A New Supergirl

Day 8

Emily's first night as Supergirl

Eighty foot above the streets below, Emily came to a gentle stop and hovered in the cold air. She looked down at the brightly lit alley. Her cape fluttered gently in the wind.

She spotted the four drunk guys in an alley, throwing around beer cans, smashing up stuff, goofing around as they walked between the industrial buildings. Definitely not behaviour that Supergirl would need to get involved with.

But she'd also noticed a young guy, a couple of years older than her, wearing a rucksack talking on his phone. He was walking down the main street passing the alleyway.

"Don't turn left" she whispered to herself.

She waited about 10 seconds, and the kid turned into the alley. "Dammit" Emily said under her breath.

She descended a little. She didn't need to of course. Her super vision enabled her to watch the scene unfold as if she were just a few feet away. But it felt a natural thing to do. Should she be down there now? Protecting this dude? There was no doubt they were looking for trouble. Or were they? They hadn't done anything yet. She couldn't preemptively intervene could she? Wasn't that profiling, or racist or something?

"Maybe it'll be okay" she said out loud to herself.

Tonight didn't feel right. Her first Supergirl "event" needed to be low-key. Maybe rescuing a cat from a tree, or apprehending a shoplifter or something?

The kid with the backpack looked up from talking on his phone. So engrossed in conversation with this girlfriend, he'd neglected to look where he was going. By the time he'd seen them, it was too late to turn back.

"Hey man" said one of the big men to to the kid as he passed. "You got a spare cigarette?"

The kid shook his head nervously. "Nah man, I don't smoke, sorry."

"How about a cellphone? You got a cellphone?"

The kid picked up his pace a little, his girlfriend was still on the line. "Nah, sorry man, I haven't got a spare phone"

"I don't think you heard me right" the burly man said walking a couple of feet behind him, "I don't want a spare cellphone, I want that cellphone".

The kid felt his heart pounding. He didn't want any trouble, and it was just a crappy Samsung. He hung up on his girlfriend who was shouting down the phone and was about to hand it over when he felt an explosion on his face.

Emily winced from fifty foot above the alley floor. One of the men blindsided the kid as he turned and struck him cleanly and squarely on his face. His nose exploded with blood as the force of the punch sent him crashing to the ground. The four men all laughed and shared high-fives with each other as they surrounded him.

Maybe they would let him go now? They would have his phone, and worst case he had a broken nose. Did this situation really warrant Supergirl? On her first night?

The kid covered his face with his hands, trying to stop the bleeding. He felt one of the men pick him up from behind and another unzip his backpack and pull out his stuff.

Emily watched them stealing his stuff. She knew that Supergirl needed to intervene. That the kid on the floor needed Supergirl's help. But she froze. She knew these men couldn't hurt her. Could they? No man or woman on earth was a threat to her. Were they? Those doubts lingered and caused her to remain frozen.

Lucas was resigned to losing his phone, his backpack and everything in it. He felt his shirt sodden in his own warm blood as it spewed from his nose. But the guys weren't finished yet. The short burly guy nodded to the guy holding him up and without any warning landed a punch across his jaw. The kid yelped helplessly and slumped to the floor.