Heroes Wear Capes

“Technically I’m not breaking and entering, I’m just entering. Your window was open, which isn’t the smartest decision considering that there is a maniac who breaks into teenage girl’s rooms on the loose according to you.”

~ Connor Collins (The Marvel)

April loved taking her college courses, much unlike all of the other students she knew. She liked them because they gave her a sense of normalcy. A sense that she was like other teenagers her age. When she was taking down notes and learning about psychology terms she was just a normal everyday teenager, not the daughter of a famous superhero or the damsel to a different favorite superhero. It was something that made her feel real, just for a second.

It helped that she excelled in the course as well. Psychology was a concept she understood. She wasn’t meant for the world of spandexed heroes like everyone else in her family, and that was okay.

“The ‘Little Albert’ case study is one of the most famous in psychology,” April’s professor stated, pointing to his PowerPoint slide. “He was an eleven-month old baby. Now, can anyone tell me what happened to him?”

April raised her hand.

The professor smiled, “Yes?”

“Well, John Watson and his assistant deliberately attempted to instill certain fears into Little Albert through conditioning. This 1920 study became notorious for being so unethical, purposely installing fears into a little baby. No one really knows what the true identity of Little Albert was, but today it is thought that he was a William A Barger, who died in 2007.”

Professor Ward never lost his smile, “I see someone did last night’s reading. You should all take Miss Watson’s example.” He walked back to his desk and looked at all of his students. “Now, remember your own case studies are due by the end of the semester. I expect great things from all of you.”

The bell rang and everyone rushed to leave the class, but April stayed a bit longer, taking time to pack her things.

“Miss Watson, can I see you for a second?”

April paled. She hadn’t chosen a case study yet and she was afraid Professor Ward was going to lecture on her inability to choose.

“Sir, I swear I’m closer to finding a test subject. I know that this thing is a big part of my grade.”

He shook his head. “It is. It’s also a big step towards receiving your degree. Are you sure you don’t want to choose your masked friend?”

April sighed. Of course everyone’s dream subject for a study like this was a superhero. How does having certain powers affect the brain and behavior? Especially a high profile person like White Knight? But April didn’t want to be known as that girl who was always associated with the hero. She wanted to create an identity separate from him. She didn’t want to have to piggy back off of him for her own success. She wanted to prove she could make a name for herself without having to be a super or a super’s girlfriend.

“I’m absolutely sure.”

He nodded, like this was what he was expecting. “Well, a recent opportunity just came up and I was contacted to see if anyone I know would like to interview a certain high profile prisoner in Alcatraz. I thought it’d be perfect for my best student to try. You’re always saying how you want to expand your horizons, this would be the perfect opportunity.”

April’s eyes widened. A prisoner who was a super villain? It would be the perfect exposure for her. She grew up in a household of superheroes, so expanding her horizons was exactly what talking to a super villain would do for her. The only problem was her father would never allow poor breakable April talk to someone as evil as a super villain.

“Who would I be doing the case study on?” April wondered. Maybe if it was a small villain she’d be allowed to interview him by her parents. They’d surely disagree with anyone too awful.

The professor sighed sheepishly. “That’s the thing. This is the first time this villain is speaking out to anyone willingly. He’s telling his story for the first time ever, or so my contacts say. Your case study could finally reveal the reason he turned so bad. My contact at Alcatraz says it’s a once in a lifetime chance.”

April got suspicious. “Professor, why are you acting like this? Who is the villain who’s willing to let me do a case study on them?”

“X.”

April pushed her broccoli around her plate, frowning. How did anyone ever enjoy the little green tree? Why would any parent willingly give it to their child knowing how much they hated the stupid vegetable? And it really was a stupid veggie considering it wasn’t even a real tree like it tried to be.

“So, honey, I heard about that bus crash the other day.”

April’s fork squished one particularly annoying piece of broccoli.

Diana smiled graciously at her mother. “Yes, it really was quite something. White Static and I were able to get all the citizens out though. We have a sinking suspicion that it was caused by one of our old villains, but nothing solid yet.”

“Interesting.” April’s mother (otherwise known as Invisible Girl in her days) commented. “So, it’s fun over in Iris City I’m guessing?”

Diana nodded, swallowing another bite of her favorite meal, chicken tetrazzini. It was a specialty brought out just for her visit. “Yes, very fun. White Static is always telling me about the good old days when the League of Legends would get together for saves.” She chuckled at this.

“What’s with all the White names?” April butted in suddenly, pausing her assault on her vegetables.

Everyone at the dinner table looked confused. “Excuse me?”

April sighed. Her family never really got how her line of thought went. “Well, White Knight is sitting at our table, there’s a White Static in Iris City with Diana, and a White Lightning in Washington DC. Not to mention all those small-time heroes putting it in front of their names. Why all the Whites in front of the names of these big heroes?”

“Well,” my mom started after a while, dragging out the word like the answer was too obvious to point out, something mothers did often to their children, “white represents the good in society. And aren’t superheroes the good of society? It’s why most super villains have names associated with the dark: Black Knight, Midnight, Dark Star.”

April shrugged. “In some Asian cultures, white represents death and mourning. And in Ancient Egypt it was the color of death and decay. Black was the color of life, not white, because it represented rich soil. So, if one of our heroes travels over to Asia do you think that they’ll assume they’re bad guys because of their names and outfits?” April looked back down and picked at her broccoli again. The table was eerily quiet, so she looked up and smiled sheepishly, “What? Was it something I said?”

Brandon gave her a wide-eyed look. He coughed and smiled at the table, trying to bring order back. “Well, I thought that was an interesting fact, wasn’t it?”

April’s dad coughed awkwardly as well. “Ahh, yes. It was . . . fun.”

She kept smiling at them. “The facts you learn as a psychology major, am I right?” April set her napkin down on her plate and stood up. “I’m going to go upstairs now. You can all enjoy your very invigorating dinner party without me now.”

That’s how it always was when Diana came back home. ‘How is this hero,’ and ‘Did you know this villain did that?’ April never quite fit in when they had these conversations. The one kid without powers kind of stuck out when they talked about how much fun they had beating this villain or that one.

“Not that fast, young lady,” her father ordered in his strictest voice, which was saying something since he was once the famed superhero, Captain Fantastic and his voice could stop the meanest super villain in their tracks.

April turned and huffed, crossing her arms. “Yes?”

April never got that visibly annoyed by her parents, so it was a shock to them to see her frustrations voiced aloud.

“You’re sister is home for the first time in months and this is how you treat her?” He asked incredulously.

With clenched fists, April stared her father down, “It’s not her that’s being treated unfairly here.”

“Excuse me?”

April sighed. There was no point in arguing with Captain Fantastic.

“Can’t I just go upstairs? I’m not that hungry anyways.”

Captain Fantastic’s eyes widened and he put his hands on his hips. “No, young lady. We were trying to have a nice dinner with the family before your little outburst, and that’s what we are going to continue, with you here. And then tomorrow we’ll have a nice little family outing.”

April bit her lip. He was already mad at her, so she might as well rip the Band-Aid off now and tell him about her psychology case study.

“I have to go visit San Francisco tomorrow, so I can’t come.”

The table was collectively shocked.

“Why?” Brandon asked, looking a bit sad.

April tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. “My psychology case study is going to be on one of the inmates in Alcatraz, and my professor was able to get me some interviews with my subject.”

Captain Fantastic’s face darkened. “There is no way I’m letting my daughter go into a place full of the most dangerous super villains in creation. Hell, I put away half of those criminals!”

“April, honey,” her mom scolded, “why on earth would you want to endanger your safety like that? The daughter of Captain Fantastic isn’t exactly going to be welcome there.”

April groaned. “Those people won’t even know who my father is! It’s not like it was you all’s identities that were revealed in the Revealing in Empire City anyways. Besides, that place is mostly lined with Merlonium, you know, that stuff that takes away your super powers? No one will be able to zap me or turn me into an icicle. The super villain I’ll be interviewing doesn’t even have powers. He’s harmless.”

Her family visibly relaxed at those words.

“Oh, who is he?” Diana questioned.

April flinched, “X.”

The uproar was to be expected. Her father turned red and seemed ready to explode. Diana looked as white as paper as did her mother. Brandon seemed confused, not understanding why April would even want to speak to a villainous character like that when she had a perfectly good superhero in front of her. Peter, her seven year old speedy little brother, looked positively excited. X was exciting to a seven year old.

“X is the worst villain out there!” Captain Fantastic argued. “How could you possibly think you’d be safe alone in a room with him? If Brandon hadn’t defeated him years ago, he would still be rampaging across the city, terrorizing citizens for fun!”

“But he’ll be in chains! There is no way the man could hurt me. All it will be is an interview. It’s not like we’ll be frolicking around the city arm in arm.” April retorted.

Her father was so mad that he couldn’t create a coherent thought.

“Go to your room!”

April sighed and headed up the stairs. When she got to the top, she heard exactly what she was afraid to hear.

“It’s not her fault she doesn’t understand, honey. She’s not a super like us, she can’t comprehend how dangerous X really is.”

April entered her room and closed the door with a slam. Of course, that’s all she would ever hear from her family. She was normal, god forbid. She was defenseless just because she couldn’t run at the speed of sound or turn invisible or crush cars or change her voice.

She just wanted for one time for her parents to think she was worth something other than a damsel for White Knight to save time and time again. She wanted them to view her as someone worth respecting without the aid of superhuman abilities. Before superheroes came around, people were revered and loved for their brains and personalities, so why was it so hard for her family to do the same for her?

April threw her pillows across her room in an effort to let out some of her anger. She would never gain respect from her family, at least not while she stayed under their protection, someone to always be babied.

April opened up her phone and texted one of Brandon’s friends, a superhero who owed her a favor. Janus could make portals to any location he’d visited before, and he was going to make her one to San Francisco. She packed what she had forgotten to pack before dinner and suddenly Janus appeared behind her, confused by her urgent text message.

“Where do you need me to get you? Isn’t it kind of late for a last minute trip to the mall?”

April grabbed her suitcase and faced Janus. “I need to get to this hotel in San Francisco, can you get me close?” She handed him a paper with an address of the hotel her professor had booked her stay at. She was originally planning on going tomorrow morning, even though the place was booked for this night as well, but April was certain if she waited until morning to leave, her father would have found a way to keep her in the house without a way to travel to San Francisco.

He nodded, “Yeah, I can actually get you right at the entrance, I went there once doing a save with Stretchy Girl and Merman.” Those were the supers who reigned over the city. “But, why may I ask?”

“Can a part of my favor be that you don’t ask?”

Janus shrugged. “Alright, but this does seem kind of suspicious.” He turned to the side of her room and waved his hand, a purple swirling circle appeared in the air. “I mean – San Francisco is where Alcatraz is.”

April nodded, “Yep.”

Janus narrowed his eyes, but didn’t argue as they both leapt through the portal.

April was going to do this whether her superhero parents agreed or not. She was going to prove to them that she didn’t always need to be saved.