Villains Wear Masks
Chapter 1: Optimism wins the day

“While Wild Fire stops super villain after super villain with a crazy theme robbing upper class banks, I’ll be stopping rapists and gangsters who really hurt people. I don’t need to have super powers to be a hero, despite what you think. It’s not the powers that make the hero, it’s the heart.”

~ Taylor Hale (Silver Streak)

In a world of superheroes, sometimes the most arbitrary things were still exciting. Especially if you were one of those heroes.

Xander Mendez just happened to be a super (someone with super powers). It hadn’t really been a choice, just a really stupid accident. In fact, if he hadn’t gotten his powers, his friend’s dad wouldn’t have ever died.

Long story short, Xander decided he wanted to spy on the dealings of Rossi Corp, because his friend, Trevor Rossi, was acting all weird about it and Xander was particularly bored on that day. Well, he hid behind some stacked boxes that crushed under his weight and happened to be full of a serum called PF-08-02 that was derived from the blood of a super speedy superhero, Sonic (if he could remember correctly. It was a long time ago after all). The drug gave him super speed and the disturbance of the boxes crashing scared the people Rossi Corp was meeting with into shooting the CEO of Rossi Corp, Paul Rossi.

And then Xander decided he needed to know exactly what it was that had been injected into him, so he visited Paul Rossi in the hospital. Somehow there had been a mix up in his medicine and Paul just happened to die right as Xander was in the room with him.

Trevor happened to blame Xander for his father dying in response to the misunderstanding.

(Well, he actually blamed Momentum, Xander’s superhero alter ego.)

It was kind of scary to think of your friend trying to actively kill you or worse in retribution to a heinous act you didn’t do. Rossi Corp had some mean connections.

Xander had found himself keeping a distance from Trevor ever since he got his powers a little over three months ago in that accident. Trevor was now the CEO of Rossi Corp and he didn’t have time to hang out with his childhood friend who was still in high school. Besides, Xander also landed himself a girlfriend in that timeline to hang out with instead.

That’s crazy, right? Xander had his first real girlfriend.

(Kissing Mandy Hawkins in third grade under the jungle bars didn’t count.)

(Neither did the time Ela Chang tripped and fell on him in gym class seventh grade year, accidentally smashing her lips on his.)

Not to mention his girlfriend was definitely way out of his league. Imagine Scarlett Johansson going for that one weird white kid in your class who burned bibles over Christmas break and wants to lose his virginity to a succubus.

Okay, they weren’t that extreme in their differences, but they might as well have been. Mera Deauxma was a goddess and Xander Mendez was just . . . ordinary. She had smooth chocolate skin while he had acne spots. She had a melodious laugh that could probably cure any number of diseases while he rambled on about the most random topics. She could brighten the room with her sunny smile while he couldn’t walk through an empty hall without tripping over a flat surface.

He was a mess, and she was . . . perfect.

Xander didn’t know why Mera agreed to go out with him on that first date and then the second date and so on. He would’ve thought she’d have given him up by now for her best friend, the superhero Wild Fire. Or maybe for Todd Alvord, the guy she used to date on and off because he would always buy her flowers and chocolates.

But, she still stayed with him.

“Xander, don’t zone out on me.”

He turned back to Mera, “I wasn’t zoning out.”

She gave him the look the people on the Office and Parks and Rec always gave to the camera. “You really want to bet against your girlfriend?”

“No, but I could try.”

She grinned, taking his hand in hers. “I admire your heart, but your efforts would be wasted.”

“I know.”

They walked down the road from the movie theater hand in hand. The movie had been called Heroes versus Villains, a popular show that had been made into a movie. It, as with everything to do with superheroes, was a hit.

“Hey, do I remind you of the main character at all?” Xander asked.

Mera pretended to consider the notion. “Nah, you remind me more of the sidekick.”

Xander pretended to look insulted and put his hand to his chest, “That hurts me that you consider me, the awesome superhero, as only a sidekick. You know, Wild Fire and I don’t even fight crime together.”

She shrugged. “You never know, maybe Momentum is White Knight’s sidekick.”

Xander almost stopped in his tracks from laughing too hard. “White Knight? Imagine that! I doubt he’s ever even been to Oakland, let alone fought crime with me there. I’d much rather be Silver Streak’s sidekick than his.”

He knew his mistake as soon as he said it. Mera’s smile faltered and she tightened her grip on his hand. Silver Streak, otherwise known as Taylor Hale, used to be Mera’s best friend. Xander suspected that they may have even been more, but whenever he brought Taylor up, Mera immediately shut him down and changed the topic. All he knew was what he inferred from the one interaction he’d witnessed of the two. Taylor must’ve known about Mera helping Wild Fire out with his saves, she may have even helped with them, and wanted to go out on the streets on her own. Mera didn’t approve of Taylor risking her life with no powers and no safety net to save the city when there were already two capable heroes in town. They had a falling out and now refused to speak to or about the other.

Wild Fire had been Mera’s friend since childhood when she used to live in the good part of town, Kingdom Hills. Of course she’d want to help him out when he went on saves. If Wild Fire hadn’t had a crush on the same girl since freshman year (some quiet bad girl in his grade according to Mera) Xander would feel in serious danger of losing his girlfriend to him. They might have both been superheroes now, but Xander was more like the cheap knockoff of Wild Fire that you settled for.

(Xander was only stating the truth. The man was a legend.)

White Knight was more disconnected from Xander’s life though. He didn’t seem to really interact with the other heroes in town and focused more on big extravagant threats from Black Knight, his arch nemesis. He also used to save his damsel in distress, April Watson from a variety of villains, but she’s been out of the limelight for quite some time now. Some people speculate that maybe she had enough of White Knight and the whole damsel routine, but in interviews White Knight claimed she was doing a case study project for her school somewhere outside of Kingdom City, not avoiding him.

“White Knight doesn’t seem that bad,” Xander said after a short silence, trying to get the conversation going again.

Mera shook her head. “White Knight is probably one of the most self-centered heroes out there. Remember Golden Eagle of Iris City?”

Yeah, the hero who was now stuck in a mental institution. Back when the villain Nemesis tried to brainwash all heroes into becoming evil to turn the public against them, Golden Eagle was one of the victims. When the heroes were saved by the superhero group the League of Legends, Golden Eagle couldn’t really recover. Before that though he was one of the biggest heroes of his time, and the one of the only ones who had their identity publically known. He craved the attention of being a superhero a little too much.

“White Knight is no Golden Eagle. If he was so self-centered, why would he have a damsel who loved him?” Xander argued.

Mera shrugged. “Are you sure April Watson even wants to be a damsel?”

“Why would she still be with him if she didn’t?”

“Maybe she has no choice in the matter. Maybe we haven’t seen her in the news for months because she’s finally decided that she deserves better than to be a prize to be won between supers.”

Mera had a point.

“So, what I’m hearing is that Momentum is a better hero than him?”

“Sure.”

“And the best hero in the world?” Xander prodded.

“I never said that.”

They laughed, stopping by an alley way.

Xander playfully frowned at his girlfriend, “Awe, so you don’t think Momentum is a great hero? I for one think he’s like the best superhero ever.”

“Give me your money!”

A man in a ski mask with a gun stood in front of the couple. He seemed nervous and jumpy, like he was ready to run at any second. He definitely chose them because they were there and available, not because he had a thought out plan.

“Oh my god, this is awesome.”

There were no other people on the street to witness the spectacle. Mera seemed very afraid of the man with the gun, but Xander seemed positively excited.

The robber was very confused, and with good reason.

“What?”

Xander smiled brighter. “This is literally so crazy. Out of the thousands of people in Kingdom City, you choose us two to rob! What are the chances? This is like the best day in the world. Oh my god!” Xander was laughing hysterically now.

The robber took a step back. “Are you on something? Dude, I’m robbing you. Give me your money, now.”

But Xander was deterred. “You must have the worst luck in the world, choosing me to rob. Like, you have worst luck than those kids in A Series of Unfortunate Events, and they aren’t even real. You just took home the gold in that category, like Husain Bolt gold.”

The robber was now annoyed.

“Give me your money or you and the girl get shot.”

Xander was still grinning. Now Mera was rolling her eyes instead of acting scared. Of course Xander was reacting this way. Ever the optimist, even in the face of a gun. Though, she did have to admit that her boyfriend was not wrong.

“I don’t think so, man.” Xander replied jubilantly.

“On the count of three,” the robber sighed, pointing the gun at Mera’s chest.

“One.”

The gun shook a little as the robber stared Xander down, trying to see what game the excited kid was playing.

“Two.”

The gun steadied as he aimed it at Xander instead. Maybe this skinny Mexican kid had some sort of death wish.

“Thr-”

In a flash, the robber was no longer standing in an alley way by the old movie theater. He was instead standing in the middle of the police precinct, gun waving in the air and pants pulled down. All of the jewelry and money he’d stolen that night were proudly displayed on the ground for the officers to see.

In short, he was screwed.

Back by the alley way, Xander was laughing extremely hard, almost collapsing on the ground. Mera crossed her arms and stared disapprovingly as he laughed.

“You know, you didn’t have to drag that out. You should’ve just disarmed the guy when he first showed up.”

When Xander could speak again, he looked up at Mera with an innocent puppy look. “Come on, Mera, that had to have been hilarious for you too. He ends up choosing the one person who could kick his ass to rob? You can’t wrong me for enjoying the moment.”

Mera cracked a small smile. “It was pretty funny.”

“And did you see his face?” Xander exclaimed, “Priceless!”

Mera took his arm and pulled him away from the scene of the crime. “You should be more careful of someone seeing you using your powers without your suit.”

“Lighten up, Mera,” Xander urged. “Have some fun in your life. There was no one else on the street and, besides, it was dark. Would you have rather me give up our money?”

“No.”

“Then, see, I made the right decision.”

Mera sighed and playfully punched Xander in the arm. “You still shouldn’t have dragged it out so long.”

“Fine, I apologize, are you happy?”

She smiled. “Yes, I am very happy.”

“Doesn’t that save put Momentum a little higher on your list though?” He asked hopefully.

Mera shrugged. “Depends on if Momentum is planning on giving his girlfriend roses tomorrow.”

Xander grinned, “I can do better than that,” and sped away. When he came back a few seconds later, he had a bouquet of red roses in his hands for her, presenting them regally. “My lady.”

Mera Deauxma couldn’t help but to giggle. “You didn’t have to actually get me flowers, Xander. Especially not now.”

He shrugged, “I didn’t have to, but I wanted to. How else am I supposed to pamper the girl of my dreams? Besides, the red of the roses really bring out the ruby flecks in your eyes.”

“My eyes don’t have red flecks, they’re boring and brown.”

Xander shook his head exuberantly. “No, you just can’t see it. Mera, your eyes are the most beautiful thing I have ever seen, second only to all of your features combined that is. You’re perfect, you just can’t see it the way I do.”

She blushed a deep red, almost matching her roses. “You don’t have to put it like that.”

“What other way is there to put it?”

Mera stared at Xander for a moment and shook her head, smiling. There was just something about him. His unrelenting optimism and joy never failed to brighten up the room. He was so innocent and happy that nothing could ever make him upset. Mera was in awe.

“What?” Xander asked, seeing the look she was giving him.

“Nothing. It’s just . . . . nothing.”

Xander shrugged it off. “So, about Momentum being the best superhero in the world . . .”