SUPER

Holding Out for a Hero

"Mack, you look like mess." 

I slop into the penthouse, my boots still squeaking with monster slime and reeking of rotten eggs. My hair is in a wild tangle all around my face, my makeup blurred down the side of my cheek, and my clothes are all rumpled up. Normally I'd be offended but mess is actually pretty accurate. 

My father is behind the counter in our kitchen, a lit up phone in one hand and wearing a finely pressed suit. I can see it in his face when the realization hits him, "Oh no, don't tell me you were downtown today." 

"Was your first clue the slime or the smell? Because either way I'm in desperate need of a shower," I grumble, "I had to deliver those papers."

My father quickly puts down the phone and rushes over to inspect me for serious injuries, but thanks to super boy Finn I luckily have none. "I'm so sorry Mack. I had no idea that truck would tip over like that." 

Um, excuse me?

"What truck? There was no truck. All these mo-" But my fathers already flipped on the news and showing is some story about how a giant eighteen wheeler crashed in downtown, spilling fuel and black sludge onto the main street. No monsters, no Finn. 

The pictures are right in front of me but I don't believe it. I know what I saw. "That's not what happened," I tell my dad, "There were these giant sludge monsters like the size of mini vans that were rolling through downtown and I almost got eaten but this car falls out of the sky and..." 

I stop when I realize my father is just staring at me. I must sound crazy.

"You sure you're ok?" my fathers asks, "Did you hit your head?" 

I sigh. My father was not the type to believe the unbelievable. I could prattle on here all night and the only thing would me ending up in a mental hospital. "No, I'm fine," I say quietly deciding to keep todays events to myself. It sounds so silly when I say it out loud but I know what I saw.  "What's all the food for?"

I nod to where behind him are huge boxes of takeout. Smells like that fancy Italian place down the block. 

"Work dinner," he says. We live in a pretty nice penthouse in the center of Vertigo City and every now and then my dad has his meetings here. "You sure you're ok? I can cancel if-."

"No dad! Seriously I'm fine," I say, trying to muster a big smile. My dad was plagued with the curse of being a single father with a demanding job. I try my best to make things easier and not be too needy. 

Mr. Flowers comes first. He's a portly man who has desperately been trying to hide his rapid balding for the last three years. He's worked with my father so long he even knew my mom. He says I look like her. 

"Hello Ms. Mack," he says with a big smile as soon as he walks through the door, "Is that Marco's Pizza I smell?" I smile as he immediately moves closer to the food. 

Next is Piper Green. She's younger then the rest, mid thirties with blonde hair always pulled back into a sleek ponytail. Piper gives me a hug when she greets me and then my father a hug which she holds just a bit too long. 

"Hey Mackenzie! Junior year treating you well? The homecoming dance is coming up, right? I bet you're so excited." she flashes a row of pearly whites with her vulpine smile. Piper is deceptively smart for someone so pretty.

No one ever calls me Mackenzie but I let it slide and instead plaster a nice, fake smile back, "Piper! Junior year is the best. I'm totes excited for the dance. My dress is going to be ah-mazing!" Piper always does this thing were she talks to me as if I'm some air headed high schooler. I usually respond by playing along and then kicking it up a notch.