Hopelessly Heroic (Rewritten)

six

Now, a villain knew June's identity. It wouldn't be long before she was dropping in to visit her at her house, or calling her on her personal phone. June had to wonder if she had told all the other villains.

Clearly, it was just a scare-tactic to make sure June didn't rat out Flame for seemingly not being able to hurt her. June didn't know how to tell her she wasn't going to tell them, anyway. Coming to terms with that left her with a lot of guilt, though, so she tried not to think about it.

Sometimes she felt like the world's worst hero. Her powers were lame and she mostly just got called to put out harmless fires. The rest of her team all had more useful powers, and it was hard for June not to feel like the letdown of the group. She avoided watching the news or googling herself in case the rest of the world agreed with her.

On top of all that, her mother wouldn't stop nagging her to come fix her toilet, so there June was, kneeling on the bathroom floor. "I'm not a plumber, Mom." She said for the umpteenth time.

"You're doing wonderful, Honey." Her mom praised, watching her work without offering any assistance whatsoever.

June turned the shut-off valve counter-clockwise, then reached up to flush, watching to see if the water filled up fast enough. It didn't. She stood up, wiped her hands on her jeans and shot an annoyed look at her mother.

"You could have done this yourself if you'd have just Googled it."

"Well, I haven't seen you in ages. Is it such a crime to want to catch up with my daughter?"

"Ah, yes," June said, removing the lid from the tank and rolling up one sleeve, "Fixing toilets is the perfect mother-daughter bonding experience." She reached in and pulled the chain out from under the flapper, then flushed again. When it filled up much faster than the last time, she sighed in relief and grabbed the towel her mom was holding, using it to wipe the water off her arm.

"Well?" Her mother prompted, peering into the toilet.

"Done. Any other problems you want me to take a look at? I could thatch the roof if you wanted, or fix that hole in the living room."

"Ha-ha, very funny," She replied sarcastically as they both left the bathroom and made their way downstairs. "Actually, do you know how to patch holes? Because that's been there since you were little."

"Mom!" June cried, making her mother laugh for real.

"Fine, fine!" She said, raising her hands in surrender.

~

June had always been close to her mother growing up. They had always been open and honest with each other about everything. When June skipped school (once), she had immediately told on herself. When she got her first boyfriend, she asked her mom for advice, and later, when she had sex for the first time, her mom was the first person she told.

Things had never been weird or awkward between them. Sometimes, June thought her mother acted more like a teenager than June had back when she actually was one. Still, she hesitated when she thought about detailing her encounters with Flame. She wasn't sure how her mother would take it. As a parent, she had never been overprotective, but June didn't know if hanging out with a villain would change that.

All the articles about them pitted them as enemies, or rivals, or arch-nemeses. They weren't exactly friends, but they definitely had some sort of an understanding between them. June didn't tell her team that Flame wouldn't hurt her or that she had cameras set up around the city, and in return, Flame didn't expose June's real identity.

Maybe it wasn't a very fair trade, but June didn't know how to find out Flame's name. Although, it would be nice to be able to stop referring to her as Flame. June wanted to track her down and force her to take her mask off and tell her what her name was, but she didn't know how. And she didn't know if that was a very heroic thing to do.

She didn't know where Flame's house was, or if there was a Villain Headquarters she could infiltrate, but she did know where a couple of her cameras were, and that there was a good chance she would be watching.

So June set out to the alley where she had first noticed the camera, thinking about what she would say if Flame actually saw her and showed up. She didn't know how to manipulate any information out of her, and probably wouldn't do so even if she did know. But there was no way Flame would willingly tell June her name, so she kept thinking.

She made it all the way there before her phone rang. It was a message from the sheriff sent to all the heroes, alerting them to a robbery nearby. June recognized the address and knew she would most likely be closest, so she responded saying she'd be there in one minute.

She dropped her backpack onto the ground next to her and looked around before pulling her costume out haphazardly. She almost pulled her shirt off right there before she remembered Flame could be watching, and then she grabbed all her stuff and flew up to the roof, getting changed as fast as she could. She tucked her bag into a corner and then flew to the convenience store, feeling, ironically, inconvenienced.

She walked in to see some kid holding a gun he clearly had no intention of firing. She almost sighed in relief, knowing this would be an easy job. Even the cashier didn't look too worried. June did a quick scan of the store, noting that there was nobody else present. Even better.

The kid, having heard her walk in, spun around and aimed the gun at her. June waved. "Hey, don't mind me, I'm just here for the chocolate." She said, gesturing to a display of different bars.

"Don't move!" The boy said in a voice almost as shaky as the rest of him. He clearly recognized June. She wondered why humans even bothered to commit crimes when they knew heroes were always around.

"The safety's on." June pointed out, and when he tilted the gun to check, she surged forward, feet almost off the ground, and kicked it out of his hand.

His instant reaction was to start throwing poorly practiced punches, and June blocked them with ease, using her forearms to move his fists out of the way and throw a punch of her own, landing hard enough to daze him for a few seconds. Before she could feel bad, she grabbed one of his wrists and spun him around, bringing his other arm back and holding them together. He struggled against her as she asked the cashier for a zip tie, which he provided. June could hear sirens in the distance.

She secured the zip tie around the boy's wrists, then pushed him down until he was kneeling. With one hand still holding his arm to make sure he didn't try to run, she picked up a KitKat bar and tossed it on the counter. The cashier just stared at it, unsure of what to do, so she took it back and replaced it with a five dollar bill.

When the police came in, she was already done eating her snack. They took the wannabe robber, replacing the zip tie with real handcuffs, and June made her escape. She didn't even want to see Flame anymore, she just wanted to go home. Something about dealing with mediocre thieves made her tired.

Walking back to the alley took longer than flying had, but she enjoyed the fresh air. She hated the looks, though. Sometimes, she felt more like a celebrity than someone who was pushed into trying to save the world. People were always recording her, or reporting about her, or asking her for a picture. She felt like she was appointed the job of being a role model, but she didn't feel like she had any of the good qualities for it.

She was the worst hero on her team, she felt awkward talking to strangers who called themselves fans, and most times she didn't feel all that good anyway. And now she had passed up on the chance to take down a well-known villain. If the public knew that, they'd surely change their mind about her title.

June was a Superhero, but she didn't feel like there was anything super about her.