3.19

Hunter, Jimena, and Silas had suited up and decided to go out on patrol for the night. It had been a while since the three of them had done it together.

Gauzelle had decided to stay back at the treehouse and Stick stayed to keep an eye on her.

The three teens were standing on the rooftop of a short building, observing the streets below.

“Do you think anyone recognises us by now?” Silas asked.

“I’d say so. We’ve got our own Justice Punch cards,” said Hunter.

“Really? I didn’t know about that,” Jimena looked down and couldn’t see anything happening out of the ordinary. It looked like it was going to be a boring night.

“Yeah, they got released about a week ago now. Yours looks pretty cool,” Silas pulled out his wallet and showed the card to Jimena. Jimena took it and was impressed with the quality of the art.

“Do we get paid for this?” Jimena asked.

“No. Something about it being creative freedom, allowed for the masses. Or something like we can’t own the image. It’s some really messy looking legalities, I had my parents look it over and we get squat.” Jimena handed the card back to Silas.

“How’s your new job been going Hunter?” Jimena asked.

“Yeah, not too bad.” Hunter looked down on the opposite side of the building that Jimena had checked. Nothing there was happening either.

As Hunter walked back to the other two, the three of them turned with a snap as the heard a familiar noise came rushing toward them.

Copter was rushing through the night sky. He was laughing and flying complex manoeuvres, trying to shake someone off his tail.

“Hey Copter. What have you done tonight?” Silas called out. Copter stopped and looked over his shoulder and then at the three of them.

“Good evening. Just a spot of trouble. I robbed a jewellery store, made off with some precious gems.” He showed them his little money bag, giving it a little jiggle.

“Who’s after you?” Silas asked.

“Some new person called Button Ball. They’ve got a hoverboard and a weird gun that shoots all sorts of weird stuff.” At that moment, an oversized boxing glove whizzed past Copter and almost hit Hunter.

“Looks like you better go,” said Jimena.

“You’re right. Good night.” Copter tipped his has at the three of them and raced off into the night sky.

Within moments, a clunky looking hoverboard sailed by the three of them. Button Ball was on top. A chunky, mismatched looking costume was adorned with hundreds, if not thousands of buttons. The costume looked as though it would be difficult to quickly move around.

“Oi, you three. Which way did he go?” The hoverboard came to a stop. Button Ball wore oversized goggles and looked at the three of them one by one.

“He went that way,” Hunter called. He pointed in the direction of where Copter took off.

“Why didn’t you stop him?” The costumed hero sounded frustrated.

“We thought you were already taking care of it. We didn’t want to impede on your night,” said Jimena.

“Did you want us to help?” asked Silas.

“No!” snapped Button Ball. “I can easily handle it myself, thanks. The three of you feel free to continue being lazy.” And with that, the silly looking hero sailed off on their hoverboard, looking like they were struggling to navigate.

Jimena rushed to the edge of the building and readied herself to shoot one of her slime balls.

“Jimena,” Hunter called out. Jimena lowered her arm.

“I wasn’t really going to do it.” She walked back to the other two.

Screaming erupted from the streets below. The three ran to the edge of the roof and looked down.

Slicer, the one they had seen all that time ago when they were getting pizza, was holding a civilian hostage. His giant pizza slicer arm was held across a middle-aged man, and Slicer was taking some steps back.

Thee three heroes went to start getting down only to see that the hero squaring off against Slicer was Brickla. She had her hands up and slowly advancing toward Slicer and the hostage.

“Sometimes it feels like there are too many heroes in Athena City,” said Silas. They watched as Brickla sent a single brick flying forward. The brick connected with Slicer’s head and he dropped to the ground.

“And you’re one of them,” said Jimena.

“Ah crap,” said Hunter. He was looking at his phone and he didn’t look happy.

“What. What’s up?” asked Silas.

“Anh asked if I could come in to cover for him this evening and I only just noticed the text. That’s not gonna look good.”

“Its not far from here. We can make it,” said Silas.

The three of them clambered down the ladder and made a run for it toward the comic shop.

Someone wearing a balaclava stepped out of a bakery, laughing.

“Fear me. For I am D-” a well-aimed shot from Jimena blasted him in the head. He toppled over and a nearby security guard pounced on him.

“Hey, thanks.”

“No worries,” called Jimena.

The three of them could see the comic shop in the distance. Anh was outside, locking up.

“He’s closing early,” said Silas.

“Yeah, because I didn’t cover for him. Hey Anh, I’m here now to work.”

Anh turned around and looked shocked to see three costumed heroes rushing toward him.

“What do you mean?” Anh asked.

“I only just noticed your text; I was out busy because…” Hunter’s voice trailed off as it dawned on him. The three of them were still in costume. Hunter felt a knot pull in his chest.

“Is that you Hunter?”

“Yeah.”

“And you know Balloon Boy, and that’s Quagmire.” Silas and Jimena gave a wave.

“Yep.”

“You’re Mite from Justice Punch?” Excitement rose in Anh’s voice.

“Yeah. It’s like I said, I live and breath comics. Did you still want me to work tonight?”

“You can if you want.”

“Anh, sir. Please don’t tell anyone that you know who Mite is and that he works here at your comic shop,” said Silas.

“I’d never do such a thing. Your secret is safe with me.” Anh handed Hunter the keys. “You may want to get out of costume though, before anyone sees you.”

Hunter walked into the shop, the other two left him for the night. Hunter changed out of costume in the back office and worked the next three, lonely hours, feeling like such an idiot.