Something was hunting me.

It knew what I feared.

What I loved.

It lurked in the shadows of my world, twisting it into a monster.

The monster tore through my flesh every day with large, sharp teeth.

I did nothing.

And that hurts a thousand times worse then any torture.

No one is going to save me.

I was in a small dark room in the belfry. There was a desk with a pile of clothes, colorful action figures, and a police scanner radio being unusually quiet. I sat beside the desk on a rickety wooden chair from the church below, covered almost completely in shadow sitting on a wooden chair. With a pink and white guitar in my grip, posture bobbing up and down, neck swinging side to side in a subtle manner. Gloved fingers run through the strings of the instrument, dancing their way on each note as it bounced from stone walls. 

I get these horrible thoughts at times. But not here, not while I play. My mother loved the guitar and she wanted to teach it to me when I was a kid. I didn’t want to back then, I was closer to my daddy. Things changed though and I wasn’t always the perfect daughter. Despite that she let me have her guitar when I went away for the academy. Mom was all I had now. There wasn’t a lot that could calm my demons.

Nothing much does the trick, besides….

Suddenly, while in this freeflow state, the radio finally sprang to life, fizzing out information that made my ears shoot up.

“WE HAVE A 10-31 AT HENDERSON STREET, HERO BANK OF AMERICA….”

“Should I stay or should I go? By the time I get there it’ll probably be over. I put on this suit for nothing.”, I mused.

“MULTIPLE SUSPECTS ON THE SCENE, VILLAIN SIGHTINGS HAVE BEEN CONFIRMED, REQUESTING ANY UNOCCUPIED UNITS….”

A burst of energy courses through my veins, placing my guitar down against the desk. I pulled from the pile of clothes my costume, sliding into it one limb at a time as fast as I could. It was made of cotton and it was mostly pink with white and black to compliment. The stitching gave it an unintentional patchwork design on account of all the mileage I’ve gotten out of it this past year. Then came the gloves and these shin guards which protected my legs for sure, but my costume not so much. And finally my Hero mask. It was a pink ski mask with the front opening stitched shut and lenses for my eyes. And my favorite part: the bunny ears, which were just pieces of cloth with metal wires in them. Without it I’d just look like a convenience store ninja.

Once I had zipped up my duds I zoomed across the room, up the spiraling staircase and lunged out the belfry opening, ducking past the giant bell, head first into the world. 

I was not in the mood to be cooped up inside all day.

Anyone outside the old church looked up into that familiar blue sky and saw me. Sometimes I wondered if people who weren’t members of the local congression, daily commuter, or resident of the neighborhood would assume someone lost their mind and decided to jump off a building while wearing a rabbit onesie. But no, everyone knew me as–

“Power-Jack!” exclaimed a group of children loitering on the sidewalk in front of the church, “See! I told you she always shows up here!”

 As the kids kept talking amongst the excitement of seeing me, I quickly looked down and flashed them peace signs as I flipped through the air. I couldn’t help but chuckle, looking at the group of street urchins while quickly bracing to land on the incoming rooftop. 

Landing, I skidded across the roof, leaving a trail of dust behind me. Jumping once more, from building to building, across avenues. 

“Power-Jack!”

“How you doing, sweetheart?”

“P-J! Want to play some ball?” 

“Hey bestiiiiiieee!”

“Yo Power-Jack, will you be my forever girl?”

Usually I’d happily indulge most of these interactions, but not today. Villain attacks were getting rarer by the year and so far I only faced one every other month. The last one was embarrassing, some guy with an energy conversion power tried to rob a deli. I didn’t have to beat him, he stuck his hands into a circuit breaker and blew himself up damn near taking the entire block with him. You’ll never find a more ignorant group of people than Villains. 

Most of the work I did was preventing accidents or stopping fights from escalating. Vino Heights’ crime rate lowered drastically within the first week of my debut. So almost nothing to fight. Every once in a while a nasty-looking Quasi stumbles out of the sewer looking for trouble and I kick their asses back. I didn’t like this, it was too quiet. Sure the peacefulness my presence brought was cool, Vino Heights wasn’t the kind of place you’d wish to grow up in. Glassheads roamed the streets at night, gangs fought constantly, and the occasional Villain attack. These things still existed, even after I returned home with my Hero license and costume, but I guess I made my difference. It still didn’t satisfy my anxiety. 

But as I hopped from taxi cab to bus, swinging from lampposts, and yanking someone's dog away from the path of a garbage truck, with my rabbit senses I perceived a collision in the middle of an intersection close to me. I took a detour and saw two cars, one was flipped over and the other crashed into a fire hydrant, damaging it to the point that water was starting to leak. Both vehicles had smoke blow out of their hoods. 

I averted my trajectory midair towards the accident with the kicking of my legs. As I got closer the sound of heartbeats inside both cars grew louder and faster.

“How did y’all mess up this badly?!”

Landing weightlessly on the first car, I bent my body forwards, grabbed hold of the driver's side door and tore it off, pulling out the driver and carrying them to a safe distance. Running back to the other car I did more or less the same. 

Then, in the quarter of a breath, I glanced over to the leaking fire hydrant with purpose. I somersaulted over the wreckage, landing next to the hydrant, I gave it a decent punt like you would a soccer ball, ripping it out of the concrete. A sprout of water explodes upwards and falls back down on the block, drenching the scene of the accident.

“If this Hero gig doesn’t work out, I could always join the fire department.” I joked out loud. 

Now with that incident dealt with, I go back to the chase. Not wanting anything else to take up much of my time, I started to run as fast as I could, rushing past the Heights and soaring across the city. Lunging over whole blocks and buildings, every time I hopped off the ground, the force of it would create rings of dust and air. Twisting and turning through flocks of pigeons that made the city of New Geweld their home. I even started running on all fours like a rabbit would (I don’t do it often since it scares the shit out of people).

The whining of police sirens got closer as goosebumps ran across my body. Zeroing in on a convoy of patrol cars, I hitched a ride as they ruId down the street. There wasn’t a Hero with them. I peeked at the car to the side and a cop mean-mugged me in the driver's seat to which I responded with a cheeky thumbs up.

But this left me wondering, where are the Heroes? I saw cops and a news helicopter trailing behind but not a single speedster or cape clad flier joined in on the pursuit. The Hero Bank of America was in Midtown, the economic center of the city, and if it was getting robbed by Villains then obviously everyone would make their way to lend a hand. And why stop there? It should be grave enough for the A.V.I.A to make an appearance. A shrieking sensation ran up my spine and flared up fiercely as soon as they turned a corner and the bank came into view.

Only a few police were standing in front of the building, sleek, newly modeled patrol cars parked in front. 

I frowned, “Don’t tell me this is ‘The Deli: Part II’.” 

No craters in the asphalt, no holes punched through its pristine pillars, and smoldering embers nowhere to be found. In fact, a few people could be seen walking on the sidewalks, either completely uninterested in the commotion or reporters standing by in anticipation. I was starting to get annoyed. 

 I went up to an officer, asking him what the situation was exactly. He was a much older man with graying hair and a round belly standing in the midst of his very similarly built coworkers. The officer looked at me once over like I was ten pounds of shit in a five pound bag, eyes going up and down, then he went back to talking to his friends about something that had nothing to do with a bank robbery. 

One of the perks of being a newbie in this career was that the general public had no clue what your powers were. Which led to some funny interactions, while others could be a little degrading. I heard their discussion as loud as it would be if they yelled it into a megaphone,

“Who’s the playboy bunny?”

“Probably some cape fresh out the factory.”

“Jesus, the costume guys are really half-assing it nowadays.”

“Who wants to bet she’s from out of town?”

They just kept on complaining about me, until they got bored of me and went back to skulking. One of them looked real stressed though. He must have been around my age.

I finally spoke up, “Oh, looks like you fellas are on the ropes! We must be going up against some pros.”

I meant what I said, but I made sure to put some ditz to my tone and drawl to my cadence. Acting like you were the dumbest person in the room when someone didn’t respect you so that you can catch them off guard later was entertaining.

“Don’t worry, coppers! After we’re done donuts are on me.”

The youngest of the group shoved past them pointing directly at my face yelling, “You think this is a joke?! Two of us are dead, none of you capes give a shit about us. Nobody gives a shit!”

I recoiled slightly, taken aback by the man. His voice was coated in desperation that led to me feeling a bit guilty. I must have missed some key details from the radio.

“I’m sorry to hear that, so let's promise each other to not let it happen again.”, I meant it. The last thing I wanted to see was innocent people getting hurt. It’s the only reason I ever wanted to be a Hero.

To my surprise, he shook my hand much to the disapproving looks of his elders. I then asked them again in a more firm manner who or what was robbing the bank. They tell me that, around twelve p.m, a man wearing a black coat and mask walked into the main lobby and forced everyone to exit the bank. A pair of officers were already close to the scene and tried to apprehend him but they ended up dead. I saw they were still by the front steps unmoved, as it reeked of burnt steak to me. Something pierced their skulls and charred their brains. It wasn’t too long until more backup arrived, but they wouldn’t charge in until a Hero showed up.

Then why did y’all start acting like middle school girls when I showed up?!

Regardless of pettiness and lack of communication, I was eager to help out whichever way I could, and judging by the way this Villain murdered those police I would actually be putting myself in great danger by facing them. It’ll be all the more satisfying when I beat him senseless. 

Then I felt something strange, stranger than I felt all day.

It’s close. What is it?

 Every single nerve on my skin lit up, eyes dilating, and my heart started to pound like one of those marching band drums. There was the humming of an engine, large and powerful. The trees that lined the sidewalk started to sway in place as if caught in an invisible storm. This was the best part. I wasn’t worried about what was causing this weirdness, I was thinking about what I’ll have to do in the next few seconds to make sure no one else loses their life. I lived for that.

CRAAAACCKKK!

The asphalt and concrete from beneath their feets started to split, like if someone grabbed a cake with their bare hands to eat. 

The bank rose from the ground. 

We could only look up, absolutely aghast. People scrambled across the street to avoid the falling chunks of buildings and cars that were picked up as well. I pinballed from person to person, narrowly saving them from the falling debris. The officer that had looked at me with callous indifference now appeared like a frightened old man, hand shaking as he yelled into his handheld radio, “SEND HELP THEY’RE STEALING THE GODDAMN BANK!”

I did the only thing I could think of. I took one big leap, aiming directly at the now flying bank. Grabbing on to the many leaking pipes that jutted out of the foundation that still hung to the building. Climbing up swiftly while getting her costume stained with sewage. 

I looked up at a shattered window, and a pair of red glowing eyes gazing upon me in the shade. He wore a long black coat with a high collar, bandoliers wrapped around his chest with a leather holster slung around his hip, and large metal reinforced boots stepping dangerously close to my fingers. His mask looked tribal in origin. Straw frills came out of the back, beady red eyes stared right at me. And a wide jagged smile embedded across with bone.

A smile almost as jagged and wide began to creep onto my face.

His voice was as smooth as butter, “What brings you to this neck of the woods, little rabbit?”

“Howdy to you too, bitch!” 

As I lunged at the man, he whipped out a silvery gun with a long thin barrel in tandem. Its sights were aimed right smack dab on my forehead. 

He pulled the trigger….