Chapter Two-Superheroes are too Mainstream

Ever since Hero was born, she knew she was different. The doctors told her mother that her mind was abnormal. There were parts of her brain that other humans never used in their life that she had access to. She spent weeks in the hospital before she met two men from the government. They ran their own tests and she never saw them again. Since then she's lived a normal life even with her powers. She met other people like her, some bad and some good. That is when she met the League.

The League is composed of people who have access to the sealed part of their brains. They say that every human is born with the possibilities of powers, but it is in the part of the brain that is never used. They are the rare humans that use this part.

Of course, with this much power, there are people who wish to abuse it. People unaware of these people with special abilities do not understand that the abnormal weathers, events and death are actually caused by other people who wish to do harm.

When the government cannot handle these people, they send in the League. In the league there are three branches. 

The first branch contains the rookies who have just learned that they have special abilities. They are just usually educated in the ways of the League. They learn the many jobs performed. They also cannot go on missions without a senior League member with them.

The second branch is split into three groups: clean up, fighters and secretaries. People in the clean up group go in after a serious battle and do damage control. Their powers deal more with covering things up. In this group you would find people who can erase memories and create illusions. In the fighter group, these are the people who come in close contact with the criminals. They are sent on the missions and are responsible with capturing the offender. The secretaries are just as their name implies, they do the paperwork sent to them by the different leaders around the world or just documents that contain towards important matters involving the League. They only go to missions when they are needed.

The third branch is made up of the older super humans who have been in the League for years. They overlook the missions, assign them, and create the rules that everyone in the League follow. They are the ones who act as the unofficial ambassadors for those with special abilities.

Even though the US government founded the League, it is looked as a universal group for people with special abilities that wish to do good. 

Of course, there is another group that opposes the League. They do not officially have a name, but are a group of criminals that have been able to avoid being captured. They sometimes sabotage a capturing or cause trouble. They are even known for killing innocents or murdering League members.
        The League used to have no name, but in the 1970s is when it did. It was inspired by the superhero group Justice League from the DC comics.
        Hero is a part of the second branch along with Sabrina. It is one of the reasons they started living together. They done a mission together and Hero needed a place to stay after being kicked out of her mother's house.
        Now they are both standing in the forests of the park. It is dark and Sabrina is chattering non stop about Ezekiel's performance.
        "You should have heard him. He sounded like a professional." Sabrina first met Ezekiel when they went on a mission together. She would have told him to come, but he sustained a injured that Joy, a healer, believes could be life threatening if he doesn't take a break.
       "It's freezing." Hero's teeth chatter together and she hugs herself, but this does her no good.
        "Are you sure they wanted to meet here at this time? When you showed me the paper, it didn't say any time or place, so how do you know it's here?" Sabrina asks and Hero shrugs.
       "This is the same place and time we always meet. I figured that this is where they wanted us to go." She shivers even more, but straightens when she sees a figure approaching from the darkness of the forest.
       "I am glad you can arrive. How is your neck?"A man steps out, wearing a large black hooded winter jacket, denim jeans and cowboy boots.
       "Fine." The man has a goatee and bushy eyebrows that reminds Hero of two large caterpillars resting on his brow.
       "Good. Now, the reason I called you here is because there is a criminal loose." He takes his hands out of his pockets and reaches inside it.
       "Another one? I have a appointment at the hair salon tomorrow." Sabrina complains and the man's eyebrows raise.
       "I am sure that you're hair appointment can wait for another time." He pulls out a thick file and hands it to Hero.
        "It can't." Sabrina says under her breath and the man whom they call Shawn, shakes his head.
       "I wish for the both of you to go over this file and meet with Angelia tomorrow at head quarters. She will provide you with your plane tickets." Sabrina perks up at this.
       "Plane tickets?" She says happily and he nods.
        "You will be flying to Miami." This causes Sabrina to frown who obviously thought that they were going to some place more exotic.
       "I advise you to go to school tomorrow. The League does not wish for you to take unnecessary days off." He pulls up his hood and glides backwards without his feet touching the ground.
       Once he disappears  in the darkness, Sabrina turns to Hero.
       "I'm going to Andrew's party tonight. Do you wanna come?" She asks and Hero shakes her head. She promised to go to the festival with Sabrina, but not the party afterwards.
       "Suit yourself. Don't wait up." Sabrina teases and Hero laughs.
       "Trust me, I won't." They both get in the car, but this time Sabrina drives more safely.
       "I am actually pretty curious to see what's in that big folder." Sabrina says when they stop at a red light and she peeks over at it.
       Hero opens it and is met with a picture of a man with a eye patch. This causes Sabrina to break out laughing.
        "Oh my gosh, don't tell me we're capturing Captain Sparrow." She laughs at this for several minutes and Hero begins chuckling.
         "It says he can create portals." This causes Sabrina to stop laughing and she begins to brood.
         "Great. Another guy who can create portal thingys." Hero has never seen Sabrina worry so much and she knows that it's with good reason. The first time they were paired up together, it was the first time either one of them got promoted to the second branch.
          They flew out to Egypt to capture a man by the name of Abasi. He lived deep in the deserts and was able to create portals in the sand. He's the reason that Sabrina has a scar along her lower back.
           "Maybe things will be different." Even as Hero says this, she knows this man won't go without a fight. She can just tell by looking at him and whose not to say that there won't be interference? It's what happened last night when they were sent to capture a woman who was supposed to be a easy capture.
          When they were about to transport her back, a four armed beast came down and attacked them along with Temptress, a constantly returning enemy and pain in the a*s for the League. They took the woman for reasons unknown to either of them. Rumor has it that Temptress is planning something evil. Hero is sure that it is the usual conquering of the world or ridding the world of those who don't serve her, the typical comic book evil plans.

It wasn't until she started collecting a mass following among the criminal mages that the League started to see her as a threat. There are many criminals who try to take on the villain persona, but she is the only one to do it successfully. She has become a pain in the government's a*s as well ever since she started breaking mages out of jail. 

Sabrina says nothing the whole way home and Hero gets the brief thought that maybe she won't go to the party, but she drops her off and speeds off.

Hero decides to relax for the remainder of her day off. She may not have to go back to her normal job or even school for awhile, but that doesn't mean she's going to get time to herself. She can't even remember the last time when she had time to herself.

She places ice on her neck to help get rid of the bruising and reads through the file.

She hates when the League calls themselves superheroes or calls the criminals they hunt, "super villains". It just seems so cliche. As if fighting crime and saving the world wasn't already something out of a Marvel comic.

She used to have a normal name that had nothing to do with what she is.

 She was born with the name Nadine. It's a name popular in her mom's home country of Haiti.

She received lots of compliments through elementary for it, mainly by her instructors. It was when her special abilities started to manifest that her father began to insist that she be called Hero. Her mother and her father argued about it constantly and it was when he passed away that her mother changed her name. 

At first, she accepted it. It was weird getting used to a new name, but she acted as if it was normal. It wasn't until middle school did people really ridicule her for it. Kids in her grade were ignorant to her powers, but she's sure that even if they did know, they would still think her name was pretty idiotic.

Even now, in the League, there are some mages who look at her weird when she tells them her name. The only reason she hasn't changed it is because she wishes to honor her dad. He had been her biggest supporter when he was alive, he would have never let her mother kicked her out the house in the way that she did.

She snaps out of her thoughts and the ice on her neck has melted. Water drips down her back causing her to shiver.

She goes to the kitchen sink to drop the bag full of melted ice in the sink when she stares out the window and notices a pair of bright purple eyes staring back at her.

"S**t." She runs towards the living room where her phone is, but before she knows it, the wall is being smashed through.

A large purple creature is standing before her. Its skin shines in the light and it has four arms. All four of them are muscular and its hands are big enough to be able to smash her if they wanted to.

The thing that goes as Titan is Temptress's right hand. When she shows up, it shows up as well.

Hero doesn't understand how it found out where she lived. She wore a mask the last time they faced off. 

She knew talking to the creature was pointless, it never spoke back. She isn't even sure if it's really human and if it was, whether it's a boy or girl.

The creature lets out a loud roar that she's sure that the neighbors can hear.

It comes charging at her, knocking things out of its way. Hero knows that Sabrina is going to be pissed, but right now she's more concerned with the beast running at her then Sabrina being pissed off about some broken appliances.

She hits the ground with her fist and a shadow comes popping up in front of her. It forms a black shield in front of her and the beast stops in front of her before running into it.

She uses this chance to run from the room. She can hear it chasing after her, she is sure by how hard that it is running that it is leaving dents in the floor.

She dashes up the steps and runs down the hall to her room. She curses the builders of the house for making the hallway so long.

The creature is right on her heels and he swats at her causing her to fly down the hall to her door. She hits her side against the wall hard. If she was a normal human, she would have broken a lot of bones, but she gets up with her side throbbing instead.

Her door is open and she slides inside before kicking it shut with her foot. She knows that this will not stop the monster, but it gives her a moment to collect her thoughts before he is knocking the door off its hinges.

She crawls to her closet and kicks the door open. She can feel a strong grip on her ankle, but she already grabs the long box half hidden by dirty clothes that strayed from the clothes in the pile of the corner of her room.

She is yanked back. She reaches in the box and grabs one of the swords carefully placed on top of each other.

When Titan lifts her from the ground upside, she stabs him in the stomach. Blue blood starts pouring out and he throws her as he screams out. It eerily sounds human. 

A puff smoke appears in the middle of the room and a woman with long black hair in a tight black dress appears. 

"F*****g Temptress." She curses. She can never catch a break.

"Titan, stop playing around. I wanted the folder, not the girl's dead body. There will be another time for that." Titan is clutching his side and Hero knows that she has to protect the folder at all cost.

"I guess its the great race." Hero says to Temptress before flinging the sword at her. It disappears in a puff of smoke, but Hero doesn't stay to watch it.

She disappears into the shadows and appears in the kitchen. She runs toward the folder, but it disappears in a puff of smoke similar to her sword.

"Son of a-" Temptress appears, holding the folder with a wounded Titan at her side.

"Next time, darling." She says smugly, but Hero shakes her head.

"No way." Hero kicks the table towards her in which she disappears in a puff smoke, but Hero has fought Temptress enough to know her tricks.

She jumps onto the table and grabs the smoke in her hand. Instead of being as thin as air, it is thick like sludge.

She grips it tight and slams her fist against the table. The smoke thickens until it is like liquid and then forms Temptress's head, but only her head. The rest of it still has the appearance of smoke.

"Foolish girl." Titan swats at Hero who is sent flying against the room and hits the wall hard enough to be knocked out.

"Finish her?" Titan stares at Temptress who shakes her head. 

"I will devour her later." They leave through the gaping hole in the wall. 

Hero awakens an hour later. 

Outside of the hole, a crowd has begun to form. She knows that it won't be long before the police arrive. 

One of the neighbors, a older lady by the name of Louis, helps her up. She knows everybody's business and knows everyone's secrets. Hero is sure that she saw the whole scene.

"Are you alright, dear?" She asks, but Hero yanks away from her grip and limps to the living room where her phone is.

She has to call clean up before this gets out of hand. She will have to inform the League of Temptress and the taken folder.

Louis follows close behind her with her cane and Hero wishes nothing more to tell her to get lost, but she doesn't. She tries to focus on something else then the pain. She's going to have to see a healer.

She pushes one and the phone calls the number programmed for speed dial.

"Wong Dry Cleaning and Delivery Laundromat? How may I help you?" Each branch and group within the branch has its own headquarters. The clean up crew's headquarters happen to be under a laundromat.

"Night." She speaks the password silently and there is a moment of silence on the other end of the phone.

"Address?" The woman voice changes from being preppy with a Asian accent to serious. 

"100 Spring Hill Avenue." She answers and there is a beeping noise in the back.

"We'll be there right away." The preppy voice is back and Hero hangs up the phone.