"If the prospect of living in a world where trying to respect the basic rights of those around you and valuing each other simply because we exist are such daunting, impossible tasks, then what sort of world are we left with?
~ Diana Prince (Wonder Woman)
Even with the medicine Cody from MASKED gave me, I still felt sore that afternoon. Getting crushed by a tree branch isn't something you can get over easily, even as a super.
At home, mom didn't say anything about her 'date' with Chad. I expected that they were nervous of how I'd react, but what she didn't know is that I already had all the time in the world to react. And, quite frankly, it was weird. I mean – your mom dating your boss isn't exactly normal.
But since I had time to dwell over this fact, when she eventually tells me, I'll be ready with the appropriate response and not the panic attack I had when I first found out.
Besides, Chad didn't seem all that bad, right? I mean – it's not like he'll turn out to be a super villain or anything. I mean, what are the chances of that happening?
Since tonight was the night of Ian and Mary's Halloween Party, I couldn't seek out Delinquent again. I had so many questions to ask her about what happened today. Most importantly, why had she come back to help me and why did she leave in the first place? Andromeda started the fight to lure me out, that much was obvious, but what had she been discussing with Delinquent? Did she really believe Delinquent to be one of the good guys and attacked her? Did she think that if she put Delinquent in danger, I'd come running? Did she think Delinquent would help her kill me, but Delinquent refused?
Nothing made sense.
I shook the thoughts out of my head and parked the Captain Cruiser in front of Ian's summer home. The car was, of course, in stealth mode. It was the only mode of transportation I had, even if it did bring to the surface some sore memories.
The party had already started by the time I got there, which was on purpose. I did not want to arrive too early to a party organized by Mary Thompson.
(She would most likely put you to work helping to set up the party if you came before it was in full swing.)
"Dude!" Ian spotted me from across the foyer and came running. "I love how you never change your outfit. It gives me hope that you are still able to annoy my sister with everything you have."
I smiled and looked over his Bomb Butcher costume. It was horribly put together, and purposely too. He wore a red shirt and black designer jeans as a substitute for spandex, designer combat boots, a joke shop belt buckle of a hilariously large bomb, a belt over his shoulder and chest with black balls strapped to it using duct tape and then there were streaks of red on his face like a football player. He could've bought a real Bomb Butcher costume, especially with the money he had, but this was a tradition for us both. We both dressed up as supers, but made it look like a last minute idea, just to annoy Mary and Elise. Plus, this way we spent little to no money on a costume, not that money would've been a problem for Ian.
Have you figured out what super I was dressed as yet?
I wore a white oxford style shirt and white jeans with a grey belt and grey converse. I had a grey W spray-painted onto the shirt with a grey L on a diagonal underneath it. Plus, both Ian and I had dollar store Lone Ranger style masks on.
I, of course, was dressed up as White Lightning.
You see, when people are surprised that no one notices that Clark Kent or Kara Danvers are actually Superman and Supergirl when all they have between them and their secret identity is a pair of glasses and a different hair style, one fact is forgotten. Those superheroes were able to hide in plain sight because no one could suspect that the one person who had spectacular powers and could save the city from any danger was right in front of them. No one wanted to believe that the awkward assistant was actually a superhero in disguise. They couldn't see the truth because they didn't want to.
The same was true for me.
No one would want to believe that DC's savior was just a teenage boy.
Even wearing this costume that was so close to my original super costume didn't arouse suspicion. No one expected me to actually be White Lightning, so they just skid over my costume like they would anyone else's.
It was perfect, really.
"Olly!" Mary whined loudly. "Why are you still wearing that awful costume? You've worn that every year since we've known you!"
I smirked and rolled back my sleeve, "Yes, and?"
Mary huffed and stormed off to go after some kids who were climbing the empty wine cabinet instead. I knew she wouldn't stay angry for long.
"Dude, we keep this up and she'll start paying me to stop annoying her." Ian assured me whilst laughing.
(Maybe he already had too much to drink)
I smiled.
"Show me where the drinks are."
*
*
*
An hour later I was dancing in the living room with everyone else, jumping along to a song by a band I'd never even heard of. Ian had gone off with a girl I recognized from our AP Chemistry class and Mary was off somewhere telling off Henry Urban for breaking the china. I saw Elise, who was dressed as Taylor Swift, out of the corner of my eye, talking to a guy in a black hoodie.
I kept track of my friends, but at the same time I was having fun. My super instincts were still at their prime, even if my brain was a bit fuzzy from alcohol.
And, in case you were wondering, I might've been a superhero, but that didn't mean I had to be a prude. I drank even though I was underage and I occasionally ran red lights. I was no perfect citizen, but, then again, neither were our nation's leaders.
I noticed Elise and the hooded guy heading up the stairs, hand in hand. I was no fool, I knew what was going on in the upper rooms of this house – even Mary had to know.
So why was I so suddenly jealous?
Was it that brotherly gene in me that was being protective over her, or was it the part that might have feelings of the more romantic kind for her?
I ignored both arguments and kept dancing. It was the alcohol meddling with my thoughts, that's all. Elise was a single woman at a party with many viable men that she could choose from. I could not blame her for finding a guy, could I?
I turned around and found a girl with dark hair and a black mask on. I was suddenly reminded of Delinquent's piercing gaze, but quickly denounced the notion. This person was taller than I knew Delinquent to be, and her hair was straight.
"Hey!" she yelled over the tunes, "I love your costume! Don't you like mine?"
I internally laughed. This girl wasn't Delinquent, just another partygoer in a costume, like me.
"Yeah!" I yelled back.
We started dancing and, the girl and I stared at each other. She was smirking and dancing with obvious fluidity, unlike many of the other girls in here. In fact, she was even better than me.
I stared at her face and suddenly noticed something. The way her hair fell down her face, it looked more natural than it did on Delinquent. I even noticed that I could clearly see the roots on her head, something I couldn't normally notice on Delinquent. Her hair was also shiny, like it had been recently washed.
And that was when it hit me. Delinquent didn't actually have black, fuzzy hair.
She was wearing a wig.
A pull in my stomach interrupted my enigma. It was something I hadn't sensed in a while. My super senses were warning me of something bad happening nearby. Someone at this party needed to be saved.
My thoughts immediately traveled to Elise and the hooded boy.
I excused myself from the dancefloor and headed up the stairs, intent on finding Elise. I didn't know how, but I knew that she was the one in danger.
I opened two bedroom doors until I finally found Elise, who was struggling against the hooded boy, who had a hand trailing up her shirt. My vision darkened and it took everything in me not to blast him to the next galaxy. I wasn't actually White Lightning right now, it would look weird if I, Oliver Storm, suddenly had lightning powers.
I stormed forward and roughly pulled the boy from her body. I threw him off with such force that he hit the wall.
"Dude! What was that for?!" the ignorant idiot complained.
I was fuming, so my words were short.
"No means no."
He had the nerve to grin. "Dude, she wanted me."
I stepped forward with a threatening look in my eyes and he ran away. I was going to have to talk with Mary about the kinds of people she let into her parties from now on.
"Are you okay?" I asked Elise, who had sat up on the edge of the bed.
She nodded, tucking a stray piece of blonde hair over her ear. "Yeah."
I went to go sit next to her and she let me. When I sat, she gave a big sigh of defeat. "I thought I could take him, you know? As soon as he tried do to something, I thought I could fight him off, but I couldn't. I'm strong, right? It wasn't like he overpowered me, I just kind of froze up. I just thought of what he wanted to do to me and I just . . . I froze."
I recognized the tone. It was one I used frequently.
If I couldn't defeat a villain, or if I failed in protecting someone, those thoughts ran through my head too. Was I not strong enough that time? Is this villain better than me? Am I too weak to save these people?
But to hear someone else say those words, I finally realized something.
"No, Elise," I turned to her, "don't say that. You can't always be the hero of your own story. Sometimes you freeze up and you think that this is it. This is the end. But you can't let those thoughts take control. No matter the situation, you always have the strength to succeed, sometimes you might not have got that strength yet, but that does not mean that you won't have it eventually."
She chuckled and looked down. "You know? You always know the right words to say, Olly."
I shrugged, "What else are friends for?"
"No," she urged, "it's not just that. You've always been there for me Olly. I mean – it may not always be saving me from hoodie boy, but you always do. You're like the conscience of our little group. You keep Ian in check, you make sure Mary doesn't go too far, and you watch out for me."
"I guess."
"But if you're always there for us, who's there for you?" she questioned.
She had hit a chord. I was the kind of guy to always help people, whether they actually needed or deserved help or not. I was always that guy. The one who made sure everyone else was alright before I did anything else.
But I didn't ever keep myself in check.
Then I did something unexpected. Something so in the moment that I knew I would regret I later, but I couldn't control myself.
I leaned down and kissed Elise Howerton.
Now, this would be the moment in most poorly written fiction where I would feel the fireworks take over in my stomach and my brain going fuzzy, and not just from the alcohol. This is the part where I would recite my undying love for Elise and we'd live happily ever after, right?
Wrong.
In reality I was mentally freaking out. Was Elise really kissing me back, or was it my imagination? Did Elise really want to kiss me, or was she playing along because I was her friend? Was I taking advantage of her in a vulnerable moment?
The familiar spark of electricity that went through me of times of high emotions, like this, passed between us, but Elise must not have noticed because she didn't pull back.
I finally pulled away and looked Elise in her blue eyes. I saw no revulsion or disgust in her eyes, like I had been expecting in the darkest corners of my mind. I only saw the sweet kindness and sharp precision that was normally associated with Elise Howerton.
"Wow." She breathed.
I chuckled softly, my hands still on her cheeks from the kiss. "You were okay with that?"
It was her turn to laugh. "I would've pushed you away if I hadn't been, Olly."
"Well," Ian's voice came from the door, "I now owe Mary about a hundred bucks. I thought it would take you guys a bit longer."
I turned to face the door, a bit confused. Ian stood there, a bit tipsy and smiling joyfully. "I thought that drunk hooded idiot was speaking lies when he said White Lightning and Taylor Swift were alone in a room together. And now you two were kissing? Ooh, I totally owe Mary money now."
I laughed again. Leave it to a totally drunk Ian to dissolve tension.
He turned serious for a moment, looking us both in the eyes. "Could you maybe not tell my sister about this until Wednesday? I bet good money that you two would get together after then, not now. I'd rather not lose to her – she can get a bit competitive."
"Sure." Elise spoke up.
I grinned. Okay, so maybe choosing to reside in a Halloween Party instead of saving the city might've been a good choice after all.