Behind a Mask
It’s not easy doing what I do. It’s not all praise, winning and chicks. Hell, it’s almost never that. I am good at it I guess, about as good as anyone out there right now but no one is perfect and I am no exception. I think what I find most difficult about being a hero is balancing my personal life and my secret life. I think that is what drew me to Victoria in the first place. Also the fact that she is attractive, like damn attractive, she is a model after all. Sometimes I wish that me and my dad were on speaking terms so I could have a family to take her back to. But mostly the reason we got together in the first place was because we recognized that together we could merge our private and public lives safely.
I don’t know, maybe having a girlfriend in the midst of all this shit isn’t such a good idea. There is just so much at stake right now. Everyone is in constant threat of danger. Right before the virus hit I dated a girl named Alex. We had a pretty good relationship, especially considering the string of shit that I had been through before. Really a nice girl, she was fun to be around and we seemed to be getting rather serious with each other. Things ended when the virus hit, I was sent to the hospital for a week and not once did she visit me while I was there and when I got out she didn’t return any of my phone calls. I had given up on her, even a little angry that she had abandoned me in a time like this without so much as a ‘good bye and fuck off barista boy’. I mean it was the least she could do to even let me know that we were over right? It wasn’t until later that I learned from a mutual friend that nobody had seen her since. She had dropped off the map completely, best guess anyone had was that she died a Jane Doe in one of the hospitals except that her parents looked and she was nowhere to be found.
I think it was right then that it hit me that things wouldn’t be the same. The city was changing and it was all I could do to not drown in it. At first I wanted nothing to do with the hero game, with my criminal record and all, but I don’t know as time went on and I watched all the chaos and mayhem unfold on the news I just felt this unrelenting urge to do what I could to help. By then I had kind of worked out how my powers worked and as I grew more and more outraged at the shit that the Reaper was doing and the anti-mutant politics at play… I don’t know something just exploded in me and I knew I had to take action and that is what led to my inevitable first interaction with the man behind the mask.
Like I said earlier, the life of a hero can be a lonely one. I mean the whole reason we dawn the mask is to protect those we care about which also means living a double life. It wasn’t hard for me because I don’t talk to my dad and I never knew my mom but still it gets lonely when the only people you talk to are your boss and your mortal enemy. Vic was really kind of a saving grace, she was the only person that really understood what I was going through to any extent and even though we argue a lot we get each other. I’ll admit at first things were rough, we kind of have clashing personalities but in the end I think it was our differences that brought us close. We can joke, tease, debate serious topics and at the same time I can be completely honest with her. It was such a great departure from the other girls I tried to be with before, the citizens I dated to keep up an image. It only made sense for two heroes to be together because any citizen I tried to keep a relationship with would only be full of lies and deceit.
I mean unless you count Sakura. She has really been the only citizen so far to break into my private life after having accidentally watched me change into my uniform. She is a peculiar girl; quiet and reserved. She almost always has her head in a sketch book and in fact the day we met she asked to draw me. I don’t know what it is about this girl but I have a tendency to lose my edge around her. Like With Victoria I have no problem raising my voice because I know she is a tough chick and she will eventually get over it but when I am around Sakura, I don’t know I guess I am just not the same. She knows my secret though and as much as I wish this weren’t the case I can’t afford to have this citizen out of my life so we started hanging out and she even took a distinct interest in The S.T.A.N.D. Victoria doesn’t really approve of our friendship though, not that she dislikes Sakura in anyway. Vic really has gone the extra mile when it came to Sakura but for some reason she feels threatened by her. “You know you really have nothing to worry about Red, I am with you and not her aren’t I?” I would say time and time again, using the nickname I know she absolutely hates. “I think her and Jessie have a thing anyway.” Usually this argument lasts until one of us gets tired of it, more often me, and does something really romantic and impressive to get the other to come around, definitely always me. She always comes around.
Besides even if I wanted to be with Sakura I couldn’t. I am already putting her in enough danger by even being in her life. The second she found out who I was she signed up for the most dangerous citizenship in Champion City. Really it’s the fact that she has gotten as close to the team that is what protects her most. As long as she sticks with us I think she is safe, which is good because if she ever got hurt I don’t think I could ever forgive myself.
I don’t know, maybe having a girlfriend in the midst of all this shit isn’t such a good idea. There is just so much at stake right now. Everyone is in constant threat of danger. Right before the virus hit I dated a girl named Alex. We had a pretty good relationship, especially considering the string of shit that I had been through before. Really a nice girl, she was fun to be around and we seemed to be getting rather serious with each other. Things ended when the virus hit, I was sent to the hospital for a week and not once did she visit me while I was there and when I got out she didn’t return any of my phone calls. I had given up on her, even a little angry that she had abandoned me in a time like this without so much as a ‘good bye and fuck off barista boy’. I mean it was the least she could do to even let me know that we were over right? It wasn’t until later that I learned from a mutual friend that nobody had seen her since. She had dropped off the map completely, best guess anyone had was that she died a Jane Doe in one of the hospitals except that her parents looked and she was nowhere to be found.
I think it was right then that it hit me that things wouldn’t be the same. The city was changing and it was all I could do to not drown in it. At first I wanted nothing to do with the hero game, with my criminal record and all, but I don’t know as time went on and I watched all the chaos and mayhem unfold on the news I just felt this unrelenting urge to do what I could to help. By then I had kind of worked out how my powers worked and as I grew more and more outraged at the shit that the Reaper was doing and the anti-mutant politics at play… I don’t know something just exploded in me and I knew I had to take action and that is what led to my inevitable first interaction with the man behind the mask.
Like I said earlier, the life of a hero can be a lonely one. I mean the whole reason we dawn the mask is to protect those we care about which also means living a double life. It wasn’t hard for me because I don’t talk to my dad and I never knew my mom but still it gets lonely when the only people you talk to are your boss and your mortal enemy. Vic was really kind of a saving grace, she was the only person that really understood what I was going through to any extent and even though we argue a lot we get each other. I’ll admit at first things were rough, we kind of have clashing personalities but in the end I think it was our differences that brought us close. We can joke, tease, debate serious topics and at the same time I can be completely honest with her. It was such a great departure from the other girls I tried to be with before, the citizens I dated to keep up an image. It only made sense for two heroes to be together because any citizen I tried to keep a relationship with would only be full of lies and deceit.
I mean unless you count Sakura. She has really been the only citizen so far to break into my private life after having accidentally watched me change into my uniform. She is a peculiar girl; quiet and reserved. She almost always has her head in a sketch book and in fact the day we met she asked to draw me. I don’t know what it is about this girl but I have a tendency to lose my edge around her. Like With Victoria I have no problem raising my voice because I know she is a tough chick and she will eventually get over it but when I am around Sakura, I don’t know I guess I am just not the same. She knows my secret though and as much as I wish this weren’t the case I can’t afford to have this citizen out of my life so we started hanging out and she even took a distinct interest in The S.T.A.N.D. Victoria doesn’t really approve of our friendship though, not that she dislikes Sakura in anyway. Vic really has gone the extra mile when it came to Sakura but for some reason she feels threatened by her. “You know you really have nothing to worry about Red, I am with you and not her aren’t I?” I would say time and time again, using the nickname I know she absolutely hates. “I think her and Jessie have a thing anyway.” Usually this argument lasts until one of us gets tired of it, more often me, and does something really romantic and impressive to get the other to come around, definitely always me. She always comes around.
Besides even if I wanted to be with Sakura I couldn’t. I am already putting her in enough danger by even being in her life. The second she found out who I was she signed up for the most dangerous citizenship in Champion City. Really it’s the fact that she has gotten as close to the team that is what protects her most. As long as she sticks with us I think she is safe, which is good because if she ever got hurt I don’t think I could ever forgive myself.