Hero by Day

Chapter 4 - Not all Villain are bad

"Either you die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain."

~ Harvey Dent

My luck ran short when Daniel told me that it was my turn to do the midnight shift.

"But, C'mon! I have a test in the morning in pre-calculus and the last time I went on the midnight shift I almost got killed by Two-Face."

"Two-Face is captured, you'll be fine." Daniel assured me, spinning around in his spiny chair down in the Man Cave.

"Two-Face isn't the only villain out there at night." I argued. "I'm only a teenager – I don't want to die young!"

Daniel scoffed. "You'll be fine. You've survived on your own out there before."

"Yeah," Eric agreed with Daniel, "Why are you being such a pussy, Oliver?"

I sighed and stared Eric down. Eric lifted his hands up in mock surrender, stifled a laugh, and got back to his World of Warcraft on the big monitor.

Now, before you go on and start thinking that I'm some fearful bunny, let me explain. I was fine on my own, but I just didn't want to run into Delinquent. I knew that if I saw her that I'd have to apprehend her. But I didn't think what she was doing was wrong, so I didn't really want to.

Also, I hadn't gotten a good night's sleep for weeks. This was the first night in a while where I had finished my homework early. I wanted to curl up in bed after eating dinner. I wanted to actually survive on more than five hours of sleep for once.

"But-"

"No buts. I've taken the last couple night shifts, now it's your turn." Daniel cut me off in a tone that suggested that there was no questioning it.

I stormed out of the room, not caring that I was acting exactly like a little kid. As I walked back up the stairs and through a hidden door to the storage room, I pouted like a baby. I hadn't even realized that the pout was still on my face by the time I got to my apartment door.

"Oh, Honey!" My mother screamed and nearly crushed my bones with a hug that I was sure should've sucked the life out of me.

You see, Sharon Storm is a bit over affectionate. Her own parents left her when she was little, so I guess she didn't want me to feel like she would do the same to me. She was also a bit obsessive and freaked out when I went somewhere without telling her, but all mothers were like that. She especially didn't want to lose me, seeing as I was literally the only thing she had to hold onto in this world.

(Was I a bad son for going out every day and risking my life?)

(Probably.)

"Why do you look so sad? Did someone make fun of you at school?" She asked in that tone of voice you only use on small children, like the ones that are below the age of seven.

"I'm fine mom, no one made fun of me."

She grinned and widened the door so I could enter. The fresh smell of Boston Market reached my nose before anything else. Mom usually didn't have the time or money to make dinner herself, but she would never admit that, so she normally picked it up from some place and called it her own. I didn't want to upset her, so I always played along.

"What's for dinner today?" I asked, peering over her shoulder and into the kitchen, which was technically a part of the living room if you removed the curtain mom had long ago placed to separate the two.

Our apartment wasn't very big, but mom did everything she could to make it seem as normal as humanely possible. She slept in the small room off to the side while the couch was mine. It made it a little hard to hide my super suit from her, but I managed by hiding in the secret slip in my backpack at all times.