of thought into it.” 

Anne snapped her fingers a few times, flicking the lighter-sized flame off and on again. It was the largest flame she could summon, though she could bring it to life at any part of her body. There were days when she watched it dance along her arms. 

“My power is stupid. Anybody could simulate it with a fifty cent gas station lighter.” She took another drag of her cigarette and blew the smoke upwards. “I should have just stayed home and pretended to be normal.” 

Jason blanched. He was a stickler for the rules, a real goody two-shoes. And by law, every person was required to report their superpowers to the government and join The League for training. Anyone who dared to disobey that law was dubbed a “supervillain” and summarily handled by The League’s heroes. 

Anne was willing to bet her left pinky toe that Jason hadn’t even entertained the thought of keeping his power a secret. Granted, it would be much harder for him to keep the secret. He could never swim or step into the rain. Hell, his skin started to turn translucent if it was just really humid out. 

But it was more than that, for him. He bought into the whole superhero hype, fully believing that anyone with a power had a sacred duty to use it to benefit society. 

She offered him a cigarette. He shook his head. 

“It’s not so bad here,” he said. He leaned against the wall beside her, close enough for his arm to brush against hers. “Three square meals a day, a bed to sleep in.”

“You could say the same about prison. We even get yard time.” She dropped the cigarette butt to the ground and crushed it with the toe of her boot. The four-inch heels had taken some getting used to, but there were unwritten rules about women’s costumes. Like the length of her skirt, for instance, and the tightness of her corset. 

She lit another cigarette. Technically she wasn’t supposed to smoke in uniform, but it was the one rebellion she was allowed. Almost like the supers knew what they were doing to their sidekicks, knew how far they could push before they broke. 

“Do you really feel so trapped here?” Jason’s voice was soft. Gentle. 

Anne’s instinct was to snarl at him, to snap that The League didn’t give anyone a choice about joining; it was that or be a criminal. How many supervillains were actually evil, and how many were just clinging to freedom? 

But of all people, Jason did not deserve that from her. 

She closed her eyes. “I understand why you don’t,” she said. His costume was even more skin-tight than hers, but the leotard was specialized. One of the genius supers had come up with a material that changed with him, so when he shifted to his jellyfish form he didn’t lose or ruin his clothes in the process. Her witch outfit wasn’t even fire retardant, and that was a material they already had an abundance of. 

“But the system is corrupt,” she continued, almost pleading with him to understand. “It’s self-aggrandizing, it’s superficial. You heard them in there. All I did was suggest we expand our community service efforts to things like homeless shelters or street cleanup. Not everything we do has to be as violent as crime fighting, and not everything we do has to require strong powers!”

“I know. I agree with you. They shouldn’t have laughed at your ideas, they’re good ideas.” 

Tears pricked at Anne’s eyes. “Of course they laughed,” she said. “I’m just a sidekick. We’re just decoration for the ‘real’ heroes.” 

Jason took her hand and looked deep into her startled eyes. “They’re good ideas. We can find a way to make them happen. You and me.” 

“How?” Her voice was small, all the anger replaced with hopelessness. The League respected physical strength, and she had none. Her power was barely more than a parlor trick. There were people who had the power to change The League’s policies, but she certainly wasn’t one of them. “You wanna run away?” 

He chuckled. “We’ll start small. Keep bringing it up in the meetings, make people think about how much more we could do. And in the meantime, we’ll sneak out on the weekends. Pick a shelter, or a cause, or whatever, and I’ll be there by your side.” 

Anne’s eyes widened. It wasn’t exactly against the rules to leave the campus on their days off, but it was heavily discouraged. It wasn’t breaking the rules, but it was stretching them in a way she would have expected Jason to resist. 

“You would do that for me?” 

Jason wiped a tear from her cheek. “Of course. Besides, I really do think you’re right. There is more than one way to push back the forces of evil in this world.” 

Anne had to smile at that. “Yeah,” she said. “Let’s save the world.”