2: God’s a girl

We learn who the not-really-all-that-mysterious-girl-is-if-you-read-my-other-descriptions is in this set-up chapter.

            “D****t, Ace, what’s this about you beating up two homeless men on the street last night?!” The man screamed into the phone.

            “Hi, Dad!  How’s your boyfriend doing?  He’s named David, right?”  The girl from last night responded, ignoring her father’s rage.

            “Don’t you ‘hi’ me, young lady!  I just finished watching the news.  Two hobos were found in an alley way looking like they were hit by five semi trucks in a row!  The woman they were attacking described a short, skinny girl attacked and beat them up- the hobos couldn’t confirm this because, apparently, their jaws were f*****g broken!”

            “Dad, calm down.  They were trying to mug and/or rape her.  I was doing a service!” Said Ace while attempting to tame her explosive red hair in the mirror.  It immediately went back to its natural spiky shape, much to the displeasure of Ace.

            “A service?  What did I say about playing Batman?!”

            “Not Batman, I’m just using my powers to help people who need it.  Look, it’s not a big deal, they’re crooks and they got what they deserved.  I mean, they called me string bean.  That’s an extra punch right there.” Joked Ace.  The humor was lost on her father.

            Her father sighed and collapsed in his chair.  “Ace, you can’t keep going around attacking people like this.  The woman would have gone to the police, reported the theft, and the criminals would’ve been caught.  Now people think the woman’s insane for thinking a short, boyish girl beat up two hulking men with guns.

            “Don’t call me boyish.”

            “Sorry.  But you still shouldn’t be doing this.  I know you want to be a hero, or whatever, but you need to focus on your future right now.”

            “Dude, I can do both!” Chimed Ace. “I go to college during the day and kick major a*s at night!  It’s the perfect gig!”

            “Uh huh.  What about your friends?  Won’t they wonder where you go?”

            “Well they….I….I don’t have friends right now, Dad.” Said Ace, slowly losing the strength in her voice.

            “Yeah, and what about your classes?  You’re passing your classes, right?”

            “I may have missed a couple homeworks…and lectures…”

            “And your job?  How many sick days do you have left?  Do you even have a job anymore?”

            “Dad, look, I can’t go around with this kind of power living a normal life.  I should be a hero or something!” Ace exclaimed.   There was a long pause, almost as if a violin was playing to show the emotions welling up in her.  It was cut short by her father:

            “No, you’re 24, you’re in college, and you’re not a super hero.”

            Ace’s spiked hair fell a little.

            “Honey, I understand you want to do good things, and I know you think you’re a god’s vessel or something-“

            “You know I am!  We had that shared hallucination where an angel told me I was God’s vessel and had all his powers, remember?” Ace interrupted.

            “Yes, yes, you don’t need to tell me.  Still, you already have too much on your plate.  A job, college.  You need to focus on your life first.  Then you can become a super hero and beat up bad guys!”

            “Ugh, fine!  I’ll cut down on saving the city just a little.  Listen, I need to go,” Said Ace while packing a book bag, “I have Calculus and History today, and they start five minutes ago.”

            “You’re late?!  D****t, Ace!” Yelled her father.

            “Not my fault!  I was out the door when you called.” Ace lied.  She said her goodbyes, hung up, and rushed out the door.  Her father sighed, keeping a small smile. “Of all the kids to adopt…”

            Ace was born to two unknown parents and sent to an orphanage somewhere in Columbus.  When she was six it was discovered that she was the vessel for God.  Since then she has wanted to do good and help people- her logic is if you get to beat people up, why not someone who deserves it?  The government felt the same way, but not in the way she was hoping.  Because of her powers, she was being watched very carefully.  They’re too afraid to approach Ace directly, but at the same time cover up any instances of her using her powers, which is difficult to accomplish when destruction of buildings is involved.  It was this same government that called her that afternoon after classes were finished to discuss the activities from the night before.

            “Guys, I couldn’t just let some lady get your stuff taken from her.  I had to do something!” Argued Ace over the phone.

            “It’s not so much about what you have to do, but what you shouldn’t do that concerns us.” The man on the other side said, “We’re here to ensure the safety of the country.  Needless to say you’re….attributes make you extremely dangerous.  That conflict last night caused at least 6,000 dollars in property damage that we need to explain to the owners, we have an eye witness- three eye witnesses in fact, since the two criminals you apprehended last night are still alive and in intensive care- that we need to silence.  You haven’t been so good about keeping your identity a secret either.”

            “Oh, please, I don’t need an identity.  If any crook’s dumb enough to go after me or my family I’ll gut punch them so hard they’ll barf up their grandma’s teeth!”

            “That…that doesn’t make sense.  Ace, all we ask is you keep your vigilante behavior to a minimum.”

            “My father already beat you to that argument.  I don’t think it’s right that I sit here, powers and all, and do nothing while people murder other people for the laughs.”

            “Your perception of crime is skewed.  Our justice system works very hard to ensure citizens are safe-“

            “It ain’t working!” Interrupted Ace.

            “Alright, well let me put this another way,” started the man in an increasingly irritated voice, “we are very interested in how your abilities function.  But we’re not the only ones.  If, say, the Chinese wanted to get their hands on you for their experiments, either you completely obliterate their country, or we defend you.  In the first case we would be forced to deny any alliance with you to ensure our safety from the other countries.  If we defend you, the Chinese will blacken the sky with missiles to ensure no one can use you.  We retaliate, then other countries follow suit, and the world collapses.  Our uneasy truce and any ignorance of your existence are what keeps us safe, and what keeps other countries from interfering with our borders.  Do you understand?”

            “That’s stupid.  I wouldn’t attack another country, and I’m not some weapon America’s using to protect itself from the rest of the world.  You can’t make me just give up doing what I love!”  Ace hung up on the man.  The man, who was in a room with others, turned to his boss.

            “I don’t think she’s going to cooperate.”  He said.  His boss was silent for some time before finally responding.

            “Keep an eye on her.  I have a feeling she won’t cause too much trouble.  We can’t confront her directly.  But soon we won’t need to…”

Author's Note

Sorry for the exposition.

Reviews

[Tai Ryens]

This was really captivating! There's nothing I love more than reading of a government that keeps secrets from the public, I'm hoping that it might be a a subplot in the future, that will definitely hold my interest for long! Wonderful job here, the dialogue was brilliant and well-thought out, keep up the great work!