Even Heroes Fall

Chapter Two - Justice

'Please tell me this is a joke?' I demand the moment Marshall hands me the envelope. 'A superhero? An actual superhero?' I am still sore, metaphorically and physically speaking, from my encounter with Ghoul.

At nine thirty in the morning Mayor Marshall Reed is looking pretty sharp in his smart suit and burgundy tie. Usually I like to savour these rare moments Marshall and I get to hang out. They take place after I complete a mission when I come to his office at City Hall for a debriefing and to pick up the next one. My dating life is at an all time low because dates and sleepovers do not work well with night-time vigilante shifts. But at least I can appreciate being the one woman in the city who can get close to our young handsome Mayor.

Today, though, even his good looks and charm are not going to improve my bad mood.

'It was not my decision, Justice. This is beyond me.' He says with an apologetic shrug.

To distract my bubbling irritation I focus on the view out of his window and over the River Thames. The City Hall has arguably some of the best views in central London. To the left is the famous Tower Bridge, crossing directly over the river, and opposite is the Tower of London itself, probably a queue of tourists are already forming outside.

'Four years,' I say, once I feel calmer. 'Four years I've been helping clean up south London, working with the Met to bring the knife crime percentage down. Going places they can't go without breaking the law. I even voted for you, Reed. And this is how you repay me?' I wave the fat envelope at him.

Inside is my pay from last night's job, and two months' severance pay as per my original contract signed with Marshall's predecessor. And there is the matter of the new contract he produced for me to sign which will signify the termination of my employment. It lies on the desk between us, like a gaping white void.

'Ghoul was right, though, you are a civilian and it is safer for you this way. Especially with all this new stuff involving Castlemain.'

I told Marshall everything that transpired the previous night when I was still under the illusion Ghoul was some random idiot in Lycra trousers who decided himself to disrupt my life. Imagine my surprise when Marshall admitted Ghoul is in fact my replacement.

'So a knock-off Superman suddenly turns up out of nowhere and, despite knowing nothing about this guy or where he and his "powers" come from, you are perfectly happy to fire me and let him do the city's dirty work?'

'It's not like that, Justice,' Marshall starts to protest but I hold up my hand to stop him.

'No. I get it. It is just like that. Excuse me.' I stomp over to the contract and scrawl my name along the dotted line hating every single moment of it. Maybe deep down I knew my employment as a vigilante would not be forever, especially recently with the newly appointed Commissioner of the London Metropolitan police breathing down the City Council's neck about how legally questionable it is to hire a vigilante.

Whilst I sign my name I wince when I read the words "henceforth if the vigilante known as Justice reappears in a role outside the law she will be subject to the laws governing that of civilians", I have basically just signed away my right to be Justice. I throw the pen down and without looking at Marshall I march over to the doors that lead to the private elevator but he calls after me.

'Wait, ah, Justice?'

I turn back, a small glimmer of hope that maybe he has changed his mind, instead his cheeks are flushed with embarrassment.

'You can't use the Mayor's elevator.'

'Why not?' I scowl. I have always used the private elevator to enter and leave Marshall's office. It avoids the unnecessary fuss of having to walk through the rest of the City Hall with its two thousand five hundred other employees.