Villains wear Masks *sequel to Heroes Wear Capes

Chapter 1 - Optimism wins the day

"While Wild Fire stops super villain after super villain with a crazy theme robbing upper class banks, I'll be stopping rapists and gangsters who really hurt people. I don't need to have super powers to be a hero, despite what you think. It's not the powers that make the hero, it's the heart."

~ Taylor Hale (Silver Streak)

In a world of superheroes, sometimes the most arbitrary things were still exciting. Especially if you were one of those heroes.

Xander Mendez just happened to be a super (someone with super powers). It hadn't really been a choice, just a really stupid accident. In fact, if he hadn't gotten his powers, his friend's dad wouldn't have ever died.

Long story short, Xander decided he wanted to spy on the dealings of Rossi Corp, because his friend, Trevor Rossi, was acting all weird about it and Xander was particularly bored on that day. Well, he hid behind some stacked boxes that crushed under his weight and happened to be full of a serum called PF-08-02 that was derived from the blood of a super speedy superhero, Sonic (if he could remember correctly. It was a long time ago after all). The drug gave him super speed and the disturbance of the boxes crashing scared the people Rossi Corp was meeting with into shooting the CEO of Rossi Corp, Paul Rossi.

And then Xander decided he needed to know exactly what it was that had been injected into him, so he visited Paul Rossi in the hospital. Somehow there had been a mix up in his medicine and Paul just happened to die right as Xander was in the room with him.

Trevor happened to blame Xander for his father dying in response to the misunderstanding.

(Well, he actually blamed Momentum, Xander's superhero alter ego.)

It was kind of scary to think of your friend trying to actively kill you or worse in retribution to a heinous act you didn't do. Rossi Corp had some mean connections.

Xander had found himself keeping a distance from Trevor ever since he got his powers a little over three months ago in that accident. Trevor was now the CEO of Rossi Corp and he didn't have time to hang out with his childhood friend who was still in high school. Besides, Xander also landed himself a girlfriend in that timeline to hang out with instead.

That's crazy, right? Xander had his first real girlfriend.

(Kissing Mandy Hawkins in third grade under the jungle bars didn't count.)

(Neither did the time Ela Chang tripped and fell on him in gym class seventh grade year, accidentally smashing her lips on his.)

Not to mention his girlfriend was definitely way out of his league. Imagine Scarlett Johansson going for that one weird white kid in your class who burned bibles over Christmas break and wants to lose his virginity to a succubus.

Okay, they weren't that extreme in their differences, but they might as well have been. Mera Deauxma was a goddess and Xander Mendez was just . . . ordinary. She had smooth chocolate skin while he had acne spots. She had a melodious laugh that could probably cure any number of diseases while he rambled on about the most random topics. She could brighten the room with her sunny smile while he couldn't walk through an empty hall without tripping over a flat surface.

He was a mess, and she was . . . perfect.

Xander didn't know why Mera agreed to go out with him on that first date and then the second date and so on. He would've thought she'd have given him up by now for her best friend, the superhero Wild Fire. Or maybe for Todd Alvord, the guy she used to date on and off because he would always buy her flowers and chocolates.