November: I Might Be A Superhero

005: Superhero vibe

Fear was something he had dealt with ever since he relocated to Indiana. Being constantly bullied by the jocks at school tensed him and he repeatedly swiveled his head to cast a shoulder glance whenever he walked, because someone was always out to bully him. Hit him till he coughed up blood or grab his boxers through his pants trousers until he squealed like a girl and wet himself inside the male's locker room.

The fear made him unable to think straight and controlled every part of his body because he had been traumatized by his bullies. There were times when he heard Chase's voice from afar, and he found himself struggling to open his unlocked locker. Because fear always crept in. The fear of what Chase might do to him.

But the fear as of now was different from the usual he always had. Because four thieves were firing shots into the air with their guns.

Screams filled up the atmosphere and people were running around, trying to hide.

"Everybody, on the floor!" One of the thieves aggressively yelled this command at the top of his lungs as he fired another shot into the air.

More screams sound around Walmart and the scared-looking, innocent people started lying face flat on the floor, holding their hands above their heads.

November found himself trembling from where he was hiding because it was happening because of him.

Macey Brightside would be the death of him. He thought.

How she managed to lure the thieves into Walmart, he could not decipher, but they were there right now. And she wanted to see the full manifestations of his quirks after setting up a challenge for him.

His heart felt sick now because his mom would kill him if she found out about this whole thing, mostly the part where innocent lives were involved.

People had their legs shaking violently, in fear.

Barely ten minutes ago things were going on smoothly, people were rolling their carts as they shopped. And now Macey Brightside lured these criminals in, making the once peaceful atmosphere tensile.

The said person was hiding behind a gondola milk shelf, mouthing at November to calm down and not be frightened. She could use her quirk in making her body resemble that of a shelf, so she couldn't be seen by anyone.

Macey Brightside, after today, you're gonna be avoiding me for the rest of your life! November sent her this text message.

She read it and frowned at him.

Just what was he even thinking when he let her pull such silly and life-threatening games?

A security guard was being pushed to the floor and kicked in the ribs by one of these criminals, and November's stomach churned.

The thieves didn't even look professional enough, rather they looked hungry. And November wondered where they got those guns from because it was obvious they were badly in need of cash.

His mouth parted in horror when he took a peek ahead of him and he saw Sebastian hiding behind a bookshelf. The good-looking Spanish transfer student. There was a little girl of about six with him. She was weeping bitterly and he clamped his hand tightly on her mouth, making her cries go muffled, so she wouldn't be heard by the thieves. She must be his sister.

November couldn't believe this was happening with Sebastian in there, of all the timing in the world. He didn't know if he had a crush on Chase or something because he made him feel a different shade of emotions.

Suddenly Sebastian caught November's gaze from his hiding spot and November gulped and looked away from him.

He narrowed his eyes in their sockets as he watched the thieves stealing from people, he was calculating their movement and trying to figure out how he'd go about with his quirk.

November knew his quirk would make him dodge any bullet if he got shot, but it didn't mean he had to be rash.

The first thief had his gun pointing from one cashier lady to the other as they brought out money stuck in the drawers of their counters. They were piling the money in paper bags.

The second thief was taking huge bites out of muffins and cakes, and then shoving some in a paper bag as he sang 'They Don't Care About Us' by Michael Jackson. He was doing some kind of dance with his head and shoulders, then stopped to let out a moan of pleasure as he bit on a chocolate muffin.

If November was not in this tight position, he would've found everything amusing. But he grind his teeth in anger because the thief had the audacity to moan while stealing.

Who does that?

Way to go, hungry thieves. November muttered under his breath.

The third and the fourth were going around, pointing guns at everyone, snatching people's valuables away from them. Asking pins to their credit cards, stomping on the backs of men, and even going to the extent of pulling women by their hair, stirring up screams.

November's blood boiled in exasperation when I saw this. I could feel his anger building up and fear rapidly disappearing.

What made things even worse was when I saw the third thief grabbing an old woman's head tie, blowing his nose into it, and rubbing it over her face.

When she swatted his hand away, he hit her in the face with the back of his gun, stirring up a cry from her.

He did this for the second time and her medicated glasses fell. And when she started reaching out for it, he smacked her in the face with his hand.

November could feel his quirk moving in his body and he wanted to send the thief's body colliding into a nearby wall with his eyes, but he immediately stopped when his ears kicked in the sound of a thief walking his my direction.

But it was already too late, the thief was looking at me. What was more shocking is the fact that he didn't act like he had seen November, instead, he stretched his hand past November's body, and reached for gallons of milk.

November blinked in astonishment, wondering what the hell was going on as he watched the thief shoving milk in different paper bags.

He left a few minutes later and November began wondering if the world was going crazy until Macey stretched her head from her hiding place and looked at him with wide eyes.

What? He mouthed in confusion.

She let her body go back to its normal form with her raised-up eyes fixated on him as she typed something into her phone and raised it up.

You were invisible. Said the content of the text message and I feel my jaw dropping. I cannot believe I can be invisible too.

A yelp caught his attention and he looked away from Macey to the old woman whose fingers were getting stomped on by the thief. Her glasses were a few meters away from her. And he took his feet off to crunch on the glasses then let out a harsh bark of laughter and smacked gum in his mouth like a downtown roadside hag.

November's body was invigorating for war to the extent that he could feel his veins bulging out along his arms.

Suddenly, an energy left November's body and all the thief's clothes got ripped apart, leaving him completely naked except for his worn-out mud-stained butts that had their prints everywhere.

People's jaws dropped in shock, someone was even trying to hold back laughter.

The thief immediately stopped for a split second and touched his body on sensing this. His eyes immediately widened when he stared down at his body and he held stills for some time in shock.

Before squealing like a girl.

People on this side had their faces twisted in amusement, it seemed like they were dying from holding back laughter because the sight was amusing.

November chuckled, but then stopped when something caught my side-glance.

It was Sebastian, he was weirdly looking at November. His hands were still on his crying sister's mouth.

His head bounced from November to the naked, trying-to-hide thief, and moved from the naked thief and back to November.

"Oh shit," November cursed under his breath.

Laughter filled up the atmosphere as fingers got pointed at the thief. While mothers were covering the gazes of their kids from the thief's nakedness.

Upset, he shot into the air, making the laughter immediately die down.

November did not waste time pulling the gun out of his quirk.

Then he searched for something he could use in teaching him a lesson until I saw a baseball bat.

Ignoring the fact that Sebastian was openly staring at him with a gaping mouth, November used the baseball bat to hit the thief's head until he began running, missed a step, and fell, landing face flat on the floor with a groan.

People used this opportunity to crawl out from their hiding place, holding pots and pans and anything they could find.

They beat him black and blue within seconds, wiping his bum until it turned red and November's face squeezed into a smirk when the old lady the thief was torturing earlier on, stomped on his rib with all her might.

His cry of help drew the attention of his companions and they came rushing to this side.

Before they could point their guns at anyone, November used his quirk to pull the guns away from his hiding spot, then put these guns in the air.

Everyone was flabbergasted by what was happening, including the thieves who were staring at their guns.

November heard a throaty chuckle from Macey as he controlled these guns and threw them out through an open window.

"Jesus, H Christ!"

"Is there a magnet glued to the ceiling?"

"What the fuck is happening!?

"Why are you even naked!?"

The thieves were talking at once with fear evident on their faces as they recoiled and stepped backward, completely alarmed. Everyone was.

Macey slipped a rope to November's side and he raised it up with his eyes, before directing it in the thieves' direction.

"Holy fuck, is this real?" The naked thief asked.

"Since when did a rope start moving on its own?" This from the first

"Did the manager hire a magician as an employee?" The third asked no one in particular.

"You all know what to do." Said the fourth.

And they exchanged a knowing look.

"Run!" Came the chorused exclamation.

They attempted to run, completely ditching their naked buddy on the floor.

But it was already too late. November Let the swinging rope tie them together. Including the beaten thief. His eyes controlled the thief until he joined the midst of his companions.

"You did great," This voice pulled November's attention away from the groaning thieves.

Snapping his head to his side, he saw Macey, who had corners of her mouth stretched into a smug smirk.

November wanted to yell at her or something because the lives of people were endangered. But he could not. He kind of enjoyed the whole thing but felt guilty at the part where people got hurt.

"I just texted my dad, he's on his way here." She informed him, slipping her phone back into her pocket.

"You know what?"

"What?"

"I want to do this again, except we won't gamble with the lives of people. No one has to get hurt, except criminals." He blurted out with a big puff of breath.

Macey stared at him for a few seconds, unblinking.

Then she surprised him by fist pumping the air and then stopped to give him a soft shoulder jab.

"That's the coolest thing I have ever heard from you. I cannot wait to customize your super suit!"

"A super suit?" He blinked, perplexed.

"Yeah. There's more to you, November Calhoun. We just figured you can be invisible as well. God! I envy you."

*Twenty minutes later*

"Macey!" Sheriff Brightside called out to his daughter, as he hopped out of the police car.

Stacey ran towards him and he pulled her into a tight hug.

The police had arrived and the thieves were being handcuffed and shoved into the cars. Thankfully the earlier naked one had a towel tied around his waist.

Their faces were covered in bruises, even on their arms. Walmart customers did a great job in beating the shit out of them.

Sheriff Brightside threw November a look whilst still hugging his daughter, and November wondered if the man was being suspicious of him.

He kissed his daughter on the forehead and then pulled away to stare at her.

"Are you okay, did you get hurt anywhere?" He asked with worry evident in his eyes when he looked back at her. This man had no clue that his beloved daughter had the virus too.

"I'm fine, dad." Macey tipped her head up to him

Sheriff Brightside nodded and then hugged his daughter again.

Now he didn't know if he should feel shitty for letting jealousy seep through him.

He was envious of Macey because he missed the times he bonded with his dad. Sadly that was never happening because his dad had moved on with another woman, and probably started a family of his own.

Someone jabbed their shoulder against November's, pulling him out of his unsettling thoughts.

And he stared ahead to see Sebastian who had his sister in his arms, with a toothpick in his mouth.

"You have a lot of explaining to do, freak." With this, Sebastian turned away from him and started heading to his car.

***

November's heart jumped in his chest when he got home and he saw a police car packed right in front of his house, with his mother crying and yelling at top of her lungs as she argued with the two police officers.

"Mom, what's going on?" He asked, feeling frightened because he had not seen his mom weep in two years.

Something was wrong.

"Where were you?" Harriet Calhoun directed this question to her son in a dangerously low tone as she walked up to him.

"I..I.." he couldn't even come up with words to say at this point because the look of pain on her face was earth-shattering.

Harriet sniffed and then tucked her hair behind her ear.

"Mrs. Thompson just ran away with Stacey, and the fucking cops are asking me to wait for twenty-four hours before they can do something." She dropped this bombshell.

And his heart did a dangerous backflip.